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This Mother’s Day, why not offer your loved ones the gift of history?
Copies of “What’s Cookin’ in Elk County,” a collection of traditional German recipes that dates back to the founding of St. Marys, are on sale now through Mother’s Day in the Peppermint Stick Gift Shop at Elk Regional Health Center.
For one Elk County woman, the cookbook proved to be a very special glimpse into her past.
Marguerite Munsell, 97, received a copy of the cookbook as a gift from her granddaughter, Lisa Housler. When Mrs. Munsell opened the cookbook, the book fell open to a page featuring her mother’s recipe for bean salad.
“I couldn’t believe I opened that book right to my mother’s recipe,” Mrs. Munsell said. “Right away, I got very excited. Mother passed in 1971 and I remember that recipe from way back in the 1930s. It was one of those recipes where you could change up some of the ingredients depending on what you had available and it would still taste just as good.”
Mrs. Munsell, who lives in Emporium, called the cookbook “a nice piece of history.”
“I can flip through that cookbook and see the names of so many people I remember,” Mrs. Munsell said. “Some of them were my school teachers when I was a young girl. How many people today would remember these people and know who they are? Some of those recipes are from the 1930s and 1940s and are very traditional German recipes. How many people know those recipes and traditions? The cookbook is such a nice piece of history.”
The original cookbook was published in 1941, with reprintings in 1976 and 2011.
The cost for each cookbook is $15. Proceeds from the sale of the cookbooks will support the Elk Regional Health System Auxiliary, which has made a $250,000 pledge to The Elk Regional Capital Campaign.
“What’s Cookin’ in Elk County” is available for sale in the Peppermint Stick Gift Shop in the lobby of Elk Regional Health Center. The Gift Shop is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Hours on Saturday are from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.


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Brave is pleased to announce that Dr. Johnny Ryan is joining the company as Chief Policy & Industry Relations Officer. Dr. Ryan reports to Brendan Eich, co-founder and CEO, and is responsible for policy and privacy matters, as well as relationships with industry partners and regulators.
Previously, Dr. Ryan was responsible for PageFair’s research and analysis, as well as industry relations. His expert commentary and research on privacy and publisher sustainability has appeared in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Economist, and many others.
Dr. Ryan joins Brave’s 70-member team as a cascade of new privacy rules sweep Europe and Asia, and appear likely to be introduced in parts of the US and Latin America. Brendan Eich, CEO of Brave, said, “Dr. Ryan’s arrival underscores our investment in our trusted relationships with publishers. His voice on privacy and the hazards of AdTech has been essential at a time when others have sometimes sowed uncertainty and doubt. Now, together with Brave’s senior team, he will support publishers and advertisers so they can benefit from our new digital advertising platform while preserving their users’ privacy.”
He has a media and policy background, is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a member of the World Economic forum’s expert network. Previously he was Chief Innovation Officer of The Irish Times.
Dr. Ryan’s first book, based on his work as a Senior Researcher at the Institute of International & European Affairs in Dublin, was the most cited source in the European Commission’s impact assessment that decided against pursuing Web censorship across the European Union. His second book is “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future”.
He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Follow him at @johnnyryan on Twitter.
PARIS, France, and SAN FRANCISCO, USA -- September 13th, 2018 - Brave, which combines an innovative privacy browser with a blockchain-based digital advertising platform, and Qwant, the European search engine that respects the privacy of its users, announced today...
Regulatory complaint concerning massive, web-wide data breach by Google and other “ad tech” companies under Europe’s GDPR
Dublin, Ireland and London, United Kingdom, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 -- Simultaneous complaints have been filed with European data protection authorities against Google and other ad tech firms. The complainants are being made by Dr Johnny Ryan of Brave, the...
Sep 6, 2018
If you like Brave but also like extensions to fine-tune your web surfing, good news: A new version of the ad-blocking browser arrived Thursday that makes it as customizable as Google’s rival Chrome.
The new Brave browser blocks the ads and trackers that slow you down, chew up your bandwidth, and invade your privacy. Brave even lets you contribute to your favorite creators automatically.
Brave San Francisco
512 Second Street, Floor 2
San Francisco, CA 94107
9 Appold St
London, EC2A 2AP

domain: news


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Cuba, between the crisis, the adjustment and the new foreign currency stores
Help us keep OnCuba alive The Cuban government announced last July 16 a group of emerging economic measures that would be taken to alleviate the acute economic crisis facing the country. It is worth remembering that this crisis is influenced by three elements: The global economic crisis, the result, among other reasons, of the impact […]
La entrada Cuba, between the crisis, the adjustment and the new foreign currency stores se publicó primero en OnCubaNews English.
Comments for this post are closed.


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New Mexico governor urges restaurants to abide by indoor ban
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham urged restaurants to abide by her administration's emergency health restrictions that prohibit indoor dining service, even as a state district court judge suspended the ban. Monday's temporary order from Judge Raymond Romero in Eddy County suspends the state's prohibition of indoor restaurant service pending a July 30 hearing. A spokesman for Lujan Grisham says indoor dining is risky but restaurants assert that the industry hasn't had a significant role in the spread of the coronavirus. Health officials on Monday reported an additional 255 COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to 17,215 since the pandemic began.


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There’s no denying that Jollibee has been having a tough time recently following the “Jolly Towel” mishap. Memes abound, and the famous fast-food chain has been taking jabs left and right.
But if any other food brand knows better not to beat the bee down, it’s got to be Jollibee’s fellow classic chicken store from our childhoods: Tom Sawyer Chicken.
“While we at Tom Sawyer’s love celebrations, we do not wish to celebrate over someone else’s misery,” the classic fast-food store wrote in its online show of support on Friday, June 4.
“So, in bee-half of all fellow lovers and purveyors of great fried chicken, Tom Sawyer’s expresses its support to our esteemed competitor’s quest to find the truth behind the current issue.”
Brought to the Philippines in the 1980s by Chef Eli Aurelio, Tom Sawyer’s Old Fashioned Crispy Chicken has been a staple destination for Tagaytay travelers until they mellowed right at the turn of the millennium. They got back to the game in the early 2010s, with a new location in Tiendesitas, but their classic crispy chicken — and the values that made them a class act today — stays the same.
The statement of support, which has been shared more than 16,000 times as of writing, was seen as a symbol of empathy for other food brands to follow.
And that’s exactly what happened over the weekend. An outpour of support from other chicken chains, like Monster Wings, as well as from celebrities, ambassadors, and long-time patrons including those from Angeline Quinto, Mikey Bustos, Maja Salvador, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, and Anne Curtis flooded everyone’s news feeds. Renowned chef JP Anglo also posted a photo of “the fried chicken that always gives him joy.”
“I Love You Sabado” indeed!


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Berkery Noyes, a leading investment bank serving the information and education markets, announced that it represented Nolo in its sale to Internet Brands. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Nolo has achieved national recognition as the definitive source for plain-English consumer legal information, both in print and on the Internet. Four decades ago Jake Warner, Nolo’s Executive Chairman and principal shareholder, was a legal aid lawyer working for low-income families in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1971, before do-it-yourself books, instructional software and the Internet, Warner and his fellow lawyer Charles Sherman founded Nolo to provide easy access to legal information. In the intervening years, Warner built Nolo focused on the mission of making the American legal system accessible and affordable for all.
Through its acquisition of Nolo, Internet Brands, one of the industry’s premier online media companies, has secured Nolo’s consumer-focused, online legal information portal, lawyer directory and its vast content library. Nolo’s operations will be combined with Internet Brands’ existing legal division, ExpertHub. Through this combination, Internet Brands’ legal division becomes a leader in the online legal category. The combined entity will bring to market a large repository of consumer-friendly legal information, while helping consumers and small businesses with their legal issues through a diverse set of do-it-yourself and lawyer-assisted products.
According to Jake Warner, “Internet Brands is the ideal acquirer for Nolo with its dedication to high quality products and information. I am confident that Nolo and its mission to provide law for all will thrive under the highly capable leadership of Bob Brisco and his team at Internet Brands.”
According to Mary Jo Zandy, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes, the investment bank that handled the transaction for Nolo, “Nolo is an iconic American company. It not only pioneered the do-it-yourself legal market with its print publications but embraced changing technologies first with legal software and then the Internet, making Nolo.com a leading consumer law site. It was our pleasure to work with the principals and employees of Nolo.”
About Internet Brands, Inc. – Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Internet Brands is a new media company that operates online media, community, and e-commerce websites in vertical markets. The company also develops and licenses Internet software and social media applications. In its Consumer Internet Division, Internet Brands owns and operates more than 200 principal websites in seven categories. The company currently attracts, on average, more than 79 million unique visitors per month viewing 715 million pages, with 97% of the network’s audience originating from organic, non-paid sources.
About Berkery Noyes – Berkery Noyes provides strategic mergers and acquisitions transaction advisory services, financial consulting and strategic research to middle-market information and technology companies in the United States and internationally. BNC has been involved in many notable transactions in the media and information sectors, including Random House’s acquisition of Ten Speed Press, Gale’s acquisition of HighBeam, Wicks’ acquisition of Gordian, Thomson Reuters’ acquisition of Discovery Logic, and Berlitz’ acquisition of Second Language Testing Inc. For more information, visit: www.berkerynoyes.com


