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Published on Tuesday 16 December 2014
Residents are being warned to be on their guard in the run up to Christmas after trading standards officers seized hundreds of items of suspected counterfeit designer goods during a raid on a shop.
Published on Thursday 4 December 2014
Businesses across Barnet are gearing up for what will inevitably be the busiest shopping period of the year – beginning with Small Business Saturday on 6th December.
Published on Monday 13 October 2014
Barnet Council and Re, the council’s joint venture with Capita, will be hosting a Business Expo on 23 October.
Published on Monday 15 September 2014
Barnet Council is asking residents, business and other organisations for their views on a new Entrepreneurial Barnet policy.
Published on Monday 28 April 2014
Food businesses in Barnet are to be rewarded for taking steps to make the food they serve healthier.
Published on Friday 4 April 2014
A nightclub in Whetstone has had its licence revoked by Barnet Council following concerns from police and residents.
Published on Thursday 3 April 2014
Barnet Council and Re, the Council’s joint venture with Capita, are delivering key initiatives to help improve air quality in the borough, as London is put on alert over high levels of air pollution this week.
Published on Tuesday 11 March 2014
A new project is being launched by Barnet Council to inspire young people about careers in retail.
Published on Thursday 19 December 2013
A licensing application to allow a restaurant to sell alcohol has been rejected by Barnet Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee following concerns from police and ward councillors.
Published on Wednesday 30 October 2013
Businesses in Barnet are being given the opportunity to attend the borough’s first ‘Barnet Means Business’ event on 1 November.
Published on Wednesday 19 June 2013
Keeping vulnerable and older people safe from doorstep crime and rogue traders will form the main theme of this year’s Safeguarding Week (17 to 21 June).
Published on Thursday 29 November 2012
Visitors to North Finchley are in for a treat this Christmas as local traders organise ‘Tally Ho Ho Ho’ a town centre event packed with free family activities and entertainment.
Published on Thursday 4 October 2012
Young people in Barnet are more likely to be in education, employment or training than the majority of their London counterparts.
You’re Hired: Barnet Council announces £1million apprenticeship and employment fund to help Barnet’s businesses and young people
Published on Tuesday 29 May 2012
Barnet Council has announced proposals for £1 million Barnet Skills, Employment and Enterprise Action Plan aimed at supporting 16-24 year old residents.
Categories in Business
- Business support and advice
- Environmental health
- Licences, permits and registrations
- Trading standards


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James Van Der Beek has given an update on how he and wife Kimberly are doing following her miscarriage last month. The "Dawson's Creek" star took to Instagram Friday to reveal the couple are "healing"
Lauren and Keith Chalk struggled for years to have a baby. The couple suffered two miscarriages, and they thought a full-term pregnancy may not be possible for them. Then, on Dec. 2, they welcomed their
Stories aren't just told in print and online. Some of the best ones are told live, in person, on a stage. That's the thinking behind The Storytellers Project, a national live storytelling series from USA
Whether you're getting cozy by the fire, attending a white elephant gift exchange, a family game night, a holiday work party or are in need of a gift for that one person that seems to have it all, spirits
It is perhaps not recommended that you gift your selfie-videoing wife a Peloton for Christmas, if she seems to be scared of such a gift. (Yes, this is a reference to the maligned recent bike ad that drove
Entrepreneur, speaker and philanthropist Vijay Eswaran has spent his career cultivating expertise in leadership and mindfulness. In addition to founding and serving as executive chairman of a Hong Kong-based
Michelle Obama is feeling the sadness of an empty nest, but a mother's mothering is never done. The former first lady appeared on the "Today" show in an interview with Jenna Bush Hager to talk about her
Ugly holiday sweater parties always provide a good giggle, but buying a pre-made sweater just for one night out has an impact on the environment and your wallet. The National Environmental Education Foundation
One of America’s most reviled foods — at least for some — might actually be super-healthy. Move over goji berries and kale: Organ meats (aka offal) are gaining in popularity as the new superfoods. Liver,
Ringing in the new year with a new baby? Need a name? BabyCenter is here with its annual list of the most popular baby names of 2019 to help you choose. Sophia tops the list of girls' names again. Liam
Days after Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's duct-taped banana work went viral, the art piece saw a splitting new development: A man ate the real-life $120,000 banana stuck to the wall at Art Basel in
Vogue magazine features four powerful and inspiring mothers (one mother-to-be) on its January covers, and we are so here for it. Actress and filmmaker Greta Gerwig, fashion designer Stella McCartney, Ashley
When you long for more hours in the day, can never seem to tackle your entire to-do list or always feel on the wrong side of exhausted, you’ll do just about anything to find a way to streamline your life
Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" musical debuted on Broadway Thursday, more than 25 years after the Grammy award-winning album released to critical acclaim. Written by Diablo Cody and directed
2020 marks a new decade in travel and, for some, that means splurging on the trip of a lifetime. These bucket-list-worthy vacations include everything from a quintessential, tropical beach escape in Mexico,
Back in olden times — like 10 years ago — children wanted what they saw on TV commercials for holiday gifts. But thanks to YouTube, they have fallen in love with "unboxing" videos. This very unsexy name
WASHINGTON – It was 40 degrees. It was windy. But that didn’t dampen the festive air as people sat bundled up in winter coats, waiting for the 2019 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday.
As a human who works on the internet in 2019, I’m frequently stressed out, anxious and sleep-deprived. This, it turns out, is a trifecta of ailments addressed by a de-stressing treatment called NuCalm,
Breastfeeding is hard. Pumping is hard. Motherhood is hard. But these mamas have each other's backs. Audrey Gelman took to Instagram Wednesday to show off the inside of a Mamava lactation pod inside LaGuardia
Eddie Murphy is the proud father of 10 children, who range in ages from 1 to 30. And now he's also a grandpa. The comedian was on the "Ellen" show Thursday and talked about the many responses he gets having
Every year, it seems as if there is a new dairy-free alternative to milk popping up on our wellness feed. A decade ago, it was soy. This year, oat milk and so many in between, including coconut, almond,
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created a duct-taped banana work that is on display at Art Basel in Miami, according to art market website Artnet. If you think the offer is a-peeling, you may be out luck.
Felicity Jones and her husband Charles Guard are expecting a child together, Jones' rep Lindsay Galin confirmed to USA TODAY. The "Rogue One" actress, 36, and director, 43, married in June 2018 at Sudeley
It doesn't get much better than cozying up on the couch during the holidays and forcing your children to watch your favorite Christmas movies. If you have cable, you can catch many kids' Christmas classics

