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Judging from the hype at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, one might think electric cars and hybrid cars are about to take over the world. Nearly a dozen cars at the show, which runs until Jan. 22, come with advanced battery power instead of just gas-fueled engines.
But speak to industry veterans and it's clear that gasoline will be king for many years. Consumers' enthusiasm, so far, is mild for the alternative fuel cars.
Few auto executives think there will be mass acceptance of electric and hybrid cars until at least 2025, when the country's Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, regulations kick in, forcing automakers to make cars that attain 54.5 miles per gallon on average.
Until then, relatively low gas prices and cheaper technology will keep motorists humming along in regular gasoline-powered internal combustion engines.
"Internal combustion engines are not going away anytime soon," said Gary Silberg, head of KPMG's automotive unit and a partner at the firm. Silberg released a report last week that demonstrated the skepticism that global auto executives have for electrifying cars: About 65 percent of those surveyed say electric vehicles and hybrid cars will account for just 6 percent to 10 percent of global annual sales worldwide through 2025.
Even though hybrid and electric car sales have been on the rise in recent years, consumer demand is already softening. Not only are gas prices staying stubbornly below $4.00 per gallon, a tax credit aimed at making it more economical for Americans to plug in an electric car expired on Jan. 1. Consumers can no longer obtain $1,000 to install at home a 220-volt electric car-charging device. A $7,500 federal tax break given to those who purchase electric vehicles could also be on the chopping block as legislators seek more ways to balance the budget.
Still, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, for one, says his company is staying the course, pushing electric vehicles. "I still believe there will be 30 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 worldwide, and that the U.S. will be a big piece of that."
Are you ready to dive in to new hybrids and electrics? Here are the new offerings being touted at this week's auto show in Detroit. See if there is one for you.
Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid
The lithium-ion battery in the new Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid may be small (just 1.1 kWh), but it can pack a punch big enough to move the gas-electric to speeds up to 44 miles per hour using nothing but electrons. Throw in a combined estimated fuel efficiency rating of 45 miles per gallon and a class-leading 0-60 time of 9.0 seconds, and you've got a green Jetta that should prove to be fun out on the highway.
Of course, with only a kilowatt hour in the battery pack, you won't get very far on battery power alone (just 1.2 miles, VW says) and all of those electrons will come from energy that was originally gasoline (there is no plug involved here), but it's still enough of an electric powertrain for VW to call the Jetta Hybrid the "most fuel-efficient Jetta in the lineup." And it is quite a line-up, since there are now a total of five powertrains available for the Jetta, offering "a German engineered compact sedan for everyone."
The Hybrid pairs up a four-cylinder, 1.4-liter turbocharged gasoline engine with a 20-kW (27 hp) electric motor. The gas engine produces 150 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque between 1400 rpm and 3500 rpm. The Jetta Hybrid will be available in North America later this year.
Ford Fusion Hybrid and Plug In
When the original Ford Fusion Hybrid debuted in 2009 as a 2010 model, it was rated at 41 miles per gallon in the city, making it the most fuel-efficient mid-size sedan in North America. Ford aims to re-capture that same magic with the 2013 Fusion Hybrid, which makes its debut today at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Final EPA numbers have not been released just yet, but Ford's preliminary data suggests that the 2013 Fusion Hybrid will be capable of achieving 47 mpg in the city, along with an immensely respectable 44 mpg highway. That's better than the mid-size hybrid offerings from Hyundai, Kia and Toyota.
Ford is also coming out with the Fusion Energi Plug-In, which is expected to go more than 40 miles on a batter charge before a gas engine kicks on to power the lithium-ion battery when it is drained. No worries about running out of power unless you also run out of gas.
Mercedes-Benz E400 BlueTec Hybrid
The Mercedes-Benz E300 BlueTec Hybrid and Mercedes-Benz E400 Hybrid are put to prove that hybrids, as well as diesels, are good solutions in the luxury car category.
The E300 BlueTec Hybrid, available in sedan and wagon variants, combines a two-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with a 20 kilowatt electric motor to give a combined fuel economy of 67.2 mpg. Destined for Europe, where 50 percent of all cars sold are now powered by diesel, Mercedes so far has no plans to bring this car to the U.S.
The E400 Hybrid on the other hand, uses a 3.5 liter, 306 horsepower, V6 engine mated to the same 20 kilowatt motor and 7G-Tronic Plus gearbox found in the E300 BlueTec Hybrid. It is expected to achieve around 27 mpg and will be available in U.S. showrooms.
Acura NSX Concept
As any Acura diehard would be quick to tell you, a revival of the iconic NSX is long overdue. In true Honda fashion, the automaker decided that if it was going to go to the trouble of producing a legitimate sports car, it was going to take on the very best in the industry
Power, as with the original, will come from a V6 mounted behind the two occupants that sends its power to the rear wheels; except this time, it will be augmented by an electric motor.
Acura's latest SH-AWD incorporates one electric motor in a dual-clutch transmission, forming a hybrid setup. Additionally, two more motors can instantly send negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering for improved handling and efficiency, and the whole package can be tailored via software. Acura says the new all-wheel-drive system will provide "supercar acceleration while offering outstanding efficiency."
We're not so sure environmentalists are ready to accept the notion of an eco-friendly supercar, but it's clear Acura's parents at Honda are keen to keep emissions and fuel usage in check. "In this new era, even as we focus on the fun to drive spirit of the NSX, I think a supercar must respond positively to environmental responsibilities," says Takanobu Ito, president and CEO of Honda Motor Co.
The VW Beetle is one of the most iconic designs in the world, and so Volkswagen, which has a lot of plans and ambition to be a leader in electric vehicles, has applied its latest tech to its highest profile car.
The electric motor puts out 114-horsepower (85 kW) and 199 pound-feet of torque, which gives the Bug plenty of pep. Range is listed at about 100 miles, courtesy of a 695-pound lithium ion battery pack that resides both under the rear seats and trunk floor. A charging port is located under the VW logo at the car's nose, and, depending on the charger being used, an 80-percent charge can happen in just 30 minutes.
The Smart For-Us concept features a 75-horsepower electric motor that twists up 98 pound-feet of torque. The battery is a 17.6 kW/h lithium ion battery pack, which is more juice than a Chevrolet Volt. Smart promises zero to 60 times in the range of five seconds and an 80 mph top speed, which isn't bad for a green machine with a bed. Smart claims that the battery pack can go from 20 percent charged to 80 percent in 3.5 hours, while a full juicing takes place in eight hours.
The For-Us boasts a smallish but undoubtedly handy 11.6 cubic feet of space. Smart no doubt isn't interested in going toe-to-toe with the likes of the F-150 and the Silverado, but it's still difficult to see such a concept model ever making its way to production.
Volvo XC60 Hybrid
The Swedish automaker showed off the XC60 Plug-In Gasoline Hybrid Concept, a way to gauge American reaction to the idea of a plug-in CUV from Volvo. Why? Because this concept is headed to the U.S. and Chinese markets – in a different guise and with a lot of changes – in "a couple of years." That means something like 2014-2015. Volvo's first PHEV here could be an XC60 model, or perhaps an S60, said Volvo CEO and President Stefan Jacoby. For now, Jacoby told AutoblogGreen, the XC60 shows the direction Volvo is going.
Here are the numbers: a 35-mile all-electric range, a recharging time of just 3.5 hours from a 220V outlet (7.5 hours from a more common 110V). Volvo estimates U.S. fuel economy of 105 MPGe and 50 mpg when the battery runs dry. 0-60 is reached in 5.8 seconds on the way to a 130 mph top speed. Oh, and eight gears in an auto transmission.
Petroleum is burned in a four-cylinder, 2-liter, turbocharged direct-injected gasoline engine that has stop-start technology.
Toyota can justifiably be proud of its position not only as one of the largest automakers in the world, but also the world leader in hybrid vehicles. In fact, the Japanese automaker claims that half of all hybrids sold are Toyotas. But it didn't get there by resting on its proverbial laurels, and it isn't going to maintain (let alone increase) its market share by doing so, either. That's where the concept car showcased at this week's North American International Auto Show comes in.
Taking position as something of a Prius of the future, the NS4 concept cuts a striking profile – certainly more striking than the current kamm-tailed Prius. The hybrid tech showcased here should reach showrooms around 2015.
While Toyota works on all manner of electric and fuel cell powertrains, the NS4 packs a similar plug-in hybrid system as the current Prius PHEV. But the show car encompasses a slew of other technologies, like a smartphone-like interface to monitor and control everything from the air conditioning to the battery charge.
Toyota has also packed the NS4 with its latest pre-collision and blind-spot monitoring systems, adaptive headlights and four new types of glass for greater safety and fuel economy.


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Next month, non-dairy milk brand Avocadomilk will debut a new vegan version of its avocado-based milk in the United States. Made with oats and freeze-dried avocado, the milk is created with a patented technology that maintains the nutritional integrity of the avocado fruit, and also makes use of the “ugly” avocados that do not make it to grocery stores and would otherwise be discarded. Previously, the product included honey in its formulation but the company removed the animal-derived ingredient to make a fully vegan version.
“It was a very easy decision to make—our customers told us that they wanted a vegan product,” Terry Daly, President and CEO of Avo88 and Avocadomilk, told VegNews. “All we did was listen to them and we are over the moon with the new formulation. It tastes better, it’s healthier, it’s simply beautiful.”
Daly said making the decision to bring Avocadomilk to the US was also an easy one. The brand is currently sold in New Zealand and Australia and was looking at expanding to other markets such as Asia and Europe. “On a trip to the US, I went into a Gelsens in LA and watched how the customers picked up the products and actually read the nutritional labels,” Daly said. “It was obvious to us that the US, and especially California, was setting the benchmark for the alternative milk category and we had to be here. I rang Richard at Gelsons and asked for a meeting—he agreed to talk to a crazy Kiwi who rang out of the blue and the rest is history.”
Avocadomilk will be available in 122 supermarkets—including Gelson’s, Lassen’s, Vitamin City, Bristol Farms, Clarks, New Frontier, Co Op, Lunardi’s, Gus’ Luckys, Breaux Mart, and Better Health—in California, Texas, the Rocky Mountains, the Midwest, and Hawaii.