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Although previewed by the Subaru Impreza Concept at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show a year ago, it was still something of a surprise to see the production version of the 4th-generation Subaru Impreza unveiled at the 2011 New York Auto Show in April and going on sale as a 2012 model in November 2011. After all, its 2nd-generation GD (sedan) and GG (sportwagon) predecessor was offered for six full model years (2002-2007), whereas the 3rd-gen GE sedan / GH hatchback naturally aspirated Imprezas would have a scant 4-year life, the sort of new model cadence not seen since Honda abandoned it before the turn of the millennium. And, yes, the naturally aspirated clarification is vital, for the 4th-gen WRX and STI variants were nowhere to be found at the New York debut. When this author asked, everyone there from Subaru of America Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer Tom Doll and Product Public Relations Manager Dominick Infante on down turned coy and evasive as to when, precisely, we would see the next WRX and STI.
Three months later, however, Peter Lyon, writing for Motor Trend, made a novel prediction that garnered scant attention at the time, and was dismissed as fanciful rumormongering by some:
Remember the drama around removing the “Skyline” prefix from the GT-R when the all-new supercar debuted in late 2007? Well, it looks like nomenclature surgery is about to happen again, only this time Subaru is doing the separating. That’s right, the Impreza and famed WRX — joined at the hip since 1992 — are going their separate ways…the next WRX will take a completely different path of development and will not surface until 2014. We know this because Subaru president Ikuo Mori said at a recent shareholder’s meeting: “We will launch a new sporty car in 2014.” The WRX is that car.
“Apart from a few nuts and bolts, every part on the WRX will be unique. Even the engine and body. Obviously the WRX’s platform will be inherited from the new Impreza, but it will be radically modified and significantly shortened,” says our source.
The WRX…will employ the very best from Subaru’s parts bin, starting with an updated version of the company’s rally-proven AWD system and a turbocharged boxer engine.
“The first thing you must understand about our all-new WRX is that we have developed it from the ground up to win in motorsports events. That’s why we have focused so heavily on weight issues, not to mention a shorter wheelbase that permits faster, more precise turn-in. Marry that to our proven AWD system, and we think we have a winner”.
On the short list for the WRX’s powerplant is a turbocharged 1.6-liter boxer pumping as much as 270 hp, and a twin-charger system involving a supercharger is being tested as well. The car’s body is rumored to be a little bigger than a Toyota Yaris, while its tread width is said to expand significantly. As for the STI, we are told that the flagship will also employ the WRX’s 1.6-liter boxer turbo, but that the engine will be reworked to generate upwards of 300 hp for motorsport competitiveness.
The notion of an STI with over 187 hp per liter in a street engine is one that strains credulity (why not use at least the 2.0-liter FB20 instead of the 1.6-liter FB16 boxer four?), and I wouldn’t expect a new WRX to look like that latest Subaru Legacy / Honda CRZ mashup by way of Hot Wheels rendering that Holiday Auto came up with. Sure enough, though, as Subaru announced its 2012 model year lineup, we saw the unprecedented offering of a 4th-gen naturally aspirated-only Impreza selling alongside 3rd-gen WRX and STI models. Then, in late October, Diana Kurylko of Automotive News’ story titled Subaru separates performance models from Impreza garnered more widespread attention, even though it was far less detailed than Lyon’s earlier account. Kurylko notes that
Subaru will begin marketing its Impreza WRX and STI performance models separately from the conventional Impreza when the car is redesigned next month.
The “Impreza” name will be dropped for the derivatives, and they will get their own platforms when they are redesigned in 2013.
The WRX and STI variants will continue on the current Impreza platform until the 2013 redesign. The two sporty versions account for 10 to 15 percent of Impreza sales.
(Senior vice president of sales for Subaru of America Bill) Cyphers said the change will allow Subaru to market the WRX and STI more easily as performance cars and to give them interiors and features more appropriate for models that start at about $8,000 more than the Impreza. Cyphers would not give engine or performance details for the 2013 models, but he said the STI will continue to have an engine with 300-plus horsepower.
In his commentary article on the Automotive News story Viknesh Vijayenthiran of Motor Authority takes a stunning flying leap of logic when he suggests that the new Subaru WRX and STI could use an all-wheel drive version of the upcoming BRZ (Scion/Toyota FR-S) platform. Sure, we’ve written plenty about rumored and hoped-for additional Toyota and even Lexus derivatives of FT-86, but never really thought that Subaru might want its own additional offshoots as well. They’re certainly entitled. At the same time, though, even as rumors persist of eventual all-wheel-drive FT-86 platform models, we should remind you that moving the Subaru flat-four engine 4 inches down and 9 inches back (for optimum rear-wheel-drive handling and balance) versus the current Impreza tends to complicate if not preclude adding back the all-wheel-drive.
Hoping for further clarity, this author chatted up Subaru staffers at the 2011 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. They told us that the next Subaru WRX and STI would remain all-wheel-drive, would not be a BRZ derivative and would arrive some time during calendar year 2013 as a 2014 model, thus essentially confirming Lyon’s and Kurylko’s earlier reports and putting the current-generation GE Subaru Impreza WRX Sedan, GH WRX Hatchback and GR WRX STI on a 6-model-year (2008-2013) cycle, just like its immediate GD/GG predecessors.


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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off a whistle-stop tour of African countries on Monday, meeting leaders and investors in Angola, Nigeria and Togo ahead of a Turkey-Africa trade summit on Thursday.
The Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forum, held in Istanbul from 21-22 October, aims to provide a platform for Turkish businesses to gain a foothold on the continent.
Organised by the Turkish government and African Union, Rwakakamba Morrison, the chairman of Uganda’s Investment Authority called it an opportunity to “catch up with prospective investors here in Istanbul.”
The first day of the two day summit will see Turkish and African ministers of trade, investment, technology and logistics hold closed door meetings on ‘Deepening Turkey-Africa Partnership’.
The agenda for day one also schedules bilateral meetings with business leaders and ministers, as well as panel discussions on emerging opportunities in agriculture, healthcare and the new regional free-trade zone – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The second day of the forum will host sessions promoting innovation, Turkish-African banking cooperation, trade finance and women’s leadership.
The last edition of the biannual event launched in 2016 was held online in October 2020 due to the pandemic.
Battle for hearts and minds
Since 2009, Ankara has engaged with African countries, big and small, at feverish speed, with Erdogan’s overriding ambition on the continent driven by trade and investment, says Tim Ash, an emerging markets economist at BlueBay Asset Management.
During a visit to Angola on Monday, the Turkish president said there were significant bi-lateral opportunities in the energy and defence sectors, with seven deals signed so far between the two countries.
“For quite a long time Turkey has been very Africa focussed. Under Erdogan, Turkey embassies have expanded massively globally as part of their effort to boost trade and investment,” Ash says.
That building spree has taken the number of Turkish embassies in Africa from a dozen in 2009 to 43 today. This year, it will open its 44th, in Guinea-Bissau.


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Souring Economy Catches Up To New York City Hotels [inactive]
A souring economy is taking a bite out of the Big Apple's robust hotel industry. New York City's hotels have been on a roll over the past year as a declining U.S. dollar lured throngs of foreign investors from Europe and Asia ready to spend big sums of cash on nice restaurants, shopping and other retail fare. Hoteliers were able to charge very high room rates amid a limited supply of rooms, even as lodging companies around the nation shuddered from strong economic headwinds. Now, as the dollar gains strength amid a steep pullback in corporate and leisure travel, New York City hoteliers are finding they're no longer immune from a deepening economic downturn. "Through the first half of next year New York is going to be one of the weaker hotel markets in the country," said C. Patrick Scholes, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.


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Our city draws in new international business enterprise
COFFS Harbour welcomed a new $2.5 million business investment this week.
On Thursday the new Hino and Iveco truck dealership, operated by Automotive Holdings Group, officially opened its doors.
Dealer principal Kevin Purcell said the dealership had come a long way since it served as a breakdown centre for Iveco, servicing trucks travelling between Sydney and Brisbane.
"Now it's a fully functional selling, servicing, repairing dealership," Mr Purcell said.
He said the company had a long history in Coffs Harbour which went back more than 20 years under a number of owners, and became part of AHG in 2012 when it acquired the business from Iveco.
Mr Purcell said the dealership currently employed 12 workers but could see it expanding in the future.
"I see this place employing 20 plus people so doubling its current size and presence," he said.
"We're in the market for the next 25 years plus."
Coffs Harbour Deputy Mayor, and president of the Coffs Chamber of Commerce, George Cecato said the new dealership was a "great result for our city".
"I know diesel mechanics are a little bit hard to get right now but I'm certain with the brand, and the company and the group it belongs to, will be able to attract high calibre employees in here," Cr Cecato said.
The Coffs Harbour Hino and Iveco dealership has started recruitment for another technician and apprentice for 2018.
"It's good to hear companies are looking for extra employees," Cr Cecato said.
"They are prepared to invest in this area because purely of what we, as a city, have to offer.
"It's a big plus for the city."
AHG, Australasia's largest automotive retailer, has 180 car and truck franchises and 110 dealerships across Australia and New Zealand.
The automotive dealer also has logistical operations, including a refrigerated transport and cold storage division.
It employs more than 8300 people and hundreds of sub-contractors.
Hino is a Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer whereas Iveco is based in Italy.


