text:
Leading car makers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India Ltd posted single digit growth in their domestic sales in December but other companies failed to beat the year-end blues.
Reflecting the prolonged slump in the Indian automobile sector,Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd,Ford India,Toyota Kirloskar and General Motors India reported decline in domestic sales.
Maruti Suzuki said its domestic sales during December 2013 stood at 86,613 units,up 5.5 per cent from 82,073 units in December of the previous year.
The growth was mainly on account of sales of mini passenger cars,including M800,Alto,A-Star and WagonR,which were up 16.7 per cent at 38,286 units,as against 32,797 units in the year-ago period. Sales of compact sedan Dzire grew by 18 per cent to 15,427 units as against 13,076 units in December 2013,the company added.
However,sales of compact cars comprising Swift,Estilo and Ritz were down 14.7 per cent at 19,171 units as against 22,482 units a year ago.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd reported 6.24 per cent increase in domestic sales at 28,345 units during the month from 26,697 units in December 2012.
HMIL Senior Vice-President,Sales and Marketing,Rakesh Srivastava,said: “Year 2013 was very challenging and rewarding… Manufacturing operated at 99 per cent capacity utilisation and had the fastest 5 million roll-out in India.”
Other companies were unable to beat the year-end blues as customers stay away from purchasing new cars in December because the year of the model changes within in a month,impacting the re-sale value.
M&M domestic sales stood at 36,881 units as against 42,307 in the same month previous year,down 12.82 per cent.
“During the first nine months of the current fiscal,the auto industry has seen a negative growth due to sustained deceleration in economic activity and consequent weakness in consumer and business sentiments,” M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said.
While the immediate turnaround in the auto industry is not expected without certain policy corrections and support,the worst seems to be over,he added.
Likewise,Ford India’s domestic sales were down 9.9 per cent to 5,871 units in December as against 6,517 units in the same month previous year.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) also reported 11.78 per cent decline in domestic sales at 10,648 units in December,down from 12,071 units in the year-ago period.
“The market sentiments do not seem to be improving. In the last few months,we have made our best efforts to control inventory both at TKM and at our dealers end,” TKM Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer,Marketing and Commercial,Sandeep Singh said.
General Motors India also said its sales in December declined 19.27 per cent at 5,705 units as against 7,067 units sold in December 2012.
GM India Vice President P Balendran said: “The past year has been extremely challenging for the automobile sector as the general economic and consumer sentiments had failed to pick up. Despite providing highest level of discounts during December,footfall in showrooms failed to pick-up.”
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines


text:
Consumer confidence down in June
New figures have shown that consumer confidence has fallen following the general election and that people are becoming more cautious about spending on major purchases.
The data from GfK’s long running Consumer Confidence Index decreased by five points to -10 in June.
Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK, said: “This month’s survey covers the period before and after the UK general election and reveals a sharp drop in confidence among consumers across all measures. The overall index score is just two points away from last year’s post-Referendum low of -12. We have falls this month reflecting negative sentiment about our personal financial situation and expectations for the wider economy. The scores on the general economic situation looking forward and back 12 months are now particularly weak.”
The measure for the forecast for personal finances over the next 12 months fell by four points this month to 0 while the measure for expectations for the general economic situation over the same period decreased by two points to -23.
Meanwhile, the major purchase index dropped by eight points this month to 1; this is eight points lower than June 2016.
Staton added: “All this concern will worry the UK’s retailers, with this month’s plunge in the major purchase index reflecting our increased caution over non-food spending and our softening appetite for debt. Strong consumer spending has propped up the economy since last June but now the twin pressures of higher prices and sluggish wage growth are squeezing household finances and adding to widespread fears of a Brexit-induced economic slowdown.”
Email this article to a friend
You need to be logged in to use this feature.
Please log in here

domain: news


text:
Come October 31, more than 300 representatives from Bahrain and the Middle East’s financial services and FinTech sectors will get together at the Gulf Hotel in Manama to participate in the annual FinTech Industry Forum 2018.
If you’re not familiar with the event, the FinTech Industry Forum is an initiative by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB). It explores the achievements and future prospects of the region’s FinTech industries.
Held under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the event is participated by regulators, BAB’s 52 members, and other relevant third-party organizations.
The forthcoming edition of the annual event is themed under “Opportunities & Challenges for Bahrain’s Banking Industry” and it will witness a series of high-level keynote speeches by prominent industry leaders.
Along with that, there will be a number of FinTech-related panel discussions that will try to address various aspects associated with the legal and regulatory considerations for the FinTech industry, customer readiness, education and human capital requirements, as well as best FinTech practices on local, regional, and international levels.
“For nearly four decades, BAB has been at the forefront of supporting industry growth and the furthering of Bahrain as a world-class financial jurisdiction. With the vast changes being ushered in due to the strong uptake and demand for digital financial products and services, FinTech is high on the agenda for global banks as well as banks in Bahrain and the region,” said Dr. Waheed Qassim, CEO of BAB.
He added, “We are delighted to be hosting this Forum, which we intend to make an annual event, with this year’s focus firmly on the opportunities and challenges facing our members with regard to the adoption of FinTech as well as the readiness and impact on customers.”


text:
The famed electronics marketplace Akihabara in Japan has started to move with the times as adoption of Bitcoin rises within stores in the district.
What is Akihabara?
The area houses a huge array of shops selling everything from computers and gaming systems to household appliances and entertainment devices. It has also developed into a popular destination for gamers and is building a strong anime/manga subculture.
Akihabara attracts masses of tourists, as well as locals, to its high-tech electronic stores, but up until very recently, the electronic marketplace has only been accepting regular fiat currency. Now, there is a movement to integrate with high-tech digital currencies, as you would expect in a district that prides itself on technology and gadgetry.
Such a district would be predicted to be leading the mass adoption of digital currencies as a payment system, but in all honesty, it has been a slow take off in Akihabara.
Currently, there is only a small percentage of stores accepting Bitcoin, but there is rapid and recognizable growth.
Why is it important?
Forging the way in Japan is BIC Camera stores, they opened doors in Akihabara this week and started accepting Bitcoin immediately using Bitflyer. Other early adopters include Ark Computer Store that takes Bitcoin as well as a local favorite, Monacoin.
Retail stores are booming in their acceptance and adoption to Bitcoin with this week also seeing the retail giant in the country, Recruitment Lifestyle, confirming their Bitcoin-ready point of Sale app is ready to go in 260,000 stores.
Bitcoin’s use as a functioning currency is skyrocketing in Japan, and it is not just retail and technology stores. Property management firm Dualtrap, in the same district, also accepts Bitcoin through local exchange Coincheck.
There are restaurants in Akihabara, such as Au Tokyoite, which features Swiss cuisine, that accept the digital currency.
Big in Japan
There is still a bit of feeling out and experimentation taking place in Japan in determining the best way in which to utilize Bitcoin in brick and mortar stores, with Coincheck the leaders thus far having built Recruitment Lifestyles payment app.


text:
Huons Global said Tuesday it would build a second plant to manufacture eye drops at the BioValley in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province.
The company will invest 40 billion won ($36 million) to construct the production and logistics center by 2022. It will produce seven types of eye drops by installing three state-of-the-art lines and transferring four others from its existing plant.
According to Huons, the new factory’s annual production capacity is 480 million, up 60 percent from the current 300 million tubes to become the largest production capacity of eye drops in Korea.
The expansion will enable the company to introduce systemized inventory management and store 6,024 cells of medical products, more than double the 2,904 cells at the first plant. Simultaneously, the first plant will focus on producing cartridge injections, for which the company has received the certification for good manufacturing practice (cGMP).
“We will expand cartridge injection productions by the third quarter of 2021 and respond to rising demand for exporting anesthetics to China, Japan, and the Middle East,” a Huons official said. “Plant 2 will also be built in line with cGMP standards to win approvals from the U.S. and EU.”
Huons Global CEO Um Ki-ahn also said, “For Huon’s growth, expanding the capacity is essential. We hope consumers will keep an eye on Huon’s stroll toward the global healthcare market.”
Source link Google News


text:
Recently my employer stopped providing key employees (including myself) with a cell phone for use in their employment and switched to reimbursing a fixed amount for data roaming charges on their personal cell phone when used for business. Not surprisingly, many of our employees have opted to purchase smartphones where they can in addition to making voice calls – surf the web, receive and send emails, listen to music, play games or visit social networking site or use downloaded applications. Not long after I started using my iPhone for business related phone calls I started longing to be able to receive my work related email on the same device. Initially, this was met with some reluctance as our IT Department was worried about data security. Thanks to our IT staff that sorted through the security issues of allowing work related emails to flow through our secure servers, I was eventually granted access though a Virtual Private Network, VPN, mail program to be able to send and receive encrypted emails to my clients. Next up on my wish list is access to all my work files!
As I did the research for this article I discovered that this is a phenomenon that is taking place in literally millions of business across the global that has been dubbed – Bring Your Own Device, BYOD. If you consider (according to Nielsen’s) the fact that 62% of young adults (ages 25 – 34) own smartphones already, I would say that this is a trend that has legs. In fact, I would say that BYOD is a tsunami! And why not? Being able to access, manage and handle information from anywhere in the world certainly increases the productivity of the users and benefits the users, the company and their clients or customers. Now instead of carrying that bulky laptop on business trips or client visits my smartphone or iPad can now keep me connected to the information I need to do my job.
Unfortunately, waiting out there to make illegal profit from our new found mobility are the denizens of the dark side, cyber criminals, which covet our sensitive data and intellectual property for their own gains. Lost or stolen laptops, USB drives or smartphones present a clear and present security threat to your organization. In addition to the records lost or stolen from these devices, malware is popping up that easily targets unprotected smart devices and makes them vulnerable to losing sensitive data from the network. Unprotected browsing of the web is also a common way for these thieves to try to pick our pockets.
While both business and employee agree that these devices are rapidly increasing productivity and helping achieve business objectives, the unintended consequence is that during the past 12 months, according to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute of 116 global companies, 51% of the companies reported that they had lost data from these devices! The message is clear that every business that is using or contemplating using smartphones in the workplace needs a coherent data loss policy, DLP.
I hope you know me well enough that I am not going to leave you hanging and tell you to sit down immediately and write a DLP for your business. Yikes, who wants to do that when we have the Internet? Let’s look to an organization that has mitigated data loss for their organization almost down to almost zero – The Department of Veterans Affairs. (It will never get to zero but at least it can be controlled!) Credit Donald Katchman, Director, Security and Mobile Divisions, ESE Client Services who is responsible for mobile security for the 20,000 mobile devices currently in use by the VA. (That number is expected to reach 100,000 in the next few years.) We can learn all a lot from the DLP that he has put together for the VA.
Here are his 5 rules that we all can benefit from:
- When a device is lost, a user has one hour to report the missing device to the information security team. The data can be wiped off the device by the team and reinstated if the device is recovered.
- Every device must be encrypted.
- Use the software feature that prevents a screen from being copied, photographed or forwarded.
- Make sure a complex password is used that includes letters, numbers and symbols. Make sure it’s changed every three months.
- Adequate training is essential. They require every employee to go through refresher training every year, and if they run over the one-year deadline to schedule training, they are locked out of the system.
We are never going to be able to button down these devices 100%. Human nature and the skill and cunning of the bad guys will make that impossible. What everyone needs to do is admit that there is a problem, try to understand the risk, find cost effective technical solutions, implement some common sense rules and then train, train, train. Of course, Cyber Insurance can also play a key role in limiting financial loss if data is lost from a mobile device but you should make sure that mobile devices are covered by the policy. I know of at least one cyber policy that will not pay for claims stemming from unencrypted data being lost on a mobile device.


