text:
One of the more remarkable trends in the stock markets this year has been the rise of ‘meme stocks’ or stocks that made considerable gains on the back of the efforts of retail investors on several social media platforms. Microvision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MVIS) emerged as one such target.
The company is involved in laser scanning technology meant for self-driving cars but on Friday the meme stock declined sharply following its poor performance in the latest quarter.
The quarterly loss was higher than analysts’ expectations and on top of that, there was a sharp drop in sales as well. MicroVision recorded a loss of $6.2 million in the first fiscal quarter, which worked out to losses of 4 cents a share. In the year-ago period, the company had suffered losses of $4.9 million.
On the other hand, the total sales generated by the company came in at only $500,000 and that is a far cry from the $1.5 million worth of sales that it had clocked in the year-ago period.
Editor and Computer Expert
A hardcore tech enthusiast and computer expert Uson Abdilazhanov who holds a degree in communications started writing in his personal blogs since 2012. That time he was interested in the technical part of the computer. But now the software aspect plays an important role in his career. Currently, he runs a PC building and repairing shop which helps a lot of designers and gamers who always like to try new things.


text:
Alexander Wang isn't shy of flaunting his A-list connections when it comes to promoting his label. He recruited a formidable "#WANGSQUAD" of mega-celebs for his FW16 campaign, including the likes of Kylie Jenner, A$AP Ferg, Tinashe, Tyga and Big Sean, and now the designer has teased some snippets of behind-the-scenes footage from the production of said campaign.
The clips show a few members of the gang — A$AP Ferg, Big Sean, Vince Staples et al — cavorting around on a rooftop as the shoot is in progress, with Hennessy and champagne flowing (naturally).
There's also additional clips of Ferg cutting loose as he shoots some frames of the pool with some mildly-intoxicated members of the squad.
The frolics don't end there! There's even some strip-pole action included, with plenty of Wang's FW16 pieces on display (naturally).
Check out the official campaign video in full, and for more from the Wangmeister, see what went down when Travis Scott, Desiigner, Fetty Wap and more performed at the launch of the designer's adidas collab.

domain: news


text:
EXCLUSIVE: GM extending Chevrolet Impala lifecycle to nine years
The Impala has a standard 3.6-litre V6, which was new for the 2012 model year
A spokesperson for General Motors has confirmed to just-auto that the current Chevrolet Impala will remain in production even after the launch of the tenth generation model in 2013.
The spokesperson stated in an emailed reply, "...the extended build [until June 2014] of the current generation Impala will be available to our commercial, government and rental fleet customers".
GM Canada will continue to manufacture the ninth generation Impala (GMX 360) on the so-called 'Consolidated Line' at the Oshawa #2 plant. The new 2014 Impala (GMX 551), which uses the Epsilon 2 architecture, will be built on the 'Flexible Line' at Oshawa #1 and also at Detroit-Hamtramck in Michigan on the same line as the Chevrolet Volt and Malibu sedans.
The ninth generation model was launched at the Los Angeles show in January 2005 but this car was a rebodying of the eighth generation model which first saw showrooms back in 1999. Its W-body/MS2000 architecture is older still. This dates back to 1996 and the launch of the 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Author: Glenn Brooks
Despite newspaper reports in Germany, General Motors said it has made no decision about assembling the Chevrolet Cruze at its plant in Poland from the end of next year....
Opel will start assembling Corsas in Belarus in 2014 but the actual build work should be simple as the cars will come from Spain and Germany only as semi knocked down (SKD) kits....
It's a brand that was killed around four years ago but regulators in the US are looking at forcing General Motors to recall about 500,000 Pontiac G6 sedans because of several issues, including malfunc...
Spyker's US$3bn (GBP1.9bn) lawsuit accusing General Motors of trying to bankrupt Saab has been dismissed by a US federal court judge who said GM had the right to block the sale of a company using its ...
- VEHICLE ANALYSIS: MY2015 Range Rover Hybrid
- Briefing: 48V mild hybrids (3)
- THE WEEK THAT WAS: Hobnobbing with the A-listers
- Volvo UK specs up seven seat XC90 redesign
- ANALYSIS: Mercedes smart brand's last chance?
- Geneva show debuts list updated
- BMW 2 Series Convertible launched
- OnStar to be 'revolutionary' in Europe - Opel head
- No Mexico-Brazil agreement on new auto pact
- NEVS estimates reorganisation exit "very likely"
- Global light vehicle engine technologies market- forecasts to 2029
- Global vehicle lightweighting - technology, trends and the future
- PLDB - vehicle cycle plan database (annual subscription)
- LMC Automotive's European Passenger Car Production Estimates - Latest Monthly Update
- Global light vehicle safety systems market- forecasts to 2029


text:
In the Gilded Age, Americans loved and feared the railroad companies and it can teach Big Tech a valuable lessonGet the Full Storyfabrizio verrecchia Unsplash
Railroad companies of the Gilded Age and modern tech giants can both make claim to a monopoly over the market.
The monopolization of the railroad caused concerns because their technological advances were based on profit, rather than societal values.
The train companies also had the power to determine who succeeded and who failed in business.
As the same concerns arise with tech-giants today, governmental regulation may be the solution.
Late 19th-century Americans loved railroads, which seemed to eradicate time and space, moving goods and people more cheaply and more conveniently than ever before. And they feared railroads because in most of the country it was impossible to do business without them.
Businesses, and the republic itself, seemed to be at the mercy of the monopoly power of railroad corporations. American farmers, businessmen and consumers thought of competition as a way to ensure fairness in the marketplace. But with no real competitors over many routes, railroads could charge different rates to different customers. This power to decide economic winners and losers threatened not only individual businesses but also the conditions that sustained the republic.See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: What would happen if humans tried to land on JupiterSee Also:How cats see the world compared to humansWe tried biscuit breakfast sandwiches from major fast-food chains and the winner is shockingly clear3 hostages and gunman found dead after daylong standoff at California veterans' facilitySEE ALSO: Today is officially the National Day of Unplugging here's why that's so important to our health
More in Business...
Masayoshi Son, the SoftBank CEO with 100 billion to blow, likes to quote Yoda and 'feel the force' when picking deals


text:
We at TS found ourselves lucky enough be sitting next to the finance director of Virgin Galactic at the Accountancy Age Awards bash last week. As many of you may know Virgin Galactic is the world’s first spaceline.
Millionaires can travel to the moon in the spaceship obviously named SpaceShipOne for the bargain price of $200,000 (£120,400). TS, always willing to try our luck, enquired whether or not any of the staff would be taking a trip on SpaceShipOne, but unfortunately the FD said none of the staff (excluding Mr Branson of course), could afford the flight!
It seemed bizarre the team were working on a product they would never experience. Not one to be deterred, TS asked if there were any freebie flights for us to fly and, of course, report on. The FD smiled and told us there were quite a few.
They were always looking for bodies to take the test flights!
Cowgill Holloway and Warings Business Advisors have merged, with a range of growth plans in the North West put in place
Accountancy Age Jobs is delighted to announce the launch of a brand new look website for finance and accountancy professionals
The UK gender pay gap will not close until 2069 unless action is taken to tackle it now, according to new research by Deloitte
Three former Tesco executives, including the former finance director of Tesco UK, have been charged with fraud by the Serious Fraud Office in relation to a £263m accounting scandal at the retailer.


text:
The recent IPO of the world’s largest social network serves as a metaphor for the digital media space in general, as we seek to solve the monetization puzzle, whose path is both hotly contested and highly debated
New York, NY (PRWEB) June 07, 2012
Digital Content Monetization East (DCM) announced today that its annual event would take place on June 19-21, 2012, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Metropolitan in New York City. The industry confab attracts top brands, advertisers and entertainment experts and startups alike, all seeking to gain knowledge and connections from one another in the ongoing evolution and convergence of the digital media sector.
“The recent IPO of the world’s largest social network serves as a metaphor for the digital media space in general, as we seek to solve the monetization puzzle, whose path is both hotly contested and highly debated,” said newly-appointed social media conference Chairperson, founder and president of NVPR, Hal Bringman. “At DCM, we will explore how best to monetize Facebook’s 900M members, as it and the industry itself grapples with opportunities in mobile, advertising, gaming, the social graph, and other money-making possibilities the virtual environment has to offer.”
Highlights and key topics to include:
- Over 60 senior speakers including executives from Turner, HarperCollins, Starz, ESPN, CBS, MGM and Sony Music.
- Dedicated focus to addressing sports and gaming, two of the fastest trending sectors in social media. The sports day is in its third year, as it rapidly expands.
- Sessions on advertising revenue, payments, the growth of mobile, partnerships and social gaming, including key participant from IGT’s $500m acquisition of Double Down Interactive, Facebook’s #4 most popular social game.
- Startup Showcase highlights new talent in the industry – led by Todd Simon from Oppenheimer.
Confirmed speakers from industry thought leaders include:
· Jeben Berg, Head of Talent Innovations, Maker Studios
· Doug Rousso, Senior Vice Present and Chief Technology Officer, CBS Corporation
· Matt Crenshaw, Vice President, Marketing and Analytics, Social Media Communications, Discovery Communications
· ShanilGovil-Pai, Senior Product Manager, YouTube
· Cachita Hynes, Marketing Director, Worldwide Distribution, MGM
· Hal Bringman, President and Founder, NVPR
· Phil Kearney, former Chief Product Officer, Global Grind
· Johnny McMahon, former Head of Digital Production, Endemol USA
· Peter Phillips, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Media Group, Marvel Entertainment
· Evan Silverman, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, A+E Networks
· Derek Simmons, President, Dark 5 Entertainement
· Todd Simon, Head of Digital Media, Oppenheimer
· Doug Smoyer, Vice President, Business Development, New York Giants
· Peter Stringer, Director, Interactive Media, Boston Celtics
· Mara Winokur, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, Starz Entertainment
· Bill Young, Managing Director, EA Ready, ElectronicArts
- Philippe Perreaux, CEO, Rightclearing
To register for DCM, click here.
About DCM East
The premise behind DCM East is simple: to help media & entertainment experts improve processes, build audiences, create relationships…in short, anything which enables them to monetize their digital content.
DCM Events launched in 2010 and now 3 events take place across the globe, in New York, London and LA, bringing regional and international experts together to share ideas and experiences.
Attracting only the most senior execs from across publishing, broadcasting, music, games, movies, sport and social media, the DCM events define monetization strategies for key M&E players.
About Clarion Events
Clarion Events organises more than 200 events (a mixture of exhibitions, conferences and seated events) annually across the globe. More than 12,000 companies trust us with their custom each year and over 700,000 people give their valuable time to visit our events. This success has come from identifying high-value, niche audiences in difficult-to-reach markets and then building them into market-leading products.
NVPR is a digital media consultancy that is well-known for introducing disruptive technologies to the market. With an ROI emphasis and an entrepreneurial mindset, NVPR helps companies reach the next level, whether select startups, or major multinational corporations. Founded in 1998, the firm launched the digital music revolution and has continued to lead the digital media marketplace through today. The firm consults a wide range of clients providing them with strategic PR, marketing and business development services all delivered with a global perspective. For more information, please visit http://www.nvpr.com


