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While the Internet has definitely made the industry more prolific, counterfeiting has a history that predates the Internet by centuries. There weren’t designer handbags or electronics hundreds of years ago to counterfeit, so people worked with what they had — literature, for one, is a good example.
In the late 18th century and well into the 19th century, American publishers made a habit out of re-publishing British works without giving proper credit (or royalties). Charles Dickens was a notable victim of copyright infringement and a crusader for the intellectual property cause. Numerous theatrical “adaptations” of A Christmas Carol, as well as cheap American reprints of several of his novels, led Dickens to (unsuccessfully) lobby the American Congress to recognize the copyright of British authors.
Prior to the establishment of international copyrights in 1891, the justification for the copyright infringements was the undercapitalized nature of the American publishing industry, which was still in its infancy. Printing books required risky capital investments. The American “penny publishers” who were skirting copyrights to cut costs were doing so in order to cater to the demands of working-class consumers who couldn’t necessarily afford to pay full-price for books.
Most statistics, while hard to come by in a shadow industry that pays no taxes, reflect that around 80 percent of counterfeit goods are being manufactured in China. This makes it easy to blame China entirely for the flow of counterfeit goods into the U.S. — because the majority of the goods, are, in fact, coming from China. But the basic tenants of supply and demand raise an interesting question: Since the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. make up over 50 percent of the world’s consumers of counterfeit products, if these nations stopped buying counterfeit goods, wouldn’t China stop making them?
Rob Holmes, founder and CEO of IPCybercrime.com, an investigative agency that deals in the unauthorized use of trademarks, copyrights and patents, both online and on the street, says yes, to a degree.
“The bulk of China’s GDP comes from labor. As such, a major concern for China is keeping its people employed. Chinese factories will make what consumers want,” points out Holmes. “I’m not saying this is right or wrong — this is just economics.”
It is fair to expect that China, as a developing nation, will go through the same growing pains that any other developing nation went through, including the United States. As the world’s largest vendors and exporters, China’s economy depends on the labor of its workers, and in order to keep its workers employed, the country will supply whatever its consumers demand.
Holmes points to Japan as a prime example. There is no counterfeiting coming out of Japan, largely because intellectual property is a major part of their GDP. The value of protecting intellectual property rights is high in Japan, because their economy depends on it.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that U.S. intellectual property is worth between $5 and $5.5 trillion. In addition, America’s IP-intensive industries employ nearly 18 million workers and account for more than 50 percent of all U.S. exports (U.S. Department of Commerce).
“Once China has more white-collar jobs — which rely on intellectual property — essentially, when the country’s economy starts relying on IP for its income, then we will see a large dip in counterfeit manufacture coming out of China,” predicts Holmes.
Supply and demand, however, can also launch an entirely different argument about counterfeiting. This argument has less to do with the undeniable economic impact and more to do with a theoretical discussion of crime itself.
“Wherever you go, you’ll find cheaters — people who look for the easy way to make money. If someone spends half their lives coming up with a great product, someone else will find a way to knock it off,” says Holmes.
Taking on the entire counterfeit industry would be a massive, unfeasible undertaking for law enforcement in any country. Instead, Holmes suggests that the manufacturing industry can fight back one piece at a time, even if that means targeting the “little guys” in the counterfeit supply chain.
“It’s like eating an elephant — have to do it bite by bite. The more small guys you punish, the more small people you turn toward other, legal businesses. I believe there is an 80/20 rule in which 80 percent of the people selling fakes would do something else if they were convinced to do so. The other 20 percent will always do something illegal. We should be working on that 80 percent,” says Holmes.
Chasing it upstream is the ultimate goal — ideally law enforcement gets to the main supplier, but the middle distribution is a big part of the problem. Success for a company, such as IP Cybercrime and other companies like it, does not involve the elimination of all counterfeiting at the source. The more realistic goal is to drive counterfeit products underground far enough where they aren’t as easy to find and aren’t as visible to the everyday consumer. By forcing people to go to great lengths to find counterfeit goods — instead of serving them up in their inboxes — the growth of the thriving counterfeit industry will be slowed.
The Victims of Victimless Crimes
The purchase of counterfeit goods is often justified by consumers using the rationale that it “doesn’t hurt anyone.” Because a large portion of the companies affected are multi-billion dollar companies, it is assumed that buying a few fake handbags, for example, won’t really affect their businesses. Many of these overseas fashion designers, however, have corporate offices, retail stores, distribution centers and even some manufacturing operations in the U.S. All of these facilities employ American workers.
While it is difficult to quantify, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that counterfeiting costs the U.S. economy between $200 to 250 billion per year and is responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs.
Holmes agrees with these statistics. “Another word for ‘rich company’ is ‘employer.’ People don’t see rich companies as employers, they see them as people they want to steal from — but they are stealing from people who give people jobs.”
Charles Dickens had argued that the U.S. publishing industry’s refusal to protect international copyrights would negatively affect American authors, since U.S. publishing companies had little motivation to publish American novels, when they could steal British novels for free. In much the same way, infringements on intellectual property rights are negatively affecting U.S. businesses and the overall economy. While part of the solution lies in the hands of judges, lawyer and law enforcement, all consumers play a role in reducing the demand for counterfeit goods.
Dickens's 1842 Reading Tour: Launching the Copyright Question in Tempestuous Seas by Philip V. Allingham, Faculty of Education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power by Doron S. Ben-Atar, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1615 H St NW, Washington, DC 20062 www.uschamber.com/IP.htm


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The coronavirus pandemic will lead to the bankruptcy of many airlines around the world by the end of May unless governments take steps to avoid such a situation, according to a report by Bloomberg.
According to the report, the cancellation of many flights plus low seat occupancy rates will cause the airlines to run out of cash reserves quickly.
Accelerated by many countries' bans on flights, the considerable decrease in the number of passengers has caused a serious decline in the revenues of many airline companies.
Coordinated government and industry action is needed to avoid catastrophe, the report said.
The biggest carriers in the U.S, China and the Middle East have survived because of government support, the report said, while Europe’s biggest regional airline Flybe has already collapsed.
Airlines could face $113 billion in lost revenue this year, according to the International Air Transport.
According to the article by Reuters, the largest airline company in Latin America, LATAM, announced that it has stopped 90% of its international flights.
The novel coronavirus continues to affect various industries. One of the sectors that the virus has hit hardest is the airline industry.
Turkey previously banned flights from several European and Asian countries, where a high number of confirmed coronavirus cases was reported.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced Monday that Turkey will impose flight bans on six more countries, including the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total number of countries to 20.
Meanwhile, another report showed that international travel is expected to fall at least 10.5% this year, the biggest year-on-year drop as the rapid spread of coronavirus sows chaos across the tourism and leisure sector, according to industry consultancy Tourism Economics.
The latest estimate is a big downgrade from two weeks ago, when the consultancy was using the 2003 SARS outbreak as its benchmark and estimated travel rates would fall by 1.5%.
Under that scenario, the virus would be contained by the end of the first half of the year and travel rates would start to recover by July.
But the market has entered uncharted waters now as governments around the world implement drastic measures to contain the pandemic, causing major disruption to travel.
There are significant downside risks if containment measures are ramped up. In a downside scenario, travel would drop as much as 17.9%, the company, which is part of Oxford Economics, said in a research note.

