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New business model: Outdoor serving
In early March, the new 32 Taps Tavern in Carleton was expecting big things in 2020 and planned to hold a large pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration at its outdoor pavilion that opened in 2018 in the KAZ Market shopping plaza.
A big tent was put up in anticipation of drawing hundreds of customers to the restaurant, said Hartley Suchy, director of operations and general manager for the restaurant.
“We had this big tent party planned in the parking lot with a band and everything and then (the state) shut us down the day before,” Hartley recalled. “It just crushed us. St. Patrick’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year and many people are looking for places to have fun. We could have tripled the turnout we had (indoors) the year before.”
In 2017, owner Chuck Collert invested almost $500,000 to remodel the former Grafton Inn restaurant and the former Grafton Hall that anchors the complex along with Krzyske Bros. Hardware, Kaz and Dollar Tree.
Collert, a former longtime village council member who owns four businesses, named the bar after the 32 tap handles of craft beer that he keeps inside. He was a key investor in developing the plaza and making it a focal point in the community.
“I’m trying to support local businesses and want to see them succeed,” he said. “Michigan has (among the most number) of craft beer breweries in the nation. When we opened, craft beer was on the rise. It’s taken a hit since then (because of the virus), but it’s still” a viable industry.
Both he and Suchy got special permission from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission to open the outdoor patio in 2018 with high hopes for drawing patrons who want to dine and celebrate outside.
The first two years went well and this year was going to be the best year yet until the coronavirus outbreak hit in March. To comply with the governor’s order, the tavern was forced to close its business and could only sell food and drinks through a separate door for carryouts.
The indoor portion of the business reopened in June, but seating was limited to 50 percent of capacity to meet social distancing guidelines. As part of a new “social districting” policy, the commission is granting temporary permits to businesses like 32 Taps that sell alcohol to open outdoor seating areas.
The permits expire Oct. 31. Suchy said he hopes the state would amend its policy so businesses can get permanent licenses to operate year round without having to apply every year.
Customers are required to wear masks in indoor eating places, but can remove them once they sit down. The business takes a number of precautions to deal with the virus, including requiring all employees to wear masks and have their temperatures taken every time they come to work. They also must complete a questionnaire and sign it.
“We spaced our tables out and limited the seating at the bar,” Collert said. “We can accommodate quite a few people, but sales are still tough with COVID.”
Suchy said it’s difficult to look ahead and plan future events under existing seating restrictions imposed by the state.
“It’s hard to plan anything when you don’t know what the numbers (seating restrictions) will be,” he lamented. “Some people are nervous and a lot of them don’t like the mask rule.”
32 Taps marks anniversary
The 30-by-70 foot patio will mark its 2nd anniversary on Labor Day weekend. Both Collert and Suchy built the split-rail fence made with cedar around the front porch and drilled solar lights into wooden posts to illuminate the seating at night.
They brought tables and chairs from inside and placed them outdoors under the mall canopy. There are also standup wooden tables that allow plenty of room for socializing. Plans are to add a half-dozen picnic tables with umbrella covers if business improves.
Carleton President Larry Buckingham commended the time and effort the two men have invested in the business.
“I’m a big advocate of business in town,” Buckingham said. “Anything that will help them, I’m for it 100 percent.”
But diners at the patio have been thin of late due to COVID-19 fears, hot weather and the cancelation of some high school sports. Losing Friday night football games at Airport High School this fall was another blow to the business.
“We were always packed on Friday night, both before and after the games,” Suchy recalled. “And basketball games were good on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But now with COVID and no sports, it’s just been a struggle. Our customers have been great and some new ones are coming in and we’re grateful. We’re starting to see some things changing. We’re optimistic.
Carryout orders of pizza, 64-ounce Growler drink fill-ups and 16-ounce drinks placed in plastic pouches have been popular and the business moved those sales to the north end of the eatery. But many long-time customers are still cautious about dining indoors, Suchy said.
“Carryouts kept us going,” he said. “The growlers really helped during the shutdown. Many of our older customers tell us they still don’t feel comfortable eating inside. If they’re scared to come out, they have the option to stay outside and eat and still stay six feet apart.”
Other bars also offer outdoor venue
Among other bars and restaurants offering outside venues for dining and serving alcohol are the Northside Bar & Grill in Frenchtown Township and the Walnut Bar in downtown Petersburg.
The grill at 3475 N. Monroe St. offers both inside dining and a fenced-in outdoor patio for its famous fare of gourmet burgers, sandwiches, weekly events and 28 beers on tap.
Its current owners — John and Jane Imo — formerly owned and operated Grafton Inn Restaurant and Grafton Hall Banquet Center until early 2011.
With permission from the City of Petersburg, the Walnut Bar & Grill at 46 E. Center St. converted parking spaces in front of the tavern to build an outdoor dining area.
Petersburg Mayor Jim Holeman said the business has done a good job of creating an attractive setting for visitors who want to eat outside.
“We’re all behind them 100 percent,” Holeman said. “We talked about it and okayed it on a trial basis. It seems to be working fine and now people can frequent the establishment. We need more people downtown, not less.”
Like taverns all across the county and state, the bar had to close in March because of COVID-19, but reopened in July for take-out orders only. The business received permission from the Liquor Control Commission to sell alcoholic drinks outside, the mayor said.
He said local restaurants needed to reopen to keep from going out of business during the pandemic.
“We don’t need any more businesses struggling to stay afloat,” Holeman said. “We want to encourage more businesses to stay open, but it’s pretty hard for any mom and pop store to compete when everybody is ordering online.”


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If you use the HTC One (M8) for Windows, the question if the company behind it will give you Windows 10 may be heavy on your mind. HTC has a mixed record with updates in the past, so skepticism for some in the community seems warranted.
When it comes to the flagship HTC One for Windows, the company is stating on Twitter that users can expect software updates for 2 years after its launch. Since the One was released last August of 2014, a Windows 10 update certainly seems reasonable.
The tweet was in response to a user asking the question "Will the One M8 for Windows get Windows 10 in the same timeframe your Android updates are delivered?" HTC responded:
"Yes, as we'll provide software updates to the HTC One M8 for Windows for 2 years after its launch."
Sounds pretty cut and dry to us, as Windows 10 should be locked in for the update. Of course, even Microsoft has yet to get Windows 10 Preview running on the HTC One, so there could be some lag between release and the time it heads to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile.
Verizon had already distributed an OS and firmware update for their HTC One back in December.
Earlier today, HTC pushed out a small update for their Dot View case further signaling they are still committed to the phone.
Source: Twitter; Thanks, Diego S., for the tip!

domain: news


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Along the US land border with Canada, the anticipation of the reopening on Monday for leisure travelers is growing.
Americans have been allowed to drive to Canada since August, but Canadians are not allowed to drive south by car.
“I feel like it’s almost like a dream come true,” said Montreal-based Emilie Masse, adding that she can’t wait to visit New England again.
The U.S. border has been closed to vacationers like Emilie since the pandemic began to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
If you are planning a trip to Canada, the rules blocking tourist visits will be lifted for those who are fully vaccinated.
As of Monday, Canadians fully vaccinated against COVID and their children will be allowed to travel south again.
Vermont communities prone to regular Canadian visits cheered last month’s announcement to reopen the border.
“All of my friends and family – all of them are planning a trip to get there,” said Masse.
Masse is the daughter-in-law of April Cornell of Burlington, Vermont. who was born in Canada and runs a well-known clothing, bedding and home accessories store in Burlington.
“It’s like our sister country,” Cornell said of Canada.
She said she is eager to welcome both her loved ones like crowd and others and her customers from Canada back in time for the Christmas shopping season.
“We’re thrilled,” said Cornell of the travelers’ return from Canada. “We missed her terribly. We have employees in Canada too, so you know we can’t see them in person – lots of Zoom calls. “
NECN has heard murmurs from some Canadians on social media and email who said they might be staying a little longer to visit the United States due to their government’s travel regulations. This is because they have to prove within 72 hours of their return to the border that they tested negative for COVID, and that negative result cannot come from a rapid test.
The U.S. border will soon reopen to Canadians on vacation, cheering many in Vermont and northern New England after the long pandemic-forced shutdown.
For more information on the guidelines for vaccinated travelers entering Canada, please visit here.
“It’s important to plan ahead,” advised Jenney Samuelson, assistant secretary for the Vermont Agency of Human Services.
Samuelson said Wednesday the agency believes reopening the border will mean increased demand for testing in Vermont.
Samuelson noted that Canadians can be tested at Vermont state sites – at no cost to them – and they should get results within 48 hours or so.
“When we see that there are times when there are more people in a location than the location can normally accommodate, we’ll be adding times or appointments continuously so we can ensure that Vermonters and their guests have the opportunity to test themselves to leave, ”said Samuelson.
He noted that due to an anticipated desire for testing, dates for Thanksgiving week had already been added.
For more information about testing for COVID-19 in Vermont, visit this state website.
Masse said that because she is hoping to travel to multiple states and needs to be certain of a test turnaround time before returning to Canada, she may have to pay a few hundred dollars to have her and her husband tested.
“The $ 300 isn’t going to stop me from taking this trip,” said the Montreal resident, adding that she loves jumping through logistical tires to plan a trip to Cape Cod and see loved ones back in Vermont.
“I’m super excited,” said Masse about the reopening of the border on Monday.