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Mark Fast, Mary Katrantzou, Meadham Kirchhoff and Peter Pilotto have been awarded catwalk sponsorship by the British Fashion Council (BFC)’s Newgen scheme.
This season, a total of 19 designers will receive funding under the BFC’s Newgen programme, which sponsors emerging designers to show at London Fashion Week.
In addition to the catwalk sponsorship, Newgen has also sponsored four labels to show via it’s presentation spaces in which designers can host their own mini-catwalks and private shows. The four designers receiving presentation sponsorship for February will be Holly Fulton, Louise Gray, Maria Francesca Pepe and Sykes.
With the exception of Meadham Kirchhoff, all eight labels will also receive funding to show in LFW’s exhibition area. They will be joined by a further eleven designers: Atalanta Weller, Christopher Raeburn, Craig Lawrence, David Koma, Dominic Jones, Fannie Schiavoni, KTZ, LP.BG, Michael Lewis, Michael Van der Ham and Natascha Stolle.
Newgen was set up in 1993 to fund emerging designers to show at London Fashion Week, helping to launch their careers. Previous recipients of funding include Alexander McQueen, Matthew Williamson, Giles Deacon and Jonathan Saunders. Newgen is sponsored by Topshop.
Caroline Rush, joint chief executive of the British Fashion Council, said: “Newgen is an essential element of the British Fashion Council’s designer development and showcasing programme. This season we have an incredible wave of original, innovative and talented emerging designers who will, without doubt, support London’s reputation as a creative capital.”
London Fashion Week will take place from February 19 to 23, 2010, at Somerset House.


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CMA CGM: ‘We suspect a data breach’
Following a malware attack that forced the French carrier to shut down its network, CMA CGM has now begun to restore services. Maritime and port operations remain unaffected
Carrier warns of a data theft in shared services centres but shippers can now use manual processes and INTTRA to make bookings as line prepares to reopen full booking system
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It’s another bad day for Groupon: not only is Andrew Ross Sorkin using the company as Exhibit A in his opposition to the JOBS Act, but more worryingly the Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the SEC is examining the earnings revision which Groupon announced yesterday.
Vipal Monga has explained exactly what the problem is here, but his story is very hard to access online, so I’ll try to summarize. The issue at hand is that of refunds, and how they’re accounted for.
Let’s say that Groupon has managed to sell 240 coupons for “cool sculpting”, at $500 apiece. That’s a total of $120,000. The coupons expire on September 19, in six months’ time. Let’s also assume that, as per usual, Groupon keeps 50% of the proceeds, and gives the other 50% to the merchant. In this case, it would keep $60,000 for itself, and remit $60,000 to Dr. Aron Kressel. But Dr. Kressel wouldn’t get all the money up front. He gets one third, or $20,000, immediately. He gets another $20,000 after 30 days. And then he gets the final $20,000 after 60 days. That’s May 18.
Now, Kressel might not get all of his $60,000. Let’s say that some of the people who bought a coupon turn up for their initial consultation before May 18, and are told that they’re not medically suitable for the treatment and therefore can’t have it. Those people — let’s say there are 20 of them — are eligible for a full refund from Groupon. So Groupon gives those people back their money, $10,000 in all, and holds back from Kressel his $5,000 share of that money. As a result, Kressel’s final payment is not $20,000 but rather $15,000, and he ends up getting paid $55,000 in total by Groupon.
And at the same time, of course, Groupon’s own revenues from the deal are also reduced to $55,000: the economics of selling 240 coupons and refunding 20 of them before May 18 are basically the same as the economics of selling 220 coupons and refunding none of them.
After May 18, however, things change. At that point, Kressel is paid out, but Groupon still has the Groupon Promise. As a result, if anybody gets turned away from Kressel’s office after May 18, Groupon eats the whole refund. Let’s say that appointments become easier to come by after May 18, and a further 50 people end up being told that they’re not eligible for the procedure after that point. Remember that Kressel has already been paid $250 by each of those people, and doesn’t need to repay the money if he finds them ineligible.
Those 50 people still get their refunds from Groupon — a total of $25,000. But in this case, all of that $25,000 comes out of Groupon’s share of the revenues, and none of it comes out of Kressel’s cut.
So what’s the situation on September 19, when the deal expires? 240 coupons will have been sold, for an up-front total of $120,000. 70 of those coupons will have been refunded, bringing total revenues down by $35,000 to $85,000. And of those revenues, Kressel will have received $55,000, while Groupon will have received just $30,000 — a 65/35 split in favor of the merchant, rather than the 50/50 split originally envisioned.
And in fact it’s possible for Groupon to lose money on the deal, if there are enough refunds after May 18.
How is all this accounted for?
The way that Groupon does its accounting, it adds up its share of the gross revenues — that would be $60,000 in the cool sculpting example — and books it as revenue immediately, minus the quantity of refunds it expects to have to issue after applying a model which tries to predict such things. If you look at Groupon’s new 10-K, you’ll find this chart (click on “Notes to Financial Statements” and then “Accrued Expenses”):
The line you want to look at here is “refunds reserve” — the number which was $13.9 million in 2010, and $67.5 million in 2011. If you add up all of the deals that Groupon issued in 2010 — that’s some $745 million in total — Groupon reckons that it’s going to have to refund $13.9 million, or 1.87%.
Then, in 2011, a lot of things changed at Groupon. It sold a lot more deals than in 2010, for starters. It also moved into higher-priced deals, things like cool sculpting, which are more likely to be refunded. And it started selling travel deals, too, which are also more likely to get people asking for refunds, especially if they turn out not to be able to book travel on the days they want.
So in 2011, out of $3.985 billion in total revenues, Groupon reserved $67.452 million for refunds. Now note these are the revised figures, which were released after Groupon realized that its initial estimates for refunds were too low.
But do the math, and it turns out that $67.452 million is just 1.69% of $3.985 billion — the anticipated refund rate actually fell from 2010 to 2011. This does not make much sense, since by all accounts — including Groupon’s — it should by rights have gone up, quite substantially.
Now there’s an easy way of dealing with this problem, which doesn’t involve any predictive algorithms at all. Here’s Monga:
Forensic accountant Howard Schilit told CFO Journal that the mistake reflects a misapplication of accounting rules, in particular those outlined in financial accounting standard 48, as set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The standard dictates how companies are allowed to estimate revenue for refundable products.
Under the rule, companies are allowed to set aside reserves against potential refunds based on reasonable estimates. But Schilit argued that Groupon couldn’t “reasonably” estimate the refunds because it is so young and follows a relatively new business model. Lacking that historical perspective, the company shouldn’t have recognized any revenue until after the end of their refund period.
“Everything would have to be deferred revenue until the end of the refund period,” he said. “Either [Groupon's executives] didn’t know they had to defer, or they wanted to continue to show as much revenue as they could.”
This, then, is probably what the SEC is investigating at Groupon. If it sells 240 coupons for cool sculpting, should it book $60,000 in revenue? Or $50,000? Or $30,000? The fact is that Groupon doesn’t know how much if any money it’s going to end up making from that deal until the deal expires in September. So there’s a case to be made that the company shouldn’t book any revenue at all until September, just to be on the safe side.
What happened with the earnings restatement is that Groupon discovered that the refund reserve it had been using was too low; when it increased that reserve, it ended up losing more money than it had originally reported. But should it have booked any revenue at all, so long as that revenue was subject to potential refund? I have a feeling that the SEC is going to be asking Groupon that question in quite a pointed manner.
This post first appeared on Reuters Opinion.


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Specifications and promotional material for RIM's first touch-screen handset, the BlackBerry Storm, have leaked onto the internet.
The handset will be sold exclusively through Verizon Wireless, mimicking Apple's deal with AT&T in the US, and will have a full touch-screen facia, according to briefing sheets (PDF) and marketing material (PDF) from a Verizon email leaked onto blogs today.
However, the leaks might not be quite so accidental as some are suggesting, given the text of the email.
"Rumours, whispers, secrets: bloggers love to speculate and we've got them all buzzing about us," it reads.
"There's a big reason for the buzz. We're launching a groundbreaking device that's unlike anything in the market today and it is exclusive in the US to Verizon Wireless. The BlackBerry Storm is the game changer that will have everyone interested."
The new handset will have a quad-band 3G chipset (CDMA and quad-band GSM), 3.2-megapixel camera (over the iPhone's 2-megapixels), full HTML browsing and a removable battery and memory.
It is clear from the marketing material that the handset is being pitched directly against the iPhone, as it even includes a features list making a direct comparison.
No pricing or release date information was included but RIM will want to get the handset out by mid-October at the latest if it is to avoid missing the lucrative third-quarter period.
Cotton seedling freezes to death as Chang'e-4 shuts down for the Moon's 14-day lunar night
Fortnite easily out-earns PUBG, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018
Meteor showers as a service will be visible for about 100 kilometres in all directions
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data
New findings contradict conventional belief that Saturn's rings were formed along with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago


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A rumor comes to us today from DigiTimes, a Taiwanese site. The rumor says that the iPhone 5S could possibly experience supply constraints, due mainly to huge problems surrounding the manufacture of so many of them. Apple apparently wanted to manufacture around 10 million iPhone 5S units, just in Q3, but that number looks to have been reduced to about 3-4 million instead.
There are quite a few people who are of the option that there will not be a fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5S. 13 months ago, Apple purchased AuthenTec, a fingerprint sensor specialist company, for $356 million. That, and the fact that Apple take years to develop each iPhone model, kind of gives it away that there will not be one, not this time around anyway. It’s a pretty good guess that development of the iPhone 5S was started 2 or 3 years ago and AuthenTec have only been a part of the Cupertino family for just over a year so the likelihood of them producing a solution that quick is unlikely.
iPhone 5S News Update :
On to the number of units that Apple are looking for – anywhere from 3 to 10 million in Q3. Well, Q3 ends on 30th September. Apple are apparently holding their big media event on September 10th, at which point it’s expected that the iPhone 5S will be revealed. Let’s assume that they stick with past protocol and release the iPhone 5S 2 weeks after the event. That gives them just 4 days to push out that many devices. Yes, it has been done in the past so it is perfectly possible – for 3-4 million maybe but almost certainly unlikely for 10 million.
Image : Fingerprint Sensor Chip
Let’s bear in mind though that the rumor comes from a company that is right about 50% of the time and wrong the other 50%. We’ll leave it to you to determine which you think this one is .


