text:
IBM's Chief on Corporate Longevity and Leadership
I.B.M. finished off its string of 100th anniversary events on Wednesday evening, with a lecture by the company's chairman and chief executive, Samuel J. Palmisano.
He spoke at Columbia University, an apt location. Thomas J. Watson Jr. gave a talk at Columbia to observe the company's 50th anniversary, Thomas Watson Sr. was a Columbia trustee, and I.B.M.'s storied research labs had their origins at Columbia with the Thomas J. Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau in 1937.
Mr. Palmisano's talk, before a few hundred people in a lecture hall at the Columbia Business School, echoed and cited Mr. Watson's speech from the early 1960s, noting how few of the largest companies are still leaders decades later and often are not even around. Mr. Watson said that "corporations are expendable, and that success - at best - is an achievement that can always slip out of hand."
The I.B.M. lesson, Mr. Palmisano said, is never become wedded to what you make, but to the values the corporation stands for. After all, I.B.M. started out making clocks, scales, punched card tabulators, and cheese slicers ("the world's fastest at the time," he noted).
"The history of business is a bone pile of companies that had an extraordinary initial success," Mr. Palmisano said, "but were unable to achieve a second act." Mostly, he added, the bone pile companies "could not get beyond an emotional attachment to the past."
The enduring corporate values Mr. Palmisano had in mind were not ethics or corporate responsibility, though those are certainly values, but a company's lasting goals - in I.B.M.'s case, satisfying customer needs, building long-term relationships and pursuing breakthrough innovations.
That mentality, and not a commitment to products, made it easier for I.B.M. to sell off its hard disk drive and personal computer businesses - even though, Mr. Palmisano said, I.B.M.'s Thinkpad notebook was "by any measure the most recognizable brand for us," used by millions of people. But I.B.M., which spends $6 billion a year on research and development, is ill-suited for low-margin businesses.
"We knew that the emerging computing model was commoditizing the PC industry," Mr. Palmisano said. "And that's not where we wanted to be."
In the question-and-answer session after the lecture, Mr. Palmisano was asked about the essential characteristics for a leader. First and foremost, he replied, "You need a clear point of view as to what the future holds." When he became chief executive in 2002, Mr. Palmisano and his senior staff members identified three key trends: the end of the PC era of computing, globalization of technology production and adoption, and a shift in value away from making hardware and software to using technology to help corporations solve business problems.
The clear view of the future sounds a lot like vision. Recall that Mr. Palmisano's predecessor, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., said shortly after he arrived in 1993: "The last thing I.B.M. needs now is a vision." But times changed, and Mr. Palmisano had the luxury of taking the long view because I.B.M., under Mr. Gerstner, had been restored to financial health.
As he was finishing, Mr. Palmisano introduced his recently named successor, Virginia Rometty, who will be the ninth chief executive in the company's 100-year history and was in the audience.
He always saw himself, Mr. Palmisano said, as the "temporary steward of great enterprise," coming to work every day to try to make it better, stronger and more influential. That, he said, will be the mandate for Ms. Rometty. "That's the role of a C.E.O. today," he said.
But it wasn't all humility from Mr. Palmisano. He laid out the case for I.B.M.'s improvement during his tenure - its growth, shift to higher-profit businesses, and financial performance.
"And I could have said that for the first time in 27 years we've passed Microsoft in market capitalization, but I didn't say that," he joked. "I restrained myself."


text:
The first time Josh Silverman addressed the staff of Etsy as their newly installed chief executive, he tried to connect with a work force known for its diversity, idealism and sincerity.
“Hello,” he said. “My name is Josh. I identify as male. My preferred pronouns are ‘him’ and ‘he.’ Most people just call me Josh.”
It was May 3, and Mr. Silverman was speaking to a roomful of traumatized employees. The day before, Etsy had fired 80 people, the first big layoffs at the online marketplace for handmade and vintage arts and crafts. Among those ousted was Etsy’s beloved chief executive of six years, Chad Dickerson.
Now Mr. Silverman — an Etsy board member but an unknown to most employees — stood in the Etsytorium, trying to win over a hostile crowd. His earnest introduction was an olive branch of sorts, an effort to signal that he was attuned to Etsy’s vibrant gay and transgender community, and would be respectful of the company’s distinctive culture. But to many in attendance, his remarks came off as tone deaf, and his inability to read the room foreshadowed sweeping changes that would soon transform Etsy.
The drama began last November, when Mr. Silverman joined the Etsy board and began asking tough questions of management. Soon after that, an activist investor took a stake in Etsy and called for the sale of the company. Then powerful private equity firms began buying shares, stoking fears of a takeover. The board was under pressure, and in early May abruptly fired Mr. Dickerson and installed Mr. Silverman.
On the same day as the chief executive changeover, the company announced its first layoffs. Within weeks of assuming control, Mr. Silverman shut down several projects that had been in the works for months. Not long after that, he fired another 140 employees.
It was a dizzying series of events at a company that has long held itself up as a paragon of righteous business practices. Etsy’s founders believed its business model — helping mostly female entrepreneurs make a living online — was inherently just. Employees shared their emotions freely, often crying at the office. Perks included generous paid parental leave, free organic food and a pet-friendly workplace. Etsy was certified as a B Corp by a nonprofit called B Lab, denoting its particularly high social and environmental standards.
But once Etsy went public in 2015, it was evaluated just like any other company traded on the stock market. By late last year, expenses were growing fast. And even as the company reported $88 million in revenues during the third quarter, it posted a net loss of $2.5 million. After a few quarters of tepid results, investors grew impatient and a classic clash of corporate governance came spilling into view — how would a company like Etsy balance the short-term demands of its shareholders with its high-minded long-term mission?
By some important metrics, Etsy appears to be improving under Mr. Silverman’s leadership. Revenues are up, as are “gross merchandise sales” — the total value of goods being sold on Etsy. The company’s stock has risen about 50 percent in the six months since he took over.
The Times invited Etsy sellers to share their experiences. Hundreds replied; here are selected responses.
“I’ve seen Etsy through all these changes, and for the first time, I’m worried.”— Abby Glassenberg
By other measures, however, Etsy is barely recognizable. The “Values-Aligned Business” team, which oversaw the company’s social and environmental efforts, was dismantled. A new focus on profitability has sapped many employees of their enthusiasm. A workplace that once encouraged workers to express their feelings has clammed up. Etsy is no longer a B Corp.
Today, as Mr. Silverman continues to push for change and investors keep close watch on the stock, what’s most frustrating to some close observers of the company is that Etsy seems to have given up so much to gain so little.
“Etsy had the potential to be one of the truly great ones,” said Matt Stinchcomb, an early employee who now runs the Good Work Institute,which was originally an Etsy charitable foundation before being spun off last year. “But it looks like they are cutting anything that’s not essential to the business. This is a cautionary tale of capitalism.”
Etsy was founded in 2005 by a group of friends including Robert Kalin, an amateur furniture maker who was looking for a better way to sell his goods online. To explain the power of Etsy’s community of buyers and sellers, Mr. Kalin often read aloud from a children’s book, Swimmy, which is about a school of fish finding strength in numbers. Mr. Kalin became the chief executive, and his sensitive affect set the tone for the company culture.
Makers and crafts enthusiasts flocked to the site, grateful that there was somewhere besides eBay and Amazon where they could buy and sell jewelry, furniture and clothing online. Abby Glassenberg was one of the site’s first sellers, using it to find a market for her handmade stuffed animals, and has chronicled Etsy over the years with her popular blog and podcast. “At this point it was really hard to sell online,” she said. “Etsy was a godsend.”
As Etsy grew, it eschewed traditional corporate customs in favor of a more freewheeling approach. Building consensus was more important than moving fast. Employees believed Etsy could be equally beneficial to buyers, sellers, staff and the planet. The idealism was infectious, and many people turned down higher salaries from other companies to work for Etsy.
Yet for all its efforts to stand apart, Etsy followed the established playbook when it came to financing its growth. Venture capitalists poured some $85 million into the company, making a takeover or initial public offering all but inevitable.
In 2011, the board decided to replace Mr. Kalin with Mr. Dickerson, who was then the chief technology officer. As C.E.O., Mr. Dickerson oversaw dramatic growth. When he took Etsy public in 2015, the company had 1.4 million active sellers, nearly 20 million buyers and had gross merchandise sales of $2 billion a year.
True to form, Etsy found ways to make its initial public offering inclusive. It marketed shares to small investors and Etsy sellers and tried to concentrate shares in a smaller than usual number of institutional holders. Besides upholding the company’s egalitarian ethos, the effort had a strategic rationale. The hope was that such a shareholder base might insulate Etsy from some of the short-term pressures of the stock market.
It didn’t work. In the first nine months after the offering, the stock fell 75 percent. Etsy was still spending heavily on growth and marketing, and while revenues were up in early quarters, the company was unprofitable. Insiders were selling shares, creating more supply than demand for the stock. It didn’t help that Amazon launched a competing vertical, Handmade at Amazon.
Yet even as Etsy grew to number more than 1,000 staffers, the company’s unorthodox culture survived. Mr. Dickerson held weekly “Office Hours,” when any employee could ask him about anything, and spoke openly about his doubts, admitting when he didn’t know the answer to a question.
Etsy became a B Corp in 2012, completing a certification process that put the company on par with Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s in terms of social and environmental bona fides. Meditation and yoga classes were offered during the workday. Companywide meetings, known as “Y’all Hands,” featured musical performances by employees. New mothers and fathers got six months of fully paid parental leave. The company moved into an old Jehovah’s Witness building in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, giving it an eco-friendly face-lift. Men and women shared bathrooms, which were adorned with signs that read “we believe that gender is not binary.”
The emotional, individualistic culture had its drawbacks. The emphasis on go-it-alone craftsmanship meant Etsy managed its own data centers, instead of using more efficient options like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud. With everyone empowered to express themselves, there was a lot of sharing going on. Inboxes were stuffed with unnecessary emails, which dragged on productivity.

