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What Dyndrite’s New API Toolsets Mean to Machine OEMs and Developers in the Additive Industry
Developed in collaboration with our raster and vector OEM customers, as well as partners and members of the Dyndrite Developer Council (DDC), the new Toolpathing API toolsets open new opportunities for both software and hardware development for the AM industry.
Accelerating the AM Raster Pipeline
The very first of our exclusive Dyndrite Developer Council Technical Briefings will be held at 11 am Eastern on February 17, 2021
Dyndrite Developer Council Adds New Additive Manufacturing Vendors, Additive Industries, Currax, Open Additive, Photocentric and TRUMPF
Council grows to 20 members, driving the future of next generation additive software and hardware


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Nov 27, 2012 A survey finds people will leave an average of nine days of paid vacation unused this year. The stress that comes from not taking a break can affect their health.
Nov 14, 2012 Physical check-ups with physicians are common, but what about a tune-up for your mind?
Nov 12, 2012 The markets have calmed from their post-election downturn. Businesses are now shifting their attention to the fiscal cliff negotiations that will decide the fate of the U.S. economy.
Nov 12, 2012 What happens when you take buttoned-down, MBA-toting business professionals, and turn them into video game designers. And, the internet goes interplanetary.
Nov 9, 2012 When you receive bad news from your physician, money is often the last thing on your mind. But it's something you should consider. One doctor offers a few tips.
Oct 31, 2012 Running the U.S. economy is just like running a business, right? Not necessarily. Sr. Producer Paddy Hirsch explains the differences between a president and CEO.
Oct 15, 2012 Commentator Beth Teitell on whether knowing what we're eating will affect how much we eat.
Oct 8, 2012 Pharmacies linked to meningitis outbreak not regulated by FDA.
Stacey Vanek Smith
Oct 1, 2012 As the Supreme Court considers affirmative action, businesses are weighing in -- in favor. They say it creates a diverse, educated workforce.
Sep 24, 2012 There's a burgeoning industry of inexpensive classes that promise to train dogs to alert their diabetic owners to a change in their blood sugar.

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Shanghai plant-based brand Youkuai recently partnered with Beijing-based Usource, which specialises in distribution for meat and plant-based brands in North China, to expand its B2B2C distribution across China.
Prior to that, Youkuai handled its own distribution – with B2C channels spanning WeChat, JD.com, and premium markets, and B2B in restaurants, hotels and catering to private schools, corporate canteens, and hospitals.
FoodNavigator-Asia previously covered Youkuai’s plant-based pork product line and its China’s distribution strategy in the early years of the business.
Its founder Franklin Yao explained it now wanted to focus on product development, and wanted a distributor to undertake sales and marketing to better understand its plant-based customers coming from each channel.
“The most important thing is to gather information and figure out how to leverage on this. We want to learn about this market in order to develop better fit products for them.
“[Right now], we are handling one channel – catering – where we’re very close to the customers and we can develop new products for that. For other channels, we’re best served to work with highly competent partners that share our values and care for our customer experience,” he added.
Current state of China’s plant-based market
Despite having the world’s largest consumer economy, Yao’s sentiments were that the development of plant-based consumer trends was put to a halt due to the pandemic “sealing off China from the rest of the world.”
He added that it is an established category in the United States and Europe, and one can easily find a vegan or plant-based aisle in a common supermarket, or even an ethnic one.
“Everybody expects how quickly this would take off in China. I think for the most part, it has not been a quick win. Whether it’s start-ups, established Chinese companies or even global MNCs, they have tried to do the China market, but nobody has really met their expectations.
“I think what this has done is force the remaining players in China like ourselves to really think deeply and reset the way we do our business to understand our market. We need to think carefully about our product offerings and the channels to target the customers,” he elaborated.
Notably, Yao added that there was a consolidation of players in China’s plant-based market. At the current state, it would make sense for the companies to leverage on each other’s expertise – for Youkuai, it is product development – and collaborate more to tackle the market.
“The initial hype around plant-based meat have largely retracted from the China market right now. So really, the companies that have the best quality and can find a fit in the market are the only ones that are actively playing in the market right now.”
Continued focus on B2B distribution
Yao said it will continue to focus on B2B distribution, as the repeat order rate is higher, and it is able to gather concrete feedback from partners on how customers prefer to consume its plant-based products.
“Getting somebody to try something the first time is easier than getting them to buy it the second time. Within the catering channel, we’re getting customers to eat our products again. And we’re closer to the customer in terms of getting data like what recipes they like, price points, locations. The data gives us a lot of focus to develop products that are closer to what the customer wants.”
He explained the constraints of B2C marketing: “Marketing for a new category is extremely expensive. For our product to make a small percentage of the customer’s basket of goods is also inefficient.
“The data we get back from the supermarkets is not as transparent as we don’t see the customers directly consuming our plant-based products. That makes product development difficult. If we don’t have a close relationship with the individual customer, it’s very hard to do that market fit.”


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The Dow rose to a one-month high Monday, extending its winning streak to a sixth day. Investors cheered the U.S. move to scrap its plans of slapping tariffs on Mexico, driving the Nasdaq up 1 percent.
But Kenny & Co. founder Peter Kenny thinks this rebound rally is not sustainble.
SOUNDBITE: GLOBAL MARKETS ADVISORY GROUP SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST PETER KENNY (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"The factor that really drove the market was U.S.-China trade, and that is completely unresolved and still very much out there in the market and still very much going to have to be dealt with in addition to which I think we have other factors which should continue to provide some headwinds to any sort of really meaningful moves to the upside."
Tech stocks like Apple and Microsoft led the rally. Tableau Software's shares jumped after Salesforce.com said it'll buy the big data firm for $15 billion.
Shares of Raytheon rose. Aerospace giant United Technologies agreed to buy the defense contractor in a deal that'll create a new company worth $121 billion.
Kraft Heinz gained. The packaged food maker said the financial numbers it restated last month were accurate. But they're still under review by the U.S. Attorney's Office.


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By : Erik Gruenwedel | Posted: 28 Jan 2010
Apple Inc.’s unveiling last week of its much-hyped iPad — a 9.7-inch touch-screen device that allows for Web browsing, plays music, games, and can run more than 140,000 applications — could become the catalyst for movie downloads that the iPod was for music, analysts say.
Indeed, the iPad, through iTunes, would have access to thousands of releases categorized among the Top 100 rental and sellthrough titles, including The Invention of Lying, Gamer, Inglourious Basterds, Julie & Julia, The Hangover and episodes of “Jersey Shore,” “24,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bones,” “Fringe,” “Caprica” and “30 Rock,” among others.
The device could also help Apple turn the page on the underperforming AppleTV, which couldn’t access the Internet and had a limited capacity, among other issues.
While electronic sellthrough and rental distribution of Hollywood movies and television shows are readily available on the PC and increasingly the TV, mainstream adoption continues to lag due in large part to the limited screen size afforded on portable media devices.
“It’s the slickest screen that doesn’t strain your eyes if you are over 40,” said analyst Richard Doherty with The Envisioneering Group, who expects Apple to sell millions of iPads in the first year.
Doherty said he expects Apple to announce new content license deals in the coming weeks as momentum builds toward in-store availability. Specifically, he said studios are keen to Apple’s marketing prowess and the fact the iPad has increased safeguards against piracy.
“Almost every cell phone has SD cards, and even the iPhone can by synched illegally,” Doherty said. “But it is very difficult to get anything out of the iPad. It is something people in Hollywood have been looking for some time: An eyes-only portable device that could ultimately generate new movie pricing and release windows.”
But don’t expect Netflix, with its popular Watch Instantly streaming service, to jump on the iPad bandwagon, according to CEO Reed Hastings.
In a call with investors, Hastings said the company hadn’t submitted an iPhone application, and he wasn’t sure what Apple’s stance would be regarding its streaming service.
“It's not a huge priority for us because we’re so focused on the larger screens,” Hastings said. “Until we get our TV ubiquity and our Blu-ray Disc ubiquity, and we’re getting close on video game ubiquity, then we would next turn to the small screen. It’s just not a primary movie watching [option]. So it’s something we will get around to, but it’s not in the near term.”


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Singapore — foodpanda, leading delivery and grocery platform in Asia, celebrates its 10th anniversary with the unveiling of its first-of-its-kind brand ambassador — Pau-pau. The mascot will be given its own unique characteristics and will be featured on foodpanda’s different marketing platforms.
The introduction of Pau-Pau builds on foodpanda’s earlier brand refresh. The pink panda is the platform’s venture towards new brand representation, where, aside from the traditional marketing environments, the new brand ambassador will also be utilized to maximize digital marketing touchpoints.
Idan Haim, foodpanda’s vice president for growth and marketing, commented, “Pau-Pau is a first-of-its-kind among food delivery platforms in Asia! More than anything else, we wanted to create a personality that evokes love among customers. We want Pau-Pau to be an inspiration for people to live life on their own terms and to its fullest. We are excited for our customers to meet Pau-Pau, as we mark the start of a new decade for foodpanda in Asia,” Haim said.
Pau-pau will be featured on the LINE and Instagram apps as an available sticker to bolster use in consumer expression and communication. It will progressively be rolled out into all of foodpanda channels and interfaces, namely the app, website, digital and social media platforms, as well as live-environment activations and more.
The mascot has been developed with a unique set of characteristics that will further help it relate with a wider range of audiences across the Asian market; foodpanda said Pau-pau believes in caring for the environment, empowerment, and living freely.
Eunha Bhang, chief creative officer of delivery hero Asia, gave her thoughts on the uniqueness of the character.
“In creating Pau-Pau, we wanted him to also have a dimension of purpose — that he stands for something more than just being an adorable mascot. Pau-Pau embodies and brings to life the foodpanda spirit by helping our communities reimagine how they use delivery and thereby adding vibrancy and fun in their lives,” she shared.
With the announcement of Pau-pau, one of the character’s key projects will be spearheading the campaign for plastic-free and environmentally-friendly consumerism with foodpanda’s Global Sustainable Packaging Programme to encourage merchant and consumer responsibility.
The one-of-its-kind ambassador was first rolled out in Japan, Taiwan, and Cambodia in December 2021, which was subsequently followed by its appearance in other foodpanda networks namely Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Laos. The next phase will introduce the ambassador in the Philippines, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Last November, foodpanda also announced its partnership with Chinese tech giant Xiaomi to venture into q-commerce allowing the option of purchasing consumer electronic products and appliances through its apps.


