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Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance for umpires to augmented reality goggles for players are just two of the suggestions AFL clubs and fans have put forward to the AFL and Telstra in response to a 5G “ future of footy” survey.
Global ICT services provider Keysight Technologies has launched 5G network emulation solutions which it says deliver a “leading number” of 5G new radio (NR) protocol conformance test cases validated by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and PTCRB, a certification forum consisting of US mobile operators.
Twenty-five 5G smartphones have been announced and at least nine are now commercially available, the Global Mobile Suppliers Association says in its report for June.
Finnish telecommunications equipment vendor Nokia says it has won 42 5G commercial deals around the globe, with recent wins in South America, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
The potential of 5G technology to benefit consumers dispels the ICT “industry myth” that consumers are unwilling to pay a premium on 5G, according to a newly published study which found that smartphone users are willing to pay 20% more for fifth-generation servic — including more broadband choices — and half of early adopters would pay as much as 32% more.
Well, the company launched, and prices look good!https :// www . itwire . com /telecoms-and-nbn/circles-life-launches-on-optus-network-with-no-cost-4-month-trial-and-great-pricing.htmlJust remove the spaces.
It is all about the money.Don't try to make these online publishing entities take responsibility for fake news published on[…]
Not only Murduch, try Gina Rhinehart, George Pell, Tony Abbott - then Liberal Opposition LeaderMichael Kroger - then President of[…]
Well, 5G can be used, most definitely - just in very few places at the moment. Apple's competitors did this[…]
Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank aren't infrastructure.

domain: news


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By Jim Boyce | Shoppers at Harrod’s in London could try a new chocolate treat earlier this year, courtesy of baijiu maker Fenjiu. The Shanxi-based producer teamed up with chocolatier William Curley for the project, in which fenjiu and chocolate ganache was covered in hard dark chocolate and decorated with gold accents. See here for more details and here for a pretty boring video.
The project also included huge Fenjiu displays at a pair of the store’s elevators. Fenjiu is handled by trading company Cheng International in the UK.
Others have also experimented with baijiu and chocolate, including for World Baijiu Day. In 2015, DoubleTree By Hilton made white Valrhona chocolate balls with ginseng-infused Sichuan baijiu part of its party. The next year, the hotel featured a white chocolate roll with erguotou and a dark chocolate and Wuliangye concoction.
That same year, Good Works mixed Moutai, chocolate sauce and coffee as part of a fundraiser and World Baijiu Day event at Pop-Up Beijing.


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WMNF Helps Gather 59,000 Pounds of Electronic Recycling
Naveen Sultan about about 2 years ago
Creative Recycling Systems has been able to make a giant contribution to electronic recycling thanks to WMNF and the Government of Loudoun County. Congratulations to the most sustainably conscious and dedicated listeners a station could have (WMNF listeners of course!) Read this article for details on just how much you've been able to accomplish.
Creative Recycling Systems Announces Successful Electronics Recycling Collections
Recent collection events spared over 29 tons of computers and electronics from landfills.
Creative Recycling Systems (CRS), a leader in IT Asset Management and Electronics Recycling, announced today that its recent collection events with WMNF Community Radio in Tampa and the Government of Loudoun County, VA were a rousing success, taking in over 59,000 pounds of surplus and end-of-life electronics for proper and safe recycling. Residents and businesses in the Tampa area were able to drop off their electronics at the WMNF station leading up to Earth Day. Loudoun County residents were able to recycle their electronics in Ashburn on May 4th.
Sheila Cowley, Operations Manager at WMNF, was thrilled with the final numbers. âThat is astoundingâ¦even carrying a big old bunch of that out the door myself, I'm completely surprised.â Tiffini Schwarzkopf, Director of Marketing at CRS, was pleased with the results of both collections. âWe know that the Tampa and Ashburn communities are always looking for ways to participate in sustainability initiatives. These collaborations with WMNF and Loudoun County were a great way for us to provide our electronic recycling services to these local communities. In addition to the good done for the environment, we think it was an opportunity for these organizations to position themselves as sustainability leaders that do what it takes to help our environment.â She added, âOver 29 tons of electronics will now be properly recycled and none of the harmful components will enter our atmosphere. When we can be part of keeping that amount of potentially hazardous waste out of our landfills itâs a win-win not only for the communities of Tampa and Ashburn but for everyone."
The impact the electronics could have on humans and our environment is staggering. According to the United Nations Environment Program, each computer screen contains about 20% lead by weight. If not recycled properly, these computers can leach--if broken or even stockpiled--and expose lead, which is highly toxic to people of all ages. This is a very real problem solved by end-of-life electronic recycling.
All of the collected materials are processed at CRSâ state-of-the-art recycling facilities where they go through a hierarchy of Reuse, Recover, and Recycle. The first step is to determine if a product can be refurbished and put back into the market. If it cannot, but still has functioning parts, the best parts are used to make a whole machine to be put back on the market. If products are non-functioning and at their true end-of-life, they are broken down to a commodity level and fully recycled. CRSâ facilities are capable of handling over 300 million pounds of electronics per year.
Note: All items that could contain sensitive data (hard drives, etc) are properly sanitized.comments powered by Disqus


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Two-thirds of Australian businesses report revenue decreasing during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to the same period the previous year.
The recession which was caused by COVID-19 will create further financial challenges for Australian businesses, and Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be reduced by $34.2 billion over the course of the year.
This information comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“For business leaders, navigating successfully through a crisis means focusing not just on short-term survival but on pivoting the business and processes to reduce unnecessary costs, optimise team performance, and be prepared for the long-term future of business,” says Managing Director at MessageXchange, John Delaney.
“Automation and digitalised processing tools, such as e-invoicing can deliver these benefits and help protect small and medium businesses from the negative effects of a recession.”
Automating areas of the businesses that would otherwise involve mundane, repetitive tasks, such as data entry can provide the business with a better value for operational costs and employee productivity.
MessageXchange has identified the areas in which automation can improve:
Supply chain management
Automating these processes makes both companies more efficient. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting software uses electronic data interchange (EDI) to streamline supply chain management. For example, when a buyer’s inventory decreases to a predefined level, its ERP software can automatically raise and send a purchase order through EDI to the supplier’s system.
This process can create a faster payment cycle and improve cashflow for suppliers, while giving the buyers the advantage of processing invoices faster and building credibility with suppliers.
Accounts payable processes
Automating the exchange of invoices reduces the errors associated with manual data entry, which means companies don’t incur costs to fix these mistakes. In fact, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) estimates e-invoicing can save up to $21.69 per invoice. Automating some of the checks and verifications across invoices, purchase orders, and deliveries, can also help reduce labour-intensive processes.
When businesses are waiting to receive goods from suppliers with no precise knowledge of when the goods will be delivered, they can’t plan ahead effectively. This can create unnecessary costs. Suppliers can send advanced shipping notices (ASNs), with information about what is being sent, how it’s packed, when it will arrive, and more, using EDI. This information lets businesses allocate staff members to process deliveries, making the process of receiving goods much cheaper and more efficient.
“Being smart about investments and company spending will be the key to businesses surviving in an unstable environment,” says Mr Delaney.
“Automation technology is an important factor for business success and will be pivotal in businesses overcoming challenging times.”


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Cue soundtrack from The Terminator. Cue voice over:
With search marketers handling hundreds or thousands of terms, it was only a matter of time until the machines took over. In 2006, following the launch of MSN's new multifaceted search ads system, they made their move. Calculating ROI through ruthless closed loop systems, they eliminated bid gaps, inefficiencies and eventually the search marketers themselves.
The coming reality? I don't think anyone believes we're looking at an entirely machine-run future for search ads, but just how much of a role will humans continue to play?
Twitter Canada MD Kirstine Stewart to Keynote Toronto
ClickZ Live Toronto (May 14-16) is a new event addressing the rapidly changing landscape that digital marketers face. The agenda focuses on customer engagement and attaining maximum ROI through online marketing efforts across paid, owned & earned media. Register now and save!


