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Resort joins movement, removes grouper fish from menu
24 September, 2014, 12:00 am
THE InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa has become the first in the country to join the For Fiji (4FJ) movement by pledging not to serve kawakawa and donu fish in its menu.
Resort area general manager Erik Stuebe said the hotel took its corporate responsibility seriously.
“We stand by our commitment to protect Fiji’s oceans, Fiji’s livelihood, and Fiji’s future,” Mr Stuebe said.
“We hope our participation in this campaign will encourage other resorts to join this cause, because as a sector, we have a tremendous opportunity to give back to the people of Fiji.”
Commonly known locally as kawakawa and donu, they are an important source of protein, are commercially valuable and are an integral part of Fiji’s culture.
The 4FJ campaign was launched in March as a grassroots movement asking people from all walks of life across the country to not eat, buy or sell these fish types during their peak breeding months.


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Those looking forward to the next iteration of Apple’s world-conquering smartphone might have to wait a little longer.
DigiTimes reports that the eagerly awaited iPhone 5 may be delayed after a problem has been detected with some of the device’s touch panels produced by Wintek.
The site’s sources claim a "delayed bubble" has formed on many of the models. This is apparently difficult to avoid during production and hard to detect before the touch panels are laminated.
However, Wintek claims that the similarities between the manufacturing process for iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 means that the problem can be resolved quickly. The company produces between 20 and 25 per cent of the touch panels used in the iPhone 5.
The new iPhone is expected to be unveiled and released in October. Reports suggest Apple is planning to ship up to 26m units in Q4 2011.

domain: news


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Pakistan will earn more dollars than its total expenditure
- According to a report, Pakistan’s trade deficit is likely to narrow further by the end of the financial year.
- The figure is that by the end of the financial year, the volume of Pakistan’s imports is 50 billion.
- Its record high foreign exchange earnings are reducing its dependence on Pakistan’s external debt.
For the first time after decades , pakistan will earn more dollars
1.5 billion for the first time in years compared to Pakistan’s trade expenditure
Earn dollars. Economists continue to hear the good news of a huge increase in remittances and exports from Pakistan. According to a report, Pakistan’s trade deficit is likely to narrow further by the end of the financial year.
The figure is that by the end of the financial year, the volume of Pakistan’s imports is 50 billion. The combined volume of remittances and exports is 52 billion. It has been reported that remittances are 27 billion while the volume of exports is also 24 billion but this is unlikely. In March, Pakistan’s exports reached an all-time high.
In the first nine months of the financial year, the largest share of 18 billion has been spent on coat exports so far. The volume of other remittances is also steadily increasing. During the first 8 months of the fiscal year, they benefited from remittances of 2 2 billion per month. In the first eight months of the current financial year, Pakistan Coke has received remittances of 18 18 billion.
Similarly, it is likely that years later, Pakistan will have an annual economic agreement that is 100,000 of trade costs.
According to economists, its record high foreign exchange earnings are reducing its dependence on Pakistan’s external debt. The Ministry of Economy also continued to talk at a time when the economic outlook in the Pakistani economy was very high.
According to the report, industrial and agricultural production has improved, tax revenue and remittances have increased, foreign exchange reserves have crossed 20 20 billion and the stock exchange index has crossed 46,000 points. The rate is possible to be reduced from 8.2% to 7.3%.
Also checkout: World Bank Signed 7 Project Agreements Worth 1.336 Billion


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Get ready for 2014's Google I/O by looking back at some of the biggest moments and announcements from previous years.
A new change in the Google I/O agenda could have some Android fans very excited.
Google I/O is almost here, and while everyone is focused on the big announcements, we take a look at four small annoyances that are long overdue for a fix in the stock version of Android.
Android Police writes that the company will soon introduce "questing" abilities to the mobile games portal, among other features.
Spoiler alert! Android’s new dialer in 4.4.3, deploying to some devices now, reveals a new design direction.
An increased emphasis on wearables, the living room, and even cars will likely define the keynote of Google's annual developer conference.
Sounds pretty convenient!
A Google developer advocate spells out some more information about how users will interact with Android Wear.
It's probably not coming here, but Samsung just announced its first smartphone with a quadHD display.
It's still not free, but for just $2 how can you go wrong with Garmin Viago?


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Hacks and breaches happen quite often that sometimes it's not surprising to hear that something has been hacked. However, when almost half of Canada's population could be affected it's a big deal. A LifeLabs data breach has put the personal information of 15 million Canadians at risk.
LifeLabs, the leading medical lab test provider in Canada, announced that it recently found out about a cyberattack that allowed hackers to gain access to its computer systems, which stored customer information.
The information on the 15 million Canadians they have includes the names, addresses, emails, logins, passwords, dates of birth, health card numbers, and lab test results.
Of the people who could've had their information accessed, the majority are in Ontario and B.C. with only a few customers in other locations in Canada.
According to LifeLabs, the risk to customers resulting from this cyberattack are low and that its cybersecurity firms haven't found any customer data put out online.
To get the data back, a payment was made with the approval of experts who are familiar with cyberattacks and negotiations with cybercriminals.
"I want to say I am sorry that this happened. As we manage through this issue, my team and I remain focused on the best interests of our customers. You entrust us with important health information, and we take that responsibility very seriously," said Charles Brown, president and CEO of LifeLabs, in an open letter about the data breach.
For lab test results that could've been accessed by hackers, investigations by LifeLabs show that there are 85,000 impacted customers located in Ontario from 2016 or earlier.
Also, the investigations show that any instance of health card information being accessed was from 2016 or earlier.
"While we've been taking steps over the last several years to strengthen our cyber defenses, this has served as a reminder that we need to stay ahead of cybercrime which has become a pervasive issue around the world in all sectors," said Brown.
LifeLabs has jumped into action to fix this problem by securing the affected data systems, strengthening systems so that nothing happens again, working with investigating law enforcement, and offering cybersecurity protection to its customers.
Even though the system issues that allowed the hackers to get in have been fixed and more safeguards have been put in place, this still isn't something that anybody wants to hear.
If your lab test results were impacted, LifeLabs will be contacting you directly.


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Recently, GDT sat down with NetApp’s Director of GSI Solutions Engineering, Lee Howard. Here’s what he had to say about the future of NetApp, FlexPod, and more.
As it stands today, digital alternatives to in-person interactions and enhanced safety procedures for in-person interactions are the only ways to prevent customer frustration and lost business. How can retailers evolve the way they conduct business to not just survive but thrive in the current environment and beyond?
Sometimes we get so caught up in the labels, individual products, and all the “Something-as-a-Service” offerings that we lose sight of the basic principles of cloud computing. Below is a brief refresher on “the cloud” and a discussion around which of the four main cloud environment types could be right for your business.


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Search engine giant Google will soon debut ‘Buy On Google’ buttons on its search pages that are viewed on smartphones. The step will be taken to create seamless shopping experiences for the smartphone users.
With this, if the search engine manages to pull all the users on the mobile devices then all the customers will be taken away from other giants like Amazon. Under Armour and Staples are the companies which have already got the feature that started on July 15, 2015. The shoppers click on the but button promoted by Google, they are transferred to the product page hosted by Google and pay with the information that has already been saved in their account.
Earlier the shoppers were directed from the search result listing to the website of the retailer. The users are forced t0 navigate on a new page and they might not have a user friendly shopping interfaces. The feature will be among many of the upgrades that are detailed in a post of Google’s AdWords blog. It will help the companies to place ads on Google’s search result pages.
The new feature will be targeted to the mobile devices like the ads that get bigger when swiped. Jonathan Alferness, the vice president of Google Shopping said that not many people head to the shopping malls as shopping can now be done anytime anywhere.
Photo Credits: techtimes


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The IOUpay Ltd (ASX: IOU) share price has been a strong performer on Tuesday morning.
At the time of writing, the Malaysia-based buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares are up 13% to 68.5 cents.
Why is the IOUpay share price charging higher?
Investors have been buying IOUpay shares following the release of an announcement this morning.
According to the release, the company has entered into a Merchant Referral Agreement with iPay88. The agreement will see IOUpay provide iPay88’s merchants and end-user customers with BNPL payment services.
IOUpay advised that the two parties have entered into a one-year renewable term. Positively, there is no consideration paid by IOUpay to iPay88 for entering into this agreement.
What is iPay88?
The release explains that iPay88 is the dominant online payments brand in Malaysia.
In 2020, its merchants processed over 360 million transactions across iPay88’s payment gateway network with a total transaction value (TTV) of approximately A$10 billion.
This represents 50% of the total online transaction and payment market in Malaysia, as reported by iPay88 on 16 November 2020.
The iPay88 network currently services more than 45,000 online merchants and 20,000 in-store merchants in Malaysia. It also has operations firmly established across the South East Asian (SEA) markets of Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.
IOUpay and iPay88 will commence integrating systems with BNPL payment processing capabilities in March. After which, the onboarding of merchants and approved customers is planned for April.
The release advises that the merchant onboarding and rollout will initially consist of selected priority merchants for quality control purposes.
IOUpay’s CEO, Mr Khong Kok Loong, commented: “iPay88 are the clear market leader in the online payments industry in Malaysia with a strong presence across South East Asia. We are delighted to be partnering with iPay88 in this landmark deal to rollout our BNPL offering to merchants and consumers and are committed to building a long term strategic relationship”.


