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Researchers at WMG at the University of Warwick have developed a new direct, precise test of Lithium-ion batteries’ internal temperatures and their electrodes potentials and found that the batteries can be safely charged up to five times faster than the current recommended charging limits.
The new technology works in-situ during a battery's normal operation without impeding its performance and it has been tested on standard commercially available batteries. Such new technology will enable advances in battery materials science, flexible battery charging rates, thermal and electrical engineering of new battery materials/technology and it has the potential to help the design of energy storage systems for high performance applications such as motor racing and grid balancing.
This is a lithium battery temperature sensor.
Credit: WMG, University of Warwick
If a battery becomes over heated it risks severe damage particularly to its electrolyte and can even lead to dangerous situations where the electrolyte breaks down to form gases than are both flammable and cause significant pressure build up. Overcharging of the anode can lead to so much Lithium electroplating that it forms metallic dendrites and eventually pierce the separator causing an internal short circuit with the cathode and subsequent catastrophic failure.
In order to avoid this, manufacturers stipulate a maximum charging rate or intensity for batteries based on what they think are the crucial temperature and potential levels to avoid. However until now internal temperature testing (and gaining data on each electrode's potential) in a battery has proved either impossible or impractical without significantly affecting the batteries performance.
Manufacturers have had to rely on a limited, external instrumentation. This method is obviously unable to provide precise readings which has led manufacturers to assign very conservative limits on maximum charging speed or intensity to ensure the battery isn't damaged or worst case suffers catastrophic failure.
However researchers in WMG at the University of Warwick have been developing a new range of methods of that allows direct, highly precise internal temperature and "per-electrode" status monitoring of Lithium-ion batteries of various formats and destination. These methods can be used during a battery's normal operation without impeding its performance and it has been tested on commercially available automotive-class batteries. The data acquired by such methods is much more precise than external sensing and the WMG have been able to ascertain that commercially available lithium batteries available today could be charged at least five times faster than the current recommended maximum rates of charge.
The WMG researchers have published their research this month (February 2018) in the prestigious journal Electrochimica Acta in a paper entitled "Understanding the limits of rapid charging using instrumented commercial 18650 high-energy Li-ion cells" see: https:/
Dr Tazdin Amietszajew WMG researcher University of Warwick Dr Tazdin Amietszajew, the WMG researcher who led on this research, said:
"This could bring huge benefits to areas such as motor racing which would gain obvious benefits from being able to push the performance limits, but it also creates massive opportunities for consumers and energy storage providers. Faster charging as always comes at the expense of overall battery life but many consumers would welcome the ability to charge a vehicle battery quickly when short journey times are required and then to switch to standard charge periods at other times. Having that flexibility in charging strategies might even/further down the line help consumers benefit from financial incentives from power companies seeking to balance grid supplies using vehicles connected to the grid."
"This technology is ready to apply now to commercial batteries but we would need to ensure that battery management systems on vehicles, and that the infrastructure being put in for electric vehicles, are able to accommodate variable charging rates that would include these new more precisely tuned profiles/limits"
The technology the WMG researchers have developed for this new direct in-situ battery sensing employs miniature reference electrodes and Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBG) threaded through bespoke strain protection layer. An outer skin of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) was applied over the fibre, adding chemical protection from the corrosive electrolyte. The result is a device that can have direct contact with all the key parts of the battery and withstand electrical, chemical and mechanical stress inflicted during the batteries operation while still enabling precise temperature and potential readings.
WMG Associate Professor Dr Rohit Bhagat who was also one researchers on the paper said:
"This method gave us a novel instrumentation design for use on commercial 18650?cells that minimises the adverse and previously unavoidable alterations to the cell geometry. The device included an in-situ reference electrode coupled with an optical fibre temperature sensor. We are confident that similar techniques can also be developed for use in pouch cells."
"Our research group in WMG has been working on a number of technological solutions to this problem and this is just the first that we have brought to publication. We hope to publish our work on other innovative approaches to this challenge within the next year."
Notes for Editors
Dr Tazdin Amietszajew, the WMG researcher who led on this research recently won the YESS Award (Young Energy Storage Scientist Award) which is awarded to young innovative researchers/scientists in the field of electrochemical energy storage such as batteries and supercapacitors. The Award was been created by the French network on electrochemical energy storage (RS2E). Further details here: http://www.
AMPLIFII: The work outlined above was carried out as part of AMPLIFII, a collaborative research project supported by Innovate UK & UK Government Office for Low Emission Vehicle (contract reference 102490). The project consortium includes the University of Warwick (coordinator), Alexander Dennis Limited, Ariel Motor Company Limited, Augean plc, Axion Consulting Limited, Delta Motorsport, HORIBA MIRA Limited, Jaguar Land Rover Limited, JCB Service, Potenza Technology Limited, Trackwise Designs Limited and the University of Oxford.
Luke Walton | EurekAlert!
DGIST achieves the highest efficiency of flexible CZTSSe thin-film solar cell
19.09.2019 | DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)
Researchers produce synthetic Hall Effect to achieve one-way radio transmission
13.09.2019 | University of Illinois College of Engineering
How long the battery of your phone or computer lasts depends on how many lithium ions can be stored in the battery's negative electrode material. If the battery runs out of these ions, it can't generate an electrical current to run a device and ultimately fails.
Materials with a higher lithium ion storage capacity are either too heavy or the wrong shape to replace graphite, the electrode material currently used in...
To process information, photons must interact. However, these tiny packets of light want nothing to do with each other, each passing by without altering the...
Researchers from the Department of Atomically Resolved Dynamics of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science in Hamburg, the University of Hamburg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) outstation in the city have developed a new method to watch biomolecules at work. This method dramatically simplifies starting enzymatic reactions by mixing a cocktail of small amounts of liquids with protein crystals. Determination of the protein structures at different times after mixing can be assembled into a time-lapse sequence that shows the molecular foundations of biology.
The functions of biomolecules are determined by their motions and structural changes. Yet it is a formidable challenge to understand these dynamic motions.
At the International Symposium on Automotive Lighting 2019 (ISAL) in Darmstadt from September 23 to 25, 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, a provider of research and development services in the field of organic electronics, will present OLED light strips of any length with additional functionalities for the first time at booth no. 37.
Almost everyone is familiar with light strips for interior design. LED strips are available by the metre in DIY stores around the corner and are just as often...
Later during this century, around 2060, a paradigm shift in global energy consumption is expected: we will spend more energy for cooling than for heating....
19.09.2019 | Event News
10.09.2019 | Event News
04.09.2019 | Event News
20.09.2019 | Life Sciences
20.09.2019 | Life Sciences
20.09.2019 | Life Sciences


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This week the D.C. Council voted against imposing harsh penalties that would put marijuana “gifting” shops out of business.
“Gifting” businesses have proliferated as they sell a product like a T-shirt or pencil that comes with a gift of marijuana.
The practice began in the District after recreational marijuana use and possession were legalized in 2014, while legal sales remain prohibited in the city by Congress.
Since the council proposed the bill as emergency legislation, it would have required nine votes to pass, but only got eight, with five members voting against it.
“If we shut down the brick-and-mortar shops, it’s just going to go to a delivery service … which is going to make it even harder for us to solve the problems” associated with quasi-legal gifting businesses, said Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), who opposed the bill.
Silverman and others who voted down against the bill said they agreed that the city needs to clarify its public policy on the marijuana industry, but wanted a full legislative process including hearings, rather than emergency legislation.
The other members who opposed Tuesday’s proposal were Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), Christina Henderson (I-At Large), Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) and Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8).
“The medical side are struggling on the brink of existence, while the illegal side has only grown more rapidly,” said Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who pushed for the legislation.
“What these businesses are doing is illegal,” Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said. “Until we can regulate the nonmedical industry, we can’t allow people to come into the District and sell marijuana that hasn’t been tested without paying taxes to the District.”

domain: news


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The jaguar c-x75 concept car brings a racing mentality to an electric car. The car was unveiled at the 2010 paris motor show to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary.
The car has four separate electric motors located at each wheel delivering 196 horsepower each. These engines are run on batteries that are powered by two micro-gas turbines. the jaguar engineers estimate that the car could reach 205 mph with a driving range of 560 miles.


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Travelers shouldn’t cancel plans to Kauai
And, do go to Hanalei.
After a heavy thunderstorm caused major flooding on the north shore of Kauai earlier this month, the Hawaii Tourism Authority sent out a message today alleviating concerns for visitors. “Kauai is open for business,” it said, with the exception being the northernmost towns from Wainiha to Haena, and including the Kalalau Trail.
Other than those few areas, the rest of the island is open for visitors, as is most of the scenic north shore town of Hanalei.
“Before the thunderstorm, Hanalei was bustling with business because of tourism. Since then, visitors have been staying away from Hanalei, which is hurting businesses and putting at risk the jobs they provide to residents. Visitors can help with the north shore’s recovery by patronizing Hanalei’s restaurants, retail shops, specialty stores and activities that support the livelihoods of so many area residents,” the press release said.
“We also ask visitors to be respectful and avoid going into neighborhoods where recovery efforts are ongoing, and to not go beyond Waioli Huiia Church in Hanalei or try to enter the closed section of Kuhio Highway until state and county officials reopen it to all vehicle traffic.”
For more information, the Kauai Visitors Bureau may be reached at 1-800-262-1400, kauai.gov.


