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Baldwin City opposition quick to develop against Wal-Mart Express
Soon after signing a petition Thursday opposing the opening of a Wal-Mart Express in Baldwin City, Janice Craig started to explain her opposition.
But before she could speak, Craig was interrupted by a man firmly stating his stance. Wal-Mart’s presence would “ruin the town” by closing existing businesses and ultimately shrinking the tax base, the man said. If people wanted to go to a Wal-Mart, there were three within a 20-minute drive, he said.
“I agree with what he said,” Craig said. “We don’t need this in Baldwin City.”
Craig had just signed a petition against Wal-Mart opening a Wal-Mart Express in Baldwin City and taken a small flier with the times and dates of Monday’s Baldwin City Council meeting and Tuesday’s Baldwin City Planning Commission meeting.
She was going to attend both, Craig said.
Planning commissioners on Tuesday will consider Wal-Mart Inc.’s development plan for a Wal-Mart Express for a lot north of U.S. Highway 56 between Washington and Eisenhower streets. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post, 803 High St.
The petition Craig signed was on the Baldwin City Market’s informational booth’s counter while three others were placed on the counters of the grocery store’s check-out lanes. Baldwin City Market clerk Katlyn Pratt said city residents had already filled one petition sheet from the informational counter and half the 20 slots on the one Craig signed had been filled. The same counter material can be found at other Baldwin City stores.
Like the unidentified man, residents were vocal in their opinions, Pratt said. Most were against the Wal-Mart plan because they were afraid it would close Baldwin City Market, the city’s two pharmacies, the hardware store and other businesses, she said. It was a stance Pratt shared, saying the store would not only chase existing merchants out of business but dissuade others from opening stores in the community.
“It’s not that we’re opposed to Wal-Mart,” she said. “We just don’t need one here.”
Those in favor of the store opening said it would bring needed competition and help the city grow, Pratt said.
Baldwin City resident Karla Wessling said she started the petition drive after hearing of the Wal-Mart plan. She shared the same concerns as those expressed at the grocery store.
“I have the concern of Wal-Mart putting our local businesses out of business, devaluing the ones that stay open and devaluing homes near the store,” she said. “We’re a small town. We need to support our small-town local businesses. This would not be good for the local economy. The money spent there would go straight to a CEO in Bentonville, Arkansas."
Wal-Mart spokesperson Bill Wertz said a significant target of the Wal-Mart Express would be existing Wal-Mart customers.
“What we find is people will drive 30 miles or more to a Wal-Mart store,” he said. “The Wal-Mart Express will allow them to shop closer to home. Couple that with the site-to-store service where items ordered online from other stores will be delivered for pickup and it will open up a wide range of merchandise not available previously in the community.”
Wertz said local retailers would benefit from the Wal-Mart Express because it would keep Wal-Mart’s regular customers in Baldwin City.
“If you have to drive down the road to get to a Wal-Mart, chances are you’re going to do additional shopping there,” he said. “Having people shop at home is a good thing. Being near a Wal-Mart helps other businesses because of the customer traffic we attract. It makes it convenient for them, as well.”
Frank Foye, who owns the Santa Fe Market, said he wasn’t happy about the prospect of the store opening up four blocks away down the highway. It would offer direct competition for fuel sales and the quick get-and-go goods he sells in the convenience store.
On the other hand, America has a free market economy and other businesses have the right to explore opportunities, Foye said. It would be up to him to make sure his business made changes needed to survive, he said.
He had read about Wal-Mart Express stores in trade magazines and some Kansas convenience store owners went to Arkansas to investigate them, Foye said. From their size and inventory, his opinion — and one shared in online business stories — was that they targeted such retailers as Dollar General and Walgreens.
From her vantage point at Baldwin City Market, the store’s size also was wrong for Baldwin City, Pratt said. The Wal-Mart Express would be large enough to hurt the local grocery store but not big enough to serve Baldwin City as a full-fledged community market.
Wessling said her husband had researched what other towns had done to successfully prevent Wal-Mart from expanding into their communities. The key, she said, was a solid front of opposition.
“I’m pretty sure they showed up at zoning and planning commission meetings,” she said. “Wal-Mart doesn’t like to have bad press. If we make enough noise, hopefully they will back out.”


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Auto parts’ association thanks govt for revised VAT
- BJP relents to Chandrababu Naidu's demands, alliance likely to continue
- Azam Khan threatens to move Supreme Court, slams EC's relief to Amit Shah
- PMO defends Manmohan Singh, says GDP has grown three times during UPA rule
- Kumar Vishwas files application alleging threat to life from Rahul and Priyanka
- IPL 7 Live Cricket Score, KXIP vs CSK: CSK remove KXIP openers in a hurry
The Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (India) on Wednesday thanked the government of Punjab for the recently announced proposal for the reduction in the Value-added Tax (VAT) on iron and steel items.
In a press note released to the media, association president Gurpargat Singh and general secretary Ranjodh Singh expressed their views, saying that this step of the state governemnt would be highly beneficial to iron and steel rolling mills and pipe manufacturers.
Under the new structure, it has been proposed to reduce VAT from 4.95 per cent to 2.5 per cent, with surcharge of 10% on scrap. The order will be notified and implemented from February 1, 2014.
Gurpargat Singh Kahlon also appealed to the state government to reduce VAT on auto parts from 12.75% to 4.5% at par with tractor and combine parts due to the reason that most of the items of auto parts are used with same materials, sizes and specifications but the VAT rate on auto parts is 12.75% while on tractors and combine parts it is 4.5%. "Due to this difference and high rate of VAT on auto parts, this industry has become uneconomical and uncompetitive. For the last several years our association is demanding continuously for the reduction of VAT on auto parts which would be big relief and give a big boost to this sector."
- As EC website crashes due to overload, party workers use apps to locate voters
- An entire society in Kothrud could not vote
- Chaos, anger across city over missing names
- Mulayam pushes third front, says will stake claim to PM post
- Don’t look at my candidates, votes for me: Maya to Dalits
- AAP biggies focus on Vishwas, Kejri seats, other units suffer

domain: news


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Synthetic voice platform Replica Studios has opened early access for integrating its AI voices into Unreal Engine’s MetaHuman Creator. The..
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is offering access to more than a million hours of audio recorded in the rainforests of..
Seattle-based synthetic speech technology startup WellSaid Labs has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by FUSE. WellSaid..
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Zoom has partnered with Sensory to shift voice command processing for its Zoom Room platform from the cloud to the..
There is always a question about whether a popular consumer electronic device will be just a fad or become a..


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The latest ad campaign by Axe Body Spray is making a big move in a different direction from the messaging the company has used in the past.
Axe’s new campaign, created by 72andSunny Amsterdam, takes a pretty inclusive and progressive approach to Axe’s target demographic of young men. With its “Find Your Magic” ad, Axe casts a positive light on individuality, and makes a point of bucking traditional ideas of masculinity.
“There’s not one single-minded, one dimensional idea of masculinity out there,” Carlo Cavallone, executive creative director of 72andSunny Amsterdam, told Ad Age. “We wanted to make it as inclusive as possible. We wanted to give to guys a sense of confidence and liberate them from stereotypical bullsh*t about what it means to be a man.”
In a big way, Axe may well be doing for men what campaigns like Lane Bryant’s #ImNoAngel are trying to do for women: buck the societal trends of body image and “normal” that often work to exclude many people who don’t fit those stereotypes. The upshot for Axe is, of course, that more representational ads tend to be better received by potential customers — which leads to more customers.
But Axe’s move is also one that can have a positive benefit in general, as it works to destigmatize people that representation in ads usually leave behind. And the move is significant given Axe’s past: its ads have focused on a very traditional, “frat boy”-esque idea of masculinity. Many of the jokes in Axe’s old ads were about how its products would help men get with women, and they could often come off as sexist; at the very least, they mostly only appealed to straight men.
There are a lot more men in the world than just those who fit into one category, however. Axe’s campaign with 72andSunny Amsterdam recognizes that because it makes good business sense — it goes a step further by being one that’s positive and empowering.


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It’s been a couple of months since Activision’s announcement that the company was going to buy its way to independence from parent company Vivendi. The buyout, led by Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and a few other investors, was halted by the Delaware court in September. An angry shareholder, Douglas Hayes, filed a lawsuit against the purchase, claiming that the sale required a vote by shareholders in order for it to happen.
Today, the Delaware Supreme Court has given Activision the all-clear to proceed with the deal. The court ruled that since the purchase was a stock re-buy, a vote from the minority shareholders was not necessary.
The Activision buyout deal is expected to go down on October 15th. Activision-Blizzard will be buying up 429 million shares at $5.83 billion. The investor group led by Bobby Kotick will buy an additional 172 million shares at $2.34 billion, allowing Activision to have Vivendi’s 61% majority sharehold.


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Conagra Brands is amplifying its commitment to sustainability, wielding its Evol® brand to roll out Carbonfree® Certified Carbon Neutral single-serve frozen meals. Set to roll out in June, eight new Evol meals will be produced in a TRUE certified Zero Waste facility and will be Certified Carbon Neutral through the Carbonfree Product Certification Program.
"Evol's philosophy has always been rooted in making great tasting food while doing what's right," said Jill Dexter, Vice President/General Manager, Better for You and Family Meals, Conagra Brands. "The Certified Carbon Neutral status of these eight frozen meals is a visible step in our journey to help protect the environment."
The all-new Five Cheese Alfredo Mac with Chicken is the latest addition to the collection, which includes three vegetarian meals, such as Butternut Squash & Sage Ravioli. Several other additions to the brand’s portfolio include:
According to a press release, Evol commissioned a third-party life cycle assessment to measure the carbon footprint of its eight Certified Carbon Neutral frozen single-serve meals, and is offsetting the carbon footprint with investments in renewable wind energy and forest preservation projects verified by Carbonfund.org.
"Our Carbonfree Product Certification partners are leading the way with impactful decisions that will benefit our planet for years to come," commented Eric M. Carlson, President of Carbonfund.org. "Consumers increasingly are looking to purchase products from companies that are taking care of our environment. Climate change and carbon reductions are major drivers of purchasing decisions. We are delighted to welcome Evol to our collection of Carbonfree Product Certification partners."
Carbonfund.org Foundation Certified Carbonfree products have net-zero CO2 emissions, demonstrating their lessened impact on the environment.
To read more about this eco-friendly release, click here.
For more updates from across the food industry, you know where to click.


