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Azernews. – 2017. – April 26.- ¹. 30.- p. 4.
Azerbaijan, Arab countries establish association to deepen ties
By Amina Nazarli
A newly created “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association was presented to public in Baku on April 22.
The aim of establishing the Association, in which, along with Azerbaijani businessmen, entrepreneurs from Arab countries will also be represented, is the strengthening of economic partnership between Azerbaijan and Arab countries through the promotion of mutual trade and investment, development of friendly relations between the states.
Association’s Chairman Elshan Rahimov, addressing the ceremony, noted that high-level reciprocal visits in recent years between Azerbaijan and Arab countries, expansion of cooperation between businesses, increasing tourist flow to Azerbaijan create favorable conditions for the development of the relations.
He emphasized that the decision to create the “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association and its state registration are timed to President Ilham Aliyev’s initiative on announcing 2017 the Year of Islamic Solidarity in Azerbaijan, and Baku’s hosting the Islamic Solidarity Games in May.
“The Association intends to use various methods, including: ensuring dialogue between potential business partners, analyzing and informing about investment prospects, preparing business projects, assessing the business environment, organizing educational work among businessmen on advantages and benefits, organizing specialized exhibitions, business forums, business events, reciprocal visits, to achieve its goal,” he said.
The “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab countries” Public Association by establishing close cooperation with similar organizations, especially with the Turkish-Arab Association for Economic and Strategic Cooperation, will provide its members with an even wider range of services, Rahimov added.
Rahimov stressed that the current economic conditions increase competition between the countries in terms of attracting investments and expanding trade ties.
He noted that from this point of view, the goals set by the Azerbaijani president are taken as a basis in attracting investments to the country, adding that the newly created organization will make efforts to become a party to this process.
Close contacts will be established with representatives of business circles of Arab countries that have rich financial resources, and the organization will play the role of a business platform.
In the end, Rahimov invited entrepreneurs and representatives of business circles to join the “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association.
“We will build our activities on the principles of high professionalism and justify the trust of the members of the association,” he said.
Then, the Chairman of the Turkish-Arab Association for Economic and Strategic Cooperation Muhammed Al Adil said that Azerbaijan, being a brotherly country, is a very important part of the Turkic world.
He noted that the time has come to build new bridges between Azerbaijan and the Arab world.
“We intend to promote all the opportunities of Azerbaijan, in particular its business, investment, tourism opportunities in the Arab countries,” he said. “I therefore congratulate you on the creation of the “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association. This will be a very important and strategic cooperation for us.”
He went to add that Azerbaijan causes interest in the Arab world, first of all, that is due to the existence of common history and culture.
“Secondly, during the Soviet period, Azerbaijan was kept away from the Arab countries, we lived in complete estrangement,” he said. “Now we must strive to further expand the ties between our peoples. From this point of view, the creation of the “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association will be a great start.”
A memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the “Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Arab Countries” Public Association and Turkish-Arab Association for Economic and Strategic Cooperation was also signed at the event.
Rahimov further said that a mission of Azerbaijani businessmen will visit Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in July to establish business ties.
He said that the visits, which will be organized by the Public Association, will not be limited to these three countries, and it is also planned to visit other Arab countries in the future.
“We have no plans to hold forums within the framework of these visits,” Rahimov said. “In this case, our task is to organize meetings with representatives of chambers of commerce and business circles of Arab countries.”
“In general, we want not only to attract the attention of Arab investors to Azerbaijan, but also to ensure our entrepreneurs’ access to the Arab countries,” he added. “At the state level, good relations have been established between Azerbaijan and the Arab countries, but our task is to establish direct contacts with the businessmen of these countries.”
In addition, in October Baku will host the first Azerbaijani-Arab business forum, with participation of more than 300 entrepreneurs from Arab countries, according to Rahimov, who added that the Association plans to hold such events annually.
Attraction of investments and expansion of trade in the current economic situation contributes to increased competition between states, he said.
Rahimov noted that guided by certain goals of the head of state on attracting foreign investments, the new organization will make efforts to become a part of this process, establish close contacts with businesses of Arab countries that have big financial resources.


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An unique paintings by means of nameless British side road artist Banksy has been burned and was a non-fungible token. The NFT can be auctioned subsequent week at the blockchain-based Rarible platform, the place customers can create and acquire uncommon tokenized works of art.
The unique Banksy in query is a satirical piece entitled “Morons” which depicts patrons at an art public sale bidding on a work emblazoned with the phrases “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit.” The piece gained certification from Pest Control — the one frame licensed to authenticate unique Banksy works of art.
“Morons” was once offered at Christie’s public sale area in London in overdue 2019, the place it fetched $32,500 from an nameless, unbiased purchaser.
The burning of the piece came about at an unknown location in Brooklyn, New York, and was once livestreamed by way of the not too long ago created Twitter account, BurntBanksy. The burning was once reportedly performed by means of a bunch of cryptocurrency fanatics, in affiliation with executives from the blockchain undertaking, Injective Labs.
The tokenization of the authenticated piece came about with out enter from the nameless, pseudonymous Banksy. However, different outstanding artists have observed have compatibility to dip their ft into the crypto global of overdue, as witnessed not too long ago when famed British artist Damien Hirst introduced he would settle for bids for his paintings in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
The NFT marketplace was an business unto itself against the top of 2020, as nearly $9 million in token gross sales was once recorded in December on my own. But that was once only a signal of items to return as NFT gross sales exploded shifting into 2021, helped by means of the validation of a number of high-profile celebrities equivalent to YouTuber Logan Paul, and entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
On Feb. 28, acclaimed Canadian musician and artist Grimes introduced an NFT assortment entitled “WarNymph”, which went directly to promote for a collective $5.8 million. The NBA not too long ago launched into a three way partnership with CryptoKitties creators, Dapper Labs, to release NBA Top Shot — an NBA-themed virtual token market that has reportedly generated $230 million in gross sales since release.
The “Morons” piece isn’t the primary Banksy to be destroyed on goal. In 2018, Banksy’s “Girl With Balloon” robotically self-destructed in a while after promoting for $1.4 million at Sotheby’s. The artist later published that he had put in an automated shredder within the portray’s body in case it ever went to public sale. In an ironic accident, the destroyed Banksy is now considered extra treasured than the unique piece ever was once.
The “Morons” NFT can be auctioned on Rarible on March 9. All proceeds from the public sale can be donated to charity. The a hit bidder can be entitled to obtain the certificates of authentication from Pest Control, alternatively, this too can be burned if it’s not claimed inside of two weeks of the sale.
In an art business fraught with fakes and forgeries, “Morons” might now be probably the most original and protected Banksy piece on the earth. Once lodged at the blockchain, the potential for it being solid, altered or manipulated in any respect is on the subject of 0.
Given Banksy’s rejection of the bloated and materialistic art global, what would he suppose of the present mania surrounding NFTs? Keep a watch for your native graffiti spots. The resolution could also be drawing close.

domain: news


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ArcGIS Pro 2.1 is Released
We have talked the last few months about what the coming year will bring for many clients of the Esri ArcGIS platform as they begin the process of moving their Desktop fanbase to ArcGIS Pro. The latest step in this endeavor comes this week as Esri releases ArcGIS Pro 2.1 and starts rolling out ArcGIS 10.6 updates.
We will have more on what each of these releases includes in the coming weeks, but for now...Let's take a quick look - courtesy of Esri - at what ArcGIS Pro 2.1 has to offer in their video below.
Source: Esri, ArcGIS YouTube


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Never did like computer games, in fact, sort of loathed them and always considered playing games on computers a serious waste of time. To my way of thinking, games are sort of like an addictive drug, the more you play the more you become addicted to playing games. Technology is highly addictive. Games in Japan are big business with most people on their smart phones usually playing games from what I’ve seen. Here is one more game to add to their “technological advancement.” The thing about this game it seems to me is it will take the loneliness out of life of the participants, like the happy rats in rat park because it’s the cage you are in.
Japan’s gaming company Nintendo just released its new game called Miitomo for smartphones. Mii like in me, in other words, it’s all about me I guess since looking at this game after the player creates an avatar, can share posts divulging more and more personal information about themselves online. Nintendo is now officially in the smartphone game business. It isn’t news that some serious studies have found that video games trigger dopamine release in the brain. Imagine all the personal questions that are going to be asked and shared through Facebutt and twitter through Nintendo’s Miitomo game. “What kind of sex do you like?” With Miitomo, you can even use words like “Dickbutt” and “Shitlord.” Impressive. Like being on dopamine to take the pain out of the train commutes in Tokyo.
Miitomo: Nintendo launches first smartphone game in Japan
By Chris Foxx Technology
17 March 2016
Nintendo has released its highly-anticipated debut smartphone game, Miitomo, in Japan.
The app is a social game in which players create an avatar known as a Mii and share posts with friends from Facebook and Twitter.
Players are encouraged to answer questions about their likes and dislikes and the answers can be seen by friends in the app.
Early reviews of the app have been mixed.
Video game site IGN said Miitomo had “a lot of potential” but had “missed opportunities with the lack of room customisation”.
Technology site The Verge said Miitomo was “a little clunky at times, with too many load screens” but did have an abundance of “sleek, appealing quirkiness”.
But the first 500 reviews on the Japanese version of the iOS app store have been largely positive.