domain: news


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Facebook’s ad targeting algorithms are about to get a new firehose of valuable and controversial personal data.
Starting next month, the millions of Facebook “Like” and “Share” buttons that publishers have added to their pages and mobile apps will start funneling data on people’s Web browsing habits into the company’s ad targeting systems. After the change, the types of sites you visit could be used to tune ads shown to you inside Facebook’s social networking service, its photo-sharing service Instagram, and mobile apps that use Facebook’s ad network.
Facebook first offered the Like button to publishers in 2010 as a way to help people tell friends and the company what was interesting (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2011: Social Indexing”). The buttons take the form of a snippet of code to be added to a page. That code directs a person’s browser to contact Facebook’s servers, allowing them to know the page you’re visiting, and to see the “cookie” files that Facebook pushes to its users’ browsers to identify them.
The fact that Facebook offers to track people’s Web browsing has long concerned privacy campaign groups. Not long after the Like button’s launch in 2010, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other organizations wrote an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that asked him to set the buttons to only collect data if someone clicked on one.
Facebook continued to let its buttons log data, and finally said in 2014 that it would “soon” use it to target ads. The company said in a blog post Tuesday that it will now officially start. The post also announced a new privacy setting that lets you opt out of seeing ads targeted based on data collected on your online activity.
Rainey Reitman, activism director at the EFF, says that is not enough, because anytime you load a page with a “Like” or “Share” button embedded, Facebook will still know about it. “Promising not to use information is not the same as promising to actually delete the data,” she says. “The ‘Like’ data is especially problematic. Most people probably don’t even realize that whenever they load a page with a ‘Like’ button on it, Facebook gets a little information on them.” Facebook did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication.
Reitman says it would be better to design the buttons to send data to Facebook only when someone actively engaged with them. In place of its new privacy option, the company should instead agree to respect the “do not track” standard under development, she says. It allows you to change a setting in your browser that signals to publishers that you do not wish to be tracked across different sites. The exact implementation of the feature is still being worked out, but one version of it would have sites stop data collection altogether if a person had turned the do not track setting on.
DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.
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Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation
From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.
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The co-founder of the Reddit platform, one of the leading venues for exchanging information and news about the crypto world, apparently made a good bet on Ether. In fact, from early on Alexis Ohanian bet on ETH, now the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization.
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Specifically, in 2014, Alexis Ohanian bought 50,000 ETH at a price of $0.30. The entrepreneur realized a 500,000% return on his investment. Below are the details.
The views of the Reddit co-founder on Ether and the crypto world
In 2014, the American entrepreneur reportedly bought 50,000 Ether at a price of $0.30 for a total of $15,000 during the ICO (Initial Coin Offering ) of this cryptocurrency.
The Ethereum blockchain, on which the Ether cryptocurrency circulates, was established the following year. Thus, by owning all of his Ether today, his investment is worth about $81 million at the current Ether price.
Therefore, the entrepreneur has realized a 500,000% return on this investment. Most notably, Ohanian recently told Forbes:
“In retrospect, I haven’t invested as much as I should have.”
The 39-year-old entrepreneur became interested early in decentralizing the crypto ecosystem because of his Armenian origins and what his family suffered during the 1915 genocide. Stating the following:
“Any group of people who have in their conscience, or in their collective history, some idea of persecution, especially by a state, makes the idea of a store of value not controlled by a single state very attractive. And so, in a way, it was hardwired into me at the time and made me, in a way, receptive to the idea of a decentralized currency.”
The former Reddit founder remains very connected to the cryptocurrency ecosystem today, despite the turmoil of the year 2022. In 2021, he founded the investment firm Seven Seven Six, which raised $500 million last year to fund startups in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In addition, Alexis Ohanian has also stepped into the world of NFTs ( Non-Fungible Tokens) .
He reportedly purchased an NFT from the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection last summer to give to his wife, Serena Williams, reports CryptoPotato.
Bad crypto news for Reddit: sued by WallStreetBets
A few days ago, the founder of the subreddit WallStreetBets (WSB), Jaime Rogozinski, who has also become popular thanks to crypto, sued Reddit.
Specifically, the complaint states that Reddit removed as a moderator of its own forum Rogozinski, due to an alleged violation of company policy for attempting to monetize a community.
The WSB community on Reddit was founded back in 2012, but did not explode until early 2021. In 2020, Rogozinski was forcibly removed from Reddit, including preventing him from registering the community’s name.
In the WBS subreddit, information and investment advice was exchanged. Primarily speculators, so much so that they were even able to influence the prices of some stocks, including those of GameStop (GME).
In any case, the lawsuit points out that in March 2020 the WBS subreddit exceeded one million subscribers, and later Reddit took away his ability to moderate the forum.
Rogozinski claims he spent years of hard work building the WALLSTREETBETS brand, carefully starting and cultivating the community to ensure the board was in line with Reddit’s policy.
Rogozinski says he carefully expanded the content moderation team while maintaining the ability to enforce rules. Despite this, at some point Reddit allegedly took control of the group, invoking his moderation rules as a pretext.
Indeed, the same complaint admits that the group was exploited to promote certain business ventures, including the book “WallStreetBets: How Boomers Made the World’s Biggest Casino for Millenials,” written by Rogozinski himself.
However, the complaint suggests that the real motive may be something else. In fact, he reports that in March 2020, Rogozinski officially applied for registration of the WALLSTREETBETS brand with the US Trademark Office (USPTO), and in April, without warning, Reddit suspended Rogozinski’s account for seven days on charges of attempting to monetize a community.
Hence, the rule violated would be Section 7 of the User Agreement then in effect, which stated that no moderation actions could be performed in exchange for any form of compensation and that no agreement could be entered into with a third party on behalf of Reddit, or any moderated subreddit, without Reddit’s written approval.
Reddit and the NFT world: the latest news
Recently, Reddit also broke the record with the most NFTs minted on the platform. In fact, in a single day, as many as 255,000 NFTs were minted and the number of Reddit NFT holders increased from 3.5 million to about 5 million.
Reddit had been the talk of the town thanks to the staggering increase in prices of its NFT collections to excesses of 799%. The previous record of 200,000 daily mints was eclipsed bringing the number of Reddit NFT holders to 4.4 million wallets.
These overwhelmingly belong to users of the social platform. Reddit’s social media is very connected to the cryptocurrency world: millions of users have always exchanged news and information regarding the ecosystem.
Given the great interest in the crypto world on the platform, it was inevitable that the founders and managers of Reddit themselves would take an interest in this world, prompting their social network to implement a series of moves to take advantage of blockchain technology.


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Netflix is spending big time to become the dominant video streaming player in the nascent Web-TV world. On Wednesday, Netflix announced it has reached an agreement with Walt Disney to stream ABC programs through its online service.
The deal will last one year with an option to extend for an estimated US$150 to $200 million, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The content will include a number of ABC’s popular series, including last year’s episodes of “Gray’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters.” Users will also be able to access every episode of “Lost” and “Ugly Betty,” as well as other Disney Channel and ABC Family shows. Show will be available no earlier than 15 days after telecast.
Other TV networks have already reached agreements with Netflix, including CBS, NBC and Fox. The rush of deals coincides with Netflix’s introduction of a $7.99 streaming-only monthly service option.
Neither Netflix nor ABC responded to the E-Commerce Times’ requests for comment by press time.
The Web-TV Model Is Emerging
We’re watching the online TV financial structure begin to find itself.
“ABC took a bold step. They’re going to get subscription fees from a new player after a 15-day window. The industry is headed to this model,” Steve Robinson, CEO and cofounder of Panache, told the E-Commerce Times.
Once the subscription fees are in place, the model may expand to include advertising.
“That’s where it’s going to go as TV companies move to digital,” said Robinson. “It starts with subscription deals like this one and builds into advertising revenue.”
Google Blocking Now Makes Sense
In November, ABC and other TV networks started blocking Google from streaming videos from network websites.
“We now understand why the networks were blocking Google’s access,” Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe, told the E-Commerce Times. “ABC didn’t have a $200 million check from Google, and they were already in negotiations with Netflix where they’re getting $200 million. Google did not offer to play and Netflix did offer to pay.”
Filing the Gaps in Netflix
The Netflix deal with Disney helps to fill in some of the gaps in Netflix’s collection of TV programming, but others remain — in particular, Time Warner.
“The gaps in Netflix’s relationships may not be as important as its overall momentum,” Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT told the E-Commerce Times.
“For years now, we’ve seen one media company after another attempt and fail to create viable online channels for the content they produce and own,” he observed.
“In a way, the ongoing fragmentation of the traditional studio system — where, say, ABC produces, underwrites and owns all its content has been replaced by third-party producers who create shows for numerous broadcasters — has worked in Netflix’s favor,” noted King.
Cheap, Easy and Good
The model that ends up winning the day in the shift of TV content from broadcast, satellite and cable to the Web may be the one that is the least taxing on viewers.
“Right now, Web-TV players — Apple, Microsoft, Google or others — are all offering different versions of the same basic gimmick,” said King.
“By comparison, Netflix has a successful business and service model, in which simplified Web-delivered content is just one option,” he pointed out. “On the plus side, Netflix doesn’t require clients to buy a box or sign an agreement beyond the one they already have in place for DVD rentals. When you’re trying to get people to engage in new or untested activities, cheap, easy and good are the keys to success. Right now, the streaming TV game is Netflix’s to lose.”


