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Iceland debt sinks further into distress after rating cut
Frozen food giant Iceland has announced its debt rating has downgraded by Moody’s after the grocer fell to a pre-tax loss last year.
According to new filings on Companies House, Iceland revealed a pre-tax loss of £4.1 million for last year compared to a profit of £71.3 million in the year prior.
Sales dropped for the retailer by 4.3% to £3.55 billion, while its market share edged back slightly to 2.3% from 2.4%.
Adjusted EBITDA for the year fell back to £127.1 million from £171.9 million, which saw a substantial fall in its first quarter before seeing a steady improvement throughout the year.
The Deeside headquartered company added that it experienced a record-breaking Christmas in the third quarter and had traded well through the final quarter, with improving in-store performance.
However, credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the company from B2 to B3 – now six notches below investment grade and rated “highly speculative” – amid concerns over the impact of inflation, energy costs and customer spendings.
Moody’s lowered Iceland’s rating to B3, six levels below investment grade, saying that surging inflation will cause its credit metrics to deteriorate more than previously expected. British supermarkets are under pressure both from consumers and bills, with Iceland especially exposed to refrigeration costs for its predominantly frozen food products.
“Moody’s views reflect an increasingly challenging economic environment, with already strong evidence of high inflation affecting consumer spending even for groceries, as well as rising input and energy costs,” analysts at Moody’s said in a note.


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By Mike Feibus
In its first U.S. plastic-free fulfillment center, the retail giant has come up with a lighter, stronger paper packaging that consumers can recycle curbside
Amazon.com recently announced it has exorcised plastic packaging from its automated fulfillment center in Euclid, Ohio, a milestone on the path to eliminating plastic packaging from its U.S. logistics centers.
The development is both an accomplishment and a sobering reminder of what lies ahead on the $1 trillion global packaging industry's long road to sustainable packaging. Amazon, for one, has been vague about when it can expect full elimination of plastic packaging in the U.S. even as it intensifies these efforts in Europe.
Abandoning plastic is no easy feat. The material is so pervasive and enduring because the industry has blended different plastic resins to produce packaging that's impressively inexpensive, strong and light. But the combination of materials is also why plastics are so difficult to recycle.
Opinion: To boost recycling, require package manufacturers to share costs with taxpayers
That's why less than 9% of all plastic containers and packaging is recycled, with three-fourths ending up in landfills, streams and streets, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Paper products are far easier to recycle in part because there aren't different ingredients to separate. As a result, more than 80% of paper and paperboard containers are recycled.
For the long haul, Amazon(AMZN) and others are investing in materials that are as strong and light as plastic and as easy to recycle as paper. But that will take a village, as the plastic-like materials -- some of which haven't even been invented yet -- will also require new recycling equipment and processes.
Less than 9% of all plastic containers and packaging is recycled.
In the meantime, Amazon and others are working to replace plastic packaging today, with paper that can leverage existing curbside recycling infrastructure. For one, the company is transitioning to recycled paper filler away from plastic "pillows" to protect items inside boxes. The filler is curbside recyclable. This summer, the company also announced it is phasing out plastic-padded packages in favor of flexible paper bags and envelopes.
What's more, Amazon says it created a new paper box that's lighter than traditional corrugated boxes, is protected from moisture by a new coating, and it, too, can be recycled.
Amazon's packaging initiative reflects a broader preference for paper over plastic, fueled by a growing intolerance for the environmental scars the material leaves behind. A 2023 survey found that 55% of North American consumers intend to buy more from companies that are reducing or eliminating plastic packaging, up from 49% two years ago.
And it's no wonder why. The globe produces more paper and paperboard packaging: 41.9 million tons versus 35.7 million tons of plastic, according to the EPA's latest figures. Yet more than four times as much plastic -- 27 million tons compared to 6.4 million tons of paper packaging -- ends up as waste.
Industry is motivated to respond. In fact, the top three priorities for packaging innovation are to develop new materials, devise better production processes and trim the amount of materials they use, according to a recent poll of decisionmakers by Industrial Physics.
In addition to developing lighter, more durable, paper packaging, Amazon and the industry have been investing in new plastic-like packaging materials. For example, U.S. researchers recently developed a promising process to use bacteria to help produce biomaterials that are easily recyclable.
Amazon also is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab to develop processes for breaking down plastics so they can be recycled more easily or disposed of safely. As well, Indian recycler Lucro Plastecycle is working with Dow Inc.(DOW) to develop processes to recapture and reuse some of the most neglected plastic materials.
Researchers recently developed a promising process using bacteria to produce biomaterials and eventually, packaging, that is easily recyclable.
Companies also have found ways to slash the amount of packaging per shipment, developments that eliminate waste and emissions regardless of the packaging material. For one, Amazon and others have developed machines that produce made-to-fit corrugated packages.
The online retail giant also has been working with manufacturers to minimize external packaging by shipping more products in their original packaging. Last year, more than one in 10 packages shipped without any Amazon-added wrapping.
Others are contributing to the trend as well. Instead of packaging every datacenter rack and server, for example, Lenovo Group(HK:992) now saves more than 100 pounds of cardboard per rack by pre-installing unpackaged computers to its enterprise customers. Thanks to that innovation, the electronics manufacturer shipped nearly a third of all servers sold without packaging.
And in retail, some companies are working to trim the amount of plastic they use by selling higher concentrations of detergents in smaller containers, designing thinner packaging and increasing use of recycled material. Earlier this year, Unilever's(UK:ULVR) Dove brand launched a refillable roll-on deodorant that uses 56% less plastic than its disposable alternative.
Progress so far
It can be difficult to gauge whether companies are on track to achieve environmental and climate goals, because progress isn't linear. It comes in fits and starts. Electric vehicles(TSLA), for example, are proliferating faster than charging networks, and the resulting range and ease anxiety among consumers risks stilting demand. As well, many homes and businesses are replacing combustible-powered equipment for electric options in areas where energy utilities themselves are still powered by fossil fuels, namely natural gas(NG00).
As for next-generation packaging, it could take a decade or more before the industry makes a wholesale changeover to new materials with the best traits of plastic and the recyclability of paper. And until producers can churn out these as-yet undeveloped ingredients in volume, cities can collect and process used containers and recyclers can break them down for reuse, the impact won't show up in year-to-year progress data.
So it's good to see the industry invest in interim steps like Amazon's plastic-to-paper conversion, made all the more significant given Amazon's reach in U.S. households. This means we can count on an impact right now.
Mike Feibus is president and principal analyst of FeibusTech, a market research and consulting firm. Reach him at email@example.com. Follow him on X (formerlyTwitter) @MikeFeibus. He does not directly own shares of any companies mentioned.
-Mike Fe -i -b -u -s
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-01-23 1020ETCopyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Future Retail must take part in case against Reliance-Future deal filed by Amazon, says Singapore panel: Report
Singapore: Future Retail cannot avoid being part of the arbitration process over a commercial dispute with Amazon.com Inc, a Singapore arbitration panel ruled on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The Singapore arbitrator rejected the Indian retailer's attempt to avoid the process by stating that Amazon had initiated it incorrectly under a contract it signed with another Future group company, the report sid.
On August 29, 2020, Future Group had announced the sale of its retail and wholesale assets to Reliance Retail Ltd for Rs 24,713-crore.
In August 2019, Amazon had bought 49 percent stake in Future Coupons for Rs 1,500 crore.
Amazon said its 2019 deal with Future Group prevents it from selling the shares of Future Retail to RIL, its biggest rival in India, as the world's biggest e-commerce platform indirectly owns about a 3.5 percent stake in Future Retail.
On October 25, 2020, it won an injunction to halt the sale from the Singapore arbitrator that both the entities had agreed to use in case of a dispute.
In an order on Wednesday, which is not public but has been reviewed by Reuters, the panel disagreed with Future. It said the three agreements at the heart of the Future-Amazon dispute must be read together, and not separately, as Future argued.
The main arbitration proceedings will now begin in due course, people familiar with the matter said, according to Reuters.
Amazon is also fighting cases against the Reliance-Future deal in various Indian courts, including the Supreme Court.


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The 59-year-old firm, popular for selling ethnic products sourced mostly from rural areas, posted sales of Rs 1,148 crore with a net profit of Rs 116 crore, according to financials sourced from Veratech Intelligence, a research platform.
In FY18, it had posted a net profit of Rs 59.4 crore.
Read Also: How Khadi has entered the trend list with a swag
“We saw good overall recovery with many new initiatives yielding results. We are rapidly scaling our experience centres and these have helped increase store productivity and profitability,” said Viney Singh, managing director, Fabindia. “Our push behind fusion and western wear assortments and more on-trend styles has been very well received. Optimisation of cost structures after GST has also helped bring down costs.”
Nearly two years ago, Fabindia also launched four strategic business units (SBUs) — Home and Lifestyle, Personal Care, FabCafe and E-commerce — on a trial basis to sharpen focus and expand. Fabindia was founded in 1960 by John Bissell to market the craft traditions of India. It started out as an exporter of home furnishings and the first retail store came up in the Greater Kailash area of Delhi, 15 years later. In the mid-1990s, Bissell’s son, William, took over the company.