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By Alyssa Pressler
The York Dispatch, Pa.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Michelle Hopkins is a family science teacher at Central York Middle School who is helping her students run Central Relaxation, a business that sells affordable bath fizzles, lip balm and body butters. The girls came up with the idea because they were frustrated with the prices they saw at popular beauty stores like Lush.
The York Dispatch, Pa.
When Michelle Hopkins first started Central Relaxation with 16 of her middle-school students, they almost thought they’d never be able to sell anything. Each time they tried to make a new bath bomb or body butter disaster would strike: the products would be misshapen, they’d fall apart or they’d have strange things growing on them.
The 16 girls from Central York Middle School who are running the business kept at it, though. They spent weeks perfecting the formulas, solving problems and marketing their products. Since they started selling their bath products on Dec. 1, the student-run business has filled 405 orders all over the country.
“It’s not about making the profit, it’s about the experience,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins is a family science teacher at Central York Middle School who is helping her students run Central Relaxation, a business that sells affordable bath fizzles, lip balm and body butters. The girls came up with the idea because they were frustrated with the prices they saw at popular beauty stores like Lush.
The process started when Hopkins applied for a grant through Real World Scholars, an organization that focuses on teaching entrepreneurial skills to young students. They provide funding and an e-commerce platform to teachers who want to start a business with their students.
Running a business: The 16 girls working with Hopkins on Central Relaxation aren’t in this for a grade. In fact, it’s not a class at all. The group meets during their flex period, which is comparable to a study hall, or even after school to quickly make and package as many products as they can in a 42 minute time period.
The group is a mixture of seventh- and eighth-graders, and they’re not an all-female group on purpose. Hopkins said it just worked out like that, but she’s excited to see young women interested in entrepreneurial skills, the science behind making the products and problem-solving.
“It’s a learning experience on how to work a business,” said Taylor Haas, an eighth-grader involved in Central Relaxation. She said learning about the money-management aspect has been her favorite part. “It took a lot to figure out how much to sell the stuff for.”
While some girls create new products or send orders out, others are working on informational packets, designing the packaging, marketing strategies, presentations for area businesses and dealing with the dishes that are dirtied during the production process.
Each of the girls helps in every step of the process. They meet two or three times each week, sometimes more if there’s a lot to do, and they switch jobs so they are all trained in everything.
Through their work they are sharpening their problem-solving skills, their abilities to work together in a group and multidisciplinary skills. Those include chemistry to create the products, working on design for the logo and packaging and marketing their business through social media.
“Nobody’s the boss,” said Maddi Smith, a seventh-grader. “Ms. Hopkins tells us what to do, but she also accepts our input.”
The girls sell their products at special events, like craft fairs, but also on their website. They’ve filled orders from all over the country. Hopkins said they’ve shipped orders as far as Michigan and California.
The products: They started out just selling bath fizzles, also known as bath bombs, but they’ve since added T-shirts with their logo, body butters and most recently, lip balm. They are also rolling out three new scents for Valentine’s Day: white tea and ginger, Asian pear and lily and blackberry vanilla. The bath fizzles are $4 each, the lip balm is $1 and the body butters vary in price.
All of the money earned is used to buy ingredients for their products and anything else they might need for the business. Any profit they make otherwise is donated. The group of students just donated $400 to the York County SPCA, and next they will donate their profits to Kids Helping Kids, an organization that works with pediatric cancer patients at Penn State Hershey.
Come next year, the business will welcome a new set of students as the eighth-graders move on to high school. Hopkins said she isn’t sure if they will decide to continue Central Relaxation or if the students will want to start a new business.
No matter what, the seventh-graders involved now are planning on working the business again next year, like Maddi, whose favorite product is the buttered rum bath fizzle.
Lindsay Richeson, a seventh-grader, also said she’d come back to the business next school year. She said working with Central Relaxation has piqued her interest in running her own business some day.
“I like getting a taste for what running a business is like,” she said. “I think it would be cool to start my own business.”
This is what Hopkins hopes the girls get out of their time together.
“I want them to know you can do anything you want,” Hopkins said. “There’s always a solution to something.”
You can purchase Central Relaxation products by visiting their website: centralrelaxation.com


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Bangkok: PepsiCo Inc and a Thai affiliate have taken control of Thai bottler Serm Suk Pcl in an expansion drive in Asia’s third-largest bottled beverage market after China and India.
The maker of Diet Pepsi, Sierra Mist and Tropicana juice, and its partner Strategic Beverages (Thailand) Co Ltd, now own 50.1% of Serm Suk after buying 658 million baht ($20 million) in a tender offer launched 30 April.
They bought 22.7 million shares, or 8.54%, at 29 baht ($0.89) each, Strategic Beverages said in a statement.
PepsiCo and its partner had already owned 41.54% of Serm Suk with the rest held by Thai investors. The tender offer period ends on 10 June.
Strategic Beverages said its 29 baht offer was near a 10-year high in the stock, but the price was 26-30% below the 39.3-41.9 baht fair value estimated by an independent financial adviser, according to a filing by Serm Suk to the stock exchange.
Strategic Beverages, a joint venture between PepsiCo and senior Thai management of Pepsi-Cola (Thai) Trading, has offered to buy all of remaining 155.44 million shares, or 58.46% of Serm Suk in a deal that could shake up and intensify the local beverage market.
The value of the Thai beverage market is estimated at 35 billion baht ($1.1 billion), Asia’s third largest, industry data showed.
Serm Suk stock, valued at $284 million on the Thai bourse, surged 123% in the last three months on expectation that PepsiCo might raise the offer price after the adviser estimated Serm Suk’s fair value of 39 baht.
On Monday, Serm Suk shares plunged 9.35% to 31.50 baht, while the overall Thai stock market was 1.5% lower.


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The Federal Trade Commission Wednesday announced amendments to the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule that will give parents more control over the information online services and websites can collect about their kids. It's the first change since COPPA was passed in 1998 and is meant to update the protections to a time when much of kids' online activity has moved to "apps" on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices.
While its an important step forward, there are still some loopholes.
A key step forward is the provision of the new COPPA Rule broadening what constitutes "personal information" that cannot be collected without parental notice and consent. Added to the old list that included such information as name, address, email address are geolocation information, photographs, and videos. The amendments also extend the COPPA Rule to cover persistent identifiers that can recognize users over time and across different websites or online services, such as IP addresses and mobile device IDs. In other words you can't track kids without a parent's permission.
One problem with the new regulation is what might be termed the Google and Apple exemption. While apps are covered by the COPPA rule, the platforms that make them available for download either for sale or for free– Apple and Google — have no responsibility to make sure the apps follow the rules.
"The Commission takes seriously its mandate to protect children in this ever-changing technological landscape,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “I am confident that the amendments to the COPPA Rule strike the right balance between protecting innovation that will provide rich and engaging content for children, and ensuring that parents are informed and involved in their children’s online activities."
The Federal Trade Commission began reviewing the COPPA Rule in 2010. The new rule takes effect on July 1, 2013. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act requires that operators of websites or online services that are either directed to children under 13 or have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children under 13 give notice to parents and get their verifiable consent before collecting, using, or disclosing such personal information, and keep secure the information they collect from children. It also prohibits them from conditioning children’s participation in activities on the collection of more personal information than is reasonably necessary for them to participate. The Act gives the FTC to write the actual rules to provide protection,
Consumer Watchdog was part of a coalition of consumer and privacy advocates which recently sent the FTC a letter pushing the FTC to adopt strong COPPA protections. And while it's important that we protect kids' online privacy, we also need to make sure that adults have the ability to control what data is gathered about their online activities and how those digital dossiers are used.


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The latest in Nike Air technology fuses with Jordan design language to create a new silhouette within Jordan Brand’s Flight Utility range: the Jordan Proto-Max 720.
The shoe features Nike’s latest Air innovation, 720, along with a lightweight, flexible textile upper. Adjustable heel straps allow for custom fit, while Flight Utility graphic details appear on the tongue and heel tabs.
Jordan Proto-Max 720 Release Date
Look for the Jordan Proto-Max 720 to release in 2019 at select Jordan Brand retailers and Nike.com.
UPDATE: On-feet photos of the Jordan Proto-Max 720 in its upcoming Red/Black colorway that will be releasing later this year. Photos: solesavyinc


