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Before we go any further: this is not your average CIRA blog. As part of our mission to build a trusted internet, we keep a close eye on the big picture issues that affect the health of the internet—even the ones that fall outside the core remit of CIRA.
One of those issues is competition online, and the growing global movement to reform competition policy rules. Recently, our CEO Byron Holland shared his thoughts on how the “monopoly mindset” of Silicon Valley hurts small and medium sized businesses across Canada.
Building off Byron’s approach, I want to share a story about what might appear to be a simple case of superstardom and a zealous hoard of Taylor Swift fans. But below the surface, this story is a much more intriguing case about the consolidation of market power leading to the centralization of internet infrastructure and services—and its consequential fragility.
As CIRA’s chronically online, Gen Z, Swiftie-in-residence, and competition policy wonk, my head has been turning since the release of Swift’s latest album, Midnights, last month. When the clock struck midnight Eastern Standard Time on October 21st, thousands of millions of Taylor stans rushed to Spotify—triggering an outage for the music streaming behemoth for five minutes. At first glance, I thought, “If Spotify and Apple Music had more competitors, there would be more options for Swifties to stream Midnights, offering more resilience and no disruptions.” But the problem only lasted five minutes, and after 44 minutes of sweet, sweet music, I went to bed and stopped thinking about it.
Then, SwiftTok and Twitter became abuzz as she announced her U.S. Eras Tour, which would include a Verified Fan Pre-Sale through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2017, controls 70 per cent of the primary live ticket and concert venue market in the United States. When the registration for the pre-sale launched, Ticketmaster’s infrastructure crashed again, and the queue was all screwed up, for lack of a better term.
Then, the pre-sale opened, and the ticket hunger games truly began. From pre-sale code malfunctions to customers with so-called ‘boosts,’ some Swifties were lucky to get tickets at Taylor’s promised pricing-scheme. The CEO of Live Nation—the owner of Ticketmaster—claimed that enough Swifties came to Ticketmaster to fill “900 stadiums” and the company cancelled their general sale to the public. Fans have also revealed that Ticketmaster permitted the resale of Eras Tour tickets for upwards of $22,000 USD.
Much like the excitement a bridge in one of Swift’s songs can evoke, pressure is ramping up on Ticketmaster to consider its reputation and be better. The Attorney General of Tennessee launched an antitrust and consumer protection investigation into the online ticketing behemoth. The Department of Justice is launching an investigation into whether Live Nation has abused its dominance. And Congress is set to begin hearings into competition—or lack thereof—in the industry given the fiasco.
So, what do the trials and tribulations of the Midnights release, the Eras Tour and Ticketmaster have to do with the internet? So what if Spotify and Ticketmaster crashed? Ticketmaster has a majority of the live ticketing market and significant pricing power—how does this affect the internet beyond the outrage on the scale of a mad woman?
Well, the fact of the matter is that unchecked market power combined with the subsequent consolidation of internet services and infrastructure, leads to fragility when users need reliability. But can Ticketmaster be considered an essential service or essential infrastructure? No, probably not.
However, the Taylor-Ticketmaster debacle is a parable for this issue. The Canadians waiting for Taylor’s Canadian leg of the Eras Tour with bated breath know all too well what happens when lack of competition is linked to lack of resiliency, after a Rogers outage left millions of Canadians without access to the internet and cell services for days on end.
The decentralized internet was designed to be resilient. Its architects prioritized openness and interoperability, so if something goes wrong in one part of the network, users can still access what they need. But when consolidation of market power leads to the centralization of internet services and infrastructure, this phenomenon is fundamentally incompatible with what keeps the internet open and functioning for all. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, then a chain made out of only one link isn’t even a chain at all, is it?
This week it’s Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift tickets. Next, it could be the infrastructure of a Big Tech company whose single sign-on technology could make much of the web inaccessible to millions who use it to access their accounts across retail, news and more. Then, it could be a content delivery network that delivers all the Government of Canada’s web presence and essential services—as happened in the United Kingdom upon Fastly’s outage in 2021 – making Canadians incredibly vulnerable to dangerous disruption.