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Toggle Dark Mode
Apple on Wednesday seeded iOS 12 beta 8 to registered Apple developers, just a few days after pulling the previous beta version due to bugginess.
The new iOS 12 beta can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or as an over-the-air update if a device has the proper certificate installed. Apple also released iOS 12 public beta 6 for registered software testers. Aside from the number, it’s identical to developer beta 8.
What Went Wrong?
iOS 12 beta 7 was released on Monday, but the Cupertino tech firm was forced to pull the version due to an apparent bug that caused fairly severe performance issues, alongside other system problems.
Reportedly, users who had downloaded beta 7 experienced problems when attempting to open apps. According to anecdotal reports, there was a significant delay between when an app icon was tapped on, to when the app was actually opened.
While some users reported that the issue resolved itself after about 10 minutes of usage, others seemed to have the problem persist.
Other early adopters of beta 7 also reported general bugginess, app crashes, and systemwide freezing. Those issues did not seem as widespread as the app opening bug, however.
Those issues caused some in the larger iOS ecosystem to recommend skipping the software update.
In any case, Apple apparently deemed the issues severe enough to pull the beta entirely. The company took down the over-the-air update before proceeding to pull the download from the Developer Center.
Because of the issues, there was no public beta analog released for beta 7 — so there’s now a two-number discrepancy between the iOS 12 developer and public betas. Not that that really changes anything.
iOS 12 beta 7 was notable because it killed the Group FaceTime feature which had been present in all beta versions of iOS 12. Apple has apparently decided to delay the feature and release it in a future software update later this fall.


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Since the election, there’s been a lot of talk about the impact that a Trump Administration could have on everything from civil rights to foreign policy to health care. But there’s also the issue of trade. Donald Trump took some very tough stands during the presidential campaign on trade deals and the country’s trading partner.
Trade is a driving force in California’s economy. To get a sense of the impact on California, KCRW’s Chery Glaser talked to Dale Kasler, who covers business for the Sacramento Bee. She asked him what kind of industries in California could be affected if president-elect Trump moves ahead with a crackdown on trading partners:
Dale Kasler: Well, certainly the computer industry, the electronics industry exports a lot of chips and other products, components, and so on to places like Mexico. There’s a drone industry in Mexico, just over the border from San Diego and a lot of their components are made in California. And then, of course, agriculture, which really finds itself in an interesting situation, because Donald Trump would tend to be very sympathetic to farmers when it comes to things like water and environmental regulations; but they are rather scared about what he said about international trade and what he said about immigration. California farming really relies heavily on undocumented labor from Mexico and Central America, and California farming relies very heavily on exports.A big chunk, nearly half of what we grow here is sold overseas, whether it’s almonds or wine or what have you.
KCRW: A lot of the issues of trade, the debate over trade during the presidential elections tended to focus on products, whether you are talking about electronic components, what have you, but there is also the immigration issue, as you mentioned, both for agriculture, but also for the high tech industry.
DK: Right, the H1B visas are kind of a stock and trade in Silicon Valley.
KCRW: These are visas for people who are highly skilled — basically, the idea is, we don’t have enough people with those skills in this country, right?
DK: Exactly. Now, there’s a pretty good chance that when Donald Trump was talking about putting a halt or putting the brakes on immigration he was not talking about those people, but, nevertheless, it made people in Silicon Valley very nervous. By and large, Silicon Valley was very strong and in Clinton’s corner during this election, and they are not happy at all about the Trump election. You know, there’s nothing more global, if you will, than Silicon Valley, and anything that would stop the flow of commerce and stop the flow of labor makes them extremely nervous.
KCRW: When we talk about immigrant labor in the agriculture industry and the high tech industry, how big a portion of the work force is it? Are we talking about 10 percent, that if that were to be slowed down that it would be an issue, but not sort of world ending or are we talking it being significantly bigger than that?
DK: I know that in agriculture it’s been estimated that half of the farm labor in California is undocumented immigrants. So, you’re talking about a huge number.
KCRW: So we’re talking about thousands and thousands of acres, millions of acres, perhaps, where crops could potentially, in the worst case scenario, go unpicked, unharvested.
DK: I think that is the worst case scenario. It’s hard to imagine, but yes.
KCRW: There are also, in California, facilities and organizations, which are actively involved in carrying out international trade. I mean, California is home to a number of major ports, the harbors here in L.A. and Los Angeles combined are the largest in the country. What are the potential ramifications for folks like that?
DK: That’s very important. It’s been estimated that half a million Californians depend on international trade in some form or another, whether they work at the ports in Long Beach or Oakland, or they work at the border crossings where the trucks come through. So, people make a living off of imports as well as the exports in California, a lot of people.
KCRW: And certainly some of these folks, like longshore workers, these are our highly paid jobs, some of them.
DK: Yes. Many of these people belong to the union and they make a good living. It’s among those last of the good blue collar jobs in this country, ironically. Even though it’s been argued that sometimes international trade hurts our manufacturing sector. And it’s worth pointing out that California’s leading trading partner is Mexico. Mexico, in the last three months, purchased 16 percent of California’s exports. Number three is China. China takes nearly ten percent of California’s exports. I know that we tend to think of international trade or globalization as just moving one way, as just being a source of imports, but it does cut both ways.


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Teslas may have issues, but their owners love them anyway.
The Model 3 led the list of most-satisfying cars.
Tesla finished at the top of the Consumer Reports latest list of most-liked car brands ahead of Lincoln and Ram in the top three, despite the electric automaker’s poor showing in the organization’s reliability rankings.
According to the survey, 88% percent of Tesla owners said they would buy a car from the brand again, with 79% and 76% of Lincoln and Ram owners saying the same.
Factors including price, performance, reliability, comfort and enjoyment were reflected in the overall score, which covered vehicles from the 2018-2021 model years across the brands’ lineups.
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Cadillac, Nissan and the latter’s luxury brand Infiniti finished at the bottom of the list, with scores of 58, 58 and 48.
CADILLAC SUPER CRUISE BEATS TESLA AUTOPILOT IN CONSUMER REPORTS TEST
Along with the overall rating, three Teslas were among the top for individual model satisfaction, which were the Tesla Model 3, Kia Telluride, Tesla Model S and Tesla Model Y.
You can click here for the full list of the most-satisfying brands.


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Well, the holidays are just around the corner and as a good friend of my father’s once told me at a young age around this time of year, this gifting season will soon have us by the throats. I’m sure you have all planned ahead better this time around at making your gift lists for your loved ones. But have you accounted for how much cash you will have to dole out to scratch each name off before it’s time to hand them over? Luckily, Amazon is helping out this year by extending their Amazon free shipping service, normally reserved for Prime customers, to everyone from right now until the end of the holiday season.
Enjoy Amazon free shipping this holiday season!
“Let’s give them Amazon free shipping! Why not?” J. Bezos. Photo: Getty Images
“This holiday, customers can enjoy free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for Christmas, including items from Amazon’s expertly curated Gift Guides across electronics, fashion, home, and toys,” said Doug Herrington, Senior Vice President of North American Retail at Amazon in a press release. “With hundreds of millions of items available for free shipping to all Amazon customers and more than three million items available with Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery, customers can enjoy the largest selection of items that are fast and free.”
With this promotion, customers will be able to enjoy the benefits of Prime members such as same day and two-day Amazon free shipping options on millions of items. This will come in handy if you look at your calendar in the morning to find you only have a couple of days to have that special something shipped to your door.
Another amazing aspect of this promotion is that customers will also be able to take advantage of Amazon’s one-hour grocery delivery and pick up service through Whole Foods. Because you already have enough on your plate with finding the perfect gifts this holiday season to worry about stocking your fridge.
The holidays can be tough. But with Amazon free shipping, who says it has to play out like the movie Jingle All The Way? And if you’ve never seen that movie, you can get free two-day shipping on a DVD that Arnold classic right now!


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|Rising Prices Trigger Increased Food Insecurity Among Kyrgyzstan's Poorest|
Bishkek, 22 November 2012 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today its monthly food price monitoring for the Kyrgyz Republic has revealed that wheat flour prices across the country have doubled between June and October.
To support households that are most vulnerable to price increases, WFP plans to reach 230,000 people across the country with a three-month ration of fortified wheat flour and a two-month supply of cooking oil, by the end of December.
In some areas, the price of wheat flour, the main staple food for most Kyrgyz people, has risen by 60 percent during the same period. WFP’s latest nationwide food security assessment also showed that in many households the availability and affordability of food was declining.
The September 2012 assessment revealed that household food security had deteriorated, with an estimated 25 percent of the population - about 1.3 million people - considered food insecure, that is unable to access sufficient food for their normal daily requirements - compared to 18 percent in March 2012.
“This is an unusual increase especially as during these past months many rural households ought to have been benefiting from harvests and day labour wages,” said WFP Kyrgyz Republic Acting Country Director Michael Huggins. “Now the poorest families are in dire need of extra help to get them through the harsh winter months, particularly in rural areas where wheat flour for bread is the bedrock of the diet,” Huggins said.
The assessment also revealed that another 13 percent of households - some 547,000 people -risk becoming food insecure should they be affected by an additional shock, such as further rises in food prices.
In response to rising wheat flour prices, the Kyrgyz Government released and milled some stocks from the State Material Reserve in October, which were sold at subsidized prices. It also banned wheat and wheat flour exports for six months.
The Kyrgyz Republic usually imports more than one third of the wheat flour it needs. However, with an estimated 30 percent reduction in the national harvest this year the wheat flour gap will be wider, with the risk of greater price volatility which will weigh heavily on the nation’s poorest people.