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New Sly Cooper Game Allegedly in Development
Industry insider claims Sly 5 is in the works, but not by Sucker Punch
Various sources have recently suggested that a new Sly Cooper game is reportedly in development. The first of which was a screenshot on 4Chan from the game which stated that Sly Cooper 5 was in development, and while the post has since been deleted, another source has since stepped up, this being industry insider Nick Baker.
He has been a reliable source in the industry being mentioned by numerous journalists and has leaked legitimate news ahead of time including Final Fantasy 7 Remake being on PS+ as well as the upcoming Ghosts of Ikishima expansion for Sucker Punch’s “Ghost of Tsushima”. On the Reddit post about the 4chan screenshot, Nick Baker mentioned that he has also heard Sly Cooper 5 is in development and is being worked on by “someone” but not Sucker Punch. The actual comment reads:
Sly Cooper fans have been immensely excited for anything related to this news as the beloved PS2 classic franchise has been on hiatus ever since its release on the VITA. The cartoony stealth heist series was one of the best platformers of the PS2 era and were made by Sucker Punch. The same studio that made the recent universally acclaimed PS4 exclusive and Samurai power fantasy “Ghost of Tsushima”.
Tsushima is also getting a Director’s Cut release adding various improvements both small and vast, the most notable of those being the lip-syncing for the Japanese voice acting, improved visuals for the PS5, and a solid 60 FPS framerate. The Director’s Cut launches alongside an expansion for the game titled Ghosts of Ikishima adding a new region that is said to be about the same size as the entire first act of the game, which is actually the longest portion of the base game.
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Arun Sudhaman 15 Jan 2016 // 2:24PM GMT
LONDON—Bacardi has begun a review of PR agency support for key brands across Europe, the Holmes Report has learned.
The spirits company is understood to be looking for PR support at both a regional and local level in Europe for a brand portfolio that includes Bacardi rum, Grey Goose vodka and Bombay Sapphire gin. The assignment is thought to be worth upwards of $5m, and has attracted the interest of several big PR agencies.
The search comes after a significant shakeup of Bacardi's marketing and communications last year. This included a review of below-the-line communications, including PR, following a major consolidation of advertising and media buying with Omnicom agencies BBDO and OMD.
The below-the-line review, which included PR, was expected to again benefit global Omnicom agencies, including FleishmanHillard and Ketchum. However, a source familiar with the process said that the spirits company may now be taking a regional view of its PR requirements again.
The Bacardi brand previously worked with Citizen Relations, a relationship that included the successful Spirit of Bacardi graphic novel project.
The recent flux in Bacardi's PR support comes after considerable restructuring of the parent group's marketing departments, following the arrival of new CEO Mike Dolan last year. The company has created two marketing 'centres of excellence' in North America and Europe, respectively, and parted ways with CMO Dmitry Ivanov after just six months in the role.
Instead, each centre of excellence is led by a regional CMO that reports directly to Dolan. The European CMO is Shane Hoyne, while Mauricio Vergara assumed the North American CMO position. In addition, Bacardi hired former global communications director Zara Mirza as head of creative excellence, based in London.
The world’s largest family-owned liquor producer, Bacardi does not typically release financial information. The company embarked on a cost-cutting initiative last year, laying off 10% of its North American staff following difficult trading conditions.
Bacardi representatives did not respond to request for comment as this story went live.


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THE American wireless industry is increasingly redefining the word “simple” in the same way that the food industry rendered the word “natural” absurd.
Consider that when you pick up “natural” pancake syrup from the grocery store, chances are that one of the listed ingredients will be “natural flavoring” — an oxymoron.
Similarly, when you shop for a wireless phone plan today, chances are that the carrier’s marketing contains the word “simple.” But when you browse the numerous options and fees, you’ll find they are anything but. Instead, we may be hitting peak complexity with phone plans.
“Never before has the pricing been so complicated with all the carriers,” said Toni Toikka, whose research firm Alekstra analyzes wireless bills and who recently created a giant spreadsheet of phone plans. “This is the first time in carrier history that the carriers have been able to build that kind of a maze that even I get really confused.”
So we worked to boil down which plans are worth paying attention to, especially as consumers may be shopping for new phones and carrier plans after Apple unveils new iPhones on Sept. 9. The main takeaway: In terms of price and network quality, AT&T has the best deals right now for both individual subscribers and families.
To see how we arrived at that conclusion, it’s worth understanding how once relatively straightforward phone plans became complicated ones with all manner of fees and choices.
Death of 2-Year Contract
The big change in wireless plans began with the departure from the two-year contract, which was a standard plan several years ago. Under the contract, people paid a one-time subsidized price for a cellphone upfront, and then a monthly fee for a wireless plan, including minutes, text messages and data. After two years, you would be eligible to buy a new phone at a subsidized rate and you would continue to pay the same monthly wireless fee, whether you upgraded to a new phone or not.
In 2013, T-Mobile said it would abandon the two-year contract to make phone plans cheaper and more transparent, while eliminating annoying charges like termination fees. T-Mobile instead chose to break out the full cost of a phone from the cost of the data plan. AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint soon followed suit.
“We’re finally seeing companies move away from these one-way, unfair, nontransparent contracts,” Mike Sievert, the chief operating officer of T-Mobile, said in an interview.
What Pricing Plan to Get for an iPhone 6
We worked to boil down which plans are worth paying attention to, especially as consumers may be shopping for new phones and carrier plans after Apple unveils new iPhones on Sept. 9
The new plans are called contract-free or “equipment installment plans,” which typically have four main costs: the price of the data plan, the cost of the device spread over monthly installments, the activation fee for each phone and the monthly cost for each phone line (also called the network-access fee).
Prices vary by carrier, and over time, the fees can shift. Once you finish paying off the cost of the phone, for example, that fee is removed from your bill and you pay a lower monthly rate for your phone bill. In some cases, you can choose to upgrade to a new device when you’ve paid off the phone.
For a flavor of the complexity of these plans, look at Verizon’s three-gigabyte contract-free plan. It costs $45 a month for the data. Each smartphone added to the plan is $20 a month. There is an equipment payment plan to pay off the smartphone over two years — the iPhone 6 costs $650, or $27 a month spread over two years. Altogether, you pay at least $92 a month. After paying off the device, you would subtract the $27 equipment charge from your monthly bill.
One aspect of contract-free plans that consumers should be aware of: Some can actually cost more than a two-year contract plan.
Take an individual AT&T customer who has an iPhone 6 with five gigabytes of data on a two-year contract. Over the two years, the customer would pay about $2,405 total ($200 upfront for the iPhone, $50 a month for the data plan, a $45 activation fee and $40 a month for the network access fee).
For someone who chooses the five-gigabyte plan on AT&T’s Next 18 installment plan, which spreads phone payments over two years, the customer would pay $2,465 over two years ($27.09 a month for the iPhone, a $15 activation fee, $25 a month for the network access fee and $50 a month for the data plan).
The difference in price comes from the monthly rates and activation fees. The monthly rate for the installment plan is higher than the monthly rate for the two-year contract, whereas the activation fee is higher on the two-year contract than the contract-free plan.
Some consumers also don’t hang on to their device long enough to enjoy the monthly price drop that happens when they pay off their device fee in a contract-free plan, which typically happens two years into owning a device. That’s because they then immediately upgrade to another device instead of taking advantage of the data plan’s price decline.
“Do you know anyone who keeps their handsets for three years?” Mr. Toikka asked, adding that it makes little sense for consumers to pay off their phones in less than two years, since it costs nothing extra to spread the payments out.
Then there are times when the contract-free plans are better deals than the two-year contract. Take a family of four, each with an iPhone 6, on a 15-gigabyte data plan and on a two-year contract with AT&T, who would pay $7,240 over two years. On a contract-free plan like AT&T’s Next 18, they would pay $6,501 over two years.
All of this is hardly intuitive. Glenn Lurie, AT&T Mobility’s chief executive, suggested that the plans’ designs were driven by the desire to give consumers options. “We obviously want to give our customers choice, and it’s really, really important that we do that.”
But when I asked whether consumers might be confused, he said, “We simplified significantly, so no.”
The Bottom Line
After comparing phone plans, Mr. Toikka determined that AT&T’s current plans offer the best value for individuals and families — though there are caveats.
T-Mobile and Sprint offer the lowest prices. But Mr. Toikka recommended AT&T or Verizon because of their broader network coverage and because they offer similar pricing to each other. Where AT&T wins is with a benefit called rollover data, which lets unused data from one month be rolled over into the next month, giving consumers more value over time.
Press officers for Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile cited their own data points. Verizon says third-party metrics had shown its network was faster and more reliable than AT&T’s, while Sprint said of its network that “improvements are real and happening.” T-Mobile says its network coverage has grown and its plans offer more data, among other benefits.
Among AT&T’s plans, Mr. Toikka recommends that a family of four pick AT&T’s Next 18 contract-free plan with 15 gigabytes of data. For individuals, he suggests AT&T’s Next 18 contract-free plan with five gigabytes of data. (AT&T’s two-year contract with five gigabytes for an individual is barely cheaper, so it’s worth paying a little extra to stay off contract, he said.)
He picked those based on pricing, the average amount of data used by a consumer (roughly three gigabytes a month) and the average smartphone upgrade cycle of two years. In other words, those plans should have enough data for most people and also allow for device upgrades every two years.
There are caveats. For one, carriers change their prices frequently, and many of the prices are limited-time offers.
There is also no one-size-fits-all phone plan, because it depends on the quality of each carrier’s network in your area, how much data you consume and the number of lines on the plan.
So consumers should study their phone bills to calculate the average amount of data they used over the last year. They should look up each carrier’s coverage maps online to see if the network has strong coverage where they live or work. Then they should work out the math and the cost over two years.
“Selecting a cellphone plan is the most complicated financial transaction that a consumer will ever make,” Mr. Toikka said.