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Beatles' George Harrison jacket sold for £110,450 at auction
A leather jacket belonging to George Harrison from The Beatles has sold for £110,450 at an auction of more than 100 pieces of Beatles memorabilia.
The jacket dates back to the Fab Four's stay in Hamburg in 1960.
Other top-selling items from the Harrison family collection included a guitar and his boots, a spokesman for auction house Bonhams said.
Harrison, who lived in Henley, Oxfordshire, died of cancer in 2001.
The boots, dating back to circa 1964, were sold for £61,250 and an orange Western-style shirt identical to the one worn by Harrison during the 1971 Concert For Bangladesh sold for £23,750.
A guitar used by Sir Paul McCartney in the 1950s, before the Beatles formed, sold for £43,250.
Other lots included rock memorabilia relating to Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Queen, T. Rex and U2.


text: Even America’s biggest company can’t save itself from a global shortage of crucial computer chips. What’s happening: Apple\n \n (AAPL) just had a massive quarter thanks to sales of new iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, with revenue nearly hitting $90 billion. Sales of iPhones reached nearly $48 billion, a 65% increase over the same quarter last year, as consumers continued shelling out the big bucks to upgrade to Apple\n \n (AAPL)’s first 5G smartphone lineup. But that wave of demand is now coming up against major supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic. In a call with analysts, Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that the company expects revenue will be $3 billion to $4 billion lower this quarter thanks to “supply constraints.” That includes problems procuring chips, which are expected to affect the production of iPad and Macs. “We’ll have some challenges in there, and challenges in meeting the demand that we’ve got,” CEO Tim Cook said on the call. Apple shares are still up nearly 3% in premarket trading. Remember: Carmakers were among the first to sound the alarm about a shortage of microchips, which forced companies including General Motors\n \n (GM), Hyundai\n \n (HYMTF), Ford\n \n (F) and Fiat Chrysler\n \n (FCAU) to temporarily shut down plants. On Wednesday, Ford warned that the chip shortage will get worse before it gets better, and will likely cut 2021 profits by about $2.5 billion. Now, even top tech companies are dealing with the fallout. Samsung\n \n (SSNLF) told analysts on its earnings call Thursday that it’s working hard to rebalance production to reduce shortages of semiconductors and other key parts, which could weigh on sales of products like smartphones. Big picture: While the pain has spread from autos to consumer electronics, it won’t stop there. In a research note published last week, Goldman Sachs said that 169 US industries embed semiconductors in their products. The bank said its “working assumption” is that there will be a 20% average shortfall of computer chips for those affected. The problem isn’t going away anytime soon. “Because of the proprietary technologies, specialized machinery, and economics of scale needed to produce any given type of computer chip or component — and because many of the mature facilities are already operating near full capacity — the imbalance is likely to persist into the fall and possibly into 2022,” the bank’s analysts wrote. Investor insight: Wall Street is tracking how shortages could hurt corporate earnings, but it’s also trying to puzzle out what they mean for inflation, which is being closely monitored by central banks. A reduction in supply, as fewer cars and tablets are produced, could contribute to higher prices. Goldman Sachs thinks the price of affected products could rise by 0.7% to 3% this year, providing a “temporary” boost to inflation readings. Biden at 100 days: Hottest stock market since JFK The Biden bust that the Trump campaign warned of has morphed into a Biden boom, my CNN Business colleague Matt Egan reports. See here: The S&P 500 is up 8.6% since the market close on Jan. 20, the final day of the Trump presidency. That means President Joe Biden is on track for the strongest stock market performance during a new president’s first 100 days since John F. Kennedy in 1961, according to CFRA Research. The Biden rally squeaks past the 8.4% jump during the first 100 days of the Obama presidency and is well above the 5% increase in the months following former President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Friday will mark Biden’s 100th full day in office, not counting Inauguration Day. Presidents tend to get more credit — and more blame — than they deserve when it comes to the stock market’s performance. Still, the historic gains at the start of the Biden era add to a sense of optimism about America’s recovery from a once-in-a-century pandemic. “If the stock market is any indication, Wall Street appears to approve of President Biden’s attempts to corral the Covid-19 crisis and stimulate the economy,” Sam Stovall, CFRA’s chief investment strategist, told CNN Business. Remember: The US stock market recovered from the pandemic long before the election, boosted by unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve and Congress. Markets gathered momentum last fall as election chaos scenarios were avoided. Wall Street, like Main Street, cheered vaccine breakthrough announcements in November that helped fuel the Dow’s best month since January 1987. Stocks have continued to rally in 2021 as the rapid rollout of vaccines raises hopes for an economic boom. History suggests the stock market has a good chance of finishing the year in the green. Since 1932, only once did the S&P 500 end the year in the red after rising during the first 100 days of a presidential term, according to Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. But that will require investors to continue to shrug off concerns about the virus, inflation and higher taxes. In a speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Biden reiterated his intention to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for trillions of dollars in fresh spending on infrastructure and education. “It’s time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to pay their fair share,” he said. The Declaration of Independence is going public A copy of the Declaration of Independence will hit the sizzling collectibles market just in time for the Fourth of July — and unlike other rare items up for sale, you don’t have to be a millionaire to own a piece of it. Rally, a trading app for classic cars, baseball cards and other memorabilia, will next month offer 80,000 shares to the public of a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in July 1776. The item is one of just 20 copies from that period that are in private hands. It was previously displayed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Each share will cost just $25, making it a $2 million initial public offering. The IPO comes during a surge of interest in collectibles, with everything from art to sneakers to sports cards skyrocketing in value. A LeBron James rookie card sold for a record $5.2 million earlier this week. And the explosion of digital certificates for art and collectibles known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has been grabbing headlines. The rush has been triggered in part by central bank policy, which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Wednesday was not changing any time soon. With interest rates at rock bottom, investors are looking for ever more creative places to park their cash. “People are trying to get protection from the debasement of their dollars,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “They want to be in things with limited supply and that have the perception of value in the eyes of many.” Up next Altria\n \n (MO), Carlyle Group\n \n (CG), Caterpillar\n \n (CAT), Comcast\n \n (CCZ), Domino’s Pizza\n \n (DMPZF), Hershey Foods\n \n (HSY), Kraft Heinz\n \n (KHC), Mastercard\n \n (MA), McDonald’s\n \n (MCD), Merck\n \n (MKGAF) and Molson Coors\n \n (TAP) report results before US markets open. Amazon\n \n (AMZN), Twitter\n \n (TWTR) and US Steel\n \n (X) follow after the close. Also today: The first look at US gross domestic product for the first three months of the year posts at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with initial unemployment claims for last week. Coming tomorrow: Chevron\n \n (CVX) and ExxonMobil\n \n (XOM) close out a big week of earnings from oil producers.


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OneTo11 Raises $2.5 Million In Seed Funding The funds will be utilized to expand into the markets of Middle East, Europe and North America
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
OneTo11, a blockchain gaming ecosystem, has recently raised $2.5 million in its private and Seed funding round.
The funds will be utilized to expand into the markets of the Middle East, Europe and North America. It also plans to introduce high-quality games to its state-of-the-art gaming ecosystem, designed specifically to match the demands of gamers from different nationalities.
"We are really excited with the trust and brand value we have been able to generate with the growth of OneTo11 in the last 15 months. Our vision to become a global gaming ecosystem is coming to fruition," said Ravindra Kumar, CEO of OneTo11.
"With the investment being raised we are all set to go into the next stage of aggressive expansion and explore further possibilities of bringing play-to-earn gaming to everyone. The funding will greatly help us venture into the global market with top quality games and a more comprehensive gaming economy," said Tirath Chand Sharma, CTO and co-founder of OneTo11.
OneTo11 has created a strong portfolio of games for gaming enthusiasts spread across the globe. It plans to add football, basketball, baseball and field hockey as fantasy sports to accommodate its global pool of gamers. Besides this, it will be adding American football as a strategic move to align with the North American market.