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Tech giant Oracle is throwing down the public cloud gauntlet. CTO Larry Ellison announced a beefed up Oracle Cloud Platform that aims to compete head-to-head with Amazon Web Services.
Containers have become crucial tools for rapid-scale app development, and a new project aims to protect their usefulness by establishing common standards for software containers.
CRM giant Salesforce just took the covers off the next generation of its Marketing Cloud, beefing up several features that make its software even more compelling for enterprises.
The online file-sharing service Box has announced a "deep integration" with Microsoft Office Online that will let users more easily open, edit and save Office documents.
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Mobile game supplier ESA Gaming was recently granted a supplier license by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), as it looks to broaden its reach across regulated markets around the world.
This new license will enable ESA to distribute its mobile gaming products collection, targeted at improving player engagement and enabling cross-selling across sportsbook and casino players, to several new operator partners.
ESA’s EasySwipe products are lightweight, HTML5, mobile-first games that can be incorporated into sportsbooks. This will then allow bettors to engage in casino play without interfering with the entire sports betting experience.
“The accreditation of our products with the MGA marks a very exciting step for us as we look to continue our upward trajectory,” Zorica Smallwood, ESA Gaming’s chief executive, said.
“Being granted our MGA license is vitalfor us as we continue to gain partners across a number of jurisdictions, while also allowing us to maintain the highest level of compliance with our products,” he added.
Aside from its new MGA license, ESA also holds certifications for both the Colombian and Italian markets.
The supplier also signed a deal with Sportingtech in October. The latter’s partners were subsequently granted access to ESA’s collection of EasySwipe titles.


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Components: Latest news and analysis articles
High-tech TDI engines that provide economy and performance sit at the heart of the Audi brand's values and technological DNA. As Audi marks...
Is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) interested in promoting its members' conditions and working with employers in...
Critter control isn't an essential item on the CV of anyone applying for a job at Hyundai America Technical Centre's Inc's (HATCI) Californi...
Is ZF Friedrichshafen's mooted takeover of TRW Automotive a ploy to smooth the peaks and troughs of any future recession?...
Citroën C4 Cactus Chef de Projet Anne Ruthmann answers questions on key suppliers, lightweight technology, sales prospects and other topics.
Continuing just-auto’s series of interviews with tier one manufacturers, Matthew Beecham spoke to Han Hendriks about consumer expectations of car interiors, JCI’s Interior Vision 2025 and their new operating model tailored at innovation management. Han represents JCI’s Interiors business worldwide and is the innovation leader of this business.
UK labour body, Unite, is expressing surprise no-one came in with a bid for Unipart Automotive, which yesterday (24 July) went into administration with the loss of more than 1,200 jobs.
More than 15 vendors of Ford have moved to Sanand in Gujarat, investing around INR5bn (US$83m) and occupying over 130 acres of land in the Ford Vendor Park within Sanand GIDC estate, reports The Financial Express.
Dana's net sales for the second quarter ended 30 June 2014 were down 5% to US$1.71bn compared with $1.80bn in the same period of 2013. Income from continuing operations before income taxes were down 7.75% to $119m compared with $129m. Net income of the firm was down 6.3% to $90m compared with $96m in the year ago period.
Valeo's sales for the first half of 2014 were up 7% to EUR6.35bn (US$8.54bn) compared with EUR5.94bn in the first half of 2013. EBITDA for the period was up 11% to EUR740m compared with EUR666m. The net income rose 38% to EUR262m from EUR190m.
South Africa's Department of Labour says all parties in the country's protracted metalworking strike have accepted wage proposals, but divisions still remain concerning future bargaining methods.
UK labour body, Unite, says it is asking for a rapid meeting with authorities handling Unipart Automotive, following the component supplier's placing into administration today (24 July).
As the first version of the new S-Class Coupé goes on sale in Germany, Mercedes-Benz has revealed technical details of the car's revolutionary suspension system, which allows the car to lean into bends.
Panasonic is one of the companies looking at partnering with Tesla on its plans for a big new facility dedicated to lithium ion battery production.
- Audi TDI tech is 25 years of age
- VEHICLE ANALYSIS: BMW X4
- Swallowing Fiat-Chrysler 'would be bad for VW'
- Kia K900 knocks on big brands' door
- Global light vehicle market developments
- Sir Nick Scheele dies
- Volvo claims two safety firsts for XC90
- Ford Europe finally makes a pre-tax buck
- Ford changes R&D chief
- Rule change hits 'free charger' offers for EVs


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Motorola has already mentioned they were working on a lower-priced version of the Moto X. This isn't one that would be available everywhere and instead would be heading towards developing markets. We have yet to see specifics from Motorola, however a recent image leak is offering what may be a first look. Well, a first look at the back cover.
we confirmed the shipping times might be slightly delayed, due to demand, but will get to that 4-day mark soon.
Motorola Moto X smartphone.
Motorola's latest flagship might soon have their craving satisfied now that the Moto X Developer Edition has made an appearance on Motorola's Moto X website. Some amount of waiting is still needed, though, as the device is still marked as "Coming Soon".
Hennessy and Galaxy Golden flip phones to Verizon's newly released LG Enact. Now even Motorola is rumored to be taking a similar diversion, with leaked photos of what could be the Motorola DROID 5 sporting a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Google you all know as the Moto X has been making of lot of noise lately. The device is finally hitting AT&T today, and other carriers this weekend, and those folks from iFixit already broke one down into tons of little pieces. As usual the teardown gives us a look inside the device, how it was built, and a repair-ability rating.


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Intel Needs to Fess Up
Date: August 2, 2001
Once again demonstrating the
might of the still potent chipmaker, Intel's CEO
speaks and global markets move, but until the chipmaker owns up to the real
causes of its catastrophic woes the economy will not be safely clear of it
Trying to Close Pandora's Box
In what appears to be an attempt to close the Pandora's
Box of global financial misery his company opened last year when it blamed its
poor performance on "macroscopic economic conditions," Dr. Craig Barrett said
today that the personal computer industry has bottomed out with demand for
personal computers recovering throughout the rest of the year.
Dr. Barrett shielded his rosy predictions by stating
ambivalently that the recovery was seasonal rather than a full-fledged rebound.
He conditioned a real upswing on a global recovery.
Even with this doublespeak, the market, and in particular
Intel's stock, surged upwards today.
A Fall Foreseen
The fly in this odorous ointment is that Intel's
performance and its reckless lack of character for not owning up to its missteps
were effectively the lead weight tied around the neck of a bull market thrown to
drown in our economy's current morass.
We expected Intel's fate and outlined its inevitable
downfall in a detailed
over a year and a half ago. Furthermore, we stated immediately after Intel
opened the door to Pandora's Box what ills the chipmaker was recklessly
releasing onto a fragile market.
The cause of Intel's problems has not been macroscopic
economic factors although the chip giant's spiral downwards has caused plenty of
broad market damage hurting everyone and even compounding the chipmakers own
The primary causes of the Intel disaster has been the
whipping it has been taking from a vibrant and technically stellar AMD and the woeful
and arrogant mismanagement of the Santa Clara company through this flogging.
There are many reasons to hold Intel in high regard, but
its total lack of character for not taking responsibility for its own fate has
been an egregious violation of corporate responsibility. Until the company
isolates its contagion properly to itself, every time the sick chip giant
sneezes the market will catch pneumonia.
As stated above, we produced an article immediately after
Intel's tragic scapegoating episode that soon sent the market into a tailspin.
Our employer was attempting to mend its relationship with the chip giant and
refused to publish the article, so we placed the analysis on one of our own
noncommercial sites and sent the link to a few members of the media.
Here is that message
replayed almost a year later:
In after hours trading on Thursday, the chip giant Intel
saw its stock price fall dramatically after the company announced that it
expected third quarter gross profit margins to decline from the previous
quarter. The Santa Clara company also announced that it was revising its
third quarter earning estimates downwards. Intel cited softening of the
European market as cause for this unpredicted weakness. As trading resumed
following the 45 minute halt due to the announcement, the semiconductor
titan’s share price nosedived to 48 ½, down almost 23% from the day’s high of
Lost in the Vortex
News of this crash along with fears that Intel’s
admission signals a coming downturn in the technology sector have sent
worldwide markets into panic. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell to its lowest
level since May, the Nikkei slid 3%, Taiwan plunged 4.5% to an 18-month low,
and Korea suffered a 7% freefall. Reverberations were similarly felt in
European and African markets as well.
With Intel maintaining that broad market forces are the
cause of its problems, computer memory companies, motherboard manufacturers,
computer OEMs, and even Intel’s rivals such as AMD and Apple are being sucked
downwards into the vortex left by the crash of this giant’s stock. Even much
broader concerns of the overall strength of the global economy were set to
boil as the chip maker fingered the sagging Euro and soaring fuel prices as
causes for the slumping European demand in processors.
Falling through the
Ignoring the broader market dynamics that the chip giant
blames for its revised estimates, as Intel falls it crashes through a web of
interests that are terrifically interwoven into the fabric of the worldwide
economy. In addition to being a major portfolio component of a vast number of
investment houses, Intel stock is also
in the portfolios of 1,176 mutual funds and comprises a chunk greater than
5% in 127 of these according to Morningstar.
On the Right Side of
the Looking Glass
Intel’s troubles are no secret to readers of this site
as we have been documenting them for many months. In fact, in early February
explained in detail the chip company’s predicament, and, sadly, our
forecast continues to be ruthlessly accurate. Intel is losing revenue and its
margins are thinning largely as results of its savage and chiefly unsuccessful
competition with AMD (nyse:
Although Intel was allowed to
disguise its problems in the second quarter with its massive sell off of
Micron stock, as we predicted, pulling another Micron sized rabbit from its
hat for the third quarter would be next to impossible. Now the damage from
its war with AMD is beginning to become obvious.
Intel’s current problems are only peripherally related
to the weak Euro. Yes, Intel is doing poorly in Europe, and the sagging Euro
doesn’t help but Intel’s European decline is at least partially due to
erosion to AMD. Europeans have a long history of being less conservative
than Americans when evaluating computer technology and are known to adopt
technology offering the most “bang for the buck” -- an area where AMD’s
Athlons and Durons particularly surpass their Intel counterparts. It is
logical that Intel’s crisis with AMD would be felt most acutely in Europe
Flight of Vanity, Trek of
Analysts with deeply tangled histories with the chip
maker and conditioned to spin the latest bad news in Intel’s favor, sang tunes
of woe for broader concerns, blindly disregarding the implications for the
world outside of the titanic processor manufacturer. Unsurprisingly, the
media apparatus that Intel
helped establish has also been willing to uncritically and recklessly
spread the Intel excuse.
According to one infamous Intel zealot, while Intel may
be suffering from the European downturn, what this market softening really
meant was that AMD will be “road kill.” In what are now almost surreal,
farcical conditions, this gentleman has managed to trigger a
uprising against him and is openly ridiculed on many computer enthusiast
Web sites. Some are even railing against the entire financial analyst
Shouts from the Darkness
Although it is clear that Intel’s statement, if
uncontested, will sink the value of many companies, many Taiwanese motherboard
companies remain fearful of openly criticizing Intel as concerns linger that
the chip company might withhold technology necessary for the production of
motherboards. However, in the last few months, Intel’s leverage has weakened
greatly. A year ago Intel dominated chipset market share, but since then VIA
Technologies has explosively emerged from being a relatively minor player to
now projecting a 60% market share of core logic chipsets at year’s end.
Additionally, AMD’s Athlon has been tremendously successful, further weakening
Intel’s influence in Taiwan.
Although not directly confronting Intel’s statement, a
few companies have raised other issues that the Santa Clara chip maker did not
mention. For example, yesterday the Taiwanese company First International
Computer, or FIC as it is commonly known,
revealed that AMD “now represents 30 to 35 percent” of its production.
FIC is a major motherboard supplier to OEMs such as Compaq Computers. In a
surprisingly revealing statement to The Register, Wen-Chi Chen, VIA’s
president and CEO,
disclosed that chipsets tailored for AMD’s Athlon processors now comprise
about a third of those that VIA ships supporting PC133 SDRAM. Considering
that VIA delivers about half of all chipsets in the world, this is strong
testimonial to the success of the AMD Athlon at the expense of its Intel
Analysts, too, seem more receptive to raise the question
that competition with AMD could at least be a part of Intel’s problems.
Semiconductor Analyst Dan Scovel suggested boldly in an
interview with On24 yesterday that Intel’s problems might in fact be more
of result of European market share loss to AMD rather than the broader
economic reasons cited by Intel.
Only the Paranoid Survive?
Intel’s Dr. Andy Grove authored the oft-quoted tome
“Only the Paranoid Survive.” It seems that this dictum has been taken to the
extreme in the current “inflection point” as the chip giant seems bent on not
just distrusting everyone else, but now harming them as well with the chip
company’s reckless face saving measures.
Fall Softly, Intel
warning we issued at the end of our article, “A Titan Falls,” was not made
frivolously. If Intel does not fall softly, the ramifications could be severe
for the entire global economy. The market swing of the last day is only an
indication of what could happen if this colossus does not measure its actions
wisely and ends up falling with a fury. We can only hope that Intel and its
minions recognize that limiting the damage to themselves -- and taking the
lumps that come with it -- is wiser than trying to bring down everyone else
But if Intel chooses to try to soften its plunge with
the bodies of bystanders, we hope that companies follow VIA’s and FIC’s lead
and fight back with the truth. Intel is slipping because of competition with
AMD, not because of broad, only secondarily related market forces.


