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(Daily360.com) – Blockbuster Video, the powerhouse video and game rental company of the 1990’s and early 2000’s, has risen from the corporate dead as an online troll of sorts.
In its heyday Blockbuster was a national chain of brick and mortar video rental stores. As streaming became more popular, the business began to falter before eventually filed bankruptcy in 2010.
Dish Network bought the company for pennies on the dollar in 2011.. Dish permitted any privately owned Blockbuster Video stores to remain open under the name but from 2019 through today only one remains. The store is located in Central Oregon and has become something of a tourist destination, stocked with Blockbuster Video clothing and swag.
The official Blockbuster Twitter account, which had been likewise dormant, has come back to life in the last year. It’s also throwing some shade at former competitors like Netflix. The popular streaming service recently announced it will be charging customers more money to share their passwords with family or friends in different locations.
Under the old model a paying Netflix customer had a certain amount of ‘users’ who could create profiles and access the account from anywhere. Now, any login from outside the designated ‘household’ will cost the user an additional $7.99 per month.
Netflix also announced they would be opening a pop-up Los Angeles restaurant featuring an array of star chefs, Enter Blockbuster Twitter who asked if the Netflix restaurant will have patrons removed should one diner share their portions with another. The tweet featured an animated gif showing the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” and his famous phrase “no soup for you.”
The Twitter account also posts retro style references with animations and clips of celebrities asking users to “be kind, rewind” and other self-deprecating humor. The account also also recently posted a tweet wondering if Blockbuster should return as a bank which would use old VHS and DVD technology as currency.
Copyright 2023, Daily360.com


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MILKSHAKES FOR HOMERS
Houston burger joint offers free milkshake for every Astros playoff home run
One Houston restaurant wants to give Astros fans a little reward for all those Springer dingers and Bregman bombs. The Burger Joint will give away milkshakes for every home run the team hits during the 2018 postseason.
The offer is pretty simple. Every person dining or in line at The Burger Joint will receive a certificate for one free milkshake when any Astros player hits a home run through the end of the season (dine in only).
"We have a special Crush City Creamsicle Shake made with vanilla ice cream, Minute Maid orange juice reduction, topped with orange zest and orange sprinkles that is available throughout the playoff run that will pair nicely with an Astros home run," Burger Joint owner Shawn Bermudez tells CultureMap. "We wanted to reward our customers watching the game with us by showing them just how well they go together, but customers aren’t required to cash in right away and can choose whatever shake their heart desires."
Considering the Astros hit 27 homers on their way to a World Series title in 2017, the restaurant could wind up giving away hundreds of them if the team becomes the first back-to-back champions in 20 years. "We hope they hit 40 this year," Bermudez adds.
Since they won't be at the restaurant during the games, Astros players may not be eligible for the offer, but they're definitely fans of the restaurant. Shortstop Carlos Correa and fiancee Daniella Rodriguez even gave the establishment a shoutout in a recent article in Houston Hotel magazine.
Maybe the offer should be extended to the people who hit home runs, too.

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Marks & Spencer is to step up store closures after diving £200m into the red and as clothing and homeware sales slumped by almost a third during the high street lockdowns.
Food sales rose by only 1.3% at established stores in the year to 3 April, a slower pace than many rivals, as M&S missed out on the shift to online groceries for most of the year until it launched a delivery service with the specialist Ocado in September.
Sales were also affected by the closure of the retailer’s cafes and a decline in the demand for takeaway food such as sandwiches with many people working from home.
The company plans to increase its capacity to sell groceries online by 50% over the next 18 months as its products now make up more than a quarter of the average order on Ocado.
Online sales of clothing and homewares soared by almost 54% but that was not enough to offset the 56% slump in high street sales because most stores were unable tooperate normally as part of efforts to control the spread of Covid-19.
The group’s full-year pre-tax loss of £201.2m included £117m of restructuring costs and £95m to cover the cost of store closures. The previous year M&S made a profit of just over £67m.
The full year loss was despite M&S benefiting from £175m in business rates relief and £131.5m in furlough payments from the government.
Steve Rowe, the chief executive, described the results as resilient “in a year like no other ”. He said the group had fixed the basics and would now “accelerate change in the trading businesses and build a trajectory for future growth”.
He added: “We now have a clear line of sight on the path to make M&S special again. The transformation has moved to the next phase.”
In the most recent six weeks, when non-essential stores have reopened across the UK, M&S said overall trading had been better than 2019, before the pandemic. Clothing and homewares and core food categories, excluding cafes and stores in travel locations, have all seen growth.
Archie Norman, the chairman, said M&S was “emerging from the chrysalis of Covid as a reshaped business”.
He said: “For the first time in three and a half years there is a lot to feel confident about and enough green shoots and points of light to say M&S is on the verge of becoming a growing business again.”
Shares in M&S rose 8.5% to 169.2p on hopes that the company had turned a corner. That is still substantially down on the 415p they were changing hands at five years ago, but double the 85p they were changing hands at last May.
However, Rowe cautioned that, while the latest sales figures were encouraging, “it is unclear how the recovery will develop and if consumer activity will sustain in clothing and home as well as what the eventual pace and shape of recovery in hospitality and convenience in food will be”.
He said M&S was stepping up its plan to close outdated stores to create a chain of 180 clothing and homewares sites around the country over the next decade, down from 254 at present.
Three years ago M&S said it would close or relocate 110 main stores. The new plan extends that to 90 closures, including 59 already shut, alongside more than 45 conversions to food only and 35 relocations. Some of the closed stores will be converted into homes or other uses, generating at least £200m in funds to invest in new or improved stores and help cover the £260m cost of store closures.
About 17 new or expanded full-line stores will open over the next two years, including at least six in former Debenhams sites.
Rowe said online shopping was now expected to account for about 40% of sales of fashion and homewares in future, up from about 20% before the pandemic.


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Innovation helps TWE in Australia
By Andy Young
Treasury Wine Estates' CEO Michael Clarke has said that innovation and successful consumer-led promotions have helped the company report solid growth in Australia.
Speaking about TWE’s performance in the Australian market Clarke said: “The year started promisingly with the successful execution of the Penfolds Wine Cabinet promotion. Having made a call to transfer the release dates of our flagship Penfolds brand the first October release of the Penfolds collection was sensational.
“Yellowglen again featured as a standout experience at the Spring Carnival with a record number of consumers tasting our wine at the track. Wolf Blass was the official wine partner of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia during February, with an integrated consumer promotion that saw this brand return to net sales revenue growth in the region.
“In June we officially opened the new cellar door and kitchen at Penfolds’ Magill Estate in Adelaide; now truly a global destination for Penfolds lovers around the world.
"Innovation and new product development were also at the heart of our brands' performance, with the Matua Taste Range and Pepperjacks Certified showing the potential of innovative, consumer-led ideas," Clarke said.
Overall TWE’s ANZ region reported solid EBITS growth, up 15 per cent to $84.4m, driven by its portfolio premiumisation. Consistent with broader market trends the headline volume in the region was below the prior year as the company focused on “sustainable volume and reducing inventory at select retail partners”.
However TWE-branded volume in Australia did increase by 1.6 per cent in fiscal ’15.