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New partnership between the Emperor and New Balance
AL WASL FC & NEW BALANCE
Al Wasl Football Company (Al Wasl FC) signed a three years partnership contract with New Balance, an American multinational athletic corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts and one of the world’s major sports kits manufacturers, to become the official clothing supplier for Al Wasl FC first team starting in 2018/2019 season.
By entering this partnership, the Emperor has become the first Emirati club that signs with New Balance joining a group of major clubs around the globe including Liverpool, Seville, Porto, and Athletic Bilbao, in addition to national teams including Ireland, Panama, and Costa Rica.
New Balance will provide Al Wasl FC with exciting designs in the coming seasons that represents the uniqueness of Emperor name; The partnership will see New Balance sell Al Wasl FC 2018/2019 kits at its official NB stores around the UAE as well as partner multi branded doors. Furthermore, New Balance will work in close collaboration with Al Wasl club management to help grow the partnership in the UAE and beyond and looks forward to delivering support to the Players, Club Officials and Fans through its upcoming campaigns and engagement .
In the coming weeks, New Balance will launch an advertising campaign to promote the Emperor’s shirts in the UAE and beyond, in addition to many other activities, which will be announced in a press conference to be held soon between the company and Al Wasl FC prior to the season commencing
Mr. Ahmad Al Balooshi, head of media department in Al Wasl FC, praised the new partnership between the club and New Balance. He said that being the first Emirati club to sign such agreement with prestigious company like New Balance represents the club’s long-term vision to build and promote its brand on global level.
Al Balooshi said: “This partnership with New Balance is a new milestone that supports our efforts to establish successful and sustainable partnerships with international companies, which represent our values, and ambition to be number one in all domainsNew partnership between the Emperor and New Balance
Brand Director Henwood who has been with the brand for 9 years said “Its an honor and privelige to be partnering with Al Wasl FC as the official Kit Supplier. The club has a fantastic proud history. We share the same core values and vision of the Club management and we are very excited about the partnership. Delivering a unique service to the Club is of paramount importance to us as a Global brand and we look forward to delivering support to the whole club – from on field support with Team kit to exciting fan engagement programs and leveraging our Regional /Global assets to help grow the Al Wasl FC club”
About New Balance
New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host


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As always, the French end up looking like idiots when they ban certain items of Muslim wear. In the latest flap, officials at a pool in a Paris suburb banned a woman for wearing a “burquini ,” the latest fashion in Muslim swimwear. Surely some Muslim entrepreneur invented this thing, with its fetching name, to draw the French into a fight. As always, the French begin their objections by making up sober-sided bureaucratic rules-pools don’t allow loose clothing, arms can’t be covered, the clothes could contain “molecules and “viruses.” Then, by the end, some French official admits the real problem, which is some first-wave feminist frustration: ”We are going back in civilization,” said the town mayor. “Women have fought for decades for equal rights with men.” But the Muslims are a step ahead. The burquini is clearly a matter of self-expression, Photo shoots show smiling women in stylish burquinis , or Baywatch , the Burquini edition . The burquini happens to coincide with current fashion-a long shirt over leggings. The jogging women in these photos look anything but oppressed.
Photograph of women in burquinis courtesy of Ahiida Burquini Swimwear .


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Thanks to the recession, Just Nots are seeking value through buying second-hand. The rise of auction sites such as penny auction site MadBid, CowBoom from electronic retailer BestBuy and eBay – which has a global customer base of 233m – has created a thriving culture of second-hand buying. At the same time, more and more people are turning to charity shops for value.
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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has filed paperwork to declare a key Apple patent invalid. The patent has to do with how the multi-touch screen works on an iPhone or iPad -- most notably how lists bounce when you get to the end of them -- and has often been referred to as the "Steve Jobs" patent since he's listed first among the many inventors (Scott Forstall is second). The USPTO made the filing on Dec.
2 Recent Stories
Apple has applied for a patent for a Fitness Center App with social media components that might be able to bring a variety of fitness-tracking capabilities under one icon. The United States Patent and Trademark Office published Apple's patent Thursday. The app would include an extensive back end for fitness centers to interact with their customers, and the front end that will reside on the iPhone, helping users keep track of their workouts and find potential workout partners via social networking.


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The Hague District Court has upheld a ruling on behalf of Nintendo against 11 retailers accused of the illegal selling of piracy chips and cartridges for the Wii and DS consoles.
Retailers had been importing and selling the piracy aids in the Netherlands, and the court also rejected the retailers claims that Nintendo was engaging in unfair competition.
"Nintendo welcomes the decision by the Hague District Court to uphold its claim that 11 online retailers operating in the Netherlands have acted unlawfully vis-à-vis Nintendo by importing and selling game copiers for use with Nintendo DS and mod chips for use with Nintendo Wii," said the company.
"These devices circumvent Nintendo's technical measures designed to prevent software piracy. Nintendo also welcomes the decision by the Hague District Court to reject the online retailers' defence that Nintendo has engaged in acts of unfair competition."
Nintendo said it was acting on behalf of all its development and publishing partners, as well as upholding the quality and standards associated with legitimate Nintendo products.
"Nintendo protects its intellectual property rights globally and takes action to prevent the distribution of pirated software and devices that allow illegally downloaded software to be played.
"Nintendo takes this action not only for the company's sake, but in the interests of its partners who spend time and money legitimately developing software for Nintendo videogame consoles and systems, and customers who expect the highest standards and integrity from products bearing the Nintendo name."


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News to circulate
Circular Movement in National Geographic
See what an incredible space we have achieved! The Circular Movement served as a reference in a National Geographic news piece, published last May 24. The magazine interviewed the Movement's Pedagogical Coordinator, Professor Dr. Edson Grandisoli, along with the director of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for Latin America and the Caribbean, Luisa Santiago. Below is the full article:
Circular Economy: what is it and why does it benefit the environment?
BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. POSTED MAY 24, 2022 11:14 BRT
Due to the climate crisis, the relevance of the so-called circular economy is growing. Find out the origin of the topic, its meaning, principles and what positive impacts it has on the planet.
Featured photo credit: Thomas Peschak/ National Geographic
Linear models are exposed to price fluctuations and access to raw materials and contribute to environmental degradation, affecting ecosystem services essential for development. On the other hand, the circular model is restorative and regenerative, and aims to keep products, components and materials in greater utility and value.
By returning what would have been discarded as trash to the production cycle, it is possible to reduce the quantity of raw material extracted from nature, which consequently reduces waste along the chain.
"By using fewer resources, you also reduce the need to transport these materials, which reduces the production's carbon footprint, since most transport still depends on oil-derived fuels,'' said Edson Grandisoli, a researcher on the Global Cities program, at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEA-USP), in an interview to the National Geographic.
But in addition to reducing waste production, the circular model uses waste as a source of wealth creation. For example, organic waste, such as fruit and vegetables, can be decomposed by composting to become fertilizers for agricultural production, which serves as food and protection against pests, reducing the use of chemical products in plantations.
The benefits, moreover, are quantifiable. A report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) states that a circular economy model could reduce industrial waste in some sectors by 80-99%, and emissions by 79-99%.
What are the principles of the circular economy?
In a circular economy, economic activity contributes to the overall health of the system. That is why the model is based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution from the outset, maintain products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems.
"A circular system basically paves the way for some of the materials that are already in circulation, such as those that make up a mobile phone, for example, so that they can return to their initial point of production, thus preventing them from becoming waste", explained Grandisoli.
By increasing the useful life of existing materials, fewer natural resources are extracted for new products, less waste is produced, and consequently the environmental impact generated in linear economics is reduced.
This concept, also called crib to cradle, implies that there is no idea of waste and that everything serves continuously as food for a new cycle.
"The linear system systematically destroys nature, that is, we need to destroy it in order to generate economic value,'' said Luisa Santiago, director of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for Latin America and the Caribbean in an interview with National Geographic. By contrast, in the circular economy, nature regenerates as economic value is generated. For Santiago, therefore, the third principle, that of the regeneration of natural systems, is the most important one for the region, due to the abundance of biodiversity.
The role of recycling in the circular economy
According to Santiago, the central approach is to think "how we can make the economy, through its project, regenerative".
Therefore, although reuse is at the center of the model, recycling is a final strategy that must be thought out and planned to be truly possible. She adds that recycling capacity should be a technical feature, but one that should be thought of in terms of a system.
"For between 40 and 50 years we've been talking about recycling and yet less than 20% of the products on the market are recycled. That is why it seems that the way it is dealt with is not an effective strategy", Santiago warned, pointing out that the future challenge is to treat this kind of concept from a systemic, and not linear, perspective.
"Designers play a key role in the circular economy," explains Grandisoli. ‘It is necessary to create products that can be easily dismantled and reused or recycled’.
For him, this is one of the most important and difficult parts of the systems for reusing material to be implemented. "In electronics, for example, there are less and less disassemble materials, and it is increasingly difficult to reuse parts or devices `offline'. Part of the blame lies in the fact that the products are designed to be disposed of quickly."
From a linear to a circular economy
The current linear economic system follows a path that begins with the exploitation of natural resources and continues with the production, consumption, and disposal, that is, with the end of the useful life of the products.
"This is the logic that capitalism has been following for 300 years. A story in which, every day, we extract an enormous amount of natural resources that are transported and transformed into consumer products that, at the end of the day, are discarded without being given new uses and that accumulate exponentially,'' explained Grandisoli, who is also the coordinator of the Circular Movement initiative, an organization that values the education and promotion of the circular model for consumers and companies.
In The Circular Economy: In a paradigm shift towards global solutions, experts Manuel Albaladejo and Paula Mirazo, from the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (Onudi), and Laura Franco Henao, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, specified that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the greenhouse gas emission commitments set out in the Paris Agreement, a new economic model must be adopted.
According to the publication, the economy has followed a pattern based on undefined extraction, production, consumption and disposal, without considering that the raw materials necessary to keep this system working may be exhausted.
"We are faced with a model which considers that nature is totally disposable and that the resources are infinite,'' says Grandisoli.
Grandisoli highlights the scarcity of natural resources and the accumulation of tons of waste in sanitary landfills, which contaminate the soil, the water and affect human health, as two of the main problems generated by the current model.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the production of municipal solid waste reached 540,000 tons per day in 2018, according to a report by UNEP.
Roughly 145,000 tons (one third of what is generated daily) of garbage goes to open landfills or directly to the environment.
Circular Economy: where and when did the concept originate?
The idea of feedback and cycles in real-world systems is an old one that resurfaced in industrialized countries after World War II, "when computerized studies of non-linear systems revealed the complex, connected and unpredictable nature of our world, which is more like a mechanism than a machine," highlights the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website.
"In the 19th century there were already theorists who spoke of this notion", Santiago explains. "In the 20th century, around the 1970s, some schools of thought sprung up in different parts of the world that promoted the thinking and the concept of the circular economy."
According to the Foundation, these schools generally include the performance economy of Walter Stahel; the cradle-to-cradle design philosophy of William McDonough and Michael Braungart; the idea of biomimetics put forward by Janine Benyus; the industrial ecology of Reid Lifset and Thomas Graedel; the natural capitalism of Amory and Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawkens; and the blue economy approach, described by Gunter Pauli.
"The circular economy brings together all these ideas as strategies or methods for constructing an economic system that takes into consideration the flows of material and of financial capital", Santiago summed up.
Towards a definition
Although the concept is not new, the circular economy has gained ground in recent years. Scientific evidence has kept pace the need to modify the current model of production, distribution, consumption and disposal, whose very unviability is arousing a growing interest in more sustainable alternatives.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was established in 2010 to contribute to and accelerate the transition to the circular economy through networking amongst governments, business and academia in order to build a regenerative and restorative economy by project.
In 2015, the organization set foot in Latin America and the Caribbean to address the emerging model from a regional perspective.
"It is true that the circular economy has gained a lot of prominence. However, there is a lot of noise or confusion about what is really going on," says Santiago. "For example, the concept is used nowadays to refer to the economics of recycling, to the adequate management of waste, and even to conscious consumption."
However, it is clear that neither of these definitions is appropriate. According to her, the circular economy is an economic system, a structural solution for the transformation of the current system. The climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity are not symptoms, but a cause of "our linear way of producing and consuming products and materials".
The circular economy, therefore, "represents a structural solution and an opportunity to transform and replace this system by one that faces these great challenges", Santiago concludes.
A change in values
The existing circular economy models are mostly functional only on a small scale. Some companies or organizations can implement production lines that value sustainability and reuse. However, for the economic model to become truly sustainable, a global change of values is necessary, according to experts.
Grandisoli also emphasizes, for example, that for circular alternatives to really make a difference, the contemporary thinking of the individual about the collective needs to be put aside.
"The obstacles to a more sustainable economy must be overcome collectively. Isn't it worth thinking about giving up certain things and making greater gains on a collective level at a moment like this, when we are going through a crisis like this?" questions Grandisoli.
"This is the perfect moment for recovering economically", Santiago adds, "but looking at a new order of development, an era in which we have built upon the riches of our region a model that will lead us to prosperity in the long run."
Also read on the National Geographic website
In the same subject:
Brazilian carnival brings reflection on waste pickers and Circular Economy
In Olinda, Pernambuco, where one of the largest street Carnival parties in the world takes place, waste pickers play a fundamental role in cleaning the city and in the logistics of the festival.


