text:
Around 100 members attended Tourism Whistler's annual general meeting on Friday, May 17, to elect a new board and hear how the resort did in 2011.
Winter room occupancy nights grew by 18 per cent in 2011, compared with 2010, but to put this in context that's one per cent higher than in 2001.
The agency's chairman-of-the-board Roger Soane thanked his board for their good discussions and for meeting the challenges of the season. He said they knew 2011 would be a tough year following on the heels of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but that the post-Games focus of "winning back the destination market... was starting to pay off." He also alluded to the economic recovery worldwide and the impact it had on the resort.
"As we start to come out of this recovery, I do caution everybody that it's still going to take some time," Soane added.
Tourism Whistler's president and CEO Barrett Fisher told members that the 2011 priority shifts included moving more from traditional media to social media, moving from brochures to digital content, concentrating on growing the destination market, moving from tactical advertising to brand image, and from event production to event solicitation and marketing.
Members also took part in electing new members to Tourism Whistler's Board of Directors.
Soane was acclaimed director of multi-managed lodging - other, and Norman Mastalir was acclaimed director for single managed lodging - large. In the vote for the other two positions on the board, Jim Allard became director for multi-managed lodging - Village, and Tony Cary-Barnard becomes director-at-large, defeating Stephen Webb and Annique Aird, respectively.
The Whistler Sabbatical Project, with Briton Luke Dillon staying at the resort for a month, was declared a significant success, with over 20,000 individual entries and over four million Facebook impressions of the project's page. Tourism Whistler's Facebook page itself gain over 11,000 new fans in 2011, and the website Whistler.com had over 1.98 million visits.
In terms of visibility on television, among many other opportunities, the appearance of Bearfoot Bistro's sous chef Jimmy Stewart on Top Chef was worth $3.2 million in advertising value, an appearance of Whistler on Travel Channel China was worth over $2 million.
Louise Walker, the vice president of marketing at Tourism Whistler, gave the final presentation, a look at the strategy for the coming summer season - called "The Art of Summer" - which has the aim of increasing "top-of-mind awareness of Whistler as a summer destination" with the hoping shifting perceptions of visiting the resort from day trip to getaways to destination vacations to increase overnight visits.
Activities emphasized in upcoming advertising and marketing campaigns will include mountain biking, golf, and cultural events at the resort such as concerts and art.
Along with a strategic advertising campaign, emphasizing quality of the experience (mountain biking), and the affordability (golf), the deals found on booking websites like Expedia will include offers like free third nights in Whistler accommodations.
Tourism Whistler members will also be able to access a "Member Toolbox" for the summer season with ideas "to engage and involve you in the whole process" of The Art of Summer program, Walker said.
For more information go to www.piquenewsmagazine.com, or pick up the Pique next Thursday.


text:
A glass or two of red wine each day may be providing you with more than just a little relaxation. For over 14 years, research has indicated that moderate intake of alcohol improves cardiovascular health. In fact, in 1992 Harvard researchers included moderate alcohol consumption as one of the “eight proven ways to reduce coronary heart disease risk." However, research has suggested that specifically red wine is the most beneficial to your heart health. The cardio-protective effect has been attributed to antioxidants present in the skin and seeds of red grapes.
Scientists believe the antioxidants, called flavonoids, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways:
• By reducing production of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (also known as the “bad” cholesterol. Good cholesterol is HDL.)
• By boosting high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol)
• By reducing blood clotting. Furthermore, consuming a glass of wine along with a meal may favorably influence your lipid profiles following that meal.
Recently, several researchers have found that moderate red wine consumption may be beneficial to more than just your heart. New research published in the August 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal, not only explains resveratrol’s one-two punch on inflammation, but also show how it—or a derivative—can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis. An older study had discovered that the antioxidant resveratrol may inhibit tumor development in some cancers. And still another reason to toast nature’s powerful antioxidant, resveratrol has been shown to aid in the formation of nerve cells, which experts believe may be helpful in the treatment of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Researchers at the University of California, at Davis tested a variety of wines to determine which types have the highest concentrations of flavonoids. Their results concluded that the flavonoids favorite is Cabernet Sauvignon, followed closely by Petit Syrah and Pinot Noir. Both Merlots and red zinfandels have fewer flavonoids than their more potent predecessors. White wine had significantly smaller amounts than the red wine varieties. The bottom line is the sweeter the wine, the fewer the flavonoids. Dryer red wines are your best bet for a flavonoid boost.
A five-ounce glass of wine is equivalent to one serving. Men will benefit from consuming one to two servings per day. This is not to say that you should start drinking alcohol if you presently do not. Occasional or binge drinkers have higher mortality rates than those who drink moderately on a regular basis. In those who consume three or more drinks per day, there is an increased risk for elevated serum triglycerides (fat in the bloodstream). Heavy drinkers are also at risk for malnutrition, as alcohol may substitute for more nutritious foods.
Wine's benefits for the heart and the prevention of stroke and certain cancers have been relayed by newspapers regularly. A major study last year took a look at the benefits to the heart, and found that wine drinkers are aided by wine.
Wine is a way to relax, socialize, and reduce anxiety. Again moderation is the key to how much and when. It does, however, help individuals lose inhibitions, which means reducing fear. Since fear has been known to create additional stress and anxiety, the reduction of it can enhance good health and increase longevity.
Foods taste better with wine, folks say. Some wine advocates stress having the right wine with the right dish. But certain foods, especially fresh food items, the kind that are called best for us by doctors and health scientists, go better with wine. Those who have to restrict diet because of being overweight can have a tasty treat that in moderation can take the place of that chocolate cake more likely to put on the pounds.
Always Drink Responsibly. Remember "Wine is Food."

domain: news


text:
Microsoft’s giving away Windows 10 (No, really!)
Microsoft’s already experimented with giving Windows 8 away for free with low-cost tablets, as I’ve written about previously. But few expected that the same kind of largesse would be present to anything like the same level with its next generation operating system, Windows 10.
Windows has been the bulwark that Microsoft’s fortunes rested upon, and the experiments with Windows 8.1 with Bing were largely seen as just a ploy to keep the tide of cheap Android tablets at bay. The fact that you can’t put Windows 8.1 onto anything approaching a “powerful” system meant that it was never going to be widespread.
Microsoft had already revealed a solid quantity of detail about Windows 10 back when it first started showing it off to enterprise customers, as well as making a limited beta trial available to anyone who wanted to mess around with early and often unstable code. That’s a step that the company’s taken before, but at a recent event designed to start shifting consumers towards Windows 10 acceptance, Microsoft went further.
In fact, Microsoft went the whole hog, announcing, to the surprise of many, that Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for any user of Windows 7 or Windows 8 for the first year after Windows 10 launches. Because Windows is “sold” (or in this case, supplied) on a machine-license basis, that means that any machine upgraded in this way will be supported by Microsoft for the life of the Windows 10 operating system. Microsoft haven’t specifically announced when Windows 10 will be available to consumers, but it’s expected to be finalised for release sometime around the second half of the year.
If Windows is the basis of Microsoft’s fortunes, why would it take such a step? There’s a few key reasons. Firstly, in a competitive sense, Microsoft’s going in heavily against Apple, which provides the upgrades for its Mac OS operating system free of charge to any Apple user with hardware that can handle it. Offering Windows for “free” gives Windows 10 a solid leg up against any encroachment from Apple, although figures suggest that’s still just a fraction of the overall market. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the decision to make Windows 10 free was as much a push for hearts as it was minds, stating that “We want to move from people needing Windows, to choosing Windows and loving Windows.“
Secondly, it plays into Microsoft’s pitch for Windows 10 to be a whole family of operating systems, covering everything from phones to tablets to notebooks and desktops. The issue for Microsoft is that Windows 8 hasn’t been as widely accepted and adopted as it would have hoped for. Netmarketshare’s analytics put the Windows 8/Windows 8.1 share of desktops at around 13 per cent of all used systems, utterly dwarfed by the 56 per cent on Windows 7 and even the 18 per cent on ancient and no longer supported or patched Windows XP systems.
Putting Windows 10 out there for “free”, but only for a limited time, is a strong incentive to bring all those Windows 7 users up to speed with Windows 10, as well as the Windows 8 users. It won’t get every user, of course. Individual reluctance or company policies for upgrades would see to that, but if they could get a solid 80 per cent of those users, Windows 10 would be a dominant force for years to come. That plays into Microsoft’s longer game, as while after the initial year it’d be free to charge for Windows, and it’ll still be charging OEMs for it on “new” machines, it also wants to transform itself from a company that sells software to one that sells services. That’s why it’s shifted Office to the Office 365 subscription model for desktops, while making the tablet equivalent free but limited, because it allows it to make steady subscription income, rather than a one-time sale. Microsoft’s busy building an ecosystem to hook users, whether they’re big businesses, small business or just individual consumers, and to do that, it needs a critical mass of people already on Windows 10.
That doesn’t mean that you should ignore Windows 10 if you’ve got a system suitable for upgrades, if only because of the prospect of security updates for a solid time in the future. As Windows 10 rolls out, Microsoft will slowly start decreasing its security support for Windows 7, as it’s already done for Windows XP, and, in time, Windows 8 as well. You might never plan to pay Microsoft a cent for Office 365, Xbox Live or any other future Microsoft service, but having an up-to-date and secure system isn’t going to get any less vital in the years to come.