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Aug 31, 2012
Association aims to level the cleaning industry playing fieldBack
Amsterdam|Education|Gauteng|Systems|South Africa|Insurance Requirements|Retail|Patrick Makhubela
© Reuse this
The NCCA’s goal is to manage member companies and ensure they abide by a strict code of ethics, as well as comply with all statutory requirements relating to labour legislation, taxes, levies, insurance requirements and the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
A new development in the cleaning industry will see member companies undergoing a yearly compliance audit, much like the internal audits performed at large corporations, to ensure that NCCA members toe the line.
The audit will entail companies being audited on the same basic requirements as any other operational company, says Makhubela.
Statutory requirements include a check- list covering issues such as the payment of all relevant taxes and wages, the company’s contribution to the Contract Cleaning National Provident Fund and the Unemploy- ment Insurance Fund, as well as proof that its books balance.
Also on the association’s agenda is skills development. Makhubela notes that, currently, there is a lack of skilled and trained workers in the higher skills levels, such as managerial and supervisory positions, owing to the low remuneration structure which has historically existed in the industry.
As a result, the cleaning industry has had to attract skills from supporting industries, such as the retail and hospitality industries, to compensate for the skills shortage in its own industry.
This has since changed, as the remuneration structure has been improved and skilled workers can now be attracted and retained within the cleaning industry itself. This has also had a positive influence on the development of people within the industry, says Makhubela.
“Skills training is an integral part of cleaning, as people require training before being placed on the job,” he says. He also disagrees with the notion that the cleaning industry is for unskilled people, as cleaning requires a skill that must be acquired through training.
Cleaners must be trained in safety procedures and the correct use of equipment, and also acquire technical knowledge on cleaning.
The association was instrumental in develop- ing the cleaning unit standards and associated skills programmes for the National Qualifica- tions Framework (NQF) Levels 1 to 4.
The section of SSeta that serves the cleaning industry in further training cleaning-industry employees is being revitalised with the help of the NCCA.
“Our objective as an industry is, over the next five years, to have all our employees achieve between a Level 1 and Level 5 NQF qualification,” says Makhubela.
The main driver behind the success of the industry, besides managing the local cleaning industry’s reputation successfully, is operators managing their own companies professionally and compliantly.
Being compliant means reviewing one’s individual in-house or outsourced skills plan to achieve an industrywide NQF Level 1 for the employees, states Makhubela.
The SSeta effectively allows employers to claim back their levies from the Setas in the form of grants, specifically for the upskilling of employees.
He notes that this situation can only improve, owing to the involvement of the cleaning industry in virtually every other industry in the country.
Labour, which drives the cleaning industry, however, remains an ongoing challenge. Labour constitutes the biggest cost of doing business in the cleaning and related-services industry.
With an ever-increasing employee figure of about 100 000, the most prevalent labour challenge is wage negotiations with unions, which demand higher wages for members.
The NCCA continually plays a balancing act in terms of negotiations among unions and employers in ensuring that the threat of a possible strike is dealt with.
As a member of the ISSA, the NCCA can interact globally with the rest of the cleaning industry.
“With the global interaction platform made available through conferences and associations such as this one, the lead time for technologies to reach South Africa is much shorter than it has been in the past,” says Makhubela.
The conference is an opportunity for South African companies to interact with international suppliers to import the latest cleaning technologies and systems.
However, Makhubela says the local market tends to take a while to absorb new technologies, owing to misconceptions about the cleaning industry that still exist.
Meanwhile, the move towards green industries, while welcomed, remains challenging, as cleaning service providers must find greener cleaning solutions, as well as products, equipment and chemicals.
There is a continual need to change the way companies clean by sourcing green products that are biodegradable and recyclable.
State hospitals are one of the main service providers to the majority of people in the country and Makhubela feels that, rather than worry about cleaning, they should focus on their core business of providing high-quality healthcare services.
The cleaning industry has the ability to manage, absorb and train the existing workers in the healthcare sector but feels that government needs to provide it with the opportunity to do so.
Meanwhile, plans are under way to register the NCCA as the official professional body with SSeta for the industry.
This will assist the industry in ensuring that all its registered service providers are trained according to the required level and that it focuses on equipping the local industry to be in line with global standards.
Further, Makhubela reveals that the NCCA is in the process of rebranding itself.
The value of the entire local cleaning industry, from in-house to outsourced, from supplier to cleaner, is estimated at about R5-billion, with the number of NCCA- registered contract cleaning companies being just more than 400.
Edited by: Chanel de Bruyn© Reuse this Comment Guidelines
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The new plant is expected to create about 1,000 jobs – around 95% of which will be high-value positions such as technicians, process technicians, and engineers, The Straits Times reported.
“Our new facility in Singapore will support fast-growing end-markets in the automotive, 5G mobility and secure device segments with long-term customer agreements already in place,” said GF CEO Tom Caulfield.
The company said it plans to add 250,000 square feet of cleanroom space and new administrative offices in Singapore, increasing its manufacturing capacity there for 450,000 additional wafers per year. That will boost the total capacity of GF’s Singapore campus up to approximately 1.5 million (300mm) wafers per year.
Expecting global semiconductor revenue to grow by 2.1 times in the next eight years, the company is expanding capacity at all its manufacturing sites, including those in the US and Germany. It’s no surprise that all the major chipmakers, including TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, are racing to build new factories or upgrade manufacturing capacity at existing ones.
The Straits Times said that the GF factory is expected to begin production in January 2023 and reach full capacity by early 2024.
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Fury over banks' £30bn bonanza
RECORD profits of more than £30 billion are expected to be unveiled by the Big Five High Street banks over the next six weeks.
The massive bonanza is likely to spark outrage among consumer groups and politicians who have regularly slammed lenders for their uncaring attitude towards current account holders.
Collectively, the big banks' profits are thought to have soared by 16%. Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HBoS will together have made profits of more than £80 million a day - more than £3 million an hour.
Analysts expect HSBC to top the league with profits of almost £10 billion, while Royal Bank of Scotland could make as much as £8 billion. The Scottish bank claims to be the UK's highest taxpayer.
Barclays and HBoS are expected to report profits of £4.5 billion each, while Lloyds TSB will be close to £3.5 billion.
Though criticism will focus on concerns that personal banking customers are being ripped off, much of the latest profits have come from business clients.
James Leal, banking analyst at stockbroker Teather & Greenwood, attributed the rise to 'growth in consumer lending, growth in corporate lending and cost reductions'.
He added: 'There has been a fairly robust economic environment, which means that bad debts have been reduced.'
Analysts believe the banks' performances were marginally stronger in the first half of the year than the second, as the prospect of higher interest rates deterred consumers from taking on extra debt.
Norrie Morrison, banking analyst at broker Fox-Pitt Kelton, said: 'The UK is the most indebted country in the Western world. Consumers have borrowed aggressively, though the Bank of England does not seem too worried about this. There has to be concern over how steep the consumer slowdown will be.'
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Around 260 law firms headquartered in the South East of England will be encouraged to share the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) easy-to-use competition law information with their small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients.
The information is intended to help SMEs recognise anti-competitive practices, comply with competition law and report suspicions of illegal anti-competitive activity.
The approach is part of the CMA’s ongoing drive to boost awareness of, and compliance with, competition law, following the launch of its competing fairly in business: advice for small businesses materials and the South East of England is the latest region chosen as a target for the awareness-raising drive.
The consequences of breaking competition law can be very serious. Recently, a managing director of an online poster supplier was disqualified for 5 years after the company was found to have been part of an online price-fixing cartel.
Furthermore, businesses can be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover and people involved in cartels can face up to 5 years in prison.
But research shows that businesses’ understanding of competition law in the area is low:
- only 59% of businesses surveyed in the South East of England knew that price-fixing can lead to imprisonment
- only 33% of businesses surveyed in the South East of England knew that it is unlawful to set the price at which others can re-sell their product
- only 7% of businesses surveyed in the South East of England had run training sessions on competition law
The CMA has also commissioned further research which revealed that most small businesses have a shared ethical sense that certain anti-competitive practices, such as price-fixing, are unfair or wrong and want to do the right thing.
Ann Pope, CMA Senior Director of Antitrust Enforcement, said:
The victims of anti-competitive activity can often be other businesses, so knowing what illegal behaviour looks like and how to report it can help small and medium-sized businesses protect themselves.
The potential consequences of breaking the law are very serious. That is why it is important that all businesses know what to look out for and report suspected breaches to the CMA.
Legal advisers to SMEs are ideally placed to help raise awareness of competition law among their clients.
Nikki Burns, Chair of FSB Thames Valley said:
It’s good to see the CMA raising awareness among small businesses of the rights they possess under competition law. Anti-competitive practices harm many small businesses across the Thames Valley and the South East.
We must create an environment where all small firms recognise and report anti-competitive behaviour and are not afraid to speak out. Helping small businesses identify all the forms that anti-competitive practices can take is a good starting point.
Notes for editors
- The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For CMA updates, follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk, Flickr, LinkedIn and Facebook.
- Media enquiries should be directed to Simon Belgard (firstname.lastname@example.org, 020 3738 6472).
Follow this news feed: HM Government