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Consumers more optimistic about jobs, business in November
December 1, 2011,
Consumers got some of their mojo back in November as the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence index jumped to 56.0, up from 40.9 in October.
The Present Situation Index increased to 38.3 from 27.1, while the Expectations Index rose to 67.8 from 50.0, the research organization said.
Nov. 15 was the cutoff date for preliminary results from the monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen.
Consumers' appraisal of present-day conditions improved in November. Those stating business conditions are "good" increased to 13.3% from 11.2%, while those stating business conditions are "bad" declined to 38.2% from 43.7%.
Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was also more upbeat. Those claiming jobs are "plentiful" increased to 5.8% from 3.6%, while those saying jobs are "hard to get" decreased to 42.1% from 46.9%.
Consumers' short-term outlook, which had declined in October, was less negative in November. The proportion of consumers anticipating business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 13.6% from 10.2%, while those anticipating business conditions will worsen declined to 15.8% from 21.3%.
Consumers' outlook for the job market also improved. Those expecting more jobs in the months ahead rose to 12.9% from 10.8%, while those expecting fewer jobs decreased to 24.1% from 27.6%. The proportion of consumers anticipating an increase in their incomes rose to 14.9% from 11.1%.
Related Content By Author
Live at Market with Gary Pettitt, CEO, Seasonal Living


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Venture capital: adesso ventures supports early stage start-up
Berlin/Kiel, 15 May 2023 – adesso ventures, the venture capital arm of the adesso Group, is investing in passkeys start-up Hanko. A new way to sign in that works completely without passwords, passkeys enable easy and secure access to apps, accounts and websites.
Passkeys are considered to be the authentication method of the future. They use 2-factor authentication, which combines a biometric feature (fingerprints, facial recognition) and proof-of-possession (mobile phone, hardware token). As such, this technology does away with cumbersome and risky passwords. The use of passkeys is becoming more and more widespread. At the beginning of May this year, Google announced that passkeys can now be used as a way to log into Google accounts.
adesso ventures sees tremendous market potential in passkeys and is investing a single-digit million figure in the start-up Hanko, together with existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, Smart Infrastructure Ventures, PAYONE founders Carl Frederic Zitscher and Jan Kanieß, as well as Intershop co-founder Roland Fassauer. Hanko specialises in login and authentication solutions such as passkeys, passcodes, FIDO Security Keys, mobile app biometrics and OAuth login. The company offers an open-source solution that is particularly developer-friendly and can be integrated in a matter of minutes. The Kiel-based start-up is a member of the FIDO Alliance, the industry association dedicated to the development of authentication standards, whose members include the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Google and Apple.
The stake in Hanko is the latest investment by adesso ventures in B2B technology start-ups. “We are constantly scanning the start-up scene for interesting companies that are still at an early stage,” says Malte Unger, Managing Director at adesso ventures GmbH. “Our focus is on promising European tech start-ups that are deeply integrated in the industries relevant to adesso. The strong team and the promising solution are turning the vision of a passwordless internet into reality.”
“In adesso ventures, we have found an investor that is a perfect fit for us for many reasons,” says Felix Magedanz, founder and CEO of Hanko. “adesso is an established player in the IT business. It is considered a technology pioneer and also boasts a high-calibre customer base and an excellent partner network including tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and AWS. Together, we can take passkeys technology to the next level.”
The press release is available at www.adesso.de/en/news/presse.
adesso is one of the leading IT service providers in the German-speaking area and focuses its consulting and software development activities on the core business processes of companies and public authorities. adesso’s strategy is based on three pillars: the comprehensive industry-specific know-how of its staff, extensive expertise in technology that is independent of manufacturers and the application of reliable methods in software implementation projects. adesso delivers the right IT solutions to increase the ability of companies and organisations to compete in the core sectors of insurance/reinsurance, banking and financial services, healthcare and life sciences, energy supply, public administration, automotive and manufacturing industry, trade, transport, media, entertainment and lottery.
adesso was founded in Dortmund in 1997 and the adesso Group currently employs more than 8,000 people (full-time equivalents). adesso’s shares are listed on the Prime Standard/SDAX. The Group has key customers in the banking segment (including Commerzbank, KfW, DZ Bank, Helaba, Union Investment, BayernLB and DekaBank), the insurance segment (including Munich Re, Hannover Re, DEVK, DAK, Zurich Versicherung, Medizinischer Dienst der Krankenversicherung (MDK-IT)) and numerous other sectors (Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Westdeutsche Lotterie, Swisslos, DZR Deutsches Zahnärztliches Rechenzentrum, TÜV Rheinland, REWAG, the Procurement Agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Beschaffungsamt des BMI) and the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice (Bayerisches Staatsministerium der Justiz).
adesso ventures is the venture capital arm of the adesso Group focusing on early-stage B2B startups. In addition to financial resources, adesso ventures brings in the strength of the adesso Group and supports startups with development capacities as well as market access. The portfolio of adesso ventures currently comprises 14 startups and covers various verticals, such as cyber security, health and sports, among others.