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The President of African Development Bank (AFDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has said that addressing the country’s energy deficiency and reliability would boost the industrial sector performance and growth.
Noting that no business could thrive in Nigeria without relying on generators, Adesina identified high cost and unreliability of electricity as major constraints in manufacturing sector.
The AfDB president, at the 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and 50th anniversary of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Abuja, pointed out that inconsistent availability of electrical power had resulted in high and uncompetitive manufacturing cost as most manufacturers provided their own energy with a high dependence on generators and diesels.
Adesina further emphasised the need for massive investment in renewable energy including gas, hydro power and large scale solar systems to guarantee stable power for industries.
He said, “Nigeria must have greater ambition for its manufacturing sector, by driving greater specialisations and competitiveness, a well developed policy enabled manufacturing sector with an export oriented goal.
“The performance of the manufacturing sector for the past five years has been poor. Between 2015 and 2017, the sector declined by minus one percent, 4.3 per cent and minus 0.2 per cent. While Asian countries are focused on export of manufactured products, Nigeria’s approach has been on import substitution.”
According to him, Nigeria lbs manufacturing sector represented only three per cent of total revenue from exports, but accounts for 50 per cent of imports into the country.
He said bold policy initiatives were needed to drive agriculture in order to boost the economic prosperity of the rural population.
He said it was important to develop special agro processing zones across the country with infrastructures and logistics to support private sector food and agriculture companies relocate close to the areas of production and to process and add value to the food and agricultural economy.
Adesina said Nigeria needs greater export diversification to boost its forex supply to support its industries as wellas focus on domestic manufacturing and expand local contents by rapidly moving into processing of raw materials, manufacturing of equipment and machineries which form 50 per cent of the import.
This, he said would boost manufacturing, access to affordable financing especially long term financing that matches the investment gestation of companies.
He said, “There is a compelling need to move away from a primary dependent on managing demand for forex to expanding the supply and availability of forex should greater export oriented manufacturers, this will extricate Nigeria from relying on the export of crude oil for access to forex.
“The perennial constraints facing manufacturers is the unpredictability and availability of foreign exchange, this is not an easy issue but it must be addressed and structured
“Sound policies make the economy thrive, multiple exchange rates create opportunities for financial gain while restrictive access to foreign exchange manufactures has led to dependence on the parallel market.”


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While its formal launch is expected in a few days, OnePlus 6 has now been revealed with an all-new back panel that will likely enable wireless charging support. OnePlus has officially confirmed that the upcoming OnePlus 6 features “new materials”. It is being speculated that the smartphone will come with a glass back panel. A glass back on the OnePlus 6 will make it a closer competitor against the Apple iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 that both come with glass back panels.
A tweet by OnePlus India hinted the presence of a new back material on the OnePlus 6. “Same expert craftsmanship, new materials #OnePlus6,” the tweet reads. The tweet accompanies an image that shows a glossy black surface with an engraved line that says “Designed by OnePlus”. The black surface could be the glass back panel on the new OnePlus handset.
Unlike the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T that both had an aluminium back, the OnePlus 6 will certainly need to come with a new panel if it has to offer wireless charging – as surfaced in a leaks-based concept video. Companies such as Essential Products and Xiaomi have already used ceramic as the material on their offerings to enable wireless charging, while Apple and Samsung have opted for glass in their respective flagships.
That said, we need to wait for the official launch to understand which new material the OnePlus 6 will feature. The handset will be an Amazon Exclusive in India and is expected to come with a water-resistant build. It will also come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, coupled with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB inbuilt storage.


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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Shares of Kmart Holding Corp. took a commanding position among retail stocks Thursday to help the sector's main measure defy the downturn on the broader markets.
The S&P Retail Index $RLX edged into positive territory to 429.99, up 0.1 percent.
Shares of Sears S, -1.83% gained ground after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that were sharply lower than last year but soundly ahead of Wall Street's expectations. Year-ago profits included the hefty $1.4 billion gain from the sale of the credit-card operations.
For the fourth-quarter earnings fell to $378 million or $1.76 a share, from $2.75 billion, or $10.84 a share, a year ago. Revenue for the quarter decreased to $11.23 billion from $12.25 billion last year.
The results were well ahead of the $1.66 a share average projection and $1.15 billion sales reached by analysts reporting to Thomson First Call.
Shares lost earlier momentum, but stayed in positive territory to rise by 18 cents to $50.08.
Shares of Kmart KMRT, which is hoping to purchase Sears, got a boost on the news as well, rising 4.5 percent, or $4.02, to $94.35.


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Register for Newsletter Resins & Additives for Coatings
Welcome to our special RADTECH issue. We would be delighted to meet you at this key event for the stakeholders in the growing UV/EB industry from October 17-19 in Prague.
Welcome to the latest issue. An intense first half of the year is now behind us, including a visit to the leading meeting place for our industry, the European Coatings Show.


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“Digital privacy advocates have called on a U.S. federal judge to approve Apple Inc’s request not to be compelled to build software to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attack,” Jim Finkle reports for Reuters.
“The American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now and the Wickr Foundation laid out arguments in amicus briefs released on Wednesday ahead of a March 22 hearing in which Judge Sheri Pym will review Apple’s appeal of a court order demanding it help unlock a phone used by Rizwan Farook,” Finkle reports. “Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp and Twitter Inc also plan to file similar briefs, Twitter, Microsoft and people familiar with the plans of the other two companies said last week.”
“The ACLU argued that the FBI’s request would undermine the privacy and security of Americans by forcing a private firm to act as its investigative agent, seeking information that it does not already possess,” Finkle reports. “‘Law enforcement may not commandeer innocent third parties into becoming its undercover agents, its spies, or its hackers,’ according to a draft of the brief obtained by Reuters.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last month:
The day the U.S. government can force anybody to write something is the day the United States of America as we know it dies.
If this keeps up, you won’t need to build a wall. Nobody will want in.
Of course, Apple has in its power to render even these methods, should they be forced upon the company, moot with future iOS updates that protect user privacy from government overreach.
It would be nice, however, not to have to depend on a company to enforce U.S. Constitutional rights, but rather to have a government – made up of people who swear oaths to the Constitution, no less – that protects citizens’ Constitutional rights jealously instead of wiping their asses with the document daily.
Apple scored the knockout punch against FBI in House Judiciary Committee hearing – March 2, 2016
Within an hour of Malaysia Flight 370 disappearing, Apple was working with officials to locate it – March 2, 2016
John McAfee reveals how the FBI can unlock an iPhone in 30 minutes – March 2, 2016
Can the FBI force a company to break into its own products? No, says U.S. Magistrate – March 2, 2016
Apple CEO Cook decried Obama’s ‘lack of leadership’ on encryption during a closed-door meeting last month – February 29, 2016
Obama administration set to expand sharing of data that N.S.A. intercepts – February 28, 2016
Apple’s fight with U.S. could speed development of devices impervious to government intrusion – February 24, 2016
Petition asks Obama administration to stop demanding Apple create iPhone backdoor – February 19, 2016
Obama administration claims FBI is not asking Apple for a ‘backdoor’ to the iPhone – February 18, 2016
Obama administration wants access to smartphones – December 15, 2015
Obama administration war against Apple just got uglier – July 31, 2015
Obama’s secret attempt to ban cellphone unlocking, while claiming to support it – November 19, 2013