text:
Displaying items 97-108 of 456 » View chicagotribune.com items only< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-38 Next >
After posting a big gain in January, U.S. auto sales moderated last month with most carmakers reporting steady single-digit gains. Industry executives said they still believed the auto segment of the U.S. economy would continue to grow this year, but...
Cars.comIt's game-on for a jointly developed fuel-cell system from BMW and Toyota. The automakers previously announced a partnership to collaborate on alternative-fuel systems; they finalized the deal today. The arrangement has the automakers combining their...
Attorneys General in Maryland and 29 other states have reached a $29 million settlement with Toyota Motor Corp. designed to strengthen protections for consumers impacted by safety defects and prevent miscommunication over faulty equipment. Toyota had...
Toyota Motor Corp. profits soared in the latest quarter, helped by strong sales in North America and a slide in the value of the Japanese yen. Toyota, which surpassed GM in 2012 to become the world’s largest auto company, said profit for its third...
In its latest bid to put the sudden acceleration matter behind it, Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a $29-million settlement with attorneys general from 29 states and one U.S. territory. The agreement, announced Thursday, was originally approved by...
Tags: Japan, Toyota Recalls, Akio Toyoda, Trials, Consumers
The national economy remains sluggish — but don't tell the auto industry. Auto sales showed surprising strength in January, with all three domestic manufacturers — General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group — reporting...
Auto sales showed surprising strength in January with all three of the domestic manufacturers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — reporting double-digit gains. “Automakers are kicking off the year strong, staying true to...
Toyota Motor Corp. announced recalls of 1 million vehicles, including some models of its popular Toyota Corolla and its Lexus IS sports sedan. About 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles are being recalled to fix an air-bag control module that...
KickingTiresIt's game-on for a jointly developed fuel-cell system from BMW and Toyota. The automakers previously announced a partnership to collaborate on alternative-fuel systems; they finalized the deal today. The arrangement has the automakers combining their...
Answering introductions of new models from BMW and Infiniti at the Detroit Auto Show, Lexus unveiled its new IS, a rear- and all-wheel-drive entry-level luxury sedan. Like other recent models from Toyota Motor Corp., the company is emphasizing fun-to-...
Tags: Hybrid Vehicles, Lexus, Auto Shows, Passenger Cars, Cadillac
KickingTiresToyota announced today that it has come to a tentative settlement in an ongoing class-action lawsuit, one which claimed owners were negatively impacted in the value of their cars due to Toyota's unintended acceleration scandal in 2010. If accepted by........
Tags: Toyota Recalls, Laws, Justice System, New Products
Having already paid record fines for not promptly recalling cars, Toyota Motor Corp. will pay the government another $17.35 million to federal safety regulators. The latest fine, announced Tuesday, is for not promptly recalling Lexus RX 350s and RX 450h...
Mar 1, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 24, 2013 |Story| Cars.com
Feb 15, 2013 |Story| Baltimore Sun
Feb 5, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Feb 14, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Feb 1, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Feb 1, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 30, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 24, 2013 |Blog| Cars.com
Jan 15, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Dec 27, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Dec 18, 2012 |Story| Los Angeles Times


text:
- Business of Brands
- 2 min read
Chinese foldable phone maker Royole hit by employee protests over unpaid wages
Royole Flexpai, the world's first commercially available foldable smartphone, is facing a financial crisis. Around 50 employees of the company staged protest demonstrations due to non-payment of wages since November 2022. The employees are demanding resolution and prompt payment of their arrears. The company claims significant losses and is only able to pay social security deposits.
According to a report by China’s News Daily (seen by GizmoChina), around 50 Royole employees resorted to protest demonstrations with banners and slogans at the company’s Display Headquarters entrance in Shenzhen.
After Royole’s CEO Liu Zihong was unable to adhere to the verbal promises made by him, the employees had no option but to protest against the company.
The employees have not received their arrears and wages since November 2022. They are now demanding to resolve the issue and are asking the company to credit their wages as soon as possible.
The report also notes that as a demand, the Employee Rights Protection Committee has signed an application for the settlement of the remaining claims by Shenzhen Royole Technology Co., Ltd. Over the past couple of years, thousands of company employees have already left the company due to the ongoing financial crisis.
What the company has to say
In reply, the company said that its business has suffered significant losses and is only able to pay social security deposits. The company is now left only with 200–300 employees which includes engineers who maintain the production line.
Royole’s move to seek help from the government and investors also haven’t been successful. Meanwhile, employees have claimed that the production line never started in 2022. The government is helping the company to restructure its debt, however, so significant change has been noticed so far.
In 2022, the company launched its last smartphone, the Royole Flexpai 2 that featured up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In the last decade, the company has been considered a primary competitor to Samsung Display’s monopoly as it was successful in developing ultra-low-temperature non-silicon process integration technology to create flexible displays.


text:
Apple nears a milestone, but will stock market confirm the new uptrend? A Tesla-linked EV play flashed a buy sign. Trump stock DWAC soared.
Inovalis Real Estate Investment Trust today reported the closing of the previously announced sale of the Jeuneurs asset for gross proceeds of $104.5 million million.. The $104.5 million million gross sale price represents a $64.9 million million increase over the acquisition price and a $35.5 million million premium to fair market value at December 31,…Read more


text:
What are data roaming charges? And how do you avoid them? Look no further here's everything you need to know about overseas chargesCheap Mobile and Data Roaming Some with unlimited or cheap data WILL still face roaming charges. Tesco Mobile: Depends on your tesco mobile roaming data charges
Learn how to use data abroad on your Tesco Mobile phone and find information on data roaming charges for pay as you go and caped contract customers today.
All Tesco Mobile customers are automatically set up to use their phones abroad. This is roaming. Click here to learn about Roaming and International Rates! Tesco Mobile has announced that it will scrap EU roaming charges for mobile customers across the UK. Starting tomorrow, Tesco Mobile customers will no longer have to pay extra to use their preassigned minutes, texts and data abroad in 48 European destinations just like they would in the UK.tesco mobile roaming data charges Tesco Mobile customers can now use their monthly allowances of data, calls and texts for no extra charge in a number of European destinations.
Tesco Mobile has scrapped roaming charges for its customers in 31 European countries from May 23 until midnight on September 3 ahead of a further scale back to roaming charges. tesco mobile roaming data charges Tesco Mobile to scrap European roaming charges in more countries than any other UK network with Home From Home This summer, millions of Tesco Mobile customers will avoid being charged roaming rates when using their mobile phones abroad, thanks to the networks launch of Home From Home which will allow customers to use their UK Using your mobile phone abroad and you can't use more than 5, 000 texts or 3, 000 minutes without getting additional charges either. Switch off data roaming. Thank you EU for banning ripoff mobile roaming charges text and data allowances bought as part Tesco Mobiles customers get free roaming in its 48


text: Lifestyle Style #WakandaCameToSlay! Fans Are Seeing 'Black Panther' in Outfits Inspired by the Film See the incredible looks Black Panther fans are wearing to see the film By Briana Draguca Published on February 16, 2018 04:04 PM Share Tweet Pin Email The wait is finally over for Black Panther! Fans flocked to theaters beginning Thursday night to see the monumental Marvel film after waiting months for its release, and as one would imagine, social media went into a frenzy. Not only did the film break a Twitter record as the most-tweeted about movie of 2018 with over five million tweets (as of Feb. 12), but it also sparked a style movement, coined #WakandaCameToSlay by Black Girl Nerds’ Tora Zenzi. Many fans who attended the Thursday opening night of Black Panther showed their excitement by wearing outfits inspired by the film’s costumes and African roots. And they shared their #WakandaCameToSlay outfits all over social media to express their appreciation for the film’s representation of black culture. Twitter user @YourLifeAfter25 shared her traditional African ensemble and said “We in here! Checking out @theblackpanther in my traditional slit and kaba sot. Naija girl/Ghana girl. #WakandaCameToSlay!” Many fans took the opportunity to show off their personal style while incorporating the theme of the movie into their ensembles. RELATED PHOTOS: Get Behind-The-Scenes Details of Lupita Nyong’o’s Black Panther Premiere Beauty Look User @AuthorMoJoseph made a date night out of seeing the movie with her husband and wearing traditional African clothing. “Proud, Black and #wakanda ready! #BlackPanther Movie opening #datenight with the hubby!” she said. Many fans even rocked African-inspired tribal face paint to the screenings, featuring various designs that were used in the film to represent African pride and Afrofuturism. And of course, #BlackGirlMagic was in full effect as women banded together to see the film. “My friends and I were the Black folk doing the most at the Black Panther premier last night. We were in good company though and I’m forever in awe of the beauty and community of Blackness,” user @misssharpp Tweeted. And some die-hard fans even opted to dress up as the Black Panther himself. And with the movie’s official release today, we can’t wait to see what else people will share with the #WakandaCameToSlay hashtag.