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New Delhi: The Central GST and State GST authorities organized a nationwide GST Stakeholder Feedback Day (Diwas) on New GST Returns for getting an on-the-spot response to the new GST Returns in 125 cities across the country where over 7500 trade associations & stakeholders participated in the program, said a Press communication from the Ministry of Finance. The new return form is to be made mandatory from 1 April 2020.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said that the Feedback Day programs are still going on at various places, adding that preliminary reports received with CGST authorities are very encouraging. There has been an overwhelming response from GST stakeholders and several useful suggestions have been received, the Ministry claimed.
The program was widely welcomed by GST stakeholders and tax professional & fraternity, and was significant that besides a large number of taxpayers, all prominent chambers of commerce and industry, tax practitioners & compliance managers also participated in the programs, said the release.
CBIC said that CGST officers explained the new GST Returns and encouraged participants to themselves upload these Returns (ANX-1 and ANX-2) and give feedback in regard to the ease of compliance, uploading, deficiencies and improvements, if any.
The focus was on assessing the ease of compliance and uploading of these new returns so that taxpayers and traders don’t face any difficulty when the returns are made mandatory.
CBIC further said that the detailed feedback would be available by Monday, 9 Dec, and the Board will further work on it to facilitate ease of compliance and convenience to taxpayers. CBIC hailed the program as a step in the right direction for greater transparency in tax administration.
It may be noted that the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had directed the CGST and SGST authorities to organize a nationwide interaction with stakeholders on 7 Dec in order to collect first-hand feedback on the new GST Returns that are proposed to be rolled out from April 2020.
This was a follow up of the Finance Minister’s meeting held on 16 November with select taxpayers, Chartered Accountants, and Tax practitioners on the same subject.
Further, during the 1st National Conference on GST held on 25 November, the Revenue Secretary had also urged State GST authorities to hold similar stakeholder consultations in their jurisdictions.
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Happy Lunar New Year from the USC US-China Institute!
Chairs Issue Statement about Forced Labor in Apple’s Supply Chain in Xinjiang
(Washington)—Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China, in a statement today urged Apple CEO Tim Cook to transparently engage with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure that Apple’s supply chains are free of forced labor and to divest from Chinese suppliers who take part in the Chinese government’s “labor transfer” programs, particularly from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Apple has stated that they found no evidence of forced labor anywhere they operate.
“The mounting evidence is beyond troubling. Despite persistent assurances from Apple that their supply chains were free of forced labor, we now have evidence that it is tainted,” said the Chairs. “We urge Apple CEO Tim Cook to divest from Chinese suppliers in Xinjiang who are implicated in forced labor in China. We also ask Apple to engage with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on their China supply chains to ensure that no Apple import is made with forced labor. There must be a concerted, tough, and global response to the atrocities being committed in Xinjiang. We again press our House and Senate colleagues to swiftly pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would impose real costs on any Chinese entity using the slave labor of Uyghur and other Muslim ethnic minorities.”
The statement comes in response to new investigative reports by the Tech Transparency Project, The Information, and the New York Times detailing Apple’s extensive connections with companies operating in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including ties to companies participating in coercive “labor transfer” programs involving ethnic minority workers, programs involving widespread and systematic forced labor that was a key element of the U.S. State Department’s determination that atrocity crimes are being committed in the XUAR.
The Chairs—along with CECC Commissioners Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ)—are the sponsors of the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R.1155 / S.65). These bills restrict imports from the XUAR until both Chinese and U.S. companies can demonstrate to U.S. Customs and Border Protection that there is no forced labor in their supply chains.
Ying Zhu looks at new developments for Chinese and global streaming services.
David Zweig examines China's talent recruitment efforts, particularly towards those scientists and engineers who left China for further study. U.S. universities, labs and companies have long brought in talent from China. Are such people still welcome?


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Retail Sales Monitor
Sales Slow as Consumers Tighten Purse Strings
Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief Executive, BRC:
As consumer confidence continued to sink, March saw sales slow, and while spend remained above last year this likely reflects higher prices. Beauty and fashion items were popular last month, as consumers took to their town and city centres for some retail therapy in the run up to Mother’s Day. While it is promising to see experiential shopping back in fashion, much in-store retail has not recovered to its pre-pandemic level. Online sales also decreased compared to last year but remain well above 2019 levels due to investment by retailers in their digital offer.
The rising cost-of-living and the ongoing war in Ukraine has shaken consumer confidence, with expectations of people’s personal finances over the next 12 months reaching depths not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. Furthermore, households are yet to feel the full impact of the recent rise in energy prices and national insurance changes. There is also potential for further supply chain disruption, with China putting key manufacturing and port cities into lockdown. Ultimately, consumers face an enormous challenge this year, and this is likely to be reflected in retail spend in the future.
Don Williams, Retail Partner, KPMG:
Growth on the high street continued last month with total sales up 3.1% compared to March 2021, driven by a strong performance across most non-food categories. However, the drag came from food sales which were down 6.1%, potentially due to the timing of Easter in 2021 and compounded by the impact of the lockdown in March last year.
Online sales fell across all categories compared to March 2021, but penetration rates remain high confirming the “locked in step up” in online purchasing. This continues to force retailers to focus on finding the most effective mix between physical and online retailing.
Sales growth in March rose at the slowest rate so far this year, suggesting clouds on the horizon as household budgets come under pressure from rising costs, an increasing tax burden and competition from holidays. There is concern on what this could mean for consumer confidence and the impact on discretionary spend. Additionally, retailers are facing their own battle with rising costs and inflation, and are walking a tightrope between absorbing rising costs themselves or passing these on to consumers, when competition for share of a shrinking wallet is increasingly fierce. The best retailers will continue to balance attention on areas that can yield cost and efficiency gains with a clear understanding of their customer and what they want to buy and how. The primary concern now is whether consumers will choose to reduce their physical and virtual shopping to counteract rising household bills and reduced household income.
Food & Drink sector performance, Susan Barratt, CEO, IGD:
Food and drink sales struggled in March, partly due to facing strong comparatives to 2021. Not only were sales elevated last year due to lockdown, but Easter was also earlier and we’re yet to see holiday spending ramp up this year.
It is no surprise that shopper confidence continues to fall and is now lower than the previous low of December 2013 when the horsemeat scandal impacted the food industry. There was a brief peak in confidence when it looked like oil prices might come down, but with 50% of shoppers now expecting food prices to become much more expensive, this optimism was short-lived. These challenges affect shoppers in different ways, with household cutbacks seeing less affluent shoppers skipping meals to save money. This volatile time is set to continue as the reality of the energy price increase, as well as general inflation, hits home for shoppers.


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Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics will be showing off some large TVs that have four times the sharpness of HD TV sets. The ultra-HD TVs with curved screens measure 105 inches diagonally. Samsung and LG announced these TVs in separate statements today.
Samsung and LG both started selling curved TV sets this year with OLED displays measuring 55 inches.
The premium TV sets will be made of LCD panels that have over 11 million pixels – 5120 pixels wide and 2160 pixels high.
The limitation is that there is a lack of substantial ultra-HD video content. Content companies are starting to catch up now though. For example, Sony Corporation believes that ultra-HD video will become the new standard and is working on gadgets and movies in ultra-HD (also known as 4K).


