text:
Tue, Jul 19, 2011
Company Adopts More Familiar Commercial Brand As Corporate
Airborne Wi-Fi provider Aircell said late last week that it has
officially changed its name to Gogo. In addition to the name
change, the Gogo brand has undergone a complete makeover. Company
officials say the new look and feel portrays Gogo as more than just
a connectivity company and will help Gogo in its evolution from a
connectivity provider to an in-air e-commerce and media brand. The
company will continue to use the name Aircell in reference to its
business aviation group.
"Over the years, we've built a lot of equity in the Gogo brand
and it has truly become a brand that travelers love. So changing
our company name from Aircell to Gogo was really an easy decision,"
said Gogo executive vice president and chief marketing officer Ash
ElDifrawi. "As we continue to introduce innovative new products,
our customers will quickly recognize that Gogo is more than just a
Wi-Fi company. They'll see that Gogo has evolved into an
entertainment, e-commerce and media company in-air, online."
"Gogo users are connected by a satisfying shared experience
– one that grants access to entertainment, exclusive deals,
destination discoveries and personal connections," adds ElDifrawi.
"Whether our customers are flying first class or coach, the best
seats on the plane are the ones using Gogo. We want Gogo to
be everyone's favorite part of flying."
The Swiss Team of Kurt Frieden And Pascal Witprächtiger Won The 59th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett Competition The Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, the FAI>[...]
NASA JPL Education Site The Education home page for NASA JPL is the perfect place for parents and teachers to find activities for a budding rocket scientist, engineer, technician, >[...]
Difference between true north and magnetic north, varying with position; magnetic variation drifts with time.>[...]
“We want this to be a gateway to aviation, and for the existing industry to embrace these craft.” Source: AUVSI president and CEO Brian Wynne.>[...]
Jump Follows Amputation Of Both Hands And Feet, Done To Raise Awareness Of The Condition A woman in Oklahoma who lost both hands and feet to septic shock last year has done somethi>[...]


text:
The New York judge overseeing the Greenlight verses Apple case has suggested that Greenlight’s David Einhorn will be successful in his lawsuit against Apple.
Judge Richard Sullivan said: “I do think the likelihood of success is in favor of Greenlight,”
reports the New York Post.
Sullivan has confirmed he will make his ruling prior to Apple’s shareholder meeting on 27 February.
The judge still needs to decide whether Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital hedge fund would be irreparably harmed if the vote at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting were to take place, however.
Greenlight lawyer Mitchell Hurley said that Greenlight “will be harmed immediately and irreparably because it will be forced to vote against its own interests”.
Apple’s lawyer George Riley said he doesn’t think that Greenlight will be harmed,
according to Bloomberg’s report.
That report quotes Judge Sullivan telling Greenlight’s lawyer: “It seems to be Mr. Riley has suggested a scenario where the court doesn’t have to do a darn thing and you haven’t rebutted it.”
Einhorn claimed that
Apple’s attempt to get shareholders to vote on a measure that he believes could make it impossible for the company to return more money to investors, would cause “an actual and imminent injury” to investors.
He claims Apple is violating US Securities and Exchange Commission laws by combining a measure to limit preferred shares with two other proposals for vote at its annual shareholders’ meeting on 27 February.
As we reported yesterday,
Einhorn picked up $146 million in Apple call options during the fourth quarter of 2012. This means that he has a $746 million position in Apple – and Apple is more than 11% of his fund’s total value.
Follow Karen Haslam on Twitter /
Follow MacworldUK on Twitter
Apple may increase share buyback at shareholder meeting next week
Apple violating SEC laws and causing ‘actual and imminent injury’ to investors, claims Greenlight
AAPL action as investor threatens to sue and Apple issues statement
Apple responds to Greenlight’s ‘Attempt to interfere’

domain: news


text:
Success does leave clues and McDonald’s does so many things right day in and day out that many don’t notice all that they do. One key element of the undercurrents of McDonald’s ongoing success is the fact that they have never strayed too far from their roots offering consistent quality, service, and value. Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® Steven Johnson notes that “McDonalds’s maintains the proper equilibrium with Price, Service, and Value.
Regular readers of the blog know that there are many reasons that McDonald’s has maintained it number one ranking as the most Aspirational brand in the United States as noted in Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant ScoreCards rankings. However while the food industry trade publications gloss over many important facts one key element continues to be the fact that 42,900 Million US consumers continue to receive food assistants as of May 2017.
Families with children receiving food assistance would like nothing more for their child to visit McDonald’s and has a kid’s meal with a toy and fruit. A visit to McDonald’s may not seem like a treat or splurging too many but to nearly 43 million Americans today that continues to be the case. McDonald’s is has been and will continue to maintain leadership within the fine family food space.
Since 2008, chain restaurants have experienced -14.8 percent same-store traffic growth. Furthermore, throughout 2016, total food and drinking places saw over 2 percent higher sales than chain restaurants, according to Black Box Intelligence’s Market Share report. Essentially, chains are losing their customers to other independent restaurants and thus are suffering the decrease in traffic. We note with the exception of McDonald’s.
The undercurrents of a weak economy continue to haunt many restaurant chains in a new study from RetailMeNot Google Survey found:
1. Four-fifths of customers say they are likely to visit a new restaurant for a discount, and nearly haf of all customers say they’d return to a restaurant even after a first poor impression if they were offered a deal.”
2. Families are more concerned about cost saving than solo diners.
3. Two-fifths of diners (40%) are most likely to search for deals when they are dining with the kids.
4. Three in 10 consumers (31%) look for discounts when they are dining alone.
5. When consumers seek out dining discounts, they tend to have certain types of foods in mind Pizza, Mexican, and Italian 39% of consumer want to see more deals available for those and 36% want more deals on burgers at restaurants.
6. 53% of consumers have at least one food and dining app on their phone.
7. 24% have restaurant review apps on their phone and use them.
8. 21% say they have a specific restaurant app on their phone
9. 20% have a third-party app on their phone.
10. 38% of consumers surveyed are willing to travel over 10 miles for a restaurant discount.
Is your brand Aspirational? Are you pricing your company, meals, or menu out of reach of most consumers? Are your customer counts declining? Have your customers migrated to new non-traditional fresh food outlets simply for price?
Do your marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information or contact: email@example.com Remember success does leave clues and we just may the clue you need to propel your continued success.


text:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration looks like it will get some help from Congress to encourage drug manufacturers to adopt track-and-trace and anti-counterfeiting technologies on drug packaging. Legislation likely to reach President Bush’s desk would open the door to commercial importation of brand-name prescription drugs from numerous developed countries—importation that is now illegal—as long as the packaging of those drugs meets certain track-and-trace and anti-counterfeiting technology standards.
A different version of the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act (S. 242/H.R. 360) actually passed the Senate by a veto-proof margin of 68-32 in the summer of 2006 when it was attached to a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. That bill would have allowed imports only from Canada.
But Republican leadership in the House refused to accept the amendment, and it was jettisoned from the appropriations bill. This year the House version is being sponsored by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the number two Democrat in the House. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are carrying the ball in the Senate as they have for the past half-decade; that bill has support up and down the political spectrum, including from Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), the number two Republican in the Senate.
The Dorgan bill would require U.S. wholesalers and importers who want to either reimport prescription pharmaceuticals that were originally manufactured in the U.S. and exported to Canada and Europe, or drugs that were initially manufactured there, to insure that each package is armed with track-and-trace and anti-counterfeit technology.
The Dorgan bill gives the FDA—which would have responsibility for inspecting the imported packages—considerable latitude here. The FDA would have to insure that the wholesaler could prove the chain of custody back to the manufacturer. But exactly how that would be done has yet to be worked out.
The bill says that the methodology for insuring chain of custody "may" include standardized anti-counterfeiting "or" track-and-trace technologies that would "identify the discrete package of the drug." But the bill notes that those technologies must be economically and technically feasible.
The bill then goes on to mention additional packaging requirements. The first additional requirement is that each package would have to contain a standardized numerical identifier unique to each package, which appears to parallel the California 2009 requirement for drug package ePedigrees.
Next, the package would also have to have overt, optically variable counterfeit-resistant technologies which meet certain standards: one being visible to the naked eye, but also incorporating additional layers of non-visible covert security features "up to and including forensic capability."
A section of the bill labeled "Standards for Packaging" requires the anti-counterfeit technologies already specified in earlier sections of the bill be incorporated "into at least 1 additional element of the physical packaging of the drugs, including blister packs, shrink wrap, package labels, package seals, bottles, and boxes."
It would be up to drug manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, as to whether they wanted to adopt anti-counterfeiting measures for their packaging, if in fact the FDA says inks, holograms and whatever else are economical.
The manufacturer would not be forced to do so, though. Only in instances where they wanted their drugs re-imported into the U.S. would the manufacturer have to meet the FDA’s re-importation packaging standards.
The entire mainstream drug industry, both manufacturers and wholesalers, seem to be united in opposition to the Dorgan bill.
This is a little bit surprising since the drug manufacturers would be in the driver’s seat as to whether their products are re-imported.
Nonetheless, PhRMA, the drug manufacturers trade group, has mounted an all-out effort to derail the bill. Its opposition is in part predicated on sowing doubts about the effectiveness of anti-counterfeit packaging technologies.
"Visual inspection of drug packaging and labeling is not a viable method for accurately identifying counterfeits," says Billy Tauzin, president of PhRMA, the drug manufacturers trade group. "From a practical standpoint, drug packaging and labeling—and the overt counterfeit-resistant features incorporated therein (e.g., color-shifting inks, holograms)—are too varied and numerous to provide for the real time verification of drug products."
One trade group for companies offering anti-counterfeiting technologies to packagers is called the Brand Protection Alliance. It is headquartered at Acucote Inc. (www.acucote.com), a supplier of pressure-sensitive roll labels, whose executives fill a number of positions on the BPA’s executive leadership. None of those Acucote executives or other members of the board of directors of the Alliance responded to an e-mail asking whether Tauzin’s criticism is accurate.
Tauzin also refers to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of a previous iteration of the Dorgan/Emanuel bill, which said that bill could "raise the cost of prescription drugs by as much as $2 billion in the first year." But Dorgan counters with his own CBO estimate that his legislation would save consumers and the government $50 billion over ten years, with $6.1 billion of that in savings to the federal government.
Barbara Brungess, director, corporate & investor relations at Amerisource Bergen, notes that the major drug wholesalers oppose drug re-importation. She also wonders whether European countries, which subsidize the low selling prices of pharmaceuticals manufactured there, will just allow those cheaper drugs to be exported to the U.S. "Those countries could certainly put up barriers," she explains, so that those governments wouldn’t be subsidizing U.S. consumers.
Secondary wholesalers are much more eager to re-import drugs. The problem is, says Robert Drucker, president and CEO of RxUSA Wholesale Inc., that the Dorgan bill does not require a brand-name manufacturer to pass a correct pedigree to every wholesaler who wants it. RxUSA is a secondary wholesaler, meaning it buys its drugs from 30 mostly smaller manufacturers, none of whom are members of the Healthcare Distribution Management Assn., which represents the "Big Three" wholesalers. Pfizer, GSK, Lilly and the rest of the big drug manufacturers sell drugs only to the Big Three, that is Amerisource Bergen, Cardinal and McKesson.
Drucker and other secondary wholesalers would like to bring in prescription drugs from Europe and Canada, if Pfizer, GSK, Lilly and the others would supply them with the information on each drug package, which a pedigree requires. "But it ain’t going to happen," says Drucker.
Although the Bush administration opposes the Dorgan/Snowe bill, the FDA endorsed track-and-trace technologies as the best answer to drug counterfeiting in a 2004 report, where it posited that that adoption and widespread use of reliable track-and-trace technology would be feasible by 2007. That never happened.
And counterfeit Lipitor, Viagra, Celebrex and many other drugs continue to reach the U.S., a flow which could be staunched by the Dorgan bill’s legalization of commercial re-imports meeting careful anti-counterfeiting standards.