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Langton Capital – 2015-10-14 – Marston’s Q4, Domino’s Q3, Diageo disposal & other:
A Day in the Life:
Follow us on Twitter at either @langtoncapital or @brumbymark.
For previous emails, check out here
So I’ve decided that, if you want to look smart and in control of a situation, you should never come between a dog and its food.
Yes, the experts will tell you, you should occasionally take the dog’s nosh away from it mid-munch in order to prove to it who’s boss but, at the end of the day, how many fingers have these people got left?
I think that, if you took a couple of dozen or so of them, the average would be less than ten and, whilst some will go all pedantic on me re thumbs not being fingers, I don’t want to have less than my starting number of digits any earlier than can be avoided and, at the end of the day, why run through a dynamite factory with a match, even if you think there’s only a one in a thousand chance you’ll stumble, pitch the blazing instrument into a pile of explosives and blow yourself to kingdom come?
Anyway, talking about conflicted emotions, the market doesn’t seem to know whether it’s in a bull or a bear phase at the moment. On to the news:
Marston’s Q4 & FY Trading Update: Year to 3 Oct 2015:
Marston’s has this morning updating on trading for its full year to 3 Octopber and our comments are set out below:
Destination & Premium:
In Destination and Premium, LfL sales were up 1.8% (a slight increase on the position at week 41)
LfL food sales were up 1.7% and drink sales were also up 1.7% suggesting that other income, accommodation & machines, performed well
Marston’s says ‘in the last 11 weeks of the period, like-for-like sales have grown 2.2%.’
The group says ‘operating margin is ahead of last year’
Marston’s adds ‘we completed 25 new pub-restaurants in the financial year just ended’
Marston’s concludes re the near future ‘in the 2016 Financial Year we plan to open at least 20 Destination pub-restaurants, two Revere sites and five Lodges.’
It adds ‘we have a good pipeline of sites to maintain similar levels of expansion for the foreseeable future.’
In Taverns Marston’s reports LfL sales for year were +2.0% and says it saw ‘growth of 3.1% in the last 11 weeks.’
‘in the last 10 weeks of the period, like-for-like sales were up 2.0%.’
The group says ‘our franchise business, which now operates around 550 sites, continues to perform strongly as we evolve and develop the business model’
In Leased Marston’s estimates profits to be +4% against last year
At w41, the group said leased profits were in line with last year, suggesting that the last 11wks or so have been very strong
In Brewing Marston’s is able to report ‘our strong brand portfolio, supplemented by the acquisition of the Thwaites’ beer brands, has performed well’.
Ex-Thwaites, own-brand beer volumes were +5% compared to last year. Including Thwaites, volumes are +15%.
Assets, Debt, Balance Sheet & Other:
Marston’s does not comment on net debt or cash flow
Re its pension liabilities, it is able to say post its triennial valuation that ‘we have agreed a reduction in cash contributions from the current £13m to £7.5m per annum.’
CEO Ralph Findlay reports ‘the Group has made good progress in the last year, with underlying growth in all of the business segments.’
He says ‘our new pub-restaurants, premium pubs and lodges have all performed well and we have good visibility over the site pipeline to underpin our future growth.’
The group is now through its disposal problem. It says ‘we have substantially completed our disposal programme of smaller wet-led pubs’ and adds ‘these actions, together with the success of franchise, have significantly transformed our pub business over the last three years.’
Mr Findlay adds ‘in brewing, the integration of the Thwaites’ brewing business has gone well, and we are well placed to continue to exploit the market growth in premium and craft beers and ongoing growth in the off-trade.’
The group will report FY numbers on 26 November
Langton Comment: Marston’s has confirmed that trading continues to be in line with expectations.
Indeed the group is performing somewhat more strongly than the industry as a whole (per the Peach Tracker) and it is able to 1) add that its margins are rising and 2) confirm that sales in the last 11wks of the period have been ahead of the prior 41wks.
We believe that the rugby is broadly neutral, that the cool weather over the summer has not been unduly damaging and that big days remain important.
That said, Marston’s has disposed of its bottom-end units and now operates a markedly better estate. It has evolved and remains relevant to and for its customers.
We see the balance sheet as robust and the new site pipeline in secure.
With that in mind, we would suggest that a PER of 12.1x falling to 11.2x is not overly demanding. The group’s shares yield 4.6% (rising to 4.8%) and we believe that Marston’s, transformed in terms of quality as it is, should be capable of delivering double-digit EPS growth into the medium term.
Pub, Restaurant & Drinks Producer News:
• Domino’s Q3 update, says ‘strong sales momentum continues’. Says is ‘building on the already successful first half.’
• Domino’s Q3: UK system sales +14.9%, y-t-d system sales +11.8%. Group sales in Q3 £214.5m (+19.4%).
• Domino’s Q3: Says ‘trading in our core UK business was particularly robust driven by our continued investment in digital, now focussed on mobile.’
• Domino’s revenue through digital +35% v Q3 last year with >75% of delivered sales in y-t-d have been online. More than half of digital orders are placed through the app on android or IOS devices. Says it has benefited from its sponsorship of Hollyoaks.
• Domino’s says ‘sales were also helped by relatively poor weather during the summer months’ It opened 12 new stores in Q3 and has opened 33 in the y-t-d. it will open a minimum of 50 in the full year.’ The group says ‘we are very encouraged by the third quarter results in Ireland where we are also seeing an increasing trend towards digital ordering and the benefits of the continued economic recovery.’ It adds ‘in Germany and Switzerland the Group has continued to focus its efforts on improving service to enhance store level performance. Whilst the results are encouraging there still remains a lot to do to improve the overall performance of these businesses.’
• Domino’s says ‘given the strong performance of the business in Q3 + solid start to Q4’ numbers will be ‘ahead of its expectations.’ CEO David Wild says ‘we are delighted by this performance as our UK business goes from strength to strength, reflecting the success of our strategic and marketing initiatives. It represents the eighth consecutive quarter of double digit like for like sales growth as we continue to focus on delivering great food with great service, using our best in class digital platforms.’ He goes on to say ‘our international businesses also continue to show encouraging signs of improvement’ and concludes ‘we enter the final quarter of the year with good momentum, are confident of beating our previous expectations for the full year and remain excited about our longer term growth prospects.’
• Diageo agrees to sell major wine interests to Treasury Wine Estates for $552m. Net proceeds c£320m after costs + taxes. Says ‘the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete around the end of the calendar year.’ CEO Ivan Menezes adds ‘Diageo’s strategy is to drive stronger, sustained performance through focus on our core portfolio and today’s announcement is another element of that strategy in action. Wine is no longer core to Diageo and this sale gives us greater focus.’ He adds ‘with the completion of this transaction Diageo will have released £1 billion from the sale of non-core assets since the start of the financial year. This proactive portfolio approach has focused the business, enhanced our financial strength, improved our returns and strengthened the business, positioning us even more firmly to deliver our
• Smashburger sells 40% stake to Jollibee Foods of Philipines for $100m. Values Smashburger at c$335m. The operator, which has 335 restaurants in 35 states and in seven countries, said that the agreement would help it accelerate its international expansion, but that the short term focus remained on US growth. Smashburger was started in Denver in 2007. The WSJ labels it as ‘among a group of relatively new chains that have been taking on established fast-food operators by touting fresh and natural ingredients.’ It is the second largest of the “better burger” companies in terms sites behind Five Guys, which has more than 1,000 outlets.
• Imbiba-backed Wright + Bell recruits Jayne Baker, former retail director at M+B, as managing director. M+C reports that the group is to comprise ‘a new restaurant, bar and bakery concept.’ A first outlet has been secured near Moorgate, which will feature a bar, restaurant, artisanal bakery and a coffee shop. Two further sites are said to be in the pipeline.
• LVMH, world-leading group in luxury products has recorded positive financial growth, reaching €25.3bn for the first nine months of 2015. Organic growth this quarter has been particularly strong in the Wines & Spirits category, with growth at +16% compared to a total first half reporting of +2%.
• Jason Myers-led Busaba Eathai has secured a site in Liverpool to join its other site in the north west in Manchester, reports M&C. The group, which currently has 12 units, will open at 53-55 Hanover Street.
• The M&C also writes that John Derkach, former chief executive of Tragus Group, has become chairman of Lyceum Capital-backed EAT.
• Scientists from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel have said a glass of red wine a day could help fight type 2 diabetes.
• More than 300 people have invested in Square Pie on Crowdcube as the operator looks to open four new branches in 2016.
• Chris Snowdon, of the IEA, has argued that sugar taxes rarely work and that the market effectively addresses such issues on its own. Snowdon cited the proliferation of zero sugar fizzy drinks as an example of companies adapting to evolving consumer tastes.
Holidays & Leisure Travel:
• Some 23% of UK consumers expect to spend more on their holidays next year, according to a study of 2,000 UK adults for Abta. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: ‘This summer saw some very difficult conditions with the appalling terrorist attack in Tunisia and the economic and political issues around the Mediterranean. It’s a reflection of the resilient nature of the British holidaymaker that these events don’t appear to have discouraged people from taking overseas holidays with consumer confidence continuing to return to the market as we look ahead to 2016.’
• Jeremy Corbyn reportedly expects Labour MPs to oppose a third runway at Heathrow, warning of the government’s ‘dreadful record on air quality’. The Independent reports that Corbyn has called for Labour to make air pollution a key campaign issue.
• The Cox & Kings Group has confirmed its acquisition of Tui’s LateRooms in a deal worth £8.5 million as part of its expansion strategy. LateRooms’ site draws from 54,800 properties around the world and has an active customer database of 3.5 million. In the year ending 30 September the group had around 93 million online visits generating total transaction value of £300m and net revenues of £50m.
Finance & Markets:
• ONS figures show CPI inflation fell to -0.1% in September as a result of smaller clothing price rises and falling fuel prices. The CPI rate has been at or close to zero for most of 2015 and was last in negative territory in April. The Retail Prices Index (RPI) fell to 0.8% in September, from 1.1% in August.
• Property prices in England rose by 5.6% in the 12 months to the end of August, compared to 2.9% in Northern Ireland, 0.8% in Wales and -0.9% in Scotland. The average UK house price has now risen to £284,000. Richard Snook, senior economist at accountants PwC, said: ‘The figures show a robust housing market, providing further ammunition for those calling for an interest rate rise in the near term. With inflation likely to rise over the coming months as last winter’s energy price decline drops out of the equation, we expect pressure to continue to build on the Monetary Policy Committee.’
• Fed may find it awkward to raise rates in Oct says St Louis Fed President James Bullard. Oct was never on the cards for most observers. Bullard sais ‘it is very tough for the committee to make a big decision and then change it after only one meeting. Roughly speaking the data has not been that different from what would have been expected, and the jobs report was weaker.’
• World markets: UK down yesterday, Europe also weaker. US markets down in later trade and Far East down in Weds trade
• Oil below $50 again, trading at around $48.30 per barrel. US inventory data is published later today
Retail Roundup from Nick Bubb:
Today’s Press and News: The main talking point in the papers today is the news that Asda has poached Roger Burnley from Sainsbury to be its new COO, and, though he will be kept out of the market for a year on gardening leave, the FT and Telegraph both flag that the move has been made with CEO succession in mind, with the beleaguered CEO Andy Clarke likely to be moved on in 2/3 years time. Nick Bubb – email@example.com
This was produced for distribution yesterday afternoon: So the trading day is grinding to a close. We’re another day older but are we any wiser? After a day of intensive head-scratching, pen flipping and gossip, we have been considering the following:
SAB / AB InBev:
• So that’s one uncertainty out of the way, SAB’s management has entered negotiations.
• That just leaves Altria & BevCo to agree (that’s likely) and the competition authorities to also okay the deal.
• The latter is not nailed down but – and AB InBev’s directors are betting $3bn of their shareholders’ money on this being the case – agreement (subject to acceptable disposals) is likely.
• Then there’s the time value of money for an uncertain period.
• All of the above suggests to us that a price of c£41 or so would be about right at the current time.
• SAB shares are trading at around £39.50 at the moment. The wheels could drop off, of course but, at this price, the shares could still be attractive.
• AB InBev did raise the question, we forget whether it was in its first, second, third, fourth or fifth approach to SAB – it certainly can’t be faulted for its persistence – as to what price SAB’s shares would trade at ex a bid.
• The latter have traded around £37.50 on a number of occasions and the wider market has since fallen by around 7%.
• Arithmetically, this would suggest around £35 but, if the bid were to fail, then by definition the largest potential purchaser (of SAB) would have been removed from the market and the latter’s shares could fall below this indicated level.
• Hence if there’s a 70% chance of £44 and a 30% chance of, say £33 – then the shares are ‘worth’ £40.70.
• But that, of course, is like saying the average height of a group comprising basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and my nine-year old daughter what’s-her-name is 5’6”. The answer is both 100% right and, arguably, 100% misleading.
Retail sales numbers; good, but not that good:
• September’s retail sales numbers are the best for nearly 2yrs.
• But, factoring in the ultra-late August Bank Holiday, which may have accounted for around a 2% to 3% pickup (see Mr Bubb’s comments this morning), the numbers are arguably a shade disappointing.
• If food retail was down by around 1.2% then non-food retail must have been up by between 6% and 6.5%, which is more gratifying.
Random information, hopefully not all of it useless (re most leisure operators etc.):
• Sterling down in recent weeks against the Euro. Perhaps those changing their holiday money at around 144c to the pound back in the summer had the best of it. Rate now hovering around 134c. The move is unlikely to put too many people off their holidays but, on the margin, it does make a difference.
• Markets a bit juvenile in the short term. Oil price down, price of Carnival and TUI up. It is what it is.
• The merged Park Resorts / Parkdean will be a big old beast, perhaps £1bn in equity value. Might an IPO be on the cards in due course?
• China imports have now fallen for 11mths in a row.
• Germany looks as though it is leading the Eurozone back into deflation.
• Tesco shares are up 20% on a fortnight. See our Langton FRI comments earlier.


