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For CEDIA members, the day concluded with CEDIA revealing its new EMEA Board of Directors and announcing exciting industry news, including an accreditation with City & Guilds and its plan of creating a Smart Home Wiring Standard.
CEDIA revealed that 128 companies have joined the trade body in 2015 so far, bringing the total up to 714, its highest point ever for the region. International membership continues to grow, and the EMEA office now represents members across 40 countries.
This news comes after CEDIA revealed its major rebrand last month at the CEDIA Expo in Dallas. As part of CEDIA’s investment into a major awareness campaign to leverage better communication between integrators, manufacturers, distributors, specifiers and consumers, this new brand strategy and sophisticated visual identity will better represent both the industry and its membership to a wider and more relevant audience. In line with its new awareness campaign, CEDIA EMEA announced an investment with international marketing agency, Purestone, to push CEDIA’s message further into the specifier and consumer markets in 2016 and beyond.
CEDIA also revealed news on reaching its latest education milestone in being recognised by City and Guilds. This new development means that those who successfully complete either a Smart Home Technician or a Smart Home Designer pathway will receive a joint certification from CEDIA and City & Guilds and become accredited within this area.


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Kimberley Walsh transformed her look after stepping out without make up ahead of her Loose Women appearance today.
After arriving at the ITV studios in a casual black tracksuit and huge sunglasses, the Girls Aloud beauty slipped into something a little less comfortable
[ Related article: Cheryl Cole sends Twitter into meltdown as she proposes to Girls Aloud bandmate Kimberley Walsh ]
The Strictly Come Dancing star swapped the baggy Nike hoody for a quirky monochrome jumper and trouser combo that showed off her tiny waist and pert bum.
She teamed the patterned trousers with a pair of white round-toe heels, a Mulberry handbag and flash of bright orange lippie.
Kimberley ditched the ponytail and instead showed off her dip dye hair do before appearing on the lunchtime show to promote solo album, Centre Stage.
[ Related article: Former TOWIE star Maria Fowler strips half-naked for daring shoot, opens up about marriage and babies ]
We neeed that Moschino jumper in our lives.

domain: news


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At the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC.Cloud) 2021, Huawei launched six innovative products and services, including HUAWEI CLOUD CCE Turbo cloud container cluster, CloudIDE intelligent programming assistant, GaussDB (for openGauss) database, Trusted Intelligent Computing Service (TICS), Pangu Model (including the world’s largest Chinese NLP model and CV model), and infrastructure software for diversified computing. These six products deliver new levels of efficiency and quality to help developers push new frontiers. Huawei also announced a US$220 million investment into its Huawei Developer Program 2.0 this year. The Huawei Developer Program 2.0 will include the newly announced HUAWEI CLOUD Partner Innovation Program, Kunpeng OpenMind Project, and Ascend OpenMind Project. This rich package of support will help to continuously foster a robust ecosystem around HUAWEI CLOUD, Kunpeng, and Ascend.
HDC.Cloud 2021 takes place in the University Town in Shenzhen, China. The three-day event will feature keynote speeches, technical summits, training camps, code labs, developer carnivals, and a variety of forums featuring teachers, young talents, and Huawei luminaries. This event brings together the industry’s top minds, talent from the academia, as well as leaders from the developer ecosystem, together to discuss the latest trends in cloud, AI, computing, and open source.
Richard Yu, Executive Director of Huawei, and CEO of Huawei’s Cloud BU and Consumer Business Group, opened the event with a keynote speech. Yu said, “By 2025, 100% of enterprises around the globe will be utilizing cloud technology. Cloud is the future of the ICT industry and the foundation for enterprises’ digital transformation. Developers are the soul of the industry. Huawei will continue to open its technological innovation capabilities and work with developers and partners to accelerate the cloud and intelligent transformation of business.”
Since the release of the Huawei Developer Program in 2015, Huawei has been committed to a philosophy of open hardware, open source software, partner enablement, and talent development, as it works to build a constantly prosperous industry ecosystem. Up to now, HUAWEI CLOUD, Kunpeng, and Ascend have attracted 2.4 million developers. HUAWEI CLOUD IaaS ranks No. 2 in China and No. 5 in the world, making it the fastest-growing mainstream cloud vendor. Partner-shipped products based on the Kunpeng motherboard accounted for 52% of the total Kunpeng-based product shipment in 2020. Three open source communities, openEuler, openGauss, and MindSpore, have been built around operating systems, databases, and AI frameworks. These communities are now taking shape and thriving. Huawei has worked with the Ministry of Education of China to build an intelligent foundation for collaborative education of talent. To date, Huawei has worked with 72 universities in China, offering more than 1,000 courses, training more than 1,500 teachers, and the company plans to provide software development training to 3 million university developers over the next five years.
The annual event of Huawei’s ICT infrastructure business for global developers, the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC.Cloud) 2021 are held from April 24 to 26, 2021 in Shenzhen, a city on the South coast of China. Themed “You make all the difference”, this event brings together industry leaders, Huawei scientists, top experts, young talent, and developers to discuss the innovation and application of the latest ICT technologies, such as cloud, computing, and AI, across industries. Every developer has a part to play as the world surges forward towards an intelligent era. Every developer makes a real difference. For more information about the conference, visit: https://developer.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/HDC.Cloud2021.html.


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Even though Gov. Ron DeSantis has pulled back coronavirus restrictions in Florida, many Orlando stores and restaurants are planning to continue mandating masks and limits on how many people can be inside.
DeSantis on Friday removed capacity restrictions on bars and restaurants and prohibited local governments from collecting fines stemming from pandemic rules.
Yet, major retailers that include Publix and CVS have not changed their company-wide policies that customers wear masks. Likewise, local spots such as The Lovely Boutique Market in Audubon Park will continue to limit the number of shoppers inside and require masks.
“We as a business owner will stick with that until we say differently,” said Kimberly Hellstrom, The Lovely’s owner. “Our health is a lot more important than anything else."
In response to a question at a Clearwater news conference Tuesday, DeSantis said he was “confident restaurants want to have a safe environment.”
He said he would not allow businesses to be completely shut down but that he would defer to local governments who might want to limit capacity. His executive order says local governments would have to justify doing that before they could act.
Se7enbites, a breakfast and lunch spot on Primrose Drive in Orlando, posted on Facebook that it would continue its precautions, including that masks must be worn except for when people are seated and eating.
“We as the owners of our businesses have the right and the ethical responsibility to act in a manner we find fitting to our business, and we can make choices for our own business regardless of what allowances or rules are being lifted,” the Friday post said.
Trina Gregory-Propst, who owns the restaurant with her wife, Va Propst, said the post was about setting people’s expectations.
“It simply has to do with the health and safety of my staff and my building,” Gregory-Propst said.
Keeping the same rules also provides consistency for the staff at Se7enbites.
“That’s what we don’t want to have, to keep going back and forth with what is and isn’t going to happen,” Gregory-Propst said.
Darden Restaurants spokesman Rich Jeffers said there are no significant changes for the Orlando-based company that owns Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other chain restaurants.
“We will continue to follow the safety protocols we have in place, which follow CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines,” Jeffers said. “These include continuing to configure our dining rooms for social distancing, daily team member health monitoring, all team members wearing masks, frequent handwashing, and maintaining our enhanced cleaning procedures.”
Darden will also continue to “support local guidance on mask-wearing,” Jeffers said.
Orange County’s mask mandate never carried fines and remains in place. While DeSantis' order means Seminole and Osceola counties can’t fine people for not wearing masks, officials said neither had actually levied fines.
Shopping with masks
Lakeland-based Publix announced in July that shoppers would be required to wear masks at its more than 1,250 grocery stores.
CVS, which has more than 9,900 pharmacies, also said that month masks would be mandatory in its stores.
Neither retailer had changed their mask rules this week.
“We have made no changes to our current policies in light of the Phase 3 announcement,” said Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous.
At The Lovely Boutique Market, 21-year-old Brandon Dillen and his friend, 20-year-old Alana Fouché, liked that the shop was continuing its safety precautions.
“We can all live our lives as long as we all take the right precautions to do it,” Dillen said.
“It makes me want to shop there more,” Fouché added. “If they didn’t have it, I definitely would not want to be going inside and putting myself at risk."
Hellstrom said The Lovely will follow CDC guidance and continue to allow only 10 shoppers, with masks, in the store at a time.
“Until science tells me differently, we’re going to abide by the rules,” she said.


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Samsung was the first company to release a camera wrapped around a full version of the Android operating system. Now Japanese camera Company Nikon is looking to deliver a camera with smartphone capability.
All of the big camera brands, including Nikon, Panasonic with their Lumix cameras, Canon, Fuji Film and Pentax are under pressure as consumers choose a smartphone over a compact camera. Recently, Olympus announced it would pull out of the compact camera market. Now Nikon is hitting back with a new secret product that “will change the concept of cameras”, claims company President Makoto Kimura in an interview with Bloomberg.
Kimura claims that the “number of people taking snapshots is exploding” due to the growth in demand for smartphones that pack a camera. He says over 750 million smartphones were sold last year and the number is still rising. He claims this has impacted the company’s imaging division and expects that while high-end models with changeable lenses will rise by around 9 percent in the current financial year, compact camera sales will shrink 12 percent in the same time.
In combating this, Nikon is looking at other areas to work within. “We’ve centralized our ideas around cameras, but can change our approach to offer products to that bigger market,” said Kimura. “We want to create a product that will change the concept of cameras,” he claimed, continuing: “It could be a non-camera consumer product.”
When pressed further, Kimura declined to say if Nikon is creating its own mobile phone. He did admit that: “Rapid expansion of mobile devices is a change in the business environment given to us. Our task going forward is to find an answer to that change.”
The imaging division currently makes up 84 percent of operating income at the company, with the remainder coming from other businesses. Kimura suggests that Nikon may expand into the production of medical devices, with a view to generating revenue within three years, following similar moves by Sony and Canon into working with hospitals and medical device manufacturers, as well as Olympus and its endoscope production facilities.