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Government measures, such as Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, will end in the coming months. Are businesses prepared?
The end of the coronavirus support schemes is looming. CBILS and BBLS loans are due to come to finish at the end of March. CJRS will continue until April. And yet, we are still in lockdown, and many businesses are restricted in their operations.
While businesses are now better prepared for managing lockdown than they were last March, it is a long time to operate on limited or non-existent sales. Can companies cope without support measures in place?
The answer depends on the sector they are operating in and how nimble they’ve been in responding to the restrictions. Accountants, business owners, surveyors and insolvency practitioners tell us what effect this might have on SMEs over the next few months.
April is too early to end the schemes
Helen White, co-founder, houseof
As a small business, we were encouraged by the introduction of the pay as you grow scheme introduced by the Chancellor last week. It gives us more opportunity for business to bounce back in areas where we are still seeing COVID delays and disruption, for example shipping.
While as an online only business, we are not affected by lockdowns, we are still struggling to meet stock demands as the pandemic causes disruption and cost increases around the world. We believe we are not nearing the end. The schemes have been a lifeline to many businesses like us and we believe that ending the furlough scheme in April is still too early. We are not back to business as usual and we still cannot predict what is going to happen in the next six months.
Next steps: Preserving cash flow is key for all businesses in uncertain times and we the Furlough scheme and Bounce Back Loans have definitely helped with this however – nobody has seen the bounce back from the pandemic yet.
Verdict: Businesses are not ready to return to normal.
Some businesses have been able to adapt.
Others might be in trouble
Chris Tate, business advisory director at Moore South
Some industries have not been in a position to adapt at all because of the nature of lockdown. Arts and entertainment have been particularly badly hit; there isn’t much by way of an alternative route to market.
If businesses are able to return to normal trading conditions, then the removal of those support measures shouldn’t be terribly detrimental. In fact, it’s probably a good thing, because it has gone on for some time. There’s almost a reliance on it.
You would hope that if lockdowns continue beyond the end of March, those schemes will be extended. For those businesses that have fared well, planning is still important, but if they’ve got sufficient working capital and reserves to comfortably navigate their way out of the support measures, there is a little less emphasis on planning.
Next steps: If a company’s working capital has been severely diminished in the interim, it’s going to have to be very carefully managed as things return to normal.
Verdict: Most businesses should be fine, but they should take a long, hard look at their cashflow and debts to make sure they can manage it.
Banks will reduce lending, but there may be alternative options
Stephen Wainwright, Partner at Poppleton and Appleby
We are going to be in uncharted waters and facing a number of headwinds. We will shortly enter a phase where traditional bank funding will become more difficult to secure. The market to re-bank a business with another high street bank will become increasingly difficult.
Lenders will start to turn their attention away from new lending and concentrate more on managing existing customer accounts, where profitability has deteriorated over the last 12 months, but liabilities will have increased.
However, as high street banks reduce their lending appetite, an opportunity will arise for alternative and specialist business lenders to play a key role in helping businesses survive.
Business owners must be aware that there are alternative providers in the marketplace that could help them with their financial problems. Alternative business lenders have a different approach to risk. They often focus on certain sectors and can be more flexible with their lending solutions and approach, which could be of value to businesses seeking to establish a new borrowing relationship. Businesses must make sure they have a business plan and strategy in place – this is key to resilience.
Next steps: It is crucial that a business with any sign of financial issues or worries contact a regulated turnaround and insolvency practitioner as early as possible, giving the practitioner the time to investigate their model and facilitate the bringing together of a rescue strategy that is to the benefit of all parties.
Verdict: The lending squeeze will put pressure on businesses, but other providers may come to the rescue.
It’s time to act now if your business is walking dead
Peter Bracey, Founder and MD of Bracey’s Accountants
With the Federation of Small Businesses warning that at least a quarter of a million small businesses will fold unless more help is given, set against rumours of crippling rates on emergency loans, how much longer can – and should – businesses continue to struggle through? There is a now very practical consideration to be made: with the value of company assets and goodwill through the floor, winding up your business and starting afresh may be the best option.
Now is the time to take stock. With a couple of months before deferred VAT repayments are due and bounce back and CBILS loans have to start to be repaid, businesses have the time to review their fiscal health and plan either how they can come out the other side, or how they can execute an exit strategy in the right, legally correct way.
Can you negotiate a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) and liaise with creditors to reduce some of the debt? Is there an opportunity to restructure or liquidate your business and start anew – when the time is right – by acquiring the trading assets and mothballing the company in the meantime? Or, is the right decision to retain a workforce on furlough, borrow and accept that the next few years are going to be tough?
Next steps: The first thing business owners must do now is to step outside the emotional state, which is a really difficult thing to do when you’ve invested years of hard graft and emotion into growing your own company. Look at the P&L, the balance sheet and cash flow, directors loan accounts, etc and see if the business really does stack up.
Verdict: There is no magic formula to get the vast number of businesses brought to their knees by the pandemic through these next few months and years.
The suffering sectors have a much wider impact than you’d think
Lucy Cohen, co-founder of Mazuma
The sector we see suffering the most is the hospitality industry. Having been closed for so long, even the furlough payments to keep staff on board may not be enough to allow them to re-open once the pandemic subsides. The events industry has also been massively impacted – and this sector reaches further than you’d first think. Photographers, Graphic Designers, PR companies, Printers and more have all been affected by its closure. Then, of course, there are those within the wedding industry – Florists, Caterers, Bridal Boutiques, and small independent businesses who specialise in the sector.
While many of these businesses have been able to pivot, it still hasn’t been enough to replace their income or fully supplement the help provided by the government.
Next steps: Our advice is to mind your cash first and foremost. That doesn’t always mean cutting spending to the line, but it does mean assessing what is vital and what is not during this time. We’ve also been advising clients of all of the various payment deferral methods for tax that will help them with cashflow as the world slowly starts to open again.
Verdict: The impacts of suffering sectors is broader than it might initially seem.
Businesses have struggled to access the government-backed loans
Steve Richardson, director, Reparo Finance
We worked with Sapio Research to survey more than 200 SMEs nationwide to explore how they were accessing finance when it is needed, and whether the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS) is adequately supporting their needs.
Although government-backed loans have had some success, with 52% of SMEs that applied for a CBILS having secured funding, the research ultimately shows that more support is needed to help ensure that viable businesses have a future.
According to the results of the survey, 85% of respondents say their company still requires financial help to address the impacts of the pandemic. Of those who applied or started an application for a CBILS loan, 48% have yet to receive any funding.
This shows us that government-backed loans are not straightforward to apply for and aren’t suitable for all companies.
Next steps: With many businesses struggling to get the financial help they need; some are looking to other forms of borrowing. 20% of our sample had already explored other options, while a further 65% were likely to consider looking in the future.
Verdict: There is an urgent need for finance, but businesses are open-minded about their options.
Business owners are anxious – the schemes should be extended
Martin Bown, founder and MD, My Management Accountant
When the first lockdown was imposed, we set up a peer support group for businesses affected by the situation and who needed advice on what support was available and how to secure it – including the SEISS, CBILS and BBL schemes.
It’s an initiative we’ve revived during the current lockdown to offer not only practical advice but to offer a supportive space they can join to talk about their concerns. The general consensus seems to be to hang onto your cash reserves and use the support schemes as widely as you can as right now, it’s impossible to predict when the current situation will end.
For many, the very fact there is so much uncertainty about whether the various schemes are to be extended or axed is causing a great deal of anxiety. It’s vital that decisions are made and communicated properly to remove this cloak of ambiguity and enable businesses to plan effectively for the future.
Next steps: It’s also vital that businesses know in good time what is happening with support schemes to allow them to plan effectively.
Verdict: Knowing that furlough will be extended will help directors make informed decisions for the rest of 2021, regardless of what the virus itself does.


text: German exports to the United States fell 10.5 percent in January as the strong euro made German goods more expensive in dollar terms, Germany's statistics agency said on Tuesday. Exports to Germany's number two trading partner after France fell to €4.9 billion ($5.9 billion). The fall is worrying to economists, since exports account for around one third of the German economy. It is feared a strong euro could stifle economic growth. The euro has risen around 16 percent against the dollar since the start of 2003, although it has now fallen off its record highs. Despite the sag in U.S. business, overall exports were up and trade with China enjoyed rapid growth, jumping 21.7 percent to €1.7 billion ($2 billion). China is seen as an increasingly important market for Germany and business leaders predict long-term growth there.


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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today announced it is suing Google for misleading consumers about its collection and use of personal location data. The case is the consumer watchdog’s first move against a major digital platform following the publication of the Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report in July. So what happens now?
The ACCC follows regulators in countries including the US and Germany in taking action against the way “tech giants” such as Google and Facebook harvest and exploit their users’ data.
What did Google do?
ACCC Chair Rod Sims said Google “collected, kept and used highly sensitive and valuable personal information about consumers’ location without them making an informed choice”.
The ACCC alleges that Google breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by misleading its users in the course of 2017 and 2018, including by:
not properly disclosing that two different settings needed to be switched off if consumers did not want Google to collect, keep and use their location data
not disclosing on those pages that personal location data could be used for a number of purposes unrelated to the consumer’s use of Google services.
Some of the alleged breaches can carry penalties of up to A$10 million or 10% of annual turnover.
A spokesperson for Google is reported to have said the company is reviewing the allegations and engaging with the ACCC.
Buying a new phone in 2019 can be an extraordinary investment, especially if you want to own it outright. Even the "mid-range" phones from Google and Samsung go for $649, and the least expensive 2019 iPhone is $1199.
As an alternative, here are three devices released in the last month that punch above their weight in design and performance. All three are from Chinese manufacturers, available at Australian retail, and they each go for an RRP of $499.
What movies and TV shows are coming to Disney Plus in Australia? It's a question we've all been pondering for weeks. As Netflix has shown, just because a title is available in the US doesn't mean it will be appearing Down Under.
Will we be getting the full Star Wars trilogy? What about The Simpsons? And how many Disney Classics will be making the cut? Today, Disney Australia finally let the mouse out of the bag and the news is good. Here are the chief titles that will be available in Australia on day one.