domain: news


text:
Ah naw! Not another story about the doom and gloom of Brexit; it’s enough to drive you to drink… exactly my cunning plan (in moderation of course.)
Yes it’s true, predications show that Brexit will have a major impact on the price of a bottle of wine. Below are some details from an FT report by Eshe Nelson on what we can expect.
We British and Irish have a reputation for liking a tipple. Last year, drinkers in the UK brought nearly £14bn ($18.2bn) worth of wine, or roughly 26 bottles per person, according to the IWSR. Almost all of it—99%—came from abroad, making the UK the largest per-capita importer of wine in the world.
For those who like to kick back with a Côtes du Rhône, party with Prosecco, or chill with Champagne, there could be trouble looming. More than half of the wine Britain imports come from the European Union, and Brexit threatens to squeeze the supply.
Already, the price of a typical bottle in UK wine shops has reached a record high. The average bottle of wine now sells for £5.56, a 3% increase from the end of 2016, thanks to the Brexit-induced plummet in the pound making imports more expensive, according to the the UK’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association.
Kym Anderson of the University of Adelaide and Glyn Wittwer of Victoria University used used their model of global wine markets to estimate the effect Brexit will have by 2025.
According to Anderson and Wittwer, the most severe Brexit scenario would push consumer prices for wine up by a staggering 22% by 2025, and the volume consumed would drop by 28% as a result. Under their less severe scenario, prices would be 11% higher and consumption would fall by 17%. The pound has already lost 14% of its value against the euro since the Brexit vote in June last year, so it’s not that hard to imagine the shocks envisioned by these scenarios.
According to Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, the UK is already losing its reputation as a key player in the wine world, and Brexit will accelerate this decline. Anderson and Wittwer’s study is “helpfully terrifying,” he says.
Should we be worried? In a word no; in my humble view, prices will rise, however some county will fill the void for less expensive wine. The reality is it won’t be very palatable. The wine industry needs price increases to reinvest and make production profitable. If people want to continue to drink good bottles of wine, they’ll have to pay more; it’s as simple as that.
Well at least I got to create a new word: Winexit.
Quote of the month:
“The best tonic is one with a gin in it.”
If you’ve enjoyed this article and currently don’t subscribe to Hospitality Review NI, please contact us or fill in our online subscription form


text:
UAE comparison website completes $3m funding round
compareit4me.com says new investment led by Dubai-based Mulverhill Associates
compareit4me.com, the UAE-based finance comparison site has announced the completion of its first round of funding worth over $3 million.
The investment was led by Mulverhill Associates, a Dubai-based investment and advisory firm focused on the Middle East, a statement said.
compareit4me.com, which launched in the UAE in 2011, has been through a number of changes in recent months including a website relaunch and a launch of services in Qatar.
Financial products covered by compareit4me include credit cards, home loans, personal loans, bank accounts, car loans and commercial finance. The website receives over 120,000 users per month and generates over 20,000 applications for the banks.
Jonathan Hall, managing director of Mulverhill Associates said: "It's fantastic to be involved with such an energetic and rapidly growing company as compareit4me.com. They have bootstrapped their way to being industry leaders, have 15 active banks working with them, are already profitable and most interestingly for us, they have enormous growth potential."
Samer Chehab, commercial director at compareit4me, added: "The comparison industry in the UAE is still in the early stages but a lot of our clients already look at us as a very important marketing channel for them and one they need to be a part of.
"That said, our priority remains the consumer, we have an easy to use website which allows users to quickly compare financial products and find the best products for them, that's why we started this site and it will remain the primary goal moving forward."
He said the banking industry accounts for over 11% of digital advertising dollars spent in the UAE making it the biggest spending industry after real estate and automotive.


text:
Ask Eric Demaree, president of Carpet One, what he is most excited about for 2012, and he cites no specific new product or program. Rather, he is enthused about the fact he believes Carpet One members are taking market share. “Our members will probably grow this year two to three times the independent channel as a whole.”
Why? Demaree said it’s a combination of four things:
1. Quality of dealer. “We have the best retailers in this industry and they have a tremendous amount of repeat and referral business. Plus, our average owner has been in business 42 years. That goes a long way in the community as the preferred brand.”
2. Products and pricing. “You have to have the best, and we do. We have a strong good/ better/ best selection organized by lifestyle.”
3. Added value. “No one has the added values we provide, such as the Beautiful Guarantee, SelectAFloor selling system and Healthier Living installation.”
4. Promotions. “The big challenge for our dealers is how do I get more traffic. How do I get more customers. So the theme this year is how to help them to do that. We have huge national promotions this spring designed to drive more traffic. Our website redesign, coupled with a social media strategy, has resulted in the first 30 days of 2012 about a 60% increase in qualified leads through carpetone .com. We just hired an expert in digital marketing, which is already having a huge impact on our business.”
The best thing about Carpet One’s social media strategy? “We are doing it for them,” Demaree said. “We have shown them how to set things up. We have showed them how to set up a corporate Facebook page and how to back link through social sites. We have blogs, we have a national newsletter site. If they want to go in and customize it, they can.
As far as the Facebook strategy goes, without getting into specifics, Demaree said it’s all about relevant content directed at a well-defined, targeted audience. “You have to know your exact demographic, who the target customer is and what she is interested in. We want to be the problem solver and give her a solution she can enjoy. Also, convey the added-value services that can differentiate us like the Beautiful Guarantee, SelectA-Floor and Healthier Living Installation.”
The focus on tools to help members grow their business and take market share is the result of a survey where 37% of members cited this as their top priority. Demaree said this can be achieved by flawlessly executing three steps:
1. Aggressively managing leads.
2. Being a hunter. “How do you prospect by phone, by target segment, by cold calling?”
3. Continuously marketing and advertising. “We have an entire digital strategy, we have a promotion strategy. We also show members how they can become more involved in their community through these efforts—Better Business Bureau, chamber of commerce, sponsoring charities, church, women’s club. You have to be on all eight cylinders in today’s world; there are no shortcuts.”
One way in which Carpet One intends to capture more market share is through diversification—the new Core Elements main street flooring program is one example. The idea is to capitalize on the 31% of commercial business that goes through the specialty channel. “Based on the market share we have in the specialty category, this represents a $100 million opportunity,” said Charlie Dilks, chief product officer.
The initial Core Elements rollout is a hard surface offering from Mannington. “Commercial is the fastest growing segment in the flooring industry,” said Jay Koppelson, vice president of national accounts. “And main street is the fastest growing segment in commercial. We have been working on perfecting our main street business for the last five years. The beauty salons, the churches, the doctor’s offices, the local restuarants. And we believe this is the expertise of the independent retailer.”
Zach Zehner, vice president, commercial hard surfaces, said Core Elements allows retailers to leverage the position they have in their local communities as it targets walk-in, negotiated business.
How it works: Mannington has put together a system that focuses on targeting the end use and providing the right flooring option. “It makes selling as easy at 1-2-3,” Zehner said. First, the customer selects the space—education, retail, worship, of-fice, etc. Second, he or she selects one of the multiple coordinated color options targeted at that space. Each of the 42 boards has the end use and particular color options within that segment. Third, he or she picks the product: VCT, LVT, walk-off carpet, rubber tile and cove base, and commercial sheet. “Extended warranties are also offered so the dealer can drive the performance story.”
The boards are housed in a wing display that takes up 3½ feet of floor space. The display also contains a recommended usage chart tied to each of the seven end uses as well as information on which adhesives match each product. “We have found that 30% to 40% of all main street business is done off displays in the store,” Zehner said.
In addition, Mannington has created a set of architectural folders as tools with which dealers can take out in the field. The folders follow the same theme, all color coordinated along the seven main end uses.
Koppelson said Mannington is the right partner for Carpet One’s first formalized main street business. “We think we know the business. It’s not just about product; it’s about flooring solutions. We have done a lot of interviews with these people and asked what their needs were. It’s all about solutions. It’s about sustainability. It’s about styling. It’s about performance. It’s about service. They want to work with a local retailer and not a contractor. They want training. They want an easy way to start designing their space. They are not looking to add the cost of hiring a designer. They want to keep things simple.”
In other news…
The introduction of the Voyager Collection represents the third of Carpet One’s four-phase versatile hardwood system following the Invincible Hardwood and the Rustic River collections. Voyager features exotic hardwoods, cork and bamboo products in an Infinity sustainable island display.
“There are still a number of consumers who want to make a statement with their flooring,” said Jim Aaron, vice president of merchandising. “Exotic goes beyond exotic species, like strand bamboo, Corboo and a eucalyptus/bamboo mix. And today’s cork and bamboo offerings are light years ahead of where they were three years ago.”
Recognizing there is only so much wall space in any given store, Carpet One developed an island merchandising system. The display unit eliminates clutter and its sustainable attributes allow it to be retrofitted in many ways.
Resista SoftStyle received an update with 19 new styles. Resista, which was launched in 2005, was extended into super soft carpet in 2008. But the fiber had a few styling and design limitations. However, style and design has now been dramatically elevated. “In developing the new products, the Shaw team and our buying team have attempted to emulate the styling that has made Tigressa so successful, but at a much lower price point,” Dilks said. “It is positioned as a value-oriented lineup.”
What’s more, the 19 new styles utilize the existing display.