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HYDERABAD: Customs Hyderabad has seized 20 tons of smuggled betel nut, which was being transported from Quetta to Karachi in a 10-wheeler truck.
Information was passed through Collector Abdul Qadir Memon that smuggled goods would be moved from Quetta to Karachi, and subsequently the vehicle was intercepted at Jamshoro. The seized goods beling to smuggler Allauddin.
Meanwhile, one person identified as Zubair appeared before the Customs ASO to claim the possession of the goods, but Customs staff detained him for the night and he was let go after paying Rs2.0 million bribe to the Customs Hyderabad staff.
The seized goods are still in the possession of Customs Hyderabad.
Chief Collector Saifuddin Junejo has reportedly received an anonymous complaint about the wrongdoings and corruption at MCC Hyderabad.
The complaints notes that a BS-21 officer and a BS-19 officer of Customs Hyderabad were involved and patronizing the smuggling and illicit trade.
It was also known that one retired Inspector of ASO Hyderabad is running this entire game.


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A management change is underway at The Giant Company of Ahold Delhaize USA, parent company of grocery retail banners Giant, Martin’s and Giant Heirloom Market.
Giant, based in Carlisle, Pa., said Wednesday that chairman Nicholas Bertram is leaving the regional grocer Aug. 31 to “pursue new opportunities.” John Ruane, senior vice president, chief merchant and chief commercial officer, will serve as interim president “until a successor is named,” according to the company.
Bertram (left picture) has been chairman of Giant since January 2018, when he succeeded Tom Lenkevich, who retired after four years in the role. Previously, Bertram was senior vice president of merchandising for Ahold USA, which operated Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover and Stop & Shop before Royal Ahold and Delhaize Group completed their merger in July 2016.
“We were fortunate to have Nick lead The Giant Company during his nine-year tenure,” Ahold Delhaize USA President Kevin Holt said in a statement. “His leadership has inspired the team to perform very well. The Giant Company has been very successful, with growth in its local markets, innovative operations and a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as health and sustainability.We remain confident in the continued momentum of the brand and wish Nick all the best for the future.
Bertram had brought 17 years of retail experience when he joined Giant in 2018, including more than 11 years at Walmart US, most recently as a regional general manager, and a year at Jewel-Osco, where he served as senior vice president of retail operations. . He is also a former senior vice president at Supervalu, now part of United Natural Foods Inc.
During Bertram’s tenure, Giant expanded into its home market of Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia market; launched the Giant Heirloom Market small format banner; rolled out Giant Direct and Martin’s Direct e-commerce brands for online grocery pickup and delivery; launched the Choice Rewards loyalty program; introduced “For Today’s Table” as a Giant brand slogan; and changed the company name to The Giant Company of Giant Food Stores.
Bertram was also president when Supermarket News named Giant as its Retailer of the Year for 2019. He is also currently an independent director on the board of directors of PECO Energy Co., Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility, with a focus on clean energy.
“Leading The Giant Company to be designed for the way families live today has been a great honor, and I am excited by the growing momentum of our motivated teammates,” Bertram commented. “That, combined with the strength of our management team, makes now the most natural time for me to step aside. I have great faith in John and believe The Giant Company’s best days are yet to come. .
Roan (left picture) in late July, he had been named senior vice president of commerce as part of an expansion of his marketing and business planning responsibilities, and as director of merchandising. He joined Giant as senior vice president and chief merchant in January 2018 after more than five years as senior vice president of fresh merchandising and supply chain at Ahold USA/Ahold Delhaize.
Prior to that, Ruane spent over a year as Vice President of Sales and Merchandising at the New York division of Stop & Shop, which marked his start at Ahold USA. He comes to the company after nearly two and a half years with A&P, most recently as Vice President of Sales and Merchandising, and more than 27 years with Pathmark Stores, most recently as Senior Vice President of merchandising. He began his career in the food industry at age 14 at a Foodtown store in New Jersey.
“I am honored to serve as interim president,” Ruane said. “I look forward to continuing to serve our customers and our communities and to continuing our purpose and passion to meet the needs of today’s customers.”
Part of Ahold Delhaize USA, The Giant Company has more than 35,000 employees and operates 192 grocery stores under the Giant, Martin’s and Giant Heirloom Market banners in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Its retail operations also include 133 pharmacies, 107 gas stations and more than 175 online grocery pickup and delivery centers in hundreds of zip codes, with an e-commerce service also serving New Jersey communities. .


