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In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 file photo, a person displays Netflix on a tablet in North Andover, Mass. Stocks are down for many technology companies, including Netflix, which is down 25 percent since early March 2014. Elise Amendola, AP)
U.S. stock futures were trading in a narrow range after the long holiday weekend.
The Fiat Chrysler IPO that will result in the combined automaker’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange could take place on Oct. 13
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Alibaba Group Holding is about to unleash its giant IPO
Investors often are puzzled when a stock falls even after better-than-expected earnings. Here’s why it happens.
The performance of shares of U.S. companies that do a lot of business abroad has weakened since geopolitical risks ramped up after the downing of the Malaysia Air passenger in mid-July.
Auto merger clears another hurdle.
Boffo earnings, Apple buzz goose semiconductor maker’s stock.


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The global COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, reshaping the way we live, work, and interact. While its initial impact was profound, the changes it triggered have proven to be lasting and transformative. As societies adapted to the new realities, several key shifts emerged that have become integral parts of our post-pandemic world.
1. Remote Work Revolution
The pandemic thrust remote work into the spotlight, pushing companies to swiftly adopt virtual work setups. As a result, traditional office dynamics underwent a seismic shift. Remote work not only proved its feasibility but also highlighted the potential for increased productivity and work-life balance. Many businesses have embraced this trend, allowing employees to work from home at least part-time. This shift has led to reduced commute times, greater flexibility, and an expanded talent pool as geographic boundaries blurred.
2. Digital Transformation Acceleration
The pandemic expedited the adoption of digital technologies across various sectors. E-commerce, online education, telemedicine, and virtual events experienced exponential growth. This digital leap not only provided convenience but also created new economic opportunities. Small businesses that adapted to online platforms found new markets and customer bases, illustrating the permanence of this digital shift.
3. Hybrid Lifestyle Norms
The lines between personal and professional lives have become increasingly blurred. The hybrid lifestyle, combining work, leisure, and family time, has emerged as a new norm. People are now prioritising well-designed home spaces that accommodate work and relaxation. This shift has also led to a re-evaluation of urban living, with suburban areas seeing a resurgence in popularity due to their more spacious and nature-oriented environments.
4. Emphasis on Health and Well-being
The pandemic underscored the importance of health and well-being, prompting individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles and habits. From increased focus on mental health to renewed interest in outdoor activities, people are investing more time and effort into self-care. This trend has driven the demand for fitness equipment, wellness apps, and organic products, indicating a lasting change in consumer behaviour.
5. Rethinking Travel and Tourism
Travel and tourism underwent a complete overhaul, with international restrictions and health concerns reshaping the industry. People are now more inclined towards sustainable and local travel options, leading to the revival of lesser-known destinations. Additionally, technology-driven innovations, such as virtual tourism experiences, have emerged as alternatives to traditional travel, indicating a long-term shift in the way we explore the world.
6. The Reinvention of Education
The education sector experienced a seismic shift as schools and universities embraced online learning models. This forced experimentation led to the discovery of innovative teaching methods and greater accessibility to education. While in-person learning remains valuable, online components are likely to be integrated permanently, offering flexibility and catering to diverse learning styles.
The COVID-19 pandemic catalysed a series of changes that have irreversibly shaped our world. Remote work, digital transformation, hybrid lifestyles, health prioritisation, travel reimagining, and education reinvention are not fleeting trends but rather lasting shifts that have redefined our norms. As we navigate this new landscape, individuals, businesses, and societies must continue to adapt and innovate, leveraging these changes to create a more resilient and interconnected future. Embracing the permanence of these shifts will be crucial to thriving in the post-pandemic era.

domain: news


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Watch Dogs is the best selling game of May, Sony still in the lead
According to the NPD results for the month of May, Watch Dogs is holding the number one position when it comes to software sales. Overall sales for the month are considerably higher that they were in May 2013 with consumers spending $274 million just on games. This is a 57% increase from last year when they only spent $175. What’s more impressive however is the fact that the industry as a whole has seen an increase of 800%. According to the report “May 2014 launches sold 800 percent more in dollar sales than May 2013 launches did their respective launch months.” Watch Dogs has an important role to play in all of this and has contributed to both the sales of new games and to those of new consoles. Unsurprisingly, Ubisoft was “number one corporate publisher for the month.”
But we can’t give all the credit to just one successful title, there were other new releases that sold well last month. “After six months of declines, software rebounded in May 2013 driven by new launches such as Watch Dogs, Mario Kart 8, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan explains. The company only tracks new physical copies of games sold within the U.S. so no digital sales or games sold in other countries. This means that the results might not be 100% accurate, but they are enough to give us an idea about how the industry is doing. With that in mind let’s take a look at the top 10 best selling games of last month.
1. Watch Dogs (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PlayStation 3, PC)
2. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)
3. MLB 14: The Show (PS4, PS3, Vita)
4. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
5. Minecraft (360, PS3)
6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, Wii U)
7. NBA 2K14 (360, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, PC)
8. Titanfall (360, Xbox One, PC)
9. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
10. Call of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, PC, Wii U)
On the hardware side, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are all continuing to have good sales. Unfortunately the NPD doesn’t reveal statistics for individual consoles, but they did mention that Sony is still in the lead. “May 2014 marked the fifth consecutive month that Sony’s PlayStation 4 led hardware sales,” the company said. Combined hardware sales generated $187 million last month, that’s an increase of 95% compared to May 2013’s $96 million. These results are solid proof that the gaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries out there and I hope this growth will not slow down anytime soon. Stay tuned for more news and updates.


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According to a press release, Singapore customers will be able to enjoy Prime benefits including exclusive access to free two-hour delivery on orders over $40 and unlimited free global shipping on orders above $60.
The company declined to reveal the launch date of the Prime programme here.
These services would be sought now that the American retailer has ended its Free AmazonGlobal Saver Shipping service to Singapore.
But administrative assistant J. Tan, 38, said he was disappointed that items he had been eyeing, such as the Nintendo Switch game console, are not available through the Prime Now app and no longer qualify for free shipping on the U.S. store.
Singapore Prime members are also entitled to unlimited free worldwide shipping on orders above S$60 from Amazon US.
This launch will put pressure on Lazada, the e-commerce site owned by Alibaba, which is Amazon's primary competitor in Southeast Asia. But for a limited period, it will go for $2.99 a month, although Amazon did not specify for how long.
Another service available to Singapore's Amazon Prime subscribers is video streaming.
Prime membership in the USA costs US$10.99 a month or US$99 a year.
He added that Prime membership is "country-specific and not-transferable" so those with United States memberships are unable to use it locally, and that he encouraged Singaporeans "to leverage the Prime membership package developed specifically for Singapore".
"The Prime programme in every geography is custom designed for that region. Customers in Singapore have been enjoying ultra-fast delivery with Prime Now since July, and now, the introduction of Amazon Prime will take their shopping experience to the next level", said Jamil Ghani, vice president, Amazon Prime worldwide.
"We have been very encouraged by the strong response and adoption of Prime Now over the last several months", he added. They're getting Amazon Prime, but only for products that they purchase from Amazon in the USA some 9,000 odd miles away.
Prime membership is country-specific and not transferable, he added, meaning that those with US Prime memberships can not convert them to local ones.
Perhaps anticipating Amazon's move into the region, Lazada launched a service called LiveUp that integrated Uber and Netflix with its own e-commerce offerings.
La Ville de Paris avait dans un premier temps imaginé implanter cette salle à proximité immédiate de l'AccorHotels Arena (12e). Elle comportera 7.500 places et sera construite entre le boulevard es Maréchaux et la gare des Mines.
In May, he took over the theatre command from Lucky Irabor who is now coordinating the multinational joint task force (MNJTF). In June, barely a month after Ibrahim took over, Boko Haram insurgents attacked Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
The Pope made comments to a group of visiting Palestinians involved in inter-religious dialogue with the Vatican. Francis, former Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II all visited Israel and Palestinian territories.
A tweet that shows a supposed glimpse of a future without net neutrality is making the rounds online, but it isn't exactly true. A potential repeal could mean service providers could choose which websites can be accessed faster, and slow down others.
Wenger is planning to raise funds for his transfer kitty by offloading a number of fringe players over the next eight-months. Now, with the addition of Lacazette, it seems as if Walcott's time in North London is coming towards an end.
Découvrez le dernier trailer de la saison 4 de Black Mirror avec USS Callister grandement inspiré de Star Trek . Le show de Charlie Booker, acheté par Netflix en 2015 reviendra le 29 décembre 2017 . Ça promet.
L'utilisateur peut alors les revoir plus tard et en choisir certaines pour les mettre dans les Stories à la une. On va ainsi retrouver les archives et les Stories à la une , qui sont deux nouvelles fonctionnalités.
The Justice Department under Sessions, and DHS under Nielsen, will share in enforcing different portions of immigration law. Nielsen was the second woman to head this ministry after Janet Napolitano, who was in office from 2009 to 2013.
Plot to kill British prime minister May foiled
The men were arrested last week following a joint operation by MI5, the UK's counter-terrorism security service, and police. Officials said it was the 22nd foiled plot since March as hundreds of terrorist suspects remain under investigation.