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Last month, a senior Chinese official said that the country's government wants to encourage consolidation in its sprawling electric-vehicle industry. That's no surprise: China has over 300 EV start-ups, many of which have no hope of ever becoming profitable.
In this Motley Fool Live broadcast, recorded on Sept. 23, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool senior auto specialist John Rosevear look more closely at the government's likely intentions, how they could be both good and not-so-good for Nio and its rivals -- and why a similar wave of EV consolidation is likely to play out elsewhere as well.
A transcript is below the video.
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Nick Sciple: You mentioned China earlier in supply chains, wanted to talk a little bit about China here. Earlier this month, the Chinese Industry and Information Technology minister Xiao Yaqing. Hopefully, I said that right, drew headlines saying China has, "Too many electric vehicle maker and that the government would encourage consolidation." This comes amid this big disruption we've seen in the tech sector in China following sudden government intervention. Should investors in Chinese EV companies have concerns around these government comments?
John Rosevear: Well, the companies we look at, companies like NIO, Xpeng, Li Auto, BYD. Those are the companies that stand out from the crowd because they've had some success. They're shipping vehicles, they have happy customers, their sales are rising. It's harder to see from the United States, is there are like 300 electric vehicle start-ups in China, many of which are nothing more than a shingle on a warehouse. At this point, they never got anywhere. There was a period where subsidies from national and local authorities were quite generous. A lot of people said, "We'll try and give us some subsidies." There was some level of probably scam going on, but there are a lot of sincere efforts that just never got off the ground, including some fairly large ones. To the extent they are encouraging consolidation. If I were an investor in say, NIO, what I'd be worried about is that the government is going to put pressure on me to buy up some rivals that maybe I don't need what they've got. Some, it's just traction. That's maybe not the best use of capital or so forth. I think for the companies, again, the ones we talked about, this is going to be more bump on the road at most stuff. It may even help them to some extent from a Chinese consumer perspective. The thing to understand about the Chinese auto market is every brand of auto you've ever heard of as a westerner is for sale in China plus a whole bunch of Chinese brands that maybe you've never heard out. By clearing the field somewhat, they can stand out more. If we go from having 300 electric vehicles in China, electric vehicle companies in China. To having eight then the consumers know what they're buying and know who's got what and they can see more clearly rather than it being overwhelming. That could be good for NIO or Xpeng.
Nick Sciple: We'll see what happens. I think anytime we have the government getting involved in business operations, it adds a level of unpredictability to a business that's already on the very cutting edge. We'll see what happens and we'll be paying attention to that. Outside of this government macro involved events, what are you paying attention to in China as far as EVs these days?
John Rosevear: Well, what I'm watching right now is Xpeng just began production of a new model. It's called the P5. It's a smaller sedan than their P7. Everybody is probably, if you have paid any attention at China electric vehicles at all, you've seen pictures of the P7. It's a really pretty sleek sedan. The P5 is more steady, more upright. Not quite as pretty, but it starts after subsidies around $25,000 which is going to be very appealing in China. They have started production. They say deliveries begin next month. What I will be interested in to see is how well this does in the near-term keeping in mind that rival Neo, which is a company that a lot of us have watched for a while. In America, a lot of Fools have been interested in it. NIO doesn't have any new models coming until next year. Their growth may level off a little bit while Xpeng still some share with their new low-cost, presumably higher volume products. I'm going to watch that over the next couple of months and see how that starts split out.
Nick Sciple: When we see this growth of these new EV companies, you mentioned Xpeng, NIO, there's others. As someone who lives in North America, is there credible route to these vehicles being available for sale here or is there still a China only store?
John Rosevear: They're looking at Europe and some extent, Norway got everybody's attention because that's the one country that has led the world in adoption of EVs. Tesla had a lot of sales there, Ford Motor Company is selling every Mach-E they can ship to Norway, et cetera. NIO and Xpeng have targeted this. I think Xpeng has already delivered some cars in Norway and NIO is in the process of opening their business. They may have already shipped some for delivery there. I think at some point later on, they might try to come to America if they get a beachhead in Europe and can build that into a profitable, steady business. But at the same time, what we're going to see over the next few years is the avalanche of EVs from the established automakers who already have the production capacity. Who already have the supplier relationships, who already have the customer loyalties and so forth. That makes me think that what might not be on radars yet is some consolidation coming both among legacy automakers and among these new entrants. I think we're headed for a shakeout. Certainly, as we talked about, there's one coming in China. But elsewhere as well. Is there room for Nikola and Lucid and all of these other companies, Workhorse, Lordstown Motors that we've talked about for the last couple of years? Not all of these companies are going to make it. It's going to be interesting to see who the acquirers are and who the acquired become. I think a shakeout is coming and it's going to be interesting to watch. That's my take.


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The Palestinian Authority Thursday welcomed South Africa's decision
to order that products from the settlements be labeled in a special
manner, and not carry a Made in Israel tag.
The PA also called on the EU to ban imports of settlement products.
Abdel Hafiz Nofal, a senior official with the PA Ministry of Economy,
pointed out that South Africa was not banning settler products, but
only labeling them with a special tag so that those who wish to boycott
would be able to do so.
He said that if Israel chooses to forge the labels to avoid exposing
the source of the products, this would create a political crisis with
Abdel Hafiz said that the PA has thanked South Africa for the
decision to label settler products. He added that the PA was prepared to
provide South Africa and other countries with information about any
goods manufactured in the settlements.
The PA official urged all EU countries to follow suit and impose similar restrictions on settler products.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>


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Philipp Plein Faces Backlash For Kobe Tribute That Included A Golden Helicopter
Designer Philipp Plein is coming under fire for a Kobe Bryant tribute during his Milan Fashion Week show on Saturday, which many are calling distasteful.
Matthias Nareyek / Getty Images
According to Complex, the show included a golden Plein-branded plane, yacht, and helicopter on stage, as well as Lakers-style jerseys and sweatshirts covered in crystals. Many viewers felt that the demonstration was a cheap attempt to sell his clothing line. Tyga performed during the event that featured Olivia Culpo and Jada Pinkett Smith as models.
Check out some of what Twitter had to say about the event below:
“Philipp Plein made two gold helicopters for his show today, which falls 27 days after Kobe died in a helicopter crash. BUT DONT WORRY he whipped up a bunch of Swarovski Kobe jerseys (with “Plein” written on them??) so it’s cool. Fuck you, Philipp,” said one user.
Another added, “Distasteful, tacky & material waste. Philipp Plein who has so long been making clothing that adds nothing but clutter to the fashion landscape has…


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Investors largely expected the FOMC to cut rates by a quarter point.The Fedread more
India could benefit from the fallout in the U.S.-China trade war, experts told CNBC — but much-needed reforms on land and labor could prove to be a challenge for companies...Asia Economyread more
The FAA administrator's comments come on the eve of his visit to Boeing facilities outside Seattle. While there, he's scheduled to meet with Boeing executives and be briefed...Airlinesread more
As the Fed was meeting to consider cutting interest rates, it lost control of the very benchmark rate that it manages.Market Insiderread more
The photo depicts Canadian leader Justin Trudeau wearing a turban and robe, with dark makeup on his hands, face and neck. Liberal Party spokesman confirms the photo is of...Electionsread more
CBS, CNN and other major media companies are starting to pull e-cigarette advertising off their airways, as the death toll from a mysterious vaping-related illness continues...Health and Scienceread more
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its overnight rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.75% to 2%, a move that was widely expected. The central bank, however, appeared...Asia Marketsread more
Investors bought bank stocks because there's a chance the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut may "put an end to this artificially inverted yield curve," Jim Cramer says.Mad Money with Jim Cramerread more
AT&T is considering selling DirecTV, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.Technologyread more
The Facebook CEO will talk to policymakers "about future internet regulation," according to a spokesperson.Technologyread more
Disney CEO Bob Iger writes in his autobiography that he believes he would have discussed combining Disney with Apple had Steve Jobs lived.Technologyread more
One of the last foreign-run tools for online communication in China appears to be in trouble with the authorities there.
For almost a month, Skype, the internet phone call and messaging service, has been unavailable on a number of sites where apps are downloaded in China, including Apple’s app store in the country.
“We have been notified by the Ministry of Public Security that a number of voice over internet protocol apps do not comply with local law. Therefore these apps have been removed from the app store in China,” an Apple spokeswoman said Tuesday in an emailed statement responding to questions about Skype’s disappearance from the app store. “These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.”
The removal led to a volley of complaints from Chinese users on internet message boards who were no longer able to pay for Skype’s services through Apple. The users said that the disruption began in late October.
Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, still functions in China, and its fate in the country is not yet clear. But its removal from the app stores is the most recent example of a decades-long push by China’s government to control and monitor the flow of information online.
While China has long wielded the most sophisticated and comprehensive internet controls in the world, under President Xi Jinping it has upped the ante, squelching most major foreign social networks and messaging apps one at a time.
Earlier this autumn, the Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp was hit by blockages in China, becoming the latest in a long line of products to be rendered unusable by Chinese government filters. Others include Gmail, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Telegram and Line.
Beijing appears to have disabled these apps because they generally feature encryption options that make messages harder for the government to monitor. Such products also often run afoul of government rules that require the use of real-name identification for each and every account.
A Microsoft spokesman said Skype had been “temporarily removed” from Apple’s store and that the company was “working to reinstate the app as soon as possible.” But the spokesman did not address Skype’s absence from a variety of major third-party Android app stores. Because Google’s services are largely blocked in China, Android users revert to alternate stores for downloads, and Skype’s main app was not available on popular ones run by Chinese tech giants like Huawei and Xiaomi.
More from The New York Times:
In recent months, a perfect storm of sensitive political meetings and a new cybersecurity law has led to a sharp crackdown on internet freedoms in China. Foreign TV shows were taken down, software that helps evade China’s internet filters was targeted with heavy disruptions, and in some cases, companies restricted the amount of time that children could spend playing video games.
But a key Chinese Communist Party meeting had already ended when Skype disappeared from the app stores — an indication that the cybersecurity law was the reason, and that the law, which began to be implemented in June, is likely to have a deep and long-lasting impact on how the internet works in China. While the rules do not specifically ban foreign messaging apps, they do include general language that could be used to justify crackdowns.
“A broad reading of provisions in the law could be taken to mean that there is no longer support for allowing unfettered access to foreign communications tools such as Skype, WhatsApp, Signal and others that are outside the direct control of Chinese authorities,” said Paul Triolo, the head of global technology at Eurasia Group, a consultancy.
“Hence these also come under pressure, and are increasingly being throttled or blocked,” he said.
Earlier this year, Apple faced heavy criticism after it said it had decided to take down software from its app store in China that helps circumvent the government’s internet filters, colloquially called the Great Firewall.
In that case, as in this one, it said that the apps violated Chinese rules and that it had taken them down to comply. Earlier this year, Apple said it planned to open a data center in China, also in response to China’s new internet laws, which require that such centers be within the country’s borders.
Carolyn Zhang contributed research.