text:
Julia Boorstin joined CNBC in May 2006 as a general assignment reporter. Later that year, she became CNBC's media and entertainment reporter working from CNBC's Los Angeles Bureau. Boorstin covers media with a special focus on the intersection of media and technology. In addition, she reported a documentary on the future of television for the network, "Stay Tuned…The Future of TV."
Boorstin joined CNBC from Fortune magazine where she was a business writer and reporter since 2000, covering a wide range of stories on everything from media companies to retail to business trends. During that time, she was also a contributor to "Street Life," a live market wrap-up segment on CNN Headline News.
In 2003, 2004 and 2006, The Journalist and Financial Reporting newsletter named Boorstin to the "TJFR 30 under 30" list of the most promising business journalists under 30 years old. She has also worked for the State Department's delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and for Vice President Gore's domestic policy office.
She graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.A. in history. She was also an editor of The Daily Princetonian.
Follow Julia Boorstin on Twitter
Media companies have a pretty clear model--they create TV and movie content, and they try to monetize that content over a number of platforms, from video-on-demand, to most notably, the Internet. Now media companies are fostering creative divisions to create significant amounts of content designed entirely for distribution online.
I'm here at the Toronto Film Festival, a key market for Hollywood studios to buy indie films to fill out their slates. Everyone's looking for the next 'Crash' or 'Thank you for Smoking', two low-budget, high-grossing films that both sold here in Toronto in previous years. It's these low budget acquisitions that can, if you're lucky, yield the highest margins for the media...
So you're back from vacation and culling through piles of e-mails. Don't be surprised if you find invitations to join the latest slew of social networking sites. There are a couple of trends emerging--social networking niches, if you will.
The TV networks are really good at looking overseas for ideas--they remake "The Office" and endless gameshows and reality TV concepts. In fact, European shows are on every time you turn on the TV, just with American accents. (Plus, plenty of companies like Ben Silverman's Reveille and Fremantle make fortunes selling U.S. shows back overseas).
Newspapers are performing even worse than expected according to Fitch Ratings. Wasn't the outlook already grim? Well, it's even worse than it was in January. Needless to say, Fitch has a negative outlook on the newspaper industry. They think declines are likely permanent, not cyclical. Who will hurt the most? Well markets in California and Florida, where the housing bubble was really huge, will see particularly outsized declines.
From Wall Street to Madison Avenue to Silicon Valley--the subprime credit crunch is taking its toll. Mortgage and lending companies are among the biggest online advertisers, so if they start cutting back on their ad spending, then it'll be noticed. Financial services comprised 16% of the total $17 billion in Internet ad spending in 2006, and that percentage was likely even larger this year.
NBC Universal (owned by GE, which is parent company of CNBC) and News Corp are collaborating on a online video site to compete with YouTube, and today we learned its name: Hulu. (Go to hulu.com) to check out some of the video the on-demand service will be providing--you'll see that Fox's "24" and NBC's "My Name is Earl") are prominently featured.
All this buzz about social networking and the Facebook craze has sparked a backlash. No surprise, I suppose--I find it amusing that there's been a backlash in both directions. Nosoproject.com is an anti-social networking site, which is also pretty anti-social. The site says it wants to help people "temporarily disengage" from the online social networking phenomenon.
On Friday, I reported about Nielsen's upcoming social networking site, 'Hey! Nielsen.' The idea is to mine online buzz to find out what movies, music, tv, and online video people are talking about online, with the idea to eventually turn that buzz into relevant numbers for advertisers. Nielsen won't be the first to look to social networks for insight.
Social Networking is so hot right now, Nielsen is launching a social network to FIND OUT what's hot. It's all very meta. Nielsen is launching 'Hey! Nielsen,' a social network to act as a buzztracker for what in the entertainment world is hot on the web. The idea is to tap into the wisdom of crowds--or more specifically the wisdom of the "IN crowd" who wants to be webchatting about all the hottest TV, music, movies and web videos.
Get the best of CNBC in your inbox


text:
It’s rumored that Apple may release the Fifth-gen iPad, second-gen iPad mini in March according to Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets. He said his checks with industry sources at this week’s CES event in Las Vegas, indicated both the fifth-generation iPad and second-generation iPad mini will debut this March, just five months after the last update was announced.
White was told that the new “iPad 5” will be lighter and thinner than the fourth-generation model Apple released late last year. The updated model features a new A6X processor and Apple’s smaller Lightning chip but maintained the same design as the third-generation iPad released last March. As for the iPad mini, White said the second-generation device is expected to have the same form factor. A new model would likely just have upgraded components, such as a faster chip.
However, Apple does not have an official presence at the annual event. White did not indicate the source of his information aside from unnamed “checks” at the show. White also reported last week that Apple is expected to debut new iPhones this summer in more sizes and colors, expanding the lineup from the current black and white options. He expects the new iPhones to debut in the May-June timeframe, which would be earlier than the last two years.


text:
Does Pokemon Go make you feel like it’s 1997 again? Well, Nintendo is about to make you feel like it’s the 1980s. The consumer... ...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2016/07/14/nintendo-is-tugging-at-our-nostalgia-heartstrings-with-console-reboot_n_10988974.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird+News
As anyone engaged in US politics knows very well by now, Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, ahead of the Democratic Convention.... ...http://m.firstpost.com/world/bernie-sanders-endorses-hillary-how-supporters-are-mourning-and-making-sense-of-the-future-2893012.html
SEOUL, South Korea--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- 10 years ago, Hyundai Mobis (KRX:012330), established Mobis North America (MNA) and began to supply modules... ...http://www.autofocusasia.com/pressreleases/hyundai-mobis-has-been-through-thick-and-thin-with-chrysler-for-10-years-about-to-supply-the-4-millionth-module
OVER the years, many theories have been advanced to explain Tony Blair's disastrous decision to invade Iraq with George W. Bush — a genuine... ...http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/blair-alone-not-to-blame/264928.html
Encouraging Rwandans to consume locally-produced goods as well as putting in place strategies that boost people's purchasing power are crucial in... ...http://www.tralac.org/news/article/10069-increase-people-s-purchasing-power-to-attract-more-foreign-investors-experts-say.html
We are one of North America's leading...


