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Guest post written by Julia Grimaldi.
Julia is the Massachusetts Dairy Promotion Board Coordinator
Happy June Dairy Month! Did you know that milk is the top source of calcium in the diet? Experts recommend that you get at least three servings of dairy every day. Milk, cheese and yogurt all count. With nine essential nutrients including calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin, and niacin, milk, cheese, and yogurt together pack a powerful nutrient punch! Learn more about the health benefits of dairy at http://www.newenglanddairycouncil.org/page/health-professionals.
Yesterday, Governor Patrick proclaimed that June is dairy month in Massachusetts! June Dairy Month originated in 1937 as an annual tradition developed to celebrate the dairy industry and its many contributions to our society. In June and indeed all year long, we want to recognize all of the positive contributions our Massachusetts dairy farmers have on local agriculture, working 365 days a year to take the best care of their animals, the land and their communities. Learn more about Massachusetts dairy farming at www.massdairy.com.
June is a time when dairy farm families often open their farms to visitors for tours, while stores and other businesses feature delicious dairy products for customers to enjoy. On Saturday June 2, Drumlin Farm in Lincoln hosted their annual Dairy Day, on Sunday June 12, Whittier Farm in Sutton celebrates June Dairy Month, and on Saturday June 23 Hager’s Farm Market in Shelburne Falls hosts their annual “Udderly Delicious Day” and Shaw Farm in Dracut has their annual Ice Cream Festival. Visit http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/calendar.htm for event details.
It’s easy to keep dairy products relevant in your home, and our dairy farmers are happy to supply us with a steady flow of nutritious milk produce right here in Massachusetts all year long. You’ll find a wide variety of dairy products in your local grocery store. Discover wholesome recipes that offer you easy ways to enjoy at least three servings of low-fat or fat-free milk, cheese or yogurt every day – any time of day. Make your dairy connection here: http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/recipes/Pages/RecipeLanding.aspx.
Also, check out this month's ChopChop newsletter for a yummy strawberry banana smoothie recipe!
Highlights of the October 20th Public Health Council Meeting posted on Oct 20
The October monthly meeting of the Public Health Council included a pair of Determination of Need requests, two votes on final amendments to regulations, and three informational briefings for Council members on the status of proposed regulatory amendments which have yet to come for a …Continue Reading Highlights of the October 20th Public Health Council Meeting
Domestic Violence Awareness Month posted on Oct 17
Many women experiencing domestic violence suffer in silence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the opportunity to shine the light on a public health issue impacting millions of people in America. Women experiencing domestic violence no longer need to suffer in silence; always remember …Continue Reading Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Workshop for Local Health Officials to Learn More about the Biomonitoring Massachusetts Study posted on Oct 12
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health invites local health officials to attend an October 17th workshop at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The workshop is focused on an important environmental health study evaluating how Massachusetts residents are exposed to toxic chemicals. The workshop will describe …Continue Reading Workshop for Local Health Officials to Learn More about the Biomonitoring Massachusetts Study


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Newly-formed ZF TRW says it will retain the ‘affordable safety’ value adopted by the US supplier as huge company settles in to its position as the world’s third largest component producer.
Ever- growing complexity is leading some to speculate as to how far the consumer will be required to pick up the tab, but ZF TRW is keen to promote the ideals of the former slogan.
“We are continuing that direction of affordable safety – that is where the big market potential [is],” ZF TRW director product planning global electronics, Andy Whydell told just-auto at ADAC’s proving ground in Potsdam near Berlin.
“We have a strong position in driver assistance systems and we will continue to build.”
The electronics director also noted Euro NCAP ratings were driving safety improvements with around half of all cars sold in Europe for example, featuring five star ratings with automatic braking coming to the fore.
“These are pretty affordable solutions being designed right down to A segment and city-type vehicles,” said Whydell. “As volumes increase, the cost of these measures will continue to fall.”
Despite the increase in vehicle safety content, Whydell nonetheless noted attention would also focus on crash avoidance as much as as coping with difficult situations
“We are getting to the point where it is increasingly difficult to add more protection for vehicle occupants, post crash,” he said. “The next step in road safety will come from crash avoidance.
“One of the things Euro NCAP is working hard to do is if everybody is a five star, how do you tell the difference? Active safety is the next step in that process.”
The global electronics director also emphasised increasing public acceptance of safety aids in cars, highlighting former steps in vehicle content which were once thought radical, such as seat belts, airbags and brake technology, but which are now viewed as commonplace.
“This is something the industry has gone through for decades,” said Whydell. “Clearly most of the mechanical technology in the car is well proven – really where the innovation is coming is software and electronic integration.
“How can we manage the necessary update process that is as least disruptive for the consumer as possible. Every time you turn your phone on there is some application that needs updating, so people are becoming more familiar with that.”

domain: news


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Apple is planning to reboot the Apple Music streaming service just one year after launch, a new report claims.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is planning “sweeping changes” to the service in response to the “tepid reviews” Apple Music has received so far.
It’s said that Apple will unveil its newly revamped Apple Music at the company’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June.
The changes are tipped to include:
- Altering the UI of Apple Music to make it more intuitive
- Better integration of streaming and downloading businesses
- Expansion of online radio service
Bloomberg cites its source for the information as “people familiar with the product”, and notes that: “The changes will be accompanied by a marketing blitz to lure more customers to the $10-per-month streaming service.”
Colin Gillis, an industry analyst, was quoted as saying:
“When it comes to software, Apple performs with less elegance than it does when it comes to hardware. Apple Music is underwhelming. They have subscribers because of their platform. If you have that kind of subscriber base, you should have millions of subscribers.”
Related: Best Music Streaming Service 2016
In our review, Apple Music scored 7/10, with criticisms including the clunky My Music section, issues with playlists and the offline mode, and an “overwhelming” app UI.
The new look of Apple Music is said to be headed up by Apple content head Robert Kondrk, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor. Jone Ive, Apple’s chief of design, is also reported as having had “input”, as well as Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of services.
Apple Music launched to the public on June 30, 2015, and now serves over 13 million subscribers globally. That’s short of Spotify’s 75 million active users, 30 million of which are paying subscribers.
Alongside an Apple Music relaunch, Apple is expected to announce a new version of Mac OS, iOS 10, a new tvOS update, and possibly the Apple Watch 2 at this year’s WWDC.
Watch our iPhone SE review:
What would you like to change about Apple Music? Let us know in the comments.


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Tom Wozniak (pictured left) gives the rundown of what GDPR acronyms you need to know.
FYI – The ABCs of GDPR Acronyms
With the official launch of GDPR on May 25, 2018, the regulation is bringing a host of changes to the digital marketing and ad tech industries. Along with all the impacts on how companies collect, store, and process data, the regulation is also creating a variety of new terms for the industry. Considering how terminology and acronym-heavy the digital ecosystem already is, it’s no small feat to add a number of new terms to the mix. Here are descriptions of just a few of the more common acronyms that you’ve likely seen discussed since GDPR was announced.
GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation – We might as well start at the beginning, with the acronym for the new regulation itself. The acronym has become so ubiquitous that a lot of people probably now recognize GDPR, without actually knowing what it stands for. Much like the CAN-SPAM Act, the new regulation will likely become universally known simply by it’s acronym in the years ahead. Certainly few outside the EU are likely to ever use the regulation’s full name going forward.
DPO – Data Protection Officer – This isn’t technically a new term introduced by GDPR. But, it has certainly grown in prominence over the past year. As a part of GDPR, companies are encouraged to name a DPO (and in some instances, larger companies are required to name one), who has oversight into the way the company collects, stores, processes, and protects data (particularly the personal data of individuals). According to some statistics discussed at this year’s RSA Conference in April, only about 18% of surveyed companies in the UK had named a DPO. It was reported that in the UK alone, there could be as many as 62,000 job openings for this role. So, this is at least one area, where GDPR may actually be creating jobs.
ISA (Independent Supervisory Authority) – These are independent public authorities that supervise, through investigative and corrective powers, the application of the data protection law. Under previous privacy legislation (like the General Data Protection Directive) each country in the EU currently has its own Data Protection Authority (DPA), charged with enforcing relevant privacy laws. Under GDPR, these organizations are being renamed as Independent Supervisory Authorities. So, the current DPA acronym will likely transition to ISA in the weeks and months ahead. However, don’t be surprised to see DPA used interchangeably since that is the legacy term. A recent survey of country DPAs suggests that many organizations are understaffed and may not be ready to take on full enforcement of GDPR initially.
DPA (again) – Data Processing Addendum – Wait, didn’t we just talk about DPAs? Yes, we did. However, this acronym gets a new definition under GDPR, as it now refers to contract addendums that cover how a data controller’s processing vendors will comply with GDPR. If your company is an ad tech vendor, you’ll likely either be creating these yourself or seeing a lot of them coming from your clients who are data controllers. As mentioned previously, DPA is already a commonly used term, referring to each country’s Data Protection Authority. So, you may expect some confusion about using DPA unless the context is very clear.
CMP – Consent Management Provider – This is a largely new type of ad tech platform that provides the technical infrastructure a business uses to collect and store information on the personal data customers have consented to be used, and for what purposes. Technically, these existed prior to GDPR, but suddenly they have become more prominent and vital to many companies in their efforts to comply with GDPR’s consent requirements. If there’s a not new type of ad tech platform to emerge from GDPR, it might just be the CMP.
DPIA – Data Protection Impact Assessment – DPIAs help organizations identify, assess and mitigate or minimize privacy risks within their data processing activities. They’re particularly relevant when a new data processing process, system or technology is being introduced. But, many companies are undertaking these assessments on their current data practices, in preparation for GDPR.
ICO – Information Commissioner’s Office – This is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals. Their website also provides a lot of useful information around GDPR.
SCC – Standard Contractual Clause – SCCs, also known as “model clauses,” are standardized contract language (approved by the European Commission) that provide one method of permission for controllers/processors to send personal data to non-EU countries. They are related to Data Processing Agreements and are often a part of those agreements.
This is hardly an exhaustive list of the new acronyms generated by GDPR. But, it’s a good start to getting to know just a few of the latest terms and add them to your marketing and compliance vocabulary.
Note – The author is not a lawyer and no information in this article should be taken as actual legal advice. It is always recommended that companies obtain professional legal guidance on matters pertaining to industry regulation or legislation, like GDPR.