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Luxury fashion brand Mulberry hatches growth plan for Japan as UK sales falter
Mulberry, which prides itself on making 50 per cent of all bags in Somerset, said sluggish sales were propped up by tourists spending more in London.
Losses at Mulberry widened to £0.6million, up from £0.5million a year earlier, while sales came in flat at £74.5million.
Luxury losses: Mulberry, which prides itself on making 50% of all its bags in Somerset, said sluggish sales were propped up by tourists spending more in London
The group blamed the losses on higher marketing spend and IT systems costs.
Mulberry recently struck a deal with Japanese company Onward Global Fashion to open five stores there. It is also increasing the number of stores in Hong Kong and China.
Despite the slowdown, Thierry Andretta, chief executive at Mulberry, said the company would not compromise on price.
'Our focus on full-price sales growth has delivered good results with new designs proving popular with customers,' he said.
'We continue to see strong demand from tourists in London and, while the UK remains uncertain, the group remains in a strong position to invest in developing the customer experience in key international markets and enhancing its UK design and manufacturing base.'
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8:59 AM Volkswagen (VLKAY.PK) continues to explore building out its dealer footprint in the U.S. after sales per franchise increased last year by 24% to 543. Last year, 90% of all dealers in the U.S. were profitable, but the German automaker still has a long way to go to reach its long-term goals in the U.S.
1:54 PM Volkswagen (VLKAY.PK) might add a another brand this year as part of a growth strategy, according to chairman Ferdinand Piech. If it does, look for the automaker to go small. Earlier this year, Volkswagen indicated a budget brand for emerging markets could be part of its plans. Read comments
About a month ago, there was a blurb in Transport Topics Online about VW considering buying a stake in NAV:
Volkswagen Considers Buying Stake in Navistar
Volkswagen is in the “early stages” of considering whether to purchase a stake in Navistar, the maker of International brand trucks, Reuters reported Monday.
Reuters cited the Financial Times Deutschland, which said the move would enable Volkswagen to enter the U.S. truck market and help it compete with Daimler Trucks, which owns the Freightliner and Western Star brands.
The paper did not say where it received the information, Reuters said.
Volkswagen currently controls truck makers Scania of Sweden and MAN SE of Germany.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that investor Carl Icahn had boosted his ownership in Navistar to 11.9%, from 10.6%. Icahn purchased an additional 883,200 shares at an average price of $24.44 each, Bloomberg said.
On Thursday, Navistar reported a $172 million second-quarter loss.


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Looking to recapture the speed title from rival AMD, Intel announced plans to ship 1GHz processors by the third quarter of the year.
The company also surprised industry officials attending the Intel Developer Forum by demonstrating for the first time its next-generation Willamette processor running at 1.5 GHz.
The 32-bit processor’s chipset, code-named Tehama, will support a 400MHz system bus and dual-channel RDRAM memory.
Intel has not said yet how fast Willamette will be at introduction, but officials said the company will increase its manufacturing capacity in order to ship “hundreds of thousands of units” by the end of the year. Meanwhile, limited numbers of its 1GHz Pentium III chip will begin shipping “shortly.”
Read the full story at www.zdnn.com.


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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL: Privately held manufacturing firms plan an average increase of 38.5% in PR spending next year as their senior managers begin to better understand the value of PR, according to a new study by manufacturing PR firm TR Cutler.
Respondents plan to cut expenditures for trade shows next year by an average of 39.9% and for print collateral material by an average of 34.5%.
Those funds will be shifted into PR spending and into web marketing, which will increase an average 30.5%, the survey found. The survey did not ask for expenditure amounts, only percentage changes.
Manufacturers plan to send out more press releases in the coming year - an average of 8.3 from September 2004 to September 2005 - compared with an average 3.1 in the prior 12-month period.
Manufacturers are increasing their internal PR staffs and using more outside PR help, the study revealed. A similar study by Cutler in 2002 found that 12% of privately owned manufacturing firms had internal PR staffs. That rose to 18% in the new survey.
Cutler found that while only 4% of privately owned manufacturers used outside PR firms in 2002, 7.2% used them this year.
The increasing use of PR by manufacturers can be attributed to a new generation of senior managers with broader educational backgrounds than their predecessors, said Thomas Cutler, president of TR Cutler.
The survey found that 31% of privately held manufacturing CEOs, presidents, and owners now have MBAs, as compared with only 18% in 2002. In the past, most senior executives came from engineering backgrounds and weren't familiar with the ability of PR to help build their brands, Cutler said.
Manufacturing CEOs today are "more well-versed. They get the efficacy of PR; they realize its part of the marketing process," he said.
Cutler surveyed 3,500 privately held manufacturing firms via e-mail in September and early October, receiving responses from 1,198 firms.


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On June 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an interpretive rule, encouraging states to enact more laws regulating consumer reporting, arguing that states’ powers are only constrained in limited ways by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The CFPB believes that states have the ability to enact state-level laws that are stricter than the FCRA, including outright prohibitions on reporting many kinds of truthful information about consumers, with only “limited preemption exceptions.”
The CFPB goes beyond, saying that states have the power to pass these laws, but encourages states to pass laws addressing state-level concerns. For example, the CFPB argues that states may wish to pass laws to prohibit reporting medical debt in a consumer report for a certain period of time after the debt was incurred, articulating its belief that “such a law would generally not be preempted.” Other examples of state laws the CFPB believes would not be preempted include a state law governing when a furnisher may begin reporting a consumer’s account (including medical debt); and a state law prohibiting a consumer reporting agency from including information (or certain types of information) about a consumer’s eviction, rental arrears, or arrests on a consumer report.
The CFPB’s rule argues that state laws that are more protective of consumers than the FCRA are not preempted unless they conflict with specific provisions of the FCRA. The CFPB argues that these conflicts will be on narrow, specific topics, and hence preemption will be narrow. As a result, the scope of permissible state regulation is broad.
The CFPB’s position can be viewed as a follow-up to the CFPB’s recent statements encouraging states to exercise their authority to enforce federal consumer protection laws.
If followed by the states, and by courts hearing preemption challenges to new state laws, the CFPB rule opens the door to more state-by-state regulation of the consumer reporting ecosystem. This regulation could include state laws that restrict the reporting of truthful information, even when permitted by the FCRA and other laws. For example, the CFPB has already questioned the reporting of medical debt, and uses state regulation of medical debt as a main example of permissible state action. It is significant for the CFPB to now also mention eviction records, rental arrears, and arrest records — all data that can be lawfully reported under the FCRA — as topics that the CFPB also believes the states can ban.
It should be noted that the CFPB’s position comes in the context of a long-standing debate in the courts of the scope of FCRA preemption, and the CFPB simply ignores the teachings from the developing case law. For example, multiple courts have broadly questioned the states’ ability to ban reporting of information permitted by the FCRA, while others have roughly aligned themselves with the view of the CFPB that preemption only arises when state law intrudes into consumer reporting questions that have been specifically addressed by the FCRA. In other words, the CFPB has joined the preemption fray, with no certainties in the results other than the promise of a more complex, and litigious, legal environment for consumer reporting, which is already bedeviled by plenty of legal complexity and litigation.