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Watch: McDonald's new ad urges Indians to not give up 'right to choose' and vote
Updated : April 20, 2019 02:54 PM IST
In the ad, posted on the company's Twitter handle, McDonald's asks its customers to vote for a better tomorrow.
"We often take our right to choose for granted. But how does it feel if someone takes that right away? McDonald’s helped some of their customers realise just that," the restaurant chain said in the advert.
Have you signed up for Primo, our daily newsletter?It has all the stories and data on the market, business, economy and tech that you need to know.
THANK YOU! You made our day. See you every morningYOUR EMAIL IS ON ITS WAY. Check your inbox for future updates.
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(Reuters) - U.S. slot machine maker International Game Technology should consider strategic alternatives for the social gaming unit it bought for $500 million a year ago and focus instead on growing Asian markets, an investor in the company said.
Jason Ader, whose investment firm is leading a group seeking representation on the board of IGT, said he believed the company had lost its focus by venturing into online gaming.
“IGT needs to get back to basics in developing games for its casino customers in the U.S. and Asia,” Ader, an industry veteran who is also on the board of Las Vegas Sands Corp, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Ader’s group, which controls about 3 percent of IGT’s stock, is looking to nominate three directors to the company’s board, including former Chief Executive Charles Mathewson.
In a letter to IGT shareholders on Monday, the group criticized the board for losing focus on its core business and said that DoubleDown, one of the biggest providers of games on Facebook Inc, was an “incredibly expensive” acquisition.
IGT bought DoubleDown, which offers free-to-play online games such as poker and blackjack, in January 2012. Shares of Las Vegas, Nevada-based IGT have lost 13 percent of their value since the acquisition.
Asked to comment on the letter, company spokeswoman Mariya Barnes said IGT was preparing a response to be issued this week. The company, which has a market value of about $4 billion, has scheduled its annual shareholder meeting for March 5.
IGT Chief Executive Patti Hart said in November that the company’s social gaming unit was growing faster than expected. Interactive gaming contributed about 7 percent of overall revenue in 2012, up from 2 percent in 2011.
John Miller of Ariel Investments LLC, which controls about 4 percent of IGT, said social gaming acquisitions were a long-term strategy for many gaming companies and could “almost be viewed as an R&D expenditure”.
DoubleDown gives IGT an opportunity to put some of its content on another distribution medium, which should increase the popularity of that content, Miller, a senior vice-president and portfolio manager at Ariel, told Reuters.
DoubleDown generates revenue from the sale of virtual gaming chips, rather than from customers betting with real money, which is prohibited across most of the United States.
But online gambling is now legal in Nevada and Delaware, while a number of other U.S. states are moving toward legalizing it after the Justice Department ruled in 2011 that only online betting on sporting contests was unlawful.
So far, the pace has been slow due partly to legislative delays and opposition, including from some big gaming industry players like Las Vegas Sands Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson, who has said he is morally opposed to online gambling.
Ader, who heads Ader Investment Management LP, said Asia was a potential growth market for IGT. Macau, the world’s largest casino market, generated $38 billion in annual gambling revenue in 2012, up from 13.5 percent a year earlier.
“There is a big opportunity to pursue growth in Macau and the Philippines in the electronic table games segment,” he said.
He said he believed the DoubleDown acquisition put IGT in competition with some slot machine and systems customers, such as Caesars Entertainment Corp, MGM Resorts International and Station Casinos Inc.
Ader also said that IGT had compared DoubleDown to social gaming company Zynga Inc. In the letter, he wrote that Zynga’s enterprise value had declined by more than 80 percent in the 12 months since IGT acquired DoubleDown.
(This story is fixed to correct paragraph 7 to say annual meeting is scheduled for March 5, not March 13)
Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Robin Paxton


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$39 Software Stops $6 Billion Email Scams
London, UK, 15 January 2003: Like winter colds and successful marketing, Identity Theft has become almost viral. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, affecting 1,000,000 people annually at a cost of $6 Billion.
In a long line of similar, relatively unsophisticated scams (that go back as far as 1997), thousands of email users have been duped into willingly parting with confidential data including credit card numbers and passwords.
Con artists pretending to be legitimate companies often send out scam e-mails that tell recipients someone has tampered with their account or that some unspecified fraud is suspected. The e-mail tells the recipient to click on a link leading to a site where visitors can enter or change their username and password and update their personal information.
“These scams could easily have been prevented”, asserts Steve Mathews, one of the authors of BS7799 (now ISO/IEC 17799) and an authority on Internet security. “The reason why people fall for these types of scams is that they believe the email came from a genuine source in the first place. It is very easy to alter the “From” field in an email message to pretend to be someone else. The issue is further complicated by the fact that companies are sending out their own share of legitimate appeals, urging some people whose accounts have been tampered with to change their passwords. Even savvy users have a hard time telling the difference between scam mail and the real deal.”
Mathews’ stand is supported by critics who have gone on record saying that Internet auction and payment services companies need to strengthen their fraud prevention efforts, not just by cracking down on criminals and increasing education efforts, but by changing the way they communicate with legitimate alerts.
No company is to be singled out. These scams attack all types of industry. Finance establishments however are an attractive target and even Bank of America was hit in February last year.
The foolproof solution is security software like ContentAssurity. It allows the senders to digitally sign the text they send as an email to their customers. The customers receive this in their normal email application, copy the text into ContentAssurity Reader and press the ‘Unprotect/Verify’ button. ContentAssurity verifies the signature on the message and checks that the text has not been altered. ContentAssurity Reader is available as a free download from http://www.ArticSoft.com/contentassurity.htm
When companies like eBay, PayPal and Yahoo use ContentAssurity then their customers can verify that the information they receive actually comes from them and has not been altered in any way. If they receive mail messages that are not signed, then they would know not to trust them.
ContentAssurity costs just $39, a small price to pay for the trust of millions of customers.
Download your demo sample of ContentAssurity at :
ArticSoft has one goal… providing low cost, high quality, easy to use security software for everyone. ArticSoft products are designed for business users, not technologists. The ArticSoft team, led by Steve Mathews (CEO), has over 30 years experience in the field of computer security, and 15 years experience of securing information on personal computers and messaging systems.


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Tech stocks have rebounded so well from their down year in 2022 that there might not be a buying opportunity there anymore.
At least that’s what some Wall Street analysts are saying as they slap downgrades on some of 2023’s best performers like Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL)and Alphabet (GOOGL).
“It’s difficult to model upside to our current high-single-digit [websites] growth estimates,” UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley said in a note on Monday that downgraded Alphabet shares from Buy to Neutral.
Walmsley joins a growing list of big tech analysts to caution about future upside in the 2023 rally. Two weeks ago, his colleague at UBS David Vogt downgraded Apple from Buy to Neutral, noting that “growth is likely to remain under pressure.” Three analysts have now downgraded Tesla in less than a week.
Importantly, the downgrades aren’t saying that things look overly gloomy for some of the tech stalwarts. In fact, in some cases, analysts are still expecting the stocks to go up.
The downgrades indicate the market is finally correctly pricing in the potential for future earnings, and therefore, the stocks might be priced just fine where they stand today.
“We believe the stock now better reflects our positive long-term view of the company’s growth potential and competitive positioning post the substantial move higher YTD,” Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney wrote in a note in Monday.
Delaney downgraded Tesla from Buy to Neutral while boosting his price target from $185 to $248. Last week, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas made a similar move downgrading Tesla from Overweight to Equal Weight, while lifting his price target from $200 to $250.
“I have to be up-front with you all,” Jonas wrote. “While the team has defended the Tesla OW rating all year, I did not see this 111% YTD rally coming (the S&P 500 is up 14% YTD, for context). We think it’s understandable and are sympathetic to the changes in the market narrative around the name. We’re not trying to call ‘the end’ to the Tesla rally and from our discussions continue to find a significant degree of investor skepticism/lack of exposure around the name.”
One risk for Tesla: Wall Street continues to debate whether the electric-vehicle maker is an artificial intelligence play.
So, Jonas argues, if the AI momentum fades, the stock price may follow suit.
“While the market may want to dream on the AI theme, we’d prepare to wake up to the sound of a blaring car horn,” Jonas wrote.
Broadly, macro strategists are sounding a similar warning call, too. Despite a slew of upgrades to the S&P 500 over the last few weeks, not many strategists see upside above 4,500 for the S&P 500. That reflects just over 3% upside for the benchmark index for the rest of the year.
One of those strategists, Truist Co-Chief Investment Officer Keith Lerner, jacked up his S&P 500 year-end “range” to 3,800-4,500 from a range of 3,400-4,300 earlier in June.
“The technology sector is trading at rich valuations, and concentration at the top is a risk,” Lerner wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. “But this is not 2000, not even close, based on valuations and returns. Although tech is extended on a short-term basis and we would be more inclined to add on pullbacks as opposed to aggressively chasing at current levels, we still see the sector as longer-term leadership.”
Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks
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The theory that New York City is dead has been heavily discussed over the past few months, as restaurants, retailers and just about every other brick-and-mortar business struggles to regain its footing following the coronavirus-induced lull.
Fortunately, it seems the New Yorkers who haven’t made the trek upstate are more determined than ever to revive the greatest city in the world, filling eateries and museums to their state-mandated 25 percent capacity in an effort to stay sane following months of isolation, as well as get some money moving through the city once again.
Still, safety comes first. While Gotham has seen a drop in COVID-19 infection rates, we’re still largely considered a hot spot, meaning the average Joe may still feel some hesitation to fully embrace NYC life once again. Fortunately, there are several attractions springing up throughout the five boroughs that put public health first, offering both peace of mind and an escape from another Netflix binge.
One in particular, Brookfield Place’s “Studio BFPL: Encounters,” offers New Yorkers longing for the days of live music a chance to truly bask in the performing arts once again, as many of us have not been able to for the better part of a year.
The 20-minute experience involves an intimate performance from a different artist every week — including partners like New York Guitar Festival and Live Sounds — within a socially distanced environment. The private performances are held for your party of up to six, all of whom are required to wear masks, as are the performers. It will truly give you a taste of the art world we’ve all been missing. Performances run every Friday through Nov. 20.
There’s also the option to enjoy a meal before or after the show at one of four eateries. There, you’ll receive a $20 gift card for future purchases and an individual offer from each establishment.
It’s a great option to jumpstart the weekend with a performance that’ll give you some semblance of pre-pandemic life, which is all so many of us want right now.