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(PatriotWise.com) — The Lowe’s home improvement store in Georgia that fired an employee last month after she attempted to stop shoplifters from stealing over $2,100 worth of merchandise reinstated her on Monday, CNN reported.
Donna Hansbrough, 68, was fired from the Lowe’s store in Rincon, Georgia after she attempted to stop three shoplifters who left the store on June 25 pushing a loaded shopping cart full of items without paying for them.
When Hansbrough grabbed hold of the cart, one of the suspects, Takyah Berry, punched her in the face three times in the face giving her a black eye.
Berry and her two accomplices, her uncle Joseph Berry and another man identified by police as Jarmar Lawton, then took off with the stolen goods.
In response to Hansbrough’s actions, Lowe’s terminated her for violating the company’s policy against interfering with shoplifters, according to a July 20 statement from the Rincon Police Department.
But in a statement to CNN on Tuesday, Lowe’s acknowledged that the 13-year employee has been rehired.
According to the company’s statement, after Lowe’s senior management learned about the incident and spoke with Hansbrough on Monday, the company offered to reinstate her and Hansbrough accepted the offer.
The company said its first priority is the “safety of our customers and associates.” While products “can be replaced,” the company added, “people cannot.”
Lowe’s said that it is continuing to work with law enforcement to prosecute the perpetrators of the theft and “violent attack” against Hansbrough.
In a statement on Monday, the Rincon Police Department said two of the suspects are in custody while the third remains at large.
The Rincon police also expressed their delight that Hansbrough got her job back.
Copyright 2023, PatriotWise.com


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The panel on global economic recovery examined the success of multilateral financial institutions’ efforts to assist economies most in need of help and explored measures that BRICS countries can take to revive their respective nations and the global economy.
The panel noted that there is much talk about decreasing the value chain, bringing back home the parts of the supply in Europe and America and replacing imports with domestic alternatives.
Economic and exchange rate inequalities were also noted as challenges in the recovery of the world’s global economy.
The panel encouraged the NDB to be strategic with investment in the different sectors and the development of a common agenda for emerging markets. Global governance and global supply chains should be revisited, with more investment needed in education, agriculture and research.
Monitoring and the development of fiscal policy are key in working toward stabilising international financial systems.


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Maria Gabriel: Bulgaria Holds a Leading Position in Terms of Certified IT ProfessionalsDomestic | June 27, 2019, Thursday // 20:23| views
She emphasized that thanks to the digital single market, there are no roaming charges, writes NOVA TV.
"When we talk about the modern economy, digitization is a prerequisite for improving the competitiveness of our enterprises, for a better standard of living, for new economic models," Maria Gabriela, the Bulgarian commissioner for the digital economy and society, said during the second edition of the Plovdiv Economic Forum. This was announced by the Press and Media Division of the EC Representation in Bulgaria.
"No sector today can move forward without technology, but we must not let go of this transformation to make sure that man stays at the center and we will be able to predict the possible side effects," she said.
Gabriel has outlined the goal of continuing to remove barriers to digitization, while respecting core European values such as non-discrimination, inviolability, dignity and justice. The Bulgarian EU Commissioner has stressed that thanks to the digital single market there are no roaming charges, geographic blocking has been abolished and available data can move freely.
However, she noted that there are many challenges on the way to the digital future. Only a few European companies are digitized. In 2017, 25% of large EU businesses and no more than 10% of small and medium-sized enterprises used large data analysis. "Therefore, I have proposed a new Digital Europe program with a budget of € 9.2 billion to support the digital transformation of enterprises," Gabriel recalled. According to her, there must be an innovation hub in each of the 273 regions of the EU so that each company is at a distance from it.
The Commissioner has paid particular attention to digital skills and recalled that, in order to enable more young people to acquire high digital skills, the Digital Opportunities Scheme has been implemented for one year already. Gabriel Gabriel's proposal is that it continue in the next programming period.
She also highlighted the good positioning of Bulgaria in the development of a digital ecosystem. The country has traditions in information technology and electronics and is home to about 10,000 companies in the ICT sector and seven out of ten export goods and services. Sector turnover has grown by 300 per cent over the last seven years and has now reached 2.5 billion euros.
"Bulgaria holds a leading position in terms of certified IT professionals - third in Europe and tenth in the world, and Bulgaria has been chosen to be home to one of the top eight supercomputers in Europe, the supercomputer in Sofia will be the most powerful in Eastern Europe and one of the 50 most powerful in the world, which shows Bulgaria's potential to be at the forefront of shaping and implementing European digital policy, "added Maria Gabriel.
She drew attention to the new Digital Europe and Horizon Europe programs, encouraging participants to make use of the opportunities they provide. They envisage investing in artificial intelligence and robotics, next-generation Internet, supercomputers, large data analysis, and their ultimate goal is to have top digital technologies available to everyone.
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Lazada co-founders have launched a digital commerce startup, CREA, while LINE Pay and Visa have partnered on payments, transfer platforms and blockchain.
Lazada co-founders launch digital commerce startup CREA
Lazada co-founders Aimone Ripa di Meana and Alessandro Piscini have launched CREA, a B2B digital commerce startup serving Southeast Asia.
Based in Bangkok, CREA aims to help brands win millennials and Generation Z customers by creating solutions through social networks like Facebook, Instagram, LINE, Lazada and Shopee. It offers six core services: brand online strategy, marketplace store operations, social commerce, branding and creative services, data driven insights, digital marketing.
“Currently the services being offered in the market are mostly focused on logistics and outsourced manpower and are not targeted to a particular industry,” said Aimone Ripa di Meana, co-founder of CREA and former chief operating officer of Lazada Group in Singapore.
Over the next 12 months, CREA said it will focus on the beauty and personal care industry in Thailand. Over 1 per cent of GDP per capita in Thailand goes into this sector, double that of Korea. CREA added that it also plans to expand regionally over the next 12 to 24 months.
CREA is funded by global institutional investors such as Angel Capital Management, Picus Capital and Founders Fund Pathfinder.
LINE Pay and Visa partner on payments, transfer platforms and blockchain
LINE app’s fintech arm, LINE Pay, is partnering Visa to create new financial services in payments, transfer platforms and blockchain.
According to a statement, the partnership will cover areas such as everyday consumer payments, merchant solutions, B2B and cross-border payments, alternative currency transactions and marketing.
LINE’s 187 million global monthly active users will be able to apply for a digital Visa card from within the LINE app, and eventually be able to add any of their existing Visa cards to make payments from their mobile phone. Both companies will also collaborate on ways for merchants to interact with the LINE Pay service and LINE Pay digital wallet to support more globally interoperable payments.
“LINE Pay is more than just a payment method. As we transition to a cashless society, LINE Pay is focused on delivering added value to LINE’s users around the world and business partners,” said Youngsu Ko, CEO of LINE Pay and LINE’s Fintech Company.
This isn’t the first time both companies are partnering, having recently released co-branded LINE Pay Visa cards in Taiwan. These cards will also be rolled out in Japan later this year.


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Horlicks controls around a half of India’s health food drink market and the Indian mother still swears by the brand’s legacy. But despite the added distribution muscle, Horlicks might just end up pressuring Unilever’s financials
Unilever has emerged as top bidder for Horlicks, the malt-based health food drink brand 72.5 percent owned by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, outbidding Nestle, according to a report by Reuters.
While the value of Unilever’s bid is yet to be known, going by previous estimates, Horlicks and GSK’s other nutrition products together could fetch at least $4 billion. If GSK indeed manages to sell its consumer business for that amount, it will be an expensive acquisition for Unilever because the GSK portfolio of brands have not been growing in recent times.
Recent deals in the segment have fetched much lower valuations. Last month, Kraft Heinz sold Complan (Horlicks’ rival in India) to Zydus Wellness for Rs 4,595 crore, or four times annual sales. At $4 billion, GSK would be valued around 7.3 times annual sales, considering that Horlicks and other nutrition brands that GSK is selling generated a total sales of $550 million (Rs 3,900 crore) in 2017. Even at the $3.4 billion purchase price, as reported by some media outlets, the valuation would be 6.2 times annual sales. Though Horlicks has a presence across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Malaysia, around 85 percent of its revenues accrues from India.
One of the reasons why Unilever is interested in buying Horlicks, even at a higher valuation, is the Anglo-Dutch company’s enhanced focus on the food business in India. Hindustan Unilever has already generated more than Rs 11,000 crore from packaged foods in FY18.
Despite Horlicks’ strong brand and lineage, it will come with its own baggage. Horlicks, like the health drink category, has not been growing for quite a few years. To be sure, Unilever can potentially change this using its vast distribution channel, including the network of women sales agents across rural India. It also has the largest distribution reach of more than six million retail outlets. The challenge would remain because about one-fifth of Horlicks is sugar and globally, including India, people are moving away from sugary drinks.
In coming years, it would be tougher to get Horlicks growing unless Unilever reinvents the product and positions it as something else but not a health food drink. But Unilever will have to keep in mind that none of Horlicks brand extensions have worked so far.
One for the reasons why Horlicks had been a success is the state of undernourishment in India, but lately diabetes is on the rise, with more than 10 percent of the population being affected. A sugar tax is already being levied in some countries including the UK, and it may not be far when India may start thinking of imposing one. In any case, a different form of sugary drink, colas, are not growing either. That’s why cola companies are introducing more energy drinks and fruit-mixed beverages.
What Horlicks would bring to Unilever in India is its reach of 3.3 million retailer outlets, including a strong network of chemist shops, with a focus on eastern and southern markets. True, Horlicks controls around a half of India’s health food drink market and the Indian mother still swears by the brand’s legacy. But despite the added distribution muscle, Horlicks might just end up pressuring Unilever’s financials.So, unless Unilever has a few tricks under its sleeves to turn the Horlicks acquisition into a success story, it will just be following the path of Suntory that bought GSK’s Lucozade and Ribena for 1.35 billion pounds but is still struggling.