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Supermarket workers earn the best rates in the retail sector, according to new analysis from Incomes Data Research.
At a median minimum hourly rate of £8.70, workers in this sector earn 87p, or 11% more, than the median in retail catering and 77p more than the median in non-food retail, IDR found.
Retail catering workers earn a median hourly wage of £7.83, which is level with the national living wage rate for people aged 25 and over. High street retail employees earn a median hourly wage of £7.89.
The national living wage is set to rise this weekend (1 April), an increase of 4.9%. The report also examines pay rises across the retail sector, and found that almost a quarter were worth 4% or more. This compares favourably with the economy as a whole, where only a tenth of pay awards were worth the same amount.
However, Zoe Woolacott, research assistant, hinted that this upward pressure on wages may be exacerbated by “the potential negative impact of Brexit on the supply of labour”.
London-based retail workers tend to earn more than their colleagues elsewhere in the UK, earning a premium of £1.07 an hour.
And while workers between the ages of 16 and 20 are more likely to earn more than the national minimum wage for their age category, those in the 21 to 24 age band were most likely to be paid the statutory minimum.
The researchers also suggested, however, that pay could be forced downwards if consumer retail demand continues to weaken, as it did in the final months of 2018. A number of non-food retail chains closed last year, thanks to challenging conditions and competition from online retailers, while think-tank the Resolution Foundation hinted earlier this year that retail workers face the highest risk of redundancy.
In terms of benefits, the most popular perk offered in the retail sector was a staff discount, according to IDR.


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Kellogg Company has reported that Pringles sales in Europe were 'pulled down by merchandising lost' in the aftermath of since-resolved price negotiations with retailers, in its recently published Kellogg Company Reports Second Quarter 2017 Results and Reaffirms 2017 Guidance, for the period ending 2 July 2017.
Kellogg Europe said that a decrease in reported and currency-neutral comparable net sales was 'mainly because of lost merchandising activity related to since-resolved customer negotiations related to pricing actions on Pringles and that it is 'masking continued sequential improvement in our U.K. cereal business and growth in emerging markets like Russia'.
It's net sales fell by 2.5% to $3,187 million for the second quarter of the year.
The company also attributes this expected result to 'soft consumptions trends' in the US.
However, quarterly operating profit saw marginal growth, increasing by 0.7%, and reported earnings per share increased by 1.3% compared to the same period last year.
The cereal giant said says that second-quarter net sales and operating profit performance improved from the first quarter, as anticipated, while productivity initiatives have continued to improve the company's profit margins.
The company continues to forecast a decline in currency-neutral comparable net sales of about 3% for the full year 2017, with an increase in comparable operating profit of between 7% and 9%.
“We are encouraged that we remain on track to deliver on our 2017 currency-neutral comparable profit and earnings outlook, even amidst challenging industry conditions," said John Bryant, Kellogg Company’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“However, we are equally pleased that we are taking the right actions to return our business to top-line growth, which is a priority for us.”
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern


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Vagina Museum rescued by creatives doing their bit for the bits of Britain
You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative from the brands that should be on your radar. Today, we’re talking about the Vagina Museum’s silent auction, led by ad creatives who want you to do your bit for the bits of Britain.
Artist Laurie Lee created a provocative piece on the clandestine phrase, 'See You Next Tuesday.'
Given that the famous Icelandic Phallological Museum has been open for over 20 years, it was about time someone established a dedicated space for the female sexual organ. This was the opinion of Florence Schechter when she founded the world’s first ’Vagina Museum’ – a space in Camden Market that’s now full of everything vulva related, from giant tampons to glittery menstrual cups.
Ever since the museum grew from that thought, it has been mainly funded via a public fundraising drive – which worked fine until the pandemic left it bleeding money. Opened only last year, it has since been pushed to the precipice of closure as it receives no government, council, public or private funding, relying entirely on funding from events, membership programmes and ticket sales.
To help the museum get back on its feet ahead of its reopening, three ad creatives (Nathalie Gordon, Amy Fasey and Jacob Hellström) approached Schechter and offered their combined expertise for free.
The creatives reached out to artists of different disciplines, genders, sexualities and nationalities, asking them to produce original artwork and 60 responded to the brief. The resulting ’Open Soon’ series will be sold in a silent auction to raise money for the museum.
Artists who provided artworks for the auction range from Mr Bingo, who produced a line drawing of pubic hair, to Laurie Lee, who created a provocative piece on the clandestine phrase ’See You Next Tuesday’.
To raise awareness of the silent auction and the reopening of the museum, prints of the works have been posted across London using media space donated by London Lites and Jack Agency.


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You can trust Motorola to surprise us once in a while, like it did when it showcased its circular Moto 360 smartwatch during the Android Wear launch, or when it introduced the Moto Maker program. And it seems that the company wants to do that once again, for it has just announced that a big reveal will take place on February 25.
In quite an unusual fashion, Motorola will be delivering its new product at the doorsteps of big media outlets in the US. Yes, they have been told to expect a ‘box’ which will be reaching their offices on the above mentioned date, and there’s a pretty interesting teaser being used by the company for this announcement.
According to 9to5Google, an email from Motorola says that ‘Everything you need fits inside one box, which we will deliver to your doorstep on Wednesday.’ The Lenovo-owned brand has not gone any further with its clues, so guessing is all we can do right now.
One can say that the Moto 360 is due for a refresh, so we won’t be surprised to see a new smartwatch being unveiled on February 25, this time with perhaps more innovations onboard than before. There is even news about the Moto E successor being readied up for a launch, so you can expect that as well.
It’s a long shot, but a tablet from Motorola could also be something that we’ll get to see next week. We can safely rule out the possibility of the second-gen Moto X and Moto G smartphones getting refreshed since they were released just a few months back.
We might not be in line to receive the deliveries that Motorola will be sending out on February 25, but we’ll bring you all the details regarding whatever is unveiled on that day.


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Mumbai: In the run-up to the forthcoming Cricket World Cup, the direct-to-home ( DTH) operator TataSky today launched the country’s first 4K set-top box (STB) that offers better picture clarity.
The company said subscribers can book their the 4K set top box for Rs 6,400 while existing subscribers can avail of the box at Rs 5,900, who can enjoy it as their first connection or an additional STB at home with the Tata Sky MultiTV connection option.
Apart from relaying the 4K content, the box will also showcase standard definition and high definition channels.
TataSky 4K is a new generation STB with the capability of delivering ultra high definition picture quality and Dolby digital plus 7.1 surround sound. 4K at 8.3 megapixels has around four times the pixels as that of 2K the current HD standard.
Tata Sky was the first Direct-To-Home (DTH) service provider which showcased the first 4K broadcast in India, during the Germany vs France Quarter-final tie at the FIFA Football World Cup 2014 and with the ICC Cricket World cup beginning next month, Tata Sky is hoping to capitalise on the 4K frenzy.


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DAYTON, Ohio — There was an 8.5% price increase for things like gas and food from July 2021 to 2022, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. And while it’s down 0.5% from June, it’s still making it harder to afford essential items.
Shopping and refueling has been a challenge for lately Wright-Patt Credit Union collaborator Norma Lecaros. As of Monday, Ohio gas prices are up 70 cents from around this time last year AAA.
What you need to know
- Nearly 1,200 Wright-Patt Credit Union employees received $500 affiliate employee incentive checks
- This check helps employees pay for things like gas, groceries and medical expenses
- Wright-Patt Credit Union invested $600,000 in the initiative
“Every time I put gas in my car, I spend at least about $10 more,” Lecaros said.
An extra $10 is still more than she budgeted to pay for gas.
“I think a bit every two weeks or every week if you put [gas in the car] that prices will come down a little bit,” she said.
That’s why Wright-Patt Credit Union has stepped up to help workers like Lecaros. Through a $600,000 investment, it recently gave nearly 1,200 employees a $500 partner-employee incentive check.
“At first I didn’t think it was true until someone said it, but when we got the email letting us know, I thought ‘wow,'” Lecaros said.
Now that she had extra money in her pocket, Lecaros decided to spend it on her son.
“I thought I’d give him something or buy him something or do something for him,” she said. “I threw a graduation party for him and that helped to get decorations and things that we got for his graduation party.”
Wright-Patt Credit Union President and CEO Tim Mislansky said he enjoys helping employees through these trying times, and it’s something he says is not only rewarding, but important.
“We know that our employees may be struggling, with rising costs at the gas station, or at the supermarket, or just in general,” he said. “So if the credit union is doing well and its members are doing well, we always want to take good care of our employees.”
While this was just a one-time payment to employees, Lecaros said she is very grateful.
“Now we can use it for something we wanted to buy, but at the same time it’s like I don’t have the money,” she said. “But if you get a bonus like that, it helps a lot.”