text:
If you've been paying attention to environmental news in the last year or so, you've probably noticed that the negative impact of single-use plastics has become a hot topic. From bans and taxes on plastic bags and takeaway coffee cups to policies on reduced plastic packaging, a growing number of countries and private-sector companies are taking action to combat plastic pollution. Recently, the European Parliament voted to ban all single-use plastics, including cutlery and plates, cotton buds, straws, drink stirrers, balloon sticks, and polystyrene food and beverage containers.
If successfully passed, the EU's Single Use Plastic Directive will be the most comprehensive piece of legislation addressing plastic pollution to date.
While the fight against single-use plastics like straws and shopping bags has gone mainstream, one thing we don't hear much about (possibly due to the social taboo surrounding menstruation) is disposable feminine hygiene products and their environmental impact.
Menstrual products, on the other hand, generate massive amounts of waste. It is estimated that the average woman throws away approximately 150 kilograms of tampons, pads, and applicators in her lifetime, with approximately 90 percent of them being plastic. (This may surprise some because, unlike food products, there is no legal requirement for menstrual product manufacturers to list ingredients on their packaging (though most of this information is available online).
The vast majority of these products end up in landfills (where they can take up to 450 years to decompose), or as litter on our beaches or polluting our oceans. Menstrual products, in fact, are one of the most common single-use plastic items found in marine litter.
In addition to visible plastic debris, there is the issue of microplastics, which are defined as pieces smaller than 5 millimeters. Despite advances in microplastic research, much remains unknown about the precise effects on human health and the environment.
What Other Options Do You Have?
As people become more aware of the world's plastic problem, they become more interested in finding reusable non-plastic alternatives to traditional pads and tampons.
Ella Daish launched the #EndPeriodPlastic campaign in 2018 after witnessing shocking levels of litter on our streets during her postal rounds. The campaign encourages leading brands to remove plastics from their period products. She also spearheaded the Eco Period Box initiative, which resulted in the donation of thousands of eco-friendly period products to combat period poverty!
Ella was working as a postal worker for the Royal Post when she realized how much was being thrown away. This got her thinking and she reflected on her own consumerism. In her daily life, when her period started, she noticed that there were no plastic-free alternatives for feminine hygiene products in the supermarket. The vast amounts of single-use plastic that are co-produced for these products and found with every purchase were unavoidable in conventional supermarkets. She wanted to make a change but felt powerless in her position. That was the moment she created the #EndPeriodPlastic campaign.
The campaign uses targeted action and a clear message to address one manufacturer or retailer at a time. By doing this, it increases pressure on the targeted decision maker, which they cannot ignore. Large companies including Sainsburys, Aldi, and Superdrug have been inspired to stop using plastic applicators in their period products as a result.
Ella is pleased that major brands are now also taking further steps into more environmentally friendly production and use of feminine hygiene products. She shares that some brands have already responded by developing and launching their own eco-friendly ranges. Most stores additionally have a selection of environmentally friendly tampons, pads, and menstrual cups. Read the full interview here: https://planetpatrol.co/blog/2020/08/20/ending-period-plastic-an-interview-with-planet-hero-ella-daish/


text:
ORGANISATIONS building call centres face their biggest challenge over the integration of legacy applications, according to industry analyst Ovum, writes Steve Ranger. Speaking at the Voice Europe 98...
Companies are challenging Amazon in retail and cloud
Cosmetics firm is undergoing a top-to-toe tech refresh with GDPR compliance thrown in
DFS resorts to cloud to help handle spikes in online demand
Economy and business performance not a problem, reckon small firms
Charity engages Braintree to move away from previous payment system which was in danger of failing and losing millions of pounds of donations, admits CTO


text:
According to a study carried out by Cancer Research UK, people who eat meat and carry on doing so put on more weight over a five year period than people who switch over to vegetarianism.
We all put on weight as we get older, the researchers found. However, vegetarians put on less weight than meat eaters, and vegans put on less weight than vegetarians.
Scientists at Cancer Research UK looked at the diets of 22,000 meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans. They studied people from all age groups (over 5). They compared weight gains in all these categories.
The 22,000 people gained, on average, 2 kilos each over a five year period. However, vegans and vegetarians gained the least, an average of 0.5 kilos.
This study was carried out in Oxford, it was part of EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition).
Professor Tim Key, Deputy Director of Cancer Research UK’s epidemiology unit, Oxford University, said “Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrate and low intake of protein. The data also showed that people who became more physically active during the five year period gained less weight than people who did very little exercise. This confirms that the best way to prevent obesity is to combine a healthy diet with exercise.”
Researchers found that over the five year period, the percentage of overweight people rose from 29.4% to 34.9% in men, and from 19.1% to 24.2% in women. Percentage of men who were obese rose from 4% to 6.9% in men and 5.7% to 8.4% in women.
What do the words VEGAN and VEGETARIAN mean?
In this article, and most of the UK, they mean:
VEGAN – A person whose sole source of nutrition is plant based.
VEGETARIAN – A person whose source of nutrition includes only plant based products, dairy and eggs.
Neither VEGANS nor VEGETARIANS eat meat, chicken, fish or any animal products (except for those mentioned for VEGETARIANS).
The interpretation of these two words can vary according to country.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today


text:
FX & CFD trading involves significant risk
Asia stocks move off early highs to trade mostly lower, as dividend worries dent Japanese utility firms, while steel makers weigh in Seoul.
Nikkei 225 9,014.25 +3.54 +0.04%
S&P/ASX 200 4,543.1 +2.10 +0.05%
Shanghai Composite 2,116.42 -16.34 -0.77%
Acer slid 3.3 percent in Taipei as Asia’s second-largest computer maker posted third-quarter profit and sales that missed estimates.
Canon Inc., the world’s biggest camera maker that gets about 31 percent of sales from Europe, dropped 1.5 percent in Tokyo.
Kansai Electric Power Co. sank 7.9 percent after the Nikkei newspaper reported the Japanese utility won’t pay a dividend.
European stocks declined for a third day, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) sliding to its lowest level in almost seven weeks as results from companies including Alfa Laval AB and D.E Master Blenders (DE) 1753 NV disappointed investors.
Alfa Laval and D.E Master Blenders fell at least 5 percent each. Mulberry Group Plc (MUL) plunged 24 percent after unexpectedly saying profit will fall. Chemical makers including Arkema SA (AKE) tumbled after DuPont Co.’s earnings lagged forecasts.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1.7 percent to 268.40 at the close of trading, its lowest level since Sept. 5.
European stocks fell yesterday as investors speculated that Spain will face less pressure to seek a bailout after a victory in regional elections for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Moody’s Investors Service lowered its credit rating on Catalonia and four other Spanish regions. The decision was “driven by the deterioration in their liquidity positions, as evidenced by their very limited cash reserves as of September 2012 and their significant reliance on short-term credit lines to fund operating needs,” the ratings company said.
National benchmark indexes fell in all of the 18 western European markets except Iceland.
FTSE 100 5,799.95 -82.96 -1.41% CAC 40 3,405.84 -77.41 -2.22% DAX 7,173.85 -154.20 -2.10%
Alfa Laval (ALFA) slipped 5.7 percent to 116.80 kronor. The company reported third-quarter order intake of 7.29 billion kronor ($1.1 billion), missing the estimates of Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG. Alpha Laval said it sees fourth-quarter demand in line with or lower than that of the third quarter.
D.E Master Blenders, the coffee and tea company spun off by Sara Lee Corp. in June, lost 5.3 percent to 9.28 euros after it posted first-quarter revenue that missed analyst estimates as price increases in Germany led consumers to reduce purchases. Revenue fell 1.5 percent to 645 million euros in the three months through September, the company said. Analysts had expected sales of 664 million euros.
Mulberry tumbled 24 percent to 1,006 pence. The British luxury-handbag maker said in an unscheduled announcement that profit will fall because of declining shipments to wholesale customers. Pretax profit will rise to 41.8 million pounds ($66.9 million) in the fiscal year through March.
Burberry Plc (BRBY), the largest U.K. luxury-goods maker, slid 3.2 percent to 1,134 pence.
Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY), Europe’s third-largest aluminum maker, retreated 5.2 percent to 25.48 kroner. The company posted a third-quarter net loss of 277 million kroner ($49 million), compared with a profit of 997 million kroner a year earlier. That surpassed a loss estimate of 142 million kroner.
Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) fell 5.1 percent to 2.05 euros. The mobile-phone maker trying to cope with falling sales and dwindling cash will sell 750 million euros of convertible bonds to address approaching debt maturities.
Michelin & Cie (ML) added 3.4 percent to 63.97 euros. The world’s second-largest tiremaker said third-quarter revenue rose 5.7 percent to 5.44 billion euros, beating the 5.31 billion-euro average of analyst.
Major U.S. stock indexes rebounded slightly from session lows, but still a significant drop of completed trades.
Today's decline, as well as Friday's, there has been broad-based (in the red all the main sectors and almost all the components of the index DOW) and runs at higher volumes.
The pressure on the indices are weak quarterly reports.
Today, prior to the regular session of the financial statements for the third quarter released 3M (MMM), DuPont (DD) and United Technologies (UTX). Data reports the Giants were quite weak compared with the forecasts. Particularly adverse market participants perceived lowering forecasts for the full 2012 fiscal year, which made all the three above mentioned companies.
Today's reports reaffirmed the trend of the season quarterly report, according to which the financial performance of companies of the real sector of the economy in the last quarter of the reporting out much worse than those for the sector of finance. Against this background, the U.S. improved macroeconomic performance, which can be observed in recent years can not hold the index of the decline.
Almost all the components of the index DOW are in the red. More than the others fell in the share price E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DD, -9.61%), 3M Co. (MMM, -4.14%), Alcoa, Inc. (AA, -3.41%), Chevron Corporation (CVX, -3.07%), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ, -2.99%).
Above zero are still only stock Intel (INTC, +0.71%) and Microsoft (MSFT, 0.20%).
All sectors are in the red zone. The largest drop demonstrates the basic materials sector (-2.4%), and conglomerates sector (-2.6%). At the same time, the smallest decline shows utilities and technology sector, which fell by 0.9% to 1.0% respectively.
At the close:
Dow -243.28 13,103.06 -1.82%
Nasdaq -26.50 2,990.46 -0.88%
S & P -20.69 1,413.13 -1.44%
|remaining time till the new event being published|
All posted material is a marketing communication solely for informational purposes and reliance on this may lead to loss. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Please read our full disclaimer.