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A petition demanding an investigation into the demise of own-account wholesale operator Palmer Harvey & McLane (P&H) has raised more than 8,600 signatures in two days. The petition, posted on Change.org, follows the collapse of the company and the immediate loss of 2,500 jobs last week. The company, which had an operating licence for 600 vehicles, delivered groceries to 90,000 customers across the UK, ranging from small local corner stores and food outlets to the UK’s largest supermarkets. Former P&H […]
The government has rejected calls from two select committees for an urgent change in insolvency law, after the collapse of City Link last Christmas left sub-contractors and non-secured creditors £30m out of pocket.
Canute Haulage Group creditors stand to lose millions of pounds following the sale of the business earlier this month via a pre-pack administration.
The chancellor has frozen fuel duty in his Autumn Statement today, meaning the scheduled rises scheduled for January and April next year will no longer take place. George Osborne gave no hint of a cut but said fuel would only see “inflation only rises” until September – effectively meaning the April 2013 increase has been deferred to 1 September 2013. PriceWaterhouseCoopers forecast the move would cost the public coffers £6bn, although research commissioned by campaign group FairFuelUK argued the planned […]


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City in Iowa recovers following tornado
MCGREGOR — A small city in northeast Iowa shows the scars of a tornado that hit the picturesque riverfront community earlier this month, but downtown businesses have reopened and visitors are stopping to shop in local stores even as repairs continue.
Electric service has been restored to nearly all buildings in McGregor following the July 19 tornado that pummeled the city.
Katie Ruff, the McGregor and Marquette Chamber of Commerce president, estimates at least 75 percent of businesses were operational this week.
The tornado heavily damaged two buildings in downtown, the Main Street Mall antique store and INKspiration Tattoo Studio. Crews had to demolish the tattoo studio, but that the owner plans to reopen in another downtown building, Ruff said.
Louise White co-owns a gift and book shop called Paper Moon. She said it's been difficult to find repair workers and that recent flooding in nearby communities has increased the demand even more.
"They're so swamped," White said. "We're kind of the bottom of the list because we have a roof. It's not leaking."
Rebuilding will take time, said City Administrator Lynette Sander.
Many of the damaged buildings are in the city's historic business district, she said.
Residents and business owners have salvaged pieces of the historic buildings, which can be used to recreate building trim that matches the original. However, building owners aren't required to restore the buildings to match their original appearance, she said.
The Iowa Historic Preservation Office, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa Economic Development Authority are helping building owners and city officials in the rebuilding process.
"McGregor will bounce back," Sander said. "You can already feel it."


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Taylor Swift has released the highly-anticipated re-record of her beloved album Fearless, and twenty-somethings everywhere are reliving their teenage years (yes, us included). The re-recording ….
Rapper DMX, who was known for his hits Party Up (Up In Here) and Ruff Ryders’ Anthem, has passed away at the age of 50. ….
Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has died at the age of 99. Buckingham Palace announced his passing Friday morning. A statement posted ….
We all know the struggle that can come with finding a good foundation for the warmer months of the year. Because let’s face it, though ….
Kim Kardashian West is officially a billionaire after being named on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List of 2021. Kim joins the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon ….
We all love a good sale, am I right? Luckily for us, the LTK Spring Sale is coming up and there’s tons of great retailers ….
Almost two months following the release of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, the pop star is breaking her silence. Britney took to Instagram Tuesday evening ….
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jennifer Shah is being charged after being found to have been allegedly running a nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme. ….


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Speculation is mounting that Publicis, the French advertising giant that owns Saatchi & Saatchi, is the mystery bidder for the beleaguered UK advertising group Cordiant Communications.
Cordiant announced today it had received "very preliminary approaches" from several unnamed companies after it lost yet another key advertising contract, drinks giant Allied Domecq, and issued a profit warning that left it close to administration.
"The rumoured bidder is Publicis. They want to put together the Bates network with Saatchi," said Paul Richards, a media analyst with stockbroker Numis.
"They also have a put option on Zenith Optimedia and they are one of the few remaining advertising supergroups to be doing quite well."
Publicis, which has long been linked with a possible bid for Cordiant, has an agreement that will allow it to buy the British company's 25% stake in media group Zenith's buying arm for a minimum of £75m from next year.
But there are suggestions that Publicis could offer to ease Cordiant's woes by buying it early, albeit at a knockdown price.
Susannah Bell, a media analyst at Teather & Greenwood, said advertising and marketing giant WPP was another possible bidder.
"If you think about who would be in a position to make an offer, WPP is one obvious candidate. Another would be Publicis. And venture capitalists are also a possibility - Cordiant's chairman, Nigel Stapleton, worked for the venture capitalist firm Veronis for a while and may have instigated something," she said.
Mr Richards agreed that WPP was a possible bidder, but pointed out that the group, which is run by Sir Martin Sorrell, has ruled out making any big acquisitions in the immediate future.
"I wouldn't exclude it completely - there may be parts of Cordiant they would like to get hold of such as [German advertising agency] Scholz & Friends. But I'm not sure they would want to take on Bates," he said.
Cordiant announced today it had received "very preliminary approaches, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company".
"This is one of a number of alternative strategic options that the board is considering," it added.
The company's shares, which have fallen by about 90% in the last year and lost more than two-thirds of their value yesterday, rose 12.8% this morning to 10.3 pence.


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UK retailers have some incredible discounts at the moment â€“ GAME has been selling Xenoblade: Chronicles and RAGE for Â£9.98 while yesterday Morrisons reduced half a dozen 3DS games to Â£7 a pop.
Weâ€™ll have to wait until next week though to see how the sales have affected the UK chart, as this weekâ€™s UK top 40 only takes us up to 24th December.
Thereâ€™s a bit of a shake around in the top ten. Most significantly, FIFA 12 is back on top while the Christmas number one â€“ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim â€“ now resides at #8. Thereâ€™s a new entry at #10 too – EA’s new hope Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Rayman Origins is doing much better now that the price has been cut to around Â£20 â€“ itâ€™s now at #19, up from #25. Pre-Christmas price cuts for Sonic Generations have also helped Segaâ€™s platformer with the blue blur dashing up from #19 to #15.
Weâ€™ll also be interested to see how Nintendoâ€™s Boom Street on Wii does next week, as Nintendo rather curiously pulled the release date forward from early January to the end of December. Early reviews havenâ€™t been too bad including a 7 from gamesTM.


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Restaurateurs and off-licences incensed by €1 on bottle of wine
THE €1 excise tax hike on a 75cl bottle of wine was attacked last night by the hospitality industry – but welcomed by health campaigners,
Restaurant owners said the increase was "savage", "irresponsible" and "jobs-negative" as consumers rushed to buy wine before prices went up at midnight.
The hike was the steepest in the increases on the 'old reliables' of alcohol and cigarettes.
Meanwhile, the Irish Heart Foundation complained that the 10c increase on a pack of cigarettes didn't go far enough, describing it as "paltry".
Finance Minister Michael Noonan began his announcement on excise duty by throwing a bone to motorists, saying: "I am not increasing excise duty on diesel and petrol." However, he also announced the following hikes:
* A 10c increase on the price of a pint of beer or cider, or a measure of spirits.
* Increases on other alcohol products.
* A 10c increase on 20 cigarettes and 50c on packs of rolling tobacco.
The Irish Wine Association described the increase on a bottle of wine as "as disproportionate and excessive" and said it was "absolutely contrary" to the Government's stated aim of supporting small businesses.
IWA chairman Philip Robinson said: "The imposition of such a draconian excise increase will be devastating to the domestic wine market."
The chief executive of the Restaurant Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins, also hit out at what he called a "savage increase" in tax on wine, saying it was "another burden restaurants don't need".
He said: "One euro on a bottle of wine will bring a lot of restaurants to their knees." Evelyn Jones, of the National Off-Licence Association, said the the hike was an "irresponsible decision".
She said that it would drive shoppers to buy wine in other countries, including heading north of the border to destinations like Newry.
The Vintners' Federation of Ireland said the increase was "a crude excise hike" that was "jobs-negative".
It said that the Government had "taken away any slim hope that our members and the 50,000 people employed in the on-trade may have had".
And the €1 hike appeared to provoke an extraordinary reaction from consumers last night with wine shops and supermarkets reporting a rush to buy stock before the midnight price increase.
However, Alcohol Action Ireland welcomed the tax increase on drink.
Its director, Fiona Ryan, said: "Pricing is one of the most effective ways a government can reduce alcohol consumption and the associated harms.
"To put the estimated €200m in potential revenue from this duty restoration in perspective, alcohol-related harm costs the State an estimated €3.7bn a year."
However, Chris Macey of the Irish Heart Foundation expressed his disappointment with the 10c increase on cigarettes – which will see the cost of a pack of brands like John Player Blue or Marlboro Lights rise to €9.30.
He called the tax rise "paltry" and accused the Government of falling for "self-serving tobacco industry propaganda that tax increases fuel smuggling".
Irish Independent Supplement


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U.S. nonstore sales grew steadily in February, new monthly data from the U.S. Commerce Department shows.
What the agency calls “nonstore sales” reached $55.08 billion in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, a 10.1% increase compared with $50.01 billion in the same month of 2017. That’s about the same year-over-year increase as January, when nonstore sales increased 10.2%.
Nonstore sales mainly take place online but also include other channels such as mail and telephone orders, door-to-door sales and sales through vending machines.
Internet Retailer uses the monthly nonstore figures disclosed by the Commerce Department as an early indicator of the health of the e-commerce market. The Commerce Department only reports e-commerce sales on a quarterly basis. The agency will release its first-quarter results on May 17.
A historical look at the correlation between nonstore sales and e-commerce sales show that e-commerce is a growing portion of nonstore sales. In the fourth quarter of 2017, for example, e-commerce represented 73.3% of nonstore sales, an Internet Retailer analysis shows. That’s compared with 69.2% for Q4 2016.
Using those same percentages, this would suggest that in February, e-commerce sales reached roughly $40.37 billion, compared with $34.60 billion a year earlier. An increase of 16.6%
Total retail sales reached $492.01 billion in February on an adjusted basis, up 4% from $473.11 billion in February of last year. In January, total retail sales increased about the same amount year over year to reach $492.34 billion compared with $474.03 billion a year earlier.


