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60 bars and restaurants that closed in Toronto since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
Toronto's food industry continues to weather the debilitating effects of a citywide lockdown, but we've lost some legendary ones along the way.
Owning a business has never been easy here, and live music venues have been dropping like flies for years, but tack that on to landlord disputes, evictions, and government rent relief that just didn't come fast enough during the global pandemic, and it's safe to say Toronto's landscape will look a lot different in a few months' time.
Take a moment to mourn your faves. Here are some notable bars and restaurants that have permanently closed in Toronto since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 13 years, this rock n'roll dive bar bid adieu in mid-April, just three years after being forced out of its original spot on Queen West.
This beloved tiki bar was evicted from its Danforth East location after failing to pay rent during the pandemic.
The wound is still fresh for the queer community who have called this iconic gay bar near Queen and Dufferin home since 2006.
Live music venues haven't been able to open at all since lockdown, but the permanent closure of this 25-year-old staple in Little Italy hits different.
After a decade, this neighbourhood pub on St. Clair West announced two months ago that it was lights out for good.
RIP to the tackiest multi-floor bar in the city. Croc Rock sat at Adelaide and Duncan for a whopping three decades, and pretty much remained busy the whole way through until COVID hit.
Toronto's trailblazing nightclub for trans women and inclusive parties, formerly Goodhandy's, closed after 14 years on Church.
The Liverpool F.C. Supporters Club will have to find a new bar to congregate for soccer matches now that this 23-year-old staple at Yonge and St. Clair has closed.
AYCE perogie nights may never happen in Toronto again now that this Parkdale restaurant has closed, and we'll have to live with that.
A month into the pandemic, this Annex sports bar was threatened with eviction after failing to pay rent. Looks like the landlord came through on their promise.
Bourbon-fulled nights at this Dundas West watering hole will live on in our memories. The sister bar of Sweaty Betty's closed after 11 years.
The bra-filled ceilings of this 19-year-old King West staple are no more thanks to a landlord dispute that also kicked out UG Loft and Tokyo Hot Fried Chicken.
The novel idea of low-waste cocktails wasn't enough to keep this Financial District bar going, less than a year after it opened.
The trailblazing Filipino spot that turned brunch on its head when it first launched two years ago has closed down its pink building for good. Farewell, silogs.
This beloved brunch spot has closed after 24 years, putting an end to this Shaw Street building's century-old diner legacy.
Toronto's first-ever raw food restaurant has closed its original (and last) brick-and-mortar on Dupont, which opened in 2001.
The loss of this diner feels almost surreal: after 63 years, we no longer have jugs of freshly squeezed OJ readily available in the legendary Wexford plaza.
Not being able to peak into the window to see (more importantly, smell) crepes being made fresh at this 18-year-old fixture completely changes the act of walking down Queen West forever.
Chef Suzanne Barr announced the closure of her diner on King East just last week. You'll have to go elsewhere to eat Afro-Caribbean comfort food while admiring civil rights photographs.
Thai restaurants are aplenty, but the establishment which arguable popularized the cuisine in Toronto has closed its Church Street location after three decades.
Buffets never stood a chance in this pandemic, and this AYCE chain announced that it was closing all its Canadian locations in late June.
Late night poutine culture has lost a real one. The West Queen West staple (the last of its locations) has disappeared from the fabric of the city forever.
There were plans to sell prior to the pandemic, according to this College Street snack bar, so its permanent closure came as no surprise.
The original location of this rooster-branded brunch spot has closed after 17 years, but its St. Clair location is still operating.
Students from Riverdale Collegiate will be going back to school (eventually) to a sad sight: the empty bones of the beloved cheap Chinese joint Yummy House, who penned a beautiful goodbye sign.
The beginnings of Cajun and Creole cuisine in Toronto was largely overseen by this Mirvish Village mainstay, but after 37 years and a recent relocation, the restaurant has closed.
It's been a rough year for this brand, which went from two locations (the one on Eglinton closed late last year) to zero after the most recent loss of its 13-year-old Riverside location.
This global chicken chain closed 21 of its Canadian locations during the pandemic including spots on the Danforth, Beaches and West Queen West.
This BBQ spot was locked out of their Colborne location by their landlord at the beginning of the pandemic, though the Beaches location is still operating.
People loved this Junction pizza joint and it showed. Following the announcement they were closing after 63 years, people lined up for hours to get one last New York-style pie.
After 60 years, this family-run corner staple closed its Little Italy restaurant to pure heartbreak. They do have a second spot in Etobicoke, though.
It was tiny, but it was mighty. Queen West's go-to spot for butter chicken and East Indian roti closed up shop on June 30. Lineups were. expectedly, out of hand.
The owners of this Etobicoke restaurant closed their establishment after nine years, citing concerns of how to operate while maintaining social distancing.
One of the very few places in Toronto selling Indigenous food closed up its shop after three years at Christie and Bloor, but say they'll find a way to operate in a new home down the road.
Opening up during the King Street Pilot, when restaurants were flocking from the strip, this Mexican restaurant has called it quits.The original Pancho in Kensington, however, is still serving up the booze.
After eight years, this Roncy restaurant called it quits in May due to the financial pressures of the pandemic.
The day before their 21st anniversary, this French bistro closed its Spadina location for good. Though the decades-old spot is gone, the locations on West Queen West and Leslieville remain open.
The airy Marche Restaurant and Movenpick Cafe at Brookfield Place nad Concourse Level ceased operations three months ago after withdrawing all operations from Canada.
This shining star of the Riverside community was just a humble, family-run Chinese-Canadian spot, but it won the hearts of locals with its sweet and sour delights and chicken balls for 30 years.
It's unclear what exactly happened to this iconically romantic Sherbourne and Dundas cafe. The red hearts are still up, but a for lease sign in the window means another broken heart.
This Annex spot for rolls and cheap lunch specials is officially no more after 13 years of serving Japanese eats at Bloor and Dalton Road.
Yorkville is short an award-winning organic wine bar now that this restaurant has closed.
Just two months after opening, the restaurant focusing on Korean royal court cuisine has closed its elegant location, despite promising potential for a one-of-a-kind dining experience.
There are still two other locations of this popular local pizza chain, though Dino did decide to close this most recent outpost in the Junction amidst the pandemic.
This sweet-smelling cafe in Parkdale shuttered its doors, almost exactly a year after opening on Queen Street West.
What promised to be a staple for fried chicken and live acts like bands and comedy shows came to an end far too quickly. The former pop up-turned-permanent restaurant on Dundas West is now gone for good.
Little India's local coffee shop and art gallery has seemingly vacated the building, by the looks of it, though word through the grapevine is it might reopen someday under a new name.
Our Instagram feeds will never be the same now that this Queen West dessert shop is no longer serving its Puffle cones.
The innovative bubble tea brand offering science lab-themed DIY boba closed all its locations in the city as of June 9.
You'll have to head to this patisserie's original Corktown shop for soft serve and baked treats. The West Queen West store has officially folded.
This cafe specializing in beautiful gluten-free eats has closed up its shops in Yorkville and Vaughan to focus on wholesale.
Nearly all locations of this Vancouver-based coffee chain are no more, including the only three that were located in Toronto at Eglinton, Adelaide, and Bartley Drive.
Queen and Spadina's macaron paradise closed permanently two months ago. Thankfully, their Markham headquarters are open for delivery and pick-ups, and their sister brand Butter Baker is still around.
The Annex's mainstay coffee shop closed at the end of May after 12 years of WiFi-free brews and meet-ups.
Their signature Cakelets are still for sale at the signature Queen West store, but Dufflet's uptown bakery closed its second-last location last month after 18 years.
If you never got a chance to try this world-famous Japanese cheesecake brand, your opportunity's lost. The only LeTAO location outside of Japan was evicted from its College Street store this April.
Cottage vibes are now relegated to the actual cottage now that this popular cafe and live performance venue has shut down permanently (after allegedly leaving the space in quite a hurry.)
Record-low sales forced this tea bar at Queen and Dufferin to close after opening in the Parkdale neighbourhood in 2016.
The once bustling hallways of The PATH inside FCP became a ghost town, which is likely why this bakery bid goodbye after nine years.
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17:00 | 08/06/2021 Companies
(VEN) - Bosch is opening one of the world’s most modern wafer fabs in Dresden, Germany. Highly automated, fully connected machines and integrated processes, combined with methods of artificial intelligence (AI) will make the Dresden plant a smart factory and a trailblazer in Industry 4.0.
Bosch is investing roughly one billion euros in this high-tech location. This is the biggest single investment in the company’s more than 130-year history. Production in Dresden will start as early as July – six months earlier than planned. From that time on, semiconductors made in the new plant will be installed in Bosch power tools. For automotive customers, chip production will start in September, and thus three months earlier than planned. The new factory will be an important part of the semiconductor manufacturing network. With it, Bosch is strengthening Germany’s position as a technology and business location.
“For Bosch, semiconductors are a core technology, and it is strategically important to develop and manufacture them ourselves. In Dresden, with the help of artificial intelligence, we will take semiconductor manufacturing to the next level,” said Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. “This is our first AIoT factory: fully connected, data-driven, and self-optimizing right from the start.”
On 72,000 square meters of floor space, 250 people are already working in the wafer fab in Saxony’s state capital. The workforce is set to grow to roughly 700 once construction work has been completed.
“The new wafer fab is good for Europe, for Germany, and for Saxony. Directly and indirectly, it means many new jobs in a huge growth industry. This billion-euro investment strengthens Silicon Saxony and the entire European semiconductor industry,” said Michael Kretschmer, the minister-president of Saxony.
Since 1958, Bosch has been making semiconductor components itself. And since 1970, the company’s Reutlingen plant has been making special components that are not commercially available. In its wafer fabs in Reutlingen and Dresden alone, Bosch has invested more than 2.5 billion euros since 200-millimeter technology was introduced in 2010. On top of this, billions of euros have been invested in developing microelectronics. In this way, the company is continuing to pursue its growth strategy in semiconductor development and manufacturing. “This expertise is the key to many high-caliber systems solutions made by Bosch,” Denner said.