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By John Colson
Sopris Sun Staff Writer
Carbondale’s citizen planners have put off making any recommendations regarding a proposed City Market grocery store project, known as the Carbondale Marketplace on the west side of Highway 133, following an initial public hearing on Jan. 21.
The matter was continued until the next meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), on Feb 4.
At the Jan. 21 meeting, according to town planner Janet Buck, four members of the public were present for the public hearing.
The project owner, the Kroger/King Soopers grocery chain that owns Colorado’s City Market stores, plans to build a new, 58,000-square-foot grocery store; roughly 7,000 square feet of connected retail spaces; and a gas station kiosk with pumps, all on slightly less than eight acres northwest of the intersection of Main Street and Highway 133.
The development plan is contingent upon an agreement from the current owners to subdivide the larger, 23-acre parcel and to sell the 7.8-acre portion to Kroger/King Soopers.
Under the application before the P&Z, the 7.8-acre parcel is to be subdivided into five separate lots, two of which (lots 1 and 5, at the southern and northern end of the overall parcel) will not be developed under this plan.
Those two lots (roughly 14 acres), which still are owned by the limited liability corporation that proposed two earlier development projects on the site, are to be reserved for future uses, while lots 2, 3, and 4, which make up the central portion of the larger parcel, are to contain the development now being proposed.
Buck said the P&Z discussion included questions about how would patrons get from one to the other without having to go onto Highway 133, if lots 1 and 5 are to be developed in the future.
Discussion also focused on a proposed “three-quarter movement intersection” at Highway 133 and Nieslanik Avenue, at the northern end of the Carbondale Marketplace site, which would preclude Marketplace patrons’ turning left to go northbound on the highway.
Buck said the applicant proposed a traffic light at that intersection, “but that would have required a median in the new center lane of the highway,” she reported. “It also would have required closing three or four driveways on the east side of (Highway) 133,” she continued, which would restrict public access to businesses across the highway from the Carbondale Marketplace.
In her memo to the P&Z about the Marketplace proposal, Buck noted that the Colorado Department of Transportation has suggested instead that a future roundabout be planned for at least one of the access drives into the Marketplace project, perhaps at the Industry Way intersection with Highway 133.
In general, Buck told The Sopris Sun in an e-mail, there has been little opposition to the proposed relocation of City Market from its current spot in the existing Crystal Village Plaza shopping center.
The 23-acre site for the proposed new grocery store once was owned by Colorado Rocky Mountain School, but the school sold it in 1999.
Published in The Sopris Sun on January 28, 2016.


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A View from DMEXCO 2022 – Sustainability and the Challenge Ahead
After attending DMEXCO 2022, Business Director, Nicola Fox, shares her thoughts on the event, outlining the sustainability challenges ahead.
Digital Innovation: Balancing Growth and Sustainability
Last week marked DMEXCO’s comeback to Cologne with many of the industry’s top minds getting together to chat all things digital media, data, and tech. Presenters spoke enthusiastically about the exciting innovations taking place, with talks on the future of AI, web3, and of course everyone’s favourite buzzword of the moment, the metaverse, pulling in particularly large crowds. The developments on the horizon are exciting, if not a little daunting, but what became an evident theme across the event was that with such ambitious growth comes increased responsibility to understand the environmental impact of our work to future-proof our industry.
One session tackled this challenge head on, with Andrew Hayward-Wright, Sustainability Advisor at IAB Europe stating that with the digital advertising industry accountable for 2% of carbon emissions, the time to act is now. If the internet were a country, it would be the 5th largest global polluter (in line with Japan) and as damaging to our planet as the aviation industry.
If that wasn’t worrying enough, our footprint is only set to grow. Internet usage is anticipated to increase by at least 40% every year until 2030. Even Gen Z, coined the ‘climate-conscious generation’, are one of the highest consumers of online digital content, so it’s clear that the change must happen from within. What’s more, the digital ad industry is growing too, contributing CO2 emissions equivalent to 45 million passenger cars every year. That’s an average of 5.4 tonnes of CO2 per campaign, so we all have a role to play.
The good news is that a positive change is happening and much of the innovation discussed across the conference was geared towards providing brands with more sustainable ways to interact with their consumers. Snap focused on the role for AR technology in reducing customer returns. In the UK, 1 in 3 online fashion purchases are sent back and the sad reality is that a significant proportion is diverted to landfill. Snap anticipate that AR lenses which enable consumers to try before they buy could reduce returns by up to 80%.
The development of solutions like this, as Ellie Bamford, Global Head of Media & Connections at R/GA presented, are being driven by a shift in scrutiny. 78% of consumers expect the companies they buy from to have a positive social impact and over half of us will boycott a brand if we think their business practices are unethical. This information is easily accessible, consumers are aware, and they’re voting with their wallets. Now, more so than ever, everything brands do matters. It’s not just about what they say, but how they show up, and where they buy their media. Responsibility is key to success.
As OOH experts who operate in the public realm, here at Talon we recognise our role in protecting our planet and helping our clients to activate sustainably as the sector continues to digitise. We recently joined the IPA Media Climate Action Charter to support the industry’s transition to a zero-carbon future. As part of our continued commitment to sustainability, we have also launched a Sustainability Squad who are working to ensure that everything we do as a business is environmentally responsible.
As an industry, we have a big challenge ahead of us. We don’t have all the answers and whilst I’m not yet convinced that AR will ever solve the problem of ill-fitting jeans, what’s clear is that positive strides are being made. The time for change is now and the responsibility to identify robust measurement frameworks and sustainable solutions is on every one of us, for where innovation will take our industry over the next 10 years is entirely dependent on the decisions we make today.