text:
Samsung has announced the pricing for its 2011 Australian line-up of plasma, LCD and LED televisions. Most of these TVs will be released in April and May, although some models are already available.
The cost of 3D television technology is increasing even before 3D TVs hit our shores, with reports that the glasses needed to take advantage of the new technology could cost $150 a pair.
Samsung plans to release its 3D-compatible LED televisions in Australia, with models expected to be released in mid-April.
LG has upped the ante for the high-end LED television market, releasing a 55in LED backlit television. The LG LH95 boasts a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, which is far greater than models from competing brands.
LG has announced the retail release of its SL90 and SL80 series LCD televisions, with a 'borderless' design that employs a single sheet of glass over the whole panel front. The 47in and 42in SL90 LCD televisions use LED backlighting and according to ...
Sharp has launched locally the first LED-backlit LCD television with an integrated Blu-ray disc player, the 40in AQUOS LC-40LB700X. This television has a six star energy rating, 100Hz motion control and multimedia connectivity.
Sharp Australia has released its first LED-backlit LCD television: the LC-40LE700EX. The TV boasts a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and low power consumption.
At LG's fifth annual summer line show in New York City, the company introduced two new HDTV lines, the SL80 and SL90. Both caught my attention for their attention to design.
LED-backlit HDTVs once were an expensive rarity, but that's changing. Sharp Electronics' new line of Aquos HDTVs offer the premium of LED backlighting. The advantage of LED backlighting: It can boost black levels and minimize power consumption, even ...
At a press event in Sydney today, Australian company Kogan revealed plans to release 19in and 22in LED TVs within the next two months.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Hisense takes the fight to home entertainment heavyweights with flagship Series 8 and 9 ULED TVs
- 2 Sony's latest Ultra HD OLED debuts in Australia
- 3 Panasonic Ultra HD OLED TV Review
- 4 D-Link Omna 180 Cam HD DSH-C310 review
- 5 Oppo A77 smartphone: Full in-depth review
Join the newsletter!
- Dropbox go pro with Dropbox Profesional
- Hands-on: The ZTE Axon M is the first smartphone with a foldable screen
- Google Pixel 2: 10 awesome tips and tricks
- Microsoft's Surface Book 2 is real, and it's five times faster then the original Surface Book
- Windows 10 Fall Creators Update review: This could be Microsoft's biggest Windows yet
PCW Evaluation Team
Brainstorming, innovation, problem solving, and negotiation have all become much more productive and valuable if people can easily collaborate in real time with minimal friction.
The print quality also does not disappoint, it’s clear, bold, doesn’t smudge and the text is perfectly sized.
The Huddle Board’s built in program; Sharp Touch Viewing software allows us to easily manipulate and edit our documents (jpegs and PDFs) all at the same time on the dashboard.
The biggest perks for me would be that it comes with easy to use and comprehensive programs that make the collaboration process a whole lot more intuitive and organic
I rate the printer as a 5 out of 5 stars as it has been able to fit seamlessly into my busy and mobile lifestyle.
It’s perfect for mobile workers. Just take it out — it’s small enough to sit anywhere — turn it on, load a sheet of paper, and start printing.
- iPhone 8
- Canon 6D MK II: Full, in-depth review
- Panasonic’s EX600U UHD HDR TV + HTB688 soundbar:
- Which flagship TV is best? Sony 4K HDR Bravia 2016 versus LG 4K HDR OLED 2016
- 10 Blu-ray movies / Best looking Blu-ray movies
- FTBusiness Analyst - Logistics/TransportOther
- CCSenior Applications EngineerACT
- CCContent WriterNSW
- FTSenior Front End DeveloperOther
- FTSystems AnalystsOther
- TPIT Business AnalystNSW
- CCSenior Service Delivery ManagerVIC
- CCCommunications Business Analyst - LTE / 4G / 3GWA
- CCJunior Business AnalystWA
- FTProject AdministratorACT
- FTAndroid Developer - Mobile Payment SolutionOther
- CCSalesforce DeveloperNSW
- CCTosca Test AutomationVIC
- CCNetwork Designer - TelcoVIC
- CCSAP Analyst ProgrammerNSW
- FTAgile Business Analyst, MarketingOther
- FTRegional Market Manager - Wide Bay RegionQLD
- CCLead Service DesignerACT
- CCLinux Systems AdministratorACT
- FTField Engineers - Hardware DeploymentsNSW
- CCMessageQueue/DataPower AdministratorNSW
- FTSenior Technical ConsultantACT
- FT.Net - Sitecore DeveloperQLD
- TPICT Infrastructure Project ManagerQLD
- FTData EngineerOther


text:
update: For latest announcement on GM layoffs read my latest post.
GM Layoffs and PAY CUT - Salary CutGeneral Motors has finally confirmed the news that had already been floating for a while - about 10,000 salaried GM employees will be fired. GM currently employes around 73000 people worldwide. The job cut amounts to reducing its total workforce by a whopping 13.7% ! GM had indicated earlier this month that it might cut upto 5000 jobs, but this number has been later revised and doubled ! Of the 10000 planned job cuts, 3,400 jobs will be cut in the US and the remaining worldwide.
Reduction in Salary: Moreover, GM has also announced a 'temporary pay reduction' in majority of the US salaried employees starting May 1 2009. The announcement does not give any specific information about pay cut for employees located outside the US. Details of GM Pay Cuts are as follows:
- Executives may see 10% of reduction in pay.
- 'Several Other employees' will see a reduction in their pay of 3% to 7%.
Reasons for GM Job Layoff and Pay CutGM has been trying hard for a US Govt. Aid since late last year. In a plan submitted to the US congress at the end of 2008. Following quotes from Nytimes:
GM had proposed a restructuring and cost cutting plan. GM faces a Feb. 17 deadline to present a plan to the government showing the wounded automaker can become viable. GM has received $9.4 billion from the Treasury Department and expects to get $4 billion more, but the government can demand repayment March 31 if it determines the company can't become viable.
GM reported a $2.5 billion loss in the third quarter alone and said it burned through $6.9 billion in cash during that period, adding to urgent warnings that it would run out of cash without government aid.


text:
Business / News
Tuesday, 16 May 2017 13:39 EATjmwangangi@kenyafreepress.com
Revenues from online payment platform PayPal account for close to 70 percent of all Equity Bank's diaspora banking revenue, the bank has said in a statement, attributing the success to an increase in the volume of transactions following the upgrade of the PayPal system which is now able to process customers’ withdrawal transactions within three business days, down from the previous eight business days.
The latest statistics by the Bank indicate that the number of PayPal users increased by 47 percent from December 2016 to March 2017. The volume of transactions also increased by 21 percent in the same period.
Commenting on PayPal’s great performance during the 2016 Full Year Results, Equity Bank Group CEO James Mwangi said that the Bank is concentrating on global money transfer as an alternative income stream. He indicated that the success of the bank’s innovation with the PayPal platform has shown significant growth depicting the power of fintech on fully automated processes.
The service allows Equity Bank customers with a PayPal account to receive payments in 25 currencies from PayPal’s customer base. It also allows the bank to exploit PayPal’s global reach to tap into its existing customer base of more than 188 million active accounts based in over 200 markets around the world.
Another reason why people prefer using PayPal is the fact that it is accepted on multiple platforms and its very secure, in that once you’re registered and verified, you can buy items and make payments locally and internationally without having to enter your credit card details each time or requiring one to share their financial information with the sellers.


text:
A few days ago Valve reworked the main navigation bar in its Steam Store and removed a direct link to buy Steam Machines, the Linux-based boxes it hailed as an open alternative to macOS or Windows PC gaming. Combined with a lack of recent announcements people figured that meant the end of the project, but Valve employee Pierre-Loup A. Griffais says that's not so. It was removed based on user traffic, which isn't surprising considering the lack of post-2016 hardware being offered. In a post to the Steam for Linux page, he explained the current state of things:
While it's true Steam Machines aren't exactly flying off the shelves, our reasons for striving towards a competitive and open gaming platform haven't significantly changed. We're still working hard on making Linux operating systems a great place for gaming and applications...We also have other Linux initiatives in the pipe that we're not quite ready to talk about yet; SteamOS will continue to be our medium to deliver these improvements to our customers, and we think they will ultimately benefit the Linux ecosystem at large.
The plan moving forward includes more work on the Vulkan graphics API everywhere, including now on macOS and iOS, while also making sure it's well-supported on Linux so that performance is up to par. It's not clear what those other Linux initiatives in the pipe are exactly, but hopefully, we'll hear about them sooner rather than later.


text:
Thinking about an electric car? The Massachusetts state MOR-EV electric vehicle rebate changed as of January 1st, and the $7500 federal tax credit is due to start ramping down for General Motors vehicles in April, but our Drive Green program will continue to offer significant discounts on an increasing variety of electric vehicles (EVs).
Drive Green, designed to offer educational resources, test-drives, and discounts on electric cars, has officially helped get more than 500 EVs on the road – cutting down on unhealthy greenhouse gas emissions and saving 500 drivers money. Previously available only in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, we’re now expanding Drive Green to parts of upstate New York on behalf of National Grid, and to Westchester County in partnership with the non-profit Sustainable Westchester!
The Drive Green website has a ton of new information on charging, winter driving, public health, vehicle efficiency, and more. An increasing number of local dealerships are offering Drive Green discounts to buy or lease, and the types of cars available are expanding as well – from mini-vans to crossovers with 4 wheel drive.
Your next car should be electric. We want to help. Get started at greenenergyconsumers.org/drivegreen.