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On Weibo, COO Liu Fengshuo suggested the new colour variant.The OnePlus 9 Pro was previously available in Morning Mist, Pine Green, and Stellar Black.The white colour option appears matte.OnePlus may soon release the OnePlus 9 Pro white in China.It’s unclear if the new colour will be available in other markets.
OnePlus has teased the white colour variant on Weibo.The new option uses double AG technology.The teaser video also suggests a matte finish to prevent fingerprint smudges.
The OnePlus 9 Pro comes in white to commemorate the flagship’s eighth anniversary.It will also be limited edition.OnePlus has yet to confirm whether the new colour variant will be sold and at what price.
On the back of the phone is an 18:9 QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display with 3216 x 1440 pixels resolution and 525PPI pixel density.It has a 120Hz panel with Corning Gorilla Glass protection.
It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset with a 5nm process and an Adreno 660 GPU.The camera is a Hasselblad-branded quad-rear camera setup.A 16-megapixel Sony IMX471 sensor is on the front for selfies and video calls.The phone’s primary sensor is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX789, with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766.A 2-megapixel monochrome sensor and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor.
It has dual stereo speakers, a USB Type-C port, and an optical in-display fingerprint sensor.It runs OxygenOS 11 on Android 11 and has a 4,500mAh battery that supports 65W Warp Charge 65T and 50W wireless charging.


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After a daunting year on the crypto market in 2022, investors are seeking the best altcoins to invest in for high returns as we enter 2023.
While multiple reliable crypto exchange platforms like Bybit offer real-time value of cryptos like Evmos price, and engage in trading, deciding which coins you must invest in might be challenging.
That is where we come in! This article will examine some of the hottest new cryptocurrencies to invest in by scanning their utilization cases, historical prices, and other factors.
Continue reading to discover the seven best altcoins to invest in for 2023.
6 Altcoins to Invest in 2023
1. IMPT – The Green Crypto
IMPT is available for presale purchase and is a cryptocurrency project to reduce carbon emissions. The preorders raised $11 million in three weeks, allowing it to supply its phase 1 allocation of tokens a month ahead of schedule, with investors rushing to get a seat.
IMPT, developed on the Ethereum blockchain, has a 3 billion token supply, 60% of which is assigned through three presale rounds.
Buyers can earn IMPT tokens by connecting with their preferred retailers via IMPT’s shopping platform.
IMPT has collaborated with thousands of businesses, including Amazon and Microsoft, willing to contribute a portion of their profit to ecologically responsible causes. The sales margin is divided into IMPT tokens to the buyer’s online wallet.
2. Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Dash 2 Trade (D2T) is a comprehensive crypto analytics and intelligence platform that provides D2T – the native cryptocurrency – exclusive access to its platform features.
The D2T token is reportedly available for purchase through nine presale rounds, intending to raise over $40 million, and has already raised nearly $5 million within 15 days.
According to the whitepaper for Dash 2 Trade, holders will be capable of purchasing platform subscriptions beginning in Q1 2023.
The framework offers three monthly membership packages: a Free tier, a Starter tier, and a Premium tier. The latter two can only be purchased with D2T tokens and grant users access to numerous platform features. Access to various new crypto listing notifications, on-chain analysis tools, and bootstrapping platform features are among the perks of the Starter and Premium subscription plans.
Users in the Premium tier can also participate in weekly trading tournaments to win additional D2T rewards.
The D2T token presale will offer early investors a 39% return on investment, with the token’s price increasing from $0.0476 to $0.0662 throughout nine rounds. D2T, presently accessible on stage 2 at $0.05, will ascend by 32.4% by the end of the presale stage. D2T has elevated $4.75 million since the beginning of the presale, making it among the best altcoins to buy in 2023. Once the total amount raised achieves $5.166 million, the price will rise to $0.0513.
3. Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is a decentralized and open-source platform that uses smart contracts to allow developers to create dApps (decentralized applications) and other Defi (decentralized finance) protocols. It is the biggest altcoin in the digital assets space, with a market capitalization of $190 billion.
After experiencing issues with the network’s high combustion fees and slow transaction rates, Ethereum transitioned to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus in 2022.
The shift is expected to increase energy efficiency by 99.99%, and the network will be able to handle approximately 20,000 and 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) in the near future.
Ethereum, one of the best crypto assets to purchase in 2023, can be used as a long-term investment strategy. At its current price of $1,550 per token, ETH is approximately 70% below its all-time high.
Despite the price adjustment, ETH has seen a price shift towards the end of 2022, gaining now almost 20% in October alone.
McKinsey & Co., a management consulting firm, projected that the metaverse industry will have a market capitalization of $5 trillion by 2030.
Decentraland, a digital real-estate project established on the Ethereum blockchain, is one of the top altcoins to access the metaverse space. Users can monetize their time in this metaverse by constructing, building, and trading virtual plots of land. On Decentraland, users can purchase LAND, which is NFTs issued as ERC 721 smart contracts.
With a market valuation of more than $229 million, LAND has an average base rate of 1.5 ETH ($2,340). Investors can buy these NFTs on Decentraland using MANA, the platform’s native cryptocurrency.
MANA can also be secured to attend the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) of MANA, which grants users voting privileges on the platform.
Among the most renowned altcoins in 2021, MANA surged from $0.07 at the start of the calendar year to an ATH of $5.90 – a price boost of over 8,300%. MANA currently trades at $0.62 and has over $1.1 billion market capitalization.
5. Polygon – MATIC
Polygon is a blockchain platform that serves as a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum and the network’s framework. Polygon creates a multi-chain network using SDKs to enable other blockchains to connect easily with Ethereum.
Polygon incorporates the Plasma network with a PoS architecture to enable the system’s easy execution of optimized smart contracts.
The platform employs Optmisic Rollups, a Layer-2 solution that aids in blockchain scaling, and the infrastructure can manage an estimated 65,000 transactions per second, making it an exceptionally scalable platform to leverage.
Polygon links to other blockchain technologies and settle network transactions with MATIC – the native token. MATIC is the 11th largest cryptocurrency in the domain, with an 8.7 billion coin circulating supply. MATIC began trading at $0.11 in 2019, reaching an all-time high of $2.92. The renowned altcoin is now close to $1, having gained 30% since mid-October.
6. Calvaria – The Altcoin for Gamers
Calvaria is generating a lot of buzz in the space and has already entered stage 4 of 10 with nearly $1.5 million raised. With its fantasy cards game, the model integrates blockchain technology to allow players to earn in-game rewards.
Players can buy Battle Cards, which are NFT collections that can be purchased and scaled up to engage on the platform. Like other famous NFT games, including Gods Unchained, Calvaria has a fully 3D engine and plotlines.
Aside from the P2E mode, gamers can also engage in the Free-to-Play (F2P) mode, which includes NFT card upgrades, competitions, and in-game commissions.
At the heart of the ecosphere is $RIA, the platform’s native cryptocurrency. RIA is invested in the framework to acquire eRIA, the system’s in-game currency. 90% of all spent tokens are allocated to Calvaria’s prize pools, while 10% are assigned to the staking pool. According to the Calvaria whitepaper, the system will also create a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that can be activated by staking RIA tokens. To assist in the development of the Calvaria community, the DAO will grant token holders voting privileges.