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By Peter J. Mayer and Robert J. Schlesinger, The Washington Post-PayPal article Paypal has bought into a $1 billion Chinese investment fund that is valued at $1,500 billion, raising the stakes of some of China’s biggest technology companies.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter, is the latest effort by a global tech company to acquire an existing Chinese investment firm.
In March, Amazon acquired ecommerce company Zomato for $550 million, while Microsoft has been investing $500 million into the Zomavision technology startup.
Alibaba is also buying Zomatool, a startup that is focused on building a data-centric payment system.
Paypal’s deal comes after the payment firm secured an initial $250 million investment from China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., a subsidiary of China Investment Corp. The deal was announced on Tuesday in Beijing, where Alibaba has an office.
Alibaba declined to comment.
The Alibaba deal has a price tag of about $1 trillion, but the firm’s stock has fallen about 20% in 2017.
Alibaba was founded in 2002 and is now the world’s second-largest private-equity firm by market value after Google.
The company has also recently been facing pressure from regulators over its financing of some projects in China.
“This transaction demonstrates Paypal and Zomax’s commitment to Chinese companies and investors through investments in the next decade,” PayPal chief financial officer David Ebersman said in a statement.
“We look forward to deepening our relationship with Zomazion to bring them to our marketplace as a valued member of the global ecommerce ecosystem.”
The deal with ZOMATool will be the second of its kind in China, following an investment by another tech firm, SoftBank Group Corp. Earlier this year, PayPal announced it had acquired a minority stake in a China-based company that develops blockchain-based smart contracts.
In June, PayPal also bought a majority stake in the online marketplace Alibaba Group.
PayPal is the largest online payment processor in the world with more than 11 million users, according to figures from CoinMarketCap.com.
Zomacool is part of a broader technology fund led by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Tencent has been a leading player in China’s emerging tech industry, investing heavily in e-commerce and mobile payments.
In 2017, the company also made a $100.4 million investment into the global cloud provider Haidian.
Ten, which operates a cloud-based payment processing system, has also been an early investor in several Chinese tech companies, including Zomakoin.
Alibaba has been buying into Chinese tech firms for several years.
In 2016, the Internet giant invested $2.2 billion in the Chinese e-sports league e-Sports World League, which has since closed its doors.
Alibaba also invested $1 million in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi in 2017, as well as $3.3 million in the mobile payment firm Zomapay, which it bought in 2016.
In 2018, Zomapo bought an interest in Zomad, a Chinese online payments service.
Last year, Zimapo also purchased a majority interest in mobile payment provider Paymet.
Zimapay’s shares are down more than 60% this year as a result of its recent investment in Tencent.
Zoomapay is part-owned by Zomamoin.
Zompay, Zompa and Zompad are among a number of Chinese tech giants that have recently made acquisitions.
Zombox, a cloud platform that allows businesses to pay customers with a single payment method, has raised about $5 billion.
Zempo, a digital wallet that allows people to send money to each other using a smartphone, has invested $3 billion.
Earlier in 2017 and 2018, the China National Post, a state-owned newspaper, reported that Chinese internet giants were planning to merge with one of Alibaba’s internet companies, Paypay.
The merger was first reported by the Global Times, an online tabloid that is affiliated with China’s ruling Communist Party.
In a statement on Wednesday, Zombo, PayPay and Zombao said the merger was in line with Alibaba’s goal of becoming a “world-class digital payment platform.”
The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zomazo’s recent acquisition.


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Premiere Sees Strong Subscriber Growth
[11-07-07 – Satellite Today] Premiere, the German pay-TV operator, saw strong subscriber growth in the three months to the end of September. This was one of the highlights of its third quarter results, announced Nov. 6. At the end of September, Premiere had just over 3.5 million direct subscribers, an increase of close to 60,000 subscribers in the quarter. The operator saw a slight increase in overall revenues, with revenues for the quarter coming in at 247.5 million euros ($359.22 million), an increase of around eight percent compared to the previous quarter. Michael Börnicke, CEO of Premiere, called the results “very satisfactory”.
Premiere also gave an update on its recently launched Premiere Star service, which offers 14 existing and new pay-TV channels in a package via satellite. The company already has 105,000 customers in the first month of service and the operator plans to have 200,000 Premiere Star customers by the end of the year.


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IBM unveils blockchain-based digital identity network
IBM and SecureKey Technologies are working together to enable a new digital identity and attribute sharing network based on IBM Blockchain.
When launched later this year, consumers can use the network to verify their identity for services such as new bank accounts, driver’s licences or utilities. IBM’s Blockchain service is built on top of the Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger Fabric v1.0.
Marie Wieck, general manager, IBM Blockchain, says this method is an “entirely different approach to identity verification” and “we have a head start on putting it on the blockchain”.
The network is currently in the testing phase in Canada, and once it goes live later in 2017 Canadian consumers will be able to opt-in to the new service using a mobile app.
Consumers – or network members – will be able to control what identifying information they share from trusted credentials to the organisations of their choice; for the latter to validate the consumer’s identity and arrange new services.
Some banks in Canada, including BMO, CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank and TD joined the digital identity ecosystem in October 2016, investing $27 million collectively in SecureKey.
The Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) and the Command Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analytics (CCICADA), a research centre funded by the US Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate, have also provided funding.
IBM has been enjoying a recent flurry of fintech activity.
It unveiled its new release of IBM Blockchain, the “first” enterprise-ready blockchain service based on Hyperledger Fabric.
It announced the “first commercially available” blockchain governance tools, and new open-source developer tools that automate the steps it takes to build with the Hyperledger Fabric from “weeks to days”.
Elsewhere, IBM unveiled its IBM Cloud for Financial Services for creating finserv apps.
On top of all this, IBM also teamed with Wanda Internet Technology to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.


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Moscow. 5’th of July. INTERFAX.RU – The situation in the consumer market of Russia is gradually improving, in nominal terms, at the end of June, consumption, according to cash registers (KKT), returned and even slightly exceeded the levels of February, but in real terms, there is still a decrease, said the head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov at a meeting of the presidium of the government commission to boost the economy under sanctions.
„In fact, the situation in the consumer market has improved, in the last week of June, the turnover of cash registers for the first time returned to February values, even slightly exceeded them,” he said.
„But, of course, it is too early to talk about stabilization. In real terms, the turnover of cash registers is lagging behind, and the June growth was mainly due to the seasonality factor in tourism, in the hotel business and in transport, vacations and summer vacations have begun,” he added. minister.


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Today, NFT burning is launching on Phantom across all devices! 🔥 Safely remove spam and clean up your Collectibles tab, all from right inside the wallet. As an added bonus, when you burn those unwanted NFTs, you even make some SOL in the process.
Tesla is recalling nearly 1.1 million cars in the US because the windows might close too fast and pinch people's fingers. The car giant says a software update will fix the problem. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk criticised the description as a recall calling it "outdated and inaccurate"
NASA has called off its Artemis I launch scheduled for September 27th due to Tropical Storm Ian. The agency still hasn't decided whether to roll back the rocket to the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building. The uncrewed launch is a test of NASA's SLS rocket that will catapult the Orion capsule around the Moon.
Police in the UK have arrested a 17-year-old suspected hacker. Reports suggest the arrest is connected to the Rockstar Games hack. The hack led to a major Grand Theft Auto VI leak last weekend. The individual may have been involved with an intrusion on Uber as well.
Mercedes-Benz announced a zero-emission electric version of the G-Class back in 2019. The company's CEO said the vehicle will arrive by the end of 2024. Mercedes plans to have an all-electric vehicle lineup by 2030. The automaker put a prototype through its paces at its testing grounds in Graz, Austria.