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WHEN Microsoft’s Kinect gaming sensor first exploded onto the gaming scene in 2010, it wasn’t long before people started getting excited about what it might make possible.
But despite some imaginative hacks, and even a stint in the operating theatre, the breakthrough depth-sensing technology that made Kinect such a success has had a hard time moving beyond the lab or living room. Now the firm behind the 3D sensor at the heart of the Kinect system is pushing to make the leap into a wide variety of consumer fields far removed from gaming.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, Israeli firm PrimeSense showed how their depth sensor, called Carmine, is being put to use in myriad applications. And a smaller version of the sensor may soon be sitting in your smartphone or tablet.
“We’re taking it way beyond the living room and putting it into almost anything,” says PrimeSense’s head of commercial markets, Ohad Shvueli.
We’re taking our sensor way beyond the living room and putting it into almost anything
Retail is the sector that looks to benefit the most. One firm, Shopperception, uses the sensor to constantly scan the area in front of the shelves in a supermarket to gauge shoppers’ behaviour. Because the sensor can track arm movements – just like in Kinect – it knows when a shopper has picked up a certain product. The data is compiled and retailers can see a “heat map” of exactly where on a shelf most customers are reaching.
The sensor is also being put to use by Portuguese firm CoVii, which has written software that lets the sensor turn any simple flat-screen TV or monitor into a “touch-sensitive” device – only the user doesn’t have to touch the screen. Because it can detect how far a user’s hand is from the screen, it lets people interact by hovering their finger a set distance from the surface – something that would be perfect for interactive advertising displays that could be kept safe behind glass windows.
Meanwhile, California-based Matterport has been using the sensor to cheaply create an accurate, 360-degree 3D scan of a room that is complete within 10 minutes. Such mapping would make buying furniture for your living room a cinch, for example.
Styku, also at CES, has been using the sensor to create a virtual changing room where online shoppers scan their bodies at home and create an avatar to try on outfits to see how they look.
Sean Murphy, an industry analyst for the Consumer Electronics Association, which organises CES, says 3D sensing and gestural control are poised to become a much bigger part of our lives. “It really is the next frontier for getting people interacting with the world around them,” he says.
Shvueli agrees, and is pushing hard for the technology to mature into a mainstay of our everyday lives. “Despite Kinect, 3D sensing is a non-existent market at the moment,” he says. “We are in the very early stages of making it integrated into everything.”
To that end, he says a new version of the sensor, called Capri, will bring depth-sensing to mobile devices. Capri is far smaller than the Carmine sensor, thanks to better heat dissipation. “Once Capri is in a tablet or a smartphone it is going to break the mass market wide open,” Shvueli claims. He expects to have Capri sensors installed in commercially available devices next year.


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From WSU’s electrically conductive, cotton-like fibres and MIT’s temperature-responsive FibeRobo, to Singapore’s spider-inspired durable fibres and Canada’s heat and electricity-activated materials, each breakthrough showcases the versatility of smart textiles. The UK’s sustainable textiles with integrated LEDs and sensors, and Finland’s temperature-reactive fabrics further underscore the industry’s rapid evolution. These innovations not only enhance the functionality of textiles but also open new avenues in fields like healthcare, automotive, and fashion, blending traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology.
WSU researchers develop cotton-like fibre for smart textiles: Researchers at the Washington State University (WSU) developed a single strand of fibre that has the flexibility of cotton and the electric conductivity of a polymer, called polyaniline. The newly developed material showed good potential for wearable e-textiles. The WSU researchers tested the fibres with a system that powered an LED light and another that sensed ammonia gas, detailing their findings in the journal Carbohydrate Polymers.
US’ MIT researchers develop shape-changing FibeRobo for smart clothing: An interdisciplinary team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a fibre that could revolutionise the textile industry. Known as FibeRobo, this programmable, actuating fibre can dynamically change shape in response to temperature changes, making it ideal for smart clothing. Unlike other shape-changing fibres, FibeRobo does not require embedded sensors or other hard components, making it fully compatible with conventional textile manufacturing techniques such as weaving looms and embroidery.
Singapore’s researchers mimic spiders to transform smart textile fibre: Drawing on the intricate spinning process of spiders, researchers at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) College of Design and Engineering alongside international collaborators created a revolutionary method for producing soft, reusable fibres ideal for smart textiles. These textiles, known for their application in therapeutic, sensing, and communicative devices, require durability, elasticity, and electrical conductivity, all of which this new method fulfils.
Smart fabric by Canadian researchers responds to heat, electricity: Researchers at Canada’s University of Waterloo developed a new smart material that gets activated by both heat and electricity, enabling it to respond to two different stimuli. The unique design paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while one walks from the car to the office in winter and vehicle bumpers that return to their original shape after a collision.
UK’s researchers develop sustainable smart textiles with LEDs, sensors: Next-generation smart textiles that incorporate LEDs, sensors, energy harvesting, and storage were developed by an international team of researchers led by UK’s University of Cambridge. The textiles can be produced inexpensively, in any shape or size, using the same machines used to make everyday clothing. The findings of the study, which were published in the journal Science Advances, have showcased the potential of smart textiles as a viable substitute for bulky electronics in various industries such as automotive and fashion.
Finland’s researchers develop smart fabric that reacts to temperature changes: Researchers at Finland’s Aalto University and the University of Cambridge collaborated to create new textiles that can alter their shape based on the temperature. Such responsive smart fabrics not only offer adjustable aesthetics but also assist in tracking people’s health, enhance thermal insulation, and provide new tools for controlling room acoustics and design. The team used conventional textile crafting techniques to develop the smart fabric, testing two versions with soft or rigid LCE yarns. All of the LCE fabrics when kept under an infrared lamp contracted as they warmed up. The changes were reversible as they returned to their original shape once the temperature cooled.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)


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SYDNEY — Fashion-forward swimwear and a new vanguard of Australian footwear brands were among buyer highlights at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia’s resort 2020 showcase.
The event, which wrapped in Sydney over the weekend, attracted a small but influential contingent of international buyers — a number of them now MBFWA regulars, in part due to the event renaming itself in 2016 from its original spring focus to being a resortwear-dedicated collections showcase.
At 32, the number of shows and presentations on the schedule was down 18 percent from 2018 and some lamented the lack of support of the event from big local names like Dion Lee and Zimmermann, which now show in other locations, including during New York Fashion Week.
But an injection of new names and some spectacular off-site show locations got buyers talking.
This year, the latter included the historic, harborside precinct of The Rocks; both the north and south ends of Bondi Beach — with the Ten Pieces front row seated on the floor of the drained Bondi Icebergs swimming pool — and the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour, the location for Double Rainbouu’s walk-through presentation.
“We’ve seen some fantastic presentations in terms of formats and locations and for any of the international buyers who come here, it really feels very immersive to understanding what the city culture is like,” said Lisa Aiken, fashion director at Moda Operandi, which works with 14 Australian brands.
Beginning Friday, Moda Operandi will launch 18 stand-alone Australian brand trunk shows based on Aiken’s selections from this year’s MBFWA, including her top show picks such as Michael Lo Sordo, Christopher Esber, Matteau Swim, Bondi Born and Anna Quan, plus a curation of the best of Australian fashion week, which will include additional products from other brands.
“The fact that Matteau and Bondi Born were two of my favorites really speaks to what is going on here from a resortwear perspective — it’s resortwear for a more minimal girl, that beautiful color palette,” said Aiken of both brands’ collections, which featured minimalist silhouettes and styling and earthy tones.
“I think Sydney has a major spot on the [buying] calendar,” she added. “This season there was Matchesfashion.com, Browns, Net-a-porter, myself at Moda, Farfetch, Saks [Fifth Avenue]….There were a lot of international buyers here, that’s not an easy thing to achieve. We’re not taking time out from our resort planning schedules, we’re not doing it for fun, we’re doing it because we believe we’re going to find something here. And so I think that in terms of an element of discovery and being a platform for emerging talent, that wouldn’t necessarily get the same showcase in an international fashion week, I don’t think that’s going anywhere. Far from it.”
Two emerging swimwear brands that were each established in 2015 and made their debuts on the schedule this year, Matteau Swim and Bondi Born were at the top of most buyers’ highlights lists.
Both brands have fashion magazine connections: Matteau cofounder Ilona Hamer is a stylist who has worked with Vogue Australia, Russh and Unconditional magazine, while the new creative director of Bondi Born, Karla Clarke, who is also a stylist, is the former fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar Australia. The latter joined Bondi Born founder and chief executive officer Dale McCarthy in December.
“Definitely Matteau and I really liked Bondi Born as well — it was very chic and wearable, not your typically really sexy swim,” said Browns ready-to-wear and resort buyer Holly Tenser.
She added, “A lot of brands were doing really beautiful neutral color palettes, which is something we’re seeing a lot of in the other markets for spring. And I quite liked the Australian take on it. I thought there were some really nice retro prints and paisleys. There was a fair bit of maxi-length in skirts and dresses, also quite a lot of crops, but not in a young way, in a more elevated way.”
Lee Mathews was also flagged by buyers as one of the week’s top shows, as were Double Rainbouu, Christopher Esber, Michael Lo Sordo, Aje, Anna Quan, P.E Nation, Bec + Bridge, Alice McCall, Bassike and Ten Pieces.
L.A. transplant Jonathan Simkhai made his mark at the event with a presentation outside the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club at sunset — echoing the fading pastel skies over the Pacific in a striking ombré finale series.
“Jonathan Simkhai was amazing — I feel like he really took inspiration from the city here and just to see him outside of his element and then design pieces that resonate with the Sydney customer, but it was also very Los Angeles and California, it was so beautiful,” said Revolve senior buyer Cori French, who also liked the mixed pastels, animal prints and silk sets on the week’s other runways.
Of the latter, she noted, “So whether it’s like a bias-cut skirt and maybe a matching cami for a monochromatic look or also maybe a pajama shirt with little shorts and wide-legged pants — I feel like I saw that a bunch in the street style here and then also in the shows. And a trend that really surprised me was head scarves. I hadn’t seen that much before.”
Revolve carries around 20 Australian brands, including Zimmermann, Alice McCall and Bec + Bridge and newcomer Leo + Lin could soon be joining them. The brand’s collection of lace party dresses and prairie dresses in vibrant florals was French’s favorite MBFWA show.
“Some of the shows that I’ve seen this week could be London or Paris shows,” said Matchesfashion.com women’s wear buyer Chelsea Power, who singled out Lee Mathews, Jonathan Simkhai, Aje, Bassike, Double Rainbouu, Christopher Esber, Michael Lo Sordo, Ten Pieces, P.E Nation and Matteau Swim.
“All of it,” said Power, of what she plans to buy from the latter, which showed resortwear for the first time. “I thought it was really, really strong and not like anything that we have. Two years ago they were just a rail of swimsuits and bikinis, black, khaki and maybe mustard and that was it.”
Elizabeth von der Goltz, global buying director for Net-a-porter, which carries 60 Australian brands across fashion and beauty, said the week’s key takeaway trends were neutrals, including off-white cream, chocolate brown, rust and new plum undertones; the new square neckline in swimwear, and what she called “the naked sandal.”
“Australian brands really embrace these [sandals] with flat styles, which is a new update to the midheel strappy versions we have seen dominating,” she said.
Launched in October, Bondi-based minimalist leather sandal brand Studio Amelia is among a number of Australian footwear lines to emerge in recent years.
“I’ve never really thought of Australia as having a strong accessory market, but there are two [footwear] labels I’m definitely interested in — Mara + Mine and Studio Amelia,” said Aiken.
“[Studio Amelia] is like a true city flat. I think it’s very easy to find a flat sandal that is beachy, but it’s very difficult to find something that feels slick and that you want to wear in the city. And Mara + Mine has been around on a lot on girls. All of a sudden it’s like osmosis. You see it being worn around and I’m like hunting people down to ask where they got their shoes from, because I want to work with them on Moda in the most immediate capacity,” she said.