text:
Why waste your lunch break or commute playing Candy Crush or Flappy Bird when you could be well on your way to learning Italian or Portuguese? That’s the pitch of Duolingo, a popular language-learning app that just raised $20 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. And outside the United States, it’s one that could spark an arms race as competitors race for pieces of the billions spent to learn English.
Duolingo’s app is near the top of the education charts for both iOS and Android phones, with what the company says is over 10 million monthly active users off more than 20 million downloads. While the United States is its largest market, making up a quarter of users, the app is popular in many non-English speaking countries in Europe and the Americas, as a quick glance at App Annie’s data can show.
Players start a language with different skills to unlock, like the vocabulary for popular foods. Complete the challenges for skills and you unlock more; screw things up, and you have to start a skill over.
Play for 34 hours and you can learn the equivalent of a semester-long college class, says founder Luis von Ahn. “If you ask people why they play Duolingo, some people tell you it’s because they really want to learn a language, but the most common answer is that it’s fun but they aren’t wasting their time. They’re procrastinating, but they think about it as healthy food.”
Its healthy user base has attracted several rounds of funding from top-tier investors, with a $3.3 million Series A from Union Square Venture Partners in 2011 and then a $15 million Series B led by New Enterprise Associates. Now the company’s adding $20 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which continues its push into educational tech. Kleiner Perkins has invested in Coursera, an online classes startup, and most recently a $15 million bet on Remind101, a messaging app for teachers to reach students and their parents.
While von Ahn says Duolingo doesn’t call itself a game, the company embraces the fact that people say they “play” it. Duolingo chose Kleiner to lead this round specifically because of the prospect of working with former Electronics Arts executive and Kleiner partner Bing Gordon, who sits on the board for OUYA and Zynga and has invested in other gaming companies like Booyah.
Duolingo’s primary way to make money right now is through its web browser version, though 4 out of 5 users are playing on their phones. The company makes money by crowd-sourcing pieces of translation done by its students and selling them to companies like CNN and BuzzFeed.
“The vast majority of people learning a language are doing so in order to get a better job,” von Ahn says. “They are people of low socioeconomic status, and we are not going to try to charge them.”
So that means millions from backers like NEA and Kleiner while the company builds out a way to sell translations and eventually certifications for completion of standardized tests to demonstrate you’ve mastered a language, a revenue stream von Ahn hopes to get going soon.
Most importantly, though, Duolingo needs the money to tackle the Asian market, where competition will be fierce. It’s strong in the Americas and Europe, with almost 6 million ‘learners’ to date in the United States, 2.4 million in Brazil and 1.3 million in Mexico. France follows with about 800,000 users, then Italy with 944,000. But conspicuously absent are non-Romance language countries with different scripts like in the Middle East and Asia.
And Duolingo will face competition from both mobile apps and more desktop-friendly players in the Asian market. Just days ago, TutorGroup announced a $100 million funding round from some heavy-hitting Asian investors, Alibaba, Temasek and Qiming Venture Partners. And the freemium model popular in markets like China goes against the revenue model Duolingo has vowed to follow.
“We are on it, we are going for Chinese, Japanese and Korean in the next three or four months,” say von Ahn. Competition in the Asian market will be fierce, however.
The company’s used a community-based platform to build up to 18 courses and says it has 11 languages in the works in coming weeks as well. But Asia could prove Duolingo’s most critical area of growth in the long-term. With so much competition, Duolingo may soon need to raise again for the war chest if it’s looking to get involved in a language war in Asia.


text:
Matchmaking app Hinge planned to get men and women satisfying IRL right back at the outset of March. This advertising effort offered $100 to people who take some slack through the software for one day to be on a night out together.
For people who desired to profit, Hinge needed users to be on a night out together on saturday March 6th and discontinue making use of Hinge for the following 1 day. The day the business decided coincided utilizing the National Day of Unplugging.
Relating to Yahoo! Fianance, customers got a straightforward set of guidelines to follow: log in to the application to set up a night out together for March 6th. At 4:00pm EST on that time, users had been instructed to open up their apps and hit “pause your account” before shutting the application. Hinge questioned they note the full time, because the software must be paused for the full a day to allow the user to qualify.
That is not all â Hinge also wanted an inform on your own IRL go out. As soon as the 1 day had passed, consumers could join and check-out Hinge’s “Let’s Unplug Collectively” develop and offer all the information. Nevertheless snooze, you shed â Hinge was only recognizing these forms between Saturday March 7th beginning at 4:00pm EST through Sunday March 8th at 11:59pm EST become entitled to the payment.
Hinge ended up being doling out $25,000 total, very only 250 people will be awarded the money.
More individuals are volunteering to disconnect for short periods of time of the time to ease the everyday stress of smart phones. In accordance with the newest figures from Pew analysis, about 80 per cent of People in the us now have a smartphone, upwards from simply 35 per cent in 2011. Research has shown that smartphone use is addicting, and this is correct for individuals swiping on online dating programs. In addition to that, a lot of internet dating app customers discover internet dating exhaustion, usually from the limitless swiping and messaging it doesn’t lead anywhere.
Hinge promises to alter that. The company rolled away a major international strategy featuring its new mascot “Hingie” just last year, coaxing men and women to leave the software and continue dates so they can attain their own best goals of building connections. This latest step is actually an extension of the strategy and increases the brand’s track record of becoming a dating software for lots more major daters.
“Bringing in individuals on Hinge is just the start of an association,” Nathan Roth, Hinge’s main advertising and marketing officer. said in a declaration. “the true secret happens in person as well as in real life. We’re going to never prevent motivating the customers to meet up, this tuesday, we are excited to offer all of them a little extra incentive to set up a date and place Hinge away.”


text:
Carl Zeiss Industrial Measuring Technology recently received A2LA accreditation in the calibration field. The company now complies with ISO/IEC 17025 requirements and is approved to offer in-house and on-site A2LA calibration services for coordinate measuring machines. “The addition of A2LA accredited calibration service is an important company milestone,” says Jerry LeFever, Carl Zeiss corporate quality manager. “It demonstrates our commitment to provide products and services with verified compliance to important industry standards valued by our customers.”
For more information, visit www.zeiss.com.


text:
Now that the year has come to a close, it's time to take a look back at the posts and people who rocked 2012. Check out the best of the Moz blog last year had to offer, along with some awesome extras along the way. Enjoy!
At Moz, we strive to give our customers the best experience possible when using our product and interacting with our team members. Help Team University is our new program that gives everyone across all teams the chance to support our customers and hear their voice!
It has been a tremendously exciting year here at SEOmoz. Today, we're excited to announce that we've taken a big step toward the future of Moz with the acquisition of GetListed, and the addition of David Mihm to the SEOmoz team!
Sometimes when you have to bite the bullet, it's not a clean bite; you've got to gnaw away at it until you finally break through. So it goes with our technical debt, but we've got a plan to erase the worst of it over the next 18 months.
Good things come to those who wait, and you've all been waiting patiently for our new Mozinar series. We're happy to announce that our Mozinars are back and better than ever. Best of all, they're now free for everyone!
We sat down with the SEOmoz Art Director, Derric Wise, and he unveiled the mechanics behind drawing everyone's favorite robot. Now it's your turn: learn how to draw Roger and enter our contest! All entries are due by Sunday, October 28th at 9pm PST.
Google announced an "upcoming" algorithm change targeting low-quality Exact-Match Domains on 9/28. Data from MozCast indicated the change did hit on 9/28 - I break down the data, along with some of the sites impacted.
The Google algorithm is too complicated to be understood in just one number, so we're happy to announce five new "top view" metrics on MozCast, including: Domain Diversity, SERP Count, EMD Influence, PMD Influence, and the "Big 10" domains.
The Big Data Team at Moz has had one of the hardest periods to date producing an index (and we've had some nightmarish doozies in the past). In June, after our funding from Foundry & Ignition, we started running 4 simultaneous indices on Amazon while also starting to set up our new hybrid (our processing and Amazon storage) cloud data center in Virginia.


text:
Danish container shipping major Maersk Line has launched a direct, weekly service from India’s deep water Krishnapatnam Port to Salalah in Oman by inaugurating the maiden call of M/V Maersk Bentonville.
Featuring a gross tonnage of 4,504 t, the 53,201 dwt boxship was built in 2006.
The weekly service is to serve to exporters and importers of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Northern Tamil Nadu to the ports of US East Coast, Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, according to Krishnapatnam Port.
“We along with Maersk are happy to inaugurate Salalah – Krishnapatnam Port service. The new service will substantially minimize the cost and transit time in these areas, which will be of a huge benefit to our customers. The service will further get a boost from CONCOR’s new rake service,” Anil Yendluri, Director & CEO, Krishnapatnam Port says.
In addition, Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has commenced rake service (twice rakes per week) from ICD Bangladore to Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT).
“The new rake service between ICD Bangalore and KPCT can be increased into a daily service as per the requirements of the trade,” Anup Dayanand Sadhu, CGM, CONCOR comments.
Krishnapatnam Port promoted by the Hyderabad-based C.V.R. Group is a privately built and owned all weather, deep water port on the east coast of India, located in the Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh.
Krishnapatnam Port with a current draft of 18.5 metres can accommodate full-sized cape vessel of 200,000-tonne capacity. The port has been leased to Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. (KPCL) for 50 years and is being built in three phases and currently the second phase is underway.


