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In November 2021, the winner of Kusama’s 14th parachain auction was announced as Quartz, marking the first NFT platform to win a Kusama auction. Quartz will now have a 48-week lease as a Kusama parachain, ahead of a pivotal year for NFT growth.
The Kusama Parachain Auctions have been happening since August 2021, and have seen major projects raise hundreds of millions of dollars to gain access to Kusama’s popular network. Nearly 9,000 network stakeholders participated in the Quartz crowd loan, committing over 54,000 KSM, totalling over 21M US Dollars.
In the spirit of the rapidly evolving crypto crowd loan ecosystem, over 70% of Unique Network’s Telegram community participated in the Quartz crowd loan, with an average contribution of 6 KSM per community member. This demonstrates the ability and power of blockchain communities heading into 2022, and generally shows an encouraging correlation that community-driven commerce is popular and successful.
What is Quartz?
Quartz is significant for the future of not only Polkadot and Kusama, but the entire NFT sector. As Kusama’s first NFT parachain with advanced features, Quartz gives easy access to test extreme innovation in NFTs and build for the next generation. Built on Substrate, Quartz’s goal is to help lead to an explosion of NFT creativity and democratization of the NFT ecosystem that is distinct, lean, and easily navigable. Advanced features that will be available on Quartz include:
Flexible Economic Models: Developers can build their own economic models or ‘hide gas ees under the hood’. Freemium economic models are also available for applications and creators.
Re-fungibility: Creators can mint a token and then partially transfer to multiple owners, or build communities and adopt fractionalization economic models for NFT ownership.
Scheduling: Transactions can be scheduled for future deployment, making gaming upgrades possible and quick.
Nested NFTs: Creators can combine multiple NFTs under one entity and operate them jointly, as well as bundle practical structures for NFTs.
What Happens Next
Quartz is now live on the Kusama network through a forkless upgrade, meaning Quartz is now operating and producing blocks. Now, the most powerful and advanced NFT features will be available on the Kusama Network for any parachain in the ecosystem to leverage. $QTZ token distribution will begin next week for those who participated in the crowdloan.


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According to the company’s announcement on Tuesday, Nintendo’s Pokémon craze is not going to end soon. As the Wall Street Journal stated, more Pokémon games will be introduced when the Nintendo NX hits the market. The Pokémon game was invented and presented to the gamers 20 years ago for the first time.
As Tsunekazu Ishihara, a chief executive of the Pokémon Company, declared for the Journal on Tuesday, Pokémon Go is just the beginning of a big project and it will only continue to develop.
He told the Journal:”We will make games for the NX. The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a hand-held device.”
Nintendo’s focus shifts to bringing back chip-based cartridges which they switched with the modern disc and web-streaming. Discs and web-steaming are used in consoles such as Xbox One and SP 4 for gameplay and purchases. However, Toshiba and Samsung are focused on lowering the price and thus their cartridges are cheaper for Nintendo NX, according to the Journal.
With the making and launching of Pokémon GO, Pokémon Company has been revived. More than 280 million people had purchased a Pokémon game before GO was released. It could be said that it had been a turning point for the company because the app has been downloaded for more than 500 million times which has been a record.
Ishihara added:”I feel like the reaction we saw was 10 times or even 100 times bigger than we expected.”
With the new Pokémon Go Plus which has been available from September 16, fans can use Bluetooth to play Pokémon Go, even if the app is not displayed on the screen.
As Ishihara announced, the one-on-one battles will be possible, considering that the project is in the pipeline.

domain: news


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Apple wants another go in its legal battle against Fortnite maker Epic Games
For those of you who have been following the legal battle between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games, little “David” (Epic Games) won a decisive victory after the Federal judge rule last month that Apple must allow third-party payments in its App Store and not force developers to in-app purchasing.
But Apple is not going down without a fight. The iPhone giant wants a total win. Apple announced Friday night it would appeal a judge’s order forcing it to allow apps to link to alternative digital payment systems on the web. The tech giant said it would ask for a stay on a judge’s September order saying Apple would have to allow apps to direct customers to external websites.
Apple filed a notice of appeal in the Epic Games case and is asking for a stay on the injunction that lets developers add in-app links to payment websites, according to company representatives and documents filed on Friday. The judge is expected to rule on Apple’s request for a stay next month.
“Apple asks the Court to suspend the requirements of its injunction until the appeals filed by both Epic and Apple have been resolved. The company understands and respects the Court’s concerns regarding communications between developers and consumers. Apple is carefully working through many complex issues across a global landscape, seeking to enhance information flow while protecting both the efficient functioning of the App Store and the security and privacy of Apple’s customers. Striking the right balance may solve the Court’s concerns making the injunction (and perhaps even Apple’s appeal itself) unnecessary. A stay is warranted in these circumstances,” the iPhone maker said in the appeal document
As you may recall in August of last year, we reported that Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after the game’s developer announced new payment options that allow players to buy in-game credits direct from Epic Games.
In response, Epic took legal action and filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Northern California to end Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions on mobile device marketplaces. The new payment option appeared to skirt Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store rules, which require Epic to give up a 30% cut of the revenue made through the app.
That September ruling lets app businesses bypass Apple’s requirement to facilitate payments only inside of apps, where Apple takes up to a 30% cut.
Appeal’s latest appeal is rather surprising considering what Apple’s lawyer Kate Adams said in September following the ruling: “We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling and we consider this a huge win for Apple.”


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The Bruery Terreux introduced Hottenroth in 2015. The namesake of the award-winning beer paid homage to founder Patrick Rue’s grandparents, Frederick and Sarah Hottenroth.
Dedicated to Mr. Hottenroth, Frederick H. is by comparison “a little racy (with) even more funky and earthy notes” according to Terreux’s website. “This is a beer with an entirely different personality.”
“My grandfather was a brilliant inventor,” said Rue. “He had a mind for innovation.”
Drawings of Hottenroth’s inventions add a personal touch to the label of the 750ml bottle. Frederick H. sports 4.4 percent ABV, somewhat stronger than is typical for the berliner weisse style.
On Dec. 2, Frederick H. becomes available via The Bruery’s online store, followed by a national release to the 28 states The Bruery currently distributes to.


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An Italian restaurant that started as a food truck and then established itself as a popular brick-and-mortar store now wants to drive sales with a second store in Nocatee next year.
Brothers Carl and Dave Catullo will open Catullo’s Italian Restaurant in the Nocatee Town Center between the Luxury Nail Spa and Palm Leaf Dental, according to a Dec. 3 news release.
The release said the area’s largest Publix grocery store anchors the center.
Both men have an extensive background in food preparation, having worked at Flying Iguana, Lynch’s Irish Pub and Roy’s for 15 years before starting the food truck in 2016.
In 2019 they opened Catullo’s Italian at 1650-2 San Pablo Road S. at Atlantic Boulevard and San Pablo Road in the Village Shoppes of San Pablo.
They posted Dec. 3 on Catullo’s Facebook page that they will open their second restaurant. They said it was an appropriate way to mark the restaurant’s third anniversary. Their lease begins in September 2022 with plans for a December 2022 or January 2023 opening.
“Nocatee, we’re coming. The lease is officially signed,” says a video on the Facebook page.
“It will be a slightly bigger place but we don’t want to change the vibe too much,” the brothers said.
Bringing Catullo’s Italian to Nocatee is seen as an important addition to that area’s culinary mix, said Rick Ray, chairman and CEO of the PARC Group, which is Nocatee’s master developer.
“Catullo’s may be the most authentic Italian experiences in Northeast Florida,” he said in the Dec. 3 release.
The menu consists of made-in-house pasta and gnocchi dishes featuring seafood, pork, beef and chicken.
It opens daily at 5 p.m. and is closed Sundays. There is no lunch service. They do not take reservations.
The original Catullo’s Italian has 10 tables and seating for 10 at the bar. The walls are decorated with portraits of generations of family members.
The new restaurant is slightly larger, but customers can expect a similar dining experience in Nocatee, the brothers said on Facebook.