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Avocado supplier Calavo Growers has booked a jump in half-year profits, with the company hailing moves to diversify its product portfolio.
California-based Calavo posted net income of US$8.8m for the six months to 30 April, up sharply from US$2.3m a year earlier.
Calavo pointed to a near-doubling in gross margins as the group boosted its line of “commodity-produce offerings”.
The rise in earnings came despite a fall in sales, with revenues down at US$157.5m from US$171m a year earlier.
Second-quarter net income almost tripled from US$1.6m to US$4.5m. Sales slid to US$86.8m from US$98.8m a year earlier, a quarter in which Calavo recorded record sales.
Chairman, president and CEO Lee Cole claimed Calavo had put in an “outstanding” quarterly performance.
“Our strong performance is a formidable achievement in any business climate. However, Calavo’s results are all the more gratifying and impressive when measured in the context of weak broader economic conditions,” Cole said.


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Countries are imposing or considering imposing curbs on travelers from China amid a COVID-19 surge there after authorities relaxed “zero-COVID” rules.
Countries imposing curbs include the United States, Britain, France, India, Japan, Italy, Spain, Malaysia and South Korea. Places monitoring situation include Australia and Philippines. Singapore said there is no change to COVID-19 rules for travelers and work pass holders arriving from China.
European health officials called screenings and restrictions on travelers from China unjustified, a stark contrast to the growing number of countries calling for tougher measures. Europeans have high levels of protection against Covid-19, and health systems on the continent can handle the current load of infections, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Thursday (Dec 29).
Since China on Tuesday announced the resumption of outbound travel for its citizens from January 8, national tourism boards of various countries have promptly posted welcome notes on Twitter-like Weibo in a bid to attract Chinese tourists. The French Embassy in China as well as the national tourism boards of countries such as Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland have expressed their pleasure at receiving Chinese tourists on their official Weibo accounts.
On the morning of Dec 27, Trip.com Group recorded a staggering 254% increase in Chinese mainland’s outbound flight bookings compared to a day earlier. Flights bound for Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong (China), Japan and Thailand led the surge, making them the top five tourist destinations following mainland China's decision to reopen borders on Dec 27.
China will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals from January 8, in a major step toward reopening its borders that have shut the country from the rest of the world for nearly three years.
Inbound travelers will only be required to show a negative Covid test result obtained within 48 hours before departure, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in an announcement late on Monday. Currently, they are subject to five days of hotel quarantine and three days of self-isolation at home.
Hong Kong is dropping almost all its Covid restrictions this week, following a similar move by mainland China. From Thursday, people arriving in the city - a special administrative region of China - no longer have to do mandatory PCR tests.
Japanese authorities have further revised rules for flights from Hong Kong, saying they can land at all of its international airports as long as they do not carry passengers who’ve been to mainland China in the previous seven days. But carriers including Cathay Pacific said they are rescheduling some of their flights to comply with the latest travel restrictions. Cathay said it will operate a "reduced flight schedule" from Friday until further notice, canceling all flights to Nagoya and Fukuoka. Hong Kong Express said it will cancel 41 flights from Hong Kong to Japan next month, and only operate 60 flights each week.
Booking Holdings CEO attended the 2022 TravelDaily Conference in China through a virtual talk session. He mentioned that the company is still looking at possibilities of acquisition, but at the same time, he wants to “concentrate on the priorities.”
Frederic Lalonde, founder and CEO of travel startup Hopper, talked to TravelDaily CEO Charlie Li online at the 2022 TravelDaily Conference. Mr. Lalonde shared how a college dropout built a $5 billion travel company in less than two decades. He also mentioned his personal experience, his admiration for Trip.com Group, and his obsession with the Chinese social e-commerce app Pinduoduo.
Chinese tech company Baidu Inc announced that a major expansion of its commercialized fully driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, with an aim to build the world's largest fully driverless ride-hailing service area in 2023.
Baidu is tripling the size of its operation area, increasing the number of robotaxis in service and expanding operating time to include key evening hours in Wuhan. It also plans to put an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis into operation across the country next year.


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Sachin Tendulkar at the Opus Store
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is in town today to announce a major new partnership with Opus.
We have a live feed from the store at the Opus Store pages starting at 1pm, with the main press conference at 6pm. Highlights will be posted online after the event.
More information coming soon.


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Click here to watch the full story from WMUR.
WASHINGTON – Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) today introduced bipartisan legislation to double the refundable research and development (R&D) tax credit for startups and extend it to more small businesses. The R&D tax credit supports the efforts of businesses to invest in the development of new, innovative products that lead to job creation and a stronger economy.
Senator Hassan announced the bipartisan bill on Monday morning, during a visit to Sunrise Labs in Bedford, New Hampshire. The company develops products for startups and companies in New Hampshire, with a focus on health care products such as medical devices and lab instruments. Senator Hassan toured the company and heard more about the importance of research and development tax credits to the innovative businesses they work with.
“New Hampshire entrepreneurs and small business owners are at the forefront of technological innovations on everything from cybersecurity to health care, and I’m focused on ensuring that they have the support they need to thrive and grow,” Senator Hassan said. “Expanding the R&D tax credit not only helps these innovative businesses succeed, but it also has the ripple effect of growing our economy as a whole. Ahead of introducing this bipartisan bill, I was glad to tour Sunrise Labs, which does really impressive work partnering with the very start-ups who could benefit from the expanded tax credit in our bill.”
“Research and development plays a crucial role in allowing small businesses in North Carolina and across the country grow and create jobs,” Senator Tillis said. “This bipartisan legislation will expand the R&D tax credit so American innovation can continue to thrive and compete globally.”
The bipartisan Research and Development Tax Credit Expansion Act would expand the R&D tax credit for new and small businesses by doubling the refundability of the credit from $250,000 to $500,000, extending the credit to all small businesses with less than $10 million in annual revenue, and expanding how the refundable credit is claimed against payroll taxes. The legislation also strengthens incentives for startups to increase R&D investment and removes barriers that limit startups’ ability to claim the credit.
The R&D Tax Credit Expansion Act is endorsed by the Center for American Entrepreneurship, National Venture Capital Association, Angel Capital Association, and Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.
Senator Hassan has long fought to expand the R&D tax credit and support New Hampshire’s growing businesses. As Governor of New Hampshire, Senator Hassan doubled the supply of state R&D tax credits and made the credit permanent. The first bill Senator Hassan introduced in the Senate was the Reigniting Opportunity for Innovators Act, which would help provide student loan relief for entrepreneurs. Last fall, Senator Hassan hosted the Innovate NH Entrepreneurship Forum, which featured interactive workshops to help entrepreneurs from across the state get their ideas off the ground.


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Mintel’s survey results
A recent survey by global research firm Mintel indicates that older Millennials—belonging to the 27–37 year old demographic—had a higher energy drink consumption—61% in 2015 from 55% in 2014. The higher consumption was despite growing concern about the safety of energy drinks. According to Mintel, 74% of older Millennials are concerned about the negative effects of energy drinks—compared to 65% of overall energy drink consumers.
Monster Beverage benefits
Leading energy drink makers like Monster Beverage (MNST) and Red Bull are benefiting from the rise in energy drink consumption. Monster Beverage’s net sales in 2014 rose by 9.7% to $2.5 billion. Monster Beverage’s net sales in 1Q15 grew 16.9% to $626.8 million, from the same quarter the previous year.
With the closure of its partnership with Coca-Cola (KO), Monster Beverage now owns Coca-Cola’s energy drinks portfolio, including popular brands like NOS and Burn. Together, Coca-Cola and Monster Beverage account for ~10.3% of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP).
Safety concerns aren’t a major hurdle
According to the Mintel survey, two-thirds of energy drink consumers are concerned about the negative effects of energy drinks and shots. However, that doesn’t deter them from consuming energy drinks. Mintel also noticed that there’s an increase in the preference for natural energy drinks—30% of users consume natural energy drinks and shots. About 27% of consumers are drinking both regular and natural energy drinks and shots.
Recently, PepsiCo (PEP) introduced new fruit flavors under its AMP Energy drinks brand. Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) is the third largest soda drink maker in the US. It lacks a strong energy drink portfolio. Monster Beverage has also been developing some healthier variants of energy drinks. In 2014, Monster Beverage launched Monster Energy Unleaded—an energy drink that doesn’t contain caffeine. The company also launched Monster Energy Ultra Sunrise—an energy drink that has zero calories and no sugar.
In the next part of this series, we’ll discuss the rise in energy drink consumption among US parents.