text:
The Hanover Mall in Massachusetts represents a Boston retail market enjoying a surge of economic growth. Its owner, PECO Retail Partners, is planning to redevelop a 200,000-sq.-ft. outdoor portion of the mall and turn it into a lifestyle center.
If all goes well with the plan, which calls for tax concessions from the town, PECO could start developing the lifestyle center in three years, according to news reports.
Boston is not the only market that stands to benefit from a new lifestyle center. Earlier this year, Endeavor Retail Group opened The Parke, a 350,000-sq.-ft. property in Cedar Park, Texas. Nationally, landlords and investors are taking ideas from the lifestyle center to update their properties. Industry experts expect the changes to help landlords’ portfolios withstand the major shifts occurring in the way Americans shop and spend their free time.
“Landlords are being forced to be more creative,” says Michael Nagy, a senior vice president in the Dallas office of real estate services firm CBRE. “You cannot put a center out there to the public and say, ‘Here is my shopping center.’ It has to be experiential.”
That realization is sustaining the resurgence in the lifestyle center sector that began about four years ago. In 2013, industry experts anticipated that investment sales in the lifestyle center sector would reach $1.7 billion, including finalized and pending deals. It would be a record-setting year for deals.
They started from the middle
Poag & McEwen of Memphis was among the landlords that pioneered the format in the late 1980s, characterizing lifestyle centers as outdoor retail centers leased to tenants generally found in enclosed malls. The centers first appeared in small Midwestern towns to offer shoppers more variety than the typical enclosed mall. Now they appear in upscale markets such as Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz.
“It was mall tenants that weren’t in the mall or that wanted to get out of the mall,” Nagy says. “Landlords offered a better mousetrap—an outdoor venue with lower net rents. That is how it got off the ground.”
The lifestyle center count in the U.S. totaled 497 as of year-end 2016, according to data compiled by the ICSC. That represents a slow, but steady increase over the 451 existing lifestyle centers in 2012.
These days, lifestyle centers are as varied in their quality as enclosed malls. Successful projects like The Grove in Los Angeles or Scottsdale Quarter in Scottsdale can do as much as $800 or $900 in average sales per sq. ft., Nagy says. Yet other lifestyle centers manage only $250 or $300 per sq. ft., and the most upscale tenants might include an Ann Taylor.
Much like with other retail properties, the success of these centers depends on their locations. Yet in an era where retailers are announcing thousands of store closings, lifestyle centers offer landlords a better chance of withstanding the shift occurring in retail.
“As a format, it allows landlords to be more creative,” Nagy says, adding that CBRE advises landlords not to turn away lucrative leasing deals from tenants such as nail salons, yoga studios or fitness centers. “[Their] look and feel and the way they are built offer more flexibility.”
That flexibility is critical in today’s retail environment. In a recent look at retail store closings announced for 2017, Fung Global Retail & Technology Weekly Tracker found that about 5,321 retail closings were announced by June 23.
Lifestyle centers afford landlords the flexibility to offer spaces to flea market operators or even use a wing of the center to create incubator shops to local small businesses, as examples. The key for landlords is to offer as many different services and attractions to the local consumer as possible, particularly at a time when American do more and more shopping for apparel and accessories online.
“You have to be as many different things to as many different people to survive,” Nagy says. “It’s about getting people to your [property] every week as many times [as] you can. Lifestyle centers are set up to weather the storm better than a lot of other product types.”


text:
Does Honda have it's sights set on the Personal Jet Market?
Honda has started producing a machine almost twice as fast as the Bugatti Veyron.
The new release seats six and is expected to cost about $4 million, but you can't take the controls without a pilot's licence.
The Japanese manufacturer claims the HondaJet "is the fastest, highest-flying, quietest, and most fuel-efficient jet in its class".
Prospective pilots cruise in the jet at almost 780km/h at 30,000 feet. It can cruise at 43,000 feet but the furthest it can travel is less than 2200 kilometres.
International travel might be best left to commercial carriers, as the HondaJet could not fly from Sydney to Singapore without stopping at least twice for refuelling.
Honda is the first car manufacturer to have entered the private jet business, but many others have a history of flight.
A statement released by the company said aircraft production had been a long-term goal.
"The HondaJet is Honda's first-ever commercial aircraft and lives up to the company's reputation for superior performance, efficiency, quality, and value," it said.
"The challenging spirit upon which Mr Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motors is still alive today as Honda Aircraft fulfils one of Honda's long-standing dreams to advance human mobility skyward."
Honda says its jet is unlike others because its engines are mounted over the wings.
It is not yet certified for public use.
Post a Comment


text:
The 2010 Chevrolet Equinox will carry a base price of $23,185, including its delivery fee, when the crossover goes on sale in June.
The restyled, re-engineered Equinox will cost $1,800 less than the previous generation, Ed Peper, vice president of Chevrolet, said today in a statement.
General Motors has said it hopes the Equinox will get 30 mpg highway, up from 24 mpg on the base model of the 2009 version. The Equinox's first four-cylinder engine and the addition of a six-speed automatic transmission provide the main boost in fuel economy. Other contributors include low-rolling-resistance tires, electric power steering and improved aerodynamics.
Chevrolet sold 13,226 Equinoxes through March, down 42.5 percent from this time last year. But that percentage decline is better than the brand's 48.5 percent plunge through March, as the U.S. light-vehicle sales rate lingers at quarter-century lows.
Last year Chevrolet sold 67,447 Equinoxes, down from 89,552 in 2007 and 113,888 in 2006. The Equinox was Chevy's fifth-best-selling light truck last year.


text:
Are Indian B2B Startups Adding any Value to the Sector with New Disruptions? It is a known fact that Indian Wholesale Distribution System still largely functions under the complex network which can be greatly eased with the help of digitization
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
The upswing in the vibrant startup scenario in India has grabbed eyeballs of many giants around the world. They are now looking at India with a completely new perspective and are keen on investing in the future of the country. The National Association for Software Services Companies (NASSCOM) 2017 report states that 1000+ tech startups were launched in the previous year, with a total number of tech startup now reaching over 5000+.
The Indian startup ecosystem is maturing and B2B tech startups being on the leading front is exploring varied new avenues and thus attracting good investments. Almost 50per cent of all startups in 2017 were in the B2B sector.
The Current Scenario
B2B startups have reckoned with a growing number of investors. They are surely going to be the potential game changers by introducing disruptive technologies.
In a recent "The India Startup Report – 2018', YourStory reported, Significant transformations are occurring in the organizational world and business ecosystem, which open up opportunities for startups in the B2B (business to business), B2E (business to employee) and B2B2C (business to business to customers/consumers) products. SMAC technologies (social, mobile, analytics, cloud), AI, and ML are disrupting big businesses and are enabling agile strategies for a new generation of enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses.
What is a Disruption?
In business, disruption or disruptive innovation is a change that creates a new market and value network by bringing more efficiency that leads to greater profits. This further disrupts the already existing market and displaces established firms, products and alliances.
However, not all innovations are disruptive.
Is it a Responsible Disruption?
While there are several players entering B2B market they follow the U.S or the Chinese trail. However, it is very important to make a note that the Indian market is at a nascent stage and is still emerging. It has its own complexities and unique needs. Something that works in U.S.may not works here, so the startups who do not offer any Indianized solution or product differentiation leaves the race immediately. Perhaps, extrapolating lessons from a mature U.S market can be risky, as the two markets function in a completely different manner.
The Need of the Hour
Firstly, it is very important for B2B players to understand that disruption is not just about bringing an abrupt change in the system. But it is about adding more value to the system by bringing a permanent solution to the problem that enables the smooth functioning of the business.
While B2B space still has several unexplored challenges that can be transformed into opportunities, it is a known fact that Indian Wholesale Distribution System still largely functions under the complex network which can be greatly eased with the help of digitization. In future Business Intelligence will come from data transparency and analytics and the first step in this direction is the digitization of the inventories and processes.
Manufactures, Distributors and Retailers cannot work in isolation, they are all important nodes of the supply chain so a system, that can connect all of them and everyone in between, empowering them to share, connect and transact seamlessly, will be a true disruption. A system that works with the entire general trade network and not just between individual nodes will be the real winner in this race.