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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hits a record high
Apple Inc. smashed first quarter earnings forecast Tuesday, thanks in part to robust demand for its new suite of iPhones, sending shares in the world’s biggest tech company to a fresh all-time high in extended hours trading.
Apple said earnings for the three months ending on December 28, the group’s fiscal first quarter, were pegged at $4.99 per share, up 19.4% from last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $4.55 per share. Group revenues, Apple said, rose 9% from last year to $91.8 billion, again smashing the analyst consensus of an $88.4 billion tally.
Looking into the company’s March quarter, Apple said it sees revenues in the range of $63 billion to $67 billion, firmly ahead of the Street consensus of $62.4 billion.
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said CEO Tim Cook. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion.”
“We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board,” he added.
Apple shares were marked 1.9% higher in extended hours trading immediately following the earnings release to indicate a Wednesday opening bell price of $323.70 each, a move that would extend the stock’s six-month gain to around 54%.
iPhone revenues, Apple said, rose 7.6% to $55.96 billion, reversing a recent trend of declining growth after the launch of three new handsets — the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max — in September of last year.
Services revenues were 16.9% higher from the same period last year at $12.72 billion. Revenue from the sale of wearable devices such as the AppleWatch and AirPods hit $10 billion, a record high, that topped analysts’ estimates by $500 million, Company gross margins also improved by 40 basis points to 38.4%, Apple said.
Apple’s installed base, a measure of the total number of product units it has in active use, rose to 1.5 billion, the company said, while subscribers to its myriad services hit 480 million, a 33.3% improvement from the same period last year.
Outside of iPhones, Apple noted that Mac sales slipped 3.5% from last year to $7.16 billion, while iPad sales dropped 11.1% to $5.98 billion. China revenues, Apple said, were up 3.1% to $13.58 billion.
Overall, the bias in prices is: Upwards.
Note: this chart shows extraordinary price action to the upside.
By the way, prices are vulnerable to a correction towards 291.71.
The projected upper bound is: 336.12.
The projected lower bound is: 315.03.
The projected closing price is: 325.57.
A black body occurred (because prices closed lower than they opened).
During the past 10 bars, there have been 4 white candles and 6 black candles for a net of 2 black candles. During the past 50 bars, there have been 29 white candles and 21 black candles for a net of 8 white candles.
A rising window occurred (where the top of the previous shadow is below the bottom of the current shadow). This usually implies a continuation of a bullish trend. There have been 7 rising windows in the last 50 candles–this makes the current rising window even more bullish.
A spinning top occurred (a spinning top is a candle with a small real body). Spinning tops identify a session in which there is little price action (as defined by the difference between the open and the close). During a rally or near new highs, a spinning top can be a sign that prices are losing momentum and the bulls may be in trouble.
Momentum is a general term used to describe the speed at which prices move over a given time period. Generally, changes in momentum tend to lead to changes in prices. This expert shows the current values of four popular momentum indicators.
One method of interpreting the Stochastic Oscillator is looking for overbought areas (above 80) and oversold areas (below 20). The Stochastic Oscillator is 60.6982. This is not an overbought or oversold reading. The last signal was a sell 3 period(s) ago.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The RSI shows overbought (above 70) and oversold (below 30) areas. The current value of the RSI is 70.23. This is where it usually tops. The RSI usually forms tops and bottoms before the underlying security. A buy or sell signal is generated when the RSI moves out of an overbought/oversold area. The last signal was a sell 2 period(s) ago.
Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
The CCI shows overbought (above 100) and oversold (below -100) areas. The current value of the CCI is 178.This is an overbought reading. However, a signal isn’t generated until the indicator crosses below 100. The last signal was a sell 6 period(s) ago.
The Moving Average Convergence/Divergence indicator (MACD) gives signals when it crosses its 9 period signal line. The last signal was a sell 4 period(s) ago.
Rex Takasugi – TD Profile
APPLE INC closed up 6.650 at 324.340. Volume was 93% above average (neutral) and Bollinger Bands were 21% wider than normal.
Open High Low Close Volume___
324.450 327.850 321.380 324.340 54,149,928
Short Term: Neutral
Intermediate Term: Bullish
Long Term: Bullish
Moving Averages: 10-period 50-period 200-period
Close: 316.81 287.52 230.38
Volatility: 29 23 29
Volume: 34,325,696 29,337,206 27,730,014
Short-term traders should pay closer attention to buy/sell arrows while intermediate/long-term traders should place greater emphasis on the Bullish or Bearish trend reflected in the lower ribbon.
APPLE INC gapped up today (bullish) on normal volume. Possibility of a Runaway Gap which usually signifies a continuation of the trend. Four types of price gaps exist – Common, Breakaway, Runaway, and Exhaustion. Gaps acts as support/resistance.
APPLE INC is currently 40.8% above its 200-period moving average and is in an upward trend. Volatility is extremely high when compared to the average volatility over the last 10 periods. There is a good possibility that volatility will decrease and prices will stabilize in the near term. Our volume indicators reflect moderate flows of volume into AAPL.O (mildly bullish). Our trend forecasting oscillators are currently bullish on AAPL.O and have had this outlook for the last 111 periods. Our momentum oscillator is currently indicating that AAPL.O is currently in an overbought condition. The security price has set a new 14-period high while our momentum oscillator has not. This is a bearish divergence.


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Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Top of the class for food champions Heart of England fine food
Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 38, Issue 4.
As schools and councils are urged to make it harder for children to swap their school meals for a takeaway, Heart of England fine foods (HEFFs) are already scoring full marks for its pioneering healthy eating campaign.
The West Midlands food champion is encouraging children across the region to swap chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks for healthier options supplied by local producers.
Since last year, HEFF has been pioneering an innovative project to steer youngsters away from fat-stacked, sugar-packed tuck shop foods and towards the V-Machine – a vending machine offering nutritious break and lunchtime snacks and drinks.
Funded by Advantage West Midlands, through the West Midlands Food Partnership, the subsidised and highly visual V-Machine is branded under HEFF's popular retail support scheme – savour the flavour.
The campaign also sees the roll-out of HEFF's branded smoothie bars to local schools supplied by regional fruit growers.
Karen Davies, HEFF's chief executive, said: “Not only do V-Machines and smoothie bars promote healthy eating in schools, and help ensure a more balanced diet, they also encourage children to enjoy great tasting local food and drink”.
“Unlike typical vending machines, our V-Machine is stocked with water, milk, fruit juices, fruit, yoghurts, nuts and pulses, all very competitively priced. Products have been analysed by an independent nutritionist to ensure they are in line with Government healthy eating guidelines”.
“V-Machines and smoothie bars will benefit schools and children, as well as food and drink producers in the midlands who will access a large new customer base”.
Catherine Goodridge, school food and heath co-ordinator for the West Midlands, said: “Encouraging children to eat healthy balanced diets is a priority. Eating habits are changing for the better, but there is still a long way to go. Innovative ways to encourage healthier eating are very welcome. HEFF's V-Machine will support our activity in promoting healthy and nutritious food and drink to youngsters in line with government guidelines to purge our schools of junk food”.
V-Machines and smoothie bars are already in place at schools across the West Midlands, with more to follow as educational establishments increasingly recognise the negative impact of foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
In a recent survey examining the eating habits, weight and fitness of children and teenagers, doctors found that 16.6 per cent of boys and 16.7 per cent of girls under the age of ten are now obese. And current trends predict that by 2010, this will increase to an alarming 19 per cent for boys and 22 per cent of girls between the ages of 2 and 15.
With busier lifestyles, reduced physical activity and the continuing availability of junk food in many schools, youngsters across the midlands are becoming more unhealthy.
“We're urging more schools to take our vending machines. It's about getting school food right and encouraging healthy eating habits from an early age”, added Karen Davies.
“At the same time, we can help support local producers and decrease food miles”.
For schools taking a V-Machine or a smoothie bar, school workshops run by HEFF for both pupils and parents, can also be arranged to highlight the benefits of healthy eating, and offer the chance to meet the local producers.
To arrange a school workshop call HEFF on 01746 785185.
HEFFs was formed in 1998 to promote and raise awareness of food and drink within the West Midlands. Through an extensive programme, the organisation helps the region's food and drink businesses to develop, expand and create profitable and sustainable markets for their products.
HEFF is proud to be the managing body for the West Midlands Food Partnership and continues to focus on government strategies, the move towards healthier eating and increased awareness of environmental issues.
Further information on HEFF can be found at: www.heff.co.uk


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AT&T today announced that it is rebranding DirecTV Now, its live TV streaming service, as "AT&T TV Now." The company said that existing customers will need to re-accept terms of service following the rebranding, and then their streaming plans will continue as usual.
Other than the name change, AT&T hasn't announced any other overhauls to its live TV platform, so users can expect the same prices and channel availability as before. The company said that current DirecTV Now users will see the update automatically across devices.
Secondly, AT&T announced yet another new streaming platform, called AT&T TV, which will be piloted in select markets this summer. The company described this as a "connected TV experience with no satellite needed," which sounds essentially like another live TV streaming service, but gave no details about how it would be different from AT&T TV Now.
Both AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now will be accessed through the same AT&T TV app on mobile devices and on TV apps. AT&T said that customers can expect more details about AT&T TV as the rollout begins later this summer.


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118 people have been arrested by global police in connection with airline fraud online, in action co-ordinated by Europol, Ameripol and Interpol.
A coalition of credit card and airline companies narrowed down 281 suspicious transactions as part of the effort, which was intended to combat fraudulent plane ticket purchases and the theft of credit card data.
Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, said "This operation is another example of law enforcement and the private sector working seamlessly together, to prevent and fight cybercrime – this time identity theft and credit card fraud.
"We are reaching new levels with our cooperation and aim to become an ‘unbeatable alliance’ with aspirations to make cyberspace as crime free as possible for global citizens."
Some of those arrested had been detained in previous action against online fraud, and were described by Europol as "repeat offenders".
The operation took months of planning to bring about, and coincided with the launch of Global Airport Action, an initiative enabling co-operation between airport security across the world.
"Airlines are fighting credit card fraud on their ticket sales on daily basis. It is clear to the airlines that they are up against organised crime in this fight," said Meta Backman, chair of the European Airlines Fraud Prevention Group.
"Airlines are depending on card issuing banks to obtain confirmation of fraudulent use of credit cards. Without confirmation, airlines cannot report the crime to law enforcement."