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In June this year Google had announced
a rebuilt version of Google Sites, its web-page creation tool
, which would make it easier for enterprise customers and employees to share information within the company. According to the company the new Sites could be used to build functional pages to aggregate and distribute content across the organization, optimized for every screen.
The new features would include intuitive drag-and-drop design experience supports real-time collaboration by multiple editors, just like in Docs, and offered easy access to content from Calendar, Docs, Drive to Maps. It would also include themes and layouts that could be scaled and flexed to various screen sizes.
After customer testing
through an early adopter program, the rebuilt version of Google Sites is now Generally Available. The company states that since its initiation in 2008, Sites has made it possible for employees to build working team projects sites without writing any code.
Ease of use
Google claims that with the upgraded Sites, enterprises can create and add text links, images with cut-and-paste, or simply drag-and-drop to rearrange and resize elements on the page.
The new Sites can also integrate Google apps which allows employees to insert content from the tools being used most. One can embed a schedule from Google Calendar, a video clip from Google Drive, or a location from Google Maps. Employees can also insert content from Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms and a live version will be presented within the site.
The company states that Sites is a one of a kind collaborative tool for building team and project sites. Using the same technology as Google Docs, the new Sites brings real-time, multi-user coauthoring which allows teams to add and update a project site without conflicts or locked pages.
New themes & visualization options
New Sites also includes themes and layouts designed to scale and flex to any screen size. An integrated preview mode lets the user see what the site will look like on a desktop, a tablet and a smartphone while it is being edited.
The company claims that the New Sites is available to G Suite customers who have Google Sites enabled. The company has also stated that employees can continue to use the classic Sites without upgrading too.


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UAE-based online marketplace Desertcart’s volumes double in recent months. “In some months – especially May-June – our volumes doubled compared to the previous month, sometimes even 70% over the previous month,” shares founder Rahul Swaminathan. “Before the pandemic, our average order volume would be 1,000 across the GCC, which increased to 2,500 during the lockdown, even touched 3,000 on a certain day. As people started staying at home, our volumes have grown consistently.”
Globally, online sales have been boosted as the pandemic broke out and people began shopping on the internet. According to research firm RedSeer Consulting, the online retail market in the UAE, worth $5.7 billion, rose 55% since the onset of COVID-19, and is expected to keep growing through Q4 2020 to cross $6 billion annually by the end of 2020.
Like most e-commerce retailers, Desertcart – an online marketplace founded in 2014 – has also clocked significant growth over the past few months. The platform offers over 100 million products, helping customers find international brands and items that are not directly available in the region. Desertcart ships products from the UAE, the US, the UK, Turkey, Japan and China, with priority delivery across the GCC.
“At the time we started Desertcart, the online regional retail landscape wasn’t as mature as it is today. We created a platform where shoppers could easily find a variety of brands on a single platform,” says Swaminathan. Until recently, Desertcart functioned as an on-demand platform through collaborations with third-party service providers – from courier to warehouse and even customer service. But over the past couple of years, the brand has brought a few functions in-house – including customer service and warehousing. “Our mission is to offer customers what they need and deliver it to them as quickly as possible. By bringing a few functions in-house, we have been able to improve our delivery timelines and even pricing,” he adds.
Although a wide variety of brands and products are available on Desertcart along with doorstep delivery, it comes at a premium as the pricing tends to be high. “Our pricing could seem high,” Swaminathan agrees. “However, we have to factor in international shipping that’s expensive. In addition, we have a hassle-free, no question asked return policy, which our customers have come to value. Recently, we have even increased the return period from 30 to almost 50 days. This has increased our customers’ willingness to shop with us. People, even first-time online shoppers, have built trust in our platform, as they were willing to pay by cards.”
Staying with products, Desercart has expanded its portfolio to include cosmetics and beauty products, baby products and niche electronic goods. The pandemic has accelerated Desertcart’s scalability plans as it saw its volumes grow.
“Eventually, every form of shopping will happen through the internet. Our goal is to add value to online shopping. We have seen a lot of browsers being converted to buyers and such shopping behaviours tend to stick, as people realise the convenience of doorstep delivery,” Swaminathan observes. “Recently, we have launched the Desertcart Plus model, giving our customers the option to pay AED30 upfront to avail free doorstep delivery throughout the month, with no minimum order value. Now, they shop three-four times a month spending more with us, even if the per cart value is less.”
In order to facilitate quick doorstep delivery, Desertcart has partnered with various logistics players based on their reach, delivery timelines and level of service in different markets. When asked if Desertcart would ever consider owing its last-mile, Swaminathan says, “Last-mile is a volume game and as our volumes grow further, we might do it in-house.”
Having built a loyal customer base in the UAE, with 40% being returning customers shopping on Desertcart at least once a month, it has started shipping to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. “We might even set up regional offices there,” Swaminathan concludes.
J Lindeberg was started by Johan Lindeberg in 1990s with the aimSeptember 2, 2022 | By RetailME Bureau
Majid Al Futtaim has made significant strides toward environmental, social, and corporateJuly 5, 2022 | By RetailME Bureau
Abu Dhabi based grocery retail chain Lulu Group has partnered with Amazon
UAE-government-led initiative Food Tech Valley – announced in 2021 by His Highness
Abu Dhabi-based supermarket chain Lulu Hypermarket is all set to open in
Plant-based meat brand Beyond Meat’s financial results for the third quarter of
UAE’s fresh produce brand Barakat has launched bio-degradable packaging across its entire
UAE-based agritech start-up Pure Harvest Smart Farms has signed a Memorandum of
Carrefour, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim – Retail in the
Grandiose Supermarket, part of Ghassan Aboud Group, has announced expansion plan in
The Valrhona journey began 100 years ago with a cocoa bean. Since
Deliveroo UAE has announced the expansion of its rapid grocery delivery service
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) revealed that the UAE
Lulu Group International, Apparel Group, 6thStreet.com, ENOC, Splash, Crocs, Aldo, Babyshop and
GCC retail sales is set to grow at a compound annual growth
UAE-based luxury floral design company Maison Des Fleurs has signed an exclusive
Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and Coca-Cola Middle East
adidas has announced a partnership with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF)
Middle East based luxury retail group Chalhoub Group plans to double staff
The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) has unveiled an exciting line-up
UAE’s Bliss Flower Boutique recently opened its first store in Doha at
Dubai-based diversified family-owned business Danube Group soft launched Danube Sports World –
The first edition of the World Corporate Summit (WCS), supported by Dubai’s
Landmark Retail, the retail division of UAE-based conglomerate Landmark Group, has continued
Italian cycle brand Colnago has opened a store in Abu Dhabi at