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A watchdog report finds the Postal Service met its legal requirements in estimating the environmental impact of its Next-Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) fleet.
The USPS inspector general’s office, in a report released last Thursday, found the agency’s acquisition process for its next-generation fleet and its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) followed requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The 1996 NEPA legislation requires agencies to prepare an EIS when evaluating major federal acquisitions that could significantly affect the environment.
USPS Vice President of Corporate Affairs Judith de Torok and Vice President of Supply Management Mark Guilfoil said they generally agreed with the IG office’s findings.
Guilfoil and de Torok said USPS agreed with the IG’s findings that the agency “correctly recognized the relative and notable environmental benefits of [EVs] compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and used Environmental Protection Agency-endorsed models to support parts of its environmental analyses.”
The IG report, however, raised some concerns related to the precision of some assumptions used in its environmental review.
The IG report’s findings support USPS’s claims that it exercised due diligence throughout the environmental review process, at a time when the agency faces three lawsuits challenging its review process.
The lawsuits contend that USPS set the estimated cost for electric vehicles unrealistically high as part of its environmental impact statement (EIS), but placed a low bar for the future price of gasoline.
California is leading 15 other states in a lawsuit to prevent USPS from taking any further action under its next-generation delivery vehicle contract, until it conducts a more in-depth environmental review.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the United Auto Workers (UAW) filed a second lawsuit in New York, while EarthJustice is leading a third lawsuit in California.
Plaintiffs filed the lawsuits at a time when USPS expected electric vehicles would make up at least 10% of its next-generation fleet.
USPS currently plans electric vehicles will make up 75% of its next-generation fleet, as part of a $10 billion spending plan. USPS received about $3 billion of those funds through the Inflation Reduction Act.
The new USPS plan has the support of the White House, which pressed the agency for a larger commitment to electric vehicles for much of last year.
The White House said USPS under its new strategy “will exceed President Biden’s requirement for each agency to electrify its federal fleet.”
While USPS met its legal requirements under federal environmental law, the IG’s office outlined some concerns it would like to see addressed in a supplemental EIS (SEIS) the agency expects to complete in August.
“The Postal Service’s development of an SEIS and their recent announcement of their intention to acquire at least 66,000 [EVs] over the next six years shows an increased emphasis on protecting the environment by further electrifying its delivery fleet,” the report states.
The IG report found USPS used a baseline average nationwide gasoline price of $2.19 per gallon in its final EIS, a price it obtained using figures from October 2020.
In a follow-up analysis using 2021 nationwide prices — and an average price of $2.71 per gallon — USPS found the total cost of operating gas-powered next-generation vehicles increased by nearly $200 million, while the total cost of electric vehicles went up by just over $2 million.
“Postal Service officials stated these results did not materially affect the overall investment cost differentials as [EV] costs still greatly exceeded those compared to [internal combustion engine] vehicles,” the report states.
The IG’s office, however, said the agency’s total cost of ownership methodologies “should be updated to reflect current prices or regional delivery operational variances.”
“Considering the potential future volatility of these prices, efforts to include more current, longstanding baseline data where applicable would help strengthen the overall [total cost of ownership] analysis and stakeholder confidence in the SEIS,” the report states.
USPS in its environmental review assumed its next-generation vehicles would travel, on average, about 17 miles a day.
The IG report, however, said USPS should expect electric vehicles deployed on longer routes — up to 70 miles — would generate more cost savings, compared to gas-powered vehicles that would need refueling.
The IG report also found USPS assumed a higher cost of ownership for electric next-generation vehicles, compared to commercial alternatives, but auditors said that could be attributed to the NGDV being a purpose-built vehicle.
The IG’s office conducted its review of the USPS environmental review at the request of former House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and former Reps. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.).
Current Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) also requested the review.


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Adult Industry News
Mon, Jul 13 2015 09:29am PDT
CPA network CrakRevenue has come out with a new offer geared towards publishers looking to capitalize on the extreme teen porn niche.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 09:00am PDT
Six new additions to the range of Gläs handcrafted toys are now available for wholesale purchase on ElectricDistro.com, the company announced today.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 08:37am PDT
Vivid Entertainment has named Michael Klein as president of broadcasting and Internet for the company.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 08:03am PDT
Eldorado is now distributing the Sensuous range of lubricant and stimulating gels.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 07:34am PDT
Lovehoney has launched its latest e-learning course at Williams Trading University, focusing on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” phenomena.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 06:06am PDT
JOYDIVISION, a major European pleasure products manufacturer, today announced a partnership with Cosmopolitan, the iconic international women's media brand, to develop a collection of products.
Mon, Jul 13 2015 06:00am PDT
Jimmyjane and Sir Richard’s Condom Company have joined forces to co-exhibit at this weekend’s annual ANME Show as part of a strategic partnership between the leading luxury, pleasure product manufacturer, and the makers of premium, all-natural latex condoms.
Sun, Jul 12 2015 06:00am PDT
OneUp Innovations, Inc., the manufacturer of Liberator Bedroom Adventure Gear, will debut their redesigned packaging at the upcoming 2015 ANME Founders Show in Burbank, Calif.
Sat, Jul 11 2015 12:00pm PDT
Diamond Products has made its third acquisition in the pleasure product industry, adding Sir Richard’s Condom Company to its family of brands.
Sat, Jul 11 2015 06:00am PDT
OhMiBod said it has tapped Molly Perlich as director of sales in an effort to strengthen its push into the mainstream consumer electronics market.


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The New York Times has obtained an internal Wal-Mart memo that reveals that while Wall-Mart had $10.5 billion in profits last year, it is trying to squeeze another $1 billion in savings in health care and other costs from its "associates," the clever Newspeak term used by Wal-Mart to label its employees.
Instead of using the word "employee," which makes clear the relationship between the owner and the worker, Wal-Mart uses the term "associate" which implies, according to dictionary definitions, a "partnership," "having equal or nearly equal status," even a "colleague." Of course, Wal-Mart employees are none of these things. If associates are partners or colleagues, then why are 46% of associates' children uninsured?
The momorandum admits that 38% of Wal-Mart's "associates" spent one-sixth of their income last year on health care. To understand the impact of that fact, consider that the average pay for a Wal-Mart associate is $17,500 per year.
Enough is not enough when it comes to profits for Wal-Mart. In contradiction to its huge advertising and public relations campaign to sell Wal-Mart as a company that cares about its employees and "community," this memorandum, while it does admit certain inadequacies in its policies which could be redressed, concentrates heavily on ways to cut costs and obtain increased savings.


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Google has added a microphone to the Google.com search field on Android phones to enable mobile voice search. With this addition, it begs the questions as to why add this at all since users had the ability to do voice search on the mobile web, with the Android keyboard microphone.
Below are screenshots from Search Engine Land that shows the Android on the left and the iPhone on the right. Both of them show the same Google.com search results. The iPhone capture doesn’t show the mic, even though that keyboard could also do voice input, just like the Android keyboard. The search phrase is “what percentage of mobile queries are voice searches?”
The only real difference, besides the inclusion of the mic icon inside the search box, is users will hear a spoken response now when doing an Android mobile web searches instead of a “silent” result. One benefit of this change is that users may not always be able to look at the results when displayed, such as when they’re driving or cooking.
Since the Android’s home screen search bar already gives access to the Google Assistant, this isn’t anything new in regards to capability.
If this isn’t new, then why include this mice in the Google.com search bar at all? Google could be making voice search and the Assistant ubiquitous, which would make things more consistent.


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Console wars are thing among fans of games. I don’t really see a point because I believe it should be play what makes you happy for whatever reason. Hardware developers strive to be the best selling console manufacturers on the market but don’t ten to let things like mud slinging get into the mix. Microsoft however seems to be taking a more direct and vocal approach to take down Sony’s console sales lead.
Over the last month, Microsoft and Sony have announced and/or launched new consoles with additional features. Microsoft launched the new Xbox One S and back at E3 announced Project Scorpio, slated to be the most powerful console ever made. Sony recently announced the PS4 Slim and the PS4 Pro.
Once Sony revealed its hand at the PlayStation Meeting event in early September, Microsoft responded by issuing a note to press that highlighted some of the key differences between the new PS4s and the new Xbox One consoles. Chief among them – neither the PS4 Slim or the PS4 Pro play 4K Blu-ray discs. A Microsoft representative had this to say about 4K Blu-ray:
“Starting at £249, Xbox One S is the only console available today with built-in 4K Blu-ray – a value price compared to 4K Blu-ray players. It also offers 4K video streaming plus HDR for video and gaming.”
Microsoft has also projected their voice on Twitter earlier this month tweeting:
— Xbox (@Xbox) September 7, 2016
After Bethesda came out with a strongly-worded statement pointing the finger at Sony for the lack of mod support on the PS4 version of Fallout 4, Xbox took to social media again to stress that the Xbox One version of Fallout 4 does.
Mod support ✅
Backward Compatibility ✅
Fastest, most reliable gaming network ✅ https://t.co/XS7pwdZWHB
— Xbox UK (@xboxuk) September 9, 2016
In a more less direct way, ever since Sony has stated that PS4 Pro will have approximately 4.2 TFLOPS of power – Microsoft is constantly making sure 6 TFLOPS is mentioned every time Project Scorpio is mentioned.
It’s entertaining nonetheless to see Microsoft attacking Sony. The last couple months, Xbox One has convincingly outsold the PS4 and the trend doesn’t appear to be changing yet. The boost to Microsoft’s confidence, enough to openly call out Sony has to make you feel confident as well as a consumer that something good is coming. This type of competition is good for consumers because it causes both Sony and Microsoft to stay on top of their game and hopefully provide a better quality product.
The future seems to lead two separate ways for Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft appears to be focused on native 4k and Sony isn’t. Doesn’t make either better than the other though since 4K still isn’t widely adapted but is growing and becoming less expensive.
There is something we see that may derail the momentum Microsoft has built up though. The price of Project Scorpio. PS4 Pro has been announced as having a £349 price tag. With the power increase in Project Scorpio for native 4K that PS4 Pro doesn’t have, one could assume Scorpio may cost more. But how much more is acceptable by consumers? In an interview with Albert Penello, senior director of product management and planning at Xbox, he really dodged the questions on how much Scorpio will cost. You can see that part of the interview below:
Scorpio obviously will have a more powerful spec, but won’t PS4 Pro always be cheaper? Scorpio has a bigger processor, more RAM, potentially a 4K Blu-ray drive – that can’t be cheap. I get the sense it’s already being billed as a premium product. Won’t you run up against a tough comparison next year when Scorpio is more expensive than PS Pro?
Albert Penello: Well, we haven’t announced the price yet, so we’ll see.
Sure, but the expectation is PS4 Pro will be cheaper than Scorpio, right?
Albert Penello: It will be an interesting discussion next time we chat!
For the full interview you can read it here. We love the fact that Microsoft is gaining ground and that they are gaining even more confidence on becoming the leader in the console sales war but so far it is based on what may happen. There are still details to figure out and announce. We will see what happens.