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Unlike rival Lyft (LYFT - Free Report) , Uber UBER priced its shares conservatively at $45, the low end of its targeted range of $44-50.
That’s because the company ultimately chose a relatively unfavorable time to go public, when the U.S.-China trade talks are about to yield a deal, or not. The markets are showing signs of nervousness and any negative news could push the shares into a rut it might be difficult to get out of.
Moreover, it may be learning from Lyft’s experience, since the market has now digested just what kind of business ridesharing is and come to terms with the fact that the road to profitability is decidedly cloudy.
But while one aspect of the business remains the same, it’s worth noting that Uber is far more diversified both in terms of geography and the market adjacencies it’s targeting. Yes, all those markets are horribly crowded, but there are proven models because some of those competitors are making money. Moreover, Uber Eats is already pulling customers in droves. Uber needs cash to keep building market share before it can increase rates and benefit from scale. Its trucking and logistics bets are other levers that can generate profits at scale.
Lyft’s narrow focus on ridesharing in the U.S. isn’t a total negative either because its resources are better applied.
Lyft is also in a relationship with Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Waymo, which is the furthest along in the self-driving car race. So, according to a deal they recently signed, customers in the Phoenix area will be able to hail one out of ten driverless Waymos although initially, a safety driver will ride in the cars.
Waymo is repurposing a Detroit factory on American Axle & Manufacturing’s campus to make its level 4 driverless cars. This is a big deal for Waymo no doubt as it validates a business proposition, but it’s also a big deal for Lyft, because if all goes well, it can at least partially solve its driver problem (over the next few years). It can then profitably expand in some of the other market adjacencies like food delivery. Uber’s prospectus indicates its driverless goals are still somewhere in the more distant future.
Drivers of course are extremely concerned about the automation in the space, a big factor in their ongoing strikes. They are demanding job security, minimum wages of $20 an hour and more while comparing their pay to the CEO’s. Uber’s marketing pitch to drivers has been that they are in a partnership, so they feel they are entitled. Some drivers want 80% of the proceeds, which Uber is apparently already paying in some cases.
A Yahoo Finance report quotes an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report from last year that says that Uber driver pay averages only $9.21 an hour after deductions for Uber fees, vehicle expenses, payroll taxes, and the cost of a “modest benefits package” (whatever that package is).
The point is, if $9.21 is the hourly rate, it’s below the minimum wage in some states, below the $13.51 average hourly rate for service workers and below the $27.77 earned by private sector workers. Uber says its drivers are contract labor, which is another thing that may be contested in the courts.
All said and done, this remains a market in the making and it’s very unlikely to be a winner-take-all kind of thing. Competition is likely to be fierce and regulatory frameworks are not available, so margins are likely to remain low, if and when the companies see profits.
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Maple syrup: Early spring means sweet shortages
Maple syrup producers expect a multi-million dollar loss as sap runs early due to warm weather. The good news – no expected price hike.
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MONTREAL—Warm weather had maple sap flowing early this year, resulting in less syrup for many producers in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association says producers in the province will have a multimillion-dollar loss due to output that’s down at least 50 per cent in parts of the province.
But association president Ray Bonenberg says he doesn’t expect the price of maple syrup to increase for consumers this year because the price went up slightly last year and it’s set every couple of years.
In Quebec, maple syrup production has wrapped early up except for in the eastern part of the province and production is down in southern areas.
Quebec’s maple syrup association has a three-year stockpile of syrup and its members can buy insurance to get them through a bad season.
Nova Scotia’s maple producers association says production is expected to be down a bit due to the warm weather, and New Brunswick producers could also faces losses depending on the weather in the coming days.
- City pays $2M to open Gardiner two months ahead of schedule
- NEW RBC weighs a return to Cuba
- U.S.-Cuba thaw means holiday could be over for Canadian tourists: experts
- Sick inmates kept in solitary in new Toronto superjail
- NEW Religious fundamentalism is a common enemy
- New Supreme Court judge waged $200K tax battle over clothes bill
- Boko Haram kills 31 people, kidnaps 191
- How can hockey analytics help measure a coach's value?
Royal Bank first opened an office in Cuba in 1899. The lender shut its retail banking operations on the island in 1960 and five years later closed its representative office there.


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EverFi, a D.C.-based edtech company, announced a $40 million Series C round of venture funding, Wednesday.
The round was led by Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, Alphabet (formerly Google) CEO Eric Schmidt and other investors including New Enterprise Associates. Three new investors, Advance Publications, Rethink Impact and Silicon Valley Bank, were also announced as part of the funding round. Advance Publications is the parent company of American City Business Journals, which owns DC Inno. The deal was first reported by Fortune.
The raise comes just a week after EverFi announced it would acquire LawRoom, a compliance education company, to further expand its subscription-based education software model. Part of the funding announced Wednesday will help complete the acquisition, EverFi founder and CEO Tom Davidson told Fortune. EverFi has over 3,300 partners nationwide and reaches 6 million learners, according to the company.
“EverFi has created one of the most powerful and innovative models in the education space,” said Davidson in a release Wednesday. “Our goal is to be the learning engine of every major corporation, university, and school district around these critical topic areas.”
EverFi was founded in 2008 and has raised $61 million to date, including the latest $40 million. As DC Inno reported earlier this year, investment in education technology has continued to rise, even as overall venture capital deals have appeared to stall from their height in 2014 and 2015. The latest raise from EverFi seems to back up that finding.
“Education is recession-proof generally,” Andrew Rosen, CEO of edtech startup Interfolio and a co-founder of Blackboard told DC Inno at the time. “And education traditionally lags in technology. There’s still lots of space.”


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By Christian McDermott
In recent years, PE firms have been paying to play in the payment processing sector. From Worldpay and Nets, to Bambora and Paysafe, payment processing companies have proven to be attractive investments for European PE. In our view, a wave of regulation in the FinTech sector will unleash further growth potential, and PE firms may be well-positioned to take advantage of this.
Click for larger image.
The number of M&A transactions in the payment services industry has increased in Europe over the past five years, and we believe the sector will remain hot. A wave of regulation has been designed to stimulate competition and encourage new market entrants. Chief among this is EU Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (known as “PSD2” since it replaces the existing EU payment services directive). PSD2 came into effect in EU Member States in January 2018, and has been designed to help newer market entrants (including FinTech startups) compete with traditional banks. Under PSD2, banks must open up their consumer data to FinTech companies. This is designed to allow these companies to use the data to take a bigger slice of the payment processing market, which has been typically dominated by banks and more established payment processors.
In our view, PSD2 will result in the creation of innovative financial products and potential investment opportunities. It allows FinTech companies to launch financial services products that link into banks’ infrastructure. The two key business models contemplated by PSD2 are: (i) “account information service providers”, who provide consolidated account information to consumers (e.g., via a smartphone app on which users will be able to see their various balances all in one place); and (ii) “payment initiation service providers”, who facilitate online payments from consumer bank accounts (while avoiding the costs associated with maintaining the account itself). Continue Reading


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The PlayStation 4 has launched in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Australia, India, and other Asian and European territories, but it has not yet seen a launch in its home territory of Japan. But with the February 22nd launch in Japan rapidly approaching, Sony has started to market the thing.
The video you see above is the first Japanese commercial for the console, and it goes international, showing us the launches and hype for the console in different cities around the world. It’s good at showing the sentiment and excitement that surrounded the PS4 launch worldwide, but I don’t know, if I was Japanese, I’d just be pissed that everyone in the world got it before me and that I get it last.
Still, it’s a great ad, and with the console market in Japan rapidly contracting, and the handheld market poaching on it, it will be interesting to see how the PS4 does in the country once it launches.


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Plus, QSR Magazine released a report that the average Chick-fil-A makes about $4.4 million in sales per year — $1.7 million more than the next best restaurant, Whataburger. In fact, Chick-fil-A makes more per restaurant than McDonald’s, Subway and Starbucks combined, even while being closed every Sunday.
How much did Chick-fil-A make in 2020?
Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Atlanta-based quick service restaurant chain Chick-fil-A reported record revenues in 2020 amounting to 4.3 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.5 billion U.S. dollars from the previous year.
How much money does Chick-fil-A lose on Sunday?
Chick-fil-A likely loses out on more than $1 billion in sales every year by closing on Sundays — and it’s a brilliant business strategy. Chick-fil-A likely loses more than $1 billion a year by staying closed on Sundays.
Does Chick-fil-A have any debt?
Forbes Magazine estimates Cathy’s wealth at $1.8 billion. Chick-fil-A has annual sales of more than $3.5 billion, with more than 1,500 locations. In a question-and-answer session, Cathy touted Chick-fil-A’s efforts to avoid long-term debt, and likened it to his practice of paying cash for property and automobiles.
What was Chick-fil-A’s revenue last year?
Georgia-based quick service restaurant (QSR) chain Chick-fil-A accounted for systemwide sales of approximately 12.8 billion U.S. dollars in its native country of the United States in 2020, up from 11 billion the previous year.
Do Chick-fil-A employees have to say my pleasure?
A Reddit AMA about a year ago revealed it’s not official company policy for employees to end conversations with “my pleasure,” but that it is recommended and encouraged during employee training. The same AMA confirmed most Chick-Fil-A employees do use the term regardless.
How much do you have to spend to be a Chick-fil-A red member?
To become a Red Member, the program’s highest level, you will have to achieve 5,000 points by spending around $417 in total.
Who owns Chick-fil-A?
As a family-owned business, the Cathy family has been working together for 70 years. Just as Truett Cathy built Chick-fil-A alongside his wife and children, today several second and third generation Cathy family members are carrying on that tradition, while others pursue talents in other fields.
Can you open a Chick-fil-A for 10k?
Chick-fil-A franchise operators pay just $10,000 to open a new restaurant in the US. About 60,000 people apply for a franchise each year, and less than 1% of them are eventually chosen. Here’s what the process of opening a Chick-fil-A is like from start to finish. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
How hard is it to open a Chick-fil-A?
A very selective process According to an article from The Washington Post, Chick-fil-A only accepts 100 to 115 franchisees from the 40,000 who apply every year. That means only 0.25 percent of applicants are chosen (your kids’ chances of getting into Harvard are better!).
How much is a Starbucks franchise?
Starbucks Costs (Corporation) in millions. The Starbucks franchisee fee is $400,000 and includes furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E). Costs to open a Starbucks franchise/licensed location ranges from $400,000 to $2,000,000+.
How much is a McDonald’s franchise?
McDonald’s franchisee applicants must have a minimum of $500,000 available in liquid assets and pay a $45,000 franchise fee. Those looking to launch a new McDonald’s franchise can expect to shell out between $1,314,500 and $2,306,500. Existing franchise prices can cost upwards of $1 million or more.
How much is Chick-fil-A royalty fee?
Percentage royalty Chick-fil-A charges a 15% plus 50% royalty of all profits from franchisees, which is by far the steepest of any QSR branOn, on the other end of the spectrum, Wendy’s requires from its franchisees a minimum net worth of $5 million but charges them just 4% royalty.
Who is CEO of Chick-fil-A?
— Andrew T. Cathy, the grandson of the founder of Chick-fil-A Inc., will take over the role of chief executive officer, succeeding his father Dan Cathy, effective Nov. 1, 2021. Andrew Cathy is stepping into the leadership position after serving as executive vice president since 2019.
Who made Chick-fil-A?
Chick-fil-A, Inc., Founder S. Truett Cathy died Sept. 8, 2014, at age 93. Cathy started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House®).
Who makes more Chick-fil-A or McDonald’s?
A lot more. In fact, the average Chick-fil-A unit made around $4,090,900 in 2017. By contrast, the total sales for a McDonald’s ($2,670,320 per unit), Starbucks ($945,270) and Subway ($416,860) is $4,032,450. That’s crazy — especially since Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.
What state has the most Chick-fil-A?
The state with the most number of Chick-Fil-A locations in the US is Texas, with 454 locations, which is 16% of all Chick-Fil-A locations in America.
Does McDonald’s make more money than Chick-fil-A?
These are the largest fast-food chains by revenue in the United States, including all system-wide sales (which includes franchise sales) as reported by QSR Magazine: McDonald’s: $37 billion in system-wide U.S. sales. Chick-fil-A: $9 billion in system-wide U.S. sales.
How much does a McDonald’s franchise owner make?
How much does a McDonald’s franchise owner make annually? Overall, McDonald’s estimates that franchisees can expect to make about $150,000 in profits annually on average after an initial investment of $1,013,000 to $2,185,000.
Do you have to work at Chick-fil-A to own one?
Being a franchised Chick-fil-A Operator is anything but a passive investment. For Chick-fil-A Operators, their return on investment goes well beyond the dollars and cents. You must have worked at a Chick-fil-A restaurant before applying for a franchise opportunity. Nope.
How many Chick-fil-A are there in the world?
Atlanta-based quick service restaurant chain Chick-fil-A had 2,598 franchised and company-operated restaurants in 2020, an increase of 104 locations from the previous year.