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According to a recent Social Media Examiner study about the social media usage of both B2B and B2C organisations, resulting in over 3000 respondents; the overarching majority of marketers (86%) claim an importance of social media to their business. Whilst this result comes as no surprise and seems to correlate with other surveys, it is interesting to note that a mere 26% of marketers claim a proficiency in measuring the social media engagement’s impact on their business. This numbers becomes even more staggering if the social media marketing experience is taking into consideration. 45% of responding marketers have been using social media tactics for 2 -5 years, 5% of this group even claims a social media experience of over 5 years.
With agencies pushing hard to have their clients engage in Social Media Campaigns (particularly in B2C), it is interesting that despite big data and ongoing digitalisation, the majority of organisations is still willing to invest money without being able to measure its ROI. To proof Henry Ford’s famous quote about misguided marketing spending wrong, it is inevitable to not only be brave enough to try new things (e.g. social media efforts are largely trial and error based) but to continuously work on defining bottom line relations to increase attributable marketing spendings to business results.
Some efforts to define the social media marketing ROI exist, such as MDG’s ROI of social media or the famous HBR blog about the calculation of a “like value” in Facebook but most efforts seem to lack consistency in measurement and a lack of bottom line integration. Engagement and conversation measures are being frequently reported and often lead to wild claims about social media campaign success with high reported engagement numbers, yet they too lack to correlate social media engagement to to bottom line results or business objectives. This is were the smart, engaged and eager marketer needs to start to employ digital metrics to track multivariate correlations and subsequently develop smart social media cause effect models.


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The cost of living crisis is pushing growing numbers of people and businesses into uncertainty as they struggle to keep up with soaring bills. With everything becoming more expensive, there is an increased need for financial help.
Big banks are seeking to support their customers during these times of economic hardship, with smaller fintech companies providing further support.
In Scotland, tech and data solutions are enabling more people to access financial services and benefits they are entitled to, while small businesses, currently struggling with higher energy costs and rising inflation, can use new technologies developed in Scotland to manage their cash flows, collect debts and access credit if necessary.
“We have a host of fintech organisations in Scotland that are focusing on being purposeful and striving to enable better outcomes for people,” says Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland.
“Their mission is to provide good access to financial services and products, encourage financial literacy, provide access to fairer lending products, and swifter access to debt solutions.
“The leaders behind these businesses all come with a range of different life experiences, and perhaps a different mindset for problem-solving. With that fresh approach, they are able to create new ideas and solutions that are serving the fintech-for-good purpose really well.”
Fintech solutions to access financial support
One example of a Scottish fintech company helping those in need is Inbest, which uses data-driven solutions to identify financial vulnerability and enable early intervention. The company recently announced a three-month trial partnership with NatWest to enable bank customers affected by the cost of living crisis to access benefits that might otherwise remain unused.
“There are billions in unclaimed benefits every year and Inbest helps customers tap into that,” explains Anderson. “Once they know a little bit more about you, they can point you to potential benefits that you are entitled to and help you with the application. In some circumstances, they have been able to find as much as £900 a month in unclaimed funds.
“It is just one example of a fintech innovator leaning into a problem and doing some outside-the-box thinking using technology.”
Another company with a Scottish presence that is helping users to access financial support is Lightning Reach. The business works with charitable organisations such as the Royal British Legion/Poppyscotland, and government bodies like Lambeth Council, to help connect individuals in financial need with charitable grants, local welfare funding and other support that could otherwise remain undistributed. The company has seen its user base double to more than 25,000 in the last three months, with more than £2m awarded to successful applicants to date.
“We know that more than 56% of people don’t know what support there is out there,” says Lightning Reach founder and CEO Ren Hooi. “We are bringing people to a single portal that helps them find and apply for support they might be eligible for based on their location and circumstances, within minutes – while enabling partner organisations to save time and streamline administration using modern technology such as open banking.”
Supporting communities through fintech
Public and private sector organisations such as Scottish Enterprise and FinTech Scotland are working with businesses to build a fertile ecosystem that enables companies to deliver innovative tech and data solutions.
Hooi says her business has benefitted from being part of the growing Scottish fintech community, and the range of connections and expertise available. In addition, Scotland’s culture of helping those in need enables the provision of greater levels of support.
“It is a very active and vibrant fintech community in Scotland, supported by fantastic networks such as Fintech Scotland,” she says. “It is a smaller community here than in England, so I think it is easier to bring people with similar interests together.
“The Scottish ecosystem also has a strong social fabric when it comes to welfare assistance, with Scotland spending £9.05 per capita on local welfare assistance in 2020/21, as compared to £1.30 per capita in England. Being able to use a system like ours makes it easier for people to access the support out there – we have spoken to many users who have said they would never have found that support without us. One recently mentioned that applying through the Lightning Reach portal was the easiest application he had ever done in his life.
“But we are not here to replace the great work that other organisations are doing, or the human touch they bring – we exist to complement and streamline their process.”
As well as offering insights into financial entitlements, Scottish fintech companies are also providing the unbanked and those new to the UK with the tools to access vital financial services during difficult economic times.
One such company is Scottish fintech company MoneyMatiX, which aims to improve financial literacy in the immigrant community through innovative workshops and educational programmes.
“Immigrant individuals often have a very steep learning curve to learn about how the UK works,” says Anderson. “MoneyMatiX supports that community and looks to improve financial literacy in the UK generally.
“They are informing and empowering people to make good financial decisions, and also educating children to help build good financial capability from a young age.”
Tech to help businesses through uncertainty
Scottish fintech company Float, a cash-flow forecasting tool provider, and AI-driven debt support software providers Inicio.AI – which has a base in Scotland – are helping to relieve pressure on businesses and individuals during the current economic uncertainty.
Aveni is another AI-driven tech company headquartered in Scotland and focuses on helping financial institutions identify vulnerable customers. The company uses technology that reacts to the customer’s voice and other modes of communication, automating customised services and increasing efficiencies in quality assurance. To enable the company to develop further, it secured £2.75m in funding in the past year, and Scottish Enterprise was one of the investors.
In addition, Scottish company Know-it provides a platform to simplify credit management – offering credit and debt positions automatically and helping business owners collect overdue invoices, while also making informed decisions when issuing credit.
Know-it founder and CEO Lynne Darcey Quigley describes the Scottish fintech community as “welcoming and super supportive”, and praised the vital support from Scottish Development International and the UK Department for International Trade for helping her company.
“The way we incubate businesses in Scotland is unique, and it is a very positive environment for entrepreneurs,” she says.
“We are looking to spin-out our business in Australia and eventually the US, and the Scottish fintech community, and particularly FinTech Scotland, couldn’t be more supportive. They are making the journey as easy as possible for us in terms of providing contacts, understanding local laws and the rules, and suggesting locations.”
Fintech with a purpose
DirectID is a further notable example of fintech with purpose in Scotland, offering credit support for workers of the gig economy or those with multiple jobs. The Edinburgh-based company uses open banking to help verify potential employees’ income, or approve individuals for loans, among other capabilities.
“As we have more gig economy workers, we have many different sources of income, so there may be more to your monthly or weekly pay than just one payslip,” explains Anderson.
“By verifying income and expenditure, DirectID can support the lending market and allow people who have disparate income streams access to more mainstream credit.”
This streamlining of the verification process can also help society absorb shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic by enabling organisations like the NHS to onboard workers more quickly and efficiently.
“It is a combination of being purpose-driven and being at the intersection of technology and finance that makes these companies so innovative, and Scotland is leading the way with its approach,” adds Anderson.
“We are seeing year-on-year growth and investment in fintech in Scotland, and 27% of the fintech community in Scotland has an international headquarters. It really demonstrates the opportunity that international businesses see in creating a base here in Scotland.
“Fintech can create the tools that will allow people to make good choices about how they live their financial lives. That intersection between financial policy and financial services is vital as we think about the evolving digital economy.”
To learn more about the impressive growth and performance of Scotland’s fintech sector in 2022, download the document on this page.


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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will have to wait patiently until February 11, only eight more sleeps, to know what will be in the budget.
Unlike the New Democrats who have constantly talked about hiking tax rates for consumers, our Conservative government is continually taking action to protect consumers.
We have banned unsolicited credit card cheques. We have required clear disclosures around credit agreements. We have ensured that prepayment of credit cards never expires.
After eight more sleeps, there may be more.