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SIM manufacturers shipped 30 million NFC SIM cards in 2012, 70% of them to mobile operators in South Korea and Japan, with Europe beginning to ramp up, the SIMalliance trade association said today in announcing its global SIM shipment figures for the year.
Japan’s largest telco, NTT DoCoMo, has begun to make a key piece of its strategy for NFC known, announcing deals with MasterCard Worldwide and South Korea’s KT Corp. to enable subscribers to make payments when they roam in other countries.
While he announced that U.S. mobile operator Sprint will introduce more than 10 additional NFC phones supporting the Google Wallet this year, Osama Bedier, who heads the wallet program at Google, revealed few other details about how the Web giant plans to boost the wallet’s market presence.
Samsung Electronics has confirmed it has an NFC version of its Galaxy Note, though that comes as no surprise to operators in South Korea, which have been selling the tablet-smartphone hybrid with NFC inside for about two months.
While mobile operators in most other countries are still struggling to roll out even scant volumes of NFC phones that can do payment, ticketing and other applications, South Korea’s telcos have already crossed the 5 million-phone mark–including NFC versions of such high-profile devices as the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note.
2012 was going to be the year that the new era of NFC-based mobile commerce had finally arrived–with Google Wallet rolling out widely, mobile operators in the U.S. and Europe making significant inroads with their own mobile wallets and big Asian m-commerce players generally commercializing NFC, as well.
The major Japanese and South Korean mobile operators in separate announcements today revealed details for planned cross-border NFC services–signaling the move by the telcos away from domestic contactless-mobile technology to standard NFC.
NFC Times Exclusive – Samsung’s NFC payments platform, Samsung Pay, is due to launch in the summer in the U.S. and South Korea. But it’s not the only payments service planned for Samsung’s new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Australia’s AMP Bank said it chose to launch mobile-payments with host-card emulation over other NFC technologies because of the “wider reach” the technology offers, since it’s “available to all NFC-enabled Android mobile phones running KitKat or later,” the bank’s director digital, Michael Weeding, told NFC Times.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight – New Zealand joint venture Semble has launched its SIM-based NFC mobile wallet, after delays and the decision by of two of the country’s big four banks to launch mobile payments from their own apps using host-card emulation.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Another major New Zealand bank has announced plans to launch NFC payments with host-card emulation, snubbing a joint venture set up to launch SIM-based NFC on the island nation.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Windows 10 for phones, set to be released later this year, will support host card emulation, or HCE, based NFC payments, Microsoft revealed at a recent Windows event in China.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight –Germany-based Giesecke & Devrient confirmed it is providing the host-card emulation technology for Commonwealth Bank’s commercial HCE launch this month of Tap & Pay from the bank’s Android-based mobile-banking app.
Identiv CEO Jason Hart sounded optimistic tones about the company’s NFC tag business, particularly in “Internet of Things” applications or tags for consumer goods, during a conference call last week to discuss Identiv’s fourth quarter and full year 2014 earnings, but investors responded with less optimism.
NFC Times Exclusive Insight – France-based Gemalto, which is keen to take the spotlight off its SIM business, projects EMV cards to represent perhaps the largest expected source of revenue growth in the coming year.


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As part of its strategy for innovation and growth, Zodiac launches a range of chemical products that will come as a complement to the automated water treatment solutions that are currently available on the EMEA markets (Europe Middle East Africa). Zodiac Pool Care Europe already markets chemical products in Germany and Italy where its lines of chemical products are well implanted. Following a series of highly encouraging sales tests at different points of sale, Zodiac has chosen to work with Océdis, one of the leaders on the French market. Based in the Lyon area, Océdis has a product approach that is resolutely oriented toward innovation and quality. These aspects were decisive for the choice of partner.
Zodiac and innovation
Innovation is inherent to Zodiac culture.
In 2012, the brand will launch no less than 8 innovations, including a new range of chemical products. This will be the first manual solution by Zodiac for water treatment and will be based on simplicity in choice and use of the products.
Zodiac enters this new market adopting a pragmatic approach, relying on surveys conducted with pool owners. The surveys show that consumers expect a real clarification in the ranges of chemical products as well as assistance from the brands under the form of products that answer their various water treatment issues (water balance, disinfection…)
Consequently, Zodiac proposes a range segmentation that is structured also based on colour codes that identify the main families and the different treatment phases. This offering will clearly facilitate and encourage purchases.
Specific communication tools will also be available at the points of sale to support this clarification effort.
Zodiac and chemicals
Zodiac is no newcomer to the chemical market.
Two years ago, Zodiac bought the Australian company PQ that markets ranges of chemical products structured around these new identification codes and which are highly successful with consumers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Over the past two years, Zodiac has acquired a solid know-how and expertise in chemicals, both in terms of quality of manufacturing and marketing.
In Europe, for this category of products, Zodiac has been implanted in Germany and Italy for many years. Beginning of 2012, Zodiac Pool Care Europe will introduce a full range of products that will be marketed in France, Italy and Germany, with a common marketing and manufacturing policy.
Océdis and Zodiac
In July 2011, the two companies entered into a partnership agreement for the manufacturing of chemical products under the Zodiac brand.
Océdis manufactures a specific range of chemical products for Zodiac, featuring high concentration levels of active principles, so as to ensure very high quality products.
Through this partnership, Océdis places its quality department at the service of Zodiac, respecting a strict and precise quality control protocol.