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Intel Goes Smaller and Faster with 20nm SSD
Intel recently announced that it has shipped its first SSD that uses a 20-nanometer (nm) NAND flash memory process. Known as the Intel SSD 335 Series, these SSDs utilize the smallest, most efficient multi-level cell NAND flash on the market. To maximize the performance of the Intel SSD 335 Series, these SSDs support the SATA 6 Gb/s interface.
The Intel SSD 335 Series is equipped with 240GB worth of storage space, with sequential read speeds of up to 500 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 450 MB/s. It is the first Intel SSD to use the 20nm NAND flash memory jointly developed by IM Flash Technologies (IMFT).
Using a new cell structure, the 20nm technology allows for more aggressive cell scaling. It also uses a planar cell structure – the first in the industry – to enable performance and reliability on par with the SSDs in the previous 25nm generation.
Not only is this SSD big on performance, it is backed by a three-year limited warranty to give you that extra peace of mind. The purchase of this SSD will also entitle you to the Intel SSD Toolbox with Intel SSD Optimizer, a software suite that helps users manage, diagnose and maintain the health of the SSD. This software is available in eight different languages and is compatible with Windows 8.
For the latest news on Intel, please follow us here.


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Positive news about the U.S. job market helped European indices but failed to slow a sell-off in U.S. retail shares.
The S&P 500 Retailing Industry Group sank below 900, ending the day down 2 percent at 882.68. It marked the fourth sharpest reduction in the index this year and the worst day since a 2.5 percent drop on Feb. 3, putting year-to-date declines at 6.1 percent.
While the Nasdaq fell 2.6 percent to 4,127.73, the other major indices saw smaller losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 1 percent to close the week at 16,392.77, putting its year-to-date decline at 1 percent. The S&P 500 dropped 1.3 percent to 1,865.09, reducing its year-to-date gain to 0.9 percent.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that 192,000 jobs were created in March, leaving the unemployment rate at 6.7 percent with an increase in the rate of participation.
Among the fashion, retail and beauty stocks tracked by WWD, declines outnumbered gains by a more than five-to-one margin. Beauty firms dominated the handful of winners, with Avon Products Inc. up 2.7 percent to $15.07, Coty Inc. up 0.7 percent to $15.21, Inter Parfums Inc. up 0.6 percent to $34.99 and Revlon Inc. up 0.4 percent to $25.70.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Ann Inc. rose 0.6 and 0.5 percent, respectively, to $8.88 and $42.04.
Coldwater Creek Inc. saw further erosion of its shares, which fell 14.3 percent to 24 cents, while Under Armour Inc was off 7.4 percent to $104.33. American Apparel Inc. was down 5.9 percent to 47 cents on a day when Swiss activist investment fund FiveT Capital Holding AG reported a 20 million share, or 11.5 percent, stake in the troubled vertical retailer. Stage Stores Inc. saw its shares recede 4.6 percent to $23.71.
Joining in the steep declines among equities traded on the Nasdaq, shares of Facebook Inc. dropped 4.6 percent to $56.75.
European markets were generally up as they close following the news about U.S. jobs, although fashion, luxury and retail stocks were excluded from most of the gains.
The FTSE MIB in Milan and CAC 40 in Paris both climbed 0.8 percent to 22,175.48 and 4,484.55, respectively. The FTSE 100 in London and the DAX in Frankfurt each gained 0.7 percent to 6,695.55 and 9,695.77, respectively.
Among issues in decline were Asos.com, which dipped 1.1 percent to 49.56 pounds; Brunello Cucinelli, which fell 1.3 percent to 19.85 euros; and Mulberry, down 3.4 percent to 7.05 pounds. Marks & Spencer lost 2.1 percent to 4.61 pounds after analysts at Goldman Sachs issued a “sell” rating on its shares in a research note. The U.K. retailer is set to report its fourth-quarter sales figures April 10.
Stocks in the sector that rose included Inditex, which climbed 1.3 percent to 113.55 euros, and Tod’s, which was up 0.9 percent to 97.20 euros.
The euro traded for $1.37 against the U.S. dollar while the pound went for $1.66.


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The hospitality industry comprises businesses that provide food and beverages, accommodation such as hotels, motels, cafes, taverns and bars, restaurants, and takeaway food services. The Covid19 pandemic that struck the entire world in 2020 and the lockdown at nations around the world affected the hospitality industry of Melbourne greatly. Many taverns and bars, restaurants and cafe owners around Melbourne crashed during the first wave of coronavirus Says David Antico. The hospitality industry suffered great loss during the pandemic period as many watched their trade drop off a cliff, therefore calling for the government to come to their aid.
Is the Hospitality Industry Free From The Pandemic?
When we look at the last 18 months, we could see that there is no certainty regarding the pandemic. Which makes it hard to have full confidence that we are truly out of the hook of the pandemic. Though some belief with the vaccines being available there is the possibility that the impact and effect of the pandemic will reduce. While some think that the impact the lockdown had and may continue to have will forever be felt in the hospitality industry.
Based on the ongoing restrictions on capacity, reduced tourism, staff shortages, and other challenges that the industry is currently going through, it will take time for the industry to bounce back. Though looking at what is happening around the world presently there seems to be a ray of hope but everyone is still trying to understand what the new norms for traveling, dining out and social interaction will look like. Is a great thing that Australia has finally started to move forward and open to the rest of the world by bursting its isolation bubble.
The Aftermath of The lockdown on Business Owners and Staff In The Hospitality Industry
Many are exhausted and yet to recover mentally from the effect of the pandemic and movement restriction. Some businesses couldn’t survive during the pandemic period and as a result, they were forced to close down. And as for those that managed to survive they have to live one day at a time and have a shortage of staff as most staff have to work in positions they didn’t sign up for.
As we all know that staffing is the backbone of any hospitality business and the pandemic has had a toll on them mentally. Working in hospitality normally is hard work on its own as it can be physically demanding and stressful sometimes. Many business owners and staff at some point in time during the lockdown period went through one or all of the following challenges, physical, mental, emotional, and financial. But through it all, we have those that overcome all odds and bounce back on their feet and move with their life.
Business owners were not only faced with challenges but they were able to learn and see new possibilities during the pandemic as well. Because during this period business owners were able to see the need to diversify and search for a new stream of income, be more creative and be able to adapt. For businesses to survive the next 12 months after re-opening there are lots of work they have to do. The problem of delays in international shipping of equipment, building materials, and international products as well as an increase in the cost of goods is seriously affecting every business. Even though the assistance provided by the government during this period has been of great help to many businesses to remain active. But the question now is will the government continue to provide assistance post lockdown?
The Effect on the Hospitality Industry Generally
Even though restrictions have been eased for hospitality businesses in Melbourne, business owners are still faced with personal debt, business debt, and other debt crises. With the Covid19 tax concessions and rental agreements deferrals that were given to small businesses during the pandemic, they are still in debt. The reason is that the trade they made from the local tourism and international tourism has reduced drastically and even those working in the private and public sectors are working sometimes from home. According to David Antico things are getting tough for small business owners and their chance of survival is very less.
The city of Melbourne experience changes during the pandemic period including the hospitality and food businesses. The government established an extended outdoor program to help and support the hospitality industry in Melbourne to trade safely during the pandemic period.
There is Still Hope For The Industry
Regardless of what is going on presently in the Melbourne hospitality industry and the uncertainty of what the government might do, there is still hope and room to develop, says David Antico. With the various challenges the industry is facing, it’s difficult to know how things will turn out in months or years but those in the hospital industry are optimistic everything will be fine. The hospitality industry will bounce back in the long run to give people the opportunity to spend some time with each other, eat nice food and drink good wine.


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Digital payments platform Wirex announced on Tuesday it now has 3.5 million customers. To celebrate this new milestone, the platform is now offering double Cryptoback Rewards for the month of April.
As previously reported, Wirex is a UK FCA-licenced global digital payment platform that has forged new rules in the digital money arena. The company also claims it is the only platform that allows access to OTC and interbank rates for crypto and traditional currency exchanges respectively, ensuring the platform’s users always get the best deal. The platform recently raised £3,701,909 through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube.
Wirex further revelaed that since launching in May 2018, it has awarded customers $1.37 million worth of crypto through their popular Cryptoback rewards program. Cryptoback automatically rewards customers up to 2% back in WXT, Wirex’s native token, for using their crypto-enabled debit card in-store or online, and for the month of April, these rewards are being doubled. While speaking about the milestone, Wirex CEO and Co-founder, Pavel Matveev, stated:
“Wirex was founded with a mission to help make cryptocurrency accessible for all, and our world-first Cryptoback scheme helps to show people the wide range of benefits a digital economy offers. As lockdown restrictions ease and people look to resume their normal spending habits, doubling Cryptoback rewards will help everyone from crypto-enthusiasts to savvy-savers to get the most out of their money, whether fiat or crypto.”
Wirex went on to add that from now until April 30th, users in certain regions will automatically have access to increased Cryptoback rewards when spending in-store or online with their Wirex card, with the percentage dependant on the X-tras subscription.


