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Pepper production in India likely to see decline of close to 30%-40% in current agricultural year due to prolonged monsoons, industry board says
December 11, 2013
(New Indian Express)
– Pepper production in India is likely to see a decline of close to 30-40% in the current year owing to prolonged monsoons. The decline is fast eroding India's status as one of the world's leading exporters of 'black gold'.
The three pepper growing states in India (Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) produced a total of 43,000 tonnes in a total area of 2,01,381 hectares in 2011-12, according to Spices Board (Ministry of Commerce, Government of India). The board said that export of the spice came down by 40% in 2012-13 as it shipped only 16000 tonnes when compared to 26700 tonnes in 2011-12.
The decline of produce began in 2010-11 to 48,000 tonnes and production has declined ever since. Though it was pegged that production would increase to close to 55,000 tonnes in the current year, planters in the region have expressed their concern over this years produce.
According to the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI), the estimated decline could be as high as 40%. "Production has been very low here. This could push prices of pepper further higher," R Sanjit, Head of Commodities at UPASI said. The forum said that pepper prices have been trading in the range of '480-500 per kg in early December. "There are times when they have gone upwards of '500 as well," Sanjit said. Published by HT Syndication with permission from New Indian Express. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at email@example.com
(c) 2013 New Indian Express


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Details of the Mazda Taiki concept, Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, and the new Mazda Atenza all inside.
Mazda unveiled their latest concept car today for journalists touring their Yokohama, Japan, facilities. The Mazda Taiki follows in the path of Mazda's "flow" design concept with elements of real-world technologies.
The Taiki is equipped with a next-generation RENESIS rotary engine under the hood, which Mazda claims "sets new standards for environmental and driving performance." Mazda's rear-wheel-drive concept is a two-seater inside a body that looks light as air.
Not surprisingly, the nose of the Taiki is similar to previous Mazda concept Ryuga. The new car also looks to be a more refined sibling of the Nagare concept. Both the Ryuga and Nagare were introduced under the "flow" design banner.
The Japanese word "Taiki" roughly translates to atmosphere. Mazda used this name to equate the car's stretched cabin, short overhangs, and glass canopy with the "protective mantle" around Earth.
One of the key differences from previous concept cars is the Taiki's rear wheels, which seem to stick out a bit, and are covered by a sort-of simulated wheel well. The effect of this is the illusion that the rear wheels are not protected as part of the chassis, but if you look at a picture of the car from behind the wheels look more integrated.
The inspiration behind Taiki's exterior came from the idea of two floating Hagoromo, "the flowing robes that enable a celestial maiden to fly in Japanese legend," states the press release. When thinking about the interior, designers looked to the Japanese koinobori carp streamers, and decided to try and create a space depicting the flowing wind.
The Taiki will be debuted to the public at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.
Mazda also introduced the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid, which the company claims gets 40% better output compared to the RX-8 Hydrogen RE. The end result is faster acceleration and a fuel range of roughly 200 km (124 mi). Five adults should be able to sit comfortably into this hydrogen/gas hybrid.
The Premacy has a rotary engine that rests in a transverse layout, intake/exhaust resistance and combustion efficiency seeing solid output at different engine speed. Ultimately, the car is believed to have a quick responsiveness along with high energy efficiency.
The car also has a lithium-ion battery that recharges from the car's braking, and is used for the car's electric motor. The electric motor also derives power from the rotary engine.
Although the engine runs on hydrogen, it can be switched to gas when the hydrogen runs out.
The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid will be available in Japan next year, at a leasing cost of around $3,500 per month. The car is being targeted towards government and ecological agencies. It will also see its public debut at the Tokyo Motor Show.
The Taiki and Premacy are another step in an awfully busy period for Mazda. The brand new Mazda Atenza was just introduced at Frankfurt, with expectations to be available for order soon. Atenza comes as either a four-door sedan, five-door sport hatchback, or sport wagon, and is expected to be more economical. This despite its 2.5litre engine that supposedly provides more torque, more response, and more acceleration.
A new "sporty version" of Atenza will also be debuted in Tokyo, with larger bumpers, premium grille, and side spoilers.

domain: news


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To design cutting-edge system chips, but to outsource their production to Samsung
The company is restructuring its operations after the business saw an operating loss of 280 billion yen ($3.4 billion) in fiscal 2008 due to global economic turmoil, Reuters reported.
Toshiba will design cutting-edge system chips for new orders in April, but will outsource production to Samsung to avoid capital cost which the company sees as a heavy investment.
The deal between Toshiba and Samsung is expected to free up resources for other projects.
Toshiba said it would sell its Nagasaki system chip production line that produces chips for Sony PlayStations and is housed in a Sony owned factory to Sony at an estimated cost of 50 billion yen.
According to a report in Nikkei business daily, Samsung was chosen by Toshiba as it has advanced technologies and the ability to produce large numbers of high-performance chips at low cost.
System chips division of Samsung has seen strong growth this year, with the division reporting 4.8 trillion won revenue in the first nine months of 2010 as compared to 4.4 trillion won for all of 2009.


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The latest news from Europe, Infineon plans to acquire ST Semiconductor. Europe will birth a world-class semiconductor giant.
According to IHS Markit research, the global industrial semiconductor production value in 2017 was 49.1 billion US dollars, an annual growth rate of 11.8%; among them, the top five factories are all arranged by European and American companies, and Texas Instruments (TI) is the first place in the city, and Yadno ( ADI), Intel (Intel), Infineon (INFINEON) and STMicroelectronics (ST) are separated by two to five.
IHS Markit pointed out that the recovery of the US economy and strong demand in the Chinese market are the main sources of demand for the industrial equipment market in 2017. In addition, the warming of the European market has also brought strong momentum to semiconductor growth. The revenue of the top ten industrial semiconductor suppliers in 2017 has shown an upward growth pattern. In addition, strategic acquisitions continue to be an important factor in shaping the overall industrial semiconductor market.
IHS Markit’s definition of industrial electronic equipment includes LED lighting, digital billboards, digital image monitoring, climate control, smart gauges, tractors, solar photovoltaic inverters, human-machine interfaces, and Kinds of medical electronics, etc. The semiconductors used in these devices include optical semiconductors, distributed power components, general purpose analog components, and microcontrollers (MCUs).
In terms of the ranking of industrial semiconductor suppliers in 2017, Texas Instruments ranked the leading position in industrial semiconductors with a revenue of more than 5 billion US dollars; after the acquisition of LINEAR TECHNOLOGY, Yardno was not only in the industry. The market’s territory expanded even more, and related products revenue reached 2.8 billion US dollars, and the trend jumped to the second place. Intel’s revenue from the IoT business unit continued to grow in double-digit growth, ranking third in the micro-gap.
Infineon, ranked fourth, has market leadership and related products for its distributed power components and power management components in various areas of power and energy such as factory automation, tractors, and solar, electric vehicles, and power supplies. Revenue continues to grow strongly. The fifth-ranked STMicroelectronics, whose industrial semiconductor revenues are derived from many of its applications, such as factory and building automation, use many of its MCUs, analog and distributed components.


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CHESTERLAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Patterson Fruit Farm is welcoming guests during the pandemic, but that’s not stopping them from making sure everyone is following the rules.
Owner Bill Patterson said they’ve had a good run so far despite COVID-19.
He knows people want to celebrate Autumn with their traditional fall festivities, but that doesn’t mean things will be the same.
Patterson said more cash registers have been installed outdoors to avoid congestion.
“Of course we’re following the mask mandate, so we’re expecting and requiring customers indoors to wear a mask outdoors. They would be following the mask mandate as dictated by the governor," he said.
Patterson said he understands that some people might want to skip the farm trip this year.
He’s just happy his farm is still functioning during COVID-19 despite the many obstacles faced by business owners.