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Saturday September 21, 2019
Hotels and Resorts
Travel Agent Issues
Here are TTC’s 2019 Top 10 Journeys of a Lifetime
Need some travel inspiration? The Travel Corporation (TTC) has revealed its annual #TTCTop10 bucket list of travel experiences for 2019, featuring such emerging travel trends as transformational journeys and socially-conscious travel.
2019 Trend Report: Transformational travel, and are those real followers, or just bots?
The Canadian travel industry is fuelled year after year by huge volumes of ITC package sales to sun and sand destinations. So does that mean we’re immune to 2019’s travel trends? Not at all.
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BAPE has released a pair of “dressy” men’s shoes in collaboration with Men’s Wearhouse.
The men’s “Bape” series, which is available in a variety of colors, is designed to showcase BAPE’s “bro” style, according to the brand’s website.
BAPE previously released a “bro look” in 2018 and a “bape look” last year.
The BAPE men’s dress shoes feature a black leather upper, a leather strap, and a mesh lining.
They also come with a removable belt, as well as a removable hood.
The shoes are available in five colors, including red, black, green, blue, and yellow.
The Men’s Womens BAPE line includes the following colors: black, grey, green , purple, and pink.
Read next: Samsung says it’s introducing new software to help it fight spam in the U.S.


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WAKANOW LAUNCHES NAIROBI OFFICE
(Posted 07th July 2017)
As mentioned here earlier in July, following a meeting at the Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort & Spa with Wakanow’s Deputy CEO Ralph Tamuno, was Wakanow going to open their first office in Eastern Africa and where else but in Nairobi / Kenya.
Present at the launch was CEO and founder Obinna Ekezie, accompanied by Ralph and Victoria Onwubiko who is the group’s Director of Marketing.
Wakanow highlighted Kenya in their now famous ‘Destination Africa‘ series screened on Ebony TV / DStv and has been supporting Kenya’s inbound tourism industry by sending not only Nigerian travelers but tourists from across their West African operations bases.
Karibu Nairobi it is for Wakanow, for now – pun intended – as Kampala too is hoping for their own office in due course, as are no doubt Kigali and Dar es Salaam.


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Home decor and gardening retail company Leroy Merlin announced plans to create 150 customer service and warehouse jobs at its new store in Radom, Poland. The unit, with an area of over 10,000 square metres, is expected to be launched in the second half of 2020. The source reports the chain has already initiated a recruitment process.
Operation in the country since 1994, the company runs over 60 stores employing over 10,000 people. The company already registered four additional events of job creation in 2019: 160 new jobs in February, 160 in March, 130 in July, 130 in August and 140 in November.


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Hong Kong has seen an alarming rise in sale of counterfeit products online by teenagers, with social media platforms serving as the vehicles for such activities.
According to customs officials, some youngsters are peddling fake products online to make extra pocket money.
In one case, a 13-year-old Form Two student was found engaging in such practices, Apple Daily reported.
The Customs Department said it has detected 182 cases of fake goods sales online so far this year, which led to the arrest of 212 people.
It marks an increase from the 168 such cases and 186 arrests in the same period last year.
The department warned youngsters against online mis-selling, saying the students could end up with a criminal record that could ruin their education and career prospects.
Of the 182 cases detected by customs, 69 percent involved sale of counterfeit goods through social media platforms, a sharp rise from 31 percent a year ago.
Louise Ho, head of the intellectual property investigation bureau of the Customs and Excise Department, said there has been a significant rise in cases of students selling counterfeit goods through social platforms.
Customs officials have arrested 54 secondary school students in the first 11 months of this year, a sharp increase when compared with 18 such student arrests last year.
University student arrests were up 22 percent to 23.
Overall, there was an 181 percent jump in the number of arrestees below the age of 18.
A 13-year-old girl studying in Form Two was arrested this March for selling counterfeit soccer shorts. Customs officers seized 62 fake items, worth around HK$5,500, in her flat.
The girl was subsequently handed a care and protection order by a juvenile court.
In another case, two 16-year-old Form Four boys were arrested in day for selling fake sports apparel.
One boy was handed a fine HK$16,000, while the ordered to pay HK$8,000.
Some of the teenagers who have been selling counterfeit goods online come from decent family backgrounds, officials say.
Meanwhile, the customs department has detected four cases of selling fake iPhone6S online and arrested four people aged 13 to 24.
The fake Apple products were being sold for around HK$1,000 each.
– Contact us at [email protected]


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TORONTO - Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd has signed a non-disclosure deal to examine the books of troubled Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources.
Smartphone pioneer BlackBerry said in August it was exploring options that could include an outright sale.
An offer from a Chinese company could upset the Canadian government, which vets foreign takeovers to ensure they are in the national interest and do not threaten national security. Industry Minister James Moore declined comment.
BlackBerry shares were little changed on the report, which makes Lenovo as the latest of several companies taking a close look at the books.
BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ont., virtually invented mobile email with its first email pagers, but it has lost market share to rivals. Its latest results highlighted disappointing sales for a new line of devices the company initially saw as its way to win back a competitive position.
BlackBerry received a tentative $9 US a share offer last month from a consortium led by its largest investor, Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, which wants to buy BlackBerry for $4.7 billion US and take it private. Earlier this month, co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin said they were also considering a bid.
Others are also looking at the company's books to decide whether to make an offer, industry sources said.
BlackBerry shares have traded well below the $9 US Fairfax offer price on doubts that a deal will go ahead. They rose around 0.2% to close at $8.44 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal said Lenovo was looking at a bid for all of BlackBerry, which includes both a faltering hardware business, security-focused service businesses and a string of hard-to value patents.
The company had $2.6 billion US in cash and equivalents in September, down from $3.1 billion US three months earlier.
Senior Lenovo executives have on more than one occasion expressed an interest in acquiring BlackBerry, or parts of the company, as it would help boost the Chinese company's own smartphone business.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum earlier this year, Lenovo Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg the company would consider a bid for BlackBerry.
Lenovo downplayed the comments at the time, saying that Wong was speaking broadly about Lenovo's M&A strategy.
A spokesman for Lenovo declined to comment on the latest report.
BlackBerry said its special committee is conducting a "robust and thorough review" of alternatives and it does not intend to disclose further developments until it approves a transaction, or otherwise concludes the review.
BlackBerry products have struggled to compete against the Apple Inc iPhone and the numerous devices powered by Google Inc's Android operating system.
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THE dire British summer weather boosted sales at leisure airline Jet2.com and package holiday operator Jet2holidays.
Jet2’s parent company Dart Group, which is based at Leeds Bradford airport, reported a 37 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £57m for the six months to September 30.
The airline flew 400,000 more passengers, bringing the total passenger number to 3.6 million.
Turnover rose 31 per cent to £584.5m.
Dart’s chairman Philip Meeson said the rise in profits reflects a strong summer for Jet2.com, underpinned by growth at Jet2holidays.
“People want to go on holiday and we are providing great value package holidays and we fly to where people go to at the price people want to pay,” he said.
“Everyone wants to get out of the rainy North and into the sunshine.
“Holidays are very important to people and the package holiday is particularly welcome because it gives certainty of spend – we do the flight, transfer, hotel, food and drink.
“They know that everything is going to go well. We’ve worked hard to get the right product into the market.”
The leisure airline is focused on city breaks and sun destinations in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, which means the business is becoming increasingly seasonal as people take more holidays in spring and summer.
As a result higher losses are expected in the second half of the year, which covers October 2012 to March 2013.
In the six months to September 30, seat capacity increased by 11 per cent compared with the previous summer.
Net ticket yields rose from £52.63 to £59.81.
The growth of Jet2holidays accounted for over two thirds of the increase in Jet2.com passenger volumes.
Jet2.com’s profit margins were slightly ahead of the previous half year despite operating costs rising by 20 per cent. Costs were driven by higher fuel, maintenance and sub-charter costs, in addition to increased flying.
Retail sales per passenger rose to £30.77 during the half year following a push on pre-departure, in-flight and other sales. These range from an in-flight meal to an extra leg-room seat.
The company operated 44 aircraft over the summer from its eight Northern UK bases – Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle, Blackpool, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast airports.
This winter Jet2.com has increased capacity by seven per cent following the introduction of additional services to the Canary Islands.
It has also added Grenoble as a new destination for ski-ing holidays.
It plans to expand capacity by a further 11 per cent next summer with extra services from all eight airports to support the growth of Jet2holidays.
In addition to its own passengers, Jet2.com also operates a charter operation providing whole aircraft charter flights for other tour operators and the UK Government.
It also flies 18 nightly services for the Royal Mail to ensure that first class post arrives on time.
In total, charter revenues rose four per cent in the first half of the year and it said forward passenger charter bookings for the key winter period are encouraging.
Jet2holidays carried 312,000 customers on package holidays in the half year.
Revenue increased by 117 per cent to £180.6m.
It said this large jump in revenue follows improvements to the Jet2holidays.com booking process and its ability to offer package holidays to existing airline destinations.
“Our great value all-inclusive holidays are ideally suited to the current difficult economic environment,” said Mr Meeson
Holiday packages include flights, transfers and accommodation and range from budget self catering to five star luxury hotels.