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Developers to charge for Google Android apps
Google adds detail to plans to woo more developers, meaning all applications will no longer be free, as has been the case since the launch of its mobile apps store.
Google outlined plans to support priced applications through its Android apps store late last week.
The software firm had previously said it would allow developers to charge for applications sometime early in 2009, having offered only free applications since its launch in October last year.
But Eric Chu, programme manager for Google's Android mobile operating system (OS) platform, revealed in a blog posting last Friday that the days of all applications being free through its Android apps store were finally over.
UK and US developers can access consumer pricing and details of how to upload their applications from the Android market publisher website.
And, after paying a $25 (17.59) registration fee, UK publishers can go onto to charge between 50 pence and 100 for their applications without the approvals needed for the iPhone's App Store, for example. Although, applications already offered for free through the store cannot be charged for.
Chu said all transactions would go through the Google Checkout payment system and that US paid-for applications would available from the middle of this week.
The UK, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, and Spain will be able to offer priced applications later this quarter.
He added: "By the end of Q1 2009, we will announce support for developers in additional countries."
Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst Quocirca told IT PRO that developers would welcome the chance to try out a new channel to market for their applications.
"Application providers will look for a number of channels," he said. "Google may be a leviathan in terms of search and it's not nearly as big in the mobile arena, but developers like to cover all their bases."
Apple's equivalent iPhone store currently has over 15,000 applications available and the software firm has claimed consumers have downloaded over 500 million applications.
The Android Market currently offers more than 1,000 applications and Goole said thousands of developers had signed up to it. "Anybody that thinks Google is not a threat in this space should think again," added Tarzey.
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Do you always fly with your MacBook Pro? Well, things are about to change.
Apple recently issued a recall of more than four hundred thousand MacBook Pro laptops, because of its ability to overheat and become a fire risk. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) agreed with the suspicion as well and the affected laptops are presently banned from getting onto an aircraft as a carry-on and within checked luggage.
This recall has to do with about four hundred and thirty-two thousand MacBook Pro laptops that got sold between September 2015 and February 2017. Apple received a lot of reports saying the batteries in these models are masters of overheating and there were even cases of minor burns, a case of smoke inhalation and various rumours of little property damage. Let’s discuss how this affects you:
How can I know if my Macbook Pro has been banned from flying?
Apple recently worked on a page where users can type in their serial number to know if their MacBook Pro is one of the culprits. Users are told to first check if their model is a “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015),” and that information can be known by selecting “About this Mac” from the Apple logo menu on the top left of your display. If your model is exactly that, your serial no is the next thing to enter to find out if your iOS device has been recalled. Apple has disclosed that service on affected devices will only take 14 to 21 days.
Will I be allowed to fly with my Macbook Pro?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not clearly banned MacBook Pro laptops from your baggage, but that does not even need to happen. The FAA has banned any and every recalled lithium-ion batteries from entering an aircraft. Therefore, these recalled devices should not fly. This also happened with Samsung phones exploding years back, and that case is identical to this current one.
If a company recalls its batteries because of a possible fire hazard, those batteries are automatically banned from flying. FAA recently revealed that they are “aware of the recalled batteries that are used in some Apple MacBook Pro laptops” and they have reached out to the main American airlines about the devices.
However, it is not certain that TSA agents and airline workers will be able to tell the difference between a banned MacBook and one that is not banned without resorting to going through the process of checking the serial number. Meaning, the main work is on the Macbook owner to find out if the device has to be repaired. Before repair, it is risky to fly with it.


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Twitter’s continued, long-term efforts to make conversations easier to comply with and engage with on its platform is getting a boost with the corporate’s newest acquihire. The firm has picked up the crew behind Lightwell, a startup that had built a set of developer tools to construct interactive, narrative apps, for an undisclosed total. Lightwell’s founder and CEO, Suzanne Xie, is turning into a director of the product leading Twitter’s Conversations drive, with the rest of her small four-person crew assisting her on the conversations project.
The Twitter news was declared late yesterday by Lightwell itself and Twitter’s VP of product Keith Coleman. A Twitter spokesman further confirmed the contract in a short assertion today: “We’re excited to welcome Suzanne and her crew to Twitter to help drive forward the essential work we’re doing to serve the general public conversation,” he said. Twitter is on a product hiring push it appears.
This is more acquihire than hire: merely the Lightwell crew (of what looks like three individuals) is joining Twitter. The Lightwell product will no longer be built; however, it’s not going away, either. Xie noted in a separate Medium post that apps which have already been developed on the platform would continue to work.
After some years, Hullabalu saw an opportunity to package its technology and make it accessible as a platform for all developers, for use not just by different creators of kids’ content; however, advertisers and more. It appears the company moved at that time to make Lightwell its principal target.


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Why drink alone when you can drink with your pet?
The question comes from two competing start-ups in the unlikely product category of faux wine
for cats (and, to a lesser extent, dogs) that comes in miniature bottles with cutesy names. No alcohol
is involved (think liquid catnip). But already the company that brought its products to market first, Apollo Peak
— which calls itself “the original cat
winery” — is accusing its newer competitor, Pet
Winery, of being a copycat.
Both ran discount promotions for Valentine’s Day. Both have come up with clever names for their products: For $11.95, people can buy Fluffy an 8-ounce bottle of Catbernet or Pinot Meow from Apollo Peak, which is based in Denver.
Or for $14.95, they can pour 12 ounces of Meow & Chandon from Pet
Winery of Fort Myers, Florida.
can harm cats, these products are essentially catnip water, which can make a cat
loopy and an owner happy.
But based on a wine
tasting I conducted at a local cat
cafe-slash-adoption centre, the products are primarily catnip for the owners: The shelter cats did not like wines from either company — only two of them indulged — but the people visiting the tastings loved the concept.
“That’s the greatest thing ever,” said Savannah Thrasher, 23, a medical biller who was at the Cat
Town Café here. “It would be good if my cat
can enjoy wine
with me,” she said.
It all started two years ago when Brandon Zavala, the chief executive of Apollo Peak, “spawned the idea of wine
for cats out of nowhere”, he said. “A pet
is more like a friend, a roommate or a family member,”
he said. “Why are we just feeding them water?”
Zavala, 32, used to sell pet
food products and has been learning more about the business through his start-up. Initially he called his product a “snack beverage”. If he had not changed it to cat
wines, he said, “it wouldn’t have gone viral”.
He named his business for his cat, Apollo, and for the mountains of Denver.
Organic beets from California provide the colouring. The catnip comes from the higher elevations of Colorado. His small wine
bottles are sold online and in 200 stores, including T. J. Maxx and Marshalls. Zavala imbues his products with sayings like “Making Cats Great Again” and #whydrinkalone.
wines are the latest manifestation of a growing trend of pet
owners treating them like people.
Over the past 15 years, “the pet
market has been transformed by humanisation of pets”, said David Sprinkle, the research director at marketresearch.com. A survey his organisation conducted last year found that 62 per cent of cat
owners (and 64 per cent of dog owners) consider their pet
to be part of the family.
“The term ‘pet
parent’ has increasingly replaced ‘pet
owner’,” Sprinkle said. Cat
products and supplies make up 30 per cent of the $40-billion United States pet
market, excluding services, he said.
© 2017 New York Times News Service


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In our increasingly digital landscape, the discovery phase of online marketing is key to introducing a novel customer to your brand for the very first time. But, in a landscape filled with all sorts of distractions and digital disruptions – how can we plausibly determine that our online efforts of discovery and introducing a brand leads to an offline visit to your location. It’s a cause for concern – and the caveat of online marketing is the inability to track the customer journey from online interaction to in-store visit.
Google was aware of this pitfall – and has worked to amass deep-learning technologies and algorithms to accurately determine how online advertising drives in-person visits to brick and mortar locations.
Using anonymized location-based data, Google has taken on this task of merging the online and the offline by detailing and matching coordinates and boundaries of physical locations using services like Google Earth and Google Maps Street View to GPS on personal devices.
But what does this mean for advertisers and business owners?
For you, this means Google can estimate with 99% accuracy the actual number of foot traffic that enters your location after an ad click. And that’s pretty crazy.
How it works
Store visit data is based on anonymous, aggregated statistics.
“Recent mapping improvements include a refresh of Google Earth and Google Street View images to get up-to-date views of where buildings begin and end, as well as a global effort to scan WiFi strength in more buildings to determine business boundaries.
Google surveys some users to verify the locations they’ve visited and then reconciles that feedback against its predictions to continue training the models. In addition, Google says it now has teams that conduct in-person audits and site visits.” – Search Engine Land,
Using deep machine learning algorithms , along with access to anonymized data, individuals’ location histories, and precision-based extrapolations, Google Ads creates modeled numbers by using current and past data on the number of people who click or view your ads and later visit your location.
“We do this with machine learning at the core,” said Jerry Dischler, VP of product management for AdWords in an interview. “We couldn’t measure store visits without ML.”
What technology is used:
- Google Earth and Google Maps Street View data.
- Mapping of the coordinates and borders of hundreds of millions of stores globally.
- Wi-Fi signal strength in stores.
- GPS location signals.
- Google query data.
- Visit behavior.
- Panel of over 1 million opted-in users provides their on-ground location history validate data accuracy and inform the modeling.
What the data says about online ads influencing offline success
In just three years, Google says it has measured four billion store visits.
88% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a related store within a week.
According to a Google study titled “Google/Purchased Digital Diary: How Consumers Solve Their Needs In the Moment”
- 7 in 10 smartphone owners who make an in-store purchase take a relevant action on their phone prior to purchase
- People who click on an advertiser’s Google search ad before visiting a store are over 25% more likely to buy something there
- They also spend over 10% more on average
Nissan has referred to in-store visits as a “holy grail” of online marketing – with most buyers in the automotive industry wanting to visit a showroom before a purchase.
Marc Palmer, Nissan UK Marketing Manager said, “Now we are able to find out that someone searched for us and then they went and bought a car – that’s kind of getting close to the Holy Grail.”
And who are we to argue with Nissan, we think they know a thing or two about success.
Who Can Use Google In-Store Visits?
According to Google Ads, these are the requirements to be eligible for this Google Ads tool:
- Have multiple physical store locations in eligible countries. Ask your account representative if store visit conversions are available in your location.
- Receive thousands of ad clicks and viewable impressions.
- Have a Google My Business account linked to your Google Ads account.
- Create each of your store locations in your Google My Business account.
- Have at least 90% of your linked locations verified in Google My Business.
- Ensure location extensions are active in your account.
- Have sufficient store visits data on the backend to attribute to ad click or viewable impressions traffic and pass our user privacy thresholds.
If you haven’t already incorporated Google in-store visits into your analytics, you can potentially be missing out on insightful data that can shed light on your Ad’s effectiveness. See if you’re eligible and start gathering the “holy grail” data.
Visit our SEM service page if you need help setting up your store visit tracking.
Matthew Capala is a seasoned digital marketing executive, founder/CEO of Alphametic, a Miami-based digital marketing agency, author of “The Psychology of a Website,” dynamic speaker, and entrepreneur.