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These days mirror the late 1990s, when the Internet evolved to widespread use—and the topic bedeviled many. But others—in banking and entertainment, for example—who quickly learned the new lingo and jumped at the chance to explore the Web’s potential benefited greatly.
Today’s tantalizing topic: blockchain.
Smart Manufacturing magazine interviewed 20 experts on blockchain and manufacturing. The resulting special report, “In blockchain we trust,” takes pains to make manufacturers fluent in blockchain—so they can get in on the ground floor of what is sure to be a sea change in the way they interact with suppliers, for starters.
“The biggest application we currently see is use of blockchain in the supply chain context,” said Martin Ruskowski of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. “Blockchain is feasible where you have non-trusted environments, such as suppliers delivering parts and you want to have full traceability throughout your delivery.”
A quick primer: blockchain is a decentralized register made up of endless, connected cryptographic blocks. Data is stored, time-stamped—and automatically distributed to many servers at once. Security is a key value. Blockchain is tamper evident—any change is immediately apparent to all involved. Where multiple entities are involved, as on a multiple-tier manufacturing supply chain, blockchain creates a record of every transaction. If someone adds to the data, the widely distributed ledger shows when and where that addition happened.
Blockchain propelled Bitcoin to success. But, said IBM Blockchain CTO Krishna Ratakonda, the technology has the potential to go “way beyond Bitcoin. Blockchain acts as a common source of truth, processing, organizing, and connecting data in a way that was not possible before.”
Joel Neidig, director of R&D at ITAMCO, marveled at the size of the market for blockchain. “Every technology leader—IBM, Microsoft, Amazon—is going to be into it. Blockchain will eventually become a technology like the Internet,” which is now indispensable for business.
How the connectivity and the software behind blockchain is applied is “where the solutions will happen,” he added. “The key is developing those first use cases and filling those out.”
On that front, our report details work on blockchain happening inside IBM, Intel, KPMG, L’Oréal, Microsoft, nScrypt, Rockwell Automation, SAP and Siemens. SAP piloted blockchain with 15 pharmaceutical firms, said Hans Thalbauer, senior VP for IoT and digital supply chain. The No. 1 use case for blockchain is all around track-and-trace: knowing where a product is and how it is holding up, he asserted.
In the six-month pilot that ended in May 2018, SAP did one billion transactions on blockchain, said Gil Perez, senior VP of products and innovations and head of digital customer initiatives.
SAP also partnered with Intel to experiment with blockchain. “In the high-tech industry, it’s again the track-and-trace scenario. They are tracking their products, making sure that the components going into the finished product are serialized and can be matched and mapped,” Thalbauer said. “It’s also the digitization of documents. For example, in the whole import-export scenario, there are thousands and thousands of documents that can be digitized. It makes life so much easier—whether it is dealing with government officials or truck drivers.”
This kind of situation “is where blockchain technology, combined with today’s super-cheap sensors, can automate a lot,” Thalbauer said.
Cargo ships will no longer sit in port for days waiting for paperwork. Digitized paperwork—that becomes part of a blockchain-based recordkeeping system—“can take out 10 days in the shipping process,” he asserted.
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“Minecraft” is by far one of the best games ever made, and with over 100 million PC version users across the globe, its creators have constantly strived to work on the game to make it even better even the mobile version. A blog post published recently by game developer Mojang and Microsoft highlights the numerous enhancements they have done over the past year for the Pocket Edition of “Minecraft.”
As reported on Mojang’s site, there are already 30 million copies of the Pocket Edition sold for tablets and smartphones. With this, Microsoft has started focusing its attention on things that are needed in order to address the issues with the game’s mobile version.
For instance, some gamers discover “Minecraft” through their mobile phones, but as soon as they decide to escalate to a more advanced and intricate “Minecraft” game, they abandon the Pocket Edition and embrace the PC version of the game. One reason cited for this is because, the game’s previous mobile version (Android, iOS and Windows phone) don’t support features that can be found on the PC version, especially with updated version 1.9.
No doubt, some advanced gamers also want to utilize the mobile version, other than the PC, but the enjoyment is somehow diminished.
To engage the gamers happily into the game, Mojang and Microsoft have made several updates for the mobile version. They are aiming for fans to remain in the game and encourage more potential gamers that they can eventually bring in. They worked on updates as their way of supporting the gaming community a strategy that has undoubtedly made millions of sales and is still growing.
There is a long list of improvements that “Minecraft” gamers using Pocket Edition can now enjoy in the game.


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Mike Barry, architect of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A, and recipient of an honoree award at the 2019 Responsible Business Awards, outlines the 10 things companies need to do to face up to the coming decade of consequences
It’s easy to get stuck in your ways as a leader, caught in the past, not looking forward and anticipating the great disruptions that are coming. So when I left M&S last summer after 19 brilliant years I was determined to re-appraise what it would mean to be a sustainable business leader in the radically different 2020s. I’ve met and listened to over 100 different people in the last couple of months and these are the 10 things they told me:
1 Movements are not the same as stakeholder engagement
Business is struggling to keep up with the momentum that is building across society calling for action on the #ClimateCrisis. The neo-liberal consensus of the last 40 years has left companies “one-eyed” in looking for signals from “professional stakeholders” – shareholders, NGOs and regulators. It’s become blind to emotional shifts in societal expectations (as opposed to functional requests for better phones). The global Climate Strikes, their scale, geographical and demographic extent, crystallises this trend, one to which companies must respond in order to remain relevant in the next decade. Intriguingly, employee movements within companies have become important catalysts for change, particularly in the tech sector.
2 Implementation is far harder than announcements
Business lags the shift in societal expectations but it’s responding. Eighty-seven companies are signed up to 1.5C science-based targets or a commitment to achieve net zero. Amazon and Google (the new swing voters of the global economy) show how ambitious business can be. But now the hard work starts. Systemically tackling the carbon footprint of every nook and cranny of your value chain is a massive undertaking and demands the efforts of your brightest and best teams. It should be a matter of pride, development and advancement to play a role on such an important project.
3 Forget lobbying against government and get behind good policy
The UK has seen a dramatic reduction in the cost of offshore wind, to the point where, unsubsidised it’s out-competing gas. Bold investment decisions and innovation breakthroughs have been key to this, but underpinning all of it has been a strong, consistent, long term policy framework. The UK’s macro framework to become net zero by 2050 is bold, but it needs many more detailed implementation policies like offshore wind to make it a reality.
The US has also seen a welcome business movement to fight moves by the Trump administration to roll back regulations on methane, lightbulbs and vehicle efficiency. Business though now needs to spin 180 degrees and go from a mindset of resisting new policy to embracing it. The UK’s Global Resources Initiative taskforce and its work on sustainable supply chains shows how government, civil society and business can co-create the right, robust long-term approach.
4 Working in partnership is key
Whilst some businesses are still looking for a point of difference from their own competitors, more and more recognise the need to collaborate to build a sustainable future. Many technical partnerships have emerged over the last decade. Now though there is a sense that these partnerships are being elevated to be owned and driven by CEOs. Paul Polman’s latest venture Imagine is doing just this, seeking to get all the CEOs in a sector to collaborate for change. How will you get your CEO and leadership team to step forward and work with their competitors to drive change?
5 Planetary safety and societal equality are two sides of the same coin
One watch-out though for all of us is a sense that the momentum behind environmental sustainability could crowd out critical social issues. Human right abuses, the uncertainties of the gig economy and growing inequality are hardly the firm foundations for a sustainable future. And as we’ve seen in the last few years, the dispossessed and left behind do not automatically flock to the flag of sustainability. The words #JustTransition keep popping up on the edge of the discussion about the #ClimateCrisis but need to become much more central to it as a #lowcarbon shift creates both winners and potential (and very vocal) losers
6 Face the elephant in the room, it’s all about consumption
So much hard work is now going into making production systems more sustainable. Although much of this work in forests, farms and factories is still sub-scale, effort is going into correcting the many ills of today’s approach. But there is virtually no debate over the fact that however much we reduce the embedded carbon (plastics, biodiversity, water, human rights abuses) in any one product these efforts will be swamped by a consuming middle class, which will grow by one billion in the next 10 years. We need to discuss and solve sustainable consumption at scale!
7 Create a new business model before someone else does
Having said that, there are more and more new models emerging of companies offering great food, fashion and finance in a much more sustainable way. Some are hitting $1bn valuation. These new business models need courageous investors, stakeholder support and consumer uptake. Equally, just as the coal industry once laughed at renewables, the car companies at EVs and the meat industry at a plant-based diet, out there lurks your (sustainable) nemesis too. Find it, replicate it, buy it, but don’t sit waiting to join the Dodo!
8 Embrace a new purpose, and make it stick
There’s been a mixed response to the Business Roundtable’s new definition of business purpose, broadened beyond the obsession with shareholder returns. While the world’s leading companies on sustainability will charge beyond it, it’s still an important re-statement of purpose for the many 1,000s of “average” companies. And outflanking them all is the B Corp movement, a serious scale alternative to the traditional plc/inc/Gmbh. We’ve been through (an uninspiring) version 1.0 of business purpose, little more than a few thrown together marketing slogans, but that’s almost the last thing to think about it. First and foremost listen to your colleagues and customers to understand what they think your purpose is, then build a culture and supporting engagement, governance and rewards to make it stick
9 Commit to hyper-transparency
The Fourth Industrial Revolution offers lots of opportunity to build a sustainable future. Perhaps most exciting is its potential to shine a light into the deep and shady recesses of business behaviour across their traditionally opaque global value chains. Much of the prevarication of consumers, employees and investors in demanding “sustainable” has been the sheer difficulty of working out easily whether a company is “good” or “bad”. New tools are making it easy, seamless to assess and point your money/time/commitment in the right direction. Reports and supply chain maps offer a little transparency today. The future is about real time, useful insight on the realities of what you do, every hour of every day, everywhere.
10 Empower and reskill your teams
And finishing off where we started. A new movement of energised young people will help create a better future. But they will not collectively run the companies, banks and governments that shape our future for at least a decade, probably longer. And we don’t have time to wait for them to seize the reins of power. Today’s leaders need to retrain themselves now to lead sustainably today, not laze back on their excessive remuneration waiting for the kids to bail them out once they’ve retired. Business schools have a massive responsibility and opportunity to step up to help today’s executives understand responsibility, risk and opportunity.
Ahead lies a decade of consequence, and every business must step up and be part of the sustainability revolution, or wither deservedly on the sidelines. And so too for sustainable business professionals. I’m very clear that at 52 I need to re-learn how to be a sustainable change agent in the 2020s. It’s been liberating, fascinating and fun to start to re-learn my profession. I hope you are ready to do so too.
Mike Barry is director of Mikebarryeco Ltd. He was architect of Marks & Spencer’s Plan A, and recipient of an honoree award at the 2019 Responsible Business Awards
This article is part of our in-depth Decade of Delivery commentary from sustainability leaders. To view all articles, please see our January 2020 digital magazine.#deliverydecade Plan A #climatecrisis renewable energy science-based targets Plant-based diets sustainable consumption B Corp movement