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Not everyone can be a part of PC Master Race, so for anyone rocking a MacBook or any other type of Mac with MacOS, this news concerns you very much. Thanks to the release of the Google Assistant SDK, a 3rd-party developer has created Google Assistant for Macs, calling it MacAssistant. Show More Summary
Google's voice-based assistant took on new powers this week and increased its compatibility with hardware platforms -- including Apple's iPhone. With Assistant's growing user base and expanded skillset, Google thinks it's time for developers to add Assistant to their own hardware.
The AutoVoice Chrome extension for the PC has been updated so that users can speak and interact with Google Assistant via its SDK.
In a move to rapidly expand the ecosystem of Google Assistant, Google has released its developer preview SDK (Software Development Kit) to 3rd party developers. Now, they can use the Google Assistant to build smart gadgets. “Today, we’re...Show More Summary
This week, Google has published the first developer preview for the Google Assistant SDK. What does that mean for average consumers like you and I? Not much at this time, but it most definitely will a little later down the road. With...Show More Summary
Google today released the Google Assistant SDK, (nearly) everything developers need to bake Google's artificial intelligence in their own hardware. The idea is to spread the availability of Google Assistant so people interact with it more often in more places and with more devices. The possibilities should excite device makers everywhere.
Google Assistant has spread to many different Google products like newer Android phones, Android Wear 2.0 wearables, the Google Home, and more. But with the release of the Assistant SDK developer preview, it might soon come to many more. The SDK [...]
Google made a big deal out of its new Assistant when it launched alongside the Pixel and Home. The company has since brought the Assistant to other Android devices, but now it’s launching a preview of the Assistant SDK so developers can start to add it to their own hardware. Show More Summary
Google has announced the availability of the Google Assistant SDK which will allow developers to get a head start on building it in whichever devices they want.
DIY tech nerds rejoice, as you now have the opportunity to tinker with Google Assistant’s tech to your heart's desire thanks to the arrival of the official SDK.
Google has long said that it wants to open up its Assistant to a broader ecosystem of hardware companies and developers. Today it’s taking a major step in this direction with the launch of the Google Assistant SDK, which allows developers to build the Assistant’s smarts into their own hardware prototypes. Read More
Google today released an SDK that developers can use to add the Google Assistant to all manner of different gadgets and devices. Assistant made its debut in the Allo messaging app, and later arrived on Pixel smartphones, Google Home, Android Wear smartwatches, and other hardware. Show More Summary
Creating interesting hardware gets a lot easier when a complex voice interface is provided to you. Google Assistant is making another expansion, but this time it's important from a hardware developer perspective. Google has just announced...Show More Summary
Google today opened the software development kit of its Google Assistant, allowing tinkerers and companies making devices to incorporate Google Assistant into products like smart speakers, cars, or robots. An SDK means people can shop, ask questions, check their calendar, and other services with Google Assistant without using a Google device. Show More Summary
Build your own Google Home out of whatever you want.
Let's face it. Google's hardware ambitions ride on Google Assistant. Now it needs developers and hardware makers to build out the ecosystem.
Apple is betting that third party app developers can juice up Siri enough to close artificial intelligence and smart home gaps with Amazon and Google.
Last week Google officially took the wraps off of its Amazon Echo competitor Google Home, while earlier this month the original Siri creators unveiled their latest personal assistant Viv. Now, The Information reports that Apple is working on an Amazon Echo-like device. more… Filed under: iOS Devices


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Lululemon Athletica Inc. announced Monday the resignation of CEO Laurent Potdevin, effective immediately, citing his inability to meet the company’s standards of conduct.
“While this was a difficult and considered decision, the Board thanks Laurent for his work in strengthening the company and positioning it for the future,” said Lululemon executive chairman Glenn Murphy, who is taking on an expanded role in the wake of Potdevin’s resignation. “Culture is at the core of Lululemon, and it is the responsibility of leaders to set the right tone in our organization. Protecting the organization’s culture is one of the board’s most important duties.”
While little is known regarding the nature of Potdevin’s alleged misconduct — in the era of #MeToo (movement) and #TimesUp (campaign), both of which call attention to misconduct of a sexual nature in the workplace — it seems more and more companies are feeling the pressure to act quickly to remedy ethical concerns of their employees and prevent public backlash.
“Initially, this seems like a far better handling of high-level personnel issues than the last time, when founder Chip Wilson made ill-advised comments around ‘pantsgate,’” wrote Canaccord Genuity Inc. analyst Camilo Lyon in a note today. “To the board’s credit, it appears that it has moved quickly to quarantine any public fallout that could have ensued if details were to have been made public. With this swift course of action, it is highly unlikely that Lululemon customers will know of the CEO’s departure and the details surrounding it, and therefore not attach any ill views to the company.”
The company said it has begun a search for a “proven and highly experienced global” CEO — with one viable candidate being former Ralph Lauren chief Stefan Larsson, Lyon posits. Larsson — who also previously served as the global president of Gap Inc.-owned Old Navy — is nearing the end of a non-compete in May 2018.
On the business side, Lyon said he also doesn’t expect much of a fallout for Lululemon from its CEO’s abrupt exit.
“We do not see Potdevin’s departure as a major setback for Lululemon, although uncertainty will remain elevated until the CEO position is filled,” Lyon wrote. “While the company achieved significant operational improvement with him at the helm, we believe the strategic guidance provided by Advent played a far more meaningful role in [its] operational improvement. As such, we believe his departure is not likely to have a material impact on the company’s prospects.” (Private equity firm Advent International took a 50 percent stake in Lululemon in 2014.)
Also in the wake of Potdevin’s depature, the company has elevated three senior leaders who will report to Murphy: Celeste Burgoyne, EVP, Americas, will oversee all channel and brand-facing aspects of the global business, including stores and e-commerce, as well as brand marketing; Stuart Haselden, COO, will have responsibility for all operations related to finance, supply chain, people and technology; and Sun Choe, SVP of merchandising, will guide all aspects of product development, design, innovation and merchandising.
Lululemon yesterday reaffirmed its Q4 guidance and continues to expect adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.25 – $1.27.
As of 12:30 p.m. ET, the firm’s stock was up a modest 0.3 percent to $77.68.


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The Subaru brand intends to revive the five-door version of the WRX. Moreover, it will take as a base not the Impreza GT generation hatchback (produced since 2016), but a stand-alone model – the Levorg station wagon. The Australian edition of CarExpert writes about it.
“The Levorg has established itself as a high performance niche station wagon and will evolve into something a little different,” a Subaru Australia spokesman said. It is assumed that such a Subaru WRX station wagon will be equipped with a 2.4-liter “boxer”, which develops 290 hp.
Recall that the second generation Subaru Levorg has been produced since 2020, the model is still sold only in the domestic market of Japan, it is now equipped with an exclusively 177-horsepower 1.8-liter turbo unit.
The current generation Subaru WRX has been produced since 2014, it is considered the first independent representative of the WRX. Nevertheless, the car is partially unified in terms of the chassis, as well as body elements with the previous model Impreza GJ, produced in 2011-2016.
In June, Subaru hinted at the exterior of the new WRX with its first blackout photo.


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Takata reports loss as airbag recall continues
Japanese airbag maker Takata reported its third full-year loss in four years as it grapples with the rising costs of recalling them.
The company announced a net loss of 13.1bn yen ($120.5m, £83m) for its financial year ending in March.
It has been hit by a huge recall of faulty, potentially deadly, airbags used by car makers worldwide, which may affect more than 100 million vehicles.
The fault has been linked to the loss of 11 lives and more than 100 injuries.
Takata has acknowledged some airbag inflators explode with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into the car.
Takata has paid out $70m (£48m) in fines so far and the company's market value has dropped more than 80% since 2014.
Some 50 million vehicles have been recalled globally and last week, US authorities added up to 40 million more.
US regulators believe the volatile chemical used in the inflators, ammonium nitrate, can cause airbags to explode with excessive force.
Globally, 12 car makers are affected with Japan's Honda being the worst hit.
Several automakers, including Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Ford have said they will stop using Takata airbags containing ammonium nitrate for their future models.
The firm also produces seatbelts, child seats, and other safety-related car parts.
For the current year, Takata forecast a net profit of 13bn yen.
The Japanese company's shares ended Wednesday 2.5% higher, after losing 11% this week and more than 80% over the year.


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- Nokia X is slated to debut on April 27 in China
- Nokia X will run pure Android software
- Nokia X is expected to retailed as a budget smartphone
Smartphone models TA-1099 and TA-1109 — understood to be variants of Nokia X — have cleared the Compulsory Certification of China (CCC aka 3C), reported community blog NokiaMob.net. The document also revealed that the devices will support 5V/2A power intake, which means that it won't have the fast charging capability.
There is no word on the key specifications of Nokia X, but it is expected to be better endowed than the original Nokia X, which was launched in 2014, just before Nokia was acquired by Microsoft.
The first generation Nokia X came with 4.0-inch WVGA (800x480p) IPS LCD screen with pixel density of 233 ppi (pixels per inch) and ran X Software v1.0, a tweaked AOSP (Android Open Source Project) OS.
This year, Nokia X (2018) will have a better hardware on par with rival brands in the budget segment. Also, unlike the original, which ran a forked version of AOSP software, the new generation Nokia X is expected to be powered by a pure Android, most probably v8.1 Oreo.
Recently, HMD Global Oy had started a promotional campaign with posters showing two phones interposed to form 'X' like formation. It is set to launch April 27
Going by the image, Nokia X is likely to sport a curved 2.5D glass cover on the edges and come with the metallic shell on the back.
We just have to wait a few days to know what HMD Global Oy has in store for fans.