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In a circular economy, recycled plastic could become a global commodity. Convincing enough product designers of its viability as a material would be a big step in that direction
Plastic is a durable material. For decades, this has been a considerable benefit, allowing for the creation of versatile, hard-wearing products that can reach the furthest corners of the Earth. But this, of course, has proved disastrous from an environmental perspective.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, about 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste were generated between 1950 and 2015, of which only 9% was recycled. The rest was burnt, put in landfill or left to litter land and sea.
If we want a world where consumer and industrial goods don’t end up as pollutants, businesses need to be smarter about how they use and, even more crucially, reuse plastics. That transformation starts at the corporate level, with product designers, engineers and executives agreeing to prioritise recycled and recyclable materials in their manufacturing processes.
Considering a product’s lifecycle
Adidas is one global brand that’s been reviewing its approach in this respect. Marwin Hoffmann, its senior director of brand sustainability, reports that more than 70% of all the polyester used by the company last year was recycled. From 2024 onwards, Adidas is aiming to use only recycled polyester.
Since 2015, the sportswear giant has collaborated with the Parley for the Oceans campaign to sell “millions of pairs of shoes” made using recycled plastic waste from coastal regions around the world. In 2020, the project was responsible for the retrieval of 7,000 tonnes of refuse.
Considerations about the end of a product’s life are increasingly informing the work of the company’s designers. For instance, the Ultraboost DNA Loop shoe, which Adidas marketed for the first time in October 2020, is made from one material, from the sole to the laces, and is welded without glue. “Once the shoe reaches the end of its life, it can be shredded to pieces and reused,” Hoffmann says.
As a major manufacturer, Adidas is aware of the impact that activities in its supply chain can have on the wider industry, he adds. “We have worked with suppliers to create structures that make it possible to process recycled materials on a large scale. Such commitment not only makes Adidas more sustainable; it also drives the whole industry’s development.”
For big companies to create products fit for the circular economy, they first need access to appropriate materials. The Good Plastic Company is a supplier of recycled plastic that has worked with Nike and Elle, among others. William Chizhovsky, its founder and CEO, refers to his business as an “R&D operation” – an important link in the chain between the recyclers that clean and shred, and the corporations that make and sell.
He foresees recycled plastic as a major commodity, one that can act as a viable substitute for virgin plastic and perhaps even wood. But first, costs need to be brought down and processes rendered more efficient. To this end, the company hired engineering experts to develop what Chizhovsky’s colleagues call “toastie machines”. These heat and press recycled plastic into sheeting of various sizes, collecting valuable information in the process.
“Based on data such as temperature, pressure, time and so on, we can develop the best recipe for the recycling of different plastic types,” he says.
At present, 1m2 of sheeting is equivalent to 7,000 plastic bags. The company can work with most plastics (PVC being one notable exception) and is understandably keen for manufacturers to review their choices of raw material.
“Can you help to recycle a few 100 million tons of plastic by selling sunglasses?” Chizhovsky says, suggesting that brands should be more ambitious with their designs. “Everything that you retail that’s produced from wood or virgin plastic you can produce from recycled plastic.”
Although companies are increasingly committing to sustainability targets, there is still some hesitation when it comes to recycled materials, he notes. Buyers often expect the materials to be cheaper, while some have even asked him to supply material that doesn’t look obviously recycled, as they “want people to think it’s virgin plastic”.
Changing perceptions, if not production
That difficult relationship between waste and aesthetics particularly interests product designer Joost Dingemans. At the start of his career he adopted a mantra – “I exist, therefore I pollute” – that sums up the dilemma facing many environmentally conscious creatives: they feel guilty about wanting to carve out the new in a world that’s already packed with products.
Dingemans realised that, unless he was working with waste and returning value to something unwanted, he “couldn’t be happy with designing and making”. Along with co-founder Marten van Middelkoop, he runs Plasticiet, a studio in Rotterdam that takes offcuts from industrial manufacturers and converts up to 2 tonnes of this material into sheets of recycled plastic each month.
Because these sheets have an aesthetic value, Plasticiet’s corporate customers often put them on display in their shops and offices, rather than using them as materials in manufacturing. The partners believe that this practice tends to make their product more of a virtue signal than an agent of real change.
“We’re basically helping a lot of these retailers in their greenwashing,” Dingemans admits, although he acknowledges that anyone visiting these firms’ premises “will see that recycled plastic exists – that it’s being used, it’s beautiful, it works”.
Tips on working with recycled plastics
Dingemans and van Middelkoop are consciously designing for designers. Like the material sold by the Good Plastic Company, their product has built-in versatility “so that people can use their creativity. There is freedom in the way you apply it,” Dingemans says. Indeed, it’s been used in products ranging from worktops to fountain pens.
He adds that one of the biggest challenges for Plasticiet has been to find a consistently reliable supply of plastic waste that’s sufficiently cost-effective to process. Scaling production up to a meaningful level can be hard if the waste needs a lot of “cleaning up”. Mixing plastic with other materials – no matter how aesthetically pleasing – is likely to make recycling far more arduous. On the other hand, an item made from only one type of plastic can easily be broken down and reassembled into something new.
Lastly, producers should look to educate users about alternatives to discarding what they no longer need. Plasticiet will take any offcuts sent back by customers and reuse them, for instance, while Adidas is piloting a rental service in France. Customers can use a range of sportswear, paying for clothes and shoes according to the duration of their use. Once an item has been returned, Adidas will clean and repair it before making it available again.
These changes are only the start. According to the UN, the world still produces 300 million tonnes of plastic a year. Nonetheless, designing with the circular economy in mind offers a radical new approach to the production-consumption paradigm. Adopting recycled plastic as a new commodity will eventually drive prices down and make customers more receptive to it. Rubbish can become treasure.


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After a temporary six-month shutdown, Apple has announced that its Uptown, Minneapolis store will close permanently.
The longtime retailer on the corner of Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street informed its nearly 60 employees Wednesday of the closure. The store has been closed since the start of the pandemic in March, and suffered damage from rioters following the killing of George Floyd.
Apple says it had considered closing the store before the pandemic began.
"Our stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have served customers for 19 years, and our nearly 500 team members look forward to helping our customers for a long, long time," Apple said Thursday in a statement to BMTN.
"Though we've made the difficult decision to permanently close Apple Uptown, all of our valued team members will be offered other positions within Apple and we look forward to continuing to serve our customers at our four nearby stores."
Apple's departure is among the most major loss for Uptown. Previous closures include Columbia Sportswear, North Face and Arc'teryx. The Urban Outfitters store is also listed for possible sale or lease.
Apple's other stores in the Twin Cities can be found in the Mall of America, as well as the Ridgedale, Southdale and Rosedale malls.