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The chances of the Holden Ute being sold in North America as a reborn Chevrolet El Camino are being stymied by the high price of the Australian dollar.
Speaking at today’s Detroit motor show, General Motors International Operations boss Tim Lee today expressed his support for the car but not the current expense of the Aussie dollar against the Greenback.
“I think here in the US that vehicle has a tremendous amount of cache so if we could (import it) we would if it makes sense,” Mr Lee said.
“You tell me about what the Aussie dollar is going to do over the next 12 to 24 months and I’ll tell you the export potential of cars like that.”
However, with the Aussie dollar currently running at $1.05 against the US dollar, Mr Lee said: “You can’t make a business case of something like that.”
Speculation about the Commodore-based utes heading for the USA resurfaced last December when GM filed a trademark on the El Camino name. However, GM dismissed the move as routine paperwork.
GM also registed the Nomad trademark, which led to speculation that the Commodore Sportwagon was also a chance to head to the USA. The Nomad was a Chevrolet two-door wagon.
But Mr Lee said the Australian dollar would have to sink to 80 cents or lower to make the business case viable for the El Camino.
“We are in the business of making money; Great products, great margins - when we have a foreign exchange opportunity that makes sense.”
Exporting cars from the Elizabeth plant to the USA is not impossible, as the Caprice-based Chevrolet PPV police car proves. Although it sells in low numbers, GM is persisting with the program.
Also, this year’s upgraded VF Commodore is set launched in the USA as a luxury-appointed V8-only Chevy SS, with a racing version due to make its debut in NASCAR at the Daytona 500 in February.
“We will take a premium price position with the SS and the market will be what it will be,” Mr Lee said. “In terms of how many we will sell I have no idea, but we will have to take a very premium price position.”
Mr Lee said there was no prospect of GM building cars based on the Commodore’s Australian-developed Zeta architecture in North America as a way of avoiding the foreign exchange challenges.
“We will not be investing one penny to implement the Zeta architecture in the United States,” he said. “I am the chief manufacturing officer of the company - that is written in stone.”
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site…


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SAINTE-THÉRÈSE, Que. — Cora Breakfast and Lunch has opened a new Cora restaurant in Surrey, B.C. as part of a nationwide expansion of the Cora network. The new unit marks the brand’s ninth in the province.
The official grand opening will take place on January 24. Pioneering founder Cora Tsouflidou and local owner-franchisees will welcome dignitaries and guests for the symbolic egg-cracking ceremony, during which the first symbolic omelette in the restaurant will be made.


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Online furniture retailer Loaf has made the move into brick and mortar retail with the opening of the very first ‘Loaf Shack‘ in Battersea, London.
The up and coming area may be just right for the laid back retailer‘s 8000sq ft outlet, which company founder Charlie Marshall wants to make “the most laid back store in Britain.”
“Our aim has been to make shopping for furniture online as simple and as hassle-free as possible,” says Marshall. “But there are still a large number of customers that want to see and touch the product before they buy. To respond to that demand we‘ve created a seriously beautiful, bells and whistles store that we‘ve filled with things to make people smile.”
In the new store, customers can relax and play games in the ‘chill out area‘, as can their children in the ‘little loafers‘ corner. Patrons can even enjoy ice cream at a traditional style parlour


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The Japanese government has shown keen interest in supporting the automotive industry by setting up a new research entity called the Consortium for Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluat... Read more
BMW recently commissioned a survey which revealed that 90 percent of i3 owners said they would not revert to conventional cars, while 60 percent of hybrid car owners said they would continue... Read more
NGK Spark Plug, which is the top manufacturer of spark plugs in the world is now venturing into the production of solid-state batteries. With electric vehicles becoming more popular, this st... Read more
One of the key components of electric cars is their batteries and solid-state batteries are expected to be more powerful and safer to use than conventional lithium-ion batteries. BMW, like m... Read more
Toyota has revealed that it has made major technological progress when it comes to batteries and says it is planning to use solid state batteries in its vehicles by 2020. Currently, a semi-l... Read more
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Pirelli Unveils New App to Give Tire Data to Motorsport Fans
Michelin Collaborates with Supercars Club Arabia for UAE Tour
Bridgestone to Conduct ‘The Bridgestone Tyre Challenge’ at Special Olympics
ZF Plans to Open New Center for AI and Cybersecurity
GM Africa & Middle East Opts for AkzoNobel as Vehicle Refinish Partner
© 2017 Morjan Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.


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ProgrammableWeb tracks the latest API news to keep you on top of the API economy
Searching: No Search Term , Filtered By Category: "Humor", Category: "Social"
Tech marketing company Viant has launched an Advertising Cloud that gives advertisers access to a suite of advertising applications.
In 2015, Google will shutter the OpenID 2.0 functionality that allows third parties to authenticate their users by having them log in with their Google accounts.
Twitter’s #Music app was pulled from the App Store in April 2014, just a year after its launch. The company has partnered with Saavn for a related product.
HelpSocial has launched a new social platform designed to enable companies to provide better customer care, this platform includes the HelpSocial API.
Twitter's Vine team has released an oEmbed API endpoint designed to make it easier to embed a Vine into a website.
Twitter has announced a brand new search architecture that indexes every public Tweet since 2006. It allows for queries that search through recent or popular Tweets.
Lithium's APIs enable brands to extend their service by implementing online communities, and accessing social data to incorporate into analytics.
Facebook has updated its Facebook Graph API to allow developers to hide and unhide comments of page posts. Facebook updated its changelog yesterday to reflect the updates.
The partnership promises to make Twitter data more accessible to developers and end users beginning in the first quarter of 2015.
Qucit offers predictive bikeshare availability API for the town of Bordeaux. SAP HANA launches API and other cloud tools.
Infinigon Group, real-time social analytics solution provider, has launched an API for access to its ECHO platform.


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GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF), Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) today announced that the three companies’ CEOs will be co-hosting a summit of senior government officials, CEOs and C-suite executives from companies either involved in technology manufacturing or companies whose ability to compete depends on continued innovation, technology leadership and access to semiconductor chips in the U.S.
The recent passage of the CHIPS and Science Act is a testament to the broad, bipartisan support and commitment to increasing semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. These investments will enable the public-private partnerships that are needed to meet and keep up with the increasing demand for semiconductors. It will create the industrial strategy required to level the playing field for competitive semiconductor R&D and manufacturing in the U.S.
The CEO summit is bringing industry and senior government partners together to engage in a constructive dialogue to discuss how these public investments can accelerate semiconductor and emerging technology manufacturing, support the electrification of automobiles with a ready supply of chips, including feature-rich chips, and strengthen the United States’ economy, supply chains, and national security.
Joining industry leaders will be National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainability Dr. William LaPlante, and National Security Council Senior Director for Technology & National Security, Tarun Chhabra underscoring the importance of domestic manufacturing to national and economic security.
“President Biden and Congress have taken the bold action to level the playing field for competitive semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Dr. Thomas Caulfield, President and CEO of GF. “The CHIPS and Science Act protects U.S. economic, supply chain and national security by accelerating semiconductor manufacturing on American soil and provides our customers with the supply chain predictability, reliability and security they expect and deserve.”
The one-day summit is being held Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, in Washington and brings together leaders from:
- Semiconductor equipment, manufacturing and product companies, and industry associations
- Major automotive, technology and advanced systems companies
- The White House and Department of Defense
“Semiconductors are the foundation of incredible advances in technology that will transform nearly every area of the economy over the coming decades,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “The CHIPS and Science Act provides a catalyst for the industry to accelerate investments to make our supply chains more robust, speed up innovation and commercialization of next-generation technology, and create thousands of U.S. jobs.”
With the investments that semiconductor manufacturers, their customers and the U.S. government will be making following the legislation’s recent passage, summit participants will be discussing how industry stakeholders can best accelerate U.S.:
- Semiconductor manufacturing
- Transportation electrification
- Economic, supply and national security
“With his expected signing of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act tomorrow, President Biden is making it clear that government and industry leaders are laying the foundation for the next chapter in American innovation and manufacturing,” said Jim Farley, President and CEO of Ford. “A reliable domestic supply of chips, including legacy semiconductors needed in the automotive and defense industries, will keep American manufacturing lines humming, help make sure customers get the connected and electric vehicles they want, and strengthen the American economy and national defense.”
More than 35 senior executives and leaders will be joining Dr. Thomas Caulfield, President and CEO, GF, Gary Dickerson, President and CEO, Applied Materials and Jim Farley, President and CEO, Ford at the summit for these timely and critical discussions. A list of participants may be found here.


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APCO is best known in India for helping Gujarat change its post-2002 riots image to present itself as an investment hub, or “Indian Davos”, since 2009.
Viridian ESpark Accelerator, awarded 15 start-ups of which four were in the category of women entrepreneurship, three in social entrepreneurship, one in green technology and three in innovation & technology.
Some Gujarat businessmen said the trend was also reflective of the declining confidence of industry in the new administration.
Officials said the report has been ready since last year but the government is not convinced about the methods used in the survey and its findings.
Gujarat government today announced plans to implement the Gujarat (Right of Citizens to Public Services) Act 2013.
The Congress on Thursday disclosed 'confidential' contents of the findings of the Centre's Rapid Survey on Children (2013-14).
The state is expected to dilute its decades-long prohibition rule for the GIFT City in its quest to make the enclave a worthy competitor.
Dyed textiles, embroidered bed spreads and carpets, leather goods, fabric home decor and jewellery are some of the popular picks for tourists visiting the royal state.