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Facebook’s Internet-Providing Drone Just Took its First Test Flight
Facebook’s quest to offer more accessible internet services to the rest of the world continues onward and upward, into the literal sky, with the maiden voyage of their new drone, Aquila. Fun fact about the name: it means “Eagle” in Latin, and it was originally a boys’ name, although when I heard it in this video, I assumed the name of the drone was the girls’ name Akeelah. Now that I’ve seen it written out, though, I can tell that Aquila is clearly a boy drone, so I guess I better come up with a better phrase to use than “maiden voyage,” hm?
Okay, so, jokes about gendering a drone aside, this is pretty exciting news. As Wired‘s coverage explains, Aquila provides internet access to the areas underneath it, and the final design will be outfitted with solar power so that the drone can fly around for years without needing any fuel. It won’t last forever, because those parts will undergo a lot of weather-related wear-and-tear, but the final design projects that these drones could last several years before needing to be replaced.
Facebook plans to provide the final designs to countries where internet coverage is scarce. As the video up top explains, “Facebook doesn’t actually want to operate these drones; so plan is to give the designs away, so that local governments or internet service providers can fly them, delivering signals to rural areas down on Earth.”
Facebook’s other attempts to offer more accessible internet services to more people haven’t always worked out as planned. For example, Facebook recently worked with an internet service provider in India to provide more access through a service called “Free Basics,” which included a pared-down version of Facebook (and not much else). Unfortunately, by doing this, Facebook made it more difficult for other ISPs to compete with the low low price of”free”, so ironically, the program ended up making internet access more limited overall. Facebook’s “free internet” idea wreaked havoc on India’s local economy by creating an option that wasn’t particularly good but also was too cheap to be matched by other internet service providers.
Facebook also has partnered with French satellite operator Eutelsat to get more internet access available in remote areas of Africa. Increased internet connectivity has already benefited the tech industry in Africa, so the satellite idea seems like a good thing, but after seeing Facebook’s recent failures when it came to working with ISPs in India, it’s hard to feel confident about their satellite idea or their recent drone idea.
Since Facebook plans to sell the drone designs to “local governments and internet service providers,” however, it seems as though they’ve learned a lesson or two. That method seems like a better idea than Facebook claiming ownership of the drones and becoming a worldwide dominator in the field of internet access, which would end up impacting local economies and giving Facebook an unnerving monopoly on drone-powered wifi. Making the drone designs available to local communities and companies, who can then decide how to employ them, sounds like a better move—but I’m sure there’s still a few ways this could all go horribly wrong (e.g. drones impacting local wildlife).
But, hey. The drones aren’t going to be fully designed with solar power enhancements for another couple of years, so there’s still some time to work out the kinks!
(via Wired, image via screenshot)
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
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We are delighted to support Bread & Jam’s first virtual plant-based summit for vegan challenger brands, industry experts, retailers and investors.
Over the past two years, the number of vegans in the UK has grown by 700% to 3.5 million. Bread & Jam's one day Plant Based Summit has assembled 30 industry experts, thought leaders, retailers and plant-based pioneers to discuss this rapidly growing sector.
The summit, which takes place on Wednesday 31st March, has a packed schedule on a range of topics including launching plant-based challenger brands and exploring what opportunities plant-based investors are looking to back.
“DRG works with many ambitious food and drink brands,” says Oliver Burton, Partner at DRG Chartered Accountants. “We are delighted to be able to support this exciting new event.”


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With the lockdown imposed throughout the country due to novel Covid-19, people have taken to virtual world to engage themselves. The traffic on websites have increased two-fold as well as new platforms have emerged in this duration. Online gaming platforms had gained a dedicated set of followers even before the pandemic began. Bengaluru-based e-sports start-up EWar Games has seen an increase in the users by three times.
With the surge, the gaming startup now serves over 500,000 people. The EWar mobile app has seen an increase of 40% in the average time spent by a user per day. The average number of games played daily has noted 4X growth as well. EWar allows the users to play skill-based games and win cash rewards for the same. They aim to make gaming not only fun but a cash cow as well.
Bengaluru-based e-sports and real-time gaming startup EWar Games has raised $200,000 in equity funding from the House of Jindals (family office) and Jeet Banerjee, Founder of Gameplan, a sports management firm based out of Kolkata.
EWar aims to work on its User Experience as well as Market reach through this.


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The Maritime Sector acting in solidarity with the country will apply measures to provide relief to the importers.
Companies engaged in logistics and transportation can continue to operate under exceptions of Executive Decree 507 of 2020, and support is being provided to importers who cannot mobilize their cargo to their warehouses. In this sense:
These conditions are valid for full import containers, it does not apply to refrigerated cargo. In case it becomes necessary to store the containers outside the operational area of the port, they will be charged a nominal fee.
These measures are temporary and once the effects of the operation restrictions are suspended, these benefits will not be granted any longer.
The port terminals will be granting free storage time of 15 days from 6 and until April 20 (inclusive) 2020. For the granting of this term, companies that are not excepted in decree 507, must make their request to the Ministry of Commerce and Industries through the following email: firstname.lastname@example.org. The MICI that will send the list of companies that have this prerogative, and will systematically send it to the terminals in order to keep it updated.
Shipping companies may grant up to a maximum of 15 days free of equipment retention depending on the case.
For those customers who maintain valid contracts with the shipping lines in which they are granted more than 15 days free of retention, the provisions of the corresponding contract will remain in force.


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2016 Commercial Integrator State of the Industry Report
By Tom LeBlanc · January 4, 2016 •
Commercial Integrator's State of the Industry Reports gives valuable insight into the AV Integration industry that technology decision makers should know.
5 Things the Technology Decision Maker Needs to Think about in 2016
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 31, 2015 •
With a new year comes new technology decisions to be made. Here’s what you should be thinking about as we move into 2016.
Ten Years Ago Amazon Revolutionized Computing, and No One Noticed
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 30, 2015 •
Ten years after introducing a technology it called the cloud, thousands are benefiting from the revolutionary technology from Amazon.
Next Generation Workplace: Enabling a Flexible Corporate Culture
By Vishal Brown · December 29, 2015 •
While work flexibility is a clear desire of most workers, creating a truly flexible corporate culture requires lots of preplanning, and it’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all policy.
14 Best Corporate Products of 2015
By TechDecisions Staff · December 28, 2015 •
We asked integrators and end users to nominate some of their favorite products for 2015. These products helped end users do their jobs better.
Help the Environment with Real Christmas Trees
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 24, 2015 •
Crushing blow to the real versus fake Christmas Tree debate: artificial Christmas trees can have up to ten times the carbon footprint as real trees.
Will Wireless Charging Kill the USB Cord?
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 23, 2015 •
Since the Qi charging standard was agreed upon, wireless charging has pushed into the home, car and workplace.
Watch: First Ever Live Projection Mapping Performance on a Human Face
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 22, 2015 •
Wildbytes created the first live face projection mapping performance on stage for Sephora.
Video Conferencing Set To Grow in 2016
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 18, 2015 •
Businesses are increasingly incorporating videoconferencing while manufacturers are partnering and buying in order to take advantage of this growth.
Are You Ready to Embrace the Next-Gen Workplace?
By Vishal Brown · December 17, 2015 •
As the concept of “work” continues to evolve, the environment and the technologies used to optimize collaboration, innovation, and productivity become increasingly more valuable.
Conducting Workplace Investigations with Case Management Software
By Nori De Jesus · December 16, 2015 •
In the unfortunate case of investigating employees, case management software can help to manage the extensive data.
Cisco and Microsoft Battle for Unified Communications Supremacy
By TechDecisions Staff · December 15, 2015 •
In the past few weeks both companies have announced upgrades to UC services, and will fight for medium to large enterprise clients as a result.
Saving Money with Collaborative Open Office Spaces
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 11, 2015 •
Gary Crowe, CFO of Ricoh, explains how his company has saved money and boosted productivity through collaboration.
HPE Focusing on the Edge of Internet of Things
By Jonathan Blackwood · December 10, 2015 •
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is looking to move computing to the edge of IoT in order to better manage data collection and analysis.
5 Future Trends of Digital Signage From the Trenches
By Rick Mattock · December 9, 2015 •
Rick Mattock, CTO and SVP of Technology for RMG Networks, gives us 5 trends he anticipates for the future of digital signage.