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Christmas came early to the Intu Trafford Centre with a glitzy night of entertainment to celebrate the annual festive lights switch on.
X Factor star Fleur East was given the honour of pressing the button to turn on the £1m worth of sparkling lights at the culmination of an afternoon of live music at The Orient at the shopping mall.
Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro got the crowds of more than 8,000 into the festive mood with a host of Christmas songs including White Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, before former X Factor runners-up Reggie and Bollie got revellers dancing with their upbeat songs.
Then Fleur took to the stage in a dazzling bright red minidress, in keeping with the festive occasion .
The festive show was hosted by Key 103 presenter Mike Toolan and Coronation Street star Kym Marsh, who joined Fleur at the climax of the night to pull the giant switch to light the thousands of decorations across the vast shopping mall.
Fleur earlier told the M.E.N. she was excited to do her first official lights switch on of the year.
She said: “I love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of the year.
“I cannot wait to eat all the amazing food it’s the best part of it.”
But while the Christmas lights might be on early, Fleur says she’s definitely not so organised when it comes to buying the presents.
She laughs: “I’m a lastminute.com kind of girl, I’m the one in the shopping centre at midnight on Christmas Eve, but I always manage to get it all done.
"I think I must like the challenge of buying everything under such a tight deadline.”
There will be more celebrations for Fleur at the weekend - as birthday is over Halloween, and she is planning a fancy dress party for the occasion.
“Any chance to get dressed up,” she smiled.
It was also a starry night for singer Mia Lawrie, who won the chance to join the professionals on stage to start the night.
Mia, 16, sang Mariah Carey classic All I Want for Christmas is You to open the show, after winning the Trafford Centre’s Light Up competition which was judged by a panel including the M.E.N’s Denise Evans and Loose Women star Sherrie Hewson - who headed down on the night to cheer her on during her big moment.


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Middle-aged men dominate BritNet Spend
Another symbol of our vicious class-ridden patriarchal society
So what does your Big Internet Spender look like? Well if he (it’s probably a he) is British, he is aged 45-to 55, and spends more than £1,000 a year buying stuff online. Big Internet Spender gets to make some savings on his phone bills – as he has net access at work, according to BRMB Internet Monitor. And there’s not a whiff of pornography, in BRMB’s Net spend calculations; books, computer software and CDs are the most popular categories bought over the Net, it reports, followed by holidays, electrical goods and cars. Net banking is also beginning to make inroads, with 10 per cent of British Net users now accessing their accounts online. British shoppers spent £2 billion over the Internet over the last 12 months, ten times higher than the year before, it reveals. The numbers buying online increased by a third to 2.5 million -- a quarter of the British Net population -- in the past six months, while average annual expenditure rose 50 per cent in the same period to £690 per person. ®
Sponsored: RAID: End of an era?


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The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has revised the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to capture data that accurately reflects the spending patterns of all consumers in Rwanda.
The CPI measures the average change in the prices of consumer goods and services purchased by households.
The statistics body said last week that Rwanda’s CPI has been adjusted to international best practices to include weights that are based on consumer spending in 2005/2006.
“The new consumer price index will be flexible for discontinuity of products and replacement of items and price imputation,” a statement issued by the NISR said.
Yusuf Murangwa, the Director General of the NISR said that the statistics body has embraced the use of modified laspeyres—a method that will allow the CPI to better represent the Rwanda’s changing consumer sector.
“Routine and regular updating of the CPI is necessary to ensure that the data accurately reflect current purchasing patterns of Rwandan consumers,” said Murangwa.
With the new CPI, the national statistics body says that it will be able to take into consideration the data from up country, shifting from the old system where inflation fingers were based on data gathered from urban Rwanda.
Murangwa noted that the CPI will allow the sample of items and their weights to reflect current expenditures made by Rwandans.
“It is the objective of the NISR that the CPI reflects international recommendations and the best practices,” the statement said.


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In a move that may come as a surprise to some, Missouri Governor Mike Parson has given the green light for artists to showcase their talents in concert form beginning Monday, May 5, 2020.
The state’s Show Me Strong recovery plan, which was detailed on April 27, 2020, includes retail stores to open with limited capacity and restaurants to re-introduce in-person dining with social distancing guidelines.
Also permitted is Missouri’s citizens to attend live events, including concerts, a first in the United States since the government shutdowns.
However, there’s a catch.
While the guidelines permit such activities as going to movie theaters and stadiums, “seating shall be spaced out according to social distancing requirements.”
A spokesperson from Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services has made it clear that concerts do not have to adhere to the same occupancy limitations as retail businesses, but are expected to keep attendees six or more feet apart.
“There are currently no limitations on social gatherings as long as necessary precautions are taken and six feet of distance can be maintained between individuals and/or families,” the Show Me Strong recovery plan reads.
And, there’s another catch.
The state’s larger cities, including St. Louis, Springfield and Kansas City, will have to wait. Officials from those cities, including St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, plan to keep the state’s Stay Home order in effect until further notice.
“We will continue to be guided by data, not dates,” the Mayor said in a post on May 1, 2020.
The announcement from the Governor has not swayed the plans of many local officials who continue to establish their recovery strategies. Therefore, many of the larger venues across the state, including Old Rock House and Music Factory in St. Louis as well as Riot Room and Mammoth Uptown Theater in Kansas City, will not immediately reopen.
As for venues in smaller cities? They’re not opening either anytime soon.
Matt Gerding of FPC Live, which runs The Blue Note in Columbia said, “We are currently assessing the details of the announcement and the latest information from health experts. We hope to chart a path to reopening as soon as possible but have not determined the timing of that just yet.”
The Blue Note is still scheduled to continue holding its Social Distraction, a live-streamed local music concert series in partnership with a local brewery, through May 15, 2020.