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Google is apparently going all in to support the Moto X, the first flagship handset released by Motorola Mobility since being acquired by the Web giant a year ago.
Google is expected to allow the unit to spend up to $500 million marketing the highly anticipated smartphone in the U.S. and overseas, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The device is expected to be available on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless this fall, sources told the Journal.
With an emphasis toward customer convenience and customization, Motorola has reportedly taken steps to limit "bloatware," the apps and services pre-installed on handsets by carriers that are often useless and difficult to remove without rooting the device. Customers will be able to choose the colors for the back of the device and the trim and engrave a name or message to the back cover, ABC News reported earlier this month.
A Motorola spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
Beyond a solid partnership with Verizon, Motorola has struggled to sell its Android smartphones. With Google's backing, the Moto X represents Motorola's best chance in years to make inroads against Apple and Samsung.
After months of rumors and speculation, a sign-up page for the Moto X handset finally went live earlier this month, offering users access to the product information and promotional offers. The page, which touts the Moto X as "the first smartphone designed, engineered and assembled in the USA," promises that the handset is "coming soon."
Motorola said it expects to have more than 2,000 new employees at a Fort Worth, Texas, facility building the phones. The domestic location will enable the phones to arrive in customers' hands within days of their order, according to ABC News.
Update at 6:55 p.m. PT: Noted that Motorola declined to comment.


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Australian Franchise News – 02-05-14
Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar has partnered with not-for-profit organisation Tram Sessions to create the ‘Crust Tram Jams’ – a series of pop up gigs held to surprise commuters on Melbourne’s busy trams.
Commuters were recently treated to a taste of award winning singer songwriter Sally Seltmann, with the songstress performing her new single Seed of Doubt on a fully packed tram.
Tram Sessions is a project that takes the joy of live music and lets it take a seat next to unsuspecting Melbourne commuters, and with the support of Crust, will be holding up to five Crust Tram Jams during April and May.
Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar Managing Director Michael Rose said Crust strongly supports grassroots projects, Australian music and community initiatives.
“As a proud supporter of Tram Sessions, Crust is supporting local emerging artists and established Australian artists by bringing the Crust Tram Jams to life,” said Mr Rose.
“We are happy to have partnered with Tram Sessions to ensure these great community initiatives can thrive.”
The Crust Tram Jams kicked off earlier this month with Melbourne indie pop folk band Tully on Tully, and continues throughout May with performances scheduled by Kingswood and All The Colours.
To see the Tully on Tully and Sally Seltmann Crust Tram Jams visit Tram Sessions at www.tramsessions.com
Crust Gourmet Pizza is part of Australia’s largest multi-food franchise operator Retail Food Group (RFG). With more than 105 million customer visits a year RFG owns the Donut King, Brumby’s Bakery, Michel’s Patisserie, bb’s café, Esquires, The Coffee Guy, Pizza Capers Gourmet Kitchen and Crust Gourmet Pizza franchise systems. In addition, the Company roasts more than 1.2m kilograms of coffee annually through the Evolution Coffee Roasters Group, Caffe Coffee and Barista’s Choice coffee brands.
Request information on franchise ownership of Crust Gourmet Pizza franchise


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Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis AG said Monday it has agreed to pay $5.1 billion for the remaining 58 percent of embattled biotechnology company Chiron Corp. that it doesn't already own.
Novartis, which had made an initial proposal last month that Chiron rejected, said it had made an improved offer to acquire the approximately 113 million Chiron shares it does not already own at $45 each in cash. Chiron is the second-largest vaccine supplier in the United States.
The offer represents a 23 percent premium over Chiron's closing price on Aug. 31, the last trading day before Novartis proposed buying the shares at $40 each, the Basel-based company said.
Chiron's board had called that offer "inadequate" but has recommended shareholders vote to approve the sweetened offer.
"Our plan is to turn around the Chiron vaccines business, which will require investments in R&D and manufacturing to increase quality and capacity, so that we can better meet customer demand and address public health needs," said Novartis Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Vasella.
Last week, Chiron Corp. reported its third-quarter earnings nearly doubled to $51 million on revenue of $479.6 million. Most of the profit improvement was because at the same time last year the biotechnology company was caught up in a messy manufacturing problem that cost the United States nearly half of its expected 100 million flu-shot stockpile.
The Emeryville, Calif.-based company called the latest quarter a "turning point" because federal regulators have approved Chiron's first batches of flu shots, about 1.5 million, for delivery. The company offered no further guidance on how many flu shots it expects to deliver this year.


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HaRVy is excited to announce the launch of the NEW DISH Tailgater on DISHForMyRV.com.
At DISHForMyRV, we've been working on something special. After observing our fans and friends all year long and what they like, we made a big decision that we hope you enjoy and find as entertaining as we do. We will be releasing clues each and every day this week, right here on our blog as well as on our social media accounts. Be sure to check back daily to get the next clue and see if you can guess what our big secret is. Our big reveal will be on Friday, followed up with a chance to win big!
Father’s Day is the day known for a lot of tools, funny t-shirts and homemade cards that say “I Love You.” Though we know most dads appreciate those things, there are definitely some great gift ideas out there that may really throw dad for a surprise. If you’re looking for something practical and entertaining for the dad who enjoys the outdoors, we’ve got some great ideas! After all, we’re talking about the guy that has taught you how to tie your shoes, fix your broken toy and given you countless piggy back rides! You owe him!
Today is Friday the 13th. And if you don't know why people are superstitious about this day, read more here.
We are excited to announce that as part of Military Appreciation Month we have officially launched a Military Discount Program that is now available to all verified U.S. military veterans and those who are currently serving the U.S. military.
With Memorial Day fast approaching, now is the time to get your plans finalized for that first big RV trip of the season. Some people travel across the country and some stay put at their permanent campsite. Either way, you still want to make it a great adventure. We've come up with a few ideas that will help make the most of your long weekend with friends and family! And most importantly, we remind everyone why we celebrate Memorial Day in the first place.
Have you witnessed the sheer look of terror that goes hand in hand with shattering an iPhone screen? When you hear that ominous crack, cue the panic.
We're excited to announce that the DISH Playmaker by Winegard is now availabe on DISHForMyRV.com!
This month DISHForMyRV has teamed up with Thousand Trails Campground and Encore RV Resort to provide each customer who purchases an antenna bundle a FREE two-night stay at a campground/resort of their choice!


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Speaking at the Creative Equals Future Leaders conference in London today Kingori revealed that the new Vogue, which has had diversity at its core, has attracted more advertisers and readers to the iconic fashion publication.
In conversation with Ali Hanan, the founder and chief executive of Creative Equals, she said: "What is really interesting is what diversity means and what it really is. Diversity is not nice to do and almost philanthropic. My role is to show that it is actually good for business. For us it is about changing our teams slowly and properly and changing our content inside outside, not just ticking boxes."
The appointment of Edward Enninful as editor-in-chief has not just ushered in a new era at Vogue but has made ripples across the publishing industry.
Kingori said: "In the media especially in the mainstream media we have a responsibility to reflect our societies. For me it felt like everyone had talked about diversity but Edward had made a career of it before people were talking about it."
#NewVogue as a starting point for change
Pointing to the greater representation of BAME individuals on magazine covers, Kingori said the change is "a great starting point".
She explained: "I call it the 'Edward effect' when I go to newsstands and see covers of brown girls. But what about the harder conversations, what are the things we don’t know we want to see? I am a huge advocate of true inclusion and I recognise how much work we still have to do."
Earlier this year, Vogue was criticised for its cover showing Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie on its cover. However Kingori said that one of the pillars of diversity Enninful takes very seriously is age. "There is a challenge around aging in Hollywood and around women aging generally," she said.
Changing the guard
Kingori, who is the first female publisher in the brand’s 100-year history, shared that the transformation at Vogue also involved hiring new talent which is "crucial" to ensuring the brand’s success.
This initiative has included doubling their digital project management team, hiring a new digital editor and having an in-house digital engagement manager who is rooted in data and insight providing real-time trends and data to the team. "We are in the process of hiring people to ensure the other pillars of the brand reflect what is going on in the magazine," she said.
Kingori added that Instagram is a huge growth area and the brand launched on Snap on Enninful’s first day. "I am trying to ensure that the message is different but all part of the same narrative across platforms," explained Kingori. She believes the brands success is the fact that it is a brand and "not just a magazine".
Brands changing the narrative
Sharing the response to the relaunch from brands, Priya Matadeen, director of strategy and partnerships at Vogue, said the magazine is working with a whole plethora of new brands which are interested with our new take on the world.
"With Nike we aren’t just doing the fashion story; we are talking about wellness. We feel that brands are really coming with us on the journey," she said.
Another brand which had never advertised with the magazine before was Christian Louboutin. Kingori explained: "Branded content is one of the most important part of our offering but what is really interesting is people want to attach to our narrative. When we talk about the challenges women face, things like late miscarriage which we would never have previously explored."
Louboutin subsequently worked with Vogue’s branded content team because, as he told Kingori and Enninful: "You are the only brand speaking in a language which I think reflects mine."
Kingori said: "This celebration of diversity and the assertion that different is beautiful is a narrative advertisers want to be involved in."