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Microsoft was considered to have escaped lightly after the European Commission found it guilty in 2004 of bundling its media player software with Windows to the detriment of competition. It was ordered to sell a second version of Windows in Europe without its media player, but the new version was priced the same, few PC makers stocked it and the product effectively bombed in the market.
People continued to buy the original version of Windows, complete with the media player, and the remedy did little to help Microsoft’s rivals.
With its fresh antitrust suit filed with the Commission this week, browser maker Opera Software is hoping for a tougher penalty to rein in what it sees as Microsoft’s illegal bundling of its Internet Explorer (IE) browser with Windows. One legal expert said that this time around, Microsoft might not be so lucky.
“The landscape has changed quite a bit between Microsoft and the European Commission since the last ruling. If there’s a replay of what led up to the 2004 ruling, and Microsoft takes similar positions regarding bundling, then I wouldn’t be surprised if the Commission comes down harder now,” said Chris Norall, a partner in the Brussels office of the law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Opera argues that because each version of Windows comes with only IE preinstalled, Microsoft has an unfair advantage against rivals like Opera and Firefox. That has helped it maintain a consistent market share on Windows PCs of around 80 percent, Opera contends.
The Norwegian company now wants the Commission to come up with a tougher remedy to overcome Microsoft’s advantage. If the Commission agrees that the bundling of IE is just as illegal as the bundling of Windows Media Player was in 2004, its remedy this time “will be tougher, it will have teeth,” said Norall, whose law firm is not involved in the Microsoft case.
One possible outcome would be to make Microsoft offer a second version of Windows without Windows Media Player, and to sell it at a lower price than the “complete” version of Windows. That may give PC makers more incentive to offer it. Opera’s preferred solution, however, is simply to force Microsoft to pre-load other browsers with Windows when it ships.
“In our minds, the best solution would be one version of Windows with a must-carry type of provision,” said Jason Hoida, Opera’s deputy general counsel.
Microsoft is likely to fight that remedy fiercely. It says it will cooperate with the Commission’s investigation, but argues, as it has before, that consumers benefit from bundling its browser with Windows. What’s more, it notes, PC makers and consumers are free to install any other browser if they wish.
Microsoft’s position my be strengthened by the popularity of rival browsers in Europe, notably Firefox, which has reached a market share of close to 40 percent in some key markets, such as Germany, studies have shown. If Microsoft can argue that rivals to IE are gaining market share, it could help it persuade the Commission that antitrust intervention is not necessary.
Opera responds that the growth of other browsers has been levelling out. “Firefox has attracted a lot of users, especially in the open-source world, but it has not been climbing consistently,” said Hakon Wium Lie, Opera’s chief technology officer.
In addition, he said, Opera’s complaint is focussed on Windows PCs, where IE’s share is higher, and not that of Linux or Macintosh computers. However, it is uncertain that the Commission will exclude Linux and Macintosh computers when it considers the relevant market in this case.
Opera’s position may be helped by the previous antitrust judgment against Microsoft. Three months ago the Court of First Instance endorsed the legality of the Commission’s 2004 ruling when it threw out Microsoft’s appeal. The Commission will examine the new complaint “in light of the case law set in the Court of First Instance judgement,” Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said Thursday.
Opera expects the case to move along faster than the seven years it took to reach the 2004 decision, since the Commission has already deemed Microsoft to be a monopolist, and because Microsoft opted against a further appeal against that decision. “There is an unappealed judgment, so we hope this will go faster,” Hoida said.
Thomas Vinje, a partner in the Brussels office of the law firm Clifford Chance, which is representing Opera in this case, said: “The complaint is very short. It doesn’t have far to look for a relevant legal precedent.”
In addition to the bundling charge, Opera also complains that Microsoft does not follow Web standards, putting rival browsers at a disadvantage. The issue is significant because if all Web browsers do not use the same standards, Web site developers are likely to design their Web sites to work with the most widely used browser, which is Internet Explorer. That gives people a disincentive to use other browsers.
Microsoft often takes part in debates over Web standards, and says it will implement them, but ultimately does not, Opera’s Lie said. He pointed to CSS, XHTML and DOM as areas where Microsoft does not comply with or is inconsistent.
The Opera complaint is the second against Microsoft filed to the Commission since the 2004 ruling. In February 2006, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) complained that Microsoft is foreclosing the market for productivity software with its Office package. Some expect more complaints to follow.
“The bundling issue is going to come up each time Microsoft adds a new feature to Windows. Will there be more complaints? Yes,” said Norall.


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In today’s edition of Crypto Daily News, we’ll cover why Bithumb has dropped nearly 40% in its trade volume and why Bitcoin (BTC) was unaffected by the NYSE news.
Crypto Daily News: August 3rd, 2018
Bithumb Sees Slump in Trade Volume
The world’s 13th largest cryptocurrency exchange by its current trade volume, Bithumb, has dropped a substantial amount since it was hacked back in June. Three days ago, the South Korean exchange halted all new user accounts, plus deposits and withdrawals, and its exchange volume dropped even further.
In just 72 hours, Bithumb has …
Read The Full Article On CryptoCurrencyNews.com
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“Our new patented iGen series water softener incorporates the most unique and modern design for the home in the industry", said Scott A. Batiste, chairman and CEO of Puronics.
Livermore, California (PRWEB) April 15, 2016
Puronics, Incorporated, a leading water treatment equipment manufacturer, has launched its new patented iGen series home water softener/conditioner.
“Our new patented iGen series incorporates the most unique and modern design for the home in the industry," said Scott A. Batiste, chairman and CEO of Puronics. “The iGen incorporates new technology that notifies the user when the HYgene® bacteriostatic filter needs to be changed. The notification can be programmed to occur based on gallons used, duration of time, or both. In addition, the system will adapt to household water usage lifestyles which will determine back-washing and regeneration intervals.”
The iGen series will be sold through Puronics' nationwide network of over 200 independent dealer locations.
Puronics, Incorporated, headquartered in Livermore, California, is a leading manufacturer of consumer and commercial water treatment products. Puronics water products condition and purify millions of gallons of water per year. Puronics solutions include technologies such as water softening, conditioning, filtering, micro-filtration, ultra-filtration, bacteriostatic carbon filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra violet disinfection. Puronics solutions are used for manufacturing processes and pre-treatment of boilers, hot water heaters, dishwashers, steam-handling equipment and other water-using devices. To learn more about Puronics water filtration products, visit http://www.puronics.com.


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The Malaysian government has stated that it is looking into legalizing Bitcoin by the end of the year, making it easier for expatriates to send money to their loved ones at home.
Just as China decided to clamp down and ban Bitcoin trades, the Malaysian government is going the other way, opening its arms to Bitcoin trade and usage.
The Malaysia government is about to join other countries like Korea and Japan to regulate and legalize Bitcoin. The government says it is working on policies to regulate the use of Bitcoin in the country so that it isn't used for money laundering, terrorism financing or fraud.
Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Muhammad bin Ibrahim said:
“We hope that by year-end, BNM will be able to come out with some guidelines on cryptocurrency, particularly those related to anti-money laundering and terrorist financing.
"We want to ensure that there are clear guidelines for those who want to participate in this sector", he added.
The BNM is the equivalent of Malaysia's central bank.
Good news for expats
Malaysia has a booming industrial sector with lots of business opportunities. It is known majorly for exporting oil, gas, electronics, palm oil and rubber. As a result, it has a lot of expert expatriates who are working and living in the country.
However, these expatriates can't easily send large sums of money back to their loved ones at home because the Malaysian government has imposed strict restrictions on capital outflows. The government has in place policies and regulations to ensure money from Malaysia doesn't end up overseas. Bank transfers take out a 20% commission at times, discouraging one from trying to send money overseas.
A regulated and legalized Bitcoin market will enable expatriates to easily send money to their loved ones back home without the fear of breaking the law. They will be able to register on exchanges to buy bitcoin and send it overseas.
Malaysia will then be joining a host of other Asian countries who have embraced Bitcoin. The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea have evolved into established and well-regulated bitcoin markets.
Bitcoin price up
Perhaps, due to the upcoming legalization of Bitcoin in Malaysia, Bitcoin's price is up. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin has appreciated 7% (on a 24-hour scale), going for $3,920, and gaining $257 in the process. Bitcoin has been unstable for the past week but the market is still bullish.


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Self-defense devices for girls see surge in demand, 'haunted' house looking for resident, parents protest 'unlucky' dorm numbers.|
Girls on guard after vicious attacks
Self-defense devices for girls have seen a massive surge in growth after several rape and murder cases were reported in August.
According to Taobao.com, China’s largest online shopping website, the sales of such devices have inc ...
--------Click here for more information--------


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With the upcoming release of Apple’s iPhone, smartphones are becoming one of the most hyped categories of consumer technology today. The combination of telephone technology with e-mail, Internet access and multimedia — among other features — serves many consumer needs in one tidy, sleek little packet.
“Top-end devices today are like mini-laptops in many ways,” noted Neil Strother, research director for mobile devices, content and services at NPD Group. “The horsepower doesn’t match laptops, but they get close. The question is, what do people want to do with them, and what do they want to pay?”
Predictions abound about the future of smartphones — not just innovations that may occur but also who will be using them and whether, indeed, there will be any market left for “dumb” phones. The consensus? An array of irresistible new features will drive smartphones into the hands of new types of users, causing fragmentation of the market, but traditional phones may not be ready to go the way of the dinosaurs — at least not yet.
Generally defined as mobile phones built around a mobile operating system, smartphones have already found widespread acceptance in Europe. By the third quarter of 2006, market penetration in Europe was 8.8 percent among recent device buyers, compared with only 3.8 percent in the United States, according to a report by Telephia.
Symbian, the creator of Europe’s market-leading smartphone operating system, reported in November that 100 million Symbian-powered smartphones had been shipped to date worldwide.
“High-speed networks like 3G were available earlier in Europe than in the U.S.,” said Reza Chady, Telephia’s managing director for Europe. “To get the best out of these faster networks, mobile consumers were motivated to purchase more advanced devices like smartphones, which provided a better experience with data applications.”
North Americans appear to be catching up, however. In the United States, 8.5 million devices were shipped in 2006, up from 5.2 million in 2005, according to Gartner Group’s 2006 report on Worldwide Converged Mobile Devices. Gartner predicts that shipments will leap to 54.3 million devices in the U.S. in 2010.
Among the most common vendors of the devices today are Windows Mobile, Research In Motion and Palm, in addition to Symbian.
As more U.S. networks get upgraded, the market is becoming primed and will see a rapid growth in smartphone usage, Jerry Panagrossi, vice president of U.S. operations for London-based Symbian, told TechNewsWorld.
An array of new features may tempt many new types of users to adopt smartphones. Mobile TV, for instance, is one Panagrossi predicted will be widely popular in the United States, allowing users to watch TV on their smartphones wherever they are.
Panagrossi also cited many other features that are on the way, several of them already available in other countries:
- Mobile payment, in which a smartphone can be used to pay for goods. Already available in Japan, some devices include a fingerprint sensor for security, so that users must pass their finger over the sensor to confirm their identity before using the phone for payment. Others use face recognition, requiring that a user must take a photo of themselves with the phone to verify their identity, Panagrossi said.
- Location-based services (LBS), using global positioning systems for route planning and navigation. Like similar services in cars, LBS will be even more prevalent on smartphones, Panagrossi predicted, and will be of interest to advertisers, since people usually have their phones with them all the time. This technology is already available in Japan, and its time may be coming in the United States too. “Location-based services are always criticized as being ‘next year’s technology,'” Panagrossi said. “Now we’re starting to see the positioning infrastructure put in place.”
- Social networking, in which “the equivalent of MySpace is moved to the phone,” Panagrossi stated. Some phones already allow video sharing, and Panagrossi expects more such social-networking features to be rolled out in the next two years.
- Dual-mode devices, which can make calls through the user’s own IP network. The result will be that users can switch from calling over their IP at home to Wifi or cellular on the road, said Ramon Llamas, research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program.
Features vs. Cost
Whichever features customers ultimately choose, there are going to be trade-offs they’ll have to make, both with other features and with cost. “It used to be that folks didn’t want a lot of stuff on their phones,” Llamas told TechNewsWorld. “Now the pendulum is swinging the other way and people want as many features as possible. We’re pushing the boundaries as to how much a phone can do.”
So, if a user wants to be able to do social networking on their smartphone, for example, they may have to give up other features — or pay a higher cost.
While costs traditionally go down as a product category matures, they may become more important as new market segments begin to consider purchasing the devices. That shift, in turn, may ensure a continued market for traditional, “dumb” phones.
“Price will be a factor — the technology isn’t free,” noted NPD’s Strother. “The first wave of users is usually tech-savvy. The next wave will include low-income consumers, and they can get Internet access and the basics without an operating system. More and more phones will be smart, but I’m not sure when it will exceed 50 percent.”
So, as new groups of users begin to turn to smartphones for different reasons — music lovers may go for the iPhone, for example, while “soccer moms” and business executives may choose different ones — the market will be increasingly fragmented, with different devices serving different groups of users.
Will smartphones soon become the only kind of phone available? “No,” Llamas proclaimed. “There will still be people who just use the phone for phone calls. Not everyone will want data.”
Llamas said he remains bullish on the devices, and smartphone vendors, not surprisingly, take that enthusiasm even further. “Within 5 years, 50 percent of all phones developed for developed countries will be smartphones,” Panagrossi predicted. “When we get there, the ‘smartphone’ label will likely disappear. Over time, smartphones will become the standard.”