While the infamous Silicon Valley personality Peter Thiel has championed a view of capitalism as being about the consolidation of capital and that, “Competition is for losers,” it’s clear that when the concentration of market power leads to the centralization of internet infrastructure and services, the openness and resilience of the internet suffers. Luckily, the loyalty of Swifties has breathed new life into the push for better antitrust enforcement and the creation of an even playing field for small and medium sized businesses in the internet ecosystem. So as the U.S. and Canada further explore competition policy change in the digital age, I say in the words of Dr. Taylor Alison Swift, “Let the games begin.”


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The makers of Dior and Givenchy started producing free hydroalcoholic gel today to offset shortages in France due to the novel coronavirus.
Rabat – LVMH, the conglomerate that owns the Dior luxury brand, began the production of hand sanitizers on Monday. LVMH is also the owner of Givenchy and Guerlain.
The facilities producing the three luxury brands will, instead of their normal production, assist health authorities in France in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, stated the luxury brands conglomerate on Sunday. The hand sanitizers will go to French authorities and the Public Assistance Hospital of Paris.
The initiative is in line with extra measures put in place across the world in the face of the novel coronavirus.
Across the world, consumers have noticed low supplies of hand sanitizers or even empty shelves, including in Morocco.
Hand washing is the primary safety measure against COVID-19. The pandemic has taken the lives of 127 people in France and one in Morocco as of March 16.
Addressing citizens, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We are at war.”
He also launched a nationwide lockdown for 15 days period, asking people to not go out except in the event of an emergency.
The death toll has surpassed 6,500 globally. The virus has infected 180,000 people worldwide.
The World Health Organization asked states today to test all suspected cases, suggesting that some nations are not running enough tests to detect cases.
“We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test. Test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people, too,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

domain: news


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Nikon has released a new DSLR and lens instant rebates today, this rebates will expire on February 28, 2015.
Up to $400 off Nikon lens only instant rebates can be seen at Amazon and Adorama and up to $500 off Nikon DSLR camera instant rebates live at Adorama.
Nikon lens-only instant rebates are live and you can save up to $500 on select DSLR cameras and lenses until February 28, 2015.
Nikon Lens Only Instant Rebates
Below you can follow the links for the D4s, D810 and D5500 camera rebates and save up to $500.


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Responding to Monday’s devastating tornado in the Oklahoma City area, Walgreens this week mobilized increased shipments of essential supplies to its area stores; made an initial donation of three semi-trailers of food, water and first aid supplies to the Oklahoma chapter of the American Red Cross; and offered customers an opportunity to make donations at its Oklahoma drug stores.
To celebrate the service and commitment of the nation’s military and honor the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country, Walgreens is offering a Memorial Day discount to all veterans and active duty military personnel.
iHealth Lab Inc., today announced the release of two new fitness products to its existing lineup of wireless blood-pressure monitors and scales: the Wireless Pulse Oximeter and the Wireless Activity and Sleep Tracker. The company also announced new partnerships with two health and fitness communities, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper.
On May 1, Brookshire's Grocery held a grand opening ceremony for a new Super 1 Foods located at 9 Fair Ave. in Winnsboro, Texas, with a ribbon-cutting event. The company converted the store, which it purchased last year, from the Kaye's Fod Market format.


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EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY WE ARE SUSPENDING ALL ECONOMY SHIPPING OPTIONS
Due to numerous customer complaints we are unfortunately ending the Economy Shipping Option that was created to offset some of the high costs of shipping internationally since the pandemic. However too many customers were not receiving their letters and without tracking we cannot assist customers once the items leave the USA.
As a result International customers will be required to ship via DHL, UPS or USPS International which are at much higher rates.
We apologize for the added costs that this will add to the customers order but we have no control over the international shipping rates.


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This is going to be Fortnite’s first year at E3, after becoming the cultural and financial force it has grown into across the past year. Fortnite will have its own booth at the show, a live event and a party, but what will all this mean for everyone who isn’t at E3 next week?