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Google officially released the Pixel 7 series and Pixel Watch earlier today, and the company also revealed more details about the upcoming Pixel Tablet, including its ability to turn into a smart display.
The Pixel Tablet was first shown off back in May, but we only had a quick glance and a vague release of sometime in 2023. Google still doesn’t have a more specific timeline for the tablet’s arrival, but the company did talk about the tablet a bit more. It has a smooth rounded design that fits in with the Pixel phones, complete with a “nano-ceramic finish.” There’s one camera on the front, and one camera on the back, but Google wasn’t ready to talk details about those quite yet. The tablet will use the same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 series.
Besides functioning as a typical Android tablet, Google confirmed the Pixel Tablet will have an optional charging speaker dock. When the tablet is connected to the dock, with the aid of strong magnets, it becomes more like a Google Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max. You can talk to Google Assistant without tapping the screen (that also works without the dock), control smart home devices, or just have a better viewing angle for YouTube videos while you’re working on other tasks. The dock is intended as a resting place for the tablet when you’re not actively using it.
Notably, this is far from the first tablet that can perform double duty as a smart display. Amazon sells a charging dock for the Fire HD 8 Plus, which activates a special Alexa mode on the tablet when connected. Lenovo has also sold a few tablets in the past with a dock, including one with a larger speaker, like Google’s implementation. It’s not clear if the dock will ship with the Pixel Tablet, or if it will be an add-on accessory sold separately.
The Pixel Tablet isn’t available for pre-order yet.


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Far more than the basis for a hit TV show, Lego is now coming to a boardroom near you, explains RXP Group’s chief design officer Lee Tucknott (featured image).
It was always going to be a gamble, but it’s one that’s paid off for the Nine Network. A new genre of reality show and one that is untested in the Australian market, is enough to give any TV program director an attack of the nerves.
But with audiences consistently topping one million viewers and now a renewal for a second series, Lego Masters has struck a chord with young and young at heart Australians across the country.
I count myself as one of the million plus that tunes into Nine on Sunday to Tuesday for my fix of Lego love. Having been brought up with Lego, it feels part of my DNA, but there’s another reason why I’m acutely fascinated with the Danish designed bricks.
Lego is the ultimate demonstration of how to problem solve using human insights at every stage of the process. Being able to watch people express creativity and innovation through play and the thousands of bricks and minifigs (the Lego word used to describe the small plastic Lego people) is creativity at its most primal.
But Lego is now not confined to the playroom floor, dining room table or hit reality TV show. Lego is fast becoming a fixture at the boardroom tables of some of the country’s biggest companies including ANZ, Qantas,Coca-Cola Amatil and Lion.
Lego Serious Play (LSP) – it even has a registered trademark – was created by The Lego Group as a facilitation model to foster creative thinking, strategic planning, drive innovation and aid user experience design, by using imaginary scenarios and three-dimensional Lego constructions.
Working across digital transformation and CX innovation, RXP Group has recognised the importance of LSP in delivering outcomes for our clients. Two colleagues, Mario Quintana and Liliana Lettieri, are now certified LSP facilitators (yes, that’s a thing too) working across the business and holding client workshops where playing with bricks and minifigs is the order of the day.
Now, it might be hard to imagine a bunch of senior execs sitting around snapping together Lego bricks all in the name of business development, but the simple fact is they are, because LSP has proven to work.
Based on sound scientific principles, research has consistently shown that this type of hands on, interactive learning, can provide a more meaningful understanding of the world around us. Humans naturally like to get involved in tactile unplugged projects and Lego allows everyone to express themselves freely while encouraging creativity and inclusion.
Additionally, building something with your hands unlocks knowledge you didn’t know you had and our brain is much better at memorising 3D representations over verbal exchanges and communication barriers are quickly erased.
In the case of one of our large client partnerships, we found it extremely useful in breaking down silos between their existing teams. Tasked with implementing a significant digital transformation initiative that crossed a number of separate business units within the business, we held a LSP workshops which served as an icebreaker between the teams which in turn enabled us to deliver the project with greater speed and efficiency.
Using Lego bricks to express ideas through storytelling and metaphors means employees and decision makers can look at problems differently and be open to solutions that are non-traditional. That can only be a good antidote to the often formulaic decision making processes that transcends much of business and innovation decision making today.
So while watching people create with Lego is now a bonafide TV hit, watch out for the coloured bricks heading to a boardroom near you soon. Lego just got serious.
OOH transit company Adflow has announced the success of the first phase of its regional expansion program. Adflow’s regional footprint has increased by 60 per cent to now include 65 regional locations. With 9.1 million people living regionally in Australia (growth of 1.1 per cent experienced in the 19/20 Financial year) and most regional centres […]
Freshworks, a leading software company, has started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, marking an important milestone for the company. The company priced its IPO at US$36 per share (AU$49.76), raising about US$1 billion (AU$1.4B), resulting in a total market capitalisation of AU$13.7 billion (US$10B). Freshworks, which was founded in India, has strong roots […]
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the biggest player in the holiday shopping game and Google’s most recent research suggests consumer interest for the peak sales season starts much earlier than retailers may realise. The pandemic has fundamentally changed buyer behaviour over peak sales season, with Google suggesting that global consumer interest in Black Friday […]
Awindependent PR Agency Agent99 has added The Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS) to its client roster, alongside thought leader and commercial property specialist, Helen Tarrant. DISCUS is a national trade association representing U.S. producers, marketers, and exporters of distilled spirits. The account was won following a competitive pitch earlier this year. DISCUS has […]
Melbourne-based independent creative agency, By All Means, has today released limited edition ‘Locktown’ t-shirts to create a positive, artistic commemoration of their city, while shining a spotlight on the significant impact of lockdown on the mental health of Victorians. After 235 days under strict stay-at-home orders, Melbourne today claims the unenviable crown from Buenos Aires […]
Global marketing agency, Komodo, has announced it will be launching a dedicated TikTok arm to the business in Australia, following a series of key industry hires and new creators signed to their roster. The agency, who partners brands with social influencers across the globe, aims to bring a new dimension to influencer marketing by assisting brands […]
According to Fifth Dimension CEO Lyndall Spooner, whether you like roller coasters or not, we have all been riding ‘Dashed Hopes’ the COVID-19 emotional roller coaster for over 18 months and many of us have turned to online retail therapy to cope. Spooner uses the analogy of an emotional roller coaster to depict consumers’ […]
Underscoring its ongoing commitment to team care and wellbeing, during and beyond the pandemic, Havas Village Australia has introduced be together – a reconnection initiative to enable staff to reconnect with loved ones for longer when domestic and international borders reopen. The initiative, which reflects the Havas core value ‘Better Together’, gives staff from Host/Havas, […]
Global ecommerce and marketplace specialist Pattern has ranked a group of 50 brands selling on Amazon.com.au based on a set of best practice criteria it has developed. Pet brand Zenify topped the ranking in Pattern’s Amazon Australia Benchmarking Report, scoring 82 per cent of the possible marks against a set of criteria designed to measure […]
Fifth Dimension Consulting has announced the expansion of its executive leadership team in response to the organisation’s significant growth over the last 18 months. Lyndall Spooner has moved from the position of managing director to the role of chief executive officer (CEO). As CEO, she will lead Fifth Dimensions’ innovation arm, as well as the […]


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This year on Thanksgiving weekend (for the US), comics retailers have declared Saturday, November 28 “Local Comics Shop Day,” and Marvel is here to help. If you haven’t already picked up their two offerings, it’s a perfect time to try them out. My prediction for both All-New Wolverine and All-New, All-Different Avengers is that they’re going to go through the roof in sales before these variant covers get thrown into the mix. So… if you’re into variant covers, you’ll want to be at your comics shop that Saturday.
But who am I kidding? You were going to be there anyway. And if you need to FIND your local comics shop, go here.
The biggest heroes, the biggest creators, and the biggest new titles are coming to LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY ™ this year!
Today, Marvel is pleased to officially unveil its two stellar, can’t miss offerings for LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY™. Participating retailers will be able to order an exclusive variants of two of Marvel’s most highly anticipated upcoming releases for the event. Don’t miss these exclusive Local Comic Shop Day variants to ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #1 and ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1!
“LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY™ is a great way for Marvel to give back to the comic book stores that support us,” says Marvel SVP Sales & Marketing David Gabriel. “It has never been a better time for fans to jump in to the Marvel Universe, and we’re delighted to offer these two exclusive items. Head to your local comic shop on Saturday, November 28th to support Local Comic Shop Day.”
Implemented by the ComicsPRO organization, LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY™ is a new event conceived to showcase the amazing world of comics and call attention to the vital role comic book specialty stores play in this industry. The first LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY™ will be held this year on November 28th. Retailers are encouraged to speak with their Diamond representatives for ordering information.
For more information about LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY™, visit localcomicshopday.com. Visit Marvel.com for more on All-New, All-Different Avengers , All-New Wolverine and more of Marvel’s exciting new titles.