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Johannesburg - Edcon Holdings, South Africa’s largest clothing retailer, said its annual loss narrowed as sales at the discount division gained.
The loss was 2.5 billion rand in the 12 months through March, compared with 5 billion rand a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement today.
Retail sales advanced 5.1 percent to 27 billion rand, while revenue at the discount division, which includes the Jet chain, rose 7.4 percent.
Revenue growth was “based on a sound performance by the discount division and despite the significantly disruptive store construction changes in the Edgars division,” Edcon said.
The company has been completing a renovation program at those outlets.
Edgars retail sales slowed to 2.7 percent from 4.1 percent a year earlier, while the division’s gross margin narrowed to 38.6 percent from 39.7 percent as it increased promotional activity to offset lower credit sales.
High unemployment and inflation that has breached the central bank’s 6 percent target has hurt South African retail sales growth, which slowed to 1 percent in March from 2.3 percent the previous month.
Bain Capital, based in Boston, bought Edcon for 25 billion rand in May 2007.
Edcon, which owns chains including CNA, Boardmans and Red Square, had 1,403 outlets at the end of the reporting period, with the average retail space rising 5.2 percent. - Bloomberg News


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The world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas, will hit the sea for the first time this March. The ship has been under construction for the past three years. The 1,188-foot-long vessel will leave for its first...
MSC Cruises has chosen Piraeus, Greece as the home port of the "MSC Lirica" cruise ship for the East Mediterranean schedule in the summer of 2022, it announced on Monday. MSC Lirica is the lead ship in her class of...
Along with the rest of Greece, the hospitality industry on the rocky resort island of Mykonos began opening to welcome back travelersth the rest of Greece, the hospitality industry on the rocky resort island of Mykonos began welcome back customers on May 14th.
The island of Crete in Greece welcomed on Friday the first two cruise ships of the year with an impressive spectacle, to mark the beginning of the tourism season of 2021.
Leading cruise holidays provider Royal Caribbean International has revealed its new state-of-the-art cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas.
Greek ports are expected to welcome more than five million cruise passengers this summer, breaking last year’s record, according to Greece’s Union of Cruise Shipowners and Associated Members. The estimated number of incoming cruise ship travelers is set to exceed...
In 2017, Greece experienced a large drop in cruise ship arrivals and passenger visits compared to 2016, according to data released by the Hellenic Ports Union “ELIME”. Cruise ship arrivals decreased by around 20.5% in 2017 (from 4,307 in 2016...
Minister of Shipping and Island Policy Panagiotis Kouroumblis expressed the view that a port which would offer duty-free shopping to cruise ship tourists, would boost the Greek economy. Speaking on the Athens Macedonia News Agency radio 104.9 FM on Tuesday,...
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Beef Buzz News
USMEF's Erin Borror Suspects Increased Herd Liquidation May Lead to Tighter Supplies in the FutureMon, 09 May 2022 12:29:25 CDT
Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays is back with Erin Borror, Economist with the U.S. Meat Export Federation, talking about beef export markets.
"On variety meats, a big part of the constraint there has just been labor availability in our plants," Borror said. "We know for both beef and pork that the variety meats demand in the international markets is there."
Borror said a common complaint from staff around the world is that they cannot access as much product as they would prefer to. That situation continues, she added.
"The labor situation in plants has improved, but to be able to capture, package, and produce these variety meats for export does take additional labor," Borror said. "I have heard from the exporters they are still leaving money on the table because they just don't have the manpower to pack everything for export."
Pet food demand, Borror said, has been strong in the U.S. market. For those who can send variety meat items into the pet food channel, that has been a high-value alternative, she added.
"Through all of this we have seen really strong prices for these variety meats," Borror said. "That unit value, if you will, keeps increasing."
For example, Borror said the March variety meat volume was down slightly year on year, but that value was sharply higher because they are still paying up to get what product they can.
"For March, the beef and variety meat export value per head of fed slaughter, so just on that steer and heifer slaughter, averaged $472.73 ahead," Borror said. "That was up 36% or about $127 per head more than the year-ago comparison, and then to that first quarter, it averaged $474.10 up 41% or an increase of $138.65 cents per head."
Borror said we are exporting a larger share of production.
"First quarter, we exported 12.5% of total beef cut production, and 14.7%, when you add in those variety meats," Borror said. "We have been exporting, essentially at a new record level of production, but at these sharply higher prices."
What this tells you, Borror said, is there is strong international demand. Looking ahead to 2022 overall, Borror said she is going back and forth.
"It is extremely difficult because every variable feels like it is on the move right now," Borror said. "It is really hard to pin down and that even applies to our domestic situation, which we can usually kind of pencil that on the balance sheet pretty firmly."
Heavy female liquidation, Borror said, is adding to our beef supplies overall. Going forward, Borror added, production will probably not decline much this year, but that will lead to tighter supplies for the next couple of years.
"Honestly our biggest constraint is kind of supply-side," Borror said. "What we do as far as losing a significant share of our beef cow factory right now and heifers to market as well."
With different international currencies, Borror said that side is troubling as well.
"Figuring all of this in, we still have U.S. Beef exports for just muscle cuts up somewhere around 3 or 3.5 percent for this year," Borror said. "When we add in those variety meats because we are able to capture some more of them now, and have that strong demand, that puts us up over 4% to about 1.5 million tons of beef exports for this year."
On a value basis, we are looking at about 11.6 billion dollars, Borror said, which is a 10% increase.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from Ron Hays and Erin Borror on the latest Beef Export numbers.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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Yogurt manufacturers are rolling out a wide variety of new products to drive consumer interest in and consumption of the dairy product in an attempt to boost sales, which have slowed in recent years after experiencing astronomical growth for several years in a row. Sales of yogurt from 2013 to ...Read whole article via www.foodnavigator-usa.com
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Being sold out in less than 24 hours across 30 events and 30 different venues is a real validation of our business model for both, businesses and consumers.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 20, 2014
30 Days of Gruv’n is 30 consecutive days of launch events designed to allow Gruv-ers to experience the kinds of services and offers that will be available on Gruv. Each launch event is held at a participating business partner’s location and puts the spotlight on the business hosting the event.
“Being sold out in less than 24 hours across 30 events and 30 different venues is a real validation of our business model for both, businesses and consumers. It validates that consumers like to engage with the businesses around them and are interested in long term engagement that updates them on new activities posted by the businesses they want to support” says Sonal Sahai, Founder and CEO of Gruv. “We are very excited with the progress and feedback on our very aggressive and ambitious 30 Days of Gruv’n launch events, which showcases the variety of offers from small local businesses that you’ll find on Gruv on any given day.” continues Sahai.
Gruv is a social commerce platform for services businesses. Gruv differentiates itself by allowing users to discover great content directly from the businesses and facilitates the transaction so that discovery can instantly be turned into an experience with the potential for long term engagement between the business and the consumer.
Gruv’s goal is to bring users and businesses together at the corner of local and social. It allows users to connect with the businesses they are interested in supporting and allows for notifications when the businesses post offers, blogs or other value-added services. Gruv incorporates connectivity with e-commerce enabling businesses to create customer loyalty, and for its connected users to be rewarded for it.


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Towards a smart energy system: why people’s needs must be front and centre
Scientists and experts worldwide have agreed that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 is the planet’s best chance of tackling global warming before it is too late.
In the journey to radically reduce our emissions and reach these essential goals, smart home technology will play a pivotal role. In combination with time-of-use tariffs, smart home technologies can help households save on their energy bills by using energy when there’s less demand on the grid and alleviate its pressure. That’s why they are a crucial part of most government’s strategies to ensure our future electricity supply is clean, affordable and secure.
However, getting homes ready for net zero will require consumers to understand the value of smart home technologies and make changes to how they use energy in their homes. Smart energy products and services are already on the market, but they are not yet mainstream, and not everyone sees their potential and feels confident about them.
Smart home technology: a survey by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux recently ran a survey to find out what people currently understand about smart energy products and services and the barriers to engaging with them.
The survey’s results showed that people’s confidence in smart home technology is not at the highest level, as for most categories, only around half of the people felt confident they understood these services. For instance, only under a third (29%) of respondents said they would likely use time-of-use tariffs linked to smart appliances. In the 18-24 age group, this rises to 49%, but in the 65+ age group, this falls to 16%, showing how older people might feel less confident in these new smart technologies.
Why are time-of-use tariffs essential for the energy system of the future?
The mass uptake of smart home technology together with time-of-use tariffs can play a big role in reducing demand, and therefore lessening the pressure on UK energy infrastructure.
A time-of-use tariff is an electricity tariff where energy suppliers offer different prices at different times of the day. The price differences correspond to changes in demand for electricity, referred to as peak or off-peak periods. Time-of-use tariffs can be static, with set peak and off-peak slots each day, or dynamic, with prices varying up to every half-hour based on the wholesale pricing.
Time-of-use tariffs have been introduced to take pressure from the grid by using energy at off-peak times, offering a number of benefits for both the electricity system as a whole and individuals: energy companies offer lower prices at off-peak times so they can better manage demand and make a clean energy grid easier and cheaper to manage; while end customers are incentivised to shift electricity usage outside of peak times to save on their energy bills.
The Citizens Advice’s survey also suggests consumers often find offers from companies selling smart home technology difficult to understand. 11% of respondents claimed that when asked to sign up for energy products and services, their biggest barrier was not knowing whether these offers were right for them or finding them unclear.
Knowledge is key
Customer engagement is vital to achieving a mass-market adoption of smart home technologies. Smart energy companies need to empower their customers with knowledge and insights, helping them fully understand their products and their potential value and benefits for the energy system as a whole.
That’s why at Moixa, we are keen on bringing customers along on the green journey with us. We want to offer them specific insights on the energy industry – for example by writing about the importance of flexibility services to support the UK grid – and effectively communicate the features of their optimised batteries, such as the benefits of all year optimisation with Moixa’s GridShare software in combination with time-of-use tariffs.
Another important aspect companies should consider is offering quality customer support to build trust and lead customers to a deeper understanding of their products. Moixa’s internal survey showed that 63% of the respondents (among our 4.8kWh & Moixa optimised battery systems customers) listed customer support as the part of the service that stood out for them. We have a direct customer support line, as well as a helpful Help Centre section where customers can ﬁnd all information about our product range and can troubleshoot independently if they wish to do so.
People’s needs must be front and centre in the energy transformation. Encouraging active consumer participation is vital to unlocking the value of distributed energy systems, and being able to support consumers in the green journey will prove essential in the decarbonisation challenge.