text:
Apple needs cutting down to size, experts say
Exactly ten years and a day have passed since the first iPhone was launched. Apple now utterly dominates the smartphone market. Is the power of the biggest technology firms bad for us all?
‘An iPod. A phone. And an internet communications device.’
In January 2007 Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, said these words. Then he repeated them. He went to say them a third time, but cheering drowned him out. Apple had not just created three new devices. It had amalgamated them into one portable item.
‘Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,’ Jobs said. The iPhone was born. Ten years on, it has become the most profitable product in history. More than a billion iPhones have now been sold.
This has made Apple into a fearsome global behemoth. It sells just 12.4% of the world’s smartphones, but it has been the most valuable company in the world almost continuously since 2010. Its operating margins are over 40%. In 2015 its revenues reached $235bn.
And yesterday the most respected newspaper in the business world, the Financial Times (FT), said Apple may continue to expand. App sales are rising in its iTunes stores, with growth accelerating in China. It could once again reinvent itself: ‘that Apple car may drive off yet’.
But is this healthy? Apple and the other technology superpowers (Google, Amazon and Facebook) now benefit from an unusual phenomenon: they experience accelerating returns as they grow.
This means they are becoming more powerful as they get bigger — rather than more vulnerable, like their predecessors in more old-fashioned industries. ‘A new product often has to be two or three times better in some dimension — price, speed, convenience — to dislodge a locked-in rival,’ wrote the economist W. Brian Arthur, who first noted the trend 20 years ago.
The FT says it is ‘rooting for’ those trying to cut Apple down to size. The big four’s dominance, it notes, has coincided with worrying global trends: ‘modest developed-world growth, diminished investment, stagnant productivity and stubbornly high corporate profit margins’.
Perhaps ‘a more violent tech economy might benefit consumers and stimulate growth’. So is the dominance of these companies a problem?
They are too powerful, say some. The marketplace should never be rigged in favour of the big players. They become comfortable and unaccountable. Their dominance kills competition from the hungry start-ups that bring fresh ideas. And consumers end up with little choice but to use the same technology as everyone else.
Nonsense, comes the response. Apple is dominant for a reason: it has created affordable, reliable products which have improved our lives. If we did not like iPhones we would not buy them. And do we really want to stop using Google to search for information? Let these companies be successful, and they will keep producing the things we want.
- Has the iPhone improved your life?
- Is Apple too powerful?
- In one minute, write down every reason you can think of why people buy iPhones. Then discuss in pairs: which reason do you find most convincing?
- In pairs, think of another product which changed the way people live. Prepare a short role play set at the time it was invented. One of you should be excited by it, the other worried.
Some People Say...
“Companies can never make too much profit.”
What do you think?
Q & A
- I don’t own an iPhone, so can’t I just ignore Apple?
- Apple’s products have a knock-on impact on other products which you may use. For example, if one of Apple’s competitors loses money, it will mean it cannot make new products which you might want to buy. On the other hand, maybe the next iPhone will be better in some way and you will want it.
- But does it really matter how many hundreds of billions of dollars one company makes?
- Companies like Apple and Google have not only changed the global technology market — they have made a huge impact on the world economy. This may be good: they have made work more convenient for many people, for example, which may help you to make more money. But they may also have helped to make people redundant — which could make it harder for you to get a job.
- In July 2016 Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company had sold its billionth iPhone.
- According to a study by financial services company Canaccord Genuity, using figures gathered in the third quarter of 2016.
- Most valuable
- By some measures, Google overtook Apple twice last year. But Apple’s market cap — its value in stock market trading — is $618bn. Google’s parent, Alphabet, is valued at $540bn.
- Operating margins
- The proportion of a company’s revenue left over after it pays its costs. A healthy margin varies between industries, but 40% is very high. In 2015 research firm IHS estimated that the iPhone 6 was creating a 69% margin.
- £193bn. This dipped in 2016.
- Last week Apple said these had gone up 40% this year, to more than £16bn.
- Accelerating returns
- As Apple grows, customers become used to its interfaces; competitors must pay more to enter the market; and others’ innovations are judged against its products. This leaves Apple better placed than before to make new breakthrough products. See Become An Expert for W. Brian Arthur’s original explanation.


text:
NEVS will supply electric versions of the Saab 9-3 (prototypes of which were first shown in 2014) for a car-sharing program in the Chinese city of Tianjin starting next year, which also happens to be the location of the factory.
Along with the announcement of the Tianjin project, NEVS released renderings of the cars themselves, which feature updated styling and NEVS badges. The rights to the Saab logo were not included in the 2012 sale, and NEVS subsequently lost the rights to the Saab name.
NEVS owns the former Saab factory in Trollhättan, Sweden, but most, if not all, of its cars will likely be produced in China
However, NEVS claims that the 9-3 is a car "based on more than 70 years of Saab Automobile's engineering experience" in its press release, and brings together the "Swedish heritage" of the design. That's a polite way of saying that this 9-3 is the same General Motors-derived model that Saab stopped building when it filed for bankruptcy in 2011, dating back to 2003. Of the General Motors technology they have nothing left.
Changes include an electric powertrain that NEVS says will provide up to 300 kilometers of autonomy. The car also features on-board Wi-Fi and a "world-class" cabin air filter, which will likely come in handy given China's notorious air pollution. The brand claims these new-generation ACAC (Always Clean Air Cabin) particulate filters for the cabin. These filters are considered the most effective on the market and are capable of removing most of the particles harmful to health in less than a minute.
NEVS will build the electric 9-3 as a sedan and a 9-3X as an SUV. NEVS describes the latter as a new model, though it looks a lot like the last 9-3X, which was essentially Saab's answer to the Volvo Cross Country models
In addition to the Tianjin distribution scheme, NEVS claims to have over 150,000 orders from various Chinese companies. NEVS also has an agreement with the Turkish government to license production of the 9-3 in Turkey. For now, the design is old (though appropriately updated), and in the hands of a company with no experience building cars. But even on that fragile premise, NEVS could still be a success in China. The Chinese government's aggressive promotion of electric cars means that virtually any company selling them there has a chance.


text:
In countries like the UK, France, Finland and Austria, early adoption of contactless cards has slowed adoption of proximity mobile payments. There are some indications that the effect may be opposite in the US. Newer POS systems in the US now accept NFC partly because banks are rapidly distributing contactless credit cards.
When looking at our forecast for proximity mobile payment users worldwide, France falls into our “Slow to Adopt" bucket, just behind Finland, Russia and Spain. In fact, the only country in Europe covered in this forecast with a lower proximity mobile payment adoption rate is Germany, at 12.5% of smartphone users in 2019.
After No. 4 Mexico, the remaining countries on the top 10 list are all in Europe: the Netherlands, Italy, Finland, Spain, Austria and Switzerland. Regardless, in nearly every market where WhatsApp has a strong footprint, it has become a go-to communication tool for its users.
The company is also conducting a facial recognition payment trial in Finland and has launched a pilot of a “dual-interface” biometric payment card, which requires a fingerprint scan instead of a PIN or signature.


text:
FinTech specialists have expressed concerns over the sell-side’s ability to price research for the buy-side as the clock ticks down to MiFID II implementation.
One panellist – addressing a buy-side audience - described the sell-side as ‘too scared’ to price accurately, while another questioned their reluctance to seek help or consultation.
Scott Winship, co-founder of Alpha Exchange, told delegates The TRADE’s FinTech Innovation for the Buy-side event the sell-side are unsure what the buy-side want in terms of research.
“The sell-side haven’t worked out their own models and they haven’t worked out the pricing specifically - but that’s what they’re doing now. I think they’re too scared to price accurately and that’s why they’ve kept the bundle as wide possible,” he said.
Vicky Sanders, co-founder of RSRCHXchange, added the pricing research is also a new concept to the sell-side.
“The sell-side have never done this before and I don’t think they have brought in new help or the right type of consultants in to advise on how to price content and how to get the best price for your biggest client,” she said.
Pricing research ahead of MiFID II’s unbundling rules has been a major cause for concern for the buy-side. A survey published in March this year revealed 60% of buy-siders are planning to wait until the deadline before implementing unbundling.
Jim Hiltner, director of sales at ONEaccess Visible Alpha, advised delegates to consider the responsibility as being with the buy-side.
“Some of the clarity from the sell-side could be a reverse engineered budget or target based on what you maybe paid last year. The onus right now is on the buy-side to analyse those businesses and see where they are getting value,” he said.
A further survey published in January this year suggested many buy-side firms are not entirely sure of their unbundling obligations.
Over a third of buy-side respondents also stated they are not confident of being ready for implementing the unbundling rules - due to come into effect on 3 January 2018.


text:
Jimmy Burch grows a lot of sweet potatoes in Eastern North Carolina, so he’s always looking for new ways to put them to use.
But even he’s been surprised at how well they’ve done in their latest incarnation — as the starting point for an award-winning vodka that is about to be sold throughout most of the country.
“It’s done good,” says Burch, an NC State alumnus who is one of the owners of Covington Gourmet Vodka and the source of its sweet potatoes, Burch Farms. “In North Carolina, it’s in all the ABC stores right now. We just hired a broker and we’re fixing to go into 32 states. We’ve only been on the market for eight months, so we’re happy.”
The process that led to Covington Gourmet Vodka started about five years ago, when Burch worked with food scientists at NC State to develop a puree from sweet potatoes left in the field after the harvest. Burch initially sold the puree to The Boston Beer Company — the maker of Samuel Adams beer — but then decided to see if he might be able to make alcohol out of it.
As it turned out, the sweet potato puree was “just absolutely fantastic for vodka,” Burch says. Researchers at the University of Michigan told Burch it was “absolutely the best vodka they’ve ever tasted in their lives.”
So Covington Gourmet Vodka — named for a variety of sweet potato developed at NC State — was born. In its first year, the self-proclaimed “Best Yam Vodka on Earth” won a gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
“We were tickled to death over that,” Burch says. “Everybody says it’s smooth as silk.”
In addition to being in ABC stores, Burch says Covington can be found in places like Biltmore House, the Angus Barn restaurant and PNC Arena. While Burch is pleased with the initial response to his vodka, he recognizes that he is not a threat to the established giants in the vodka industry.
“Grey Goose, they ain’t waking up at night worrying about us,” he says. “This is just a nice addition to the farm, some value-added products.”
Covington Gourmet Vodka is one of dozens of vendors – including restaurants, farms, breweries, wineries and bakeries – participating in the Red & White Food and Beverage Festival during the week of homecoming. All of the vendors have NC State connections, with alumni as owners or managers. The festival is scheduled for 6 p.m. today at The State Club in the Park Alumni Center. Visit the festival website to register and see a full list of vendors participating.