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Apple users are complaining that a bug in the iTunes software is causing their entire music libraries to get erased--but while the company has said it is going to be releasing an update to the app in order to try and combat the problem, it doesn't appear as though Apple has any idea what's really causing the issue.Read More
So, Apple Music May Accidentally Erase Your Music Files
Apple Music has received a lukewarm reception since its launch last year, with users complaining about the fact that the service attempts to delete all "duplicate" music files, which can often translate into false positives. But what if the service also deleted all your files? That, apparently, can happen. Sometimes. Maybe.Read More
"You're right! I'm a doctor! I can do anything I want!"
YouTuber Scotch Moses does a hilarious job of showing us James Bond's true (ie: misogynistic) nature in "Feminist Bond Girl." Check it out! Then, go save the world.Read More
HBO Now Streaming Service to Launch Exclusively Through Apple, iTunes Releases New Season 5 Game of Thrones Trailer
Depending where you fall on the Venn diagram of Game of Thrones and Apple fans, it may be time to get hype: at an Apple event earlier today the company announced it will be partnering exclusively with HBO Now when the $15 streaming service launches at the beginning of April, allowing members with any Apple product to watch Game of Thrones by the series' April 12th premiere date.Read More
iTunes users were none too happy to find that Apple's free gift U2 album was inserted into their music library without their permission. "What if I'm at a judgmental hipster party and U2 comes on shuffle?! I'll be humiliated!" They cried. So, Apple has introduced a way to permanently delete the album from your iTunes account if simply hiding it just isn't enough for you.Read More
They still haven't found what we're looking for.
Who knew Apple would be the ones to really damage their "virus-free" claims? Somehow, through some magic called "the cloud" and "business deals involving lots of money," an unwanted U2 album has worked its way onto your phone! Don't worry, there's a way to get rid of it, and we have some suggestions for what Apple could give us instead.Read More
You'd think that the BBC would be announcing this with trumpeting heralds.
Another day, another rumor about those missing first and second doctor-era Who episodes that may or may not been sitting in a BBC Ethopia storage facility for the past forty-or-so years. Except if the Radio Times is to be believed, they might be coming to iTunes on Wednesday. Yeah, this Wednesday. Huh what now?Read More
Daft Punk's new album Random Access Memories drops next week, or you can just listen to it now. It's leaked online, and you can even stream it through iTunes. A few short clips and fake files have been floating around the Internet for weeks now, but this one is iTunes official, so it's probably legit.Read More
Twitter launched it's recently rumored music service today! Twitter #Music was announced this morning on Good Morning America, and comes in the form of an iOS app and web service. Notably absent is an Android version of Twitter #Music, so I'll focus on the web service which at the moment seems buggy and not fully formed.Read More
With the anticipation and excitement for Grand Theft Auto V reaching new levels daily, it's a wonder that it took this long, but it's finally happened: Rockstar's released playlists of all the Grand Theft Auto radio stations on Spotify and iTunes, starting with Grand Theft Auto III and even including handheld games like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.Read More
Patent trolls have been a problem in the tech industry for years, but now they're branching out and trying to ruin more things. A company called Personal Audio is waving around an incredibly vague patent that it claims virtually every podcast on the Internet is violating. They've already gone after some big names in podcasting like Adam Corolla, and they pose a serious threat to the medium.Read More
Good News Everyone!
With the new year hours away, a lot of us are realizing how gross and out of shape we are after weeks of holiday eating. We're also realizing just how easy it would be for zombies to get us when the inevitable outbreak occurs. Whether you just want to work off some extra holiday weight, or want to stay in fighting shape to keep the shambling undead from munching on your brains, RunKeeper just released new version 3.0 to track your fitness progress and help you meet your goals. Cardio is rule #1 in Zombieland for a reason, people.Read More
For years Apple has really gone out of their way to try to prevent porn from tainting their products, so it's almost karmic that the launch of iTunes in Russia has been plagued with links to pornography and escort services. It's very unlikely that Apple has somehow relaxed their policy on adult content to this extent, and the mistake has already been explained by a bug. Sorry, Russia. You'll just have to get porn on almost every single other site on the Internet, just like the rest of the world.Read More
In what will surely turn into a legal bloodbath should it ever actually happen, Bruce Willis is supposedly looking to take Apple to court over who owns the rights to his huge music collection. You see, when folks buy music via iTunes -- or nearly any other digital distributor -- they're not actually purchasing something that they can then hand off. In most cases, they're purchasing a license for personal use. It gets worse: These licenses are typically nontransferable.Read More
It’s Not Just You: Many People Are Cutting Their Cable Loose In Favor of Streaming (Legal and Otherwise)
And So It Begins
Everybody makes mistakes, and Apple is no different. Occasionally, it seems as if they'll accidentally charge customers who buy something through iTunes twice for the same download. That's what happened to Robert Herskowitz. That would be fine, however, if Apple just fessed up and refunded him for the second download. They're refusing, however, which is why Herskowitz is filing a class action lawsuit.Read More


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Capital Gear has announced its new team in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.
Commencing February 1st, 2018, Don Johansen and his team will officially launch sales, service, and distribution of Capital Gear’s premium quality remanufactured transmission & differentials in Eastern parts of Canada, taking the Capital Gear Ltd. offering coast to coast.
Don comes to Capital Gear with a wealth of industry experience and with results focused on customer service and commitment to the high quality, premium transmissions and differentials that Capital Gear offers.
Founded in 2005, Capital Gears’ founder and President Gerard Zentner recognized the opportunity to supply the market with a superior product. “We work to provide the highest quality premium product to the market. Too often selling has become a race to the bottom. Our focus is and will continue to be on quality and service,” said Zentner. “Capital Gear’s long-term commitment is to supplying premium transmissions and differentials to the heavy-duty market with integrity, honesty, transparency, and quality.”


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To market your SaaS products to a targeted audience, here are a few of the best SaaS marketing strategies to implement in 2021
"SaaS companies in India have made waves in the global market over the last few years. The focus on digitization has provided a huge boost to the SaaS ecosystem. With cloud usage soaring and companies going digital to drive remote working and virtual innovation, the SaaS ecosystem has been resilient. According to a recent Nasscom report, revenues for Indian SaaS companies total approximately $3.55 billion and are expected to grow to $20-25 billion in the next few years.
The SaaS industry is more competitive than ever before, meaning SaaS companies must differentiate themselves from competitors to stand out in a crowded industry. That's where SaaS marketing strategies come in..."
Read More ...


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Brown Brothers and Gelato Messina have partnered to celebrate the ‘it’ drink of summer, creating a limited edition Prosecco Rosé gelato as part of the brand’s ‘Let’s Go’ campaign, developed by Communicado.
The end result – which Messina chefs said was inspired by Prosecco cocktails like the Peach Bellini – is a gelato combining blood peach, lychee cream, and rose puree flavours.
Free scoops of the limited edition range will be available across Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney (sorry, everyone else), with the Victorian capital being the first to sample the Prosecco Rosé gelato this Friday, 21 January at St Kilda Beach.
Fourth generation Brown family member, Emma Brown, said the partnership was exciting as it allowed more people to sample the Prosecco Rosé flavour this summer.
“We wanted to partner with a like-minded tastemaker who crafts products to excite consumers as we do,” she said.
“Prosecco Rosé is the perfect summer wine, so it was a very easy decision to partner with Gelato Messina on a summer gelato collaboration.”
Brown Brothers appointed Melbourne based, integrated communications agency, Communicado, as its public relations partner following a competitive pitch mid-2021.
Brown said she was impressed, not only by Communicado’s “exceptional understanding” of the category’s insights and trends, but also the team’s passion for the “creative territories and strategies” they’ve developed.
Brown Family Wine Group communications manager, Amy van Bekkum said: “The creative territories and strategies Communicado presented made it clear to us that public relations will be central to our marketing strategy.
“The team understood what will make us stand out in the category and how we can connect with our audience in an engaging way.”
Communicado director, Kerrie Ryan added: “As a member of Australia’s First Families of Wine, we’re extremely excited to be partnering with such an iconic client, that is as equally passionate about their offering, as they are about their family – just like we are at Communicado.”
B&T’s sister publication Travel Weekly will be hosting its annual Travel Daze conference in Sydney on June the 9th and better still you’re invited and, even more fantastically, tickets are free! Yep, zilch, zero, nix! The full-day event will be staged at Paddington’s Chauvel Cinema in inner-Sydney and boasts an incredible and eclectic speaker line-up […]
On election day, instant grocery company VOLY, took to Sydney electorates to call out the wild and confusing things that make up our election process. The campaign featured a combination of walking billboards, social media and surprise ‘Democracy sausage’ deliveries to polling booths across Sydney. VOLY was able to cut through the noise and position […]
Plummeting prices of cryptocurrencies, hacking and stealing of overpriced non-fungible tokens, an uncontrollable market that seems to operate on the moods of those who run it… All these are elements which are making marketers pull the breaks on their plans to invest within the world of digital real estate. But is all this coming to […]
In this guest post, Stu Wragg (main photo), chief strategy officer at Herd MSL, says your best work so often happens when you’re well out of your comfort zone… There’s a lot to be said for feeling comfortable but when it comes to professional development, it’s uncomfortable experiences, not comfortable ones, that matter most. For […]
Introducing youtime.com – a considered curation of content, products and services all designed to help enhance your ‘you time’. Unlike anything else in the Australian market, youtime is set to lead the way in a new-age breed of digital destinations; where editorial leads eCommerce, retail becomes a service, shopping meets experience, and everything is grounded […]
SBS has today launched SBS WorldWatch, an all-new free-to-air multilingual news channel. The dedicated 24-hour channel features news bulletins from leading international broadcasters in more than 35 languages and is home to SBS’s Arabic and Mandarin television news bulletins – SBS عربي News and SBS 中文 News. The launch of the channel builds on SBS’ […]
Xandr today announced three key senior appointments to the team, the first under new ANZ managing director, Nicole Prior, as the company eyes expansion. Mark Serhan is appointed to the newly created role of commercial director, Philip Coetzee becomes associate director – product management, and Archana Ganesh becomes associate director – APAC product support lead. […]
The Australian Fashion Council (AFC) – the peak body for the Australian fashion and textile industry – has launched Australian Fashion Trademark. The Australian Fashion™ and ‘Fashion Evolution: From Farm to Industry’ launched at Afterpay Australian Fashion Week. Over the next 10 years, the industry has the potential to deliver an additional $10.8 billion in […]
According to reports, the SpaceX and Tesla owner, Elon Musk, asked a flight attendant for an “erotic massage” then proceeded to touch her inappropriately without her permission. He then gave her over $350,000 to keep her from talking about it. The report, which originally came from the Insider, cites a close friend of the flight […]