text:
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TechNavio, a tech-focused research firm, has published a new report on the Global Mobile Data Monitoring (MDM) Market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.7 percent from 2014-2019.
According to the latest report by TechNavio, the increased use of personal devices for financial transactions is a major factor that is expected to propel the demand for MDM solutions in the consumer electronics segment, thus leading to the growth of the Global MDM Market.
“The popularity of mobile transactions like online payments, e-commerce and third-party transactions has encouraged the use of mobile banking, but has also created the need for high-level security against hacking and manipulation,” says Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of TechNavio.
The latest report by TechNavio emphasizes the growing adoption of big data services, which is expected to propel the market in the coming years. Big data is a rapidly growing market that is expected to generate huge revenue.
“Big data solutions offer a wide range of services required for processing and analyzing enterprise data, which is the main reason these solutions are becoming so widely accepted and adopted by enterprises on a large scale,” says Ghaus.
TechNavio currently has more than 3000 market research reports on a huge range of topics, including:
TechNavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company.
Founded in 2003, TechNavio has about 200 analysts globally and develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries.
TechNavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.
If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
12/5/2007 4:44:00 PM
Nokia launches unlimited music service
Nokia has launched a new programme called Comes With Music that provides customers buying a Nokia device with one year of unlimited music downloads. Once the year is over, customers will be able to keep the music despite the subscription being over.
The service will launch during the second half of 2008 and will be available across a range of selected devices within Nokia’s portfolio. Each Comes With Music device will come with a unique PIN that customers can enter into their phone to activate the one year subscription. The programme will launch with music from record label Universal Music and Nokia is in talks with other labels to increase the library.
It is not the first mobile service to offer unlimited music. Vodafone teamed up with Omnifone earlier this year to launch its MusicStation service which offers unlimited music downloads for £1.99 a week. Customers however will lose all the music they have downloaded once they stop paying the subscription. Omnifone CEO Rob Lewis said: ‘Consumers will increasingly come to expect unlimited access to music, direct to their mobiles. We are delighted to hear Nokia intends to embrace and develop its own version of the unlimited music download model.’


text:
Strong lithium demand pushes move to market-based pricing
Global lithium spot prices have posted strong gains over the year, underpinned by robust demand from the global uptake of e-mobility and the scramble to secure the relevant raw materials
This price rise and increase in demand has been supporting the shift to a market-based pricing mechanism in lithium contract negotiations from key incumbent suppliers, something they reiterated in their recent earnings’ updates.
The lithium market has been historically dominated by long-term contracts based on a fixed price negotiated between seller and buyer. But the uptrend in prices over recent years alongside the unpredictability of future lithium prices has prompted a shift along the lithium value chain to a pricing mechanism based on more transparent and up-to-date supply-demand dynamics.
“Data demand has been exceptionally strong throughout this year. And published lithium prices in all forms have continued to move higher, reflecting very tight market conditions,” Paul Graves, president of US-based lithium miner Livent, said.
“Livent has been able to take advantage of this by realizing higher prices on a subset of its volumes that are exposed to market prices,” Graves said. “We are confident in those environments not changing for the rest of the year.”
Regarding the future contract structure of upcoming, uncommitted new lithium supply, Graves said. “I personally believe the day of the fixed-price contract has been killed by the last 12 months.”
“I don’t think anybody’s renewing their contract on fixed prices. I think caps and collars will have a bigger role to play,” he added, referring to loans with upper and lower interest-rate limits. “But there’ll be a lot of flexibility of market price movements within caps and collars.”
Similarly, US-headquartered lithium major Albemarle Corp reiterated in its third-quarter financial update its commitment to a market-based pricing mechanism, given the strength in lithium prices.
“Lithium continues its stellar performance. We maintain our expectation for the lithium segment’s full-year 2022 adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] to be up more than 500% year over year as strong market pricing flows through our index-referenced variable price contracts,” Scott Tozier, Albemarle chief financial officer said, adding that “pricing growth is expected to be 225% to 250% year over year.”
During the recent London Metal Exchange (LME) Week held in London at the end of October, most market participants across the lithium value chain spoke of the increased unpredictability of lithium prices as compared with other battery raw materials needed for the energy transition, such as cobalt and nickel.
Lithium market prices surged last year following the multi-year lows of 2020. The ultralight metal entered a new bullish cycle, supported by high demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This supported a price uptrend across the whole lithium industry, including technical grades, battery grades and spodumene concentrate feedstock.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for lithium carbonate, 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices, cif China, Japan and Korea was $80-82 per kg on Friday November 11, up by 102.5% from the beginning of 2022.
Keep up to date with the latest news and insights in the lithium market by visiting our dedicated lithium price insights page.


text:
The OnePlus Nord 2 is expected to make its global debut in June. But before that happens, it looks like the company has another smartphone in the pipeline that will be unveiled first. Today, Amazon India revealed that the OnePlus Nord CE is coming soon.
OnePlus India just shared a teaser for an upcoming Summer Launch Event, with a link that goes to an Amazon microsite. While the page only has a vague rectangle that changes colours, the preview reads “OP N EB”, which is a reference to the OnePlus Nord Ebba — ‘Ebba’ being the codename for the upcoming budget smartphone. References to the device can also be found in the code of the page as well as the URL.
In a somewhat anticlimatic discovery, subscribing for updates on this page is met with a message that reads “Thank you for subscribing/opting-in to OnePlus Nord CE 5G. You will receive this communication occasionally. If you signed up for OnePlus Nord CE 5G in error, you can unsubscribe here.”
Get ready for the OnePlus Summer Launch Event Coming soon – https://t.co/vobR9sdGRf pic.twitter.com/h9uPj7rXRkMay 27, 2021
This is the first official mention of the OnePlus Nord CE, which is expected to be unveiled by mid-June in India. It’s unclear if it will be a region-exclusive device or if it will be available globally. For what it’s worth, the OnePlus Nord N10 and N1 never came to India, but were widely available in Europe and the US.
The OnePlus Nord CE seems to be a successor to the OnePlus Nord N10, which had a launch price of £249 (approx. Rs 25,000). If a similar price point is opted for once again, it will be the cheapest smartphone from the brand in India.
Tipster OnLeaks states that the OnePlus Nord CE will have a 6.49-inch display with a punch-hole notch and a triple-camera setup on the back. While details around the chipset remain unknown, it is expected to have a high refresh rate screen and fast charging.
Towards the end of June, the OnePlus Nord 2 will also be announced. Its existence was recently confirmed, and is more likely to be available in most markets — succeeding the popular OnePlus Nord from a year ago.


text:
What trends do you currently see in China's gaming industry?
The gaming market is still growing and locally developed games will continue to grow, not just imported games from Europe and other Western companies. Local companies have a slight advantage because we can modify games according to consumer need based on our understanding of Chinese culture. We can offer more culture specific in-game events.
Foreign game companies such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts have recently opened offices here in Shanghai and around China. What are your thoughts about this and the growing involvement of China in the global gaming market?
They see a potentially huge gaming market in China, which has developed very quickly. Casual games might be the next hot area so they will try to adapt these to the Chinese market.
What game(s) do you and your colleagues at The9 like to play?
Naturally, we enjoy playing WoW, but Warcraft 3 was also a big favorite. We also keep an eye on some local competitors. Many other popular MMOs, such as EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, and Guild Wars, are not yet available in China. Until they are, we'll keep playing WoW!
Is this negative public perception of gaming the reason why consoles, especially the Xbox, haven't sold well in China?
In China, PCs are more acceptable than consoles because they can be used to educate with other software applications. There is greater overall family value with a PC. This is why most families won't consider buying an Xbox or PS2 for their kids. China will need more time to mature in the console and handheld markets.
Comment: Full interview here.
NCTY 1-Yr Price Performance:


text:
Black Ops II DLC to launch first on 360
Microsoft have revealed that the timed-exclusivity agreement for Call Of Duty DLC has been extended to Black Ops II.
The announcement was made just before they showed off the latest gameplay footage as the climax to Microsoft's E3 press conference this year.
This means that every piece of DLC since Modern Warfare 2 has appeared first on Xbox 360.
Black Ops II will arrive on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on November the 13th of this year.
- Hearthstone win-traders will be permanently banned says Blizzard
- Evolve Big Alpha delayed on PS4 due to issues with system update 2.0
- Your PC will need this much power under the hood to play The Crew
- LittleBigPlanet 3 will be fully backwards-compatible
- PS4 sales soar past the 13.5 million mark
- Resogun is coming to the PS Vita
- Smaller, cooler Xbox One processor in the works
- Prey 2 finally gets officially canned
- SEGA confirms the rumoured PC version Valkyria Chronicles, gives a release date


text:
(CNN) - North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said Saturday that free trade agreements can spur major economic growth in America, and called on President Obama to send a number of the treaties to the Senate for ratification.
“For the good of our economy – and our country – he needs to send these free trade agreements to the United States Senate for approval now, so that U.S. workers and businesses can begin to realize their benefits,” Hoeven said in the weekly Republican address.
“Free and fair trade agreements can help us create the kind of pro-jobs, pro-growth economy that will lift our nation up,” he added. “Good fiscal control and a legal tax, and regulatory environment that promotes private investment and business innovation, can help us to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce our deficit.”
Hoeven was part of a congressional delegation to Asia in April. On Saturday, focused on the agreement signed by the United States and South Korea in December.
“The South Korean Free Trade Agreement alone will increase our nation’s exports to that country by more than $10 billion and create 280,000 American jobs,” Hoeven said.
Despite being signed by both countries, the agreement has not yet taken effect because neither Congress nor the National Assembly of South Korea has ratified it.
Despite originally receiving bipartisan support in Congress, many Democrats now want to tie its ratification to the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, which provides a number of services to workers who have lost work due to outsourcing. Hoeven said the two items could and should be taken up by Congress separately.