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Tuesday, 20 September 2011
NEWS FROM ALTON TOWERS
The Alton Towers Resort has today launched ‘Extreme Apple Bobbing’ – a Halloween attraction with a difference that will see guests bob for apples in a shark tank. The unique attraction will be available at this year’s Scarefest event taking place from 15th – 31st October hosted at the Resort’s aquarium, Sharkbait Reef by SEALIFE, with resident sharks for company!
A first of its kind and available on request, guests visiting the Resort over Scarefest will have the opportunity to face their fears whilst plunging into the shark-infested waters for a selection of apples. A scary slant on the traditional Halloween favorite, the attraction is one of many interactive events taking place at Britain’s Greatest Escape this Halloween.
Guaranteed to be the most spooktacular yet, featuring favourites such as the Boiler House, Carnival of Screams and the infamous Terror of the Towers, guests will also be able to experience the theme park’s adrenaline pumping rides and family attractions until 9pm every night.
Katherine Duckworth, Head of Consumer Marketing at the Alton Towers Resort: “With Halloween preparations now well underway, we wanted to offer thrill-seeking families something bigger and better this year – so what better than old favourite apple bobbing, with a twist! For those too spooked to take to the shark-infested waters, we’ve also got a range of haunting horrors that cater for all ages this October.”
For more information about the Alton Towers Resort’s annual Scarefest or to book tickets and hotel packages, log onto www.altontowers.com.


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As promised, The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is ready to go virtual. The BCBF is launching the new online platform, which will be accessible to publishers and literary agents who participated as visitors in 2019 and who had already pre-registered for the 2020 edition.
The fair will open to its online community on May 4 until May 7, offering many options for online business and marketing operations, digital exhibitions, webinars, conferences, book trailers, live streaming announcements and much more. The core of the virtual fair is the Book Rights exchange platform, powered by the online trading right hub Pub Match
For more information visit HERE


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Canbank Venture Capital Fund Ltd (CVCFL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run lender Canara Bank, has invested Rs 25 crore ($4.1 million) in Mumbai-based paper manufacturing company Gayatrishakti Paper & Boards Ltd.
Founded in 1996, Gayatrishakti Paper & Boards is led by GN Agarwal and manufactures paper board, white back chromo board, coated packaging board, playing card board, blister pack board, etc. It has two paper mills in Gujarat.
Currently the firm is in the final stages of setting up a packaging paper board plant with a capacity of 300 tonnes per day which will commence operations by April 2015.
CVCFL, set up in 1989, is one of the country's first and only public sector bank-sponsored, SEBI-registered venture capital fund. The fund was set up to invest in emerging Indian businesses in the small & medium enterprises in various sectors.
It has so far set up five funds with a total corpus of Rs 620 crore.
Early this year, the fund said, that it is targeting its sixth venture capital fund with a target corpus of Rs 500 crore ($81.6 million).
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)


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- JCPenney is opening at 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and will stay open until 10 p.m. on Black Friday.
- The 2 p.m. start time is an earlier kick-off than that of any other retailer that has announced Black Friday sales.
- Associates will be paid two times their normal hourly rate, a company spokesperson said.
JCPenney is going all-in on Black Friday mania again this year.
The department store will be opening its doors at 2 p.m on Thanksgiving Day and will stay open until 10 p.m. on Black Friday. Stores then reopen at 8 a.m. on Saturday, November 24, for its "Black Friday Extended" sale.
This is considerably longer than some of its competitors, including Target and Macy's, which will open later in the afternoon and close later that night.
While Kohl's will also be open all night, its sales kick off at 5 p.m. on Thursday and end at 1 p.m. on Monday.
"Our stores will be staffed with a dedicated team of associates who will be ready to serve customers and celebrate the occasion with co-workers enjoying food, giveaways and activities to keep their spirits high throughout the evening," a spokesperson for JCPenney said in a comment emailed to Business Insider earlier this month.
He continued: "We make every effort to staff the holiday with associates who volunteer to work that day, and to schedule their desired shifts so they can spend time with their friends and families."
The spokesperson confirmed that associates will be paid two times their normal hourly rate and will not be able to work more than an eight-hour shift.
Last month, JCPenney announced it was on the hunt for 39,000 holiday workers.
According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, there are 704,000 job openings this holiday season, which is the highest number reported since it began recording the data in 2012.
JCPenney said it would be offering perks like free vacations to entice temporary workers to take positions at its stores during the holidays as the "war for talent" intensifies.
More on Black Friday 2018:
- What you need to know about Black Friday this year
- Black Friday is dead — and constant discounts could be to blame
- Stores already have their Christmas decorations out, and it reveals a strategy that is killing Black Friday as we know it
- Black Friday sales are starting soon — here's when stores will open
- Here's when Costco is kicking off Black Friday


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Mobile adoption may be driving a surge in Twitter use, according to a major research firm.
A report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project released May 31, 2012 said, “Twitter usage is highly correlated with the use of mobile technologies, especially smartphones.”
This finding and other data related to how or why users tweet may indicate that Twitter could be an even more important channel for marketers in the mobile era.
Twitter’s Mobile Difference
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has been tracking Twitter use since November 2010 and has included a set of Twitter-specific questions on four surveys since then. When data from these surveys is compared, the microblogging platform’s mobile difference begins to become visible.
In November 2010, Pew found that some 8 percent of online adults used Twitter and that some 2 percent used Twitter daily. By May 2011, 13 percent online adults were using Twitter, but only 4 percent were using the service on a typical day.
In August 2011, 12 percent of online adults used Twitter, and 5 percent tweeted or read tweets on a typical day. In Pew’s most recent survey, which was conducted in February 2012, 15 percent of online adults used Twitter and a full 8 percent accessed the service on a typical day.
The Pew data shows that while overall Twitter usage had not grown remarkably from May 2011 to February 2012 — 13 percent of online adults compared to 15 percent — the percentage of Internet users that interact with Twitter on a typical day had doubled, indicating a significant increase in engagement, if not in adoption.
This increase in engagement, according to Pew, is likely because of mobile phones. Pew noted that both the largest growth in Twitter usage and the greatest growth in smartphone ownership came from the 18-to-24-year-old demographic.
“As with general Twitter usage, smartphone owners are much more likely than average to use Twitter on their phones (overall 16 percent of smartphone owners use Twitter on their phones and 10 percent do so on a typical day),” the Pew report’s authors wrote.
One in five adult Internet users aged 18-to-24 interacted with Twitter on a typical day. About 11 percent of the most Twitter-using demographic, those aged 25-to-34, used the platform daily.
What Twitter Is Used For
Twitter users follow celebrities, brands, and even news.
An August 2011 report from Lab24, a technology-consulting firm, found that some 15 percent of Twitter users joined the service to follow a specific celebrity or commercial brand. What’s more, that survey found that about 90 percent of Twitter users followed at least one commercial brand, with 31 percent of Twitter users following one-to-five brands and 20 percent following six-to-ten brands.
The fact that so many Twitter users follow brands may represent an opportunity for marketers. The same Lab24 survey found that 66 percent of those Twitter users that follow commercial brands do so to get discounts. Another 48 percent follow brands to enter and participate in contests.
When considered with the Pew data about Twitter user engagement and mobility, there may be an argument that Twitter could be a good channel for engaging mobile users with either flash sales or with contests.
Separately, it is also interesting that Twitter may be contributing to how users get news.
As a specific example, Twitter users tended to publish earlier and, perhaps, more accurate reports about the Arab Spring than did established media sites and publishers. A University of Chicago study looked at just how important Twitter, and mobile phones, became during the uprisings.
“One of the most remarkable things that happened, the [University of Chicago] group writes, during the initial stages of the Egyptian protests was how so many of those that lived in or around the places where the protests were taking place wound up relying on Twitter as their primary news source,” reported a summary of the University of Chicago report. “This came about as a result of authorities shutting down the Internet and maintaining a stranglehold on traditional news sources such as radio and television. Because mobile communications are so much more distributed, it was virtually impossible for Mubarak’s supporters to tear down the infrastructure in time to save the beleaguered leader. Thus, cell phones became the means by which news of events was carried, mainly by sending texts via Twitter because of the feature that allowed others to subscribe. When it became clear that someone was an actual eyewitness to events, they quickly amassed thousands of followers who then relied on that person to offer first-hand reports of what was going on. Then because there were numerous amateur reporters describing what was going on, there became an air of transparency or lack of bias because those reporters knew others were reporting on the same events, and if their story varied, they’d lose credibility and thus subscribers. Another impact was on other people in faraway places in the country who also came to rely on Twitter feeds as their main news resource.”
Similarly, Twitter has famously released news related to sports or celebrities before reports appeared in mainstream media. A sad example of Twitter’s reporting prowess may be the untimely death of singer Whitney Houston, which was accurately reported on Twitter 27 minutes before the Associated Press broke the news, according to Mashable.
Overall, Twitter and other social media sites may account for about 9 percent of news consumption, according to a separate Pew study from 2011.
This too may be useful for marketers who could employ the service not just to engage potential customers, but also to monitor trends.