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Whole Foods stores around the country are struggling to keep shelves from going bare under a new stocking system, Business Insider reports. Employees say it's a morale-crushing system for them and that shoppers are getting angry.
The problem began after Whole Foods switched to a new stocking system called order-to-shelf (OTS) which is aimed at cutting costs, reducing waste, and cutting down on goods spoiling in stockrooms.
The idea is employees can move products directly from the delivery truck to the shelf, thereby cutting down on items in the stockroom. But the downside, employees tell Business Insider, is that it has led to empty shelves and even empty aisles in Whole Foods stores. That's because if they run out of something, there isn't a backup supply in the stockroom.
Employees who Business Insider spoke to say store managers are instructed to walk through the aisles and stockrooms regularly to make sure OTS is being implemented properly. If not, the managers of those areas could be written up -- and it could lead to those employees getting fired.
One employee said something as small as a box facing the wrong way could get someone written up, describing the system as "militaristic."
The decision to go to OTS reportedly originated from Whole Foods headquarters in Texas. Amazon bought Whole Foods last summer, and employees tell Business Insider they hope Amazon will fix the problem once it realizes what is happening.
Business Insider said Whole Foods would not comment on the story.


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Clocking, Shelfies and Twitter Helmets: bold announcements on April 1
On April 1, companies unveil innovative and unconventional new products and proposals.
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April 1 has long been a day for high-profile announcements from major companies, thanks, of course, to its crucial place in the fiscal year. This year is no different.
The proposal would transform the platforms of Chester, Bessarion and Summerhill stations into livable residential units for urban dwellers who don’t mind a subway train running through their bedroom.
WestJet Airlines is tossing out this outdated system and modernizing its flight schedule by adopting metric time, which should streamline and simplify the departure process.
<bullet>Domino’s Pizza introduced an edible pizza box, billed as “a world first in snackaging innovation.”
Now, Gmail Shelfie, a feature for the popular email service, lets users share photos of themselves to set as the background image of their inbox.
Google Maps has introduced Pokémon Challenge, an interactive globe-trotting smartphone game that turns ordinary maps users into aspiring Pokémon Masters.
<bullet>Professional networking site LinkedIn moved to establish themselves as the foremost feline networking site with Cats You May Know, a service to help furry purrfessionals brand themselves online.
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Where are Siri and Google Glass leading us?
In an age of the quick text and the easy Instagram, we don’t talk to each other as much as we used to — and that is especially true for Millennials. But communicating with digital assistants like Siri on our mobile devices? Different digital story.
Sure, she hasn’t been perfect, but the revamped Siri in Apple’s iOS 7 can tell you what’s trending on Twitter and read your emails aloud, among other tricks. This improving technology has implications for how people will ultimately interact with brands, says Aaron Shapiro, chief executive officer and co-founder of Huge, who we met with recently during a visit to the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based digital marketing agency, a one-time startup that has in the past eight years grown into a global shop of 700 employees—in no small part by staying on top of the ways consumers use digital.
If the API for Siri were opened up, Shapiro says, its influence would spread further.
“Siri points to a broader trend, which is that more and more human-computer interaction is going to be voice-enabled as opposed to the dominant way that we’ve been entering information into computers which has been typing in our pre-mobile world, and now with mobile, swiping and touching,” says Shapiro, adding that using a computer in your car, or via a smartwatch or Google Glass are just a few examples.
"In cases where the screens are going to be tiny or nonexistent, voice is going to be the way that we communicate,” he says. For marketers, that means considering how brands can communicate with their audiences in a voice context.
That makes sense for, say gaining directions while you're driving, but what about commerce? You can bet that any innovations in our mobile device will impact that since an estimated 80 percent of shoppers already do some type of mobile shopping for browsing or price comparisons while they are in store, doing price comparisons and research.
After getting an MA in journalism from Syracuse University, Teresa worked as a general assignment newspaper reporter—general on purpose because besides the usual city hall and police articles, there was the chance to fly an F-18 with the Blue Angels and tag along with bounty hunters on a stakeout—all good preparation for covering entrepreneurs.
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New Story City-based Knotwater Barbecue sauces hit Iowa shelves, 'trying to keep it as local as possible'
James Beem of Story City has been hooked on creating his own barbecue sauce for many years. The exuberant response he got from customers while it was a hobby led him to consider making a business of it.
Now, despite obstacles created by COVID-19, Beem has his Knotwater Barbecue Company products on the shelves of several central Iowa retailers.
Beem pulls from different regions of the country for inspiration.
“I'm a fan of regional barbecue. Kansas City has their style. North Carolina has two or three different styles to them. Texas has a style,” Beem said. “I tried to combine all of those different flavors into one bottle” — his Knotwater's original.
The original barbecue sauce is tomato-based but has a consistency that’s quite a bit thinner than a traditional bottled sauce, Beem said. A lot of people describe it as "moppin’ sauce."
“If you like a tangy vinegar, you can find it in there. If you like it a little bit sweeter, it’s there too. And there’s just a hint of heat at the end of it.”
How Knotwater got its name
Beem’s family is originally from Iowa. He grew up just south of Marshalltown, but the family moved to south Florida when he was in middle school.
Beem and his brother, Eric Pothast, took a fishing trip to North Carolina about a decade ago, and an event during that trip inspired the Knotwater name.
“We found some of the mountain moonshine there — the real stuff,” Beem said. “And we had quite a bit of that, maybe too much. The next morning, everybody was a little slow getting around. I looked at my brother, who looked like he had seen better days, and he said, ‘Man, that is not water.’”
The “not water” phrase stuck with Beem over the years, and he decided to use it for his business but added the K on the front to make it a little more marketable, he said.
'It really is comfort food':Historic Niland's Cafe in Colo reopens under new management
How Knotwater got its start
Pothast was Beem’s inspiration for starting the Knotwater brand, not just for the name.
“He’s one of the best barbecue guys I know,” Beem said. “We would always mix up our own barbecue sauces down in Florida and try them out. It was kind of a bittersweet deal though because we’d make them and we never really kept track of how much of what we used.
“We’d have the smoker going three or four times a week and had fun messing around with different ingredients and trying different things.”
Beem moved to Dubuque a few years ago and was working as a merchandiser for a soda company during the offseason from his job as a football coach and behavioral interventionist for a school there.
One of his main customers was Hy-Vee in Dubuque, and he would bring in his barbecue sauce during lunchtime.
“I built a pretty good relationship with the employees there, and they would say, ‘Hey, that smells really good. What is that?’” Beem said. “They’d try it and say how good it was, so they started buying little mason jars of it from me.”
The store manager got a taste of it and said, “I’ll put this on the store shelves right now,” Beem said.
It made him feel good, but he was intimidated by the amount of money and the food regulations required to start bottling his own products professionally.
Family in Story City encouraged Beem to move there in 2019. He spent a lot of time in 2020 learning what he needed to do to get the business going and started working with a copacker in Ankeny.
“We’re trying to keep it as local as possible,” he said. “We’re even using tomatoes from local farmers when we’re able.”
Because of the pandemic, Beem said his timing for starting the company wasn’t great.
“In February of 2020, I thought I’d put all my eggs in that basket right now and see what happens. Then COVID hit,” he said. “But a lot of good things have happened in this year.”
Where can you buy Beem’s barbecue products?
Knotwater Barbecue Company’s barbecue sauces, pepper sauces and dry rubs are now on the shelves at Slim’s Country Market in Story City, Story City Market, the Lincoln Center Hy-Vee in Ames, and Theisen’s in Ames, Marshalltown, Grinnell and Indianola.
Slim’s was the first retailer to bring Beem’s products on board. Kurt Johnson, the owner of Slim’s, jumped on the opportunity to sell a local Story City product, Beem said. The second business he approached, Story City Market, was also interested right away.
“It’s the beauty of small-town Iowa,” Beem said. “If someone likes you, they’ll give it a chance the first time. And if you’ve got a good product on top of liking you, they’re going to keep supporting you.
“It’s really cool. I don't know if I would’ve had this chance if I’d been anywhere else in the country.”
Beem has contributed products to local events like the Way for Will 5K run, the Story City/Lafayette Township EMS barbecue and the Story City drive-thru BBQ.
“It feels really good to be able to contribute a little bit to events and organizations like that,” Beem said.