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The Federal Customs Service could have to change some of its internal regulations that bog down foreign trade, following Russia's accession to the WTO.
The service's regulations for determining the cost of imported goods are a far cry from WTO standards, said Mikhail Kozlov, customs services chief at Swiss-based international logistics company AsstrA. Cost issues "take a lot of effort" in customs clearance, he said.
He answered positively when asked whether the internal regulations will have to be changed in the event that Russia becomes a WTO member, which is expected in the middle of next year.
Dmitry Nekrasov, chief of the Federal Customs Service's department for customs clearance, said Wednesday that Russia complies with WTO requirements on the legislature level, but the service will work to bring its day-to-day operations up to the standards.
"The legislative base has been created," he said at a news conference. "We will work to improve our practice."
Kozlov said Russia will have to pursue the changes through the agency that operates the customs union that Russia formed with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
In other customs-clearance changes, Russia committed to cut the maximum customs clearance fee to 30,000 rubles ($970) from the current 100,000 rubles.
Kozlov said that would still be a concession to Russia on the part of the WTO. European Union countries, he said, don't charge anything for customs clearance.
The Federal Customs Service operates on state funding and shouldn't charge extra fees, he said.


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A new report by Smithers Pira, The Future of Packaging in North America to 2017, projects the packaging industry, currently value at $169.1 billion, to jump to $186 billion by 2017.
What will we look like? What is a ‘printbot’ or a ‘print float?’
Packaging printing has caught the eye of digital equipment manufacturers, with new product introductions aimed at addressing the growing short-run packaging market.
Race over to Booth 1231 to see a fast car and celebrity drivers -- not to mention digital label and 3D printers.
Third-generation, family-owned business continues to re-invest for the future
Reprographic Technology USA Inc. (RTI Digital)
The Vortex™ 850R from Reprographic Technology USA Inc. (RTI Digital) (Booth 4043) is a continuous digital color printer that prints labels screaming fast.
AzTech Converting Systems
The MATRIX from AzTECH Converting Systems (Booth 4413) is a new, completely modular finishing system from AzTech Converting Systems, in partnership with LasX Industries, which offers a wide range of in-line finishing features for processing flexographic...
Flatbed wide-format printing has fundamentally changed the way we think about “printing.”
Single-badge access to two big trade shows in the same place, at the same time.
Titans of the printing industry turn to KBA for automated press solutions
Building on the success of its high-speed inkjet web press portfolio in production mail, publishing and commercial print, HP (Booth 1913) is extending this proven technology into packaging.
Diversified Graphic Machinery (Booth 867) has received a Certificate of Registration for FOILDEX by the U.S. Federal Patent and Trademark Office.
Leading California packaging printer needs new press for added capacity
HP announced on August 27 that a Czech corrugated converter, Obaly Morava, has recently installed the first HP T400 Simplex Color Inkjet Web Press to print corrugated liner stock in process colors.


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The future of forum shopping in Europe
Litigants in Europe are familiar with the concept of forum shopping in patent disputes. But, as Mark Ridgway and Annsley Merelle Ward argue, the UPC promises to offer a whole new set of possibilities
"It's final." Those were the words spoken by the then European affairs minister for Poland, Mikolaj Dowgielewciz, three years ago this month, as the final pages were being written in the legislative saga that led to the European Unitary Patent...
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Measuring the Lab-Grown Diamond Market: Size, Growth, and Future Opportunities
National Jeweler talks to two analysts about market share and where the stones go from here.
The category slowly has been building in market share as production ramps up and more consumers opt for a man-made stone, with the U.S. market being the largest by far for the products.
To put the current market size and near-term prospects into perspective, National Jeweler spoke with independent industry analysts Edahn Golan and Paul Zimnisky.
Both use their own research and analysis to create the data shared below, which is based on their estimates and forecasts.
An Upward Curve
Looking at the market over the past five years shows an interesting growth curve.
Prior to 2018, lab-grown diamond jewelry sales totaled less than $1 billion, representing less than 1 percent of the total global diamond jewelry market, Zimnisky estimates. (Though these are global figures, Zimnisky noted that the U.S. makes up the majority of the market—more than 90 percent.)
Golan’s estimates for 2018 have lab-grown diamonds accounting for less than 1.5 percent of all diamond sales by specialty retailers in the United States.
By the following year, that had crept up to more than 2 percent, he said, and it’s continued to grow, especially as more producers, like De Beers with its Lightbox brand, have come online.
By 2020, the stones’ market share had increased to about 3.5 percent, and last year it neared 5 percent, indicating continued growth in consumer awareness and acceptance of the product, Golan said.
Overall, Golan said lab-grown diamonds were a $3.9 billion business in the U.S. in 2021.
Zimnisky’s estimates for the market are more bullish.
His research indicates that in 2021, global lab-grown diamond jewelry sales totaled approximately $5.9 billion, representing 7 to 8 percent of the total diamond jewelry market.
According to these two experts, there’s no doubt the lab-grown diamond market will continue to grow, especially as producers ramp up supply and major retailers, like Signet and Pandora, continue to increase their lab-grown diamond inventory.
“All things being equal, a 7 percent share in 2022 is not an unlikely scenario,” Golan said.
Zimnisky, meanwhile, said lab-grown jewelry sales could near $8 billion-plus in 2022, approaching 10 percent of the total diamond jewelry market, and near the $10 billion mark by 2023.
Bridal vs. Fashion
One of the biggest conversations around lab-grown diamonds is, what will consumers buy them for, exactly? Bridal or fashion jewelry?
Currently, about 60 percent of lab-grown diamond sales by value at specialty jewelers are bridal, according to Golan, who noted that’s largely because engagement rings generally cost more than fashion pieces.
But when one looks at the market share by number of units sold (volume), bridal and fashion are evenly split at 50-50, he said.
Golan also noted the ratio of lab-grown diamond sales at larger retail spaces, like Macy’s or Amazon, is very different because consumers tend to shop there for fashion jewelry more than bridal, further indicating that, in the U.S., lab-grown diamond bridal jewelry doesn’t have such a large share.
“I think self-purchase is probably getting to be the biggest segment of the market and a lot of that’s fashion jewelry.”—Paul Zimnisky
Zimnisky said while the lab-grown diamond market has seen the lion’s share of its opportunity in bridal so far, it will start to occupy more in fashion jewelry in the coming years.
“I think self-purchase is probably getting to be the biggest segment of the market and a lot of that’s fashion jewelry,” he said, adding that big companies like Pandora and Lightbox are positioning them as fashion products as well.
Pricing could also influence this potential trend, he said.
As lab-grown diamond prices keep dropping—as they have been for a few years now—it’s likely more lab-grown diamonds will be marketed as fashion jewelry.
Pricing and Its Effects
Lab-grown diamond prices fell last year, while natural polished diamond prices rose by about 30 percent, Zimnisky estimated, widening the gap between the two categories.
Better methods among growers and competition among wholesalers will lead to a continued decrease in prices, both analysts agreed, and it remains to be seen when lab-grown prices will bottom out.
Right now, generic lab-grown diamonds are priced as much as 75-85 percent lower than natural diamonds of the same quality, Zimnisky said.
He said lab-grown diamonds likely will end up being priced similar to Lightbox, which has a linear pricing system based on size ($800 for a 1-carat diamond, $400 for a half-carat diamond, etc.).
The widening price gap also plays a role in one big question on everyone’s mind: Are lab-grown diamonds taking away from sales of natural diamonds?
Just a few years ago, when lab-grown diamonds were priced 10 to 15 percent less than comparable natural diamonds, “almost all of those lab-grown diamond sales were probably taking sales away from natural,” he said.
But now that the price gap has widened, there are probably many consumers buying a lab-grown diamond that wouldn’t have considered a natural diamond of the same quality because the price is so much higher. In other words, lab-grown diamonds are potentially finding new consumers.
Ultimately, though, market share and growth will depend on one important aspect, both analysts agreed—marketing.
“It’s still a luxury product. It’s an emotional purchase, and people buy it because they like the way it makes them feel. And I think that’s where the marketing kind of really comes into play,” Zimnisky said.
“I think the natural diamond industry can really protect its market if it’s successful with proper marketing. And if they aren’t, then I think that there’s serious risk there.”
Executives from Fred Meyer Jewelers and Riddles Jewelers have filled the roles.
De Beers Institute of Diamonds provides the very best in diamond verification, education and diamond services.
The trend forecaster and her guests explored unconventional jewelry designs, NFTs, AI art, and more during her Trendvision presentation.
De Beers is sharing over 130 years of experience and expertise through the De Beers Institute of Diamonds with a selection of courses.
The Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative provides diamond credit and mentorship to young brands helmed by BIPOC designers.
Rolex remained No. 1 while a brand known for its pilot watches slipped into the No. 5 spot.
Jewelry designers have until early February to apply to take part in Couture's Diversity Action Council program.
Morgan P. Richardson joins from La Perla.
The new portal will share information on responsible platinum sourcing and how it’s used beyond jewelry.
Purchased directly from Rio Tinto, the collection consists of pinks, purples and one red, none larger than 1.52 carats.
Sherry Smith breaks down retailers’ performance last year, including how natural diamonds fared vs. lab-grown.
The AGS Ideal Report by GIA is a digital-only addition to GIA diamond reports.
Its focus are words like “sustainability,” “ethics,” and “responsible sourcing.”
It’s from a new collection of charms designed to go in the brand’s signature lockets.