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Black Mesa is finally finished after nearly 15 years of development. Black Mesa is, of course, the third-party remake of the original Half-Life featuring updated graphics and modernized gameplay. Black Mesa originally omitted Half-Life’s not-well-loved Xen platforming chapters, but developer Crowbar Collective recently reintroduced heavily-revamped versions of those levels. The new version of Black Mesa with the Xen levels remained in Early Access for a few weeks, but it seems they were well-received, because the complete Black Mesa version 1.0 is now available.
To celebrate the 1.0 launch, Crowbar Collective have released a new Black Mesa trailer, which provides a peek at a wide array of iconic locations and moments. The game looks new and retro all at once, and is definitely a must-play before Half-Life: Alyx comes out later this month. Check out the trailer, below.
If I told you, say, six months ago, that we’d be basically be getting two new Half-Life games in 2020, would you believe it? I wouldn’t have bought it myself. Somehow not sure what Half-Life/Black Mesa is all about? Here’s the official description:
You are Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist at the Black Mesa Research Facility. When a routine experiment goes horribly wrong, you must fight your way through an interdimensional alien invasion, and a bloodthirsty military clean-up crew in order to save the science team... and the world!
- Nineteen chapters of fighting through top-secret labs, running atop harsh desert landscapes, sneaking into abandoned railways, and leaping across dimensions
- Mind-Blowing graphics and effects, never before seen on the Source Engine
- Face off against an army of classic enemies, updated with new features and engaging AI
- Wield an arsenal of military hardware, scientific prototypes, and the iconic crowbar through incredibly detailed environments
Black Mesa is available right now on Steam. Anybody planning to relive some memories?


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The Nizam of Hyderabad
Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur was the last ruler of Hyderabad before it was annexed by India. He was once on the cover of Time magazine and was labelled the richest man in the world. He reportedly had up to £400 million in jewellery alone. It has been reported that he had up to 100 illegitimate children, which resulted in over a hundred legal heirs, and by extension, claimants to his wealth. His grandson Mukarram Jah was named the titular Nizam of Hyderabad in 1967. In an interview many years ago, Jah was quoted saying, “I inherited a scrap yard. I have a lifetime’s work before me.”
Mahapatra of Tigiria
Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal Emperor to rule India. By the time of his accession to the throne, it was a titular role as the Mughal empire existed in name only. In 2013, it has been reported that the great grand daughter-in-law of Bahadur Shah Zafar lives in a slum on the outskirts of Kolkata. It had also been reported that she received a pension of £60 per month and made ends meet on that paltry sum.
Nawabs of Awadh
The last royal occupant of the Malcha Mahal, Prince Ali Raza, died in poverty in 2017. He passed away in the Malcha Mahal where he lived with his mother, sister Sakina and 11 dogs. It has been reported that Sakina squatted in the waiting room of the New Delhi Railway Station for close to a decade and was finally sanctioned the derelict palace, which was in a poor condition. She passed away earlier in 2017.
Tipu Sultan’s family
The ‘Tiger of Mysore’ ruled over the Kingdom of Mysore, but Tipu Sultan’s descendants lived a hard life. While one of his descendants pulled a rickshaw, one had a kerosene dealership and another manned a garment shop. Tipu Sultan had 12 sons who were deported to Kolkata by the British. Seven of them had no surviving male heir and faded away into a life of obscurity and penury.
- Front Page
- Pure Politics
- Learn more about our print editionMore
- Byju’s New India CEO to Cut More Than 4,500 Jobs
Arjun Mohan, who took charge as the new chief executive of the India business at Byju’s last Wednesday, is set to unveil a series of changes at the financially troubled edtech firm, including cutting the headcount by a third or about 4,000-4,500 people to further tighten costs, people aware of the matter said.ADIA Looks to Put $600m into RIL’s Retail Business
After QIA, yet another oil-rich Gulf sovereign fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), is looking to buy an additional stake in Mukesh Ambani’s retail empire. ADIA is seeking to invest $600 million into the organised retailing business of Asia's richest person, people aware of the developments told ET, at valuations that significantly exceed those during an earlier concluded round three years ago.Bigger Ecommerce Sales Set to Light up Volumes
The upcoming festive season sales are expected to bring the steepest online discounts since Covid, up to 60% in certain categories, with several ecommerce majors indicating a push to expand volumes.
ETPrime stories of the day
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Sony CEO, Kaz Hirai, has finally announced a few details about PlayStation 3’s online services (I’m surprised they’ve done such a good job of keeping the lid closed this long). Hirai stated that Sony has taken a different philosophy on the PS3’s online services, in which there will be no differentiating between PS3’s online and offline services:
What we don’t do however is have a brand name for the network service, you know, like PlayStation Online or PlayStation Live, and this is because we don’t we don’t see a “PlayStation offline”.
Hirai noted that multiplayer for Resistance: Fall of Man will feature video chat, voice chat, text chat, rankings and game expansions. What we do know so far about Sony’s online services, is that users will be able to download music, videos, interviews and trailers all out of the box. Hirai also stated that there will be a little under 20 games launched with the PS3. The titles aren’t announced yet, and probably won’t be until a few weeks before the console launches.
Even with the current shortages Sony is facing, it is still maintaining 1 million units will be out on the U.S. market before the end of the calendar year. That will make it at least a little bit easier for people who didn’t grab a preorder to get a console after launch.
Sony Talks About Playstation 3’s Online Services [business week]


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This week’s Play State of Play live stream event has been scheduled by Sony, and it may be enough to convince you to buy a PSVR 2.
The State of Play stream will start at 1:00 PM Pacific or 9:00 PM UK time on Thursday, February 23. The streams typically last 30 minutes or longer.
According to Sony, five PSVR 2 titles from partners (i.e., third parties) slated for release this year will receive an early look. Whether this refers to already-released games or upcoming VR experiences is unclear, but we suspect it may be the former.
In that scenario, we’re eager to see a preview of what we can expect later this year. Also, today Sony promised ten more games inside the launch window (which it classes as between now and the end of March).
Sony described the newcomers in a blog post today, bringing the total number of games to almost 40. These are what they are: Gorn, Nock: Bow + Arrow Soccer, Hellsweeper VR, Ragnarok, Runner, Startenders: Intergalactic Bartending, Sushi Ben, Swordsman VR, and Unplugged: Air Guitar are some additional titles in this genre.
State of Play is back! Tune in Thursday at 1pm PT for:
☑ Five new PS VR2 titles from partners
☑ Hot indie and third-party reveals
☑ An extended look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguehttps://t.co/kMPyPpMhSk pic.twitter.com/mu8RX0ZJFk
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 21, 2023
Tomorrow, February 22, marks the release of PlayStation VR2, so it’s not unexpected that Sony is giving it a significant push by revealing more games and devoting the State of Play live to its new virtual reality add-on.
The headset has already received a four-star rating from us. According to our own Ryan Jones, its success will depend more on upcoming PlayStation first-party games than the third-party games we’ll hear about this week.
Pre-orders don’t appear to have fulfilled Sony’s expectations, which is understandable given the expensive £529 asking price. Other “Hot indie and third-party reveals” during the State of Play include an update on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Also read: If you are running a business, you can use these ideas for enhanced user experience.
Also read: Are you looking for a best website for assignment writing?You are on right place. Here you can find one.