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IDA Eire, a governmental company answerable for attracting overseas direct funding (FDI), is main an initiative to advertise blockchain funding and growth within the nation, native information outlet The Irish Occasions stories June 11.
In accordance with the Irish Occasions, the IDA is ready to launch the venture “Blockchain Eire,” that intends to advertise the expertise in addition to to draw and collaborate with worldwide corporations working with blockchain expertise. The venture will probably be a web-based platform that advertises Eire as an “ideally suited location” for worldwide blockchain-focused corporations.
The venture was initiated by the Irish Blockchain Professional Group (IBEG), an IDA Eire-led discussion board, the Division of Finance, Enterprise Eire, and Consensys, a US-based software-production studio that was based by Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Joe Lubin.
In Could, the Nationwide College of Eire Galway urged the federal government to advertise the expertise within the nation, emphasizing the potential of blockchain to positively influence financial progress and remodel the way in which authorities constructions and companies can function.
Eire has positioned itself as a hub for tech enterprise lately, attracting overseas corporations with a 12.5 % company rate of interest in addition to tax credit for analysis and growth.
A variety of corporations situated in Eire have developed functions utilizing blockchain expertise together with Circle, AidTech, and Arc-Internet, whereas Deloitte has a devoted blockchain laboratory in Dublin. In April, Mastercard introduced it is going to rent on extra blockchain specialists within the nation, reportedly to spice up innovation within the subject of funds.
Eire can be a signatory to the European Blockchain Partnership, which was created this yr by the European Fee. The partnership goals to be a “automobile for cooperation amongst Member States to trade expertise and experience in technical and regulatory fields and put together for the launch of EU-wide [blockchain] functions throughout the Digital Single Marketplace for the good thing about the private and non-private sectors.”


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The feature, called Output Content Protection Management, encompasses several DRM-related schemes. The one that's raised hackles in several articles and blogs is a DRM-related check that's performed when playing back video on Vista-equipped PCs. According to Microsoft's description, the feature "makes sure that the PC's video outputs have the required protection or that they are turned off if such protection is not available."
In plain English, this means that Vista machines won't be able to play next-generation, high-definition DVDs in their full, high-resolution glory unless they're equipped with monitors that support a new DRM scheme called High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection, or HDCP.
That'll mean that PC owners wanting to upgrade to Vista will also have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy HDCP-compliant monitors, according to the flak being fired at Microsoft in the recent online postings. That thinking is reflected in stories like "Windows Offers New Vistas Of Spending," in the online edition of The Sydney Morning Herald and "Microsoft Vista Creates DRM Insanity," on the U.K. Web site The Inquirer. On the Techdirt blog, posters have weighed in with criticisms such as "leave it to Microsoft to actually embrace some Orwellian technology like this," and "who does this DRM technology benefit, apart from monitor manufacturers, who should be in for a nice windfall?"
From Microsoft's perspective, its attempt to comply with a DRM scheme developed by the consumer electronics industry is getting unfairly blown up into a nefarious plan that's far from reality. "Articles saying that you will need new monitors with Windows Vista to play any DRMed content are not correct," said Ken Birge, a spokesman for Microsoft. "Any DRM content that's out there today, you'll be able to play with any existing monitor using Vista."
However, Birge confirms that new monitors will be required to support full playback of high-definition DVDs. "Next-generation DVDs will require HDCP for playback," Birge said. "So that requires HDCP protection all the way out to monitor. As PCs become more of a home entertainment device, consumers are going to expect to play back next-generation DVDs. In order to do that, Microsoft has to require this HDCP support all the way out to the monitor. It's very much following suit to what the consumer electronics industry has already done."
Indeed, Birge pointed out that many high-definition monitors made for the consumer electronics market already comply with HDCP, though most computer monitors have yet to do so. The next-generation DVDs will play on old-style monitors, he said, but in a degraded performance mode. "If you have a Windows Vista machine, and you have your legacy monitor, and you were to pop [in] one of these next-generation DVDs and try to play it back, it wouldn't not play," Birge said. "What it will do is down-sample to something around [standard] DVD quality; you won't get the high-definition experience."
At least one Microsoft watcher sees the company as caught between a rock and a hard place on the DRM issue. "Microsoft is trying to serve two masters, and that's not always an easy task," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, "Master one is Hollywood and the content providers, who want their stuff protected. Master two is the consumer, who wants to be able to get at everything easily. And Microsoft's kind of caught in the middle. There are a lot of [DRM] mechanisms being proposed and implemented and Microsoft is just hedging its bets here. If [HDCP] really reaches a mass market, then Windows Vista will be able to support it."


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More than 2,000 companies in the European Union and the US have created and sold 3D printers in the past five years, according to new data.
More than 5,000 firms in the world, including Apple, Google and Facebook, have also created and used 3D printables.
According to the data, Ireland has been a key beneficiary of 3D-printed products, which the country exported to the US for the first time in 2016, with an estimated value of more than $4 billion.
Its export figures for the year to June 2016 were released by the Irish government on Thursday.
Dublin is home to the world’s largest commercial market for 3D printed homes.
The country exported 3,000 3D prints to the United States, with a value of $2.6 billion.
In total, Ireland exported $8.6 million worth of 3d printers to the USA.
More: 3D printer maker Ikea has become a key supplier of 3-D printing products to the Irish economy, with the firm exporting 3,500 3D kits to the country in the previous three years.
Dubbed the Ikea of the European economy, the company has exported over $9 billion worth of products to Ireland since it opened its doors in 2012.
Ikea also has a presence in Europe, including in Spain, France, Italy and Belgium.
Its latest 3D kit exports to Ireland are worth more than the combined export value of Apple, Apple’s main rival in the market, and Google.
The company has also been a huge source of revenue for the Irish Government, which in 2016 spent more than €1 billion on export purchases from the company.”3D printers are an important part of our economy and we are proud of their contribution to our exports and to the economy as a whole,” said Irish Minister for Industry Brendan Howlin.
“It’s clear that this new trend will benefit the Irish people in the long-term, and I’m pleased to see that the Government is now making the most of this technology to create jobs and to create wealth for the future.”
Read more about 3D Printing:


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One-Third of Digital Marketers Think Standard Ads Bought Through Programmatic Methods Damage Brand Loyalty and Annoy Users
MediaBrix, the leading advertising and services platform for social and mobile games, today announced new findings from a survey conducted by Millward Brown Digital, which polled 300 digital marketing decision makers at Fortune 5000 companies and leading advertising agencies in the United States. Key findings indiciate that digital marketing decision makers allocate their budgets fairly evenly across digital advertising formats. However, 88 percent said that making emotional connections through digital media would encourage them to spend more on digital branding campaigns. The survey also found that 30 percent of digital marketers believe that ads purchased through programmatic methods produce negative customer experiences that damage brand loyalty or negate their branding objectives in other ways.
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MediaBrix’s Product Suite Helps Advertisers Create Emotional Connections With Consumers During Memorable Moments in Social and Mobile Gaming
MediaBrix, the leading advertising platform for social and mobile games, today unveiled its plan to focus its mission and strategically align with Breakthrough Moments (BTMs) in gaming. Further supporting the alignment with BTMs, MediaBrix has redesigned their entire product portfolio and is debuting a new product called Rewards, an ad unit dedicated to engaging users during their highest achievements within games, providing an industry-first suite of products that addresses all the key moments in gaming.
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New Research From MediaBrix Finds Majority of Adults Perceive They Have Experienced Misleading Digital Advertising in the Past Year
This survey revealed that the majority of online adults who have seen advertising appearing as content1 in the past 12 months say that the ads negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised. When asked about and shown these specific ad types:
- 62 percent of those who had seen them in the past 12 months said Twitter promoted tweets negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised
- 72 percent of those who had seen them in the past 12 months said Facebook sponsored stories negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised
- 85 percent of those who had seen them in the past 12 months said sponsored video ads that appear to be content negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised
Read the full press release here and see all of our great coverage in Adweek, Forbes, MediaPost, and more here.
Pontiflex Also Announces Contest in Support of Non-Profits and Organizations With Social Causes; Three Organizations Will Be Awarded 1,000 Email Signups
Pontiflex, Inc., the industry’s leading mobile signup ad platform, today announced that non-profits and organizations with a social focus account for more than 10 percent of campaigns on the AdLeads mobile signup advertising platform. Organizations benefiting from AdLeads, such as DoGoodBuyUs, nycTIES, Missing Autism and ChangeForGreen.com, are involved in a variety of initiatives — from connecting eco-friendly charities with donors to helping build an organic rooftop garden that will be used to create opportunities for people with barriers to move toward economic independence in New York City.
To assist non-profits and organizations that support social causes, Pontiflex also announced today a signup ad creative contest. Three organizations with the most compelling signup ad creative will be awarded free campaigns that will allow them to increase their email database by 1,000 signups. Non-profit organizations can enter the contest until November 15 at:http://www.adleads.com/nonprofit.
Read the full press release here!
More SMBs (26% of Survey Respondents) Prefer to Pay for Email and Social Signups, as Compared to Banners (6%) and Clicks (19%)
“Mobile advertising is growing, but hasn’t kept pace with the rapid adoption of mobile devices,” said Zephrin Lasker, CEO and co-founder, Pontiflex. “This survey shows that SMBs need real returns from mobile advertising, and CPC and CPM pricing models are just not working for them. SMBs want to use mobile ads to grow their businesses. To help them do so, the industry must innovate and try new things, and that’s what we are doing with AdLeads.”
King.com, the world’s leading casual social games company, today announced that T-Mobile has chosen its game, Bubble Witch Saga, for a highly targeted social games advertising campaign. Following King.com becoming the second largest social games company and surpassing three billion monthly gameplays, the company is partnering with MediaBrix to effectively target T-Mobile’s key demographic in a deal that includes high-impact, in-game ads and social brand integration. MediaBrix is the only end-to-end, in-app social and mobile advertising solution with proprietary analytics measuring over 30 points of brand-focused metrics.
Read the full press release here.
Massive Growth Shows That Signup Ads Are Solution to Mobile Advertising Problem
Pontiflex announced today that more than 100 million people have signed up to connect with brands and small businesses they like via their mobile signup ads platform. Advertisers using mobile signup ads include leading national brands like Disney, Hasbro, Levi’s and Southwest Airlines. In addition, local businesses such as One Click Ventures, Sickweather.com, Paper Hat Press and many others are using signup ads to run local mobile campaigns. Ads run on thousands of iOS and Android apps such as Color Effects, iFishing, TuneMe, Where’s My Droid and many others. Those app developers are using signup ads to monetize their apps and make CPMs 50-100X the industry average.
New Findings From MediaBrix Highlight the Need for Immersive, Integrated Ads on Social and Mobile Platforms Where Consumers Do Not Prefer Standard Online Ads
According to a new survey conducted online in July 2012 by Harris Interactive on behalf of MediaBrix, only 28% of Facebook app users1 prefer to see standard banner ads in Facebook apps and 72% prefer to see immersive and interactive ad units. Additionally, 40% of smartphone owners prefer to see standard banner ads in mobile apps and 60% prefer to see immersive and integrated ad units in mobile apps. Immersive and integrated ad units include those that offer people virtual rewards or currency and interactive video ads that occur during natural breaks in the app or game.
Powered by Unity, DEAD TRIGGER showcases stunning graphics and immersive gameplay
Authored with the Unity development platform, DEAD TRIGGER provides intuitive controls and stunning graphics with advanced lighting and post-process effects. The new MADFINGER Games title aspires tobecome one of the best looking and most entertaining zombie shooters on themarket, combining graphically astonishing environments with intense first person action and a gradually revealing storyline.
Read the full press release here!
Pontiflex Data Reveals the Average Cost for a Signup in Swing States Ranges From $0.85 to $3.84
According to MediaVest, political spending in 2012 will increase by as much as 30 percent from 2008 to reach $4 billion. This year, political candidates will continue to use digital advertising with performance-based pricing models, such as Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and Cost-Per-Lead (CPL). According to ClickZ, President Obama’s reelection campaign will devote a large portion of ad spending to digital ads, including mobile. The Obama Presidential Campaign has spent $19 million on digital ads since the beginning of the political season. In addition, Zac Moffatt, Mitt Romney’s Digital Director, recognized the potential power that mobile advertising has when he said, “If we don’t hit them on their mobile phones, we’re missing a huge opportunity for people who are voters.”


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This is the time when almost every manufacturer is gearing up for the launch of its latest and news gadgets which they are going to unveiled during CES 2014 which will start within few days.
Last year Huawei has announced that they will get into Windows Phone market and also launched Ascend W2 which is an mid range Windows Phone 8 powered device. Now rumors are coming that Huawei is all set to unveil successor of Ascend W2, the Huawei Ascend W3 during CES 2014.
As per leaks specs of Ascend W3 wont go beyond budget and it will come with slightly better and bigger display screen, might of 1280×720 pixels. It seems rather than specs, Huawei is focusing more on Ascend W3 built quality and it might feature thin aluminum and will follow design of Ascend P6. In terms of software, Huawei Ascend W3 is expected to run GDR3 version of WP8.


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Spectrum turns to UK as HK stocks mount
Hong Kong needs to reduce its fine wine stocks, said Spectrum Auctions president Jason Boland ahead of his first London sale.
Speaking to the drinks business just weeks before Spectrum’s inaugural UK auction, Boland explained, “There has been a large amount of wine sold in a relatively small area and the market needs to correct itself.”
Continuing, he added, “That’s why you will see people like us going into London”.
Spectrum, which is based in California, held its first Hong Kong wine auction in November 2009, and will hold its first London sale on 8 February at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
As previously reported by db, the auction house has partnered with Vanquish Wine to bring some of the buzz that surrounds sales in New York and Hong Kong to the established London market.
Boland also said that it was important for Spectrum to “diversify” its client base while stressing, “there are still a lot of wine drinkers in London.”
The auction will be an evening event and Boland promised it will be “fun and exciting” while describing it as “more of a rarity sale” – “every lot is highlight”.
Notable among the wines going under the hammer is a bottle of Romanée-Conti from 1945, the last pre-phylloxera vintage from the vineyard, and, as a result, a year with the severely reduced production of just 600 bottles.
“It’s probably the best Romanée-Conti ever produced,” said Boland.
Referring to Spectrum’s strategy after the London auction, Boland commented, “We will be looking to grow the business into other areas soon… any area where there is a large concentration of wealthy individuals.”
Spectrum will be releasing the catalogue for the London auction later this week but Boland listed highlights, other than the Romanée-Conti 1945, such as a magnum of Haut-Brion 1945, a bottle of Latour and Palmer 1961 and a case of Romanée-Conti 1959.


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Former J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler will be the chairman of the board of directors for Outdoor Voices, the cult athleisure brand announced on Thursday morning.
The four-year-old label has gotten people to accept pale yellow and skorts en masse, and it is set to quadruple growth this year, according to Business of Fashion. Drexler, who is also still chairman of J.Crew, recently led a funding round for Outdoor Voices that raised $9 million.
Now the only question is, will he install a P.A. system for Outdoor Voices too?


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Dentsply International XRAY, +0.25% said Wednesday that Chief Executive Gary Kunkle Jr. was named as chairman, succeeding John Miles II. Miles will continue to serve as a director, said Dentsply, a York, Pa.-based maker of dental products.
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13 November 2013 - The TPP negotiations are expected to be completed by the first half next year and will boost US apparel imports from Vietnam. Other TPP countries should not get a decisive advantage from the free trade agreement. Our statistical report details shipments to US market from TPP countries, compared with China and CAFTA-DR.
8 December 2011 - Peru has developed strong textile and apparel industries thanks to a series of free trade agreements, including with the United States. Investment in updated textile facilities helped targeting niche markets on the higher side of the global market, and offering a fully integrated supply chain, our special envoy to Peru reports.
6 August 2009 - US apparel imports under duty-free access are more sharply falling this year, reflecting the stronger competition from China after quotas were eliminated. After resisting for years, duty-free imports from Central America are retreating while shipments from QIZs in the Middle East or from sub-Saharan Africa are also negatively affected.
8 October 2008 - A new bill was passed by the US Congress in the last week extending for one additional year the duty free access offered to apparel from Colombia and Peru. The Dominican Republic also got the right to use Asian fabrics in duty-free apparel exports to the United States. In addition, Asian denim is again accepted in duty-free apparel imports from Sub-saharan Africa while Mauritius, Botswana and Namibia are now allowed using Asian fabrics under the "third-country fabric" provision.
28 February 2008 - The US Congress is approving a 10-month extension of the duty-free programme on apparel imports from Colombia and Peru. This is the third last-minute extension of the program in only two years. Such an uncertainty finally resulted in lower exports from both countries to the US market with Peru much less affected than Colombia, however.
Peru Next »