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The turn of the new year means that last year’s crazy hot food trends like mochi, whipped coffee, and matcha become figments of the past to make way for new food trends that are going to take our palates by storm! If you want a sneak peek into what your feed will be serving you up this year, then read on to explore what fabulous food trends 2023 has to offer!
2022 offered us some fantastic and fun food trends that filled our feeds. From charcuterie boards to baked oats, mochi to cloud bread, the food trends of 2022 had us busy in the kitchen, whipping up weird and wonderful flavours that were mostly hit but occasionally a miss, I’m looking at the balsamic sparkling water ‘healthy Coke’… enough said there. But with the turn of the new year, that means these trends are all old news and it is time to make way for the food stars of 2023 that could change our diets for good! If you are interested in finding out what we think the greatest food trends of 2023 will be, then read on to find out more!
The Covid-19 pandemic saw a huge increase in health and eco-consciousness amongst the public, with consumers actively seeking out foods that were good for them and the planet a like. It is now no secret that the food system is one of the most damaging to our climate, with huge levels of carbon emissions coming from every stage of the value chain, from intensive fertiliser use in industrial farms, to food wastage in supermarkets. This means that sustainable eating has now focused its attention on regenerative agriculture that maximises low-impact resources and minimises the use of polluting fertilisers. Therefore, some of the hottest trends in 2023 will revolve around locality and seasonality, reducing the travel miles of our food as much as possible in an effort to support small-scale farmers focused on regenerative agriculture which supports our planet. Nomad chef Joshua Dickinson was well ahead of this incoming trend, and has been working on growing all of his ingredients for his menus from his permaculture farm in East Sussex, meaning that every dish he prepares for your dinner party has elements taken straight from the ground, grown with low-impact resources, limiting the carbon impact of his cooking! If you would love to throw a sustainable and seasonal dinner party in 2023, head over to the Nomad website to enquire with Josh today about his availability and menus!
In line with the growing trend of sustainable value chains and eating from local regenerative farmers in an effort to reduce the carbon impact of our food, a huge trend in 2023 will be more and more people turning to a plant-based diet in an effort to take the fight against climate change one step further by changing their dietary behaviours completely. With meat production being one of the least sustainable farming practices and less efficient uses of crops, pushing crops away from human consumption and towards animals to fuel our unsuitable behaviour, consumers in 2023 will look to switch out their beef steak for plant-based proteins such as Beyond Meats or legume alternatives such as lentils or chickpeas. With the focus turning towards veg as a suitable diet, we are likely to see a great amount of experimentation and colour with people attempting to recreate old favourites in plant-based formats, we are sure that your feed will be filled with friends attempting plant-based feasts! If you are experimenting with a plant-based lifestyle, then why not have one of our Nomads come treat you and your friends and family to a plant-based feast! Nomad Chef Abhilasha Chandak, a former MasterChef finalist has specialised in plant-based cooking throughout her whole culinary journey, blending traditional Indian flavours from her heritage and childhood with culinary revelations she has picked up on her world travels, so she would be the perfect chef for your next plant-based culinary adventure! Head over to the Nomad website to enquire with Abhilasha now!
In 2023 we are going to see a huge rise in demand for experiences, this means that consumers are willing to pay that little bit extra to have a memory they can cherish, over and beyond just going out to a restaurant or ordering in a takeaway. Not to toot our own horn, but private chef experiences will be all the rage this year with people wanting to move out of the passive role of traditional dining towards a “Chef’s Table” style meal where they can interact with the chef and learn from their culinary experiences. Not only will consumers crave an experience when it comes to food, they will want to see that experience completely personalised to themselves, in terms of the flavours they enjoy and the values of the chef or restaurant they are eating from. This trend will most definitely blur the lines between the food and health & wellness industry. Personalised nutrition platforms like ZOE will be popular in 2023 as people look to customise their food to their health needs. This seems to suggest that food in 2023 will mean the complete experience it entails, the story behind it and the chef that makes it, rather than just a meal on a plate.
Don’t get us wrong, while health consciousness is all the rage, giving up on indulgence is not on the cards any time soon! This means that traditional indulgent flavours made with low-sugar alternatives are going to be all the rage in 2023. The increasing attention given to gut health in the recent year will also mean that high-fibre alternatives to sugar will see a big uptake in 2023, so imagine fruit-sweetened desserts and oat-based baked goods when you start thinking about 2023 pudding selections! There are some great alternatives currently offered on the market like Gü Light or Coconut Collaborative chocolate pots, but if you are on the hunt for a low-sugar dessert for your next dinner party to really impress your guests, then head to the Nomad website to enquire with a Nomad Chef to see what they can whip up to wow your guests, they won’t even know its low sugar!
If you fancy trying out these new trends but don’t know where to start, and the thought of shopping, cooking, and cleaning is just a bit much post-Christmas rush, then head over to our website to browse our selection of chefs and enquire with them about a 2023 food trend dinner party! They will be able to incorporate these fantastic trends into opulent dinner party menus that will impress even your most trend-sceptical guest!


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Hawken making the jump to Steam Free-to-play
Meteor Entertainment and Adhesive Games have announced that their excellent free-to-play mech shooter Hawken will be moving onto Steam's free-to-play service.
In a new post on the Hawken blog they stated that they will be spending a large chunk of February transitioning the game to Steam and as a result they have taken down their servers to begin what will be a sizeable task.
Existing Hawken players are advised to uninstall the client from their PC and wait top be issued a Steam code via the email address they have linked to their Hawken account. This should reach existing Hawken players by the 11th of February.
- Battlefield: Hardline beta rumoured to begin next week
- New Heart Of Thorns expansion announced for Guild Wars 2
- Wikipedia arbitration committee bans five feminist editors from commenting on feminist articles over GamerGate
- Ubisoft in the process of deleting game keys fraudulently-acquired by resellers from UPlay
- Gearbox is now recruiting for developers to work on Borderlands 3
- DayZ passes the 3 million sales mark on Steam Early Access
- Planetside 2 sets a new Guinness World Record for the most players in an online FPS game
- Homeworld remasters look stunning, will be released next month
- Riot Games in talks with European ISPs over building a dedicated League Of Legends network


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Testing has begun in Charlotte, N.C., where the bank is headquartered. Reuters reports the bank is using technology from Paydiant, whose mobile payment solution is in trials with several banks. The system works by printing a QR Code on a receipt or price tag. It's scanned with an iPhone or some Android models and the transaction is launched. QR coding is just one method being studied.
Previously, Bank of America explored Near Field Communication (NFC) chips, but appears to be moving on to this technology that doesn't require special hardware, just a high-quality camera phone. Some Apple fans and industry analysts have expected Apple to adopt NFC, but it hasn't happened yet.


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It’s barely winter, but we’re looking ahead to Summer 2021! A recently renamed Utah waterpark is using the cold months for a complete overhaul, and you can get a Black Friday deal on next year’s season passes!
Casey Strong, with Splash Summit, shares the amazing deal. She shares what they have in store for next summer, and a great Christmas gift for the swimmers in your life.
For more information, visit www.splashsummit.com/blackfriday.


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Rock, an exhibition of seating designs that offer movement, will be on show at Twentytwentyone in London from 5 July. The exhibition shows a cross-section of over 20 designs from 1945 to present day. It aims to reflect the attitude of post-World War ll designers towards the concept of seating with movement. The exhibition includes designs by Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Verner Panton and Ron Arad and runs until 13 July. (Pictured, Body Raft by David Trubridge.)
The poverty-fighting charity has a new identity, as does its annual televised fundraiser Red Nose Day, in a bid to create a distinction between the organisation and the event.
We take at look at the design and representation of female characters in video games and ask if they are falling behind the real world in terms of gender equality.
South African annual design conference Design Indaba is just around the corner and we’ve picked out some of the most exciting talks to look out for.
LW Theatres has a new overarching brand, as well as unique sub-brands for the group’s six main London playhouses, which all have a typographic style influenced by the architecture of


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According to recent reports, Facebook is building a cryptocurrency in order to enable money transfers on WhatsApp.
Just over six months since Facebook Messenger’s top man, David Marcus, took over Facebook’s blockchain efforts, a new report from Bloomberg has revealed new details about the company’s latest developments in cryptocurrencies. The report shows that the Social Network is building a cryptocurrency designed to make it easier to transfer money on WhatsApp.
The cryptocurrency will reportedly focus on India and will be used to help Indian workers abroad send money home, as international transfers are expensive. Many other startups are already trying to solve this issue using cryptocurrencies.
Facebook’s efforts focus around creating a “stablecoin” based on the US dollar’s value to avoid the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Of course, this piece of news does not sum up Facebook’s efforts with blockchain – just a part of it. Marcus was brought in to look at “how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.” We really don’t know how far that will go.
As a reference, other recent attempts at creating a stablecoin have been fraught with failure and controversy, and there are currently around 120 other such projects in the works across the globe.
In any case, the report at least gives us a glimpse into something concrete that is coming out of Facebook’s efforts in this area. It doesn’t, however, guarantee if or when such efforts will actually produce a viable result.
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Update: The Realme X50 5G global variant has now appeared on the Geekbench database website, which confirms its 6GB RAM variant. Below is the Geekbench database screenshot for reference:
Original story follows…
Realme is reportedly working on launching its Realme X50 5G global variant on July 8, 2020 in Europe. The company has already started teasing the launch of the device (alongside the Realme Buds Q). While the most plausible theory suggests that the Realme X50 5G global variant should ideally be the same device which was launched in China back in January, we have been able to spot the device on the NBTC certification website with a different model number, which hints that there could be some potential differences between the one launched in China and the upcoming Realme X50 5G global variant. Nevertheless, the moniker of the device is now confirmed. Take a look at the NBTC certification for the Realme X50 5G global variant and find out what it has in store for us.
Realme X50 5G global variant passes NTBC
As seen in the NBTC certification authority website, the Realme X50 5G global variant (with the model number Realme RMX2144) has been certified in Thailand. For reference, the Realme X50 5G Chinese variant has the model number Realme RMX2051. Though we are not entirely sure, there could be some minute differences between the Chinese variant and the global variant of the Realme X50 5G. Given the brand’s track record in the past, we can expect the difference(s) to be as minimum as different memory variants as well. All this, however, is a set of speculations as of now and we cannot say for sure as to whether or not there will be some difference.
Speaking of the Chinese variant of the Realme X50 5G, the device comes with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor, which is paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The device features a 6.57-inch Full HD+ display with a dual punch-hole selfie camera setup. At the back, the Realme X50 sports a quadruple rear camera setup – 64MP + 12MP + 8MP + 2MP. To learn more about the Realme X50 5G, you can head to our previous coverage for the same.
What are your thoughts on the global variant of the Realme X50 5G? Do let us know in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading till the end of this article. For more such informative and exclusive tech content, like our Facebook page