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SINGAPORE (Oct 14): Why are stock brokerages falling over each other to offer free online stock trading? Because they have finally discovered that they can make more money when you, the retail investor, are the product. For years, brokerages had made very little money from your trades. Now, they are saying they can do without all the trading commissions you pay them. Yet, they still need you as a customer and they need all your data, which they want to monetise and turn into cash for themselves.
On Sept 26, discount brokerage Interactive Brokers fired the first salvo by offering zero-fee trades on stocks and exchange-traded funds through its new service IBKR Lite. On Oct 1, giant brokerage Charles Schwab responded by announcing that all securities trading, including stocks, ETFs and options, on its platform would be commission-free. Rivals TD Ameritrade and E*Trade Financial matched it immediately with similar offerings. Brokerage stocks plummeted, with Schwab’s stock down 11%, TD Ameritrade falling 26% and E*Trade 11%. Brokerage stocks are now down 35% to 45% since May last year in a market that is up 8%. The advent of commission-free trading is likely to further jolt the financial services industry, which has sputtered since the 2008 global financial crisis.
To be sure, trading commissions for all sorts of securities have been falling for decades now. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), whose history goes back to the 1792, first established a fixed minimum commission in 1817. Brokers were legally bound to charge investors a fixed minimum commission — ranging from 5% in the 1920s to 2.5% by the early 1970s on every single trade — whether you were buying $10 or $100,000 worth of stocks.
Bracing for ‘May Day’
For over 158 years, despite pressure from investors to cut exorbitant trading costs, NYSE resisted the idea of abolishing fixed commissions. Yet, by the early 1970s, the US’ premier bourse was facing fierce competition from other smaller exchanges, so it pivoted, and on May 1, 1975, dubbed “May Day” by Wall Street traders, allowed volume discounts and negotiated commissions.
In 1963, a young man by the name of Charles Schwab in San Francisco began publishing an investment newsletter. Schwab, who saw himself as a disruptor, took over a small brokerage firm to serve retail investors in 1973. When NYSE abolished fixed commissions in 1975, he rolled out his eponymous discount brokerage. By 1999, Schwab was charging a minimum commission of just US$9.90 for a trade. That was cut to just US$4.95 per trade a decade ago.
Here is how the online stock trading business works: When you buy or sell a stock, ETF or an option on a platform like Schwab, TD Ameritrade or E*Trade, they don’t actually trade for you on some exchange the way old brokerages used to do. They just send your trade to a market maker like Citadel Securities, who in turn pays them a fee to route the trades through for high-frequency trading. So, essentially discount brokerages like Schwab have been for years collecting money from both their retail customers as well as market makers for the same trade. However, the commission they were collecting from you, the retail investor, was just a small part of their total revenue base. If they can get you to trade more now that trading is going to be completely commission-free, as well as get more people to trade on their platform, the money they stand to collect from selling the order flows to different markets and getting a small cut for each order they route through will be a lot more than what they have been earning until now.
It is not just your trades they covet and get paid for by market makers and high-frequency traders; they want all of your data. When you trade regularly with an online brokerage, it gathers a ton of data on you. It knows what banks you use, has an idea of how much disposable income you have, or when you get a bonus, because that is the month you bring in a chunk of new funds for trading every year. The data they collect can then be harvested or sold to others who want to sell you credit cards, loans, mortgages, savings products, insurance, cars and luxury goods — indeed, just about everything. Data is the new gold, and nobody has better data on you than your financial services provider.
In 2013, two Stanford University students, Vlad Tenev, a Bulgarian, and Baiju Bhatt, an Indian, launched a financial technology, or fintech, start-up called Robinhood, focused on millennials buying stocks and ETFs with zero commission. “With an estimated six million users today, Robinhood has been a disruptive force in the retail brokerage industry,” says George Whitridge, an analyst at ARK Invest, a tech-focused fund management firm in New York. Robinhood raised US$323 million ($446 million), valuing the online brokerage at US$7.6 billion, as part of its latest Series E funding round in March, bringing the total amount it has raised so far to US$862 million. It has shown few signs of slowing down, thanks in large part to its low customer acquisition costs. Bhatt and Tenev pitched their free trading idea to 73 venture capital firms, only to be rejected at every door until Index Ventures threw them a lifeline with a small investment. Aside from selling order flows to high-frequency traders, Robinhood’s revenue base is also buttressed by fees from securities lending as well as a premium subscription option for active traders. On Oct 8, it launched an interest-bearing cash management account for customers, offering one of the highest rates on deposits in the US — 2.05% — while the 10-year US Treasury yield is hovering around 1.5%.
Robinhood makes more than 40% of its revenues from selling its order flows, a controversial practice highlighted in Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt, notes Whitridge. “As zero-fee commissions boost order flows, selling them to high-frequency traders could offset some of the lost commissions in this increasingly disrupted part of the financial market,” he says. “Robinhood earns ~$0.00026 in rebates per dollar traded. That means if you buy a stock for $100, Robinhood earns 2.6 cents from the market maker. Other brokerages earn rebates and charge you a pertrade commission fee,” Tenev revealed in an open letter to clients last year. But its zero-commission offering has enticed enough investors to turn it into a formidable challenger.
The financial services landscape is being transformed as regulators lower the barriers to entry by issuing digital banking licences, opening up access to customer data and helping collapse the cost of technology for start-ups. Armed with data and tools such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics, fintech firms are blazing a trail offering cheap, targeted advice to customers around the world that neither incumbent banks with their legacy infrastructure nor the digital-only banks can deliver. Among them are household names such as US-based PayPal Holdings, Square, Robinhood and Stripe, China’s Ant Financial, Europe’s Adyen, Japan’s Line Corp and India’s PayTM.
Robinhood may be bleeding money by the bucketloads right now, but if six million mostly young millennial investors are actively trading, saving, investing and buying an array of financial products on its platform, there are plenty of ways to monetise them. For an upstart, it has a lot of time on hand too. In consumer finance, it is about the cost of acquiring customers. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo and Bank of America in the US, Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings and Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings and Malayan Banking understand that. They cannot lose any customers to upstart free trading platforms that are acquiring scale and expanding into mortgages, credit cards and deposits because getting them back as bank customers can be very costly. And once the challengers have the banks’ customers, they will find it easier to sell them a range of products.
San Francisco-based Schwab, now a diversified bank holding firm, has long used technology to forge ahead as a disruptor. Schwab also has scale with over 12.1 million active brokerage accounts, 1.7 million corporate retirement account participants and US$3.7 trillion in client assets under management. Interest income now makes up nearly 60% of its revenues. One reason Schwab was able to embrace the new model is that trading commissions had plunged to just over US$100 million, or 3.5% of its total annual revenues. Apart from margin lending, it earns most of its money from selling insurance and fees from market makers to whom it routes the trades. TD Ameritrade, on the other hand, made over 22% of its revenues from trading commissions, while E*Trade gets 16% of its revenues from the same.
What’s next? More free online trading apps are coming, threatening to transform the business models of brokerages, wealth management firms and banks. Square has been testing free trading on its cash apps for months and expects to roll them out publicly soon. The StockTwits free stock trading app is expected to go live within weeks. Goldman Sachs’ consumer finance unit Marcus is also reportedly planning to launch a free online trading app. JPMorgan and Bank of America, which already have some free trading, are unlikely to sit idly by and see their wealth management clients bolt to Robinhood or Schwab. Southeast Asian investors do not yet have access to commission-free trading of stocks, ETFs or options; it is only a matter of time that a Robinhood-like disruptor emerges. Potential challengers know they can harvest clients’ data, earn a nice spread on what they pay for cash held in brokerage accounts and charge on margin loans, and still thrive in a commission-free trading world.
So, what comes next after free unlimited stock trading? For now, you are unlikely to get paid to trade on an online platform, but because you are now the product, you might earn loyalty points each time you trade or buy another financial product, which you can then cash for things such as flights, hotel stays or other goodies. Being a product has its own rewards.
Assif Shameen is a technology writer based in North America


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Andrew Campbell is a dairy and grain farmer, Founder of Fresh Air Media, and agriculture influencer under the handle @FreshAirFarmer. We asked him about innovation in farming and the future of Canadian agriculture.
Where do you see the Canadian agriculture industry going in the future? How will it evolve?
Canadian agriculture will continue to thrive as a global food-producing powerhouse that is capable of meeting the needs of millions of customers around the world. Whether that be in niche markets that may be supplying a small number of customers with high valued foods, or large commercial farms that are helping to feed tens of thousands of people, they will all meet the needs of the customers.
How have Canadian farmers been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and what can they do to adapt?
The impact is variable, depending on the sector. Farmers that are producing products with a short shelf life like milk or fruit were impacted early on with sudden shocks to supply chains in which food service customers weren’t operating and retailers were seeing a sharp increase in demand. With a lot of that worked out, the big impact is those farmers that rely on a large number of workers, particularly migrant workers. With those workers late arriving to Canada along with new social distancing guidelines in fields and processing plants, throughput has been impacted and likely will be for the foreseeable future.
In your opinion, what’s the biggest challenge Canadian farmers will face in the near future and how can they innovate to overcome it?
Farmers have been very good at innovating in order to meet the needs of their land or their livestock. A greater reliance on technology will be a big part of that, whether with software tools to manage fields and logistics, or with robots to help tend to livestock, they all play an important role at ensuring a a food product is producing as affordably and sustainably as possible.
Which technologies, techniques, or innovations do you think will impact Canadian agriculture the most in the near future?
Software and robots will be the big two. Software is already changing the game by helping combine satellite imagery with past maps that show how much grain was harvested in each square foot of a field, and soil tests that show what nutrients are already there waiting for a seed. All three help to make sure food production is more sustainable than ever. Combine that with robots and automated tools that can drive in a particular pattern in a field or feed livestock an exact diet at anytime of the day or night, and you’ve got an industry that will continue to strengthen its position as a global leader.