text:
Media alert: Technology industry and its partners preparing for US$1.4 trillion connecting insights opportunity
Shanghai, Palo Alto, Singapore and Reading (UK) – Wednesday 4 November, 2015
The fourth Canalys Channels Forum APAC kicks off with insights from senior industry executives, channel management leaders, analysts and distributors, who will address more channel partner decision-makers from the region than ever before. ‘We expect the Internet of Things (IoT) to challenge current technology budget priorities and service delivery norms. With connected manufacturing, healthcare and logistics set to be the biggest segments, spending will top US$1.4 trillion in 2020,’ said Nicole Peng, APAC Research Director at Canalys. ‘It is also clear that channel partners will continue to play a key role in helping industry titans address this additional opportunity.’
‘Technologies such as immersive computing and 3D printing will play a big part in accelerating change for enterprises. Employees’ engagement with their businesses and their customers will be intensified through better technology-enabled experiences. Channel partners are vital to deliver these new experiences. With a renewed focus on innovation, HP is putting the channel at the center of our business model, and we see “engineering amazing” as our critical contribution,’ said Richard Bailey, President, HP Asia Pacific & Japan.
‘In the past few years, Lenovo has successfully accelerated its global growth from a PC-focused company to one that is also a recognized leader in innovative mobile and enterprise solutions. Today, we are the world’s number one PC brand and ranked number three in tablets, smart phones and servers. A key driving force behind our tremendous momentum is the trust and support of our partners. Lenovo is a channel-first company, today and into the future. We are committed to building long-term, mutually beneficial and profitable relationships with our partners, and will continue to create the world’s best technology that they can proudly bring to market,’ said Roderick Lappin, President, Lenovo Asia Pacific.
‘Digital business models are transforming industries. By innovating around information in an agile way, EMC delivers choice and provides relevant and personalized solutions for our customers and partners. The next-generation applications, business mobility, data analytics, hybrid cloud and security capabilities delivered by our Federation companies drive time to value and provide flexibility, support and service,’ said David Webster, President of EMC Asia Pacific and Japan. ‘EMC has undeniable momentum in the market with the best portfolio, an industry leading partner program and an unwavering commitment to the channel. All of which is aimed at staying ahead of shifting market dynamics, helping our customers redefine IT success in the digital world and enabling our partners grow with us.’
‘Investing in, improving and expanding our channel network has been a priority at every stage of our transformation. As we embark on the last phase as a more nimble, more focused Hewlett Packard Enterprise, we are accelerating our efforts to empower our partners to help customers bridge the traditional to the new,’ said Jim Merritt, Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Asia Pacific and Japan.
‘Productivity and business processes are rapidly being re-invented for a mobile-first, cloud-first world,’ said Valerie Beaulieu, Microsoft’s General Manager for Small & Medium Solutions & Partners in Asia-Pacific. ‘Businesses today - especially mid-market organizations - are benefiting from greater agility and aggressive cost efficiencies as they differentiate their products and services through faster innovation cycles. Our more than 750 Microsoft Azure partners in Asia Pacific play a vital role in our customers’ transformation journeys, which will only gain momentum as we welcome and transition more partners into this ever-growing ecosystem.’ she added.
‘As an integrated solutions provider, Dell is committed to helping enterprises be future-ready. Our channel partners are integral to this strategy and we’re constantly working with them to help customers leverage technology advancements to be agents of change and drivers of innovation. The channel being our primary growth driver in Asia Pacific, we remain focused on delivering new programs and investments to help our partners in this region succeed,’ said Brian Humphries, President, Enterprise Solutions Sales and Strategy, Dell.
‘As APAC’s largest event that unites senior managers from leading technology vendors, distributors and channel partners to examine relevant industry trends, forge new business relationships and create sales opportunities, we are delighted to have facilitated this important discussion,’ said Gemma Edwards, Events Director at Canalys. ‘More one-to-one meetings than ever before are testament to how important this industry transition is, and the resulting changes vendors and channel partners have to embrace.’
Canalys is an independent analyst company that strives to guide clients on the future of the technology industry and to think beyond the business models of the past. We deliver smart market insights to IT, channel and service provider professionals around the world. Our customer-driven analysis and consulting services empower businesses to make informed decisions and generate sales. We stake our reputation on the quality of our data, our innovative use of technology and our high level of customer service.
To view the chart(s) from this media alert, and others from Canalys, download the new Insight @Canalys app today from the Apple App Store, the Google Play store or as an HTML 5 web app.
About the Canalys Channels Forums
The Canalys Channels Forums take place from October to November 2015. The EMEA event runs from 6 to 8 October in Barcelona. The APAC event runs from 3 to 5 November in Bali. And finally, the LATAM event runs from 17 to 19 November in Cartagena. The forums, in their eighth year in EMEA, fourth year in APAC and second year in LATAM, are the only independent events that unite senior managers from leading technology vendors, distributors and channel partners to discuss industry trends, forge new business relationships and create sales opportunities. In addition to vendor keynotes and theater presentations, the events feature more than 3,000 senior one-to-one meetings and prestigious gala dinners, among other networking activities. The events are open to senior business managers, both from IT vendors and channel partners. More information about the events can be found at www.canalyschannelsforum.com.
Candefero is the exclusive global channel partner community run by Canalys. It provides the channel with an online forum to discuss the burning issues affecting their businesses and to get their opinions across to senior executives within vendor organizations. They also gain access to high-quality, independent market intelligence, trends analysis and advice from Canalys. Membership is free to qualifying employees of authorized channel partners only.
To receive media alerts directly, or for more information about our events, services or custom research and consulting capabilities, please complete the contact form on our web site. Alternatively, you can e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org or call +1 650 681 4488 (Palo Alto, California, USA), +65 6671 9399 (Singapore), +86 21 2225 2888 (Shanghai, China) or +44 118 984 0520 (Reading, UK).
For more information:


text:
Retail sales head down in January, according to NRF and Department of Commerce
A combination of harsh January weather and post-holiday consumer malaise appear to be the drivers for lower retail sales for the month, according to data released by the National Retail Federation and the United States Department of Commerce.
Latest NewsSupplier Relationship Micro Management June Cass Freight Index report is solid Move Inventory Faster Download: Material Handling Technology Survey Results Federal Maritime Commission now evaluating Transpacific carrier agreements More News
Latest ResourceSupplier Relationship Micro Management Optimizing Across Six Guiding Principles
A combination of harsh January weather and post-holiday consumer malaise appear to be the drivers for lower retail sales for the month, according to data released by the National Retail Federation and the United States Department of Commerce today.
Commerce reported that January retail sales at $427.8 billion were down 0.4 percent compared to December (which was revised from 0.2 percent growth from November to December to -0.1 percent) and up 2.6 percent compared to January 2013. Total retail sales from November through January are up 3.4 percent annually, and it added that total retail sales for all of 2013 were up 4.2 percent compared to 2012.
NRF reported that January retail sales, which exclude autos, gas stations, and restaurants, were flat on a seasonally-adjusted basis from December to January and were up 3.0 percent on an unadjusted basis annually.
To read the complete article, please click here.
About the AuthorJeff Berman, Group News Editor Jeff Berman is Group News Editor for Logistics Management, Modern Materials Handling, and Supply Chain Management Review. Jeff works and lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he covers all aspects of the supply chain, logistics, freight transportation, and materials handling sectors on a daily basis. Contact Jeff Berman
Subscribe to Logistics Management Magazine!Subscribe today. It's FREE!
Get timely insider information that you can use to better manage your entire logistics operation.
Start your FREE subscription today!
2017 Truckload Brokerage Roundtable: Technology continues to connect the dots Cloud Transportation Management Systems (TMS): Weis Markets streamlines “both sides” of the DC door View More From this Issue


text:
Epic Games has pushed a new update live for Fortnite that makes adjustments to both the PvE Save the World and PvP Battle Royale modes.
On the Battle Royale side of things, update 1.8.2 introduces the Season Shop and the previously revealed bush disguise. The Season Shop offers players the chance to buy new cosmetic outfits, harvesting tools, and gliders as they reach certain levels during a season. While the bush disguise is a new legendary consumable that lets players turn into a bush until they take damage.
The update also adjusts the falloff damage of the pump shotgun, improves the “Combat Pro” controller configuration, and makes a number of optimizations to improve overall performance.
On the Save the World side, a “Play Now” button has been added to the Fortnitemares event page and a number of bugs have been fixed.
Take a look at the full patch notes here.
Fortnite and Fortnite: Battle Royale are available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.


text:
Easter chocolate kits sold at Walmart and other stores across the country are being recalled just weeks before the holiday over allergy concerns.
Illinois-based Wilton Industries Inc. has voluntarily recalled three lots of its ready-to-build chocolate cookie bunny hutch kit “due to a milk allergen missing from the ‘Contains’ statement,” according to a recall notice released by Walmart.
The Food and Drug Administration also published a Product notice on his recall list.
Although “skimmed milk powder” is on the ingredient list, the statement “contains” did not include “milk,” which is required by the recall notice.
To date, no diseases have been reported related to the recalled product. However, consumers “who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk are at risk of experiencing a severe or life-threatening allergic reaction when consuming these products,” the recall notice said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eight food groups, including milk, are “responsible for the most serious allergic reactions” in the country.
“The symptoms and severity of food allergies can vary from person to person and also vary for a person over time,” the CDC said, adding that “anaphylaxis is a sudden and severe allergic reaction that occurs.” can lead to death.”
Wilton Industries said it became aware of the “labeling oversight” through a consumer inquiry. This led to an internal review of the product, according to the recall.
The recalled kits are an Easter 2022 season item that was distributed nationwide through retail stores and online. The recall affects batch codes 22005, 22006 and 22007.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/30/walmart-easter-chocolate-kit-recalled-over-allergy-concerns/ Walmart Easter Chocolate Kit Recalled Over Allergy Concerns