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- Binance Japan plans to add tokens to its platform.
- The exchange also stated that it intended to collaborate with additional regional bitcoin exchanges to guarantee better liquidity, according to local media.
Binance Japan, which started full services earlier this month, announced today that it plans to provide at least 100 tokens on its platform in the short term, three times the present offering, according to Bloomberg.
In an online briefing today, Binance Japan’s representative said it will engage with other local crypto exchanges to improve market liquidity, Coinpost said. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao retweeted Coinpost.
The Japanese branch of Binance, the largest crypto exchange, lists 34 tokens. It previously offered spot trading, Earn products, and its NFT marketplace to Japanese users.
Re-entry Into Japan
Binance’s 100% purchase of Sakura Exchange BitCoin in November 2022 opened the door for it to come under the jurisdiction of the Japan Financial Services Agency, allowing it to become regulated.
The JFSA warned Binance in 2021 that it was operating in the nation without registration, prompting its re-entry.


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EVLN: The first 2017 Chevy Bolt EVs arrive in Texas
All-electric Chevy Bolt EVs arrive
Classic Chevrolet announced the arrival of first 2017 Chevy Bolt EV
all-electric cars in Texas. The first 13 of 47 total 2017 Bolt EVs on order
arrived in early July ...
EVLN: U.S. cities fight climate change> (U.S. state governors buck Donald)
How electric vehicles can help cities like Houston fight climate ...
Houston is just one of many local and state governments – along with ...
EVLN: I fear the Greeks' electric vehicles> (Timeo Danaos' electrica
Greek army leading the way to ‘Going Green’ with electric cars
The Hellenic Army is leading the way …
Hellenic Army General Staff - Usage of Electric Civilian Vehicles by the ...
Clark blames autopilot for flipping his 2016 Tesla on it's roof/top in a MN
marsh> slightly hurt
Twin Cities man blames autopilot after Tesla rolls into marsh
A Twin Cities man whose Tesla overturned in a central Minnesota marsh is
blaming the crash on the luxury ... he was driving Saturday evening before
sunset on a country road 18 miles northeast of Willmar, when the ... car
"suddenly ... Tesla ends up on it's roof in swamp near Spicer...auto pilot
blamed ... (Irving Township, MN) ...
Crazy (golden-parachute) Auto Execs Say the Darndest Things (v)
Crazy Auto Company Exec Comments About Tesla
Lentz is also fond of Volvo's move to compete with Tesla and offer an
electric ... Bolt's launch event, GM's CEO Mary Barra said: “Unlike some EV
customers, Bolt ...
16 new Tesla chargers popping up in UAE
Alongside Yas Mall's four other chargers by BMW and Mercedes, and two
electric vehicle-charging stations available at other key locations, Yas
Island is now ...
For all EVLN EV-newswire posts
View this message in context:
Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at
Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/
Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)


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SPOT CHECKS are being planned for pubs and restaurants in Warwickshire to blow the lid on unhealthy children's meals.
Trading standards officers are to launch a major new campaign with unannounced on-the-spot testing of food in pubs, cafes, restaurants and shops.
They want to expose shocking levels of salt, fat and sugar and highlight the damage to children's long-term health.
Similar tests of food premises across Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider Midlands region two years ago revealed that nine in 10 children's menus exceeded Food Standards Agency targets.
Up to 14 Midlands councils could be involved again this year, including Coventry.
Trading standards in Warwickshire told the Telegraph that this year's long-running campaign, starting in April, will widen the net to include food stores as well as places to eat.
They are stepping up the campaign by testing food for adults as well as menus aimed at children.
Officers will visit without warning and take samples to be tested in laboratories.
Warwickshire trading standards said they would particularly target salt levels, with National Food Awareness Week beginning next week.
Nearly half of children's menus surveyed two years ago contained high levels of salt.
Government advice states children should eat less salt than adults, but most are eating more than adults, with salt hidden in processed and convenience foods.
High salt intake results in higher blood pressure in children as well as adults, increasing the risk of heart disease and a stroke in adulthood.
Warwickshire County Council senior information officer Simon Cripwell said: "We are going to be doing more tests on salt in foods across the board, looking at different foods."
A Coventry City Council spokesman said there were no current plans for on-the-spot testing in Coventry. But he said joining the other local authorities later in the year had not been ruled out as part of the city's drive to reduce salt levels.


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Consumer spending, the main driver of the U.S. economy, rose slightly in January, giving a modest lift to America’s record-long economic expansion.
In January, overall retail sales, which reflect buying at physical stores and online, rose by 0.3 percent month-to-month, the Commerce Department said Friday. The figures are adjusted to smooth out seasonal fluctuations.
Retail spending by consumers for the year between Jan. 2019 and Jan. 2020 grew by a seasonally adjusted 4.4 percent, suggesting the economy has continued to be buoyed by a confident public.
“We’re in a virtuous economic cycle now where low unemployment, continued job growth, and rising household income are the fuel powering consumer spending,” said Greg McBride, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Analyst at Bankrate, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.
“Consumer spending is the pillar on which the U.S. economy rests,” McBride added.
According to the Fed’s Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data, American consumers injected some $13.4 trillion into the current-dollar GDP of $21.43 trillion in 2019, by this measure contributing around 63 percent to U.S. economic output.
Still, consumer spending in certain sectors of the economy experienced a drop in January, with sales at clothing stores suffering their biggest month-over-month fall since 2009, declining by 3.1 percent, the Commerce data shows.
Another pullback was December data that was revised down to show that so-called core retail sales—which exclude certain products—rose by 0.2 percent instead of by 0.5 percent, as had been previously reported.
“Overall, the numbers show that while the U.S. consumer is still strong, there are pockets of weakness in spending,” said Robert R. Johnson, Professor of Finance at Heider College of Business, Creighton University, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.
“If one removes automobiles, gasoline, building materials, and food services, retail sales were unchanged from December,” Johnson added. “The numbers provide something for both economic bears and economic bulls to build their case.”
Yet factors driving U.S. consumer spending remain strong. Unemployment was a low 3.6 percent in January, and average hourly earnings posted a 3.1 percent year-over-year gain, suggesting households have money to spend.
“The U.S. consumer seems to be holding up,” said Allen Sukholitsky, Founder & Chief Macro Strategist at Xallarap Advisory, in an emailed statement.
“Retail sales came in slightly below our expectations, but we are not reading too much into this because last month they came out significantly better than we had expected. One month does not make a trend,” he added.
“When that virtuous cycle starts to show cracks—such as rising unemployment that undercuts the ability and confidence of households to spend—that’s when we need to worry the expansion is coming to an end,” McBride concluded.
Reuters contributed to this report.


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Chick-fil-A is celebrating Cow Appreciation Day on July 10 for the 14th year in a row, giving away free entrees to those who choose to participate. If you want to score some free chicken, show up to one of the 2,200-plus participating locations wearing a cow costume or any sort of cow apparel. The promotion runs from the time stores open on 7/10, until 7PM that same day.
Eligible entrees haven’t been revealed yet. Last year the restaurant gave away the Original Chicken Sandwich, seasonal Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich or breakfast favorite, and the Egg White Grill. Children get a free Kid’s Meal.


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“In line with the terms and conditions set by the Greek state and with respect for its customers and staff, Elatos Resort & Health Club has reopened its doors to welcome its guests to an absolutely safe and exclusive environment,” the resort’s management said.
Elatos Resort features 39 chalets spread over an area of 100 acres offering privacy and tranquility, while its indoor heated pool provides a unique rejuvenating experience.
“For more than 20 years, Elatos Resort & Health Club has been providing high-end experiences and the perfect choice for a summer escape.”
The hotel’s experienced team can organize a variety of activities for guests such as hiking, mountain biking, picnics in nature, flying fox, tree climbing, rock climbing, archery, outdoor fitness activities and outdoor chess.
Meanwhile, for the fifth year in a row, the resort will hold the Elatos Summer Mountain Adventures, an educational program for children aged 7-14.
This year, additional measures have been taken to ensure the health and safety of the children and staff members, under the guidance of the program’s medical personnel and the rules set by the state for the hospitality industry.


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We received a response from AMD with regards to our recent story, “Lucid Hydra 200: Multi-GPU Made Simple?”, about Lucid’s new Hydra 200 chip, which may allow PC owners to obtain multiple-GPU performance with graphics cards that use different GPUs, or even that blend Nvidia and ATI technologies.
AMD and Nvidia have expressed skepticism about Lucid’s claims, and AMD Public Relations Manager Jay Marsden contacted us to issue the following statement:
AMD’s goal with CrossFireX is to is to deliver the best graphics performance possible and give gamers the ultimate upgrade path. We have added countless software and hardware innovations to CrossFireX technology over the years to ensure that we deliver performance in spades. To say CrossFireX is old is plain wrong, it would be like calling Radeon old.
Multi-GPU technology is a key focus for AMD.
We are on the cutting edge with our solutions today and we continue to invest R&D in this area to ensure that we deliver the best solutions in the long run.
We are in favor of solutions that improve the user experience and we have not seen that from Lucid. It’s up to them to show the world that their technology works as they say it does.
We’re excited to see for ourselves whether the Lucid Hydra 200 delivers what it promises—we’ll post the results here as soon as we have them.


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Best Stories Today
Michael Jordan Donates $1 Million-Plus To Bahamas Hurricane Relief
Michael Jordan’s latest investment is in helping people. The iconic NBA legend announced he would donate over $1 million to relief efforts for the Bahamas, which was ravaged by Hurricane Dorian, reported Daily News.
WeWork Valuation Cut From $47B To $10B: Will There Be Contagion With Other Fake Private Tech Valuations?
Faced with lukewarm demand and growing investor concerns, office space-sharing startup We Work’s parent company is considering a valuation as low as $10 billion in its upcoming public offering.
Basecamp CEO Accuses Google Of Ransom And Shakedown In Rigged Search Results
Basecamp CEO and co-founder Jason Fried accused tech giant Google of “shakedown” advertising practices that let competitors’ ads using the Basecamp brand name show up in search results above his company’s ads.
Joe Biden Says Black Parents Need To Do Better In Response To Question About Slavery
At Thursday’s third presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden was asked what responsibility Americans need to take to repair the legacy of slavery.
Chance The Rapper Advises Indie Artists To Avoid Record Labels. Here’s Why He’s Wrong About Ownership
Chance the Rapper may have made it to the big time by being an independent artist, but many music industry experts say this isn’t the route for all artists. Yet the 26-year-old Chicago rapper urges artists to avoid record labels, distribution deals, and management deals.