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The Fort Worth officer who shot Atatiana Jefferson wasn't actually asked to do a welfare check
When Atatiana Jefferson's neighbor called police, he says he expected them to go check and see if she was OK. ...
Drake launches cannabis company
Hip-hop artist Drake partnered with Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth to launch the More Life Growth Company cannabis producer in his hometown of Toronto. Chloe Melas reports.
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Bertazzoni Arancio Line Wins Good Design Award
Mar 12, 2014
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Bertazzoni said it is gaining momentum in the U.S. and Canada with several industry awards, including the 2013 Good Design Award for its Professional Series Arancio line.
The new orange-colored range was also a finalist in the 2013 Interior Design Magazine Best of Year Awards in the category of best kitchen appliance.
The range also received an editor’s choice award from Canada’s Designline Magazine at the 2014 Interior Design Show.
Bertazzoni also reported that North American sales were up 20% in 2013, with worldwide sales up 12% in 2013.
Italy-based Bertazzoni is a 132-year old, family-owned company. It unveiled its latest range line for the North American market at the 2013 Architectural Digest Home and Design Show in New York City.
At the show, Bertazzoni unveiled advanced new features for its Professional Series, Master Series and Heritage Series ranges. The orange color of the new Arancio Professional Series range was inspired by the foods of the Emilia-Romagna region where Bertazzoni manufactures all of its products.
“The Bertazzoni brand has always embraced its Italian heritage by blending precision engineering with aesthetic beauty,” said Paolo Bertazzoni, President and fifth generation CEO of Bertazzoni. “These awards pay tribute to the many talented designers that we are fortunate to work with in developing beautiful, high-performing cooking appliances.”
The Good Design award is organized annually by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in cooperation with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.
Back to Breaking News


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 28, 2005
CONTACT: ESF 14, (850) 921-0384
Florida Retailers Reopening as Power Restoration
TALLAHASSEE – With power restoration efforts well underway
following Hurricane Wilma, Florida retailers are reopening their
doors in impacted counties throughout the state. Just four days
following landfall, many major retail grocery stores are open to
serve customers in South Florida. Publix, Winn-Dixie, Target, Kash
and Karry and Wal-Mart reported that the large majority of retail
outlets are open for groceries, home repair and household supplies
in the disaster area.
“Power and open businesses are leading indicators of recovery
following a major hurricane,” said Governor Jeb Bush. “Recovery is a
long process but we are seeing improvements with every passing hour.
Relief workers, power crews and emergency managers are working
around the clock to help communities in South Florida recover and
return to normal."
Since Hurricane Wilma made landfall in South Florida on October
24, close to 1.76 million customers have power restored. The
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to coordinate
with utility companies as they bring power back online to South
Florida homes and businesses. Currently more than 9,400 Florida
Power and Light personnel from 33 states are working around the
clock to continue restoring power.
Restored power is also easing lines at retail gas stations.
Working closely with members of the petroleum industry, DEP today
reported that more than 185 million gallons of fuel was at Florida’s
ports for distribution throughout the state. Fuel is being
replenished based on regional priorities, with deliveries made first
to emergency crews and first responders. Supplies are also being
replenished at retail gas stations with available power along major
transportation corridors and in metro areas for residents and to
support evacuees returning to areas affected by the storm.
As major community retailers reopen and restock their shelves
with groceries and supplies, Wilma Command is supporting more than
75 emergency Points of Distribution (PODs) sites with personnel and
resources in 11 counties. State and federal supplies continue to
flow through the distribution pipeline to support local emergency
response efforts. Yesterday, 335 trucks of supplies – 139 trucks of
water, 140 trucks of ice and 56 trucks of food – were shipped to
PODs in impacted communities. Today’s first shipment wave of
supplies included 267 trucks – 67 trucks of water, 145 trucks of ice
and 55 trucks of food.
As resources flow to the impacted areas, Floridians are urged to
visit open retail grocery stores, convenience stores and home repair
stores whenever possible. Neighbors can help neighbors by reserving
emergency state and federal resources for Florida’s most impacted
and vulnerable residents. Patronizing local businesses also injects
dollars into the local economy, accelerating recovery in the
communities impacted by a major disaster.
For information regarding open Florida retailers selling
groceries, gasoline and home repair supplies, please visit
# # #


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- Australian Crypto Exchange Swyftx, a youth-orientated online share broker Superhero platform abandon Merger Plan.
- The regulatory crypto environment is not conducive for traditional business and crypto native companies to merge.
The Australian investing, trading, and superannuation online platform, Superhero, and the Australian-based crypto exchange Swyftx have terminated their merger due to increased regulations in the crypto space.
The merger, which was announced in June, would have created one of the largest online brokers and trading houses in the country. However, the two companies have decided to go their separate ways due to the regulatory uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies in Australia.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been cracking down on cryptocurrencies in recent months, and it is unclear what the future holds for the industry. This uncertainty has made it difficult for Superhero and Swyftx to move forward with their merger.
In addition to the regulatory uncertainty, the crypto market has also been volatile in recent months. The price of Bitcoin has fallen by more than 50% since its peak in November, and many other cryptocurrencies have also lost value. This volatility has made it difficult for Swyftx to raise the capital it needs to support its growth.
The termination of the merger is a blow to both Superhero and Swyftx. Superhero had hoped to expand its offerings by adding cryptocurrencies to its platform, and Swyftx had hoped to gain access to Superhero’s large customer base. However, the regulatory uncertainty and the volatile crypto market have made it too difficult for the two companies to move forward with their plans.
The termination of the merger is also a sign of the challenges facing the crypto industry in Australia. The ASIC is cracking down on cryptocurrencies, and the market is volatile. This makes it difficult for crypto companies to operate in Australia, and it could lead to more mergers and acquisitions in the future.


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General Motors (GM) is recalling 3.16 million more cars in the US because of ignition switch problems, and will change or replace keys on the cars, which date from 2000 to 2014.
Switches can move out of the run position if cars are jarred, and disable power steering.
Last week GM recalled more than 500,000 Chevrolet Camaro cars after finding a fault with its ignition system.
In March, it recalled 2.6 million cars because of a faulty ignition switch.
GM says it is aware of eight crashes and six injuries related to the latest recall.
A company statement said: “If the ignition switch moves out of the ‘run’ position, there is an effect on power steering and power braking.
“In addition, the timing of the key movement out of the ‘run’ position, relative to the activation of the sensing algorithm of the crash event, may result in the air bags not deploying.”
The company has now also raised its expected second-quarter charge for recall expenses to $700m, up from $400m.
In May, the company was fined $35m (£21m) for failing to address defects which have been linked to 13 deaths.
GM has now recalled more than 17 million cars in the US this year – more than the carmaker sold in 2013.
Previous recalls have involved possible faulty seat belts, transmissions and air bags, as well as potential fire issues.
The announcement was made after the close of the New York Stock Exchange, where its shares had ended the day up by 1.21% at $30.06.


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Earlier this week, budding developers and local indie developers met up at the inaugural SEA GAME JAM 2017 which was held at Level UP KL in a 2 day event which saw over 100 talented participants duke it out over a 36 hour development period to create successful gaming prototypes based on two local IPs, Ejen Ali and Mak Cun.
The main objective of this event was to develop their best gaming prototypes which could then be used to develop top of the line games for the mobile gaming industry.
Hasnul Hadi Samsudin, the Vice President of the Creative Content & Technologies Division of MDEC said “For the past two years, SEA GAME Jam has become a significant event in the local gaming industry. The participants have showcased what they are capable of when given the right platform. Seeing how successful mobile gaming is in the market, many investors are now starting to look into this growing industry.”
SEA GAME JAM is a platform used to nurture and develop young talents as they further equip themselves with the required knowledge through sharing and exchange of ideas between participants who are not only from the local gaming industry but also from participants throughout the SEA region.
“Through SEA Game Jam, we managed to gather a lot of individuals with the great potential to become not just Malaysia’s leading mobile game developers but also within the region. We hope this event would become a good stepping stone for these aspiring youngsters to further equip themselves with knowledge about the mobile game industry. Media Prima Labs hope to inspire more talents to be involved in game development and bring out the best of South East Asia,” adds Nicholas Sagau, Group General Manager, Operation & Media Prima Labs.
Winners of the SEA Game Jam was announced at the Level Up KL yesterday on 8 November 2017. Third prize winner was Team 18 (Everaldo Sembiring, Mohamed Affian bin Che Mohamed Onn, Nabilah Raihan Zakaria, Arif Budiman) where they won themselves RM3,000 worth of cash, second prize winner was Team 5 (Nikko Soetjoadi, Hafiz Azman, Ng Chen Hon, Khairool Bakhtiar bin Baihaqi, Razanil Farda) with RM5,000 while the Grand prize winner was Team 16 (Lai Ze Ren, Teo Jia Luen, Rizal Saputra, Kevin Yeoh Lai Chuan) with RM8,000.
SEA Game Jam was among the interesting events happening in conjunction with Level Up KL, organized by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and supported by Media Prima Digital. Level UP KL is one of South East Asia’s premier industry events for game developers which gathers local, regional and international industry key players.