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My Delhi has had great success since it opened in Clayton Street in Newcastle in 2019, building up a firm following for its authentic street food and ambience of India’s capital city, and scooping awards in the prestigious Asian Curry Awards and the English Curry Awards.
Now, it’s been announced that the street food restaurant will take over an empty Sunderland city centre unit.
Although the exact location is being revealed in a couple of works, the owners of My Delhi say they already have the keys and that Sunderland can expect great things.
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Renovation works will begin soon at the new site, which will follow the theme of the original, but on a larger scale.
Brothers Elahi Shah Amin and Shah Amin and their family have decades of experience running restaurants and takeaways in the North East, but the siblings wanted to create a whole new concept for their My Delhi brand.
Elahi said: “We are all about the experience at My Delhi. It’s so important to us, we want to transport people to the streets of Delhi with our decor and food.
"When you come in you have the street songs, Bollywood posters, street art and a plasma screen showing Delhi street scenes. We work with a very talented interior designer, and you feel like you’re there. A lot of Indian people eat here and they say it makes them feel like they are in Delhi.”
Brother Shah said: “A lot of restaurants say they are authentic, but the food here really is how it is in Delhi. Our chefs are from Delhi and they make the food how it should be.”
The Sunderland city centre site will be double the size of the original My Delhi, which will continue to operate, and will be spread over two floors with a bar and a restaurant of up to 100 covers.
The expansion will create a minimum of 30 jobs in both the sit-in and take away side, and is expected to open this spring.
Elahi said: “The Newcastle restaurant has been so successful for us, and we were looking for the ideal location to expand. We are confident Sunderland is the place for it. We are so excited to build on what we have here and be part of the increasingly diverse dining scene in Sunderland.
"We really feel like the city is a sleeping giant with all the investment that is going on.”
The original My Delhi was on the cusp of celebrating its first birthday when the first lockdown hit in March 2020, leading to the restaurant launching a take away side to the business which proved so popular that it will be a service also available at the new site.
Top sellers at My Delhi include its 1950s-style Butter Chicken as well as its Emperor stew.
Sunderland can look forward to a range of roadside curries, available in lamb, chicken, seafood, vegetarian and vegan varieties, as well as street plates such as Chef Gomez Croquettes and Tandoori lollipops.


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The New York Federal Reserve recently reported that household debt climbed to $15.8 trillion in the first quarter of 2022. This represents a $266 billion increase from the previous quarter and is $1.7 trillion higher than it was just at the end of 2019.
A major storyline in the initial months of Covid was Americans’ ability to stay current on their debt obligations during that tumultuous time. However, many experts (including our CEO Louis Ochoa) warned at the time that these positive numbers were being masked by a number of factors and that lenders should be prepared for a rise in delinquencies.
These expert prognostications are beginning to become reality across various credit types and consumer profiles. For example, the Federal Reserve has reported an increase in credit card delinquencies across the board, with companies such as CapitalOne and Synchrony recently citing increases in delinquencies or charge-offs. Ford Motor Credit Chief Financial Officer John Lawler commented this month that they are starting to see delinquencies increase. And in the subprime market, Equifax reports 11.3% of personal loans and lines of credit being 60 days or more past due.
Prior to these numbers being released, The Wall Street Journal published a cautionary and now accurate article titled “Americans Were Great About Paying Their Debts in the Pandemic. Don’t Expect It to Last.”
As a company that is responsible for the overall health of our clients’ portfolios, including keeping accounts current, these are issues that Servicing Solutions pays close attention to. In an inflationary economic environment, having a skilled and experienced collections team in place is absolutely imperative.
A LendingTree study found that 48% of consumers that have added to their debt cite inflation as the driving factor. We expect that to translate to the collections environment as stressed consumers will reference the increased cost of goods and services, coupled with rising interest rates, for the reasons behind delinquency.
In my experience, these are the key considerations to keep in mind in an economic climate like we are experiencing today:
- Communicate Regularly: Regular and proactive communication is a key to any successful customer experience and debt servicing program. During times of rising delinquencies, this is even more critical. Developing a relationship with customers who become familiar with you will dramatically increase their motivation to keep current.
- Educate: Consumers who are struggling are likely faced with decisions on which bills to pay. This can lead to bad short-term decisions to skip a payment on a revolving line of credit, for example. Educating the customer about the long term effects this will have on credit scores and the cost of future borrowing will go a long way towards encouraging them to reach an arrangement that is suitable to them and the lender.
- Be Understanding: There isn’t a customer in the world who is proud of being late on a bill. Being judgmental, insulting, or threatening rarely motivates a customer to communicate. It will typically have the opposite effect and often leads to complaints and escalations. Empathize with your customers and show them that you are there to help.
- Solve Problems: Using the information gathering process as a guide, a trained agent will quickly be able to determine what payment arrangements are realistic for the customer and satisfactory to the lender. That same LendingTree study showed that 72% of past-due customers requested a late fee waiver, and that 88% of those customers were successful in doing so if they made payment arrangements. Providing flexibility and offering customers an incentive to become current will strengthen relationships.
- Use Positive Language: Negative language has no place in the collections environment. In fact, replacing negative language with positive language is far more effective. Instead of focusing on the late payment itself, acknowledge a customer for having made the first several payments on time or explain the good things that will come along with being current.
Ready to “Invest In Real Experience” to navigate the complexities of debt collections in an inflationary economy? We can help. Drop us a line at email@example.com


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The head of the French company that is accused of selling 300,000 faulty breast implants has gone on trial.
Here is a look back at the breast implant scandal:
- Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) was founded by Jean-Claude Mas in 1991.
- Before the company went into liquidation in 2011, it is thought around 300,000 women were sold faulty breast implants.
- Concerns were first raised in France over PIP's high rupture rate in 2009.
- In 2010, France suspended the marketing, distribution, export and use of PIP implants.
- The French government said it recommended all women with the implants to have them removed in late 2011.
- A review ordered by the Health Secretary found that PIP implants were more likely to rupture or leak.
- Mas offered an apology on April 24, 2013, for the implants, saying: "I apologise to the plantiffs for the gel used by PIP since 1992."
- The Frenchman and four PIP executives face aggravated fraud charges and face five years each in prison.
More top news
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The Pope has warned against a rise in populism and the danger of 'seeking a saviour in times of crisis'.