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Samsung suffered a cybersecurity breach in late July that exposed personal information of some U.S. customers.
Discovered last month
Samsung notified customers of the incident on Sept. 2, which occurred in late July and was discovered on Aug. 4.
It said in a statement, “In late July 2022, an unauthorized third party acquired information from some of Samsung’s U.S. systems.”
What has and hasn’t leaked
Data exposed includes name, contact and demographic details, date of birth and product registration data.
Customers’ social security numbers and credit card numbers were not affected.
Consumer devices were not affected either.
Those notified were affected.
How many customers were affected isn’t something the company has shared yet.
But if any customer has received notice, that means their data was involved in the breach.
The information affected for each relevant customer may vary and the company is notifying customers to make them aware of this matter.
Users are advised to be cautious of unsolicited communications asking for personal information or sharing a link.
Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails.
This isn’t the first time Samsung has dealt with such attacks and isn’t even the first of 2022.
In March it announced that hackers had exposed internal company data affecting Galaxy smartphones.
It said that it doesn’t “anticipate any impact to our business or customers” and has implemented measures to prevent further such incidents.
A private cybersecurity firm and law enforcement investigate the latest security incident.
Why Samsung collects user data
As to why Samsung is collecting data in the first place, it says that it contains “information necessary to help deliver the best experience possible with our products and services”.
It clarified that it provides information about how they use customer data, in strict compliance with relevant privacy laws.
This page contains Samsung’s notification, FAQs about the incident, and additional recommended actions.


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The dramatic new second-generation Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle has been shown in near-production form for the first time in Europe.
The machine, which is due on sale later this year, was first displayed in concept form at the Tokyo motor show last year. Toyota has now revealed the latest version at a brand event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The Japanese firm promises the new Mirai will offer a major step forward in fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology. It claims a 30% increase in range over the current model, which manages just over 300 miles, along with improved driving performance.
The new Mirai is built on Toyota’s latest TNGA platform and features dramatic new styling, including a bold grille and a sweeping, coupé-esque rear. Toyota claims increased body rigidity and a lower centre of gravity than the original Mirai.


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Sometimes you have to wonder if Sony even bothers to run things by its public relations department before taking action.
Just as the company was starting to put the consumer badwill of this year's hacking fiasco behind it, it goes and slips a change into the terms of service for the PlayStation Network â€" and the masses began to howl once more.
In a nutshell, in case you missed the outrage yesterday, a new section in the PSN user agreement
says that by digitally signing off on the agreement, you consent to refrain from joining a class action lawsuit against Sony â€" unless Sony says you can.
It's another chapter in the "How not to do crisis PR" course that is bound to emerge from Sony's fumbling of so many things this year, but is it legal? It certainly seems so.
"Yes I think it's bad PR by Sony, and they could have handled it differently, but they're certainly within their legal rights," said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities and a licensed attorney.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled on a very similar issue in the case of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion
. Justices found that AT&T (or any company) could force customers into arbitration rather than class action suits â€" a decision that court observers said could hurt consumers' ability to challenge companies in court.
While the move was certainly handled poorly by Sony, this really seems to be more a case of the collective gaming public getting riled up over something that has little, if any, consequence for them.
While you're unable to join a class action suit, there's nothing in the terms of service preventing individuals from suing Sony on an individual basis.
Additionally, since the PSN is a free service, Sony has a little (perhaps miniscule) more ethical leeway in adding this sort of a condition. Had Microsoft inserted a similar agreement, yet still had the gall to charge $60 on top of that, the people gathering torches and pitchforks might find themselves standing on the moral high ground.
Class action suits are the sort of thing that sound great in theory. A collection of wronged people banding together to demand some form of retribution. And occasionally, just occasionally, those people get what they deserve â€" serious remuneration for a serious wrong.
In the entertainment world, though. Things generally don't work out so well. Let's look back:
Â· The Hot Coffee class action suit against Take-Two Interactive Software? Members of the class ultimately got $5.
Â· Take-Two shareholders who sued over the company's failure to consider a takeover offer from EA? They got nothing.
Â· The class action suit against The9 for allegedly misrepresenting facts? Dismissed.
Â· That class led by the former Rutgers QB who alleged his publicity rights were infringed by NCAA Football
? Also kicked.
In fact, the only class action suit that has had any real impact on the industry in recent years was the one that was spurred by the EA Spouse blog. And consumers weren't the winners there. Developers were.
There are plenty of class suits floating in the wind these days. Sony has a couple already looming due to the security breach. Microsoft is facing one for "unauthorized charges" on Xbox Live Gold accounts. Someone's even trying to convince a judge that EA has gouged the public on the price of the Madden
football games. (That's my personal choice for the most ludicrous piece of circular logic making the rounds today, by the way. If you believed Take-Two would keep its 2K football line at $20 indefinitely, you're sorely in need of an economics primer.)
Losing those cases would be a pain for publishers, but the only people to get rich off of them would be the lawyers. Consumers would get a little pocket change (at best) and have to jump through a few hoops to get it.
One other note: Some of the people crying loudest about Sony's action on message boards (though, to be fair, this isn't the case among Gamasutra's commenters) are the 13-16 year olds who clog multiplayer games with their obscenity-laced trolling. What most probably don't realize is their thoughts on this, at present at least, are entirely irrelevant. You can't have standing in a class action suit unless you're 18.
So: PR misstep? You bet! Legal issue? Not so much. A movement full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? Absolutely.


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Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has inaugurated the Golden Jubilee of IMTEX, nineteenth edition of IMTEX exhibition, ‘IMTEX 2019’ and twenty-first edition of Tooltech ‘Tooltech 2019’ organised by Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC). Kumaraswamy recollected that IMTEX had entered Bengaluru 12 years ago and he had the privilege of inaugurating the show and opening BIEC.
“The exhibition has been a gateway for attracting investments in Karnataka since then. To give impetus to aerospace vertical Karnataka has announced an aerospace policy that has identified investment potential of around 10 billion dollars in the sector during 2013-2023 which is expected to give a boost to the manufacturing industry in Karnataka,” Chief Minister said.
Karnataka Minister for Revenue R V Deshpande, Industries Minister K J George, Vikram Kirloskar, Vice President, Confederation of Indian Industry, Ram
In his welcome
CII Vice President Vikram Kirloskar said that exhibitions will never become obsolete as machines will always be required in the manufacturing industry. Technologies are needed to enhance productivity. Large-scale exhibitions such as IMTEX will provide all this in one place.
ACMA President Venkataramani said that ACMA and IMTMA will continue to work to understand and provide solutions to ever growing demands of the auto component industry.
Marking 50 years celebration, IMTMA has planned a series of activities as part of the show including several new initiatives all of which will be unravelled in the week from 24th January to 30th January 2019.
Celebrating 50 years of IMTEX, IMTMA has set up an Experience Zone adjacent to Hall 4 in BIEC. The experience zone is a collection of IMTEX archives including display of vintage machines from a bygone era, pictures and a short film of IMTEX journey.
The IMTMA is releasing a Coffee Table book at Hotel Taj Westend in Bengaluru on January 25, 2019. The coffee table book captures the ethos of IMTEX and traces its growth over a timeframe of 50 years since 1969. IMTEX 2019 is also featuring two robots. The robots will move and gesticulate, talk to people and answer their queries and move around in the campus.


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Website launched for digital copies of Harry Potter
Harry Potter will soon be coming to a tablet near you.
JK Rowling, author of the seven-book international phenomenon, recently announced details of a new website called Pottermore, which will have exclusive rights to sell digital copies of the Harry Potter book series online.
Digital books - or ebooks - have become a major draw for readers who prefer tablets' wide screen and interactivity over e-readers. With the oft-crazed readership of the Harry Potter series looking for the easiest access to the books, Pottermore could prove to be one more convincing factor for some considering a tablet purchase.
After the announcement was made at a recent press conference in London, Rowling's agent, Jonny Geller, said this move could spark a new trend among other high-profile authors targeting the e-reading community.
"This does feel like a significant moment," Geller said, according to the Guardian. "If I was a brand author I would be asking my publisher how to get to the online communities that JK Rowling is getting to. It might be a wakeup call to think of a new way of getting to readers."
Market analysts expect tablets to become the go-to platform for ebooks. According to Stephanie Ethier, senior analyst at market research firm In-Stat, "the tablet market is the stronger and more sustainable opportunity" than that for e-readers.


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David Scheer and Jesse Westbrook of Bloomberg report that U.S. regulators, concerned brokerages may have sold clients money-losing securities tied to subprime mortgages, are seeking information about how the investments were marketed, a person familiar with the situation said.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which polices about 5,100 brokerages, sent letters Dec. 14 to more than a dozen firms that sell collateralized mortgage obligations, a type of security linked to home-loan payments, said the person, who declined to be identified because the inquiry isn’t public. One letter obtained by Bloomberg seeks sales spreadsheets, marketing materials, and procedures and methods for matching products to clients’ investment needs.
Mounting losses from securities tied to home loans are prompting regulators to examine how Wall Street firms valued and promoted the products. Finra Chief Executive Officer Mary Schapiro said in September the agency was scrutinizing sales of mortgage-backed products to retirees, and had sent a round of letters seeking information on the transactions.
To read the full article click here.
If you or someone you know lost money in a subprime mortgage or CDO investment, please contact the attorneys at The Frankowski Firm at 888-741-7503 to discuss your potential legal remedies.