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Posts Tagged ‘ipad’
Apple has launched a new 128GB variant of the iPad 4 with Retina Display. The new model is set to go on sale starting February 5 for $799 and up Apple has added a new variant to its iPad family a 128GB version of the iPad 4 wit...
January 29, 2013
Apple’s latest iOS update iOS 6.1 is available for download as a free software update starting today. The new update adds LTE support for 36 additional iPhone carriers as well as 23 iPad carriers worldwide and enables users in ...
January 17, 2013
A survey conducted by a market research firm in December shows that the market shares of Google’s Nexus 7 in Japan surpasses that of the iPad’s A survey conducted by market research firm BCN in December shows that the market sh...
December 3, 2012
Apple has announced to launch its iPad Mini in India next week. The iPad Mini is set to go on sale for Rs 21,990 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model To the delights of all Apple aficionados in India, the manufacturing giant’s smaller iter...
AT&T is offering its iPads and other tablets at $100 less than their original MRPs. To avail the offer customers need to purchase a tablet from AT&T and with a 2 Year contract which offers data plans starting $10 a mont...
- Fast Review: 12 new features of the Galaxy S4
Nikon Coolpix S6500 Review
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- Nikon receives the prestigious TIPA Awards 2013 for four outstanding products
- Olympus to stop manufacturing cheap digital cameras
- Xolo X910 spotted on the net featuring a 4.3-inch display and Intel’s Atom processor
- Three New Levels for Cut the Rope: Experiments for Windows Phone
- Play Atari Breakout on Google Image Search


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CT Communications, which provides telephone, Internet and television service in the West Liberty area, has announced a plan to provide high definition television content as a current agreement runs out.
In a release, CT said CTTV customers can choose a package under a partnership with DIRECTV to continue HD service after May 31 when the current agreement ends.
Tim Bolander, president and general manager of CT Communications, said, “Our DIRECTV packages offer a wider range of programming at a competitive price in relation to our CTTV service.”
He added that CT bundles DIRECTV with Internet and telephone services to provide customers better savings and convenience.
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- German source says Apple’s car could be built, sold and serviced by BMW
- Two companies are said to be close to an official agreement
- Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, reportedly visited BMW’s Leipzig factory to inspect the manufacturing of the i3, BMW’s smaller electric vehicle
- iCar dubbed ‘project Titan’ is expected to look a bit like a minivan
Rumours of an iCar have been circulating for over a year. Now the latest whispers suggest Apple may base its fabled electric vehicle on BMW’s i3 model. And the German source claims the tech giant’s first car could be built, sold and serviced by BMW. The two companies are said to be close to an official agreement, having attempted to ink a deal last year, Manager Magazine reported. MailOnline has approached both companies for comment. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook went to BMW’s headquarters last year and senior Apple executives toured the carmaker’s Leipzig factory to learn how it manufactures the i3 electric car, two sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. During the visit, Apple executives asked BMW board members detailed questions about tooling and production and BMW executives signaled readiness to license parts, one of the sources said.
The dialogue ended without conclusion because Apple appears to want to explore developing a passenger car on its own, one of the sources said. The carmaker says there are currently no talks with Apple about jointly developing a passenger car and Apple declined to comment. However, one of the sources said exploratory talks between senior managers may be revived at a later stage. It’s thought that the car, dubbed ‘Project Titan’ will look a bit like a minivan, compared with BMW’s sleek hatchback designs, Digital Trends reported. An industry expert has previously said the electric car could be on the road by 2020, putting it in direct competition with Tesla Motors, GM and more.
STEVE JOBS AND THE iCAR
Claims that Apple is building a car may seem like a leap, but it isn’t the first time such projects have been discussed by the Californian firm. In an interview last year, Apple board member Mickey Drexler said that before his death in 2011 Steve Jobs had considered building a car. He told Paul Goldberger: ‘Steve Jobs was gonna design an iCar. ‘I think cars have an extraordinary opportunity for cool design.’


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Considerations To Know About DJI Mavic in Summit KY 42783
In April 2016 information went round the whole world that DJI drones have been quietly beaming facts back to Chinese state authorities, through DJI’s proprietary controller app. That details incorporated plane telemetry and GPS spot information.
Drones have risen higher than area of interest status. What was an expensive hobby for RC enthusiasts and Professional videographers has become a field ripe with funky sky gadgets. Choices range between $20 toys up into pro models that Value numerous thousand pounds.
Electronics Stores in Summit, Kentucky 42783
Business Results 1 - 10 of 25
Drones for Sale in Summit Kentucky
Business Results 1 - 10 of 9
Summit KY - BingNews Search results
FLASH BRIEFING TUESDAY
The two organizations previously hosted a summit in November. The event convened a panel of ... double-double of the season with 27 points and 12 rebounds to help Northern Kentucky beat Youngstown State 70-51 on Monday night in Highland Heights, Kentucky.
Two Western Kentucky University students chosen chosen to participate in ONE Summit Feb. 24-26
Nicole Camargo and Amanda Collins, two ONE Campus Leaders at Western Kentucky University, were chosen to participate in an exclusive summit in Washington, D.C., focused on fighting extreme poverty and disease. At the three-day, invite-only summit, students ...
Points in the Paint: Five games and three weeks to go
It pushed the Tide to 9-6 and gave Kentucky its first back-to-back losses in Rupp since ... quite what was expected from him given his performances at the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit, 2016 Adidas Nations and 2016 FIBA Americas U18. He flew under the radar ...
Athenian Grill's dream expands to The Summit
What started as a food truck has now grown into three restaurants with brick and mortar locations. The newest is inside The Barn at The Summit at Fritz Farms. “We started the food truck with a limited menu, and it was successful. We were always getting ...
Moon won't discuss possible summit with North Korea's Kim
But Moon wouldn't answer a question from The Associated Press about what needs to happen before he'll take North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un up on his invitation for a summit. Moon has yet to accept the North Korean offer. He's said the Koreas should ...


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Roda Packaging acquires Industries Rada Ltd.
RODA Packaging senior management team announces the acquisition of all assets of the firm, via its holding company
April 10, 2019
As part of its strategic plan focused on capacity growth, management of Roda Packaging is pleased to announce it has acquired Industries Rada Ltd., after sourcing materials from the latter company for more than 10 years. Under the new designation Industries Rada (2019) Inc., the new entity will help respond positively to a specific shortage in market supply.
Smooth transition planned
The transition period, to begin April 8, 2019, will have no effect on operations or structure, thanks to the efficiency and superior adaptability of the new management team. Joining the organization will be Stéphan Berthiaume, as its President, and Isabelle Lehoux, as Chief Financial and Human Resources Officer.
An efficient, environmentally responsible production model
“With this transaction, we gain the combined strengths of production capacity, a proven sales force and a cross- Canada distribution network,” Mr. Berthiaume explains. “We believe in the intrinsic value of the made-in-Québec business model we offer our clients, and now look to reap the benefits of enhanced production capacity and of technology investments to be made in the months to come. Furthermore, we are firmly committed to becoming a collaborative lab and high-performance centre for recycled-resin reintegration. By reusing plastics diverted from landfill, we are helping lower greenhouse gas emissions: this will be our contribution to the circular economy, local
recovery and reuse efforts and, ultimately, a healthier planet for the generations to come.


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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American consumes 1.8 lbs of chewing gum each year. You can’t walk past a grocery store check stand without spotting dozens of brands and flavors of the stuff.
For years, mothers told their children chewing gum would rot their teeth. According to the American Dental Association, chewing sugarless gum after eating does help prevent cavities. How does this work? Let’s talk more about chewing gum.
Can Any Chewing Gum Prevent Cavities?
While you can surely buy the gum advertised as cavity-fighting, it isn’t always necessary. According to experts at the Oral Health Foundation, ANY sugarless gum can help prevent cavities. How does this work?


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Ford Figo has reaped bigger benefits than the company’s expectations. Ford Figo has proved to be a bestseller and has recently crossed the milestone of 100,000 in sales that too achieved in a record time of 15 months since its launch. To celebrate the success of one lakh Ford Figos, Ford has started a pan-India ‘Bharat Yatra’, India’s biggest activation drive
The Ford Figo ‘Bharat Yatra’ will see the car going to 1000 cities across India. People will get a chance to look at the car, which is a very innovative method to promote the Figo to prospective buyers. The Ford Figo ‘Bharat Yatra’ kicked off in Kolkata on June 29, and will continue through the states of West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Beginning next week, another two convoys will depart from Pune and Bangalore. The three Ford Figo convoys will visit 1,000 Indian towns, covering 18 Indian states, over the next 100 days. The company is also offering special finance scheme through HDFC Bank and discounts on monsoon care as part of the celebration.
“We are proud to have attracted 100,000 Figo customers in just 15 months. Through our 100-day road show, the Ford Figo ‘Bharat Yatra’, we will introduce the vehicle to even more Indian drivers, enabling them to see, first hand, what the buzz is all about,” Nigel Wark, executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India, said.
Besides being a fun-to-drive car, Figo is also inexpensive to own. With specially designed ‘child parts’ – which can be replaced at a fraction of the cost of a full panel – Figo customers have benefited from low cost of ownership. In addition, Figo’s fuel efficient powertrains return 15.5 km/L for petrol and 18.5 km/L for diesel, without compromising performance.
In 2010-2011, the Figo was exported to five foreign markets – Bahrain, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and South Africa. In the coming year, Ford India will export Figo to 48 more markets worldwide.
Also see – Ford India’s short span magic