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Due to ship this summer, Sony's Xperia Touch is a small household device that lets you interact with and manipulate screens and apps projected onto tabletops and walls.
Projectors - News
When the next version of Windows 10 Mobile rolls out this summer it will add fingerprint sensing capabilities to Windows Hello.
Apple has been awarded a U.S. patent for a display system that would allow multiple viewers to see a high-quality 3D image projected on a screen without the need for special glasses, regardless of where they are sitting.
Fujitsu is breaking new ground in the cell phone market with the imminent introduction of a cell phone that splits into two parts.
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- Sony's Android-powered Xperia projector turns any flat surface into a touch screen
- Windows 10 phones gaining support for fingerprint readers
- Apple wins patent on 3D projector that needs no glasses
- Fujitsu's latest cell phone splits in two
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Steam release for GunZ 2 confirmed for February 17th
The waiting has finally come to an end as the Steam release of GunZ 2: The Second Duel has been confirmed by MAIET. It will be released for Early Access on February 17th at 5 PM PST (8 PM EST). Game features including auto-matching PvP modes, co-op PvE mode and premium items will be available.
“I am very excited to introduce the sequel title right when GunZ the Duel is having its 10th anniversary.” said Venister, CEO for MAIET Entertainment. “Though we’re nervous and excited to release and operate online game service on our own for the first time, it meant a great deal to us to prepare game service on Steam, one of world’s biggest game publishing platform.”
The Steam release will service North America and Southeast Asia, and will later service South America and Asia. European users will be playing on their own servers hosted by P7S1, which is currently available now.
For more information, visit: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=133839622
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WASHINGTON—U.S. tire shipments should rebound from an 8-percent decline in 2009 and rise about 3 percent to 267 million units this year, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association.
The forecast is 7 million units higher than the trade association's prediction last November. The RMA also said fourth-quarter 2009 deliveries were better than expected.
The increase in tire shipments this year reflects the onset of the economic rebound, an increase in vehicle miles traveled and a slight rise in auto sales, the RMA said. As a result, the association expects the rebound to extend into 2011 and push up shipments 3.7 percent to 275 million units.
The projected increase in shipments primarily will come from the original equipment sector. The RMA predicts demand for OE passenger tires will rebound about 21 percent to more than 5 million units, while truck tire deliveries will reach 30 million units, after declining nearly 35 percent in 2009.
OE light truck tire demand should rise about 10 percent to more than 3 million units, while truck makers' demand for OE medium- and heavy-duty truck tires should increase nearly 8 percent, or about 180,000 units.
The outlook for the aftermarket isn't quite as bullish.
Replacement passenger tire shipments are expected to rise only about 1 percent to 191.2 million units, after declining 2.2 percent in 2009, the RMA said.
Demand for replacement light truck tires could drop nearly 1 percent to about 27.3 million units. Shipments last year fell 6.5 percent as soft economic conditions impacted small commercial vehicles, the RMA said.
The market for replacement truck tires should rebound this year, the association said, by about 4.7 percent to 13.5 million units as the economy picks up and more goods are shipped.


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A brand new event is coming to Sywell Aerodrome next week with a different kind of motor set to go speeding down the runway.
Historic cars dating from the 1930s right through to the 1990s Formula One cars will take to the racing runway during the two-day event.
About 50 cars will take place at the Pistons and Props event, which will be held on Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29.
Michael Schumacher’s first grand prix car, a Benetton Formula, will be one of the cars making an appearance at the event.
Twenty classic and vintage dragsters will go head-to-head on the sprint strip, and there will be a static display of more than 300 cars.
The planes will also be out in force, with Chipmunks, Tiger Moths and Tomahawks just some of the planes taking to the skies.
There will also be a vintage funfair on site.
For more information visit www.sywellclassic.com.


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Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) has recovered handily from its lows, but the yoga and exercise themed apparel maker is still way down from its high. We have seen several analyst upgrades in recent weeks, but one analyst is bucking that trend on Friday.
Credit Suisse’s analyst Christian Buss has put out a new warning on Lululemon. The firm already had a Neutral rating, but the price target in this call was lowered to $46 from $53, versus a closing price of $53.05 on Thursday.
Friday’s report warns of a negative shift via Internet and social media monitoring via blogs, social networks and customer reviews. Another key concern is that a comparable store sales rebound will be delayed and that e-commerce growth likely will slow. Lululemon also supposedly is losing website traffic to competitors.
Even the Facebook activity is turning against it. Buss referred to February 2014 over February 2013 Facebook comments — 50 negative comments with 68 likes, versus two negative comments with six likes. That may not be the greatest highlight in the world, but it means that the company’s woes are not over in social media.
It is becoming more evident that the underlying structural demand environment has shifted at Lululemon. While product issues have begun to moderate, communication missteps continue to drive core customers to disassociate with the brand. As a result, we believe that erosion of productivity at mature stores (49% of total) will delay a comp rebound, margins may suffer as the new management team seeks to reengage customers, and earnings power falls short of consensus expectations.
That does not exactly sound anything like the turnaround that many other analysts have been calling for in the past three weeks or so.
Lululemon shares were down 4.5% to $50.45 in late morning trading on Friday. Its 52-week range is $44.32 to $82.50. This move may not be a formal rating downgrade, but the points brought up sure make it feel like one.


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Two New Unicorns, Virat Kohli’s Coffee Bet, Ola’s EV Hurdle and More
In March, two coffee startups also raised funds.
Blue Tokai has raised an undisclosed sum announcing Negen Capital and Mauryan Capital as its latest investors.
âWith their support, we are on track to double our revenue to Rs 200 crore by next year,â said Matt Chitharanjan, co-founder and CEO of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters.
Separately, Delhi-based Rage Coffee, a packaged coffee maker, has onboarded Indian cricketer Virat Kohli as an investor and brand ambassador. “I see tremendous potential for the brand to become one of the most iconic coffee companies of our time,” Kohli said in a press release.
In August, the startup raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Sixth Sense Ventures.
On the subject, Swiggy’s upcoming initial public offering has accelerated, with the food delivery company hiring bankers for the process, reported Economic Times. The company is reportedly seeking a valuation of up to $1 billion.
Swiggy declined to comment on BloombergQuint’s queries.
Rival Zomato announced 10-minute delivery for select food items. Its board also approved a $150 million loan to Blinkit (formerly Grofers). “This loan will support Grofers’ near-term capital needs and is in line with our stated intention to invest up to $400 million in cash in fast trading in India over the next two years,” he said. in a swap folder.
Zomato also bought a 16.6% stake in food robotics company Mukunda Foods for around $5 million. âTheir products allow restaurants to grow rapidly while maintaining consistency in food quality and customer experience across multiple outlets. Our investment will help Mukunda Foods scale faster, reduce restaurant food prices, increase margins and improve customer enjoyment,â he said in another filing.


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GLASS oven doors can explode without warning.
That is the shocking discovery from consumer group Which?
It found more than 70 examples of oven doors shattering - AND some affected consumers have had to fork-out more than £200 to get it repaired.
Why are ovens exploding?
The consumer group said it was difficult to pin-down exactly why it was happening but pointed the blame at the type of glass used.
Tempered glass is strengthened to withstand high temperatures and less likely to shatter under stress than usual glass.
BUT this type of glass can still shatter - and when it does, it does so suddenly and violently.
It added people could be damaging the glass when they clean their oven.
Using a scourer can introduce tiny scratches in the glass which could leave it vulnerable to shattering.
Can I get a replacement oven?
Which? said while some who saw their oven explode had a "speedy and sympathetic response" from the manufacturer, others were left without a cooker for weeks - AND some had to pay to get it replaced.
It added that free glass replacement isn't usually an issue when an oven is under warranty.
BUT as they typically only last one or two years, many could face problems in getting a replacement for free.
CHILLING WARNING Is your fridge a fire risk? Watchdog warns nearly HALF of homes may have potentially deadly appliance
The group's Nikki Stopford, told The Sun Online consumers affected should not give up if their manufacture doesn't initially help.
She said:"Oven doors that shatter are rare, but if the worst does happen you may be entitled to a refund, repair or replacement.
"But, as part of our research we found the response you get from the manufacturer is a bit of a lottery and often deeply unsatisfactory.
"Sometimes manufacturers will fix it for free out of warranty, but you may have to provide evidence."
What to do if your oven door explodes
WHICH? found some customers were left having to fork-out more than £200 to get a replacement oven. But here's what you can do to get a paid-for replacement.
1. Take photos of the damage before clearing up - and if you can save the shattered glass.
2. Contact your manufacturer - explain what's happened and ask it to replace the cooker. You may have to put your complaint in writing.
3. Stand your ground - exploding cookers are rare and manufactuers should take a sympathetic view if something serious like this happens.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.org or call 0207 78 24516