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Interested in learning what's next for the gaming industry? Join gaming executives to discuss emerging parts of the industry this October at GamesBeat Summit Next. Learn more.
If you aren’t waiting for your Pebble smartwatch to come in the mail, you might be able to buy it at a local Best Buy store as soon as this Sunday.
According to 9to5Mac, which says it spoke with two Best Buy employees, the smartwatch is headed to the electronic retailer’s stores. It is unclear whether it will be available nationwide or only in a few specific locations. An employee also revealed a screenshot of Best Buy’s inventory system, which clearly shows a description of the product as the Pebble smartwatch, the department as “digital communications,” and the subcategory as “appcessories.” It also shows that the smartwatches will be in stock on July 7. However, this could mean that it will arrive in Best Buy’s warehouses that day and be available to the public later.
In May, Pebble received a $15 million first round of funding from Charles River Ventures soon after selling out nearly 85,000 preorders for the device on Kickstarter. At the time, the company said it would use the funding to hire more employees on the software engineering team and expand its developer program as well as meet more product-order needs. The funding might have helped give it the financial freedom to create enough units for Best Buy to sell them in its stores.
The Pebble is significant because it’s an early mover in “wearables” category of devices, which have received a lot of excitement recently, in particular with the rumored coming of Apple’s smartwatch as well as Google’s Glass project. [Editor’s note: We’re debating wearables at our MobileBeat event next week. But tickets soon!]
And it looks like in-store will be your only option to pick up the watch at Best Buy. No home delivery will be available, according to the inventory screenshot.
Today, Apple registered trademarks for its own rumored iWatch in Taiwan and Mexico after doing so earlier this month in Russia. The tech community has speculated that major tech companies such as Google and Apple are looking into making one of these watches as the market for wearables grows.
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If you happened to frequent Duboce Park in the Lower Haight in 2015, you might have encountered a trio of volunteers passing out samples of dog food. And not just any dog food, but recently cooked dog food using fresh and healthy ingredients, like carrots, spinach, brown rice, and fish oil.
Fast-forward to 2017 and that dog food pilot test is now a full-fledged, doctor-approved, subscription dog food company called Nom Nom Now that partners with adoption agencies across California. Based out of Oakland, Nom Nom Now ships one week’s worth of meals — which come in five flavors: Heartland Beef Mash, Tasty Turkey Fare, Chicken Chow-Wow, Porkalicious Potluck, and Egg and Veggie Medley — to pooches in eight states across the U.S. Put another way, it’s like Blue Apron for K-9s, except it’s precooked and less expensive.
Not that the trio behind Nom Nom Now planned it that way.
“I don’t think any of us expected to be cooking and selling dog food for a living,” says Nom Nom Now co-founder Nate Phillips, who was a developer for Google before switching careers.
It all started when Nate, his brother Zach, and his then-girlfriend-now-wife, Alex, decided to adopt dogs in 2014. Though the two brothers had grown up with dogs, it had been at least two decades since either had owned one, thanks to college, graduate school, and work.
Unsurprisingly, they did not leave empty-handed and came home with two Australian Shepherd puppies, which they named Harlee and Mim. The next thing they did was pay a visit to a pet store to stock up on food, and it was then that Nate realized “the pet food industry had barely changed since the 1980s. It was still basically all kibble in cans, listed with indecipherable ingredients and generic feeding instructions.”
Over the next few months, as they exposed their pups to the sites, sounds, and smells of San Francisco, they discovered they weren’t the only ones disgruntled with the available dog food options.
“The way most pet food is sold now is in a very top-down model,” Nate says. “A few big companies make most of the food, which gets made in huge manufacturing plants in the Midwest. It’s up to the consumers to figure out what they’re actually feeding their dog.”
When Zach’s dog got sick and had to be put on a fresh-food diet, the founders started thinking about creating their own alternative food source. With help from Dr. Justin Shmalberg, a clinician and professor at the University of Florida’s Small Animal Hospital, they developed the brand’s current five recipes, which Nate says are specially tailored to fit each dog’s dietary needs, wants, and desires.
“When someone signs up, we ask for information about the dog, which helps us understand their health risks and portioning,” Nate says. “We literally portion each meal down to the gram based on each dog’s weight and dietary needs.”
In terms of taste, each dish is dog-approved, and it’s not uncommon for Nom Nom Now to hear from customers about how much their dogs love the food or look forward to meal time. Other feedback they get is that dogs have more energy, as well as shinier coats, brighter eyes, and less compulsion to itch. And then there are the long-term benefits.
Because the meals are healthier and customized to each dog (say a dog has kidney issues, weight problems, or is prone to developing pancreatitis), Nom Nom Now helps mitigate visits to the vet. In other words, you might be spending more money buying Nom Nom Now than you would a regular ol’ can of wet dog food, but in the long run, you’ll be saving yourself a helluva lot of money in unnecessary vet bills.
Use code NOM50P to get half off your first order; nomnomnow.com
Check out more stories from the Beasts and Birds of S.F.:
When Pigs (Almost) Fly
A day in the life of LiLou, the first non-canine animal to be part of SFO’s Wag Brigade.
Pets Lap Up Luxury at Wag Hotels
Meanwhile, nearby homeless languish in poverty.
Hangin’ With Officer Edith
Animal Care and Control is a tough beat, but one semi-anonymous city employee’s social media accounts reveal unflagging dedication.
Pimp My Pup
Yap Stores in Ghirardelli Square makes hip and comfy threads for dogs.
The Birds, Beasts, and Snakes of San Francisco
Because humans aren’t the only creatures living in the Bay Area.


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Toshiba's 2013 TV Line-up: Cloudy with a chance of 4K
CES 2013 gave us a glimpse into Toshiba's entire line-up of 2013 HDTVs.
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It’s CES time again, and for us, that means getting a peek at the slew of new HDTVs slated to hit the market during 2013. One of our first stops along the way was Toshiba’s pre-CES cocktail mixer at Mandalay Bay, where there was much more on display than assorted charcuterie—we got a hands-on look at three of its new HDTV series for the coming year. It’s clear right off the bat that Toshiba has decided to slim-down rather than to bulk-up, and after the dizzying panoply of decked-out models in Samsung’s 2012 line-up, a more minimalist approach is really rather refreshing. In attempt to please a wider and more diverse audience, Toshiba’s launching just six new series for 2013, covering a wider array of screen sizes and feature sets than last year. That’s got to be a positive thing, right?
The breakdown is simple. The L1350 series consists of the lowest of the low-end; this line comes in glossy black, and it excludes both 3D capability and compatibility with Toshiba’s new smart platform (more on that below) as well. What’s most interesting about the L1350 is that, despite being a “bare bones” model, it comes in a 50-inch screen size (as well as 39, 32, 29, and 23). Those of you in-the-know might be thinking, “Those are some odd screen sizes.” You’re right! And it’s clearly an attempt to satisfy a niche market’s desire to fit a screen to an “exact” space. Furthermore, the 39 and 50-inch L1350s are full 1080p HD, another oddity for a low-end series.
Next up is the L2300 series. If you’re more fashion prone, this line's gunmetal, deco design might catch your eye, but it only comes in three screen sizes: 32, 39, and 50 inches.
Things don’t really get “interesting” until the next four series: L4300, L7300, L7350, and Toshiba’s Ultra High-Definition L9300 flagship. Each of these new lines features Toshiba’s new CloudTV smart platform, which (though still called ePortal) is purportedly a large improvement over last year’s iteration. We can’t say for sure just how new and improved the platform really is, but Toshiba certainly seemed excited about it. I spoke with Robert Ozamkan, who explained that Toshiba’s new platform would take advantage of many Samsung-esque abilities (not his words). Reportedly, the platform will be able to stream triple-A games, for example. It will also offer a built-in calendar, a photo album, a message board, and a number of other features that always leave us wondering, “Does anyone really use this stuff?” Admittedly, though—the wireless, trackpad-enabled keyboard that accompanies the L7300 series sounds alluring.
Perhaps the most interesting news of all involves the use of the Wi-Fi Alliance's Miracast standard, a peer-to-peer wireless program that allows for multi-device content sharing—and this is merely a ripple in a giant wave of smart-TV trends hitting the 2013 market. 3D, on the other hand, seems like less of a priority. Only the L7350 and the L9300 will be 3D-ready this year, and that's probably a smart move: 3D on smaller screen sizes is hardly viable, and the smaller of those two series is a whopping 58 inches.
The most exciting (and least consumer-friendly) series is, of course, the 4K L9300, Toshiba’s answer to the UHD showings from Sony, LG, and Samsung. Toshiba admitted readily that its 4K L9300 was meant for “early adopters.” The 84-inch monster we saw first-hand was impressive—the size alone is staggering—but Toshiba’s most interesting promise is that this 4K model can “upscale” regular old 1080p content to “appear 4K.” I don’t know about y’all, but that sounds a little suspicious to me. Expanded color gamuts are an iffy prospect (how vivid is too vivid?). Sure, it looked appropriate on the 64th floor of a Vegas hotel, but whether that will translate elsewhere (say, your living room) is yet to be determined.
Nevertheless, with the new CloudTV platform and a confident entry into the consumer 4K race, Toshiba may be hot on the heels of mass-volume maestros Samsung and LG. The 2013 models should be out by this summer, and we’ll be ready to separate the wheat from the chaff to find out how Toshiba’s new lineup will weigh-in against the competition.