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Phone bills are likely to increase after BT's rates were doubled
The British communications company has warned its customers it is "highly likely" they will have to transfer some of the costs on after the Valuation Office Agency more than doubled its annual rates from £149 million a year to £343 million.
British Telecom's rate actually jumped to £714 million, during the first revaluation for six years, but for technical reasons it only needs to pay about half that amount.
After the new rates were announced, a spokesman for BT said: "It is highly likely that an increase of this size would lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses.
"We are extremely disappointed by the new rateable values, which are clearly excessive."
The firm also warned the increase could have "a negative impact on future investment in the network".
BT has been hit with one of the biggest increases but thousands of businesses across Britain will also suffer when the new rates are introduced in April.
Philip Hammond has come under fire after business rates were increased
Virgin Media, another communications giant, saw its rates quadruple.
Chief executive Tom Mockridge said: "The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, is choosing to side-step responsibility for a huge increase in infrastructure taxes at the very moment after the Brexit vote the UK needs to maximise investment into its digital fibre network."
The Valuation Office Agency bases the rates on rental values and rising London rents have been blamed for the huge increases.
A typical store in London's Regent Street saw its rates increase by 50%, from £1.029 million to £1.54 million, while other London businesses will watch theirs go up by an average of 11%.
Virgin Media's Tom Mockridge is not happy about the business rate increases
Gas, water, electricity and telecoms companies as well as railways were handed an average 28% increase.
As if the increases weren't enough bad news, the Government has announced its transition relief scheme, designed to help businesses phase in the increases, will be less generous than expected.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called the rates increases "a real kick in the teeth" for British businesses and called for the hikes to be phased in more slowly.
Browsing the Internet will soon cost more for millions of Brits
Business rates in some areas outside London will fall but not by as much as many had hoped.
James Thompson, head of business rates at Deloitte Real Estate, said: "This comes as a blow to retailers operating in hard-hit high streets who had anticipated falls of more than 50%."
The Government has also been criticised for not allowing businesses to appeal the new rates until they come into effect in April, after which it could take a number of years for an appeal to be processed.


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Merchant news stories
QuickFee launches payments platform, improves profitability
QuickFee Limited has announced the completion and launch of its proprietary payments platform, QUBE, and subsequent improvement to operating profitability.
Xero partners with Shopify to help support small businesses
Cloud-based accounting software platform Xero has announced that it will partner with Shopify to help better support small businesses.


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When is a mouse not just a mouse? When it has a dedicated voice button, apparently. In collaboration with Baidu, Logitech is launching an all-new mouse which features such a button. Called "Voice M380 Wireless Mouse with Speech Input," Logitech's newest product is exclusive to China and is priced at 199 RMB -- that's equivalent to about $30 here in the USA.
It appears to have no thumb buttons, but it does have both vertical and horizontal scrolling -- a feature I adore for working with large (particularly wide) spreadsheets. Besides the off-white color seen above, it will also be available in graphite and rose.
Debian is a great operating system in its own right, but also, it makes for an excellent base for other Linux distributions as well. For example, Ubuntu is probably the most well-known Linux distro and it is based on Debian. There are countless other operating systems, such as Netrunner, that stand on Debian's figurative shoulders.
The prettiest and most exciting Debian-based operating system, however, is deepin. This Chinese-developed Linux distribution is probably the most beautiful desktop operating system on the planet; it is arguably better than both Apple's macOS and Microsoft's Windows 10 in the style department. deepin has what some consider the most beautiful and intuitive user interfaces.
In a brief statement issued late last night, Microsoft revealed that it was out of the running to buy TikTok’s US operations.
US President Donald Trump claims that TikTok (and other Chinese apps) pose a threat to national security and his administration has set a September 15 deadline for ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, to either sell US operations or shut them down.
Five related Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups operating in the interest of the Chinese government have systematically targeted Linux servers, Windows systems and mobile devices running Android while remaining undetected for nearly a decade.
A new report from BlackBerry looks at how these threats have been part of pervasive economic espionage operations targeting intellectual property.
As if the various privacy and security concerns that have plagued Zoom recently had not been enough, now it has been revealed that the company has been routing some calls made in North America through China.
Asking whether Zoom is a "US company with a Chinese heart", security researchers at Citizen Lab reported their discovery that during test meetings, encryption and decryption keys were routed through a server in Bejing. This raised eyebrows, and the company has now tried to explain what happened and issued its second apology this week.
As you'll be more than aware, there’s a virus rampant in China and it has spread to other countries, including cases in the US. But there’s been a lot of FUD surrounding it and we honestly don’t know what the real numbers for cases and deaths are.
If Anonymous is to be believed then we may know a bit more. The group claims its numbers are backed up and verified.
The UK government has announced that -- despite being considered a "high-risk vendor" -- Huawei will be permitted to contribute to the 5G network infrastructure in Britain.
The US recently warned that allowing the Chinese firm to be involved in the rollout of 5G would be "madness", but the UK has chosen to ignore this. Huawei will have limits placed on its contributions, meaning that it will only be able to supply "non-core" elements of the network.
We all know that standards of privacy and surveillance vary around the world. But which places are best at protecting your privacy?
Research from security testing site Comparitech finds that no single country is consistent in protecting the privacy of its citizens, most are actively monitoring citizens, and only five could be deemed to have 'adequate safeguards'.
Huawei makes some of the best laptops around -- the company actually puts Apple's design team to shame. This focus on elegance cannot be said for many other Windows PC manufacturers, as they often just set their sights on cutting corners to keep prices down.
And that is why Donald Trump's xenophobic attacks on Huawei are so tragic. Huawei's computers and smartphones are wonderful, but with uncertainty about access to Windows and proper Android (with Google apps), consumers are correct to be a bit concerned.
The China-based Thrip group was first exposed in 2018 and has carried out attacks across South East Asia, mainly targeting military organizations and satellite communications operators.
New research from Symantec shows that since June 2018 Thrip has attacked 12 targets located in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Analysis of the attacks shows close links to another long-established espionage group called Billbug making it likely the two are the same.
At a weekend meeting with Donald Trump, Tim Cook made a "compelling" argument for Apple to be exempt from tariffs.
Cook is said to have argued if Apple was forced to pay tariffs, it made it difficult to compete with other companies, such as Samsung. Trump acknowledged that it was "tough" for Apple to be paying tariffs on its China-made products when Samsung was not subject to them, but made no indication that exemption for Apple was on the cards.
Google has decided to close down its controversial Project Dragonfly which would have seen the company launching a censored version of its search engine in China.
The company's vice president of public policy, Karan Bhatia, made the revelation speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday. She said simply: "We have terminated Project Dragonfly".
China's track record with privacy violations, control of the internet and control of its citizens is well known. But now anyone who has ever visited the country has cause for concern.
Enter China via the border crossing between Xinjiang and Kyrgyzstan, and you're required to hand over your phone -- unlocked. This would obviously lead the owner to expect a little rooting around by officials, but an investigation has found that border officials are actually installing secret spy apps on iPhones and Android phones to scour emails, texts and other data stored on devices.
Amazon's e-ink Kindle-reader devices, Fire tablets, and the associated e-book service are wildly popular. Competitor devices, such as the Nook from Barnes and Noble, simply don't compare. Is it worrying that Amazon essentially has a stranglehold on the digital book market? I suppose, but look, no other company has truly put up a worthy alternative. Even Apple's Books service, while decent, doesn't have an e-ink reader -- reading on an iPad is not ideal.
Sadly, Traditional Chinese readers were not able to properly take advantage of Amazon's Kindle. Thankfully, this has now changed. Yes, Amazon has brought support for Traditional Chinese books to Kindle!
The censorial Great Firewall of China is famed throughout the world for the restrictions it places on Chinese citizens. Internet users play a game of cat and mouse, seeking tools and methods for slipping through the censoring and spying that the government enforces.
But it is getting harder and harder to evade the Great Firewall. VPNs that once allowed unfettered access to the greater internet are quickly stomped on by the Chinese government, just as happens in Russia. At the end of March, a new update to the firewall blacklisted hundreds of VPN servers and now fewer VPN tools than ever work in China. So which is the best VPN for those fighting the Great Firewall?


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Gandhinagar – When the old number gets new users, the data associated with the old number also becomes accessible to new users. According to new findings from researchers at Princeton University, it can pose a risk to personal privacy and security.
Recycled numbers allow new users to access old user information. Forget about instantly updating your new number in digital accounts. One of the e-commerce applications always uses the old number.
The main threat of a phishing attack on users. Fish can be delivered to the customer through SMS.
The attacker can also use the number to sign up for various alerts, newspapers, campaigns and robocalls. The attacker can also use the recycle number in the profile associated with the online number T by resetting the SMS-authenticated password. Telecom companies have done nothing to prevent a possible attack.


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Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., a building materials distributor based in Peabody, reported a small fiscal second-quarter loss, as harsh weather conditions in many of its markets reduced sales.
Beacon said the recent quarter was a tough one as a result of rough winter and spring weather conditions and comparisons to a prior-year period when sales to existing markets jumped 28 percent.
For the quarter ended March 31, the company lost $161,000, or breakeven on a per share basis, compared with net income of $3.1 million, or 7 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted an adjusted loss of 2 cents per share.
Revenue rose 5 percent to $416.3 million from $395.2 million, helped by contributions from recent acquisitions. Sales to existing markets fell 5.1 percent.
Analysts, on average, expected a breakeven per share performance on $422.4 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
Beacon shares rose 47 cents to $38.47 in morning trading. They are trading near the high end of their 52-week range of $22.55 to $39.81.