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Three friends Farida El Agamy (Co-founder & CEO), Samar Sayegh (Co-founder & COO) and Dima Samaan (Co-founder & CMO) started their brand Kyma to sell toxic free, affordable and eco-friendly home cleaning products. From R&D and manufacturing to production and packaging Kyma does everything right here in the UAE at its factory in Sharjah. “The goal is to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint,” the Co-founders emphasised.
As part of Kyma’s commitment to reducing single-use plastic, its products are packaged in refillable bottles and recyclable materials. Unlike ready-to-use cleaners, Kyma cleaning products are manufactured in a concentrated tablet form which contains the same active ingredients but without water. “What that means is reduced packaging and no single-use plastic; reduced carbon footprint; and reduced storage needs. Our operations at Kyma prioritise ESG practices and therein we follow strong internal controls and processes.”
ESG is certainly a crucial focus area for most businesses as well as public sector organisations. Asked about ESG reforms that can facilitate changemaking in the region, here’s what the Co-founders said, “Encouraging investment in sustainable start-ups, clean technology and eco-friendly practices is crucial. Governmental incentives such as tax incentives, grants and loans to businesses in the sustainability sector will encourage more businesses to become to operate sustainably. Collaboration and partnerships between businesses, government and academia is needed to drive innovation and progress in sustainability.”
“Importantly, raising public awareness about the benefits of sustainable business practices will encourage more consumers to support companies that prioritise sustainability and businesses to adopt sustainable practices, products and services,” they added.
Impact-making is a long road and thus, having a clear sense of purpose is important for businesses that are keen to become changemakers as it provides a roadmap for creating a positive impact. “Our sense of purpose helps us to stay focused on our mission, make decisions aligned with our values and engage our employees and stakeholders around a shared cause. It also serves as a source of inspiration and motivation and helps companies differentiate themselves in a competitive market,” the Co-founders agreed.
In Greek the word Kyma means waves. The Co-founders deliberately chose the name Kyma due to their firm conviction that every small step taken towards impact-making will eventually lead to a wave of change. “We’ve dared to change the world with a tiny product that can literally fit into your palm – a safe, non-toxic, environment, kids and pet friendly cleaning tablet,” they conclude.
The key to a successful omnichannel future
A frictionless omnichannel experience which is predictive, value-focused, and highly personalised isFebruary 16, 2023 | By RetailME Bureau
Scandinavian brand J Lindeberg capitalises on the rise of athleisure to expand in the UAE
J Lindeberg was started by Johan Lindeberg in 1990s with the aimSeptember 2, 2022 | By RetailME Bureau
New Balance’s omni-approach to engage, serve and reward customers
On the Cover: LIWA CEO Mark Tesseyman talks about the pursuit of excellence
UAE-based diversified business GMG’s Everyday Goods’ retail division has launched its first
Exactly 11 years ago as a freshly minted expat in the UAE
Cereal Partners Worldwide, the maker of Nestlé Breakfast Cereals and a leading
Grocery major Carrefour, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in the
Géant, part of GMG, recently opened two new stores. The brand has
UAE-based diversified family business GMG has launched four state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in
The growth opportunity for food and grocery retailers during the Holy Month
From value, variety and convenience to philanthropy GMG retail stores, including 16
MAGGI from the house of the Nestlé is all set to launch
What does 2023 look like for consumers in Saudi Arabia? A Nielsen
Dubai-based food & grocery retailer Union Coop has launched its discount campaign
Around eight years ago in 2015 a brand called Fruitful Day was
Regional retail conglomerate Apparel Group has been honoured with the prestigious CSR
Global fashion brand Giordano recently completed three decades in the Middle East.
Being aware of the pivotal role that biodiversity plays in preserving life
Unilever Arabia has added the first-ever Electric Van (EV) to its fleet
Helena Helmersson, CEO of H&M Group has been appointed the Co-Chair of
McDonald’s UAE has raised AED 325,000 for Emirates Red Crescent during Ramadan
Global brand adidas’ new initiative ‘Move for the Planet’ seeks to harness
According to a recent report by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), the plant-based foods
Sunset Hospitality Group’s brand Azure Beach Dubai has recently implemented an initiative
Global brand Nike is committed to creating solutions to advance its circular
Spanish retailer Inditex Group’s fashion brand Zara has partnered with a fashion
Advancing towards its resource positive goals global coffee chain Starbucks has certified


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1 – ‘Fine fibre’ first: Kao to release first cosmetic products based on skin hydration technology
Japanese cosmetics maker Kao Corporation will launch the first products based on its new ‘fine-fibre’ technology in its domestic market from December 4, with an international roll-out following in early 2020.
Kao Corporation first announced the development of its fine fibre technology in 2018. This technology creates a very thin and invisible layer of film on the skin and acts as a moisture barrier to keep skin hydrated.
Kao claimed that this membrane allows for quick and even application of cosmetic products. Additionally, it is able to retain products and moisture while allow skin to breathe.
The company worked with technology company Panasonic to develop a handheld diffuser device which consumers can use in the comfort of home. This dispenser uses electrospinning technology to create the film.
The company will first launch fine-fibre technology products under its brands est and Sensai as a night time skin care treatment.
2 – Playing games: J&J-owned Dr. Ci:Labo ramps up travel retail presence to attract more Chinese consumers
Japanese skin care label Dr. Ci:Labo is tapping into travel retail with a virtual interactive game targeted at Chinese consumers travelling in South Korea.
The game, which is exclusively available in South Korea, can be accessed via Weibo, WeChat and CTrip. It features Chinese celebrity and brand ambassador Liu Yuning and an animated character Dr. Rabbit as they journey though South Korea to “solve pore issues”.
Users can collect points by solving these puzzles and redeem special gifts including a limited-edition bottle signed by Liu Yuning, at selected Korean duty free locations operated by Shinsegae Duty Free, Lotte Duty Free, Doota Duty Free, HDC Shilla Duty Free and Hyundai Department Store.
Sandrine Tesnière, head of marketing, media and digital travel retail Johnson & Johnson told CosmeticsDesign-Asia that it chose to roll out the campaign in South Korea as it still remains a hot destination for Chinese tourists.
“Dr. Ci:Labo has a strong business presence in South Korea, and Chinese consumers continue to travel significantly to that destination. Chinese inbound traffic to Korea was up 28% YTD August vs. last year. So, it made sense to support our retail partners in Korea with this initiative.”
3 – Shiseido expects full-year sales to dip by as much as $275m due to market uncertainties
Japanese cosmetics maker Shiseido is revising its full-year forecast due to the increasingly challenging business environment in several markets.
Michael Coombs, CFO of Shiseido, said during the company’s third quarter presentation that the company was anticipating sales to dip by 25 to 30 billion yen from its previous forecast citing the weak market conditions in Hong Kong, South Korea and the US.
“External challenges that we have identified include FX, growing market uncertainties stemming from US-China trade friction, and sales decreases in Hong Kong and South Korea. Our Japan Business has also been adversely affected by unfavourable weather and other factors.”
However, Coombs noted that the company is still working towards its original target.
“We have not given up on achieving our original target of 120 billion yen in operating profit. We will strengthen our long-term marketing investments, but at the same time we will coordinate with each region to improve cost efficiency in response to the business environment and strive to improve marketing ROI.”
4 – Cream of the crop: New Japanese study claims to have developed the “perfect” skin cream
A team of Japanese scientists have developed an alpha-gel which contains a compound that resembles the main component of the skin’s moisture-retaining lipid layer.
This study was jointly carried out by Tokyo University of Science (TUS) and Miyoshi Oil and Fat. Led by Dr Kenichi Sakai, the team synthesised an α-gel using an oleic acid-based surfactant.
Alpha-gels are viscous substances formulated by mixing surfactants with a fatty alcohol and water. They are commonly used in skin care products because of their ability to retain water well.
The study claims that this alpha-gel has a structure similar to natural ceramide. Ceramide plays an important role in helping skin retain moisture. It is found in the lipid layer of the skin and forms a ‘lamellar gel’ with cholesterol, fatty acids, and water.
Sakai said one of his interests was to develop alpha-gels using two-tailed and two-headed surfactants to discover how their structural and physical properties would be different.
The properties of this new alpha-gel were evaluated using the small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SWAXS) technique, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and an optical microscope.
5 – Shiseido believes Drunk Elephant has ‘only just scratched’ the surface of its potential
Japanese beauty conglomerate Shiseido is looking to accelerate US-based Drunk Elephant’s global footprint to “maximise” the brand’s opportunities for growth and development.
Shiseido reportedly beat out competitors such as the Estee Lauder Companies and Unilever to buy the ‘clean’ beauty for $845m. This deal is expected to close by the end of this year.
Drunk Elephant founder Tiffany Masterson will continue in her role as Chief Creative Officer and assume the additional role of President, reporting directly to Marc Rey, CEO of Shiseido Americas and Chief Growth Officer of Shiseido.
This deal marks another large skin care acquisition this year, including L’Occitane Group’s $900m purchase of ELEMIS and Unilever’s $500m deal for Tatcha.
“Shiseido sees great value in Drunk Elephant and is well placed to continue to cultivate the brand growth under the Shiseido umbrella. The potential [of the brand] has only just been scratched,” a spokesperson from Shiseido told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.


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We’ve got voice students featured on stage at two San Diego locations!
On Saturday, Nov. 23, they will entertain busy shoppers at the Westfield mall in Carlsbad starting at 2: 00 p.m. Address: 2525 El Camino Real, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Then on Sunday, Nov. 24, vocalists will be featured at the Encinitas Fall Festival at 12:30 p.m. With 450+ booths to visit, plus dozens of unique downtown Encinitas retailers this is a great community event. See more info here.


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// Browns will relocate its iconic flagship to 39 Brook Street in Mayfair next summer
// The initiative is in celebration of its 50th anniversary
// Browns will open a four-storey flagship, offering exclusive capsule collections, collaborations, and an “Immersive Experience Room”
Browns has announced it will relocate its iconic South Molton Street flagship store next summer to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The British luxury fashion retailer will open a four-storey flagship at 39 Brook Street, Mayfair, offering exclusive capsule collections, collaborations, an “Immersive Experience Room” as well as house styling advice and a brand new restaurant.
Browns has also said the new store will have minimal and sleek design, central staircase and hand-painted wallpapers to preserve the colour and pattern of the historic site, which was built in 1720.
The retailer had originally opened its doors in Mayfair back in 1970 and introduced the likes of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Calvin Klein to the UK market.
Alongside Farfetch, which acquired Browns, in 2015 the flagship will aim to pave the way for new retail concepts where customer experience is paramount.
“When we acquired Browns in 2015, I made a promise that we would take care of this iconic gem of our industry, and that we would continue to take a revolutionary approach to retail, both in-store and online,” Farfetch founder and chief executive José Neves said.
Farfetch chief financial officer and Browns chief executive Holli Rogers said: “It really is telling that we found this incredible location to be our new home as we also look to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
“It was important that we stayed in the heart of Mayfair bringing our clients on this exciting journey, whilst honouring the path we’ve been on and looking to the future of Browns as a pioneer of luxury multi-brand retail with a technology viewpoint.
“Being in one dedicated space, we are excited to be able to offer a vital and engaging customer experience that draws on the store of the future technology whilst also playing homage to the history and story of both the location and fundamentally Browns.”