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USA is the top market for Indian apparel exports
12 February 2021: Being the sixth largest exporter of textiles and apparels in the world, India’s share in mercantile exports is 11% for the year 2019-20 as informed by Minister of Textiles, Smt. Smriti Irani. US market is the top market for Indian apparel exports, she added.
Taking a major step to boost exports, Government has recently decided to extend the benefit of the Scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to all export goods with effect from 1st January, 2021.
Meanwhile, MMF segment and technical textiles are included among the 10 key sectors as announced by the Cabinet. The government has approved Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme with approved financial outlay of Rs.10,683 crore over a five year period. Accordingly this Ministry is formulating a scheme to promote identified MMF Apparel and Technical Textile lines to capture substantial share in global trade including US.
The recent Union Budget announcements 2021-22 include the launch of Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (MITRA) Parks scheme will create world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities to enable and create global champions in exports.


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Joules chief executive Colin Porter
Annual underlying pre-tax profit for the group, which has 123 stores in the UK and Ireland, grew by 28.5 percent to £13million on 18.4 percent higher sales of £185.9million.
In the past year, customers increased by nearly a quarter to 1.15 million while international revenue jumped by over 40 percent.
Announcing its annual results, Joules chief executive Colin Porter said: "It has been another strong year of growth for the Joules brand, with our continued expansion within the UK and international markets enabling the group to a profit performance ahead of initial expectations.
"This performance is testament to the strength and appeal of the Joules brand, our unique product offer and our growing and loyal customer base.
“We have made excellent progress against our strategy of expanding the brand both at home and abroad, and the board remains confident that this momentum will continue in the 2019 financial year."
Joules aims to open about six new stores this year.


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2 Nov 2015
Fireworks Extravaganza back for another year!
Loughborough Students’ Union Fireworks Extravaganza is back and is set to be bigger than ever.
The event, open to all, is organised by LSU Rag. It will open its gates at 6pm on Saturday 7 November. Shortly after there will be a children’s firework display taking place at 7pm.
Following that is an iconic and creative lighting show, choreographed to music against the prestigious Hazlerigg Building - a first for Loughborough’s annual Fireworks Extravaganza!
The larger and main fireworks display will take place at 8pm. There will also be fairground rides and food outlets on campus for the event.
Tickets cost £6 for adults and £2.50 for children. Family tickets for two adults and two children are also available for £12. Entrance to event is Loughborough University, Epinal Way.
No booking required, to purchase tickets in advance visit www.lsu.co.uk/rag or tickets are available to purchase on the night of the event.


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2 Oxnard women arrested for retail theft after allegedly hiding clothes in empty stroller
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif .– Two Oxnard women were arrested in Camarillo on Tuesday after they were found in possession of items stolen from Camarillo and Ventura.
At around 3:09 p.m., Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies from the Camarillo Police Station responded to Block 600 of Ventura Boulevard to investigate an ongoing theft.
Area security officers helped MPs find theft suspects, identified as two Oxnard women in their 20s, who were hiding in the parking lot
MPs determined that the women used a magnetic device to remove safety sensors from several items of clothing before hiding them in an empty stroller and exiting the store.
The women were arrested and MPs decided to search their car, which eventually revealed a large volume of merchandise that was allegedly stolen from a large retail store in the town of Ventura.
Ventura police were called to the scene and confirmed that the two Oxnard women stole the merchandise from a local store by removing security sensors and hiding the items in a stroller.
In total, all stolen items found with the Oxnard women were valued at $ 1,670.
The women were held in the Ventura County Main Jail for organized retail theft, conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of burglary tools.
The two women posted a $ 20,000 bond.
They are due in court on October 12, 2021.


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The Cheesecake Factory ®, the award-winning and consumer favorite casual dining restaurant in the United States, has made its much-anticipated debut in Kuwait. The occasion was celebrated at an official ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by David Overton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated and Mohammed Alshaya, Executive Chairman, M.H. Alshaya.
The Cheesecake Factory's Kuwait opening was celebrated at an official ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by David Overton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated and Mohammed Alshaya, Executive Chairman, M.H. Alshaya. (Photo: Business Wire)
The opening of The Cheesecake Factory in Kuwait follows on the brand’s successful Middle East launch in Dubai this August and continues its planned expansion across the Middle East with Alshaya, a leading international retail franchise operator in the region. The restaurant, occupying 13,160 square feet with 475 seats, is located at The Avenues, Kuwait’s leading mall. Guests can enjoy The Cheesecake Factory dining experience Sunday through Wednesday 11.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays 11.00 a.m. to 12.00 midnight and Saturdays 10.00 a.m. till 11.00 p.m.
“The Cheesecake Factory’s arrival in the Gulf has been overwhelmingly positive, reflecting our great potential in the region and affirming our decision to expand into the Middle East as part of our global expansion. Our reputation and brand awareness are far-reaching, and we are delighted to be growing The Cheesecake Factory with Alshaya, which has a remarkable legacy of retail leadership,” said David Overton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated.
“For nearly 35 years, The Cheesecake Factory has been known for menu innovation, food quality, ambiance and hospitality. Our menu features more than 200 selections and in keeping with our high standards, menu items will be made in-house, to order, using only the freshest of ingredients,” added Overton. “The menu also will offer our full line of award-winning desserts, including more than 30 varieties of cheesecakes and other baked goods. Guests will experience fantastic food served in an upscale ambiance within a casual setting.”
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Google rolled out Chrome 94 last month, bringing several new improvements such as HTTPS-First mode, Chrome Sharing Hub, a less cluttered Settings page, and other new features. Google is now offering a new version to users. The latest release, Chrome 95, brings Material You Makeover, secure payment confirmation, the ability to save tab groups, and more for all users on Android 12.
While Google has been slowly updating the Google Chrome Android version with Material You elements in the past months, users had to enable several Chrome flags to get the new design. But now that seems to be changing. According to a report in Android Police, Material You elements redesigned with Chrome 95 are now accessible to everyone by default on Android 12.
Chrome 95 also introduces a new payment extension to WebAuthn to provide a consistent and strong authentication experience for online payments. In its post announcing the new feature, Google said, “Secure payment confirmation enhances the payment verification experience on the web with the help of WebAuthn. This feature adds a new payment extension to WebAuthn. This extension allows a trusted party such as a bank to create a PublicKeyCredential that can be queried by any merchant via the “Payment Request API” using secure payment. ”, talking about the experience the feature offers.
The latest Chrome version also gives users the option to save tab groups. However, this feature is already hidden behind a flag. Users need to enable the “chrome://flags/#tab-groups-save” flag and restart the browser if they want to try this feature. In addition, as spotted by a Reddit user /Arnas_Z, Google is also ending support for devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop with the version of Chrome 95.
Finally, let’s mention that Chrome 95 will be available on the stable channel on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS in the coming days.


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But, wait, there's more!
Yesterday we brought you the first installment of the most exciting new models headed our way in 2021. Now we've got another five new cars that should get your pulse racing and looking ahead with anticipation.
Porsche 911 GT3
New sports car arrivals don't come much bigger than this, Porsche's ultimate road racer.
The 911 is widely considered the king of sports cars and the GT3 sits near the top of the line-up, with its focus on maximum driving engagement. Which is why its impending arrival in the second half of 2021 is such big news.
The German brand has already teased the new model and revealed it will get the latest iteration of the brand's 4.0-litre flat-six which will now make 375kW of power and 469Nm of torque and rev all the way to 9000rpm. More importantly, it will get a racing-inspired aerodynamic package (including a swan-neck rear wing taken directly from the track) that will help it corner even faster to ensure it's a step above the out-going model.
It's one of the most famous nameplates in sports sedan history – and it has a bold new look.
The brand has applied its polarising new look ‘nostrils' to both the M3 and its two-door sibling, the M4 Coupe, which are bound to cause a stir when they arrive in the first quarter of the year.
But whether you like the look or not, the M3/M4 are packing the kind of performance that have made them such popular performance cars for decades.
Both are powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo six-cylinder engine, and both will be available in a standard and Competition version. The standard M3/M4 engine tune is good for 353kW/550Nm while the M3/M4 Competition turns it up to 375kW/650Nm. Another major difference between the standard and Competition models is the former will be exclusively rear-wheel drive, while the latter come with all-wheel drive for even greater traction.
Pricing for the range will begin at $144,900 for the M3 and $149,900 for the M4 with the Competition versions adding $10k.
There's a lot of reasons for car companies NOT to build sports cars these days – emission regulations, high-production costs, the popularity of SUVs etc – but thankfully Nissan believes building cars like the Zed are a part of its DNA as a company.
That's why the unveiling of the Z Proto last year was so exciting, coming at a time when the Japanese brand could have easily turned its focus to its future building electric SUVs but instead chose to proudly carry on its petrol-powered performance heritage.
The Z Proto was a thinly-disguised concept car which will spawn the 400Z production in 2021; or at least that's the badge widely expected. That's good news because the Z Proto takes elements of the Zed models of all but combines them in a cohesive and modern body.
Under the bonnet is a new twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, which should up performance to give the 400Z a chance to take on its arch-rival – the Toyota Supra.
Expect the production version of the Z Proto to be revealed shortly before it arrives locally at the end of the year.
The Italian brand made a splash in 2020, revealing its first new sports car in more than a decade. After years of focusing on grand tourers and adding the Levante SUV, Maserati got back to its core with the MC20.
It's a mid-engine sports car powered by an all-new 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 engine making 463kW and 730Nm. It's also meant to form the basis for the brand's return to sports car racing; likely with a GT3 program. And if that's not enough Maserati has also confirmed it will build an electric version of the MC20 in the near-future.
Local pricing was confirmed late last year too, with the MC20 starting at $438,000, which puts it in direct competition with the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo S, Lamborghini Huracan and McLaren 720S.
Ram 1500 TRX
Big utes are big business in Australia. RAM Australia (part of the Ateco group) was one of the first to see the appeal of these mammoth load-luggers in the local market, introducing the RAM 1500 back in 2018.
Now the company is planning on raising the bar again with the fastest and most powerful version – the RAM 1500 TRX. It should have the likes of the Ford Ranger Raptor and even the Volkswagen Amarok W580 worried because it's packing serious firepower.
That's because it skips the sensible diesel engines of its rivals and goes for pure muscle car performance – a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine making a whopping 523kW and 881Nm.
RAM Australia hasn't officially confirmed the TRX Torquecafe.com believes a limited run of this monster ute will be arriving locally before the end of the year. And while they're likely to carry a price tag near $200k, based on the current appetite for hi-po utes they should all be snapped up.