Fortnite could be coming to the Nintendo Switch
Rumors abound that Epic Games will use E3 to announce that Fortnite is coming to Switch. Based on how well the game works on iOS devices, a Switch port should be not only possible, but also really fun to play. Data miners are making it look like this is pretty much a sure thing.
Tired: Revealing new games during an E3 presentation— Michael (@SciresM) June 5, 2018
Wired: Announcing new games by pushing an update for them to the eShop. pic.twitter.com/Nwzi2v6fWN
The portable nature of the system may make the Switch port the best way to play the game when you’re away from your traditional console or PC. It would be simple to set up an impromptu Fortnite LAN party with friends due to the popularity of the Switch and the fact Fortnite is free-to-play. There’s even a possibility that it could launch during the show. The announcement seems like a sure thing, but an instant launch is a long shot
Fortnite might finally get an Android release date
Speaking of portable Fortnite, E3 would be a good time to announce a release date for the Android version of the game as well.
A good chance for competitive Fortnite to shine
There will also be a live Fortnite tournament on Tuesday, June 12, featuring piles of the game’s biggest streamers and a selection of mainstream celebrities. You can watch it just about everywhere:
- Twitch: FortniteGame
- Youtube: Fortnite
- Facebook: @FortniteGame
- Twitter: @FortniteGame
- Mixer: Fortnite
“50 pros and 50 celebrities pair up to earn the ultimate Victory Royale — $3,000,000 in charity prize money that they will donate to their charity of choice,” The Fortnite team states in the official post. “The winning duo will receive $1,000,000 in charity to split!”
Expect this to be a big deal: this is one of the first big Fortnite tournaments that brings together this many well-known players and celebs, and the prize pool is pretty extensive as well. Combine that with the fact that Fortnite streaming numbers are huge in general, and it’s hard to say just how big this event could get in terms of concurrent viewers. Expect Epic Games to crow about the numbers very soon after it’s over.
We also know that Epic Games has been working on Fortnite’s replay functionality specifically to get ready for the Pro-Am at E3. I can’t wait to see what the improved tools look like, and how well Epic is able to present the game in that setting while keeping the action easy to follow for everyone watching at home. Making sure a game with 100 players per round can be spectated well is a big challenge, and this may be one of our first looks at how prepared Epic Games is for the challenge.
What does this all mean for Fortnite?
E3 is a strange environment for Fortnite and Epic Games since the title has grown so large organically among the fans. Patch updates and news go straight to the community through the game’s Twitter feed and Reddit posts, and the game’s developers often seem too busy making the damned thing on a week-to-week basis to find time to talk to the press about it.
But E3 does give the title the opportunity to take a victory lap after dominating pop culture so thoroughly in the past few months, and bringing the game to more platforms while showing off how Fortnite could look as a serious esport will only improve its popularity.
Fortnite doesn’t really need to be at E3, nor does it need specific attention from the press. But Epic Games seems to have a solid plan for using the show to continue growing the game while making sure as many people as possible can play on as many devices as possible. Shockingly enough, it looks like Fortnite is only going to get bigger.
And who knows? Maybe the hatch will open.


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While the technology is advancing rapidly, speeds haven't come close to reaching original engineering design expectations.
"From the information available and as an engineer, there still seems to be more work needed in communicating how the system will mitigate the risks... when operating at speeds of 700mph (1,126kmh)", she said.
As with many good business ventures, competition is brewing.
China: India Intrusion in Border Undermines Peace
Sushma Swaraj said "friend" can be the definition of India for its neighborhood. This is a prerequisite and basis for resolving the incident.' it added.
They achieved a new top speed of 192 mph (310 km an hour).
While impressive, the 192mph trip falls short of the 250mph goal the company had set itself.
On Saturday, the Los Angeles-based company achieved another milestone when its prototype Hyperloop pod, XP-1, made its first full-scale run on the company's Nevada test track.
Hyperloop is an idea floated by Musk in 2012.
Samsung Galaxy Note8: Final specs
The distributor hints that the Galaxy Note 8 is the biggest changes as compared to its flagship phones and processor. Now it seems like Google is all prepared to roll out its DayDream VR support for #samsung galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 +.