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Honda prepares restyling Civic Type RJuly 30, 2018
In fact, experts are at a loss and can not understand why Honda is already working on restyling the “charged” hatchback Civic Type R. But as foreign colleagues have said – “We just have to accept it.” Test prototypes of the updated versions were noticed by photo spy on the Nyurbugrgring highway.
Unfortunately, the video does not manage to consider any features, but some details are revealed to us. Judging by the camouflage, the car will get new front and rear bumpers, a revised radiator grille, and maybe some changes in the cabin. And experts are not sure whether it will be just restyling, or the company is preparing a more accessible version of hot-hatch.
As noted by the edition of The Truth About Cars – an updated version in the cabin can get additional displays with touch controls. It means fully digital dashboard and full-screen multimedia display. Moreover, the publication is sure that a more expensive version is also in development.
But the most likely option is the theory of testing the restyling version of the Honda Civic Type R 2020 model year, which can debut in a year.
Currently, the Civic Type R is offered in the United States with the same 2.0-liter turbocharged engine providing 306 horsepower and 399 Newton-meters of maximum torque. The 2018 model costs from $ 35,595, including a $ 895 tax charge, but we expect if a more accessible version appears, see prices starting at about $ 32,000.


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Online fashion retailer Koovs Plc said on Tuesday a company owned by chairman Waheed Alli has acquired its business after it failed to get additional investment from billionaire Kishore Biyani-led Future Lifestyle Fashion Ltd.
Future Lifestyle, part of Biyani’s Future Group and the largest shareholder of Koovs, failed to invest an additional 6.5 million pounds ($8.34 million), the online retailer said in regulatory filings. This resulted in unsustainable cash-flow pressures, said Koovs, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market.
The company said that it also failed to secure alternative funding and that it didn’t receive any viable offers in a competitive sale process conducted over the past month to help it continue as a going concern.
As a result, Koovs placed itself into administration—the UK’s insolvency process.
The filings show that Geoff Rowley and Jason Baker, partners at business advisory firm FRP Advisory, were named joint administrators. The administrators subsequently sold the company’s business and assets to SGIK 3 Investments Ltd, the company owned by Alli, Koovs’ largest secured creditor.
“The offer from SGIK 3 Investments Limited to purchase the underlying business of Koovs in the UK and in India was the best one we received from a creditors' perspective,” Rowley said. “There is a legal claim against FLFL which will be left with the administrators to try and recover value. This could potentially see a return for creditors, including shareholders, and we will provide an update in due course.”
Future Lifestyle owned a 25.8% stake in Koovs as of November 20, according to the fashion retailer’s website. HT Media Ltd owned 11.4% while Alli held 10.9%.
The Biyani-led company had acquired the stake last year for about $7.6 million. At the time, Koovs had said that Future Lifestyle would make additional investment to take its ownership to up to 29.9%.


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CES is now 50 years old. Established to showcase the latest cutting-edge technologies of the day, and now firmly on the January Las Vegas calendar, it can prove useful to consumers, many of the products migrate to enterprise, some eventually revolutionising the way we do business, but has it had its day? Is it still relevant?
ojo discuss the highlights and possible lowlights of the show.
CES is quite often demonstrating prototype tech. This can come with its hazards, as the robot Cloi (pronounced Chloe) demonstrated live on stage at its launch, failing to respond to commands and prompts. Robotics and AI are still very much in their infancy and R&D is about getting things wrong. If the tech concept is good enough, people will forgive an unsuccessful early demo. We shouldn’t read too much into these early failures. But it is a balance, if manufacturers bring a product too early to the party consumers may lose confidence in the tech and then it may be harder to get these sort of products into the mainstream. Ultimately CES is about showcasing future tech.
Fingerprint tech was demonstrated by various manufacturers, including HP demonstrating their HP Spectre laptop, at the show. In theory, for tech security, this is a great thing, making ease of access and authentication to devices much quicker and streamlined. However, unless the underlying tech improves it could just lead to more problems than benefits. It needs to be of good enough quality before it becomes trusted and mainstream. But we use it to access doors in buildings so why not a laptop?
Tap ‘n’ go and finger print tech is revolutionising how we work. The quick and easy means of authenticating as part of a natural process of working is great. The iphone works well because you have to press the home button to login. On a laptop touching the pad as you would naturally, to wake it up and authenticate makes sense. Removing the need for people to remember passwords and using stronger encrypting via a fingerprint will be the success of this type of technology.
Voice Assistants and start speakers were everywhere at CES from Amazon’s Alexa, to Cortana, Google Assistant and Siri. The tech was being used in light switches, showers and mirrors so it is only natural that this technology should be applied to the workplace.
In the workplace, Alexa can be used for tasks such as minute taking during meetings, organising and adding to calendars and even helping people prioritise their work for the day. Having an Alexa in the corner of the office that plays the radio is great, but when it can control the lights, heating, power off devices and lock/unlock doors then it becomes a great addition to the office environment.
Why not walk into a reception area and be greeted by a chat bot? Why not gain personal assistance in a meeting room too? Most of us in business at some point have to talk to an IT service desk, raise a repair job or ask for something. Chat bots can do all of this and most likely better than us humans. The success of voice assistants will come with considering customer experience within the workplace.
‘New’ educational tech products were launched at CES this year, from Botley the toy robot, designed to teach the youngest aspiring programmers, to the Alpha Egg providing language instruction. Whilst this tech is not necessarily revolutionary it is evolutionary. Writing this as children of the 70’s era we were brought up with basic electronic toys. We learnt by taking them apart and putting them back together. Programming is not much different to this and although not necessarily new in tech, we should embrace these digital educational aids to help children gain the skills they need to explore, question and investigate tech and the world in general, however it is presented.
200 leaders in digital health came together for a health summit at CES this year. Many big companies are trying to enter the growing health arena for tech. People are being given more autonomy over their own health care with rising health costs, and products are being created which seem like real break-throughs for those who need them. Digital health is growing at an astonishing pace, with innovative solutions for diagnosing, monitoring and treating illnesses. Having just talked about forgiving emerging prototype tech, Digital health is an area where human intuition needs to still be very much present. When we make a piece of technology into a medical device our relationship with it changes and the technology needs to be completely robust. There is a world of difference between having a fit bit tracking your steps and Nima, an app which tells you if there are traces of peanuts in your food. The responsibility on the tech is enormous so, as with Sat Navs, we cannot lose our ability to use our own common sense. GPs could soon be prescribing technology for people and their role in the community could change but tech will not be replacing them for some time, a human has instinct from experience which is, currently, very hard to replicate in a robot.
The ojo directors let us know what caught their eye at the show:
Kevin: The HTC Vive Pro headset. The original Vive was very good and this upgrade looks fantastic. Not just for gaming but for VR in general. The gaming world often steers and dictates which tech is successful prior to it becoming really mainstream and I think it’s starting to show that the potential for high quality VR in all industries is huge.
Tom: A simple one I quite liked was Travis translator – a portable device that uses AI to translate speech in 80 languages all in less than 2 seconds. Just imagine a universal translator that can fit into your pocket and we are boldly going into Star Trek territory!
Nathan: For me it was more of a surprise of disappointment. In many respects, there wasn’t anything that new. I was expecting to see a lot more on wearables and automation. The biggest surprise felt like the lack of advancement and reality that robotics is still really in the R&D phase and AI is currently more hype than reality.
CES 2013 saw VR, wearable and smart homes starting to gain some traction in the tech industry. As CES 2018 closes are we any further forward with these technologies and is there anything new being introduced? We would like to see more disruptive consumer tech at the show next year, rather than add on technology which seemed prevalent, let’s take some risks, and see where it takes the world of tech!


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A total of 46 million people visited the Netherlands in 2019
“Cannabis tourism” may be coming to an end in Amsterdam if the environmentalist mayor Femke Halsema gets her wish to ban foreign tourists from the city’s coffee shops by the time coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted.
It’s no secret that the city’s first female mayor, along with many locals, simply has had enough of “the power of attraction of Amsterdam as a holiday resort for soft drug tourism,” as Halsema wrote in a recent letter to her city council, included in her new plan expected to be passed that would permit marijuana product sales only to Dutch nationals and residents of the Netherlands.
Before Covid-19 lockdowns, the euphemistically-called coffee shops, along with the renowned red-light district, attracted more than one million visitors a month — more than its permanent population.
A total of 46 million people visited the Netherlands in 2019, with most coming to Amsterdam and many buying and smoking cannabis at the marijuana shops.
To Read The Rest Of This Article On Forbes, Click Here