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Verizon Communications (VZ) was Downgraded by Hilliard Lyons to ” Neutral”. Earlier the firm had a rating of “Buy ” on the company shares. Hilliard Lyons advised their investors in a research report released on Jul 27, 2016.
Many Wall Street Analysts have commented on Verizon Communications. Verizon Communications was Downgraded by Oppenheimer to ” Perform” on Jul 20, 2016.
On the company’s financial health, Verizon Communications reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the analyst consensus estimate by $ 0.01 according to the earnings call on Jul 26, 2016. Analyst had a consensus of $0.93. The company had revenue of $30532.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $30968.11 million. The company’s revenue was down -5.3 % compared to the same quarter last year.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 EPS.
Verizon Communications closed down -0.46 points or -0.83% at $54.86 with 1,06,65,079 shares getting traded on Thursday. Post opening the session at $55.2, the shares hit an intraday low of $54.64 and an intraday high of $55.21 and the price fluctuated in this range throughout the day.Shares ended Thursday session in Red.
In a different news, on Jun 28, 2016, Craig L. Silliman (EVP of PubPolicy & Gen Counsel) sold 672 shares at $54.56 per share price. According to the SEC, on Feb 26, 2016, Diego Scotti (EVP & Chief Marketing Officer) purchased 800 shares at $50.75 per share price. On Aug 11, 2015, Marni M Walden (EVP&Pres of Prod Innov&New Bus) sold 8,229 shares at $46.26 per share price, according to the Form-4 filing with the securities and exchange commission.
Verizon Communications Inc. (Verizon) is a holding company that acting through its subsidiaries provides communications information and entertainment products and services to consumers businesses and governmental agencies. Its segments include Wireless and Wireline. The Wireless segment includes the Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. Wireless communications products and services include wireless voice and data services and equipment sales which are provided to consumer business and government customers across the United States. Wirelines voice data and video communications products and services include broadband video and data corporate networking solutions data center and cloud services security and managed network services and local and long distance voice services. Verizon provides these products and services to consumers in the United States as well as to carriers businesses and government customers both in the United States and around the world.


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|Bid||0.0000 x 0|
|Ask||0.0000 x 0|
|Day's Range||2.6400 - 2.7192|
|52 Week Range||1.5000 - 2.8000|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||18.62|
|Dividend & Yield||N/A (N/A)|
|1y Target Est||N/A|
QINGDAO, China (AP) — After Haier Group bought the General Electric Co. appliance unit last year, the Chinese company's chairman says he gave its American managers unusual orders: Ignore me.
Haier Electronics Group Co. profit grew last year at the slowest pace since 2008 as a slumping economy eroded sales at the home appliances distributor and maker.
General Electric is making out even better on this deal than the one with Electrolux.


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As Canada’s Research in Motion gets ready to launch what may be the most important product in years—the PlayBook tablet—the company is saying goodbye to one of the people who would seem most critical to that launch: chief marketing officer Keith Pardy. Pardy joined the company in December 2009 and was responsible for overall BlackBerry brand marketing; he’d come to RIM from Nokia, and before that had a long career at Coca-Cola.
RIM has not yet named a successor for Pardy, although the company says he’ll be staying on for another six months to ease the transition to a new marketing leader. In a a statement from RIM indicates Pardy is leaving for personal reasons to “pursue other opportunities.”
Pardy’s departure should not have a tremendous impact on how RIM markets the PlayBook, which the company is expected to release in a WiFi-only edition in the coming weeks—by now, marketing plans for the device should be near the end of execution, and be well beyond any planning stages.
However, any new chief of marketing at RIM is going to have a tough job as the company struggles to compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platform: RIM was once the dominant force in smartphones, particularly among corporate, government, and enterprise users. Although RIM retains a substantial marketshare in those segments, the company has had little luck extending its smartphone platform to consumers, who seem to opt for Android and Apple devices…and then bring the into their corporate environments.
- Hurry! The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 laptop is insanely cheap right now
- Lenovo leaks the world’s first gaming Chromebook — but there’s a catch
- Best Apple deals and sales for October 2022
- The best mouse for Mac 2022
- The best cheap printers for 2022


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India is not against blockchain technology, but currencies have to be monitored by either the government or the central bank, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
See related article: India imposes money laundering regulations on crypto industry
- “[Blockchain] gives us so many options. It can be used in so many different ways. So we are not against the technology,” Sitharaman said at an event in Bengaluru.
- “But on currency, we think [it] has to be driven by either the government or the central bank. Otherwise, it can be like those that have collapsed, causing huge spillover effects all over the world, like FTX,” she said.
- The Reserve Bank of India, the nation’s central bank, has launched pilot trials for retail and wholesale central bank digital currencies. According to Sitharaman, the digital rupee intends to improve cross-border and bulk payments to minimize losses on arbitrage.
- India, the world’s most populous country, is aiming for a global consensus in regulating crypto assets.
- “Global order has become so interlinked that one country taking any step when it comes to regulating crypto assets will be ineffective because technology doesn’t care for boundaries or borders,” Sitharaman said.
- The South Asian nation is also looking to prepare students on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. It has announced the introduction of these topics in certain school curriculums from the next academic year.
- India has been tackling digital assets with caution. Last year, Sitharaman imposed a 30% flat tax on crypto income and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on crypto trades above 10,000 Indian rupees (US$122).
- India also does not allow crypto traders to offset losses against gains. It has introduced a penalty equal to TDS for non-deduction, interest of 15% annually for late payment, and even imprisonment of up to six months.
- India is currently the president of Group of 20, an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major economies, and has listed cryptocurrency and its regulation as one of the agendas for discussion.
- See related article: Common regulatory framework for crypto to come during India’s G20 presidency, finance minister says


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launch at the Bodog online casino
of the popular Bodog online casino now have one more perk to
enjoy at the gambling website. The online casino has announced a
new line of exclusive games for the players patronizing the
gambling website and the launch has begun with the first video
slot machine - Witches and Wizards and another one, Hydro Heat,
coming very soon. "Witches and Wizards kicks it off with a
magical theme, bringing spells and riches to the world of slots.
Hydro Heat will bring you on a sizzling summer vacation filled
with bikini clad girls and take care of that need for speed,"
representatives for the
Bodog online casino commented
for Online Gambling Paper.
A whole new line of such games is in the
works at the online casino and customer will be able to identify
the Bodog exclusive games by the diamond signs next to them,
pictured above. All the games carrying the elect sign at the
Bodog casino will not be found anywhere else and will offer the
players an exclusive shot at all the bonuses that come with
those original casino games. New graphics and sounds, original
storylines, new characters, and most importantly new ways to win
are some of the perks players at Bodog will enjoy this year.
Visit the online casino to check out the exclusive casino games
offered and open an account to get 10% bonus on your deposit


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- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Chicken Salad Chick launches cancer foundation
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Auburn's Chicken Salad Chick is growing fast.
Already two locations have been leased for the Birmingham area, with at least three more to come in the coming months.
This week, the fast-casual chain announced a new venture, one that is near and dear to the restaurant's owners and one they hope will make a difference.
Chicken Salad Chick has launched the Chicken Salad Chick Foundation, a partnership with the American Cancer Society, dedicated to finding a cure for cancer and helping those afflicted with the disease.
The cancer had aggressively spread to Brown's liver by the time the doctor's caught it.
Through the demanding treatment schedule, the Browns have managed to grow Chicken Salad Chick exponentially, and now they want to give back.
“From the moment of my diagnosis, I knew that contributing to finding a cure for this incredibly devastating disease was where our focus should be placed,” Kevin Brown said in a release this week. “We are also proud to concentrate on ending hunger in America. We feel that as a restaurant concept founded with an appreciation for health and family, feeding families in need closely aligns with who we are as an organization.”
Barclay Smith will join as the foundation's director.
The foundation's first campaign, Hunger Action Month, will be launched in September.
CSC Foundation, along with Chicken Salad Chick locations and their local food pantries, will join to feed their neighbors in need.
Coupon books will be sold to raise money for families fighting food insecurity in their respective communities.
Bryan Davis covers real estate, retail and manufacturing for the Birmingham Business Journal. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Tech new: Motorola launches Revou-Q premium QLED TVs in India for Rs 49,999, know their special features
Motorola has launched the Motorola Revou-Q premium TV range in India. The new TV range by Motorola is not a regular smart TV, the Motorola Revo-Q Premium TV comes equipped with a wireless gamepad making it an ideal choice for gamers. Interestingly, it is also the world's first QLED TV to come with a gamepad. The Motorola Revou-Q range has been introduced in 50-inch and 55-inch variants. Motorola TV is not new in the market, Lenovo-owned company has earlier launched Smart TV in the Indian market.
Motorola Revou-Q premium TV price
The Motorola Revo-Q range starts at Rs 49,999. It will be available for sale during the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale. Hari Ji Kumar, Vice President, Large Appliances, Flipkart, said, “As we approach the Big Billion Days, we want to ensure that our customers have access to industry-first and best offerings across a diverse product portfolio. To this endeavor, we are excited to strengthen our association with Motorola by introducing the world's first QLED TV with a gamepad and offering consumers an enhanced value proposition ahead of the festive season. These products are tailored to suit the evolving needs of Indian consumers and are designed to provide them with an immersive home entertainment and gaming experience".
Specifications of Motorola Revou-Q premium QLED TV
Motorola Revo-Q will be offered in two different screen sizes 50 and 55-inch. The Smart TV has Dolby Vision with HDR10 support powered by AutotuneX technology that will optimize brightness, color scale. The TV is powered by Realtek quad-core processor and Advan G31 MC2 GPU for blazing performance. It has an HDMI 2.1 port for connectivity, MEMC technology for a smoother visual experience, and a wireless gamepad.
The smart TV is equipped with 60W speakers with Dolby Atmos support that provides 360-degree surround sound. The smart TV runs on Android 11 out-of-the-box that supports over 7000 apps, including Google Duo and other video conferencing apps.
Talking about the new range of TVs, Prashant Mani, Executive Director, Motorola Asia Pacific said, “We are delighted to extend our partnership with Flipkart this festive season. Arab days. At Motorola, we have always believed in creating innovative products that deliver meaningful customer experiences, and our Revo-Q Smart TV series builds on this philosophy. Motorola Revo-Q Gaming QLED TV with class-leading features meets the growing need of Indian consumers for an exceptional home entertainment and gaming experience.