text:
Today, an exhibition of products from Turkey opened in the capital. This exhibition was organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan and a Turkish company. This was reported by Turkmenistan’s official media.
Many Turkish government officials, managers, and specialists from about 100 companies came to Ashgabat to take part in a show and build good relationships with our country. Many of the companies at the exhibition are manufacturers showing their new technologies in Turkmenistan for the first time. Many people know that our country has a lot of economic opportunities, and they want to make more business connections.
Government members, ministry and department leaders, diplomats, business people, and media attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony.
Live music and singing made the event more fun and lively. Talented young violin players and popular dance teams from the country impressed everyone with their skills.
People listened carefully to the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s speech at the event. He mentioned that Turkey is an important trade partner for our country.
Turkish companies work closely with companies in Turkmenistan. This helps to make joint projects successful in different parts of the economy and helps businesses to work together well.
At the forum’s start, the leader of the Turkish group said that Türkiye is prepared to invest more money in Turkmenistan and help with building things like roads and buildings in the future.
The exhibition showed many good products made in Turkey like machinery, building materials, electronics, and textiles.
compiled by Lachyn MAMMEDOVA,
student of the Turkmen National Institute
of World Languages named after Dovletmammet Azady.


text:
Cabify has announced that it has extended its partnership with Mobilize, to offer all-inclusive mobility solutions for fleets and drivers across the country.
The joint venture will see Cabify’s platform provide full access to Mobilize Driver Solutions, the mobility services of Mobilize. Mobilize Drive Solutions features an all-inclusive package, with maintenance, warranty, insurance and assistance, along with the vehicle designed for the service itself, the Mobilize Limo.
Cabify became the first global customer of Mobilize Driver Solutions last year and now thrugh their extended partnership, Cabify will offer access to a package for ride-hailing fleets and taxis. Companies and self-employed owners of ride-hailing services can subscribe to the all-inclusive package until 31st March 2023, from €1,200 per month.
Cabify and Mobilize offer several advantages of e-mobility such as fully independent of Low Emission Zone restrictions within cities, a 450km range, charging for up to 250km in 40 minutes with a DC charger and updates via FOTA.
Since their initial partnership in May 2022, Mobilize Limo has avoided 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions and saved more than 75,000 litres of fuel in Madrid.
The partnership has been encouraging sustainable mobility in Europe and Cabify has been granted a €40-million loan by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to pursue its decarbonisation goals. Additionally, Renault Group aims to reach group-wide carbon neutrality in Europe by 2040.


text:
Budget – March 2021 – Stamp Duty Holiday extended!
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the stamp duty holiday on properties up to £500,000 will be extended from 31st March to 30th June 2021.
From 1st July, the holiday will then only apply on properties up to £250,000 but will last until the end of September. It will not be until October 1 that the pre-Covid stamp duty thresholds and levels will resume.
This means that the maximum £15,000 saving that is possible under the current holiday will continue until the end of June but the saving for buyers from the start of July until the end of September will reduce to £2,500. Making the announcement on 3rd March, Sunak said: "The cut in stamp duty I announced last summer has helped hundreds of thousands of people buy a home and supported the economy at a critical time. But due to the sheer volume of transactions we're seeing, many new purchases won't complete in time for the end of March."
Chancellor Sunak has also confirmed that there will be government-guaranteed 95 per cent mortgage loans available from next month, on the purchase of properties up to the value of £600,000.
Sunak also says there will be a 100 per cent Business Rates Holiday until the end of June; thereafter business rates will be discounted by two thirds up to a maximum of £2m for larger businesses. However, Corporation Tax is to rise from 2023.
But landlords who have incorporated and have larger portfolios will be disappointed to know that Corporation Tax is to rise from 19 per cent to 25 per cent from April 2023. There will be changes to how it is applied, especially for smaller companies, but this is likely to affect the trend towards buy to let investors incorporating into limited companies.
There has been no announcement on Capital Gains Tax, prompting speculation this will be the subject of extensive consultation on radical changes later.


text:
WASHINGTON: America's currency is getting a new look for the second time in a decade, so to ensure a smooth rollout - which largely means preventing foreign-market panic - the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is embarking on a worldwide public education campaign.
The $55 million, five-year integrated effort was handed to Burson-Marsteller last week, the same firm that handled the Bureau's 1996 redesign rollout.
Slated to be unveiled as early as next year, the new currency is the government's latest attempt to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated counterfeiting technology. Altering the look of the globe's most-used money, however, creates some thorny international PR issues.
Two-thirds of US currency is circulated outside the US, and a number of countries now use it as their official legal tender. In many of those countries, such as Russia and Ecuador, citizens have come to associate new money with the recall and devaluation of old bills, a situation that could result in a run on banks and mass destabilization.
"Internationally, the message is reassuring people that US money will always be good, it will never be recalled, and there is never any timeline or deadline for its use, explained Richard Mintz, Burson's director of global public affairs.
The domestic component of the campaign will focus more on familiarizing the public with the new safety features - which include a watermark, a security thread, and ink that changes color when tilted - while encouraging them to always be on the lookout for counterfeit bills.
The massive campaign will exploit "virtually every communication discipline, said Mintz. Major tactics include advertising in markets where time does not allow for earning impressions, and enlisting the help of banks and retailers around the world. When Burson introduced the previous redesign, it helped retailers print informational posters and change pads to be displayed next to cash registers - a tactic it plans to replicate.


text:
Physical SIM cards are getting closer to disappearing and this is going to be a problem for many users. According to the latest reports, everything seems to indicate that with the arrival of Android 14 there will be a radical change in this aspect and that is that the next update will allow you to transfer your eSIM profile between two mobile phones.
This has been discovered by the Android and Google whistleblower known as Mishaal Rahman, who found a clue within the operating system code. At the moment it is unknown when this option will come into effect , but it does not seem that we will see it in Android 13.
SIM cards come to an end
At the moment it is impossible to transfer eSIM profiles between two Android devices. This means that, if you are going to change your mobile, the first thing you have to do is deactivate your eSIM profile with the old terminal and activate it on the new smartphone. However, the activation of the eSIM card requires establishing contact with your service provider , that is, your operator.
Instead, iPhone iOS has a built-in feature that allows you to transfer your profile to another iPhone without needing to contact your carrier. Now, everything seems to indicate that Google is working on a tool similar to Apple‘s that would do just that: transfer eSIM profiles between two phones under the Android ecosystem.
The main problem with this is that it can cause a generational gap that will radically affect older people . Above all, because the vast majority will be completely unaware of the process and will have to face this inconvenience blindly when their SIM card stops working.
Rahman says that Google could allow Android users to convert a physical SIM card to a virtual one when switching devices as long as the carrier supports remote eSIM activation. However, this capacity could be limited only to a specific number of models, such as the Google Pixel of the American company itself. This data transfer of eSIM card profiles could also reach smartphones compatible with GMS (Google Mobile Services), but there is no complete list of compatibility in this regard.
Although it is true that Google has not made anything official about the possibility of transferring eSIM profiles between two devices, but this is because the option is in an early phase of development. That is why it is most likely that we will not see it until the arrival of Android 14 throughout the current year 2023.
It’s time to wait for the Feature Drop
In a few months, specifically in March 2023, the Feature Drop for the Google Pixel will take place. A revelation of the functions that are about to arrive from the devices of the Internet giant, so it only remains to wait until such a date to see if this option will arrive soon .
In addition to the functions related to the disappearance of the SIM card, the Android code has also revealed an option that is used to automatically generate thematic icons, although many aspects of this novelty are unknown at the moment. What is clear is that the days of SIM cards are numbered and it is a matter of a few years before they come to an end.