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The Booksellers Association is calling on customers and the trade to rally behind retailers and support bookshops, as the coronavirus outbreak hits the high street.
Last night Boris Johnson asked the British public to work from home where possible and urged people to stop all non-essential travel and non-essential contact. With high street footfall expected to decline as a result of increased "social distancing", BA m.d. Meryl Halls is rallying the trade to throw its weight behind bookshops.
Halls said: “It's unfortunate that the hallmarks of the crisis management – self-isolation, social distancing and avoiding people and gatherings – are the very opposite of what bookshops pride themselves on offering to their communities, and what have become the positive emblems of the renaissance of bookselling recently. They also, unfortunately, play to the strengths of multinational online retailers, and we want to ensure that we are reminding consumers that they can still use their local bookshop to buy books even if they are practising social distancing.”
Halls called on publishers and authors to support bookshops, a message echoed by former BA president Nic Bottomley, co-owner of Bath bookshop Mr B’s Emporium.
"We are very keen for publishers and authors to help reinforce this message too – not to default to Amazon as the de facto buying option, but to link to bookshops and to reiterate the importance of shopping locally, supporting their local community and emphasising the contribution of bookshops to safe, nourishing and mutually supportive neighbourhoods," said Halls.
Bottomley told The Bookseller: “Whilst booksellers recognise that all of the other partners in the trade have equally huge problems I think we are going to be really hopeful that publishers will lend us a hand by directing people to our websites and offerings, presumably that bookstores are able to dispatch books in those ways or by considering what they can do to alleviate short term cashflow crises in terms of the business relationship. I think that will be very important for publishers to think about what they might be able to do.”
It comes as many bookshops cancel author events, with bookshops such as London's Goldsboro Books closing its bricks and mortar premises until the end of the month and turning its focus to online bookselling. Dalston's Burley Fisher Books will close for two weeks from today while Glasgow’s indie LGBTQIA+ bookshop Category Is Books has closed its physical premises but is offering to deliver locally by skateboard and bike. Others are offering recommendations over the phone and online with local deliveries in place for Book-ish in Crickhowell and The Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. Waterstones has temporarily closed four of its campus bookshops owing to a decline in footfall while Blackwell's has closed it's Wellcome Collection branch.
Halls added: “We know how resourceful and resilient booksellers are in the face of adversity, and we will do everything we can to support them during this difficult time, and encourage the publishing industry, the government and consumers to do the same."
The BA has written an open letter asking for support for high street bookselling.
Support for High Street Bookselling During the Coronavirus Crisis
It goes without saying how dismayed and concerned we all are at the impact that the Covid-19 crisis is having globally, on people’s lives and livelihoods, their health and well-being and on trade and the economy.
The BA is, of course, in our own context, particularly concerned with the impact of the crisis on UK and Irish bricks and mortar bookselling, and I’m writing to you and other publishers now to urge all partners and suppliers to bookshops to offer as much commercial and practical support as is possible to ensure that bookshops – already the lifeblood of many high street communities and a key route to market for books of all types – can weather the storm.
It's unfortunate that the hallmarks of the crisis management – self-isolation, social distancing and avoiding people and gatherings – are the very opposite of what bookshops pride themselves on offering to their communities, and what have become the positive emblems of the renaissance of bookselling recently. They also, unfortunately, play to the strengths of multinational online retailers, and we want to ensure that we are reminding consumers that they can still use their local bookshop to buy books even if they are practising social distancing. We have created a range of resources available for BA members, including social media assets to help reinforce that point. Many, many booksellers are using those messages and amplifying with their own.
We are very keen for publishers and authors to help reinforce this message too –not to default to Amazon as the de facto buying option, but to link to bookshops and to reiterate the importance of shopping locally, supporting their local community and emphasising the contribution of bookshops to safe, nourishing and mutually supportive neighbourhoods.
As you will know all too well, the UK and Irish high street landscape has been challenged for a number of years, and the British Retail Consortium in January reported the worst ever Christmas performance by retail since their records began.
You’ll also know that, nonetheless, the BA was able in January to report a third year modest rise in the number of independent bookshops, and a good Christmas for high street bookshops of all sizes – notwithstanding that many bookshops were outperforming their own high streets. Our already active representation work on behalf of bookshops — and high streets more generally — is now, of course, taking on a much more urgent aspect.
The onslaught of the Covid-19 crisis on the already jeopardised high street is therefore a massive potential body blow to a fragile high street recovery, and we are urging publishers and other suppliers to consider a number of ways in which they can help counter some of its worst effects.
These steps might include:
- grace periods on payments
- extending returns limits
- credits for returns in transit
- free delivery and returns carriage for bookshops
- free shipping for consumers home delivery
- additional discount
- the removal of caps on returns
- the possibility of virtual author events, to salvage some of the lost sales and profile from shop events
- increased provision of signed stock
- the use of the BA’s Find Your Local Bookshop search button and link – for publisher sites, and for authors online and on social media – encouraging the trade and consumers to use their local bookshop to buy books, and not default online
We are encouraging BA members to approach suppliers to ask for support on a on a case-by-case basis and to contact publishing reps with their individual requests.
We are grateful to all the publishers who are supporting bookshops in various ways at the moment.
If you are able to let me know of any particular steps you are planning on taking to assist bookshops at this time, I’d be grateful to hear from you with details.
On behalf of all BA members, I do thank you for your consideration in this – and we are all too aware that the publishing community has its own challenges to bear, and its own duty of care for its staff, suppliers, customers and stakeholders.
It’s a time for the trade to pull together, and to offer mutual support – if there is anything I or the BA can do to help you in your business, or more widely in the supply chain, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Very many thanks once more,
- Campaigners urge Vaizey: 'it's time to act'
- Booksellers urged to support campaign against illegal downloading
- BA exec chairman hails booksellers bucking high street trend
- Authors Newman and Coe urge readers to turn to high street after stock delays at 'Scrooge' Amazon
- BA's Bottomley urges parliamentarians to support 'heroic' bookshops


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BetConstruct, a tech giant of cutting-edge iGaming solutions, is heading to iGB Live Amsterdam with a bunch of new updates and offers.
Taking place from July 11-14, iGB Live Amsterdam is rumoured to gather all industry titans, operators, affiliates and game lovers in one place and catch them up with the latest market achievements.
Taking this event as an excellent medium for introducing innovations, BetConstruct plans to bring its latest solutions and cutting-edge offerings to the table. Once again, embracing the BetConstruct - Resonance - Fastex concept, BetConstruct will present its already beloved solutions along with its novelty products.
All visitors will have the chance to get acquainted with BetConstruct’s cutting-edge iGaming and Sportsbook solutions and extensive catalogue of engaging casino games, as well as get consulted by company representatives.
Attendees can find BetConstruct at stand number L20 to be one of the first to encounter the new reality of doing business.


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Plaza Carolina, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean’s second-largest mall, unveiled Thursday its new look and expanded store offering in preparation for this year’s holiday season. Reopening activities will take place all weekend and include the ...
Puerto Rico’s first Victoria’s Secret location will open in about six weeks, capping years of anticipation for the retailer’s arrival. The buzz is that the nearly 14,000 square-foot store will go “live” Nov. 17.
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NIMB: News is my Business
News is my Business was born in November 2010 out of a desire to provide no-nonsense, straightforward, English-language news relevant to Puerto Rico’s business community, in an all-digital format.


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A legal battle is looming between Apple and the Champagne authorities amid reports suggesting that the electronics giant is poised to launch a 'Champagne'-coloured version of the iPhone.
Apple is due to unveil the latest versions of the hand-held devices – the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C – at a highly anticipated launch presentation next Wednesday.
And widespread online leaks and videos suggest that the new 5S phone will come in two new colour variations – a grey shade called ‘graphite’ and a pale golden colour dubbed ‘Champagne’.
However, the move is likely to fall foul of Champagne’s generic body, the Comité Interprofessionel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC), which is in charge of protecting the Champagne name around the world.
In the past, the CIVC’s legal team has successfully secured bans on the sale of a range of products seeking to use ‘Champagne’ in their name, packaging or marketing, including bubble bath, underwear and shoes.
A CIVC spokesperson told Decanter.com that so far the Apple reports were only ‘rumours’, and that the authority was awaiting more information before deciding what action, if any, to take.
But he added: ‘The appellation Champagne is protected in France, EU and most of the countries of the world, where Champagne can therefore only designate wines from the Champagne region in France.’
However, the name Champagne only enjoys limited protection in the US, where many domestically produced sparkling wines can still use the word ‘Champagne’ on their labels.
Written by Richard Woodard