Speaking earlier this year, creative director at Hyperloop One Colin Rhys confirmed that the company would open its 1st global office in Dubai in September. Speedy yet affordable electric cars are one example; another is the development of high-speed mass transportation. Ars has reached out to Hyperloop One for clarification, and we'll update when we receive a response. "The presence of the team in this contest signals that we have a competitive advantage". Hyperloop has had global investors agog for a while now.
Hyperloop One plans to transport cargo with its technology by 2020 and passengers by 2021, its site says. Representatives of both American companies were recently in India to lobby the government for land to build a hyperloop track. And that's exactly what Elon Musk wanted.
On the safety side, the threat of a rupture in the tube while a vehicle is traveling at jet-speed could deter some travelers, but on the logistics side, hyperloop represents unparalleled speed and connectivity.
Philadelphia spokesperson Mike Dunn said they had no contact with Musk on the matter, adding in a statement to PhillyVoice that "there are numerous hurdles for this unproven "Hyperloop" technology before it can become reality".
Kaepernick's GF Appears To Compare Bisciotti, Lewis To Slave Owner, Slave
Harbaugh has spoken directly about Kaepernick during training camp, acknowledging that the team is considering him. Numerous people who would be upset are the hypocritical and duplicitous flag wavers seen at Donald Trump rallies.
"Customers are saying 'Why are we taking 10 months to have a meeting on this stuff when a company in California is building this stuff in 10 months?'", he said.
- Over 60000 orders of Tesla Model 3 cancelled: Musk
- Tax Free Weekend for Back to School Shoppers
- Patriots Celebrate Tom Brady's 40th Birthday by Bringing Baby Goats to Camp
- Welch Joins Bipartisan Effort To Strengthen Obamacare
- Russian Federation blasts U.S. sanctions as 'economic war'
- The Eyes Have it: Microsoft Is Building Eye Control Into Windows 10
- We will be playing for the Premier League title, says Liverpool manager
- Fans Freaked Out When Jon Snow Met Daenerys On 'Game Of Thrones'
- Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) Valuation According To Analysts
- Pound climbs as traders wait for BOE's 'Super Thursday'


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Alleged Eastview shoplifter caught after chase
VICTOR – An Erie County teen faces a pair of criminal charges after a shoplifting incident at Eastview Mall that ended after a brief foot chase.
According to the Ontario County Sheriff's Department, Yavonya Samone Frazier, 17, of Amherst, was charged with petit larceny and possession of criminal tools after a shoplifting complaint from Buckle, a mall clothing store, and a subsequent foot chase. Frazier is accused of stealing $735 worth of clothing from the store.
After a Victor Town Court arraignment, she was remanded to the Ontario County Jail on $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 insurance bond.


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Proposal to ban Tesla's direct sales model gets tabled
Indiana lawmakers send issue to a summer study committee.
A state Senate committee on Thursday effectively tabled a controversial proposal to prevent Tesla Motors Inc. from selling cars in Indiana under its current business model.
The Senate Commerce and Technology Committee voted to send House Bill 1254 to a summer study committee. The House passed the same version of the bill Feb. 2.
Sen. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, the committee chairman, had supported a version of the bill that would have banned manufacturers from selling directly to consumers. That version of the legislation would have caused Tesla's dealer license to expire in 2018 and forced the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company to either adopt a franchise dealer model or stop selling cars in Indiana. Tesla has a 2-year-old showroom at Fashion Mall at Keystone.
Buck on Thursday opened the committee hearing by saying he has been on the receiving end of "incivility" from Tesla supporters this week, as the bill received national attention.
Buck and the bill's author, Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City, agreed to put the issue before a study committee. That means the legislature won't consider a ban on direct auto sales until at least next year.
"We are trying to make what we are doing here fair to all," Buck said.
Todd Maron, the general counsel for Tesla, said in a prepared statement: "We look forward to participating in the upcoming summer study process where we will be able to fully air the issues of vehicle sales and consumer choice in an open and public forum."