text:
Missing: First Coverage's Product Demo & Case Studies
Promote your product offering to tech buyers.
Reach 1000s of buyers who use CB Insights to identify vendors, demo products, and make purchasing decisions.
Missing: First Coverage's Product & Differentiators
Don’t let your products get skipped. Buyers use our vendor rankings to shortlist companies and drive requests for proposals (RFPs).
Latest First Coverage News
Jun 6, 2013
David Cornell Nintendo will be revealing Super Smash Bros. Wii U gameplay for the first time during E3 2013. Super Smash Bros. has always been one of Nintendo’s aces in the hole. On the Nintendo 64, it gave gamers the chance to take such favorite characters as Link from The Legend of Zelda, Mario, Samus Aran from Metroid, and even the powder puff Kirby, and beat the bejeezus out of the rest in dynamic stages with multiple platforms and special moves. It was a hit every time it was released on any console, introducing the insanity levels of Power Stone and combining it with the side-scrolling fighting action of the then-popular fighting game genre. Between Super Smash Bros. and Mario Party, Nintendo was able to keep the otherwise flagging Nintendo 64 afloat in a console war being waged among disc-based systems. Most of their first-party games helped in that scenario, alongside first-person shooter gems GoldenEye 64 and Perfect Dark. The Wii U is the latest console to feel the strain that its predecessor did, just waiting for more games to give it a boost and make it relevant. Super Smash Bros. is once again here to help save the day, and at Nintendo’s Direct webcast for E3 2013, they are offering a first glimpse of the game for the Wii U. Designer Masahiro Sakurai announced today in a tweet , translated from Japanese, “I should note: In the Nintendo Direct scheduled for 11 [pm] on June 11, a new video of Smash Bros. will be unveiled for the first time. [It will be shown] simultaneously worldwide, here for the first time! Don’t miss it.” Masahiro Sakurai is of course referring to the time in Japan, as the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct webcast is being planned here in the US for June 11, at 10am EST. It should be interesting to see a high definition Super Smash Bros. title and see what Nintendo is adding this time around for the Wii U. Perhaps they put in more Pokemon, say from X and Y, this time around? Are you excited about Nintendo’s Direct E3 2013 webcast reveal of the new Super Smash Bros.? What do you think Nintendo might be adding this time around?
First Coverage Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
When was First Coverage founded?
First Coverage was founded in 2005.
Where is First Coverage's headquarters?
First Coverage's headquarters is located at 30 St Clair Avenue West, Boston.
What is First Coverage's latest funding round?
First Coverage's latest funding round is Series B.
How much did First Coverage raise?
First Coverage raised a total of $9M.
Who are the investors of First Coverage?
Investors of First Coverage include Commonwealth Capital Ventures, GrandBanks Capital and Relay Ventures.
Discover the right solution for your team
The CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyzes millions of data points on vendors, products, partnerships, and patents to help your team find their next technology solution.


text:
“You have to educate yourself about what’s out there about your company,” Tumber said.
Because very few small business owners have that much time to devote to the task, Adrienne Cornelsen, global communications chairwoman for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, said many companies have gone as far as creating a part-time or even a full-time position to monitor information that is being posted online about them.
Both Tumber and Cornelsen also suggest using free Google Alerts, which allow the user to enter a keyword – usually the company’s name – for a search. The tool will constantly monitor the Internet for any mention of that keyword and will push the information to the user.
Other options for this service that can be a little more sophisticated and accurate, but they are not free, costing in the range of about $40 per month.
Both Tumber and Cornelsen said the most important part of protecting a company’s online reputation is not just being aware of online comments, but reacting to them professionally.
If the comment was posted on a company’s own website or social media page such as Facebook, the owner can simply delete the comment. But if a negative statement appears about a company on an external website, it can be a little more complicated.
If the statement is unfair or untrue, Cornelsen said owners should first reply by posting their own rebuttal under the original comment. They can also email or call the administrator of that site to state that the comment is incorrect or misleading, and even ask to have it removed.
“It is important that you respond to a complaint and be accountable for it,” Cornelsen said. “For example, if there is a negative blog posting, be very professional in your response back and let everyone know what you did to resolve the situation. It needs to sound professional and customer-centric. You don’t want to engage in word-slinging.”


text:
JUMP In Now and Get EDIUS Pro 8!
Grass Valley is launching EDIUS 8, the latest version of its editing platform designed for production and broadcast news. Version 8 features multiple new capabilities, including refreshed GUI, Canon XF-AVC support, a new workflow clip management tool, accelerated 4K H.264 playback and an aggressive development program to introduce many new creative tools over the coming months.
“Speed and flexibility are critical for editing, and with EDIUS you can always be confident of being able to deal with virtually any type of content that comes your way,” said Mike Cronk, senior vice president of strategic marketing, Grass Valley. “With EDIUS 8 users will receive free updates and new functionality throughout; it’s a smart investment business-wise and creatively.”
EDIUS offers best-in-class camera support to allow editors to concentrate on the story, not the technology. Plus, EDIUS 8 is the first nonlinear editing system to support Canon’s recently announced XF-AVC video format which is at the heart of the new 4K XC10 camcorder. EDIUS 8 also includes a new GV browser tool to manage video and still image content on your PC, prior to importing into EDIUS for editing.
EDIUS delivers exceptional performance using Intel’s Quick Sync Video—providing editors with super-fast H.264 export capabilities—great for dealing with smartphone footage and repurposing for uploads to social media channels, including YouTube—and amazing playback, even when editing 4K material.
Leave a comment


text:
After being leaked two days ago, has decided to company Oppo finally today the official unveiling of the phone Oppo A9 to be that the phone is expected later from the Chinese company.
Phone for Oppo A9 new features an LCD screen the size of 6.53 inches and accurately +FullHD enjoy with tiny in the top middle section for the front camera which amounts to the accuracy of 16 megapixels. And speaking of the screen, it covers 90.7 percent of the phone interface, which is of course the ratio is impressive.
Regardless of the screen, the phone Oppo A9 new features also eight-core processor from the category of the MediaTek Helio P70, and the random size of 6GB, as well as an internal memory size of 128GB. Moreover, it also features two cameras in the backend precisely 16 megapixels camera first and accurately 2 megapixels camera II is responsible for the sensor information depth.
And as you can see in the photo above, the phone Oppo A9 new also comes with three gradient colors include dark green, light green, dark blue, with the flag it also includes a battery with a capacity of 4020mAh, the sensor fingerprints in the back, as it comes preloaded with Android 9 Pie with interface ColorOS 6. Before concluding, We would like to point out that the phone Oppo A9 will be available for purchase in China on April 30, priced at 1,499 Chinese yuan which is the equivalent of 267 USD.


text:
The space in the Winn-Dixie Plaza at the corner of Curry Ford Road and Crystal Lake Drive that was most recently the home of Southern Moon Smokehouse will next hold two businesses, a Mexican restaurant and a craft brewery.
La Fiesta Mexican Grill will move from its spot across the street to take over part of the space, which was also the address for Holy Smoke barbecue. It was originally an Eckerd drugstore.
They will share the space with a new business, Ocean Sun Brewing. Ocean Sun is a partnership of three restaurant veterans, Bob Deweese and brothers Mark and Steve Wilkerson. Mark Wilkerson said he expects Ocean Sun’s taps to start flowing in late February. He expects the restaurant to open before the brewery. He said that he is in talks with the restaurant’s owner to provide food to the brewery’s patrons. La Fiesta’s owner was not immediately available for comment.
Wilkerson said that a master brewer has been hired, but he could not divulge the name because he was still working for another local brewer and is not ready to leave that position.
When Southern Moon opened in March of 2014, it was the intention of the owners to also have a craft brewery operation. House-made root beer was about as close as they came. There was a break in the partnership at Southern Moon late last year and the restaurant closed some months later.
This will not be the first move for La Fiesta. It started out in a small shack on Curry Ford just east of Bumby Avenue before moving to 2901 Curry Ford Road, presumably for more seating possibilities. The new space at 3030 Curry Ford Road should give the Mexican restaurant even more seats.


text:
We are less than a month away from Ascend USA 2017. The biggest digital conference to hit the Las Vegas strip from Sunday, February 26- Wednesday, March 1. Located at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the conference is sure to be filled with engaging sessions, exciting events and informative networking.
Episerver explained “there will be a strong commerce theme – as all companies we work with sell something – whether it’s direct or indirect, whether they are a full commerce operation or trying to enhance their brand – understanding how to market and sell is a key aspect of our lives.”
The speaker lineup includes some of the most respected minds in the digital space, such as:
- Mel Robbins, Award Winning CNN On-Air Analyst, Best-Selling Author
- Scott Hanselman, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft
- Anjali Yakkundi, Senior Analyst Analyst Serving Ebusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals at Forrester
- Bernardine Wu, Founder & CEO at FitforCommerce
During the 2 ½ full days of learning, Ascend will feature nearly 100 sessions across six various persona-based tracks, containing:
- 15+ hands on labs
- 70+ breakout sessions
- Product and industry expert discussions
- Customer success stories
- Epi’s Code Bash competition
Don’t let all the learning fool you, Ascend is in Vegas after all! Episerver has organized three different receptions for each night of the conference. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is the home to one of the most infamous venue locations on the Vegas strip- Marquee Day/Night Club. With two of the events hosted there and another at the Ascend Partner Village, there is sure to be some incredible opportunities for networking and interesting conversations.
Are you as intrigued as we were? Well don’t wait any longer and register today to join us and other digital professionals at this year’s Ascend Las Vegas!