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Kanye West continues with the leaks on several unreleased adidas Yeezy samples, now Yeezy Supply has shared an on feet look at the Yeezy 500 and 700 colorways part of Yeezy Season 6.
Being specific, the Yeezy 500 ‘Super Moon Yellow’ is seen which released last December part of the $760 bundle package along with a smokey Black pair. The Yeezy Boost 700 shown also utilizes an all Black color theme.
At the time of writing, release information for all three pairs has yet to be announced. However it’s being reported that they will be part of the Yeezy Season 6 Collection. Once additional information is available we will make sure to update you. For now continue to scroll below to check out more images which will provide you with a closer look.


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You may or may not remember that ESPN launched a mobile phone in 2006 – not an app, an actual mobile phone. ESPN Mobile was a huge endeavor for ESPN but quickly became a commercial failure. Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously — and crassly — panned the idea. It turns out a hyper-focus on sports wasn’t enough to hook customers into buying the phone. And ESPN also knew nothing about mobile hardware – the phone itself was chunky even by 2006 standards. But the software breakthroughs the phone made on features like score alerts and video highlights put ESPN in the driver’s seat for modern mobile apps. Aaron Gordon penned the fun story for Vice Sports.
In Other News
Design: NBA brands reimagined on football helmets – Imgur
Video: another Barcelona scoring rampage – Screamer
Tuning machines are quietly skiing’s greatest innovation – Powder Magazine
Floyd Mayweather’s sordid history of hitting women – Grantland
How a fishing trip prevented the National League from adopting the DH – Naples Daily News
Cover shot: Baja rally – USA Today Sports Images


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Japanese stocks snapped a five-day ascent which took the Nikkei 225 Average through 17,000 yesterday, when it gained 1.6%. Investors who have ridden a rise of more than 1,100 points in a week decided it was time to head back into cash, and the index closed down 39.37 at 17,141.75.
Leading the falls were electronic and internet-related stocks. The recent revival in major internet investor Soft-bank was partially reversed, as the stock fell more than 2%. Toshiba was down more than 1% and NEC lost 0.93%.
Bank stocks were also suffering as the interest rate policy changes continue to cause uncertainty. The country's third-largest bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo, led the way with a drop of more than 2%.
Property was grabbing attention in Hong Kong ahead of a key auction by the government later today. Investors hope the big developers will bid up prices to provide evidence of a recovery.
There was also some bargain hunting in blue-chips, after profit-taking and futures-driven selling yesterday pushed the Hang Seng down 217 points.
HSBC, which lost HK$4.50 to $108.50 yesterday, rebounded to $111, property group Cheung Kong added $1.25 and the Hang Seng bounded ahead 318.71 to 17,338.47.
The fifth straight day of falls in Taiwan saw stocks tumbling almost 2.5%, following a 2.25% slump yesterday. Fears over financial scandals added to renewed concerns over the outlook for the semi-conductors industry, sending the Weighted index down 26.38 to 7817.49.
Interest in Seoul switched back to the main board after the second-liners on the Kosdaq market surged more than 7% yesterday, following pledges of government help for the moribund technology-based market, which has slumped more than 50% this year.
While electronic stocks were firmer in early trading, with Samsung Electronics up 2000 won to 318,500, the Composite slipped 4.75 points to 727.06.
Continued uncertainty about the impact of liberalisation of brokerage commissions on the financial services sector had investors sidelined in Thailand and the SET was virtually static, up 0.12 to 305.84.
Stock traders who had been chasing bank shares in Singapore yesterday were dumping them again in early trade, helping to push the Straits Times down 10.33 points to 2165.78 at one stage but it later recovered slightly to be hardly changed with a fall of 0.04 at 2176.07.
Malaysian stocks showed some signs of life after two days of falls, but trading was thin. Strong earnings from Maybank and Renong provided enough action to send the Composite up 5.93 at 802.32.
The probe into financial scandals alleged to involve President Abdurraham Wahid continued to put a shadow over Jakarta and the Composite index fell 7.52 to 474.14.
The scrap for Ashton Mining, owner of the world's biggest diamond mine, livened up Australian shares, although overall trading was quiet.
A Rio Tinto bid of A$1.85 a share in cash, topped De Beers' A$1.62 offer and Ashton's stock jumped 28 cents to A$2.01 a share.
A strong start in other stocks failed to follow through, but the All Ordinaries was still showing a three-points gain at 3325.7.
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The won-dollar exchange rate broke the ointment point on April 30, 2009, exceeding 1323.0 won on April 30, 2009, when the global financial crisis was triggered on the 15th. The last ointment is 1312.0 won (closing price) on the 14th, the previous trading day.
As the won-dollar exchange rate increases, domestic prices are under pressure. This is not the only problem in Korea. In order to prevent the import inflation due to the strong US dollar’s strength, it is being captured to reduce its weakness in order to prevent inflation.
There is a prospect that the ‘reverse exchange rate war’, which leads to the strength of the currency, is not a ‘exchange rate war’, which is trying to lower the currency value and promotes the growth rate.
Climb to KRW 1325.4 won and dollar exchange rate… 10% increase from the beginning of the year
The won-dollar exchange rate was opened at 1318.0 won in the Seoul foreign exchange market and soared to 1325.4 won. Based on the market price, on April 30, 2009, it exceeded 1323.0 won, the highest in 13 years and two months. The won’s won in the US dollar is 10% higher than the beginning of the year.
The market is foreseen that the won will be lower than it is now. KB Kookmin Bank’s researcher Moon Jung-hee and Shinhan Bank Baek Seok-hyun Economist explained, It is open up to 1350 won.
This is because the US dollar is making a ‘super strong’ compared to global currency, so it cannot be avoided on domestic currencies. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) Open Market Committee (FOMC) also remains uncertainty in interest rate hikes on 26-27. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Fed, announced that it would raise the rate of 0.50%p or 0.75%p in June, but the US consumer price index (CPI) soared to 9.1%in June.
Imported price 34% in June… You can raise more than 1%p of consumer prices
The high exchange rate is not a bad option in exporting countries. Nevertheless, as the current price is continuously rising, the inflation is acting as a pressure. In fact, domestic import prices rose 33.6% year-on-year.
Moon Jung-hee, a researcher, said, The domestic import price has risen by 33.6% year-on-year. I can climb.
Currently, consumer prices rise in June is 6%. In the market, the domestic inflation rate is expected to reach up to 7%. On the 13th, Lee Chang-yong, the president of the Bank of Korea, said, There is a growing concern that the high price of high prices may be fixed as expected inflation expectations are spread and inflation interactions are strengthened, did.
Reverse exchange war trigger? After the national foreign exchange market involvement
Each country is trying to raise the value of currency in order to lower its currency value compared to the US dollar, import prices and high prices. This work is expressed as ‘reverse exchange war’. It is a contrasting concept in contrast to the ‘exchange rate war’, which is arbitrarily weakened for deflation and economic stimulus for more than decades in response to the policy to limit the weakness of the currency by focusing on price stability rather than economic stimulus during the inflation period.
According to a report published by the International Financial Center on the 14th, the recent foreign exchange market intervention was found. According to the report, Switzerland has intervened in the foreign exchange market in order to stabilize inflation in response to high inflation pressure. Credit Swiss observed that it may be in foreign exchange net selling to prevent import price and inflation deterioration due to the weakness of Francization in Switzerland.
Foreign exchange interventions have exhausted the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves. Foreign exchange reserves in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines in April-May this year are the lowest since 2020.
It is also likely to be involved in the foreign exchange market. The Bank of Korea’s foreign exchange net trading in the first quarter of this year decreased by $ 8.31 billion. Experts say that they were exhausted to defend the weak currency while selling foreign currency in the offshore market.
It is difficult to pinch the point of view of the reverse exchange rate war, but there are some places that say that the reverse exchange rate has already begun. It should be noted that if it decreases to the level, it may cause another exchange rate anxiety.