text:
Los Angeles, CA, August 11, 2011 --(PR.com
)-- “As a law professor, I am always researching and writing, so it is really just a continuation of what I do best,” responded Dr. Leigh-Davis to questions about her being named editor-in-chief of the revamped Confidence Magazine. In fact, Dr. Leigh-Davis was the former editor-in-chief of Malibu Magazine, so she knows a thing or two about heading a magazine.
“Fashion is what I am looking forward to,” said Dr. Leigh-Davis. “As a full time law professor, I have missed fashion,” she continued. Confidence Magazine actually began its renovation last year, but owner disputes, lawsuits, and breached distribution contracts, made it seem as if Confidence Magazine would go out of business. Fortunately, new publishers and a new distribution deal were right around the corner, and Confidence Magazine is getting set to take off again.
Unlike its competitors, Vanity Fair and Esquire, Confidence Magazine will continue to be based in Los Angeles, California. “Although we are on the west coast, we will have contributing writers from all over the world, with a second office in London, England,” explains Dr. Leigh-Davis. Dr. Leigh-Davis hopes to finally give both Vanity Fair and Esquire a run for their money, when Confidence Magazine increases its worldwide presence, with international distribution deals.


text:
Professor Stephen Burkinshaw from the UK has invented a new washing machine that needs only one cup of water to wash your clothes. It uses reusable plastic chips that tumble around with the clothes and at the end they are are almost dry, so you don’t need a dryer either.
The machine uses thousands of reusable plastic chips to remove and absorb dirt. Tests have shown the machine can shift virtually all types of everyday stains, according to a team at Leeds University.
The machine uses quite a bit of the plastic chips, (approximately 44 pounds), which can be used 100 times before they have to be changed. It also requires detergent along with the one cup of water.
Plans are to have the machine available in the UK by 2009. I sure hope we can get something like this in the US – our current washers and dryers are using considerable amounts of water and energy to get our clothes clean.
We’ve shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick while using a tiny fraction of the water used by conventional machines.
~ Professor Burkinshaw
See the whole article here.


text:
Flipkart Wholesale, the digital B2B marketplace of India’s homegrown Flipkart Group, has kick started ‘Online Shopping Dhamaka Month’ for members of its cash-and-carry business Best Price, with an aim to enhance savings for small retailers across the country and ensure their safety through e-commerce orders and speedy doorstep delivery.
Members of Best Price cash-and-carry business can order online through the Best Price app and website and avail up to 15% savings on daily essentials as well as free delivery on orders across a wide selection of products.
Adarsh Menon, Senior Vice President and Head – Flipkart Wholesale and Walmart India, said, “E-commerce has emerged as a safe and convenient means of purchase, and the Online Shopping Dhamaka Month is a great opportunity for small retailers, kiranas and O&I shoppers to boost sales and profitability.
At Flipkart Wholesale, our top priority is the growth and prosperity of small kiranas across the country, with utmost focus on their safety. Our constant endeavour is to make business easy for small retailers through e-commerce and support their demand generation efforts through relevant insights and stock selections. We believe Online Shopping Dhamaka Month will help yield significant savings for our Best Price members while ensuring their safety in these challenging times.”
Online Shopping Dhamaka Month at Best Price will start on April 1, 2021, and end on April 30, 2021. It will feature products across categories such as staples, personal care, home care, packaged foods and beverages, electronics and appliances, and other general merchandise across more than 100 brands. Best Price members will be able to avail of attractive offers such as cashback, coupon discounts, and additional discounts for night shoppers, apart from free delivery on online orders.
Flipkart Wholesale has emerged as a catalyst for inclusive growth in the country by driving digitisation across kiranas and suppliers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Its Best Price cash-and-carry business has seen a 20X increase in e-commerce adoption from April 2020 to March 2021, signalling that Bharat is increasingly warming up to e-commerce as the preferred mode of purchase.
Best Price’s 29 wholesale cash-and-carry stores across nine states in the country have been serving close to a million small retailers in the country, including kiranas, HoReCa (hotels, restaurants and cafeterias) and O&I (offices and institutions), with best-in-class merchandise for the last 12 years.
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay


text:
Forbes just released its May 2011-May 2012 list of television's highest earning actresses … and it looks like brunettes do it best!
Raking in the most cash this year is sizzling "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara!
While the Colombia native is well known for her sexpot role on the show, off-screen she's an entertainment tycoon -- and this was definitely the bombshell's year!
Between her TV role, her own media company, endorsement deals with Cover Girl and Diet Pepsi and a clothing line with Kmart, she reportedly earned a hefty $19 million!
Coming in at number two is reality megastar, Kim Kardashian. Thanks to her massively popular reality shows and wedding special, along with her fragrance and clothing lines, she's earned a whopping $18 million!
Her “momager,” Kris Jenner, must know what she's doing because Khloe Kardashian also made the list -- coming in at number five.
Rounding out the top three is "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria. Even though Longoria will have to say goodbye to the $375,000 she was making per episode on the just-ended show, she already has two new projects in the works, plus she's the face of L'Oreal Paris and Pepsi.
All things combined, she's made a cool $15 million for the year!
See who else makes the top 10 by clicking “Launch Gallery” above -- do you think these TV stars are worth their earnings? Sound off below!


text:
Microsoft again earned the most software patents in 2009, the third time in three years for the Redmond giant, according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
With 2,913 patents granted last year, Microsoft ran away with the majority of software patents. The next closest in the software category was SAP with 388.
“This year again, Microsoft’s portfolio is rated the strongest in the software industry … the third straight year that Microsoft has topped the IEEE Spectrum Patent Scorecard,” Bart Eppenauer, the company’s chief patent counsel, said in a post to the Microsoft On the Issues blog late Thursday afternoon.
Although IBM is listed in a different category on the IEEE lists — under “computer systems” instead of “computer software” — Big Blue still beat out Microsoft for the number of new patents granted overall last year, with 4,916.
Like many large technology firms, Microsoft set out years ago to secure as many patents as it could for its catalog. Companies use such patents for several purposes, including as protection against competitors as well as so-called “patent trolls” — companies that buy up patents and then sue firms they feel are infringing them.
Perhaps ironically, the more patents Microsoft gains, the more others have seemed to sue the company for infringement. For instance, earlier this week, Microsoft lost a $105.75 million patent suit brought by holding company VirnetX.
In that case, Microsoft will ask that the trial judge reconsider his ruling as well as petition to have VirnetX’s patents declared invalid.
Microsoft is also currently awaiting a decision on its request to an appeals court to rehear “en banc” a patent suit appeal it lost last year to another small firm, called i4i.
Patents for leverage
Additionally, of course, firms like Microsoft use their patent portfolios as leverage against competitors as well as enticements for potential partners. For example, the company recently entered into a patent cross-licensing deal with e-tailer Amazon, which has the popular Kindle e-reader.
There is also the possibility for one firm to use its patents to intimidate other companies and organizations. Take, for instance, Microsoft’s claims three years ago that Linux violates some 235 of its patents and that Linux vendors should pay up for the infringement.
The company has never publicly disclosed what those patents are but Microsoft has signed a slew of licensing agreements in recent years with firms that have products built on Linux. In one recent example, Japanese hardware company I-O Data Device, which uses Linux in its products, agreed to license patents from Microsoft.
One major source of patents for Microsoft — besides buying companies for their intellectual property — is the company’s Microsoft Research organization. MSR, as it’s called, annually files for a pile of patents based on its researchers’ work.
Those range from methods to enable software to time out, to Microsoft’s Surface tabletop computer.
Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing writer at “>Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.


text:
A developer’s changed the name of his Queenstown apartment project to avoid clashing with a local motel.
Tony Gapes, who developed Frankton’s Five Mile shopping complex, launched his 44-unit ‘Alexis’ development, on the Gorge Road/Hallenstein Street corner, over autumn.
However that riled the owner of Alexis Motor Lodge and Apartments, Eric Corson, who developed his complex on the Frankton Rd/Suburb St corner in 2002.
As a result, Christchurch-based Corson trademarked ‘Alexis’ and fired off a lawyer’s letter to Auckland-based Gapes, who’s now amended his development’s name to ‘The Alex’.
Corson says despite having to employ a lawyer – “never a cheap exercise” – he’s happy.
“[Gapes] agreed, after dis-cussion, to change the name to something that he wanted, and we agreed to the name he decided to go with.”
Gapes is happy, too: “It was either spend a whole lot on legal fees, or change the name, so it was a whole lot easier and cheaper just to change the name.”
He says he wouldn’t have used ‘Alexis’ if he’d known it was already in use.
“To be fair, we ran the name past several people in Queenstown and they didn’t make any comment on it.
“No one raised it with us until a lawyer for the Alexis motel got in touch with us.”
Gapes says he’s using the rename, and the fact he’s now got his resource consent, as an excuse to ramp up his marketing.
He says about 40 per cent of the units have sold so far.
Six or seven retail units will also be built – they’re likely to include a cafe and a laundry.
Gapes says enabling works will start next month, and the $15 million build should be completed by Christmas next year.


text:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2022-23 in Parliament today, kicking off the Union Budget session. As per the report, India’s GDP growth is said to be the lowest in three years, at 6-6.8 per cent. Inflation was pegged at 6.8 per cent for the current fiscal. Amidst all this, a mention of crypto assets and a call for their regulation made its way into the Economic Survey for the first time ever.
Making a reference to the recent FTX collapse and the ensuing sell-offs that saw the vanishing of nearly $2 trillion from the global crypto market, the Survey noted that crypto assets don’t “strictly pass the test of being a financial asset” as it has no intrinsic cashflows attached to them. This falls in line with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das’ stand on crypto, who said that private cryptocurrencies are completely speculative and that they should be prohibited.
ALSO READ: Next Financial Crisis Will Come From Cryptocurrencies: RBI Governor Maintains Hard Stance
The survey noted, “The geographically pervasive nature of the crypto ecosystem necessitates a common approach to the regulation of these volatile instruments.”
“There are minimal global standards applicable to unbacked crypto assets, which do not currently mitigate all risks and vulnerabilities. Even as Standard-Setting Bodies (SSBs) have been making efforts to adjust and develop standards, these remain mainly focused on specific issues (financial integrity), sectors (payments, securities and banking), products (global stablecoins), or entities designated as systemic by domestic authorities,” the Survey noted. “Thus, there are regulatory gaps at each stage when crypto assets are issued, transferred, exchanged, or stored by non-bank entities.”
The crypto industry was quick to react to the reference of crypto in the Economic Survey this year. CoinSwitch co-founder and CEO Ashish Singhal took to Twitter to laud the call for regulation of crypto assets, appreciating the fact that this was better than wishing away crypto entirely.
While taking a cautionary approach to crypto, Chief Economic Adviser writes in the #EcoSurvey that regulators could consider centralized intermediaries as systemic financial market infrastructures.
This is in contrast to alarmist calls to ban or simply wish away crypto.
— Ashish Singhal (@ashish343) January 31, 2023
“Regulatory void and lack of accountability tend to enable bad actors, and leave everyday users and investors with little to no legal recourse,” Singhal tweeted.
Edul Patel, the CEO and co-founder of Mudrex, told ABP Live, “Cryptocurrency has rapidly gained popularity worldwide. The recent FTX crash has prompted governments to draft regulations to prevent similar incidents and protect the public’s funds. Implementing comprehensive regulations is crucial for fostering innovation and combating financial crimes such as money laundering and fraud.”
He added, “India cannot regulate cryptocurrencies alone, as they are a global phenomenon. Hence, India’s call for the establishment of global regulatory standards that can adapt to future changes is a forward-thinking approach. With India holding the presidency of the G-20 summit this year, the topic of cryptocurrency is also being discussed among the member countries. This provides India with the opportunity to set the tone for global regulation of cryptocurrencies.”
Disclaimer: Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is subject to market risks. Readers are advised to seek expert advice and read offer document(s) along with related important literature on the subject carefully before making any kind of investment whatsoever. Cryptocurrency market predictions are speculative and any investment made shall be at the sole cost and risk of the readers.


text:
Red Tiger Games Available to Players at the Brands of UK Operator BGO, Full portfolio and daily jackpots available across operator’s brands
Red Tiger Gaming announced their slot portfolio is going live with several new operators and brands. The award-winning casino supplier said they are excited to announce several of its slot titles are now available to players across the UK with the BGO brand. BGO powers several online casinos including 7Casino, BGO and Power Spins, just to name a few. BGO is a huge name in the industry and across the gambling market in the UK.
All of BGO’s brands will gain instant access to not only Red Tiger’s award-winning slot games, but its award-winning Daily Drop Jackpots Network as well through the Playtech Open Platform. Red Tiger is very happy and pleased to go live with a major brand such as BGO. Red Tiger’s Commercial Director said the integration to get their games onto the brands’ casinos has been seamless and they are looking for a “long and fruitful partnership” with BGO.
BGO is always looking to add to their games and to provide its players with top-notch and cutting-edge content. They said they are more than thrilled to team up with Red Tiger and distribute its content to its players as well as the “exciting pooled jackpots”.


text:
At an investor event in Singapore last Friday, DBS said digital customers were 42 percent more profitable for the banking group compared to the “traditional” clients.
Following the event, the Financial Times quoted two London-based investors as saying that DBS gave the most detailed breakout on digital profitability they had ever seen from a traditional bank.
Singapore’s biggest bank highlighted the sharply higher margins it earns through internet-based services.
According to the bank’s figures, it made a return on equity of 27 percent for its digital customers in Singapore and Hong Kong in the first half of 2017. The corresponding figure for non-digital clients was eight percentage points lower, at 19 percent.
The profits do not include DBS’ most digitally-advanced business, Digibank, which has grown to more than one million customers since becoming India’s first online-only bank last year, according to the FT report.
The presentation Friday showed that digital customers at DBS – defined as those who use online services to buy products or upgrade, or who do more than 50 percent of their transactions online – generate twice as much income per customer as traditional ones.
The group announced that digital customers made up 39 percent of DBS’ retail and SME customers in Singapore and Hong Kong, and that they contributed 60 percent of the segment’s income and 68 percent of their profit before allowances, the Straits Times noted.
Also, digital customers’ revenues are growing faster.
The customers came with lower costs, with their cost/income ratio at 34 percent versus a figure of 55 percent in the case of traditional customers.
Major international banks have been pursuing digital strategies, aiming to drive customers away from high-cost branches and call centers, in favor of low-cost apps, chatbots and websites.
“Investors are interested to understand the impact of digital banking to the cost stack of banks,” Ronit Ghose, Citi’s global head of bank research, told the FT.
But the analyst said it was hard to prove causation between digital channels and the higher profitability and revenue growth.
“Early adopters may be richer clients and they may be more profitable due to their wealth and activity levels rather than digital channel usage,” Ghose was quoted as saying.
– Contact us at [email protected]


text:
Here’s a quick dainty hidden beneath today’s inundation of Google Assistant news( not to mention the bizarre waking nightmare that is the CES Small World ride ). The companionship announced today that the smart aide be accessed on more Android phone lock screens.
The feature was firstly announced back at Google’s hardware event in October, though, at the time, it was limited to the company’s brand-new Pixel 3 handset. For defence reasonableness, it’s accessible through opt-in, making you’ve got to ticking the box in settleds.
Certainly adding that kind of access to the lock screen can open your handset( and by propagation you) to malevolent defendants. Though once lay out, it will exclusively respond to your own spokesperson( unless, of course, someone with access to your handset can do a really good notion of you ).
Once facilitated, you can get restaurant recommendations, put off fears and planned reminders, amongst other peculiarities, all without having to open the handset. No word hitherto on where reference is will be arriving on specific mannequins.
Read more: feedproxy.google.com


text:
Global EV Charging Management Software Platform Market to Reach $25.92 Billion by 2031
The EV charging management software platform is critical to business success because it addresses EV charging operators’ requirements for operational excellence and EV driver satisfaction.
FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — BIS Research, the global leader in providing market intelligence on deep technologies, has released its latest study titled EV Charging Management Software Platform Market – A Global and Regional Analysis.
According to this study, the market size of the global EV charging management software platform market was valued at $980 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $25.92 billion by 2031.
The following factors are


text:
The nonprofit International Rights Advocates sued the tech companies Dec. 16 on behalf of families of children killed or injured while mining for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most of the supply is found.
Cobalt is a key ingredient for the rechargeable batteries that power smartphones and electric cars. The companies are accused of “aiding and abetting” dangerous mining conditions with their growing cobalt demand, according to the federal class action complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The companies have known for a long time that DRC’s cobalt mining sector is dependent on children, the complaint says.
The lawsuit follows a similar suit over child labor in the cocoa industry and reflects heightened pressure on supply chain ethics. Some companies have been stepping up their sourcing oversight of cobalt and other commodities.
“This new form of legal challenge is an important development,” said Nicholas Garrett, CEO of international supply chain audit and advisory firm RCS Global. Garrett said in an email that the lawsuit, “irrespective of its chance of success,” shines a light on labor abuses that can occur in the so-called artisanal mining sector.
Dell spokeswoman Lauren Lee said the company “is committed to the responsible sourcing of minerals, which includes upholding the human rights of workers at any tier of our supply chain and treating them with dignity and respect.”
Dell has “never knowingly sourced operations using any form of involuntary labor, fraudulent recruiting practices or child labor,” she said.
Apple said, in response to a request for comment: “Apple is deeply committed to the responsible sourcing of materials that go into our products. We’ve led the industry by establishing the strictest standards for our suppliers and are constantly working to raise the bar for ourselves, and the industry. In 2014, we were the first to start mapping our cobalt supply chain to the mine level and since 2016, we have published a full list of our identified cobalt refiners every year, 100% of which are participating in independent third party audits. If a refiner is unable or unwilling to meet our standards, they will be removed from our supply chain. We’ve removed 6 cobalt refiners in 2019.”
Alphabet, Microsoft, and Tesla didn’t return requests for comment.
Causes of Action: Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Relief: Money damages, injunctive relief, medical care and monitoring fund.
Potential Class Size: Tens of thousands of children working as miners.
Attorneys: International Rights Advocates filed the complaint.
The case is Doe v. Apple Inc., D.D.C., No. 19-3737, filed 12/16/19.
To contact the reporter on this story:


text:
Gone are the days when carting round a 1080p camcorder meant back ache and developing arms like Popeye.
It seems that Sanyo decided to wait for the dust to settle on CES before it unveiled its new camcorder range, hoping that the announcement wouldn't be drowned out by the hundreds of others at the show. It turns out they needn't have bothered, because its new range of camcorders contains some impressive, headline-grabbing new features.
Polaroid has announced that it is to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is the second time the company has filed for bankruptcy protection in seven years.
There's nothing like a bit of pre-Christmas rumour mongering to get camera aficionados hot under the collar. And that's exactly what Nikon has done with its until now secretive D3x.
Canon has announced two updates to its superb professional camcorder series. The XH G1S and XH A1S are improvements to Canon's original XH G1 and XH A1 range.
Hitachi chose this year's CEATEC to unveil a new innovation that could well change the camcorder market. The company showcased a prototype camcorder that is able to stream high-definition video to a TV unit wirelessly and in real-time.
Small is the new big. Well, it is when it comes to camcorders. The likes of Sanyo with its Xacti range know this, and that is why in recent months we have seen myriad companies release diminutive HD shooters that can film at 1080p and still slip in your pocket.
Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung has announced the arrival of its new budget camera, the MX20.