text:
This week’s news includes; PriceWaterhouseCooper’s multi-billion pound lawsuit, Uber’s launch of self-driving taxis, Amazon’s UK job creation and Asda’s poor sales performance.
Opinion articles of the week:
It is not correct to say that tax evasion is illegal and tax avoidance is legal. To find out why, click here.
We’re heading for a tech IPO liftoff, and there’s one simple reason why. Click here for more information.
Oil prices rose this week but analysts believe that this rally will not end well. Click here for more.
Analysts argue that the sugar tax will result in job losses and higher prices. Click here for more.
1. UNEMPLOYMENT & INFLATION FIGURES
Unemployment continued to fall in the run-up to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and there was a record number of people in work.
The employment rate reached a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to June – 172,000 more than the previous quarter. A total of 1.64 million people are unemployed – a fall of 52,000 over the quarter and 207,000 down compared with a year ago, giving a jobless rate of 4.9%.
The jobless total is now at its lowest for eight years, while the unemployment rate is at its lowest since the summer of 2005, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). (Business Reporter)
Rising fuel prices helped to push the UK’s inflation rate higher last month. The annual inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 0.6% in July from 0.5% in June, the ONS said. The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rose to 1.9% in July from 1.6% in June. (BBC News)
2. PWC SUED FOR $5.5 BILLION
PricewaterhouseCoopers failed to spot for seven years a multibillion dollar fraud that led to the demise of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.
At issue is PwC’s work for Colonial Bank, which bought mortgages that Taylor Bean originated. Had PwC adequately vetted documents that Taylor Bean gave to the bank, it would have spotted a multi-year fraud by executives at both firms far earlier and put an end to it, the trustee claims. Instead, federal regulators uncovered it in 2009 and Taylor Bean and Colonial went bankrupt. The bankruptcy trustee sued in 2013 seeking $5.6bn (£4.3bn) in damages.
There have been several suits stemming from the financial crisis in which bankruptcy trustees sorting through the remains of firms that collapsed due to fraud have gone after auditors, saying they failed in their roles as watchdogs. Taylor Bean’s accountant, Deloitte, settled similar allegations by the trustee three years ago for an undisclosed amount.
This isn’t the first time PwC has been accused of negligence. Last year, the firm agreed to pay $65m to settle similar claims tied to the collapse of MF Global.
PwC maintains it complied with auditing standards in the Taylor Bean case and accused the mortgage issuer of being responsible for its own losses.”
Taylor Bean, once the 12th-biggest US mortgage lender, collapsed after federal regulators uncovered a $3bn scheme involving fake mortgage assets. Six Taylor Bean executives were convicted and jailed for their roles in the fraud, including former chairman Lee Farkas, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison. (The Independent)
3. MINING COMPANY BHP SUFFERS $6.4 BILLION LOSS
BHP Billiton reported a record $6.4bn annual loss on Tuesday, hammered by a bad bet on shale, a dam disaster in Brazil and a commodities slump, but said it expects its free cash flow to more than double this year.
Even excluding $7.7bn in writedowns and charges, underlying profit slumped 81 per cent to $1.2bn for the year to June 2016 from $6.4bn a year ago, hit by weak iron ore, copper, coal, oil and gas prices.
The underlying profit was the weakest since the merger of BHP and Billiton in 2001, but better than analysts’ expectations of around $1.1bn.
BHP follows rival Rio Tinto Group in posting lower profits after prices, including of its top earner iron ore, plunged to about half their 2011 peak on oversupply and slower growth in China, the biggest commodities buyer. (The Independent)
4. UBER LEGAL CHALLENGES
Taxi-hailing app Uber has launched a legal bid to stop Transport for London forcing its drivers to take a written English test.
From 1 October, anyone from a non-English-speaking country who applies for a private hire driver licence or to renew an existing licence in London will have to prove that they have passed an exam in English.
Uber has submitted an application for a judicial review in the high court in London to block TfL’s plans, but the transport authority said it would defend its proposals in court.
The San Francisco-based firm has railed against the requirement, saying that although drivers should be able to speak English, requiring them to pass a written exam would put many out of business. Uber also objects to plans to force taxi firms to operate a London call centre and requiring drivers to have commercial insurance for vehicles even when they are not being used as private hire cars. (The Guardian)
Uber have instructed law firm Hogan Lovells to launch the judicial review. (The Lawyer)
A settlement between the taxi-hailing app Uber and some of its drivers has been rejected by a US judge. The $100m (£75m) deal had been agreed after legal action on behalf of around 385,000 Uber drivers, who claimed that they should be classed as employees and entitled to expenses.
However, a San Francisco judge has ruled that the settlement was “not fair, adequate or reasonable”.
Under the agreement, Uber had agreed to pay the drivers, based in California and Massachusetts, $84m initially. They would then receive another $16m if the company decided to go public and its valuation increased one-and-a-half times from its December 2015 valuation within the first year.
Crucially for Uber, it meant the drivers were still classified as contractors and not employees.
The company has introduced policy changes as a result of the case – agreeing to create and fund a driver’s association in both states, as well as providing them with more information about why a driver may have been “deactivated”, as well as piloting an appeals process. (BBC News)
5. UBER LAUNCHES SELF DRIVING CAR
The ride-sharing firm Uber will, for the first time, allow users to hail self-driving cars within a fortnight, the company has confirmed.
Uber said the launch would take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It added that it was teaming up with Volvo.
The firm first revealed plans to replace human drivers two years ago. More than one million people drive vehicles linked to its app, but are not directly employed by the company.
“In Pittsburgh, customers will request cars the normal way, via Uber’s app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random. Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate.”
She added that Volvo had already sent a small number of sensor-equipped XC90 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to Uber, which would be used in the initial trials. The carmaker intends to have delivered 100 such cars to its partner by the end of the year. (BBC News)
6. AMAZON TO ADD 1,500 UK JOBS
Amazon plans to open a new delivery warehouse in Essex next year, creating 1,500 permanent jobs. It will be the company’s 13th fulfilment centre in the UK, where Amazon employs a total of 15,500 people. The warehouse is scheduled to open in Tilbury in the spring and will increase delivery capacity.
The Tilbury warehouse will be equipped with Amazon’s robotics technology, aimed at facilitating greater product selection and speeding up delivery. Product shelves move to the worker selecting items for delivery, and not the other way round, making the process quicker.
This month the online retailer announced it would open a new centre in Doncaster next summer with the creation of 500 permanent jobs. The jobs at Doncaster and Tilbury are in addition to the 3,500 permanent roles being created by Amazon in the UK in 2016. These include head office roles, customer services jobs, warehouse pickers, and employees at the company’s research and development centres. It is creating jobs at a faster-than-planned rate this year as it rolls out its one-hour delivery operation and extends its web services.
Amazon said it was encouraged by the response to its food delivery service, Amazon Fresh, which launched in the UK last month, but has not commented on any expansion plans. (The Guardian)
7. CISCO TO CUT 5,500 JOBS
Cisco Systems is reportedly planning to lay off up to 5,500 employees, in what would be the largest job cull in the company’s history. The California-based technology giant, which is shifting its focus from hardware to software, employs more than 70,000 people worldwide. Cisco has an estimated 5,000 staff in 14 towns and cities across the UK, but it is not known how many British employees will be affected by the cuts.
The company is expected to formally announce the plans to reduce its headcount by 7% in the coming weeks. An earlier report suggested the firm may cut as many as 14,000 jobs. Despite the cutbacks, recent announcements appear to show that Cisco remains committed to its UK operations, which began nearly 25 years ago.
Last summer, the network equipment manufacturer said it was going to invest more than $1bn in UK digital education and skills projects over three to five years. And last December, Cisco opened new offices in central London for 200 workers in the company’s cloud technology division – expressing an intent to grow its operations in the capital threefold by next year.
Other tech giants have also announced drastic job cuts in light of the PC industry’s decline.
Microsoft initiated one of the largest layoffs in the history of the tech sector in July 2014 when it confirmed plans to slash 18,000 jobs. Last September, HP warned that it expects to cut 33,000 jobs by 2018. And in April, Intel announced plans to slash 12,000 jobs worldwide – 11% of its workforce. (Sky News)
8. ASDA SUFFERS LARGEST SALES DROP ON RECORD
Asda has reported a drop in sales of 7.5% in the past three months, its worst quarterly performance on record.
Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon blamed the dip on food deflation and “the competitive environment”. Discount food stores such as Aldi and Lidl have been undercutting Asda and its rivals, including Tesco, Morrison and Sainsbury’s.
The supermarket chain is relying on £1.5bn of price reductions over five years to win customers back.
In June, Walmart said the UK supermarket’s chief executive, Andy Clarke, would be stepping down to be replaced by the head of Walmart’s Chinese business, Sean Clarke.
Asda began a price-cutting campaign in 2013, cutting £1bn in prices. In January, outgoing boss Andy Clarke extended the cuts to £1.5bn by 2018. In the same month, the company said it was shedding hundreds of jobs at its Leeds headquarters.
He said that Asda seemed to have been hit harder by the arrival of discounters such as Aldi and Lidl, since low prices had always been its main selling point. (BBC News)
9. WILLIAM HILL BIDDERS DROP OUT
888 Holdings and Rank have withdrawn a proposed three-way tie-up with William Hill.
888 Holdings said they had not been able to “meaningfully engage” with William Hill’s board and would no longer make an offer for the company.
Rank and 888 made two £3bn-plus approaches for William Hill, both of which were rejected.
The two companies initially offered 339p a share which William Hill turned down. They then returned with 352p, which William Hill called “highly opportunistic” and said it continued “to see no merit in engaging with the consortium.”
Rank and 888 said a combination of the three business could have resulted in £100m of cost savings a year and would have created Britain’s “largest multi-channel gambling operator”.
The withdrawal has broken a wave of consolidation in the gaming industry. Paddy Power is merging with Betfair, Ladbrokes is combining with Coral and GVC Holdings has taken over Bwin.party. (BBC News)
10. NESTLE PROFITS HIT 7 YEAR LOW
Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, said deflation and a slowdown in China led to its weakest first-half sales growth in seven years.
The maker of hundreds of household name brands including Kit-kat and Cheerios warned of Brexit-induced price hikes in the UK as the pound remains in a relative slump after the 23 June vote.
“I’m confident we hit the bottom in the second quarter,” Francois-Xavier Roger, chief financial officer, said on Thursday. Nestle is “well-positioned” to reach its full-year forecast, he said.
Revenue increased 3.5 per cent on an organic basis in the first half, missing analysts’ expectations of 3.7 per cent growth. Nestle needs growth of about 5 per cent for the Swiss company to reach its full-year target of growth near last year’s level, which was 4.2 per cent, the CFO said.
While deflation will remain in western Europe, the outlook for other markets is better as some commodity prices have been increasing lately, according to Roger. Nestle has been raising prices in Brazil and Russia ahead of planned increases in the UK. (The Independent)


text:
The new Clinton Save A Lot location is officially open as officials cut the ribbon on the new building of Washington Street Wednesday morning.
Store owner Dave Jackson says this has been a long time in the making and had many to thank Wednesday morning before the store opened it's doors for the first time to the public.
According to Jackson, the new store was almost completely built by local contractors. Jackson credits Dave Waters of Waters Construction with putting together a great team to get the work done.
Clinton Mayor Roger Cyrulik says Clinton is lucky to have store owner like Dave Jackson and a store like Clinton Save A Lot and congratulates him on the new store opening.
Clinton City Administrator Tim Followell outlines the challenges the new store faced in getting put up on it's new location. Followell explains everything from removing the soil from a former coal plant to the Ameren utilities getting moved were just a few of the challenges the project faced.
Jackson indicates the Clinton Save A Lot store will be one of the chain's largest locations that spans 1400 locations and over 40 states.
The new facility will be 40-percent larger than the former location.