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Today MOSS Alliance is reinforcing ever more its presence on the global market
SARES and SCAMM 40th anniversary
In 2015 SARES and SCAMM celebrated their 40th anniversary
Miramondi's new plant
In 2010 MIRAMONDI erected a new building in Abbiategrasso.
NetPeople about us
Between 2001 and 2002 the NetPeople partnership strength its leadership on the market becoming the only one capable to realize turn-key solutions for the entire modern home appliances industry (loc. cit. Sole 24 ore).
SARES and SCAMM's launch
In 1975 SARES and SCAMM were founded
In 1957 ARRASATE was founded. One of its first products are padlocks.
MOSS extends its partnership
In 2013 ARRASATE joined MOSS Alliance (from the left Jose Mari Balzategi, Alessandro Picozzi, Giorgio Mollis, Giancarlo Neri)
During EuroBLECH 2010 MOSS Alliance presents its partnership at the market
In 2000 Enrico Loccioni (AEA), Alessandro Picozzi (SARES), Pietro Miramondi (Miramondi Impianti), Massimo Mancini (Meccanica Generale), Roberto Padovani (Mechanica) established the first network to promote a better information exchange between companies, to meet its clients’ demand with advanced solution
ARRASATE's new plant
In 1973 a new building was erected for the fabrication of big presses.
MOSS Brazil's launch
In 2012 MOSS Alliance built a new production plant in Brazil, becoming global.
ARRASATE 50th anniversary
In 2007 ARRASATE celebrated its 50th anniversary
SARES's new plant
In 1981 SARES erected a new building in Assago
In 1961 MIRAMONDI IMPIANTI was founded


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Nanjing has seen a rash of car purchases recently because of residents fears that a car-purchase limit policy similar to Beijing's and Hangzhou's is on the way.
But a Jiangsu provincial government official said the city can't impose a quota immediately because such a policy would require the approval of the provincial People's Congress.
Residents of Jiangsu's capital are lining up in front of auto management departments to have their cars registered, as widespread rumors and reports say the city might introduce immediate quotas on license plates.
The provincial auto management department offices in Nanjing have recently seen a combined 1,500 people a dayгнtwice the usual numberгнapplying for license plates. Workers say they have had to work until 9 pm and cancel their lunch breaks to keep up with the workload.
"I've seen cars lining up more than 200 meters outside the department these days," said Lin Suhui, who lives near a department office on Xuanwu Avenue. "The department's yard has become a parking lot."
Lin followed her friend's advice and bought a vehicle in April.
"A worker at the store told me it's lucky for me that he still has cars to sell, and I should forget about the discount and choosing a color," she said.
Some retailers at the Nanjing International Auto Expo, which was held from Wednesday through Sunday, could sell a vehicle in five minutes.
On March 26, Hangzhou, in neighboring Zhejiang province, created a controversy when it restricted the issue of new car licenses overnightгнone day after the local government refuted the news that a license plate quota policy would be imposed.
Five other Chinese citiesгнShanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Guiyangгнalso have license plate quotas.
Of the six, Beijing and Guiyang issue plates via a lottery procedure, while Shanghai employs a bidding system. Guangzhou, Tianjin and Hangzhou use both systems.
Residents of Xiamen, Fujian province, and Zhengzhou, Henan province, have also heard about the possible restrictions on the issuing of license plates.
Local governments of the two cities have denied any such plans.
Liu Kexi, deputy director of the legislation committee of the Jiangsu People's Congress, said that the province and its cities will not suddenly impose a car plate quota as Hangzhou did.
"Unlike Zhejiang province, Jiangsu province has a specific regulation on vehicle number control measures, including quotas on license plates and a plate-bidding procedure," Liu said. "All of the province's 13 cities, including Nanjing, have to go through hearings and a 30-day publicity period before imposing a plate quota.
"Any quota imposed immediately in the province would be illegal, and those involved would be punished," Liu said. "Jiangsu will definitely not act like Hangzhou, and there's no need for local residents to rush to auto dealers."


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McDonald's Korea CEO Cho Ju-yeon (Mcdonald's Korea)
McDonald’s Korea CEO Cho Ju-yeon resigned from her post last week due to “personal reasons.”
Cho sent an email to all employees on Tuesday to announce her resignation, without elaborating on the reason, industry officials said.
However, a McDonald’s Korea official said Cho was leaving due to personal reasons unrelated to the company.
While McDonald’s Korea does not have a designated tenure for the CEO position, Cho’s resignation was a planned move, the official said.
Cho entered the company as an executive director in charge of marketing in 2011 and was appointed to the CEO position in 2016.
The company said it is looking for a successor and Cho will carry on working until a decision is made on her replacement.
By Jo He-rim (email@example.com


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Thousands of tickets for Sir Alex Ferguson's book tour have been signed up in minutes after going on sale.
The former Manchester United manager will be in conversation at several venues around the country throughout October and November to promote his autobiography, published by Hodder & Stoughton on 24th October.
His appearance at Salford's Lowry Theatre is the fastest-selling event in the theatre's history, with 1,700 tickets selling out in less than four minutes. In Aberdeen, 1,300 tickets sold in under two minutes, while the Royal Festival Hall in London sold 2,500 tickets in less than hour.
Elaine Silverwood, proprietor of the Silverdell Bookshop and host of the Preston event said: "I had people phoning from all over the world whether working or on holiday. Calls came from Thailand, Cuba, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal and all over the UK. We enjoyed the excited chat and banter. People were thrilled at still being able to purchase tickets even if they had spent the day on the phone."


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In a pandemic where people are fearful of touching surfaces, some Japanese companies are speeding up the development of products that mean consumers don’t have to use their fingers.
Already dubbed the “touchless economy”, examples include multinational NEC’s security panels that can recognise people even if they wear masks, preventing face-touching to remove them.
Lift manufacturer Fujitec wants passengers to select floors using only hand signals, while sensor maker Optex plans a similar concept for opening doors. Toshiba Tec, a subsidiary of Toshiba, wants to banish fingerprint-laden restaurant menus to the past with gesture-sensing, projected menus.
The global sensor industry has surged in growth due to the smartphone boom, and is one that analysts say will experience a second wave as we enter the Internet of Things era.
NEC’s security panels work by comparing the exposed part of a person’s face against an original image, with the software looking for similarities. AI and deep learning are part of NEC’s face recognition technology, which is still being perfected.
Fujitec has an optional feature allowing people using lifts to hold their hands near infrared sensors to select floors, rather than touching buttons on panels. It planned to sell these to medical facilities or pharmaceutical factories where hygiene conditions are strictly controlled, but the pandemic has expanded the company’s range of potential customers.
Toshiba Tec has developed technology allowing diners to choose meals by projecting menu options on a tabletop and using sensors to take their orders. Originally designed to free up table space by getting rid of the need for paper menus or tablets, they remove the need to touch either.
However, Alan Casey, a partner at consultancy Prophet, who has over 20 years of experience working in Japan and with Japanese companies, believes the “introspective” nature of the country often means that certain products become hugely successful there but fail to replicate this globally.
“This is often due to differing standards or alignment with Japanese preferences,” explains Mr Casey, who is now based in Hong Kong.
“While Japan often has an early adoption of technology, Japanese companies don’t sustain global leadership or achieve the full scale of potential,” he adds. Docomo’s i-mode (a mobile internet that launched in 1999); JR East’s contactless Suica smart card; Sony’s Mini-Disc format, and even Toto toilets are all examples of technologies that were ahead of their time but which failed to gain global adoption, he says.
These sensors detect and measure quantities such as light, heat, motion and pressure. Most people have an everyday encounter with sensors through their smartphones, which contain CMOS sensors that convert light into digital images for photography. Sony has been a huge beneficiary of this, controlling more than half of the global market for CMOS sensors.
Manuel Tagliavini, principal analyst of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) and sensors at Omdia, a research company focused on the tech sector, says the sensors industry is spread globally, with established suppliers between the US and Europe but that “aggressive” competition is growing in the Asia Pacific region.
He cites Sony, South Korea’s Samsung, China’s Omnivision, US firm ON Semiconductor and Europe’s AMS and STMicroelectronics as examples of major players in the market.
The revenue generated by MEMS and sensors was almost $29 billion (Dh106.5bn) for 2018, and was set to grow at about 5-7 per cent last year. He says he has recently seen an acceleration in the deployment of sensors.
The sensor business is set to grow, with the incipient Internet of Things (IoT), greater sensor deployment in smartphones and wearables and the development of ‘smart cars’.
Sensors are not new in the automotive industry, says Richard Dixon, senior analyst at IHS Markit, a data and information services firm. “But it’s true their importance grows.”
The automotive sensor market was worth about $6bn last year, Mr Dixon says. And the number of these devices will grow as vehicles become electric and move slowly towards a level of autonomy, he says, adding that there are well over 30 different types of sensing device, measuring speed and distances, among other things. For the consumer, this means vehicles could become more comfortable, greener, and safer.
In terms of IoT, one of the first consumer products was LG’s internet-connected refrigerator released in 2000. It could sense shelf contents and keep an eye on expiration dates, and included an MP3 player, but retailed at $20,000. Over the years, sensors have become cheaper and internet-connected devices have become more affordable. With the promise of vastly increased internet speeds, 5G could herald the IoT economy.
“The increased bandwidth but even more the reduced latency of [5G] will accelerate the proliferation of connected devices worldwide,” says Mr Tagliavini, citing assisted and autonomous driving cars as major beneficiaries as reduced latency allows for real-time sensing, computation and reaction.
In mid-May, Sony announced the development of its first image sensor with an integrated AI processor which can perform tasks such as reading the size of crowds, scanning bar codes and monitoring driver drowsiness. The AI processor is stacked on an image-sensor, allowing it to process data without sending it to the cloud.
With sensors as the footsoldiers gauging the environment, 5G the carrier, and AI being the brain to process data gathered, IoT might be the next big thing, although privacy and surveillance concerns will shadow its development.
But the development of the “touchless economy” is spreading worldwide.
“Covid-19 is causing this direction,” says Mr Tagliavini. “Voice assistants, touchless, image recognition, they are accelerating now. It’s already started worldwide, not just in Japan.”


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You might have seen in the news today a recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health on the impact of displaying calorie content at the point of purchase. We would like to remind our readers that through the implementation of our Clear on Calories initiative, America’s leading beverage companies are putting calorie information right at the fingertips of consumers.
We agree that consumers should be armed with information about the calories contained in the foods and beverages they choose. By placing new calorie labels on the front of every bottle, can and pack we produce, we're helping consumers - especially parents - choose the beverage that is best for them and their families.
For more information and to see an example of a Clear on Calories label, visit the Nutrition and Science section of our website. And be sure to Tweet us or let us know on Facebook when you come across our new labels in your grocery store or corner market!