text:
Two different game companies are getting a funding boost from investor Buzz Capital. Brighton-based Buzz Capital has announced that it has financed $594,000 (£500,000) in Dream Harvest and Fundamentally Games for their upcoming game projects.
“We’re thankful for the continued support from the team at Premiere and Buzz Capital who have been long-term partners of Dream Harvest and who believe in the long-term vision we have for the studio,” said Dream Harvest CEO Justin French. “Building worlds filled with amazing characters and stories, told through games that push genres in new, bold directions and doing this with a community-centric approach.”
“We’re thrilled that Buzz and Premiere have doubled down on its support of Fundamentally Games at these early stages of our journey, not only through our recent UA funding partnership for games wepublish, but also now a second equity raise,” commented Co-CEO Ella Romanos of Fundamentally Games. “We’ve made good progress over the last year, and having a partner who believes in us and who is on that journey with us is something that any company would be lucky to have and demonstrates their commitment not just to us, but to the UK games industry too.”
The funding round was led by Premiere Capital, with further contribution from Buzz Capital.
Dream Harvest has released two games so far: NeuroNet Mendax Proxy and Neuroslicers.
Fundamentally Games is publishing its first titles this year on PC as well for mobile devices later down the line. With live operations in their focus, they also offer publishers’ services like user acquisition and publishing support for live games.
Both game companies are based in the UK.
In a statement, Buzz Capital COO Adam Betteridge talked about how the firm is committed to startups and partnerships going forward. The gaming industry made tremendous gains during this pandemic, unlike any other sector, according to him.
Buzz Capital is a company that provides straightforward financing solutions to businesses across all sectors. They are experienced with creating custom financing arrangements for film, video games, animation, and more.


text:
The top two US banks took what little wind was left in investors’ sails today. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have both placed a ban on cryptocurrency transactions via credit cards, according to Bloomberg reports . The bitcoin price is holding at about a 5.75% decline, trading at $8,589 in what is shaping up to be a rocky 2018 for cryptocurrency trading so far.
JPMorgan, whose CEO Jamie Dimon famously denounced bitcoin a few months back, doesn’t want to inherit the credit risk given the volatility in the bitcoin price. By speculating on the price of a highly volatile investment like bitcoin, investors are exposing the bank to a higher risk of default, a scenario that may not have been present when the credit was extended in the first place. Meanwhile, banks and regulators are working in tandem to detect signs of fraud, and taking credit cards out of the equation simplifies things somewhat.
JPMorgan’s ban goes into effect on Saturday, Feb. 3, while Bank of America’s ban became effective immediately, with the bank declining credit card transactions with crypto exchanges, as per internal memos obtained by Bloomberg. While personal and business B-of-A credit cards are included in the ban, the bank will continue to honor all debit card transactions with cards issued by the bank.
The move no doubt has investors scrambling, some of whom have automatic buy orders in place at exchanges. And it places an immediate hurdle in bitcoin’s move toward the mainstream, as potential investors who may have been weighing the field now have another hoop to jump through to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies.
But by the same token, if what’s going to move bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies forward is investors “not investing more than they can afford,” than the bank ban becomes less of a hurdle and more of an inconvenience.
Meanwhile, Chase and B-of-A aren’t the first banks to move on bitcoin. Discover and Capital One already ruled out cryptocurrency charges, while Citi appears to be on the fence.
But for Discover’s chief executive David Nelms, there may be some wiggle room. Discover has banned cryptocurrency transactions because the only use cases Nelms is witnessing today are for ransomware and money laundering. But he stopped short of writing bitcoin off, telling Bloomberg that what could inspire a shift is customer demand.
So perhaps in this early stage of loose regulation governing the cryptocurrency space, it’s prudent for banks to take a step back so the industry can move forward.
In the words of Wences Casares, chief executive of Xapo –
Featured image from Shutterstock.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Send this story to a friend
'Hobby gone wild'
Brewin' on up — Wichita's craft beer revolution
Wichita-area brewing hobbyists are turning into entrepreneurs as they discover that their passion has a new level of legitimacy in the business world.
When Chris Arnold moved to Wichita in 1999 to begin running River City Brewery in Old Town, he knew the sale of craft beer was a bit novel for the market. And although customers enjoyed the six-year-old brewpub’s food and Coors Light, they didn’t exactly embrace the bolder, more complex flavors coming out of the local taps.
“We couldn’t hardly give the stuff away,” he says.
That has changed.
- Walnut River Brewing expanding capacity, adding canning line
- Meet a local beer: River City Brewery's Ace's IPA
- Meet a local beer: Wichita Brewing Co.’s Russian imperial stout (Video)
- Home brewer profile: Chad Smith, Sullivan Higdon & Sink
- Home brewer profile: Augustine Iacopelli, Wichita State University
- Neighbors to protest plans for new brewpub
In the past five years, the number of craft breweries in the United states has nearly doubled, from 1,596 in 2009 to 2,768 in 2013, according to the trade group the Brewers Association. Over the same time period, River City’s locally brewed beer sales have doubled, and two new Wichita-area breweries — a brewpub called Wichita Brewing Co. and a commercial brewery called Walnut River Brewing — have sprung up and begun to grow.
Last week, crowds filled local breweries and bars to sample new and novel craft beers for Kansas Craft Beer Week. But the celebration of craft beer is not just a once-a-year occasion in Kansas. Arnold says his often-busy brewpub is especially packed every Thursday, when River City taps a new firkin — a small barrel of a new, experimental brew.
“It’s been the most amazing ride in the last 15 years,” Arnold says. “People come every day to try beer they’ve never tried before.”
Emily Behlmann oversees the website and other digital projects. She covers technology. For technology news, subscribe to the WBJ's free TechFlash newsletter.
- Most popular
- Here's the Charles Koch ice bucket challenge video
- Napa earthquake impacts Best in Business winery
- Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee plans nine Wichita locations
- Charles Koch accepts ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from Gregg Marshall
- Continuation of indoor football likely, though not as Wichita Wild
- Lawyers of the Year in appellate practice, corporate law and more
- Get to know the WBJ's 2014 Women in Business honorees
- Lawyers of the Year in medical malpractice law, labor law and more
- The new numbers behind Koch Industries
- WSU Experiential Engineering building — a new learning environment


text:
Combat Gear and Equipment
During Sig Sauer Range Day at the 2019 Shot Show, we try out the smallest member of the gunmaker's MPX
George Thompson, from Benelli USA shows off the company's customized M4 shotgun, used by Keanu Reeves in the movie "John
Dusty Gibson with Winchester Ammunition demonstrates their newest ammunition cartridges.
Hanan Schaap from SenSight demonstrates the company's new SSR400 Digital Riflescope at the 2019 Rifle Show.
Mossberg celebrates its 100th anniversary at the 2019 Shot Show with a commemorative pistol, as well as a look at
Profense LLC demonstrates their M134 mini gun during Range Day at the 2019 Shot Show.
At Shot Show 2019, United Defense Corporation demonstrates a custom-built hybrid of an AK-47 and AK-103.
We get a blast from the past at Shot Show 2019 with Brownells' new BRM proto rifle, based on a
Join Military.com in taking a look back at 2018.
At Modern Day Marine, we look at the M-RZR X, an optionally manned all-terrain vehicle that can deploy forward with


text:
After two decades of selling furniture, décor and anything in between, Overstock is finally selling off its retail business. And it’s doing this so that it can focus on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the CEO revealed today. At a time when cryptos have experienced a bloodbath, Overstock’s decision to go all in will give many in the industry hope that the fortunes could turn as we head into the festive season. On the announcement of the new business path, Overstock’s shares surged 26 percent, a clear contrast to the performance of the crypto market today. The sale of the retail business is expected to be completed by February 2019.
All In On Crypto
Founded in 1999, Overstock served as a marketplace for surplus and returned merchandise at a time when online shopping was at a nascent stage. With time, its selection of goods has grown and is today the stockist of jewelry, kitchen appliances, clothes and apparel, furniture and more. However, the company’s founder and CEO, Patrick Byrne believes that cryptos and blockchain are the future, and he is going all in.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Byrne revealed that the sale, which had previously been revealed, will go down by February next year. The possible buyers or the value of the sale were however not disclosed. And the reason the company’s doing this is that it intends to fully focus on its crypto ventures.
The shares of the Salt Lake City-based company surged 26 percent following the announcement. Despite the price rally, the shares are down 70 percent for the year from their January high of $80 and currently trade just above $20.
Overstock has been investing in blockchain startups through its wholly owned subsidiary, Medici Ventures. Founded in 2014, Medici has been Byrne’s pet project and he has injected $175 million into the firm, but it’s yet to turn a profit.
Medici has invested in multiple blockchain startups, one of which is Voatz. Voatz is a blockchain-based mobile voting system, perhaps best known for its use in the West Virginia midterm elections. Medici has also invested in Bitsy, a crypto exchange and wallet; Factom, a data processing platform; Settlemint, an enterprise blockchain provider and tZero, a trading platform aimed at invading the capital markets.
As reported by WSJ, tZero is yet to be launched commercially and is operating at losses, but this does not bother Byrne as he fully believes in its long-term potential.
I don’t care whether tZero is losing $2 million a month. We think we’ve got cold fusion on the blockchain side.
Overstock has been one of the most ardent believers in cryptocurrencies, and among the earliest merchants to accept Bitcoin as a payment method. However, like many other companies with ties to crypto, its shares have taken a beating this year as cryptos have tumbled. However, Byrne revealed to the company’s investors two months ago that the company doesn’t have significant holdings of Bitcoin. At a time when investors are having their faith tested by the tumbling market, the nod by Overstock is a welcome reprieve.