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Has the new post-bailout General Motors (NYSE:GM) emphasized China at the expense of the U.S.?
Not really, but it's true that GM is planning huge new investments in China. Those plans have provided fodder for partisan attacks – including a big one that landed last week.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last Tuesday, former auto-industry pundit Edward Niedermeyer argued that "it is China that is disproportionately benefiting from the bailout of America's erstwhile automotive icon." The Journal's editorial page has repeatedly criticized the 2009 bailout of GM.
Needless to say, Niedermeyer's broadside didn't go over well at GM headquarters. On Monday, GM's PR chief Selim Bingol fired back with a letter to the Journal defending GM's $11 billion in planned investments in China – and disclosing that GM is gearing up to make an even bigger series of investments right here at home.
A huge investment in a big U.S. overhaul
Bingol said in his letter that GM is planning to invest approximately $16 billion in the U.S. between now and the end of 2016. That's a huge-sounding number, but GM has a huge overhaul in the works: About 20 new or significantly refreshed models will hit GM's U.S. dealerships between now and the end of next year, with more on the way in the middle of the decade.
All that money will go to engineering, testing, new tooling, expansions to existing GM factories here in the U.S., and – assuming sales continue to rise – additional workers as shifts are added to those factories to increase production.
GM has already invested $9 billion here in the U.S. since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, and created 23,000 jobs, Bingol said in his letter. At least among serious observers, there's little question that GM is determined to grow and expand in its home market, and that it is making serious investments to do so.
At the same time, a big push to take advantage of growth in China
But the controversy arises because GM is also in the midst of a massive expansion push in China, with plans to invest $11 billion by 2016. That push is entirely appropriate for GM: China has become the world's largest auto market, and it is expected to grow considerably bigger over the next several years.
GM and its Chinese joint-venture partners sold 2.8 million vehicles in China last year, more than any other automaker – including GM's closest China rival, Volkswagen (OTC:VWAGY). GM thinks that it has the opportunity to boost that to 5 million by 2015. Making that happen will require several new factories, and a lot of additional infrastructure.
But the money to do all that isn't coming from the U.S., GM says. And it definitely isn't coming from the $49.5 billion bailout loan that the U.S. Treasury gave GM in 2009.
Ford is also investing big in China
Bingol's letter says that GM's operations in China are "self-funding". In other words, the $11 billion in capital that GM plans to invest in China between now and 2016 will come out of money earned by GM's joint ventures – in China.
And GM is far from the only global automaker that has committed big bucks to expand in China. Ford (NYSE:F) is spending $5 billion on a series of new factories in China to support its own aggressive expansion in the region.
VW is also planning a massive push to expand in China, with its own massive investment in a series of new factories. That's part of VW's global effort to overtake GM and Toyota (NYSE:TM) and become the world's largest automaker by 2018.
GM, meanwhile, is determined to hold on to its No. 1 position in both of the world's largest auto markets – China and the U.S. But it's even more determined to close the sizable profit gap between it and its chief rivals: VW's earnings before taxes last year were nearly twice GM's.
That means making the most of its opportunities around the world. And that's why GM is investing big bucks, both here and abroad.


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April 30 (Reuters) - Shares of Demand Media Inc rose 31 percent on Monday, following reports that an offer to take the company private fell through over the weekend, fuelling hopes that the online content provider may be up for grabs.
Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners approached the company with a $1.2 billion buyout offer, but talks were abandoned due to a number of challenges, All Things Digital reported on April 28.
"Where there's smoke there's fire. These talks fell apart but some people may believe they may start back up," Evercore Partners analyst Douglas Arthur said.
"Once a company admits they've been in conversation to go private then investors start thinking there may be other firms that could step in, there may be other companies that might want to buy them."
Arthur downgraded the company to "equal weight" from "overweight" on valuation, saying Thomas Lee's alleged $11 offer would push the shares over the brokerage's $9 price target.
The company, which had a market value of $608 million as of Friday, was not immediately available for comment.
Demand Media's stock, which has lost over 65 percent of its value since touching a life high of $26.25 in March 2011, trades at 24.2 times forward earnings, compared with a sector average of 33.3.
The shares, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a successful IPO last January, have been hit as Google -- a key partner -- changed some of its search algorithms, reducing traffic to Demand Media's major content sites.
The company relies on freelance writers to provide articles and videos designed to appear at the top of Internet searches that in turn generate advertising revenue. It also operates a clutch of websites including eHow, LiveStrong and Cracked.
Demand Media, which is being closely watched as a test case for a way to inexpensively create content that surfaces high in search results, recently launched the first of its two major channels in partnership with YouTube.
Shares of the company, which competes with Yahoo's Associated Content, the New York Times Co's About.com and AOL Inc's Seed, jumped to $9.48 in morning trading, making them one of the biggest gainers on the New York Stock Exchange.
They lost some of their early gains and were up 19 percent at $8.65 in midday trading.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)


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The battle between the local potato industry and global importers has a longstanding history, with South Africa being considered a prime destination for dumping frozen processed potato products. With the recent lapse of anti-dumping duty protection, there is a significant risk that the increased volume of below-cost frozen French fries that land on our shores from the Netherlands and Belgium will cripple South African farmers and producers.
Expressing concern for the local potato industry and pleading for local support, Willie Jacobs, CEO of Potatoes South Africa (PSA), shared, “South African producers have been experiencing many challenges brought on by Covid-19, the cost-price squeeze, rising input costs and most recently, the riots in parts of the country. Furthermore, our producers don’t benefit from the financial support afforded to EU farmers by their governments, and simply cannot compete with below-cost products being dumped in our country. With less demand for local produce, there will be a ripple effect on livelihoods and job-losses, not to mention the effect on the economy.”
The South African potato industry provides employment to an estimated 45,000 permanent and seasonal labourers and is worth approximately R7,5 billion at primary level, and R26 billion at secondary level. On average, the industry plants between around 50,000 hectares of potatoes, with the crop accounting for 45% of the total vegetable crops produced in the country. This equates to a contribution of around R8,5 billion to the South African economy.
As just one example, McCain Foods South Africa supports in excess of 6,800 full time jobs and procures potatoes from more than 100 local farmers, who plant in excess of 4,500 hectares of potatoes annually. The company’s Managing Director, Unathi Mhlatyana, echoes Jacobs’ sentiments, “The negative financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other prevailing socio economic and market conditions on local farmers and producers has been catastrophic. Further threats in terms of both demand and cost, may force local growers and processors out of business. Supporting the local agricultural sector is the most powerful and promising measure of combating the effects of agricultural dumping, which directly threatens our economy and livelihoods.”
The South African agricultural sector, and more particularly, the local potato industry, depends on the collective efforts of consumers, businesses, and our government to embrace and support local growers and producers.
The environmental benefits of buying local produce are obvious, with the protection of South Africa’s natural ecosystem, a smaller carbon footprint associated with the distribution of the product, and the knowledge that locally produced products are also typically linked to more environmentally friendly practices. More than that, by buying and selling locally, we will ensure that the revenue remains within South Africa, allowing us to drive and sustain our local economy, secure and promote jobs, and ultimately rebuild our country.


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Jaye Donaldson Acknowledged in Graphic Design: USA
The Donaldson Group, which claims bragging rights as “Connecticut’s First Design Firm,” is celebrating its 50th year in business. Formed as Industrial Design Consultants by Bill Gamble, Bruce Bradshaw and Dick Russell, IDC was well-known for industrial design for the consumer packaged goods and manufacturing industries. The firm’s work even landed on the moon, with gloves and helmet it designed for the nation’s first space suit. During the last twenty years, the firm has been spearheaded by Jaye Donaldson, daughter of co-founder Bill Gamble. After graduating from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, Donaldson helped transform the firm’s project-based model to one based on high-level communications strategy, including branding and packaging. Along with a team of talented designers and planners, the company has worked over the years with such notable brands as Lever Bros., The Financial Times, The Hartford, 3M, Kodak, Orvis, Spalding, Texaco, Barnes Group, Pitney Bowes and IBM.


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SAN FRANCISCO (WCMH) – Gymboree announced Tuesday the closure of 350 retail stores, including 17 in Ohio.
The announcement comes as part of the company’s bankruptcy restructuring.
“Today’s announcement represents the next step in the Company’s court-supervised financial restructuring as we work to more strongly position the business for long-term growth and success,” said Daniel Griesemer, President and CEO of Gymboree.
The company will close 11, Ohio Gymboree stores, five Crazy 8 stores and one Janie and Jack store.
In West Virginia, 2 Crazy 8 and 1 Gymboree store is closing. That includes both the Gymboree and the Crazy 8 store at the Town Center Mall in Charleston.
In Kentucky, 2 Gymboree stores will be closing.
The closing sales at affected stores are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 18.