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Texas Comptroller Susan Combs reported Wednesday that state sales tax revenue in February was $2.08 billion, up 3.7 percent compared to February 2012.
Combs will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts their March local sales tax allocations totaling $531.3 million — up 12.2 percent compared to March 2012 — and this includes $532,978 to Cooke County.
“Sales tax revenues continue to grow, but at a more moderate pace compared to recent months,” Combs said in a media release. “The latest increase was led by receipts from the construction and restaurant sectors. Collections from other major sectors such as oil and natural gas-related businesses and manufacturing remain at high levels.”
The payment of $532,978 is a 48 percent reduction compared to the March 2012 payment of $1,034,355.
The local breakdown follows: Gainesville received $483,196, a 44 percent reduction compared to March 2012; Lindsay received $7,273, an 18 percent increase; Muenster received $28,001, an 80 percent decrease; Oak Ridge received $5,391, a 0.55 percent decrease; and Valley View received $9,115, a 32 percent decrease.
The sales tax figures represent January sales reported by monthly tax filers as well as sales by businesses that report tax on a quarterly or annual basis.
For details of March sales tax allocations to individual cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose districts, visit www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/allocsum/compsum.html.


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"Everyone else is doing it, so why can't we?"
The consumer buying experience has shifted dramatically in recent years; both digitally and in-store, and buyers are increasingly allowed to take the controls. Subsequently, it should come as no surprise that financial institutions nationwide are jumping on the bandwagon. Brick and mortar FIs are further compelled to re-evaluate how they do business by bank substitutes and e-commerce hopefuls who are shaking up standard operating procedures.
From small businesses to e-commerce giants – including Amazon, as reported by The Wall Street Journal – more companies are dipping their toes into the self-checkout waters. The reasons are both fairly straightforward and multifaceted. Digitizing this staple function reduces the cost of overhead, cuts wait times – which improves customer satisfaction – and aligns with technological trends.
"50% of banking locations improve ATM functionalities mainly because their customers want it."
Banking is ahead of the curve
Retail banks and credit unions have long been riding the self-service bandwagon, and show no signs of jumping off anytime soon. In fact, as far as ATMs are concerned, nearly two-thirds of bank branches and credit unions expect to increase their usage of them over the next few years, according to research conducted by ATM Marketplace.
Why? Because that's what account holders want. In the study, close to 50 percent of banking locations said their bid to improve ATM functionality and technology was primarily driven by customer demands; thus the emergence of hybrid ATMs and ITMs/advanced automation.
It isn't just branch equipment that customers want more from. The same goes for online banking, and the latter continues to play an important role in omnichannel access. According to polling by Accenture, approximately 66 percent of respondents said online banking was their preferred channel for conducting financial transactions. And while customers want both physical and online banking capabilities, if forced to choose between the two, 53 percent of Americans would rather give up personal banking than digital, based on a 2015 Gallup survey.
Retail banks need to fight for their place with consumers. As digital evolves with self-service, brick and mortar must follow. Just as branches must be all things to all people, so too do your self-service offerings. For instance, it's not enough for ATMs to dispense bills in various denominations. They should also provide cash recycling capabilities, deposits, bill payments and mobile phone functionality. In short, the more the better.
KAL ATM Software CEO Aravinda Korala said banks and credit unions can't afford to play catch-up. They must be ever cognizant of how customers are reacting to self-service technologies on a real-time basis. This is especially true for banks that are downsizing.
"You need to be able to support those customers with all this self-service machine functionality that replaces a full service branch, and of course make sure that the support provided ensures the best possible customer experience," Korala advised.
Engagement is key
Do-it-yourself doesn't mean setting up a self-service portal and tossing it over to customers without explanation or support. The key is making sure that self-service capabilities supplement existing service capabilities, not supplant them. This, in turn, fosters greater engagement with financial services and planning.
In other words, financial institutions need to provide regulars and new account holders with as many transaction capabilities as possible so that they're fully involved in the process, and complement that with appropriate support. Furthermore, these efforts need to target all customers.
Some are of the mindset that millennials aren't worth the effort and investment, not having much in the way of personal assets. But studies suggest otherwise. On average, millennials keep 70 percent of their income with their primary bank, according to Gallup polling. This compared to 64 percent of Generation X and 61 percent of baby boomers. Additionally, 14 percent of millennials have investable assets of $100,000 or more. And while customers of all ages are important, courting millennials is particularly crucial, given that this generation is poised to top baby boomers in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center. And as some of the aforementioned polls have noted, millennials by and large seek out self-service banking capabilities.
"Brick-and-mortar facilities further the rise of digital and self-service banking."
Combination of brick-and-mortar and self-service
Frederic Jacques, an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, noted that while it may seem counterintuitive, brick-and-mortar facilities actually help further the rise of digital but must also embrace the opportunity to differentiate the branch experience with technology like self-service.
"In an increasingly digital world, bank executives must rethink the branch and the services it offers," Jacques wrote. "The physical network can still play a critical role in building trust and credibility, providing financial advisory services, offering convenience, and assisting in the transition to digital channels. Getting the operating model within the branch right will be critical to a bank's success with its customers."
Banks and credit unions must respond to their customers' increasingly high expectations, and need to implement an omnichannel strategy that's responsive. Transformation and automation are a BranchServ specialty. From the LTA-350 cash recycler to state-of-the-art ATMs like the 7600T to advanced automation/ITMs like the MX8800, our products and services are future focused and user friendly.


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TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Raymond J. Lesniak that would bring consumer protections and transparency to ticket sales for events such as concerts, games, shows and exhibits and encourage a more open market in New Jersey’s ticket-selling industry was approved today by the Senate Commerce Committee.
“Fans and spectators from around New Jersey look to ticket retailers to provide them with entrance to their favorite concerts, comedy shows or sporting events. Unfortunately ticket retailers have adopted practices that close the market – making their companies virtual monopolies – and that deceptively lure consumers into thinking they have a fair shot at buying tickets at face value,” said Senator Lesniak, D-Union. “And as the secondary ticket market has grown to an estimated $3 billion a year industry, many within the ticket industry see the ticket resale business as an opportunity for huge revenue gains. It is important that we ensure that the market remains open, transparent and competitive for all interested parties from the corporate giants of the event ticketing industry to the individual with a single ticket to sell.”


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Tetsuya Mizuguchi, head of Sega's United Game Artists development house gave Dreamcast owners a big scare during Sega's E3 press event today. Mizuguchi addressed the crowd with regards to his mysterious, and yet untitled, K-Project.
In addition to describing the game, Mizuguchi mentioned that when the game launches this Fall, it will be the first original PS2 game published by Sega. We were expecting some mention of the Dreamcast version, but got nothing. So we were left wondering, had K-Project joined the likes of House of the Dead 3 and Jet Grind Radio Future as a Dreamcast game that had been "quietly" cancelled?
Thankfully, the answer seems to be no. We spoke to Mizuguchi following his speech and learned that K-Project is still coming to the Dreamcast, although as previously mentioned on this site, the PS2 version will precede it. Furthermore, Mizuguchi also confirmed that the sequel to Space Channel 5 is also still on the way to Dreamcast, in addition to PS2.
Dreamcast fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
-- Anoop Gantayat, Contributor


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In a new twist that is probably a sign of the times in the U.S. economy, a 347-acre golf course in Illinois will be sold by auction Feb. 21.
Though it might be just a clever way to attract free publicity for the auction, the company handling the sale issued a news release speculating that the buyer may not be collecting memberships and green fees.
“Crane Creek has a loyal customer base of area golfers, but farmland is in high demand right now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if someone chose to convert the course back to agriculture,” said Murray Wise, CEO of the auction company.
Before the golf course was built, the property had been used for a Christmas tree farm, and it includes 40 acres that are mostly tillable now. Another 61 acres of pasture and timber are already in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.
“Much of the golf course land per se would make excellent pasture and is also suitable for hunting and recreation,” Wise said.
The sale comes as U.S. farmland prices are reaching unprecedented levels, driven by high corn prices and low interest rates. Farmland prices in Iowa have risen by 261 per cent since 2000, and some land recently traded for $20,000 per acre.