text:
It's one thing for a richly-valued company to deliver a sales warning. It's another thing for such a company to warn right after its stock has risen 30% over the prior two weeks, in the absence of any significant positive news hitting the wires.
That's the scenario that just unfolded with Fastly (FSLY) , which is giving back all of those two-week gains after issuing a Q3 sales warning. The company blamed both weaker-than-expected usage from its biggest customer (TikTok) due to geopolitical drama, along with (perhaps more troublingly) lower-than-expected usage among a few other customers.
With Fastly carrying an enterprise value equal to 31 times its 2021 consensus sales estimate prior to its warning, it's easy to grasp why markets are responding so harshly to the news. But at a time when so many other high-growth tech companies are also sporting nosebleed valuations, it is worth taking a hard look at how unaware (to put it politely) those investors who bid up Fastly to such steep multiples in recent weeks apparently were about how the company was performing, as well as the competitive risks it faced.
As I discussed a few weeks ago, high-growth tech names such as Zoom (ZM) , Peloton (PTON) , Snowflake (SNOW) and Twilio (TWLO) have increasingly become valued as if they have no credible competition to deal with, when they clearly do. The same arguably held true for Fastly, whose edge content delivery, security and cloud infrastructure services face competition from both public cloud giants and the likes of Cloudflare (NET) and Akamai (AKAM) .
Moreover, unlike with a Zoom or Snowflake, the case for declaring Fastly to have best-of-breed offerings for its core markets has often felt very debatable. Cloudflare (admittedly also a very richly-valued company) has innovated quite a lot with its security and edge computing offerings, and Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon.com (AMZN) have put a lot of work into developing edge services that complement services delivered from their primary cloud data centers.
Also: As much as Fastly has marketed itself as an "edge cloud platform," its gross margin (61.7% in Q2) has been pretty consistently below Cloudflare and Akamai's, both of which have GMs north of 75%. That suggests Fastly is more dependent than rivals on lower-margin content delivery services.
Nonetheless, investors were eager to bid Fastly up to the stratosphere in recent weeks. And that in turn is perhaps a clear warning sign that the major run-ups seen lately by many other high-multiple tech stocks also aren't linked to any kind of informed, hard-headed analysis of how these companies are positioned and performing.
Rather, the gains seem to have a lot to do with hot money (both retail and institutional) crowding into names because others are also crowding into them. Throw in short squeezes, aggressive options bets and stimulus hopes, and you have a recipe for multiple inflation begetting even more multiple inflation. For a while, anyway.
To be sure, it doesn't look likely at this point that a ton of other high-multiple tech firms are going to share bad news over the next few weeks that's similar to what Fastly just delivered. While Fastly warned, a slew of other richly and not-so-richly valued tech companies, including Twilio, Alteryx (AYX) , NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) , STMicroelectronics (STM) and Model N (MODN) , have raised their calendar Q3 guidance over the last few weeks.
Q4 is still shaping up to be a strong quarter for many tech companies -- particularly ones with healthy exposure to consumer spending fields such as e-commerce and gaming. And just maybe we'll see the passage of a stimulus bill that adds more fuel to the fire.
But whether it's sharing good or bad short-term news, every company still has its fair price. And what happened with Fastly in the weeks before its warning is a cautionary sign of how many recent stock moves have had nothing to do with assigning fair prices to companies based on what they do and don't have going for them.


text:
Pokémon Go developer Niantic Labs revealed 12 months ago that it had partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive and WB Games San Francisco to work on a Harry Potter AR game. At the time, the game was said to be arriving this year. Now, we know it won’t be arriving until 2019.
Similar to Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is all about players going and exploring the real world using their smartphone and its camera. The AR game will see players learn spells and team up with their friends to fight against ‘beasts’.
“Get ready for some exciting and fun adventures ahead,” said the Niantic team in a blog post. “We've been hard at work with our partners at WB Games and can’t wait to bring the magic of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, part of the Portkey Games label, to you in 2019.”
Niantic has setup a dedicated site where fans awaiting the game’s release can subscribe to receive updates.


text:
A fruit farm in Wargrave, Berkshire, has claimed to have built the first floating solar panel project and is now hoping to distribute the technology throughout the UK.
According to BBC reports, the structure consists of 800 panels mounted on plastic floats, which have been installed on a reservoir. The project cost £250,000 to construct, but will earn the farm money back in renewable electricity subsidies.
“We already have about 150 panels on the site and that powers our soft fruit production fridge, our tractor workshop and the industrial units,” said farmer Mark Bennett, who has established a company, Floating Solar UK, to distribute the technology.
“We built a reservoir at the beginning of the year to irrigate the soft fruit production on the farm and we wanted to piggyback on the back of that another solar panel system.”
Earlier this week, two new reports from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested that solar power could become dominant energy source for the world by 2050 as solar panels become less expensive and more available to people in their homes.
Solar energy image via Shutterstock


text:
By: Alyssa Wilson
As states reopen and get rid of their COVID-19 restrictions, AAA predicts 37 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home. This is a 60% increase from 2020, when only 23 million people traveled.
“As more people get the COVID-19 vaccine and consumer confidence grows, Americans are demonstrating a strong desire to travel this Memorial Day,” AAA Travel Senior Vice President Paula Twidale said. “This pent-up demand will result in a significant increase in Memorial Day travel, which is a strong indicator for summer, though we must all remember to continue taking important safety precautions.”
AAA reported seeing significant interest in bookings of hotels and car rentals, showing that domestic travel and road trips are the biggest drivers of the travel recovery. Orlando and Las Vegas are the top road trip destinations for Memorial Day Weekend, followed by Myrtle Beach, Denver, and Nashville.
Auto travel is expected to increase by 52% in 2021 compared to last year when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its third month in the United States. Despite increased accessibility to COVID-19 vaccines and increases in the number of people fully vaccinated against the virus, more than 90% of the 37 million people expected to travel for the holiday will be driving. In addition, 237,000 people are expected to use other methods of transportation, including buses and trains.
You can read the full AAA report here.


text:
Spider Man Unlimited has to be popular game which is adapted from comics
Recently, this game will take a major update which include spider girl in this new update
Anyway, this one of the coolest new characters in comics will be added to a related mobile game in the next time that will be publicly published soon.
In line with this, there is a pretty big Spider-Man event underway in the comics called Spider-Verse
Here, different versions of Spider-Man from different dimensions will be all coming together to fight a common threat along the game.
And what will be coming in the next update is Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Man’s long-time love interest who died at the hands of the Green Goblin way back in 1973.
Later on, you can play Spider-Gwen as a new character in Spider-Man Unlimited that you have installed into either iphone or android phone
On the other side, this update is not even the item the latest update is built around but this is just a bonus for the creator of this game.
In the first real update to Spider-Man Unlimited, Gameloft has added 25 new missions focused on Sandman, a Jack O’Lantern Halloween event, and a new environment based on New York City’s Highline.
For further, a new character, Spider-Gwen will take part as Spider-Girl and Spider-Man 2099 in which it is meant to pave the way for more Spider-Verse content in near future.