text:
TALLINN - Swedish metal products manufacturer Mekanotjanst Industrier expanded its operations in Estonia by acquiring a former window plant in Ulenurme industrial park, in Tartu, and re-equipping it to process sheet metal, reported News2biz. The company bought the plant of the bankrupt window maker, Felistra, in the beginning of the year from the receivership. The plant is almost brand new; the Estonian-owned Felistra only erected it before going bankrupt in 2009.
According to the bankruptcy trustee, the assets changed hands for 12 million kroons (769,200 euros).
One’s bad timing while making an investment decision may, however, turn into another’s good luck. “We already planned to expand outside Sweden, and eyed Tartu, in Estonia, as a likely site. Then, this excellent opportunity came up,” says Christer Fransson, CEO of the newly established Mekanotjanst Baltic.
According to Fransson, the profile of the Tartu plant will be similar to that of the Swedish metal processing plant. “Sheet metal processing, milling operations, and, to some extent, assembly,” he says.
The plant, currently equipped and planned to be launched in October, will mostly produce for export. “We will have some customers in Estonia, but mainly the product will be exported to Sweden as well as other countries,” says Fransson. “Mekanotjanst is a subcontractor for large Swedish and European companies, and that will also be the Tartu plant’s future,” he added.
Raivo Kiivit, the deputy managing director of Mekanotjanst Baltic, added that the company will be providing subcontracting services for such heavyweights as Ericsson, ABB and Siemens. “One reason why the parent company was looking to set up production in Estonia was that Ericsson moved its plant to Tallinn, and we need to be as close to the end customer as possible,” he said.
Mekanotjanst Baltic expects to hire 50 workers in Tartu this year. “We plan to expand in the future, then we shall add workers as well,” says the CEO, adding that the turnover of the Tartu plant should reach 90 million kroons next year.
Mekanotjanst Industrier is a subcontract manufacturer of metal products. The company has four plants in Sweden, and belongs, together with Trux, a producer of bumpers for trucks, and pneumatic actuators manufacturer Wire Matic Regler, to Mekanotjanst Holding. The consolidated turnover of Mekanotjanst Holding amounted to 1.7 billion kroons in 2009. Mekanotjanst Holding is owned as well as directed by Christer Fransson.


text:
AdvancePierre Foods’ Fast Fixin’ Sandwich Bar Breaded Chicken is the best new lunch/dinner food at convenience stores, according to a panel of consumers.
Convenience Store News enlists a group of consumers to rate and rank the newest foods in the convenience store marketplace.
“Unlike most food industry awards, this judging panel is made up of actual consumers, and the consumer has spoken,” Tony Schroder, president of Convenience at AdvancePierre Foods, said in a news release. “We are always particularly happy when it is our customers who honor our products because it is their opinions that matter most.”
New products are judged on taste, value, convenience, healthfulness, quality of ingredients, preparation, appearance and packaging. Taste is the most important factor, accounting for 30 percent of the total points awarded.
Cincinnati-based AdvancePierre Foods is the largest privately owned company in the region, with $1.5 billion in revenue last year, according to Courier research. The company, which supplies value-added protein and handheld convenience products to the food service, school, retail, club, vending and convenience store channels, employs 4,500 people and operates processing facilities in Ohio, Oklahoma, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina.


text:
OPPO smartphone maker is launching a new budget mid-range 5G powered by MediaTek Dimensity 720 ( MT6853V) chipset. The smartphone will launch imminent in the China market and it will go to global countries later this month.
OPPO will become the third-largest smartphone maker in the next year 2021. Due to the US ban on Huawei, Huawei slipped in the third position in the largest smartphone maker in this year 2020. The report leaked by DigiTimes.
The Official press renders and specifications leaked by tipster Sudhanshu. It has color has two color options Neon and Black colors.
OnePlus A73 5G Renders
OPPO A73 5G Specifications
- 6.5-inch LCD Full HD display
- 1080p resolution
- 90Hz higher refresh rate
- MediaTek Dimensity 720 ( MT683V )
- Triple Rear Camera: 16MP ( EIS ), 8MP ( Wide-Angle ) , 2MP ( Depth )
- Front Camera: 8MP ( Selfie )
- Color OS 7.2 based on Android 10 OS
- RAM 8 GB
- Storage 128 GB
- Battery 4040mah battery with 18W fast charging
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
- Dual SIM 4G VoLTe, Single Sim 5G, USB-C, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
OPPO A73 5G smartphone launch imminent in China. We can be expected these specifications will be seen in the next Realme product in the coming months.


text:
MacBooster 1.1.4 Released to Defend against OSX/CoinThief Trojan
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 12, 2014 – IObit today released MacBooster v1.1.4, a well-designed product for OS X, which empowers users to increase the performance of the OS X and protect them from malwares. With this new update, MacBooster will further optimize and protect OS X devices from malware, spyware and malicious attack, especially OSX/CoinThief Trojan which was reported widely recently.
According to SecureMac, “The malware is taking the place of the main binary in the trojanized versions of Bitcoin Ticker TTM and Litecoin Ticker, and is set up to run as an agent with a setting for LSUIElement in the Info.plist file. The first time a user runs the trojanized version of Bitcoin Ticker TTM or Litecoin Ticker, the invisible malware program is launched instead.” Most of users installed the malware unintentionally. In a victim’s post on Reddit, he claimed he lost 20 bitcoins because of this malware.
MacBooster v1.1.4 was urgently launched because of the OSX/CoinThief Trojan. MacBooster v1.1.4 enhanced the Anti-Trojan engine located in Internet Security section to strengthen its protection capability and provides Mac users with Full Scan to detect malware in full scale to ensure users’ online surfing.
“Recent event shows that Anti-malware should be taken seriously for Mac users.” said Antonio Zhang, the Marketing Director at IObit. “Over the years, lots of Mac fans have strong faith in the security situation of Mac OS. But things always change beyond our imagination. Whatever happens, it’s better to have your Mac devices protected before it’s too late. Our MacBooster team will constantly be concerned with the security of OS X.”
MacBooster offers a number of features to protect and boost Mac. It releases RAM and re-organizes login items to make OS X run faster. It can clear out unused files to free up hard disk space, protects Macs against the growing number of Mac viruses and malware, and helps get rid of 3rd party applications that cannot be uninstalled easily. It's the ultimate tool to clean and boost Mac easily. To download the application, please visit: http://www.macbooster.net
Founded in 2004, IObit provides consumers with innovative system utilities for superior performance and security. IObit is a recognized industry leader with more than 100 awards and 200 million downloads worldwide.
Jessie Luo, 415-813-2995


text:
NEW YORK, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- CAVI, style redefined for men and women who make their own rules, announces the launch of the CAVI – Weekend in New York sweepstakes. The online contest begins on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 12:00 PM EDT.
"We are very excited to offer our customers the chance to experience New York City in true CAVI style," says creative director, Garth Cabral. "The CAVI – Weekend in New York sweepstakes will give our fans a sense of the brand's VIP lifestyle in one of the greatest cities in the world."
CAVI fans and brand loyalists will have the opportunity to enter to win a Grand Prize featuring a VIP experience and trip to New York City. The Grand Prize package includes round-trip airfare for the winner and a guest; two nights accommodations at a luxury hotel (standard accommodations, double occupancy); two prime seats to the New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden on December 17th, 2010; VIP table after the game at exclusive lounge 1OAK; private styling session with CAVI's design team; dinner with CAVI's Creative Director at one of NYC's hottest new restaurants; and a $1,000 shopping spree at CaviNYC.com.
In addition, 5 runners-up will be selected to win a $100 gift card to CaviNYC.com.
Users who visit CAVI's website can enter to win beginning at 12:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 and ending 12:00 PM EST on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010. Contestants must submit a valid email address, only one entry per applicant. Please visit www.CaviNYC.com to see official rules for CAVI – Weekend in New York sweepstakes.
The CAVI – Weekend in New York sweepstakes Grand Prize winner and runners-up will be selected at random, and announced on www.CaviNYC.com by Tuesday, November 30th, 2010.
CAVI, style redefined for men and women who make their own rules, blends classic, traditional looks with an alternative twist. While remaining true to its history of classic wovens, CAVI helps fashion enter the next generation with its sportswear, military-inspired outerwear and premium denim for men and women. CAVI fills a new space for today's customer who enjoys a mix of casual style and refined fashion.
For more information, please contact:
Tina Malhotra/HL Group


text:
Gold Trading Volatile as US-China Trade Talks Get Underway
Arslan Butt • 1 min read
Gold prices have slid lower after touching a one-week high during the previous session over optimism of a trade deal being worked out between the US and China. At the time of writing, GOLD is trading at a little above $1,495.
According to a report on Xinhua, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He expressed willingness in reaching an agreement with the US government on certain common areas of interest. Gold has been trading volatile these past few days on trade war rumors – it jumped as high as $1,516 on Thursday after a news report stated that the Chinese delegation was planning to leave after just one day of negotiations as no headway was being made.
US-China trade tensions have been dictating the market sentiment for quite some time now as more economic data points to a potential slowdown in leading economies as a fallout effect of the trade war. This has kept gold prices supported as safe haven appeal remained high in markets amid rising uncertainties and concerns.


text:
This week has of course been the week of all things in the new car industry as the Geneva Motor Show has been taken place. Also in the UK, the new car registration plate change has taken place and car sales have continued to increase.
In quick car news, we plan on discussing the new top of the range Ford Kuga, face lifted Focus, SUV sales and the increase in hybrid car sales. The new Ford Kuga model is due to enter the market to back up the Ford EcoSport model in the crossover SUV range.
The new top specification Ford Kuga model is now available on the market and will be priced at somewhere in the region of �28,345. The new Kuga model will feature a number of changes compared to the standard model including the 19 inch alloy wheels, Sat-Nav and DAB along with a new body kit. The new model will look to go head to head with the top of the range Nissan Juke in the UK Car Market.
The new Ford Focus model has not been announced along with a price. This is because this update is said to be the most expensive model update ever at the Ford manufacturer. Therefore, the firm are yet to have mounted up a cost for the new Focus model.
In other news, it has recently been announced that the hybrid market in the UK has increased by a massive 40 percent. As more and more motorists in the European market look to reduce the running costs on models the sales of hybrid models have increased.
That means that a total of 214, 237 models have been sold under the hybrid fuel source with the Toyota Yaris hybrid being a big benefitting model. Toyota expect the hybrid Yaris model to grow by at least 20 percent in sales within the next 12 months.
The SUV car market has become one of the most eagerly contested markets in the last few years with the worlds top manufacturers going head to head for the largest share of sales. Mercedes have issued a plan to double the current rate of sales and return to the top of the sales chart for the luxury SUV market.
BMW and Audi are both situated above the Mercedes brand in the SUV car market. The Mercedes brand will hope that the GLA, MLC and GLC coupe models will help double SUV sales to a whopping 800,000 in order to beat the two main rival brands.