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U.S. Travel Association (USTA) CEO Roger Dow has announced that he will step down from the position he’s held for the last 17 years in the summer of 2022.
Dow is one of the best-known figures in the U.S. travel industry, and oversaw the transformation of the USTA into one of the most powerful lobby groups in travel.
Dow has guided U.S. Travel and the broader industry through periods of remarkable growth—marked by 10 consecutive years of expansion from 2009 to 2019.
He has also helped it successfully navigate tremendous challenges—most recently, bringing the travel industry together during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dow is credited with leading the legislation that created Brand USA, the nation’s destination marketing organisation, and developing policies and programs that enabled domestic and international inbound travel to thrive by ensuring an understanding of travel and tourism as a linchpin of the American economy.
Before being appointed USTA CEO, Dow was senior vice president of global and field sales for Marriott International.
In his position as USTA CEO, he was a perennial and popular presence at the annual IPW travel trade fair.
Although he is leaving the USTA, Dow said he’s not quitting the travel industry.
“It’s my aim,” he said, “every day, to champion the immense benefits of this tremendous industry and all the good travel does for communities and millions of American workers.
I am deeply committed to working with the board and our talented team to continue leading our recovery and ensure that U.S. Travel is on a firm trajectory for its next CEO.”
In the coming months, Duffy will name a representative Search Committee and the U.S. Travel board will begin a transparent and inclusive process to identify the association’s next top leader.


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One the one hand, those prices are set by a commodity exchange, which, in theory, the firm would have to corner to set prices. And getting around a "you must deliver 3000 tons of aluminum to the market every day" rule by delivering it to other warehouses in Detroit that you own hardly seems like effective subterfuge. If anything, it is too dumb a regulatory compliance strategy to be possibly what the firm had in mind.
On the other hand, since GS bought the firm that stores 25% of the nation's aluminum, the market has changed. That is,
Before Goldman bought Metro International three years ago, warehouse customers used to wait an average of six weeks for their purchases to be located, retrieved by forklift and delivered to factories. But now that Goldman owns the company, the wait has grown more than 20-fold — to more than 16 months, according to industry records.
If lengthy delivery delays began the second that Goldman bought the firm, that's something. And if the idea is that creating delivery delays makes the future price of alumninum higher than the present price, there could be a reason to create those delays.
But in my view, the jury is still out. Maybe that's only because it is inherently pretty hard to write about these sorts of trades in a way that makes sense in New York Times levels of space. We'll see if the hearings are more revealing, as well as if the very busy CFTC has the resources to chase the story.
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European and international cosmetics and personal care industry professionals will gather again in Brussels to discuss global trends and the latest industry developments at Cosmetics Europe Week 2017. The conference, organised annually by the European trade association Cosmetics Europe, will take place on 13-16 June.
Under this year’s theme “More than meets the eye: the benefits of cosmetics and personal care”, over 300 industry experts, policy makers, decision makers and companies are expected to explore the contribution of cosmetics to well-being, and to the European economy. They will also delve into the complexities of cosmetics regulation.
“With 500 million European citizens using cosmetic and personal care products every day, at this year’s Cosmetics Europe Week, we decided to look at the benefits that cosmetic and personal care products bring to our lives. With a line-up of expert speakers, we will address this issue from industry and consumers’ perspectives as well as explore the social and economic dimension,” said John Chave, Director-General of Cosmetics Europe.
This year, Cosmetics Europe Week 2017 will comprise two parts: Open Forum and Regulatory Day:
The Open Forum on 14 June, will address issues such as consumer perceptions of cosmetics, current economic trends, and science in policy making. The day will finish with the International Symposium on Doing Business in India.
The Regulatory Day (15 June), will provide in-depth analysis and discussion of key current issues in cosmetics regulation. Participants will be able to choose from a number of breakout sessions led by regulatory experts on such topics as personalised products, acceptable maximum exposure to substances, ISO standards on natural/organic cosmetics, risk management of skin allergy, role of distributors in regulation and enforcement and regulatory consequences of Brexit.


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Think of Lorain County Community College’s Follow the Fish project as public art meets marketing, business and tourism.
The project started when artists and businesspeople had an idea that a public art project like the ones that exist in other places — such as the guitars that graced downtown Cleveland several years ago — would be a nice addition to Lorain County.
“We wanted it to be countywide for stronger reach and broader pool,” says Joan Perch, chairperson of the project and operations coordinator at LCCC’s Stocker Arts Center. “And we chose to use fish knowing this would initially be a lakefront project. Since Lake Erie fish are one of our biggest natural resources and a connection to tourism, we wanted to celebrate that.”
Next they needed to decide how to incorporate the fish. North Ridgeville artist Jim Gundloch designed and produced kinetic sculptures of local Lake Erie fish in three sizes, representing three levels of sponsorship available. Participating businesses and organizations can purchase a sculpture of their choice for display on their premises, with the proceeds go to the LCCC art program.
The norm with projects such as this is to place sculptures around town, provide a map or book, host a kickoff, then expect people to go around and find them — sometimes the sculptures are in front of businesses or in parks and people come to see the art and maybe visit a business. But Perch wanted a more cohesive plan. “It’s a bit of a random approach. There is no strong data that it works,” Perch explains.
“Instead of just having art, we decided to link the art to what we call Adventure Trails, which guide visitors around the county — and its businesses and organizations — as they look for the fish in different places,” says Perch. “At its heart, this is an arts and marketing project. Art is the lure. People will come to see the art, and this will bring traffic to local businesses.”
The goal is that this art will play a part in sustaining the local economy and drawing attention to the many hip, cool things going on in Lorain County. Here’s how it works: A company or organization purchases a fish sculpture. The purchaser is welcome to personalize, decorate and display the fish any way he or she likes. The fish is recognizable by customers and tourists as a marker for the Adventure Trail.
“The fish are like arrows that point the way to all the cool things that make Lorain County the authentic place that it is,” Perch explains. Each fish has a scan tag for a smart phone that calls up information about the project and tells where else you can go to follow the fish.
Perch says one of the best parts of the project, which kicked off about a year ago, it the work it has created for LCCC art students. “Our students are able to be involved in a real project — creating an actual website, participating in a marketing campaign and working to develop partnerships with local businesses,” she says. “The project is really about relationship-building and connecting the dots between our businesses and our public spaces.”


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Latest News and Updates
Japanese multinational holding conglomerate SoftBank Corp. and American telecoms-focused blockchain firm TBCASoft are to lead a new blockchain-based digital identification study group under the canopy of the Carrier Blockchain Study Group (CBSG). The development was announced in a SoftBank press release on Feb. 26.
As previously reported, CBSG — a global blockchain consortium of telecom carriers — was founded in September 2017, in a bid to push greater adoption of the technology in the industry. Alongside Softbank and TBCASoft, the organization counts Taiwan-based telecoms carrier Far EasTone and U.S.-based telecoms firm Sprint as founding members.
Today’s announcement reveals that the new working group, devoted to blockchain-based identification and authentication solutions, will initially focus on a new foundation application framework called CrossCarrier Identification System (CCIS), developed by TBCASoft.
As the press release outlines, legacy identification systems demand that users trust a central authority with the safeguarding and circulation of their personal data, such as passwords and usernames. Rather than vesting trust in a centralized entity, CCIS uses blockchain technology and zero-knowledge proof cryptography to both disintermediate the verification process and better protect users against identity theft and other fraudulent activities.