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Toronto marketer Jennifer Morozowich thinks she has found a purr-fect business opportunity — a cat café she’ll call the Smitten Kitten Café.
Riding a trend that began in Japan, Morozowich is planning a fall launch for this hang-out for people who don’t or can’t have cats at home.
Up to 10 adoptable cats will reside in an as-yet-to-be-found location. She will get the cats from local shelters. Visitors, will be charged an hourly rate that includes a pastry, unlimited coffee or tea and plenty of feline company.
“It’s a commitment to animals. . . community and helping out shelters,” Morozowich says.
She envisions a space for board games, book clubs, movie nights, workspaces and quiet corners —with high shelving and hiding nooks for the kitties.
“The whole goal is to connect guests with cats,” Morozowich says.


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Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa (VMMEA) said it is targeting more than 10 million subscribers within five years after the mobile virtual operator (MVNO) announced that it has now reached 2.5 million users in the region.
VMMEA, which said in 2013 that it intended to extend the Virgin Mobile brand to markets in the Middle East, became the first fully licensed MVNO in Saudi Arabia in 2014 and achieved 1 million users in the kingdom in 2015.
As well as Saudi Arabia, the Dubai-based company operates MVNOs in South Africa, Oman, Jordan, and Malaysia, and is targeting 10 operations in total over the next five years. United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait have previously been cited as potential targets.
Mikkel Vinter, CEO and founder of VMMEA, noted that the region is extremely dynamic in terms of mobile services take-up.
"In the Gulf region, in particular, there is an increasing focus to the customer experience both via traditional and digital channels," Vinter said. "The swift and sustained adoption of VMMEA services signals that as a group we are well positioned for this change."
VMMEA is the holding company for Virgin Mobile's expansion into the Middle East and Africa regions. It was first established in 2006 and renamed in 2012 when Virgin Group and FRiENDi Group combined their shareholdings in Virgin Mobile South Africa and FRiENDi Mobile businesses.
Both Virgin and FRiENDi have been retained as consumer-facing brands. For example, FRiENDi is used in Oman, Jordan and Malaysia while Virgin Mobile is used in the other markets.
In 2014, Virgin Mobile South Africa also unveiled new mobile plans that it hopes will help it achieve an ambitious goal of reaching 1 million subscribers in the next three years.
VMMEA also operates Eris Telecom, which provides international wholesale carrier services among other offerings.
- see this VMMEA release
Virgin Mobile South Africa unveils strategy to reach 1M users in three years
Virgin Mobile plans to launch Saudi MVNO by June
Branson targets Gulf markets with Virgin Mobile brand
Report: Virgin Mobile to make sharp exit from India
MVNOs on the move


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Click For Photo: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/06/19/22/4D6BEBE000000578-0-image-a-28_1529442696007.jpg
Amazon has increasingly been moving towards automatizing its supply chain, and new publicly released patents show a strange drone with airbags and claws.
The patent for the 'Collaborative Unmanned Aerial Vehicle For an Inventory System' was filed nearly three years ago, but just became part of the public domain.
Machine - Vehicle - Airbag - 'retention - Feature
The bizarre machine is an unmanned vehicle with a 'buoyant airbag' a 'retention feature,' 'drive unit,' and 'an onboard control module'.
The retention feature is essentially a large claw, and the potential drone would have propellers for lift and directional movement.
Patent - Application - Drone - Warehouses - Places
The patent application says the unusual drone would be used in its warehouses for hard-to-reach places.
'Inventory systems are now occasionally split between ground floors and mezzanine levels within a large structure,' it reads.
Wake Up To Breaking News!
Tyranny has such cute names, like Democrat, Republican, Congress, Senate...


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If you want something chic, something ethnic, something cotton and something which is not a very expensive designer collection, nor does it falls in the bracket of lawn collection. Then Origins is the one stop shop for you!
Origins, which has a flagship store in Lahore, opened its doors at Zamzama on April 30, here in Karachi.
The store was surrounded with celebrities and a few socialites apart from the fashion journalists hoping to see what it has to offer. The store’s launch was crowded as people were scrambling to see the outfits and there was very little space to walk around in a liberated manner. At the launch itself, there were as many as 52 designs available and the price range was between Rs2,800-Rs6,000. Ali Pervez, co-owner of said: “The whole idea is to create a brand. What was missing in Pakistan is a complete pret line, this is the one thing that we’re offering at our store.”
Pervez further said: “In a country like Pakistan where there’s a concept of expensive designer wear and where an expensive lawn market exists, pret line is not being catered to women [from various walks of life]. Hence we see in the West, there is a whole new concept of ready-to-wear collection which is acceptable and highly appreciated, (in the same way) we would like our brand to be like none other than Banana Republic, where women can easily come and buy a pret outfit in a very competitive market.”
Spotted at the launch event were television actors Sakina Samo, Ayesha Khan, Humayun Saeed and Mahirah Khan-Askari. Mahirah said: “I love this collection.” Sakina Samo was quite positive about the outfit collection: “It is ethnic and comfortable collection.”
Designer Feeha Jamshed of TeeJays remarked that: “ is original.” This statement was completely accepted by Pervez, who claimed: “She is right. Nobody else is promoting the culture of Pakistan like we are, from bringing Sindhi ralli work, Kashmiri tanka work and Bahawalpuri block prints. We believe many people are going western with their outfits but we are completely sticking to our exclusive (design philosophy).”
The lady behind the design scheme is Ayesha Pervez, who in the words of Nadia Jamil, TV show host, is: “A business genius and a super-human of the 21st century.”
While giving out details about why she chose to be a part of , Jamil said: “I prefer it over other pret-lines because they have used high quality cotton, the tailoring has been done really well and the outfit drapes you fairly well.” Jamil further said: “Origin is ethnic, funky and chic. It’s more for cosmopolitan women. Its natural colour and minimalistic designs will be available in a complete new variety, every other week.”
When Ali Pervez was asked about the response, he said: “The response was great, if you’d say a 100 per cent attendance was in tow then at least out of those people, 95 per cent of people bought something or the other from the store at its opening.”
So what’s up next for Ali Pervez: “We plan to bring our Phulkaari collection to Karachi soon. Apart from that we plan to cater to a bigger clientele in Pakistan by opening multiple stores across various cities, especially in Islamabad and Peshawar.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2011.


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The Olympus E-PL1 budget micro four thirds camera launched last week but Amazon already has it available for pre-order. On one hand this pre-order will ensure you’re one of the first kids at school with the new toy, but that’s not going to be until next month away so you may wanna hold on to your $600 a bit longer. Something a bit more tantalizing might come along.
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The classic game would be released for PlayStation 4 late this year, Kotaku UK reported, citing multiple unnamed sources.
Kotaku UK states that sources close to the matter have said the plan is to remaster the original trilogy, which includes Spyro the Dragon, Ripto's Rage! So expect the Crash and Spyro remasters to appear on other platforms this year and next. The Kotaku report also noted that the trilogy could be tied to a one-year exclusivity deal, adding that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is tied to a similar deal.
As far as updates to the games, they will feature refreshed lighting, new animations and cinematic pieces, changes to how the game saves (no passwords), as well as a revamp of the original soundtrack. The title will feature PlayStation Pro support too.
Rumours suggest that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will be coming to at least Switch and PC this year, and we'd assume Xbox One as soon as Activision are legally able.
It's rumoured to be announced as early as next month with a Q3 2018 window in sight.
In an interview before the release of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy in June past year, the game's creative director Dan Tanguay said that if it did well, an entirely new Crash Bandicoot game may happen. Activision has not confirmed this rumor, but March is just around the corner, so we won't have to wait long. After all, the original Spyro game was launched for the first PlayStation in September 1998. I grew up with Spyro the Dragon and have a larger connection to it than Crash, so I would consider this pretty much a day-one purchase for me.


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A summary for Corporate Marketers, Media Sales Executives and Advertising Agencies to see what clients are moving into the Hispanic market and/or targeting Hispanic consumers right now.
Heineken is shopping for a global digital agency.Heineken International is holding a global pitch to find an agency to create a digital platform for its flagship beer brand. It is understood that Creativebrief is handling the review. The lager giant will add the appointed agency to its global roster as one of its lead digital shops. The platform is expected to focus initially on Heineken, but could be rolled out across brands such as Strongbow, Foster’s, and Kronenbourg 1664. Heineken USA also did a Hispanic campaign last summer for its Indio beer line.