text:
Online ad spend: Internet advertising nears £1 Billion for the first six months of 2006
According to the latest figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau, the internet continues to grow with 40.3% like-for-like annual growth for the first half of 2006.
This takes the sector to a half year high of £917.2 million - compared to £630.5 million a year ago - and a market share of 10.5%.
The new findings from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), the UK online advertising trade body, carried out in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC), reveal that in just six months online advertising expenditure has reached nearly £1 billion and looks set to overtake spending on national press advertising before the end of 2006.
Online climbs in depressed ad market
TV, press, radio, and direct mail have all experienced declining revenues in the past six months . Online has buoyed the advertising market by contributing an additional £284 million to total UK advertising revenues.
Once again the internet is the fastest-growing advertising medium in the UK, commanding a market share of 10.5% for January to June 2006, up from 7.3% for the same period in 2005. This takes online advertising to within one percentage point of national press, which recorded an 11.4% share for the first half of 2006.
By comparison the internet is now double the size of outdoor (5.1%), double the size of consumer magazines (4.6%) and three times the size of radio advertising (3.4%). Online is also now half the size of the TV advertising market, which recorded a 22.7% market share following a decline of 1.3%.
All major online ad formats maintain healthy growth
Paid-for search (sponsored listings that advertisers pay for when a consumer clicks through to their site) was 57.7% up year-on-year to £531.3 million – a share of 57.9% of the online total. As the online audience increases (now 29.8 million individuals in the UK) so does the volume of search traffic and with 87% of consumers using search to find websites, advertisers have adopted the format not only as a direct response tool but to help build their brands and secure an online presence.
Online display advertising (including banners, skyscrapers and embedded formats) climbed 33.2% to £215.9 million and a 23.5% share of all online adspend, making it by far the fastest-growing display medium. Ten million households in the UK are now on broadband, and this is recognised by the marketing community as an opportunity to create engaging ‘rich media’ ads that engage consumers’ attention.
While traditional press advertising expenditure fell year-on-year, online classified advertising grew 23.4% to £162.2 million, a share of 17.7% for the first half of 2006. Interruptive formats, including ‘pop ups’, declined by 9% to £6.8 million – the format is now worth just 0.7% of all online advertising expenditure.
FMCG, retail and entertainment sectors up
While recruitment and finance remain the highest-spending industry categories, other sectors are increasing their online advertising spend. The Automotive and Entertainment and Media sectors represented 13.8% and 8.9% of the market respectively for the first half of 2006. Consumer Goods, which includes FMCG, rose to 4.6%, up from 3.6% in the same period of 2005. Retail saw its share increase to 3%, compared with 2.8% for the first half of 2005.
Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB, said: This has been a very tough market, marked in most media by loss of confidence and declining advertising expenditure. In this environment, it’s encouraging to see the internet turning over nearly half a billion pounds a quarter – showing healthy growth from an already high base. The gap between online and newspaper advertising is narrowing fast and if this growth rate continues then we will be a £2 billion medium by the New Year.
Paul Pilkington, Director, Entertainment and Media practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said: Internet advertising can deliver well understood and segmented audiences, highly relevant context, measurable results, and a good return on investment. From this perspective, it is hardly surprising that internet advertising revenues have continued to grow, and that the medium is fast becoming part of the mainstream advertising mix.
Key Drivers for growth in the first half of 2006
Broadband: Broadband take-up in the UK has continued apace with ten million British households now using fast connections, according to the Office of National Statistics. This represents 40% of UK homes, an increase from the 8.5% of households with broadband just three years ago. With more than 80% of home internet users now accessing through a high-speed connection, advertisers are able to deliver far more creative and engaging communications.
Equivalent of one day a week spent online: According to YouGov, the average time spent online has climbed to 23 hours a week. This boom is driven by the growing number of people using broadband and by faster, cheaper connections. This means consumers can access increasingly sophisticated and involving content, keeping them online for longer. Advertisers know that consumers are spending more time on the internet and are switching their budgets accordingly.
Online retail surge: According to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) online retail spend increased by 40% year-on-year to £13.5 billion in the first half of 2006. Not only are more people shopping online but they are spending more; £1,154 per annum in 2006 compared with £816 in 2005. This is due to a change in consumers’ buying habits, especially in sectors like motor insurance, which is increasingly sold online.
Creativity and engagement: We know that online now plays a key role in marketing communications across all sectors, in part due to the increasingly sophisticated creative formats, which encourage significant dwell-time and interactivity. www.creativeshowcase.net, an online advertising gallery, illustrates the extent to which creativity and innovation within online is pushing the boundaries and setting higher standards. More and more advertisers are embracing rich media tools to build their brands as online remains the fastest-growing display medium.
New online ad formats: During the past year, new formats have increased in popularity, placing the spotlight on the internet as a powerful entertainment medium. Internet marketing tools such as blogs, podcasts, in-game advertising, ipTV and the proliferation of ‘user-generated-content’ and ‘social networking’ sites have all attracted mass media publicity, raising the profile of online and drawing more interest from advertisers.
Background to the study
• The IAB has been working with PwC since 1997 to survey the value of the online advertising market.
• PwC has run projects in Europe and North America to assess the size of the interactive media markets.
• These figures have become the industry standard for measuring advertising spend and in the UK are now used by the Advertising Association.
• 90 companies have participated in the survey representing thousands of websites.
• Reported figures are not adjusted to account for other organisations that have not participated.
• Total advertising revenue is reported on a gross basis.
• The figures are drawn up on the basis of site declaration. They cover thousands of UK websites, but by no means all.
About the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)
The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online advertising. With over 200 members, it's run for the leading media owners and agencies in the UK internet industry. Online is an exciting and fast-growing medium and our job at the IAB is to work with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online, helping them engage their customers and build their brands. Through the dissemination of research and the organisation of regular events, we aim
to put online on the agenda of every marketer in the UK, acting as an authoritative and objective source for all internet advertising issues.
The member firms of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network provide industry focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 130,000 people in 148 countries across our network work collaboratively using connected thinking to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.
Unless otherwise indicated, PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (www.pwc.com/uk) a limited liability partnership incorporated in England. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited
For the full report visit www.iabuk.net
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
- Marketing Manager Ball & Hoolahan £68,000 + Car/Car Allowance, London
- Business Director Direct Recruitment £80,000 + Bens, London (Central), London (Greater)
- Account Manager Direct Recruitment £28,000 - £32,000, London (Central), London (Greater)
- Account Director Direct Recruitment £45,000, London (Central), London (Greater)
- Senior Account Manager Direct Recruitment £32,000 +, London (Central), London (Greater)
- planning director > ATL > LONDON's BEST collectivo Up to £100,000 per annum + benefits, London


text:
This ‘Mean Girls’ Toaster Strudel Includes Pink Icing, But It’s Only Available For A Limited Time
There's a new breakfast bite that's totally fetch. Pillsbury is releasing a new Mean Girls-themed Toaster Strudel to celebrate the iconic film's connection to the product. Here's how you can get your hands on the limited-edition product.
Pillsbury unveiled its Mean Girls Toaster Strudel in a press release on Wednesday, Sept. 2. The special Mean Girls version of the brand's popular Toaster Strudel is available in two flavors: Strawberry and Cream Cheese & Strawberry. They both feature a packet of special pink icing so you can get creative with drawing your own designs on the Toaster Strudels. You can purchase the product at grocery retailers nationwide in six-count Strawberry and six-count Cream Cheese & Strawberry for a suggested retail price of $2.58. Since the snack is only available for a limited time, you'll want to hit the shelves ASAP.
To kick off the product launch, Pillsbury is hosting "The Most Fetch" Toaster Strudel Icing Sweepstakes for fans. The three grand prize winners will get a personalized video message from Lacey Chabert, who played Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls. It's a fitting prize, given that it was Gretchen herself who claimed her father was the inventor of Toaster Strudel. The prize winners will also receive one year's worth of Pillsbury Toaster Strudel and Mean Girls merch.
To enter the sweepstakes, you'll need to take a photo of your most fetch Mean Girls-themed Toaster Strudel icing design using the pink icing included in the package. You'll then need to post the photo on Instagram or Twitter and include #FetchSweepstakes and @ToasterStrudel in the Instagram caption or Tweet. You can also enter without a purchase by sharing a photo of the packaging to Twitter.
The sweepstakes began on Wednesday, Sept. 2 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 20. You can view the official rules and more details here.
To make things better, you can get a free viewing of Mean Girls through Fandango if you purchase two specially marked boxes of the limited edition Pillsbury Toaster Strudels in one transaction between Tuesday, Sept. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 31.
When you head to the grocery store to pick up your Toaster Strudel, you should follow the coronavirus safety recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of Aug. 3, which includes wearing a cloth face covering over your mouth and nose, practicing social distancing whenever possible, and implementing regular hand washing.
If you think you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus, which include fever, shortness of breath, and cough, call your doctor before going to get tested. If you’re anxious about the virus’s spread in your community, visit the CDC for up-to-date information and resources, or seek out mental health support. You can find all Elite Daily's coverage of coronavirus here.