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Startups are helping big Indian companies-- but get much less in return
- The number of startups serving businesses in India have more than tripled between 2014 and 2018.
- However, multinational companies have a two-third stake in the firms that mentor and groom Indian startups.
- Currently, India has over 50 accelerators and incubators, according to a recent study.
The latest study released by cloud services company NetApp and consulting firm Zinnov shows that the startups engaged with established businesses in India have more than tripled, both in terms of number and investments made into them, since 2014.
"Business to business (B2B) tech startups have more than tripled (from 900 to 3200+) since 2014," the report said adding that the investments in these startups have also grown over three-fold to $3.7 billion in 2018. 70% of these tech startups are in the space of enterprise tech, financial technology, and healthcare technology.
Over 50 accelerators and incubators, firms that mentor, groom, and help startups grow, are operational in the country. However, "global accelerators hold a majority with 66% of the share, 34% of the pie comprises of Indian companies," the report said. Global giants like Cisco, Target, Intel, and Swiss Re are invested more in the grooming Indian entrepreneurs and helping them succeed than their peers in corporate India.
"We’ve facilitated numerous go-to-market opportunities, helped startups secure several million dollars in funding and have formed 7 global strategic alliances in the two years of our operation. This shows the credibility that the accelerator programs can add to such startups,” Ajeya Motaganahalli - Senior Director and Leader at an accelerator programme at the California-based NetApp said.
The study also underscores the importance of the mentorship. "Our study found that funding chances increase by three times after startups graduate from an incubator/accelerator. An intense growth of accelerators and incubators is the much-needed shot in the arm for Indian startups to spread their wings across the length and breadth of the country, encouraging tier-2 and tier-3 cities to come up,” Pari Natarajan, Co-Founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based consulting firm Zinnov said.
Three-year old Curefit clocks in $100 mn in revenue and over $245 mn in total funding
An Indian tech major is helping Thai banks use digital currency while the RBI hangs back


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Ads on Handheld Devices Gain Momentum2 Oct, 2013 By: Doug McPherson
NEW YORK – Ads on tablets and smartphones will account for half of the expansion in the U.S. advertising economy in 2013 and 2014, says ZenithOptimedia Group’s quarterly forecast. The group also says that U.S. ad spending will grow 3.4 percent in 2013; 4.5 percent in 2014; and 4.6 percent in 2015.
The predictions make mobile one of the fastest-growing markets in the global ad economy and the biggest single contributor to the worldwide advertising marketplace.
ZenithOptimedia says mobile ad spending will grow 81 percent in the U.S. in 2013, followed by an expansion of 61 percent in 2014 and 53 percent in 2015. “By 2015 we expect mobile to account for 8.4 percent of total ad expenditure, narrowing the gap between mobile’s share of ad expenditure and its share of consumers’ time spent across all media,” the agency noted.
It adds that mobile’s growth has been spurred by consumers’ demand and better-standardized mobile ad formats.
“After years of hype, mobile advertising has finally arrived,” states ZenithOptimedia North America CEO Tim Jones. “Its importance will only grow over the next few years as advertisers and agencies get to grips with the opportunities it offers, and improve its ability to measure and deliver return on investment.”
Non-mobile Internet ad spending is continuing to grow faster than the rest of the U.S. ad economy; it’s now projected to jump 10 percent this year and next. The report forecasts total Internet advertising (desktop and mobile) to account for 21.8 percent of all U.S. ad expenditure in 2013, up from 19.0 percent in 2012.
TV has fallen below 40 percent of U.S. ad share, accounting for 38.8 percent of budgets in 2012, despite the incremental boost of the Olympics and elections last year. With the absence of Olympics and elections, ZenithOptimedia forecasts just 2.9 percent growth in 2013.


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Barry Rauhauser easily rattled off facts and figures about the history of Lancaster, giving some indication why the community was recently voted one of the top 10 nerdiest small cities in the country.
"We have a 10-acre Campus of History and a presidential house, so we're nerdy squared," said the Stauffer curator and director of history on the web for LancasterHistory.org and James Buchanan's Wheatland.
He and other staff spent Monday getting ready for the upcoming President's Day weekend when Wheatland opens for the season.
- Click here for more information on Wheatland, including hours and rates
The weekend typically celebrates Buchanan's successor, Abraham Lincoln, and the country's first President George Washington.
But in Lancaster County the limelight is on the 15th president - the only one to come from Pennsylvania.
Visitors to Wheatland will see the library where Buchanan penned his inaugural address and presidential memoirs among other period artifacts on the grounds.
"It's a great opportunity for someone to come take a nerdy vacation," Rauhauser joked.
Movoto, a self-proclaimed nerdy real estate blog, last week named Lancaster 10th on a list of the nerdiest small cities in the U.S.
- Lancaster is one of the nerdiest cities in the U.S. Who knew?
The area's high number of museums bested that of other comparable cities, according to the website, and Lancaster also has a strong showing of comic book shops and bookstores.
The Museum Council of Lancaster County has about 20 member sites, according to its President Elizabeth Bertheaud.
- Go here for a list of museums in Lancaster County
Bertheaud also serves as director of the Ephrata Cloister, a religious institute founded in 1732 by a German immigrant.
All of Lancaster's museums work collaboratively to promote each other and are gearing up for a busy spring and summer season, which usually attracts school groups and tourists, she said.
If Lancaster is nerdy, it's nothing new, Bertheaud said.
The cloister alone gets about 16,000 visitors a year, and all of the older museums have seen steady foot traffic for decades.
"We have a regular audience that comes here...and the up-and-coming young professionals who are moving into the city. We offer such a wide variety of cultural experiences. Does that make us nerdy? I don't know," Bertheaud said.
The owner of Lancaster's oldest comic book store thinks it does - and he's proud of the designation.
The Comic Store has served local nerds since 1977 - a rare tenure in an industry that has struggled with readership.
"It's cool Lancaster can support a business like this for so long. Yeah, we're nerdy, but nerdy is cool, right?" said Joe Miller, owner of the store.
Miller bought the store in 1985 and in 1989 moved it to its current address at 28 McGovern Ave.
"We have a strong regular group of customers. There are people who have always grown up with this store," he said.
And now The Comic Store is selling to its next generation of nerds: local kids.
In the last 18 months, the store has been selling a lot more comic books aimed at children, such as Disney adaptations, Angry Birds, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby-Doo, Sonic the Hedgehog and more, Miller said.
The store also sells collectibles, novelty items and merchandise desired by some "pretty cool nerds," he said.
While The Comic Store does occasionally see shoppers "who just breeze through," the county's tourism bureau doesn't have plans to create a nerd tour anytime soon.
Discover Lancaster was rebranded Jan. 1 from it's previous title, Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau to let people know "all there is to do here, Amish country and beyond," said spokesman Joel Cliff.
While the museums fit into the area's history and heritage as one of the top five reasons people visit Lancaster County, the organization isn't jumping on the recent classification.
"I think why folks come here and enjoy exploring here is because Lancaster has a lot of good stories to tell, from Landis Valley to the Railroad Museum," Cliff said. "I don't think nerdy is the right moniker. I think we have cultural interests of all sorts. It would surprise people how much we have here."


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- LaunchDarkly, a feature management platform company used for building software faster, announced it raised $54 million
LaunchDarkly — a feature management platform company used for building software faster founded by Edith Harbaugh and John Kodumal in 2014 — announced that it has raised $54 million in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners from their Century Fund with participation from Threshold Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Uncork Capital, Vertex Ventures and Bloomberg Beta. Including this round of funding, the company has raised a total of $130 million thus far.
The funding will be used for addressing the surge in demand that the company has seen for its feature management platform. Some of LaunchDarkly’s customers include IBM, TrueCar, and fuboTV. These brands are using LaunchDarkly for control feature lifecycles, eliminate risks from deployment processes, and increase efficiency throughout development cycles.
“LaunchDarkly pioneered the category of feature management and has quickly become the de facto standard to reliably deploy software at scale,” said Ethan Kurzweil, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “We are excited to support Edith, John and the LaunchDarkly team as they invest in transforming the way that software is built and launched, allowing companies to be more nimble and product-driven.”
Last year, the company served over 1 trillion features flags a day for more than a thousand customers, an increase of 500% over 2018. This spike was driven by the increasing pressure companies are experiencing for moving quickly, innovating faster, and delivering exceptional user experiences. This demand is expected to continue as more teams strive to deliver these results without sacrificing quality or efficiency.
“Dynamic feature management is rapidly becoming the next big innovation in software development, allowing companies of all sizes to ship code faster with less risk,” added Josh Stein, Managing Partner of Threshold Ventures. “It’s been amazing to see the impact LaunchDarkly is having, and we’re excited to see how the platform and the team continue to grow in 2020.”
Last year, LaunchDarkly held its first conference, which was based out of downtown Oakland and is called Trajectory Conference. At the event, attendees heard talks from industry leaders from organizations such Slack, Microsoft, Datadog, AWS, and IBM. And LaunchDarkly will host the Trajectory Conference again from April 29 to April 30, 2020.
Along with offering features like Experimentation (enabling teams to test production ideas), Data Export (empowering teams to extract data into external analysis tools), and Mobile Monthly Active User Packs (feature management on mobile devices), the LaunchDarkly team also added multiple new languages such as Roku and C/C++ and enhanced integrations with GitHub, HashiCorp, and Slack.
“LaunchDarkly is creating an entirely new category called feature management,” explained Scott Raney, General Partner at Redpoint Ventures. “Edith, John, and the team are solving some of the most difficult problems developers and product teams face and we couldn’t be more excited to continue on this journey!”
Going forward, LaunchDarkly will also continue to invest in expanding its team. And last year, LaunchDarkly grew its team in its Oakland headquarters, opened a sales and customer success hub in New York City, and hired sales, customer success, and developer advocates across North America. This year, LaunchDarkly will open sales offices in Sydney, Australia, and an engineering hub in London.