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Les Mills has unveiled plans to kickstart the fitness industry’s COVID-19 recovery with a new campaign to help clubs reactivate paused members and attract new ones.
Expected to be the largest ever global fitness event, World United will see the synchronised launch of live and online fitness celebrations involving tens of thousands of fitness facilities and trainers worldwide kicking off from 19th September onwards.
The milestone activation will see clubs across the globe open their doors (or live-stream where necessary) to members and prospects for a thrilling day of fitness festivities. This will include the exclusive release of new United-themed Les Mills workouts, filmed during lockdown by 374 of the world’s top Instructors across 48 different countries.
For Les Mills Asia Pacific’s Club Partners, World United is a business accelerator, designed to support their relaunch strategies. It will help clubs to re-engage existing members and attract new ones through a marquee event that will dial up the fun factor and offer a strong PR hook for clubs to generate added buzz and publicity.
To help clubs successfully plan, promote, and prepare for World United launch activations, Les Mills has created a powerful World United campaign with photography and videos created by world-leading artists like Carlos Serrao. Clubs and Instructors can publicise their World United activities with a collection of marketing and relaunch resources, as well customisable event assets (print and digital) available from the World United campaign hub.
Ryan Hogan, Chief Executive Officer of Les Mills Asia Pacific says:
“The resilience and resourcefulness our sector has shown in helping the world to keep moving during lockdown has been truly inspiring, and we’ve been proud to play a part in supporting our Club Partners and Instructors with digital solutions to overcome lockdown.”
Multiple reports and post-lockdown surveys have shown that the social elements such as group fitness and interactions with staff, are going to be the biggest drivers of recovery for fitness businesses and health clubs. Because after so many months of being kept apart, communities are yearning for human interaction and deeper connections so a unique opportunity exists to nurture the social aspects of our industry’s offerings.
“With health now everyone’s top priority, there are huge opportunities for clubs to attract new members and emerge as a stronger and more vital cog in society than ever before. The World United campaign is all about helping the industry to usher in a new growth phase and that’s why there is no Les Mills branding in this campaign – it is designed solely to promote our Club Partners and their Instructors.”
Fitness facilities across more than 100 countries worldwide are expected to celebrate World United, supported by a string of international fitness icons, as well as the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.
In the campaign launch video for World United, Jacinda Ardern says:
“Right now, we are obviously facing a major health challenge. But as we come out of this, exercise will have a vital part to play in uniting us, and keeping us both mentally and physically well.”
“Across the globe, you have all got an important role in making that happen, so thank you, good luck, and have a fabulous day.”
To find out more about World United visit lesmills.com.au/united


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The Candy Bar at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Should Big Food Be Delivered to the Amazon?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Last week, Nestle, the world’s largest food company, launched a barge called Nestlé Até Você a Bordo – or Nestlé Takes You Onboard – on an 18-day voyage up the Amazon River in Brazil. This so-called floating supermarket will bring more than 300 well-known Nestlé brands, including Ninho (packaged milk), Maggi (soups and seasonings) andNescafé (instant coffee) to 800,000 potential customers in 18 cities who, who, until now, managed to get by without those products, or such treats as Nestle’s Crunch, Push-Up or my childhood favorite, Baby Ruth.
In a press release, Ivan Zurita, the chief executive of Nestlé Brazil, is quoted as saying:
It will be a service to the population of the Amazon, who has streets and avenues in the form of rivers. It is a project aligned with our concept of Regionalisation, based on the different profiles of consumers, where we deal with each region as a different area.
Not everyone is cheering. Under the headline, All Aboard for Ice Cream: Nestle Peddling Junk Food on Amazon River to Reach Brazil’s Slums, Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and author of a book calledAppetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, calls this “especially disgusting news” and says of the Amazon dwellers:
I don’t think these people are lost or have been camping out too long, they’re just living their lives. They probably don’t even realize they are missing out on Toll House, Raisinets, and Sno-Caps. But no matter, if there are people out there so backwards to still be subsisting on food found in nature, Big Food will find them, by land or by sea, and set them straight.


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Impact of COVID-19 on Electromyography Devices in Healthcare Industry
OVERVIEW AFTERMATH OF COVID-19 AND GOVERNMENT ROLE
A recent SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused a general pandemic of respiratory disease, called COVID-19. The infection initially showed up in Wuhan, a city in China, in December 2019. The patients experiencing COVID-19 were dealt with cautiously with all the safety measures since this disease spreads aggressively through actual contact.
As per the WHO report, globally, as of 5th June 2021, there have been 179,513,309 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,895,661 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 23rd June 2021, a total of 2,624,733,776 vaccine doses have been administered. In India, from 3rd January 2020 to 10:21 am CEST, 25th June 2021, there have been 33,257,768 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 597,727 deaths, as reported to WHO. As of 17th June 2021, a total of 317,983,185 vaccine doses have been administered.
NCS and EMG findings indicate a direct action of COVID-19 on nerves and muscles. SARS−COV-2 demyelinating polyneuropathy and elements of myopathy could be new pathological entities to be considered in the COVID-19 management. More studies would be required to confirm these electrophysiological findings.
IMPACT ON DEMAND
Since the pandemic, due to the lockdown situation, the economic growth of a country is declining day by day. And the manufacturing units for various items shut down due to the non-availability of manpower.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) causes acute respiratory illness ranges from mild to severe pneumonia with respiratory failure. Moreover, neurological involvement is more common in severely affected patients with COVID-19 than in those with less severe illness. Electromyography devices are required to treat severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients,
Moreover, the growing number of COVID-19 patient pools in developed, as well as developing countries illustrates the huge future demand for electromyography devices across the globe.
· According to the World Health Organization (WHO), till 25th February 2021, there have been 112,209,815 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2,490,776 deaths
IMPACT ON SUPPLY
Because of the pertinacious COVID-19 lockdown, sanctions have been forced by administrations of different nations. These limitations and boundaries across the nation’s borders prompted a diminishing stockpile because of restricted materials and labour force and the halting of the assembly line.
The supply chain units are taking stringent measures and risk mitigation protocols to provide the devices to the manufacturers to the customer. The presence of key market players for the development and launch of the electromyography devices will increase the net sales and may show a surplus growth in the market.
Additionally, the manufacturers are also taking crucial steps to ensure the availability of raw materials by and also they have to look into the quality of products. But since the demand is increasing day by day, so as to meet the demand, the major manufacturers and suppliers are collaborating with each other’s to ensure the supply of raw materials.
To manage such critical situations, many organizations are looking forward to improving and diversifying the supply chain model in all aspects. A diversified supply chain model is anticipated to enhance the availability of electromyography devices in the market as well as increase end-to-end visibility. The resulting COVID-19 pandemic has shown the various ways for supply chain management, which may be effective within a remote working environment.
IMPACT ON PRICE
Because of COVID-19, the market is upset to a major level. The few foundations have been stay shut while others had downsized the activities or put a pause to the extension plans as they attempted to endure the uncommon emergency.
States must develop and implement policies that allow for interstate licensure and practice of medicine (entailing the use of telemedicine) to enable consultation and communication to remote areas and ensure the swift flow of information across state lines.
Now, as the demand for telehealth innovation is turning out to be very demanding by human beings, this will make the market more competitive due to new and more innovative equipment that will be launched by the makers, by decreasing the overall cost of the new and innovative new product launches.
The current COVID-19 episode has influenced essentially every industry on earth, and the electromyography devices market is no exemption. There has been a tremendous and sudden lessening in the volume of elective joint substitutions worldwide as wellbeing situation legitimately organize their COVID-19 reaction.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS OF GOVERNMENT AND MANUFACTURERS
The key players engaged in global wound healing manufacturing are making improvements to keep the speed during COVID-19. They are taking every single choice cautiously so the development can be expanded on a consistent schedule for the market. The manufacturers are likewise giving a great deal of consideration in the improvement of inventive items that can be utilized for the attractive impacts. Organizations working in the electromyography devices market are embracing a few systems, including joint effort, arrangements, association, and market development to improve their business. These essential choices by the organizations are required to give huge occasions to the market players working in the electromyography devices market.
A large pool of the population is affected by the COVID-19 virus, and its spread is expanding across the world in the last few months. To deal with the COVID-19 outbreak challenges, many electromyography devices market players are creating new strategies. To tackle the pandemic situation and to increase the company revenue and growth, companies are now opting for digital media such as telecommunication, mobile applications, webinars, and other digital media to support patient requirements. Moreover, to accomplish the market demand, small as well as major market players utilizing the strategy such as partnerships, agreements, and organizing conferences. It is predicted that these strategies are anticipated to escalate up the company revenue and its growth in the forecasted period.
· In April 2020, Neurosoft S.A. organized NYC Neuromodulation 2020 Conference. This conference has anticipated enhancing the company’s presence in the global market.
Furthermore, for the economic recovery after the pandemic of COVID-19, the manufacturers of electromyography devices have to adopt several types of strategic initiatives in terms of increasing R and D activities, conduct numerous types of market surveys to know the current situation and mind-set of consumers towards their need. The increasing R and D activities will help the manufacturers to launch the advanced devices by knowing the advanced technology or need of the end-user.
· In August 2020, NIHON KOHDEN CORPORATION launched Version 12 of the Polysmith software used in Polysomnography Devices. This new version of software launched by the company includes more than 40 market-driven features, which aids in good analysis and outcomes. Thus, this product launch by the company leading to enhance the sales growth of the company.
It is estimated that the COVID 19 pandemic outbreak is having a positive impact on the growth of the global electromyography devices market owing to the elevation in demand for electromyography devices. Moreover, many governments and organizations are exclusively focusing on the rapid recovery of COVID-19 patients, and this priority, as well as the essential requirement, is illustrating the further growth of the electromyography devices market. Many government bodies and major electromyography devices market players are closely associated with patients as well as healthcare professionals for better patient health as well as experience.
It can be concluded that the COVID 19 pandemic situation has a significant impact on the global electromyography devices market, including the price and demand of electromyography devices.
· December 2017, Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center (EDGC), a Korean genetic analysis company, announced its decision to apply machine learning-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology to its non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) NICE0. In 2019, AI specialist FDNA and PerkinElmer Genomics partnered to launch Face2Gene Labs for newborn testing. This decision enabled the company to flourish further in the market and helps in revenue generation.