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The potential danger from a raft of memory-allocation bugs discovered by Microsoft in April has now spread to older versions of multiple BlackBerry QNX products.
The Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) and BlackBerry warned in separate alerts Tuesday that threat actors can take over or launch denial of service attacks on devices and critical infrastructure by exploiting what are called BadAlloc bugs tied to BlackBerry’s QNX operating system (OS).
QNX is a real-time OS, used in embedded systems such as automobiles, medical devices and handsets. BlackBerry acquired the OS in 2010 when it bought Quantum Software Systems. Industries and devices using the affected QNX OS include aerospace and defense, heavy machinery, rail, robotics, industrial controls and medical devices. BlackBerry boasted in 2019 QNX is embedded in the infotainment systems of 150 million vehicles ranging from Audi, Ford, Kia and Volkswagen.
BadAlloc, tracked as CVE-2021-22156, is the name Microsoft’s Section 52 research group gave to 25 critical memory-allocation vulnerabilities discovered in April that at the time were believed to affect myriad vendors’ IoT and industrial devices.
“BlackBerry QNX RTOS is used in a wide range of products whose compromise could result in a malicious actor gaining control of highly sensitive systems, increasing risk to the nation’s critical functions,” according to the CISA’s advisory.
CISA warned that all BlackBerry programs with dependency on the C runtime library are affected by the vulnerability. “Because many affected devices include safety-critical devices, exploitation of this vulnerability could result in a malicious actor gaining control of sensitive systems, possibly leading to increased risk of damage to infrastructure or critical functions,” the agency said.
BlackBerry put out a security advisory of its own on a BadAlloc-related integer overflow vulnerability in the calloc() function of the C runtime library in specific versions of the BlackBerry QNX. The company said the flaw affects the BlackBerry QNX Software Development Platform (SDP) version 6.5.0SP1 and earlier, QNX OS for Medical 1.1 and earlier, and QNX OS for Safety 1.0.1 and earlier.
So far there is no evidence of active exploitation of BadAlloc on BlackBerry QXN devices, both the company and the CISA added.
Improper Input Validation
Memory allocation is exactly what it sounds like–the basic set of instructions device makers give a device for how to allocate memory. BadAlloc vulnerabilities stem from a systemic issue in which memory-allocation implementations written throughout the years as part of devices and embedded software did not incorporate proper input validation, according to Microsoft. Without these validations, attackers can exploit the memory allocation function to perform a heap overflow, resulting in execution of malicious code on a target device.
BadAlloc bugs are attributed specifically to the usage of vulnerable memory functions that exist across devices, such as malloc, calloc, realloc, memalign, valloc, pvalloc and more. What makes them so pervasive is that they can exist in various aspects of devices, including RTOS, embedded SDKs, and C standard libraries.
CISA and Blackberry strongly urged in separate documentation that all organizations whose devices use affected QNX-based systems immediately update to the latest version of the technology and apply mitigations.
BlackBerry warned that there are no known workarounds for the vulnerability on BlackBerry QNX SDP version 6.5.0SP1 and earlier, QNX OS for Medical 1.1 and earlier, and QNX OS for Safety 1.0.1. However, to avoid exploitation, system administrators can ensure that only ports and protocols used by the application using the RTOS are accessible by blocking all others, the company said.
BlackBerry also advised that administrators follow network segmentation, vulnerability scanning, and intrusion detection best practices appropriate for use of the QNX product in their cybersecurity environment “to prevent malicious or unauthorized access to vulnerable devices.”
CISA also strongly encouraged that critical infrastructure organizations and other organizations developing, maintaining, supporting, or using affected QNX-based systems contact BlackBerry to obtain patches for their products.


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Table of Contents
Microstrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, is sitting on unrealised gains of well over $100 million for its Bitcoin holding position.
A quick turn in fortune
Back at the lows of under $16,000, many were taunting Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Microstrategy, for his company’s bitcoin holding, which was at that time well under water. However, fast forward around 11 months and the Microstrategy bitcoin holding has now entered into profit.
According to the International Business Times, once the bitcoin price had surpassed the $30,000 level, the unrealised gains were of the order of $174 million, with Microstrategy and its subsidiaries holding an average of 158,245 BTC, equating to around $4.82 billion in total at today’s price.
To give the exact figures, taken from Microstrategy’s September regulatory filing, the entire holding of 158,245 bitcoins were purchased for approximately $4.68 billion, at an average price of around $29,582 per bitcoin.
A strategy of holding and purchasing more
The last big stash of bitcoins that Microstrategy bought was also in September, when the corporate giant purchased a further $147 million worth of bitcoin.
This followed a statement by Michael Saylor earlier in August of this year, when he said:
“Our goal is to accumulate as much bitcoin as we can on behalf of our shareholders,
Given that the Microstrategy share price was up more than 200% at the time, Saylor remarked that a potential sale of shares could be used to buy more bitcoins.
“Our strategy is levered long, offer a yield, don’t charge a fee, and then actively manage our position and actively manage acquisitions and financings between equity, debt, and cash flows in order to get the best result for our shareholders.”
With the bitcoin price having hit a new local high of around $31,000 early on Monday and Microstrategy shares sitting comfortably at $348, times are good and looking even more promising for Saylor and his company looking into 2024.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.Investment Disclaimer


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Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Aleali May looked up to her uncle, Uncle G. She wanted to be just like him. Whenever he bought Jordan shoes, she had to get a new pair as well. Late last year, at the age of 25, May became the first woman to design Air Jordan shoes released in both men’s and women’s sizing.
Last Thursday, at its “Future of Flight” event, Jordan Brand unveiled the Season of Her spring women’s collection, which May styled herself. The collection includes Jordan Brand’s first women’s line. She reflected a little on her journey: “I always have been around Jordans even before I could even speak on the game.”
The stylist-model expressed excitement that a women’s line was finally being released, particularly given that she could play such a prominent role in leading the charge. “As a young girl, you’ve always had your brothers or your cousins playing and they had the new 7s,” May said, “and you’re like, ‘Ah, man. I want a pair. Where can I get those?’ And now years later, we’re finally seeing something that’s for us.”
“But that’s the thing,” continued May, “for women, we’ve always had, ‘Oh, if you can fit a size 7, then you [are] good in men’s. And now we have our own colorways, our own take on silhouettes, for example, the ones I’m wearing. And it’s so exciting to see that…There’s this whole other side that needs to be present.”
Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, who appeared to May’s left on Thursday’s panel discussion, joked about men now wanting to wear women’s Jordans in a reversal from the past couple decades: “I saw a joint in the back, and they had my size…and I’m wearing it. The women’s line, I’m wearing that joint.”
In designing these new colorways, there were two primary objectives according to Andrea Perez, vice president and general manager of the women’s and kid’s product for Jordan Brand. She noted that they had to be “distinctly Jordan” and “undeniably for her.” Perez elaborated, “We don’t want to be like any other brand; we have to be about the brand that we believe in. The second thing is that also we don’t want to be Jordan men’s. And that means to think about the materials and what ideas does she resonate with, to think about the fit, the stance, the silhouettes, the ease of entry, and other things that she’s been telling us that she wants and needs.”
Consciously or unconsciously, girls and women have been encouraged to dress a certain “feminine” way. Aleali May’s grandmother Sharon played that role in her life, for example, but May doesn’t believe there should be one solitary way of presenting oneself to the world through fashion. And it should be up to the individual with no regard to what others want or expect her to wear.
“I kind of always wanted to mix the street and also high end,” May explains, “so that was pretty much my style and take on it and just showing that you don’t really have to just be one. Especially for women, I feel like we’re more geared to ‘we have to wear heels.’ I like to do both, and I like to just wear what I like to wear and be unique and individual. I feel like a lot of girls could relate to that where they want to wear their Jordans and they want to wear their Chanel bags.”
“I think that all over the world and no matter who they are, young women are gravitating to things that make them feel strong and confident and comfortable,” said Andrea Perez, “and in the past maybe that was just heels, and in the present and in the future, it’s going to be those sneakers.”
According to Jordan Brand executives, a diverse team made up of women and men from different backgrounds collectively designed the spring women’s collection, but an emphasis was made on empowering the women to shape the product.
Jordan Brand president Larry Miller put it this way: “We’re all involved in it, and there’s a bigger team of people involved in it, but the folks who have the responsibility for making sure that we bring the best product to the market are women.” He continued, “For guys to try to understand and know exactly what women want, that’s what we do every day, right? That’s our life: try to figure out what women want.” Various members of the media laughed, as did Miller. “And to have women actually doing it, to have women who are that consumer, who understand that consumer, who are Jordan fans themselves, to have them actually designing and working on that product, to me makes a lot of sense.”
Andrea Perez concurred, as she spoke to reporters, donning the AJ VIII Valentine’s Day model shoes, which won’t be released to the public until Feb. 9. “More important than the team being about women,” said Perez, “I think it is that the team loves to listen to women. No matter if they’re men or women, they sit down with our consumers and it’s like, ‘Hey, let it rip. Tell us what you think.’”
The consumer-driven aspect of the women’s line was also a point of pride for Jordan Brand vice president of global marketing Brian O’ Connor. “I don’t know if it’s unique,” O’ Connor said of the line’s designs. “I would say it’s very insightful. So the team is not just running out and creating product; they’ve taken the time to really go deep with the consumer: ‘What do they want?’”
“Aleali May [is] the perfect example,” said O’ Connor, noting the designer’s approach in first reaching out to potential consumers a year and a half ago and having conversations with them about various factors such as aesthetics, comfort, and performance. “We’re gonna use basically the community to drive the story,” O’Connor added.
During Miller’s question-and-answer session with the media, he highlighted the women’s line as the product type he was most excited to share. He was blunt: “We could’ve done it sooner, and we probably should have done it sooner, but I feel good about the fact that we are where we are now.”
“I’ve been around this brand for quite a while,” said Miller, “and one of the things that I’ve been getting killed on for years is ‘When are you guys gonna do some women’s product?’ And I know for a fact we’ve got a lot of female fans or consumers who love our brand, and we just really haven’t shown any love in return…In the past, we would take a men’s shoe and maybe color it up or something like that, and that was OK, but now we’re actually building shoes from the ground up for our female consumer.”
In his more than a decade (this is his second stint) leading Jordan Brand, Miller has overseen the introduction of various women’s products, but never a line devoted to women. Well, what has taken so long?
“I think it just took us time to really get to the space where we could do it and do it right. We tried in the past, but we weren’t quite ready. First of all, we didn’t have the proper distribution for it. We didn’t have the proper design talent to get the product right. There was just a lot of things. We weren’t quite ready. I think now we are ready. I think this was the right time for us. I feel like now we can do it and do it right and not kind of halfway do it. I think we’re at a point now where we have the resources, we have the focus and we have the ability to do it the right way.”
Although many were understandably frustrated with how long it took to arrive, the spring footwear line is a huge step, but the company acknowledges it is far from done with regard to introducing new products and lines for women. With that said, women’s apparel is not yet here despite the popularity of Jordan Brand’s men’s apparel. To that end, Miller promised that apparel designed for and devoted to women would be on the horizon. “We’re starting with footwear,” he said. “The goal is that we’re gonna continue to build on it…We haven’t gotten to women’s apparel yet, but that’s coming. That’s the next step of it.”
As for the evolution of the shoes, “It’s not just the same OG shoe,” O’ Connor said. “It’s designed for her. And it’s gonna keep getting deeper and deeper. This is a long-term commitment.”