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The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) is calling for DEFRA Secretary of State, Michael Gove, to look at the bigger picture when it comes to mobilising farm support payments. This follows Mr Gove’s announcement at this week’s NFU Conference where he pledged bridging payments will be made to claimants who have not received Countryside Stewardship 2018 payments by the end of March.
TFA farm policy adviser, Lynette Steel, said “The Secretary of State must recognise there are thousands of farmers who have yet to receive any form of support payments for 2018. Whether that be for BPS, Countryside Stewardship, or Environmental Stewardship. For Mr Gove to announce bridging payments for only one of these groups is only adding to the frustration that is facing farmers”.
“The RPA have been struggling to rectify problems with historic payment claims for Countryside Stewardship, whilst Environmental Stewardship payments have all but stopped following the responsibility for administration moving to the RPA last October,” said Lynette.
These payment delays are placing farming businesses under severe financial stress, as taking part in these schemes is not without cost and payments only provide farmers with income foregone.
“With rent demands now due for many tenant farmers, Mr Gove must commit to making bridging payments for all schemes starting with those individuals who have received neither payments under BPS or their agri-environment scheme,” said Lynette.


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Council invites bids to boost Princetown's economy
Posted on: 24 August 2012
Devon County Council has officially launched a new procurement exercise to breath new life into Princetown’s Duchy Square, and to boost the village’s economy.
The Council today has announced that it is welcoming bids from a potential tenant and that it is open to ideas about how the building could be run in future.
“The opportunities that this proposition presents are immense, to businesses, social enterprises, organisations or a consortium,” says Cllr Will Mumford, the Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for economy.
“The successful bid will need to demonstrate a robust and sustainable business plan that will bring clear benefits to the local Princetown economy.
“We will consider a mix of uses, be they for education, display, commercial, or retail use, or units for new businesses or office space. Anything that will contribute to the economic development of the town will be considered.”
The Council hopes that their offer to waive rental costs will encourage potential bidders to come forward. Operators of the building will be expected to meet the building’s running costs.
Through discussions with community and business representatives, and an online forum set up to crowd source ideas, several local businesses and organisations have shown an interest in using Duchy Square.
There will be an open day for registered participants on 11 September; full details are included in the invitation to tender.
The Council is asking for proposals to be made to www.devontenders.gov.uk, and returned not later than noon on Friday 12 October 2012, when the tender process closes.
Councillor Philip Sanders, local County Councillor for Yelverton Rural, said: “The building occupies a key site in the village centre, so bringing it back into use is an essential part of maintaining and boosting the local economy.”
So what is the offer?
Duchy Square has 15 purpose built units ranging in size from 10 to 30 square metres, as well as a retail area of approximately 60 square metres. It has a double height gallery/exhibition space of the same size, with a reception point and administration office.
Most of the units have IT/internet access points, sink and individual electric meters.
There’s also a large studio of 60 square metres on the first floor with a mezzanine overlooking the gallery.
Further details from the architects Gale and Snowden are here: http://devon.cc/d622f
The building was opened in 2009, and was used as a base for local artists, housing a gallery/exhibition space, training room and shop.Posted in: Business and Economy


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- WhatsApp’s foray into the digital payments landscape could potentially be a game-changer.
- WhatsApp's 400 million-plus user base, India could see a significant increase in digital payments.
- Digital payment usage is soaring in urban areas across the country.
It’s difficult to imagine a world where money didn’t exist and goods and services were simply exchanged. The charms of the good old days are lost upon us, with the barter system clearing the way for the emergence of physical currency - in the shape of gold, coins, and later - paper checks. Plastic was soon to replace paper and we witnessed the emergence of debit and credit cards. Hither to, the payments landscape has quickly metamorphosed to encompass digital wallets, mobile payments and more.
The new normal: UPI-based digital payments
Case in point, the rising scale and ubiquity of digital payments. From June, 2020 to June, 2021, the UPI-based payments have observed a stellar growth of 109% in value and 110% in volume, as per EY data. Furthermore, with the pandemic being a catalyst to the already growing e-commerce transactions, UPI-based payments emerged as one of the most preferred means for online transactions. In fact, digital wallets made up for 39.7% of e-commerce payments in India, as per a joint report by research firms Worldpay and FIS.
How WhatsApp Payments can be a game-changer
Digital payments space in India, which is already crowded with homegrown startups and international players alike, witnessed the entry of another strong global player, WhatsApp Payments. Given the sheer ubiquity of the platform, WhatsApp’s foray into the digital payments landscape could potentially be a game-changer. WhatsApp's 400 million-plus user base, India could see a significant increase in digital payments. Digital payment usage is soaring in urban areas across the country. Digital payments in rural India will be encouraged by the growing use of WhatsApp in these areas. While every other mobile user is on WhatsApp, bringing in the ease of money transfer while chatting, without even having to skip the window, completely elevates the convenience factor. In fact, the simple chatting feature is the edge that WhatsApp Payment has over its competitors that seldom extend an interactive feature.
Furthermore, following their association, Reliance Jio is helping Meta (previously Facebook) grow its WhatsApp payments in India. Jio recently hinted at WhatsApp Payments being heavily included in the ecosystem of services and offerings that it plans on creating. Furthermore, Reliance may integrate Jio Mart shopping app in WhatsApp. Given the sheer size and reach of these behemoths, every merchant, e-commerce platform, and other stakeholders in the payments landscape must look into leveraging WhatsApp Payments.
What it means for the merchants?
Google Pay two to three years to reach 70 million people in this country. As a result of WhatsApp's large user base, it has a significant advantage over the competition in this market. In the coming years, the digital payment ecosystem will see an increase in the number of partnerships formed. In rural areas where digital payment adoption is low, we will see vendors aggressively promoting digital payments. Vendors will also do a lot of work to enhance security and the customer experience. In the presence of so many options, it is crucial more than ever for merchants and e-commerce platforms to not get overwhelmed. The ease of interaction made available by WhatsApp Payments is certainly a feature worth exploring, especially if the brand is relying on social selling.
The need of the hour, however, is to closely observe the payment space and be in touch with the customers. Merchants and e-commerce platforms should understand the customer journeys and integrate features that will elevate the overall customer experience.
(The writer is Founder, FidyPay)
- Front Page
- Pure Politics
- ET Markets
- Apple: Need Solid Reason to Take Down Betting Apps
Apple has told Indian officials that it needs a "concrete reason or a legal requirement" to fully comply with the Centre’s directive to take down betting apps from its App Store, according to people directly aware of the matter.Political Stability Helping Drive Investments to India
Chip Bergh, the global chief executive of denim maker Levi Strauss & Co., said political stability has helped Indians stay optimistic about the future, driving consumer demand as well as investment by multinationals.FAME Electric 2-wheeler Beneficiary Tally Slashed
Nearly every second electric two-wheeler sold under the Centre’s ambitious ₹10,000-crore electric vehicle promotion scheme was based on false localisation claims, an investigation has found, said people with knowledge of the matter. This has prompted the government to slash its official sales tally, they said.
ETPrime stories of the day