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Sources say St. Regis deal worth $100 million total
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado
ASPEN – The buyer of the St. Regis Aspen has pledged to invest $100 million overall in the acquisition and renovation of the hotel, according to sources familiar with the deal.
The purchase price is $70 million, and the buyer agreed to spend another $30 million to renovate the 179 rooms in the luxury property, said a source in the Aspen hospitality business and a second source knowledgeable of the terms. Neither source wanted to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak about the pending deal.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts said it has a contract to sell the St. Regis Aspen to OptAsia Capital Co. of Bangkok, Thailand, according to a statement issued Tuesday. The sale is expected to be completed “on or about Sept. 30,” the statement says.
Starwood’s statement didn’t disclose the sale price, and a company spokeswoman declined comment Wednesday. The company will retain a long-term management contract as part of the sale.
A sale price of $70 million would place the cost at about $391,000 per room for the 179-room property.
The Aspen Skiing Co. purchased the more moderately priced, 126-room Limelight Hotel for about $38 million, or $301,000 per room in April.
The St. Regis Aspen had an actual value of $79.5 million in 2010, according to the Pitkin County Assessor’s Office. There is conference space that helps attract group business, a ballroom for special events and a bar, restaurant and lounge in addition to the guest rooms. Another 98 hotel rooms were converted into 25 fractional ownership suites that weren’t part of the sale.
The St. Regis opened in 1992 as a Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The rooms haven’t undergone major renovations since opening.
Renovations aren’t cheap. The Skico spent $18 million on renovations of 86 rooms at the Little Nell Hotel prior to last ski season. The owners of the Hotel Jerome have approvals to spend between $45 million and $50 million on the 92 rooms there. That project is on hold.
The way the St. Regis sale is structured provides a couple of advantages to Starwood. First, it reaps $30 million of someone else’s money to renovate a hotel it will manage for years. Second, it reaps $70 million that it can use elsewhere in its global network of luxury hotels and resorts.
Starwood has engaged in a strategy since 2006 of selling hotels to focus on long-term management contracts and franchising deals. The St. Regis Aspen was put on the market in November 2008, just as the financial crisis was unfolding.
Randy Gold, a principal in Aspen Appraisal Group, said it’s nearly impossible to gauge how the recession affected the sale price, especially without knowing the terms of the sale.
“This certainly was not a distress sale,” Gold said. “But did the recession affect the sales price? Yeah. To what degree? I don’t know.”
The St. Regis, one of Aspen’s flagship hotels, is located near the base of Aspen Mountain. The ongoing affiliation with Starwood, which has 979 hotels around the world, would obviously be valuable to the buyer, Gold noted. The length and terms of the management contract could have affected the recorded sales price, he said.


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Several days after the launch of the new iPad 3, HD, or whatever it’s called, we all know about it’s blazing 4G capabilities, including its ability to be a hotspot, carrier permitting, of course. We know about its Retina display, which makes the painful, insufferable scourge of image pixelization a thing of the past. We know about Infinity Blade. We know that to pack all this in, Apple’s designers had to let out the new iPad’s aluminum waist to accommodate some unfortunate but really quite microscopic weight gain. We know the iPad’s battery life is still amazing, and its price point is altogether unchanged. We know Apple has adopted a cunning new strategy of putting the previous-generation iPad, as it did with the iPhone 4, on a sort of permanent sale, to scoop up the low end of the high-end market. (We wonder if this was Steve Jobs’s last decree or Tim Cook’s first.) We know a lot about the iPad.
Google landed in hot water over revelations that the search giant and ad companies had bypassed the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple’s Safari Web browser, using special computer code that tracked their movements online. Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer discovered the code. Subsequently, a technical adviser to the Wall Street Journal found that ads on 22 of the top 100 websites installed the Google tracking code on a test computer, and ads on 23 sites installed it on an iPhone browser. Google disabled the code after being contacted by the Journal, the newspaper said, and Google issued a statement, saying: “The Journal mischaracterizes what happened and why. We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled. It’s important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information.”
Apple tweaked its policy on permission iOS apps need to access the contact information of users after legislators sought more information from the company regarding its privacy policies.
Apple has never turned “a blind eye” to the problems in its supply chain and any suggestion it does not care about the plight of workers is “patently false,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an email to employees. Cook was responding to a report in The New York Times about working conditions at Apple’s main contract manufacturer, Foxconn, in China, an issue that for years has been a thorn in the company’s side.
Some see e-readers as the poor cousin to more glamorous tablets, but that may soon be about to change. Billionaire media mogul John Malone, whose Liberty Media owns DirecTV Group and the QVC shopping channel, may be interested in buying the Barnes & Noble chain specifically for its Nook e-reader, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking behind the deal.


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Tag - Kinect
Every Sunday, MacNN and Electronista take a moment to look at some of the notable stories in the world of gaming. This week, Sony says goodbye to the PlayStation Home virtual world, Blizzard starts up the beta for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, a report claims the original Xbox could have been given away as a free console, and Microsoft is discontinuing the second-generation Kinect for Windows sensor.
Microsoft is planning to phase out sales of the original Kinect for Windows sensor in 2015. In a blog post spotted by Slashgear, the availability of the improved version 2.0 sensor and SDK 2.0 has prompted the company to put to an end sales of the preceding model. Microsoft warns that business customers with "commitments to the original sensor" should get in contact as no more original sensors will be produced once the current stock sells out.
Since the release of the Xbox One, Microsoft has experienced a rough relationship with consumers due in part to the Kinect. When the company ditched the sensor and dropped the price of the console by $100, sales were said to have doubled with the new the $400 sensor-less console option in place. However, now Microsoft says that it's seeing a demand for the Kinect. On a post on Xbox Wire today, the company said it would begin offering a standalone Kinect unit on October 7.
It seems that dropping the Kinect as a requirement for buying a new Xbox One is paying off for Microsoft. Posting on the Xbox Wire, an internal blog for Xbox news, Microsoft is boasting that sales of the new console have doubled since removing the sensor in June and reducing the price to $400. The increase could mean an gain in awareness and consumer desire for the console, which has lagged behind the PlayStation 4 in sales for months.
Windows Phone could soon allow users to interact with their devices without pressing an onscreen button, claims a report. Kinect-style features such as navigating by hovering a finger over part of a display may in fact form part of the experience of a rumored Nokia device codenamed "McLaren", set to be launched and released towards the end of this year.
Microsoft has started to sell an Xbox One bundle without Kinect through the Microsoft Store, as the company continues to compete against its high-selling competitor, the Sony PlayStation 4. Announced last month, the console is being sold as a secondary package without the motion and voice-based sensor bar priced at $400, representing a saving of $100 off the original bundle's list price.
Microsoft will allow users of its game consoles to watch video streaming services and use a number of other functions without paying for the Xbox Live Gold subscription, the company has announced. At the same time, it is also preparing to sell its Xbox One game console on its own, separate from the bundled Kinect sensor bar, in a bid to increase sales.
Microsoft has updated the version of the Kinect for Windows, bringing it in line with the Kinect used in the Xbox One, the company has revealed. The new sensor bar will ship sometime this summer alongside an updated software development kit, with Microsoft also preparing to make it easier for developers to provide members of the public with Kinect-enabled Windows apps.
Apple has completed the deal that will see it buying Israeli gesture recognition company PrimeSense for roughly $350 million. Israel's Globes reported on Sunday that the deal had closed, with the company's founders pulling in tens of millions of dollars from the acquisition. Rumors of Apple's interest surfaced earlier this year, and reports emerged last week that it was imminent, but Globes now claims that the deal has indeed closed, and for $5 million more than had previously been reported.
Microsoft has shown off how its Xbox One game console will work for multitasking between games and apps. A short video demonstrating quick switching and actions by voice commands through Kinect also shows how game players will be able to use multiple apps at the same time, as well as sharing content with other users.


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Logan McCoy, our VP of Services and I spent last week at Inspire, Microsoft’s Partner Conference in Washington D.C., eating, drinking and sleeping Microsoft. It was a long five days that kept us going from early morning to late at night and often in different directions. Inspire is a great place to catch up with contacts who have become friends over the years. In our 25+ years of business, we have had the support of some very exceptional people at Microsoft and we had already heard of several we knew that were no longer with Microsoft. There was quite a bit of speculation going on as we walked into the opening session and waited to hear Satya Nadella’s keynote.
Of course, Satya addressed the announcement by doing what he does best – looking forward, not backward. The entire conference revolved around five key themes:
- Digital Transformation
- Empowering Employees
- Engaging Customers
- Optimize Operations
- Transforming Products
With the workplace rapidly changing, Microsoft is focused on transforming to meet the expectations of today, as well as tomorrow’s business environment. Businesses today have a globally focused mindset at the same time they are trying to deal with an increasingly complicated threat landscape. With transparency at the forefront, Microsoft is changing and evolving to “empower people to be more productive.” So what does that mean for you as a Microsoft customer?
Here are several key product changes from the “new” Microsoft to watch for in the months ahead:
1. Windows 10 and ATP: Moving users to Windows 10 is mission #1 for Microsoft and security is the primary focus with Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). It will “provide centralized management for threat protection that will quickly detect and respond to threats, as well as provide preventative protection” that was not available previously. The security technology goes too deep for this blog post, so check out this recent Microsoft blog on ATP and a 90-day free trial that is available.
2. Office 365: There are now more than 100 million active monthly users of Office 365. Microsoft is redesigning their offerings to meet the needs of both small and enterprise level companies.
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise integrates Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Enterprise Mobility + Security. IT will be offered in two plans: E3 and E5, both available starting August 1st.
- Microsoft 365 Business is for small- to medium-sized businesses up to 300 users and combines Office 365 Business Premium, security with management features from Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. It will be available for preview in August and for purchase sometime in fall for about $20 per user per month. There will also be three tailored applications offered that include email marketing services, invoicing applications, and a simplified way of publishing to top websites.
3. LinkedIn/Dynamics: Last June, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn for 26.2 billion dollars. LinkedIn will now be directly integrated into the Dynamics ERP/CRM product line, but also watch for a LinkedIn-provided network in Outlook and the Office suite, LinkedIn lookup powered by Active Directory and Office 365, and incorporating social selling through Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365. It will be interesting to watch where Microsoft takes this social platform and how businesses can leverage it for growth. If you have ideas on how Microsoft can improve the Dynamics 365 and deepen its integration with LinkedIn, let them know on the Dynamics Ideas site.
4. Azure Stack: This extension of Azure will bring cloud computing to on-prem environments and allow for an entirely new set of hybrid cloud scenarios. It is already available for purchase and Microsoft is offering a Development kit (ASDK) that is a free, single server, deployment for trial and POC purposes, available here as a web download. Microsoft’s goal is to have most ISV applications and services that are certified for Azure to work on Azure Stack as well. Here at CCB, we are seeing more and more opportunities to use Azure’s pay-as-you-use model in our customers’ environments, and Azure Stack will unlock new possibilities for hybrid options. Check out this whitepaper on Azure Stack for more information on its capabilities.
5. Interactive Technologies: The last couple of years, Surface was a huge push for Microsoft, but this year it took a back seat to the company’s focus on growing its collaborative offerings. Many of you were able to experience the Surface Hub first hand at our TechShowcase in April and saw the capabilities it has for enterprise settings. New this year is the Whiteboard for Windows 10, a PC application targeted toward education. It allows for collaboration through OneNote Class Notebook, where changes can be made together in real time on whatever devices are being used. Microsoft Whiteboard will be released as a free application in the Windows Store later this year. Judson Althoff- Executive Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business for Microsoft reminds us that “65% of today’s students will have jobs that don’t yet exist,” and innovations like Whiteboard are exciting to see as a part of this.
Microsoft will continue to invest in mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing with the goal of adapting to a new generation in the workplace – a generation with high demands for both technology and world change. I think Satya’s closing statement summed up Microsoft’s philosophy as they move forward: “We not only need to build technology, but we need to build it for impact.”
In the end, I don’t know the decisions made behind the scenes at Microsoft that eliminated positions, but I left Inspire understanding that Microsoft is undergoing a major transition. Satya has a new book coming out in September, Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone, which may shed some more light on how he is remaking Microsoft’s culture and vision for the future.