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Mulberry founder sets sights on overseas shopping villages looking at 'castles' or 'old pig farms' as possible venues
Roger Saul is hatching international ambitions for his upmarket shopping village
The entrepreneur who made his name in fashion building up the Mulberry luxury brand is hatching international ambitions for his upmarket shopping village, Kilver Court.
Roger Saul plans to more than double the existing floor space at the shopping haven, which is based in an old textile mill at Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
The plan will see the shopping space extend to 80,000 sq ft over the next five years.
But he said: ‘I think we’ve got this one right now – it’s taken five years – and we’ve done it on a shoestring and invested all our own money.
'Now we’re looking at the next leap up and during that process we will be asking: can we replicate it?
‘People already ask, can we do it in Sweden or India with a concept in an unusual location such as a castle or an old pig farm.
It needs to be something meaningful but which has now lost its use. These places are out there.’
Saul plans to more than double the existing floor space at the shopping haven, which is based in an old textile mill at Shepton Mallet, Somerset
The textile mill has been restored and renovated as new brands have been introduced.
There are now 55 labels selling at discounts amid restaurants, food and wine.
They include Turnbull & Asser, Whistles, Jack Wills, Bamford and organic food from specialists such as Daylesford.
He said annual turnover has reached about £11 million and sales in five years will be ‘roughly £60 million or £70 million’.
He added: ‘We’ve had a super five years.’
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Predictions 2019: Digital Technologies Shift from Visions to Realities
In 2018, the buzz in business was all about digital transformation technologies—everything from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to hybrid cloud, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT). That buzz won’t cease in 2019—but the chatter around these technologies may become more refined, with less of a focus on what the technologies are and more on how they will be applied to have the most impact on business.
As the year ends, we’ve been asking our customers about what they see as the drivers of their business success in the new year. Through those discussions, as well as insight from our own internal experts, we’ve compiled our predictions for the new year across a range of topics that we’re hearing from customers and others.
The predictions come from three senior executives at Riverbed Technology—Chief Information Officer Rich Hillebrecht, Chief Customer Officer Dan Smoot and myself. Here is a summary of what we expect to see in 2019.
Customer demands will lead to technology mashups
The technologies that are getting the most attention these days—whether IoT, AI or blockchain—are undoubtedly going to open the doors to amazing new capabilities. But customer demands will force some of these same technologies to integrate in order to create new capabilities that haven’t yet been imagined.
Just as today’s world has been enabled by mobile, cloud, and social technologies and platforms, imagine the convergence of blockchain, IoT and grid computing to transform the way we live, work and interact.
At the root of these newly formed technology marriages will be the customers’ continued desires for vendor- or platform-agnostic flexibility, along with simple and seamless experiences. That push is fostering the need for partnerships between competitors—or arbitrators between competing platforms—to reduce the complexity that tends to come from the integration of new and different technologies. Consider the challenges that come with cybersecurity and data protection. Different analytic tool sets applied from different vendors can make things more complex, even though the metrics often come from the same data set.
Humans and machines will be watching and learning
Organizations are beginning to realize that all of this newfound data can have an impact on their overarching success—from helping them better understand their customers to creating new revenue streams based on value metrics. But first, organizations have to get their heads around all of the data and its potential value.
In part, the value of data is realized through human power. There is a critical need to invest in people with data science skills who understand the data and how to manage, leverage and monetize it along the way. But there is also a need to invest in machine power. Applying AI and ML algorithms and patterns against the telemetry of products, coupled with measuring the internal and external digital footprint of customers who visit landing pages or downloading white papers, can provide organizations with invaluable business insights.
Beyond data analysis, performance management also comes into play. Digital technologies are providing visibility into the performance of the technologies and recognizing issues more quickly, allowing organizations to troubleshoot networking or traffic problems before they impact users, or to identify intrusions before damage can be done.
Case in point: we expect to see widespread security breaches that will, in large part, stem from lax security across a range of IoT devices. The widespread and rapid adoption of IoT devices—whether fitness bands, home appliances or Internet-connected security systems—is built on the low-cost affordability of many of these devices. Consumer adoption comes at a certain price-point and, in order to keep production costs low, device manufacturers have sacrificed the advanced security technologies that would provide greater protections. Now, with an abundance of unprotected devices transferring valuable end-user data, conditions have become ripe for large-scale breaches.
New business decisions for organizations
An evolution of the partnerships between providers, the interoperability between technologies, and the relationships between companies and their customers will create new business practices.
From a strategic perspective, expect to see more companies sharing an important piece of the puzzle that they used to keep close to their vests—their product roadmaps. The long-standing fear was that, if companies hinted at what’s to come, customers might not be interested in buying the current offering. But in the cloud age, sharing the company’s vision for the future becomes a competitive advantage, empowering customers to think ahead, plan for new features, or even provide some input on what new features should look like or do.
From an infrastructure perspective, 2019 will also bring freedom from the persistent “last-mile” telecommunications problem. With the advancements in LTE, the technology will finally reach a point where the physical cables that connect end-users to their Internet Service Providers (ISP) will no longer be a necessity—or a handcuff—to a particular ISP.
The “last-mile” problem has long been the most critical and most costly component of an ISP’s network, as well a speed bottleneck. But now, on the heels of widespread adoption, LTE will allow enterprises to forego the last mile of physical cable for a reliable and robust connection.
Why it matters
Overall, the excitement for 2019 is that the technologies that everyone has been talking about for the better part of the last few years will finally start to have real impact. Whether 5G, hybrid cloud or AI, the technologies are reaching a point of maturity where adoption will start to make sense.
Likewise, the capabilities that are being unleashed through devices, performance monitoring dashboards, or other metrics will help businesses not only improve efficiency and productivity but also will allow them to explore new ways of doing business, new business models and address more customer needs along the way.
With all of this to look forward to in 2019, we can hardly wait to get past the holiday season.


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Engadgets / Engadges article 2.3.0 We’re excited to announce the release of our latest mobile app, the RIven 3D Video Games, which brings an exciting new feature to the platform: a new way to play your favorite video games.
Now you can play any of our favorite video game series on your phone, tablet, or computer.
The latest version of RIven’s Video Games app is available on the App Store and Google Play.
Read more about the app in this blog post.
We’ve also made significant changes to our mobile apps in 2018 to bring the best features of our Android and iOS apps to mobile users.
We’re looking forward to the improvements to the RIvents app, including a new user interface and more features in the coming months.
3.1.1 We’re delighted to announce that our Android app, RIvent Android, is now available for download in the Play Store.
We’ll be making more improvements to this app over the coming years to improve the experience for Android users, including the ability to access your account information and create a new device with your login details.
Read on to find out more about our upcoming updates to our Android apps.
3 to 4.5.0 The new RIvess app has a completely new look and feel.
The app now includes a new look, a cleaner, and easier-to-read interface.
We added new features, including our brand new Video Games and Video Games Collections.
The new app also features a redesigned user interface, improved privacy and security, and more.
Read the full release notes for more details.
3 release notes 1.1 to 3.5 New in 3.0.0 2.4.3 We’re very excited to be able to announce a new release of RIvends Android app: the RIvin Video Games Collection.
RIvin is the first app that’s built on top of the latest version 3.3, and is a collection of our top-rated video games and other video games titles.
We think it’s a great way to discover and play new titles on your device.
If you have any feedback or suggestions for future updates, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]
3-to 4.0-0 We have released our latest version on Android, bringing a fresh new look to the app.
This new app is now the only app on Android that has a clean, clear interface, with a cleaner and easier to read interface.
It includes new features such as a new User Interface, a better user experience, and a new Video Game Collection.
Read this blog for more info about the new UI and app.
3 update notes 1 to 3 New in 1.0 New in the 1.2.0 RIvres app now supports Android 4.4 KitKat.
The update will bring new features to the new app and some improvements to some of the core UI elements.
Read our release notes to learn more about this release.
1.5-2.2 We’ve launched RIvices newest version on iOS: the Riven iOS app.
The newest version of the RIves app brings a new and beautiful design, a fresh and easy to use interface, and the ability for users to create their own games on their own devices.
Read about the latest UI changes in this new blog post by the RIving team.
1 update notes 2 to 3 NEW in 1 1.4 We’re pleased to announce our newest app on iOS, RIvin iOS: a collection featuring over 250 games.
You can now access your favorite games on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, and even play them on your TV.
Read all about it in this release note.
2 update notes New in 2.1 The new Android app RIvin Android brings a fresh look and experience to the Android platform, with improved privacy, security, simplicity, and better user experiences.
Read a blog post on this new app here.
3 new app notes New to 3 1.3-1.2 Introducing RIvin 2.2, our newest mobile app for Android.
Read in this announcement about what’s new in RIvin.
Read up on all the features of RIvin, and how to get started.
Read out this blog article to learn about some of our other changes and additions to our apps in the future.
1 to 2.0 Introducing the RIvas new mobile app: RIvin for Android, which combines all the best of our mobile and PC apps into one convenient app.
Read an introduction to RIvin here.
1 app update notes 3 to 3 The new apps on iOS now have support for new device features, such as sharing your login and password details and the new video player on the app, plus improved privacy for users.
Read of these features in this article on the iOS app page.
2 app update reports 1 to 5 1.8.1 Introducing


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Samsung has been in great form over the last few years and is one of the most stable smartphone companies in terms of fan following as well as sales figures. Being one of the three largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, Samsung constantly needs to bring new innovative ideas to the market. The last major release was the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and the upcoming major release is the Galaxy Note 7.
A lot of details, specs, and features of the Note7 have already leaked out. The latest leak comes in the form of benchmark results. According to a new Geekbench listing, a device codenamed SM-N930R6 (supposedly the S7) is carrying a Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor. There’s 4GB of RAM inside the phone, but it is rumored that there will be a 6GB RAM variant or possibly only a 6GB RAM version.
The alleged Galaxy S7 is running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It is being said that the phone will get Snapdragon 820 in China and the US, while other regions will get the Exynos 8893 powered version.
A KnowYourMobile report says that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will get a 5.8 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen. There’s a bit of confusion whether or not there will be an Edge variant. It is possible that there will be a Galaxy Note 7 Edge only and no flat screen variant. We may see 256GB or more internal storage along with a microSD slot too for expansion. Type-C USB, fingerprint scanner, and iris scanner are surely coming. The new device is expected to get launched on August 2nd.
As reported by Forbes, we can also expect a dual-lens rear camera in the Note7 along with a completely redesigned TouchWiz UI. Also, a new Gear VR headset will be released with USB Type-C support as the current Galaxy Gear VR headset comes with micro USB support. This new VR headset will not only support the Galaxy Note 7 but will also be compatible with the Galaxy S8 and other major Galaxy smartphones that will be released in 2017.
There’s no information on the price yet, but rumors suggest a starting price of around $900. So are you excited?