text: State-owned Indian telco Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has announced the launch of a 3G mobile TV service, Telecom Talk reports. The new service it is claimed will offer MPEG4 picture quality and will be available in both the Delhi and Mumbai circles. MTNL has partnered with content provider Apalya Technology to offer the service, alongside vendor Alcatel-Lucent and IPTV service provider Aksh Optifibre, the latter of which already offers a fixed IPTV product, ‘iControl’, via the telco. Commenting on the launch, Dr Kailash Choudhari, managing director at Aksh, said: ‘We are proud to launch India’s first 3G mobile TV in Delhi and Mumbai. 3G Mobile TV as a value added feature epitomises convergence in technology realising … live television viewing on the move.’ The new service utilises Alcatel-Lucent Mobile Streaming Server, which supports all types of standard-based media formats and dynamic switching from high-bit rate to low-bit rate streaming based on network coverage and bandwidth availability.


text:
FREDERICKSBURG, Texas - For more than 35 years, car lovers have grabbed their keys and headed to Fredericksburg for the Hill Country Classic Collector Car Auction. On March 14 and 15, all they have to do is reach for their mouse.
For the first time in the event’s history, car enthusiasts, collectors, and hobbyists from around the world will be able to go online to The Auction Network, watch the action live, and bid in real-time on more than 250 cars. This year’s auction, March 14 and 15 at the Fredericksburg (Texas) Events Center, boasts an inventory of more than $2 million worth of antique, classic, collectible, and custom cars. Collector car expert Bob Prosser will join the Auction Network broadcast team to lend his vast knowledge about the condition and value of the cars up for auction.
The Hill Country Classic Collector Car Auction, produced by Dan Kruse Classics, is Texas’ longest-running and most-respected auto auction. The event’s family-friendly atmosphere and wide variety of cars make it a favorite of the hobbyist and collector alike.
“By partnering with the Auction Network, we’re introducing the fun and excitement of the Hill County Classic to a global audience,” says Daniel Kruse. “The interactive experience is world-class with high-def live streaming and real-time bidding across all currencies.”
Visit www.auctionnetwork.com/kruse to register for the event and view an up-to-date catalog with photos and details on all the cars available for auction, including a rare ‘67 Sunbeam Tiger Roadster, a mint-condition ’70 Chevrolet Malibu SS convertible, and a ‘35 Riley Falcon four-door Saloon that’s been in the same family since the owner’s aunt ordered it from the factory.
Auction Network is the first 24/7, multimedia network solely dedicated to auctions. Auction Network celebrates the sport and competitive spirit of auctions with a fast-paced, interactive programming environment where buyers meet sellers.
Kruse International is one of the world's leading auction firms and the largest collector car auction company, selling more vintage cars than all other firms combined. It auctions more than 13,000 cars in more than 30 events and dozens of real estate properties each year.


text:
After May, Facebook will introduce its latest news platform in Germany, offering different articles from more than 100 German existing media outlets. This US-based multinational tycoon disclosed this news on Monday. A dedicated journalistic content will release in German in May 2021 by Facebook stated that it would deliver numerous contents from a “strong and diverse range” of German titles.
In 2019, this Facebook News platform has come out in the US and in January launched in the UK, offers users the world’s top-ranked social network hand-selected news topic bought from conventional publishers. This social giant will pay to those publishers for their topics with a wide list of German partners starting from reputed national weeklies including Der Spiegel, and Die Zeit to local dailies such as the Rheinische Post.
German platform will appear with 100 and more media brands where it has such major groups included like Conde Nast and Funke. According to a spokesperson of Axel Springer, it seems problematic while few media platforms are in one single hand trying to turn a news media themselves on the other hand simultaneously low payment issue creates discouragement and disappointment among the publishers.
Most of the media houses are suffering from dwindling revenue of advertisements and print sales as all topics have shifted online and freely available for everyone. In terms of balancing the modern tech giants and conventional media houses, the European Union has incorporated ‘neighborhood right’ in 2019 that reshape the law of copyright. However, Facebook has not shown any such interest in the agreement, preferring instead to concentrate on its own initiatives like Facebook Journalism and Facebook News.


text:
Expect the Reserve Bank of India to tighten by 25bp to stem the currency weakness. Trade and inflation releases for May will be the other highlights
So far everything has been limited to verbal skirmishes but no action. While we will continue to see more trade noise in the period ahead, markets will focus on hard data. And there is plenty on the calendar from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
We expect sustained export strength in China and Taiwan with double-digit growth, but less so in the other two economies. After underperforming in 2017, China’s exports have been doing well this year with 14% year-to-date growth. On the other end is the Philippines with a 6% fall explaining the ongoing plight of the peso.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign exchange reserve data for May will provide a sense of capital outflows amid accelerated USD appreciation against major currencies, including the yuan. Our Greater China Economist, Iris Pang expects this to be reflected in a drawdown of reserves, by about $20bn a month. She also expects continued CNY depreciation ahead and has revised the USD/CNY forecast to 6.60 from 6.33 for 2018.
Both manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs show the Chinese economy grew solidly in May. We expect this to continue as China is investing in high-tech sectors to cushion the impact of trade tensions
PMIs of manufacturing equipment and high-tech products came in at 53.0 and 54.8, up 1.3 and 1.0 points respectively from April, and higher than the headline PMI of 51.9 in May, which was already above the 51.4 in April. These two items have been consistently higher than the headline figure. This shows that China already has the fundamentals to build even more advanced technology.
Manufacturing of consumer goods was also strong at 52.7, and stabilised from last month. Combined with new export orders PMI at 53.8, up from 52.9, which has been higher than new export orders at 51.2, this shows that consumption demand in China is solid.
Strong consumption demand is also reflected in large demand for electricity for cooling from the hot weather in the southern part of China, and the high-energy-consuming manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 from below 50. Although high-energy consumption is not as positive from an anti-pollution perspective than clean-energy production, the high demand for electricity for cooling implies that the overall population generally can afford a higher electricity bill for a more comfortable life. This exposes the risk of China not having enough clean energy production and infrastructure investments.
Inbound tourism, air flights and shopping activities during the Golden Week boosted the non-manufacturing PMI to 54.9 from 54.8. We have to bear in mind that most service businesses, like banking, were closed on holidays. That explains a small increase in the non-manufacturing PMI.
The PMI figures confirm our view that the Chinese economy is running at a decent speed. Combining this with April's industrial profit data, we confirm that our GDP forecast of 6.8% for 2Q18 stills holds.
Forthcoming trade tensions could put pressure on trade and related supply chain activities, however. We believe that investment decisions in potentially affected industries have been delayed.
Still, the government together with corporates have increased investment to develop the highest-end technology in the semiconductor, telecommunication and transportation sectors.
We are therefore optimistic about the overall economy.
Trump administration decides to put tariffs on steel and aluminium on Canada, Mexico, EU etc. With allies like these...


text:
"I think it's a good move because it would make downtown a little bit more appealing to people, as far as businesses downtown. I'm not sure about the parking I think that's our big issue," said Floricel Quiroz.
City officials are hoping to change this uncertainty by presenting us with finalized plans at a cost of $145,000.
First on the agenda is to select a final design for the plaza. This has cause the biggest controversy, losing parking spots that would hurt local businesses.
"The thing I'm struggling with the most is the ability for the city to be able to reach out to businesses to actually draw them in before the beautification happens," said Alyssa Skiles, owner of Patina.
Other businesses owners like Alyssa Skiles voiced this same opinion at the recent public hearing on the issue, which led to the creation of the Implementation Committee, a group of business leaders and residents to give their input. It's been given a budget of $10,000.
Also on the agenda for next year is to develop strategies to bring in more retail stores, and to carry out a study to focus on parking, which is given a budget of $25,000.
These items on next year's agenda put the city at a tab of just more than $200,000. Money coming out of our general fund.
"I think it's a huge investment. I think it's difficult to be able to present that to the tax payers when there's so many people struggling in terms of their own livelihood, I think in the long term if we're ready to invest in Yakima, there's going to be a cost that comes with that," said Skiles.
A cost now that is only on paper.
As the designs are completed the city will hold several more open meetings to get feedback from the public.


text:
Recreational weed sales drop to $35 million in February as shortages continue
“If we had more consistent supply and could start lowering prices, then those numbers would go up,” said Kris Krane, president of Mission dispensary in South Chicago.
Nearly $35 million in recreational marijuana was sold across Illinois in February, marking a significant decrease from the total sold in the state’s first month of legal weed.
All told, 41 dispensaries sold 831,600 pot products last month worth $34.8 million. That’s down from the $39.2 million in sales tallied in January, when enthusiastic cannabis users bought up 972,045 products from dispensaries that quickly saw their stockpiles of pot depleted due to a pervasive supply shortage.
“If we had more consistent supply and could start lowering prices, then those numbers would go up,” Kris Krane, president of Mission dispensary in South Chicago, said Wednesday. “Supply hasn’t really gotten any better yet and I don’t really anticipate that it will in the near future.”
Krane and Abigail Watkins, spokeswoman for Dispensary 33 in Uptown, said the major problem for stores is stocking dried cannabis flower. The dispensaries are essentially dependent on just 21 cultivation centers statewide to provide products.
“I’m not gonna beat around the bush — we don’t have flower for [recreational customers] every day of the week,” Watkins said. “We’re replenishing as much as we can.”
Andy Seeger, a cannabis industry researcher for the Loop-based Brightfield Group, said the supply woes that have constrained the Illinois market have likely deterred more folks from traveling across state lines to buy legal weed. Nevertheless, the amount of recreational pot sold to out-of-staters climbed from $8.6 million in January to $9.2 million last month.
Seeger also said the weather may have contributed to the slumping second-month sales. In other legal states, pot sales typically cool down during the winter doldrums and pick up in the summer months, he said.