General Motors, which has four facilities in Indiana, supports a ban on direct auto sales, arguing that Tesla has a unique advantage in Indiana. Existing state law prevents General Motors and other automakers from opening sales centers, such as Tesla's, that would compete with its dealerships.
General Motors issued a statement saying it will continue to work toward passage of laws banning direct sales from automakers in Indiana and other states.
"GM is very pleased that we were able to elevate the issue of disparity impacting our dealer partners in Indiana, that this received as much attention as it did, and that this issue advanced as far as it did," the statement said. "We appreciate the Indiana legislature for taking this on, debating, and helping raise the profile of this important issue, which demonstrates the inequity of different competitors having different rules in the marketplace."
General Motors' public support for the bill has opened up the Detroit automaker to unfair criticism, Buck said.
"So far in this discourse, GM has been the whipping boy," he said.
Buck and Mahan said the proposal has broad support from automakers and dealerships. The bill wasn't about shutting down Tesla, they added, but rather creating a common set of rules for all manufacturers. They expect more electric car makers to enter Indiana in the future.
"No one in this state wants to stop innovation," Buck said. "But we do want and always have tried to make a level playing field."
Mahan said he drafted his bill to protect consumers and create fair competition among automakers.
"We have heard that (the bill) is anti-free market," Mahan said. "Let's be clear: A truly free market would have no rules or regulations whatsoever."
Mahan noted his law wouldn't necessarily have shuttered Telsa's sales efforts in Indiana. Tesla would have the option to set up a franchise dealer model to continue selling cars in the state.
"That would have been their choice not to comply with the law," he said.
Call IndyStar reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.


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Game (still) on: How coronavirus is impacting the gaming industry
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, movie theaters shuttered, Hollywood delayed some of its biggest films indefinitely, numerous productions across movies and TV halted, and virtually every major pop culture event planned for the next couple months either shut down or picked a new date. One might imagine that videogames would be the least affected branch of the entertainment world. Self-isolating in front of the TV screen does pair well with quarantines. While the industry remains one of the few not completely stunted during these uncertain times, the coronavirus has indeed affected players, developers, and studios, both for better and worse.
Cowen Inc., an independent bank and financial services company, stated "the obvious" in a March 16 report: "We expect videogame sector fundamentals to fare far better than the market average during the current COVID-related extraordinary measures, and during any possible resulting recession. As such, we think the sector is a (relatively) good place to weather market volatility."
Sure enough, videogame usage during peak hours is now up 75 percent since citizens were encouraged to participate in social distancing and self-isolation a week ago, according to a new Verizon report released Tuesday that analyzes data usage habits. That's compared to a 20 percent increase in web traffic and a 12 percent increase in video usage. The percentage of social media usage remained the same. "As more entertainment options are canceled in communities across the U.S., an increase in video traffic and online gaming is not surprising,” commented Kyle Malady, Verizon's chief technology officer. Though, he does expect these peak hour percentages to "fluctuate" from week to week.
One game that saw a significant spike in player activity, specifically online multiplayer activity, was Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale spin-off to Call of Duty. Launched on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One on March 10, Warzone drew in more than 15 million players online just three days later, per publisher Activision. This broke the previous 10 million three-day record set by last year's Apex Legends.
According to SteamDB, a third-party database, the online PC gaming marketplace Steam reached a record 20,313,451 concurrent users on Sunday. (A rep for Valve, the company behind Steam, could not be reached immediately to verify.)
The concern doesn't seem to be about player activity driving down. It's already been driving up. But with the constantly shifting landscape in response to the spread of coronavirus, gaming publishers and developers are trying to adapt in order to serve their player bases.
Final Fantasy VII, the highly anticipated remake from Square Enix, is set for release on April 10. But new precautions from Amazon could potentially hinder the launch plan. On March 13, Amazon announced "the decision to temporarily prioritize household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers" to more quickly "receive, restock, and ship these products to customers." As a result, Square Enix notified fans on Wednesday that, "with the unforeseeable changes in the distribution and retail landscape which varies across countries, it is increasingly likely that some of you will not get hold of your copy of the game on the release date."