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November 08, 2019
Gold tepid on trade respite, set for biggest weekly fall in 2 and half yrs
(Reuters) - Gold prices were tepid on Friday, after dropping up to 2% in the previous session, as hopes of headway in the Sino-U.S. trade deal boosted risk-on sentiment, denting the bullion's appeal.
World stocks rallied and the dollar index gained after officials on Thursday said that China and the United States have agreed to roll back tariffs on each others' goods as part of the first phase of a trade deal.
Spot gold was trading at 1,468.51 per ounce, as of 0335 GMT, poised for its biggest weekly drop since May 2017. In the previous session, prices dropped to their lowest in more than a month.
U.S. gold futures were up 0.2% at $1,469.80 per ounce.
"The market is coming to terms with the move that marked the breakout of the fairly long-standing range and finally gold seems to have made a move lower," said Ilya Spivak, a senior currency strategist at DailyFx.
However, the 'phase one' trade deal faced fierce internal opposition at the White House over concerns whether rolling back tariffs will give away U.S. leverage in the negotiations.
"The market has a lot of questions about this, and that's why ... even though there was a selloff, gold did not break below the lows in August," Spivak said.
"If there isn't any clarity, we will get a sideways range, if we get a clear 'no' - as all of the previous talks just ended in more tariffs, a lot of promises of a deal that came to nothing - gold will go higher. If the deal does look solid and there is a de-escalation, then gold will head lower."
Gold prices have risen about 14% so far this year mainly due to the protracted trade war that spurred global economic slowdown fears.
Reflecting sentiment, holdings in the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust dipped 0.16% on Thursday.
"Given the positivity that is reflected in equities and rates markets, the acknowledgement that things could just as easily take a turn for the worse appears to be expressed through gold positions at the moment," UBS said in a note.
"This raises the risk that further improvements towards a credible and comprehensive trade deal would trigger substantial unwinding in the gold market."
Elsewhere, silver dropped 0.5% to $17.03 per ounce, and was set to fall about 6% for the week - its steepest since July 2017.
Platinum fell 0.3% to $906.06 per ounce, poised for a more than 4% drop for the week. Palladium lost 0.2% to $1,797.87, and was headed for its worst week in five.


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Updated: August 21, 2017 10:52:52 am
Xiaomi is gearing up to launch Redmi Note 5A in Beijing, China on August 21. The event will take place at 7.30 pm Beijing time, which is around 5.00 pm in India. Redmi Note 5A has been leaked online quite a few times now, including images of the retail box for the smartphone. Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun had also posted pictures of the Redmi Note 5A on his official Weibo account.
In terms of expected features, the Redmi Note 5A will be more base variant of the Redmi Note 5 when that phone launches. Earlier retail boxes of Redmi Note 5A were shared online. According to the leaks, specifications of the Redmi Note 5A could be Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, though a variant will lesser storage and RAM is also likely.
Redmi Note 5 will have a single rear camera, if you go by the images shared on Lei Jun’s account, while the front camera will remain at 5MP. The new phone will likely run MIUI9 with Android 7.1 Nougat on top.
Meanwhile the actual Redmi Note 5 is expected to sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor with 3GB or 4GB RAM and 32GB or 64GB internal storage options. Xiaomi could also introduce Bluetooth 5.0 with the new Redmi Note 5 smartphone and a USB 3.0 compliant charger along with Quick Charge 4.0 technology. The battery will likely remain at 4100 mAh for Redmi Note 5, but it could be smaller in case of the Redmi Note 5A.
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 4 has been its most successful smartphone so far in the Indian market, and the company claims to have sold 2 million of these since launch. Redmi Note 4 and other phones in the Redmi series have helped Xiaomi remain at the second position in the Indian smartphone market. Xiaomi is gearing up to launch another smartphone in India soon, though this will likely be the Mi 5X. We’ll have to wait and see how soon the Redmi Note 5A makes it way to the Indian market.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.


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JA Solar Takes Stake in Ingot Maker in Settlement With M.Setek
JA Solar Holdings Co., the biggest maker of photovoltaic cells, will take control of a company making solar-grade mono-cystalline silicon ingots from polysilicon maker M.Setek Co. to settle a dispute.
JA Solar said its unit in Hong Kong will pay M.Setek 247 million yuan ($38.9 million) for its 65 percent stake in Hebei Ningjin Songgong Semiconductor Co. The transaction is due to close at the end of this year and requires clearance from the government and anti-monopoly regulators.
The transaction is part of an effort to settle a dispute that arose after the 2011 earthquake in Japan, when M.Setek’s polysilicon plant there was unable to supply the raw material to JA Solar.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at firstname.lastname@example.org
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions.


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ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County NAACP on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Crestwood seeking to block tax-increment financing for the city's $67 million mall redevelopment by challenging the legality of the TIF and the need to subsidize Dierbergs Markets’ construction of a new grocery store while other areas of the county are classified as food deserts.
Under construction for about a month ahead of the official groundbreaking last week and slated to open by mid-2023, the Crestwood Crossing development divides the former 46-acre Crestwood Plaza mall site at Watson and Sappington roads roughly into two halves: a $67 million retail development from St. Louis-based Dierbergs that will be anchored by one of the company's grocery stores, plus a new 81-home subdivision from McBride Homes. The project has $15 million in TIF that applies to the retail side, but not the subdivision. The mall was demolished in 2017 after closing its last store in 2013, and Dierbergs is the fourth developer during that time to propose a plan for the site.
Dierbergs, which is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, did not respond to a request for comment. But the city of Crestwood said in a statement that the redevelopment would continue despite the "frivolous" lawsuit.
The Crestwood TIF Commission began meeting in spring 2021 to consider a request from Dierbergs for $17 million in TIF, among other incentives. But after several meetings and ahead of a scheduled public hearing, Dierbergs said it would instead use the TIF that had previously been approved for the site in 2016 and never used by former owner UrbanStreet Group, which had proposed its own mixed-use redevelopment.
The county NAACP and another plaintiff, county NAACP President John Bowman, who is filing suit as a St. Louis County taxpayer, said in the lawsuit that the organization met with representatives of Crestwood and Dierbergs ahead of the scheduled public hearing and “voiced its concerns and urged Crestwood and Dierbergs to engage in equitable public policy decision-making and to forge an inclusive path forward to eradicate food deserts for all residents in St. Louis County.”
In a letter submitted as an exhibit that the NAACP said was given to the officials at the time, Bowman wrote that Dierbergs has 12 stores within 10 miles of Crestwood’s two ZIP codes, while the grocer has three stores in Ferguson and Spanish Lake. The U.S. Department of Agriculture classifies Spanish Lake and part of Ferguson as food deserts.
“We demand inclusion and a fresh commitment to providing St. Louis County’s underserved population access to fresh, healthy food through equitable development and an expansion of Dierbergs Markets’ locations into St. Louis County’s food deserts,” Bowman wrote, adding, “A community partnership with Dierbergs Markets would be a step in the right direction for equitable public policy and the eradication of food insecurities in our region.”
Read the rest of the story on the St. Louis Business Journal website.


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- Low interest rates are likely to remain because they boost consumer confidence and have a positive impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and businesses operating in the luxury industry.
- Even before the pandemic hit in 2019, 70 percent of small businesses in the US had outstanding debts.
- To help jumpstart its economy, China cut its benchmark lending rate for the second time in 2020 in April and has taken unprecedented steps to limit disruptions from the pandemic.
Central banks around the world are keeping their interest rates at ultra-low levels, and we forecast that President-elect Joe Biden will continue on this path as he tries to revive the economy.
As a general rule, low interest rates boost consumer confidence and have a positive impact on small/medium-sized enterprises (SME), borrowing companies, and even businesses operating in the luxury industry because they give middle-market consumers more disposable income to spend on luxury purchases.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit the US, almost 30 percent of US-based SMEs reported having no outstanding debt. However, 70 percent of small businesses actually did have outstanding debt. The situation turned even grimmer in 2020 after pandemic-related challenges arose.
“Small businesses constitute more than 90 percent of the global private sector, providing 70 percent of all jobs, and drive half the global economy,” according to The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). And the apparel and fashion industries depend on SMEs to offer “a vital source of employment and growth in the industry,” says the International Labor Organization (ILO).
But because of store closures and a drop in demand, SMEs had to cut production, sending an unprecedented number of workers into unemployment. The ILO estimates that somewhere between 440,000 to 880,000 workers in Viet Nam could face reduced hours or unemployment. In an extreme case, this figure could grow to 1.3 million workers. And in Myanmar, the lack of raw materials from China has significantly contributed to manufacturing decline and the closure of at least 20 factories.
But the economic outlook in advanced economies is not significantly better. “Based on current positions for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), 75 percent of publicly listed apparel and fashion companies in North America could find themselves with negative EBITDA or untenable net debt-to-EBITDA ratios after three-month store closures,” says McKinsey & Co.
The severe socio-economic implications of COVID-19 have pushed governments around the world to come up with stimulus plans that could protect jobs and restart economies. In this context, keeping interest rates at low levels seems like a viable solution.
In April, China cut its benchmark lending rate for the second time this year to help jump-start the economy. “The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) CNYLPR1Y=CFXS was lowered by 20 basis points (bps) to 3.85 percent from 4.05 percent previously, while the five-year LPR CNYLPR5Y=CFXS was cut by 10 bps to 4.65 percent from 4.75 percent,” Reuters reported.
Moreover, China has taken unprecedented steps in limiting disruptions from the pandemic and protecting SMEs from liquidity shortages. Nevertheless, an extended period of ultra-low interest rates could have some troublesome consequences.
For example, banks are tightening lending standards to protect against loan losses, as they expect risky borrowers to go out of business. That could curb borrowing and leave SMEs in financial distress. But SMEs that operate with limited cash flow are not the only ones sensitive to interest rates. In fact, even the expansion of e-commerce players and big retailers depends on interest rates.
Generally speaking, keeping rates at ultra-low levels translates into low earnings on bank deposits and savings, which means investors must reserve higher contributions to manage their portfolios and meet their investment objectives. And while low interest rates should encourage research and development, innovation strategies, and investments in new technologies, that is not always the case.
In August, China’s central bank warned of the risks of ultra-low interest rates in Western nations for the global economy, cautioning that they could lead to spill-over effects for other countries. With inflation levels having stayed below target for a long time, “low interest rates implemented in developed economies haven’t reached the desired effects,” said the People’s Bank of China in its quarterly monetary policy report.
According to PBOC, low interest rates have weakened bank profit and caused a credit crunch in some circumstances. The report also highlights that low interest rates could speed up “debt growth and overcapacity problems in the corporate sector.”
The Financial Post says that traditional brick-and-mortar industries have lost their competitive advantage in a low interest rate environment. “Low interest rates have lowered the cost of capital dramatically, while new technology has allowed for instant scaling among already established networks,” it states. “As a result, tech-based companies can run their businesses at a loss as long as they have access to inexpensive capital to fund rapid growth of recurring revenues.”