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Officials: Amazon facility temporarily closes due to bed bugs
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA/Gray News) - Amazon officials say they had to close one of their facilities in Texas due to bed bugs.
KFDA reports the Amazon facility is in Amarillo and the temporary closure is effective immediately.
“We’ve temporarily closed our site in Amarillo after identifying the presence of bed bugs in the building,” said Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson.
Officials said products from the facility are not being sent out to customers during the closure, and customer orders are not being processed at the site.
“All employees are being paid while the site is closed. Other sites in the area are handling customer orders,” Stephenson said.
According to Amazon, the facility’s current inventory will be recycled or returned to suppliers after being inspected.
Copyright 2022 KFDA via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.


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I don't mean to alarm any of you – but scientists are claiming that the world could run out of chocolate by 2050.
This is not a drill.
The experts are claiming that due to widespread climate change, that cacao plant could become extinct within 32 years.
Listen, I am fully aware that climate change is a bigger issue – however the idea of not being able to chow down on a galaxy in 30 years is UNSETTLING.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a temperature rise of just 2.1 degrees could bring the chocolate industry to its knees by 2050.
Doug Hawkins from research firm Hardman Agribusiness, spoke to the MailOnline about the issue, claiming that a big problem is that cacao farming methods have not changed for hundreds of years.
"Unlike other tree crops that have benefited from the development of modern, high yielding cultivars and crop management techniques to realise their genetic potential, more than 90% of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material," he said.
Lads, I'm nervous.
"All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years."
Now scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have teamed up with confectionery company Mars, in an attempt to keep chocolate on the menu – not all heroes wear capes.
Using the sometimes controversial gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, they are trying to develop a version of the cacao plant capable of surviving in dryer, hotter climates.
Please god now.


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Equities analysts forecast that Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) will report earnings of $1.09 per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks reports. Five analysts have issued estimates for Spectrum Brands’ earnings, with the lowest EPS estimate coming in at $0.97 and the highest estimate coming in at $1.17. Spectrum Brands posted earnings per share of $1.19 during the same quarter last year, which would suggest a negative year-over-year growth rate of 8.4%. The company is expected to issue its next earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 26th.
On average, analysts expect that Spectrum Brands will report full year earnings of $4.35 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.10 to $4.45. For the next year, analysts anticipate that the business will report earnings of $5.25 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.65 to $7.05. Zacks’ EPS averages are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that that provide coverage for Spectrum Brands.
Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $646.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.26 billion. Spectrum Brands had a return on equity of 14.51% and a net margin of 8.80%. Spectrum Brands’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share.
Spectrum Brands stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $98.99. 273,485 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 720,013. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a current ratio of 2.70. The company has a market capitalization of $5,675.75, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.78. Spectrum Brands has a 12-month low of $89.36 and a 12-month high of $146.09.
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Spectrum Brands in the fourth quarter worth $177,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in Spectrum Brands in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Ellington Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Spectrum Brands in the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Eagle Boston Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Spectrum Brands in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Spectrum Brands by 153.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.39% of the company’s stock.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE: “Spectrum Brands (SPB) Expected to Announce Earnings of $1.09 Per Share” was first reported by Sports Perspectives and is the property of of Sports Perspectives. If you are reading this piece on another website, it was stolen and reposted in violation of U.S. & international copyright and trademark law. The correct version of this piece can be read at https://sportsperspectives.com/2018/04/17/spectrum-brands-spb-expected-to-announce-earnings-of-1-09-per-share.html.
About Spectrum Brands
Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc manufactures, markets, and distributes branded consumer products. Its Global Batteries & Appliances segment offers consumer batteries; personal care products, including electric shaving and grooming products, and hair care appliances and accessories; and small appliances, such as small kitchen and home appliances.
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Woolworths (WOW)PUBLISHED: 28 Aug 2012 00:05:16 | UPDATED: 28 Aug 2012 00:05:16PUBLISHED: 27 Aug 2012 PRINT EDITION: 28 Aug 2012
An weaker than expected profit forecast for coming financial year has seen the share price of Origin Energy fall by 8 per cent since August 23.
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That’s where fast-charging systems come into play. Using higher voltage direct or alternating current (DC or AC), fast-charge systems can pump enough electricity to put a Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi MiEV or other plug-in vehicle to an 80-percent charge in about half an hour.
There aren’t nearly enough plug-in cars on the road today to give these gas station or parking lot fast-charge kiosks much business, of course. But for the intrepid all-electric car owner who wants to make sure she can get to her grandma’s house 200 miles away without being stranded, they’re a lifesaver.
In that sense, they’re an important linchpin to government-backed plug-in infrastructure projects underway across the globe, from Denmark and Estonia to China and Japan. In the United States,the $230 million Department of Energy-backed EG Project is putting fast-chargers up and down the California-Oregon-Washington I-5 corridor and in a 425-mile stretch of highway between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga that's known as the Tennessee Triangle.
Companies in the EV charger space include heavyweights like ABB, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Eaton, Nissan, Fuji Electric, Aker Wade and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that developed the standard fast-charging technology known as CHAdeMO now in use in almost all the DC fast-charging systems out there today.
Smaller-scale players like AeroVironment and ECOtality have deployed fast chargers, along with startup Coulomb Technologies, with the latter two companies also focused on networking and software that links cars, drivers, utilities and other third parties to manage charge monitoring, payment methods and other such functions. Tesla is promising its own network of "supercharging" stations, along with batteries that swap out instead of waiting to be refilled, a method that startup Better Place is trying to push into the market.
It’s a confusing landscape, but its basic organization boils down to two principles, according to Cal Lankton, director of EV charging infrastructure for Swiss-based grid and power equipment giant ABB.
First, “Long term, hardware becomes more and more of a commodity,” Lankton said in an interview last week. Sure, there are some uncertainties over which charging system standards will dominate, with notable tensions between Japan’s CHAdeMO, the Society of Automotive Engineers’ SAE J1772 fast-charging work and a German system using an adapter from Mennekes Elektrotechnik, known as VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2. Still, there’s only so much companies can do to differentiate the equipment that goes into charging a car, besides compete on price.
Secondly, the technology and software that monitors, manages and controls these fast chargers are going to become more and more critical as time goes on, Lankton said. In other words, the brand of gas pump doesn’t matter nearly as much as how it interacts with driver (and vehicle) at the point of sale, and how it relates that back to the utility, private power provider, or other businesses seeking out new models for delivering electrons to push cars down the road.
Hardware’s Competitive Landscape
ABB’s Terra 51 fast DC charger pumps as much as 50 kilowatts directly into a car battery, with typical fill-up speeds of 15 minutes for a half charge and 30 minutes for a full charge. It’s been deployed in Europe since earlier this year, and just won Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certification to clear its sale in the United States as well.
ABB’s charging system incorporates technology from Epyon, a Dutch startup it acquired last summer for an undisclosed sum. It also makes 120- and 240-volt chargers for garage or office parking lot use, and in March launched a 20-kilowatt DC charger, known as the Terra Smart Connect, that can charge an EV battery in about an hour -- about the time it takes to visit the doctor, attend a PTA meeting, take a trip to the mall and other such daily activities.
ABB has more than 200 of its fast-chargers deployed so far, Lankton said. Big projects, like its project to blanket the Baltic nation of Estonia with 100 DC-AC fast chargers at gas stations and 500 Level 2 chargers at office and government parking lots, will likely double that figure by year’s end, he said.
In the meantime, the competition is fierce for the fast-charging market, or perhaps we should say “pre”-market. To name a few examples: Schneider Electric launched its own fast charger in May to complement its Level 2 charging line; Eaton’s fast charger is being deployed in projects from Hawaii to Washington, D.C.; and AeroVironment has deployed DC fast chargers with NRG Energy’s eVgo network in Dallas and Houston, Texas.
There’s room for some hardball competition here. Notably, while NRG’s $120 million settlement deal with California to deploy up to 100 fast chargers across the state is under legal challenge from ECOtality, which says that it would create a monopoly for charging services in the state, NRG has yet to say which brand of fast charger it might use for the project.
Software to Deliver Different Business Models
On the software front, ABB’s charger network management platform keeps a close eye on critical equipment factors like power converter conditions and battery status, to make sure the chargers aren’t about to fail, Lankton said. Of course, he conceded that this kind of basic functionality will be expected out of other major manufacturers of power electronic equipment like DC vehicle chargers.
ABB also tracks power consumption and allows communications of various signals, like turn-on, turn-off, and variable charge speeds to help mitigate grid stress, he said. It’s helped along in that task by the software smarts of Ventyx, the grid IT firm it bought for about $1 billion in 2010. But again, it’s far from unique in this regard, with industrial giants and startups alike exploring the potential for “vehicle-to-grid” technologies that turn plug-in cars from a liability to an asset for utilities.
ABB’s charger software also serves as a networking platform for various partners, like ECOtality and its Blink charger network, to interface with, to deploy different business models via a set of APIs, he said. That’s important, because just who’s selling charging services to drivers varies considerably from market to market.
In Europe, for example, the business relationship is usually between the EV driver and his or her utility, Lankton said. But in the United States, state regulations out of California that bar utilities from directly setting up EV charging businesses are expected to push the industry in a different direction, opening the doors for different business models.
“We are not going to play in that B2C [business-to-consumer] space, but we want to enable our customers to do it,” is how Lankton put it. Ongoing development of back-office standards to support this charging apps world, such as the OCCP (open charge point protocol) out of the Netherlands, can help this process along, he said.
Today’s charging platforms like Coulomb’s ChargePoint, ECOtality’s Blink, and the various government projects underway are closed networks, he said. Each requires drivers to sign up in advance and get an RFID card in the mail, or a passcode that’s uniquely tied to them, or some other such time-consuming process.
But that can’t last long. While early entrants like Coulomb, ECOtality and NRG seek to gain market share and put their stamp on the way charging networks are built out on a broader scale, other business models are sure to emerge. For example, ABB is already working with credit card companies to integrate simple card-swipe payments into EV charging, Lankton said.
Likewise, GE and PayPal joined up to provide online and mobile payment options in July, and GM has opened its OnStar system to apps developers to give charging location and status data to drivers via their Volt dashboard. We’re sure to see more such models emerge in the coming years.