"We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and working with our partners, retailers, and Square Enix teams across Europe and the Americas, to do everything we can to ensure as many of you as possible can play the game on April 10," a statement reads.
Nintendo users shared over social media that some have also received notifications from Amazon about shipments of physical copies of the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons (out Friday) being delayed. (The game can also be purchased through the Nintendo Switch eShop.) Other big game titles coming out in the coming weeks include Bethesda's remake of DOOM Eternal (Friday), Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 3 (April 3), and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II (May 29). A rep for Bethesda declined to comment for this story, but mentioned "the team is currently focused on the DOOM Eternal launch." A rep for Capcom, who's working closely with all its teams as they work from home, confirms the release of Resident Evil 3 remains the same at the moment. Multiple reps from Sony Interactive Entertainment (which is releasing The Last of Us Part II) did not respond to EW's requests for comment.
GameStop, however, announced plans to sell copies of DOOM Eternal early "as a safety precaution for our customers and associates" in light of social distancing guidelines. The game is now currently available to purchase through the store.
As of March 19, GameStop released a note to customers online confirming stores would remain open in order "to provide essential products to our customers that allows them to stay connected, and provide products that allows business and consumers to work remotely." A number of changes were implemented, including restricting store hours, only allowing 10 customers in a single store at the same time, maintaining "a 6-foot parameter between customers in checkout lines," temporarily suspending trade-in options, disabling interactive game stations, postponing events (including midnight launch activities), and providing front-door pick-up options for customers.
Meanwhile, developers are still working to maintain their games, including post-launch content. Some already took advanced steps to ensure their teams would be able to operate from remote locations. Remedy Entertainment is one of them.
The Finnish game developer behind Control, which first launched on Aug. 27, 2019, has been working on the next DLC (downloadable content) story line, "Foundation," which will be available to download from the Playstation 4 and Epic Games store on March 26, followed by an Xbox One launch on June 25.
"Starting a while ago, due to the global COVID-18 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, Remedy Entertainment set up a strike team to plan how we can effectively keep our operations going, maintain our business and our employee's safety as we transition into working remotely, and set up for everything that entails," a spokesperson said in a statement. "We have actively been preparing by upgrading our remote working capabilities and the required infrastructure during the past few weeks, as well as doing our utmost to make this as seamless as possible for our employees, so that they can focus on their work and safety. The majority of the studio has already transitioned into working remotely."
In a separate email conversation with EW, Remedy's communications director, Thomas Puha, writes how the strike team began preparations in February "to figure out how the entire company could work offsite."
"We had okay capabilities to do that anyway, but scaling up is a definitely challenge, but our team has done amazingly well," he writes. "It’s not like people can just take their computers and dev kits and go home and work and that’s it. There’s far more to it."
Puha continues, "There are some technical hurdles we are dealing with that I know other devs are too, but we are working on solutions for those. The lack of being able to go talk to people in person like you can in an office is something no video chat is going to solve though. Still, we’ve been surprised how well we’ve managed to maintain productivity as we transition to working in a completely distributed fashion. The 'Foundation' expansion was mostly done before our transition though, so it was easier for that project."
A spokesperson for Epic Games (the folks behind Fortnite) told EW over email, "We’ve taken proactive steps to protect the health and safety of our teams, their families, and partners, and have implemented work-from-home solutions that allow us to continue to be productive. As always, players should keep an eye on our social channels for any news on game updates."
Ubisoft and Rockstar Games also adopted "work-from-home policies," per respective statements. Making Assassin's Creed Odyssey available to play for free on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows (via Uplay) from March 19-22, Ubisoft is "adapting to new ways of working to ensure you can keep playing." Rockstar, which is planning "more events and activities" for Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption II online, affirms "confident we have a robust system in place for our teams to continue their work with a minimum disruption."
Mobile games, however, run into unique challenges. Niantic's Pokémon Go and Harry Potter-themed Wizards Unite operate through augmented reality software are designed for players who are out and about in the world and interacting with the game. Because of the coronavirus, certain steps were taken. Niantic canceled a series of community events, which were designed to bring multiple players in the same local areas to play together. The Abra Community Day and weekly raid hours were some of them.