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EnergyBet Partners Aston Villa F.C. In Front of Formal Release
On line activities betting brand EnergyBet is just about the certified Betting Partner of Aston Villa how to beat wolf run slot F.C. for the uk and European countries, the soccer team announced on Wednesday.
EnergyBet is a new product to be formally launched soon by online gambling brand name EnergyCasino. The online casino has enjoyed quite a fast development over the past years and has now become particularly popular across Scandinavian and Eastern European online gambling markets. EnergyCasino is headquartered in Malta and is licensed and controlled by the gambling regulator that is local. It has additionally been provided a license by the united kingdom Gambling Commission.
Commenting on Aston Villa’s partnership with EnergyBet, Peter Wright free play wolf run slot machine, Head of Partnerships during the football club, said that they’re happy to really have the sportsbook as their formal Betting Partner for great britain and European countries and they searching for ahead to working with its group, thus supporting the recreations wagering brand name in its try to establish itself in the exciting online gambling industry.
Emilia Rynkowska, EnergyBet British Country Manager, commented they are excited to sponsor a football club of Aston Villa’s size. The football club will provide the new sports betting brand with the opportunity to promote itself and to be part of Aston Villa’s promotional push, Ms. Rynkowska added under the partnership agreement.
EnergyCasino is defined to launch its EnergyBet online sportsbook later in August. […]


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When I think about planes running on solar or electric energy, it feels like the stuff of “the distant future”.
I am thrilled to report that real electric planes are happening people, right here in our islands! I heard about Ampaire on Hawaii Public Radio (HPR), and it made me so hopeful for new technologies emerging to combat climate change.
Ampaire is a company based in LA, but they have partnered with Mokulele Airlines right here in Hawaii. They retrofit 6 to 9 seater Cessna aircraft. Their goal is to demonstrate the sustainability and low cost of electric planes on short-haul flights (weekend getaway from Oahu to Maui anyone?) After going after this low hanging fruit, their goal is to retrofit and tackle longer range commercial aircraft. Why a retrofit rather than a plane from scratch? According to Kevin Noertker, the cofounder and CEO of Ampaire, “the core of the mission for our company is to build practical and compelling products that bring meaningful solutions as quickly as possible.” Well said.
Interestingly, their push is to start fully electric, rather than hybrid: the economic benefit from fuel and maintenance is more fully realized with an all electric airplane. These electric planes can achieve higher altitude where there is less air resistance (unlike ICE engines), have a higher rate of climb, and will be quieter. One issue has to deal with charging, and multiple electric plane companies are considering a battery swap out option until technology evolves. Currently, jet fuel yields about 43 times more energy than an equivalent mass of battery, according to this Tech Crunch article.
The cool thing about Ampaire is that by partnering with Mokulele here in Hawaii, we can actually begin to see change right here in the islands. That 20 minute 100 mile hop from Honolulu to Kahului would be an ideal distance for electric. The first test run, according to HPR, will be from Hana to Kahului.
By 2021–as soon as the company gets FAA approval–passengers will be able to book a flight on one of the planes.


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VeriFone, a big hardware provider for the payment card industry, has launched a head-on attack against Square, a start-up mobile payments company, over allegations that Square’s credit card readers are easily hacked, enabling criminals to steal account information stored in the card’s magnetic stripe.
The Allegation: Square “places consumers in dire risk”
In an open letter, posted on a specially set-up website, VeriFone’s CEO Douglas G. Bergeron alleges that there is a “serious security flaw” in Square’s credit card reader that compromises the security of cards swiped through it. In the words of Bergeron:
In less than an hour, any reasonably skilled programmer can write an application that will “skim” – or steal – a consumer’s financial and personal information right off the card utilizing an easily obtained Square card reader. How do we know? We did it. Tested on sample Square card readers with our own personal credit cards, we wrote an application in less than an hour that did exactly this.
To back their claim, VeriFone have created a video showing exactly how they believe Square’s reader can be used for skimming and will be sending their allegations to Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and JPMorgan Chase (Square’s processing bank).
What Is Skimming?
Skimming is the illegal copying of the account information stored in the magnetic stripe of a payment card. There are two different ways of doing it: swiping the card directly through a skimming device and placing a skimmer over the slot of an ATM machine. The copied information can then be used to create clones of the skimmed card.
Skimming is a problem. According to Bankrate.com, fraud losses from ATM skimming alone amount to close to $1 billion annually. The average yield from a skimming device placed at an ATM machine is $50,000, according to the American Bankers Association.
While not quite as scalable, the individual skimming of cards, the type Square is alleged to be vulnerable to, is equally damaging to cardholders. So, if real, VeriFone’s concern is legitimate and the vulnerability should be addressed. But the timing of these allegations is raising questions.
Why Is VeriFone Going After Square Now?
Several weeks ago VeriFone introduced the PAYware Mobile card encryption sleeve for iPhone that enables users to accept cards. The company said that the information is encrypted right after the swipe making it difficult for criminals to skim it.
Just a couple of weeks later Square upped the ante, by dropping the per-transaction component of the fee it charges its users for each card transaction they accept. The start-up is now processing $1 million a day, according to a tweet posted by CEO Jack Dorsey and is currently signing up 100,000 new users per month.
And now, this allegation.
The Takeaway: Square’s Growth Unlikely to Suffer
It is unclear whether VeriFone’s revelations will have any effect on Square’s growth. After all, even if it is as real as advertised, the vulnerability will affect the cardholders, not Square’s users who will still be attracted by the start- up’s no-monthly-fee pricing. Moreover, cardholders are fully protected from fraudulent transactions, so they have nothing to lose.
The fraud-related liabilities are born by Square and JPMorgan Chase. The latter can terminate the start-up’s processing agreement, if it deems the associated risks too high. Yet, the more likely scenario is that Square will bolster the security of its service and keep on growing.
Image credit: Finbotclub.blogspot.com.


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On 21 August 2015 (and on multiple subsequent occasions), Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told crowds of supporters at a campaign rally that he'd sworn off Oreo cookies because the brand's maker, Nabisco, had closed their plant in Chicago and moved production of the snack product to Mexico:
You know Mexico is the new China. The other day Nabisco, Nabisco ... Oreos right, Oreos. I love Oreos, I’ll never eat them again. Kay? Never eat 'em again. Nabisco closes a plant, they just announced a couple days ago, in Chicago and they’re moving the plant to Mexico. Now why? Why? Why?
Trump's claim echoed off-the-cuff remarks he had made earlier at non-campaign events (such as while reporting for jury duty in August 2015):
Donald Trump has pledged never to let another Oreo pass his lips.
"I’m not eating any more Oreos," he promised on Monday afternoon.
He made the declaration while speaking with reporters in the back of the jury assembly room at Manhattan Supreme Court. He was waiting to learn if he would be picked to serve on a panel, and he passed the time chatting about a wide range of subjects. That included the recent decision by Mondelez International, the parent of Nabisco, to move some of its Chicago operations to Mexico.
He said the move would cost 2,000 American jobs.
The number of purportedly lost jobs attached to the Oreo plant move has fluctuated from telling to telling. For example, on 14 August 2014 a Politico reporter tweeted:
Trump: "Nabisco is taking 1,200 jobs from Chicago and moving them to Mexico. No more Oreos. They make Oreos don't they? I don't like them."
— Roger Simon (@politicoroger) August 14, 2015
The repetition of Trump's claim had a clear impact on American consumers: the official Facebook pages of both Nabisco and Oreo were flooded with angry comments from users similarly denouncing the cookie- and cracker-maker over the purported loss of American jobs to Mexico:
EVERY single one of your products posted above i have purchased. I have 12 grandchildren and baskets and stockings have been filled with many of these for them. Plus they are always in "the treat bowl". Guess What? NOT ANY MORE!!!! I really hope that Mexico can keep you in business because I will no longer spend one more penny on ANY of your products.
Examples: [Collected via e-mail and Twitter, September 2015]
Someone posted a page on facebook saying Oreos are now being made in Mexico. Is this true and if so when did that happen?
— Jason Isaacson (@JDIsaacson) September 23, 2015
@HydroxCookie where are you're cookies made? Oreo moved to Mexico. Made in USA wins my business.
— Membery (@membery137) September 23, 2015
The spotlight pointed by Trump at Nabisco and Oreo lifted the story from the low-profile realm of business news, where it had previously lingered unnoticed. A 29 July 2015 Chicago Tribune article reported that 600 of 1,200 positions at the plant in question were on the chopping block following a decision announced by Nabisco's parent company, Mondelez International:
Mondelez International will lay off half of its 1,200 employees in its bakery on Chicago's Southwest Side after deciding to make a major investment in a Mexico plant rather than its long-standing facility here.
The company decided not to make a $130 million upgrade to the facility, the company's largest U.S. bakery, which dates to the 1950s, because the three unions that represent workers either did not make a proposal to keep the work or their concession packages were inadequate, said Laurie Guzzinati, a Mondelez spokeswoman.
The new production lines will make some of Nabisco's most popular products, including Oreo, Ritz and Grahams.
Mondelez International also announced the decision in a 29 July 2015 press release that confirmed much of the brand's production would remain in the United States:
[An] investment in [upgraded equipment] will be completed by mid-2016 and will replace nine older, inefficient manufacturing lines at its Chicago biscuit plant.
Today's announcement builds on the company's earlier manufacturing investments of more than $170 million in manufacturing lines at its U.S. biscuit plants in Fair Lawn, N.J., Naperville, Ill. and Richmond, Va., as well as additional investments in recent years in technologies and capabilities within its North American supply chain.
Today's announcement follows a process that began in early April, involving discussions with employees' union representatives from the Chicago plant as well as company due diligence to select between Salinas and Chicago, the two locations which were considered for this investment.
"The Chicago plant has been and will continue to be an important part of the company's North American biscuit footprint, producing a variety of beloved consumer products," said Olivier Bouret, Vice President, North America Integrated Supply Chain, Biscuits. "While the new investment will affect approximately 600 positions in Chicago, we're committed to treating all impacted employees fairly through this difficult time."
On 18 September 2015, a representative for Mondelez International disputed a number of Trump's assertions about Oreos in an e-mail to a news outlet:
A representative for Mondelēz Global LLC, said Trump's statements about the company are untrue. "We announced in July a new investment in our supply chain in an already-existing facility we have in Mexico. We are NOT closing our facility in Chicago," wrote Laurie M. Guzzinati, senior director for corporate and government affairs in North America for Mondelēz Global LLC.
"Though there will be an impact to some positions in Chicago, given that the investment is being made in a different facility in our manufacturing network, our Chicago bakery will continue to be an important site within the North American biscuit manufacturing network," Guzzinati wrote in an email to Foster's.
Guzzinati said that the Chicago bakery produces a variety of Nabisco cookies and crackers, and will remain important due to its geographical location.
"The Chicago bakery will remain one of the largest plants within the network from an overall head-count perspective," she said.
Guzzinati added that Oreos are made in several manufacturing sites within the United States, including Fair Lawn, N.J., Richmond, Va. and Portland, Ore.
So while it's true that Nabisco's parent company announced the elimination of some jobs at a Chicago plant, the number of jobs affected was 600 (not 1,200 or 2,000), and the facility was not closed. The company concurrently invested the expansion of manufacturing plants in three states, and Oreos remain in production in the U.S. at facilities in New Jersey, Oregon, and Virginia.