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Fortnite’s Among Us-inspired mode, Imposters, has been vaulted. Here’s what you need to know.
Today Epic Games released their v21.50 update for Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 3. As the season draws to a close, a number of changes will be introduced to online multiplayer. One such change sees the removal of Epic Games’ Imposters playlists – a mode heavily inspired by the popular party game Among Us.
In the v21.50 blog post, Epic Games said, “We’ve been vaulting the Impostors playlists while our teams focus on other Fortnite projects.”
“We want to say thank you to everyone who trusted, cheated and of course brought together Peely Party during its limited release.”
Epic Games introduced the mode back in August of last year, though it quickly came under fire for not immediately acknowledging Innersloths Among Us as an inspiration. On Tuesday, October 12, 2021, months after its initial release on August 17, Epic Games tweeted that Fortnite’s Social-Deduction Impostors game mode was actually “inspired by Among Us from Innersloth.”
Fortnite’s Imposters mode follows the same format as Among Us, adopting a third-person perspective rather than the original’s top-down view.
At the time of writing, it’s unclear if Epic Games plans to reveal the mode at a later date.
https://www.dbltap.com/posts/epic-games-vaults-imposters-playlists-in-fortnite-01gbq58n4mpt?utm_source=RSS Epic Games Vaults cheat playlists in Fortnite


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Now that the drought is over, Lorde stans are ready to clink glasses to every update moving forward. Yesterday, June 21, the singer-songwriter-onion rings critic blessed her fans with another sacred email.
A little under two weeks since “Solar Power” happened, Lorde revealed that the third album (of the same name) agenda is in full swing. “The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalizing the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors,” Lorde said in a statement. “In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers.”
In the announcement, not only do we find out about the tour dates (starting February 26 in New Zealand) and how this record is her post-“I’ve learned to breathe out, and tune in” output, but also this: #CDsAreOverParty.
True to her album’s vision of “honoring the natural world,” Lorde has decided not to release physical CDs. “I didn’t wanna make something that would end up in a landfill in 2 years, but more than that, I wanted to make something that symbolised my commitment to asking questions of our systems, and making stuff with intention and sensitivity,” she wrote.
What are fans getting instead? An “eco-conscious music box”—think exclusive photos, handwritten notes, bonus tracks, and a download card accompanying it.
“I decided early on in the process of making this album that I also wanted to create an environmentally kind, forward-thinking alternative to the CD. I wanted this Music Box product to be similar in size, shape and price to a CD, to live alongside it in a retail environment, but be something which stands apart and that’s committed to the evolving nature of a modern album,” Lorde added.
Bold of Lorde to assume that her albums would just end up in landfills, but we respect and stan a consistent eco-conscious queen. And, well, a vinyl release is still possible by the looks of her web store.
While waiting, here’s the track list for another theorizing session (because that’s what Lorde trained us to do):
- “The Path”
- “Solar Power”
- “Stoned in the Nail Salon”
- “Fallen Fruit”
- “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen It All)”
- “The Man with An Axe”
- “Big Star”
- “Leader of a New Regime”
- “Mood Ring”
- “Oceanic Feeling”
Photo from Lorde’s newsletter


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Polymer Group, Inc. announced that it will be featured as one of America’s “greenest” companies on “Green Magazine Television Earth Day Special.”
To commemorate and celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the television show will present the special featuring PGI along with Verizon, Alcoa, Navistar, Dow Corning and ZD Wines. The show will air on The Discovery Channel on May 13 at 7 a.m. and on The Learning Channel on May 16 at 7 a.m.
The segment will include interviews with PGI’s Veronica “Ronee” Hagen, chief executive officer; and John Heironimus, chief sustainability officer.
PGI is committed to designing products that are more sustainable or ones that enable other products to become more sustainable. The company has released its second annual Sustainability Report prepared using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework that reported on 37 indicators.
Accomplishments by PGI in 2009 include reducing its carbon footprint, water consumption, raw material intensity and solid waste; increasing use of recycled materials; and improving its lost-time injury rates and employee engagement. The report can be viewed on the corporate Web site.
PGI is working with the INDA Association of the Nonwovens Fabrics Industry to develop a common industry wide global lifecycle analysis of the carbon footprint of products or services, and co-chairs the trade association’s Sustainability Committee.
Produced by WDCC, “Green Magazine Television” is a new television series featuring ecology and energy conscious companies and organizations. This series will showcase some of the newest and “greenest” technologies being utilized. For more information on “Green Magazine Television,” visit www.greenmagazinetelevision.com


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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and a key official from the US embassy are going to inaugurate a two-day “3rd Pak-US Business Opportunities’ Conference” today (Tuesday).
The conference is being organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and objective of the conference is to promote business-to-business interaction between two countries.
“Although the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has not fixed any targets with the conference, yet the Minister for Commerce will deliver speech to highlight MoC’s efforts to attract foreign investments as well as to accelerate the volume of trade with special focus on enhancing the volume of exports” a well source at MoC told this scribe here on Sunday.
The MoC had finalised all the arrangements for the conference which was part of events associated with ‘Pak-US Week’; however, later it was separated from the said week. The conference is also aimed to present Pakistan to the international community as a reliable business and investment destination.
The conference will cover areas like Textiles with focus on home textiles, agriculture with focus on finished food products, fruits, vegetables and rice, leather with focus on accessories, footwear, surgical instruments, information technology, energy and infrastructure.
The participants will also analyse the chances to materialise the proposal of the establishment of a” US-Pakistan Joint Business Forum”. Over 100 American companies and entrepreneurs have been invited to the conference and MoC expects maximum number of participants in the conference along with representatives from US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) and U.S companies with an interest in Pakistan so that they may be able to get more involved in shaping policy priorities and outcomes.
USPBC, affiliate of the US Chamber of Commerce, leads business private sector association of US companies with business and investment interests in Pakistan through policy recommendations, active engagement with US and Pakistani government officials, private sector organisations and think tanks, and particularly trade missions, the USPBC has worked to expand commercial opportunities and promote a level-playing field for American companies in Pakistan. USPBC is made up of senior-level executives of U.S companies from every business sector, major investors in Pakistan and are firmly committed to the Pakistani market.
The focus of both the Pakistani and American representatives in the conference is likely to be on energy sector in the country, because thrust of MoC, Board of Investment (BoI) and other concerned departments and ministries had been on the power and energy shortage.
In the previous US-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference held in Dubai, June 2013, Pakistan Private Investment Initiative was launched to mobilise at least $150 million in Private Equity Investment. The main goal of the conference was to help Pakistani and American companies and investors to identify new business opportunities together.
The participants attended speeches, panel discussions, and networking events to discuss a wide range of US-Pakistan business opportunities, including in agri-business, energy, and education, as well as opportunities in entrepreneurship, access to the US market, consumer goods and franchising opportunities, venture capital, information technology, and the new Government of Pakistan’s economic and investment policies.
Participants welcomed reports about American companies already successfully doing business in Pakistan. They heard about the many US government initiatives to expand US-Pakistan trade and investment. They learned how to utilise existing US government programs to overcome hurdles to doing business in Pakistan. Everyone expanded their network of business contacts and increased their awareness of potential business opportunities.


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A new limited-run series of art prints from Acme Archives debuts on Star Wars Day, starting with Sith Lord Darth Vader as an imposing constellation.
A strip of "smart" highway with glow-in-the-dark road markings has opened in the Netherlands to improve road safety.
Bioglow's autoluminescent plants will soon glow up for auction, giving the public their first chance to grab one of these living night-lights.
Find out when your device will be updated to the latest version of Android.
Food inventor Charles Francis uses synthesized jellyfish protein to create glowing ice cream that costs more than $200 a scoop.
CNET editor Sharon Profis takes Apple Pay, Google Wallet and PayPal for a test drive and compares the options.
Apple says it won't break out retail store and iPod sales anymore. And forget about detailed stats on the Apple Watch, due next year.
See how the newly unveiled Apple iPad Air 2 compares to its Android tablet competitors: the Google Nexus 9 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S.
iOS 8.1 comes in hot and fast with several new features and changes. Here's everything you need to know.
In addition to being a relatively small dSLR, Pentax put glowing buttons on the entry-level K-S1.