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Amazon has expanded its content deal with MGM and will take US streaming rights to hit drama series Vikings for its Prime Instant Video service.
Amazon’s UK and German service, Lovefilm, already has rights to the drama, which is produced and distributed by MGM. It performed well on US cable net History in a Sunday night slot following The Bible and a second season has been ordered.
The US streaming deal is part of a wider programming agreement between Amazon and MGM. It also covers a raft of the studio’s movies including Platoon, Annie Hall and Fargo, which is currently being adapted for TV by MGM.
Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon said: “Adding a collection of great MGM films, along with Vikings, is an example of how we’re continuously working to offer our Prime members some of the best content available anywhere.”


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The era of cosmetic animal testing is almost over. China is ready to revise its policy, meaning cosmetic brands wishing to enter the market have to eventually abandon animal testing. The regulations will come into life on January 1, 2021.
According to previous Chinese regulations, all cosmetics had to be tested on animals before they could be put on the market. However, some time ago, China’s National Administration of Medical Products began work on modernizing cosmetic safety. These changes will come into life after years of pressure from PETA. Changing regulations are a breakthrough that could have a profound impact on the entire beauty industry.


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Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones has people talking, whether it’s about the two significant deaths or the Starbucks coffee cup that may or may not have been left in the show on purpose. While all that was going Xbox teased an upcoming project with the hit HBO show that has fans wondering what could possibly be coming?
Could it be a game? A limited custom edition Xbox One X? Or both? Who knows but the folks at Xbox let gamers know to keep their eyes and ears open. In a Tweet, a video showed what seems to be an Xbox One X console covered in dragon scales with the symbol for the Targaryen symbol on top with the caption, “And now your wait begins. Stay tuned.”
Xbox is known for springing out custom consoles like the recently announced Godzilla: King of Monsters collaboration offering fans the chance to win consoles based on the upcoming films giant titans. So this next collaboration should surprise no one at all.
No further details have been released about the upcoming Game of Thrones project, but if it is a custom Xbox One X console and all signs point to that, it would be very cool if you could turn it on by saying DRACARYS. Stay tuned and be sure to tune into HBO for the last two episodes of GOT’s 8th and final season. According to Emilia Clarke episode 5 is supposed to be out of this world.
Photo: T3 Magazine / Getty


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Visionary Marketing Executive Will Lead Company’s Global Marketing as Software-Defined WAN solutions for the Enterprise Rise in Adoption
Aryaka®, the leading WAN as-a-Service company, announced today that Gary Sevounts will join the company’s leadership team as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Sevounts will spearhead Aryaka’s marketing efforts to expedite the company’s growth and will introduce next-generation marketing best practices.
Sevounts brings nearly 20 years of marketing executive expertise to Aryaka, as he has built multiple successful brands, award-winning products, and effective revenue generation models – from venture-backed startups to global corporations. He has extensive experience with software and SaaS products in the IT infrastructure and security space, having held marketing and product management leadership roles with a number of industry leaders.
Most recently, he served as CMO of Zetta.net, a cloud-based provider of data protection, backup and disaster recovery solutions. At Zetta, Sevounts positioned the company as a category leader with Gartner, IDC, Forrester and 451 Research and helped the company achieve over 1,000% growth in annual recurring revenue. He also transformed Zetta’s demand generation to a 100% inbound demand-generation model with zero cold calls. Prior to that, Sevounts held senior marketing leadership positions for Panda Security, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard and Quarterdeck.
“Aryaka is changing the face of enterprise networking,” said Sevounts. “With increasing globalization of IT and the rapid shift to SaaS applications in enterprises, Aryaka’s disruptive WAN as-a-Service and SaaS acceleration technologies position the company with key opportunities for dynamic growth in global markets.”
“Gary is a remarkable addition to our executive team,” said Shawn Farshchi, President and CEO of Aryaka. “Enterprises are quickly embracing the cloud for a wide variety of applications, and now they have started seeing value in cloud-based WANs to support and accelerate these applications globally. Aryaka created this industry way back in 2009 and is clearly a market leader in the software-defined WAN space. Gary’s track record in working with industry leaders has been exceptional, and his knowledge will be critical as we expand our efforts into new markets.”
Sevounts is well-versed in all aspects of SaaS, IT infrastructure, IT security and marketing execution. His experience includes working with the largest vertical markets, including financial services, healthcare, the Federal government, energy, telecom and retail. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering from the Armenian State Engineering University and earned his MBA from the British-Armenian School of International Business.
Aryaka is transforming how global enterprises connect sites and users worldwide, and use mission-critical applications to support modern business execution demands. Aryaka’s Global SD-WAN combines a purpose-built private network, SD-WAN, optimization and acceleration techniques, connectivity to cloud platforms, and network visibility in a single solution that is delivered as a service.


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Turkey's top television watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has specified permissible criteria for commercials to be shown during children's TV programs, which will bring limitations on junk food ads in the country, with the aim to promote healthier eating habits.
The new regulations will divide ads into red, orange and green categories, which will include a list of foods that will be prohibited to be shown during TV programs specifically made for children, based on a guideline prepared by the health ministry, Anadolu Agency reported.
Ads for foods in the red category, which include chocolate, candy, wafers, energy bars, packaged sauces and deserts, cakes, cookies, chips, fruit drinks, energy drinks, pops and popsicles will not be shown at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of children's TV programs.
The new regulation will especially affect advertisement shown on children's TV channels, which are flooded with junk food ads on a regular basis but will also include regular TV channels when they broadcast children's programs.
Ads for foods in the orange category, which include crackers, milk products, cereals, yogurt, cream, cheese, pizza, butter, bread, pasta, processed meat, chicken and fish products and other foods, will be allowed to be shown if they do not exceed the specified salt and sugar limits on the list.
Meanwhile, ads for foods in the green category will be allowed, as it contains healthy foods such as eggs, fruits, vegetables, legumes, plain milk and yogurt products.
The new regulations are expected to go into effect in the next two weeks, reports said.
Like other countries throughout the world, which deal with rising rates of obesity and other health problems related to unhealthy eating habits, Turkey's health ministry has been trying to raise awareness through campaigns aimed at promoting a healthier lifestyle.
The government has initiated a series of programs to tackle the increasing obesity rates in the country.


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Energy suppliers have been criticised for charging consumers who only use a small amount of energy over the odds.
An investigation by Times Money found that tens of thousands of low income households and pensioners who do not use a lot of energy have seen their fuel bills rise over the past five months, despite advertised price cuts.
The study found that price cuts were reducing bills for high users more than they were for consumers who actually conserve energy.
Low use consumers for energy suppliers Scottish and Southern Energy saw their energy bills rise by 1.5 per cent, or £10 per year, even though the company said it has cut the cost of gas by four per cent.
Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at industry watchdog Consumer Focus, said: "If companies don't pass on plummeting wholesale costs, post-increasing profits, aren't transparent and if no one can break in to their market, something is seriously wrong."
She added that the behaviour of Britain's main energy suppliers calls for serious scrutiny to prevent them from exploiting vulnerable consumers.
If you want to find out more about your energy options and how you could save up to £378 in minutes, click here.


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A class-action lawsuit filed by three Southern California port truck drivers claims that XPO Logistics used a deliberate scheme to misclassify their truck drivers as independent contractors, thus denying them the protections available to employees under California law.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, represents about 160 workers at XPO Logistics Cartage LLC by attorneys Julie Gutman Dickinson and C. Joe Sayas Jr. on Monday, Feb. 26.
The lawsuit alleges the company, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based XPO Logistics, routinely denied workers hourly wages even though the company treated the drivers like regular employees. Under the independent contractor model, employees are paid by the load, but must pay operational expenses including the use of tablet computers necessary to provide information about the hauls.
Plaintiffs are seeking unpaid wages and all compensation due, as well as declaratory relief, liquidated damages and permanent injunctions preventing XPO from continuing their current business practices.
The topic of working conditions for port truck drivers has been in the news since USA Today published an investigative report that looked at unfair labor practices in the Port of Los Angeles.
According to the lawsuit, there are several reasons XPO truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors.
The days and hours worked by drivers are controlled by the XPO dispatchers, the lawsuit said. To obtain work each day, drivers are required to check in with the XPO dispatchers at the start of the drivers’ work shift, at which time the driver is provided an initial load assignment. Throughout the course of the workday, the driver must continually contact the XPO dispatchers to receive further instructions on further assignments and is expected to continue working until all cargo loads have been pulled and may be denied further assignments if he or she stops working early.
The lawsuit also alleges that XPO uses electronics devices issued to drivers to monitor in real time the location, movement and status of drivers pulling loads for the company.
Angel Omar Alvarez, Alberto Rivera, and Fernando Ramirez are named as plaintiffs in the case. Dickinson said there are more than 160 plaintiffs in the class action. However, she expects more to be added.
The once union-dominated trucking industry was deregulated in the 1980s, and since then short-haul trucking near Southern California ports has become dominated by companies that use independent contractors. Los Angeles and Long Beach city councils have been grappling with how to address persistent complaints from truckers.
In recent years, the California Labor Commissioner has received hundreds of complaints regarding the misclassification of port truckers and has awarded more than $35 million in back wages and penalties.
The lawsuit asks for damages, compensation for back wages and requests that the company end the practice.