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More than 400 Apple Stores around the world will sport red logos next week, while every Apple Pay transaction will result in a donation to the Global Fund. Apple will also promote apps and games that support (RED).
Apple’s World AIDS week campaign has earned a big donation for Bono’s Product RED charity this month. The holiday project RED promotions that ran during two of the busiest shopping days of the year – Black Friday until Cyber Monday – raised more than $20 million, according to an internal email obtained by Recode.
Tim Cook sent employees an email revealing that along with raising another $20 million, the iPhone maker has donated over $100 million for Product RED to fight AIDS in Africa.
Earlier this week, Bono blasted Apple for “modesty run amok” in regards to the company’s charity work.
Claiming that Apple was like a secretive cult, he said that Apple didn’t do enough to broadcast its work for the Global Fund as part of Product (RED). Apple has raised $75 million for the charity since 2006.
Bono’s tongue was obviously in cheek, but (RED) has now released a statement, clarifying that Bono was expressing “faux outrage” and he was just making a joke.
Bono is a tireless promoter of his global AIDs and HIV nonprofit, (RED), but according to the U2 frontman (and, more ignobly, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark composer), Apple’s dropping the ball when it comes to charity: not in regards to giving enough money to charity, but in regards to promoting how much charitable work it does as a company.
U2 frontman and AIDS activist, Bono was on hand at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting where he announced that his Product (RED) partner Apple has raised over $65 million for the charity organization.
Bono at #CGI2013 on @RED partners: "Apple is certainly leading the crew" Thank you Apple for raising over $65 million to fight AIDS.
Sir Jony Ive and famed designer Marc Newson have teamed up with Bono to a mega-auction of fancy master-pieces of design that will be sold to benefit (RED). Among the list of items up for grabs is a custom pair of Apple EarPods made of solid rose gold.
Jony and Marc actually did all the curation of the collection themselves over the past year, as well as collaborating on two custom made items – a Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, and an aluminum desk produced by Neal Feay Studios. A total of 40 items will be auctioned off, including pieces from space travel, lighting, contemporary art and rare automobiles.
Here’s what Jony had to say about his contribution:


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Microsoft Considers Debt Offering — Microsoft is considering selling bonds for the first time in its history, Bloomberg reports, a curious move considering the software giant’s $20 billion cash hoard. An SEC filing noted that the company is now free to issue debt at any time. What does Microsoft need to raise capital for? Silicon Alley Insider reminds us that the software giant sought to at least partially pay for a Yahoo acquisition by issuing debt. Of course, that deal fell apart, leaving no obvious reason as to why the company would continue with the registration process. Is Microsoft preparing another bid for Yahoo? Not if you’ve been listening to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently. Maybe Microsoft wants to buy Salesforce.com or Facebook, or maybe both? SAI thinks the company is most likely preparing a massive stock repurchasing program. At $17.53 per share, or 9 times trailing earnings, Microsoft thinks its stock is undervalued. Brad Lutz, vice president of investment research at Declaration Management & Research LLC, says a bond offering from Microsoft would be in high demand among investors, who are anxious to find sound investments outside the realm of finance. “Non-financials have generally received a warm reception by the investment-grade capital markets,” Lutz said. “There’s certainly demand for higher-quality issuers.”
Vivendi CEO: No Decision Yet On Whether To Sell Stake In NBCU; GE’s Immelt: ‘Would Buy In Heartbeat’ — Vivendi SA has yet to decide whether it will keep its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal or exercise its annual option to sell, CEO Jean-Bernard Levy told analysts at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona today. According to Bloomberg, Levy said: “Right now, considering the general expectations for the value of the assets, the dividend flow we get from NBCU is very good. … We will have to make a decision to optimize the proceeds that we get from NBC Universal (NYSE: GE). We will probably find a better allocation of assets at the right time, in the right environment.’’ This may not be the time given NBCU’s decent performance in a rough environment but he left the window wide open: “We will have to make the decision in the next two to three weeks, so you will hear about it shortly.’’ The deadline is in early December. Vivendi has an annual option through 2016 to call for an IPO to sell the stake; GE has the right to pre-empt that by buying it. Immelt told Bloomberg earlier this week that GE would do just that: “They have been a terrific partner. I’m not anxious to do it because they have been a good partner, but I would do it in a heartbeat.’’
Yahoo Remains In Talks With Time Warner About Buying AOL — Yahoo, the Sunnyvale, California Internet company, remains in talks about buying Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL unit, reported the Boston Globe. The report, citing a newswire, reported people familiar with the matter said executives from both companies have met in the past few weeks and are negotiating over a deal. Time Warner would give Yahoo AOL’s advertising business in exchange for a stake in the combined company, according to the report. The report noted that differences between both sides still exist. Yahoo has a market capitalization of USD 12.4bn. Source: mergermarket.
Q3 Online Ad Revs Rise 11 Percent—Less Than Half Q307 Growth Rate: IAB — Considering the economic meltdown of the past few weeks, the fact that online ad revenues grew 11 percent in Q3 would seem to be reason to celebrate. But comparing the latest figures from the Interactive Advertising Bureau to its Q307 report shows how much growth has slowed. While online ad spending approached $5.9 billion this past quarter, in Q307, when the IAB said revenues hit $5.2 billion, it had gained 25.3 percent over the prior year. Although online ad dollars had already been slowing last year consider the difference from Q306, when web-based advertising was up 33 percent. Flat revenues: Compared to the other two quarters this year, online ad spending is dead flat, said the report, which the IAB partnered with PriceWaterhouseCoopers on. For example, in Q2, online ad dollars climbed 12.8 percent. Looking at the first nine months of the year at least, revenues totaled $17.3 billion, up from $15.2 billion in the same period a year ago, for a 13.8 percent gain. Again, for the sake of perspective, in Q307, the IAB reported that the first nine months of the year grew 26 percent year-over-year.
Google Unveils Search Personalization Tools — Google on Thursday unveiled new personalization tools that allow users to re-rank and edit search results. The SearchWiki tools let anyone logged into a Google account move results up or down, delete them entirely, or add personal notes through markers that appear next to each entry. The changes do not affect anyone else’s search experience, although users can click a separate link to see a view that reflects changes made by other SearchWiki users. Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of search products and user experience, tells The Wall Street Journal that the tools are particularly useful for searches that users do repeatedly. Someone who frequently searches for medical reference materials, for example, would be able to eliminate results they haven’t found useful in the past.
As Economy Slows, Facebook Hits The Accelerator — As the economic outlook worsens, most Silicon Valley tech startups are cutting costs, but not Facebook, says BusinessWeek. The social networking giant is pressing ahead with aggressive plans for growth. As Facebook investor and board member Peter Thiel says, “This is not the time for tech companies to be cutting back; this is the time to be hitting the accelerator.” What does that mean, exactly? According to the report, Facebook will continue to go to great lengths to keep user growth high in tough times. This means hiring aggressively, hitting the M&A trail (possibly), and continuing to roll out new ad platforms. Despite the site’s growing development costs, engineers are working on versions in languages like Xhosa, Tagalong and French Canadian to corner niche audiences. “We’re in this game not just for five or 10 years,” says Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer. “We’re in it for 20 to 30 years.”


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Rubis has signed an agreement to acquire Eres, one of the main independent specialists in the supply, transport and logistics of bitumen in Western Africa.
With the support of a strong logistic infrastructure including import terminals in Senegal, Togo, and Nigeria, the group is a leader in the sub-region. The company controls the whole logistics and supply chain from the refinery in-take, shipping, sea-connected import terminals to inland depot till truck delivery to the final users on the work site.
The acquisition is in line with Rubis’s strategy; a niche product, marketed in import markets where infrastructure is essential to maintain long run competitive advantage and to service to international road contractors.
In 2014, total sales revenues of Eres reached an estimated US$550M with a proforma profit generation of around 8 percent of sales. The company has marketed 400,000 tons of bitumen and emulsion in 2014 in addition to fuels in Western Africa. Eres has built a solid business base in the region helped by its expertise and its integrated logistics, including vessels, terminals and road transport.
The transaction includes the immediate purchase of 75 percent of the shares followed by a scheduled earn out payment and the remaining 25 percent shares after three years.


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James Thew - Fotolia
The NotPetya ransomware is once again being blamed for a major financial cost due to disruptions to a global shipping business.
According to a financial report for A.P. Moller-Maersk, a shipping and logistics conglomerate based in Denmark, the impact from the NotPetya ransomware attacks in June adversely affected Maersk Line, the conglomerate's global container division and the largest operating unit.
Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said the NotPetya ransomware impact led to business volumes being "negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July and as a consequence, our Q3 results will be impacted."
The financial guidance for Moller-Maersk stated the majority of the NotPetya ransomware impact came in July and is estimated to cost the company between $200 and $300 million in revenue.
Growing NotPetya ransomware impact
Moller-Maersk is the latest company to admit to the extensive ransomware impact on business operations. Many companies around the globe were affected because the NotPetya ransomware acted more like a wiper, destroying data and locking systems so businesses could not recover normally.
FedEx said the sophisticated NotPetya ransomware disruption lasted weeks and forced its TNT division to rely on manual processes.
Merck did not specifically point to NotPetya -- instead blaming an undisclosed cyberattack occurring on the same day the NotPetya ransomware attacks began -- but said it was still "in the process of restoring its manufacturing operations" as of the end of July 2017, one month after the NotPetya attack.
Merck said it had to alter its financial outlook because of the ransomware costs, but did not know the full extent of the costs.
Learn tips on protecting against ransomware with comprehensive backup and recovery.
Find out why Health IT needs to remain vigilant after ransomware attacks.
Get answers to big ransomware questions.