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Investment from outside the UK in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire created or safeguarded over 1,000 jobs in the area over the last financial year, according to Government figures.
Local enterprise partnership chairman David Frost said the figures demonstrated how attracting overseas investment and driving up exports was vital to the local economy.
The figures released by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) show there were 11 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) successes in 2013/14, leading to the creation of 974 jobs and safeguarding a further 50.
This week, David met with delegates from an Indonesian clothing manufacturer which has been a customer of a Stafford-based business for nearly 10 years. The visit had been organised with UKTI and included civic leaders.
PT Metro Garmin is a supplier of clothing to many of the leading names on the UK high street. In 2005 it bought its first batch of seam tape from ATF Textiles, based in Milford near Stafford, and has been trading with the company ever since. The innovative product gives clothing a quality easy-care finish.
Company director Tony McNulty said: â€œSome time ago I was lucky enough to be invited to a formal reception held in honour of the Indonesian president during a state visit to the UK. The president spoke about the special and growing trade relationship between the two countries and the effort we should all make to encourage, promote and foster this valuable trading relationship. He reminded me that the UK had so much to offer and Indonesia much to gain if small and medium sized businesses on both sides could get together. This struck at the very heart of ATFâ€™s business strategy. We believe that good personal relationships supported by sound commercial practices are key to the promotion of business objectives.â€
Hendar Gunawan, general manager of PT Metro Garmin, said: â€œOur work is certainly made easier thanks to our relationship with ATF Textiles. In 2005 we were making 20,000 garments a month â€“ now weâ€™re making 800,000.â€
David Frost said: â€œThe hugely successful relationship between these two companies highlights how overseas trade and investment can really boost business on both sides. Each has their own expertise and brining this together has certainly paid off. â€œATFâ€™s success shows exporting can work for businesses of all sizes and this is something that the LEP is keen to promote. Any perceived barriers can be overcome with support from organisations like UKTI and I would urge businesses to find out more. This can make a real difference to our economy and lead to further job creation.â€


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TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — For the third time in seven years, General Motors is recalling cars that can leak oil and catch fire, sometimes damaging garages and houses.
GM says it’s recalling the cars because repairs from the first two recalls didn’t work. The company says more than 1,300 cars caught fire after being fixed.
The latest recall announced Tuesday covers 1.4 million cars dating to the 1997 model year. Some are so old that GM no longer sells the brands.
GM reports 19 minor injuries from the blazes.
Tuesday’s recall includes: the 1997-2004 Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal; the 2000-2004 Chevrolet Impala; the 1998 and 1999 Chevrolet Lumina and Oldsmobile Intrigue; and the 1998-2004 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. All have 3.8-liter V6 engines.


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World Trade Center Mumbai conducted a session on “Fostering Skills and Jobs through Trade Liberalization in Developing Economies’’ on 3rd October 2014 at WTO Public Forum 2014 which was held at the WTO headquarters in Geneva from October 1-3, 2014
The eminent panelist discussed various issues related to skills development for employment.
Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, WTC Mumbai and Director, WTCA Board, New York in his opening remarks said, all nations acknowledge the role of skills development through their own national policies. There is consensus that prioritizing education, lifelong learning, job training and skills development strategies are linked to growth strategies. According to Mr. Kalantri policies related to skills need to be tailored to suit the specific demands of the region and there should be continuous scaling up of skills among workers. Further, technological shifts across economic sectors need to be closely monitored in order to align jobs with specific skills.
Ms. Azita Berar Awad, Director, Employment Policy Department, ILO said in this era of accelerating technological and organizational change in the world of work in the global economy, it surely has to be a priority to strengthen systems to provide the type of skills and qualifications which in the end bridge the gap that exist between the world of education and training, on the one hand, and the world of work, on the other. Trade liberalization can widen the gap but also can be an important agent in making the needs for skills development more obvious. “Aid for Trade” has to broaden focus and to include investment in human resource development and labour market policies than only on physical infrastructure.
Mr. Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, CEO, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) said a McKinsey Report suggests that by 2020, the shortage of college educated workers will be 40 million, and for workers with secondary education with qualifications to work in labour intensive manufacturing or services the shortage will be 45 million.
Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal, Director of the Division of Business & Institutional Support and Chief, Business & Trade Facilitation Section International Trade Centre (ITC) said SMEs play a key role in creating the majority of the estimated 500 million new jobs needed by 2030. Therefore, ITC’s efforts are directed at creating conditions in which SMEs can survive and thrive.
ITC focuses all its technical interventions on supporting the international competitiveness of SMEs in developing countries, so that SMEs can rise up to the challenge and act as catalyst for job creation and growth.
Mr. Ken Ash, Director for Trade and Agriculture, OECD said, Trade openness can contribute to income and job growth but complementary policies are also needed. Global Value Chains magnify the costs of protection through Tariffs, Customs procedures, Goods standards and Services regulations. Countries and firms need to improve supply capacity to increase participation and obtain widespread benefits.
Prof. Joseph Francois, Managing Director (incoming), World Trade Institute, University of Bern said for emerging markets to achieve competency in exports there is a pressing need to develop supply chains which will reduce transaction costs. Trade liberalisation assists in developing competitive products. However, multiple regulatory systems pose barrier in growth which needs to be addressed.


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Slightly more time gaming than the average U.S. citizen watches TV
Marketing research firm NPD Group studied the gaming habits of 20,000 members of its consumer panel and found that the most avid group spends 48.5 hours per week playing computer games.
The study divided gamers into six groups. The most intense group, the “extreme gamers:”
— averaged 29 years old
— were mostly men (although one third were women!)
— played mostly on consoles
— purchased 24 games in the previous three months
— make up only four percent of the 174 million people who play computer games in the U.S.
The study also found that the average time spent playing games grew from 12.3 hours per week last year to 13 this year.
Computers and computerized equipment have massively changed life in one generation and stories like this are snapshots of those changes. You can draw a lot of conclusions from the facts, ranging from “That isn’t healthy! Why don’t they go outside and play?” to “Whoa! What a market!”
Here’s a whole different slant though. Our own Chris Boyd has made a career out of the gaming he loves. This is his take:
“I think I probably fall at the extreme end, probably clocking up somewhere between 5 to 8 hours a day gaming. I also use that time to explore console based exploits, scams and other shenanigans so hey, it’s all for the greater good.
“I’d also add that if it wasn’t for computer games (wow, remember when people still called them that?) I might not be working with tech or computers now. The Commodore Plus/4 blew me away when I realized I could program crude text adventure games on it, and the fun of pulling both machine and game apart continues to stay with me today. If I couldn’t have played games on it, I’d have probably used it as a doorstop and ended up selling double glazing or something.
“Also, the Dreamcast was the best console of all time.”
Tom Kelchner and Chris Boyd


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JB Hi-Fi (JBH) is a chain of electrical stores, selling leading brands of hi-fi, speakers, televisions, DVDs, cameras, car sound, home theatre, computers, white goods, portable audio and a variety of music, games and movies.
The company has been able to grow its sales over the last 5 years in what can only be described as one of the most difficult trading conditions for retailers in over 20 years.
JBH’s strategies for growth are simple: increase the number of stores, increase sales, and through that, increase profit.
JBH’s expansion is not only in the Australian market, but also in New Zealand. Since entering the New Zealand market in early 2007, it has opened 14 stores.
JBH’s 1H13 results impressed on several fronts. Sales for the six months to December 31 were $1.81 billion, up 3.1% on the prior corresponding half.
Net profit was $82.1 million, up 3% on the 1H12 result. The group also declared an interim dividend of 50 cents per share, fully franked. This equates to a solid yield of around 6.5% at current prices.
Perhaps the most surprising number released by JBH was its gross margin, which rose by 28 basis points. This number is made even more impressive when it is compared to competitor, Harvey Norman, whose gross margin dropped 260 basis points over the same period.
The operating environment for the retail sectors has been subdued over the last few years, but this appears to be abating. The latest release of the Westpac Consumer Sentiment survey, showed the consumer sentiment index rising 2% to 110.5 in February.
It is the highest level the index has reached since the end of 2010. A reading above 100 indicates that more consumers are optimistic about the economy rather than pessimistic, with the index having been in the positive territory for the past five months.
There are likely a few reasons for the uplift, with the RBA cutting the cash rate to 1.75% between November 2011 and December 2012, probably the key reason.
JBH’s 1H13 results showed sales growth and more importantly, expanding margins. While these expanding margins initially helped the company’s profitability, they will be more significant when industry wide sales growth return to trend.
Retail sales figures in January already have hinted of such a return, with an increase of 0.9% from December. Confirming these retail numbers, JBH noted that its sales climbed 11.7% during January (4.2% like-for-like sales growth).
With the consumer sentiment reading at all-time highs and sales growth starting the year off with such a strong number, we see a solid result ahead for JBH, which should translate to further share price appreciation.
JB Hi-Fi was issued as a share to buy to our members on March 27th, if you would like further information you can sign up for FREE share recommendations and access all our research files on not only JBH but all our current trading ideas. Simply click here and starting trading today, free for 7 days.