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Deals made to fill up half of city’s entertainment district
With two new tenants signed this week, the $70 million entertainment district is nearly half leased, according to Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex officials.
BJCC Executive Director Tad Snider said the district, which has been coined “Uptown,” has four to six retail spaces – roughly 20,000 square feet – still available after signing a lease with celebrity chef Todd English and Octane Coffee Co. LLC.
“We’re on target with where we thought we would be,” Snider said. “Now, it’s a matter of building on the momentum.”
English’s PUB, or Public Urban Bar, will open in a 7,500-square-foot space in the district’s $50 million The Westin Birmingham hotel in late January, Snider said. Octane is scheduled to open in a 1,090-square-foot space, also in the Westin, soon afterward.
Following those openings, the Dallas-based Texas de Brazil chain of Brazilian-American steakhouses has announced plans to open in the first quarter of 2013.
The restaurant’s 7,200-square-foot lease is the only one so far in Uptown’s retail building across 23rd Street North from the 294-room Westin.
Snider said construction at the hotel was almost finished and that the two new tenants have completely leased its retail space.
Bayer Properties LLC, which the BJCC hired in 2011 at $10,000 a month to lease the district, is in talks with several more potential tenants now for Uptown, he said.
“We are excited to continue to fill the entertainment district with a variety of new and unique businesses,” Birmingham Mayor William Bell said in a statement.
Ryan Poe covers real estate, retail and manufacturing for the Birmingham Business Journal. Click here to follow him on Twitter. Click here to join him on Google+.
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TidalWire Inc., a storage area networking (SAN) services company, and Kanatek Technologies Inc., a Canadian-based global systems integrator specializing in storage networking solutions, this week announced details of a new distribution relationship.
Under the agreement, TidalWire becomes the worldwide distributor for Kanatek's SANback for Brocade software, a product developed by Kanatek that it said automatically backs up and restores Brocade(TM) switch configuration settings.
"At Kanatek, we are committed to developing storage networking software products that increase ROI for end-users," said Brian Dilks, General Manager, Kanatek Software Division. "Our partnership with TidalWire allows us to deliver the SANback advantage to a wider audience. TidalWire's experience with Brocade Communications' Silkworm switch environments makes us confident that this will be a mutually beneficial partnership."
"Adding Kanatek's SANback software to our roster of interconnect products is an important addition to TidalWire," said President and CEO, Jeff Brandes. "SANback for Brocade addresses a key need for Brocade switch users with growing and complex SAN environments. With SANback, we deliver an important layer of scalability, security, capability and management to Brocade switch environments, which means the best service for our customers."


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Tractor maker Deere & Co in the headlights of US-China trade war
American farmers are to cut back further on machinery purchases as they try to weather the trade war with China, according to the world’s leading tractor maker.
Deere & Co missed Wall Street’s forecasts for its quarterly results yesterday and cut its full-year profit and sales outlook, but its shares climbed as it eased fears of a more severe downturn.
The company, valued at $45 billion, is best known for its distinctive green and yellow tractors, which it sells worldwide. It also makes quarrying machinery and road-laying equipment. Founded by John Deere in Illinois in 1837, it is a bellwether for America’s agricultural and manufacturing industries.
Samuel Allen, 65, chairman and chief executive, said that the results “reflect the high degree of uncertainty that continues


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PHILADELPHIA — After years of struggle, wholesalers on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market are finally doing business out of the long-planned terminal market.
The doors officially opened for business June 5.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world seeing the accomplishment we made in this market,” said Jimmy Storey, former terminal association president and president and owner of Quaker City Produce Co.
Storey said all of the leaders involved in the process did a commendable job.
“We have great satisfaction being here. We went through a lot,” said Richard Nardella, chief executive and financial officer of Nardella Inc.
In the early 2000s, Nardella and Storey started the long process of finding new terminal market facilities as the city’s aging and decrepit market proved incapable of meeting modern produce handling requirements.
While they wanted new facilities, many of the 26 wholesalers and their customers expressed concern that the new facility’s higher operating expenses would harm business.
Chip Wiechec, president of Hunter Bros. Inc., said those fears did not materialize.
“I think everyone was more concerned about the increase in rent and expenses,” he said. “Some thought product would be artificially inflated because of our increase in overhead costs. But the increases in some portions of our overhead were matched by some decreases in operating expenses and the streamlining of our operations.”
The improvements, such as maintaining consistent temperatures, have helped the handling of produce, said Mark Levin, co-owner of M. Levin & Co Inc.
“If nothing else, we’re making money because we have less shrink,” he said. “We’re losing fewer packages due to mishandling or weather conditions or lack thereof. ... It’s always 55 degrees. And will be the same today and in January.”
The operation provides numerous efficiencies for distributors and their customers, said Martin Roth, secretary-treasurer of Coosemans Philadelphia Inc.
“The customers love it because the product is being refrigerated at all times,” he said.
Roth said he had a small customer fearful of a more difficult new marketplace who nearly screamed that he’d retire before relocating his business to the new facility.
However, after two days of walking the floor and seeing how easy it is to back his truck into the docks and leave with his orders, the customer quickly changed his mind and now tells Roth that the operation makes produce handling “as easy as selling sliced bread.”
Leonard Klinghoffer, partner and president of Klinghoffer Bros. Inc., is considered the oldest living produce salesman working in the market.
Klinghoffer, 87, plans to retire later this year. He started working produce on the city’s old Dock Street market and later made the move to the older facility on Pattison and Packer avenues, which opened in 1959.
“This is a great facility,” Klinghoffer said. “There is plenty of parking for the trucks that come in and when the merchandise comes in, it stays well and goes out well. We didn’t have this with the older market which was modern when it opened.”
The new facilities bear no resemblance to the older market operations, said Mike Maxwell, president of Procacci Bros. Sales Corp. Chief executive officer and board chairman Joseph Procacci was one of the produce leaders who helped relocate terminal market operations.
“It’s a whole other world, like the 21st century vs. the 20th century,” Maxwell said. “The honeymoon period is over and we are becoming more and more familiar with the building every day.”


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More and more, it’s all about mobile
ComScore, which tracks Web and mobile usage, has published a report showing that the effects of a movement toward mobile are everywhere, from shopping to media to search, according to the New York Times.
According to the report, “2013 could spell a very rocky economic transition,” and businesses will have to scramble to stay ahead of consumers’ changing behavior.
The mobile transition is happening astonishingly quickly, the Times reported. Last year, smartphone penetration crossed 50 percent for the first time, led by Android phones. People spend 63 percent of their time online on desktop computers and 37 percent on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, according to comScore.
Google’s map app for the iPhone, which had been the most used mobile app, lost its No. 1 spot to Facebook after Apple kicked Google’s maps off the iPhone in October, the Times reported. Now, Facebook reaches 76 percent of the smartphone market and accounts for 23 percent of total time spent using apps each month. The next five most used apps are Google’s, which account for 10 percent of time on apps.
As mobile continues to take share from desktop, some industries have been particularly affected, and they are seeing significant declines in desktop use of their products as a result, the Times reported. They are newspapers, search engines, maps, weather, comparison shopping, directories and instant messenger services.
Last year was also pivotal for online video, comScore said, as viewers increasingly seek the ability to watch video when and where they want, the Times reported.
In the United States, 75 million people a day watch online video and stream 40 billion videos a month, and viewing is driven by YouTube.
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Mobile Games are Taking the Casino Market by Storm and Leading to Big Changes
For years, players have turned to flash and free casino downloads to play their favorite casino games. Tides are turning. Studies find that a larger share of the market is turning to mobile casino gaming. SuperData Research finds that free casino downloads on PCs fell by eight percent. Players tapping into online casinos have dropped to 49 percent. Meanwhile, mobile gaming's increased to 85 percent.
Other Interesting Study Results
While mobile casinos may be all the rage, there were a few other interesting tidbits discovered in the study. Players using mobile casinos get bored easily. On average, it was found they switch apps within eight months. They also spent less than an hour per session, while PC players tend to spend more than an hour playing their favorite games.
Players using mobile devices also deposited half the money that players using a computer tend to deposit. As a result, while more players are embracing mobile casinos, they're not spending as much money. That's certain to impact the industry.
What Happens Now
It's really up to mobile casinos to meet the changing needs and interests of players. Improvements in mobile devices and technology continue to allow mobile casino operators to add better games and graphics. There's already a shift of players playing traditional casino games like slots to more advanced games like the popular strategy game Clash of Clans. Players are tossing aside apps that offer dozens of games for those focusing on specific genres.
With a larger catalog of games and faster transactions, it's not going to be surprising to see mobile casinos attracting more players. What do you hope to see in the future? Keep watching and you may find your mobile casino wishes coming true.