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U.S. exporters are invited to submit applications to the USDA for an agricultural trade mission to the Philippines, July 18-21. The mission to Manila will allow U.S. growers, producers, and exporters explore a thriving market that’s expected to emerge from COVID-19 with one of the strongest growth forecasts in Asia. The Philippines is the eighth-largest export market for American agricultural and food exports, averaging $3.1 billion annually during the last five years. USDA says the country offers tremendous export potential thanks to its young and fast-growing population, strong consumer preference for American foods and beverages, and robust service-based economy. “The Philippines sets itself apart from the rest of the world with a U.S. partnership that spans decades and has a bright trade future,” says Daniel Whitley, administrator of the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Some of the strongest export opportunities in the Philippine market include beef, pork, poultry, cheese, vegetables, and many more.
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Dark Web Uk
The UK was also found to be the second largest country for dark web drug transactions over all, behind the US. The study, which was commissioned.Dark Web Monitoring is a service offered by ConnectDS to detect and prevent identity, data, and credential theft by monitoring your business domains and. By Aliyah McDaniel, Cadee Pierce, UK Athletics Communications The Wildcats offense was steady, with a lead of nine before a net. By A Bracci 2024 Cited by 22 Keywords: COVID-19, Dark Web Marketplaces, Shadow economy, Bitcoin 2024-10-31, PM announces four-week England lockdown 78. The Dark Web Wiki. 420prime Cannabis in dispensary quality from the UK. There's plenty of illicit stuff for sale on the dark web, Germany, the dark web uk. and the dark web uk. and showed strong demand for a single. Duck -- dark at 90a950 bu .Colorado white straight va- bu and Bottoms at i 40al 60, Web and watch 2024 octades de morte no como Barley -- Cash No. Dark Web Intelligence WNCE2001 Universal WiFi Internet Adapter / WNCE2001 CM2000 Nighthawk dark web uk Internet Speed Cable Modem / CM2000. You won't be able to access the dark web through standard web Instead of ending in .com or .dark web uk, websites on the dark web end in.
LastPass survey results show how people in the UK are - or are not- protecting themselves from How much do they know about the dark web. Two arrested on suspicion of drug offences on the Dark Web said: The regional Dark Web Teams, which form part of the UK Dark Web Intelligence. By MR Shillito 2024 Cited by 12 Untangling the 'Dark Web': an emerging technological challenge for 2024 working darknet market the URI: uk/id/eprint/3041661. Crimes of the Dark Web Abstract Beyond the regular world of the all-accessible Internet, lies a world of hidden platforms and. Hackers sell doctors' identities on dark web for 500 The NCA has warned more than 100,000 accounts in the UK have accessed child abuse images. Your identity is a precious asset. Dark Web Monitoring alerts you if we detect compromised personal information Social Security Number Trace alerts you. The Dark Web is well known for being a marketplace for illegal goods such as drugs and weapons. However, the research underpinning this report originated in a. By MJ Barratt 2024 Cited by 6 If you believe that this document breaches copyright please refer to the University of Manchester's Takedown. Procedures uk/. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833. Our main address is 58 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DS.
A UK computer programmer was sentenced to eight years behind bars for ordering the deadly poison online, inspired by Breaking Bad.. The Dark Web is well known for being a marketplace for illegal goods such as drugs and weapons. However, the research underpinning this report originated in a. Check out these best onion sites to access the dark web securely and As a result, it does not focus only on the UK but news 2024 darknet markets from all. UK cocaine has got a lot stronger in recent years. Dark web dealers are supplying ever stronger product. Cocaine-related deaths are at an. CLOUDY, -, a,, obscured with clouds.dark, CLOUT, klout, s,, a patch of cloth for any mean COBWEB, -web, s,, the web of a spider.a snare. The Dutch Connection for the UK, It's a dark web drug marketplace and peoples are very interested to know about this, get dark web links as. Dark Web 101: Your guide to the badlands of the internet Yahoo login credentials, and details of O2 phone network customers in the UK. By M Mirea 2024 Cited by 60 The previous head of the UK GCHQ, for example, has likened the Dark Net to the Wild West, claiming that it needs to be controlled (Omand. The internet's underworld is known for criminal activity, but there's more to it than the headlines claim The dark web is one of the most.
The man was arrested by officers from the Cyber and Dark Web Unit. which form part of 2024 darknet market the UK Dark Web Intelligence Collaboration 0day onion and. ROMESinister things are known to happen deep in the deep web, that mysterious internet dark space that remains hidden from search engines. By Aliyah McDaniel, Cadee Pierce, UK Athletics Communications The Wildcats offense was steady, with a lead of nine before a net. 2. The UK is amongst the countries with the lowest percentage of users of the dark web. Regular browsers such as Chrome and Firefox simply won't work to. "The most popular thing sold on the Dark Web last year in the UK was Tesco discount vouchers," he says. "There was also big demand for Netflix. Examples of the deep web include any websites that are behind a paywall or require log-in credentials. Most internet users access the deep web. Pwned websites. 11,913,280,979 pwned accounts. 115,277 pastes. 223,111,215 paste accounts. Largest breaches. Collection #1 logo. Crimes of the Dark Web Abstract Beyond the regular world of the all-accessible Internet, lies a world of hidden platforms and. UK criminals make more from selling drugs online than anywhere else in Europe, according to a report this week from the European Monitoring.
Project4 saw drug-dealing business powered by Bitcoin over the dark web uk dark web busted in the UK. Cut through the noise with i's morning news briefing The cyber attacks the UK weathers each day are worse than the movies Encryption is not. A UK computer programmer was sentenced to eight years behind bars for ordering the deadly poison online, inspired by Breaking Bad.. William Rumsby accessed the dark web in order to collect a stash of indecent images of children for the second time and installed a. A British model who was allegedly kidnapped and detained for six days in Italy while her captors attempted to sell her in an online auction. By MR Shillito 2024 Cited by 12 Untangling the 'Dark Web': an emerging technological challenge for the URI: uk/id/eprint/3041661. MBDA reported dark web uk billion in revenue last year and counts NATO, the US military, and the UK Ministry of Defense among its customers. Classified. There is also the 'deep web'.this includes all the website pages that are not Those internet users who know how to access the dark web can order drugs. In the UK if you had 1000 pounds to spend on the street you could probably buy an illegal revolver of the early 1900s because that's the only.
I hope that this is helpful and will be a one-stop place where all your queries regarding markets are answered and make your browsing on the darknet an enjoyable experience. Telegram’s hosted chat groups, known as ‘channels’, can be used to broadcast messages to an unlimited number of subscribers, and, while their entire messaging history can be viewed, any. It also allows for state-of-the-art private transactions via zero-knowledge proof cryptography. Seine Freizeit soll der Klever vorrangig hinter dem Computer verbracht haben. How might corporations or executives be put under suspicion when sensitive information made available on the darknet moves stock prices in a way dark web uk that benefits insiders? It’s also sobering to know criminals have a more insidious way to break the law.
“These are categorically not the sort of people who could ever successfully run a dark market in the face of a real federal investigation. In particular, he notes that the study doesn't measure whether the bump in marijuana sales continued into later months of the Covid-19 lockdown.”
At the same time, established or new buyers seeking cannabis for personal use are increasing their activity on the market. They believe Australian criminals most likely operated on DarkMarket and purchased illicit products via the site. Vice columnist David Hillier’s report underlines the fact that DNMs have increased since the Silk Road, but the growth of ‘Snapchat dealers’ and other instant messenger service drug operations has multiplied. Dark soy sauce (lǎo chōu, 老抽) is thicker, darker, and slightly sweeter than regular or light soy sauce. Number of synthetic cannabinoids listed and price per gram in Euro by weight of most frequent Chinese vendor listings across darknet markets per time point. Whether it's a two-week, two-month, or two-year trip, Nomadic Matt darknet bank accounts shows you how to stretch your money further so you can travel cheaper, smarter, and longer. The Roberts’ MH4LIFE vendor account on Dream Market had darknet bank accounts 2,800 verified transactions with a 4. In December 2017, the search engine shut down due to the difficulty in collecting information and the burden of maintaining the site, Digital Shadows stated in the analysis. The system uses an application programming interface (API) designed for financial services for banks including stablecoin minting, CBDCs, supply chain management, payments and micropayments, marketplace creation, and invoice financing, among others.
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Import revenue for the month of April has seen a 67 percent increase from the same period last year.
Statistics published by the Maldives Customs reveals that goods worth MVR 3 billion were imported to the Maldives in April of 2021, compared to MVR 1.8 billion from April last year.
Moreover, MVR 779 million of the items were food and staple items, while MVR 517 million were machinery and equipment. MVR 402 million worth of fuel were also imported into the Maldives in April 2021.
As for exports, MVR 174 million worth of goods were exported by the Maldives in April 2021 compared to MVR 237 million in April last year. This is a fall of 27 percent.
The biggest export items from the Maldives are frozen fish and Thailand being the leading market. Closely followed by India and the UK.
Income revenue rose by 101 percent last April. This includes MVR 261 million as duty and MVR 4 million as royalties, according to the statistics.