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The Kraft Heinz Company has partnered with Diageo’s Baileys brand to launch a line of non-alcoholic coffee drinks available in cans, ground coffee and k-cup pods. Beanstalk, exclusive licensing agency for Diageo, brokered the agreement between Baileys and Kraft Heinz. The deal will include a line of Baileys Ready-to-Drink Cold Brew, available in Irish cream and salted caramel flavors. Diageo also reports that new flavors will hit store shelves next year. “We’re excited to bring Baileys to the coffee aisle in non-alcoholic everyday formats,” says Tina Bletnitsky, senior associate brand manager, Kraft Heinz Coffee. “Consumers have been adding Baileys Irish Cream to their coffee for years, so this partnership is a natural fit for those looking for a delicious coffee experience.”
Are You Looking For The Right Licensing Partner?


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Texas, the second-largest state in the United States of America, has always been at the forefront of innovation in various sectors, including finance and technology. With the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, Texas is now leading the way in the regulation of digital assets with a landmark bill that could have a significant impact on the industry as a whole. The Proof-of-Reserves Bill could establish Texas as the premier destination for cryptocurrency businesses, marking a significant step towards legitimizing the crypto market on a global scale.
The Proof-of-Reserves Bill, also known as SB 447, was introduced by Sen. Angela Paxton in March 2021. The purpose of this bill is to provide revenue and regulatory relief to businesses dealing in virtual currency and to establish a framework for custody of digital assets. The bill seeks to mandate Texas-based cryptocurrency businesses to maintain a surety bond or trust account, which would ensure they can meet their financial obligations to their customers.
The key feature of the Proof-of-Reserves Bill is its requirement for cryptocurrency businesses operating in Texas to undergo a third-party audit of their reserves. This mandatory audit aims to ensure that these businesses, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, are holding an amount of virtual currency at least equal to what they owe their customers. This audit would provide additional transparency and security to investors in the crypto market and prevent fraudulent activities in the industry.
Since the emergence of Bitcoin in 2009, the cryptocurrency market has grown exponentially in both value and volume. This unregulated market has been moderately successful in instilling trust in its users, with transparency being the most prominent point of concern. The Proof-of-Reserves Bill can fill this gap by ensuring that the cryptocurrency businesses operating in Texas are transparent about their financial status and reserve holdings. This legislation will help assure investors that their funds are secure and restore confidence in the market as a whole.
Texas has always been a hub for technology and finance, with companies like Dell, HP, ExxonMobil, and AT&T headquartered in the state. The increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies as an alternative investment and mode of payment presents an enormous opportunity for the state to evolve its financial sector. With the Proof-of-Reserves Bill, Texas can establish itself as a pioneer in creating a framework for the regulation of the crypto market, making it an attractive destination for digital asset-based businesses.
The increased regulation is also receiving support from crypto businesses that operate in Texas. These companies recognize the importance of transparency and the necessity of building trust in the crypto market. In addition, the legislation would help weed out illegitimate operators, reducing potential risks to investors and traders.
The Proof-of-Reserves Bill is not just significant for Texas, but it could also set the standard for other states or even countries seeking to regulate cryptocurrencies. Governments worldwide are trying to adapt to the ever-evolving market, and this legislation could lead the way for other states to create a framework for legitimizing the crypto market.
The crypto market has been gaining legitimacy and acceptance over the last few years, with major corporations like PayPal, Tesla, and MicroStrategy investing in cryptocurrencies. The Proof-of-Reserves Bill adds to this trend by creating a system that promotes transparency and trust in the crypto market.
In summary, the Proof-of-Reserves Bill is a significant step towards legitimizing the crypto market and building trust among investors. It is also a significant step for Texas in establishing itself as a leader in the regulation of cryptocurrencies. With the entry of a reputedly pro-business jurisdiction like Texas, financial institutions are expected to take a new look at cryptocurrencies, which would translate into mainstream adoption. We can say that the Lone Star State has shown the path to a brighter future for the crypto industry as a whole.
Texas has taken some bold steps in regulating the cryptocurrency industry. Recently, the state’s Senate passed a bill (House Bill 1666), aimed at enforcing “proof-of-reserve” requirements on cryptocurrency exchanges. The bill is currently awaiting the governor’s signature to become law.
The bill lays out some strict rules for digital asset providers who serve more than 500 customers in the state and hold at least $10 million of customer funds. Such providers are prohibited from mixing customer funds with operational capital or using customer funds for transactions not demanded by the customer. The legislation requires these exchanges to maintain sufficient reserves to fulfill potential withdrawals at any time, providing extra layers of security for customers.
The Texas Department of Banking will have the power to revoke licenses of providers who fail to meet these requirements. This means, when coupled with other recent legislative actions, Texas could shape the future of the industry.
The Texas Virtual Currency Act (TVCA), in which the “proof-of-reserves” bill is part of, has several other implications. It recognizes virtual currency as a legal entity and subjects it to commercial laws in Texas regulations. The TVCA also provides legal rights to cryptocurrency holders.
Cryptocurrency firms that offer ICOs must comply with the Texas Securities Act, and violations could lead to administrative, civil, and criminal lawsuits against them. The Act also offers property rights to cryptocurrency investors. This allows multiple investors to have property rights in a single cryptocurrency.
Finally, the TVCA also provides special rights to qualifying purchasers. These are purchasers that obtain control of a virtual currency for value and without notice of any adverse claim.
Texas is positioning itself as a pioneer in cryptocurrency regulation. By setting precedents like the proof-of-reserves bill, which enforces transparency in digital asset providers’ operations and protects customers’ funds, the state is leading the way in responsible cryptocurrency trading.
Other states should follow suit and develop similar regulations that create a more secure, transparent environment for cryptocurrency trading. In such an environment, customers can trust that their funds are safe, and cryptocurrency providers can operate more responsibly, which can only lead to greater success and more widespread adoption of the technology.


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Ars Arthro AG
This article was originally published in Start Up
Ars Arthro's technology, called CaReS, is a cartilage regeneration system that uses harvested cartilage cells which are isolated, then immediately imbedded in a collagen matrix, and then incubated to create a replacement product that can be shaped or molded by surgeons for a precise fit to fix cartilage defects.
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Despite the important role that French, German, and other European physicians play in developing and trialing new technology, and the equally important role that EU regulators play in offering a quick path to commercialization, the number of native European medical device companies is surprisingly small. There are hints that the bleak devicie picture might be brightening, however.


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A lot of this is admittedly conjecture, but the evidence is solid enough to at least entertain this notion- but freelance concept designer, Ioan Dumitrescu, has posted some rather interesting concept art for an “undisclosed project” for Sony. The images were, as a matter of fact, posted over a year ago, and they were only recently spotted by AGD.
The images depict what appears to be artwork for a first person wild west game, showing multiple things, including a rather dramatic train crash from a great height, and a gun fight. Just to ensure there is no ambiguity or confusion about any of this, the pictures are accompanied by the caption ‘I love westerns!’ too. Subtle, dude.
Dumitrescu has also worked on Sony’s VR luge game, so if this western game ever moved beyond the planning stage, and if it is still in the works, then it is probably going to be for the PlayStation VR too- we’ll probably hear more of it at E3, Gamescom, or PlayStation Experience this year, if that is the case.
In the meanwhile, you can check out the images for this game for yourself below.


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The cryptocurrency and Bitcoin community is filled with excitement as the chief executive officer of Twitter, Jack Dorsey shows his support for the Bitcoin lightning network’s project (LN).
The co-founder of the social media platform has joined a community project illustrating the functionality of Bitcoin’s (BTC) second-layer scaling protocol. Although the trail program started on January 2019, he joined in on 5th of February.
The trail which was created based on the Olympic flame, “Lightning touch”, supports a carefully executed series of transactions on the second layer of Bitcoin scaling protocol. The people that are taking part are to pass on the touch using the #LNtrustchain. It demands a user to receive a transaction and adds a nominal amount of about 10,000 satoshis to it before sending to another trusted person. The torch currently contains around 3 million satoshis (about $98.60).
Jack Dorsey – who is also the CEO and founder of Mobile Payments Company Square, has shown support for bitcoin before and has actually taken into account that Bitcoin has the ability to become the de facto currency of the internet.
In a recent interview with cointelegraph, Dorsey declared his beliefs on bitcoin being the internet’s native currency.
“[Bitcoin] was something that was born on the internet, that was developed on the internet, that was tested on the internet…It is of the internet.”
The Information provided on the website is designed to provide helpful information regarding cryptocurrency subjects. The content is not meant to be used, nor should it be used as a basis, foundational knowledge or prerequisite for decision making regards trading. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade. We are not liable for any outcome based on any content found on the site.
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3D Systems has announced a partnership with confectionery giant Hershey to bring 3D printed chocolate to the mainstream.
3D Systems showcased the ChefJet printer at the Las Vegas CES expo this month, which begin at around $US 5,000 and were developed by the husband-and-wife team at the The Sugar Lab. The ChefJet units print in sugar and chocolate.
“We believe that innovation is key to delivering relevant, compelling consumer experiences with our iconic brands,” said VP and chief R&D officer at Hershey Co., William Papa, in a statement.
“Mainstreaming 3D printing is fundamental to our success and we are fortunate to partner with Hershey, the largest producer of quality chocolate in North America and a global leader in chocolate and confection to expand the 3D printing experience into delectable edibles,” said Chuck Hull from 3D Systems.
Reuters reports that there is no sign yet regarding when the multi-year agreement will produce anything, and that a company spokesperson has suggested Hershey would like to bring the printers to consumers rather than put them purely to commercial use.