text:
How much would you pay? Here are the world's most expensive crisps
We doubt your local pub will be stocking these any time soon.
We doubt your local pub will be stocking these any time soon.
Just one year ago the spice bag was king.
A south Dublin takeaway has been named the best in Ireland at an annual awards ceremony which recognises the best restaurants of their kind throughout the country.
If you're hoping to get a table at Ireland's newest Michelin star restaurant, you're out of luck as it's booked up until August 2017.
They are a family favourite – a staple of the sweet counter and the Christmas stocking.
Last night was an important one for some of Ireland's finest restaurants, as they found out who had held on to their Michelin stars - and who had just joined the exclusive club.
At a tortuous ceremony in London, a restaurant in Blackrock, Co Dublin, became the only one in Ireland to be awarded a new Michelin star.
Dublin restaurant Heron and Grey in Blackrock has been awarded its first Michelin star in a ceremony streamed across the world this afternoon.
A much-loved Dublin hotspot is raising the bar when it comes to dessert.
Top Irish chef JP McMahon has admitted things can get heated in the kitchen when it comes to his love life.
Enjoy caviar for charity… sort of!
Michelin will be announcing its stars for Great Britain and Ireland on October 3. For the first time, the announcement will be at an invitation-only event - to be held at the Institution of Technology and Engineering in London - presumably in response to the huge attention...
Is there such a thing as guilt-free drinking?
Is the world ready for tea in a can?
Our obsession with the mighty crisp sandwich continues.
Now you can catch Pokemon and store them in your belly.
Bread is dead. At least, that's what the trendspotters would have you believe. Salad bars, 'fast' health food chains and juice bars offering healthy lunch options have slowly taken over Dublin streets, and the average office lunch is now more likely to come wrapped in lettuce...
Having a banana for breakfast isn’t as good for you as you think.
There was no time for 'one for the road'. The sudden and untimely death last weekend of Oliver Hughes, publican and co-owner of Lillie's Bordello and the Porterhouse Group, shocked the nation.
Working as a key player in one of Jamie Oliver's busiest London kitchens might be great for career development and learning new skills, but it's not so great for taking holidays during peak periods. Which is why Irish chef and food blogger Mark O'Brien was taking no chances this year.
Earlier this year, former Pop Idol contestant Gareth Gates made a surprising career change as he launched a range of biodegradable coconut tea bags.
Lidl is recalling its own brand of peanuts because the packaging fails to tell customers they contain possible allergens.
The fanciest of snacks.
Brunch will never be the same again.
It's great to see innovative food producers being showcased as part of SuperValu's Food Academy programme. A joint initiative between SuperValu, Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Office Network, the national programme has been upping its ante this year, with sales for 2016 expected to double those of 2015.
Watching strangers pop a wild assortment of spots on Youtube has become something of a repulsive internet hobby for millions of people, but an American baker has drawn inspiration from the gross phenomenon.
It seems only right that Galway will be European Region of Gastronomy 2018. The food scene in Ireland's friendliest little city and surrounding county has been making remarkable strides and offers some of the most diverse, creative and thoroughly Irish eating you can hope to experience.
At long last, Skinny Prosecco has arrived in Ireland.
A couple of years ago, a bright spark in LA dreamed up the 'pizza cocktail'. As in, a martini of tomato water, basil-infused vodka and porcini powder topped with a Parmesan and mozzarella foam. Did it work? I can't tell you because the restaurant in question, Trattoria...
It seems that the much-loved Italian staple isn't so bad after all.
The best beer gardens in the capital
Whether you prefer classic 99s or unusual artisan creations, Jillian Bolger has the top spots around the country to get a taste of summer
An innovative New York bar owner has gone a step further in a bid to bring a taste of his native Ireland to his renowned dinner menus, by giving international fare a quirky and traditional Irish twist.
Charlie Haughey’s favourite Dublin restaurant is set to re-open for one night only, but all of the tickets have been snapped up within hours of going on sale.
Cooking with fire is still hot, hot, hot. Argentinian chef and Chef's Table star Francis Mallman's 12-hour demonstration was the hands-down highlight of last month's Kerrygold Ballymaloe Litfest love-in. Meanwhile, John Relihan of Cork's pit-smoked barbecue restaurant, Holy Smoke (right), is one of Fáilte Ireland's latest Food Champions - joining an eclectic bunch that includes Gabriel Faherty of Inis Mór's Aran...
Last Monday, at a ceremony in the Cipriani ballroom on Wall Street in New York, Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena was declared the best restaurant in the world.
Brioche of Ranelagh will take inspiration from Lambay Island just north of Howth Head for a tasting dinner (Wednesday June 22). The event will celebrate the island's unique habitat - and specifically its inhabitants, such as grass-reared beef and sheep, and wild rabbits...
It may be grey skies at Taste of Dublin 2016, but things are certainly heating up in Iveagh Gardens. The festival kicks off today and with more than 25 restaurants from around the country pitched up, there’s plenty of feasting to be done. Here are the top things you should...
Children are being deliberately targeted by high-fat and high-sugar food and drinks companies on social media, a major report reveals today.
The countdown is on for Taste of Dublin 2016, which kicks off this weekend (June 16-19) in the Iveagh Gardens. While the festival offers revellers the chance to visit some of Ireland’s best-loved restaurants in one evening, Taste of Dublin is also the place to pick up tips from...
Japan’s first ‘naked restaurant’ is set to open its doors in Tokyo next month, but only guests within a certain weight range will be welcome inside.
There’s just one week to go until Taste of Dublin returns to the Iveagh Gardens and this year’s festival has a lot in store for dedicated revellers.
Dublin’s dessert heaven Aungier Danger has launched a seasonal treat just in time for this week’s expected sunny skies- a 99 with a deep-fried doughnut cone.
The eleventh annual Taste of Dublin kicks off on June 16 and with more than 25 restaurants from around the country pitched up in Iveagh Gardens, there’s plenty of feasting to be done. But when your belly's full (as it undoubtedly will be) there is so much more to do at...
A food blogger has invented what could be the cocktail of the summer - the Jagerbomb ice cream float.
The eleventh annual Taste of Dublin kicks off on June 16 and with more than 25 restaurants from around the country pitched up in Iveagh Gardens, there’s plenty of feasting to be done.
We’re all partial to a cup of coffee (or five), but how much do you really know about our daily caffeine fix?
Doughnuts and designer handbags are just some of the items found at the best shops in Dublin.
Your barista leaving a cute little heart or snowflake drawing on your coffee is impressive enough, but imagine collecting your cup to find anything from the Mona Lisa to a selfie printed on the surface?
A gluten-free diet should be avoided unless you have been diagnosed by a medical professional with coeliac disease, warns a leading expert.
Domini Kemp wants to make something very clear. The cookbook that the restaurateur and food writer has just co-authored with nutritionist Patricia Daly is designed to help those suffering from cancer, or in remission, to make sensible food choices and support conventional...


text:
As we come to the end of another eventful year, it is a good time to look ahead at the key trends to watch in 2023. The five areas discussed below will be at the forefront for most companies as C-suite leaders look for ways to maximize growth and profitability in the new year and beyond.
Global Inflation and Economic Uncertainty
The McKinsey Global Economics Intelligence report says "Global forecasting institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the OECD, as well as central banks, are trimming growth estimates to align with high inflation and slowing economic activity."
Although the US economy has rebounded slightly in Q3 to a GDP growth of 1.8% year over year after two quarters of contraction, many experts are still projecting a recession during 2023. While unemployment rates remain stable at around 3.5% in the US and 6.6% in the eurozone, the tight job market is also driving up wage levels. In addition, persistent wage pressure is a key driver for the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates.
The impacts of these inflationary and economic risk factors on businesses take a variety of different forms. For example, rising prices can be a boon to some businesses by increasing their revenues for existing products and services. On the other hand, rising costs and wages pose major challenges. Also, because the severity of inflation varies from region to region, global companies need to navigate the impacts of foreign exchange (FX) fluctuations on their cash flows and bottom line.
Acceleration of Digital Transformation and Cloud Deployments
In 2023, executives plan to direct $4.6 trillion into enterprise IT spending, a year-over-year increase of 5.1%, according to Gartner projections. “Enterprise IT spending is recession-proof as CEOs and CFOs, rather than cutting IT budgets, are increasing spending on digital business initiatives,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Economic turbulence will change the context for technology investments, increasing spending in some areas and accelerating declines in others, but it is not projected to materially impact the overall level of enterprise technology spending."
Bain and Company's annual Global Technology Report indicates that , despite the turbulence in the technology sector, CIOs and CTOs are still increasing their technology spending. According to Bain, "There may be budget pressure in the future, but over the long term, tech is not so much a cost as an investment that spurs productivity."
There is also an important shift toward cloud deployments. Gartner data predicts a growth rate of 11.3% in software spending in 2023 vs only 3.4% growth in data center systems. This is exemplified by SAP's leadership in the movement toward cloud deployments.
Creating New Revenue Streams
According to McKinsey's Global Survey, "Business leaders predict that by 2026, half of their revenues will come from products, services, or businesses that haven’t yet been created." McKinsey further observes that "the more new businesses you build, the better you get at building them; there’s an experience curve that may explain why only a small segment of companies capture most of the growth from new-business building."
The team at Bramasol has seen this phenomena first hand in our work supporting clients who are using the SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (BRIM) applications portfolio to create new product and service offerings for the Digital Solutions Economy (DSE). Not only does the agnostic nature of BRIM enable companies to build new DSE offerings that mesh with their existing legacy CRMs and other systems; BRIM's agility enables clients to rapidly pilot-test their future with new business models. As they obtain experience and tangible metrics from using BRIM in the cloud as a "DSE sandbox", the ability to quickly shift into wider production enables smooth scaling of the new business along with the end-to-end visibility to maximize results.
Supply Chain Security and Agility
The Global Supply Chain Pressure Index kept by the New York Federal Reserve continues to show subsiding congestion, though the reading is still elevated. Sea freight rates have moderated somewhat from the highest levels during the pandemic but still remain two to three times higher than pre-pandemic rates. Although supply chain shortages have subsided, spot shortages still can be major problems for companies that they impact, especially if the shortages are unforeseen until they occur.
Rather than wishing and hoping for a new normal, forward-looking companies instead need to focus on building in more resiliency, agility and end-to-end integration as fundamental pillars in their supply chain transformation programs. For example, SAP's Supply Chain Management (SCM) portfolio of products includes focused applications for Supply Chain Planning, Supply Chain Logistics, Manufacturing, and Product Lifecycle Management, all of which operate seamlessly within the overall SAP S/4HANA enabled ERP ecosystem. These integrated systems use demand sensing, statistical modeling, and machine learning algorithms to make accurate short- to long-term forecasts and collaborate on cross-departmental sales and operations plans that balance inventory, service levels, and profitability.
Evolution of ESG as a Business Strategy
"As organizations are beginning to take their corporate sustainability initiatives to the next level, we see an increasing convergence of digital and sustainable transformation," said Bjoern Stengel, global sustainability research lead, Sustainable Strategies and Technologies at IDC. "Decision makers are realizing that technology is essential for reaching their ESG goals, in addition to the strategic, operational, and organizational changes that they are making to capitalize on the opportunities of sustainable business."
As a sign of the ESG's evolution toward more tangibility regarding compliance requirements, the SEC is currently taking public comments on a rule that it proposed in March requiring publicly traded companies to provide detailed disclosures on carbon emissions and climate risk.
Among the leaders in addressing the need for end-to-end regenerative business management is SAP with a suite of circular economy solutions that provide comprehensive value chain transparency and extend sustainability initiatives – from raw materials sourcing to last-mile logistics and product returns and recycling.
The common thread that runs throughout all five of the key trends is the need for better visibility and agility across all business systems. The phenomena we've seen in the Digital Solutions Economy where data is increasing in Volume, Velocity, Density and Complexity also applies across the board, from macro economic conditions to supply chains to digital transformation and ESG.
As the pace of change accelerates, companies need to invest in enterprise-wide systems that can provide an end-to-end, real-time picture of not only what has happened but what is likely to happen. The ability to anticipate change and plan accordingly will define the difference between companies that struggle and those that thrive.