text:
Cell phone applications became the overwhelming focus at Google’s yearly designer meeting on Wednesday as the scan mammoth reported new components for its computerized colleague and its well known photograph application while dedicating little time to the Android portable working framework.
Tending to a group of people of thousands of engineers in Mountain View, California, Google officials conveyed a wide based refresh to their item portfolio which additionally incorporated a slate of new elements for the Google Home speaker, a pursuit of employment device and even an arrangement of new virtual reality headsets.
In an indication of the progressing vital significance of Google Assistant, the organization’s computerized reasoning driven, voice-controlled advanced right hand, Google declared it would make the item accessible on Apple Inc’s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the cell phone market and testing Apple’s Siri include all alone gadgets.
In addition, the aide will soon have the capacity to finish exchanges and supply data about articles caught by the cell phone’s camera, administrators said.
However, a few experts noticed that the accentuation on the aide and different applications like photographs and maps, which keep running on many sorts of gadgets, brought about the organization’s Android working framework – long the foundation of Google’s versatile technique – getting moderately little consideration amid the introduction.
That mirrors an acknowledgment by the hunt monster that the right hand and different applications will be progressively critical to its future, said examiner Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The technique helps the organization avoid a portion of the complexities of growing new components for the huge Android environment, where just a small amount of gadgets are running on the most recent rendition of the working framework, he noted.
“This is somewhat an admission to the way that whatever they put into Android, most clients don’t see it for two or three years … what’s more, a considerable measure of their best, most alluring, most important clients will be on different stages,” Dawson said. “They have to put that usefulness where clients are.”
The Google Assistant appeared a year ago on the organization’s own particular equipment, and Google has bit by bit extended the instrument to gadgets from different producers running on its Android working framework.
Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com Inc are contending to build up the overwhelming voice-fueled computerized right hand, which numerous in the business accept will supplant consoles and touch screens as an essential way that clients cooperate with innovation.
“People are associating with processing in more common and immersive ways,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the crowd. “We’ve been utilizing voice as a contribution crosswise over large portions of our items. We’ve had critical leaps forward.”
The organization is likewise picking up footing with its photograph application, which now achieves 500 million clients routinely, Pichai said. To drive more prominent use of the application, Google will now make proposals to goad clients to share pictures and enable them to arrange physical photograph collections.
Pichai likewise reported the organization will extend its web crawler with another employments tab that will enable possibility to channel postings by criteria, for example, wages and drive time.
Google, which gets the vast majority of its income from its predominant web crawler, likewise discharged a large group of new components for Google Home, a speaker discharged a year ago. Clients will soon have the capacity to make telephone calls utilizing the gadget, and the HBO Now spilling administration, possessed by Time Warner Inc, will be coordinated also.
While Amazon’s Echo speaker has developed as the most famous gadget in the class, Google more than once touted its capacity to utilize manmade brainpower to distinguish different clients, an edge it has over Amazon.
“Google was advancing a message about counterfeit consciousness and how they are incorporating the innovation in for all intents and purposes each part of their items and administrations,” said expert Brian Blau of Gartner. “They truly pushed that message hard.”


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Vistaprint buys Dutch firm Albumprinter
Send this story to a friend
- Rodney H. Brown
Vistaprint NV of the Netherlands and Lexington, has acquired Dutch photo book and photo product company Albumprinter for the Euro equivalent of approximately $82 million.
According to a release from Vistaprint (Nasdaq: VPRT), the deal also includes a potential performance-based earn-out payment of up to $6.8 million in Euros. Ernst Teunissen, Vistaprint CFO, said in the release that the deal should bring “$37 million to $39 million” in additional revenue to Vistaprint for the remainder of the company’s fiscal year, which ends June 20, 2012.
Albumprinter has a broad customer base across Europe, Vistaprint noted, and specific expertise and technology in the making of photo books.
In January 2010, Vistaprint acquired Soft Sight Inc., the parent company of Threadsmith.com, a software-enabled custom-embroidered clothing service based in Endicott, N.Y. Vistaprint added the custom-embroidered clothing to its line of print-media products aimed at the small to midsize business and consumer markets.
Vistaprint employs more than 3,100 people, according to the release, and ships its customized printed products to small businesses and home businesses in 130 countries, officials said in the release.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most viewed
- Most Emailed
- ALS biotech says ice bucket challenge will pay for a clinical trial
- Guide to Boston's startup scene to launch in September
- Almost half of Google's mergers and acquisitions team is in Cambridge
- J&J may be seeking buyer for Cordis, one of Boston Scientific's
- Watch MIT's David Rose talk tech on 'The Daily Show' (video)
- Paul English invests in fashion startup Nineteenth Amendment
Mass High Tech Twitter
Mass High Tech Life Sciences Directory
Email Newsletter Signup
Choose newsletter(s) you would like to receive.
- Hillary Clinton lauds tech innovation, calls for more gender and class inclusion
- 'Parenthood' actress Monica Potter's new role as founder of Mrs. Potter.com was scripted a long time ago
- Apple woos major credit cards for mobile wallet
- Up To Speed: Apple woos major credit cards for mobile wallet
- What's Amazon getting with its purchase of Twitch?
- This serial entrepreneur wants you to buy American


text:
All due to a shortage of semiconductors and disruptions in the supply chain
According to Kyodo, citing the Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA), sales of new cars in Japan in 2022 have collapsed to a 45-year low.
New car sales in Japan fell 5.6% due to a shortage of semiconductors and supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. Sales in 2022 totaled 4,201,321 vehicles, including small cars with engines up to 660cc. cm.
Domestic car sales have been declining for the fourth year in a row. They fell to their lowest level since 1977, when around 4,190,000 vehicles were sold.
Regular car sales fell 8.3% to 2,563,184 units, while small car sales totaled 1,638,137 units, down 0.9% from a year earlier, according to the association.


text:
Leap Will Upgrade To EV-DO in 2006
Article Comments 17
Sep 26, 2005, 4:53 PM by (staff)
Leap Wireless today committed to upgrading their Cricket and Jump networks to EV-DO high speed data in 2006. The carrier believes they can upgrade their entire network for less than $475 million, allowing them to maintain their low prices while offering new services. To take advantage of the faster data capabilities, Leap signed with content provider Motricity to provide games, ringtones and music downloads for the new network.
Sep 7, 2022
Apple has revealed the iPhone 14 series, with new features, improved specs, and new size options. In place of a Mini option, the iPhone 14 will come in the same 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen size options as the Pro models.
Feb 9, 2022
Samsung today announced its lineup of flagship phones for 2022: the Galaxy S22 series. The top-end S22 Ultra sees the biggest changes as it essentially absorbs Samsung's Note series with an integrated S Pen stylus and a more Note-like shape and design, instead of the Contour Cut design of the other models.
Aug 10, 2022
Samsung has announced its newest generation of foldable phones: the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4. Both have similar designs and features compared to their predecessors, with a slew of small updates and refinements across the board.
Apr 14, 2020
OnePlus has revealed its new lineup for 2020 — the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro — both of which have 5G. They also manage to pack larger batteries into slightly thinner bodies compared to their predecessors.
Jan 14, 2021
Samsung today officially unveiled its Galaxy S21 series of flagship phones for 2021. All three models sport a distinctive new "Contour Cut Camera" design where the metal frame extends around one corner to surround the rear cameras.
poor poor gsm
what ever will poor out dated antiquated gsm carriers like cingular and tmob do to compeate?
That's all I can say really. EV-DO, and unlimited calling/data features. 😳 😳 😳
Unlimited calling I can understand from a carrier such as this one...but unlimited data on a brand new EVDO net...
Leap has finally amazed me


text:
The top three smartphone operating systems were in a three-way tie, according to global research from US-based Forrester. In its survey, Android led the market with 27 percent, followed by RIM BlackBerry at 26 percent and Apple's iOS at 24 percent, "as of the fall of 2011". The success of the iPhone 4S could well have changed that slightly, but probably rough equivalence remains.
In a blog post, Smartphone OSes In Three Way Tie Among Global Information Workers, Forrester's Frank Gillett says: "These data show the time lag in installed base users of smartphones used for work versus the story coming out of smartphone shipment trends, which focus on the ongoing competition between Android and Apple’s iOS. So even though Blackberry share of sales has slipped, it’s still the smartphone used for work by 26 percent of information workers across our 17 country sample."
The survey covered 3,982 full time information workers in companies with 20 or more employees that use a PC, tablet, or smartphone for work for an hour or more per day. Results were taken from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, the UK, and the US.
Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's smartphones were relegated to the "Other" category along with WebOS and so on. Gillett says: "It will take several years for Microsoft's Windows Phone to build a significant installed base presence – Windows Phone is at 4 percent, with the obsolete Windows Mobile at 5 percent."
Windows Phone sounds high at 4 percent, considering it's very new and not exactly finished. However, it may be that not all users are aware of the difference between Windows Mobile and Windows Phone.


text:
BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. -- Ina Tsagarakis planned to use both store-bought Halloween gear and clothing from home to make her Tigger costume this year.
"Usually I like to make my own costume but I always buy something also like a wig or Halloween make-up," said Tsagarakis who was in the Halloween decorations section of Value Drugs last week with her husband and eight-month-old son.
Tsagarakis, who lives in Croton, planned to dress her son, Luke, in a plush Eeyore outfit, and to match him as Tigger with some black clothing, ears and a tail. Her husband, Phil Tsagarakis, planned to dress up as Scrooge.
There were 41 million potential trick-or-treaters ages 5 to 14 in the United States last year, according to a 2010 report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2009, there were 1,719 costume and clothing rental establishments across the nation, the U.S. Census Bureau also says.
A 2007 Gallup Panel survey found that Americans spent an average of $52 on Halloween merchandise, "spread about equally among costumes, decorations and candy." The total household expenditure jumped to $82 for households with children under age 18, "with a bit more emphasis on costumes."
But with the scarier-than-a-Halloween-slasher-flick prospect of a double-dip global recession haunting the homes and wallets of millions of Americans this October, it's easy to imagine more families spending less money on dressing up and choosing "Do-it-Yourself" costumes instead.
John Macko, the owner of the Chocolate Chalet in Briarcliff who was shopping at Value Drugs last week, said the sluggish economy is not affecting his Halloween spirit.
"(The economy) doesn't change Halloween for me because I don't go crazy overboard with it," he said. "I just have a few things to celebrate the holidays like a plastic and a real pumpkin and this little orange witch that I'm going to hang on the front door."
Join TheDailyBriarcliff.com on Facebook .
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


text:
POSTED ON 01/06/2017 IN News BY Daniel Oscroft
Whitemeadow to Launch New Designs at JFS 2017
It’s always an exhilarating time prior to launching new product ranges at a forthcoming trade show, in particular we look forward to the January Furniture Show at the NEC . JFS 2017 is the largest show of the year, with anyone and everyone within the furniture and interior industry set to attend.
Images of the Whitemeadow Stand JFS 2016
All of the most reputable companies and brands across numerous product categories including upholstery, cabinet and beds will be presenting their new collections to the trade. For the third year in a row Whitemeadow will be located at our usual spot in Hall 1, Stand F40.
After the initial set-up week, where all exhibitors meticulously prepare and perfect their stands, the show officially opens on Sunday 22nd January through to Wednesday 25th January.
Whitemeadow will once again be proudly presenting our SS17 collection of exciting new designs and fabrics – A window of inspiration to the trade which has proven to be successful for us over recent years.
With months of hard work by all parties involved, the sense of pride in representing the company and its products at such a show is tangible, providing all sales managers with the necessary shot of energy and drive to secure as much business as possible.
The January Furniture Show provides an outstanding window of opportunity and inspiration for buyers, both current and new, playing a significant part in setting us up for the year ahead.
We look forward to seeing you there.