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Kim Kardashian West has gotten the American masses to drink magical weight loss tea and the president to free a woman sentenced to life in prison for a non-violent drug offense. But can the ultimate and perhaps original influencer, get men to... wear shapewear? You know, the nylon, flesh-toned tubes known in polite society as “foundational garments” that slim your hips, tuck in your stomach, and perform other feats of sorcery? It may sound like a wonky plotline in an unauthorized reboot of Seinfeld, but it seems as though this dystopian future is not so far off.
After overcoming its unfortunate original name—Kimono, which was changed to Skims after a social media fracas over cultural appropriation—Kardashian West’s shapewear brand, which is now named SKIMS, appears to be a success, with many of its collections selling out completely, some allegedly within minutes.
But Kardashian West is nothing if not a woman who sees the potential for expansion, and she recently hinted that SKIMS may be working on the holy grail of women’s trends adapted for the men’s market: men’s shapewear. “I have been asked a lot about the men’s question, and I would love to do that, and I hope that we’re working on that soon,” Kardashian West told E! News in an interview last week. “There’s some fun stuff in the works.”
The flourishing of men’s fashion has meant in part that men are less ashamed, less frightened, about trying new trends in womenswear. Odell Beckham Jr. wore a Thom Browne skirt to the Met Gala, for example, and GQ US' November issue featured a portfolio of men in makeup. But men’s fashion has shifted dramatically from the skinny fit that Hedi Slimane first revolutionised at Dior Homme at the turn of the century (!) towards a much looser, baggier, and even huge silhouette. One of the benefits of this gargantuan, almost sumptuous fit—as any fan of Phoebe Philo-era Celine will tell you—is that it doesn’t require shapewear, or really any attention to underwear at all.


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Outdoor Furniture Things To Know Before You Buy in Honolulu HI 96810
dining sets: Pick your outdoor dining set as thoroughly while you’d your indoor eating established. There is a vast array of designs, sizes (from four seats to 10), styles and components to select. Some feature umbrella and base sets. Some tables can be found in tile.
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After breaking Blaisdell box office records, comedian Jo Koy to film Netflix special in Hawaii
Koy says he was blown away by the love Hawaii fans showed him last year, so he's filming his upcoming Netflix special right here in Honolulu. "I broke a record. I've got to document that. I've got to ...
Pahinui mourned in Hawaii and beyond
The 68-year-old entertainer and teacher had been in declining health for a number of years and had been hospitalized since Feb. 16, 2016, at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu ... classes at the U...
Iconic Rainbow Tower, backdrop for everything from ‘Hawaii Five-0’ to ‘Godzilla’ turns 50
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Rainbow Tower in Waikiki is ... Over the years, the tower has been featured in everything from “Hawaii Five-0” to “Godzilla.” “When you think of Hilton Hawaiian Village, ...
Telescope foes ask Hawaii high court to reconsider ruling
HONOLULU — Opponents of a giant telescope planned for Hawaii’s tallest mountain are asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider a recent ruling upholding the project’s construction permit. They filed ...
Dockless Bikes Slowly Roll into Hawaii’s Capital
Wong said he wanted to be competitive with Biki but not undercut Honolulu’s first bikeshare system, which is run by Bikeshare Hawaii, a nonprofit offering approximately 1,000 bikes at 100 Biki stops f...


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For the first time since the start of E3 in 1995, Electronic Arts will not have a presence on the E3 showfloor. Instead, the company is launching its new EA Play event, which will run in the days prior to E3 and will allow the public to come and play games from EA's upcoming lineup.
While E3 kicks off on June 14, EA Play will launch on June 12 in Los Angeles and London. EA will hold its yearly conference at 1PM PT before letting attendees have some hands-on time with the games on show. In London, EA Play will be a one day affair, but the Los Angeles event will run until June 14, the first day of E3 proper.
In a statement sent to us, an EA representative offered some added detail:
We are taking our commitment to put our players first further this year by creating a play experience built around them. Hosting our own event allows us to connect directly with our players and create a meaningful experience for them. In Los Angeles, our players will have access to the games on Monday. We will open up the event to the industry on Tuesday, allowing those who are in town for E3 to see our games and join the experience.
The statement also confirmed for us that the company has indeed "released their booth in the South Hall" of the LA Convention Center (though they will still be taking private press meetings at E3 proper). As past E3 attendees can tell you, this booth has been one of the largest on-site for years, so I'm curious what company (if any) will step up to take that space.


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The folks at PCLab.pl have gotten their hands on a sample of Intel's upcoming Gulftown Core i9 processor and put it through its paces. PCLab pitted the six-core chip against Intel's Core i5, Core i7, Core 2 Quad and AMD's Phenom II. The chip was tested in three separate motherboards, the Gigabyte EX58-Extreme, Asus Rampage II Gene, and Asus P6T SE.
Clocked at 2800MHz, the Core i9 beat the competition in a majority of the tests -- especially those optimized for multi-core chips -- but Gulftown slips behind its predecessors in many benchmarks. Intel's upcoming hexa-core CPU takes the cake when it comes to tasks like video encoding, but those two additional cores make little to no real-world difference in most games and other standard use.
PCLab found that the Core i9 performed rather well in terms of power usage, consuming far less than the Core i7 during maximum load, and only a hair more when idle. It ran cooler than the competing CPUs, with an idle temperature of 30C and 42C under load, which compares to the Core i7 at 32C and 49C. The chip also overclocked well, reaching a core clock frequency beyond 4.3GHz.
Realize that these results could change, as the tested product was only an early engineering sample. The Core i9 is expected to launch at some point during the first quarter of next year, and we will likely write review of our own when the time comes.


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Hyundai to offer 2010 Santa Fe with four-cylinder engine
An executive at Hyundai has revealed the Korean automaker will offer a 2.4-liter four-cylinder enginein its redesigned Santa Fe SUV, due out in 2010, as part of the manufacturer's focus on a more fuel efficient vehicle lineup.
The second generation Theta engine planned for the Santa Fe made its debut earlier this year on the 2009 Sonata sedan, where it produces 175 horsepower and 168 lb-ft of torque. When mated to an automatic transmission, the Sonata attains 22 mpg city and 32 mpg highway.
Currently the Santa Fe is only offered with either a 2.7-liter or 3.3-liter V-6 engine. The smaller V-6 gets 18 mpg city and 24 mpg highway, while the larger six-cylinder reaches 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway.
During an interview with Automotive News, VP of product planning for Hyundai America John Krafcik mentioned the new engine will be available with a six-speed automatic transmission as well. The four-cylinder is currently produced in Korea, but plans call for future U.S. manufacturing at the automaker's new plant in Alabama.
Also in the works from Hyundai is the elimination of the 2.7-liter V-6 engine for its smaller Tucson crossover in 2010 or 2011.The next-generation Tucson will be powered exclusively by a range of four-cylinder powerplants, including a possible turbocharged variant.
"We are focusing on fuel-efficient cars," Krafcik stated to Automotive News. "We have a much greater capacity now for 1.6- to 2.0-liter engines."
Next year will also bringa reworked version of the 1.6-liter inline-four found in the current Accent subcompact that according to Krafcik, will attain two more mpg overall. The 2008 Accent achieves a respectable 24 mpg city and 33 mpg highway.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)


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By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Thursday after stock indexes shuffled lower on Wall Street.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.7% to 29,490.53 in early trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.2% to 7,381.40, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.6% to 2,944.52. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.7% to 25,227.83. The Shanghai Composite shed 0.5% to 3,520.77.
Recent government data have shown the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt the Japanese economy. A supply crunch in chips and other parts needed to produce autos, a mainstay of the world’s third-largest economy, is one reason.
The damage to consumer spending brought on by recent government measures to close restaurants early and open theaters to limited crowds is another factor. Japan has never had a lockdown but has called periodically for a “state of emergency” to curb the spread of infections.
Junichi Makino, chief economist for SMBC Nikko Securities, said the Japanese recovery that many initially expected to get started this year may have to wait until fiscal 2022.
“But extreme pessimism is not called for. Auto production will likely get back to normal by the October-December quarter,” he said.
Investors are also watching the Bank of Korea policy-setting meeting scheduled for next week for whether the central bank will raise its key rate. Policymakers have hinted at such a move.
“Without a positive lead from Wall Street overnight and a relatively quiet day in terms of economic data, sentiments in the region may be on hold, potentially leading to some sideways movement,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 12.23 points, or 0.3%, to 4,688.67 after earlier drifting between a tiny gain and a 0.4% decline. It’s sitting just 13.03 points below its all-time high set a week and a half ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 211.17, or 0.6%, to 35,931.05, and the Nasdaq composite lost 52.28, or 0.3%, to 15,921.57.
A 4.7% drop for Visa was one of the heaviest weights on the market. It fell after Amazon said it would no longer accept U.K.-issued Visa credit cards amid a dispute about fees.
The majority of stocks in the S&P 500 also sank, while the smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index dropped even more, down 1.2%. But gains for some heavyweight stocks helped soften the losses. Apple rose 1.6%, and Tesla climbed 3.3%. Because they’re two of the biggest stocks on Wall Street by market value, their movements carry extra weight on the S&P 500.
Yields in the U.S. government bond market, the center of some of Wall Street’s most turbulent action recently, pulled back following a week of big gains. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 1.59% from 1.63% late Wednesday.
Shorter-term yields also eased back, giving up a portion of their own recent surge. Last week, hotter-than-expected inflation across the economy pushed investors to move up their expectations for when the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates off their record lows.
Stocks have been powering mostly higher over the last month as companies have widely reported much stronger profits for the summer than analysts expected. Several big retailers joined the parade on Wednesday, including Lowe’s, Target and TJX, which runs the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores. But the stock market’s reaction wasn’t uniform.
TJX rose 5.8% after reporting stronger than expected revenue and earnings for the latest quarter. Home improvement retailer Lowe’s inched up 0.4% as it raised its revenue forecast for the year following strong third-quarter financial results.
But Target fell 4.7% even though it also reported better earnings than expected. The company said it made less profit off each $1 in sales during the quarter, versus a year earlier, as it got squeezed by higher merchandise and supply-chain costs, among other things.
Such pressures — and how much they hit companies’ bottom lines— are under the microscope as relatively high inflation continues to sweep the world. Many companies have warned their profit margins could suffer due to supply-chain problems and higher costs for everything from workers’ wages to raw materials.
A report on the housing market showed some of those pressures. Builders broke ground on fewer homes last month than in September, contrary to economists’ expectations for growth. That could be an indication that supply shortages and higher costs are slowing the industry. But the number of building permits also rose by more than expected, perhaps showing that homebuilders see those pressures eventually easing.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 72 cents to $77.64 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 32 cents to $79.96 a barrel.
In currency trading, the recent stall in the dollar’s rally is helping put Asian markets in a wait-and-see mood. The U.S. dollar fell to 113.99 Japanese yen from 114.07 yen. The euro cost $1.1332, up from $1.1319.
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Stan Choe contributed.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text: Pharmaceutical stocks were headed lower in morning trading Tuesday, with shares of Johnson & Johnson among the decliners after the health-care-products giant acknowledged that sales of its key anti-anemia drug were hurt by competition. In an otherwise strong first-quarter earnings report, J&J said its anti-anemia drug, sold as Procrit in the United States and as Eprex in Europe, had "minimal" sales growth. No. 1 biotech firm Amgen AMGN, -2.13% has introduced a new anti-anemia drug called Aranesp. Shares of J&J JNJ, -2.70% shed $1.35, or 2 percent, to $56.43. Shares of Amgen AMGN, -2.13% added 57 cents to $59.65. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index $drg dipped 0.3 percent.