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Skype's 'Make-or-Break Year'
Still smarting from the indignity of having its value slashed by $1.4 billion, Skype now is grappling with a growing list of customer complaints about its popular Internet phone service and speculation eBay may be looking to unload the business.
Skype users are complaining on blogs of long waits for customer care. The loss of a vendor agreement forced 8,000 customers with local London phone numbers for their Skype service to change those numbers. And then there was the debacle in August, when the service went down entirely for several days. And most important, customer minutes of use are expected to be flat or lower this year compared with 2006.
The news has been so discouraging for so long that some wonder whether eBay (EBAY) might be ready to throw in the towel and sell the lemon it bought for top dollar in 2005. The whispers are that eBay has shopped Skype to Google (GOOG), News Corp. (NWS), and Yahoo! (YHOO). Yet sources tell BusinessWeek.com that eBay may want to tinker a while longer to make Skype pay off.
It's easy, of course, to see how Skype could be an asset to a company such as Google. For example, Skype might fit well as a mobile service on the new Android software platform Google's developing for cell phones. And since it's already interoperable with Google Talk, Skype and its tens of millions of active users could help turbocharge the online chat service, which has yet to build a strong following. But eBay may not want to give a competitive advantage to its bitter rival, whose Google Base and Google Checkout services seek to bite into eBay's bread-and-butter auctions and PayPal online payment business.
More important, the true integration of Skype into eBay's business may be just beginning. In October, eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman promised to increase investment in Skype in 2008. And the bottom line is turning the corner: Third-quarter revenues nearly doubled to $98 million in the past year, and the business is expected to show a full-year profit for the first time in 2007, easing the drag on eBay's results.
In fact, the auction giant suddenly finds itself free to tweak Skype's strategy substantially for the first time since the $2.6 billion acquisition. Skype's two principal founders left their strategic posts in a recent reshuffle, clearing the way for new management. And until October, when those founders and Skype's early shareholders accepted a final half-billion dollar payment (BusinessWeek.com, 10/1/07), the business was keenly focused on user and revenue targets set in the buyout to pay them up to $1.7 billion in extra rewards.
Now that Skype no longer has to worry about those metrics, people familiar with eBay's plans believe the new management may drastically alter its course once a new CEO is named. It may refocus on improving the user experience, fostering Skype's community of users, and creating more ties-in with eBay's other units—a prevailing rationale the company stressed when acquiring Skype. Many people close to Skype believe eBay may wait to see how this new strategy works out before putting up a "for sale" sign.
A new version of Skype's software, due in early 2008, may contain a number of innovative features that could, finally, demonstrate Skype's strategic importance to eBay. One project in the works, says a person familiar with Skype's plans, would allow eBay—one of the Web's top purveyors of physical goods—to sell digital content. With 246 million registered users, about a quarter of whom use Skype regularly, the Internet phone service provides a plum base of potential customers for music, video, and software downloads.
Skype also is looking to add more premium voice offerings such as Skype Extras, which allows users to get translators for phone conversations and tutoring in other languages. Future applications may include carrying calls between a psychologist and patient, or between technical support and clients, says an insider. The voice push also includes a new Skype-brand cell phone (BusinessWeek.com, 10/18/07), introduced recently in Asia, Australia, and Europe, that the company hopes to distribute through smaller wireless carriers around the world.
More social networking features are in the works as well. Analyst Jon Arnold of telecom consultancy J. Arnold & Associates suggests eBay could parlay Skype's huge user base into a social network rivaling MySpace and Facebook in size. The service already offers video-calling and messaging functions that lend themselves well to social networks, as evidenced by Skype's new integration deal with MySpace.
More such deals are expected. Research from consultancy Parks Associates shows that 7% of social networking participants also use services like Skype daily, and a third make Web-based phone calls at least once every few months. "It's a smart play to integrate voice into social networks," says John Barrett, an analyst at Parks. "The social network is kind of the dial tone for the next generation."
With so many strategic balls in the air, Skype's future as part of eBay will hinge largely on the success of these initiatives. Says Scott Sleek, an industry analyst at consultancy Pike & Fischer: "This is really going to be a make-or-break year."
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World's leading home furnishings retailer IKEA will open its second store in the country at Navi Mumbai on December 18.
The over five lakh sq ft store would be the second store for IKEA in India after Hyderabad, where it had opened its first store in August 2018.
In a bid to provide a safe shopping experience during COVID times, the Swedish retailer is taking extra precautions for its new store located on the Thane-Belapur Road, a company statement said.
IKEA said it is taking a number of extra precautions from its global best practices and relevant learnings from its Hyderabad operations.
Moreover, to ensure good social distancing, IKEA will initially have a cap on the number of visitors to the store through prior registration on its website, by which customers will be allotted a day and time slot to visit the store.
Here's how you can do the prior registration for visiting IKEA:
Visit the official website of IKEA - ikea.com/in
Go to the registration link (Yellow box) which reads, "Our door opens on 18th Dec. Register online to visit the store."
Click on 'Register now'
Submit the required information
The online registrations for visiting the Navi Mumbai store will start soon.
IKEA India, part of Ingka Group opened its first retail store in Hyderabad in August 2018, followed by online stores in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune in 2019 as part of its multichannel approach.
Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, operating 378 IKEA stores in 30 countries. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres.
(With inputs from agencies)


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|By PR Newswire||
|January 7, 2013 08:01 AM EST||
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
- Using the new SYNC® AppLink™-enabled Glympse smartphone app, drivers can share their location directly from their car using simple voice commands
- More than 1 million Ford drivers can now share their location directly from their car, making it easy to answer the question, "Where are you?"
Glympse Inc., the mobile technology company that pioneered temporary real-time location sharing, today announces the first location-sharing app for Ford Motor Company's SYNC® in-car connectivity system. Using the AppLink™ interface, drivers will be able to share their location with friends and family directly from their car using simple voice commands, eliminating the need to touch their mobile phone while driving.
"People typically share their location while in the car, and by integrating Glympse into Ford SYNC AppLink, we're providing drivers with a rich, real-time and hands-free way to share where they are," said Bryan Trussel, co-founder and CEO of Glympse. "At Glympse, we're dedicated to creating a more robust connected car experience, and working with Ford will help us to reach millions of consumers who will be able to just say, 'Send a Glympse' to share their current whereabouts, eliminating the need to send a text or make a phone call."
To use Glympse, drivers need the app installed on an iOS or Android-based smartphone. The car automatically recognizes the app when the phone is Bluetooth®-paired or USB-connected. With Glympse activated, drivers simply need to press the SYNC voice button on the steering wheel and say, "Send Glympse." Users can send a Glympse to a friend's email or mobile number, or to Facebook and Twitter.
Recipients of the Glympse can then monitor the vehicle's progress and ETA via a real-time dynamic map, on either a smartphone or desktop. After the user-defined time limit expires, the location is no longer updated.
"Glympse is a great example of how smartphone app integration with the car can help us make the driving experience more convenient for our customers, thus adding perceived value to their vehicle," said Julius Marchwicki, global product manager for Ford SYNC AppLink. "By teaming up with an innovative company like Glympse, we are providing our customers with a dynamic way to share their location while removing the need to take their eyes off the road or hands off the steering wheel to pick up their smartphone."
Glympse, on both iPhone and Android devices, is now compatible with Ford SYNC AppLink. To download Glympse, visit www.Glympse.com/Get_Glympse.
SYNC AppLink is available on more than 1 million vehicles; it is available on 2013 Fiesta, Mustang, Expedition, Fusion, F-150, Super Duty, Focus, E-Series and C-MAX.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 172,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit http://corporate.ford.com.
Glympse ™ is the pioneer of person-to-person location sharing in real-time, for a set amount of time. With an intuitive design and enhanced features, such as Glympse Groups, the company easily integrates location sharing into everyday activities, meetings and events. Glympse has partnered with several top-tier companies who have integrated Glympse functionality into their products and applications. The company is backed by Menlo Ventures and Ignition Partners and has raised $7.5 million.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
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Dear friends, today, on April 12, GS Group holding company is celebrating its 27th anniversary!
GS Group has announced the start of mass production of the first solid state drives of its own design. The complete production cycle is to be carried out at the Technopolis GS innovation cluster (the GS Group Investment Project in Gusev, Kaliningrad oblast), where output capacity can reach more than one million devices a year. By the end of 2018 GS Group will have brought to market a line of solid-state disks with a capacity of 1 TB for various uses.
GS Group at the CSTB.Telecom & Media-2018 exhibition presented their proprietary smart home system, based on a digital television set-top box. The solution is aimed at pay-TV operators and the first to install this system and offer services to their subscribers through it will be the major Russian digital TV operator, Tricolor TV.
GS Group has created a new-generation TV set-top box - the first Android™-powered TV set-top box developed and produced in Russia. This new device under the brand General Satellite is a far departure from rank-and-file TV, turning your television into a true multimedia centre offering a wide range of tools and services. The capabilities of the new set-top box are on show at the CSTB. Telecom & Media-2018 exhibition. GS Group is planning to introduce a line of similar devices for Russian telecoms operators in the near future.