text:
Mike Bancroft’s vinegar and shoyu show he’s more than just a hot sauce boss.
This year’s Chicago installment of the Swedish-born Scorched Tundra fest features the likes of Oxbow, Fistula, Acid King, and Wolvhammer—plus a beer from Pipeworks and a burger from Kuma’s.
Get a look at the street artist’s latest project, a celebration of Chicago dive-bar culture.
The economies of scale will let Pipeworks drop the retail price of their flagship beer by nearly 60 percent when they start selling cans next month.
Pipeworks Brewing combines alien abduction and raspberry truffles: two great tastes that . . . oh, never mind.
The Brotherhood brings to mind citrus, Chinese chrysanthemum tea . . . and Motörhead.
Ravenswood’s Spiteful Brewing debuts with the roasty, chocolatey G.F.Y. Stout, which arrived in Chicago stores five days ago
Our correspondent discovers a new favorite hoppy beer from Chicago, and also that the word “ninja” is not the best sign when it comes to metal
FOBAB showcases some of the most awesomely excessive beers in the world, which is pretty metal if you think about it
Pipeworks Brewing finally bottles its Abduction Imperial Stout, and it’s bitter, black, and bottomless
If the incentives are right (and a little outlandish), Kickstarter is worth the few bucks—just ask Murder by Death’s fans
Nice Cream Co. releases its spring flavors, Vie offers an Earth Day dinner all week, Leslie Cooperband of Prairie Fruits Farm offers free samples of goat cheese at Pastoral, and more.


text:
By Ben Fox Rubin
J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) shares are trading at 13-year lows as hedge-fund manager William Ackman left the beleaguered retailer's board following a public rift among its directors.
The departure comes as the company has struggled to stabilize its department-store chain following the tumultous tenure of former CEO Ron Johnson, whose strategy led to sharply lower sales.
Penney, which is now back under the leadership of Myron Ullman, saw its shares fall 2.2% to $12.89 in recent trading and touched a low of $12.34 on Friday, off about 35% this year and about 85% from its 2007 high of $86.35. The company's market value has dropped to $2.83 billion, putting it below the likes of teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO).
Here's a look back at key moments that have driven Penney's shares over the past decade:
Oct. 27, 2004: Penney names Myron Ullman III as its chairman and chief executive. The former executive of R.H. Macy & Co. and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (LVMUY, MC.FR) is tasked with creating a strategic direction for Penney. Shares are trading above $37.
Feb. 21, 2007: Penney shares hit a 10-year high, closing at $86.35, as sales and profits have regularly improved under Mr. Ullman, who brought in trendier brands like Liz Claiborne and introduced minishops--including Sephora cosmetics shops--within Penney's department stores.
March 2009: Shares rapidly tumble during the economic downturn, hitting a low of about $14.
January 2011: Penney says it will add Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) Chairman Steven Roth and hedge-fund manager William Ackman to its board, which sends its stock up. The pair have a track record of buying big stakes in companies and then pressing them to make strategic changes. Shares are in low $30s.
June 14, 2011: J.C. Penney names Ron Johnson, former head of Apple's stores, as its new CEO, replacing Mr. Ullman, then 64, following a push for new leadership by Mr. Ackman and Mr. Roth. Shares jump above $35, from around $30 the day before.
Jan. 26, 2012: Mr. Johnson, who took over in November, introduces a strategy involving new in-store boutiques and a pricing plan that eliminates coupons. Shares rise above $40 and reach Johnson-era high of $43.13 a few days later.
May 15, 2012: Penney reports a 20% drop in sales and a $163 million loss in its first quarter under its new pricing strategy and suspended its dividend. Shares tank under $27 the next day, from above $33.
June 18, 2012: Penney fires President Michael Francis, saying his marketing messages weren't resonating with consumers. The retailer had hired Mr. Francis away from Target Corp. (TGT) in October 2011 with great expectations. Mr. Johnson took over marketing and merchandising himself. Stock falls to around $22 the next day.
Oct. 11, 2012: Penney sends its customers a $10 coupon by email, moving away from its strict "no-coupon" strategy. Stock rises to above $26.
Nov. 9, 2012: Penney reports a third-quarter loss of $123 million and the retailer says its sales fell 27%--worse than analysts had expected. Mr. Johnson says the company won't diverge from the strategy he laid out the previous January of sharply limiting discounts in favor of lower everyday prices. Shares tumble in heavy trading, sinking below $17 in the following days.
March 4, 2013: Vornado says it will sell half its stake in Penney at a significant loss, after Penney reports weak 2012 results. Shares fall below $15 the next day.
April 8, 2013: J.C. Penney fires Mr. Johnson, 17 months into his tenure and midway through a major overhaul of its stores. Mr. Ullman rejoins the company as CEO. The stock sinks below $14 the next day.
Aug. 8, 2013: Hedge-fund manager Mr. Ackman, Penney's largest shareholder, calls for a new CEO to be put in place in 30 to 45 days, which set off a public quarrel between him and Chairman Thomas Engibous. Shares remain below $14.
Aug. 13, 2013: The company says Mr. Ackman has resigned from Penney's board, bringing an end to an unusually public rift among directors that had threatened the struggling company's turnaround efforts. Shares, on the decline for months, drop below $13.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at email@example.com


text:
The XFR-S Sportbrake includes a new suspension setup which is 30 per cent stiffer than the standard car
The XFR-S Sportbrake is on display next to the F-type coupe
The XFR-S Sportbrake is powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine with 542bhp
Order books for the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake open in April
Jaguar says the XFR-S Sportbrake can manage 22mpg on a combined cycle
The XFR-S Sportbrake is priced from £82,495
Among its visual upgrades is new carbonfibre trim on the front and rear bumpers
Jaguar has also fitted a new roof-mounted rear spoiler
Jaguar says the XFR-S Sportbrake can accelerate to 62mph in 4.6 seconds
The XFR-S Sportbrake has CO2 emissions of 297g/km
The XFR-S Sportbrake's Pirelli tyres were developed especially for the car
The XFR-S Sportbrake forms part of the 2015 Jaguar XF range
The XFR-S Sportbrake features the same Quickshift technology as fitted to the F-type
With its rear seats folded flat, the XFR-S Sportbrake has 1675 litres of space available
A new carbonfibre rear diffuser features at the rear of the XFR-S Sportbrake
Bespoke 20-inch forged alloy wheels feature as standard
The car has made its debut at the Geneva motor show
Bonnet-mounted air vents aid cooling on the XFR-S Sportbrake
The XFR-S gets extra under-body cooling channels
Jaguar has also fitted its High Performance Braking System to the XFR-S Sportbrake, including ventilated front and rear discs
The new rear-drive XFR-S Sportbrake is powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, which develops 542bhp and 502lb ft.
Jaguar claims that the car will sprint from zero to 60mph in just 4.6sec and go on to a top speed limited at 186mph. Official EU combined economy is 22mpg while CO2 output is rated at 297g/km.
The Sportbrake’s V8 engine drives an eight-speed automatic gearbox, which gets the same Quickshift technology introduced on the F-type sports car. This is intended to make the transmission respond even more quickly to the driver’s inputs.
When downshifting manually or in Sport mode, the engine management system automatically blips the throttle. The transmission also has a ‘corner recognition’ feature, which senses when the car is travelling around a bend and retains the ‘correct’ ratio for the exit.
Jaguar says that changes have been made to the rear suspension to “manage the extra rear mass” of the Sportbrake. Revisions include increasing the lateral stiffness of the suspension, which is up by 30 per cent front and rear, and increasing the spring rates by the same amount.
The adaptive damping, active electronic rear differential and Dynamic Stability Control system settings have also been tweaked for the new estate. Jaguar has also fitted its High Performance Braking System, which features 380mm ventilated discs at the front and 376mm ventilated discs at the rear. Those brakes benefit from extra under-body cooling via special air channels.
The XFR-S Sportbrake comes with bespoke 20-inch forged alloy wheels as standard, as well as a new roof-mounted rear spoiler and carbonfibre trim on its upgraded front and rear bumpers. With its rear seats folded down, the car has a cargo volume of 1675 litres. According to Jaguar, the XFR-S Sportbrake's 265/35 front and 295/30 rear tyres have been developed with Pirelli specifically for the car.


text:
In July 2021, vegan meat brand Barvecue will open the Carolina Smokehouse—the world’s largest plant-based smokehouse. Located in Cornelius, NC, the 10,000-square-foot facility will have the initial capacity of producing 800,000 pounds of the brand’s meats, including Pulled BVQ (vegan barbecue pork with original sauce), Chopped BVQ (a gluten-free version of the Pulled BVQ) and Naked versions of both (lightly seasoned with no sauce). “As the plant-based meat market surges, so, too, does the demand for our wood-smoked, plant-based Barvecue,” Lee Cooper, Barvecue Founder & CEO, said. “As we grow to keep up with demand for Barvecue products, we decided that it was time to expand production and lead the way in the plant-based barbecue market.”
Making vegan barbecue for everyone
Founded in 2017 with a mission to create the world’s best-tasting plant-based barbecue meats, Barvecue’s growth is supported by a $2 million investment it raised from mission-driven investors last year, which it plans to increase by an additional $1 million capital raise this year.
The company’s current facility—which is located within walking distance of the Carolina Smokehouse—will be used as an innovation center once the smokehouse is operational. “Our goal is to make delicious Barvecue, for everyone,” Cooper said. “We are excited to break ground on the world’s largest plant-based smokehouse so that we can soon do exactly that.”
Barvecue’s products are currently available for delivery through online vegan grocery stores GTFO It’s Vegan, VeganEssentials, and Vejii; vegan wholesaler VEDGEco; and through its own website. The brand also offers local pickup and its meats can be found at select brick-and-mortar retailers.