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Switzerland is known for many things: chocolate, watches, blonde hair, fondue, finance and now, drive-in brothels. Zürich, Switzerland's largest city, kicked off the drive-in brothel program a year ago, and is now claiming it's a resounding success.
Drive In Brothel
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Nobody was hurt physically when a fire broke out in August 2019 at a Tyson Foods-owned beef packing plant in Holcomb, Kansas, but lots of wallets were.
The resulting four-month closure of the country’s second-largest beef packing plant, which produced approximately 6% of the country’s total beef slaughter at the time, resulted in a 10% increase in wholesale beef prices, affecting restaurant chains, grocery stores, and individual consumers shopping in the meat aisle.
That a single fire at a single meat packing facility could have such a dramatic effect on beef prices reflects years of consolidation in the meat sector. Since 1980, an average of nearly 17,000 cattle ranchers have gone out of business each year, according to a 2019 analysis by the Open Markets Institute, a think tank focused on anti-monopoly issues.
In the mid-1990s, approximately 90% of hogs in the United States were sold into competitive marketplaces; by 2019, that figure had dropped to less than 7%, the report states. Four mega meat packers dominate 85% of the beef industry, 54% of the poultry market, and 70% of the hog processing business.
While the Holcomb fire brought the issue of meat market concentration to the forefront of customer consciousness as prices increased, the issue has been exposed repeatedly over the last three years. Due to the scarcity of meat processors, one-off incidents — such as ransomware attacks or pandemic outbreaks — at even a few meat processing plants can significantly restrict the number of animals that can be processed into consumable meat across the country.
For example, during the early stages of the pandemic, the number of pigs that could be processed decreased by 45 percent when COVID-19 spread across factory assembly lines. Pork breeders were forced to “liquidate” perfectly healthy pigs they could no longer afford to feed due to a lack of alternative meat processors. Customers either couldn’t locate their normal protein options in grocery stores or were forced to pay significantly more for them.
Hundreds of miles away from Iowa’s cattle ranches and Texas’ meat processors, federal officials in Washington, D.C. are discussing the meat industry’s future. As prices for basic products continue to rise and an increasing number of small farmers and meat producers fail, a rare bipartisan alliance in Congress is seeking to strengthen anti-competition regulations.
The coronavirus pandemic demonstrated “how efficient the supply chain is [in normal circumstances], but also how vulnerable it is,” according to a Republican Senate aide who requested anonymity to discuss reform efforts, which include a new piece of legislation and enhanced enforcement of an existing law. “Everyone’s mind is on how we got here. And what can we do to rectify the situation?”
Reduced competition has resulted in significant price increases for customers. The White House stated in September 2021 that meat sales account for half of the total price hikes shoppers notice at grocery check out lines. Last year, beef prices increased 14% in nine months, hog prices increased 13%, and poultry prices increased 7%.
Meanwhile, the corporations responsible for market concentration, which harmed both farmers and consumers, had a financial bonanza as a result of constricted supply: The White House revealed in December that the gross revenues of four of the top meat processing companies—Tyson, JBS, Marfrig, and Seaboard—have climbed collectively by more than 120 percent since the pandemic began, while their combined net income has increased by 500 percent.
“It is to their advantage to take advantage of these market structures. It is in their best interests to reduce labour costs and petition the government for favourable food processing and safety regulations,” explains Claire Kelloway, the Open Markets Institute’s programme manager for fair food and farming systems.
“It is not in their best interests to invest in distributed and robust processing, which is what a growing number of people are demanding now in light of how these massive concentrated factories have failed and crumbled in the face of unforeseen shock.”
However, Congress intends to force them to try through the passage of two significant bipartisan initiatives currently under consideration. The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, introduced by Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, along with Democrats Jon Tester of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon, would establish more equitable standards in the highly concentrated cattle market.
This would be accomplished by setting regional obligatory minimum criteria for the proportion of cattle that meat packers must purchase from cattle farms in accordance with established guidelines, ensuring that ranchers are not left with an excess of supply and nowhere to unload it. Among other provisions, the bill would compel the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish and maintain a publicly accessible library of marketing contracts, which would include information regarding the duration and terms of contracts between producers and meat packers.
Senate Republican aides claim they are working with Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, on some “slight technical improvements that will make implementation easier.”
Following that, the bill would proceed to the markup stage, where it might be debated or altered before to being brought to a vote. These types of bills are frequently bundled together in larger, omnibus pieces of legislation. One such vehicle might be the next farm bill, which the industry hopes will be enacted before the current farm bill expires in 2023.
Cora Fox, the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association’s director of government relations, believes the adjustments cannot come soon enough. Many of the farmers in her trade organisation had only one or two customers for their cattle, thus lowering prices. “We have endured far too many market disruptions,” Fox adds. “I am aware that this will have a long-term effect on the number of independent livestock feeders we have.”
However, pork and poultry producers would not gain from this legislation. It is not because those sectors are free of problems, but because “chicken and pork” are “too far gone,” according to the GOP Senate aide, referring to how vertically integrated these sectors are, with large companies owning and controlling multiple stages of production, from hatcheries to chicken feed mills to slaughterhouses and marketing. “They’re far too consolidated,” the aide observes. “There is no going back.”
Another law would have far-reaching consequences for the beef sector as a whole. After the Holcomb fire forced the closure of a major beef plant for months and COVID-19 forced the closure of numerous meat packing plants across the country for days at a time, a Memorial Day 2021 ransomware attack brought cattle slaughtering at JBS’s US plants to a halt for a day during one of the most popular grilling weekends of the year.
According to the Wall Street Journal, prices for bone-in pork butts increased by 25%. Once again, hog farmers were trapped with hungry pigs that were scheduled to be delivered to meat processors.
JBS, which produces almost one-fifth of the nation’s meat supply, paid a $11 million ransom to protect its consumers from additional disruptions. However, Democratic Senator Tester and Republican Senators Grassley and Mike Rounds of South Dakota contended that the interlude demonstrated the dangers of business consolidation to the country’s food supply.
They introduced legislation to establish a special investigator with subpoena authority within the USDA to work with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen enforcement of a law, the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act, that imposes penalties on businesses that violate anti-competition rules. “A single cyberattack that threatens the food we eat demonstrates that something must be done, and quickly,” Tester said in June, when the legislation was announced.
Rounds, Tester, and Grassley all live in agricultural areas, but Big Meat is grabbing the attention of legislators outside the flyover states as well. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, co-authored a letter to the DOJ on Feb. 16 urging it to “scrutinise” Cargill Inc. and Continental Grain Co.’s proposed $4.5 billion merger of Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms, the country’s third- and sixth-largest poultry processors, respectively.
“This planned megamerger raises serious antitrust issues in an industry already characterised by price fixing, labour abuses, and excessive consolidation,” the legislators stated. While the Holcomb fire was contained in 2019, congressional efforts to avoid such a disaster from having a disproportionate impact on the meat sector are only getting started.


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- Car Blushh is a startup offering auto care services at the doorstep for customers
When it comes to the treatment of women in the workplace, what was once an acceptable behavior and attitude for decades is now viewed as disgusting by current generations. With change in thinking, education and awareness, inappropriate remarks and behavior against women have now been replaced with opportunities and respect in many companies. The landscape has changed, and opportunities for women in the industry have increased. Leading women are taking center stage at several top companies in the automotive industries including car wash service.
Being a revolutionary concept in itself, Car Blushh remains unfettered in its visionary endeavour of providing jobs to female washers to promote women empowerment as one of its most sought in an entirely male dominated sector. Discerning the COVID-19, it emerges as a responsible company by creating job opportunities for car cleaners amid a backdrop of acute job losses during the pandemic.
Daily car cleaning is 99% unorganized sector, consisting primarily of local domestic help who are neither efficient nor fully equipped to do the work. Car Blushh is launched to provide the right approach required to organize and perform premium car care services to make daily driving a super hygienic and comfortable experience with complete auto care services.
Speaking on the occasion, Car Blushh Founder and CEO, Ruchhi Wadhwa said, “We saw how this pandemic hit employment, in the same way, these car washers also succumbed to it and lost their jobs. The company was therefore formed not only to employ these people but also to streamline the sector, creating a new experience for customers where hygiene is kept on top.”
It currently offers detailed car cleaning using waterless cleaning solutions along with daily sanitization and air check and has plans to soon roll out complete auto care services from maintenance to auto insurance. The startup brings integrated car care services to the doorstep for customers, making their experience hassle-free. It adopts technology to identify and address the problems of the customers.
Since its inception, Car Blushh has covered 45 societies and has more than 1350 happy customers. The company currently operates in Delhi/NCR and will be expanding in Gurgaon, Jaipur and Chandigarh soon, eventually making its space felt in Pan India.