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NPR: “The ghost of Barnes & Noble past meets the spirit of Barnes & Noble future in a single shopping center in a suburb of Baltimore. The new store in Pikesville, Md., separated by half a parking lot from its shuttered predecessor, is part of an unlikely plot twist: Barnes & Noble is staging its largest expansion in over a decade. After years on the brink of extinction, the book chain is planning to open some 30 new stores this year. Many are returning the retailer to areas it previously abandoned. In a few, Barnes & Noble is even taking over former Amazon bookshop. The retailer hopes this will turn a new leaf. Barnes & Noble sales have been rising, and last year grew more than 4%, according to Shannon DeVito, director of books. “What has changed is, I think, my hope that we’re going to be here for decades and decades and decades now,” she says.”
See also The New York Times – “Some Surprising Good News: Bookstores Are Booming and Becoming More Diverse. More than 300 bookstores have opened in the past couple of years — a revival that is meeting a demand for “real recommendations from real people.”
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The terminal building itself will be around 9,300 square metres set over two levels and connected to a 200m long wharf, with two air bridges facilitating the movement of passengers on and off the ships. There will also be public open spaces, parking for cars and buses, as well as an extensive landscaping across the site.
The preparatory works for the site will start in November, with construction of the wharf to begin mid-next year. The construction of the terminal is expected to begin in about a year.
According to Premier and Minister for the Arts, Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Cruise Terminal can support 245 jobs each year through construction and will give a big boost to tourism as Brisbane will be considered a global tourism destination of choice.
From his part Treasurer Curtis Pitt, welcomed the progression of the Port of Brisbane’s cruise terminal and said: "Once the terminal is operational it is expected the additional cruise ships stopping in Brisbane could continue their journey up the coast to destinations like Cairns and give visitors the opportunity to visit other iconic destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef. The economic investment will bring broader benefits to the state economy through increased opportunities for tourism operators and other sectors like agriculture and our services industry."
Tourism Minister Kate Jones highlighted the importance of the terminal as a transport infrastructure, as a large number of cruise ships and therefore tourists are set to visit the state. She also added that the terminal will safeguard 1,250 jobs related to the cruise industry in Brisbane and add 49 operational jobs on average each year over the next 20 years.
Once the terminal is approved by Australia's competition regulator and national consumer law champion (ACCC), it will be an integral part of Brisbane's tourism infrastructure network, Roy Cummins, CEO of Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd’s (PBPL) said.


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Mandrake takes training, support open source
Selling better in retail than Red Hat, too
MandrakeSoft, France's long-time favourite boxed Linux distribution in terms of retail sales is now also number one in the US, according to company officials citing PC Data figures at the Third Annual Linux Expo in Paris last week, writes Bruce Tober.
As a result of its "phenomenal growth" the company has just opened an EMEA office in London and will open an office in Germany in another month.
In addition, it announced to rapturous applause that it is making all its training and support modules open source. The company is putting all those materials on the Web. "People can take them and use them at will for free. They can add to them and can even take the courses and then take the exams online," said Barry Cochrane, EMEA sales director.
The move will be implemented by the company's acquisition of Coursemetric, the Berkeley, California ASP-software and information services company specialising in the provision of Web-based evaluation tools for education and training organisations. It also launched a new open source e-support and e-learning marketplace that will enable the Mandrake community to bring expertise to customers and Linux users worldwide.
The project is to be known as MandrakeCampus and will initially provide Linux courseware and basic functionality to allow users and contributors to submit content-related remarks and suggestions. By September, it will offer a full e-learning platform and will be made available commercially as well as for free download.
In addition, the company is launching MandrakeExpert.com, an e-support marketplace which will allow users to submit Linux-related questions to registered experts of their choice, based on the latter's expertise and on an innovative user rating mechanism. ®


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These users express the frustration of not being able to use the Instagram app for iOS any longer.
On Wednesday, a problem in Instagram was causing the iOS app to crash as soon as it was opened. A few people reported the glitch online; it doesn’t appear to be common at this time, but it has nevertheless irritated some iPhone owners. These users demonstrate that the Instagram app for iOS has simply ceased to function.
Reportedly, users who press the app icon see the home screen before it fails. The iPhone then returns to the iOS home screen. Once more, it doesn’t appear that the problem impacts many people. For instance, Instagram functions as expected in this case, although other readers of 9to5Mac have reported an Instagram crash. The issue was not resolved even after resetting the phone, according to some reports.
Some people reported success reinstalling the Instagram app to get it working again, but there is no official fix as of right now. What prompted the Instagram problem is yet unknown. Until the flaw is rectified, affected users can use Instagram using a web browser. Instagram has not yet acknowledged the issue or issued a patch for the flaw that affects users.
Some people recommend running the application in the background to resolve the issue. However, if you remove it, the problem returns, and the program cannot be opened again. The only alternative to deleting and reinstalling the program to fix the issue on iOS 16 is to launch it once and let it run in the background.


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HSBC supports KanKun: One can expect to find one of our KanKun boys sharing their love for Mexican flavour and chili powers at a supermarket floor, street food stall or at Mexican restaurant table. However, do not surprise yourself if you see one of our colorful KanKun bottles on display next time you are queuing in your local HSBC bank.
HSBC Bank jumps into the Mexican wave by inviting KanKun to show case our product range at some of their branches. This invitation is part of the bank initiative to support entrepreneurs to realize their ambitions for growth.
“Spice yourself next time you bank with HSBC”
- “HSBC has launched a £10 billion lending fund to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, as part of a broader commitment to helping British businesses to realize their ambitions for growth. “
- “HSBC can provide access to new trading networks for businesses of all sizes, help them to understand how they can consider exporting with confidence, and has the expertise to help businesses navigate change by being responsive, flexible and nimble.”
- “Ian Stuart, UK CEO, HSBC said: “The launch of this £10bn fund reaffirms our commitment to support the growth of UK SMEs of all sizes, from start-ups to established businesses. The UK is home to a diverse range of SMEs across established and emerging sectors, operating in their regional markets or looking to trade internationally. We want to put SMEs in a stronger position to make investments that will stimulate local economies and create more jobs.”
- “A key focus of this year’s fund is to encourage small businesses to feel confident about exploring opportunities for export. A 2016 FSB Report noted that one in five (21%) of small businesses currently export, but there is potential to double this figure with the right support*”.


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In 2018, Fast Company declared email “the next great media platform.” The finite space of the inbox allows users to have full control over the coverage they choose to consume. Learn how news organizations are connecting with their audience and spreading the word with great reporting, writing and social media. RSVP
HELEN HAVLAK, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, THE VERGE
Helen Havlak is Editorial Director of The Verge, the technology brand from Vox Media. As a member of the senior leadership team, she manages The Verge’s content planning and major growth initiatives across platforms. The Verge publishes The Interface with Casey Newton, an evening newsletter that examines the intersection between social platforms and democracy.
Previously, Helen served as The Verge’s engagement editor where, under her supervision, The Verge's social audience doubled and its video views quadrupled. Helen graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University.
BROOKLYN PRESTA, DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER MARKETING, NEW YORK MEDIA
Brooklyn Presta is Director of Consumer Marketing at New York Media, focusing on editorial newsletter strategy and email and paid social acquisition. The consumer marketing team at New York Media drives digital subscriptions to nymag.com, Intelligencer, The Cut, Vulture, and Grub Street.
Originally from Kansas City, Brooklyn moved to New York in 2010 and quickly fell in love with Prospect Park, eating her way through Brooklyn and Manhattan, and exploring upstate with her husband.
EVA SCAZZERO, PRODUCT MANAGER, QUARTZ
Eva is the product manager for emails and theatlas.com at Quartz. She owns the launch of editorial products and new features from beginning to end. Her focus is on user loyalty, working closely with design, engineering, and analytics teams on efforts to grow Quartz emails. She recently decided to turn her personal Instagram into a guide to product management, check it out @evascaz.
MODERATOR: BRIAN STELTER, CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN; ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES
Brian Stelter is the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and anchor of "Reliable Sources," which examines the week's top media stories every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET on CNN/U.S. Stelter reports for CNN Media, and writes a nightly e-newsletter.
Prior to joining CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times. Starting in 2007, he covered television and digital media for the Business Day and Arts section of the newspaper. He was also a lead contributor to the "Media Decoder" blog.
In January 2004, while he was still a freshman in college, Stelter created TV Newser, a blog dedicated to coverage of the television news industry. He sold it to Mediabistro.com in July 2004, but continued to edit and write for the blog during the next three years until he graduated college and joined The New York Times.
Stelter graduated with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2007. He is on the board of Baltimore Student Media, a nonprofit that publishes Towson's independent student newspaper, The Towerlight.