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Millennial railcard to launch next year offering a third off fares
Card for people aged 26-30 is expected to offer benefits similar to the 18-25 railcard but will only be available digitally
A new railcard for people aged 26-30 is to be launched early next year offering a third off most train fares as part of a wider government initiative to offer better deals for hard-pressed millennials.
It is understood that the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, is preparing to unveil a package of giveaways in his November budget aimed at shoring up support among younger voters, who have been among the hardest hit groups since the 2007-08 financial crisis.
Source: Guardian Transport


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By: Kieona GeorgeIn the past few years, conversations around mental health have become increasingly prominent on social media, and Wear Your Label has been involved in making these positive changes come about.
Wear Your Label is a Canadian-based company founded in 2014 that produces clothing aimed at helping customers recognize their personal strength, while raising awareness about mental health issues.
Kayley Reed, CEO and creative director of Wear Your Label, spends most of her days at work creating clothing with statements that make a difference, “What I do is work to build something I wish I had when I was going through my struggles,” says 24-year-old Reed.
As a brand that creates conversation, awareness and positivity from negative labels, Wear Your Label is dedicated to ending the stigma surrounding mental health.
The brand carries a variety of shirts, sweaters and hats that all carry some kind of message to raise awareness about mental health.
The products can be accessed on their website through gender-free categories, preaching positive statements like “It’s ok to not be ok,” and “Anxious & Courageous.”
“A lot of it [are] personal mantras or mottos that I wish that someone had told me when I was having a hard time,” says Reed who has her own experiences with mental illness.
In her final year of university, Reed and Wear Your Label co-founder Kyle Macnevin were tasked to create a youth engagement campaign for the mental health organization they were both volunteering at.
As fashion enthusiasts, Reed and Macnevin went on to design t-shirts to engage the youth in conversations about mental health.
“I had no idea I’d be starting a business,” says Reed. “What we thought was going to be a short, one-time campaign kept evolving and growing.”
From the “happy accident” that entered Reed into entrepreneurship, her focus is not financial, but instead a social impact.
Reed admits that while her business is quite challenging, her overall goal is what keeps her motivated, “If we are making a lot of money but have zero impact, my work is not done.”
In three years, the brand has been featured in major publications like Buzzfeed and Seventeen magazine. It has also partnered with lead organizations in the mental health community and received multiple awards for its social impact.
Reed explains that Wear Your Label’s customers are a following that understand mental health challenges.
Potential designs are sometimes polled on the brand’s Instagram story to see what inspires customers. She recalls instances where she would go online and talk to followers about vulnerability, feeling anxious and running a business. To Reed, it’s a personal connection between her and her customers.
That connection has saved the life of a customer. In an Instagram message, a customer relayed how receiving her order at the right moment inspired her to not commit suicide as she planned to earlier that day. With plans to hurt herself when she arrived home, the girl changed her mind because of the Wear Your Label package on her bed.
“It’s a story that I constantly remind myself of that we are actually doing something that really matters to a lot of people,” said Reed.
Wear Your Label continues to grow and is on its way to becoming a brand beyond tangible product.
What began as hand-printed products have now moved on to having shipping fulfillment with a manufacturer in L.A. and moving from its hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick to Montreal.
The expansion would be a sister brand to Wear Your Label to share curated content around self-care. “Making sure that it’s not only relatable and resourceful content,” explains Reed. “But also uplifting and not something that’s going to take you down further when you’re already feeling low.”
She noticed the trends in popular content about mental health like Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and To the Bone, which have been criticized for being damaging. Reed’s aim is to spread mental health stories in a way that is not triggering.
Sharing stories and connecting people have always been a main part of the company. Due to demand, the brand has post-secondary campus ambassadors across North America and some foreign countries who contribute to the blog, occasionally help with product design, and host events like a letter-writing party for Wear Your Label’s campaign, With Love.
With Love is a campaign where students write positive messages that are sent along with every order. Strangers, for example, can send positive messages from New York to Sydney. The campaign is currently working on how to better manage the huge amount of involvement they're seeing.
As the business expands, Reed is motivated to push the envelope of how the company will inspire people to take care of their mental health. Self-care, to her, is creating routines that balance aspects of life with wellness.
“Instead of avoiding the world by doing ‘self-care things' the focus should be taking care of yourself everyday so you can do the work you need to do to interact with your friends [and] be social,” she says.


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It’s been a minute since I’ve been able to write an article about Bikkuriman but god am I glad to be back in my element. Lotte’s long-running, massively successful confectionery line which contains a hyper-collectible seal per pack is back with an all-new collaboration, this time teaming up with the legendary Mobile Suit Gundam franchise to celebrate the series’ 40th anniversary. Much like previous Bikkuriman collections, Lotte made a brief announcement online before dropping the set at stores nationwide in Japan, featuring Bikkuriman’s iconic design embedded into the characters of Gundam that we all know and love. For anyone familiar with Bikkuriman, you’d already know that each time a collection is released it’s divided into two packet designs; this time, Lotte has opted to utilize this split packet design to represent both the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon.
While there are a number of modern-day Gundam fans who might not be familiar with the series’ origins, this latest collection seemingly exclusively covers the original Mobile Suit Gundam series — not too surprising given that this is what is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Given the fact that Bikkuriman themselves only just celebrated their 40th anniversary a couple of years ago, it’s great to see them working with Gundam for this collaboration. Of course, the brand is certainly no stranger to collaborations — previously teaming up with the likes of One Piece, Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball, and even going outside of the realm of anime with their work alongside legendary creative Hiroshi Fujiwara.
Available now in stores across Japan, whether you’re a fan of the confectionary or just a maniac for the seals like me, I’ll definitely be looking to complete my collection as soon as possible. Those interested in checking out additional information can head over to Lotte’s Bikkuriman official website.


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Photos Appear Of Unannounced Beats Studio Buds Worn By LeBron James
We’ve been hearing for a couple of weeks now that Apple and Beats plan to announce new Beats Studio Buds to the public at some point relatively soon. We also saw them go through the FCC this week, too. Now, basketball megastar LeBron James has appeared on Instagram actually wearing a pair of the new earbuds.
First reported by 9to5Mac, the earbuds photos appear on the @kingjames Instagram account along with some typically Instagram-y inspirational text.
No specific mention of the new earbuds was made, however. It does appear that these are the unannounced Beats Studio Buds, though.
From the distance the pictures were taken, it is hard to see the earbuds in detail, but they seem to have the Beats branding in the same place as shown by the images revealed by 9to5Mac. While the first images of the Beats Studio Buds that we found show a black model, the system files also indicate that there will be a red and white version — which looks like the one James is wearing.
It isn’t clear whether this is some sort of strange tease or if James simply wore these things in public before he was supposed to. Regardless, it’s good publicity for earbuds that will be very similar to Apple’s own AirPods offering.


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Cryptocurrency News Live Updates and Latest News: The Global crypto market has registered a broad recovery with an increasing correlation with the traditional markets. A buy sentiment can be spotted in the market after the release of the latest US CPI data.
The US inflation rate came out to be higher than expected. As per reports, the September CPI stood out to be 8.2%. Meanwhile, it was higher than the expected rate of 8.1%. However, the previous CPI rate was recorded to be 8.3%.
The cumulative crypto market is up by 3.5% over the past day.
Cryptocurrency News Live Updates
Bitcoin prices surge by 5%
Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto price has jumped by more than 5% in the last 24 hours. BTC is trading at an average price of $19,677, at the press time. This surge came after the release of the inflation data.
GTA to support crypto?
All kinds of rumors have been spread all over the internet alleging that much anticipated game GTA 6 will be supporting crypto as a reward system. However, if this turns out to be true then will be another boost for the crypto industry.
Justin Sun adds Millions of Huobi Token
Tron founder Justin Sun declared that he is holding tens of millions of Huobi tokens. As per reports, 74 million HT tokens were transferred from the two official wallets to two new addresses on October 13. Huobi token prices are up by 80% in the last 7 days.
Binance announces $500 million miner project
The world’s largest crypto exchange laid out the plan to help the crypto mining community. The Binance Pool declared that it will be launching a $500 million miner lending project in order to support BTC mining and other projects.
US Inflation data and Bitcoin price
Bitcoin Prices have jumped by 3.5% in the last 24 hours despite recording a higher inflation rate than expected.
BTC is trading at an average price of $19.6K. However, September’s inflation rate is calculated to be 8.2% which is higher than the expected rate of 8.1%.
The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.