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I remember in the early days of analytics hearing a story about a beverage company that was perplexed about an annual spike in orange juice sales in upstate New York every late March and early April. By analyzing new data becoming available, the company was able to determine that the sales spike was coming from retirees returning from their winter homes in Florida for the season. Thus, they were able to adjust their promotions and stock store shelves based on a predictable trend.
If only business problems could be so simple anymore.
IBM just released the results of a study, based on interviews with more than 1,700 chief marketing officers, that confirms that the digital revolution has made their jobs much tougher. "New information and communication technologies are revolutionizing business by letting customers and citizens peer through corporate walls." Consumers expect more value, and they have more choices. Plus, they expect organizations to act in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. "With social media, anyone can become a publisher, broadcaster and critic."
Now, some better news: The same digital revolution provides "unprecedented opportunities to engage with customers." The only catch is organizations need to be able to effectively intercept and interpret vast quantities of data -- still a work in progress. In fact, the study report, 71% of CMOs admit they are "unprepared" for managing the coming data explosion. Another 68% report they haven't quite grasped the potential of social media.
What a couple of the CMO respondents had to say about the data explosion:
“'One of our biggest challenges is in data analysis. For the complexity and size of our organization, we are way behind,' a consumer products CMO in the United States admitted."
“'We’re drowning in data. What we lack are true insights,' a life sciences CMO in Switzerland commented. An energy and utilities CMO in the Netherlands put the problem even more bluntly: 'At this moment, I don’t know how our marketing department will cope with the expected data explosion.'”
Or the data explosion that's already here, for that matter. I have been involved with surveys recently that show one out of ten companies now manage and store more than a petabyte of data. That's 1,000 times bigger than the most massive database on the planet just a decade ago.
It's not just CMOs that are perplexed. Many of the most well-trained data scientists within the utility industry, for one, are concerned about how they will be handling the avalanche of data coming in from smart meters and other devices attached to emerging Smart Grid.
So how ready are companies on the ball, forward-thinking and savvy with new technology and applications, to meet and manage the new opportunities Big Data offers to business intelligence? The researchers divided respondents into two buckets: "outperformers" and "underperformers." These classifications were based on self-assessments by respondents about their companies, validated, where possible, by compound annual growth in operating margins and profit before taxes between 2006 and 2010.
Did the outperformers feel more confident about their ability to handle Big Data? Not really, the study finds. A majority of the leaders, 65%, still said they were not prepared for the data explosion, versus 77% of their laggard counterparts. The same held true for ability to handle social media opportunities and challenges.
The survey report also makes the point that while marketing rely the most on traditional sources of information to make decisions -- such as market research reports (82%) and industry benchmarking (80%) -- newer forms of intelligence are still under the radar. Most of the traditional sources of information "have one big drawback --they can only show customers in aggregate, offering little insight into what individual customers need or desire."
The report observes that relatively few CMOs are exploiting "the full power of the digital grapevine." While nearly three-quarters use customer analytics to mine data, only 26% are tracking blogs, only 42% are tracking third-party reviews and only 48% are tracking consumer reviews. "This is largely because the tools, processes and metrics they use are not designed to capture and evaluate the unstructured data produced by social platforms. Yet blogs, consumer reviews and third-party reviews disclose what discrete customers want. They provide a rich source of information about customer sentiment, with context, that can help companies more accurately predict demand patterns."
Big Data is also a double-edged sword. "Nearly two-thirds believe they will need to change the mix of skills within the marketing function and enhance its analytics capabilities." However, the report adds, "relatively few CMOs are thinking about the profound policy implications of big data — especially those relating to privacy and security. Only 28% consider it necessary to change their privacy policies, for example, despite the numerous ways in which customers’ privacy can now be compromised."
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com


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Is Bitcoin heading towards its own doom? The question seems more valid each passing day as the digital currency’s transaction costs continue to increase owing to the overcrowded network. Bitcoin was pitched to the community as the future of global economy — the digital currency that can bank the unbanked, enable microtransactions and make remittance a walk in the park. All these claims hinged on a single property of Bitcoin — negligible transaction fees.
The growing Bitcoin community has started to find the pitch to be full of false promises. Thanks to the lack of serious scalability solutions, the cryptocurrency network is flooded with unconfirmed transactions, causing delays. An average transaction now takes anywhere between one to twelve hours to get confirmed. The increasing demand for faster transactions has also led to a drastic rise in the miner fee associated with each transfer.
The growing miner fee has left Bitcoin unfit for microtransactions. The cryptocurrency community, feeling helpless about the current situation is venting its frustration on the social media about increasing cost of transactions. In a recent post on Reddit, one user complains about paying a fee of 23 cents for a $3.74 transaction. The post has received comments from others expressing similar views about the transaction costs and delays on Bitcoin blockchain. Few community members have also expressed their opinion about Ethereum as an alternative to Bitcoin for value transfer.
“Just paid 23 cents on a $3.74 transaction. When does it end? $1.00 per transaction? $2? $5? I don’t wanna stop using this peer to peer currency, but I’m fast being priced out of it.”
A look at the Bitcoin mempool statistics shows a constant lag of at least 50,000 transactions at any point of time. In many instances, the number of unconfirmed transactions grows beyond 400,000, creating a huge backlog. At this rate, without the developer community’s intervention, Bitcoin could start losing users to other cryptocurrencies. Also, people may soon start finding conventional fund transfer costs to be much cheaper than Bitcoin transactions.
Right now, one can only hope for the developer community to come up with few quick fixes that can at least temporarily resolve the issue plaguing transactions. Once they have the temporary fix in place, they can continue developing a much stable, scalable alternative for eventual implementation.
Ref: Reddit | Image: NewsBTC


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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | COIMBATORE,
MAY 01, 2021
The Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption expects production during the current season (October 2020 to September 2021) to be at 360 lakh bales, slightly lower than the 2019-2020 estimate of 365 lakh bales.
At a meeting held on Friday, the committee estimated cotton exports in the current season to be at 70 lakh bales and consumption by textile mills at 288 lakh bales. The closing stock is projected to be almost 119 lakh bales. In its previous meeting held in January this year, the committee estimated 2020-2021 production to be 371 lakh bales, textile mill consumption at 312 lakh bales, and exports to be at 75 lakh bales.
According to K. Selvaraju, secretary general of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), textile mill consumption and exports this year may be lower than the estimates because of the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on industrial activities. “Worker shortage is the main challenge for textile mills,” he said.
Atul S. Ganatra, president of Cotton Association of India, said about 43 lakh bales had been shipped for exports so far. Exports to China and Bangladesh had slowed. With huge closing stock, domestic cotton prices are likely to be stable. (Source: The Hindu)


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DETROIT, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Co. said Saturday it is recalling 5,800 2012 Edge sport utility vehicles for fuel leaks that could cause a fire, its third vehicle recall since July.
The Detroit News said the recall includes 5,499 2012 Edge SUVs with 2.0-liter engines in the United States and 346 in Canada.
Company spokeswoman Susan Krusel said Ford had learned of 12 cases in which fuel had leaked from a customer's Edge, though no fires, injuries or crashes had resulted.
Ford expects to have replacement parts by the end of the month.
The company said it determined a fuel line pulse damper metal housing may crack because of an improper manufacturing process. The cracked part could produce a fuel odor or a fire if it is a steady leak.
Recall letters will be mailed to customers the week of Sept. 24.
On Monday, Ford said it was recalling 7,600 2013 Escape SUVs in the United States and Canada. That recall involved a dislodged cup plug in the cylinder head of vehicles with 1.6-liter engines that could lead to a rapid loss of coolant and a subsequent risk of fire, though again none were reported.
It was the second recall for the 2013 Escape. In July, 11,500 Escapes were recalled and owners urged to stop driving them immediately because of fire dangers after three fires were reported.