text:
HFPA to honor five with HomeTex Design Awards
August 17, 2001,
New York — Five industry execs have been selected to receive the HFPA's annual HomeTex Design Awards at a gala that will take place during the fall textiles market.
This year's honorees include Lana Burke, director of design, W.C. Designs; Jerry Hanauer, chairman, Pacific Coast Feather; Joan Karron, executive vp of strategic development, CHF Industries; Pamela Maffei, director of design, Waverly Lifestyle Group; and Les Mandelbaum, president, Umbra Canada.
The awards gala will take place Sunday, Oct. 14 at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. The event will open with a cocktail reception from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., followed by the awards presentation from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Katie Murphy Amphitheater at FIT.
Related Content By Author
Live From New York: Fashion Comes Across the Pond
Home & Textiles Today eDaily


text:
Accompanied Visit of the Web Summit in Lisbon
- Event type
- 08.11.2016 - 10.11.2016
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Participation conditions
- complete the attached registration form and return it by 28 October (deadline has been extended!!)
Crédit photo: Edouard Lehr
The Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, in close cooperation with the Luxembourg Embassy to Lisbon, has the pleasure of inviting you to participate in the Accompanied Visit to the Web Summit 2016, Europe’s Largest Technology Marketplace, a crossroads for the world’s largest buyers and sellers of technology, which will take place from November 8 to 10, 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Web Summit, also called “Davos for geeks”, is a platform for the world’s largest buyers and sellers of technology, alongside many of the world’s most disruptive emerging technology companies, held annually since 2010. The topic of the conference is focused on internet technology and attendees range from Fortune 500 companies to the world’s most exciting tech companies (see here the list of attendees: https://websummit.net/attendees/featured-attendees).
Over the past five years, the event was held in Dublin, Ireland. In September 2015, organisers announced that the Web Summit would be held in Lisbon for the next 3 years, starting in 2016. For this edition, more than 50,000 attendees are expected. 65% of the participants are expected to be Senior Management including some 7,000 CEOs. 20,000 companies from more than 15 countries as well as the most promising start ups around Europe will be represented.
The Chamber of Commerce will host a tour of the exhibition on November 9, 2016 and is also pleased to invite Luxembourg companies to an official networking reception, held on Wednesday evening, with the possible presence of Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg Prime Minister, Minister of State & Minister for Communications and Media (tbc) at the Luxembourg Embassy to Lisbon. The Chamber of Commerce also selected a hotel, near to the Exhibition centre and will organise the transfers to the event site.
If you are interested in registering for the visit, you are kindly requested to duly complete the attached registration form and return it by 28 October (deadline has been extended). (Contact: Ms. Violaine Mathurin/Sabrina Aksil, T: 42 39 39-481 / 374; E-mail: portugal2016(at)cc.lu).
A fair/exhibition is a thematic event gathering on a single location exhibitors and industry professionals visitors.A fair/exhibition can be dedicated to a field of activity (catering, building ..) or to a type or family of solutions or services (direct marketing fair, training fair, etc. ..). The event usually includes some exhibition stands (exhibitors) and some conferences.


text:
Bungie Reveals Next Halo Novel With "The Cole Protocol"
Bungie has now revealed the sixth book that will take place in the Halo universe with Halo: The Cole Protocol. This book will apparently reveal the location of the Spartan Grey Team explore a specific conflict during the Human-Covenant wars. The book will be penned by Tobias S. Buckell, who has won numerous awards for his past works in science fiction. According to Frank O’Connor, franchise development director for Microsoft:
“Buckell continues an excellent tradition that’s now a solid aspect of the Halo novels, bringing a fresh new perspective to a limitless universe and bringing his prodigious writing talents to bear in ways that will surprise and engage fans of the series and newcomers alike.”
More information, including release dates and such, are expected to be revealed soon.


text:
Bionano Genomics Inc. (BNGO) stock prices have grown nearly 1,000% in the past 12 months. Despite this, some analysts feel that the shares have already reached their peak and are unlikely to grow rapidly soon. The shares of the company fell more than 12% to $11.85 on February 22.
Here's Your FREE Report on the #1 Small-Cap Uranium Stock of '22.
Small-cap Uranium stocks are booming in 2022! The company we're about to show you is the ONLY small-cap stock in the space that benefits from ALL aspects of the global Uranium industry with none of the risks of running a mine. Smart investors will not be hesitating on this one!
Get the FREE Report with all the details here.
BNGO’s share price has increased by 967.57% since the start of this year. During the last five trades, the stock price dropped -13.50%, while the stock price rose 43.29% during the last 30 trades. The share price added 2202.31% to its price during the previous three months, while the price rose 1631.95% over the last six months.
The main product of Bionano Genomics is Saphyr lab equipment, which can detect large structural variations and aberrations of chromosomes, which are not detectable by standard gene sequencers. Presently, this equipment are used to diagnose all sorts of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, leukaemia, COVID-19, hepatocellular carcinoma, and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
This company’s total address market can reach $4 billion per year. In contrast, Wall Street analysts estimate that by 2020, Bionano Genomics’ revenue will be about $8 million. Company revenue is likely to be in the range of 18 – 19 million dollars this year.
Since Bionano Genomics’ Saphyr lab equipment is not directly a competitor to sequencers from other manufacturers because it is designed to detect different kinds of aberrations in chromosomes, competitive risks are relatively low. Moreover, Bionano Genomics must devote substantial resources to promoting its products to convince medical centres of the need for such purchase. That is why high costs and volatile sales dropped by a third in the last quarter. Yet, we can’t deny that Bionano Genomics is on a path to becoming a leader.


text:
Dita Von Teese, Camilla Belle and more turned out to help C magazine toast South Coast Plaza’s golden anniversary with a lavish dinner at the Getty Center on Wednesday hosted by C founder and editorial director Jennifer Smith Hale.
The California luxury monthly devoted a fashion feature to the retail center, including a futuristic fashion shoot shot on location by Christian Anwander and styled by fashion director Alison Edmond.
On hand for the evening were Anton and Jennifer Segerstrom, along with C contributors Lisa Eisner, Kendall Conrad, Jessica de Ruiter, George Kotsiopoulos and Kurt Iswarienko and L.A. fashion, beauty and art folk including Angela Lindvall, Eva Chow, Asia Chow, Elaine Irwin, Alexandra Von Furstenberg, Minnie Mortimer, Shiva Rose, Erica Pelosini, Eric Buterbaugh, Katherine Ross, Sally Perrin, Tabitha Simmons, George Esquivel, Louis Leeman, Justin Kern of Co, Nathan Bogle, Heidi Merrick, Lucy Pinter, Garance Dore, Konstantin Kakanias, Waldo Fernandez, Tommy Clements, Ray Azoulay, Nathan Turner, Chris McMillan, Robert Schwartzman, Adir Abergel, Deborah Afshani, John Pearson, Mona Kuhn, Juan Carlos Obando and NJ Goldston.
While the Getty Center restaurant didn’t allow real candles, the faux tapers added a warm glow to the all-white room, which was decorated with red flowers by White Lilac. Guests also took turns posing with the alien-costumed models and practicing their best robot moves for Instagram.
The evening was also the celebration of new appointments at the magazine; with the retirement of president and publisher Lesley Campoy, Smith Hale takes on the additional role of chief executive officer of C Publishing, and editor Jenny Murray has been promoted to president in addition to continuing as editor. Andy Nelson will continue to be chief financial officer while taking on the additional role of chief operating officer and Renee Marcello was named publisher.


text:
Yesterday, Cheetah Mobile Security Research Lab issued warnings against a brand new mobile phone trojan family, called “Hummer.” According to the statistics, Hummer infected almost 1.4 million devices daily during the first half of this year. Only in China, there were up to 63,000 infections per day. The collected evidences show that the Hummer trojan family has some similarities with the underground industry chain in China.
According to security experts, this trojan family is one of the largest ever, with millions of Android phones infected worldwide. Considering the Cheetah Mobile’s estimation, if the developers of Hummer were able to make $0.50 (the average cost of getting a new installation) every time the virus installed an application on a smartphone, the hackers behind the trojan family would be able to make over $500,000 per day.
After a mobile phone is infected with the Hummer trojan, it will root the device to obtain administrator privileges of the system. After that the trojan will frequently pop up ads and silently install unnecessary or unwanted applications in the background, which consumes a lot of network traffic.
Due to the ability of the Hummer trojan to gain the highest control over the phone system, ordinary anti-virus tools are not able to clear the trojan thoroughly – even performing a factory reset on the device won’t get rid of it.
After analyzing the samples, the Cheetah Mobile experts discovered the domain names used to update the trojan. From the beginning of this year, the hackers behind the Hummer trojan family started using 12 domain names to update the trojan and issue promotion orders.
Through the Whois history information, the experts discovered that several of the domains are linked to an e-mail account in mainland China. Based on the trojan codes uploaded to an open-source platform by a careless member of the criminal gang, security researchers think that the Hummer trojan family originated from the underground internet industry chain in China.
The data collected by Cheetah Mobile Security Research Lab between January and June 2016, shows that the average number of Hummer-infected phones is 1,190,000, which is larger than any other mobile phone trojan.
Hummer is distributed throughout the world, though India, Indonesia, Turkey, and China have seen the largest number of infections. Due to the fact that India has the most Hummer trojan infections, Cheetah Mobile Security Lab investigated deeper. Among the top 10 trojans affecting most users in India, the second and third are members of the Hummer trojan family, and the sixth is a trojan that’s promoted by Hummer.
The members of the Hummer trojan family are embedded with a root module, and the latest variant has as many as 18 different root methods.