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Staunch, India’s fastest growing omni-channel distribution player enables global giants to leverage Indian retail market with the most effective global strategies.
Stated Kartik Agarwal, Founder, CEO & Founder, Staunch, “India is one of the fastest emerging retail markets across the global. We focus on creating right opportunities for our clients. Right from strategically penetrating across this highly diversified and fragmented market offline, to hit a big bang launch online or targeting the desired RoI with volumes or with some real time marketing and product development strategies, our mission is to a strengthen the bottom-line results for any brand.”
The company has recently launched a range of Global Brands in Indian Market. Staunch will assist these brands with the array of services like Cataloging, marketing, strategy, brand comparison & choosing right retail marketplace etc.
Speaking on the announcement, Nishant Choudhary, AVP – Sales and Marketing said: “We are soon planning to introduce 5 new global brands into the Indian market by March 2020. As we see huge potential in the Smart homes’ and IoT segments, we are targeting customer acquisition in the space such as Smart Camera, Smart plug, Smart lights, Door Locks, Music etc.”
“We are confident that our platform with its strong implementation capability will play a stellar role in strengthening the presence of these brands across various online retail channels,”
The company has witnessed 100 percent YOY growth since its inception. Staunch has enabled more than 40 brands to capitalize on Omni-channel retail opportunities. With a robust and the widest distribution network, it has catered to the dynamic requirement of Indian brands like Intex, Flybot, Gizmore, and Hindware etc.


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Mitel surveyed more than 750 North American SMBs and shared insights about the business and technology impacts of COVID-19 and the outlook for SMBs amid the evolving crisis.
Although the majority said they have been negatively impacted, 33% have accelerated their adoption of technology solutions due to the pandemic, and 40% are maintaining investments at their previously planned levels. Only 25$ are tightening their technology purse strings.
This underscores just how essential technology is to growing businesses, especially as they tune into new customer preferences, behaviors and expectations.
Top Five Changes Rated “Extremely Valuable” by SMBs
- Adding “no-touch” payments
- Creating virtual service offerings to replace physical ones
- Increasing use of digital sales channels
- Renegotiating vendor contracts
- Developing new products and services
Some Good News after Technology Adoption
SMBs that have accelerated their technology adoption and investments are 36% more likely to forecast that their revenues will rise over the next 6 months than SMBs that decelerated their plans. SMBs that hit the brakes are 66% more likely to forecast sliding revenues.
For assistance with your technology planning, CTS offers a full portfolio of communications systems and apps that can help you overcome your challenges to grow your business. Contact us today at 800.787.4848 or email@example.com.


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London is calling shoppers to Kohl’s
Kohl’s is bringing the fashions of London to its stores with its latest designer collaboration.
The retailer has teamed up with designer Thakoon on a fashion collection now available at Kohl’s stores nationwide and Kohls.com calledThakoon for DesigNation. The one-of-a-kind, limited-edition, limited-time collection features Thakoon Panichgul’s signature style inspired by one of his favorite cities, London.
“We are thrilled to partner with Thakoon during one of the biggest fashion seasons of the year,” said Nancy Feldman, Kohl’s executive vice president of women’s apparel. “He is an award-winning designer who will bring an elevated caliber of fashion to our customers that we know they will love.”
The DesigNation collection marries designer quality with London’s iconic character, culture and history. The fall assortment is fashioned with unique color palettes, prints and patterns and priced from $36 to $175.
Panichgul, born in Thailand and raised in Omaha, Neb., founded his namesake label, Thakoon, in 2004.Thakoon is the seventh designer to partner with Kohl’s for an exclusive DesigNation collection, introduced in the fall of 2012 with Narciso Rodriguez, followed by Derek Lam, Catherine Malandrino, Peter Som, Elie Tahari, and most recently MILLY by Michelle Smith.
“There is a strong sense of freedom and individuality in fashion now, and I love to see how women make things their own,” said Panichgul. “Thakoon for DesigNation is a repertoire of classic pieces, each with a twist for the everyday wardrobe of the Kohl’s customer.”
Three Ways Apple is Impacting Omnichannel
This year’s annual fall Apple event did not offer retailers anything quite as dramatic as last year’s introduction of Apple Pay and Apple Watch. However, there were still a few announcements with potential impact on the omnichannel landscape.
TV, or Not TV
Should you sell to consumers via interactive TV? That is the question forward-thinking retailers will need to ask themselves now that Apple is planning to release an updated version of its Apple TV live video streaming device. Apple TV will include its own App Store, featuring apps for a number of activities, including shopping.
Touch-enabled remote control and voice commands activated by the Apple Siri service will make shopping directly from TV easier than ever. Apple TV may prove the tipping point that brings interactive TV shopping from the bleeding edge to the mainstream.
Online luxury retailer Gilt is among the first retailers to offer an Apple TV shopping app. The new Apple TV set top box is scheduled for release in late October, in time for the holiday shopping season.
A new consumer engagement channel with a new set of complexities and opportunities is emerging. Not every retailer may need to engage consumers via TV right away. But the ubiquity of TV in the lives of consumers suggests that the lure of buying products with the click of a remote will be strong.
Going Big With Tablets
Apple also unveiled iPad Pro, a new iPad model featuring a larger 12.9-inch screen. iPad Pro further sets a new bar with 5.6 million-pixel resolution. Moreover, the newest iPad will offer a magnetic keyboard and an interactive stylus called Apple Pencil.
Apple is going big with tablets, essentially delivering laptop-type functionality via the lightweight, portable tablet platform. The Microsoft Surface tablet has offered a keyboard option from the beginning, but has never really taken off with consumers. The built-in audience of iPad users all but guarantees the success of iPad Pro.
This means retailers will need to step up their mobile commerce offerings to match the capabilities of the iPad Pro, whether by responsive design or dedicated iPad Pro sites. Images need to be bigger and clearer, and m-commerce sites will need to offer more details and interactive features. As with Apple TV, the challenge is also an opportunity, as retailers can upgrade what is still often a primitive mobile customer experience for iPad Pro consumers.
Getting in Touch
Apple did not leave out users of its venerable iPhone. The new 6s series of iPhones will include a 3D Touch feature that lets users preview messages and emails with a light touch, and also open menus to enable quick performance of key app functions.
For retailers, this means consumers will have even less incentive to open promotional messages or emails, as they can briefly preview and discard them. Promotions will have to offer a highly condensed nugget of content enticing enough to prompt consumers to actually open them.
And retail apps will need to offer valuable functionality that consumers can easily access from a pull-down menu. Opening an app may not seem like that big a chore, but once consumers get used to the iPhone 6s shortcut, it will become as passé as waiting for your dial-up modem to connect.
Hollywood lures marketing chief from Internet giant
Sunnyvale, Calif. – The marketing head of a major Internet company has heard the siren call of Hollywood. Kathy Savitt, chief marketing officer of Yahoo, is joining Burbank, California-based movie and TV production studio STX Entertainment in October as president of digital business.
Savitt, who previously served as VP of communications and Amazon.com and chief marketing officer at American Eagle Outfitters, and also founded now defunct social commerce site Lockerz, had been in charge of marketing at Yahoo for three years.
Other top executives have recently departed Yahoo, including senior VP of advertising Scott Burke and European business head Dawn Airey, as CEO Marisaa Mayer attempts to turn around the troubled site.