text:
Billions Worth Bitcoins Move out of Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Prominent data analytics company Glassnode reports that cryptocurrency exchanges are seeing a major outflow of Bitcoin as BTC owners choose to self-store their currencies. As per Glassnode’s Bitcoin exchange net position variation statistic, which analyzes the 30-day supply stored in crypto exchange wallets, 179,250 BTC valued at nearly $2.8 billion left centralized cryptocurrency exchanges in October.
According to the graph provided by Glassnode, the prevailing pace of BTC fleeing cryptocurrency exchanges venues is the biggest it has been in more than four years. The analytics company Santiment also closely monitors the Bitcoin availability on cryptocurrency exchanges. For the initial time since November 24, 2018, BTC availability on cryptocurrency exchanges has gone under 7%, as per Santiment.
“As per Santimentfeed statistics, just 6.95 percent of Bitcoin is on cryptocurrency exchanges. Since Black Thursday, there has been a steady change of BTC migrating towards self custody (Mar 2020). But the FTX collapse has expedited this tendency.”
Santiment stated earlier in November that cryptocurrencies have a pattern of rebounding when market players move their attention away from cryptocurrency exchanges.
“In essence, cryptocurrencies flourish when cryptocurrency exchanges are not the primary focus. The most devastating exchange crash in history will generate long-lasting shudders. As evidenced, the secret to a reversal is probably to be a shift in attention away from crypto exchange tokens and towards Bitcoin.”
Sam Bankman-FTX Fried’s filed for insolvency on November 11 after allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange mismanaged client payments. Several investors withdrew their crypto assets from centralized cryptocurrency platforms in response to the shocking revelation.


text:
Supercar speed for high-tech hybrid German road rocket, despite extra battery weight
Not only will the next Mercedes-AMG C 63 be four cylinders short of greatness, it will be much chubbier than the current V8 model.
But the extra weight incurred by the fitment of a hybrid electric module and the lack of a V8 warcry will pale into insignificance when the new model is revealed in 2022, with a 0-100km/h sprint significantly quicker than the 3.5 seconds currently being reported in the UK.
Chevrolet is restructuring the Camaro’s range for the 2022 model year by discontinuing the 1LE Performance Package from all models Read more
Increasingly stringent emissions regulations aren’t making automakers’ jobs easier. At Chevy, engineers were tasked with updating the Corvette C8’s LT2 Read more
German tuning house ABT is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a huge bang. Meet the Audi RS6 Avant Johann Abt Read more
Maserati is going electric, and while the automaker may not be quite ready to show off the GranTurismo EV, that Read more
Everything about the 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody is ridiculous. The 6.2-liter supercharged V8 good for 797 horsepower Read more
Motor1.com generally doesn't do instrumented performance testing on new vehicles, but Car and Driver has done just that for decades. Read more
BMW has recently debuted its newest customer racing car: the 2022 M4 GT3. The latest M4 GT3 offers up to Read more
The 2022 Jaguar F-Type is now exclusively available with supercharged V8 engines in the United States. The four- and six-cylinder Read more
Jaguar has revealed the 2022 F-TYPE, and it’s an abrupt change in strategy for the shapely sports car with the Read more
New variant of Bentley's maiden SUV targets driving dynamics and sharp handling, with stiffer suspension and standard-fit active anti-roll bars. Read more
McLaren's supercar for the masses (so to speak) arrives soon. Here's more info about how it works. Back in February, Read more


text:
With new space in downtown Springfield, Secret Sandwich Shop is not so secret anymore
Secret Sandwich Shop was once located inside the Sweet Boy's Neighborhood Bar in downtown Springfield. But with all of the buzz it got, Secret Sandwich needed its own space.
Mack Musgrave, owner of Secret Sandwich Shop, recently moved his business to a bigger space at 208 W. McDaniel St.
Secret Sandwich Shop is a restaurant that serves many different sandwiches. One of their popular sandwiches is Prosciutto Happiness, which is loaded with crisped prosciutto, sliced chicken, melted provolone, sun-dried tomatoes, lettuce mix and their house-made ranch.
Musgrave said his favorite sandwich is the St. Louish, which comes with house pork terrine, provel, pepperoncini, onion and dijon.
"We rotate our menu almost daily," Musgrave said. "We never change our mainstay sandwiches."
Musgrave said he came up with the idea to start a sandwich shop when he was furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the sandwiches quickly developed a following.
"I like everything from fine dining to gas station food," Musgrave said. "I feel with sandwiches you can combine all that, so we do a lot of modern, fun sandwiches."
After Secret Sandwich Shop exploded in the first quarter of this year, Musgrave said he needed a bigger space.
"The space is really great now because sometimes what we did in a week over there, we do in a day here," Musgrave said.
Secret Sandwich is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Musgrave said he hopes to expand the hours once students return to campus this fall.
Secret Sandwich Shop's daily menu and featured sandwiches can be found on its Facebook page.


text:
Used car buyers in New Zealand will get a better deal under Government changes to consumer laws.
Traders in used vehicles will have to provide buyers with more information on a vehicle’s history under amendments to the Consumer Information Notice.
Consumer Affairs Minister Craig Foss’ move to better protect car buyers comes amid mounting evidence of damaged used imports slipping undetected into the national car park.
He said officials had provided him with a report looking into the Consumer Information Notice.
“It is clear that information provided on the current CIN (2010 version) could be more helpful,” said Foss.
“I have decided to amend the CIN to provide more meaningful information for consumers and help them make a more informed decision when purchasing a vehicle.
“Officials have been consulting with industry and consumer groups, and will continue to do so throughout this process.”
Foss wouldn’t say what changes would be made. Recent NZ Transport Agency evidence to government of used cars that have been written off by insurers in Australia before landing in New Zealand is believed to have hastened the changes.
The current CIN requires vehicle traders to list things like make, model, year of manufacture, mileage, when it was first registered, if it was imported damaged … and so on.
Motor Industry Association president and Mazda NZ managing director Andrew Clearwater applauded changes to the CIN.
“MIA members welcome the decision to include more details on the CIN, so that potential buyers are fully aware of the history of the vehicle, including any damage to vehicles that has occurred overseas before being imported into New Zealand,” he said.
“At a time when the Government is progressively implementing its ‘Safer Journeys’ strategy to improve road safety, it is frustrating to see used import vehicles crossing our border in an unsafe condition and being sold to unsuspecting customers.
“The MIA will continue to work with authorities to ensure all relevant data relating to a vehicle’s history is available to consumers before purchase.”
The most recent example of an insurance write-off from Australia was for sale on website TradeMe for $49,995.
The four-wheel-drive Kia Sorrento was registered new in Australia in April but later written off by insurers. The NZTA said it had suffered “smoke and water” damage.
The NZTA made TradeMe aware of the vehicle’s history and the website asked the seller to either amend or pull the listing.
Said TradeMe Trust and Safety division spokesman Jon Duffy: “The core issue we must consider is if the vehicle has been subject to a statutory write-off in another jurisdiction, that is information a consumer would expect to know about.
“We are quite happy to list but the need to fully disclose is there.”
For background information see our latest stories about dodgy imports from Australia.


text:
EDMONTON/CALGARY—Alberta is suspending applications for new weed stores, and offering refunds to hopeful business owners, as product shortages are expected to drag out for at least several months.
The Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) announced Wednesday it has only received 20 per cent of the cannabis it ordered from licensed producers, leading to continued shortages for its own online store and in the few retail stores that are already open.
“While some licensed producers have fulfilled their commitments, not all have. We continue to work with them to fill stock. Unfortunately, regardless of our efforts, we are seeing the supply of most products run out,” AGLC president and CEO Alan Maisonneuve said in a statement.
He added that the commission’s efforts to secure additional product — including contacting all producers with federal licences to sell cannabis — have been unsuccessful due to a national shortage.
“We will continue to allocate the majority of our scarce inventory to private retailers. We will still maintain some online product to allow consumers in communities where there are not any retail stores to purchase online.”
It isn’t clear yet when the supply issues will be resolved. Estimates by the AGLC and licensed producers suggest it could take between three and 18 months to be fully resolved, according to AGLC spokesperson Chara Goodings.
AGLC is putting a temporary halt on accepting new store applications and issuing retail licences until further notice, partially to ensure the already insufficient supply of legal weed isn’t stretched even thinner.
Any applications already working their way through the AGLC are still being processed, Goodings said. But anyone looking to submit their application for a cannabis store — until further notice — is out of luck.
“Until we get that supply sorted out, it wouldn’t benefit anyone if we kept adding more and more and more people,” Goodings said.
Applicants who want to withdraw from the licensing process can get a full refund of all licensing fees.
Meanwhile, existing stores are waiting to restock.
Numo Cannabis in north Edmonton, which opened for legalization day on Oct. 17, has been closed for two weeks after running out of weed.
“It’s been difficult. With nothing to sell, you don’t make any money,” store owner Daniel Nguyen said.
Numo has been promised a shipment by the end of the week, and Nguyen hopes to have a wide array of products — including oils, capsules and dried bud — in time for what he hopes will be a busy Grey Cup weekend.
He said AGLC has been responsive to his concerns and is doing its best to accommodate retailers.
Ultimately, he said the delays have been frustrating, but the store will push through.
“Obviously, everybody wasn’t prepared enough for this. But it is what it is, here we are, we’re trying to make the best out of it,” he said. “It’ll be OK, we’ve just got to hold on for a little bit.”
Ryan Kaye, vice-president of operations for Four20 Premium Market — a cannabis retailer with a storefront in Calgary — said the company wasn’t too surprised about the AGLC’s decision. They’d been receiving less and less weed over the last several weeks. But Kaye said the supply situation is still quite uncertain either way.
“Things change fast in this industry, and it could start going up next week,” he said. “It’s really hard to say.”
Four20 is due to open a second store in Sage Hill, in northwest Calgary, on Friday, but Kaye said the AGLC’s decision doesn’t affect that — the licence for that location has already been approved.
Despite concerns over supply, Kaye said there isn’t a villain to blame for the shortage.
“There’s no finger-pointing to be done,” Kaye said. “We want more cannabis, AGLC wants more cannabis, licensed producers want to sell more cannabis — and consumers want to buy more cannabis. Everyone’s on the same team.”
Out of more than 30 licensed producers who originally expressed interest in supplying Albertans with legal weed, 13 were tapped by the AGLC. They had to meet strict criteria, Goodings said, including not only having a Health Canada licence to produce, but also enough supply to keep cannabis store shelves stocked.
Deron Bilous, Alberta’s minister of economic development and trade, said the government is working with producers to get them to fulfil their agreements as quickly as possible.
“We recognize that this is putting a strain on businesses around the province, and also, quite frankly, on Albertans that are looking to procure legal cannabis,” he said.
It looks as if you appreciate our journalism. Our reporting changes lives, connects communities and effects change. But good journalism is expensive to produce, and advertiser revenue throughout the media industry is falling and unable to carry the cost. That means we need you, our readers. We need your help. If you appreciate deep local reporting, powerful investigations and reliable, responsible information, we hope you will support us through a subscription. Please click here to subscribe.
With files from Kieran Leavitt