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The Power of an Ad – How Nike Ad Launched a Controversy
admin | September 17, 2018
Brands usually avoid politics. It’s easier and safer to just maintain a mainstream profile that appeals to everyone – or at least that doesn’t alienate anyone. But in a world increasingly polarized, playing it safe no longer guarantees success or peace of mind. It’s harder not to stand for something.
When I say “it’s harder”, I really mean that consumers demand brands to define Who they are, and What they believe. There are brands – like Patagonia or United Colors of Benetton – that made their political and societal commitments as an integral part of their business. But they are the exception and not the rule.
It was a little surprising when Nike decided to make a stand with its latest commercial. While the brand motto is “just do it”, no one really expected them to actually follow through with a bang, launching an ad that pushed American public opinion to a dichotomous situation: you either applaud Nike for “doing it”, or you protest against it by burning and disfiguring the brands apparel.
The ad in itself is not different to dozens of previous Nike’s commercials. It’s uplifting, dares consumers to chase their dreams, pushing them to defy the odds, and uses both amateur and professional athletes to emphasize the message. In essence, it’s your run of the mill epic “believe in yourself – just make sure you use our brand” commercial with stellar execution. Until it stops to be.
And that happens precisely at 1:20 when NFL player Colin Kaepernick is revealed. By choosing Kaepernick – who started the “take a knee” movement to protest against police brutality – to Nike took its stand alongside the player. As expected, backlash ensued. Protests against the brand started to appear all over the USA, and social media the battling ground for protesters and defenders to show off their opinions.
So far, the bold move seems to be working perfectly for Nike. Online sales went up 31% in the immediate aftermath. The company stock price went down with the first negative reactions to the ad, but quickly recovered. More importantly, Nike knew what they were doing. The commercial is perfectly targeted to their core fan base (young liberals, aged 18-34, ethnically diverse), not being afraid to alienate other consumers (middle-aged conservatives, predominantly white).
The results of a study commissioned and published by Marketing Week show that brand attitude either remained the same or improved with the ad among core Nike consumers. Moreover, the study analyzed the potential impact on UK consumers, showing that either the ad didn’t change in any way their attitude towards the brand, or that it changed it to a more positive view.
Yes, Nike will lose consumers and their business. There will be a large group of people that will actively avoid and even denigrate the brand. But, at the same time reinforced its position among its target demographics and its place as a thought leader. It changed the social narrative of the brand and dominated media attention for a week.
All with the power of an ad.
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Blackbird Interior Design flies into Midland shopping center
Published 6:15 am, Friday, January 27, 2012
Just opened in the Plaza Oaks Shopping Center at 2101 W. Wadley is BLACKBIRD INTERIOR DESIGN, FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES.
Owners Melissa Morehead, who had operated a design studio out of her home, and Brooke Mayes, met at Alldredge Home when Morehead worked there to learn the retail business. When Alldredge Home announced it was closing, the two decided to open their own business.
The two offer design services but also operate a retail business selling furniture and accessories. "We carry everything, from contemporary to vintage, Hollywood glamor, French and Urban," Morehead said. "We even have a man-cave where the husbands can watch sports or a movie while their wives shop."
Morehead and Mayes came up with the name from the famous Beatles' song combined with the fact that the blackbird is iconic and is an American species. "We carry American furniture, we're an American company," she said.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. More information is available by calling 618-2473 and the store has a Facebook page.
Targeting little miss Midlanders with a taste for the frilly is LE BOW BOUTIQUE, found at 2814 W. Wall Street next to Tall City Sweets.
"I do lots of hairbows, I carry tutus and clothes - zebra prints and frilly items," said boutique owner Viola Magana. "It's a unique girl's store."
She carries sizes infant to Girls' 7, she said.
Magana has also opened a consignment area, accepting childrens' clothing - for boys and girls - in all sizes through juniors.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
More information is available by calling 689-2525.
With construction complete, Midland's newest KENT KWIK has opened for business at 4400 W. Illinois. The grand opening was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday.
The new store, Midland's largest, boasts 16 fueling positions at the gasoline island, including four diesel positions.
Inside the convenience store includes a delicatessen that offers sandwiches, burritos, even oatmeal, and a large beverage center dispensing hot and cold drinks. There is a Mr. Payroll that cashes paychecks. Customers can come in through the front door, park in back and enter through a back door or utilize the drive-up window.
The store is open 24 hours a day.
DOLLAR GENERAL announces the opening of its newest Midland store at 2015 N. Lamesa Road. A grand opening was held Saturday.
The new store features a fresh layout with seasonal products displayed in the center of the store and departments offering national and private brands of food, housewares, cleaning supplies, health and beauty supplies and clothing easily recognizable with visible signage. Coolers are found at the front of the store. The store employs six to 10 people.
MEDICAL SPA OF MIDLAND at 4506 N. Briarwood is offering its support to the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women program raising awareness of heart disease and its impact on women.
The spa will dedicate the entire day of Friday, February 3 to the cause, donating 10 percent from every procedure performed at the spa to Go Red. Staff will be on hand to offer advice, free consultations and an informal "meet and greet." The public is invited.
More information is available at www.medicalspaofmidland.com or on the spa's Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube channel.


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Today the #AppleEvent got updated with a custom blue Apple logo and will remain active until September 28th, adding fuel to the fire that an event announcement from Apple is imminent.
As noted by Twitter user @onlytruemichal, the name of the icon is “AppleEvent2020”. Reports from Jon Prosser suggested Apple will launch a new Apple Watch and iPad today, September 8th at 9AM EST, which has not happened. On the other hand, Mark Gurman suggests an Apple event announcement which the hashtag seems to confirm.
Sami started falling in love with Apple in 2010 with the iPhone 4S. As a registered developer, he deeply admires the world of Apple. Sami is an aspiring journalist, writer, and actor. He also has devoted his life to sharing his passion and knowledge with others around the world.


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After months spent confined within their homes, but with no guarantees of how or when travel guidelines will be lifted, many people are looking to staycation bookings in a bid to ensure a 2020 holiday of some kind.
Earlier this week Home Grown Hotels said that, government guidance permitting, all of its Pig hotels will open on 4 July. A spokesperson told The Caterer that the group took 700 reservations for rooms after lines reopened on Monday, equating to 100 rooms per hour. She added: "That's the amount we would take when launching a hotel."
Ros Pritchard, director general of the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, reported a similar surge in bookings and urged holidaymakers not to leave it too late to book a summer holiday.
Speaking to The Caterer, she said that UK holiday parks had seen most customers rebook holidays planned for Easter in July and August, rather than cancelling, thereby effectively benefiting from "summer holidays at Easter prices".
Pritchard added: "We've been having an awful lot of bookings. Interest picks up every time there is a government announcement.
She said that the "quarantine saga" would mean that tourists typically arriving from Germany, Italy and Holland would not be able to holiday in the UK this summer, "so that will give us a little more capacity", but was sceptical this would meet increased domestic demand.
Luxury worldwide travel company Kuoni, which launched its first collection of tailor-made UK and Ireland holidays at the end of May, said that confusion around quarantine plans and continued restrictions on travel this year had led people to rethink this year's plans.
Derek Jones, chief executive of Kuoni, said: "It's clear from the conversations we're having with customers and booking patterns that many people will opt to stay closer to home within the UK this year as they see overseas travel in the near future as too risky."
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Two weeks after gun rights supporters brought weapons into a Newtown Starbucks, community members published an open letter to the coffee company asking Starbucks to ban guns in all its stores.
The letter was published by the Newtown Coalition For Corporate Responsibility and backed by the Newtown Action Alliance, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the National Gun Victims Action Council.
Its dozens of signatures include those of Gov. Dannel Malloy, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, State Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Newtown First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra, Starbucks employees, family members of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, religious leaders and Newtown residents.
The letter reads:
“…your core customers are people like us who have come to understand how guns jeopardize the stability of any environment. They are people who have come to understand that to prevent another Sandy Hook, we as a society must prioritize the sanctity of human life over the individual’s ‘right to carry.’”
It goes on to thank Starbucks for closing early in Newtown when gun rights advocates hosted “Starbucks Appreciation Day” and brought guns into the store at 34 Church Hill Road.
Starbucks has said that the company does not endorse gun appreciation events but that its long-standing policies remain unchanged.
The letter asks Starbucks to take action.
“While we thank you for preventing gun carriers from senselessly inflicting further emotional trauma on our town by closing your Newtown location early last Friday, August 9th, we ask you this question: what about tomorrow and the day after that? What do you say to your customers in Wyoming, Texas, and Florida; where guns have injured three innocent people at Starbucks in the past two years?”
The letter requests that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz venture to Newtown to discuss the potential for policy change... over a cup of coffee, of course.
Anti-violence advocacy groups are also encouraging community members to sign a petition posted by Moms Demand Action.
According to the site, representatives from Moms Demand Action will hand-deliver the petition to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, Wa.