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Mobile gaming revenues are predicted to surpass console games for the first time in 2015. King, a British company with offices in Barcelona, is one of the industry’s biggest names. The company created Candy Crush Saga, Google’s most downloaded game of the year.
King counts 470 million monthly active users and this year forecasts a pre-tax profit of $700 million on sales of $2 billion. In November, the company was bought by American developer Activision Blizzard for $5.9 billion, the biggest takeover in the video game industry of the year.
Manel Sort is Head of Studios at King Barcelona. The former executive of gaming company Digital Chocolate has a master’s in computer games programming, has developed and published over 60 titles, and speaks and teaches at universities across Spain and Mexico. This month, he brings his years of experience to Startup Grind for a fireside chat (in English).


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Apax Partners and JMI Equity have agreed to acquire oil & gas software vendor Paradigm from US investment group Fox Paine for around $1bn.
GP also announced the refinancing of online gardening retailer YouGardem, scoring a 60% cost return
CDP Venture and Tim Ventures take part in the round, alongside Club Digital and Club Italia Investimenti 2
Deal is the second from Bid Equity II, which held a close in November 2019 and targets B2B software
Early-stage investor Italian Angels for Growth and Swiss holding company Brahma also take part in the round


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Representatives of The Villages of Belleview — the apartment complex proposed to replace the Columbine Square shopping center at Federal Boulevard and Belleview Avenue — started reaching out to neighbors July 9 and found themselves met with resistance.
“You’re ruining our little town,” said Littleton resident Betty Harris, during the first of three informational meetings that week at Horizon Rocky Mountain Church. Harris is active with Citizens for Rational Development, a group that is actively opposing a plan to build apartments across the street from the Littleton Courthouse.
“Change is tough on all of us. We’re all human,” countered Charlie Mallon, representing CMCB Enterprise Inc., the company that has owned the property on the southwest corner of Belleview and Federal for 24 years.
Columbine Square was once home to All Stars Sports Bar and the Burger King-turned-Big Papa’s BBQ. Both are now vacant, as is about half of the 80,000 square feet of retail space at the site. The Horizon church and Littleton Preparatory Charter School both have plans to relocate from Columbine Square to more permanent quarters. The school, which has been located in a former Safeway store, is building on the Norgren property at Delaware Street and Powers Avenue in Littleton’s northeast neighborhood.
Mallon stressed that CMCB, owned by the family of 1990s tennis star Michael Chang, intends to retain ownership of the property as a legacy asset. The company wants to tear down the 15-acre shopping center and replace it with 346 apartment units housed in 20 three-story buildings. Planned amenities include a clubhouse, pool, self-service bicycle repair station, walking path, fitness room, juice bar, tanning room and a business center for residents’ use.
Despite that long list, Mallon makes no bones about the fact that these will be nice apartments, not luxury potential condominiums like the ones planned near the courthouse. There, 250 units are planned on 4.5 acres; rent will range from $1,050 to $3,000. The Villages of Belleview will rent for $800 to $1,250, said Mallon.
“This is not going to look like Disneyland,” he said, explaining he’s striving to make the project complement the neighborhood. “This is not going to look like a five-star hotel when it opens up. That’s not how I do things.”
One woman who didn’t want to be identified worried the low price would attract “riffraff” and urged the developer to upgrade the complex into a “hip” mixed-use project.
“I don’t think anybody suggests you maintain a ’70s strip mall concept, but to get community support, you need a mix of retail and residential,” agreed John Watson, who is currently running for city council.
Mallon said his original goal was to lure the remodeled King Soopers that was built across the street to the site, thus stealing it and its sales tax away from Englewood. Failing that, he tried to work with the owner of the U.S. Bank pad to incorporate some retail, but the bank has a 15-year lease the owner is unwilling to part with.
“Long-term tenants went across the street, and that’s a fact,” he said.
The Arapahoe County Elections Facility and O’Toole’s Garden Center are not part of the site, but Adele O’Toole is none too happy with CMCB’s plan.
“It takes away four of our five access points, so it cripples us,” she said. The only one left will be on Federal, and she worries her customers will have difficulty navigating her often very busy front parking lot — not to mention her delivery trucks.
Neighbors can have their say at two public hearings. Because the property will have to be rezoned from commercial to residential, the case will go before both the planning board and city council. Those aren’t yet scheduled, but Mallon said he hopes to have demolition completed by the end of the year.
“We want to build it, lease it and keep the occupancy rate high,” he said.


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Sandalwood Management has launched its new website redesigned by the Montreal-based agency Deux Huit Huit.
Online PR News – 16-July-2019 – Montreal, Quebec - July 15 2019 – MONTREAL, June 19 2019 - Sandalwood Management has launched its new website redesigned by the Montreal-based agency Deux Huit Huit.
The timing is perfect as Sandalwood Management Canada marks its 20th birthday in a few months. The Texan firm has been growing ever since it entered the Canadian market in 2000. It now owns and manages 26 shopping malls and 15 office properties in the country.
The new website, which combines outstanding design and dynamic user-friendly navigation, aims to give prospects the best possible experience for gathering information on the company's acquisitions and getting in touch with the sales team.


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Saltburn Railtours' Bath Spa Express, from July 3-6, will see up to 276 people whisked south on a Pullman-style service, recreating the heyday of classy train travel.
Tickets for the trip are £395, and also include accommodation in a choice of three or four-star hotels and an excursion to Longleat.
Trip organiser, Loftus GP Rob Dallara, says the annual Saltburn Railtours trip is usually sold out by now, but the credit crunch is biting.
He said: "It's a lot more than just a train ride."
To book, call 01287 625956, 07813 841496 or write to Flat 10, Zetland Ct, Dundas Street, Saltburn, TS12 1GA. For details visit http://www.saltburnrailtours.co.uk/


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With the Aurus Senat Sedan and Limousine gearing up for what will initially be a limited production run, the Russian luxury startup is also prepping a brand new version of the car, aimed at buyers who prefer to have the wind in their hair.
Despite the fact that these prototypes are shrouded in a thick layer of camouflage, the silhouette of the Aurus is easily recognizable given its large shape and size, as well as wheel design. The following footage comes courtesy of Yakunin_077, on location at the Red Square.
Oligarchs aren’t known for their patience
With the Aurus Senat sold out for both 2019 and 2020, it will surely be a while before this new convertible version finds its way into the hands of customers. The good news is that a new plant is scheduled to open late next year in Tatarstan, which should enable Aurus to increase production to 5,000 units per year.
As for what we feel is safe to assume in regards to the Senat’s convertible variant, it will feature the same standard safety tech as the four-door model, meaning adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, traffic sign recognition, automatic emergency braking and a collision avoidance system with pedestrian recognition tech.
Meanwhile, power should come from the same hybridized 598 PS (590 HP) V8 engine, which also produces 649 lb-ft (880 Nm) of torque in the Sedan, enabling it to sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in roughly six seconds flat. Performance shouldn’t be that much different in the Convertible.
Then there’s pricing. The Aurus Senat costs upwards of 10 million rubles (some $152,000), so the Convertible will likely set you back a little bit more.
Thanks to Mikhail S. for the head’s up!


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The coronavirus outbreak has severely affected the travel and tourism industry. The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), the umbrella body of the industry, has reached out to the Ministry of Tourism seeking intervention after the coronavirus outbreak. FAITH wants the Ministry of Tourism to offer relief measures as challenges continue to emerge due to the outbreak.
The delegation of FAITH had a meeting with Union Tourism Minister Prahalad Singh Patel during which major concerns were highlighted. Individuals in attendance included Subhash Goyal, Hony Secretary, FAITH; Jyoti Mayal, Vice President, FAITH and President, Travel Agents Association of India; Aashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH; Pronab Sarkar, President, Indian Association of Tour Operators, among many others.
The concerns highlighted included:
- The cancellation of visas has put the industry at a complete standstill and millions of dollars’ worth of losses is expected both in inbound and outbound tourism during the next few months.
- This would increase unemployment in the country as the travel agents/tour operators and airlines will be reluctantly forced to cut down on staff, resulting in huge unemployment in the country.
- In order to save the industry from disaster it was suggested:
- That every state government should be sensitized that they should screen visitors.
- GST and other direct and indirect taxes should be exempted on the aviation and tourism industry for at least one year. We should send a message to the world that ‘A holiday in India is tax-free’.
- Payment of Advanced Tax should be deferred for at least 6 months.
- The RBI interest rate for the travel and tourism industry should be reduced by at least 3 percent.
- A National Task Force consisting of the Ministry of Health, Finance, Home, Civil Aviation and External Affairs with the representative of the travel and tourism industry should be formed and this should meet as early as possible and after this meeting, a meeting with the Prime Minister should be organized.
- IATO President mentioned that the MDA assistance to tour operators and travel agents should be enhanced and a financial assistance package should also be considered.
- TAAI President mentioned that the TCS should be abolished on outbound tourism and airlines should be asked to give full refund for all cancelled tickets. Tourism Minister mentioned that he has already written to the Civil Aviation Minister
- A 200 per cent weighted exemption of expenses to corporates on all domestic conferences.
- A six-month moratorium on all principle and interest p[payments on loans and overdrafts.
- Removal of fees for any upcoming licenses/permits renewal/excise exemption for liquor for the hospitality and travel industry across the states.
- Restoration of SEIS scrips for duty credit of 10 percent to tourism, travel and hospitality industry.
- Usage of MNREGA funds to support salaries of employees in the industry till the revival happens.