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Designer jewellery, cameras and Apple computer stolen in house burglary
A designer watch and Swarovski bangle are among the items stolen in a burglary from someone's home.
The incident, which happened overnight between December 7 and December 8, took place at a house in Fatfield Park, Washington.
A number of items were stolen including US dollars, a silver 128GB MacBook Air, a Michael Kors watch, light brown leather Anne Klein watch, a Swarovski silver New Year bangle, a Sony handycam camcorder, a Canon camera, a diamond gold ring, an emerald and ruby antique gold ring, a gold round pendant necklace, and costume jewellery.
The serial number for the MacBook Air is C02533844FWM.
Officers are carrying out inquiries in the area and are appealing for witnesses.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 101 quoting reference 292 081217 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


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Everything you always wanted to know about chocolate
Cabo Adventures is happy to give tourists the lowdown on chocolate in the very country in which it originated.
Juan Emilio Rodriguez, who’s given the title of ambassador at the Los Cabos-area company, reports chocolate has a long history in his homeland, with seeds from cacao — the source of chocolate — once used as coins by the Aztecs, and who used chocolate to create a “super bitter drink” consumed during religious ceremonies.
And those visiting Cabo Adventures’ Tierra Sagrada Ranch can learn how others outside Mexico over the centuries have refined the process of making chocolate, adding the likes of sugar to create the sweet confection that today is popular the world over.
“People like sweet chocolate. They don’t like it if it’s not sweet,” says Cabo Adventures’ Greta Munguía Cardenas, who gives classes on the making of chocolate and its history at Tierra Sagrada.
The outdoor chocolate classes are held in a shaded area at the ranch, providing attendees with a wealth of insights on chocolate and an opportunity to experience some twists on it as well.
Munguía Cardenas says people are generally unaware of how chocolate is made, making her classes insightful.
Chocolate is often seen as something health-conscious sorts should avoid but Munguía Cardenas says it actually has healthy qualities, being useful in treating a number of ailments, including high blood pressure.
Many also view it as an aphrodisiac.
Munguía Cardenas passes around pieces of flavoured chocolate for guests to sample, including chocolate that has a noticeable chili taste, a particularly Mexican touch.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez says that those who take a Tierra Sagrada chocolate class will be better able to make a selection the next time they are mulling over possible purchases in the likes of a Laura Secord shop.
“Awareness may occur when choosing what chocolate to look for,” he states.
More information can be found at cabo-adventures.com.


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The M2 MacBook Pro has started making its way into customers’ hands and we’re learning more about how it performs in a variety of situations, but all eyes are really on the upcoming M2 MacBook Air which has seen a complete redesign and should be arriving in a couple of weeks.
Other top stories this week included a host of product rumors including additional M2 and even M3 Macs, an updated Apple TV, and a revived HomePod, so make sure to read on below for all the details on these stories and more!
Apple previously announced that the new MacBook Air would be available in July, but did not provide a specific date.
The new MacBook Air has been redesigned with a larger 13.6-inch display, a notch, a flatter appearance, and new Starlight and Midnight color options. The notebook features MagSafe 3 charging, an upgraded 1080p camera, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a Magic Keyboard with physical Fn keys, a Touch ID button, and more.
Pricing starts at $1,199 in the United States, while the previous MacBook Air remains available for $999.
Base 13-Inch MacBook Pro With M2 Chip Has Significantly Slower SSD Speeds Than Previous Model
YouTube channels such as Max Tech and Created Tech tested the 256GB model with Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test app and real-world tests and found that the SSD’s read and write speeds are around 50% and 30% slower, respectively, compared to the previous model.
M2 Pro Mac Mini, New Apple TV With A14 Chip, and More Rumored to Be in Development
Gurman listed several other new Apple products in the works, including a new Apple TV with an A14 chip and an increased 4GB of RAM. Most of the products are expected to launch between late 2022 and mid 2023.
New Version of Original HomePod to Return Next Year
Gurman said the new HomePod will be closer to the original model in terms of size and audio performance, as opposed to being a new HomePod mini. He also said the new HomePod will feature an updated display on the top of the speaker, potentially with multi-touch functionality.
Video Comparison: M2 MacBook Pro vs. M1 MacBook Pro
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we’ve covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.


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Creative industries should lead ‘Copyright Hub’
Creative industries must play their part in leading and funding a proposed national Copyright Hub, a marketplace for copyrights.
In an independent report, Richard Hooper, former deputy Chair of Ofcom, looks at the feasibility of developing a Digital Copyright Exchange.
The marketplace would streamline copyright licensing and make transactions easier for creators, rights holders and users, according to Mr Hooper.
Its main purposes would be to act as a signpost and navigation mechanism; a go-to for copyright education; the place where any copyright owner can choose register works; the place for potential licensees to go for easy to use, transparent, low transaction cost copyright licensing; and as one of the authoritative place where prospective users of orphan works can go to demonstrate they have done proper, reasonable and due diligence searches for the owners of those works before they digitise them.
Hooper said: “If the UK is to maintain and improve its position as world leader in the creative industries then it needs an efficient and responsive system to manage the use of creative rights.
“Setting up an industry led and industry-funded Copyright Hub will help maximise the potential for creators and rights owners on the supply side and the wide range of licensees and users on the demand side.
“Creating a single marketplace for copyright licensing would not only reduce the costs of licensing and simplify a complex system that can be difficult to navigate but would also bring together key players to have a more effective exchange and use of rights. This will only help boost economic growth, ensuring that both the industry and consumers are making the most of the UK’s creativity.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable added: “The idea of a ‘copyright hub’ is an ambitious undertaking and one that could clearly yield great benefits for the UK’s creative industries and consumers. It is potentially a ground-breaking step forward that will help make copyright licensing fit for 21st century.


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Recreational marijuana has been on the Colorado market for over two years now, and we're starting to get some interesting data about the preferences of its consumers.
Tradiv, an online cannabis-distribution platform, and BDS Analytics, a cannabis-focused analytics company, teamed up to release a report outlining the most popular marijuana strains in the legal Colorado market.
Marijuana comes in two distinct species, sativa and indica, and they're thought to have different effects on your mind and body.
Many of those effects, however, are user-reported, and the science isn't totally clear on how the particular compounds in the marijuana actually interact with your brain, as Business Insider's Melia Robinson reported.
Generally speaking, sativa strains are considered to be energizing "head" highs, while indica strains are more subdued "body" highs, helpful for putting you to sleep.
Blue Dream, the top-selling strain, is a "pretty potent sativa," John Manlove, the director of sales at Tradiv told Business Insider over the phone.
Consumers like it because it gives them an "energetic" high, Manlove said. But it's not only popular because of consumers — it's also easy to grow and cultivate.
"It's not a fickle strain," Manlove said. "It's not very susceptible to mold and pests, and the common stresses on a plant."
More importantly, it's a high-yielding strain, so for cultivators, the economics of growing Blue Dream make sense.
The report itself is based off of point-of-sale data from a sample of Colorado cannabis retailers that represent 15% to 20% of the market. The sample was then fed through a proprietary algorithm to represent the whole market, Liz Stahura, the vice president of BDS Analytics, told Business Insider in an email.
See the 9 top-selling strains in Colorado below
Editor's note: While the science remains murky and various strains affect different people in different ways, we pulled product descriptions from Leafly, a popular strain-reviewing website.