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The setting for this year's G-20 summit meeting is the Riviera Convention Center that hosts the Cannes Film Festival. President Obama will be walking the red carpet, but it's the European leaders who are stars of this show.
The Europeans are facing pressure to erect a financial "firewall" that will prevent the debt problems now plaguing Greece from spreading to the rest of the Continent and beyond.
The U.S. economy hit an important milestone last week: Gross domestic product, the sum of all goods and services produced in the country, returned to pre-recession levels. But the gains were made with millions fewer workers. Part of the reason is technology, as computers and machines continue to replace humans.
We used to think about machines taking over mundane jobs, like twisting a screw into a toaster on an assembly line over and over again. But more recently, technology is eliminating higher-skill jobs.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made a number of promises to fellow leaders of the eurozone countries at a summit meeting in October. Now Italy's economy is starting to become a growing concern for European Union leaders and financial markets.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne. To understand the European debt crisis, it helps to keep track of both the short-term and the long-term. In the short-term, Europeans have agreed on a bailout deal that among other things would cut the debts of Greece. It's being held up by the Greek prime minister's plan to hold a referendum on austerity measures. Europeans have told Greece it's got to decide soon if it wants to be part of the eurozone or not.
America's original discount store has filed for federal bankruptcy protection and plans to close its 46 stores. This isn't the first time the company has filed for bankruptcy, but it appears to be its last. The company cited increased competition from department stores, private-label discounters and the economic downturn.
First Solar, viewed as the golden child of the solar industry, hold its quarterly call today with nervous investors. They're on edge because the Arizona-based company announced a CEO shake-up late last month and have said almost nothing publically since then. From member station KJZZ in Phoenix, Peter O'Dowd reports.


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Update: The Russian website that broadcasts thousands of private security camera feeds from around the world is still up and running. It currently has feeds from many countries, including 11,046 cameras in the U.S. Many of the cameras are for home or personal use. Reporters at the Daily Mail visited the site for several hours and saw sleeping babies, a boy playing on his computer, a boy sleeping in his bed, the inside of a changing room at a church, a woman in a rocking chair and two people eating in a kitchen.
The site owners have emphasized that they did not have hack into these cameras because they used default passwords to gain access. But, that doesn't mean they didn't break the law. Motherboard is reporting that Jay Leiderman, a U.S. lawyer with experience in these types of cases, said "It is a stunningly clear violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)."
Internet-connected cameras are a wonderful tool that I recommend to all of my readers who want to beef up security in their homes. I use them throughout my home and even sell a few different styles in my store. But, your security dreams could easily turn into privacy nightmares if you don't set up your camera correctly. That's because without a strong password, your camera feed could end up on the Internet for anyone to see. That's the case with thousands of cameras around the world that are currently up on a Russian website.
The site includes feeds from all over the world. Users just have to click on a country to scroll through cameras monitoring businesses and homes.
The way the site accessed these cameras is frustratingly simple - and something I've warned you about before. Many cameras come with a default password from the manufacturer. Too often, people stick with this default password instead of creating a newer, stronger one.
These default login details usually can be found in security camera manuals that are often also available online. Because there are apparently thousands of users of cameras who did not change these login details, it was only a matter of time until one website aggregated these cameras for everyone else to tune into.
The website didn't even need to hack the cameras. All it did was search for cameras and try out default passwords until it found a match.


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2020 is expected to be a year of recovery, but many uncertainties remain, like those related to the vaccines’ ability to return everyday life back to normal or to potential jitters about the monetary policy at the major central banks’, which would have deep ramifications globally, Colliers International consultants predict.
Romania should recover most of last year’s losses in economic activity by end-2021, but the recovery will be quite uneven, with significant differences between industries. Some economic sectors, like e-commerce, construction, certain IT&C subsectors, have not blinked at all during the crisis, others should recover by end-2021, like overall retail trade and professional services in general, and some may take years to crawl back to a decent activity level, like aviation, automotive or tourism, says Colliers International Romania consultants.
Remote work will become a permanent fixture, but Colliers International consultants believe that companies will also want to bring their employees at least 3 days a week in the office in order to foster teamwork and corporate culture. A more significant return to offices of employees is expected around the middle of 2021.
Office tenants reign supreme in 2021, with a rapidly rising secondary market of sublease alternatives (low range estimates place it at over 2% of current stock at present) and a vacancy rate in excess of 10%. Colliers International consultants talk about a robust office delivery calendar, with around 260,000 sqm of modern offices due to be finalized in Bucharest, Office market conditions should return to neutral in the first half of this decade.
The industrial and logistics market ended its strongest year in history for Romania, and 2021 should be very different as recent trends supportive for the development of warehouses remain in place.
Retail continues to be under pressure, but Colliers International consultants are seeing silver linings. The growth in e-sales greatly outperformed that of traditional brick-and-mortar stores through 2020 and this trend should hold in the new year. Rents and vacancy should remain under pressure through 2021 and may not recover until 2022 or even 2023. That said, Romania’s higher profitability for retailers and the low stock of leasable modern retail spaces per capita should insulate the market from any persistent negative effects and lead to a good subsequent recovery of losses.
Investment deals are expected to dip, after a very good year for the investment area. The 2021 investment market may see a dip in activity from around €900 million to around €500-€600 million.
2021 brings various opportunities in the land market. Given the considerable number of deals initiated in the recent period, the land market looks set for a good year. Retail developers, including big box operators, and residential developers will remain the driving force. Demand for land plots for offices and hotels will remain soft and Colliers International consultants are not expecting things to change too much given elevated uncertainties with regards to the leasing/revenue side.
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Province to update on school plan as stay-at-home order ends in Mississauga, Brampton and Ontario
Published June 2, 2021 at 12:35 pm
Premier Doug Ford is expected to announce Wednesday (June 2) whether or not schools in Ontario will reopen to in-person learning this month.
Ford is scheduled to address the media with Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Health Minister Christine Elliott Wednesday at 1pm.
Students in Ontario have been doing online learning since April 19.
The schools announcement comes as Ontario’s stay-at-home order lifts, but most other public health measures remain in place.
The order enacted in April asked residents to only leave home for reasons deemed essential like exercise, grocery shopping or seeking health care.
As of Wednesday, that rule is no longer in effect.
But other measures like the five-person limit on outdoor gatherings and restrictions on in-person retail and other businesses remain.
The province is aiming to start reopening the economy later this month with looser rules on businesses and outdoor activities.
Officials say the pandemic situation is improving but it’s not time to lift restrictions.insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies


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Time to Assist Micro- and Nonemployer Businesses
[This blog is based upon findings from research into small business related COVID-19 assistance. For the full report presenting the findings based upon that research, visit this link.]
The economic impact of Covid-19 has been devastating for most American businesses. It has been especially so for small businesses.
This is an existential problem because small businesses are the heart and soul of the American economy. If many of them disappear due to the coronavirus, it will greatly diminish this nation’s strength and spirit.
That’s not just our opinion. It is the opinion of more than 100 CEO’S of large companies, major trade associations and small businesses who sent a letter to congressional leaders advocating a major intervention on behalf of small businesses.
Small Business by the Numbers
The 2020 Small Business Profile prepared by Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy reports that in 2017 there were 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. Nearly 6 million of those businesses had employees. 25.7 million were nonemployer firms.
For the employer firms, over 5.3 million had 1–19 employees and nearly 640 thousand had 20–499 employees. These businesses employed nearly 60.6 million people — 47.1% of the private sector workforce — and generated 1.6 million net new jobs. Firms with less than 20 employees added 1.1 million of those jobs.
Those numbers attest to the central importance of small business for this country and its economic future. The coronavirus pandemic is putting that future at risk.
The extent and nature of that risk was documented in various small business studies and reports in the initial months of the pandemic which showed:
- 43 percent of small businesses across a range of sectors closed temporarily
- The number of active business owners declined by 3.3 million between February to April
- Nearly 7.5 million small businesses may be at risk of closing permanently
The bottom line is that the impact of Covid-19 on small businesses has been and will be staggering. Millions of active small businesses have closed temporarily.