text:
Tredje AP fonden cut its stake in shares of Kroger Co (NYSE:KR) by 43.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,256 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,497 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,713,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,122,305,000 after buying an additional 11,052,918 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth approximately $243,211,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 104.1% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,072,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,016,000 after acquiring an additional 4,627,100 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,052,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,408,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013,232 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 59,699,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,798,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,701,261 shares in the last quarter. 81.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of KR stock traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $32.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,131,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,557,584. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.37. Kroger Co has a fifty-two week low of $20.70 and a fifty-two week high of $36.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.27.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 29.09%.
Several analysts have issued reports on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group raised shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on Kroger from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. ValuEngine cut Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kroger from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.86.
In other Kroger news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total transaction of $250,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 152,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,797,006.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bobby S. Shackouls sold 7,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.76, for a total transaction of $263,328.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 52,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,770,543.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,100 shares of company stock valued at $615,796. Corporate insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.
The Kroger Co operates as a retailer in the United States. The company operates supermarkets, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouse stores. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion and furnishings, outdoor living, electronics, automotive products, and toys.
Featured Story: Sell-Side Analysts
Receive News & Ratings for Kroger Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kroger and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.


text:
Verizon Wireless will activate compatible and unlocked iPhones, Google's Motorola-made Nexus 6 and other devices on its network if customers bring them from other carriers.
Verizon Telematics renamed and relaunched its after-market connected vehicle program as "Hum", and said it will bring roadside assistance, car diagnostics and other services to millions of older cars that cannot connect to wireless networks today. The carrier said a two-year subscription plans start at $15 per month plus taxes and fees. The monhtly fee includes equipment for the customer's first vehicle, which Verizon said valued at $120, with the option to add other vehicles for less money.
T-Mobile threw down the gauntlet this summer with its new Mobile without Borders plan, pre-empting and expanding on AT&T's plan to make the US and Mexico one calling area. Within a few weeks the rest of the industry adjusted their price plans, highlighting the very fluid and dynamic competitive situation in the wireless industry.
The following charts the top U.S. wireless carriers in the second quarter of 2015 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics--such as churn, ARPU and revenue--of each carrier.
Despite a flurry of promotions during the second quarter, the four Tier 1 carriers saw their lowest postpaid churn rates on average, according to analysts at Wells Fargo. That led to a sharp jump in net subscriber additions compared to the second quarter.
Verizon Wireless and Sprint are tussling over data roaming rules, with Sprint arguing that the FCC should not overlook the differences in spectrum holdings and the "head start" Verizon and AT&T got in building out their nationwide networks. Verizon maintains that Sprint's arguments are "tired" and designed to avoid building out its network.
Zayo continues to see new opportunities in its fiber-to-the-tower business, announcing that as of the end of June it sold services to over 800 macro tower and small cell sites that leverage previous anchor FTTT network builds already in place.
Verizon Wireless stayed slightly ahead of AT&T Mobility in terms of overall network performance, while Sprint maintained its lead over T-Mobile US in overall performance thanks to improvements in mobile data performance and speeds as well as call and texting reliability, according to network testing firm RootMetrics.
Verizon Wireless confirmed that in June it quietly stopped throttling the data speeds of customers who were on legacy unlimited data plans on 3G devices and who crossed into the top 5 percent of data users when they were on high-traffic cell sites.
AT&T Mobility is revamping and simplifying its pricing plans for its Mobile Share Value shared data plans, eliminating some options and giving customers more data for the same amount or less on others. The biggest change to AT&T's plans is that its $100/10 GB plan will now come with 15 GB of data. The new AT&T plans, which will go into effect tomorrow, come just days after Verizon Wireless introduced its own simplified shared data plan pricing.


text:
LBP GOTY Boxart revealed, promises $30 of Bonus Content
Amazon.com has revealed the boxart for the up-and-coming Game of the Year edition for the highly successful LittleBigPlanet that originally released late last year.
With all the brilliant downloadable content and the new holiday season just beyond the hills, Sony want to make the most of the game by giving gamers a further incentive to pick up this classic title.
From the boxart we now know that a massive $30 of content will be bundled with the GOTY edition in North America, although unfortunately we don’t know the details of which game packs will be added with it.
We would be surprised if they don’t bundle the much loved MGS4 level pack for example, but with the amount of content that has released for the game, there will be a lot of goodies that will be left behind for gamers to buy themselves online.
No release date was supplied by Amazon, and the actual item has now been removed from the site – probably because they revealed it too early – but of course we will look out for more information as time goes by.


text:
Earlier this year, Friday the 13th officially launched but was met by mixed reception. While the concept was solid, bugs and various in-game issues held it back significantly. To make matters worse, communication on patches has been slow, so when fans found out that Illfonic were working on a brand new game, it was widely assumed that Friday the 13th would essentially be abandoned. Today, Illfonic has spoken out on that claim, assuring that F13 would continue to receive updates despite a new game being in the works.
After combing through various complaints from fans of the Friday the 13th game on the official forums, Illfonic decided to set the record straight, stating that its new game ‘Dead Alliance’ would not interfere with future Friday the 13th updates.
Here’s the full statement:
“I wanted to address the concerns that IllFonic has abandoned Friday the 13th: The Game for Dead Alliance. This is 100% not true. Most major and independent studios have multiple teams working on multiple projects at the same time. This is critical for the survival of the studio, especially with the ups and downs with the game industry. Dead Alliance was started way before Friday the 13th: The Game. It was a co-development by Psyop Games and IllFonic then titled Moving Hazard. Psyop Games released Moving Hazard to Steam Early Access well over a year ago and it gained interest from Maximum Games for a console port. We’ve had a team who remained working on what turned into Dead Alliance for consoles that has always been separate from the Friday the 13th: The Game team. IllFonic still remains a small studio to this day but we are growing.”
“With the recent success of Friday the 13th: The Game we have been increasing our staff on the title. We originally had about 20 internal team members working on Friday the 13th: The Game and are now up to about 30 internal team members. We also have opened a second office that sole purpose is to support development of Friday the 13th: The Game. In addition we are continuing to staff up more team members for continued support of the game. So we assure you, continued support for Friday the 13th: The Game has not been abandoned, in fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
KitGuru Says: It seems that Illfonic is still very much planning on supporting Friday the 13th going forward. Unfortunately the studio didn’t touch on improving communication regarding future updates, which in my opinion, is the only true way to combat the idea that the game is being left to its fate.


text:
Smart 24 TV has been awarded for being the best business information center by the Digital Impact Awards Africa 2019 organizers. Smart 24 TV is a local television station which has set a new trend of focusing on business and helping business owners design solutions to become more competitive in the industry. The station is located in Naguru, a suburb of Kampala with studios in Kikubo, Naguru and Jinja.
According to Jackie Arinda one of the officials from Smart 24, this television station decided to focus their operations on supporting the Ugandan business community. The station is inviting all business owners to reach out and seek best ways in which their businesses can be supported.


text:
A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
California’s high-speed railway to L.A. is having trouble getting off the ground. The same can’t be said for its slow-speed zeppelin.
Startup Airship Ventures has been sailing its Eureka 1,200 feet above the Bay Area for six months now, offering one-hour tours for $495 and up. It’s raised $11 million in venture capital and hosted 2,500 passengers since taking off. This Saturday the zeppelin hosts its first wedding, and next week it starts service to L.A.
The first zeppelin trip down the California coast departs May 20, returning May 26. Reaching speeds up to 40 miles per hour, the trip takes between eight and 10 hours, depending on winds, and costs $1,500 a person. A $2,500 round trip purchase is not necessary, but is an option.
The Eureka, at 246 feet, is the largest airship in the world. It fits a pilot, flight attendant and 12 passengers who enjoy large panoramic windows, food and beverage service, and a rear love seat with a 180-degree view. It is one of only three passenger zeppelins in the world: the ones in Tokyo and Germany have been profitable for years and have wait lists nearly a year long, said CEO Alexandra Hall.
And now it is also the biggest, highest billboard the Bay Area (or anywhere else) has to offer. This week, it begins a marketing partnership with Pixar to promote the Disney studio’s new movie, “Up.” After all, advertising on a blimp has worked for Goodyear and Met Life for years. The “Up” decals cover 5,000 square feet — the equivalent of 17 billboards, and can be seen for miles.
“We really couldn’t have a more perfect first branding for us to come out of the hangar with,” Hall said.
—Contributors: Sarah Duxbury, Mark Calvey