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When Jair Coser arrived in Texas six years ago from Sao Paulo with a plan to open a chain of high-end Brazilian steakhouses in the US, restaurateurs told him that he was crazy. After all, demand for beef had been falling since 1980 as health-conscious Americans switched to poultry and fish. Who would spend US$60 for a bacchanalian, all-you-can-eat Brazilian buffet of barbecued beef sliced from skewers over their plates by waiters in gaucho outfits?
"The whole premise was politically incorrect for its time," said Coser, 46, chief executive and one of four partners in the restaurant chain Fogo de Chao (pronounced FOE-go-deh-shau). "I guess that also made it appealing."
Six years later, as high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets spur an increase in beef consumption, Fogo de Chao has become the driving force behind the country's growing love affair with Brazilian steakhouses, or churrascarias (pronounced shoo-HAHS-kah-ree-ahs). Most big cities have one, and some, like Dallas and Miami, have several. A Midtown Manhattan restaurant, Churrascaria Plataforma, will soon open a site in TriBeCa.
Fogo de Chao now owns restaurants in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago, and three in Brazil; it plans to open a fifth American one in Beverly Hills, California, this year. With projected sales for this year of about US$50 million, or an average of more than US$12 million a restaurant, the chain is among the industry's more successful ventures in recent years.
"Fogo has set the standard among idea generators in the high-end restaurant business," said David Geraty, a restaurant industry analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "They've succeeded in fusing dining with entertainment, a proposition that's talked about a lot but rarely executed with success."
By entertainment, he means the way the food is presented in a sprawling ranch-style setting. Salad-bar offerings like hearts of palm and baked manioc and a bar serving caipirinhas, a cocktail made from the Brazilian sugar-cane rum called cachaca, are mere footnotes to the 15 varieties of meat that are served up, from beef cuts like picanha (rump roast seasoned with sea salt) and alcatra (top sirloin) to leg of lamb, pork sausage and chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. There are also side dishes like fried polenta, fried bananas and Brazilian cheese bread.
Waiters in the traditional billowing pants worn by gauchos, the cowboys of Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay, swirl from table to table, bewildering diners with platter after platter of meats on skewers. Each customer receives a disk that is green on one side, a signal for the waiters to bring on more platters; the disk can be flipped to red on the other, to plead with them to stop.
At the Houston restaurant, for example, the price is a fixed US$43.50 for dinner and US$25 for lunch, aside from beverages, which also include Argentine or Chilean wine. The restaurants have 845m2 to 1,161m2 of space and seat 280 to 350 people. The chefs are all from southern Brazil, as are about half the waiters, who receive several months' training at the Brazilian sites to make sure they master the mechanics and theatrics.
"The overwhelming atmosphere is what matters," said Ned Davis, a Houston sales executive and regular customer. "People I take to Fogo ask where the menu is. I say it's all around them on a bunch of skewers."


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Samsung announced a voluntary recall of all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and many had issues with how the company managed the recall operation, since the Consumer Product Safety Commission wasn’t involved. Now, Samsung made an announcement that it is indeed working with the Commission.
Samsung announced that it’s working with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), after the South Korean company announced a recall of all Galaxy Note 7 units, following reports of batteries catching fire.
Samsung also stated that the engagement includes working with the CPSC on a voluntary plan for expediting the US recall of the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung also advised all Galaxy Note 7 owners to power down their devices and return them to the point of purchase. Users would get a replacement when the engagement… (read more)
Read more at: Source link
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Microsoft has made an announcement about Bing that could potentially be very significant in helping the company’s search engine gain market share – the ability to search the web from Xbox via Internet Explorer. Here’s the thing: Xbox 360 sales just surpassed 70 million units. That’s a lot of potential Bing users, even if it doesn’t change their desktop searching habits.
Bing first came to Xbox last year, but was missing the key web search feature. The new update means people can use Bing from the Xbox just like they can from the desktop, and this is a place where Microsoft has a significant advantage over Google – the TV experience.
Here’s what Microsoft had to say about it in a blog post:
Last year, we introduced Bing on Xbox, a new way for you to search movies, TV shows, games, music and apps with the sound of your voice. With more than 65 voice-controlled TV & entertainment apps from leading brands such as HBO, Netflix, and ESPN available on the console, Xbox literally offers millions of entertainment options. By combining all this content with the power of Bing’s deep search expertise, voice recognition technology and the magic of Kinect, we provide instant access to the expansive catalogue of entertainment options on Xbox.
With this week’s updates, we are releasing a set of improvements to Bing on Xbox that make it even easier for you to discover the entertainment content you want. Not only have the overall voice recognition capabilities and accuracy of Bing on Xbox been improved, but we’ve also added the following features to help refine your searches even further. Search the Web from Your TV: With the addition of “Internet Explorer,” you can now search across the web, as well as the content on your Xbox, to find the most relevant results. Bing on Xbox also searches YouTube for web original video. So, if you’re searching for a film with Jason Statham, you not only get results for his movies from within Xbox, but you can also view related web content within the same search.
Bing also provides the search for the new Xbox Music service, and Microsoft has added the ability to search movies by genre.
On top of all of that, they’ve expanded Bing on Xbox to more countries, including: Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, France, Canada (FR), Ireland, Japan, Austria and Switzerland (FR and German).


text: a href=”http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94LF4181show_article=1″This is interesting:/abr /br /blockquoteStopped. Cold turkey. North Carolina authorities say a shopper clubbed an alleged carjacker with a frozen turkey as he tried to steal a woman’s car in a grocery store parking lot Sunday. br /br /Police say 30-year-old Fred Louis Ervin of Raleigh stole money from a gas station before running across the street to a Harris Teeter store in a town just south of Raleigh. Garner police say he began beating Irene Moorman Bailey while stealing her car. br /br /Other shoppers came to her rescue, including one who hit Ervin with the turkey. Police did not release the person’s name./blockquotebr /br /I am in the middle of reading an incredible book, a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307352897?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0307352897″emThe Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why/em/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0307352897″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / that explains why it is that some people are prepared for disaster and others are not. One of the chapters in the book is on heroism and it found that those who are heroes like the above turkey clubber have confidence in their abilities. They tend to have an a href=”http://wilderdom.com/psychology/loc/LocusOfControlWhatIs.html””internal locus of control”/a–that is, a sense that they shape their own destiny rather than looking to someone else. br /br /blockquoteBystanders, on the other hand, tend to feel buffeted by forces beyond their control. ‘They pay scant attention to other people’s problems. They will concentrate on their own need for survival,’ Oliner [a researcher] says./blockquotebr /br /According to the book, some common traits of heroes in a study of 450 acts of heroism found a whopping 91 percent of them performed by males. The author notes that this could be a bias of the sample used…. but anyway, the heroes in the study also tended to be working class men. They tended to be truck drivers, laborers, welders, or factory workers–physical jobs that required some risk, just like rescuing. A high number of the rescues were in rural or small-town America and 80% of the rescues happened in places with less than one hundred thousand people. The author opines that this might be because in small towns, people know one another and acts of kindness are recognized and remembered. A strong sense of duty to help others was also mentioned. I will hopefully post more on this incredibly fascinating book.


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Spotlight on Congressman Bishop & Engage 2015
Congressman Mike Bishop & Engage 2015.
Facebook tool allows you to assign beneficiary
Facebook is giving more options to decide what happens to users' accounts after they die.
RadioShack expected to announce store closings
Rumors of an impending bankruptcy filing are rampant as RadioShack starts a new fiscal year this week.
Key to crowdfunding: Startups share top 10 tips
These days, anyone with an idea and a bit of gumption can launch a crowdfunding campaign.
REPORT: SkyMall files for bankruptcy
The company behind SkyMall has filed for bankruptcy, according to a report appearing in the Wall Street Journal.
Top 5 ad campaigns of the 21st century
See the top five video ads of the 21st century, according to the experts at Advertising Age.
RECALL: GM recalling 81,000 Malibus, Pontiacs
General Motors is recalling more than 81,000 vehicles because of problems that can cause power steering to fail.
Sunbeam recalls thousands of space heaters
Sunbeam is recalling about 34,000 of its Holmes oil-filled heaters in the U.S.
IKEA recalls crib mattresses
IKEA is recalling 169,000 VYSSA crib mattresses due to the risk of entrapment.
Recall & warning about weight-loss supplements
A weight-loss supplement recall, and a broader warning from Consumer Reports about supplements Americans spend billions of dollars on every year.
Chrysler recalls 3.3M for airbag defect
Chrysler is recalling an additional 3.3 million older-model vehicles due to the suspected Takata airbag defect.
Honda expands driver's side air bag recall
Under pressure from federal regulators, Honda is expanding a recall of driver's side air bags to all 50 states.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average SM is proprietary to and is calculated, distributed and marketed by Dow Jones Indexes, a licensed trademark of CME Group Index Services LLC and have been licensed for use. "Dow Jones(r)", "Dow Jones Indexes" and "Dow Jones Industrial Average SM" are service marks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings, LLC. "CME" is a trademark of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. All content of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (c) CME Group Index Services LLC 2010.