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Originally coined by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Kevin Ashton in the late 1990s, the term “Internet of things” refers to the networking of small physical devices such as sensors, cameras and microphones through the internet. Enabled by recent advances in artificial intelligence and low-power microprocessors, technology giants such as Amazon and Google have brought affordable smart speakers — Alexa and Home respectively — to consumers. In addition, many companies are now producing smart lightbulbs and thermostats which can be operated through a smartphone app or devices such as smart speakers. The possibilities offered by these devices cannot be understated. IoT devices offer an economical means of collecting data, streaming music and making homes more energy efficient.
Brendan Schuetze: The Internet of Things
more iot news
20/09/2018 - 17:17
Marcus Kirsch: When all you have is a hammer... The mindset behind Agile, Design Thinking and every modern company


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Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi is due to debut in Brazil on 30 June, at a meeting in São Paulo, the company said in a statement cited by the Brazilian press.
At that meeting, Xiaomi’s vice president for international expansion, Brazil’s Hugo Barra, will announce the products with which the company will start operating in Brazil and how its marketing will be carried out.
In China, where the company overtook South Korea’s Samsung in the number of handsets sold, the company’s products are exclusively sold online.
Xiaomi does not currently sell any of its products in Brazil but in December 2014 the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) authorised the sale in Brazil of the group’s first mobile phone, the Redmin Note 4G. (macauhub/BR/CN)


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2. Let’s review this “bad-boy:”
-12 MB of Ram
-500 MB harddrive
-Built in spread-sheet capabilities
-And a modem that transmits at over 28,000 BPS
To be honest, I’m a little jealous of the spread-sheet capabilities of his computer.
- Donald Trump's supporters think his comments about Miss Universe are no big deal.
- This is no illusion: Lady Gaga confirmed she's headlining the Super Bowl halftime show in February 🏈🎉
- Asos workers at the heart of its global retail empire say they're being treated like machines to deliver fast fashion.


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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleges that the companies not only charged illegal advance fees for credit repair services, but also misrepresented their ability to repair consumers’ credit scores.
Under a proposed final judgment, Prime Credit LLC, IMC Capital LLC, Commercial Credit Consultants, Blake Johnson, and Eric Schlegel would pay a civil money penalty of more than $1.5 million. Under a second proposed final judgment, Park View Law, known formerly as Prime Law Experts Inc., and its owner Arthur Barens would pay $500,000 to the U.S. Treasury.
“Today, the bureau is taking action against companies that charged illegal fees and misled consumers about their ability to fix their credit,” Richard Cordray, director of the bureau, said Wednesday.
Commercial Credit Consultants is a Wyoming corporation with a principal place of business in Los Angeles, Calif., that has also operated under the name Accurise. It offered and sold credit repair services to consumers from the summer of 2009 until the summer of 2012.
Prime Credit, also known as Prime Marketing LLC and Prime Credit Consultants, is a Los Angeles-based company that offered similar credit repair services from the summer of 2012 through the fall of 2014.
IMC Capital is a Los Angeles-based company that provided credit repair services in 2012. Johnson was the founder and majority owner of Commercial Credit Consultants, Prime Credit, and IMC Capital, while Schlegel was the president and a minority shareholder of Commercial Credit Consultants and Prime Credit.
Arthur Barens owned Prime Credit’s business partner, Park View Law, based in Los Angeles. From March 2013 through September 2014, Prime Credit marketed and sold credit repair services to consumers using Park View Law’s name, and provided credit repair services to consumers who entered into contracts with Park View Law. Park View Law continued to offer and provide credit repair services through a similar arrangement until as late as June 2015.
In lawsuits filed with the proposed final judgments, the bureau alleges that the defendants made misleading, unsubstantiated claims that they could remove virtually any negative information from consumers’ credit reports and could boost consumers’ credit scores by significant amounts. The companies attracted thousands of customers through sales calls and their websites, at times targeting consumers who had recently sought to obtain a mortgage, loan, refinancing, or other extension of credit.
The bureau alleges that the companies charged these consumers millions of dollars in illegal advance fees for their services. It also alleges that these practices violated federal law.
The bureau alleges that the defendants:
- Charged illegal advance fees: Federal law bars telemarketers and some companies from requesting or collecting fees for credit repair services until conditions are met about the delivery of those services. The companies charged a variety of fees for their services before demonstrating that the promised results had been achieved as required by law. The companies charged consumers fees for an initial consultation to review a consumer’s credit report. The company also charged set-up fees totaling hundreds of dollars and monthly fees that often equaled $89.99 per month.
- Failed to disclose limits on “money-back guarantees”: The companies offered a money-back guarantee for some services. However, they failed to disclose that the guarantee had significant limits, including that the consumer must pay for at least six months of the service to be eligible for the guarantee.
- Misled consumers about the benefits of their services: The companies misrepresented that their credit repair services would result in the removal of negative entries on consumers’ credit reports. The companies also misrepresented to customers that their credit repair services would result in a substantial increase to consumers’ credit scores. The companies lacked a reasonable basis for making these claims.
In addition to paying the amounts listed in the proposed final judgments, all defendants would be prohibited from doing business within the credit repair industry for five years and permanently prohibited from violating the Dodd-Frank Act or the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The final judgments have been filed in federal court, and they'll be effective when approved by a judge.
In September 2016, the bureau filed a lawsuit alleging similar violations of federal law against Prime Marketing Holdings, a credit repair company that partnered with Park View Law from September 2014 to June 2015. That litigation is ongoing.


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The successor to the Apple Watch will be launched later this year, and unlike its predecessor, it will not require an iPhone to work, according to analyst Timothy Arcuri from Cowen & Co. He also said that the wearable might feature an OLED screen exclusively supplied by Samsung.
As for the first generation Apple Watch, which is set to go on sale next month on April 24th, Arcuri said that the iPhone maker is still facing yield issues with the device, predicting that the company will be able to build only 6 million units by June. He added that Apple is working with Foxconn to solve the low yield problem.
Finally, Arcuri also predicted that the bulk of the Apple A9 processor orders will be won by Taiwan-based TSMC, which is the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry.


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The first Modern Warfare III multiplayer beta weekend will begin on October 6
The trailer teases the return of the Modern Warfare series antagonist Vladimir Makarov.
The game’s platforms have yet to be announced.
A Spotlight on Call of Duty Scarred within the ever-evolving game market is the infamous first-person shooter franchise Call of Duty. Trying to keep up with the trends of other industry top-dogs, this series has recently lagged behind in terms of success. Unique to this franchise, three developers take turns creating yearly entries, each with its […]
Call of Duty Modern Warfare Trilogy coming next week The newly announced Trilogy Pack is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 next week, according to US retailer Best Buy. It appears the package will include Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 alongside DLC for the second game. The $30 dollar package will […]


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PUTRAJAYA: The Agriculture and Agro-based Ministry expects about 1,000 metric tonnes of Malaysia’s frozen whole durian to enter the Chinese market every month.
Its Minister, Datuk Salahuddin Ayub told reporters this at the launch of the event to commemorate the inaugural export of Malaysia’s frozen whole durian to China here today.
He said the export protocol was signed on Aug 20 last year in Beijing, China, adding that exports of the king of fruits is expected to contribute close to RM500 million to the nation’s total export value annually.
Five companies were given the green light to export the fruit to China, namely Exofruits Industry Sdn Bhd, JL Food Industries Sdn Bhd, PHG Ever Fresh Food (M) Sdn Bhd, Top Fruits Sdn Bhd and KAMI Food Services Sdn Bhd.
“We hope that more companies will be able to get the permission to export the fruit soon,” he said.
Also present was China’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian.
Salahuddin said the ministry was confident that the total production of the fruit would be sufficient for the local, international and China’s large market demand.
He said total production of durian rose to 341,000 metric tonnes last year from 211,000 metric tonnes in 2017, and was expected to keep increasing in the future, especially the premium variants such as the Musang King and Black Thorn.
“Negotiations with China in the past few years have resulted in the opening of more commercial durian farms, thus giving a boost to production,” he said.
Salahuddin added that Malaysia’s efforts to penetrate the Chinese market for durian began in 2007, and following negotiations between the two countries, Malaysia began exporting frozen durian in the form of pulps and paste in May 2011.
Last year, the country’s total durian export to China stood at RM9.44 million or 235.62 metric tonnes. – Bernama