text:
The official is getting point on a company which had been pressed outside of the pay day loan company in the Pennsylvania however, has returned which have a similar short-identity, high-cost unit.
Advance America, the country’s prominent pay-day bank, also provides a great “Possibilities Line of credit” product which lets customers interested in quick cash borrow right up to help you $five hundred.
The official Company of Banking registered fit Wednesday against the business, stating it provides credit lines so you’re able to borrowers without a licenses along with desire and you will charge you to definitely go beyond exactly what condition law lets. With regards to the county, the brand new line’s yearly rate of interest of five.98 % and you will fee every month out of $ can change a great $500 initially financing into a statement of greater than $4,3 hundred.
Progress America wasn’t the only providers providing cash advance within the the fresh Lehigh Valley up until the FDIC investigations, Jennings told you
Advance The usa regarding Spartanburg, S.C., They lead the credit line inside the June, around three days just after it eliminated providing the ideal-identified cash advance in Pennsylvania.
An online payday loan are a short-identity loan one, with a high rates and you can fees, is also end up charging a buyers alot more versus brand new amount borrowed.
State officials said the possibility Credit line isn’t a cash advance, but a clearly more device. Nevertheless, they told you, the new line’s notice and you can costs can have an equivalent perception — saddling reduced-income borrowers which have money much and above the original amount borrowed.
A buyers exactly who immediately borrowed the maximum amount of $five-hundred through the Choice Credit line, and you may repaid it towards the lowest monthly payment away from $20, carry out find yourself spending more than $cuatro,three hundred, and additionally more than $3,700 into the monthly charge by yourself.
“This product preys toward man’s frustration … and it hair him or her to their frustration,” told you Alan Jennings, executive manager of your own Society Step Panel of the Lehigh Valley, and that sends community revitalization jobs.
Pennsylvania law prohibits condition-chartered banking companies out-of going into the payday loan team, Jennings told you
Jennings isn’t mixed up in suit, however for several years has taken part from inside the county-peak talks on the best way to control payday loans.
Jamie Fulmer, movie director off investor connections at Get better The united states, couldn’t getting hit having review Wednesday. A pals associate said Fulmer handles all the news calls.
Ken Compton has defended Progress America’s small-label money since an audio financial alternative when put responsibly. In the a composed declaration, Compton have demonstrated their address consumers due to the fact “hard-functioning Americans exactly who from time to time you desire more money and you may whose needs is actually underserved by the banking companies, creditors, or any other antique loan providers.”
The credit range lets users so you’re able to borrow doing $five-hundred, inside the $20 increments, centered on county banking authorities and you may Progress America profit materials . Instead of financing, it has got no set period of time. Brand new $ commission is charged each month toward life of the credit line — even if the customers doesn’t borrow additional money one month.
From the lawsuit, submitted into the Commonwealth Court, the official says an enthusiastic unlicensed financial never charges attention, charge and fees of more than six per cent. The brand new fit refers to new monthly fee since “a sham, the actual characteristics where was illegal, usurious interest in citation of maximum deductible yearly interest.”
Jennings characterized the credit line just like the 2nd age bracket from pay day finance, whether or not its first procedure is somewhat additional.
Lehigh Valley neighborhood management said they didn’t have business statistics towards number of local people taking highest-costs finance. Nonetheless they told you the challenge away from predatory credit are a bona fide, ongoing concern.
“Pay day lending and you may predatory lending are harming a lot of people locally,” told you Fred Banuelos, president of one’s Alliance to possess Strengthening Groups in the Allentown.
Get better The usa got acted because good middleman, brokering financing ranging from federally chartered out-of-state banks and you will Pennsylvania consumers. However, FDIC authorities said the business is actually also high-risk having federally licensed financial institutions. This present year, the FDIC laid out more strict statutes getting banking companies involved in the habit, leading Advance The united states to get out of your own organization for the Pennsylvania.
At the time Get better The usa remaining the latest cash advance providers right here, the organization told you it absolutely was examining almost every other product lines “in order to meet buyers demand.” The business told you it could face $1.9 mil when you look at the will cost you if it finalized their Pennsylvania practices.
Improve The united states possess one or two offices within the Allentown and another for every within the Bethlehem, Palmer, Whitehall and you will Wilson, predicated on its Site. During the an advance America inside the a remove shopping mall for the Lehigh Roadway, Allentown, a sign on the fresh new windows Wednesday told you, “Awaken in order to $five hundred today.”
This week, Improve The usa told you it would “respectfully and you will voluntarily” stop and also make payday loan so you can members of the brand new You.S. army.
The fresh Pentagon and you may Congress increased issues about the new practice immediately after an excellent Company of Defense report estimated 17 per cent regarding American services people put pay-day loan providers. Authorities was indeed worried, to some extent, as the services users which have deep financial obligation cannot be delivered to another country.


text:
At any point of the digital transition,…
Sunday, November 1, 2020, 13:31 GMT
The next flagship phone, the Galaxy S21 / S30 series, is expected to be launched by Samsung in 2021. However, the SoC to control the latest computer has not been released yet. The next-generation flagship processor could be called Exynos2100, according to early reports. However, recently , a new qualification suggests that there might be another Exynos in development.
According to MySmartPrice, the current Exynos 981 name appeared in the non-profit standards organization’s Bluetooth SIG certification. The list, which was published on October 30, was submitted by the Samsung Cambridge Solution Center (SCSC), a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. The Exynos 981 definition indicates that to create a BT (Bluetooth) + Wi-Fi solution, it can be paired with a compliant RF solution and supports Bluetooth 5.2.
In addition, once Samsung releases the aforementioned Bluetooth 5.2-standard Exynos chip, it will be a minor update to the existing Exynos 980 and 990 SoC standards. Recall that the Exynos 980 SoC mid-range has the company’s first built-in 5 G modem. It is also likely that Samsung would put the 981 SoC (if it is true) above 980 as another mid-range cpu.
The director of the Samsung Semiconductor China Research Institute, however, recently confirmed that the firm would soon be releasing a new Exynos 1080 5 nm SoC that will also serve the mid-to-high-end market.