text:
General Motors (GM), one of the leading automobile manufacturers in the world, has reached a significant milestone by resolving a six-week-long strike with its workers. The agreement, which brings an end to the conflict, follows similar pacts made by Ford and Stellantis in the previous week.
This comprehensive article delves into the details of the agreement, shedding light on the duration, salary increases, and the impact on the company and its workers.
Background of the Strike
The strike, which began on September 15th, led to the suspension of operations at various General Motors plants, including the Wentzville plant in Missouri, the Wayne plant in Michigan, and the Toledo plant in Ohio1. As tensions escalated, more workers joined the strike, resulting in a total of approximately 18,000 unionized employees participating in the movement1.
This caused disruptions in the production of popular models such as the GMC Canyon, the Colorado, the Bronco, the Ranger, the Gladiator, and the Wrangler. The financial implications were significant, with General Motors estimating a weekly cost of $200 million due to the strike.
After weeks of negotiations, General Motors and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union came to an agreement that promises to end the strike and provide stability for the next four years and eight months.
The agreement includes a general wage increase of 25% and additional adjustments for the cost of living, resulting in an overall salary increase of over 30% during the contract’s validity. Notably, the wage increases for new and temporary workers are even more substantial, ensuring fair compensation for all employees.
The agreement was reached during a meeting at the UAW headquarters in Detroit and attended by Shawn Fain, the president of the UAW, Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, and Gerald Johnson, the company’s manufacturing chief. The timing of the agreement was significant, as it coincided with Shawn Fain’s 55th birthday, adding a sense of celebration to the occasion.
Impact on General Motors
The strike had a considerable impact on General Motors, both operationally and financially. To avoid bottlenecks in engine production, the company swiftly responded to the strike at its Spring Hill plant in Tennessee, which employs around 4,000 workers. This proactive measure aimed to prevent any further disruptions that could have harmed the company on an industrial and financial level.
Furthermore, General Motors’ decision to halt its annual financial forecasts demonstrated the gravity of the situation. The company needed to evaluate the strike’s impact before providing accurate projections for the year.
Analysts from Wells Fargo predict that the new agreements will increase the total labor costs per hour for the three manufacturers by approximately 30%. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis are expected to see their labor costs rise to $76.08, $78.15, and $75.63 per hour, respectively.
If you are looking for the best products for your engine, don’t forget to visit the Ultra1Plus online store.
The resolution of the strike carries political significance, particularly for President Joe Biden. Throughout the conflict, President Biden showed support for the striking workers, even joining them on a picket line on September 26th and encouraging them to stand firm in their demands.
President Biden’s involvement and advocacy for the workers’ cause culminated in a successful outcome, positioning the resolution of the strike as a political victory for his administration.
General Motors’ agreement with the United Auto Workers to end the six-week-long strike marks a significant milestone in the automotive industry. The resolution follows similar pacts made by Ford and Stellantis, ensuring stability and fair compensation for workers for the next four years and eight months.
The agreement includes substantial wage increases, particularly for new and temporary workers, and addresses the cost of living adjustments. With the strike now behind them, General Motors can focus on resuming full-scale operations and evaluating the financial impact of the conflict.
President Biden’s support for the striking workers played a pivotal role in bringing about this resolution, adding a political dimension to the outcome. Going forward, General Motors, along with Ford and Stellantis, will need to navigate the evolving landscape of the automotive industry while balancing the demands and expectations of both the workforce and the market.
By fostering positive relationships with their employees, these manufacturers can continue to drive innovation and contribute to the growth of the industry as a whole.


text:
Vikings fans hoping to get last minute tickets for Sunday's showdown against the Packers have been warned to check who they're buying from.
Minneapolis police have issued a warning over possible fake tickets as interest in the NFC North clash at TCF Bank Stadium ramped up after the Vikes displaced their fiercest rivals at the top of the standings last weekend.
In an alert posted on Facebook, the police have warned that "there will be bad tickets on the street" and is urging fans only to buy from official exchanges.
Such is the demand for tickets, the cheapest currently selling on the NFL Ticket Exchange costs $165, and the most expensive is an eye-watering $4,435 for lounge tickets.
"The ONLY place to purchase tickets where you are guaranteed a seat at the game is with the Vikings Ticket Office, TicketMaster or NFL Ticket Exchange," the police say.
"You are taking a chance that your ticket will be bad by purchasing from any other venue, including Craigslist, Ebay and ticket brokers."
The department says that fans are better off buying e-tickets rather than hard copies, given that the former are more difficult to reproduce as they are transferred directly to the original owners online.
The police say if "you feel you have to purchase tickets from a scalper" outside the stadium, they have some tips for buyers:
- Purchase closer, rather than farther from the stadium
- Take a photo of the person that you are buying from, and possibly their driver’s license or ID
- Have the seller walk with you to the gate to make sure that you get through the gate
- Ask the seller if he has a business card, many brokers that are out will have one and gladly share it for future business


text:
Apple iWatch is a soon to be seen item to be added into the category of “Wearable Technology”. As Google Glass ramps up for its big push in 2014….Apple are already pushing hard with their iWatch. We noted the trend toward the iWatch type device some time ago but now Apple are really pushing ahead and have plans afoot to ship their iWatch in vast quantities in 2014. The mock up below has been seen across the internet for a considerable time. As to how close to reality this mock up may turn out to be, is unclear.
It seems likely that the iWatch will be hitting the shelves at around £130.00. But what will it do and what’s the point? Well it’s a watch, it will tell the time…..yes, and….? Well it’s unclear and as always with the new products bought to the world by large tech companies there’s a degree of mystery and cloak and dagger so that rival firms (Samsung are also in the game apparently) cannot get the jump on features and looks. But there must be an upside for them somewhere with that sort of price tag its got to do more than tell the time! Maybe it will link to the Glasses, or to your iPhone, or ….we don’t really know.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has a team of around 100 designers working on “a wristwatch-like device that may perform some of the tasks now handled by the iPhone and iPad” Maybe the burgeoning fitness apps will sit well on the iWatch for performance monitoring and ready visibility it seems a good fit. But that’s pure conjecture, nothing more, nothing less.Only time will tell for certain…groan….”watch” this space (double groan).


text:
Mark Butler, who co-founded Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in 1982 and then led the discount retailer through an IPO in 2015, died Sunday, the company announced. He was 61 years old.
Along with Mort Bernstein, Ollie Rosenburg and Harry Coverman, Butler opened the first Ollie’s in 1982 in Mechanicsburg. In 2003, Butler became president and CEO of the company which now has 345 stores in 25 states, including two in Lancaster County.
Butler, who was also an owner of the Harrisburg Senators minor league baseball team, died unexpectedly while spending the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with his family, the company said.
“Mark was an exceptional entrepreneur, merchant, leader, philanthropist, friend and family man,” said board member Richard Zannino on behalf of the entire board of directors. “Mark built a successful and enduring retail concept, assembled an incredible team, created thousands of jobs and delivered millions of bargains to our customers, while delivering exceptional shareholder value along the way.”
Zannino continued, “We will dearly miss Mark and extend our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to Mark’s entire family.”
Effective immediately, John Swygert has been named interim president and CEO of the Ollie’s. Swygert had been executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.
Known for its motto “good stuff cheap,” Ollie's sells excess brand-name inventory and salvage items in what it describes as “semi-lovely stores.”


text:
The creators of Elder Scrolls and Fallout are hiring developers to work on next generation consoles, as Skryrim’s downloadable content finally gets a date on PlayStation 3.
Many a new video game has been given away accidently by a job listing, but Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda aren’t making that mistake. They have however just started hiring for staff to work on a new game, with the following job description:
‘Bethesda Game Studios is looking for experienced programmers to work on cutting-edge technology for an unannounced game on future-generation consoles.’
The only detail that hints at what the game might be is a line that reads: ‘Experience playing Bethesda Game Studios games a plus’. Which you could construe as meaning that the new game is relatively similar to their previous work.
It’s also worth noting that we’re talking about developer Bethesda Game Studios here, not Bethesda Softworks – the sister company that publishes games from other companies, such as Arkane Studios’ Dishonored.
In the last 10 years, and apart from a couple of drag racing games, Bethesda Game Studios have only ever worked on The Elders Scrolls and Fallout. And although it’s perfectly possible that the game (not) being described here could be something brand new, rumours have previously hinted that Fallout 4 is on the way and is at least partially based in Boston.
Even without the next generation consoles though Bethesda’s current schedule would make Fallout 4 an obvious guess for a reveal at E3 in June. With one of the series’ voice actors recently hinting that an announcement is imminent.
As with all next gen games though the consoles themselves will have to be announced first, with Sony’s PlayStation 4 widely expected to be revealed at an event on February 20.
In the meantime though Bethesda has finally announced U.S. release dates for Skyrim’s downloadable content on the PlayStation 3. For some reason they’re being released in reverse order, with Dragonborn out on February 12 (February 5 on PC), Hearthfire on February 19, and Dawnguard on February 26.
Knowing how the European PlayStation Store is there’s no guarantee that they’ll be out at the same time in the UK, but at least they’re finally finished. All the downloads will be sold at half price for the first week, as an apology for the huge delay.
Thoughts? Email firstname.lastname@example.org or leave a comment below