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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Census Bureau has released the America’s Economy app, a smartphone applications that offers users access to economic data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The app, which is available for Android smartphones in the Google Play store, combines real-time access to 16 closely watch economic indicators from the BEA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau.
The indicators include gross domestic product, consumer spending, disposable personal income and the U.S. international trade balance.
According to a BEA release, this is the first mobile app to feature real-time statistics from America’s three primary economic statistical agencies.
“With the ability to review recent economic trends, browse upcoming data releases, and set alerts for key indicators, this app allows users to keep up with the U.S. economy anywhere they go,” said the release.
America’s Economy features three data sets from the Bureau of Economic Analysis:
Gross domestic product.
Personal income and outlays.
International trade in goods and services (joint with Census).
PBN's annual Book of Lists has been an essential resource for the local business community for almost 30 years. The Book of Lists features a wealth of company rankings from a variety of fields and industries, including banking, health care, real estate, law, hospitality, education, not-for-profits, technology and many more.


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Median List Price
The median list price in LAGUNA BEACH this week is $2,381,450. Inventory has been lightening lately, and the Market Action Index has been trending up. Though days-on-market is increasing, these are mildly positive indications for the market.
Supply and Demand
Home sales have been exceeding new inventory for several weeks. While still a buyer’s market, prices seem to have responded by moving upward. If the demand trends continue, expect prices to keep marching upward, especially once we see a seller’s market.
Prices continued their recent upward trend this week. Watch for a persistent downward shift in the Market Action Index into the buyer’s zone as a leading indicator of the price strength subsiding.


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Report: Kids Ownership of CE Products Increases
Jun 11, 2009
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Tis year marks what may be the beginning of a new trend between boys’ and girls’ usage of consumer electronics (CE) devices, especially their usage of cell phones and laptop computers. According to Kids & Consumer Electronics Volume 5, from The NPD Group, girls are now more likely than boys to use these specific devices, while kids of all ages and genders are migrating away from using cell phones as a verbal communication device, opting to switch over to "talking" via text messaging and sending photos.
In the past five years, the report said, text messaging has skyrocketed among kids, and in 2009, almost half (46 percent) of kids using cells phones are text messaging.
Televisions and computers have remained the top two devices used by kids, the report said, however, there is a shift from standard TVs to high-def TVs, and from desktop computers to laptops. This transition, NPD says, is mostly a function of which devices are in the house, though increased levels of kids who have their own laptop suggests parents are buying the devices specifically for the child’s use.
Households with kids ages 4-to-14 own an average of 11 of the CE devices measured. About one-third of parents plan to buy a CE device for their child in the coming year.
Kids’ usage of devices, such as personal digital music players (PDMP), laptops, digital cameras and cell phones is growing. For example, 37% of kids use a PDMP this year, while only 6% used a PDMP in 2005.
More than one-third of kids (37%) who use a portable gaming device have their own, and 30% of kids who use a PDMP have their own. Of those who have their own, nine in 10 acquired these devices brand new.
Back to Breaking News


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London-based food delivery firm Just Eat enjoyed a surge in food orders even as profits were bitten into by investments ahead of a proposed takeover by Dutch rival Takeaway.com.
Just Eat, which confirmed the proposed merger on Monday in a deal that would create a £9bn food delivery giant, reported revenue growth of 30pc to £464.5m as orders also ticked up 21pc.
However, profits at the food delivery firm fell 98pc to just £800,000 on the back of investments in its Brazilian iFood business worth around £73.2m.
“Performance in our UK business strengthened in [the second quarter], our Canadian and European businesses are performing well and Australia has returned to top line growth with our delivery operations achieving gross profitability,” said Peter Duffy, Just Eat’s interim chief executive.
Meanwhile, Just Eat's merger partner Takeaway.com experienced rapid growth, with orders rising 70pc compared with the first half of 2018. Revenues increased 68pc to €185m (£170m) over the six months for a loss of €37m.
News of the merger sent Just Eat shares soaring 21pc this week, valuing the London listed company at £5.2bn. The deal would create a global food delivery giant and a bulwark against new, fast-growing rivals like Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
However, the merger has also fuelled City speculation of a bidding war, with analysts at Jefferies suggesting that an outside bidder such as SoftBank or Amazon could also take a look at the delivery firm.
Under the agreement with Takeaway.com, Just Eat investors would own 52.2pc of the group. The firm would be based in the Netherlands but remain listed in London. Activist investors had called for Just Eat to merge with an industry peer to fire up growth at the business.
Takeaway.com has grown into one of Europe's leading food delivery firms. It has a strong presence in markets like Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, while Just Eat has its main business in the UK with arms in markets like Canada, Brazil and Mexico. The company's have until 24 August to confirm the deal.
In its results, Just Eat maintained its full year guidance. The company said recovering in the UK had seen order growth of 11.2pc in the second quarter.
The firm has also announced new tie-ups with Greggs and Asda in the UK, as well as further deals with Burger King and Domino's overseas.
Just Eat said it expected recent acquisitions of smaller firms including Flyt, Practi and corporate catering start-up City Pantry would impact earnings by £10 to £12m over the year.
Neither companies' financial statements made any mention of the proposed merger. On earnings calls, both Just Eat interim boss Peter Duffy and Takeaway.com's Jitse Groen sidestepped questions about the deal.
Shares in Just Eat rose 2pc.