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Photo By Smith Leonard
HIGH POINT, N.C. - Although new residential furniture orders rose 29% in August 2023 compared to the year prior, the results continue to be a mixed bag, noted Ken Smith, managing partner at Smith Leonard, which produces the monthly Furniture Insights.
"Unfortunately the comparison is not quite as rosy as it may seem as new orders in August 2022 were down 34% from August 2021 and August 2021 orders were down 14% from August 2020. So as has been the case for over a couple of years, the comparisons can be misleading without context. Add to that the impact of price increases and lately price decreases, primarily for foreign freight charges, and the comparisons become even more murky," Smith said. Approximately 72% of the survey participants reported new order increases.
Year to date, new orders were about even compared to the same period in 2022, with roughly 40% of participants reporting gains, according to the latest issue of Furniture Insights. Further comparison shows year-to-date new orders were down 29% in 2022 compared to 2021, when they were up 29% from 2020, the report shows.
Shipments in August were down 17% from August 2022 figures, but were up 34% over July, primarily because of the normal July shutdowns for vacations, according to Smith Leonard. Shipments in August were down for some 72% of the participants.
Backlogs continued to fall in August, down 51% from last year and also down from July figures, Furniture Insights reported. "The dollar amount of backlogs is probably higher than piece counts, again due to price increases built in much of the new backlogs, even considering freight declines."
Receivable levels dropped 30% from October 2022. "With year-to-date and even monthly sales down in the 17 to 18% range, the decline in receivables appears out of line, but we believe that many of our participants in the upholstery business, tend to report their receivables net of customer deposits. As backlogs have been declining, the amount of customer deposits has also declined, which would make the change in net receivables appear to be higher. As backlogs continue to get back to normal levels, we think the receivable results should get back in line," Smith noted.
Inventory levels fell in August, down 2% from July and down 32% from August 2022. "It appears that inventories are much more in line with current business levels after the large buildups over the last couple of years."
On an adjusted basis, September sales at furniture and home furnishing stores were down 5.9% from 2022 figures for the month and down 4.4% (unadjusted basis) year to date.
"Overall, the residential furniture business is probably sluggish at best. And there seems to be many reasons," Smith commented. "While the overall economy seemed to grow at a strong pace in the third quarter, some of those measurements do not really reflect what consumers are seeing and doing. Yes, they are still spending but the rising costs of living clearly have an impact on furniture spending. Add to that the rising mortgage interest rates, there are just not enough dollars left in consumer budgets to pay for deferrable purchases."
He added, "The leading economic indicators have declined for over a year and a half. Nine of the indexes ten components have either declined or were flat in September. The Conference Board forecasts that the trends are such that a shallow recession is expected in the first half of 2024. If that is true, the residential side of the business may face more turbulence as many would say certain parts, if not most parts, are already in somewhat of a recession in 2023."
Smith continued, "On the other hand, we thought the October High Point market was well attended and once again, the 'mood' of market was very good. Great new product was shown. Even though many echoed the thoughts that attendees loved our product and were very happy with our showing, the only problem was the 'they must have forgotten their pens.” But that great product will sell eventually as consumers come back to the stores or their designers suggest they just have to have some of the new product. People came and some will buy. We hope whatever this 'slow down' ends soon, but think one needs to be prepared to ride it out a bit longer than most probably think."
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.


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We all already knew Rihanna had style but now she will have an actual award. RiRi will be honored with the Fashion Icon Award at the 2014 CFDA Fashion Awards. The Fashion Icon Award is given to an individual whose style has made a significant impact on popular culture on an international stage. Rihanna joins the ranks of past winners such as Lady Gaga, Iman, Kate Moss, and Nicole Kidman. “We are proud to present Rihanna with the CFDA Fashion Icon Award for her impact on the industry as fashion’s most exciting ambassador in recent memory,” said Steven Kolb, CEO of CFDA.
The pop singer, record-breaking recording artist, actress, and fashion designer will be recognized for her contributions to the fashion industry as well as her philanthropic partnership with the MAC AIDS Fund’s Viva Glam campaign. The 2014 CFDA Fashion Awards will be held at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
All those fashion risks paid off!
Photo from PR Photos


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kingdom guard news search results
Developer news items we found relating to kingdom guard
Mobile tower defense game stats
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by Richard Harris
One of the most popular genres in mobile gaming is tower defense games. The mobile tower defense games market is especially popular on smartphones and tablets, where gamers can easily take them with them wherever they go. In addition, tower defense games are great for keeping people occupied on long road trips or flights, as they require little to no interaction from th...
Kingdom Guard from tap4fun launches
Monday, May 9, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Flexion Mobile Plc (Nasdaq: FLEXM), the Android games distribution company announced that it has launched the new game Kingdom Guard from tap4fun on the Amazon App Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store.


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The fallout from Covid for the construction industry, which has weathered the storm in several ways so far, could be about to become very challenging when it comes to materials.
And for the housebuilding sector in particular, a ‘perfect storm’ is brewing, if not already raging in some areas, in terms of timber sourcing.
Sitting at the eye of the storm currently is the humble timber roofing batten, with many going into the average standard UK pitched-roof house.
The availability of the product is at the centre of a lot of consternation among the roofing industry (manufacturers and contractors), who have come together to raise the alarm.
The supply chain is effectively in a war to try and deliver what’s needed
The National Federation of Roofing Contractors has joined up with leading suppliers Avonside Group, Marley and SR Timber in a campaign to persuade housebuilders to take a collaborative approach to coping with the problems.
They say they have “grave concerns” that with “extremely low available stocks of European softwood” (which is used for UK roofing battens), coupled with spiralling demand from housebuilders post-pandemic, the supply chain is effectively in a war to try and deliver what’s needed.
The free market being what it is, already increasing prices of this basic raw material are now seeing “steep and rapid cost inflation,” as availability shrinks, meaning roofing contractors will have to start thinking about passing this increase on to their housebuilder customers.
That’s not going to do anything to help housebuilders hit the minimum recommended target of 300,000 homes per year.
The three biggest global timber markets (China, the US and Russia) are not helping, thanks to their own challenges.
China has been coping with flooding and stricter forest protection measures, and has itself been importing from Europe, eating into the UK’s former main source.
Part of the reason for this is Russia’s proposed ban on exports of softwood and hardwood logs, an important source for China.
And the North American industry is still in disarray from the pandemic, with half of Canadian and a third of US sawmills having closed.
This led to a stoppage in exports and was compounded by wildfires and hurricanes.
There is some good international news, such as Sweden maintaining and even increasing production levels, but due to the wide global factors, Europe is now the world’s leading exporter of sawn softwood.
UK house builders may struggle to accept these macro factors when they are dealing with everyday challenges on their doorstep, but they are a small part of a much bigger picture.
Closer to home, the increase in homeowners renovating their own properties during the pandemic has sucked yet more supply from the chain.
Lastly, Covid and Brexit-related logistics issues such as freight delays (alongside transport cost increases), make this one of the most challenging times for timber supply in most people’s memory.
Roofing contractors are struggling, so housebuilders will, meaning delays to build programmes, and resulting cost penalties. The best they can do is to try and work together, along with product suppliers, to at least understand each other’s challenges.
The first step is for suppliers to give early warning about stock issues, and likely impact on lead times and prices, so both sides can plan their schedules.
Some firms, such as SR Timber, are lucky to have their own sawmills, but their trading director Shaun Revill admitted recently that even their “robust” supply chain had been “tested to the limit by Brexit and Covid.”
However, he added that the company has “been very proactive and transparent with customers, and given them lots of information,” including on price movements.”
He offered the caveat that the industry hasn’t seen anything like this since the Second World War.
On the endangered list
Timber battens are the second highest category of materials in the ‘endangered’ list in terms of shortages currently, below roof tiles.
A third of contractors are reporting shortages, and they say it’s their main challenge currently.
The Construction Leadership Council says that things will get worse before they get better. Europe has plentiful forestry, but there will be delays while minimum stocks in sawmills are replenished, as demand continues to increase from across the world.
The costs of the delays may not be sustainable for many housebuilding firms; we can only wait and see.
The only good news is the problem is now being starkly accepted by the industry, with it unlikely to be one that goes away soon.
James Parker is editor of House Builder & Developer


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The Witness Gets a Release Date and New Trailer
The Witness, the long-awaited exploration puzzle game from the creator of Braid, will be released for the PlayStation 4 and PC on January 26th, 2016. Jonathan Blow and his team at Thekla have created a brand-new trailer, which you can view here.
In a post this morning on the PlayStation Blog, Blow also dropped a few more tidbits about the game and its development. We will be sharing much more of The Witness in the coming months.