text:
Japan boost inbound tourism from Southeast Asia and India28 May 2014
Japan’s inbound tourism grows, as the country relaxes visa limitations for Southeast Asia and India, says new report from Tourism IC.
Besides encouraging international tourist to adopt e-visas, Japan has also waived visas for visitors from Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia. Easier access to visas and the introduction of new low-cost carrier flights between Southeast Asian nations caused the number of inbound tourists to rise. Arrivals from Thailand, for example, increased by 26% between 2009 and 2013 and are expected to grow steadily up to 2018. Moreover, visitors from the Philippines and Vietnam are entitled to multiple entry visas since July 2013, which will further increase the number of tourist travelling to Japan.
New agreement to smooth path for Indian tourists
To boost inbound numbers even more, Japan and India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi on January 22nd 2014. The memorandum is an agreement between the governments of India and Japan, which will help to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and relax visa restrictions for tourists from India.
Boost in Japanese tourism sector expected to continue
According to the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), the Japanese travel and tourism sector saw a moderate growth in inbound tourism. The number of international trips rose from 8.4 million in 2009 to 10.4 million in 2013, driven by the weakness of the yen. The four leading countries, which accounted for 65% of the inbound tourists, were South Korea, Taiwan, China and the US. Inbound tourist arrivals to Japan are expected to increase at an annual rate of 12.97%, to reach 19.1 million by 2018.
This information is based on the Tourism IC report: 'Travel and Tourism in Japan to 2018', published in May 2014.
Source: Company Press Release


text:
E-Waste Management in East Africa: An Interview with Wastezon Founder Ghislain Irakoze
Ghislain Irakoze Speaks at the Innovate 4 Climate Event in Singapore
By: Leah Ngari
Have you ever wondered where your electronic waste goes? Where is your old TV set, the laptop battery that you replaced recently and had to throw away, the various cell phones you owned over the years and discarded when a newer model came out? What happens to the numerous electronics that remain unbought on the shelves as newer, better ones are released daily? Where do all these devices end up?
In 2019 alone, a record of 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste was reported, but only 17.4% was officially collected and recycled. That means that most of our old electronic devices are lying around in a landfill somewhere. Neglecting proper e-waste disposal doesn’t just pose a risk to human and environmental health. It also represents a wasted business opportunity.
We recently caught up with Ghislain Irakoze, a 20-year-old university student at the African Leadership University in Kigali, Rwanda and founder of Wastezon, a social enterprise in the e-waste management field, to find out more about this industry.
The E-waste Problem
Ghislain explains that the precious metals that lie around in scrapyards and garbage heaps could be recycled to create valuable pieces. Improper electronics disposal means that billions worth of precious metals like copper and platinum are discarded or burned even though the supply of these precious metals is not infinite.
“The world is undergoing a resource extinction,” he declares. The possible unavailability of these metals in the future creates an urgency to reuse or repurpose the metals that still exist today.
The hazardous chemicals in some of these electronic items also can’t be ignored. For instance, lead in computer and television screens and mercury in older generation water heaters pose a significant risk to people’s health when released into the air. Once released into the air, toxins from e-waste contribute to global warming. They contain greenhouse gases that deplete the ozone layer, creating even more health risks to humans and wildlife across the globe. The chemicals also destroy the land they are in when they mix with the soils, which happens when old electronic devices are dumped into landfills.
The Birth Of Wastezon
Ghislain wanted to make the world a better place. Seeing the damage caused by the haphazard disposal of electronic waste and perceiving the untapped business opportunity, Ghislain decided to start a business.
Ghislain founded Wastezon with a friend with the goal of creating a greener and more sustainable world. They decided to build a centralized platform that could connect households discarding their broken, unusable electronics with recycling companies that were spending considerable time, effort, and money to find raw materials for their products.
Wastezon’s app makes it easier for the recycling companies to trace, sort, and collect electronic waste. At the same time, households earn an income from disposing of items that they would throw away anyways. Users also get the satisfaction of reducing their carbon footprint and knowing that their electronic waste will be handled safely.
And in just two years of operation, Wastezon has been able to transact over 480 tonnes of electronic waste. “This is equivalent to 2600 metric tonnes of carbon emissions diverted,” Ghislain informs us proudly.
What started as an idea between friends has turned into an impactful social enterprise, creating employment for other young individuals in Rwanda and expanding beyond the country’s borders. Wastezon now provides electronic waste to certified recyclers in Kenya and Tanzania and is working on bringing the app to end-user households in these countries.
What’s Next For Wastezon And Waste Management
Ghislain’s vision of a waste-free world doesn’t end with electronic waste. Wastezon is already developing its next product, the Smart Bin, which will use the internet of things (IoT) to sort garbage automatically into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. According to Ghislain, this will allow Wastezon to quickly and efficiently recycle the organic waste produced by homes and institutions and turn it into compost and fertilizers. Schools, institutions, and even individuals in private homes will soon be able to use this new product, reducing their work of sorting waste.
At only 20 years old, Ghislain would like his story to motivate other young Africans to build businesses that solve pressing problems. As he tells us, “I hope this will inspire more entrepreneurs to get into waste management and that more people will get interested in sustainable living.”


text:
Considering Google paid a whopping $12.5 billion for the Motorola acquisition, I’m disappointed with the new Moto X smartphone.
Launched yesterday, Moto X is the first smartphone offering from Motorola after it came under Google’s stewardship.
Moto X should be available later this month or in early September in the U.S. and Canada for $199 (with a two-year contract).
Other than a few voice activated functions, easier photo-taking and customizable colors, there’s not much to be said for the assembled-in-USA Moto X, which runs Google’s Android software.
I cannot imagine too many people jumping up in joy at the prospect of getting a black case on the front, red color on the back and yellow accents for their smartphone.
Only those with IQs below 75 are bound to get excited over gimmickry like 2,000 possible variations of the Moto X.
Otherwise, the Moto X is your average smartphone with capabilities not too different from the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy 4 or the HTC One.
Moto X has a 10MP rear camera, a 2MP front camera, 4.7-inch AMOLED screen and a battery supposedly good for 24-hours. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of storage.
The phone runs the slightly older Android 4.2.2 software and weighs 130 grams.
Now if these specs and color customizations are the fruits of a $12.5 billion acquisition, then I must say the engineers and designers at Motorola and Google are an overrated bunch.
Don’t expect to see Moto X fly off the shelves.
The U.S. smartphone market is a mature business with the majority of customers locked into two-year contracts with their carriers AT&T, Verizon or Sprint.
So consumers are unlikely to see a compelling reason to cut their contracts, pay a penalty and buy the Moto X.
Any purchases of Moto X must come only at the end of contracts.
Further, Android has never engendered the fierce following that iPhone has among the Apple fan-boys. A new version of iPhone invariably generates lines at Apple stores.
Moto X is also not likely to find favor in fast growing emerging markets like India and Brazil where consumers’ lower purchasing capacity steers them toward cheap Android smartphones from Chinese vendors like Huawei and Lenovo.
I’d be extremely surprised if Moto X turns out to be a big hit in the U.S. or anywhere else notwithstanding the paeans being sung by know-nothing bubbleheads.
A cheaper version of Moto X is supposedly on the cards.
Perhaps, that’ll have better prospects.


text:
Six finalists will be chosen to pitch their restaurant concepts in front of an audience and a panel of experts during the 2019 Fast Casual Executive Summit on Oct. 15 in Austin, Texas. Brands must nominate themselves by June 14.
To celebrate its fifth anniversary of “The Perfect Pitch,” the Fast Casual Executive Summit is doubling the number of brands that will pitch their concepts to potential investors and franchisees during the annual Summit, Oct. 13-15, in Austin.
“This year’s winner will take home a $5,000 cash prize,” said FastCasual Editor Cherryh Cansler, who describes the contest as a friendlier version of “Shark Tank,” for entrepreneurs looking for a leg up with growing their brands. “Over the years, we’ve seen several really great concepts and are honored to provide a vehicle to help them succeed.”
For a chance to be one of six finalists chosen to pitch their concepts, brands must nominate themselves here by June 14 and must meet the following three guidelines:
• Have at least one store open but no more than 10.
• Must be no less than 6 months old and no more than 5 years old.
• Share revenue and average sales data.
By July 15, FastCasual will notify the six finalists, who will receive free advice from industry experts and two free passes to attend this year’s Summit.
After each brand gives a five-minute pitch on Oct.15, attendees and judges will vote on the concept they believe is most likely to succeed in its expansion plans. The winner will receive bragging rights, $5,000 in cash and two complimentary passes to any Networld Media Group summit in 2020. FastCasual will also publish a story about the winning concept along with several mentions on its social media sites.
“It’s important to us as publishers to help the people from the industries we cover to connect with one another,” said Kathy Doyle, publisher of Networld Media Group, the parent company of FastCasual. “We strongly believe that those attending the Perfect Pitch will have the first chance to see and even invest in tomorrow’s fast casual leaders.”
Last year’s winner was GoPoke, a Seattle-based fast casual serving authentic Hawaiian poke and desserts. It also serves shaved ice, Dole Whip and tropical homemade drinks.
For GoPoke co-founder Bayley Le, who started the brand just about two years ago with two brothers, the victory was “exciting,” and attendance at the event proved invaluable.
“We’re learning,” he said of the Summit event. His advice for new brands is to “stand for something and believe it in.”
About Networld Media Group
Founded in 2000, Networld Media Group is a leading business-to-business (B2B) global media communications company specializing in digital media, associations and events in the mobile, self-service, digital signage, retail, food service and financial services industries. Online properties include ATMmarketplace.com, BlockchainTechNews.com, DigitalSignageToday.com, FastCasual.com, FoodTruckOperator.com, KioskMarketplace.com, MobilePaymentsToday.com, PizzaMarketplace.com, QSRweb.com, RetailCustomerExperience.com and BiblicalLeadership.com. Networld event properties include the Fast Casual Executive Summit, CONNECT: The Mobile CX Summit, Interactive Customer Experience Summit, Bank Customer Experience Summit and the Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit. Networld also operates the ICX Association. BOOM! Creative, provides clients with digital creative, custom media and brand collateral. Its newest offering, World of Money, is a daily e-newsletter that provides a fun and informative look at the trends, technologies, and ideas shaping the future of money and payments.