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Could macro socio-economic trends be the real driver of retail woes in the US Market? Or is it all to blame on Amazon, e-Commerce and lousy merchandising decisions? What role do customer loyalty initiatives play in all of this? Lots of questions but our search for evidence never stops. An in-depth study recently released by global management consulting firm, Deloitte, offers some important clues.
(as first reported by Quartz).
Mike Capizzi, CLMP
Deloitte conducted an in-depth study over more than a year to dig into what’s really going on in the industry. The importance of retail to the US economy is well chronicled - millions employed and accounts for an important share of the country’s GDP. The study examined the large-scale (macro) changes happening in the US economy, polled a representative sample of 2,000 consumers, and even laid out all public US retailers along a value spectrum to prepare its analysis. One of their primary conclusions was there was no “retail apocalypse” as 2017 headlines often suggested. Deloitte says the phrase suggests the whole industry is collapsing- In reality, it’s not.
But, the report clearly points out that US retail is changing in significant and fundamental ways.
At the high and low ends of the value spectrum, retail is thriving. In the middle, it’s faltering. This split is playing out right along with the slow evaporation of the US middle class. Between 1971 and 2015, the share of US income held by America’s middle earners has contracted from 61% to 50%, according to Pew Research. Wealthy families had three times as much wealth as middle-income families in 1983; by 2013, they had seven times as much. Since the economic downturn began in 2008, most Americans saw their discretionary funds either fail to grow or even shrink. The bottom 40% of the population had less discretionary money to spend in 2016 than in 2007. For the middle 40% discretionary funds remained unchanged, while income dwindled. The rich, on the other hand, saw their net worth and discretionary money grow.
The 80% of Americans who didn’t see their discretionary funds grow in the last decade have likely become more price conscious, driving traffic to off-price brick and mortar outlets and discount e-commerce sites that sell at the lowest possible prices. Factor in the huge millennial population that came of age during the past decade – a generation often characterized by lower starting incomes and higher education debt than their predecessors – and you have an accelerator. This generation is also especially adept at finding the best deals possible over the web, not at the mall.
By contrast, the growing wealth at the top is creating more customers for high-end items. This is making winners of low-cost retailers, including Dollar General and Old Navy, and premium brands, such as Coach. These high and low categories, Deloitte says, are also where brands are adapting best to their customers’ needs.
Brands in the middle, which rely on a mix of price and promotions to drive sales of goods that aren’t exclusive or the cheapest on the market, have seen substantial customer and same-store-sales erosion. Deloitte calls it the “great retail bifurcation.”
E-commerce is certainly another accelerator. According to Deloitte, between 2012 and 2016, online retail had a compound annual growth rate of 12.5%, while stores grew 1.3%—modest growth but still growth, in the channel that still makes up 91% of all sales. In the past year, the trends have only grown more pronounced. Sales at mid-priced retailers declined 2%. At premium and low-priced retailers, they grew 8% and 7%, respectively. Deloitte also notes that these changes are also fueling a divide in how people shop, since low-income consumers are more likely to shop in stores, while their high-income counterparts are the shoppers most likely to buy online.
The same dynamic plays out in the main metric driving the “retail apocalypse” headlines: store closures. According to Deloitte, more stores are opening than closing. But they’re all on the low and high ends. If you look at the middle only, the situation does look dire.
As more and more US department stores close and malls are converted into other work spaces, Amazon is being blamed for the “retail apocalypse.” The past year has seen many middle-class suburban malls put on life support, largely because department stores are struggling to remain relevant. Since 1975, America built malls at four times the rate of population growth and, according to research firm IHL, “the majority of malls that were built in the last 30 years were in areas thought to be middle class.”
Could it be that these macro socio-economic forces are the real culprit in the on-going challenges faced by many American retailers?
So, what does all of this have to with customer loyalty programs? While we cannot offer the kind of concrete evidence cited by others in this editorial, we can venture to guess from over 20 years of loyalty marketing experience in the retail sector. Here goes:
- Lack of investment in the programs themselves. As same store sales came under increased pressure, some retailers even began to cut their investments in best customer initiatives.
- Despite the rhetoric, continued focus on customer acquisition via price tactics at the expense of customer retention via data-driven loyalty tactics. “Let’s not reward our best customers for staying with us, let’s give 25% off to total strangers for trying us!”
- Reluctance and/or financial resistance to technology upgrades which could help identify, maintain and increase the yield from best customers across all channels, while identifying those with potential to become best.
- Over reliance on Private-Label Credit Card programs as the loyalty platform. Sure, I’ll reward you as a best customer but only when you pay me the way I want you to pay me. Are you kidding?
- The total reliance on discounts as the principal value proposition, often delivered via a reward certificate or voucher system full of friction, fast expiration and only good towards a return visit.
- The complete neglect of soft benefits, customer experience and emotional connections that characterize the best loyalty designs in the world.
- One size fits all “blast” communications practices. Easy does not often align with great.
What do you think? We’d love to hear from you! Any many thanks to the Deloitte Team and the exceptional staff at Quartz for putting us on alert.
Mike Capizzi is Dean of the Loyalty Academy and is a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP)


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© 2017 North Jersey Media Group
November 8, 2012
Ringwood Halloween Parade to be held on Nov. 10
The Ringwood Halloween Parade will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 in the CVS parking lot on Skyline Drive. Participants can line up in costume at noon; the parade begins at 1 p.m. Parents may bring bagged candy for distribution afterward.


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About 155 Teamsters members are on strike against Friendship Dairies Inc. in Allegany County after rejecting proposals to replace their contract that expired Saturday, union officials said today.
The workers called the strike Wednesday at the maker of yogurt, sour cream and other dairy products against the advice of their bargaining committee and the leadership of Teamsters Local 264, business representative Ed McDonald said.
"I think there was an undertone of issues that weren't to do with the contract," he said. Workers are putting in six-day weeks and heavy overtime, and say they often can't get time off for personal and family matters.
The sticking points involved proposed co-pays for some doctors appointments and emergency room visits. Difficulty getting time off exacerbated the issues, McDonald said.
Pickets went up Wednesday at the plant in Friendship, about 50 miles southeast of Buffalo, but the dairy continues to operate, McDonald said.
The company has said it will hire permanent replacements but the union is seeking to reschedule negotiations with a federal mediator, McDonald said.
Company officials could not be reached, and a receptionist said they would have no comment.
The family-owned company produces dairy products for private labels as well as selling under the Friendship Dairies name.
Teamsters Local 264 in Buffalo represents cheese packers, sour cream operators, maintenance and other workers. The average wage is about $10.50 to $11 an hour, plus benefits, McDonald said.


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Samsung leaks new wearables range set to launch with S10 - report
CAPE TOWN – Samsung has reportedly leaked its new range lineup of new wearable products that are set to be launched alongside the Galaxy S10 next week.
This is according to a report by the Verge, which states that the leak happened within the company's wearables app, formerly known as Samsung Gear.
The app now displays several new products on the front page including wireless earbuds, a smartwatch, and a fitness band.
The first product that was spotted is seen to be named the Galaxy Watch Active which is rumoured be the same sports-focused smartwatch that recently leaked under the name Galaxy Sport
According to the app, It has a 40mm case and comes in at least two colours.
The other products are rumoured to be called the Galaxy Fit and Galaxy Fit e, two fitness bands with watch-style rubber straps.
Samsung fans are able to view the Galaxy S10 event next week on the 20th of February in San Francisco.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE


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- Industry Roundup
- Fab & Facilities
- Cell Processing
- Thin Film
- PV Modules
- Power Generation
VC funded ‘low cost’ CPV technology developer, Cogenra Solar has claimed to have set three performance records for conventional 60-cell format n-type, p-type and multi crystalline modules.
Potential changes to the scope of the US trade investigation into Chinese modules could create a serious drop in Taiwan-produced cell sales, according to analysts at EnergyTrend.
Fraunhofer ISE has teamed with industrial partners Merk, Heraeus and ASYS to produce fine line contacts with widths under 35µm, employing new materials and contactless techniques to reduce shading and boost conventional solar cell efficiencies.
Module manufacturer Trina Solar has broken the world record for P-type monocrystalline silicon PV modules with a figure of 335.2W.
Despite the lack of current capital expenditure (capex) across the PV industry value chain, market research firm NPD Solarbuzz expects a major shift to higher efficiency cells and modules to finally dominate the sector by the end of 2018.
The largest merchant solar cell producer, Neo Solar Power Corporation (NSP), reported a slight increase in sales for September, after three months of decline.
Taiwan-based solar cell producer, Gintech Energy Corp reported September sales of NT$1,050 million (US$$34.6 million), a rebound of 21.3% from the previous year.
Taiwan-based PV producer, Motech Industries reported a major rebound in sales for September on the back of increased demand for solar cells and modules.
Scientists at Ohio State University claim to have developed a hybrid device which combines a solar cell with a rechargeable battery, as part of a US Department of Energy (DoE) funded research programme.
According to Taiwan-based market research firm EnergyTrend, Taiwanese solar cell manufacturers are increasing the ramp of monocrystalline-based cells to expand into new markets.
PV module inspection systems specialist, Pi4 said it received multiple orders for electroluminescence (EL) testers from customers in Mexico, India, France and South Africa.
Sharp Corporation’s next-generation solar cell technology that enters volume production is expected to be based on its long-term development of both c-Si and a-Si thin-film cells with efficiencies touted to be over 25%.
In a bid to retain their solar cell efficiency lead of Chinese rivals and gain more business in the booming Japanese market, Taiwanese solar cell producers are increasing mono c-Si PERC cell production, according to market research firm, EnergyTrend.
Having just officially opened its first facility, N-type (bifacial) monocrystalline solar cell and module producer, Mission Solar was said to have achieved average cell efficiencies of 19.7%, according to one of its key technology supplier’s, RENA.
Business and technology association, the International Photovoltaic Equipment Association (IPVEA), has been renamed SOLARUNITED, as part of a wider rebranding and repurposing exercise.


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RADNOR, Pa. -- Airgas, Inc. recently announced that beginning December 1, 2011, or as contracts permit, its operating units will increase prices on bulk and packaged industrial, medical, and specialty gases 8 - 10% on average, 10 - 20% on acetylene and fuel gases, and up to 10% for delivery and other service charges. Cylinder and bulk tank rental rates will increase 8% - 10% effective November 1, 2011, or as contracts permit. Effective immediately, or as contracts permit, a surcharge on helium will be in effect. The Company will also continue to pass along higher prices for welding hard goods and safety products.
The actions are in response to rising raw material, energy, electricity, and labor and benefit costs, which in turn have raised the price of gases, welding hardgoods, and safety products sourced from suppliers. The increases have also raised operating costs at
Airgas plants and distribution facilities, and increased the costs of cylinders, bulk tanks, plants and equipment. In addition, supply chain disruptions in certain products have resulted in higher distribution costs, and the regulatory landscape continues to change at a rapid pace, requiring extra steps to ensure compliance.
"As the economy recovers, costs continue to rise on many fronts," said Airgas Chief Executive Officer Peter McCausland. "In order to more efficiently meet our customers' demands while fulfilling the safety and security requirements of our industry, we must continue to invest in our infrastructure and technologies."