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EyeVerify technology uses smartphone cameras to easily verify ID by eye veins
The iris and retina aren’t the only useful eye-based biometrics available. The veins in the whites of the eye, the sclera, are extremely unique and can be used to create a unique biometric template.
EyeVerify is a Kansas City, Mo., company whose software is enabling app developers and phone makers to take images of the sclera with regular smartphone cameras to verify the identity of users. EyeVerify’s Eyeprint ID software lets individuals open their mobile devices, logs into an application, or verify a mobile payment just by looking at their phone.
Biometric authentication using existing camera technology
According to Chris Barnett, EyeVerify’s EVP of Global Marketing and Sales, EyeVerify’s solution doesn’t require a specialized device like an infrared-illuminated camera to capture the iris, making it especially attractive for phone makers that want to add security features.
He said, “OEMs have to decide: Do they want to add another camera to the phone and design around its weight and thickness? Or do they just want to have software that just uses the selfie camera?”
Additionally, sclera readings could provide a way for app developers to verify identity across different devices, not just premium smartphones. TouchID on the iPhone, for instance, works for the Apple ecosystem which includes Apple Pay, but many companies can’t rely on their customers to have a specific piece of hardware.
A financial institution’s online banking app, for instance, has to support thousands of different devices, making it important that biometric authentication work with existing hardware.
In February, Eyeprint ID password-free mobile bank account access became available to 800 small and medium sized banks and credit unions through a deal with Digital Insight, a division of NCR financial services, that provides banking technology to institutions that can’t afford to create their own solutions in-house. “Their platform allows any one of them to just push a button and just turn on EyePrint without doing any integration or sign a contract with us. They get it through Digital Insight, pre-integrated and ready to go,” Barnett said.
This technology, which works with most smartphones cameras, is especially relevant for emerging markets. Chinese mobile device maker ZTE incorporated Eyeprint ID into its ZTE Grand S3 smartphone for password-free unlocking earlier this year, and EyeVerify also has partnerships with Chinese phone makers Vivo and TCL. In June, Vodaphone’s Mobile Wallet app in Turkey added EyeVerify technology to make secure mobile payments without requiring a password.
Keeping data securely on the device
Verification employs digital templates which are encoded with mathematical and statistical algorithms, but it also keeps data on the device rather than on an external cloud or traditional server.
“Biometric data never leaves the device. People think the cloud is really secure, but we see every day that there’s an example of an egregious hack of somebody’s files,” “With EyePrint ID, everything is localized. Any particular attack is only affecting one particular phone and one particular person, there’s nowhere else our users’ data is kept – just the one device.”
On the device, the unique sclera patterns are not stored as raw images, but rather as an encrypted template containing around 100 dimensions that contribute meaningfully to the biometric matching process. The software then adds to the template 400 “chaff points” which are garbage data points that are indistinguishable to intruders from the genuine points, effectively hiding the data points that matter.
Furthermore, during authentication the verification template and the enrollment template are matched in the encrypted space without exposing either one. Additionally, it’s extremely difficult to trick Eyeprint ID readings with an image or reproduction of a person’s sclera because it randomly changes camera settings such as focus, exposure, and white balance to look for an appropriate response from a real subject.
Because eye vein patterns change very slowly over time, and software can account for changes due to alcohol consumption or allergies, sclera imaging is a very attractive biometric. And this allows EyeVerify is to generate an encryption key from the eye biometric alone.
“Typically, biometrics can’t do this because it’s slightly different every time,” Barnett said. “This is very unique to us, and comes as a requirement from a lot of our use cases. In order to completely replace the password, we need to generate some kind of token or encryption key and that’s why we can we can be the primary factor in step-up authentication.”
Future implementations and use cases
In the future, Barnett said, solutions like Eyeprint ID will enable a broad range of use cases as phones are used for more and more things, replacing car and house keys, wallets, and identification cards. “People will use their phone as their personal identification and access control tool.”
For now, EyeVeriify is focusing on getting its technology in mobile phones and online banking applications, and Barnett said there will be multiple announcements in these sectors this calendar year.


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News Feed Item
Advisory - Potentially dangerous unauthorized drugs seized from "SVN FUEL" stores in B.C.
|By PR Newswire
|April 11, 2014 07:19 PM EDT
OTTAWA, April 11, 2014 /CNW/ -
The issue: Four unauthorized drugs being sold at two SVN FUEL stores - one in
Burnaby and one in Coquitlam, B.C. - were seized by Health Canada as
they contain ingredients that are potentially dangerous to the health
The products, and the unapproved ingredients they contain, include
Jack3d (DMAA (1, 3-dimethylamylamine), Red Rockets (ephedrine and
caffeine), West Pharm Therma Lean (ephedrine and caffeine), and
OxyElite Pro (1, 3-dimethylamylamine HCl and Yohimbe Bark extract).
They were being promoted for weight management.
Who is affected: Canadians who have used or purchased any of these products.
What consumers should do:
Speak to a healthcare professional if you have taken any of the products
and have concerns regarding your health.
Read the label of the products you buy to verify that they have been
assessed by Health Canada for safety, effectiveness and quality. Health
products that have been authorized for sale by Health Canada will have
an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN), a Homeopathic Medicine
Number (DIN-HM) or a Natural Product Number (NPN) on the label.
Report any adverse events associated with the use of these products to Health Canada.
What Health Canada is doing:
Health Canada seized Jack3d from SVN FUEL, Unit 102, 9952 Lougheed Hwy.
Red Rockets, West Pharm Therma Lean and OxyElite Pro were seized from
SVN FUEL, Unit 138, 3000 Lougheed Hwy, Coquitlam, B.C.
Health Canada previously advised Canadians of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning not to use dietary supplements labelled as "OxyElite Pro" following
several U.S. reports of serious liver injury.
Jack3d was found to contain DMAA (dimethylamylamine), a drug that is not
authorized for use in Canada. Side effects include high blood pressure,
shortness of breath, chest pain, stroke and psychiatric disorders.
Red Rockets and West Pharm Therma Lean were found to contain ephedrine and caffeine. Ephedrine and caffeine,
when combined together, may cause serious and possibly fatal adverse
effects ranging from dizziness, tremors, headaches and irregularities
in heart rate, to seizures, psychosis, heart attacks and stroke.
Canadians suffering from heart conditions, high blood pressure and
diabetes are among those particularly at risk. Ephedrine is authorized
for the relief of nasal congestion but is not authorized for sale in
Canada as a stimulant or weight management product.
In addition to dimethylamylamine, OxyElite Pro was found to contain Yohimbe bark extract. The use of any unauthorized
drugs containing yohimbine (either as yohimbine hydrochloride or
yohimbe bark extract) may result in serious adverse reactions,
particularly in people with high blood pressure, heart, kidney or liver
disease. Side effects associated with yohimbine include increased blood
pressure and heart rate, anxiety, dizziness, tremors, headache, nausea
and sleep disorders. It should not be used by children, pregnant or
In 2010, Health Canada received four reports of adverse reactions
associated with the use of West Pharm Therma Lean.
For more information:
Consumers and health professionals wanting more information about this
advisory from Health Canada can contact the Public Enquiries Line at
613-957-2991, or toll free at 1-866-225-0709.
Media enquiries related to this Advisory should be directed to Health
Canada Media Relations at 613-957-2983.
1. Jack3d (contains DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine)
2. Red Rockets (contains Ma Huang, 8% Ephedrine and caffeine)
3. West Pharm Therma Lean (contains Ma Huang, 8% Ephedrine and caffeine)
4. OxyElite Pro (contains 1, 3-dimethylamylamine HCl and Yohimbe Bark
How to report side effects of health products to Health Canada:
Call toll-free at 1-866-234-2345
Visit MedEffect Canada's web page on Adverse Reaction Reporting for information on how to report online, by mail or by fax.
Related Health Canada Content:
Stay connected with Health Canada and receive the latest advisories and
product recalls using social media tools.
SOURCE Health Canada
PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2014/04/11/20140411_C9594_DOC_EN_39171.pdf
To assist customers with legacy Windows Server 2003 that is no longer supported by Microsoft, Racemi has introduced fixed price packages for upgrading and migrating Windows Server 2003 servers to either Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 2012 R2 and the choice of Amazon Web Services (AWS) or SoftLayer cloud.
"We're extending a lifeline by upgrading the legacy servers to more modern Windows Server platforms while taking advantage of cloud computing," said James Strayer, vice president of product managem...
Sep. 5, 2015 03:30 AM EDT
To support developers and operations professionals in their push to implement DevOps principles for their infrastructure environments, ProfitBricks, a provider of cloud infrastructure, is adding support for DevOps tools Ansible and Chef.
Ansible is a platform for configuring and managing data center infrastructure that combines multi-node software deployment, ad hoc task execution, and configuration management, and is used by DevOps professionals as they use its playbooks functionality to autom...
Sep. 5, 2015 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 152
Manufacturing connected IoT versions of traditional products requires more than multiple deep technology skills. It also requires a shift in mindset, to realize that connected, sensor-enabled “things” act more like services than what we usually think of as products.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, David Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Ayla Networks, will discuss how when sensors start generating detailed real-world data about products and how they’re being used, smart manufacturers can use the ...
Sep. 5, 2015 03:00 AM EDT
Skeuomorphism usually means retaining existing design cues in something new that doesn’t actually need them. However, the concept of skeuomorphism can be thought of as relating more broadly to applying existing patterns to new technologies that, in fact, cry out for new approaches.
In his session at DevOps Summit, Gordon Haff, Senior Cloud Strategy Marketing and Evangelism Manager at Red Hat, discussed why containers should be paired with new architectural practices such as microservices rathe...
Sep. 5, 2015 02:00 AM EDT Reads: 461
SYS-CON Events announced today that HPM Networks will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
For 20 years, HPM Networks has been integrating technology solutions that solve complex business challenges. HPM Networks has designed solutions for both SMB and enterprise customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Sep. 5, 2015 01:30 AM EDT Reads: 999
Puppet Labs has announced the next major update to its flagship product: Puppet Enterprise 2015.2. This release includes new features providing DevOps teams with clarity, simplicity and additional management capabilities, including an all-new user interface, an interactive graph for visualizing infrastructure code, a new unified agent and broader infrastructure support.
Sep. 5, 2015 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 613
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pythian, a global IT services company specializing in helping companies leverage disruptive technologies to optimize revenue-generating systems, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 17th Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Founded in 1997, Pythian is a global IT services company that helps companies compete by adopting disruptive technologies such as cloud, Big Data, advance...
Sep. 5, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 414
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo, November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and e...
Sep. 5, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 256
SYS-CON Events announced today that G2G3 will exhibit at SYS-CON's @DevOpsSummit Silicon Valley, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Based on a collective appreciation for user experience, design, and technology, G2G3 is uniquely qualified and motivated to redefine how organizations and people engage in an increasingly digital world.
Sep. 4, 2015 11:00 PM EDT Reads: 582
In their Live Hack” presentation at 17th Cloud Expo, Stephen Coty and Paul Fletcher, Chief Security Evangelists at Alert Logic, will provide the audience with a chance to see a live demonstration of the common tools cyber attackers use to attack cloud and traditional IT systems.
This “Live Hack” uses open source attack tools that are free and available for download by anybody. Attendees will learn where to find and how to operate these tools for the purpose of testing their own IT infrastructu...
Sep. 4, 2015 09:30 PM EDT Reads: 545
DevOps Summit, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, is co-located with 17th Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development...
Sep. 4, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,670
Too often with compelling new technologies market participants become overly enamored with that attractiveness of the technology and neglect underlying business drivers. This tendency, what some call the “newest shiny object syndrome,” is understandable given that virtually all of us are heavily engaged in technology. But it is also mistaken. Without concrete business cases driving its deployment, IoT, like many other technologies before it, will fade into obscurity.
Sep. 4, 2015 06:45 PM EDT Reads: 458
Whether you like it or not, DevOps is on track for a remarkable alliance with security. The SEC didn’t approve the merger. And your boss hasn’t heard anything about it. Yet, this unruly triumvirate will soon dominate and deliver DevSecOps faster, cheaper, better, and on an unprecedented scale.
In his session at DevOps Summit, Frank Bunger, VP of Customer Success at ScriptRock, will discuss how this cathartic moment will propel the DevOps movement from such stuff as dreams are made on to a prac...
Sep. 4, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 284
SYS-CON Events announced today that DataClear Inc. will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
The DataClear ‘BlackBox’ is the only solution that moves your PC, browsing and data out of the United States and away from prying (and spying) eyes. Its solution automatically builds you a clean, on-demand, virus free, new virtual cloud based PC outside of the United States, and wipes it clean...
Sep. 4, 2015 05:30 PM EDT Reads: 510
With the proliferation of connected devices underpinning new Internet of Things systems, Brandon Schulz, Director of Luxoft IoT – Retail, will be looking at the transformation of the retail customer experience in brick and mortar stores in his session at @ThingsExpo.
Questions he will address include:
Will beacons drop to the wayside like QR codes, or be a proximity-based profit driver?
How will the customer experience change in stores of all types when everything can be instrumented and a...
Sep. 4, 2015 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 535