text:
IMAX, the movie theatre chain faces auction on July 15
Movie theatre chain IMAX is set to go under the auctioneers’ hammer next week.
In an advertisement on the local dailies, auctioneering firm Ideal Auctioneers welcomed interested bidders for the auction that will take place on July 15 at the Imax theatre in Nairobi.
Some of the items to be auctioned include speakers, projectors, computers and other bar and kitchen equipment.
The auctioneering of what used to be a favourite entertainment joint for many Kenyans before the coronavirus speaks to the effect of the pandemic to businesses.
“Under instructions received from our client, we shall sell by public auction the undermentioned goods on Wednesday 15th July, 2020 at 20th Century Plaza, Nairobi CBD at 11 am,” announced the auctioneers.
The sale, according to the auctioneers, will include a huge assortment of movie theatre equipment such as retractable seats, projectors, TV sets, Power back-up units, roof and wall-mounted speakers.
A refundable deposit of Ksh100,000 shall be paid for one to obtain a bidding number


text:
Hewlett-Packard slashes prices on its Kayak line of workstations. Meanwhile, the company reportedly hires a consultant to take a "fundamental look" at the firm.
HP cuts workstation prices
Hewlett-Packard slashes as much as 12 percent off prices on the lower end of its Intel-based Kayak line of workstations.
Hewlett-Packard reviewing business
HP, Motorola face critical test


text:
Bay Area Allstars
Inspiring ideas from Bay Area inventors
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
OWNER, COMET SKATEBOARDS
A typical skateboard deck is a sandwich of unsustainability: chemical epoxies pressed between layers of overlogged maple and coated with toxic varnishes. In 1998, Salfi cofounded Comet Skateboards (cometskateboards.com) with the goal of creating a greener board. At its solar-powered San Francisco factory, the company makes decks with Forest Stewardship Councilcertified wood, then builds the boards in Oakland with water-based glues and coatings. This fall, Salfi, 36, plans to launch a biodegradable board made of plant-based composite material.
Perry Ellis Pieced Topcoat ($395; perryellis.com); Chamula Hooded Full-Zip Sweater ($220; megcompany.com); Gap Classic T ($15; gap.com); Earnest Sewn Rotton jeans ($198; earnestsewn.com); Nike Dunk Low Premium iD ($100; nike.com)
SENIOR DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER, TESLA MOTORS
Can Silicon Valleybased Tesla Motors (teslamotors.com) give the electric car a much-needed jump start? Mendez, 38, who joined Tesla in 2005, says yes, citing key numbers for the company’s Roadster (MSRP: $98,000), which goes into production this fall, as proof: 100 percent electric, zero to 60 in four seconds, 200-mile-plus range per charge. Think Porsche crossed with Prius. Further evidence: The technology used in the lithium-ion battery pack Mendez helped design is now being sold to other forward-thinkers, including Norwegian car company Think, which signed a $43 million deal.
OWNER, FARMER BROWN RESTAURANT
The menu at San Francisco’s Farmer Brown (farmerbrownsf.com) features a “picture” of African-American farmers steering mule-drawn plows toward San Fran’s iconic skyscrapers. The faux image deftly captures what Foster is after: delivering authentic soul fooddelicious and healthy, made with local, organic ingredientsto the Bay Area. The 33-year-old North Carolina native cooks recipes handed down from his grandmother, focusing on the kind of fare he couldn’t find when he moved to the Bay Area in 1996. He also sees his cuisine as a way to preserve African-American culinary traditions. “Kids these days are not into cooking, and not into sustaining their culture,” he says. “That’s a crying shame.”
Bailey of Hollywood Ribbon Milan Braid hat ($42; hats.com); Vans Chamberlain Hill jacket ($69; vans.com); Quiksilver Ando shirt ($52;quiksilver.com); Seiko Premier Collection Alarm Chronograph ($575; seikousa.com); Levi’s Shrink-to-Fit Rigid 501 ($46; levi.com)
FOUNDER, RCP TIBURON MILE
Competitive swimmer Placak decided on his 40th birthday to give something back to his sport. The gift? A one-mile open-water race from San Francisco Bay’s Angel Island to the dock in his hometown of Tiburon. Since its debut in 1999, the RCP Tiburon Mile (rcptiburonmile.com) has become one of the world’s premier open-water swims, drawing Olympians like Amanda Beard and Brooke Bennett. Some 800 racers are expected at this year’s event, September 16. Placak, 48, also uses the race to raise funds for the Special Olympics; to date, his efforts have brought the national organization more than half a million dollars.
Oliver Peoples Nitro sunglasses ($400; oliverpeoples.com); Diesel Woba Jacket ($500; diesel.com); Banana Republic Lightweight Crewneck Sweater ($60; bananarepublic.com); Nike Sports Essential T-shirt ($25; nike.com); QuikSilverEdition Wilshire pants ($95; quiksilveredition.com)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREENBELT ALLIANCE
In the next 12 years, 1.5 million newcomers are expected to move to the San Francisco Bay Area. Sprawl threatens to gobble up a tenth of the region’s remaining green spaces. Steinbach, 42, and his team at Greenbelt Alliance (greenbelt.org), a nearly 50-year-old Bay Areabased conservation group, are armed and ready. He recently helped persuade San Jose to keep the South Bay’s Coyote Valley from becoming an industrial campus. His tactic: pressing outlying suburbs to direct their development inward, focusing their growth around existing downtowns and public-transportation hubs. “We see protection of open space and the creation of more livable, walkable cities as two sides of the same coin,” says Steinbach. “The more you do of one, the more you get of the other.”
Bailey of Hollywood Lord-Ivy Cap ($40; thefedorastore.com); Cashco two-button blazer ($1,750) and corduroy cotton trousers($295) by Ermenegildo Zegna (zegna.com); Diesel Kodec Sweater ($250; diesel.com)
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BIG CITY MOUNTAINEERS
You’ve heard of camping programs for at-risk teens. But Big City Mountaineers (bigcitymountaineers.org) goes one better than the typical weekend trip, pairing urban kids with adult mentors (five of each) and sending them off on eight-day backcountry stints. East Bay resident Godley, 38, volunteered as a trip leader himself before joining the nonprofit in 2003. Since then, he’s increased the number of participants served by the program by 30 percent each year, transforming hundreds of kids’ lives. “I’ve had mothers come up to me,” he says. “They say they can’t put their finger on what’s different, but they tell me something about their child has changed.”
Modern Amusement Lonely Hearts Jacket ($295; modernamusement.com); Oakley New Khaki sweater ($100; oakley.com); Prana Razor Jean ($70; prana.com); Banana Republic Essential cotton crew ($17; bananarepublic.com)


text:
Meal-kit companies face an ultimatum: adapt or die.
The business is still in its infancy, with the biggest players — Blue Apron and HelloFresh — less than a decade old. But they are facing serious challenges from restaurant and grocery-delivery services, smaller niche players and even home chefs.
The struggle intensified Monday, when Blue Apron announced that it could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because its closing share price has been lower than $1 since early May. The company’s share price closed down 8% Monday to 68 cents.
New York-based Blue Apron said it will try to raise its stock price with a reverse stock split, which will be subject to a vote of its shareholders at the company’s annual meeting on June 13.
Subscription-based meal-kit companies face numerous problems. For one, they appeal to a small population. NPD Group, a consulting firm, estimates that just 4% of U.S. consumers have tried them.
It also costs a lot for companies to prepare, package and ship fresh ingredients, so meal prices are high. And once kits arrive, subscribers still have to put the ingredients together.
“Meal kits are a more expensive but less convenient option for busy people who do not have time to cook,” said Cara Brosius, a market-research analyst with Packaged Facts.
Brosius said meal-kit customers have also complained about limited menu selection, poor quality of ingredients and too much packaging.
Blue Apron hasn’t made a profit since its 2017 IPO. It has been losing customers, who quickly tire of its relatively high prices — $9.99 per serving for a two-person plan — as well as its subscription plan, which forces them to be less spontaneous. Blue Apron’s customer base fell 25% to 557,000 between 2017 and 2018.
Others have struggled. Meal-kit company Chef’d closed its doors last July. And some have been swallowed up. Albertsons grocery chain, for instance, acquired the Plated brand in 2017 while Kroger acquired Home Chef last year.
Darren Seifer, a food-industry analyst with the consulting firm NPD Group, said the meal-kit market feels like the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.
“It’s a very crowded space, with a lot of companies not paying too much attention to the bottom line,” he said. He expects consolidation, which is already happening. HelloFresh bought organic meal-kit provider Green Chef last year, for example.
Packages Facts said the U.S. meal-kit market grew 22% to $3.1 billion in 2018, but it expects that growth to decelerate over the next five years because of competition. UberEats, for example, will deliver a restaurant meal for $3.99 plus a service fee. Chefs for Seniors promises a visit from an in-home chef, 12 meal servings and cleanup for $99 plus groceries.
Seifer said there is a place for subscription-based meal plans. They have a lot of appeal for people with specific dietary needs, he said.
But he thinks the most successful companies will also branch out into grocery stores or delivery, offering on-demand meal kits.