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GLJ Research founder Gordon Johnson joined Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep show Tuesday. Among the topics Johnson discussed: electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and the recent EV truck IPO Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA).
Tesla’s Q2: Johnson said Tesla investors should be bracing for brutal second-quarter numbers given the state of the global auto market.
“Tesla’s accounting is always tricky. They recognize a lot of things and they pull a lot of things forward. But if you just look at the registration data, in Colorado, which is the most generous EV market, their sales in April-May are down 73%, he told PreMarket Prep.
Johnson said recent numbers in the rest of the U.S., Europe and China also paint a bearish picture for Tesla’s quarter.
Johnson’s Tesla Bear Thesis: Tesla shares have been on an incredible run in the last year, but Johnson remains bearish on the stock.
“I couldn’t be more bearish. Look, Tesla is completely detached from reality. The stock has kicked my butt. I’ll admit that, and people laugh when I say I’m bearish,” he said Tuesday.
Tesla’s valuation is more than double that of VOLKSWAGEN AG/ADR (OTC:VWAGY), which sold 10 million vehicles in 2019, the analyst said. Tesla sold 365,000 vehicles last year.
“They’ve never made a profit. We think they’re going to lose money again this year,” Johnson said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been repeatedly shifting the goalpost when it comes to Tesla’s success story, he said.
Johnson On Tesla's Lineup: “Initially it was the S and the X that were going to dominate in the luxury market. That didn’t happen. Then it was going to be the Model 3, which was their mass-market car, which took them to profitability. That didn’t happen. Then it was the Model Y, right? They won’t even tell you what orders are on the Model Y.”
He noted that Tesla has now shifted attention to its Cybertruck preorders.
“Listen, the deposit for the Cybertruck is $50. I don’t think the truck is street legal. They don’t have a facility to make it. It’s almost like the Tesla Semi, where they were taking preorders for $100,000 three years ago and they still haven’t made the car.”
Analysts and investors seem to be making an erroneous connection between the momentum of Tesla’s stock and its underlying business, Johnson said.
“As we get through this year I think people are going to realize that Tesla’s not only losing share, but momentum for EVs is slowing.”
Johnson On Nikola: Shares of Tesla competitor Nikola have skyrocketed 573% in the last three months. While Johnson doesn’t officially cover Nikola stock, he said he's skeptical of the hype surrounding the company.
“Hydrogen trucks make sense. The problem is [Nikola CEO Trevor Milton] doesn’t have a plant to produce it, he doesn’t have a working truck and the stock is valued as if he’s going to take over the entire trucks space.”
Johnson has a year-end price target of $87 for Tesla. The stock was trading 0.68% higher at $1,001.08 at the time of publication Tuesday.
Watch to the full interview with Gordon Johnson in the clip below, or listen to the podcast here.
PreMarket Prep is a daily trading show hosted by prop trader Dennis Dick and former floor trader Joel Elconin. You can watch PreMarket Prep live every day from 8-9 a.m. ET here. The replay can be found on Benzinga's YouTube channel, and the podcast is on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Tunein.
Photo courtesy of Tesla.


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This picture taken in February shows a worker operating a spinning machine at Qixin Textile Mill in Huaibei, Anhui. [China Daily]
The 25 textile mill managers gathered at the Shang Lake Garden Hotel earlier this week buzzed with energy, shooting off orders to subordinates on their cell phones, exchanging name cards and then greeting each other like old friends.
A set of mostly self-made entrepreneurs with little formal education but an excellent business sense, they had come to learn new ways to improve efficiency, cut costs and increase profit at their mills.
But the speaker they were waiting for was not an expensive management consultant or corporate lawyer. Instead, it was Linda Greer, a scientist with frizzy hair and a PhD in environmental toxicology.
An expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a New York-based non-governmental organization, Greer made the trip to the conference in Changshu, a picturesque city in Jiangsu province, to introduce the Responsible Sourcing Initiative - a best practice guide that textile mills can use to reduce their water, chemical and energy use.
If widely implemented, she argues that these techniques can transform the textile industry - and make it more profitable at the same time.
"Our experience showed that most mills did not even realize how much money they were throwing away. And when you waste water, energy, and materials, you are polluting the environment," she told the conference, which was jointly organized by the Changshu
government and the NRDC. "So that is the win-win we can get here: improving resource efficiency in a way that you can reduce costs and protect the environment at the same time."
There are roughly 50,000 textile mills in China - more than 100 in Changshu alone - producing everything from pillows and blankets to clothes, bags and even fabric used in car interiors. Despite a large drop in demand as a result of the economic crisis, China exported nearly $160 billion in textiles last year. Changing the way the nation's textile mills operate is clearly no easy task.
"Textile production is one of the most polluting industries in China," Greer told China Daily. "People don't think of this as being a heavy industry, but when you look at the energy and water consumption, it really is." In the process of making clothes, mills emit what she calls a "noxious brew" of chemicals, and use enormous amounts of energy and water - up to 200 tons just to make 1 ton of fabric.
Factory managers in China also still have many incentives to disregard "green" concerns. Local government officials often do not enforce environmental regulations in order to boost production and GDP figures. Relentless demands for cheaper prices from multinationals like Wal-Mart also leave factories reluctant to spend money on sustainability. After all, "there are a lot of ways to be more efficient that are not necessarily more environment friendly", said Meghla Bhardwaj, associate editor-in-chief at Global Sources, a consultancy that helps connect companies with potential suppliers.
However, fierce competition and growing consumer pressure are beginning to force suppliers to take environmental issues more seriously, said Bhardwaj. "More and more suppliers are realizing that eco-friendly measures such as recycling andwaste reduction can help lower their production costs and improve profitability."
"Factories in China are increasingly focused on efficiency," added Wang Hua, director of the ecology department at the Jiangsu Environmental Protection Bureau. "The government's environmental regulations are increasingly strict but factories are also looking for ways to reduce their costs."
The Responsible Sourcing Initiative began at the RedBud Textile Mill, a collection of grimy buildings that house fabric dyeing machines and water treatment facilities in Changshu.
In 2007, the mill was flagged as an especially polluting mill in a survey by the Jiangsu Academy of Sciences and the NRDC. The factory's owner, Frank Liu, realized this was as much a business problem as an environmental and regulatory challenge when he got a call from Wal-Mart, one of his major customers, suggesting he talk to the NRDC about ways to address the issue.
"We know that sustainable business practices in the long term cost all of us less," said Eleanor Wright, Wal-Mart's raw materials director, adding that suppliers who focus on efficiency and sustainability are more likely to get the company's business. Wal-Mart also recently launched a program with its top 200 suppliers to find ways to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2012, the company said.
In response to the NRDC's recommendations, which included ways to reuse hot water and water used to wash dye residue off newly colored cloth, Liu spent about 500,000 yuan ($73,000) on efficiency improvements that he said reduced water use by 23 percent and coal use by 11 percent. As a result, he now saves about 5.7 million yuan annually.
RedBud has also become more attractive to potential customers concerned that their suppliers are in compliance with environmental regulations, he said. "We're a greener factory now, and we're more competitive," he declared proudly.
Drawing on its success at RedBud, the NRDC extended its efforts to several other factories, slowly developing the best practices presented at Monday's conference. Eventually, Greer hopes to expand the program to textile mills across China.
"We appreciate the fact that China has so many thousands of factories but they do not have a regulatory system that is to scale," said Greer. "So the only way to make this work is to have something that's self-reinforcing. If you come up with ways to save money that are good for production, that should be self-reinforcing."
Major multinationals including Gap, Levi Strauss, H&M, Nike and Hong Kong-based middleman Li and Fung, have also agreed to cooperate, and Greer hopes they will push their suppliers for efficiency improvements the way Wal-Mart did with RedBud.
"The biggest challenge is to go beyond the models and the pilots and get at something that's really at the scale of the problem," she said. "Bringing something to scale in a country like China is really a challenge."
If the reaction of those attending the conference in Changshu is any guide, it may not be insurmountable. As the meeting drew to a close, seven of the factory managers had already signed up with the NRDC to explore possible improvements in their mills.


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Crunch online accounting has been such a huge success that it’s attracted a second round of investment from big-name entrepreneurs Michael van Swaaij and Paul Birch.
The financial backing is further proof of how successful Crunch has been in changing the way that small businesses do their accounts. The full integration of expert accounting advice and super-smart online technology really has proven to be THE accountancy model for the 21st century!
Former Skype chairman Michael van Swaaij was glowing in his praise of Crunch’s revolutionary approach to accounting.
“People thought Crunch.co.uk’s founder Darren Fell was crazy when he set out to establish an online accounting service that did everything a traditional accountant did,” said Michael. “But then he got the backing of myself and Paul in October 2009 and the business is already at break-even. Every customer has been stunned by the simplicity of the service. Crunch.co.uk is changing the face of small business across the UK.”
The new investment means that Crunch is now valued at £4m and means that customers can expect their accounting to get even easier. That may seem hard to believe but with new incredibly quick annual account processes just around the corner, and incredibly smooth bank reconciliation features not far away, things can only get easier.
“This second round of investment will fuel Crunch.co.uk’s growth as we get ready to scale our business up to serve thousands of freelancers, contractors and small businesses,” said Crunch MD Darren Fell.
“Essentially the business has thoroughly proved its unique concept of expert accountants integrated with the latest online easy-to-use accountancy technology. Michael, Paul and our other investors, are elated with the proven success of Crunch.co.uk’s service,” he exhulted.