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JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's consumer inflation accelerated slightly in June as the weaker rand continued to exert upward pressure on fuel prices, but remained within the mid-target range of the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) – quelling fears of a possible rate hike.
Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that inflation rose 0.2 percent to 4.6 percent last month from 4.4 percent in May, with low food prices offsetting the effects of the higher fuel price.
Economists, however, said that the slight increase was unlikely to sway Sarb’s hand into undue hawkishness when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) delivers its interest rates decision this afternoon.
Investec’s Lara Hodes said that the market expected no change in the repo rate as the outlook remained relatively flat in the immediate term. Hodes said that the MPC would be more concerned with oil prices and the rand’s exchange rate against the dollar.
“We estimate that the longterm structural inflation rate in South Africa is around 5.5 percent year on year and continue to forecast a 25basis point (bp) hike in the repo rate in January 2019, with another in March 2019 and a further 25bp lift in 2020 in order to return South Africa’s interest rates to neutral levels,” Hodes said.
StatsSA said the transport price component, which rose from 5 percent in May to 7.3 percent year on year, was among the main reasons for the inflation acceleration. Food, rentals, vehicles and hotels categories reported the largest downside surprises, while inflation in public transport registered a higher-than-expected outcome during the period
Goods and services, however, rose 4.2 percent and 4.9 percent year on year, respectively. Elize Kruger, a senior economist at NKC African Economics, said yesterday that the inflation surprised on the downside, despite another month of hefty fuel price increases, which saw petrol and diesel prices rising 82 cents per litre and 85c per litre, respectively.
Kruger said the acceleration reflected benign underlying pricing pressures in the broader economy, but not enough to warrant a rate hike. “We forecast interest rates to remain unchanged at the current level for a prolonged period,” Kruger said.
Last month the central bank decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent, but flagged upside risks to the inflation outlook. Sarb also kept its forecast for gross domestic product growth unchanged at 1.7 percent for this year, but it changed the forecast for next year from 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent.
PwC economist Christie Viljoen said he expected the committee to raise concerns over recent price and exchange rate developments. He said the Reserve Bank could revise lower its economic growth projections for 2018.
Nedbank said in a note that inflation was expected to increase further in the coming months, with upward pressure likely to emanate from the residual effects of the increase in the VAT rate, higher fuel prices, an anticipated upturn in food prices and a mild depreciation in the value of the rand.
But the bank said that while it expected inflation to increase, it did not foresee a rise to above the Reserve Bank’s 6 percent upper target range for inflation over the next three years. Nedbank said the relatively benign inflation outlook and the still weak economy was likely to convince the MPC to delay hiking rates for as long as possible.
“We forecast that rates will remain unchanged for the rest of this year, before rising moderately late in 2019,” it said.
- BUSINESS REPORT


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LG Display has published a report for the last quarter of 2021. The South Korean manufacturer’s revenue from October to December was $7.34 billion, a record high. For comparison: in the fourth quarter of 2020, revenue was equal to 6.24 billion dollars, that is, an increase of 18%.
Operating income generated during the quarter was approximately $0.40 billion. A year ago, this figure was equal to 0.56 billion dollars.
The result of the reporting period was a net profit of $0.15 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the company managed to generate $0.51 billion in net profit. Thus, for the year, the net profit of LG Display fell 3.4 times.
Panels for computer monitors, laptops and tablets brought LG Display 42% of revenue. Panels for mobile and other devices account for 31%. The remaining 29% is the contribution of television panels.


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Bless Unleashed update (August 24, 2021) released on PC (Steam). According to the official Bless Unleashed patch notes, the latest hotfix added some minor changes and tweaks.
Previously, a big update added a long list of quality of life improvements and fixes. Unfortunately, since the release, players are facing several issues.
Bless Unleashed patch will fix a few of these issues. Read more details below.
Bless Unleased Patch Notes (August 24, 2021)
- Modified so that the field boss Ursa now drops crafting material items.
- Modified so that equipment effects that used to apply to nearby allies are now applied to the party.
- Fixed a bug where cases of other characters entering personal estates were found even though they weren’t supposed to.
- Fixed a bug where when resurrecting during lags, the Gold, Starseed, or Recovery Scrolls used for resurrecting were sometimes consumed multiple times.
- Performed fixes to reduce the amount of lag that occured when multiple players are fighting with a field boss.
- Performed fixes to reduce the amount of lag overall.
Download free Bless Unleashed patch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.


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Dating apps like Tinder and Woo can be stylish, but when it becomes major, it’s India’s matrimonial websites that nonetheless rule the roost.
As a testament to that, one of India’s earliest matchmaking portals is all set to release the first community supplying (IPO) on Indian bourses nowadays (Sept. 11). The 17-year-old Matrimony , which works website like BharatMatrimony , CommunityMatrimony , and EliteMatrimony , is looking to raise Rs500 crore ($78.3 million). These profits are going to be always payback financial overdrafts, pick land to build a new workplace in Chennai, that assist reinforce the presence into the $40 billion to 50 billion Indian event industry (paywall).
Chennai-based Matrimony may be the nation’s biggest matchmaking company by range tourist, based on news statistics fast comScore. It caters to more than 3.2 million people across their system of over 300 internet sites. Here is the providers’s second attempt at heading community, after they scrapped its past programs in December 2016, citing unfavourable marketplace conditions. Coming over per year after e-commerce firm Infibeam’s April 2016 getaway, Matrimony ’s IPO could be among the list of few by Indian online organizations.
Even though internet dating apps are getting traction, Matrimony ’s creator and President Murugavel Janakiraman feels arranged marriages are nevertheless standard, meaning there’s still-room for their company to develop, specifically as internet access grows.
“India try a strong matrimony market,” Janakiraman said, including that new-age dating programs are going to find it hard to making considerable earnings, considering that it’s challenging for women to make use of all of them. Matrimony , having said that, is one of the small amount of rewarding Indian web projects.
The serendipitous start
The idea for Matrimony appeared from inside the 1990s, whenever Janakiraman ended up being employing AT&T-Lucent in the usa. He had set up a residential area website to connect with various other Indians, and realized that it absolutely was the matrimony section that attracted the absolute most visitors. So, in 2000, he made a decision to change this into more substantial company, and returned to Chennai to begin Matrimony .
For many years, Indian arranged marriages has mostly come organized through classified advertisements, traditional wedding bureaus and brokers, or word-of-mouth recommendations of family. The most important internet based matchmaking portal, Shaadi , is established in 1996, establishing another period for your company.
Setting his providers aside, Janakiraman chose to focus on making it possible for consumers to search for partners from a wide range of religions, castes, dialects, and various other classes. The guy started with Tamilmatrimony and Telugumatrimony , and gradually extended into over 300 specialised websites, such as types for divorced group, mangliks (individuals with a particular astrological situation definitely considered to be negative for matrimony), physicians, and protection employees. Additionally, it runs a portal for affluent Indians called Elitematrimony , besides split web pages for Arabs, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis.
Today, Janakiraman mentioned, online matchmaking sites account fully for about 10per cent regarding the market in Asia. Even though rivals, such as Shaadi and Jeevansaathi (founded in 2004), provide community-based hunt, they don’t complement Matrimony ’s selection.
“We have already been tracking data since 2006, and because then, we’ve got 26 million users of one’s web sites,” Janakiraman mentioned. Bharatmatrimony ’s mobile app, launched last year, has experienced five million downloads.
Matrimony watched a 22% upsurge in the sheer number of users noted on the internet site last year, and Janikaraman expects this quantity to surge as access to the internet grows more inexpensive. It makes money largely through subscriptions—you can create a profile on the webpage free of charge but should be a paid affiliate to https://hookupdates.net/asian-dating-sites/ contact individuals you are considering. Account for Bharatmatrimony expenses Rs4,200 for a few months, while that on EliteMatrimony bills Rs50,000 for the same period and rises to Rs10 lakh for two years.
This past year, Matrimony generated Rs292 crore in profits making a return of Rs44 crore, Janakiraman informed Quartz. It offers thus far brought up Rs99 crore from Bessemer opportunity Partners, Mayfield, and JP Morgan Asset administration. These capital raising dealers will actually sell some of her bet through the IPO, the firm said within the red-herring prospectus.
Today, Matrimony is actually wishing to exceed matchmaking, using its brand to provide wedding-related providers, as well.
Early in the day this season, it started offering treatments like wedding ceremony photos, videography, and providing in Tamil Nadu, and intentions to begin the exact same various other states once the design was perfected, Janakiraman mentioned.