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Japanese economy shrinks in third quarter as supply chain disruptions bite
Japan’s economy shrank sharply during the third quarter as global supply chain disruptions and a resurgence in Covid-19 cases damped spending by both consumers and businesses.
The bigger-than-expected contraction was released as Fumio Kishida, the newly appointed prime minister, prepared to unveil a big stimulus package of cash handouts and subsidies for struggling households and small businesses to reboot Asia’s largest advanced economy.
The Japanese economy shrank at an annualised rate of 3 per cent in the July to September quarter, worse than analysts’ expectations of a 0.8 per cent contraction. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, gross domestic product fell 0.8 per cent after a rebound of 0.4 per cent in the April to July period, according to government data released on Monday.
The hit to spending and exports was expected after carmakers, including Toyota and Honda, reduced their output in September to address a chip shortage caused by a rise in Covid-19 cases in south-east Asia.
Consumer spending fell 4.5 per cent following a 3.7 per cent gain in the second quarter, while exports fell 8.3 per cent — the first contraction in five quarters.
But Naohiko Baba, chief economist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, said the dent to business and residential investment was bigger than feared, exposing the damage wrought from the global supply chain turmoil.
Business investment fell 14.4 per cent during the three months to September, the sharpest decline since the April to June quarter of 2020 and contributing 2.4 percentage points to the contraction. Housing investment was down 10.1 per cent.
“It will likely take until the middle of next year for the global supply chains to normalise but we believe the bottom was hit in September, and we expect a rebound in the October to December quarter,” Baba said.
With restrictions in big cities to control the spread of Covid-19 lifted and a substantial drop in daily cases, household spending is also expected to pick up in the coming months as people start shopping and dining again.
Still, Japan’s recovery has been underwhelming compared with other advanced economies. The US, for example, expanded 2 per cent on an annualised basis in the third quarter even as supply chain disruptions caused growth to slow significantly.
“It is hard to deny that the forecast for high growth will depend largely on infection figures,” said Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. “There is enough risk that the return of crowds will lead to a Covid-19 resurgence, especially as we enter the winter period.”
The risk of another outbreak could give the Kishida administration greater incentive to push ahead with its new stimulus measures. But many economists question the effectiveness of cash distribution, pointing out that past handouts have ended up in bank savings.
Kishida has said he planned to distribute ¥100,000 ($878) in cash and coupons to households, students and temporary workers hit hardest by the pandemic.


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Google and Coinbase partnership will enable crypto payments for cloud services
(Kitco News) - Google and Coinbase have announced a new Web3 strategic partnership that includes the ability for certain customers to pay for cloud services using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum beginning in 2023.
Coinbase Commerce will be used to process the payments, while Coinbase Prime will be utilized by Google for institutional crypto services, like secure custody and reporting.
When the crypto payments launch, only a select group of clients that are already active in Web3 will have access, but over time, the service will be offered to more customers.
According to a press release that accompanied the announcement, “The collaboration will involve Coinbase selecting Google Cloud as a strategic cloud provider to build advanced exchange and data services.”
Coinbase will build its global data platform on Google Cloud's secure infrastructure and leverage its data and analytics technologies to provide Coinbase customers with machine learning-driven crypto insights.
Web3 developers will also be able to access Google Cloud’s blockchain data through BigQuery, which will be made possible thanks to Coinbase Cloud’s Node service. According to a blog from Coinbase, “The integration will allow developers to instantly and reliably operate Web3-based systems without the need for expensive and complex infrastructure.”
The collaboration will also allow Coinbase to use Google Cloud’s compute platform to process blockchain data at scale and expand the reach of its crypto services through the utilization of Google’s fiber-optic network.
|Bitcoin mining difficulty hits new all-time high as institutions show increased interest|
Google will benefit from the partnership by having some of Coinbase’s data-related applications transferred from Amazon Web Services over to Google Cloud.
"We want to make building in Web3 faster and easier, and this partnership with Coinbase helps developers get one step closer to that goal," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. “Our focus is making it frictionless for all customers to take advantage of our scalability, reliability, security, and data services, so they can focus on innovation in the Web3 space.”
Google has slowly been showing more interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as of late. Leading into the Ethereum Merge – which transitioned the smart contract platform to proof of stake – Google provided a countdown to the event. More recently, researchers have noticed that if you enter an Ethereum address in a Google Search, the search engine now shows the wallet’s ETH balance using data pulled from Etherscan.


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LONDON — Gianluca Brozzetti, group chief executive of Asprey, has abruptly departed the company he's run for the last six years.On Tuesday, an Asprey spokesman would confirm only that Brozzetti, who served as chief executive officer since 2001 and helped rescue the company from bankruptcy last year, had stepped down.An industry source close to Brozzetti, however, said the split with shareholders Sciens Capital Management LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, and Plainfield Asset Management LLC, a Greenwich, Conn., hedge fund, had been "perfectly amicable." Another industry source said Brozzetti and the chief shareholders "agreed to disagree, and decided to go their separate ways."The sources said Brozzetti resigned last Friday. Brozzetti, who is also an Asprey shareholder, did not return phone calls Tuesday.As recently as this month, Brozzetti talked to WWD about his plans for the luxury goods brand. He called Asprey a "hidden jewel," and said he planned to open stores in Moscow and New Delhi, expand further into Asia, and build up the product lines with creative director Hakan Rosenius.Earlier this year, Asprey unveiled the first ready-to-wear line designed by Rosenius. In the spring, the company opened a new shop on Madison Avenue, between 70th and 71st Streets in Manhattan.Speaking like a proud parent, Brozzetti told WWD on July 2: "Five years ago, there were only two points of sale, now there are 20. We have a strategy of catching up with other big luxury brands, but we have to be realistic."For the last fiscal year ended March 31, Asprey's sales were $42 million, and while Brozzetti said they were good results, he admitted, "There is still a long way to go."An experienced fashion and luxury goods executive, Brozzetti took over the ceo's role at Asprey & Garrard in 2001, after the company was purchased by Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou in 2000. Before that, he was president and ceo of Louis Vuitton.Prior to Vuitton, Brozzetti worked for Bulgari Group for 13 years, first as executive director of its watch and jewelry division and from 1993 as executive vice president of its fragrance division. His career has covered various positions at Procter & Gamble Co., McKinsey & Co. and the Gucci Group.But it was his role as ceo of A&G Group, the now-dissolved parent of the Asprey and Garrard brands, that tested his managerial mettle. Although Stroll and Chou embarked on their Asprey and Garrard project with much fanfare — and a lot of splashy spending — the brands never turned a profit. In fact, they were ever-deepening money pits.Stroll and Chou brought in new shareholders, including Edgar Bronfman Jr., Morgan Stanley Private Equity and the TAG Group to keep the companies afloat, but to no avail. In 2005, just a year after Asprey opened a huge flagship on Fifth Avenue in New York and reopened on Bond Street — at 40,000 square feet, it was Europe's largest luxury goods store — the company's shareholders were already bickering about who would make the next cash injection. They began quietly shopping the brands around.While the shareholders argued, it was Brozzetti who took over the rescue mission. He and his team got Deloitte on board and, with the blessing of HSBC and the other banks, put A&G Group into receivership. Brozzetti sold the brands in a debt-for-equity swap, with the value of the business effectively nil. Sciens Capital Management and Plainfield Asset Management paid an estimated $80 million to $100 million for both brands. Three days later, Asprey International, the newly minted parent of both brands, spun off Garrard to Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies for an estimated $20 million to $30 million.
To celebrate Pride 2018, @themarcjacobs released the #GratefulNotHateful campaign, a social media initiative aimed at extending Pride beyond the parade. Inspired by Jacobs’ everyday outlook, the campaign features Jacobs along with a group of models and social media stars who are members and supporters of the LGBT community, all seen wearing @marcbeauty’s Highliner Gel Eye Crayons in colors of the rainbow. Head to our Instagram stories to see close-ups of the liner. #wwdbeauty
Virgil Abloh’s dad Nee and Don Crawley, cofounder of RSVP Gallery, were some of the hometown crew at the Chicago-born designer’s debut show for Louis Vuitton. (📸: @jdiderich ) #wwdmens #louisvuitton #virgilabloh
About last night: @marycharteris and @adwoaaboah hit up Hyde Park for the Serpentine Galleries’ annual summer party held in partnership with @chanelofficial. Head to WWD.com to see more photos. #wwdfashion
“This is Paris, my first show. I’m all about democracy. If some kid shows up, flew from New Jersey to just be around, let’s get him a seat.” — @virgilabloh tells WWD’s @jdiderich ahead of his first show for @louisvuitton men’s. (📸: @alfredo_piola ) #wwdmens #virgilabloh #louisvuitton
“Kate Spade was a true fashion icon who brought joy to the lives of women around the world, and inspired women to live life to the fullest. We are dedicated to carrying on her legacy,” said Anna Bakst, brand president and chief executive officer of @katespadeny. The Kate Spade Foundation announced that it will be donating $1 million to suicide prevention and mental health awareness in tribute to the recent death of Kate Spade. Read more on WWD.com. #wwdnews (📷: @chinseephoto)
A first look at @virgilabloh’s sneakers for @louisvuitton. Abloh spoke to WWD about his debut collection for Louis Vuitton, creating @kendalljenner’s #metgala outfit and redefining the heritage brand. Read the full story on WWD.com. #wwdfashion 📷: @alfredo_piola)
The world’s largest producer of denim @iskodenim is sharing the strategy behind its product development process. Read our full interview with ISKO’s product development manager Baris Ozden on the company’s extensive research practices, upcoming denim trends and the latest material innovations on WWD.com. #iskodenim