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Adidas Took an ‘Ethical Stance’ Over Yeezy. Can It Do the Same for Workers?
Click here to read the full article.
As Adidas continues to weigh its options over what to do with its $1.3 billion Yeezy stockpile, one prominent labor campaigner says the solution is obvious: sell the sneakers, then funnel some of the proceeds to the victims of wage theft in its supply chain.
Certainly, the sportswear juggernaut, which says that sustainability is “embedded” into its business practices, can neither burn nor landfill the items, said Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator at the Clean Clothes Campaign, the garment industry’s largest consortium of trade unions and labor organizations. But neither should it keep the profits from any sale because it “wouldn’t be ethical,” she said.
After all, the once-coveted sneakers became radioactive last October after Ye, the rap superstar formerly known as Kanye West, unleashed a slew of antisemitic remarks, provoking widespread outrage and prompting Adidas to terminate its decade-long partnership. The decision could drive Adidas into its first annual loss in more than three decades this year because of the considerable cost of writing off the formerly lucrative range. The hit to its operating bottom line could be at least 500 million euros, or $548 million.
Speaking at an earnings call in early March, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said that the Stan Smith maker has received 500 offers to snap up the unsold cache. While taking this route “would not necessarily be the right thing to do,” one possibility is to “sell it with a small margin and give the margin away for different donations,” he said.
“I think the goal that we have is to do what damages us the least, and that we do something good,” Gulden said.
This “something good” could begin with compensating workers in Southeast Asia who have been fighting for lost wages during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Zeldenrust, whose organization is part of the #PayYourWorkers campaign that has been leading Adidas protests worldwide. Activists claim that in Cambodia, the triple-stripe firm’s top-producing country, one Adidas contractor laid off 1,000 workers without paying them the $3.6 million they were owed in 2020, while another eight deprived more than 40,000 workers of $11.7 million during the April-May 2021 national lockdown. In Indonesia, they say, hundreds of PT Panarub employees who made World Cup gear received just half their wages between June and August 2020 as a result of decreased orders.
Adidas maintains that it “rejects” the allegations, telling Sourcing Journal that it has been committed to ensuring fair labor practices, fair wages and safe working conditions across its global supply chain throughout the pandemic. “We continued to uphold our standard manufacturing terms, including worker-rights protection,” a spokesperson said. “Ensuring business continuity and a functioning supply chain has kept workers in jobs.”
But Zeldenrust said that the cases in Cambodia and Indonesia are only the tip of the iceberg. “There’s no real way of knowing” how much damage the pandemic has wrought on Adidas workers industry-wide because “it would be quite complicated to calculate,” she said. “And, of course, Adidas would challenge it.”
What needs to happen, she said, is an agreement on how to conduct wage-theft estimates. Zeldenrust said that once brands and workers’ representatives can decide on a common methodology, the numbers “will roll out.” At the same time, negotiating over missing wages or severance on a factory-by-factory basis is a Herculean task. Rare victories such as the $8.3 million settlement workers in Thailand recently received from Clover Group and Victoria’s Secret after their factory abruptly shuttered in 2021 are hard-won, taking months, if not years. It’s for this reason that #PayYourWorkers and its supporters have been asking brands to enter into a legally binding agreement to contribute to a severance guarantee fund that provides timely relief. Because of the chronically low wages and poor social safety nets in garment-manufacturing countries, that sum is often all that prevents workers from falling into destitution.
“Instead of workers having to always wait and then maybe getting partial payment or no payment, there is prevention,” Zeldenrust said, noting that the fund will include an inspection and remedy mechanism for freedom of association. Its most innovative feature, in her opinion, is the varying premium that brands would pay depending on the sourcing destination’s strength of social protection. She compares it to auto insurance: the better things are, the less drivers have to shell out.
“So it gives an incentive to countries like Cambodia or Thailand to improve their own social security legislation,” she said. “And I think it will also give an incentive to companies to build really solid supply chains. Because the more solid their supply chains are, the fewer claims there will be [and] the cheaper it will be. And on the ground, we can stop wasting time on these campaigns.”
Adidas, Zeldenrust said, can be a leader in this movement. As she saw with the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, it often takes just one or two brands to buy in before everyone else follows. Workers don’t want more charity, she said, referring to Gulden’s comment about earmarking Adidas’s Yeezy proceeds for donations. What they want is to get what they have worked for and are legally owed.
“Now is such an excellent moment for them to sit down with the unions that have made the proposal—there are about 40 of them—sign the agreement and use this money to get it out of the gate,” she said. With the 10th anniversary of the Bangladesh Accord coming up in May, what better time to serve as an example?
It’s unclear how many factories have been affected by the Adidas-Yeezy divorce. Zeldenrust said the information isn’t easy to gather and Adidas itself has declined to say. While there was a suggestion that the products could undergo a rebrand, the German company’s spokesperson said it continues to “evaluate options” and has no updates at this time.
Zeldenrust said that even if Adidas were to commit to the fund for five years, the majority of any eventual sale would remain intact for other causes.
“The issue with Adidas is that they’ve taken an ethical stance when it comes to their relationship with [Ye] but they haven’t been taking an ethical stance when it comes to workers in their supply chain,” she said.


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A decentralized and borderless alternative to conventional currencies, cryptocurrencies have undeniably disrupted the traditional financial landscape. Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, continue to gain popularity, so do regulatory frameworks to govern this evolving market as they grow in popularity. This article will dovetail into the imperative for advocating cryptocurrency regulation, emphasizing the collective interest in a structured and secure crypto ecosystem.
Understanding the Crypto Boom
Digital assets like bitcoin, which were introduced in 2009, have revolutionized the way we do business. Blockchain technology keeps these digital assets transparent and secure because it’s a decentralized ledger. For people who like financial freedom and privacy, crypto currencies provide a way to move money outside traditional banking institutions.
The Regulatory Dilemma
The crypto market’s getting bigger, and so are concerns about its potential misuse for money laundering, fraud, and the terrorism financing. Because cryptocurrencies are decentralized, traditional regulators have a hard time monitoring and controlling them.
Ensuring Consumer Protection
As opposed to traditional financial systems, the crypto market lacks safety nets, like established regulators do. Keeping investors’ and consumers’ interests safe is one of the main arguments for the cryptocurrency regulation. Increasing fraud, hacking, and scams have underscored the need for a regulatory framework to guarantee accountability and protect investors.
Fostering Market Stability
Although cryptocurrency markets are notorious for their extreme volatility, this volatility also presents traders with lots of risks. The argument for cryptocurrency regulation is that it curbs excessive speculation and manipulative practices, which can cause big price swings and make the market more stable.
Preventing Illicit Activities
Using cryptocurrency for illegal things is a problem because of its pseudonymous nature. Unregulated cryptocurrencies can lead to money laundering, tax evasion, and criminal enterprise financing. These risks can be mitigated with a well-structured regulatory framework that enforces compliance with legal standards, such as tracking and tracing transactions.
Global Coordination for a Borderless Asset
Cryptocurrencies transcend geographical boundaries. Regulators face a unique challenge here because there isn’t much international coordination, so crypto businesses can move to lax jurisdictions for the regulatory arbitrage. Fostering Consensus on Cryptocurrency Regulation , A Collective Push for Cryptocurrency Regulation ,Creating a cohesive and standardized approach to cryptocurrency regulation that fosters trust and cooperation among nations is crucial to cryptocurrency regulation at the global level.
The Role of Innovation in Regulation
While the call for regulation is clear, it’s equally important to balance oversight with fostering innovation within the cryptocurrency space. A good regulator should encourage responsible innovation so new technologies and financial instruments can thrive, while keeping consumers and the market safe.
Building Trust in the Crypto Ecosystem
To get mainstream acceptance for cryptocurrencies, you need to build trust with investors, institutions; the public. As a catalyst for this process, regulation gives crypto a sense of legitimacy and security that draws more people to it.
The call for cryptocurrency regulation is not a hindrance to the decentralized ideals that underpin these digital assets. Instead, it is a collective imperative for shared interests. Advocating for cryptocurrency regulation ensures the long-term viability of this evolving market by addressing concerns related to consumer protection, market stability, and the prevention of illicit activities.As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, we need a balanced and well-thought-out regulatory framework. Finding a balance between innovation and oversight, where investors, consumers, and the broader financial ecosystem are carefully considered, is the key. In advocating cryptocurrency regulation, you’re not giving up on centralization; you’re taking a proactive step to create an environment where everyone can thrive. In shaping the future of this dynamic and transformative market, regulation is a necessity because of the collective imperative for shared interests.