text:
“With the youngest tech-savvy society, the largest middle class, a 1.3 billion population, a country committed to going digital and a growth rate of 7% plus, India is an emerging economic superpower,” the India-born Raina said at the time.
Superpower or not, Raina had sized up the market well. The start-up street has seen an explosion of unicorns, and the stock market has gone through the roof. While the public market has walloped several new-age companies that recently went public, the appetite for initial public offerings (IPO) hasn’t cooled. After its India subsidiary—now called EbixCash Ltd—reported it had doubled its revenues (revenue from operations rose to ₹4,152 crore during FY21, up from ₹2,170 crore in FY20, while profit fell from ₹243 crore to ₹230 crore), the foreign promoter is now gearing up to sell stake worth ₹6,000 crore to the public, seeking to value the domestic entity at about $4.5 billion, it said early this month in a draft prospectus ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO). At Ebix Inc., Raina remains CEO and the biggest shareholder, owning 13% stake.
What lies beneath Ebix’s impressive numbers? What are the components of its business in India? Mint dug deep into the IPO papers of the company and government filings of its various subsidiaries, and what emerged was a curious and confounding picture. Ebix CEO Raina did not respond to emailed questions seeking comment.
Heart of the business
Over the last few years, EbixCash has acquired more than a dozen companies across fintech, travel, edtech, and others. However, about 75% of EbixCash’s revenue comes from one subsidiary—Ebix Payment Services (EPS), which was known as ITZ Cash Card Ltd before it was acquired by Ebix. Since EPS is central to EbixCash’s revenue, it calls for a closer look.
One figure leaps out of the financials of EPS. As per filings obtained from the Registrar of Companies, the company reported a dramatic 750% jump in revenues from ₹369 crore in FY20 to ₹3,166 crore in FY21. This upsurge in fortune did not just come curiously close to an IPO, it also pertains to a period when much of India was under pandemic-induced lockdowns, which shrank the Indian economy. From ₹3 crore in losses in FY20, it turned a ₹7 crore profit in FY21. Revenue for FY19 was ₹214 crore, and the loss ₹1.9 crore.
For many years now, Ebix Payment Services has earned more than 95% of its revenue from gift cards.
Fundamentally, gift cards are a prepaid voucher that can be redeemed against a good or service. Cards that can be redeemed only at a certain merchant are called closed-loop gift cards. In India, it’s a regulated business and such cards are sold by companies licensed to issue so-called prepaid payment instruments (PPI). Others in this business include Sodexo, Amazon and Zaggle, besides banks. There are also marketplaces and gift card aggregators, apart from Qwikcilver and Vouchagram, which act as intermediaries. On an average, the card issuer earns a commission of 4-5% of the gross merchandise value (GMV), or the total value of merchandise sold over a given period.
The cash cow
In FY21, EPS earned revenue of ₹3,072 crore by selling prepaid gift cards and vouchers, and ₹83 crore from processing/convenience fees and ‘other income’. In the previous financial year, the former was ₹281 crore and the latter about ₹73 crore. However, the ‘cost of goods’—or simply, what the company paid to get those vouchers and cards—was ₹3,066 crore in FY21. So, the margin between the cost of goods and sale of goods works out to be extremely thin, despite the surge in topline.
According to the standalone financial statement of EPS, revenue on sale of gift cards is recognized only to the extent the company’s performance obligation is met, which is on redemption/utilization.
A payments industry executive explained this accounting practice thus: “This means I have sold you a voucher of, let’s say, Big Bazaar. Technically, when I sell you a voucher, it is an income for them (Ebix) because now, it is Big Bazaar’s responsibility, not mine. Now, what the company (Ebix Payment) is saying is, I’m booking the revenue when the customer is going and redeeming the voucher with Big Bazaar and then, that is actually what it is taking as an income.”
The executive, who asked not to be named, said he found it difficult that in just one year, Ebix sold ₹3,000 crore worth of gift vouchers and customers redeemed those vouchers entirely. “Redemption, especially when it’s high-volume, happening in the same year is difficult. Moreover, during covid time, because physical outlets were not operating in full,” he said, adding, “someone recording 7.5X growth in just one year, without acquiring any new business, doesn’t add up.”
EPS, which reported the FY20 revenue from operations at ₹249 crore, revised the same figure to ₹369 crore in its FY21 statement. In its FY21 statement, the company explained under ‘prior year adjustments’: “During the year, the company has restated its comparative financial statements to account for the impact of revenue transactions from sale of semi-closed loop co-branded cards (Gift Cards) which have now been recorded on gross basis. The semi-closed loop co-branded gift cards business majorly picked up from January 2020 onwards.”
Anish Sarkar, CEO, Sodexo India, says there has indeed been a major shift in the gifting industry in the last five years. “Gift card has grown well as compared to physical gifting due to the pandemic. The gift card market—growing at about 20%-25% yoy—is approximately worth $4-5 billion. Sodexo India’s gift card revenue has grown at about 25% yoy since last two years,” Sarkar said.
How does Sodexo record its revenue? “We report our volume (which is GMV) and revenue separately. Volume is not my revenue, the margin and commission that I earn which is a fraction of it is my revenue. The commission is single-digit. Some companies do take the GMV and report it as a revenue. It is all about accounting.”
The CEO of a fintech firm, which also issues gift cards, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “I’m not sure what the rule is in India when it comes to reporting GMV as your revenue, but in the US, you are not allowed. This raises points on the quality of the revenues if the sales of gift cards are similar to the cost of goods.”
The big customers
At EPS, the ‘major customers’ stand out. Apart from sale of gift cards to group companies, EPS’ major customers—from whom it derived 10% or more of its revenues—were Delhi-based Prepay Payment Services Pvt. Ltd, which purchased ₹332 crore worth of gift cards, and Nashik-based EPocket Online Payments Pvt. Ltd, which bought ₹356 worth of gift cards.
Big customers, by themselves, are normal; all companies, big and small, have them. However, Prepay Payment seems to be different. Its latest RoC filing has an entry of ‘goods purchased’, which shows ₹237 crore worth of gift cards purchased in FY21. (It doesn’t identify the seller). This means while EPS says it received ₹332 crore from PrePay, the latter’s Prepay’s own RoC filing shows it purchased no more than ₹237 crore, leaving a gap of about ₹100 crore.
Separately, Prepay Payment’s latest RoC filing shows its revenue rose from ₹237 crore in FY20 to ₹1,315 crore in FY21, while profit nearly doubled from ₹79 lakh to ₹1.5 crore. The company has listed employee benefits of about ₹27 lakh for FY21, of which ₹11.4 lakh was ‘salaries and wages’ and ₹15.9 lakh was director remuneration. It’s a remarkably low wage bill for a company with more than one thousand crore in revenue.
The company did not respond to email queries sent by Mint.
EPocket has not filed any RoC documents after 2019, and Mint could not trace the company or its employees on LinkedIn. The company, like the previous one, did not respond to email queries.
Auditors of Ebix Inc. did not seem to like the goings-on at its Indian subsidiary. According to the DRHP, Ebix Inc.’s auditor RSM US LLP resigned in February 2021, stating the parent’s “internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2020, due to the identification of a material weakness.”
The draft red herring prospectus the company has filed in India identifies the source of discomfort of the auditors as being the prepaid cards business in India. “The issues raised in the resignation letter related to the prepaid cards business which we carry out in India,” the DRHP stated. The US auditor’s exit sparked a crash in Ebix Inc.’s shares listed in the US, triggering a class action lawsuit.
By then, the Indian unit had already seen its auditor exit. T.R. Chadha & Co. LLP, which was appointed for five years as statutory auditor of EPS in July 2017 (right after ItzCash was acquired by Ebix Inc.), resigned in late 2020, expressing “unmodified opinion on those financial statements vide their audit report dated 29 October 2020.” The financial statements of EPS for the year ended 31 March 2020 were audited by TR Chadha.
Litany of litigation
The DRHP lists more than 20 outstanding litigation proceedings involving Ebix, its subsidiaries, directors and promoters. Two cases involve companies it acquired, of which the biggest in terms of value involves EPS. Out of ₹796 crore that it has quantified as claims in various lawsuits, ₹651 crore is linked with the arbitration proceedings initiated by Vyoman Tradelink and others—the original promoters who sold ITZCash to Ebix.
According to the DRHP, the original owners of ItzCash, who still hold 20% in Ebix Cash, have alleged various violations by the current management, including “(i) deliberately adversely impacting revenue of Ebix Payments to evade the payment of first earn-out and second earn-outs, (ii) submission of delayed and inaccurate financial statements, and (iii) acquisition/ incorporation of entities engaged in competing activities.”
Some of Ebix’s acquisitions have an earn-out clause, where the seller gets a chunk of the payment linked to revenue growth. As part of the acquisition, some ₹250-300 crore was linked to the revenue growth that was supposed to be paid in three years since acquisition. However, in those three years, the company’s revenue actually flatlined and fell, and the company went into losses.
In FY17, the year of acquisition, ITZCash had about ₹250 crore revenue and about ₹3 crore profit. In FY18, revenue of the company (then renamed Ebix Payment) remained flat at ₹256 crore, and it posted a profit of ₹28 crore. Revenue fell in FY19 and grew marginally in FY20. In both years, the company posted losses.
However, in FY21—at the end of the three-year earn-out period—Ebix Payment’s revenue shot up 7.5X, and the company, which had made losses for two years, was back in profit. While expenses should have normally gone up due to acquisitions, employee benefit expenses at EPS halved to ₹4.9 crore from ₹11 crore and the company’s contribution to provident fund also halved.
“Revenue growing 7.5X in one year and arbitration with original stakeholders are red flags for me and makes this an IPO to avoid. The integrity of the management quality is very suspicious. I will wait and watch it for five years and then take a call,” says R. Balakrishnan, an independent financial consultant and market expert.
Investors do not know much about new companies, Balakrishnan observed. “And institutional investors are part of the game, despite knowing some red flags. For retail investors, if the build-up is nice and profit is shown, they are not bothered about business strategy, cultural issues and regulatory loopholes available.”
Ebix has been eyeing India’s insurance sector for a while, but there has been little progress on this front. BSE Investment Ltd and Ebix Fincorp Exchange Pte Ltd set up a joint venture called BSE-Ebix Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd in 2018. The venture is waiting for the insurance regulator’s approval.
the App to get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!


text:
It’s always been interesting to stay updated with the latest rumors and claims about any particular upcoming gadget. This is becoming a trend nowadays. Every upcoming smartphone or tablet can be spotted in the news easily. Nowadays, the devices that are going hot in the tech news are – Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S5 Mini. Talking about the latter, this will be younger sibling of Galaxy S5, the smartphone that is expected to launch in the month of April, next year.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini has been in the rumors for past few weeks. The multiple rumors have suggested different possible features of the rumored Galaxy S5 Mini so far. Talking about the concept of Galaxy S5 Mini, it will most likely be same as of Galaxy S5. This is not any thing hard to understand, as the Galaxy S4 Mini was the same as of Galaxy S4 in terms of concept. So, it’s quite obvious that Galaxy S5 Mini, being younger sibling of Galaxy S5, will follow its concept.
As far as the outer part of Galaxy S5 Mini is concerned, it will most likely be of all metal or carbon fiber body. The look of this device will be same as of Galaxy S5, but there will be difference only in terms of dimension. Again, this is nothing surprising, as the smaller size is why this smartphone will get tagged as ‘Galaxy S5 Mini’.
As per the multiple rumors, the Galaxy S5 Mini will come up with 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED (960×540 pixels) screen. It will come up with Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Quad-core 1.9GHz (APQ8064T) Processor. The internal storage capacity will be 8GB and RAM will be 2GB. There will be option to expand memory using microSD card.
In the software part, the Galaxy S5 Mini is most likely to come up with Android 5.0 “Key Lime Pie”, and will include an improved TouchWiz User Interface. LTE, Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi will be available there as connectivity options.
It’s not cleared if the device will come up with removable battery or non-removable battery. We have seen many rumors in the camera part. One most recent rumor suggested that 10MP camera will be available in Galaxy S5 as its Primary Camera.
As per the multiple sources, Galaxy S5 Mini will hit the stores in the month of August of 2014. Till then we will be getting more rumors. We promise to cover them all. Just stay tuned with us!