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The Chapter 11 liquidation plan for AFA Foods took effect on Wednesday, court records show, following bankruptcy court confirmation of the company’s plan on March 7.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath approved a global settlement resolving all key disputes remaining in the case last July. Lawyers for the bankrupt estate are now attempting to claw back about $84 million for creditors. AFA’s estate recently filed 125 suits seeking to recover allegedly preferential payments made to vendors and other parties in the weeks leading up to the company’s April 2012 bankruptcy filing, according to Law360.
Although the gross amount sought by the suits is about $84 million, the net value to creditors will likely be in the $15 million range due to the offset rights of some of the targets, Law360 reported.
AFA repaid its senior lenders last year after selling its meat-processing facilities, which brought in a total of $69.7 million. The company was left with about $14 million in cash on hand after repaying its $56 million debtor-in-possession credit facility.
AFA filed for Chapter 11 in April 2012, in the wake of negative media reports on one of its primary products, a lean, finely-textured processed beef often added to ground beef and known pejoratively as “pink slime.” The ground-beef processing company, based in King of Prussia, Pa., blamed its filing on “recent changes in the market for its ground-beef products and the impact of media coverage related to boneless lean beef trimmings.”
AFA became the subject of media scrutiny as early as 2009, when its facility in Ashville, N.Y., recalled more than 500,000 pounds of ground beef after it was linked to an outbreak of E. coli that killed two people and sickened about 500 others, according to The New York Times. The beef trimmings commonly used to make ground beef are more susceptible to contamination because E. coli thrives in cattle feces that can get smeared on the surfaces of whole cuts of meat, the newspaper reported.
The company faced another blow in March of 2012 when a series of reports by ABC News criticized boneless lean beef trimmings, also referred to as “pink slime,” which ABC said is added to 70% of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets. “Once only used in dog food and cooking oil, the trimmings are now sprayed with ammonia so they are safe to eat and added to most ground beef as a cheaper filler,” ABC News said. Still, the product meets federal food-safety standards and has been used for years, according to the Associated Press.
In the wake of the report, large grocery-store chains like Kroger pulled the product from their shelves.
Jones Day, Imperial Capital, and FTI Consulting advised AFA in its restructuring. – John Bringardner


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Hainan Revises Product Quality Rules
28 October 2021
Business Advisory Unit, HKTDC Research
Hainan province’s recently updated regulations on the supervision and administration of product quality took effect on 30 September 2021. The revised rules prohibit the production and sale of products that violate national and industry standards for the protection of people’s health, safety and property. Truthful information must be given on product labels or packaging.
- Mainland China


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Bioventus, Smith & Nephew's ($SNN) semi-spun-out biologics healing business, is launching its products in Italy, expanding its presence in Europe after getting a foothold in the Netherlands last year.
In 2012, S&N turned its active orthopedic healing unit into a joint venture, retaining 49% ownership and selling the remainder to venture capital firm Essex Woodlands. Bioventus, the resulting JV, sells devices, therapies and diagnostics. "Launch," in this case, is relative, as much Bioventus' work is in relabeling existing S&N products, including the Exogen ultrasound bone-healing system and Durolane osteoarthritis treatment.
That said, bringing all of S&N's former active healing products under one umbrella will make it easier for clients to interact with the company, Bioventus CEO Mark Augusti said.
"With the Bioventus launch, our Italian customers will notice an increase in the level of support and product expertise available to them through our new multi-lingual customer care center that opened last month in our Netherlands' office," Augusti said in a statement. "However, other than that, changes should be minor--our customers' sales representatives will not change and our products will simply be rebranded."
As S&N turns away from bioactive bone healing, it's betting big on wound care. In November, the U.K. giant spent $782 million to acquire Healthpoint Biotherapeutics, a Texas company that makes bioactive therapies designed to clear dead tissue from wounds. Some analysts balked at the price tag, but S&N has said it's buying into a growing industry, and, with the company's old cash cow of hips and knees struggling of late, diversifying its offerings is certainly not a bad idea.
- read the announcement


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Vail opens more Back Bowls
VAIL ” Vail Mountain will drop the ropes on China Bowl, Tea Cup Bowl and Siberia Bowl Tuesday, and Blue Sky Basin will open Friday.
Orient Express Lift (Chair 21) and Tea Cup Express Lift (Chair 36) will start running for the year Tuesday, resort officials said. Two Elk Restaurant also will open for the season.
With the new openings, the resort will have 3,400 acres open, served by 23 lifts. Vail has a total of 5,289 acres.
On Friday, Blue Sky Basin will open for the year, serviced by Skyline Express (Chair 37) and Pete’s Express (Chair 39). Also Friday, the Riva Bahn Express at Golden Peak (Chair 6) will start running. On Friday, the resort will have more than 4,000 acres served by 26 lifts.
Lifts now open at 9 a.m. and close at 3:30 p.m. The lifts will start running at 8:30 a.m. starting Dec. 15.
Vail Daily, Vail, Colorado CO
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Living Amazon Report 2022 : World Wildlife Fund
According to a new report ‘Living Amazon Report’ 2022 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), some 35% of the rainforest is either totally lost or highly degraded.
- The report was released at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
- The report outlined the current status of the Amazon biome and basin, summarised key pressures and drivers of change and outlined a conservation strategy.
Highlights of the Report:
- Vast tracts of the Amazon rainforest, which serve as carbon sinks and the planet’s lungs, are in crisis.
- Some 35% of the rainforest is either totally lost or highly degraded, while another 18% have been converted for other purposes.
- Amazon forests are threatened due to deforestation, fires and degradation.
- Surface water has been lost and rivers are increasingly disconnected and polluted.
- This immense pressure will irreversibly damage the Amazon and the planet in general very shortly.
- Economic activities, most notably extensive cattle ranching and agriculture, illegal activities and poorly planned infrastructure, threaten the region and cause deforestation and degradation throughout the biome, with many areas severely affected.
- Nearly 600 infrastructure projects are in operation along rivers in the Amazon.
- Some 20 planned road projects, 400 operating or planned dams and numerous mining projects continue to dump chemicals such as mercury into the rivers.


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In her memoir, former prime minister Julia Gillard has said while the fibre to the premises National Broadband Network had implementation issues, the ultimate goal of the project was "absolutely right".
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The recovery has already started: when will the trade sector finish recovering?
Randstad, number 1 in human resources in Spain and in the world, has produced, through its Randstad Research study center, a report on the forecasts for the recovery of entrepreneurs in our country. To do this, it surveyed about 3,200 companies in the sector across the country, in addition to monitoring the hiring situation through data provided by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE).
Randstad reveals that 74% of commerce businessmen are confident they will fully regain their activity by the end of this year, a figure three percentage points more optimistic than that of all companies in the country, of which 71% expect this date to be at levels prior to the onset of the crisis.
Recovery forecasts by sector
In general, traders are more optimistic than other entrepreneurs, with half being confident of a full recovery before the second half of 2021, compared to 47% of all industries. 82% believe the full recovery from the second quarter of next year, a percentage point higher than the economy as a whole.
According to Valentn Bote, director of Randstad Research, “despite the fact that the commerce sector suffered a serious setback in aspects such as the physical channel or sales, new technologies have become available as an alternative to the crisis. be a real lifeline for many companies in the sector ”.
Retail entrepreneurs suffer more from the crisis
The Randstad study detects differences within the industry. Retail entrepreneurs are suffering more from the crisis: 26% say they have had to stop or significantly reduce their activity, compared to 30% of all companies, while 38% say they have already recovered or not They noticed the crisis, a percentage which in the whole economy is 30%. In addition, 29% of retail companies had to go to ERTE, compared to 30% of the average, while 22% continue with employees teleworking, or 33% economy-wide.
For their part, four in ten wholesale entrepreneurs say they have not been affected or have already recovered, while 22% have had to stop their activity or reduce it considerably. 31% say they are continuing with teleworking measures and 26% are continuing with some ERTEs.
Randstad’s study also took into account the main concerns and measures that businessmen see as likely to help the commerce sector, with most admitting that their main concern is economic uncertainty about the future. from the country.
As far as support measures are concerned, most commercial enterprises opt for direct state aid, tax exemptions and greater labor flexibility.
March ends with the third highest volume of contracts in the last 12 months
Regarding employment data, Randstad points out that last year the number of contracts signed in commerce increased by 12.1%, as in March 158,521 contracts were signed in the sector, the third highest volume twelve months, only after July (181,513) and October (172,760). In addition, the figure for last March breaks with a negative trend of four consecutive months of decline.
The evolution of recruitment in the commerce sector has evolved over the past year in accordance with the restrictions. During the month of March 2020, the month in which the state of alert was declared, 141,462 commercial contracts were signed, a figure that fell below 100,000 in the following two months.
Evolution of recruitment in trade over the past year
Due to the easing of restrictions, the indicator rose again, registering the maximum of the series studied in July (181,513). After the August stop, this indicator rebounded to experience a negative trend since October which broke the good figure of last March.
The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands recorded the only drops in hiring
The Randstad report finds big differences at the regional level. Compared to a year ago, Castilla y Len (30.4%), Cantabria (29.3%) and Asturias (24.3%) recorded the largest increases in hires in retail, all higher at 20%.
Variation in regional trade hiring over the past year
They are followed, with increases above the national average (12.1%), Extremadura (19.9%), Euskadi (-18.5%), Andalusia (18.2%), Aragn (17.8%) ), Region of Murcia (17.7%), Catalonia (17.2%), Castile-La Mancha (14.4%) and Galicia (12.8%).
La Rioja (9.9%), the Valencian Community (7.1%), Navarre (6.3%) and the Community of Madrid (3.4%) have already recorded below-average increases. recorded in the Canary Islands (-12.6%) and the Balearic Islands (-27.5%), largely due to greater exposure to tourism.
In absolute value, Andalusia (with 32,854 contracts), Catalonia (26,723 and the Community of Madrid (19,264), represent around 50% of companies in commerce.
At the provincial level, Valladolid (60.5%), Granada (47.9%), Palencia (44.3%) and Guadalajara (39.6%) recorded the highest growth in commercial hiring compared to it a year ago. In contrast, Tenerife (-16.6%), Las Palmas (-9.5%), Segovia (-7.5%) and Toledo (-6%) recorded the largest decreases.