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Shooter experts should always be able to help.
Blizzard's next anticipated release is Overwatch , a fast-paced multiplayer-oriented shooter scheduled to launch this month.
It has a ton of promise, but perhaps that's partly because Blizzard tapped Call of Duty: Black Ops III developer Treyarch to assist on the console versions. In a recent GamesRadar interview with Overwatch assistant game director Aaron Keller, we find out that Treyarch helped out quite a bit and in fact, the collaboration didn't end there:
"We actually worked with some of the Treyarch guys to make sure our aim assist [on controllers] felt really good. They were really helpful. The funny thing is, we collaborate with a lot of different Activision studios.
When [the Destiny team] were building Destiny they wanted to talk to some of the people at World of Warcraft to see how they made some of their content. And we've gone to Treyarch a number of times and talked to them, whether it's about some of their guts of the engine features, or whether it's about tuning changes. And they've come out and looked at some of our stuff, too."
Keller added that Blizzard has worked hard to ensure that Overwatch is as similar as possible across all platforms (PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC). Obviously, though, due to "the nature of the platforms," smaller updates like bug fixes and such might be different. Not surprising.
Overwatch is slated to arrive on May 24.
Related Game(s): Overwatch


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News - Kia
E-mobility doesn’t have to be boring: Kia
Kia likely to take a more characterful route with EVs, future mobility offerings
18 Jan 2018
By TIM NICHOLSON in DETROIT
KIA’S future electric vehicles will be more than just “a box on wheels”, with the South Korean car-maker looking to inject some personality and character into its e-mobility solutions.
While Kia appears to be lagging behind some of its rivals when it comes to electrified and autonomous technologies, Hyundai Motor Group president and chief design officer Peter Schreyer told Australian journalists at this week’s Detroit motor show that the company is developing future hi-tech offerings.
When asked if Kia would produce something similar to Toyota’s e-Palette concept shown at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Mr Schreyer said a Kia mobility solution would not be boring.
“I don’t know if it is the Kia of the future but we are, in general in the Hyundai Motor Group, we are working on this kind of thing too,” he said. “But I always think, everybody says ‘a box on wheels’. It doesn’t need to be a box. It could be a bowl or a thing, or whatever. It could be something with character.”
Mr Schreyer highlighted one of its earlier concepts from the 2010 Paris motor show as an example of what the company is capable of.
Left: Hyundai Motor Group president and chief design officer Peter Schreyer
“I always use the example of the London taxi, which is a very practical car as a taxi but there is a lot of character. What you say a mobility solution thing, if it is two, four, six – however many seats – can still have a character to it like we did some years ago.
“We did the Pop as an electric car, it was a show car. With this one we wanted to show that not all electric cars are boring, serious objects. We wanted to make something with a twinkle in the eye. And I think these types of cars can also be a landmark in a big city, like the London taxi is.”
He rejected the suggestion that if an e-mobility vehicle was to be produced in partnership with a technology or ride-sharing company such as Uber, it would need to be more conservative and rational.
“Why does it need to be boring? Why does everybody assume it is a boring … box.
Why shall we give up?” he said.
“When you build a house it also follows some purposes but it has different kind of furniture, a different character, depending on the person. Even if you rent a flat or an apartment it has different furniture. I don’t think it needs to be like a boring literal world.”
Kia announced at CES earlier this month that it will offer 16 electrified models by 2025 that includes a fuel-cell EV in 2020, while confirming that it will start Level 4 autonomous vehicle testing in 2021, and will have connected car technology across its range by 2030.
Kia Motors Europe chief designer Gregory Guillaume said in Detroit this week that dedicated EV platforms afforded more freedom when it comes to the design of passenger cars and SUVs.
“Think about it. If you get platforms that are built for electric only, you are free of that (normal constraints),” he said. “As for us as designers, we could, on a Forte, get proportions of a Stinger or whatever we want.
“If you don’t want to be rear-wheel drive, if you say it is safer to have front, you could still get the proportion. You don’t have the engine up there with the cooling and other things. It is going to open new possibilities, it is going to be an interesting era for us.”
Kia has a number of electrified offerings in its global arsenal, including the Niro crossover, Soul EV, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the Optima, but is yet to confirm when it will launch its first electrified vehicle in Australia.
However, as GoAuto has reported, Kia Motors Australia chief operating officer Damien Meredith has said that the local arm is likely to have “a strong strategy in place by the end of next year”.
While it is yet to be confirmed, the plug-in hybrid version of the Optima Sportswagon is on the cards for an Australian launch.
9th of January 2018
CES: Kia outlines autonomous and EV future
Kia pledges 16 electrified vehicles by 2025, full range connected by 2030
22nd of November 2017
Kia Australia set to map electric future
Electrified vehicles finally on the product planning horizon at Kia Australia
12th of February 2016
Chicago show: Kia reveals Niro
Kia SUV steals Niro nameplate from sub-compact concept
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Motor industry news


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After a trial that lasted more than a year, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has finally delivered a verdict in Apple v Epic Games.
While Apple will be forced to change some of the App Store rules, Epic Games was ordered to pay Apple a 30% commission on all sales recorded by the company, bypassing the App Store’s in-app purchases in Fortnite last year. Epic has now complied with the judge’s decision and paid Apple $6 million.
The fact of payment was confirmed by the CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, on his Twitter account, who joked about paying the fine using Apple Pay.
In 2020, Epic Games released the Fortnite iOS update, which introduced its own payment system for in-game content. The company touted the new system as a cheaper way to purchase in-game items, as its own system did not require paying App Store fees.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 13, 2021
Judge Rogers ordered Epic to pay Apple 30% of the proceeds from bypassing the App Store’s in-app purchases at the time.
Meanwhile, while Apple was also ordered to allow developers to offer in-app content through third-party payment services, the company was not required to return Fortnite and Epic to the App Store. Of course, Epic Games plans to challenge the judge’s decision.


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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Medical Foundation has acquired a building owned by Hyundai Green Food in Jongno, Seoul, for 30.5 billion won (US$27.28 million), according to industry sources on Nov. 8.
The Seojin Building is in the vicinity of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, operated by Samsung Medical Foundation, which was a tenant before the sale.
The Samsung affiliate decided to buy the entire building and finally signed a deal without taking any loans, according to sources.
Hyundai Department Store’s food distribution and catering subsidiary got possession of Seojin Building in 1995 after acquiring business travel management firm Seojin Air, now renamed Hyundai Dream Tour.
Since Hyundai Green Food has received the entire transaction amount that exceeds its book value, the deal will be reflected as its net profit in the fourth quarter.
Established in 1967, Hyundai Green Food’s sales in 2017 reached 2.53 trillion won with operating profit of 87.9 billion won.
By Song Seung-hyun(email@example.com)


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Tax cuts for cider proposed
Cider taxes need to be cut and government policies that “single out” cider reviewed, the new chair of the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) has said.
Find out if retailers think last years alcohol licensing legislation has improved over the past year
Premium light beer Michelob Ultra launches in the UK
To compete with multiples, independents must regularly review their beer range and offer a mix of premium and standard lagers, and world and craft beers.


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|Single-use plastic free tag for major NE airports |
GUWAHATI, Feb 20 - The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has declared all major airports of the North East as free from single-use plastic. As many as 85 airports in the country have earned this tag now.
All major airports of the North East, including the LGBI Airport at Guwahati, the MBB Airport at Agartala, and those located at Dibrugarh, Imphal, Silchar, Shillong, Dimapur and Jorhat, have been declared as single-use plastic-free.
Various steps were taken to eliminate single-use plastic items at the NE and other airport terminal buildings. These steps include a ban on single-use plastic items like straws, plastic cutleries, plastic plates, etc., and use of other packaging alternatives.


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In Shift, Khosla Puts Energy into Consumer Tech
Startups with wild dreams of repurposing carbon dioxide or forever replacing the egg have long sought out one man: self-made billionaire and the Valley’s most contrarian venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
But startups hoping to create the next big app, social network or consumer Internet company have largely passed Mr. Khosla and his namesake firm by. The firm hasn’t had any big exits in mobile gaming or social networking, which have made Khosla’s rivals billions.
Khosla Ventures, however, is changing as entrepreneurs flock to consumer apps and developer tools and back away from renewable energy, one of its signature areas.


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The shift in consumer preferences indicates that the sales of small crossover sport utility vehicles may take the plunge and touch new heights in 2015. Reports claim that CUVs will overtake sedan cars available in the new car business for the first time. The overall sales rose by 15.6% in 1Q2015. It happened due to the improved sales figure of Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR)(NYSE:HMC)‘s Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4.
How 2015 Looks From Here:
Year 2015 is going to be an exciting year for the automotive sector. There are a lot of new models to be launched in the coming months with quite a few unrevealed models to be headed to dealers, which will be made available in 2016. If taken into consideration the historical prices and the ongoing trend, the overall growth in the automotive sector seems to be around 15.9% in the new vehicle category. If this increment is compared with the year 2000, one can see a straight 12.4% boost. It was the time when SUVs were not so popular in the market and accounted for not more than 3.2% of industry sales.
According to John Krafcik, President, TrueCar, the shift in car buyers’ preferences to utilities from Sedan cars is a true secular trend that is seen in the demand data of TrueCar. A lot of automakers have understood this shift in the trend and preferences of consumers, thus, changed their offerings accordingly. They have not only made a lot of cash, but also taken their business to newer heights.
In today’s time, consumers want to get the best product for the money they spend, which is why, the popularity of compact and subcompact crossovers is elevating day by day. Both youngsters, as well as aged people, like to have small crossovers over compact sedans. The newest models that are to hit the market in the near future include Mazda CX-3, BMW X4, Honda HR-V, and Fiat 500 X. Market experts anticipate these models and many other such crossovers to break previous sales records in 2016.


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Supermarket chain Sainsbury's today announced it had teamed up with three designers to add to its non-food range.
Sir Terence Conran has been recruited to design a kitchen and cookware collection, florist-to-the-stars Orlando Hamilton has produced a range of cut flowers and arrangements, and fashion designer Orla Kiely has added home accessories, greeting cards and stationery.
The new products will sell in more than 200 stores from October under the name "By".
Richard Cristofoli, head of non-food marketing and development at Sainsbury's, said: "This signals the next exciting step in our non-food strategy and we are delighted to be teaming up with such a fantastic group of designers.
"The new range will complement our successful core home range launched last year and will combine Sainsbury's outstanding quality and value for money with each of the designers unique design expertise."
Orlando Hamilton is based in Notting Hill, west London, and lists Madonna, fashion bible Vogue and rapper P Diddy among his clients.
He said: "I believe that every home deserves stylish flowers - they bring a room to life, and I'm thrilled to be working with Sainsbury's on a project that also offers affordable choice."
Orla Kiely, one of London's leading fashion designers who is known for her signature prints, said: "I am very excited to be working on By. It has given me the opportunity to bring my vision, style and colour into the homes of Britain."
Sir Terence, a leading fashion designer, retailer and restaurateur, said: "From the beginning of my design life, my ambition has been to offer intelligently designed products to as large an audience as possible at a price they can afford.
"This project with Sainsbury's will certainly allow this to happen."