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Thousands of flying pigs – symbolizing anything is possible – flew across website screens on .CO Internet’s launch day in 2010. Now, nearly four years later, CEO Juan Diego Calle shared in the company’s blog that "it's onward and upward for .CO" -- the Miami company is being purchased.
Neustar, a publicly traded company based in Sterling, Va., that provides real-time information and analytics, on Thursday said it has agreed to acquire .CO Internet S.A.S. .CO Internet is the exclusive operator of the worldwide registry for Internet addresses with the “.co” top-level domain.
The price, according to the SEC filing: $109 million.
Since .CO Internet's global launch in 2010, names under management for .co have grown to more than 1.6 million in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Last year, .CO's revenue was $21 million. Neustar has always had an existing partnership with .CO to provide registry services and infrastructure support for .co extensions, the top-level domain assigned to Colombia.
“Historic times for .CO ... I couldn’t be more proud to share this news or more excited about what the future holds in store for .CO! While this announcement may come as a surprise to some, we’ve spent the last year thoughtfully planning our long-term growth strategy. In our desire to take .CO to the next level, we are confident that now is the perfect time to join forces with Neustar,” said Calle in his blog post. Calle, his co-founders Nicolai Bezsonoff and Lori Anne Wardi (pictured at left) and much of his team are based in Miami.
“With a suite of leading edge technologies, access to a huge distribution network of retailers, and an unparalleled portfolio of domain-related products and services, Neustar is well positioned to turn scale into a strategic competitive advantage in the years ahead – and to help fast track the growth of the .CO brand and business worldwide,” he continued.
Calle said Neustar is “excited about the strong global brand we have built around the .CO domain – a brand that is synonymous with innovation and opportunity, and that appeals to a new generation of startups, entrepreneurs and tech savvy businesses…. Considering the success of our joint venture over the past five years, and the incredible opportunity we have to leverage one another’s strengths in the future, I am convinced that Neustar and .CO make a perfect combination. Just like peanut butter and jelly!”
The acquisition of .CO Internet expands Neustar's registry services, which maintains the .biz and .us top-level domains and has been selected to provide services for up to 350 new domain extensions as a result of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) ongoing global domain name expansion.
“The acquisition of .CO Internet is a natural fit for us given our successful partnership over the past four years and our domain name expertise,” said Lisa Hook, president and CEO of Neustar, in a statement. “By combining .CO Internet’s innovative domain marketing capabilities with Neustar’s distribution network and technical resources, we will be able to broaden our registry services and the .co brand worldwide, while creating shareholder value.”
The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions and is expected to close within one month. Following the acquisition, .CO Internet, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neustar, will continue to manage the .co domain extensions from its headquarters in Bogota, the news release said.
POP.co and Nu dot Co LLC are not part of the transaction.
Read my 2013 profile about .CO Internet here.
The road to .CO -- a blog post.
Posted March 20, 2014


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The roll-out strategy comes as a surprise given that the sportswear retailer ran into difficulty with financing last month.
It was bailed out by rival chain Sports Direct, which bought a 4.7% stake for about £3.4 million. At the time JJB Sports chief executive Chris Ronnie declined to reveal how the money would be spent.
Market speculation suggested the cash would be used primarily for stock and basic financing needs. But Phil Swaine, associate director of retail operations, said JJB planned to put at least some element of its new shopfit into 70% of its 324 stores over the next three years.
Swaine added: “We’re being cautious and the refurbishment and openings will take a little longer than we might have been planning a few months ago. Trade is tough at the moment, as it is for most retailers, but we are confident that Christmas will come.”
JJB Sports added USA Pro, LA Gear, Karrimor, Kangol and No Fear, all brands which are owned by Sports Direct, to its stores in the past two weeks.


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In its history, Twitter’s advertising business has experienced a few ups and numerous big downs.
But now the platform is being bought by someone who is vocally hostile to advertising and who doesn’t run advertising to promote his own product. We’re talking about Elon Musk, of course, and his $44 billion bid to own Twitter.
If, muses Senior Editor James Hercher on this week’s episode, social platforms like Facebook are theme parks where every last bit of fun can be monetized, from the concessions to the line-skipping pass to the souvenirs, then Twitter is more like an impromptu rave. In other words, even pre-Elon, it’s been hard to translate its passionate audience engagement into cold hard cash from advertisers.
Zooming out, though, if Musk is able to successfully take ownership of Twitter, the move could point an even brighter regulatory spotlight on Big Tech as a whole.
We’ve seen a similar dynamic play out in the ad tech industry: When politicians turn up the heat on digital advertising, the industry as a whole tends to get burned. Musk’s move, and his bold takes on free speech, have attracted raves from Republicans and rants from Democrats.
In the second half of the episode, we explore the carbon footprint of programmatic advertising. Advertisers can now run the numbers on how much carbon their ad campaigns generate.
Think about it like this: Supply path optimization efforts can be quantified not just in terms of the number of connections pruned, but how many emissions were prevented. Of course, this being tech, there are startups cropping up to help brands make their advertising green, including a new venture launched by one of the inventors of programmatic itself.