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The brains behind Limoges Jewelry understand the power of personalization better than most retailers. For more than 115 years, the Chicago-based company has sold engraved rings, necklaces and other trinkets to consumers looking to commemorate a loved one or a special occasion. But when it came to building a meaningful connection with customers via email marketing, Limoges stumbled.
In 2011, the company's email marketing was in "serious disrepair," says Jon Ozaksut, who was Limoges' e-commerce marketing manager at the time. Two-thirds of its email subscribers had not clicked on a company message in more than a year. Open rates were below three percent. "Customer engagement and email revenue were withering on the vine," explains Ozaksut.
Fast forward two years and Limoges' email marketing is on a tear. In the first three months of this year, revenues from email marketing surged 40 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012. Open and click-through rates are soaring. Longstanding customers are re-engaging, and new customers are discovering the site.
Most telling? Limoges sent 40 million email messages in 2011. Last year the company sent 15 million — and saw its conversion rates rise 40 percent.
An investment in technology
So what changed for Limoges — and so quickly? The company got a lot smarter about its email marketing — specifically, how it used technology to engage new and existing customers. "From a technology standpoint," says Ozaksut, "we weren't ready to market to our customers on a one-to-one basis." That changed with the deployment of a new platform that now allows the company to segment customers and customize its messaging based on common traits like profile preferences and browsing history.
Next, Limoges set out to sign up new email subscribers and re-engage those who were unresponsive to company emails.
The easy fix: Finding new subscribers
Adding new subscribers was relatively easy. Limoges now had the ability to promote its email subscription box in more places on its site, and to better track where consumers were signing up (say, Facebook or a specific product page). The result: email subscriptions grew as much as 400% year over year. Each new subscriber then received a "Welcome" email; sales attributed to the introductory message grew 18 percent.
The bigger challenge: Enticing inactive subscribers to click
The second key piece of Limoges' email marketing focused on consumers who had not responded to company emails in at least six months. The goal was threefold: to win back and actively engage with some inactive subscribers; to identify a second segment of subscribers who might welcome one or two emails a month; and to cut from its subscriber list recipients that clearly were not interested. The campaign, which began in mid-2012, happened in three stages:
The payoff: Higher sales, new and engaged subscribers
Today, the company's "welcome" campaign is often the biggest revenue driver of all its email marketing initiatives. Monthly email sign-up rates have doubled and even quintupled compared to the year-ago month. The number of visitors to the company's website who then sign up for emails rose 200 percent from 2011 to 2012. "What's also really exciting," says Ozaksut, "is that nearly half of the email addresses in our active full file today are less than a year old."
The email sign-up campaign helped Limoges replenish its subscriber list with consumers who are engaged. While the re-permission program brought thousands of inactive customers back, it also forced the company to week out two-thirds of its entire email list. Says Ozaksut: "We no longer send out messages to people who aren't interested."
Now the re-permission program is recurring. If a customer doesn’t respond to email in six months, the campaign is triggered automatically.
What did Limoges learn from its email marketing makeover? When it comes to engaging with customers, context is everything. Consumers are increasingly comfortable with — even enthusiastic about — brands that market to them individually based on their profile preferences and website behavior. The old "batch and blast" strategy no longer works. As Limoges and other companies that have embraced personalization know firsthand, the results speak for themselves.


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Aterian Adds Seasoned Industry Executive To Its Board Of Directors
Cynthia Williams Brings Significant Technology and E-Commerce Expertise from Microsoft and Amazon
NEW YORK, April 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aterian, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATER) (“Aterian” or the “Company”) announced that effective today Cynthia Williams has joined the Company's Board of Directors (the “Board”).
Williams is an experienced e-commerce and technology executive who recently joined Hasbro, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAS) as President of its Digital Gaming Division and its subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, the maker of games that include Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Prior to joining Hasbro Inc., Williams served as Vice President and General Manager of Microsoft Corporation's Gaming Ecosystem Commercial Team. Prior to Microsoft, Williams spent nearly 11 years at Amazon.com Inc. leading Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) including as Finance Director, General Manager and lastly, Vice President. Prior to Amazon, Williams spent over 12 years at Altria Group, Inc. as Associate Finance Director.
"We are pleased to welcome Cynthia as a new independent director to the Aterian board," said Yaniv Sarig, Aterian’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Sarig continued, "She joins Aterian at an important time as we continue pursuing our goal of becoming a leading e-commerce platform. Cynthia brings incredibly valuable supply chain and e-commerce expertise to our board given her experience as a former Amazon executive where she led the global growth of their e-commerce direct-to-consumer business, Fulfillment by Amazon. With the recent additions to our board of Susan Lattmann and Sarah Liebel and now Cynthia, we have significantly strengthened Aterian’s leadership.”
“I am excited to join Aterian’s Board of Directors at this stage to help position the Company for future growth”, said Cynthia Williams. “I am enthusiastic about Aterian’s technology-driven vision as they build the next generation consumer product platform, and I am looking forward to teaming up with the Board to drive future success at the Company.”
About Aterian, Inc.
Aterian, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATER), is a leading technology-enabled consumer products platform that builds, acquires, and partners with best-in-class e-commerce brands by harnessing proprietary software and an agile supply chain to create top selling consumer products. The Company’s cloud-based platform, Artificial Intelligence Marketplace Ecommerce Engine (AIMEE™), leverages machine learning, natural language processing and data analytics to streamline the management of products at scale across the world’s largest online marketplaces, including Amazon, Shopify and Walmart. Aterian has thousands of SKUs across 14 owned and operated brands and sells products in multiple categories, including home and kitchen appliances, health and wellness, beauty and consumer electronics.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements including, in particular, the statements regarding our goal of becoming the leading e-commerce platform, future growth and building the next generation consumer product platform. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: those related to the global shipping disruptions, our ability to continue as a going concern, our ability to meet financial covenants with our lenders, our ability to create operating leverage and efficiency when integrating companies that we acquire, including through the use of our team’s expertise, the economies of scale of our supply chain and automation driven by our platform; those related to our ability to grow internationally and through the launch of products under our brands and the acquisition of additional brands; those related to the impact of COVID-19, including its impact on consumer demand, our cash flows, financial condition, forecasting and revenue growth rate; our supply chain including sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing and fulfillment; our ability to manage expenses, working capital and capital expenditures efficiently; our business model and our technology platform; our ability to disrupt the consumer products industry; our ability to grow market share in existing and new product categories; our ability to generate profitability and stockholder value; international tariffs and trade measures; inventory management, product liability claims, recalls or other safety and regulatory concerns; reliance on third party online marketplaces; seasonal and quarterly variations in our revenue; acquisitions of other companies and technologies, and our ability to integrate such companies and technologies with our business, our ability to continue to access debt and equity capital (including on terms advantageous to the Company) and the extent of our leverage and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), all of which you may obtain for free on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Director of Investor Relations & Corp. Development