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Government's new national income estimates have confused and perplexed many and its measure of growth of economic activity is quite removed from what is happening on the street, Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj has said.
It is 'challenging to reconcile' 7.5 per cent growth in Gross Value Added (GVA)-a new concept introduced by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) to measure the economic activity-with what is happening in industry, he said.
The new national income estimates released by the government's CSO have confused and perplexed many, he said in his annual address to the company's shareholders.
"These numbers suggest that GVA grew 7.5 per cent in 2014-15 versus 6.6 per cent in 2013-14. It seems that much of this extra growth was on account of a larger basket of services," he added.
"I am neither an economist nor a statistician. However, as an industrialist who has run a business for several decades and observed others who manage different enterprises across many sectors, I find it challenging to reconcile 7.5 per cent growth in GVA with what one sees in industry today," Bajaj said in the company's Annual Report for 2014-15.
Reinforcing his point, Bajaj said, "Over the last couple of years, there has been little or no growth across many segments of industry and the annual financial results of corporates for 2014-15 (FY2015) show this quite clearly. There has been little or no uptick of either in consumer or industrial demand; and despite soft energy prices from the second half of FY2015, companies have struggled with their revenues and profits," he added.
Some sectors have suffered less; others more. But the sense on the street is that it has been a difficult year quite removed from what one expects out of 7.5 per cent growth.
I hope that the government under the premiership of Narendra Modi will usher in higher growth in FY2016, Bajaj said.
The government in May announced that GVA rose by 7.2 per cent (as against 7.5 per cent estimated earlier) in 2014-15 compared to 6.6 per cent in the previous fiscal. The manufacturing sector GVA rose 7.1 per cent during the year as against 5.3 per cent in 2013-14. Similarly, the output of electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services rose 7.9 per cent in 2014-15 as against 4.8 per cent a year ago.


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A crowd gathered Wednesday morning to see the flag and ribbon cut in the front the new McDonald’s restaurant on Perry Street in Port Clinton. The American Legion was on hand to help raise the flag. Events are planned throughout the day including visits from Santa and Ronald McDonald.
Students “spin to win” as part of McDonald’s opening day festivities. Prizes included note pads and pens, free Big Macs and McCafe drinks, McDonald’s eco bags and more.


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As much as one game celebrates the best qualities of its source material, the other feels like a cheap cash-in.
All posts tagged ‘Namco Bandai’
- 11:41 AM
- 12:18 PM
The arcade classic Xevious is now playable online at no cost, thanks to a Japanese campaign for Sprite.
- 3:27 PM
Japanese game publishers Capcom, Namco Bandai and Sega are currently working together on a brand new Nintendo 3DS project, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said during a “Nintendo Direct” live video presentation on the company’s website Wednesday morning. While it is …
- 5:47 PM
A new Katamari game titled Touch My Katamari will launch alongside Sony’s upcoming portable game device, PlayStation Vita, on February 22, Namco Bandai announced Thursday. The Katamari series, which originated with the PlayStation 2′s Katamari Damacy in 2004, has players …


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After his dizzying achievements as creative director of Gucci, Alessandro Michele is leaving the company, it was officially announced by representatives of French conglomerate Kering. According to Reuters, the reason was a disagreement between the legendary designer and the brand’s top management.
“Gucci today announced that Alessandro Michele is stepping down as creative director of Gucci. Alessandro Michele has been at the creative helm of the House since 21 January 2015 and has played a fundamental role in shaping the brand as it is today through his pioneering creativity, while remaining true to the House’s well-known codes,” reads a statement on the website.
The designer will celebrate his 50th birthday tomorrow 25 November.
Michele has been with Gucci for a total of 20 years, firstly in charge of the menswear division and then as creative director. The designer is said to have “reinvented the brand” and is hailed as the coveted fashion sensation of the year. Who will take Michele’s place remains a mystery.
Recall that a group of companies Kering was founded in 1962. The current owner is French billionaire François Pinault. In addition to Gucci, the conglomerate includes such brands as Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and others.


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Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) showed its continued growth during the pandemic, America’s multinational corporation announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results on Thursday.
Nike shares surged more than 13% after the sports giant reported better than expected quarterly results on Tuesday. Meanwhile, apparel maker revenue slipped 0.6% to $10.59 billion from $10.66 billion a year earlier.
European equities and Euro remained under pressure as several European countries reintroducing fresh lockdowns. The EUR/USD slips to a new monthly low of 1.1730 on Monday and German DAX30 witnessed the largest daily loss since June 11th. The new Coronavirus cases across Europe and the UK now reached the highest level since April.
San Mateo, California based Cloud-based data warehouse firm Snowflake, is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SNOW” on Wednesday.
This week is expected to be a remarkably busy one, the main attractions going to the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Bank of England will hold their policy meeting later this week.


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3COM, a rival of Cisco, is intimating they plan to become a player in the SMB VoIP space. This is becoming the number one market that everyone is going after. It is going to come down to a few things in my view. Quality of product. Professionalism of the install team and ability to deliver a reliable call experience on and off campus.
In-Stat says there are 55 million VoIP users world wide and experts expect that number to really grow.
Web Worker Daily has an excellent round up of IM clients and more to help you stay close and work closer.
A report out of Australia says that the island continent needs "open networks" for the new economy to grow. Obviously this has a big impact on VoIP and Video communications, as well as collaboration apps.
Information Week calls the new RIM Blackberry 8820 as the iPhone for the Enterprise market. It brings VoIP and WiFi to the mobile phone platform that so many business users are already embracing.
Ooma was covered by the Associated Press, but the only new news from them was that at CES they plan on offering more features around the time of CES.
Markus Gobel writes about Vyke, the Norwegian mobile VoIP company, being ready to acquire a USA Voice Service Provider's network. No word on who it is.
Wired says that Intel is looking at 2008 as the year that WiMax takes off here in the USA.
Ted Wallingford says the Google phone is coming soon.Ken Camp comments on the number of patents that 8x8 has, including a new one on speech processing. My comment is 8x8s patents are worth more than their Packet8 service at some point in the future.


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A sign for “Spec Ops Burritos” popped up the other day on the window of a recently closed Qdoba in downtown Fort Worth. But this is more than one burrito spot becoming another burrito spot.
Spec Ops Burritos has a slogan: “Eat a Burrito, Help a Hero.” “Our mission is pretty simple,” Mark Corwin, one of the business owners, says in an email. “A percentage of every sale will be going to wounded veterans, their families, and the families that have lost loved ones in the Spec Ops Community.”
Corwin and his business partner, Jeff Ehrich, have served in Special Ops units all over the world. Corwin says the downtown Fort Worth location, which is at 500 Throckmorton St. near the southeast corner of the Tower building, will be the first of many in DFW.
“With our background, it goes without saying that our military is very near and dear to our hearts,” Corwin says. “We spend an enormous amount of time working with veterans and giving back to those that aren't able to provide for themselves.”
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This is a way of doing it in a fun atmosphere, Corwin says. The stores will be decked out in a Special Ops theme and will offer burritos, quesadillas, salads and more.
Corwin and Ehrich are looking at a June 15 opening date, but restaurant opening dates are notoriously hard to hit. “[It] will of course depend on the build-out and permits, so we're keeping our fingers crossed,” Corwin says. For updates, “like” Spec Ops Burritos aka “SOBs” on Facebook.


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- Inflation remains at 3% in October, unchanged from September's reading.
- Figure had been expected to rise to 3.1% in the month, according to forecasters polled prior to the release.
- October's reading marks only the second time since 2012 that inflation has hit 3%.
LONDON — Inflation remained stable in October, staying at a five-year high first reached in the previous month.
The UK's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate — the key measure of inflation — was 3% in October, unchanged from September's reading, according to the Office for National Statistics.
October's reading marks only the second time since April 2012 that prices have increased by 3% or more. It is however, lower than most forecasters expected. The consensus among economists was that inflation would rise to 3.1% during the month.
CPI measures the weighted average of prices of a basket of goods and services, such as food, transportation, and medical care.
CPIH, a measure which includes costs associated with maintaining a home — and which the ONS cites as a more useful indicator of living costs than CPI — was 2.8% in the month, once again unchanged from September.
"Inflation remains at a five-year high with rising food prices offset by a fall in the cost of fuel," Mike Prestwood, the ONS' head of inflation said in a statement.
"The rise in the cost of raw materials and goods leaving factories both slowed, with crude oil and petroleum prices both increasing less than at this time last year."
The chart below illustrates the sharp rise in inflation following last year's Brexit vote. OOH represents owner occupiers' housing costs, which measures the cost of owning, maintaining, and living in one's own home:
And here is the ONS' breakdown of how inflation was composed in the month:
The sharp fall in the value of the pound following the UK's vote to leave the EU last year has raised the cost of imports and pushed up the rate of inflation. Most major forecasters believe that inflation's peak is likely to be somewhere around the mark reached in the latest data.
"Looking ahead, October's inflation rate should be the peak," Pantheon Macroeconomics' Samuel Tombs said earlier in the week.
"Governor Carney has narrowly avoided writing a letter to the Chancellor as headline inflation stayed put at 3% year-on-year in October. Food prices rose fairly rapidly for the second month running, as the effect of the weaker pound continues to exert upward pressure on shelf prices, offset only slightly by a 0.4% fall in petrol prices," ING economist James Smith said shortly after the announcement.
Inflation's impact on the British economy is being exacerbated by the fact that real wages are actually growing more slowly than prices are rising, meaning that the average Brit is actually seeing the amount of money they have to spend decrease.
The ONS' latest wage growth numbers will be released on Wednesday, helping to create a fuller picture of just how intense the squeeze on Britain's consumers is right now.
Earlier on Tuesday, a survey from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel found that grocery prices are rising at their fastest rate in four years as the growing cost of imports since the Brexit vote forces retailers to increase prices. Kantar's data showed grocery inflation at 3.4% in the 12 weeks up to November 5.