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The asset finance platform has released a novated leasing service for its network of brokers and dealers.
The platform’s new motor vehicle leasing offering is being made available on a ‘tick and flick’ referral basis for all current and future Nodifi partners, with the platform saying it will provide a “full service offering”, including end-to-end administration of a fully maintained lease.
According to Nodifi, the novated leasing offering comes as the platform prepares for the launch of its redeveloped origination platform, marketing solutions and a brand refresh.
Nodifi chief operating officer Tim Wells commented: “Novated leases add another string to our partner’s bow and should decrease the amount of deals lost to competing novated lease products – something which has been evident over the years.”
“It also sets a new standard within the industry, as we look to push the boundaries of what’s possible in this space. Innovation has always been at the forefront of our business and 2021 will be testament to this – we’re excited for what’s to come,” he said.
He concluded: “Our goal is simple: simplify asset finance for brokers and dealers.”
During the peak of COVID-19 last year, asset finance took a hit as consumer spending on personal finance reduced and focused on deposits and mortgages. However, asset finance has been ticking up recently. According to the latest lending data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the value of new loan commitments for fixed-term personal finance rose 13.2 per cent in November 2020, seasonally adjusted, mostly due to increased commitments for vehicles.
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A socially-minded cook is appealing for help to set up a cafe which rescues waste food and turns it into delicious meals.
Yvonne Phillips believes Macclesfield could sustain a successful social enterprise using goods that would otherwise have been thrown away by supermarkets, independent grocers and food banks.
She has now set up a Facebook group - Waste Food Cafe - to find like-minded people who
could help get the project off the ground. Yvonne, who works as a cook, said: “I am really passionate about food and the thought that it could be wasted, and in such large quantities, I find really upsetting and unsustainable in the long run.”
Yvonne, who lives on the Capesthorne estate, has been getting some guidance from The Real Junk Food Project, a charity with several cafes under its name serving food that would normally be wasted.
She said: “The first stage is to set up this Facebook page to determine if there are other like-minded people out there in the Macclesfield area who, like me, hate the idea of food being thrown away.
“I like the idea to set up a cafe to use that food for good. I want to start a discussion to see how it can be achieved.
“I am interested in a new cafe soon to open in Manchester, which plans a pay-as-you-feel model.
“I don’t know if that is sustainable, time will tell, but it is something worth looking at.”
Yvonne, 58, lives with her husband Peter and has two children and one grandchild.
She has worked in catering for many years.
Yvonne said: “I am a passionate cook and I am very socially minded. A cafe run using unwanted food would combine those passions.
“I realise it is a big project so I just want to take it slowly, step by step, getting plenty of help along the way. I have seen some mind-boggling statistics that approximately half of food is wasted by households and more food is thrown away than packaging.
“These statistics seem obscene to me.
“It’s not just about the waste incurred but the energy and resources needed to produce the food.
“So much is needlessly thrown away because people don’t understand what ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ mean on their food products.”
Anyone interested in helping can get in touch with Yvonne on 07746 694098 or Facebook.


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I rise to speak in opposition to the Chinese tariff bill being proposed by my colleague from New York. I understand the frustrations that motivated this legislation, and I share serious concerns over China's currency manipulation and trade practices. I have worked for years to ensure that trade happens and that free trade happens on a level playing field. We still have a long way to go.
The answer to these frustrations with China is not to start a trade war that will raise prices on many goods for American families at a time when they are already struggling, especially when this approach has already been tried and failed to gain any positive results for American workers. The absolute last thing our floundering economy needs right now is retaliatory tariffs on American products that will destroy more jobs. If we want to strengthen our currency, we should start by getting control of our own monetary policy. We don't need to start a trade war with China; we need to stop the class warfare that is preventing jobs from being created right here in America.
American workers are the best in the world, but they cannot fairly compete in a global economy when the U.S. Government is keeping one arm tied behind their back. The solution is to free American workers, not to try to tie up our competitors with more misguided policies that will hurt American families with higher prices on household goods. The U.S. Government needs to give American workers the freedom to work, and that freedom starts with the freedom to get a job.
If President Obama and the Democrats want to know who is preventing jobs from being created in America, all they have to do is look in the mirror. Let's be clear about a few things: Other countries are not threatening to massively raise taxes on our Nation's job creators and drive jobs overseas. President Obama is. Other countries did not jam through a health care takeover bill that is raising the cost of health care, making it harder for businesses to hire people and adding trillions of dollars to our national debt. The Democrats in Congress did. Other countries did not force us to pass the Dodd-Frank financial takeover with thousands of new regulations that are raising costs on American consumers and crippling businesses. Democrats in Congress did. Other countries are not writing hundreds of new regulatory rules that are destroying jobs in our Nation's energy sector and keeping us dependent on foreign oil. The administration's EPA is. Other countries are not blocking Boeing from creating thousands of American jobs in the State of South Carolina. The President's National Labor Relations Board is. Other countries are not forcing 28 U.S. States to require employees to join labor unions that make businesses less competitive. Democrats are the ones protecting labor bosses and hurting workers in America.
The Wall Street Journal has called this Chinese tariff bill ``the most dangerous trade legislation in many years,'' and for good reason. If we pass this bill, it is likely to spark a trade war. It is unlikely to create new jobs in America but will result in higher prices for U.S. consumers. Businesses will pay more for raw materials from China, which will increase prices on their goods and reduce employment. President Obama and the Democrats should know better after seeing the results of the tariff that was put on Chinese tires in 2009. In response, China retaliated with tariffs on American auto parts and poultry. This well-intended bill will have the same unintended results.
I understand the economic frustrations people have with China, but as so many of Obama's policies have done, this bill will only make things worse. This bill doesn't export the best of what American workers have to offer, it exports bad economics. Taxes and tariffs do not create jobs, competition and markets do. Freedom will work if we let it.
I urge the Senate to reject this bill and start helping American workers compete more freely here in America and around the world instead of simply trying to hold others back.
I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.


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Amazon began a pilot program to test some of its warehouse employees in Troutdale for the coronavirus this week, part of the company’s larger effort to address the outbreak.
“To promote the health and safety of our teams, we are launching a small-scale pilot of self-administered testing for COVID-19 at PDX9 starting April 29th,” the company wrote in an electronic message to employees Tuesday. PDX9 is the name of Amazon’s massive, 855,000-square-foot Troutdale distribution center.
Amazon announced earlier this month that it planned to develop internal testing capacity for the coronavirus. The Seattle company indicated it plans to build its own testing lab, a move far beyond its core business in e-commerce and data hosting.
Spokeswoman Rena Lunak indicated the Troutdale testing is part of that effort, along with other steps including masks for employees and checking workers’ temperatures.
“A next step might be regular testing of our employees, and we’ve started our first small-scale pilot,” Lunak wrote in an email Wednesday. “We don’t know exactly yet how it’s going to shape up, but we continue to believe it’s worth trying.”
Many companies are taking steps to contain the spread of coronavirus among their employees but it takes a company of Amazon’s size to build the resources to develop its own testing capacity.
In Amazon’s quarterly financial report Thursday, CEO Jeff Bezos said the company plans to spend “hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.”
The company said it has redirected a team of employees, from research scientists to software engineers, to focus on the testing program.
“The team is building its first lab and has begun a pilot to test front-line employees,” Amazon said in its quarterly report. The company said "we stand ready to share anything we learn.”
If Amazon’s testing succeeds in curbing the outbreak it could both help safeguard its employees and give the company a substantial competitive advantage by ensuring it can continue operating during the epidemic.
It’s not clear whether the testing underway in Troutdale is happening at Amazon facilities elsewhere and Lunak did not respond to a message seeking additional detail.
Amazon’s distribution networks in Oregon and around the world have continued to operate during the outbreak. The company has acknowledged infections among a number of its employees, including at least one in Oregon.
“Employees will be paid while participating in the testing,” according to the message to Troutdale workers, provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive by an Amazon employee.
“We know many will want to participate but selection will be determined through a roster system as we refine the testing process during this early phase,” the company wrote. “Our intention is to expand offerings to other employees on-site.”
Amazon said employees who test positive will receive up to two paid weeks off.
-- Mike Rogoway | firstname.lastname@example.org | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
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