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TCR Australia competitors will get another opportunity to showcase their talents on the simulator with the series’ second virtual season to run on the acclaimed WSC TCR SimRacing platform.
The new seven-round TCR Australia SimRacing Series will allow drivers and teams from the carsales TCR Australia Series to use their own car brand with real livery on some of Australia’s biggest circuits.
Using the popular Assetto Corsa software that TCR Europe used for its own online competition during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the 18 selected drivers will be racing for real world prizes, including free entry into the real world competition.
Ahead of the category’s debut into the globally promoted virtual series, Australian Racing Group CEO Matt Braid was excited for the online platform of racing to continue.
“The carsales TCR Australia SimRacing Series is going to be a great way to continue the online racing theme as the world begins to emerge from lockdown,” Braid said.
“The ARG eSport Cup has been a terrific initiative and now we are able to follow this up with an internationally promoted series specifically featuring TCR Australia
“The program that the WSC Group has put together, with most of the TCR car brands involved, is a fantastic real-world representation of TCR Series racing, and ARG is proud to be the second series from around the world to be selected to compete on the platform.”
The seven-round series begins at Albert Park on 18 June and concludes in Macau on 3 September with more more details on the series to be released shortly.
carsales TCR Australia SimRacing Series calendar


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Food for thought: General Mills, Kraft to raise cereal pricesPosted: October 28, 2010
Your Cheerios might get a bit more expensive next month. WSJ has the scoop:
General Mills Inc. said it will increase prices next month on a quarter of its breakfast cereals as a result of rising grain and other commodity prices, illustrating the pressures more companies face to pass along sharply higher costs on everything from corn to copper.
The Minneapolis food supplier said some cereals will increase by a “low single-digit” percentage rate effective Nov. 15. Kraft Foods Inc. is also raising prices, according to people familiar with the matter, although its scope wasn’t clear. A Kraft spokesman declined to comment.


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Darkest Dungeon Surpasses One Million Copies Sold, 94 Percent of Which Came From Steam
Following its recent launch on PS4 and PS Vita, Darkest Dungeon has now sold more than one million copies, Red Hook Studios announced today.
The news come from a blogpost where the developer broke down the sales of the game platform by platform.
As of right now, sales on Steam account for 94 percent of copies sold. Red Hook Studios cited the following as reasons for this:
- Early Access was done only on Steam, and launched February 3, 2015. Sales were extremely strong right off the bat–we did over 50,000 copies in 24 hours, which definitely resulted in a lot of stunned faces around our office.
- Full release for PC and Mac occurred on January 19, 2016 and brought the game also to GOG.
- PlayStation 4 and PS Vita versions only launched on September 27, 2016. Sales have been decent so far (approximately 50k copies worldwide), but the recent launch accounts for the reason why the platform only represents a tiny amount of our cumulative sales to date.
- Crowdfunding was done via Kickstarter and Humble Widget and accounted for the first ~11k copies sold
The developer also revealed that the game has sold best in the United States, with the country contributing to 46.3 percent of its sales, which is 38 percent more than the next highest country: Germany.
Darkest Dungeon is currently available on PS4, PS Vita, and PC.


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According to a new report by Experian Hitwise, Bing has increased its share of the search engine market by 0.28 percent within February and March.
Bing’s market share has been increasing each year, with an increase of 1.43 percent in 2010, to 4.39 percent. It is now the UK’s fastest growing search engine.
Google remains as the most popular search engine in the United Kingdom with 90 percent, while Yahoo saw a drop of 0.52 percent.
Bing is now the UK’s second most used search engine, Yahoo is the third and Ask is the fourth despite a drop of 0.21%.
Research Director at Experian Hitwise, Robin Goad said: “Microsoft is starting to make inroads into Google’s massive share of the search market, although Google remains the clear leader in absolute volume terms.” He added: “It is vital that brands closely monitor the changing trends in the search market, as search typically accounts for between 40-50% of a website’s inbound traffic.”


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Many smartphone owners have gotten used to picking out products from tiny icons on their phone screens, for delivery in a matter of days. That works fine for books, toys, and gadgets -- but what about groceries, office supplies, and sundries that we need right away, and many of which wouldn't survive the rigors of UPS? Korean retailer Homeplus has invented a novel solution in the form of virtual stores -- essentially retail kiosks with life-size images of real product displays -- placed in high-traffic areas like subway stations, where potential customers will be killing time waiting around.
The full-size displays are augmented with QR codes(Opens in a new window) that can be quickly scanned using a Homeplus smartphone application, which then transmits an order for the selected products to Homeplus. The customer then sets a delivery time and location, and the products are delivered to their home or office. This amazing combination of virtual and real technologies allows Homeplus to sell products in many locations where it would be completely impractical to locate a retail outlet. Even perishable goods can be sold without a need for refrigeration at the store. Taking the experience one step further, customers can also scan the barcode from any product they have at hand to place an order for one. Imagine being able to instantly reorder your food and office supplies the instant you ran out of them, instead of having to remember to put it on a list, for a future trip to the store.
Homeplus (a wholly owned subsidiary of UK retail giant Tesco) has one thing going for it that Webvan(Opens in a new window) never had in the US -- cities with efficient and inexpensive delivery infrastructure. It is nothing novel in Seoul to get a package delivered in a few hours for a few dollars. Delivery adds a large measure of convenience for the customer, who can use their down time waiting for a train to do their shopping. Amazon has launched a similar service, Amazon Fresh(Opens in a new window), for customers lucky enough to live in the Seattle area, but it is only accessible through devices, so you can't browse full-size aisles, while waiting for the monorail or light rail that crisscross the city.Surprisingly, the addition of the virtual stores has worked in concert with Homeplus's existing online store. Revenues from the virtual stores have grown steadily, but they have also helped increase sales from their online store. While selling perishable goods from a virtual store may not work as well here in the US, expect to see more experiments which combine technologies like QR codes with physical displays, to create more powerful hybrid shopping experiences.


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South Korean cosmetics brand Laneige has announced actor Park Seo-joon as their new face. The 29-year-old is known for his roles in the TV dramas Dream High 2, A Word From Warm Heart, A Witch’s Romance, Kill Me, Heal Me and She Was Pretty.
Park starred in Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth and Fight My Way in 2017, and he also hosted the popular variety show Music Bank 2013 to 2015. Recently, he gained more attention for his role as a waiter on TVN’s hit show Yoon’s Kitchen 2.
“Park Seo-joon’s bright and healthy image is consistent with the brand image,” said Laneige VP Claire Jin in a statement. “Laneige is happy to work with Park Seo-joon and we hope to bring customers more products towards achieving clean and healthy skin.”
“I am very excited to be the new face of Laneige, a brand that is globally representing South Korea,” Park said. “I will make every effort to fully endorse Laneige in many diverse ways.”
His first appearance for the brand is for Laneige Homme Blue Energy Essence in Lotion. In the advertisement, Park wears a dark blue shirt reflecting the corporate colour of the Homme range as fans are asked to appreciate his luminous skin (which literally sparkles).
So, Malaysian fans can start to hope that the tall (185cm) hunk will soon grace us with his presence to give us an closeup of his beautiful face.


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A lot of work goes into the development of more efficient and leaner manufacturing processes but a new report published by IT firm Oracle indicates that little has been done to improve the efficiency of information flows.
Research conducted for Oracle by the consultancy Dynamic Markets in the UK indicates that for one in three companies information management is so poor that physical products actually flow faster than, or as quick as, information across supply chains.
The consequences for businesses can be significant in terms of missed sales opportunities, customer satisfaction, productivity and failure to meet peaks in demand.
The new report estimates the loss resulting from inefficient information flows at £1.2bn in missed sales opportunities each year in the UK.
Looking to explain the information weakness, Andrew Spence, Oracle’s supply chain business development manager said: “The information management for many supply chains doesn’t reflect the way organisations operate today.
“Companies are working with systems set up and designed for an environment where a lot of the work is done within one company, rather than the vast network of suppliers, designers and partner companies that is the reality of the modern business.”
Supply chain executives therefore spend a lot of their time gathering data from different sources, sifting through different spreadsheets, emails and databases in an effort to keep track of information.
Spence told FoodProductionDaily.com that for food companies this can hamper their ability to keep up with demand in an environment where new launches and promotions are increasingly important.
If marketing does not give enough advance notice on its plans to the supply chain the result can be empty shelves and lost sales.
Spence added that the danger of this happening is increased in today’s economic climate because companies do not want to be weighed down by excess inventories.
Suggesting how companies can overcome supply chain problems, he said there are technological solutions that can help speed up information flows. This involves using internet and IT technologies to inform suppliers quickly of changes in demand and to pull information from point of sales accurately and quickly so demand changes can be monitored in a timely and accurate fashion.


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Sporting goods retailing giant Sports Authority is reportedly in financial trouble.
The Englewood-based sporting goods chain recently missed a $21 million interest payment to bondholders, according to Dow Jones Newswire/
And Bloomberg reports Sports Authority is trying to stave off bankruptcy as it works with lenders to deal with its $643 million in debt.
CNBC reported that Sports Authority is on the verge of closing 200 of its 450 stores.
In 2011, Sports Authority reportedly agreed to pay $6 million per year to have its name on the home of the Denver Broncos, which was previously named Invesco Field at Mile High.


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“MILAN — Stella Jean, a 34-year-old designer who lives in Rome, thought someone was kidding her when she received an invitation to show her new collection in the theater of Giorgio Armani’s Milan headquarters, the result of the maestro’s decision to help emerging fashion talents.
“I’m still trembling and so excited,” Ms. Jean said. “It is unbelievable: a giant called me and it’s David and Goliath.”
All her life, her Italian-Haitian blood had made her feel an outsider. But now, her colorful clothes, mixing prints bold and original with Italian craftsmanship and the exceptional handwork of West African women, have brought her awards and attention from both Alta Moda in Rome and Pitti Immagine in Florence. . .”
The New York Times has the full story.