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Ding-dong, the diet’s dead! Or it’s at least getting there. The percentage of Americans who are dieting is at an all-time low, according to The NPD Group, a consumer market research company.
Only 19 percent of American adults are currently dieting, down from 20 percent last year. Dieting peaked in 1991 (about one-third of Americans were doing it at the time). But today, dieting is at its lowest rate since The NPD Group started tracking it three decades ago.
More From Women's Health
“That doesn’t mean that people aren’t concerned with losing weight or don’t pay attention to what they put in their body,” says Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, who notes that the percentage of people who want to lose 20-plus pounds remains pretty steady. People are just turning to healthy-eating strategies—noshing on whole grains, organic varieties, and unprocessed foods—as opposed to using the D word. “There are so many new ways of addressing our health that aren’t diets,” he says.
And we’ll probably all end up slimmer (and healthier!) for it. After all, sustainable lifestyle changes will always lead to longer-lasting results than crash diets will. Plus, research suggests that losing weight won't make you happier in the long term, so prioritizing health over weight loss is a much saner and all-around better-for-you way to live.


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What’s Up Snapchat?
Social media is an advertiser’s dream: a huge, actively engaged audience that’s sorted by demographic and lifestyle choices. This weekend another platform called Snapchat will take the plunge into social media advertising, permitting paid advertisements to users.
Snapchat works by allowing users to take and send pictures to each other that will appear for up to 10 seconds. Then, theoretically, the picture disappears forever. These “view-once” pictures are not necessarily deleted off the phone, however, a revelation that caused controversy when recently discovered. They’ve also come under fire for facilitating sexting by creating the illusion of temporary photos.
Up until now, Snapchat has only used social media advertising to promote itself, sending out periodic updates to users that highlight new features and perks. But they’re now launching ads to users that will appear in the “recent updates” section.
What sets this social media advertising campaign apart from others is that users have the option to choose to view the ads or not, and the ads will disappear after they’ve been viewed. It’s a sort of subtle indictment of the advertising campaigns of neighboring Facebook and Twitter, which forces users to see ads in their newsfeed. Snapchat even added in a company blog post that forcing users to see ads would be “totally rude.”
They also won’t be using members’ data to find the best target audience for ads, saying instead they hope to create a fun throwback to an era before “creepy and targeted” ads.
This new advertising platform has the potential to revolutionize Los Angeles digital marketing. As Snapchat pointed out, creating ads that are less targeted and more generalized requires greater creativity and innovation. Los Angeles social media users will also have the ultimate power to view or ignore ads, which will swing the pendulum away from the advertisers and back towards the users.
According to Tech Times, about 50 percent of Snapchat users are under the age of 17. Los Angeles digital marketing firms will now be tasked with creating content that appeals to younger users without alienating the other, older half of the audience. With over 700 million stories sent daily, there’s certainly plenty of audience to go around.
The rise of Snapchat from a 2011 startup to one of the most popular social media platforms today is evidence of a revolution that will dramatically affect Los Angeles digital marketing. Day by day, Los Angeles social media marketing is rising to the forefront of the most effective ways for advertisers to reach their audiences. Instead of relying on traditional print media, social media platforms will be the advertising medium of the future.
Companies like Bright Age will be the go-to places for advertisers looking to access the Los Angeles social media advertising market. As a digital creative agency passionate about social media, search engine optimization and digital marketing, Bright Age has the social media experience to build online brand awareness and engagement.


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In a keynote speech at the Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference, Doug Grose, AMD (NYSE: AMD) senior vice president for Manufacturing, Technology Development & Supply Chain Management, outlined a number of steps the company has taken to improve its manufacturing efficiency and customer-responsiveness.
As part of a company-wide initiative, AMD has applied Lean techniques, used successfully by Toyota, Porsche and others, to reduce waste and drive efficiencies across its operations. Combining these practices with proprietary tools like its Automated Precision Manufacturing (APM) factory floor control system, AMD has significantly increased the speed, accuracy and agility of its chip fabrication, assembly and test.
"Our industry is simultaneously facing new demands and constraints. Consumers want new products faster with a greater variety of functions, while chip manufacturers bear the cost to develop and produce the underlying technology,” Dr. Grose explained. “Efficiency has become more important than ever in meeting customer demands and staying competitive."
The traditional industry approach to improve manufacturing efficiency has been to introduce new technologies, such as smaller circuit sizes or larger wafers, to increase throughput. In addition to pursuing these improvements, AMD has increased its focus on improving the process of manufacturing itself. For example, preliminary studies at the company’s Dresden facility show that significant reductions in manufacturing cycle time can be realized by reducing the size of the wafer lots that move through the line.
Lower cycle time means that ideas move from design to product to market faster, allowing companies to realize revenue more quickly and react to market demand more effectively. It also allows chip producers to be more flexible between high and low volume orders, which has become critical as different chip products have proliferated.
"AMD has put a number of the long-held assumptions about how to gain efficiency to question, and we’ve found some very interesting ways to approach the problem," said Dr. Grose. "AMD is looking for ways to cut waste and drive value to our customers - it's an approach based on Lean fundamentals."
The application of Lean principles has improved AMD manufacturing operations across the board. In its Singapore assembly & test operations, this has resulted in chip output increasing by 75,000 units per line annually, lowering cycle time by 25 percent and cutting production time nearly in half across all product segments. Further, reductions of 94 percent in material transport and 95 percent in lead time have also been realized by linking together previously unassociated processes. Similarly, a 20 percent increase in productivity was obtained in AMD's Penang plant, along with a 60 percent reduction in lead time with a 17 percent increase in productivity at the company's Suzhou plant.


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Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, led Tokyo's largest and most important business delegation to Israel for three days in order to strengthen bilateral economic ties. Some 150 representatives of 90 leading Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi, Toshiba and Hitachi, accompanied Mr. Seko on his visit to Israel to attend meetings of the Japan Innovation Network for Israel (JIIN), established in May 2017 to advance and strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.
This is Seko’s second visit to the Hebrew state as a Minister of Economy. He met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen and participated in various events aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries. The JIIN network meetings were held on Tuesday in Jerusalem and included an economic forum led by Seko and Cohen.
Throughout the week, the two ministers of Economy discussed the strengthening of economic ties, further cooperation and the work plan for 2019.The visit “is another milestone in strengthening economic relations between Israel and one of the world’s most important Economys,” said the Israeli minister. “Such cooperation will advance the Israeli economy for many years to come,” he added.
Japanese investments have totaled $3.5 billion over the past five years
Israel and Japan are experiencing unprecedented trade and economic relations. The number of Japanese companies investing and operating in Israel has considerably increased in recent years. Japanese investments have totaled $3.5 billion over the past five years, including transactions such as the acquisition of the Israeli company NeuroDerm by Mitsubishi Tannabe Pharma in 2017 for $1.17 billion, the acquisition of Altair in 2016 by Sony and the Softbank Group’s $200 million investment in Israeli companies.
The number of Japanese companies that have opened offices in Israel has exceeded 70. Israeli-Japanese relations have rapidly strengthened in recent years, and during the next visit, the two ministers of Economy are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding in the field of digital health and advance bilateral cooperation in cyberspace and the automotive industry. “This delegation is the result of a sustained activity by the Israeli and Japanese economic ministries to promote economic relations between Israel and Japan, and we are pleased to see these efforts bear fruit,” said Noa Asher, the economic attaché of Japan’s Foreign Trade Administration.
Israeli exports to Japan in the first three quarters of 2018 amounted to $870 million, an increase of 46% over the same period in 2017. Israeli imports from Japan amounted to $1.51 billion during this period, which is a 7% increase since 2017.


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Winner of the 2021 Powerful Leaders Award
Satya Nadella, in full Satya Narayana Nadella, (born August 19, 1967, Hyderabad, India), Indian-born business executive who was CEO of the computer software company Microsoft. He ushered the company into a new era of openness and innovation, growing Microsoft’s cloud computing business, promoting cross-platform collaboration and overseeing the launch of inventive products. Nadella, who previously was the firm’s top cloud computing executive, owns more than 1.6 million shares of Microsoft, according to FactSet, making him one of the company’s largest individual shareholders. His stake was worth more than $450 million based on Wednesday’s all-time high price.