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Graphic Packaging International
In recognition of its innovative fiber-based solutions, Graphic Packaging International takes four AmeriStar awards, including the top prize in the categories of Cosmetics, Beverage–Alcohol, Food–Shelf-Stable, and Saves Food–Agriculture.
Governor Bobby Jindal and Graphic Packaging International Inc. announced a $41.5 million investment in the company’s paper mill in West Monroe to upgrade production machinery. Graphic Packaging International’s West Monroe paper mill produces paperboard for use in beverage and other consumer-based packaging at two other company sites in West Monroe. Graphic Packaging will retain 1,340 employees at the three Louisiana sites with the modernization project.
Paperboard Packaging Council member Graphic Packaging International’s Elk Grove, IL, plant recently earned PPC’s revered “One Million Hour” safety award for logging one million consecutive injury-free hours.
The Safety Boxscore awards, presented at Paperboard Packaging Council's (PPC) Spring Outlook and Strategies Conference, held April 3-5, are given to PPC member companies based on the cumulative number of hours worked the previous year without an OSHA-recordable injury. “Safety is of utmost importance in the packaging industry and it is a testament to our members that such a large group can claim this achievement year after year,” expressed Brian Chaisson, director of industry benchmarking at PPC.
News on printers in the packaging printing industry, including The Association of International Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL), The Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI), Fort Dearborn Company, Clondalkin Pharma and Healthcare North America and Tapp Label.
News on printers in the packaging printing industry, including Universal Lubricants, Curtis Packaging Corporation, Bemis Performance Packaging, JohnsByrne Company, CCL Industries Inc., WS Packaging, Graphic Packaging Holding Company and PaperWorks Industries.
Six packaging experts came together to judge the submission for this year's North American Paperboard Packaging Competition which took place over three days in July at PPC headquarters in Springfield, MA. One-hundred and forty-three entries from 34 Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) members were honored in a special awards ceremony at PPC's Fall Meeting and Leadership Conference on October 18, 2012 in Las Vegas.
In the 2012 PPC Trends Report, RISI predicts that shipments of folding cartons are forecast to grow at a 0.5 percent average annual pace between 2012 and 2016. While modest, growth is steady and forecasted to continue, it is expected that the pharmaceutical industry will offer the greatest opportunity for folding cartons during the next five years.
One-hundred and seventeen entries from 31 Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) members were judged as part of the 68th annual National Paperboard Packaging Competition. The best in paperboard packaging over the past year were honored in a special awards ceremony at PPC’s Fall Meeting and Leadership Conference on October 14, 2011 in Orlando, FL. Seven industry leaders and designers in the packaging field adjudicated this year’s competition, which took place over the course of three days in July at PPC headquarters in Springfield, MA. ‘Bring on the Gold’ wins gold This year, the top National Paperboard Package of
Graphic Packaging International (GPI), Marietta, Ga., took home the National Paperboard Package of the Year award at the Paperboard Packaging Council’s (PPC’s) National Paperboard Packaging Competition. One hundred and seventeen entries from 31 PPC members competed as part of the 68th annual awards program. Winners were honored at a ceremony during the PPC Fall Meeting and Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month. GPI won top honors for its limited-edition Cheerios Bring on the Gold 2010 Olympics Hockey Shoot Out cereal box, which featured a 3-D interactive hockey game on its back panel. Even though the intricate game


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The Senate has cleared the way for final passage of a financial regulation bill that's a top priority of President Barack Obama.
The vote was 60-40, just enough to meet the threshold needed to end debate.
The bill calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large financial firms that are failing.
It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the 2008 economic crisis. And it creates a new consumer protection agency.
Before voting on final passage, senators must still deal with two contentious issues. One would ban commercial banks from carrying speculative trades with their own money. The other would exempt auto dealers from oversight of the new consumer protection bureau.
This program aired on May 20, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.


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I have to admit, when I first reported about the game “Poncho” last week, I thought, “oh, here’s another cute indie platformer, that’s exactly what the Wii U needs…”
But now that I’ve seen the first footage of Poncho on the Wii U, it actually looks like a pretty cool game. Sure, it’s very “indie” with its pixelated visuals and beep-beep sound design, but it looks like a fun game.
The levels look well-designed, with some nice parallax backgrounds with interestsing 3D layers, where players can jump to the background, accessing a whole new area of the level.
Check out the video above. Poncho launches on the Wii U today. It retails for $10 on the eShop.


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Predicted To Hit Economy
By Irish America Staff
December / January 2002
Ireland is facing its worst tourism slump in more than ten years as a result of the attacks on the U.S. and the foot and mouth crisis which hit earlier in the year.
Tourism Minister Jim McDaid promised to do whatever possible to minimize the adverse impact on the industry, as he released the statistics for the second quarter of the year. Between now and the end of December, it was expected that an estimated 320,000 Americans would visit Ireland, but now a figure of 100,000 is seen as optimistic.
In 2000, some 6.3 million foreign visitors to Ireland were recorded, boosting tourism earnings to 2.9 billion punts, and it was hoped to increase that number by five per cent this year. A new marketing campaign is being started by the tourism board, Bord Failte, in a last ditch attempt to persuade Americans to travel.
But it is not only the tourism industry that is being affected. The downturn in the economy is being felt in every sector, but most noticeably in the IT sector, where American multinationals have dominated the Irish marketplace. A number of prominent U.S. companies have announced job cuts, and the computer giant Gateway is closing its entire plant before Christmas. Intel has stopped construction work on its new premises in Kildare and has let go all contractors and part-time staff. It also introduced an early redundancy policy to wipe out jobs.
A leading economist has predicted that 10,000 jobs could be lost this year in the technology sector. And in America, Brendan Walsh of the Smurfit School of Business said the outlook for the Irish economy is more somber than it has been in ten years. ♦


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Stargate fans living in the middle of the United States have a new reason to cheer: a brand new convention in a decidedly unconventional location from previous years.
Our friends at Creation Entertainment last week announced a brand-new stop in this year’s Official Stargate Convention tour. Normally, each summer brings Creation and Stargate to the Windy City of Chicago for a Midwest convention (August). But fans now have a brand new location to look forward to, as well. And it’s right around the corner.
On June 12 and 13, Creation will hold its first Stargate convention at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scheduled guests thus far include Atlantis‘s Joe Flanigan (“John Sheppard”) and Brian J. Smith (“Lt. Matthew Scott”) from Stargate Universe. More guest announcements are forthcoming.
The annual, official convention tour also includes Vancouver, British Columbia (April) and Burbank, Calif. (November).
Keep an eye to GateWorld for more announcements about this convention as they break, and also visit Creation’s Minneapolis convention page for more information including ticket pricing, future guests and more as it is updated.


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Meat sector organisations have warned a UK parliament committee that the industry will suffer dire consequences should Britain crash out from the European Union (EU) in March 2019 without having negotiated a Brexit deal with its current EU partners.
Italian-owned pork and poultry meat processor Kometa 99 Zrt has announced plans to invest more than HUF 1.3 billion (€4.2 million) in its meat processing plant in Kaposvár, Hungary, with the aim of increasing production capacity.
Meat and livestock producers in the European Union (EU), especially smaller farmers, will be watching Brussels closely early next year, now that EU agriculture and rural development commissioner Phil Hogan has promised to protect them against the market...
Meat products infected with African swine fever (ASF) have been detected on retail shelves in at least two Russian regions, Pskov Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai, according to Russian veterinary body Rosselkhoznadzor.
Rearing cows on grass is no better for the planet than commercial feed, and continued farming risks “devastating effects” to climate change if methane emissions are not urgently cut, new figures have suggested.


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iQoo Neo 6 is all set to launch in the Indian market today. The device will be a mid-range smartphone featuring a 3.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC. It will be housing a 4700mAh battery with 80W fast charging support. The handset will be an Amazon exclusive and ahead of the official announcement the prominent source has now disclosed supposed pricing details and launch deals for the iQoo Neo 6.
iQoo Neo 6 will be launching in India today at 12 noon via the e-commerce website Amazon. The Vivo-owned company has unveiled a number of specifications and features of the handset in the lead up to its release. But a tipster has now released claimed price and launch deals for the iQoo Neo 6 a day before its arrival. The iQoo Neo 6 could be priced at about Rs 30,000, according to tipster Mukul Sharma. According to him, Amazon will give limited-time discount offers for this phone from May 31 to June 5. ICICI Bank cardholders may be eligible for a Rs 3,000 discount on the iQoo Neo 6. On this purchase, customers may also receive a Rs 1,000 discount coupon. The actual price of the handset is projected to drop to Rs 26,000 as a result of these discounts. Up to Rs. 3,000 is supposed to be saved with the exchange offer.
Although not much is known about the new smartphone, the Amazon listing says that it will be powered by a Snapdragon 870 5G processor. For high-speed performance, there will also be UFS 3.1 storage. In China, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC was used in the introduction of this smartphone. Furthermore, the smartphone will be equipped with a 4,700mAh battery that supports 80W FlashCharge. According to the specifications, the 80W FlashCharg Technology can charge a battery to 50% capacity in under 12 minutes.
In addition to this, the upcoming smartphone will feature a 120Hz E4 AMOLED display. The screen will offer a 360Hz touch sampling rate, 1,300 nits of peak brightness, and HDR10+ support. A 64-megapixel GW1P main back sensor with optical image stabilisation is also included in the phone. The Cascade cooling system with liquid cooling vapour chambers is included in the device.
Previously the phone was tipped to include up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. A triple camera setup with 64-megapixel (OIS), 8-megapixel, and 2-megapixel sensors is also expected on the gadget. There’s also a chance it’ll include a 16-megapixel front camera.
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