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The Port of Tilbury, part of Forth Ports Ltd, has submitted an application to the Planning Inspectorate for a development consent order to build a new terminal adjacent to the current port in Thurrock.
As previously reported, the proposed new port, known as Tilbury2, would be built on a 152-acre site that was part of the former Tilbury Power Station.
Tilbury2 is central to the Port of Tilbury’s £1B investment programme, 2012-20. This investment also includes the UK’s largest warehouse at the port’s second extension site – the 70-acre London Distribution Park – for Amazon UK, which began operating this autumn.
Tilbury has doubled the size of its business in the past 10 years, and is projected to double the volume across the quay to 32 Mt over the next 10 to 15 years. Expansion is needed to cope with rising demand for construction materials and aggregates from the UK’s building sector, imported and exported cars, as well as an increase in ro-ro trades. The site will be road and rail connected. It is envisaged that Tilbury2 will be operational in Q2 2020, and will act as a satellite of the main port.


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Award-winning global independent animation studio ZAG has launched Miraculous Secrets, its first trading card game for the billion-dollar Miraculous franchise at retail in Germany and Austria and will roll-out to other European countries in the coming months. The announcement was made today by Jeremy Zag, Founder and CEO, ZAG. Miraculous Secrets, from the ZAG Play Toy Division, was developed in partnership with Epopia, the creator of the groundbreaking, multiple award-winning interactive platform that encourages children to read and write who first partnered with ZAG in April 2021, acquiring global licensing rights to ZAG’s brands to create personalized and interactive storytelling. Miraculous Secrets is distributed by Amigo, the well-established European game maker.
In December NPD Groups released a report showing that “kidults” are responsible for one-fourth of all toy sales annually, around $9 billion worth, and are the biggest driver of growth throughout the industry. While this may be shocking news to some, it’s common knowledge in the halls of Paragon FX Group, as is evidenced by their latest offering, the 89 Batman: Modular Utility Grapnel Set. The multi-purpose, hand-held unit allowed for Batman to store numerous items on his utility belt yet deploy them all from a single device. The Paragon FX Group team spent a full twelve months recreating the device out of cnc machined aluminum.
The Pokémon Company International has released the latest expansion in the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Crown Zenith, available worldwide starting now at participating retailers including Pokémon Center, the premier online destination for official Pokémon merchandise in the US, Canada and the UK. The Crown Zenith expansion features new art styles and unique illustrations with a focus on alternate art cards, including the first-ever special art Pokémon VSTAR.
MegaChess, the world’s largest supplier of Giant Chess Sets, is pleased to announce the creation of the Perfect Chess Set. This tournament-style set was designed as a learning and training tool to help chess players at all levels develop their skills and master the game of chess. To help achieve its goal of creating the perfect tournament chess set with training, MegaChess collaborated with Chess Vibes Academy’s Nelson Lopez, a Chess Master with over 30 years of playing experience. Lopez shares his Master-level knowledge and skills in a series of easy-to-follow and friendly lessons.
The Woobles, the first learn-to-crochet company to leverage emerging ed-tech tools to successfully teach the art of crocheting to complete beginners, just released its first licensed kits- starring Miffy! Thanks to The Woobles, fans can now crochet their very own Miffy, along with ear-resistable themed accessories. Known for its adorable amigurumi plushies, a collaboration with the marvelous Miffy was a natural fit for The Woobles.
Toy producer schleich has partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products (WBDGCP) to add a seventh product range to its catalogue: Wizarding World from Harry Potter. Capturing the enchantment and wonders of the Wizarding World, the collection will launch in September 2023 with six of the series’ main characters and their animal companions: Harry and Hedwig, Ron and Scabbers, Hermione and Crookshanks, Hagrid and Fang, Luna Lovegood and a Baby Thestral, and Albus Dumbledore and Fawkes. In addition, Schleich will debut six fantastical creatures from the Harry Potter series: Dobby, Firenze the centaur, Aragog, Buckbeak, Fluffy the three-headed dog, and a Hungarian Horntail dragon.
As part of a strategic global expansion to deliver premium, fan-first products and retail experiences worldwide, Universal Products & Experiences (UP&E), announced the appointment of Rafael “Rafa” Macias to the newly created position, EVP, Global Commercial Officer, Consumer Products. Reporting to Vince Klaseus, President, Universal Products & Experiences, Macias will lead UP&E’s global commercial strategies, overseeing the development and execution of the company’s consumer products, retail sales and marketing businesses around the world.
The LEGO Group announced it has selected Boston for its future head office in the Americas, and will move its current office from Enfield, Connecticut by the end of 2026. President of the LEGO Group in the Americas, Skip Kodak, said the move would support the business’s long-term growth ambitions to bring LEGO play to even more children in the US and the Americas region. Kodak said: “Boston is ranked one of the best cities in the world to attract and retain talent. This, along with its world-class academic institutions, skilled workforce and great quality of life makes it an ideal location for our US head office. We have exciting plans for the next phase of growth and hope we can retain many of our current team, as well as attract new colleagues.”
Scentco Inc, a renowned U.S. toy designer and distributor, and producers of the fast growing Bedtime Defenderz plush toy line, has inked a deal with Armada Content, LLC to produce 12 episodes of new animated entertainment content to be released in the Fall of 2023 on YouTube. The new animated content will tell the stories behind the origin of the Bedtime Defenderz and their nemesis Torrag, Master of Shadows. The series follows the hugely successful introduction of the Bedtime Defenderz plush toy line in the Fall of 2022.


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The biotech sector has embraced the microbiome in recent years, a green field market powered by cheap genome sequencing and venture dollars, promising bespoke treatments for everything from gut troubles to skin problems. But a report in Science alleges that these companies lack scientific rigor and meaningful regulation, offering little more than guesswork on a […]
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WASHINGTON — The number of new people signing up for jobless benefits dropped last week and wholesale prices rose sharply in May, according to two reports that sent mixed messages about the strength of the economic resurgence.
The reports, released Thursday by the Labor Department, suggested the growing economy is on one hand spurring a job-market rally but at the same time bringing back inflationary pressures by making it easier for companies to raise prices.
New applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 336,000, the lowest level since May 8. The decline left claims at a level that was lower than the 342,000 that some economists were forecasting.
A portion of last week's decline was related to roughly 15 states closing their employment offices to observe the national day of mourning last Friday for former President Ronald Reagan, a Labor Department analyst said.
Even so, claims are at a level suggesting that the labor market is recovering. That point is underscored when compared to the same week a year ago, when claims were at 421,000, a level that pointed to a weak job market.
In the second report, the Producer Price Index, which measures prices of goods before they reach store shelves, rose by 0.8 percent in May, following a 0.7 percent rise in April. Higher prices for energy and food were the culprits behind the rise in wholesale prices for both months.
Excluding energy and food prices, "core" wholesale prices rose by a more modest 0.3 percent in May, after a 0.2 percent rise the month before.
The readings on overall wholesale prices as well as the core rate of inflation were slightly higher than economists were expecting. They were forecasting a 0.6 percent increase in the PPI and a 0.2 percent rise in core prices.
The wholesale price report follows a report issued by the government Tuesday showing consumer prices in May rose at the fastest pace in more than three years, as rapidly increasing food and fuel costs forced Americans to dig deeper into their pockets. But core consumer prices went up by only 0.2 percent in May, suggesting most other prices remain in line.
Even with the pickup in inflation, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in an appearance on Capitol Hill just hours after the consumer price report was released, said he is not worried that the country is on the brink of an unwanted surge in inflation. Any rate increases by the Fed would be at a measured pace unless economic conditions change, he said.
With the economy growing smartly and the labor market in recovery, economists widely expect the Federal Reserve will boost short-term interest rates for the first time in four years at its next meeting on June 29-30. The Fed's key short-term interest rate is at a 46-year low of 1 percent. Most economists are expecting a one-quarter percentage point increase.
In May, wholesale prices for energy products rose by 1.6 percent for the second month in a row. The price of crude oil, which peaked at around $42 a barrel in late May, is expected to ease later this year, analysts say. That should help energy prices calm down, they say.
Food prices, which are also being pushed higher because of more expensive transportation costs due to higher fuel prices, rose by 1.5 percent in May, following a 1.4 percent advance in April.
Greenspan said he and his Fed colleagues continue to hold the view that "inflationary pressures are not likely to be a serious concern in the period ahead." But if their forecasts turn out to be wrong, Greenspan said more aggressive action would be taken.


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METSO Corp., parent company of Finland's Nordberg Group, have made a recommended cash offer of SEK9,118 million (£696 million) to acquire the entire stock of Svedala Industri AB of Sweden.
Metso say it is their intention to combine Nordberg with Svedala to create one of the global market leaders in the supply and service of processes and related equipment for the mineral processing, civil engineering and construction industries.
'Combining the businesses will allow Nordberg and Svedala to better address the rapidly evolving needs of increasingly global customers in a consolidating but growing industry,' said Heikki Hakala, president and CEO of Metso Corp.
Svedala's chairman, Rune Anderson, added: 'The combination of Metso and Svedala has compelling industrial logic and we consider it to be positive for our customers and employees.'
Following the acquisition, Metso plan to maintain the main brand names of both companies but will integrate their various manufacturing, service and distribution operations. The combined business will result in significant synergy benefits and is expected to enhance earnings per share in its first full year of consolidation.
In 1999 the combined net sales of Metso and Svedala totalled EUR4.8 billion (£3.0 billion), with rock and mineral processing contributing 42% of this figure.
Subject to the approval of shareholders and the relevant competition authorities, the transaction should be completed towards the end of September 2000.