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Tourism visa applications to Saudi Arabia have boomed since the kingdom announced it was opening its doors to more foreign visitors in September.
Antigua & Barbuda has partnered with GeoTourist to create navigational application content for the destination. It will offer visitors the chance to explore the destination independently, while being guided by Antiguan storytellers, all from their mobile phone.
World Travel Awards has partnered with Oman Airports to host its highly-anticipated Grand Final Gala Ceremony 2019. The event will take place on November 28th at the Royal Opera House Muscat.
Britain could be seen by European visitors as a ‘basket case’ country for up to five years after a potential initial Brexit agreement according to a leading figure in the travel industry.
World Travel Market - London has seen a variety of fascinating sessions in the Americas Inspiration Zone, each designed to highlight the tourism trends shaping the region in the coming years.
Brexit, politics and the travel trade has been a major topic of discussion at World Travel Market – London. The event is the largest gathering of the hospitality industry in the UK and will welcome upward of 50,000 delegates over three days.
The USA, Australia and India continue to take the top spot for the UK’s favourite long-haul inbound tourism markets, according to research revealed at World Travel Market.
Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has argued there is need for global oversight of travel advisories issued for destinations. The minister made the call at the World Travel Market, which is being staged in London.
Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has handed over US$50,000 to the director general of the Bahamas tourism and aviation ministry, Joy Jibrilu, at the second Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre board meeting in London.
The Egyptian Tourism Authority has been confirmed as the sponsor for visitor registration at this year’s World Travel Market in London. The partnership comes just days after the British government lifted the flight restriction to the North African country’s resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
World Travel Market opens its doors in London today as part of the newly inaugurated London Travel Week that runs until November 7th. The show is thought to add £160 million to the city's economy, taking into account how much visitors spend on hotels, restaurants and entertainment.
Rotana is presenting its diverse collection of hotels at World Travel Market London. Taking place this week at ExCeL London convention, the event provides Rotana with an outstanding platform for engagement with key stakeholders, partners and customers in the UK market.


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Back in October, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Google, claiming that the company has exhibited monopolizing and anti-competitive behavior, and now the tech giant has issued its first formal response.
In a 42-page document listing out all its arguments for dismissing the lawsuit, Google contends almost every paragraph and sentence in the Justice Department’s original filing, which calls the tech giant “a monopoly gatekeeper for the Internet,” and attacks its deals with various mobile service providers to make Google their default search engine.
Responding, the company says that “People use Google Search because they choose to, not because they are forced to or because they cannot easily find alternative ways to search for information on the internet,” pointing to the existence of Bing and DuckDuckGo. It also argues that its deals with service providers are akin to consumer brands buying preferable shelf space in grocery stores, and that both Apple and Android users can easily switch their preferred search engines to other competitors if they wished to do so.
The Department of Justice has yet to respond to the new filings from Google, so stay tuned as the story develops.
Elsewhere in tech, OPPO has teamed up with nendo to create an innovative “Slide-Phone” concept.
Source: Read Full Article


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Newry City centre was crowned as Northern Ireland’s Rising Star, at the Government-run Great British High Street Awards last week, in partnership with Visa, in Edinburgh.
The city was commended for its innovative use of technology and creative initiatives, which helped secure £5,000 for the local community.
Newry BID manager Eamonn Connolly Eamonn nominated Newry for the Rising Star Award last year after efforts to restore civic pride while generating optimism to overcome challenges facing the high street with the judges particularly impressed with the Newry VIP Shopper campaign, a text loyalty scheme, aimed to help drive footfall and sales from existing customers.
The Newry VIP initiative launched in August 2019, when Péarlaí introduced its technology in over 70 shops, stores and cafes across Newry, giving retailers access to data that has never been available before, whilst giving shoppers access to countless all year round discounts.
The initiative has been a great success in Newry, with over 7000 VIPs now using their fobs in their favourite stores across the city.
Local businesses have also been praising Péarlaí’s technology, with Ann Summers Store Manager, Philippa Sterrit, commenting on the benefits of using it in a recent Q&A session with us “Definitely engage with technology because you can further understanding of your customers through Péarlaí, and you can convert those window shoppers into customers through it.”
Péarlaí CEO, Peter McCaul, was delighted that his company’s technology could play such an instrumental part in Newry’s success at The High Street Awards:
“This award really does help put Newry’s High Street on the map and give it the recognition it deserves. Newry BID works tirelessly in its efforts to revive, adapt and diversify Newry’s high street. And when they teamed up with Péarlaí last year to launch the Newry VIP initiative they offered full backing from the very start and great support in raising awareness to local shoppers.
“It’s great to see that all parties efforts have been rewarded, and I’m sure there will be much more success for Newry’s High Street in years to come, the city’s high street has been recognised as a rising star, and I’ve got great faith it will shine brightly for a long time when it rises to the top.”


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Startup looking to catch sulfur sinners from the air
Startup firm Explicit will be catching sulfur sinners in Danish waters over the next six months. This marks a launch toward a much bigger market with the global sulfur requirements, CEO Jon Knudsen tells ShippingWatch.
With daily rates of USD 100,000 a few weeks ago, the LPG market was basically a money press, as BW LPG chief executive Anders Onarheim puts it in an interview with ShippingWatch. Today, rates would have a hard time going any lower, he says.
At Maersk Supply Service, only three percent of seafarers are female. The company wants to ensure that women never find themselves alone in a male-dominated environment and will deploy women in pairs, head of crew management tells ShippingWatch.
Europe's biggest port now presents a list of 27 companies that have secured permission to operate bunker barges in the port. The licenses have been introduced as part of the efforts to get better control of the port's bunker business.