text:
He is what he is: Popeye the sailor man returns on DVD
LOS ANGELES (AP) — He’s almost 80 years old, but Popeye the sailor man is still strong to the finish.
Strong enough, it turns out, to carry into video stores a four-disc DVD set from Warner Home Video and King Features Syndicate, “Popeye the Sailor, 1933-1938, Vol. 1.”
So start arranging for medical care for Bluto and get ready for plenty of wham, blam and kapow — not to mention a few “I yam what I yams” and “Well blow me downs.” The little sailor with the gravelly voice and the massive forearms arrived in video stores on Tuesday.
Not that Popeye, who sprang to life in King’s Thimble Theater comic strip in 1929, ever left the public consciousness.
“Every generation grew up with him. My dad saw him in the movies, we grew up with him during the TV boom and the comic strip was always there,” says 44-year-old animator Frank Caruso, who spent a year tweaking the DVD release.
The result is 60 of the classic Max and Dave Fleischer black-and-white cartoons, plus bonus shorts and interviews with animators, voice actors and historians.
Later volumes will include the more recent color cartoons and other features, said Caruso, vice president of creative for King Features, as he prepared to leave for a DVD release party where spinach was on the menu.
“To this day parents get their kids to eat spinach by saying that’s what Popeye ate,” Caruso laughed.
“I say it to my kids. My parents said it to me.”
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Save $84.50 a year off our newsstand price:
Subscribe today for only 38 cents a day!


text:
This article was originally published in the Search Engine Land blog
Google My Business Adds More Branding Tools, Introduces Searchable @Shortnames
The top 5% of local businesses in each category will also be eligible for a new "Local Favorite" badge.
Google My Business launched in 2014 and has become increasingly important to both merchants and consumers. Having a verified, accurate and complete GMB profile can’t be overemphasized from an SEO perspective. In addition, GMB is evolving into a platform for transactions and engagement between businesses and their customers.
At a pre-announcement event yesterday in San Francisco, Google shared some GMB “momentum” data, including the fact that Google enables, “three billion direct connections between merchants and users per month.” The company also said that there are three million bookings monthly through Google. And there are now 95 million people, globally, participating in the local guides program.
New branding and promotional tools. The announcements being made today include a number of new GMB features designed to encourage more local businesses to claim GMB profiles and give those that have more branding and promotional tools.
Google didn’t disclose what percentage of U.S. businesses have verified their GMB profiles. However, a 2019 report from BrandMuscle found that roughly 61% of local businesses surveyed had claimed their GMB listings. Assuming that’s accurate, the flip side is: 39% have not.
The new GMB capabilities and features announced today include:
- Add a logo — businesses will be able to display their logo on the upper right of the profile
- Cover photo — businesses will be able to choose the photo users will see when they bring up the profile
- Dynamic photo module — a prominent new carousel/slide show module is being introduced with the ability to add captions soon
- Welcome offers — these can be sent to customers/prospects who follow a business
- Promotional assets — Google is launching a new site to create and order stickers, posters and other promotional assets
Local favorites and short URLs. All these new features are intended to help businesses brand and more effectively promote themselves on GMB and beyond. However, there are two additional announcements that could ultimately prove to be much more significant: “Local Favorite” badges and short names/URLs, which will be searchable on Google and in Maps.
Google said that the top 5% of local businesses in a category will be awarded a “Local Favorite” badge. Google was vague about what criteria will be used to determine who qualifies. The company generally said that it would reward businesses that kept their profiles updated and were responsive to their customers. Beyond these statements, Google wouldn’t comment.
Local Favorite status and badging could be a significant competitive advantage for the “winners” — or not. It will depend on how and where the badge is presented and whether consumers respond.
Short names require GMB verification. Short names will take two forms: g.page/shortname and @shortname. Businesses will be able to register their desired name “over the next couple of days.” The company says there won’t be any “domain squatting” (my phrase) because a verified GMB profile is required to obtain one.
When a consumer searches or inputs the URL, it will lead directly to the merchant’s GMB profile. In the near future, users will be able to search Google Maps for @shortname and bring up the profile as well.
Google explained this will be “a global namespace,” so the Bon Vivant cafe in Los Angeles could be competing against a similarly named restaurant in Paris or Vietnam for @bonvivant. However, Google projected confidence, without going into detail, that it has a process to address these issues and prevent such conflicts. (We’ll see.)
Google explained that short names came out of merchant feedback and the desire for a simple URL to promote their businesses. Google envisions local businesses putting the URL g.page/shortname on promotional materials. There was no discussion of use in digital advertising, but that would be another potential application. It’s also not clear whether there will be any reporting on traffic to these short URLs/names.
Why we should care. GMB has evolved from a way to get accurate data into Google search results into something much more complex and powerful. Google now thinks of GMB as a local “engagement platform,” which increasingly enables transactions (e.g., Reserve with Google). In April, Google surveyed some of its small business customers and agency partners about charging for GMB services. That drew a mixed response from local SEOs, but also suggested future product direction potentially.
We’re likely to see more direct communication tools and additional commerce capabilities come to GMB in the future. The challenge for Google is adding useful features without creating additional confusion and complexity for local businesses.


text:
Articles tagged #CENTRE FOR RETAIL RESEARCH
Found 3 matching articles.
Published 25.10.13 by Retail Technology
Annual survey into current and future use of CCTV by retailers finds modern communications infrastructure investment gaining momentum in the UK and Northern Europe
Published 17.03.14 by Retail Technology
British retailers projected to ring up healthy sales this year with record average UK shopper spending, according to new international research by the Centre for Retail Research
Published 21.03.13 by Retail Technology
Loss prevention research reveals changing practices to retail crime and the technologies used to build robust defences


text:
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Costco Is Sorry For Labeling The Bible As 'Fiction'
Caleb Kaltenbach was shocked when he discovered his local Costco in Simi Valley had labeled Bibles as fiction. Like many people do in this the age of social media, he took to Twitter to share his ire.
Kaltenbach, pastor at Discovery Church, came across the Bibles while shopping for a gift. He tweeted the picture on Friday with the comment: "Costco has Bibles for sale under the genre of FICTION Hmmmm..."
His congregation didn't like that.
Not surprisingly, word of the fiction label spread quickly on the Internet, sending Kaltenbach to local and national TV broadcasts, including Fox News, which labeled its segment "50 Shades of Fiction?" and the accompanying article as "Costco -- the Bible is fiction."
"It’s caused a lot of controversy, it’s caused a lot of conversation, which I think conversation is good," Kaltenbach told KCBS-TV.
Costco has issued an apology to Fox News, saying a distributor had "mislabeled a small percentage of Bibles" before sending them to the store.
"However, we take responsibility and should have caught the mistake. We are correcting this with them for future distribution," Costco said. "In addition, we are immediately relabeling all mislabeled Bibles. We greatly apologize for this error."


text:
Sounds Air eyes freight market
Growth in the air freight market has prompted Cook Strait operator Sounds Air to embark on its own growth spurt, as it fights to retain a firm foothold on a highly competitive route.
The commuter airline has just added a fourth aircraft to its fleet, with the aim of being able to provide a dedicated freight service, Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said.
The Cessna Grand Caravan went into service on Monday and will service the Wellington to Picton, Blenheim and Nelson routes. Along with providing extra freight capacity, it will allow Sounds Air the opportunity to offer more charter flights and extra flights at peak times as demand increases at weekends and over the summer season, Crawford said.
"With the extra capacity we will also be adding a daily return freight flight across Cook Strait to enhance service to our existing customers and provide options to new freight clients."
Crawford said Sounds Air already carried freight but space was limited when the planes were full of passengers.
"The best option is to take the seats out and run a dedicated freight flight."
Crawford said the airline was talking with courier companies and also saw potential in the perishable goods market, such as flowers, food and wine.
He said it would strengthen the airline's viability on a cut-throat passenger run in and out of Nelson.
"Nelson is a hard market. There have been plenty of times I've felt like packing it in."
Crawford blamed Air New Zealand's pricing tactics, including its habit of offering below-cost seats on the Cook Strait route, and exorbitant fees and charges at Wellington Airport he described as "organised theft".
He said Sounds Air could not compete with the national carrier's flexible fares, but where it won was in the fare structure that remained the same, no matter when a passenger booked.
"If people want to travel next week, it's the same as if they want to travel tomorrow."
The Nelson Mail


text:
UK farm products slip
FARM product prices fell by more in the UK than elsewhere in the EU last year, reveals latest figures from Eurostat.
After taking inflation into account, the UK saw a 3.9% drop, compared with an EU-wide average of 2.7%
In the crop sector, EU prices fell by 3.9%, following the sharp fall in potato prices which pushed root values down by over a quarter.
For livestock, the decline was 1.5%, as decreases of about 15% in calf and cattle values were offset by rises in pig and lamb prices as consumers switched to these products.
Following the publication of Agenda 2000, containing CAP reform plans, the EU has released a detailed arable report, dubbing the existing regime over-complicated.
The report also claims farmers have been over-compensated to the tune of £6.1bn over the past four years, due to higher-than-expected cereal prices.
Cereal stocks could reach 58m tonnes by 2005 if the present system remains unchanged. But the current regime has cut intervention stocks from 32m tonnes to 2.4m tonnes over the four years from 1992/93, maintains the commission.n