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Microsoft is the latest company to drop out of next month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco amid concerns over the spreading COVID-19 disease.
“After a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco,” the company wrote in a blog post on Thursday morning. “The health and safety of players, developers, employees and our partners around the world is our top priority. Especially as the world is experiencing growing public health risks associated with coronavirus (COVID-19).”
Microsoft joins a list of high-profile game companies who have in recent weeks opted to skip this year’s convention: Sony, EA, Facebook Gaming, Kojima Productions, Capcom and Unity.
Shortly after Microsoft made its announcement, Epic Games, through its Unreal Engine’s official Twitter account, announced that it, too, would not attend this year’s convention: “Here at Epic we were excited about participating in GDC 2020. Regrettably, uncertainty around health concerns has made it unviable to send our employees, and so we have made the difficult decision to withdraw attendance.”
On Friday morning, Amazon also announced it would be skipping GDC: “AWS has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the 2020 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco due to continued concerns over COVID-19.” The company will instead host a “global online event, open to everyone, to showcase our planned content for GDC and more.”
Blizzard, too, made the decision to opt out of this year’s event on Friday, tweeting, “Blizzard will no longer attend this year’s @Official_GDC due to growing concerns related to COVID-19. The health and well-being of our teams is our highest priority.”
Gearbox Software also dropped out on Friday, citing “”employees’ health and wellness” as the “primary concern.”
2020 is slated to be a big year for Microsoft, as the company prepares for the launch of its next-generation console, Xbox Series X, for the holidays. Microsoft was set to demo a few upcoming titles at this year’s GDC. In lieu of a physical presence at the convention, the company will now host a digital-only event online from March 16-18, which will focus on “the latest in cloud and game development technologies through our technical talks and developer demos,” panel discussions with developers and a “behind-the-scenes look into design and development decisions made by the creators of Minecraft and Gears of War.”
With two of gaming’s “big three” (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) absent from the event, GDC has taken a significant hit. Earlier this week, GDC officials said the convention — scheduled to take place in the city from March 16-20 — is still “moving forward as planned.” A request for comment from the GDC was not immediately returned.
With another big gaming convention on the horizon, June’s E3 in Los Angeles, concerns over the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the games industry remain high, though Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week, “Right now, there isn’t any reason for an event like E3 to be [canceled].”
Feb. 27, 11:15 a.m. Updated with Epic Games’ announcement.
Feb. 28, 10:40 a.m. Updated with Amazon’s announcement.
Feb. 28, 2:22 p.m. Updated with Blizzard’s and Gearbox’s announcements.
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Beyoncé Knowles is set to be the face - and voice - of Giorgio Armani's new perfume, Emporio Armani Diamonds. The 'Dreamgirls' star will lend her looks and vocal talents to a TV advertising campaign, after being handpicked by the revered Italian designer. A source told the New York Post newspaper: "They have known each other for seven years, and Armani feels Beyoncé represents the glamour and glitz of the fragrance." The 25-year-old beauty will reportedly sing "an old American song" in the commercials. This is Beyonce's second fragrance deal according to archived news found on SoJones.com. On the fashion site, Beyonce's House of Dereon clothing page, linked news articles reveal the pop and R&B singer formerly signed a deal with Tommy Hilfiger. The 'Crazy In Love' Singer inked and launched a "True Star Gold" fragrance deal with Hilfiger in 2004.
The world-kwown sexy symbol and mega-star has also featured in advertising campaigns for L'Oreal, Pepsi and McDonalds. Emporio Armani Diamonds is set to hit shelves in September. Further information on the new scent by Beyonce and Giogio Armani will be listed on SoJones.com


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Sony Corporation recently held an investor day, which took place in Tokyo, Japan. The investor day provided an opportunity for Sony management to update the markets across all segment areas of its business. As always, we were mainly focused on Sony’s plans for its smartphone business and we came away with some interesting titbits.
We have known for a while that Sony’s product strategy revolves around the premium smartphone segment. One slide below highlights the opportunity, showing that there are very few competitors in the premium segment ($250+) versus the entry/mid-tier segments.
However, what hasn’t been made clear up until now is that Sony Mobile also has a regional strategy. Sony did say previously that it was refocusing on certain geographies, but never made it clear exactly which regions it would target. Sony has now confirmed that it expects to defocus on select regions – it explicitly says it expects its businesses in India, USA, China and Brazil to shrink.
Part of the reason for this is that Sony expects FY15-17 CAGR smartphone growth from India, China, Brazil, Indonesia to be just 0.3%. This compares to Sony’s estimate last year of +8.1%, showing just how much expectations have changed in a year.
Sony will instead look to focus its growth on East Asia (including Japan), Europe and the Middle East. Sony expects to ‘preserve’ its Latin American business and other Asia Pacific regions. You can check out the rest of the slides below, although we don’t learn too much else that we didn’t already know.
So if you are a Xperia fan from one of the regions that Sony plans to ‘defocus’ on, how does this news make you feel? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.


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Under cyber attack, tech giants innovateUnder cyber attack, tech giants innovateFacebook and AT&T improve security due to 'constant' attacks from cyber criminals.
Yahoo set to get final bids, report earningsYahoo set to get final bids, report earningsYahoo is prepping what could be the last earnings release for the company as we know it.
Shopping center stores opening in Gulf BreezeShopping center stores opening in Gulf BreezeDunkin' Donuts, AT&T and Mattress Firm to operate out of Gulf Breeze complex.
Joann Dost’s photos document Pebble Beach Golf CourseJoann Dost’s photos document Pebble Beach Golf Course“The Ultimate Round” is a glorious, spectacular, stunning and many other superlatives book
Pastors to Google Fiber: Don't exclude poor communitiesPastors to Google Fiber: Don't exclude poor communitiesThe conversation concerning Nashville’s digital divide has gained momentum in recent years.
- STEWART HOUSTON TIMES
Kids win big at Cops and Bobbers fishing rodeoKids win big at Cops and Bobbers fishing rodeoHouston County law enforcement came together to host a fishing day for kids with big prizes and free food.
Report: AT&T made bid for Yahoo assetsReport: AT&T made bid for Yahoo assetsCommunications giant reportedly made a bid for ailing media company.
AT&T acquires Net video provider QuickplayAT&T acquires Net video provider QuickplayAT&T has bolstered its streaming video prowess with the acquisition of TV tech company Quickplay Media.
New data rates anger AT&T customersNew data rates anger AT&T customersAT&T customers with high rates of internet use for streaming video, gaming, uploading could pay more starting this week.
Virtual Reality event opens eyes to distracted drivingVirtual Reality event opens eyes to distracted drivingStudent group at Apollo High School brought AT&T tour to St. Cloud
AT&T donates $250K to Mississippi Civil Rights MuseumAT&T donates $250K to Mississippi Civil Rights MuseumAT&T Inc. is giving $250,000 to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and adjoining Museum of Mississippi History.
Tech Five: Apple, Twitter shares sinkingTech Five: Apple, Twitter shares sinkingBoth companies whiffed on quarterly results released Tuesday.
AT&T shares fall, despite big revenues rise from DirecTVAT&T shares fall, despite big revenues rise from DirecTVAT&T shares fell in after-market trading Tuesday, though it beat analyst estimates
T-Mobile profits driven by new customersT-Mobile profits driven by new customersT-Mobile (TMUS) reported first quarter profits that blasted past analyst expectations.
The best way to maximize your data plan for lessThe best way to maximize your data plan for lessMoney expert, Matt Granite, outlines the best wireless plan for you if you're a big data streamer. Hint: his number one choice is not the company you may think.
- Personal Finance
The cheapest way to get unlimited data for your cell phoneThe cheapest way to get unlimited data for your cell phoneWhich carrier offer your the most data for your money
- PRESS ON YOUR SIDE
Samsung phone flop; Lakewood man battles AT&TSamsung phone flop; Lakewood man battles AT&TWhen you're looking for a job, the ability for someone to hear you on the telephone is pretty important.
AT&T, Mobilitie to pair on Kentucky Derby Day for stronger signalAT&T, Mobilitie to pair on Kentucky Derby Day for stronger signalA labyrinth of wires run the span of the giant server room in Churchill Downs with an upgrade allowing more capacity for wireless users on Derby Day. 4/18/16
- MarketplaceThese surcharges on new phones aren’t new, but they are in the news after Verizon Wireless began imposing them and AT&T then increased its own fees.
Fees at AT&T and Verizon are no upgradeFees at AT&T and Verizon are no upgradeSurcharges from wireless carriers apply to smartphone upgrades.
AT&T boost upgrade fee to $20AT&T boost upgrade fee to $20Wireless carrier bumps up fee to buy a new phone right after Verizon.
Hardware fees not just for cable InternetHardware fees not just for cable InternetFiber-optic services from companies like AT&T, Verizon will charge for hardware, too.
Is Microsoft in the Yahoo bidding hunt?Is Microsoft in the Yahoo bidding hunt?Tech giant said to mull financing for potential Yahoo takeover
Netflix throttling video for AT&T, Verizon usersNetflix throttling video for AT&T, Verizon usersNetflix says it sends lower quality video to AT&T and Verizon users to avoid data overages.


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Issaquah, Wash. — Costco cited CE among its better-performing hardlines categories in March.
Comp-store sales of hardlines rose by the mid-single digits for the five weeks, ended April 7, the retailer reported.
Janney Montgomery Scott analyst David Strasser noted that CE’s resurgence at Costco began last May, differentiating the warehouse club from industry trends.
Costco’s total U.S. comp-store sales increased 6 percent during the period, excluding the impact of lower gasoline prices, and net March sales rose 7 percent to $9.7 billion.
Store traffic was up 5 percent for the month, which helped drive the sales gains, the company said.
Elsewhere, Alco, the Kansas-based broadline chain, said net sales from its 217 stores and website edged up 1.4 percent to $44.8 million for the five weeks, ended April 7, while comp sales slipped 1.7 percent. Both tallies excluded gasoline.
President/CEO Rich Wilson attributed the modest results to extended winter weather throughout Alco’s Midwest trading area, which hurt sales of outdoor furniture and lawn and garden products.
Going forward, Alco will report sales on a quarterly, rather than a monthly, basis.
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