text:
M_Service, the operator of Vietnamese mobile money outfit MoMo, has raised $28 million in funding from Goldman Sachs and the private equity arm of Standard Chartered.
Standard Chartered pumped $25 million into the startup, with Goldman putting in $3 million, topping up a $5.7 million investment made in 2013.
MoMo teamed up with Standard Chartered last year on its mobile wallet - which now has over a million users. It enables Vietnam's unbanked to receive payments from corporations and government entities, as well as pay bills and shop online.
Meanwhile, the firm also runs a network of over 4000 physical agents, which enable unbanked customers to pay in and withdraw cash from their accounts, sending money to friends, family and businesses.
The new funding will be used to help expand the number of retail and merchant partners for the mobile wallet and expand the agent network to 11,000 by the end of next year, MoMo told TechCrunch.


text:
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday called for closer economic and trade cooperation among countries and regions along the Belt and Road. China will try to reach investment protection deals with related countries and facilitate investment, trade and people-to-people exchanges, Zhang said at a high-level meeting on promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.
China and its partners will jointly establish an international "economic cooperation corridor" via land by improving infrastructure connectivity while also building a "maritime transport corridor" by linking important sea ports along the route, said the vice premier.
Zhang asked taxation, finance, customs, quality supervision and quarantine authorities to roll out preferential policies to support Belt and Road cooperation. "Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative is one of China's priorities for the next five years," said Zhang.
The initiative will bring great development opportunities to China and countries and regions along the route, he added. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which envisages the linking of development strategies of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.


text:
Allan Brewer, IndyCar Correspondent
By Allan Brewer, IndyCar correspondent
Ryan Hunter-Reay has said that he has not made a decision whether to sign a new deal with Andretti.
INDYCAR is now seeking new partnerships with brands looking to align with the fastest, most versatile form of racing.
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Bryan Herta Autosport press release


text:
Legislative Update: Off-Premise Bills Filed
March 12, 2015
Legislators File Bills to Allow Texas Craft Beer Enthusiasts To Purchase Beer Directly from State Craft Breweries
Austin, TX – March 12, 2015 – Texas State Senator Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) introduced Senate Bill 1386, which grants Texas craft brewery visitors the right to take home beer purchased at Texas craft breweries. Along with a companion bill (House Bill 3086) introduced in the Texas State House of Representatives by Rep. Jim Keffer (R-Eastland), this legislation is expected to further enhance the national recognition Texas craft beer brings to the state, encourage craft beer fans to travel to Texas, and bolster Texas’ reputation as a craft beer destination.
Building on legislation introduced by Senator Eltife in 2013 allowing breweries to sell beer to guests for consumption in their tap rooms, this legislation enables those same breweries to sell beer in cans, bottles or growlers for visitors to take home. As beer tourism grows, the ability for brewery visitors to purchase souvenir beers enhances the experience for these customers. This modernization of the Texas alcoholic beverage code is seen as a great step toward making Texas a leading craft beer state.
The bills allow breweries that produce less than 225,000 barrels of beer per year (a barrel is equivalent to two kegs of beer) to sell beer directly to the ultimate consumer. The consumer can purchase up to 576 fluid ounces, or the equivalent of two cases of beer, once a month from a Texas brewery.
“Texas craft brewers continue to bring economic growth, jobs, and national recognition to the state,” said Senator Eltife. “This legislation is designed to finish what we started last session and bring people from around the country to this state which is rapidly becoming the epicenter of craft brewing quality.”
Representative Keffer commented “This gives Texas breweries the same rights already enjoyed by wineries, distilleries and many of their out-of-state competitors. Most important, it gives consumers greater access to Texas-made beer.”
Texas craft beer is on a recent tear with 44% growth in production by breweries impacted by this legislation, delivering an economic impact of $2.3 billion in 2013, and by bringing home 16 medals at the most recent Great American Beer Festival. Only three other states brought home more awards.


text:
To get all the lastest info
okay first. sorry i've been so out of the loop. promise to start posting regularly again.
At a time when Starbucks is losing business and countering attacks of being "out of touch" with its $4 cups of coffee, the powerhouse coffee shop chain is trying a new approach at three Seattle stores.
It's changing their name, removing their logos, and even serving wine and beer.
The company's newest shop, set to open Friday, will be called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. The vibe will be more artsy: there will be live music, poetry readings and alcohol options of wine and beer. But could the new strategy backfire?
R.J. Hottovy, an analyst at investment research firm Morningstar, said, "I think it is a little bit of a risky move, especially if they were to do this on a large scale."
In March, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz acknowledged the company needed to adjust its approach in a down economy. "This is a time when every business can no longer embrace the status quo, and (must) do everything they can to get as close as possible to the customer."
Starbucks says it may expand the new approach to other cities if it succeeds in Seattle.
So how much will a glass of Chardonnay set you back?


text:
Brent Stokes craves better photo angles for the docks, seawalls and other waterfront structures his company builds.
“I wanted something higher up and to be able to include the customer’s home in the background,” said Stokes, who’s president of Fort Myers-based Stokes Marine Inc.
Airplane-based aerial photography, though, wasn’t in his budget. After seeing a boatlift manufacturer demonstrate a drone, Stokes bought an unmanned aerial system or UAS about a month ago.
He also was among the 70 or so business people attending Wednesday’s “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” presentation for The Chamber of Southwest Florida luncheon meeting in downtown Fort Myers.
They heard from four people engaged in applying drone-assisted technologies.
Many of us associate drones with battlefield scenes. They’re actually key players in an emerging industry in which U.S. regulations are lagging behind the technology, said Stephen Myers, founder of Naples-based Angel Eyes UAV.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International estimates the value of unmanned aerial systems at $80 billion a year worldwide, Myers said.
For the customer “it’s really about the data, not so much the vehicle,” Myers said.
His company provides consulting services for non-military use of UAVs and also sells related after-market products such as batteries, motors and cameras.
Alan is serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, and a drone enthusiast. He co-founded DRONELIFE.com to address the emerging commercial market for drones and drone technology. Prior to DRONELIFE.com, Alan co-founded Where.com, ThinkingScreen Media, and Nurse.com. Recently, Alan has co-founded Crowditz.com, a leader in Equity Crowdfunding Data, Analytics, and Insights. Alan can be reached at alan(at)dronelife.com


text:
Earth Day Roundup: Recycling Record, and Best Buy and Apple News
Tuesday is the annual Earth Day. A look around the world of CE and green recycling:
- The Consumer Electronics Association said Monday that the CE industry recycled 620 million pounds of electronics in 2013, for a new record. The amount, according to CEA, is more than double the total from three years ago.
- Of those pounds, 96 million were recycled by Best Buy, which it calls an "unofficial world record." Best Buy will present a gift card of a minimum of $20 in exchange for any working gadget through April 26.


text:
Football is back and summer is passing away
Published 3:43 pm Tuesday, September 6, 2022
By Bonnie Brown
Yes, here it is! Summer’s final fling or as we call it — Labor Day. This holiday honors the struggles, contributions, and achievements of American workers and was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century. It became a federal holiday in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the declaration into law. However, according to History.com, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified. Some identify Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor as the founder of this workingman’s holiday, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire (similar last name), a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday. Whoever came up with the idea should also get some credit for the traditions associated with this holiday.
I remember when I was a youngster, school didn’t begin until after Labor Day. And the merchants capitalized on that juncture as the opportunity to put on some dandy sales which lured every mother to their stores to take advantage of these low prices mostly on clothing, notebooks, and pencils. And my mom was right there along with the other mothers, buying school clothes and supplies—along with many “clearance” items.
Email newsletter signup
Then there is the “rule” that you can’t wear white after Labor Day. So, you may be busy packing away all your white clothing this weekend. Or not. Because wearing white was often associated with wealth. According to Farmer’s Almanac, “wearing white became a visible way to separate the wealthy from the working class in the early 1800s. Affluent people could afford to take vacations and by wearing white, they visually asserted that they didn’t need to work.” But honestly, we no longer adhere to this tradition. Or at least not to the degree that you never see folks outfitted in white or cream during winter unless, of course, you opt for heavier fabrics.
Back in my day, you most certainly either hosted or attended a barbeque on Labor Day weekend where a game of horseshoes was a given. There were parades in some communities. Labor Day signaled the close of the public pools since the weather most predictably cooled soon after.
And then there’s college football! Yes! My husband leads up to this “season” by watching replays of college football games.
Our Ole Miss Rebels will be hosting Troy University for this Labor Day weekend opener. We welcome the Trojans and hope they enjoy Oxford and The Grove along with all the Rebel fans who have looked forward to this game all summer long. We are eager to see Vaught-Hemingway come alive with the sounds of football—the cheering crowd, the Hotty Toddy cheer, and the melodious sounds of The Pride of the South Band. Let’s not forget tailgating. Those delicious foods that can be eaten while renewing friendships and enjoying that perfect setting beneath the canopy of those beautiful old trees. And there’s always the confident boasting that the Rebels will prevail and perhaps there will be a sighting of “the Juice,” Coach Kiffin’s new pup.
I think the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher, poet, and composer) says it all: “Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” While nature does provide the cues of a new season, we feel autumn in our soul. Fall announces Halloween and the coming holiday season.
So, show the Troy University fans some good ol’ Southern hospitality. Enjoy the long weekend, fire up the grill, feel the change of the seasons, and revel in the long-awaited football game. What’s not to love about autumn’s arrival? Unless it’s the raking of leaves.
Bonnie Brown writes a weekly column for The Oxford Eagle. Contact her at email@example.com.