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Exporters operating in the UK’s new freeports could be deemed in contravention of rules that safeguard a level playing field for trade, according to a new paper from the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO).
The paper, which analyses the extent to which the customs and tax benefits offered by the UK government’s freeports policy may hinder rather than help businesses’ export opportunities, finds that the tax reductions enjoyed by businesses operating in the sites could be viewed as export subsidies.
The reductions – among them stamp duty land tax relief, enhanced structured and buildings allowance, enhanced capital allowances and employer national insurance contributions rate relief – could be seen as an unfair advantage for firms manufacturing goods that are then exported. This could leave exporters open to counter measures being deployed by the UK’s trading partners under provisions in free trade agreements or the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the UKTPO says.
“Freeports currently offer few new benefits for UK exporters,” says Peter Holmes, UKTPO fellow. “And even where there are benefits, trade partners could use anti-subsidy measures to offset any perceived unfair advantage.”
This is not the first criticism to be levelled at the UK’s freeports. The Conservative government made a commitment to establishing the sites – areas that are inside the geographic boundary of a country, but are legally considered outside the country for customs purposes – in its 2019 election manifesto, as part of wider plans for post-Brexit Britain.
The March 2021 Budget announced eight freeports in England: East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth and South Devon, Solent, Teesside and Thames.
Almost immediately afterwards, the International Trade Committee, a cross-party parliamentary body that examines the spending, administration and policy of the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT), released findings from a year of research and consultation on the UK freeport policy. The committee concluded that benefits and savings to businesses were likely to be “limited”, especially given that the UK global tariff, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), and the rollover of continuity trade agreements already mean zero tariffs on more than half the UK’s imports, which would make the value of any tariff concession within the freeport “very low”.
A few months before the first freeports began operations – the Teesside site in November 2021 and the Thames freeport a month later – Emily Thornberry, who was at that time shadow secretary of state for foreign trade, wrote to then-secretary of state for foreign trade Liz Truss flagging up the inability of exporters operating in freeports to claim preferential access in many countries with which the UK had rolled-over pre-Brexit trade agreements. This was because those trade agreements contained so-called prohibition clauses deals, which prevent manufacturers who don’t pay duty on their imports from getting lower tariffs on their exports. In short, exporters located in freeports would be shut out of the benefits of free trade deals that contain the clauses.
To assess the scope of this issue, the UKTPO studied the UK’s current trade agreements, finding that only eight did not contain prohibitions on trade from free trade zones or restrictions on duty drawback. These eight include the UK’s pacts with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the EU – however the absence of an explicit prohibition clause may not be enough to protect exporters using freeports.
A key component of the EU-UK TCA is its “level playing field” requirement. Thrashed out over a series of increasingly terse negotiations between the two sides, the provisions are the most extensive seen in any free trade agreement to date, and require that preferential status can only apply where goods have been manufactured without the benefit of state aid or subsidy to the exporting party.
In order to give more certainty to exporters, and ensure that the UK government’s freeport policy has a better chance of meeting its stated aim of “turbo-charging” the country’s post-Brexit trade, the UKTPO calls for government negotiators to address these issues explicitly, either during free trade agreement negotiations, or if it is too late for that, during the implementation phase. Otherwise, UK exporters could find themselves entangled in disputes that will require international arbitration to resolve.
A request for comment made by GTR to the DIT, which is responsible for negotiating market access and trade deals, went unanswered.


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Apple's CEO Kicked off his Keynote Questioning How much Power the U.S. Government should have over our Data
On Saturday Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple's Replacement for the Unapologetically Plastic iPhone Debuts on Monday with a Proven Sexier Design." In that report we noted that "Of course Apple purposely timed the event to be one day before the FBI-Apple hearing begins on Tuesday, and while it would be nice to not hear about the politics du jour at a product event, more than likely Apple will address their case in some form or way to the millions that will be tuning into the live event. Whether it will be in the form of a short statement or in a carefully crafted video presentation is unknown at this time." To Apple's CEO Tim Cook's credit, he played his cards well on this topic today, as it was deadly measured to be brief and to the point.
Apple began their special event today with a little fun and a reminder that Apple will be turning 40 in a 40 second video about April 1, 2016.
Apple's CEO then told us that there is now more than one billion Apple devices in use around the world. And with that, Cook noted, "comes a significant responsibility. We built the iPhone for you, our customers. And we know that it is a deeply personal device. For many of us, the iPhone is an extension of ourselves. About a month ago we asked Americans across the country to join in a conversation. We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data – and over our privacy. I've been humbled and deeply grateful for the outpouring of support that we've received from Americans across the country, from all walks of life. We did not expect to be in this position at odds with our own government. But we believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and protect your privacy. We owe it to our customers and we owe it to our country. This is an issue that impacts all of us and we will not shrink from this responsibility."
Apple and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are due back in federal court tomorrow for a hearing that will decide whether Apple will have to write a special operating system that lets the government bypass existing security features. It's guaranteed to be a media circus. In fact, US magistrate Sheri Pym had issued minutes containing rules and guidelines for the hearing last Friday. It begins tomorrow at 1pm PT in the Riverside federal courthouse in California.
Update 6 p.m. PST: The case has now been delayed. See our follow-up report here.


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Is the Kia HabaNiro a real vehicle that is going to be made?
There are several vehicles in the new model lineup at the Classic Kia Carrollton showroom that rank among their class’ most fuel-efficient. Even though our manufacturing partners largely have a strong hold on fuel economy, that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking at continuing that dominance when the next set of technology is finally ready for mass production. So, is the Kia HabaNiro a real vehicle that is going to be made? Well, they say to never say never. The automaker’s newest concept vehicle does make an interesting case for being something that could show up at dealership’s around the country, including Classic Kia Carrollton, maybe. Let’s take a look.
READ MORE: How much insurance should I carry?
“We wanted this concept to be comfortable navigating city streets, carving turns on a coastal road and off-roading with confidence to remote wilderness adventures,” Tom Kearns, vice president of design for Kia Design Center America (KDCA), said in a press release. “We imagined a car for everyone and nearly everything. Then, when we saw the finished product, we were blown away by the imagination of the HabaNiro’screators and its laboratory of technology and we want it in our driveways. Today.”
As its name suggests, the Kia HabaNiro concept is a member of the existing Kia Niro family that has already gained a lot of attention from buyers and the automotive press. However, the company’s engineers have some very lofty goals for this spicy new electric vehicle. First, if the HabaNiro goes into production, it will be fully electric, feature all-wheel-drive and is aiming for an EV range of more than 300 miles.
In fact, the Kia HabaNiro has been conceived to deliver such impressive performance that it could eventually replace several vehicle platforms that we’re already familiar with.
As you can see from the photos, the HabaNiro will be unlike anything that is currently available from Kia or any of its competitors. It will be incredibly easy to get in and out of the new Kia concept thanks to its vertically-opening doors. Additionally, drivers will be able to get the most important information possible without taking their eyes off the road with its planned heads-up display that will encompass the entire windshield. This might not make it into production, but it’s really fun to think about the possibilities.
If you’d like to see what Classic Kia Carrollton has available right now, make an appointment to speak with one of our product experts today.


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Kendall and Kylie Jenner threw a party for their new collection, called Kendall + Kylie.
“Y’all know what it is! Y’all know what it is!” Tyga said confirming his plans to marry the 18-year-old.
The couple made their Instagram debut earlier this week.
Kylie Jenner just took narcissism to another level.
Kendall and Kylie Jenner will be at New York Fashion Week as designers this year.
Kardashian showed off her revenge body while her kid sister went for a soft glamorous look.
The Jenner sisters can no longer sell their PacSun-designed shirts after a lawsuit from a rival retailer.
Gloria Allred bashed OK! magazine for “sexualizing” a previously unidentified 14-year-old girl who came between Kylie Jenner and her rapper boyfriend, Tyga.
The 18-year-old reality star received the new ink last month, but left fans guessing as to its meaning.
Kylie, Kim and Kanye were all there, too.


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The importance of digital technologies in tourism, providing opportunities for innovation and preparing the sector for the future of work, is at the centre of World Tourism Day 2018, to be celebrated in Budapest, Hungary (27 September 2018).
In most cases, young Chinese tourists in Switzerland are not planning and booking their trips via local tour operators, but rather through online portals such as “Fliggy Shop".
According to data, 74.4% of international tour operators recorded an increase in bookings for this summer. This trend was also confirmed by ForwardKeys in terms of booked flights.
International tourist arrivals grew 6% in the first four months of 2018, compared to the same period last year, not only continuing the strong 2017 trend, but exceeding UNWTO’s forecast for 2018. Growth was led by Asia and the Pacific (+8%) and Europe (+7%). Africa (+6%), the Middle East (+4%) and the Americas (+3%) also recorded sound results.
In Spain there aren’t too many tourists, but the country is lacking tourism planning, says Professor Manuel Figuerola, director of the study, in response to those who believe that it is necessary to set a ceiling on the industry’s growth.
The arrivals of tourists in official accommodations should amount to 50.3 million, a million more than last year. Moreover, there is a positive trend in terms of source market growth for the Italian tourism.
As people in emerging markets see their disposable income increase, they are free to decide where to spend their holidays, where to study and where to do business abroad.
On a more micro scale, there are also many leisure-related businesses that rely on tourist income to make them profitable. Naturally, hotels and bars are obvious choices but there is another sector that is almost as reliant and that’s casinos.


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Its floral motifs and candy-coloured stripes, reminiscent of a Victorian country house, may have hailed from the hills of mid-Wales. However, Laura Ashley is moving deeper behind the former Iron Curtain.
The retail group, a stalwart of the middle classes that was founded 60 years ago, is opening its first store in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, in two weeks through a franchise partnership.
The group’s first shop in Poland opened this month and the brand will enter Estonia next month. Fifteen stores are earmarked for Russia, where it already has five, over the next three years, and Georgia is