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A simple Google search for a digital marketing agency to manage your AdWords campaigns can yield dozens of results, but every one of them apparently has something different to offer. That said, the only way to find the best one is to set aside what...Read More
Many brands are skipping TV and moving their TV advertising budget to YouTube Ads because the online video site is where most people watch their video contents nowadays. Here are a few reasons why brands are opting out of TV ads and are putting their...
This morning, Gapture received a policy update notice from Google. The highlight of the policy update includes:
Management fees Third parties often charge a management fee for the valuable services they provide, and end-advertisers should know if they are going to be charged these fees. If you charge a management fee beyond the cost of AdWords or AdWords Express, let...
#MYCyberSALE is a massive cyber sale event initiated by MDEC. Gapture Malaysia is invited to participate in this event as Google Partner in AdWords. We have put together a special Google AdWords promotion, first ever in Gapture's history, for fellow SME and e-tailers in Malaysia...Read More
Gapture’s CEO, Stanley Chee, was recently being interviewed by Weng Sheng, editor of The Peak magazine. Here is the digital copy of the article...Read More
Have you ever wondered what are the top keywords used by Malaysians? What is Malaysia's Search trend? We've put together a list of the highest search terms for 2012 as well as terms which had the highest amount of traffic for a sustained period in 2012...Read More
DIGMA 2013 is the first expo that Gapture has ever participated in. Held in PWTC on March 20 and 21, this expo is also the first of it's kind in Malaysia. This being our maiden expo, it took us extra time and effort to...Read More


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MOL plans another 66 Fresh Corner cafés at filling stations
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL plans to add 66 units to its network of Fresh Corner cafés this year, and another 300 by the end of 2023, retail director András Orosz said in an interview with business daily Világgazdaság published yesterday.
MOL operates 1,933 filling stations in nine countries in the region, of which 895 units have a Fresh Corner café.
According to Q2 figures, this includes 164 cafés in Hungary, 226 in Slovakia, 214 in the Czech Republic, 124 in Romania, 91 in Croatia, 43 in Slovenia, 24 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 20 in Serbia and five in Montenegro. The aim is to increase the total number to 961 this year.
Last year, MOL sold more than 53 million cups of coffee, well ahead of all other café chains in the region.
Within total turnover at Fresh Corner cafés in Hungary, hot drinks account for two-thirds of fresh product sales, while food products such as hot dogs, sandwiches, pastries and, more recently, pizza, make up for the remaining third, Orosz said.
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This Thursday is Children's Day in South Korea, and most people will have the day off.
Parents looking for somewhere to take the kids might want to check out Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a landmark in central Seoul.
This is the 100th annual Children's Day, so to celebrate, they're holding an event called "DDP Design Amusement Park."
There'll be a giant pink bear-shaped balloon designed by pop artist Lim Ji-bin, and free outdoor movie screenings, including the movies "Sing 2" and "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
It's the first in-person event at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in two years, and it runs from May 5th to the 15th.


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Contact: Allison R. Miller
Address: 72 Wilson Road Eighty Four, PA 15330
Owners: Art Brown and Jason Brown
Email: email@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.org
Region’s largest party rental company executes new strategies in more conservative era
EIGHTY FOUR (July 18, 2011) – As the region’s largest party rental company, All Occasions Party Rental (www.allparty.com) finds itself at the center of many of the area’s biggest events for UPMC, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Grand Prix, the Arts Festival and Light-Up Night. Its tents, tables, chairs and place settings also find their way to many of the area’s weddings and backyard graduation parties. But the Eighty Four-based company, founded 33 years ago by Art Brown, isn’t standing still, Brown said last week.
Article in the Observer Reporter:
Partying on: Region’s largest party rental company executes new strategies in more conservative era
By Michael Bradwell
EIGHTY FOUR – As the region’s largest party rental company, All Occasions Party Rental finds itself at the center of many of the area’s biggest events for UPMC, the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Grand Prix, the Arts Festival and Light-Up Night.
Its tents, tables, chairs and place settings also find their way to many of the area’s weddings and backyard graduation parties. But the Eighty Four-based company, founded 33 years ago by Art Brown, isn’t standing still, Brown said last week.
While acknowledging that everyone from major corporations to people planning weddings and parties have scaled back special event and celebration outlays since the recession hit three years ago, Brown and his son, Jason Brown, have moved into some new areas that give the company national scope.
In 2008, the Browns purchased the former International Paper plant on Wilson Road, using about 70,000 square feet of the 4.5-acre site, which includes a 2,200-square-foot showroom, offices and a 60,000-square-foot warehouse that boasts nine truck bays. While the rental service serves customers throughout Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and travels as far west as Columbus, Ohio, it also maintains another showroom in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.
Like the jumbo 150-by-400 foot tents they rent, the Browns, over the past 30 months have also rolled out a new national company that provides upscale tableware sales and rentals to other party rental companies around the country; become a distributor for a line of upscale furniture rentals, and added a unique, interchangeable upscale chair to their burgeoning inventory at the Eighty Four warehouse.
Two years ago, the Browns were also instrumental in starting up the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the International Special Events Society, which now boasts 100 members and, according to its website, is the fastest growing chapter in the 3,000-member organization.
“What recession?” jokes Jason, who is now general manager of AOP. But Jason and his father acknowledged that it was the downturn that prompted the company to begin looking at ways to add to its earnings. “It was at the end of 2007 that we started to see the change,” Jason said.
While companies and organizations continued to hold special events, fundraisers and parties for new product introductions, they were scaling back what they spent, Art said, adding that the trend continues today.
“Ninety percent of these events probably still happen, but 50 to 60 percent of them are probably scaled back,” he said, adding that the same is true for the average American planning a special event.
“The homeowners, the brides are still scaling back,” he added. “The dish pattern they were picking for 95 cents each might now be a 55-cent pattern.”
And when you add up that kind of nod to cost-consciousness, he said, even outlays for a lavish wedding are not what they were a few years ago.
“The $50,000 wedding might now be a $30,000 wedding,” said Art, who added that despite the spending cutbacks, people still expect the best.
The Browns said they recognize that their customers are much more sophisticated than previous generations because of the continuing influences of home and entertainment doyen Martha Stewart and a host of cable television shows that feature the latest decorating ideas, as well as constant reports on the lifestyles and tastes of celebrities like socialite, television personality and actress Kim Kardashian and her family.
“If the Kardashians are doing it, it must be in,” Art said.
A couple of years ago, AOP established a partnership with high-end tableware designer Fortessa, which supplies many of the world’s hotel chains and restaurants, but didn’t have a presence in the party rental industry. The result was Rental Resource Partners, which is headquartered in Eighty Four, with the company offering sales and rental programs to meet the demands of the special events industry, caterers and the restaurant industry.
While restaurants and hotels tend to keep the same patterns of tableware for long periods, the rental business thrives on change. Jason said AOP uses the Fortessa line to design about six new patterns a year, based on the changing trends and tastes it sees in its customers.
The partnership also includes a connection with a German crystal manufacturer, which has enabled the introduction of high-end drinking and wine glasses.
More recently, AOP established a partnership with AFR Event Furnishings, gaining access to distribute the company’s high-end special events furnishings in addition to its own rental inventory.
The Browns said the furniture, which includes sofas and coffee tables, enables the creation of separate lounge areas within an event’s settings, and depending upon the occasion, can be paired with a bar or be used as a “quiet space” for relaxation away from the main event.
The company also became a regional distributor for the Chameleon Chair system, a unique, upscale metal chair that enables complete customization of seating with a wide variety of seat and seatback cover colors.
With its expanded inventory, Art said the sky is the limit for executing someone’s plan for an event or special celebration.
“We can take a blank 10,000-square-foot area and we can transform it into a variety of different scenes,” he said. “You can do anything you want to do.”
Art said the formation of RRP and the new distributorships are helping AOP expand its offerings in an uncertain business environment.
While the company saw an upswing in sales and event spending late last year, it’s uncertain that the trend will remain throughout 2011.
As a small business operator – AOP employs 60 people – Art said people shouldn’t equate a successful day or week on Wall Street with what’s happening elsewhere in the economy.
“Wall Street is not Main Street,” he said. “The guy who owns a flower shop or dry cleaner is still struggling.”
About All Occasions Party Rental
All Occasions is a full-service event rental company, providing an extensive range of rental items and equipment in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. With showrooms located in Pittsburgh and Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, All Occasions provides customers with superior service and an unmatched product selection. All Occasions is dedicated to providing customers with superior service and the best product selection to fit every budget. The Event Specialists have managed thousands of events, ranging from intimate backyard gatherings to large corporate functions…no event is too large or too small. The company is deeply committed to making customers look great, and are meticulous about maintaining an inventory with an infinite selection of unique items for those final touches, bringing style and sophistication to each special occasion. All Occasions looks forward to helping customers create memorable moments that will live on long after the final guest has left.
For more information about All Occasions Party Rental, please contact email@example.com.


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LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes now available for the Wii U.
Things are getting bigger in the Lego Marvel Super Heroes trailer!
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes has been announced for the Wii U in spring 2013.
LEGO Lord of the Rings is set to make a Mac appearance on February 21st.
Copyright VideoGameUncovered (VGU) 2013


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