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Watch the latest Bitcoin.com Weekly Update where we touch on a new dog-themed meme coin, governments in Spain and banks in Nigeria feeling threatened by crypto freedom, Robinhood’s growing digital asset trade volume, the resolution of an infamous bitcoin scam, and more.
00:22 ‘Baby doge’ coin sees 248% weekly gains
01:56 Spanish Congress passes crypto antifraud law
02:32 Fintech threatens profitability of Nigerian banks
03:26 Robinhood IPO filing reveals $88 billion in Q1 crypto trading
05:22 8,000 BTC from Mirror Trading International scam tracked down
‘Baby doge’ coin sees 248% weekly gains https://news.bitcoin.com/248-weekly-gains-baby-doge-coin-continues-to-rally-while-most-crypto-asset-markets-slump/
Spanish Congress passes crypto antifraud law
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In the year to September, Japan’s total pig meat imports (including offal) increased 3% to 918,000 tonnes. Import prices have been stable overall, and so the total value of these imports rose by 3%, to ¥457 billion (£3.4bn).
Forecasts of increasing demand, but flat production imply an increased reliance on imports in the future. However, given the significant global pork shortage, it will be interesting to see whether demand growth shifts to other proteins.
Although the US remained the main supplier of pig meat, these imports were down 7% year-on-year. The benefits of Japan’s other trade agreements continue to percolate.
Volumes from CPTPP* signatories, Canada (+5%), Mexico (+21%) and Chile (+13%), have increased. A number of EU states, again now with more favourable terms, have also increased trade. These include Spain (+9%), Denmark (+7%) and the Netherlands (+17%).
The US may be able to regain some of the lost market share in the coming months. A trade agreement with Japan was signed in late September, which will level the playing field with CPTPP and EU nations once it is implemented.
*The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership came into force on December 30, 2018. The EU trade agreement came into force on February 1, 2019.


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RAY COYLE, THE man behind Tayto Crisps, has resigned from the board of the company he founded 35 years ago.
According to new documents just filed to the Companies Registration Office, Coyle resigned as a director from two Tayto companies at the end of last year.
He also stepped down from the board of Largo Foods, Tayto’s parent company, which he founded 35 years ago in 1982.
Largo Foods owns the King, Hunky Dorys and Perri brands alongside its most famous name, Tayto.
Coyle’s resignation comes after he sold his final 25% stake in Largo Foods to Germany firm Intersnack in 2015.
Previously Coyle had sold a 15% stake in his business to Intersnack in 2007 for €15 million.
The German firm was the majority owner of the business when the Meath businessman sold his remaining shares, but he had an option to buy back an 11% stake in the business.
However, he told the Sunday Independent in 2015 that he did not intend to exercise the option, and would more likely focus on other projects, such as Tayto Park.
As part of the deal which saw him sell his final stake, Coyle agreed to remain on the Largo board until at least the end of 2016.
A spokesman for Largo told Fora that Coyle is travelling and is unavailable for comment.
However, he added: “As per the announcement yesterday, Ray has resigned as chairman and director of Largo Foods which is part of the normal process of selling his holding in Largo Foods.
“He is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the Tayto brand. However, he maintains a continuing relationship with Largo Foods particularly through Tayto Park.”
Largo Foods is an unlimited company, meaning that it is not required to publicly publish its accounts.
The last set of accounts available before the company went unlimited showed that the firm made a €2.6 million profit on turnover of just over €84 million in 2010, when it employed about 550 people.
The 65-year-old Coyle previously worked as a farmer. He started Largo in 1982, building it into one of Ireland’s largest indigenous food companies.
Largo acquired the Tayto and King brands from Irish food and drinks company C&C Group for €62 million in 2006.
Coyle still has several other connections to the Tayto brand, most notably through his involvement in Tayto Park.
The businessman spent millions building the park, and dug into his own pocket to the tune of €10 million to build its flagship wooden roller coaster.
The family-friendly park was opened in 2010 and has since become one of the country’s biggest tourist sites, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. It made a profit of about €1.6 million during 2014.
This article was updated to include a comment from Largo Foods.


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According to them, American investigators have requested the work to be returned to Italy.
Import records identify the work as a Roman plaster replica of a Greek original from Athens from the first to second centuries AD.
According to ArtNetNews, the statue was confiscated in 2016 at LA’s port as part of a shipment of antiquities, modern furniture, and decorative items valued at $745,882.
According to the online publication, the prosecutors order to return it does not mean that the super-influencer and reality TV personality committed any offences, and there is no evidence that Kardashian was aware of its allegedly criminal provenance.
Kardashian and rapper Kanye West recently announced their breakup.


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The new high-speed, automated line will more than double production capability to 56,000 bottles per hour (bph), from the previous line’s capability of 18,200bph.
It will support production of a new sports cap packaging format for CCE’s bottled water brand, glacéau smartwater.
Morpeth is CCE’s only site to produce glacéau smartwater – which comes from spring water from an underground aquifer. The 850ml bottle format is unique in the market, the company claimed.
Launched in the UK in 2014, glacéau smartwater is currently worth £21.9M in sales. The product is vapour distilled before electrolytes are added, giving what Coca-Cola GB claimed was a crisp, clean taste.
Supporting local manufacturing
Jane Buckley, operations director at CCE Morpeth, said the company was dedicated to supporting local manufacturing across the country.
She said: “This is an exciting milestone for our Morpeth operations. This latest investment in new production technology is a statement of our ongoing commitment to the local region.
“Here in Morpeth, we have a proud history of producing high quality water for consumers across Great Britain, and glacéau smartwater has been a successful addition to this portfolio.
Buckley added that bottled water with sports caps are in growth, ahead of the rest of the instant consumption water sector, “so this latest innovation offers real room for our retail customers to capitalise on this trend”.
Instant consumption formats
The new sports cap has been introduced to tap into consumer demand for instant consumption formats, where glacéau smartwater is ranked the number five brand, according to Nielsen.
Its launch is being supported by a £5.5M ‘life distilled’ marketing campaign, which kicked off in April.
Comprising out-of-home and digital advertising, the campaign will run throughout the summer.
CCE is the sole licensed bottler for products of The Coca-Cola Company in the UK, employing around 4,000 people.


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California, New York and Pennsylvania have all taken steps this month to speed up the process of legalizing online poker. Legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing to see if they can get online poker bill HB 649 which is sponsored by Rep. John Payne attached to the DFS bill (HB 2150) sponsored by Rep George Dunbar, which is set to be reviewed on June 22nd.
Should Payne succeed in getting his online poker bill reviewed along with the DFS bill, the legislative assembly could end up making a packaged vote on both online poker and the DFS industry before the end of this week. The legislative assembly is expected to break for this year after this week and if the online poker bill does not get attached, then it will continue to remain in limbo.
The 65 year old Payne has fought hard long and hard to push for the legalization of online poker in Pennsylvania and was disappointed back in May when the House leadership did not handle the iGaming bill properly. The house ran the bill once without the inclusion of video gaming terminals (VGT’s) and once with the inclusion of VGT’s.
Payne believes that since the bill was not explained properly it ended with a 107-81 vote as legislators were not very clear as to what they were voting for. Payne wants all 12 casinos in the state to be given a license to provide online gaming services as he believes the online gambling industry will bring in significant revenue for the state.
In a statement, Payne said “You can go online as soon as you hang up and play online poker or blackjack. The sites are there. They’re not illegal because we haven’t said they’re illegal, so they’re legal but not regulated. To say this is an expansion of gaming, it’s not. It’s already there, so for goodness sakes let’s protect minors and compulsive gamblers, and get revenue for the state.”
Payne is expected to retire at the end of the year and made it clear that he was pushing hard for online gambling to be legalized because he believed that it would provide numerous benefits to the state and not just to see his name in a bill. Should the house approve both the online poker and DFS bill this week, it would still need approval from the Assembly.