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Consumers may like virtual reality and everything it has to offer, but what about those on the front lines in the media and entertainment space? That’s one of the things content delivery network company Level 3 Communications set out to discover in a new report.
Interviewing nearly 630 media and entertainment workers worldwide in May, Level 3 found that, despite potential problems with virtual reality (lack of access to players, device delays and bandwidth limitations for over-the-top VR content delivery), of the companies offering OTT services, more than half have launched or are looking to launch VR video content. And more than two thirds said they believe VR is here to stay.
“As the OTT industry continues to grow and evolve, this study shows there is more focus on not only delivering live streaming events — which can be a challenge in itself — but also streaming in 4K or even VR,” said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer for Level 3.
The report also found that nearly 50% of OTT companies are looking at 4K broadcasts, 4K VOD streaming or 4K live streaming, and nearly 70% said they were serious about delivering content enabled with high dynamic range (HDR).
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What's the time? Time to get a super cheap smartwatch, if the new ELE Watch can provide the premium features it claims at a budget price.
XDA Developers has spotted the new Android Wear watch from Chinese company ELE (which also makes the Elephone). Spec-wise the device has a relatively average 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 CPU on the inside - apparently a chip that has been specifically designed for wearable devices.
It is also set to come with 4GB of storage and 512MB of RAM, and will sport a round 1.5" screen running at 320x320. So far, so ordinary - and closing in on a bit poor when we're getting really high-end screens from brands like Moto and LG.
What has got everyone talking however is the price. Apparently the price is going to be an ultra-low $115 (about £75) - this is a magnitude cheaper than comparable Android Wear devices. And that's with it looking pretty slick too.
Elephone has previously made headlines for its unusual phones. Earlier this year it unveiled an intriguing device which can dual-boot both Android and Windows Phone, giving users the best of both worlds.
The idea behind this to make smartwatches cheaper is a double-edged sword - if the brand makes it a poor experience, then the cost won't matter, as people won't buy poor quality devices. But if it can succeed then there's a new shift coming in wearables.
- Want to pay more money for a Moto 360? There's a new one, you know...


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Higher US inflation not as transitory as hoped
Only a few months ago, economists were dismissing US inflation as short-lived. Now they’re not so sure.
Washington| When annual US inflation of more than 5 per cent was recorded for its fourth consecutive month on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), President Joe Biden was scheduled to be in a meeting with the heads of America’s busiest ports, desperately seeking solutions to disruptive delays and cost pressures in supply chains.
Only a few months ago, he was playing down the threat of a sustained increase in consumer prices. “There’s nobody suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way – no serious economist,” he said in July.
He’ll be hoping now that the intelligence he’s receiving on inflationary pressure is better than that on how long it would take for the Taliban to capture Kabul.
For now, bank economists were last night still expecting housing, food and energy prices to show an increase in the September numbers.
But logistics, too, have become an important factor.
As the annual headline and core inflation numbers were released – and both were expected to be higher than the August data – members of the Biden administration had scheduled a separate roundtable with big retailers, such as Walmart, who have been so hampered by freight logjams they have resorted to chartering their own small container ships to ferry goods.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is heading a task force to look at port delays and other logistical problems, along with well-documented supply chain distortions such as the shortage of semiconductors for new vehicles.
Olivia Watkins, head cargo analyst at VesselsValue, says people shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for answers.
“Freight rates are predicted to remain elevated into the second half of 2022, with low deliveries and short-term charter availability remaining limited,” she says.
A Sub-Panamax container – a standard-size container that fits on ships through the Panama Canal – from China to the US costs $US54,320 ($73,935) today. This time last year it was $8820.
And it’s taking longer. (Coincidently, the past four consecutive months of 5 per cent headline inflation in the US have been the same four months I have been waiting for my freight to arrive from Australia.)
While shipping and logistics are adding to sustained inflation, most of the big bank economists are focused on higher rent, food and energy costs.
Credit Suisse’s James Sweeney says that even though energy prices can take between three and six months to feed through to official consumer price data, the September figures would reflect some of the current pressure.
“Both food and energy prices should lift headline CPI, which we expect to grow 0.4 per cent month on month, pushing the year-on-year figure higher to 5.4 per cent from 5.3 per cent,” he says.
“Inflation risks continue to be skewed to the upside as supply and demand imbalances persist,” Sweeney said.
JP Morgan’s David Kelly said housing costs were the one to watch.
“Rents have started to rise very sharply across the country, reflecting soaring home prices and, perhaps, the effect of the end of the eviction moratorium,” he said.
What all this cost pressure means is that all those who have been dismissing rising consumer prices as “transitory” are having a change of heart.
JPMorgan’s Kelly says there is a realisation now that this transitory inflation of more than 2 per cent will linger for much longer than the Federal Reserve expected. And this will seal the deal for a tapering of the Fed’s current $US120 billion a month in bond purchases.
“It is looking increasingly likely that some of this higher inflation will linger,” Kelly said.
“Policymakers would undoubtedly like to see stronger growth and cooler inflation. However, this is simply not the economy we have, and we expect the Federal Reserve to bow to this reality by announcing a plan to taper bond purchases at its meeting next month.”
As the Federal Reserve eases its purchases of bonds, the cost of borrowing - expressed as yields - will rise.
Economists such as Arthur Laffer think the Fed should go much further and start early official rate hikes.
“The Fed should have tapered long ago,” he said. The interest rate today under a stable 2 per cent inflation should be something like 4.5 to 5 per cent on the 10-year bond.
“They shoudn’t be holding interest rates at these low levels.”
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text: E-commerce continues to grow at an unprecedented pace. Total retail sales, excluding the sale of items not normally bought online — like fuel, automobiles, and food at restaurants — hit $3.628 trillion last year, up 3.9 percent year over year from $3.490 trillion. E-commerce accounted for a 14.3 percent share of that total, and 51.9 percent of all retail growth. That is substantial, and it has encouraged many people to take advantage of the booming opportunity. It can be difficult for SMB owners to compete without the right tools in place.


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Opera Mini is coming to Microsoft's feature phones and Asha lineup.
Microsoft and Opera inked a licensing deal that will make Opera Mini the default browser on mobile phones based on the Series 30+, Series 40, and Asha platforms.
Those already using Nokia's Xpress browser on these handsets will be encouraged to make the switch to Opera. New devices, meanwhile, will come with Opera Mini pre-installed.
"We continue to sell and support classic first and feature phones as well as the Asha range, which have performed well with millions of people who want new mobile experiences at lower price points," said Rich Bernardo, heady of legacy business in Microsoft's phone department.
Compatible with almost any handsetincluding your smartphoneOpera Mini has about 250 million users, more than 100 million of which own Android devices.
Boasting a built-in compression technology, the browser also allows users to save on mobile data.
"This is a great opportunity to spread the benefits of Opera Mini to millions more consumers in our core markets," Opera Software CEO Lars Boilesen said. "There are still massive numbers of people who have not moved to smartphones, but Opera Mini can provide them with an amazing browsing experience right now."
The announcement comes after Redmond last week revealed the $25 Nokia 130, with a 1.8-inch color display and built-in video and music player.
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Kickass Torrents’ new domain name has been seized, and The Pirate Bay looks to follow pending an upcoming court decision.
As we recently reported, Kickass Torrents recently switched domains to a location in the Isle of Man, a self-governing island in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. Kickass Torrents announced the domain change was part of their routine switching of domains that occurs periodically, and for no other reason.
Now, however, Kickass Torrents has switched domains again to a Costa Rican location after its new Isle Of Man domain was seized.
The site reached out to Tech Times, stating, “The Isle of Man Domain has been seized, we will be moving to kat.cr shortly and on the kickass.to domain until then. Apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.”
We can confirm that the kat.cr domain is now currently up and running and is in fact the current home of Kickass Torrents.
The site fell victim to the Isle Of Man’s zero tolerance policy on copyrights, which apparently sprung into action when copyright holders who became aware of the move began issuing complaints. Whether Kickass Torrents will be able to remain at this domain is unclear, but the Costa Rican registry appears more lax in that it does not actively monitor registry content and will only revoke a domain under court order.
Meanwhile, The Pirate Bay may be the next victim of a domain seizure. After court arguments being held in Sweden have concluded, a decision is expected in early May as to whether the site’s two current domains, thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se will be allowed to continue operating or will be seized. While Swedish authorities raided the sites headquarters and effectively shut it down last December, that did not include seizure of its domain, which is under the separate authority of the organization known as Punkt SE, which is arguing against the seizure.
“We believe it is wrong to pursue legal action against a top-level administrator like .SE to take away a service from the Internet. To confiscate a domain name is ineffective and disproportionate to achieve the impact of the earlier judgment, that is, to suspend access to the service itself.” stated Maria Ekelund, a spokesperson for Punkt SE.
While the seizure is expected to be sanctioned by the court and would be a blow to The Pirate Bay, as Kickass Torrents has just demonstrated, there are numerous domain alternatives available, and The Pirate Bay most likely has one ready in anticipation of the court decision.
© 2015 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