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[Jetour X] JETOUR – a new sub brand of Chery Auto
Jetour – a new sub brand of Chery Auto
Note: Qoros is also a sub brand of Chery
Jiedu Automobile was officially released on January 22 this year. It is a brand new product series launched by Chery Commercial Vehicles, which aims to create a second-generation and multi-population family and holiday travel market segment.


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Sustainability practices are not just about building brand reputation anymore or about responding to consumer demands. Companies that focus on sustainability efforts through sourcing or other supply chain functions can now better attract the attention of business investors.
Recent research has shown investors are attracted to companies that are dedicated to sustainability. A study or more than 7,000 managers and investors around the globe conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group showed investors link sustainability performance to a company’s value and use information on a company’s sustainability efforts as a key criterion for making investment decisions. The report also showed that a growing number of investors are paying more attention to an organization’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, as they have been shown to contribute to a company’s financial success over time.
“Companies have been complaining that nobody cares about sustainability,” Robert Eccles, chairman of Arabesque Partners and professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, said in the report. “But investors care, and companies need to up their game.”
Seventy-five percent of senior executives at investment firms said a company’s good sustainability performance was “materially important when making investment decisions,” according to the survey. Additionally, 75% said the fact that sustainability practices lead to improved revenues and operational efficiencies at companies was a strong reason to invest in the organization. Sixty-percent also said strong sustainability performance reduces company risks and lowers a company’s cost of capital.
Divesting From Companies with Poor Sustainability
Conversely, if a company has a record of poor sustainability performance, 44% of investors said they would not invest in the firm. And, another 60% of investment firm board members said they would divest from a company if it had a poor sustainability footprint.
One industry experiencing investor divestments is the fossil fuel industry. According to the report, more than 400 institutions and 2,000 individual investors have divested more than $2 trillion from fossil fuel companies. Global insurer Allianz is among the names of firms that said it would divest from any company generating more than 30% of revenue from coal mining or that based more than 30% of its energy production on coal.
Many investors agree sustainability has become a more important in recent years. Ninety-two percent of investors said good sustainability performance mattered to investors more so today than just three years ago. Forty-three percent of that group agreed with that statement to “great extent.”
A main reason why a company’s sustainability performance mattered to investors was that sustainability increased the potential for a company’s long-term value creation. A company’s potential to improve revenue as a result of sustainability efforts, better operational efficiency and compliance with market expectations were also reasons for caring about an organization’s sustainability performance, investors said.
Investors also want to avoid being linked to companies that experience corporate scandals like Volkswagen’s diesel emission scandal, which lead to investor losses of about $33 billion last October, according to the report.
Companies Need to Take Action
It seems many companies are missing out on possible investor opportunities for failing to implement sustainability practices. The MIT and BCG survey showed that the number of companies with a sustainability strategy in place has decreased in recent years. In 2015, 60% said they had a sustainability strategy, down from 68% in 2014 and 62% in 2013. Additionally, only a quarter of respondents said they have a positive business case for sustainability, although 90% see sustainability as important.
MIT and BCG offered recommendations companies can take to ramp up sustainability practices and gain the attention of sustainability focused investors — things such as incorporating sustainability strategy into the overall corporate strategy and to engage investors to discuss any progress the company has made on sustainability. The report also urged those with no sustainability strategy to get on the bandwagon.
“As investor interest in sustainability mounts, sustainability laggards need to pay attention,” the report said.


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The Hourly View for BCH
Last Updated May 3, 2021, 02:016 GMT
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin Cash’s price is down $-1.47 (-0.15%) from the hour prior. This move is a reversal from the hour prior, which saw price move up. As for the trend on the hourly timeframe, we see the clearest trend on the 100 hour timeframe. Price action traders may also wish to note that we see a pin bar candlestick pattern on Bitcoin Cash. Given that we see an uptrend on the 20 hourly candle timeframe, and that such candlestick patterns often denote reversals, this may be worth noting. The moving averages on the hourly timeframe suggest a choppiness in price, as the 20, 50, 100 and 200 are all in a mixed alignment — meaning the trend across timeframes is inconsistent, indicating a potential opportunity for rangebound traders.
Bitcoin Cash Daily Price Recap
Bitcoin Cash came into today up 1.08% ($10.71) from the open of the day prior, marking the 2nd straight day it has gone up. The price move occurred on volume that was down 18.09% from the day prior, but up 31.74% from the same day the week before. Out of the 7 instruments in the Top Cryptos asset class, Bitcoin Cash ended up ranking 6th for the day in terms of price change relative to the day prior. The daily price chart of Bitcoin Cash below illustrates.
Bitcoin Cash Technical Analysis
Volatility for Bitcoin Cash has been contracting over the past two weeks relative to volatility over the past month. Whether volatility reverts will be something to watch. Trend traders will want to observe that the strongest trend appears on the 30 day horizon; over that time period, price has been moving up. For additional context, note that price has gone up 5 out of the past 10 days.
Overheard on Twitter
Behold! Here are the top tweets related to Bitcoin Cash:
- From KimDotcom:
@harmonylion1 Bitcoin Cash is a Bitcoin fork and its DNA is almost identical, hence the name. BCH champions the intention of Satoshi to create P2P Electronic Cash. Let the market decide. Over 95% of Internet users are not yet into crypto. It’s a long race ahead before victory can be declared.
- From 2Xs2u:
To reward early adaptors and investors we will distribute 10% of the amount XS2U bought in each month, back in bitcoin cash.
So at the 1st of every month you will recieve your divident share in your bitcoin dot com wallet for as long as you keep your XS2U tokens.
- From obiwankobe1:
@mattguergawi @OyeYknow @billmaher Look the Vechain network and $VET, look at the Basic Action Token or $BAT, look at Siacoin and Filecoin, look at NANO, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. If you don’t see value in what they provide then you aren’t looking.
As for a news story related to Bitcoin Cash getting some buzz:
On Thursday, the Smart Bitcoin Cash team announced the launch of the Smartbch testnet explaining that developers and decentralized app makers can now experiment and develop with the high-performance, EVM-compatible Bitcoin Cash sidechain….Further, Bitcoin.com News spoke with Wang Kui the lead developer of the Smartbch project….During the last few weeks, the Smartbch project has been a topical conversation within the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community….This is because the Smartbch project is a sidechain built on Bitcoin Cash and it leverages the BCH chain’s lower transaction fees….“However, as a sidechain to Bitcoin Cash, Smartbch aims to build a new playground for the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem and enlarge the user base.” Wang Kui the lead developer of the Smartbch further discussed the protocol with Bitcoin.com News this week….WK: Bitcoin Cash miners can vote for their validators on Smartbch and get gas fee rewards, such that they can benefit from decentralized finance (defi) applications on Smartbch.


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Fans of car shows and cruising are invited to downtown San Bernardino this weekend for the sixth annual Rendezvous Back to Route 66.
Presented by the San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce and the city of San Bernardino, the daylong classic car show and cruise is running downtown for the fourth consecutive year.
“This is where it all began,” Chamber of Commerce President Judi Penman said. “Cruising E Street.”
The show runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6.
While more than 1,150 custom and classic cars cruised historic city streets last year, Penman expects greater participation this weekend.
“We’ve kept the cost down for the cars,” she said. “Because that’s what the show is about, the cars.”
Court Street Square will be the activity hub, with live entertainment, food and beer gardens. There will be merchandise vendors and exhibits ran by area nonprofits.
The cruise route is as follows: Second Street to Arrowhead Avenue, north to Fifth Street, west on Fifth Street to E Street, north on E Street to Sixth Street, u-turn to South on E Street, east on Court Street to D Street, south on D Street to Second Street, and east on Second Street to Arrowhead Avenue.
This year’s event will have a cool-down area on E Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, for cars that can overheat due to a slow cruise.
Free public parking is available at and around the Carousel Mall.
“This is the season,” Penman said. “It’s the fall, and this is something for our community. Something our community can be proud of and happy to have.”
For more information, visit rendezvousroute66.com or call 909-885-7515.


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BRISTOW, Va., January 27, 2022 — MurLarkey® Distilled Spirits is pleased to report MurLarkey’s Farm To Flask® Initiative has achieved substantial progress over the past year, significantly reducing the company’s environmental impact while supporting local trade partners.
In 2021, MurLarkey CEO Thomas Murray unveiled the Farm To Flask® Initiative: a corporate mandate to reduce environmental impact while supporting local trade partners wherever possible across all aspects of business, including raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and sales channels and trade.
Within the past year, great progress has been made in the following areas:
- Hyper-local focus on sourcing raw materials from sustainable growers/providers in Virginia – MurLarkey’s corn and grain is now 100% VA-based
- Re-use of manufacturing byproducts as feed and fertilizer by providing it free to area farmers
- Use of regionally made US glass
- New, re-engineered, eco-friendly packaging for MurLarkey’s Bootleg Boys® RTD line to further reduce carbon footprint
- Implementing and leveraging smart-technology in an e-commerce wholesale portal environment to provide frictionless order placement and fulfillment, significantly improving shipping logistics and helping reduce gas emissions
- Supporting accounts and local economies by promulgating the “Buy Local” message
“The idea is simple – live local, support local, provide local”, said Murray. “I think the recent COVID experience and now the supply chain issues woke many companies up to the fact that we are all in this together and must be cognizant of not just the environmental impact, but also the socio-economic impact we now face in many localities.”
“MurLarkey has always strived to be a socially and environmentally conscious leader in our space. From our fundraising contributions to such organizations as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, to our humanitarian contributions in providing free hand sanitizer to local residents and families in the early days of the pandemic, this initiative illustrates our core values and demonstrates our continued commitment to our business practices, by contributing to sustainable environmental, social, community and economic development.”
MurLarkey will continue to look for ways to support local and reduce its environmental impact as part of the MurLarkey Farm To Flask® Initiative in 2022 and beyond.