text:
10 Environmental Moments of 2017
Well, 2017 has been an ‘interesting’ year dominated by Brexit and the US president. There’s been lots going on in the environmental arena too; I reflect here on just some of them.
Climate change – hurricanes, floods & wildfires
You can’t have missed all the news about the extreme weather experienced across the globe: Hurricane season in USA & Caribbean, dreadful flooding in Bangladesh, thick smog in China & Iran, wildfires in California. Thousands have been killed & millions affected, losing their homes, farmland & livelihoods; people’s health is deteriorating & business is being impacted. Climate change is just making these natural phenomena worse & more frequent.
The rise of renewables in the UK has progressed, despite cuts to feed-in tariffs, this summer providing more than half of UK electricity for first time. National Grid reported in June that power from wind, solar, hydro & wood pellet burning supplied 50.7% of UK energy (include nuclear it’s up to 72%). Indeed on Christmas Eve, 25% of UK electricity came from wind. This is great news in the work to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity generation.
Coffee cup recycling
With <1% of disposable coffee cups recycled in the UK, the big coffee chains were under the spotlight in Hugh’s War on Waste TV programme. A partnership between Costa & Veolia will try to solve the UK’s waste problem, working in collaboration with designers, manufacturers, vendors and consumers. To highlight the scale & opportunity, a campaign by Hubbub managed to recycle half a million coffee cups in London in just one month.
Blue Planet II
David Attenborough does it again! My Twitter feed was filled with comments about the BBC documentary, particularly on marine litter & single-use plastics. Can we use this to further engage with the wider population? Because, if the current trend continues, by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh fish!
Environmental professionals understand the need to think long term but often have difficulty convincing management, financiers & politicians. A survey on megatrends report explored the business impact of five global forces of development: climate change; technology and innovation; population growth and social change; urbanisation and smart cities; and economic growth.
In an attempt to tackle local air pollution, France and the UK have both committed to banning the sale of new petrol & diesel cars by 2040, while cities such as Paris, Copenhagen and Oxford can be more ambitious. Tesla launched its Model 3, while BMW this month announced that electric cars had hit their 100,000 sales target. Many manufacturers are expanding their EV range or even committing to cease petrol/diesel cars completely.
We’re really getting to understand the potential of the Circular Economy nowadays. UK fashion designer Stella McCartney worked with the Ellen MacArthur foundation on a campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Government department Defra is planning a stronger 25 Year Environment Plan. However Brexit throws up so many uncertainties, we just don’t know where environmental legislation will stand from 2019 onwards. There are opportunities in amongst the challenges.
Paris Agreement – Who’s out &, more importantly, who’s in?
The US government intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. But I was so pleased to see cities, states & businesses (covering > 130 million Americans & $6 trillion of the U.S. economy) sign the We Are Still In declaration to deliver strong climate action. And, by 2019, some 1,200 companies aim to have set Science Based Targets in line with these goals.
ISO 14001 increasing
The latest figures (2016) were released showing numbers for ISO 14001 certificates had risen 8% to 346,189 worldwide, although in the UK down slightly (6%), with 16,761 certificates. Only 11% of UK certificates were for the new ISO 14001:2015 standard, showing that companies are slow on the uptake. With the September 2018 deadline looming, it is important that organisations make the transition now or risk losing their certification.
So, my general Optimism Level is set to “reasonable”. Some good news & plenty of challenges, but ultimately opportunities – for business, for politicians, for individuals.
Liked this post? Sign up for the Eshcon Newsletter.


text:
• ResMed and Curative are now the combined market leader in sleep-disordered breathing and respiratory care in China
• New partnership focuses on improving patient quality of life and reducing total healthcare system costs in China
SAN DIEGO - ResMed (NYSE:RMD) today announced it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Curative Medical, a leading provider of non-invasive ventilation and sleep-disordered breathing medical devices and accessories.
"By joining forces with Curative Medical we expand our combined reach in the growing respiratory medical device market in China," said Mick Farrell, CEO of ResMed. "Together we will focus on improving patient quality of life while reducing the cost of care for sleep-disordered breathing and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
ResMed China and Curative Medical will remain operationally independent, and Curative will continue to invest in RD, manufacturing, marketing and sales teams in China. Curative will keep its name, brands, and innovative offerings tailored for the Chinese market and other global markets, and will be strategically positioned to target different customer segments than ResMed. Curative employees, including the founder and chief executive officer, Jason Sun, will continue as employees of the combined ResMed and Curative team.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Curative Medical will continue to support its products through its existing sales team and distribution network.
Founded in 2008, Curative has its manufacturing base in Suzhou, China, offices in Beijing, Germany and the United States, and a distributor network throughout China and in other select markets. Curative Medical is a leading innovator, designer, and manufacturer of medical devices for sleep-disordered breathing and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and has leveraged its expertise in China to drive its growth in other global markets. For more information about Curative, visit www.curativemedical.com.
The global team at ResMed (NYSE:RMD) is united in the commitment to change millions of lives with every breath. With more than 4,000 employees and a presence in over 100 countries, the company has been pioneering new and innovative devices and treatments for sleep-disordered breathing, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other chronic diseases for more than 25 years. ResMed's world-leading products and innovative solutions improve the quality of life for millions of patients worldwide, reduce the impact of chronic disease, and save healthcare costs. For more information about ResMed and its businesses, visit www.resmed.com.
For News Media
Global Corporate Communications
Senior Director, Investor Relations
SOURCE ResMed Inc.
Web Site: http://www.resmed.com


text:
Tesla and Indian government officials have essentially reached a standstill as neither party is willing to budge from terms they feel are necessary to bring the electric automaker’s vehicles to the South Asian country.
Tesla has said for years that it would enter India as a market for its electric vehicles. Progress started to be made in 2021 when Tesla acquired several business licenses in India, but things have hit a roadblock in recent months, especially as Tesla is unwilling to commit to a Gigafactory facility unless it can test demand first. Indian officials are reluctant to roll back duties on imported vehicles so Tesla can determine whether the market would be an ideal place to build a factory that could potentially cost $1 billion or more.
Tesla cannot effectively test demand because the import duties would increase the cost of cars $40,000 and under by 40%. Anything over $40,000 is subject to a 100% tax, putting the cars out of the price range for many people.
However, Indian officials told Reuters that “they have been unconvinced by Tesla’s lobbying as the company has not yet shared any firm plan to invest in the country.” Tesla has not yet committed to any solidified investment, likely because the current government administration, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is unwilling to lower import taxes that would allow a foreign company to test demand. The focus is only on domestic manufacturing, as a part of Modi’s “Make In India” plan from 2015 that aimed to boost local manufacturing.
Tesla’s unwillingness to commit because of no real demand data, along with India’s requests for a formal commitment, has resulted in “a weird stalemate situation,” one insider also said in the report. “Things are not moving ahead (for Tesla),” they said.
Another source has stated that Tesla is open to sourcing its automotive components from local manufacturers and would eventually move toward manufacturing them internally. This would provide domestic companies supplier deals initially, and then contribute to workforce and labor growth as Tesla transitioned to a vertically integrated system in India after a few years of operation. One example of workforce growth that Tesla has contributed to is China, as Gigafactory Shanghai is expanding its Model Y line to 9,000 workers from 6,000. When the expansion is completed, 18,000 people will be employed at the Shanghai facility.
Even though Tesla is willing to utilize local suppliers early on, government officials are looking for a firm commitment. “If they do not want to invest anything here, how is that model going to work,” the source said. Additionally, this source stated that import duties being rolled back soon was “highly unlikely.”
Rumors of a potential meeting between Modi and CEO Elon Musk, who stated last week that Tesla was still working through “challenges” with India’s government, have circulated. A source did state that Tesla officials have met with India’s Tax and Customs department and Modi’s office in the past. Tesla officials have pushed for a meeting between Musk and Modi directly.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at firstname.lastname@example.org. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at email@example.com.


text:
LAST UPDATED : Dec 01, 2017, 06:31 AM IST
- Egg price now stable, but consumption low: NECC
Worried over the demand-supply mismatch for eggs, which had jacked up prices even a week back, the state has set an ambitious target of mid-2019 to be self-sufficient in egg production. However, an official of National Egg Co-Ordination Committee (NECC) said the price has now gone down as the supply from outside Bengal has increased. On the other hand, the consumption has gone down since the price is comparatively on the higher side. Middlemen, too, were to be blamed for the price rise, he added.
- Fatma Al Nabhani: A tennis trailblazer from Oman
By now, Fatma Al Nabhani was supposed to be back home in Muscat. Instead, on Thursday, she caused the biggest of the tournament by packing off top seed Jia-Jing Lu in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 NECC-ITF women's tennis championships at Deccan Gymkhana.
- Vast gap between wholesale and retail rate of eggs is cause for worry
The vast gap between the wholesale and retail rate of eggs reflects a similar anomaly witnessed in the onion, milk and vegetable trade. At present the wholesale rate is Rs 5.70 per egg whereas common consumers are paying approximately Rs 7.
- It's summer, but prices of eggs jump to 60/dozen
Eggs come cheap during the summer but this season, retail rates are at a record high of Rs 54-60 per dozen, compared to the normal cost of Rs 44-48. Traders blame the drought for the crisis, saying poultry farms in Hyderabad are struggling to meet their requirement of water.
- Egg traders close shop to protest NECC's 'inflated' pricing tactics
Egg wholesalers in Mumbai observed a total bandh Monday in protest against the high rates fixed by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC). Wholesalers are being charged Rs 60-65 more than last year, and this has caused retail rates to skyrocket as well.


text:
Are you coming out to Qualcomm’s Uplinq 2012 event this month? It’s taking place on the 27th and 28th of June and thanks to Qualcomm, I will be there.
They’ve just released the keynote speakers and the agenda.
As you might expect their top man Paul Jacobs will be delivering the first keynote. Then we’ll be hearing from:
– Aaron Levie, Co-Founder & CEO of Box
– Dr Peter H Diamandis, Chairman & CEO of X Prize Foundation
– John Hering, Co-Founder & CEO of Lookout
Plus, two of Qualcomm’s Senior Vice Presidents, Rod Chandhok and Raj Talluri, will be leading some ‘super-sessions’ on the subject of cross-platform development and Snapdragon processors (respectively).
Perhaps one of the most useful features of this years Uplinq will be “Market Match” — that’s the opportunity to meet 1:1 with operators and device manufacturers who are looking to create commercial relationships with developers. Participating companies include AT&T, Cricket Wireless, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, MTS India, Nokia, Qualcomm, Sony, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tata, Movilnet, US Cellular and Verizon. If you need to meet any of these guys, seriously think about participating in Market Match.
The ticket cost is $375 (or approx £241). I just did an Expedia lookup and you can fly out on the 26th from London, returning on the 29th, staying in 5-Star “The US Grant” hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter (nearby the event) for £1,475 — including a US Airways flight. (It’s actually 3 flights… you can fly direct for a total of £2,543).
So all in, including the ticket, you could do Qualcomm Uplinq from London for £2k. Let me know if you’re heading out there — let’s meet!