text:
A Singaporean scientist has cracked the code to making plastic redundant in the food & beverage industry – creating durable alt-plastic food containers from food waste.
In 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic consumer the world, Karen Cheah, a Master of Science in Innovation developed a formula to convert food waste into a sturdy, fully biodegradable food container. She spent the three years of Covid huddled away refining the concept, attracted the support of Singapore’s Temasek Foundation and Enterprise Singapore and by late last year was ready to go to market with her concept, dubbed Alterpacks.
Two significant breakthroughs make Alterpacks’ products different from other biodegradable food packaging. Firstly it is made from waste generated from food processing – principally malt, wheat and barley – rather than virgin materials, so its mere production is already contributing to improving sustainability in the food industry.
“We use food thrown out by manufacturers to create food containers that can go back into the ecosystem,” explains Cheah. “As countries look at producing more food, we turn our attention to what is being left behind and thrown out with the food waste and loss, and use that as a raw material to replace plastic packaging.”
Secondly, her team has cracked the code to create a fully biodegradable food container that doesn’t wilt or burn when heated, doesn’t leak or absorb liquids and can withstand freezing. Much like high-grade plastic containers, Alterpacks can be frozen to as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius, then heated in an oven to a temperature as high as 260. A next-generation iteration of the material in final pre-market testing can literally be placed on a naked gas flame without singing or degrading.
Last December, Cheah received her first order, valued at a meagre $28.62. “At that point, we wondered if we would ever make it,” she shared with Viable.Earth during the recent Thaifex Anuga food industry exhibition in Bangkok. It was only a matter of weeks, however, before she received her next order – for 1000 trays – thus facing a new problem: how to ramp up production and fulfil the order.
Fast-forward to May and the company is already drawing attention from retailers and food producers in multiple markets. The range of products has grown and more products are in the final stages of planning – including significantly a single-use coffee cup and matching lid which can be home composted or degrade in a landfill. Viable.Earth was also shown cutlery including a serrated knife that actually cuts – and doesn’t break when bent like plastic or wooden options.
Cheah says Alterpacks is planning to create its grain-based material in flat sheets, making it available to companies to shape their own packaging solutions and utensils.
“Alterpacks is not a food-containers company, we’re a new materials company,” she explains.
“Our mission is to try and first take the low-hanging fruit – which is to replace all single-use plastics with our material. And then in the long term, we’re going to be supplying our material as a sheet for industry as a replacement to paper so that they understand that you can actually take something that you discard, or you feed to animals, and convert it into something that can be of much higher value.”
The company has already established a manufacturing plant in China as it gears up to supply clients coming on board as far away as Australia and the UK. Among early clients are supermarkets that are changing out plastic trays for fruit, and high-profile Vietnamese pizza restaurant chain and FMCG manufacturer Pizza 4P’s.
While the alt-plastic food containers out now have multiple uses for restaurants providing home delivery and grocery stores, the most exciting application in our view is the coffee cups. While some innovators are repurposing paper-based single-use coffee cups in road paving and other applications, the requirement for plastic lining to ensure the cups are leakproof makes them unsuited to home composting or recycling like other paper products.
Lids, meanwhile, are usually plastic and while recyclable in theory need to be separated from the cups to do so.
Alterpacks’ alt-plastic food containers are made from material that is 100 per cent organic, 100 per cent biodegradable and 100 per cent fit for purpose as a coffee cup or food container.


text:
Mention local bakery BreadTalk and its best selling item pork flosss (yes it’s spelt with three S’s) bun comes to mind.
According to the bakery chain, the bun was intentionally named with an additional ‘s’ to communicate the volume of flosss topped on every bun.
A hit among locals when its pork flosss bun was first introduced in Singapore in 2000, more and more bakeries are now selling these rolls with coating of mayonnaise and pork floss.
To celebrate Singapore’s 52nd birthday this year, the bakery chain is launching a new addition to its flosss bun family on Thursday (3 August).
Called Cereal Flosss BB, the bun is inspired by one of Singapore’s popular tze char flavours (cereal prawns, anyone?).
The cereals-ly addictive combination of savoury flosss paired with fragrant buttery cereal is a balance of sweet and savoury with just a hint of spiciness.
Available for a limited time only, the Cereal Flosss BB bun will be available in stores from 3 to 10 August. The Cereal Flosss BB will only be sold in a box of 6 for $6.60.
All images courtesy of BreadTalk.


text:
On Saturday, the Central Government announced to launch a data protection e-commerce policy for e-platform users. To prevent data misuse, the government has drafted national e-commerce policy.
According to the government, this e-commerce draft policy will help in industrial development. This policy will provide consumers with protection and national security as well as economic security through law enforcement that includes taxation.
According to the released official statement, “ the user’s data is an asset. Thus, there is a need to protect Indians data for 'Indian entities' first”.
The policy will help the consumers to be aware of all relevant details about goods and services that is been offered for value addition in India. The policy will treat all sellers/vendors equal.


text:
India Could Be A $3 Trillion Digi Economy In The Next 4-5 Years
Delivering the keynote address at the fifth edition of the Times Network’s Digital India Summit, Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, highlighted the key contributing factors in achieving the $1 trillion digital dream.
“India could be a $3 trillion (digital) economy in the next four to five years. That is the goal we have set. Digital India is designed to empower ordinary Indians. Our idea is to make India the biggest manufacturing hub in electronics with 1crore employment in the electronics sector and 35-40 lakhs in the software sector,” said Prasad.
Prasad added that there was a time when India had only two companies making mobile phones — and today, the country is home to 127 mobile manufacturers. India is now second only to China in mobile phone manufacturing. “India has become the second largest startup movement in the world with the valuation of Unicorn is higher than in the UK.”
Prasad added that digital initiatives have empowered nearly 1.5 crore students with e-scholarships worth 5000. He also said that while in November 2016, there were only 4000 transactions per day on BHIM UPI app, the number went up to over 2 crore transactions per day in December 2018, which is being propelled by people living in smaller cities.
Other prominent speakers at the summit, which took place in New Delhi on Tuesday, include Deep Kalra, group CEO, MakeMyTrip; Upasana Taku, CEO, Mobikwik; Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5, Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager, Airbnb; Dinesh Kumar Garg, executive director, Union Bank of India; Amit Malviya, IT chief, BJP; Vineet Arora, MD, Aegon Life Insurance Company; Rajan Mathew, director general, COAI and Nath Parameswaran, India director, Paypal.
Their speeches and discussions brought into focus issues facing key sectors and industries in the digital economy, including e-campaigning, ehealth, e-commerce, digital payments, e-food entertainment and travel.
“With a view to bringing public attention to efforts underway in driving the world’s fastest-growing major digital economy, Digital India Summit unveils India’s $1 Trillion Digital Economy dream, addressing possibilities and challenges across key domains that are critical components in digital transformation,” said MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network―Business Telegraph
You must be logged in to post a comment Login


text:
The bite-sized Raspberry Pi computer, originally designed to encourage children's interest in programming, has tallied up 1.75 million unit sales since launching early last year.
The U.K.-based Raspberry Pi Foundation, which makes the microcomputer, announced the milestone in a Tuesday blog post. The first Raspberri Pi devices were made in China, but in September, the U.K.-based foundation started moving manufacturing to a plant owned by Sony in South Wales.
"Gradually, both of our manufacturing partners, RS Components and Premier Farnell, have reshored all the production of Raspberry Pis to that [Sony] factory, and for the last few months, all the Pis you buy have been made in the U.K.," the foundation said. "The really big news today is that the Pencoed factory has made its millionth British Raspberry Pi."
To commemorate the occasion, Sony made the foundation a gold-plated case to protect the millionth British Raspberry Pi, which will be displayed at the organization's headquarters.
After several delays, the first batch of Raspberry Pi computers went on sale in the U.S. through retailer Allied Electronics in April, and initial stock of the $25 Model A sold out in just a day. It appears supplies were refreshed, as the Model A and the $35 Model B are currently available for purchase.
Thousands of school children around the U.K. received free Raspberry Pi computers earlier this year thanks to a grant from Google. The grant provided funding for 15,000 Raspberry Pi Model B computers for schoolchildren around the U.K. who are interested in computer science.
For more, see PCMag's full review of Raspberry Pi and the slideshow above.
Get Our Best Stories!
Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!Sign up for other newsletters


text:
The worsening worldwide economy has claimed another victim as Chinese networking equipment gear Huawei said it would indefinitely postpone selling part of its wireless terminals manufacturing unit because of what it called the "current global market conditions and prevailing economic uncertainty."
Another clue why the manufacturer is pulling back was posited in the Wall Street Journal which said that only Bain Capital and Silver Lake, among companies invited to bid, put out the effort and that those bids fell short of the $4 billion Huawei was expecting.
For Huawei, this is just another hassle. Last year the Chinese company tried to team with Bain to buy 3Com but lost out when the U.S. government objected to the company potentially having access to information about 3Com products used in U.S. defense contracts.
- see this article
Report: Huawei to sell mobile devices unit
Huawei to start accepting bids for handset unit


text:
Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition Android 4.4 update begins journey
Samsung has been busy over the last few months releasing new smartphones and updating older handsets to a taste of KitKat, and now we have news that the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition Android 4.4.2 KitKat update begins its journey.
It is being reported that Samsung has started the process of pushing out the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update to the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. The update will include all the improvements that KitKat brings to the table such as improved performance and changes to the likes of the status and notification bars.
There will also be wireless printing support as well as short cuts to the camera app and full album via the lock screen when listening to music content. At the time of writing the update is only arriving for the Wi-Fi only model with users in Columbia seeing the firmware at present, but we should start seeing its availability spreading in the coming days.


text:
Continue to Business Insider »
You will be redirected in seconds.
All of Europe had a big day.
The huge winner was Europe.
Here's the FTSE MIB going bananas.
Inside the world's biggest Maker Faire
More "Future Now" »
Welcome to Digital Industry Insider, our collaboration with GE to cover the 'Industrial Internet'
More "Digital Industry Insider" »