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There are fewer and fewer truckers these days. Why?
As the world grapples with the effects of this Forbes calls the big disruption to the supply chain, and its consequent challenges such as rising consumer prices, a severe shortage of truck drivers is often cited as the reason for the continuing problems.
About 72% of all freight in the United States is transported by truck, and according to American trucking associations, trucking companies faced a record shortfall of 80,000 drivers in 2021. The ATA also reported that more than 10 million Americans held commercial driver’s licenses in 2019. That’s three times more than the 3.7 million trucks available that require certified people to drive them. There are plenty of people out there who have the training and experience to drive these rigs.
So why the shortage?
Many people are encouraged to become truckers, believing they can generate a livelihood for their families. But when they get behind the wheel, they discover they are exposed to poor conditions, low wages and possible mistreatment. As a result, the industry is losing skilled professional drivers to other areas that offer better benefits, wages, and job security.
As mentioned above, there are more than enough qualified drivers to handle the rigs available. But the following three reasons dissuade them from doing so.
Low salaries. Truckers used to be well paid for the long hours they put in. This is no longer the case today. Deregulation has had a profound effect on the transportation industry, with trucker wages being based on what the market is willing to pay. In many cases, some drivers’ incomes are so low that the long hours and time away from family and home just isn’t worth it.
In addition, the majority of drivers are not paid for all the time they devote. Drivers are usually paid based on mileage, rather than overtime spent driving or doing other activities. If they are held up in traffic, at roadblocks or in warehouses awaiting loading or unloading, they are not paid for that time.
Unfair treatment. Not all carriers treat their truckers with dignity and respect. A company that pays based on the mileage system, for example, might expect drivers to perform additional tasks while waiting for their next load without receiving additional compensation. Safety inspections, attending meetings, and loading and unloading the trailer are some of the tasks that fall under this category. These may be necessary things to do, but drivers don’t get paid for them.
High risk. Driving a truck is an extremely risky and dangerous job, which requires long hours on the road. In order to drive a truck safely, the driver must be aware of and familiar with its operation. Drivers also face poor road conditions, extreme weather conditions, dangerous regions and other hazards between origin and destination.
In some cases, drivers are responsible for transporting hazardous chemicals and other potentially harmful chemicals. While they may be paid a bit more for moving these types of products (and they absolutely must be certified to do so), there is little to no upside when it comes to moving this cargo.
Finally, safety issues can be an issue among drivers who are afraid of missing deadlines. If they fall behind (due to weather, traffic jams, or loading issues), they may stay on the road longer to make up for lost time when they should be resting. This can increase the risk of accidents.
If these issues are not resolved, American truckers will continue to seek new opportunities and ways to earn a living outside of the trucking industry. This will only increase the current shortage of drivers, adding to logistics and supply chain dilemmas. Companies operating in the transport sector must carefully examine the current situation and improve the conditions for drivers.
Jay Sackos is Vice President of Cart.


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AluK has become the latest business to support this year’s G Awards, joining the list of main event sponsors ahead of the big night on 26 November. The G Awards is a prestigious awards scheme for businesses within the glass and glazing industry. Winners of the G21 Awards will be announced at a lavish event on London’s Park Lane.
Since face-to-face industry events restarted in September, it has been obvious that there’s been a real desire for people to get back together again and reconnect, said Sioned Roberts, AluK’s marketing director. “The G Awards is always a celebration, and I think this year it will be even more special. It won’t just be about the shortlisted companies or those who win the awards (although they will be centre stage, obviously); it will also be about celebrating together what the whole industry has achieved in 2021.
“We’re thrilled that we’ll be right at the heart of things, and we can’t wait to share the evening with customers, colleagues and friends from right across the industry.” For more about the G Awards, visit g-awards.com.


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Pop icon David Bowie's painting bought for $4 sold for nearly $90,000
The computer and acrylic collage on canvas was painted by the rock star between 1995 and 1997.
A painting by British pop icon David Bowie recently discovered and purchased for about $4 at a Canadian store that resells donated goods, has been sold at auction in Toronto for nearly $90,000 (Dh330,570), the auction house said Friday.
The sale price blew past auction house Cowley Abbot's estimated $7,000 to $10,000 valuation of the diminutive artwork, which went to an American collector.
Auctioneer Rob Cowley said a dozen bidders vied for the computer and acrylic collage on canvas that is part of the so-called D Head series of portraits of the Ziggy Stardust rocker himself, his friends, and others that he painted between 1995 and 1997.
The 24 by 20 centimeter painting of a pale figure dressed in teal clothes, with teal and red hair on a crimson background, was originally sold through a website around 2001.
It somehow found itself two decades later at a donations store in South River, Ontario -- 300 kilometers north of Toronto. There, an anonymous buyer paid $4 for it.
"We were very excited to discover that the artwork was original and authentic," Cowley had told AFP at the start of the two-week online auction. Bowie's signed initials on the back, he said, were authenticated by a Bowie autographs expert.
The seller is "delighted and shocked" that the painting fetched such a high price, Cowley said on Friday.
Bowie attended art school and collected hundreds of artworks during his lifetime that were sold off for tens of millions of dollars after his death. But his own artworks, according to Cowley, rarely go on sale.
Starting with Space Oddity in 1969, Bowie scored hit after hit over more than four decades, ranging from The Jean Genie and Heroes in the 1970s to Let's Dance and Modern Love in the 1980s to more recent hits like 2013's wistful Where Are We Now?.
Two days after the release of his 25th studio album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, Bowie died of cancer on January 10, 2016.
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Electrical panel innovator Span announces today that it has secured Amazon Alexa voice integration as well as an additional $20 million in funding led by Munich Re Ventures’ HSB Fund and joined by the Alexa Fund, with continued participation from existing investors. Span, which began shipping the Span Smart Panel to customers in the summer of 2020, will leverage this latest investment to further expand its reach to homeowners and develop new product offerings.
Span reinvented the electrical panel to simplify the adoption of clean energy and to deliver a powerful yet intuitive virtual interface to the home. The Span Smart Panel offers precise energy monitoring at the circuit level, real-time controls and onboard intelligence. From insights into home energy use to customizable backup which extends home battery outage protection, Span delivers smarter energy management, all accessible via the Span Home App.
Alexa voice integration will provide customers a convenient way to interact with energy in their evolving smart homes. Customers can use Alexa-enabled devices to turn on or off any circuit or appliance in their home, find out what energy source is providing power, or discover what appliance is using the most power. Once accounts are linked, customers can take actions like checking on their power usage by saying “Alexa, ask Span what is consuming the most power right now.”
“As Amazon continues to expand its smart devices portfolio and home services business, we see Span’s energy control and automation as an important new area for innovation which will add value to our customers,” said Paul Bernard, Director of the Amazon Alexa Fund.
“The upcoming decade will be about home electrification and accelerating the adoption of clean energy. It’s great to add investors that are aligned with our long-term vision and will help Span bring innovation to the energy and home service markets,” said Arch Rao, founder and CEO of Span, who previously led the Tesla Energy product team. “We see these Amazon Alexa voice controls as an important step in making consumers aware of their personal energy use and make controlling every aspect of their home more accessible and convenient.”
News item from Span


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While many top brands are fighting to get the newly announced Snapdragon 845 chip first, Huawei is quietly working on its next flagship that will be announced at MWC2018, which should take place on February 26. As you know, the Chinese leading manufacturer usually comes with a P-line flagship in the first quarter of every year. So the next model from this family should be the Huawei P11. The latter is said to sport Huawei’s latest Kirin 970 SoC with AI. But there are other and more interesting features that are rumored to appear on this model as well.
Recently we were talking about the most realistic renders of the Huawei P11. They showed this flagship will adopt the iPhone X’s bangs design. But what’s interesting, even with such a display design the Huawei P11 continues coming with a blank chin. Probably there are patent issues related to the iPhone X design. However, the bangs screen will help the phone to come with a larger display and looking differently. Seems it’s promoted as Huawei FullView Display.
Gizchina News of the week
Apart from this, we have heard the upcoming Huawei P11 will continue using Leica camera sensors, but this time they have become way larger. It’s said the phone will sport a 40MP lens on the back, while front shooter will use a 24MP selfie-centric sensor.
All these features will make the Huawei P11 become one of the strongest smartphones till the date. But we should also remember the Xiaomi Mi 7, Samsung Galaxy S9, and other much-awaited top-notch models will come at the same time.


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In an article published on June 30 in The Wall Street Journal, Larry Katz offers perspective on investment interest in bankrupt restaurants and retailers amid COVID-19.
While retailers struggle to attract interest from investors due to financial uncertainty that pre-dates the pandemic, investors are showing interest in acquiring restaurant companies out of bankruptcy, including chains that own casual-dining brands like Krystal, Logan’s Roadhouse, Gordon Biersch, Bar Louie, Brio and more.
Credit bids – where lenders buy a company and cancel the debt they are owed – have been a popular tactic to acquire these bankrupt restaurant chains. This approach allows the lender to put down little cash while assuming liabilities for the business. As Katz explains, there won’t be several parties vying for a company in today’s environment beyond the existing equity owners, senior lenders and landlords, and these parties stand to lose the most.
“You make the best of a bad situation, but who knows if it is going to work or not,” Katz said.
For the full article, please click here.
Luis F. Ruiz