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|By Business Wire||
|June 25, 2013 07:00 AM EDT||
Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), the world’s largest office products company and second largest internet retailer, has released the top product picks for the 2013 back-to-school shopping season. This year’s collection features an expanded assortment of fun, fashionable and functional must-have supplies, everything from light-up pencil pouches to customized composition books.
Custom Composition Notebook Covers are available to order in-store or on Staples.com and pick-up at Staples Copy & Print locations. (Photo: Business Wire)
“School supplies need to reflect students’ individual styles, and we are excited by this year’s amazing selection, all at great values,” said Alison Corcoran, senior vice president, stores and online marketing at Staples. “Staples makes it easy to find everything on your list for less this back-to-school season.”
To make it easy for families to save this year, Staples announced the return of the popular Back-to-School Savings Pass, which provides a 15 percent discount on supplies. Available for purchase for $10 through Aug. 31, the savings pass is valid through Sept. 21, to accommodate the multiple trips often required to prepare for the new school year. For all of the latest deals and promotions for back to school, shoppers can follow #StaplesHasIt on Twitter and Facebook.
In addition to great savings, Staples will feature the hottest supplies including:
Back to Neon
From the runway to the classroom, neon is the hottest fashion trend of the season. Both Jansport and Puma offer neon backpacks to carry supplies in style ($45.99-$59.99). Bold pink, orange, blue and lime green hues are featured in the Quilted Collection of zipper binders, pencil pouches, tablet cases and clipboards ($4.99-$14.99). Take notes in style with the vibrant Studio C® Neon Zip-It 1 Subject Notebook ($4.99) and collection of Neon Sharpies ($8.99).
Exclusive Patterns and Designs
Staples offers unique designs on products like the exclusive Staples BETTER® binders, sticky notes and index card holders, making it easy for students to show their style and while keeping up with the latest trends. Themes include Color Splash with an explosion of pastels and bright colors to the open, moving patterns of Geo Graphic, to Urban Spirit, which mixes street art and life, to the whimsical Memory Lane echoing vintage themes.
School supplies are lighting up with cool fiber-optic treatments. The Glo-Lite collection featuring staplers, rulers and dry-erase boards ($6.00-$8.99), lights up when pushed. Exclusive to Staples, Fiber Optic Pencil Pouches twinkle in cool designs including shoe, piano and paisley ($6.99). Bring some shine into the cafeteria with an assortment of light up lunch bags that come in assorted designs ($12.99).
Locker Sweet Locker
A student’s locker is their most personal space aside from their bedroom. Make it feel like home with these innovative accessories. From the Magnetic Motion Sensor Locker Chandelier ($19.99) with seven LED lights, to the exclusive Glo-Lite Magnetic Pencil Bin ($8.99), to unique glitter rugs ($9.99) and magnetic wallpaper ($5.99), students’ private space will stand out in style.
Tech You Can Touch
This year students will be using tech they can touch to do their homework, like the Acer® Aspire Touch Laptop, very portable at only 11.6”, at a very affordable price ($479.99). With new tablets including the HP Slate 7 with Beats ($169.99), Samsung Galaxy II 7" ($195.99) and Samsung Note 8.0 ($399.99), and new, lower prices on the Google Nexus 7 16GB ($199) and Kindle Fire HD 8.9” 16GB ($269), kids can stay connected online in and out of the class-room.
Keep all that touch tech intact and in style with sleek cases for laptops and tablets. Jansport sleeves combine fashion and function with a wide assortment of tablet sleeves from animal prints to plaids to neon accents. The Jansport Superbreak Sleeve is a durable and fashionable way to carry a 15-inch laptop like a backpack ($29.99). Students can show off their inner wild side with the durable Jansport 1.0 Tablet Sleeve and Jansport 1.0 Laptop Sleeve, available in zebra and safari prints ($19.99-$24.99).
Nothing Basic About It
Kids will be running back to the classroom with these cute twists on the basics. Students can “flex” their math muscles – literally – with the new, bendable Staples® Flexible Calculator ($4.00). Also new, from Scotch Magic, the Chameleon tape dispenser ($9.99) actually changes color when touched! Students can earn a black belt in organization with the Post-It Pop-up Note Karate Dispenser ($9.99) that puts post-it notes at your fingertips. And kids can carry their favorite furry friend – and supplies – in a Woodland Animal Pencil Pouch ($5.99) available in a variety of fuzzy critters.
Let’s Do Lunch
These cool, new lunch accessories allow parents and students to plan for organized meals all year. The Fit & Fresh 14 Piece Healthy Lunch Set features perfectly proportioned containers with ice packs that snap into the lids ($14.99). Or get Cool It! Ice packs ($10.99) to keep the chill in any lunch bag or box. And the LEGO Lunch box ($14.99) is the ultimate in an updated classic – providing a sturdy iconic lunch container.
Customize with Copy & Print and Arc
Add flair to traditional black and white composition notebooks with Custom Composition Notebook Covers, available to order in-store or on Staples.com and pick-up at Staples Copy & Print locations. Students can choose from six unique patterns, and add their name and favorite photo. The fashionable Arc Customizable Cover Notebook from M by Staples™ offers eight stylish covers on four reversible inserts protected by a clear poly cover. Each insert can be easily swapped or removed so that a picture, schedule or other notes can be displayed for easy customization ($8.99-$10.99).
About Staples, Inc.
Staples is the world’s largest office products company and second largest internet retailer. For 27 years, Staples has served the needs of business customers and its vision is to provide every product businesses need to succeed. Through its world-class retail, online and delivery capabilities, Staples offers office supplies, technology products and services, facilities and breakroom supplies, furniture, copy and print services and a wide range of other product categories. With thousands of associates worldwide dedicated to making it easy for businesses of all sizes, Staples operates throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The company is headquartered outside Boston. More information about Staples (Nasdaq: SPLS) is available at www.staples.com/media.
SYS-CON Events announced today that MangoApps will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY., and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. MangoApps provides private all-in-one social intranets allowing workers to securely collaborate from anywhere in the world and from any device. Social, mobile, and eas...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,893
WSM International has launched a DevOps services division that offers assessment, consulting and implementation to large enterprises and organizations with complex infrastructures. The concept of DevOps is to blend information technology (IT) software development with operations to optimize the computing infrastructure according to the specific needs of the organization. According to a recent press release from Gartner, "By 2016, DevOps will evolve from a niche strategy employed by large cloud ...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,000
SYS-CON Events announced today that Solgenia will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Solgenia is the global market leader in Cloud Collaboration and Cloud Infrastructure software solutions. Designed to “Bridge the Gap” between Personal and Professional S...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,546
SYS-CON Events announced today that QTS Realty Trust, one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing providers of data center facilities and cloud services and a leader in security and compliance, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: QTS) is a leading national provider of data center solutions and fully managed services, and a leader in security and compliance...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,075
SYS-CON Events announced today that WSM International (WSM), the world’s leading cloud and server migration services provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. WSM is a solutions integrator with a core focus on cloud and server migration, transformation and DevOps services.
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,077
SYS-CON Events announced today that Liaison Technologies, a leading provider of data management and integration cloud services and solutions, has been named "Silver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Liaison Technologies is a recognized market leader in providing cloud-enabled data integration and data management solutions to break down complex information barriers, enabling enterprises to make sm...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,315
What’s inside the cloud? Hard work. Cloud operators know the world inside the datacenter is gritty. Vendor marketing speak and cloudwashing quickly melt in the heat of SLAs, uptime guarantees, and users who want it now. In his session at DevOps Summit, Hernan Alvarez, Chief Product Officer at Blue Box Group, will deliver an unvarnished look inside the world of cloud operators, from the perspective of someone who lives it. Attendees get a front-row look into the toolkits and processes that enabl...
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,412
The WebRTC Summit 2014 New York, to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 16th International Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, Big Data Expo, and DevOps Summit.
Mar. 27, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,295
Hosted PaaS providers have given independent developers and startups huge advantages in efficiency and reduced time-to-market over their more process-bound counterparts in enterprises. Software frameworks are now available that allow enterprise IT departments to provide these same advantages for developers in their own organization. In his workshop session at DevOps Summit, Troy Topnik, ActiveState’s Technical Product Manager, will show how on-prem or cloud-hosted Private PaaS can enable organ...
Mar. 27, 2015 02:45 PM EDT Reads: 565
Sematext is a globally distributed organization that builds innovative Cloud and On Premises solutions for performance monitoring, alerting and anomaly detection (SPM), log management and analytics (Logsene), and search analytics (SSA). We also provide Search and Big Data consulting services and offer 24/7 production support for Solr and Elasticsearch.
Mar. 27, 2015 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,381
The speed of software changes in growing and large scale rapid-paced DevOps environments presents a challenge for continuous testing. Many organizations struggle to get this right. Practices that work for small scale continuous testing may not be sufficient as the requirements grow. In his session at DevOps Summit, Marc Hornbeek, Sr. Solutions Architect of DevOps continuous test solutions at Spirent Communications, will explain the best practices of continuous testing at high scale, which is r...
Mar. 27, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,876
SYS-CON Events announced today that CommVault has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. A singular vision – a belief in a better way to address current and future data management needs – guides CommVault in the development of Singular In...
Mar. 27, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,447
The 3rd International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that its Call for Papers is open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
Mar. 27, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,876
Cloud is not a commodity. And no matter what you call it, computing doesn’t come out of the sky. It comes from physical hardware inside brick and mortar facilities connected by hundreds of miles of networking cable. And no two clouds are built the same way. SoftLayer gives you the highest performing cloud infrastructure available. One platform that takes data centers around the world that are full of the widest range of cloud computing options, and then integrates and automates everything. J...
Mar. 27, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,494
SYS-CON Events announced today Sematext Group, Inc., a Brooklyn-based Performance Monitoring and Log Management solution provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's DevOps Summit 2015 New York, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Sematext is a globally distributed organization that builds innovative Cloud and On Premises solutions for performance monitoring, alerting and anomaly detection (SPM), log management and analytics (Logsene), search analytics (S...
Mar. 27, 2015 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,293


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Bristol, Ind.-based Stealth Trailers announced plans to add a second location in the state. Financial details were not disclosed, however the Indiana Economic Development Corp. says the new facility in Marion will create up to 115 jobs by 2020.
Inside INdiana Business reported that the cargo trailer manufacturer has already begun installing equipment inside the 48,000-square-foot Grant County facility. The company says the new location will house trailer manufacturing operations, including trailer welding, assembly and final finishing.
Stealth Trailers, which currently employs 175 in Bristol, expects to launch operations at the Marion facility by Oct. 1.
For the full story click here.


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Toyota Kirloskar Motor has forayed into the export market. The company will be exporting its Etios sedan and Liva hatchback to the South African market to start its export operations. The company plans to begin exports by March 2012. The two vehicles will be further exported to other markets as well, as Toyota Motor Corporation plans to make Toyota Kirloskar Motors as its export hub for small cars.
The export model of Etios will be built on the same platform as Etios and Etios Liva, manufactured and sold in India. However, there would be a few changes in technical specifications/features, pertaining to the different needs of each market. The export model will be customized to suit the local requirements. The company will export only the petrol variants of the Etios.
Commenting on the beginning of TKM’s export operations , Mr. Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director, TKM, said, “With the start of exports, TKM has entered a new chapter of business in India. This milestone is a defining moment for all of us at TKM. Exporting the Etios to South Africa would also mean showcasing the advanced technology and superior quality features that have been developed by Toyota for Etios. We are convinced that the Etios will be successful in delivering Toyota’s promise of quality in South Africa too.”
Mr. Shekar Viswanathan, Deputy Managing Director, Commercial, TKM added, “The start of the export operations of the company denotes the growing role of TKM in Toyota’s global operations. This is a tremendous achievement for us at TKM as we enter into a new phase of business. We see a big opportunity in this sector as exports have considerably grown when compared to last year. TKM’s foray into the export market promises a lot of growth for the company.”
The Etios is currently manufactured in TKM’s second plant located in Bidadi industrial area on the outskirts of Bangalore. The export model will also be manufactured in the same plant. The current production capacity in the second plant is 80,000 units which has been ramped upto 1,20,000 units by 2012 and 2,10,000 units by 2013. The engine and transmission for the Etios sold in India and export markets will be manufactured at Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts. Approximately 100,000 engines will be produced per year starting in the third quarter of 2012 and approximately 240,000 transmissions per year starting in early 2013. The engines and transmissions are currently being imported from Japan.


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Renault has released a special modification of the crossover Dacia Duster, created for Pope Francis. The car is donated to the Catholic Church.
Special crossover was developed by staff specialists Dacia and Romanian coach Romturingia. The vehicle received a large panoramic roof with a special hatch, the traditional removable glass superstructure and a handle on the roof.
The salon has established “a comfortable rear sofa to relax during long public events.” For ease of embarkation and disembarkation of the Pontiff, the ground clearance reduced by 30 millimeters.
At different times in the gift the Pope gave a variety of cars, including expensive super cars. Thus in 2013, Francis said that saddens him when he sees priests who use luxury cars.
The head of the Catholic Church prefers to travel at a relatively modest vehicles. For example, during your visit to Armenia in 2016, the Pontiff went on Dacia Logan, during a visit to Ireland he used the Skoda Rapid, and his arrival to the island of Mauritius had prepared for him a special pickup Nissan NP300.
In 2017 the Lamborghini company gave the Pope a special version of the supercar Huracan. In turn, the Pope blessed the car, signed on the back and handed it to the auction house Sotheby’s. A few months later the car was sold at auction for 715 thousand euros, and the proceeds sent to charity.
Has the Duster more attractive after this PR campaign?