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Albany County embarked on a weeklong initiative in continued efforts to boost a working relationship between Albany farmers and restaurants.
The Farms to Restaurant Week ran from Monday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 16, at eight establishments throughout the county.
Across the county, o'dourves, main dishes and buffets were all created using area produce, dairy and meats.
It's promoting Albany County, to let it be known that Albany County is more than a place with restaurants, it's a place where the foods are produced as well, said Richard Toth head chef at the Schuyler Inn in Menands. The inn prepares large meals for banquets, weddings and events.
It joined the Albany Pump Station, CafE Capricco, Riverfront Bar and Grill, The Rusty Anchor, The Victory CafE, Java Jazz CafE and Marche at 74 State.
Toth took the opportunity to employ the local goods in the inn's Italian buffet held every Wednesday. From pork to tomatoes, squash to cheese and even fish, Toth cooked up a meal expected to serve hundreds.
Throughout the county and Capital District, chefs are turning to seasonal produce and meats, grown and raised in the area. The products are fresher and they help to sustain the area, said Toth.
Earlier in the summer, county legislators passed new laws protecting the right to farm in the county. The latest joint initiative through the county Farm and Agricultural Land Protection Board, Cornell Cooperative Extension Albany County Department of Economic Development, Conservation and Planning and state and federal agricultural and market departments is two-pronged; helping give the farmers a market while sustaining their operations and open areas.
The plan is to eventually help distribute the local wares to restaurants, said Tom Gallagher, livestock specialist with Albany County Cooperative Extension.
"We are trying to provide items that the restaurants need and how farms can help. In mid-winter we will be holding a meeting to bring in the farmers and restaurant owners to try to and put a system in place and to work on a delivery system," Gallagher said.
The extension is pleased with the support and the week seems to have caught on, he said.
To get the message across chefs informed their clientele that the food they would be eating was locally grown, produced or raised. A free wine glass was given to customer who selected menu items incorporating or made fully from local ingredients.


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The brainchild of graffiti artist Andre’, Black Block made its debut earlier in the month with a collection featuring daily essential garments such as polos, t-shirts and denim. Amongst the releases for September are two colorways of denim alongside a standard Black Block polo in 5 different colors. The drop is now available at fellow Parisian boutique colette.


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At a highly anticipated event on Tuesday, Apple unveiled the latest versions of its popular iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch products, and announced details regarding its forthcoming subscription streaming service, Apple TV+.
The most watched reveal was the introduction of the new iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, which offer users longer battery life, an enhanced display screen, and more durable design features.
"[They're] jam-packed with great new capability in an incredible new design," CEO Tim Cook said from the company's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California.
Apple ($AAPL) also announced that the iPhone 11 Pros will have an all-new triple-camera feature that provide users ultra wide, wide, and telephoto lens capabilities. Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, called the new iPhone 11 Pros the "most powerful and advanced smartphones" Apple has ever created with a starting price of $999.
The company also introduced another more affordable version of its latest iPhone, the iPhone 11. The phone includes enhanced performance features and has a dual lens camera for ultra wide and wide photos.The iPhone 11's starting price is $699.
All versions of the new iPhones, which come in an array of new colors, are available for preorder September 13 and hit retail shelves on September 20.
Apple also announced that Apple TV+ will make its long-awaited debut on November 1 and cost just $4.99 a month for access across devices. Apple first announced its streaming service in March at a star-studded event that included major Hollywood figures such as Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carrell, and J.J. Abrams — all of whom are producing content for the platform.
"With Apple TV+, we are presenting all-original stories from the best, brightest, and most creative minds, and we know viewers will find their new favorite show or movie on our service," said Zack Van Amburg, Apple's head of worldwide video.
Apple TV+ makes it debut as the streaming sector gets increasingly crowded, with other major platforms, such as Disney+, set to launch this fall and consumers showing an overall preference to on-demand entertainment. The latest platforms come, however, over a decade after the launch of other major players like Amazon Prime video, Netflix, and Hulu.
Netflix’s ($NFLX) stock fell nearly 3 percent by closing bell on Tuesday after the news of Apple’s cheaper streaming service. Shares of Roku ($ROKU), the streaming media device maker and content producer, fell over 10 percent.
The streaming platform also represents Apple's shift away from its ubiquitous hardware business in favor of new software-driven service businesses, which also includes the Apple credit card, Apple News+, and Apple Arcade.
Apple Arcade, the company's subscription gaming platform, will be available for $4.99 a month starting September 19, Apple announced at Tuesday's event.
Furthermore, Apple unveiled Tuesday the latest version of its iPad, which is now in its seventh generation. The new iPad features a 10.2-inch Retina display screen, an upgraded Apple Pencil, and more advanced cameras and sensors, among several other revamps. Beginning September 30, the iPad will be available starting at $329.
"This new iPad with iPadOS takes everything people love about our most popular iPad and makes it even better for creating, learning, working, and playing," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of product marketing.
Apple Watches also received significant upgrades, the company announced. The Series 5 watches will now include an all new Always-On Retina display that can display the time and other information continuously. Past model required the user to tap the display or raise their arm to activate the screen. The latest Apple Watches are now available in new aluminum case in silver, gold, and gray.
Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, said that through "seamless integration of new hardware and software" Apple Watches deliver an "enhanced experience that makes it even easier to stay active and connected to the people and information users care about."


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Hot-Rolled Coil Prices Remain Stagnant in the European Market
- 26-Sep-2022 2:48 PM
- Journalist: Patrick Knight
Germany: Hot-Rolled Coil prices in Europe showcase a stable trend from the previous week due to increased inventory and a limited demand outlook. Furthermore, a variety of factors continue to dampen demand for flat-rolled products. These factors include slowing public works programs across Europe in the face of rapidly rising energy prices and lower consumer spending amidst economic uncertainty.
According to traders, the most recent flat-rolled product transactions occurred at USD 740-750/MT EXW for October or November delivery. Additionally, the deals for Hot-Rolled Coil occurred in earlier September at around USD 750/MT for the same rolling and delivery times.
ArcelorMittal attempted to raise its offer price for a flat rolled product to USD 850/MT in earlier September. However, the Luxembourg-based group prices settled at USD 810/MT last week due to low demand. Imports from Southeast Asia have also impacted the market, with transactions of Hot-Rolled Coil from Vietnam taking place at USD 680-685/MT CIF Bilbao and Antwerp, January delivery.
According to ChemAnalyst, Hot-Rolled Coil prices will continue to fall, reaching around USD 650 by the end of the year despite Europe's unusual economic situation. Although Hot-Rolled Coil prices tend to rise at this time of year as buyers try to hedge against January mill price increases. In response to market conditions, European producers have announced plans to temporarily or indefinitely reduce Hot-Rolled Coil production. The demand for flat products in Spain is currently at 40% of normal levels or approximately 8 million metric tonnes. This decrease is primarily due to European governments' efforts to contain rising prices and avoid shortages. The European Commission also plans to raise USD 138 billion from energy companies' profits and mandated energy use reductions. European gas stocks are also above the five-year average at 86%, although Gazprom has suspended flows through its Nord Stream pipeline indefinitely. This line runs from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in eastern Germany beneath the Baltic Sea.


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Unlike Activision, which releases a Call of Duty every year, Electronic Arts, has preferred to stay aloof, this yearly release cycle.
They stick to their two year plan, based on which, Battlefield 3 got released in 2011, while Battlefield 4 came out in 2013 with a whole lot of bugs that they are fixing it even after a year since its original release date. When Battlefield Hardline was announced to be a launch title for Visceral games in 2014, people were surprised, because the company earlier claimed that they detest the yearly release cycles and would always want to focus on quality.
It was confirmed and would have released in the month of October, if not for the mediocre beta reveal that the game had. Players who tried out the game, were extremely disappointed with its BF4 style and there was hardly anything to do in it, related to cops versus robbers. There weren’t too many bugs or glitches as found in the previous game, but it definitely lacked the sheen to attract players to buy it for a full price at $60. Visceral went back to work on it once the beta ended and also promised that there will be one more beta before the actual release date, to make sure the game plays as they have intended.
DICE always had a strong hand in the multiplayer arena, while Visceral was sure about providing an exciting single player campaign for Battlefield Hardline. The storyline, according to what they have confirmed, is about cops who go undercover, as criminals, to bust a drug dealer, but are framed by people they know. It is their revenge saga, where they set out to hold those people in question and make sure that they get out of the prison sentence that they got, without committing a crime.
The game is going to have a strong focus on delivering a riveting single player campaign, which Battlefield series lacked, for so many years now. After the beta ended, Visceral went back to their development team to bring in a whole lot of changes to the multiplayer aspect of the game. They posted ten important changes including limiting military grade weapons, increasing the armor of vehicles so that they don’t blast right away with every shot, fixing some bugs and more. The team also promised that there will be ten more important changes based on the community suggestions.
Postponed Release Date
Despite all their efforts, it looks like Battlefield Hardline didn’t reach the level as assumed by EA. One known reason is Battlefield 4 is a game that has ample lifetime and once the bugs are fixed, there are so many new players, who are still waiting to purchase it along, with all the DLCs. It can easily last for two more years and bringing a new title to replace it so early, didn’t work out. EA made a wise decision to postpone Battlefield Hardline and it will not only help them maintain the two year cycle, but will also help them ensure quality in the new game.
Related ItemsBattlefield: Hardline