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U.S. SENATE APPROVES PERMANENT TRADE STATUS FOR CHINA
The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly passed legislation granting China permanent national trade status.
Under the legislation, which was approved by an 83-15 vote, China will no longer have to go through annual congressional reviews of its trade status.
The legislation, which will be sent to the White House for President Clinton’s signature after a House-Senate conference, paves the way for U.S. support of China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
In return, China will open more markets to U.S. goods and reduce tariffs on U.S.-made goods from 25 percent to about 9 percent by 2005.
The development carriers shipping industry overtones. China free-trade status has been viewed by APL and Maersk Sealand as a condition for resolving long-standing trade barrier issues which for years have been before the Federal Maritime Commmission.
Issues to be worked out include restrictions on vessel calls at Chinese ports, restrictions on ocean carrier’s inland operations and barring non-Chinese carriers from establishing branch offices in China’s interior.
APL and Maersk Sealand have stated that the problems will not be resolved until China gains entry into the World Trade Organization.


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- Goldbelly raises $20 million in Series B funding led by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer's Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
- Founded by Joe Ariel, Goldbelly was created not to bring the fastest or cheapest meal to your door, but the most authentic.
When an unsolicited six pack of Ted Drewes Frozen Custard arrived at Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer's door four years ago, he became nostalgic about his hometown.
The package had been sent by Goldbelly, an online marketplace for regional and artisanal foods.
"I had absolutely no idea you could even get Ted Drewes other than going home to St. Louis," Meyer told CNBC in an interview from New York. "I was smitten."
After checking out Goldbelly's site, Meyer said, he found that he could order from his favorite barbecue places halfway across the country or buy muffaletta from a spot in New Orleans with just a click.
This affection for Goldbelly persuaded Meyer to lead a $20 million round of Series B funding for the company through Enlightened Hospitality. That group is a $200 million seed fund Meyer helped found a year ago through his Union Square Hospitality Group.
Enlightened Hospitality makes $10 million to $20 million investments in what it calls innovative growth companies "that are category leaders and share USHG's 'Enlightened Hospitality' strategy and mindset of prioritizing employees among all other stakeholders," it said at the time. The idea is that happier employees make for happier customers and better investor returns.
It has also invested in Salt & Straw, a West Coast-based ice cream shop, Joe's Coffee Company, a New York-based coffee chain, and Resy, an e-commerce reservation platform.
Goldbelly (formerly Goldbely) announced Tuesday that the $20 million it has raised in this round will go toward scaling its operations and marketing. Previous investors Intel Capital, 500 Startups and 645 Ventures also kicked in more capital. The Wall Street Journal reported that Enlightened Hospitality took a $15 million stake in the company.
Founded by Joe Ariel, Goldbelly was created not to bring the fastest or cheapest meal to your door, but the most authentic. It's like Seamless Web food delivery on steroids. Customers can order a local Chicago deep dish pizza or a Primanti Brothers sandwich from Pittsburgh and have it sent almost any where across the country overnight.
Meyer sees Goldbelly as a place for customers to relive their favorite food memories and to share them with others, whether it is a favorite college ice cream spot in Pennsylvania, or specialty crab cakes you can only get in Maryland.
"This is the future," he said. "The future is the past when it comes to food."


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Manama : A new electronic system, which was launched yesterday to regulate and monitor the hospitality sector, will become operational from Sunday.
The Electronic Tourism Statistics System, launched as per Resolution 154 of 2017 issued by Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayid Al Zayani, will monitor and provide information about tourism establishments.
The system will process information about the revenue of establishments, income from food and beverages outlets, the average one-night-stay prices and the age of guests, categorised among adults and children.
The system will also monitor and document the numbers and nationalities of guests in each hotel and their average stay period as well as additional information required by the Facilities and Services Directorate in Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA).
Although the resolution was issued on August 7 this year, it was only published in the Official Gazette yesterday and will come into effect on Sunday.
The third and fourth articles of the resolution stipulated that tourism establishments, as per their compliance with the provisions of Resolution 12 of 2010 with regards to the specification of hotel services, are required to provide an electronic system to be linked with the new system.
The articles mentioned that this would be one of the requirements to issue and renew permits to operate tourism businesses.
“The tourism establishments should adhere to this resolution and rectify its situations so it would comply with its provisions within six months of the issuance date,” the fourth article of the resolution read.
The implementation of the new resolution was tasked to BTEA CEO Shaikh Khalid bin Humood Al Khalifa.


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As Bourbon Booms, Demand For Barrels Is Overflowing
If you could make a lot of bourbon whiskey these days, you could be distilling real profits. Bourbon sales in this country are up 36 percent in the past five years.
But you'd need new wooden barrels for aging your new pristine product. Simple white oak barrels, charred on the inside to increase flavor and add color, are becoming more precious than the bourbon.
Making these barrels is a very old craft, almost an art, called cooperage. The Scots-Irish who settled in Appalachia could do this: Cut the white oak boards into staves, steam them to bend, make metal hoops to hold the barrel tight.
You can see this process is the small town of Lebanon, Ky. This cooperage is one of several owned by a company called Independent Stave, which is based in Missouri and is the largest maker of whiskey barrels in the world.
As the barrels take shape they are carried, rolled, and conveyed — sometimes overhead — to the different work stations. Starting out as a collection of oak staves, they are fitted together, steamed, bound with steel and seared with flame before arriving at the end ready for inspection.
"The barrel has water and air in it," says Leo Smith, the supervisor for the last stop on the production line. "They're looking for any kind of leak or defect in the barrel. ... He's gonna put a plug in that barrel where it's leaking, a small plug in it, and stop that leak."
The plug is a simple piece of cedar, whittled by hand.
Independent Stave is a family-owned company and they don't talk much about how many people work there or how many barrels they make. But plant manager Barry Shewmaker does say that production has doubled in the past two years.
"We're seen an increase, and it looks like it's ... there's no end in sight," Shewmaker says.
Independent Stave makes barrels for the big distilleries — Kentucky brand names you might have tasted — and so far Independent is staying steady with demand.
But there's another need for oak barrels: very small craft distilleries starting to make bourbon, vodka, gin or rum. Their output is low — sort of like a drop compared to the big brands — but someone does have to make the barrels.
Kevin and Paul McLaughlin moved to Louisville from Scotland and are joint presidents of Kelvin Cooperage here. For more than 20 years they've been crafting wine barrels, and they buy used bourbon barrels to fix up and sell to the whiskey trade in Scotland and Ireland.
But now a different market has come right to them: They're making white oak barrels for the new craft distillers. Paul McLaughlin demonstrates the charring process — they put oak scraps in the finished barrel — and soon the flames are visibile. In the beginning it's called "toast."
"We start smelling kind of a baked bread — that smell, that's what we like, that's when we know we're getting a toast layer, and once we have the toast layer we'll let the barrel ignite, like that" says Paul McLaughlin. "You get baked bread, you get kind of a marzipan — really, really nice smell."
There may be as many as 700 small craft distillers in the U.S. today, and that number is going up fast.
"Some of them call and say 'I'm making whiskey, I've got my stills going and I need barrels, and I didn't think there would ever be a problem getting barrels,' " Kevin McLaughlin says.
At the Kelvin Cooperage in Louisville they are working overtime, but there's so much demand that the company estimates they could sell all the barrels they could make next year, 10 times over.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Okay, so FINALLY, with less than two weeks (12 days, to be specific) left before tickets for KCONNY actually go on sale, they have released the ticket pricing and a new artist!
Our artist is…
BTS. I’m not super excited, mostly because I saw them in LA, and I personally think it’s BS that we keep getting artists that have already performed at KCON, they’re just switching locations in the US.
But the ARMY in me is super excited 😀
LA received TWICE as their latest artist announcement.
Ticket prices are the same as last year, look at the graphic below for more details:
I can’t wait for KCONNY!
If not, oh well, at least we have a two day con this year.
Tickets go on sale for NY on May 13th at 1 PM EST, for combo and Platinum tickets.
Single ticket sales will begin on the 16th.


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Facebook has replaced e-mail as a more popular way to keep in touch with friends, according to a new survey from Prompt Communications.
Second only to phone calls, Facebook is the second most popular communication tool, followed by text messaging and e-mail, according the report from Prompt Communications in Cambridge, Mass.
Digital public relations and marketing firm Prompt surveyed 300 consumers in Boston about how they use social media tools and more traditional methods of communications in their daily lives.
“Facebook is the most popular social network in the world, with over 350 million users, so it should come as no surprise to discover that people are using it as a primary tool for communication,” said Hazel Butters, CEO of Prompt Communications, in a statement.
When asked which communication method they used most frequently, most survey respondents chose text messages, followed by Facebook and then the phone.


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1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr.Las Vegas, NV 89146
Main Number: 1-702-258-9895Toll Free: 1-888-258-9895
More contact info
On News 88.9 KNPR
On Classical 89.7
This week, the City of Henderson gave the go-ahead to allow short-term vacation rentals in residential areas.
Henderson residents will have to wait a little longer to be able to buy recreational marijuana within their city.
The Henderson City Council moved a step closer this week to passing a yearlong moratorium on all retail activity related to recreational marijuana.


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Are M/T tires for enthusiasts seeking adventures or their buttoned-down brethren chasing a certain look? Modern Tire Dealer asked manufacturers for details about the consumers they are targeting as well as their latest M/T tires.
Of the 19 tire manufacturers who responded to our questions, 11 have introduced new M/T tires since 2015. And at least three more new M/T tires are expected to be unveiled in the next 24 months. Nick Gutierrez, sales manager for Sentury Tire Americas, refers to it as a “flash flood.”