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There's been celebration in Salisbury this morning (26th July 2022) as the city's new fishmonger held an official opening event.
Alex Aitken, Chef Patron from The Jetty Hotel at Christchurch cut the ribbon at Premier Fish and the Dean of Salisbury, Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, was there to bless the shop.
Experience Salisbury "caught" the action - which you can see in the gallery below.
Premier Fish has been supplying fish and seafood to chefs across the south for over 25 years and this is the first high street store they've opened. You can find it on Salisbury's Fish Row.


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--Smucker's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rise on better sales volume
--Sales volume helped by lower prices on coffee, peanut butter
--Fiscal 2014 outlook underwhelms and company says first-quarter earnings will be flat
(Adds details from earnings call and updates shares.)
By Paul Ziobro
J.M. Smucker Co.'s (SJM) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings jumped 25% on an unexpected rise in overall sales volume that was helped by recent moves to lower prices on Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter.
Smucker's overall sales volume rose 2% for the period, including 6% on is U.S. coffee business and 4% in its other U.S. retail segment, gains that contributed to higher sales margins too.
While the quarter's profit topped Wall Street expectations, Smucker's projections for fiscal 2014 sales and earnings underwhelmed investors. The food maker also said that most of the profit growth will take place in the second-half of its fiscal year, when it more fully experiences lower costs for ingredients like peanuts, and that first-quarter earnings will be the same as last year.
In recent trading, Smucker shares were down 2.7% to $99.63, though they're still up 15.5% on the year.
Smucker also warned that the sales growth of its single-serve coffees sold for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.'s (GMCR) Keurig machine will continue to slow, to an estimated 15% over the next fiscal year, from 18% in the latest quarter, as the category matures and more lower-priced, private label brands enter it as well.
Smucker executives expressed some confidence that the consumer remains on the mend. It projects sales volume for its key retail business to remain up 2% over the next year, with momentum from the latest quarter carrying over, a positive sign as the packaged food industry has had a hard time selling more of its products lately.
On Thursday's earnings call, Smucker Chief Executive Richard Smucker said that about 80% of the surprise in sales volume came from lowering prices and better marketing, and about 20% from "consumers being more confident."
For the quarter ended April 30, Smucker reported a profit of $130.3 million, or $1.22 a share, versus a profit of $104.1 million, or 93 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings were up at $1.29 from $1.10.
Sales edged down 1.2% to $1.34 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast per-share earnings of $1.16 on revenue of $1.34 billion.
Gross margin widened to 35.8% from 33.2% as input costs fell 4.7%.
U.S. retail coffee sales--which include such brands as Folgers, Dunkin' Donuts and Millstone--slipped 1.2%, but the segment's profit jumped 18%. Smucker said green coffee costs were "significantly lower" than in the year-earlier quarter.
Sales of U.S. retail consumer foods rose 4.8% but profit fell 1.6%, which Smucker said was driven by lower peanut butter prices. The international, foodservice and natural foods segment saw a 9% sales decline amid lower volume primarily due to declines in the Sara Lee foodservice business, while income fell 4.8%.
--Saabira Chaudhuri contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Ziobro at firstname.lastname@example.org
Order free Annual Report for The J. M. Smucker Co.
Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US8326964058 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028
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Tiani™ Wins the 2012 Red Dot Award for Product Design!
March 16, 2012
Our intimacy-enhancing SenseMotion™ Tiani™ has received raves from reviewers, stellar feedback from customers, and a coveted place in the love lives of couples worldwide – what else do we need, a trophy?
The Red Dot panel of design experts honored our landmark couples’ massager Tiani™ with the prestigious Product Design Award, which is the most coveted international award for designers and their creations (think the Oscars of the design world). With over 4,500 other amazing products in the running for this year’s prize, we’re ecstatic to have been chosen.
It's a great honor for all of us at LELO, as we've always claimed that our SenseMotion™ Tiani™ is capable of delivering award-winning sensual experiences – and now we've got a trophy to prove it!


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Recently, Camsing Global collaborates with China Construction Bank again to issue "Transformers 5" credit card by the change of the upcoming screenings of the high-expected film.
Ten years ago when the film "Transformers" was presented at the screenings, it had stirred the whole world. During the last ten years, once a film of "Transformers" series released, it can cause a wave of cinema attendance. As a second-to-none brand licensed operators at home and abroad, Camsing Global had begun to cooperate with China Construction Bank to issue the Transformers series of credit cards as of 2009. By far the issuing number of these animation fans credit cards share the largest proportion in the industry.
Now "Transformers 5: the Last Knight" is finally back after an absence of several years. The premiere in China on June 23 is expected to set off a rush. On this occasion, Camsing Global and China Construction Bank once again issued a new edition of Transformers credit card with elements of the latest film.
In addition to the cooperation on "Transformers" credit cards, in 2014, Camsing Global facilitated China Construction Bank to present product placement in "Transformers 4" in which the bank’s credit card was shown in form of mixing the story and the brand together. This kind of placement can quickly be accepted by young and high-grade customers, and can reflect the innovation notion of the bank.
Nowadays, fan economy has become the motivation key to sustainability of brands. To target young generation and crossover marketing strategically, Camsing Global confers specific rights to different circles and groups according to a variety of customers’needs, offers value-added services to customers via IP licensing, and thus enhances brand influence.
In the 20 years of rapid progress, Camsing Global has developed the introduction and incubation of IP as its core business, supplemented with the businesses of distribution channel and entertainment content production, and thus creates a streamline linkage of IP production, management, sales and promotion. Those three major businesses associate with others in a free yet interdependent way, contributing to building a pan-entertainment system from a global perspective. In the current IP database of Camsing, some world-known IP including World of Warcraft, Star Wars, Justice League and K have been added.


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New Delhi, 3 July, 2020: A global survey covering 400 senior professionals and entrepreneurs reports that three-fourths of entrepreneurs saw their personal earnings plummet by around 62% and one in every five high earning professionals saw 20% cut in their salaries over the past three months.
Two-thirds (66%) of the respondents surveyed were Indian entrepreneurs and business professionals. About a quarter of the respondents fear that India would go into a recession and are making major lifestyle changes to adjust to the sharp downturn unleashed by the global COVID 19 health pandemic
One in every seven companies are in deep fiscal turmoil with 75% drop in revenues. 30% of companies surveyed will need to undertake drastic measures such as higher levels of rationalisation, sale or merger as they reported over 50% fall in revenues over the last three months. While change is the only constant, an accelerated pace of change is furthered by the need to adapt to the ‘new normal’. The respondents represents a cross section of companies including multinationals, domestic market leaders, medium enterprises and small businesses.
The survey was conducted amongst top tier executives, which focussed on their response actions displayed. A majority of organisations looked at business re-engineering through new revenue lines or by tapping into new geographies. A large number of companies surveyed are either working on new product offerings or are expanding into allied businesses to keep operations afloat.
Commenting on the report, Mr. Raja Marur of Prophecy FZLLC, “The surveys were undertaken to understand what short term impact the covid – 19 crisis has had on consumers and how business leaders were planning to take rear guard actions for immediate term. Further, how the organizations are preparing for the post crisis recovery phase. Our belief that a new normal is being envisaged has been validated by the surveys. Further, the impact to organizations varies by scale and level of global integration of their supply chains.”
Besides cost optimisation through manpower reduction, most of these companies are looking out for partnerships and collaborations more than ever before. There is an increasing emphasis, especially among larger enterprises, to adopt technology for managing commerce, fulfillment and process automation.
Deeper reserves and borrowing leverage somewhat insulate large organisations in times of crisis. The key issue is related to the supply chain as more often than not, most are dependent on global supply chains.
The survey has also found that most of the business leaders use their extended networks as sounding boards to navigate challenges rather than seeking guidance from professional forums and consultancies.
Additionally, most leaders foresee a new normal in terms of remote working and decentralization, coupled with process automations and an increased reliance on AI/Analytics. However, these changes are likely to pose challenges in governance structures as also in communication lines and objective performance management.
While an overwhelming number of organizations have seen a drop in their business fortunes, close to 10% reported an upside despite the Covid-19 crisis. Businesses see challenges with regards to demand, liquidity and availability of finance with MSMEs being the hardest hit amongst all
The global survey was conducted by 720 Transform – a Business and Capability Consulting firm based out of Dubai, Prophecy FZLLC, Middle East, an insights and research firm and India based Insights3D,a Research Analytics company.


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One line that landed a little flat, though, was when Mr. Obama sympathetically noted that farmers have not seen an increase in prices for their crops, despite a rise in prices at the supermarket.
“Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?” the senator said. “I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for this stuff.”
The state of Iowa, for all of its vast food production, does not have a Whole Foods, a leading natural and organic foods market. The closest? Omaha, Minneapolis or Kansas City.
Who needs Whole Paycheck Foods when you can buy arugula and other produce direct from the grower at a farmer's market, a CSA, or a stand by the side of the road (where I got my tasty tasty sweet corn)? You pay less, the grower gets more money...and in Iowa, there's even a system for vendors to accept food stamps.
Not quite as ignorant as John F'n Kerry's proposal to abolish the USDA, since he was ignorant that even Massachusetts has agriculture; just another pol who has no idea how real people live.