The company is also encouraging players to stay inside by making the game more playable at home. As of Tuesday, Pokémon Go allowed for a one-time purchase bundle of 30 Incense (which draws Pokémon to your location) for 1 PokéCoin (the in-game currency). Incense was also made to last for an hour, among other perks. Developers of Wizards Unite took similar steps and continued to roll out the 2.11 version of the game on Thursday. When asked to comment, a rep for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which releases Wizards Unite, stated "everyone has been asked to work from home."
NetherRealm Studios, behind Mortal Kombat 11, canceled upcoming live-steamed events, including the live audience for the eSports competition Final Kombat 2020. But hit hardest have been gaming conferences and conventions.
Like most other pop culture events planned for the coming months, including South by Southwest film and music festival, CinemaCon, and DragonCon L.A., E3 2020 was shut down. Initially planned from June 9-11, the convention would have seen developers and gaming studios preview upcoming releases and deliver announcements in front of fans, press, and other members of the industry. Instead, organizers are now working with developers to explore "online experience" options that will likely see online presentations rolling out the latest updates. Specifics are still to be determined.
Before E3, the Game Developers Conference, planned for March, was also canceled. As a result, it seems Sony changed plans to reveal the technical specs for the upcoming new console system, Playstation 5, through an online presentation this week. "Unfortunately, we had to cancel the talk that we had planned for GDC," Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said at the beginning of Wednesday's digital event. "But we do have some super exciting news about PS5."
With so much changing day to day, the big questions surround the planned releases of Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, the two next-generation consoles announced for release sometime in the holiday 2020 season. Market research firm DFC Intelligence, as reported by Forbes, predicted a likely future in which coronavirus has "a major short-term impact on the delivery of both systems." A rep for Xbox didn't have anything to share when reached for comment. Multiple reps for Sony did not respond to requests for comment.
"There is a strong likelihood one or both systems will not make a 2020 launch. If the systems do launch, supply will likely be constrained and initial pricing could be higher than expected," a note from the firm reads. "Currently the economy is in an unprecedented state of uncertainty. Even if the situation clears up in a few weeks, the ability to manufacture and release a high-end new game system has already been severely impacted."
For the time being, it seems it is business as usual… albeit with a glitch here and there.
This article was updated with additional reporting on March 20, 2020.


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Mercedes-Benz ML-Class facelift spied
The Mercedes-Benz ML-Class has been spotted wearing heavy camouflage, with the disguised car to bring major changes as part of a mid-life update.
Only two images of the Mercedes-Benz SUV have been made available by CarAdvice's spy photographers, though they clearly show changes to the bonnet, headlights, front bumper and grille that will bring the ML-Class more in line with current offerings from the brand like the new C-Class and S-Class.
It is currently unclear if the brand will offer new engines or transmissions for the ML-Class, but given the company's move to introduce a new nine-speed automatic in the facelifted CLS-Class later this year, it seems probable that mechanical modifications will be seen.
Technology upgrades will likely include items such as the radar-based cruise control system Distronic Plus with steering control, while the interior is also expected to benefit from a more modern layout, new instruments and new media interface.
Mercedes-Benz Australia confirmed the new model will be sold here, but that it won't arrive until "late 2015 at the earliest".


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Google leader 'committed' to Yahoo ad pact
Despite growing signals that Google's advertising pact with Yahoo might be challenged by federal regulators, Google CEO Eric Schmidt defended the deal Wednesday and said the company expected to implement it, as planned, in October.
"The deal was designed precisely to meet the terms of antitrust laws in the United States because we knew people would raise these questions," he said. "We spent months and months working with Yahoo to come up with a good deal. We're very committed to the deal."
Schmidt's comments came just two days after European authorities said they had begun a preliminary investigation into the impact of the agreement, which would allow Google to place some ads on Yahoo's pages. The U.S. Department of Justice is also reviewing the agreement.
On Monday, the World Association of Newspapers also offered a scathing critique of the deal, stating that a tie-up would result in "less revenues and higher prices" for its members.
But Schmidt said concerns over the deal, which mostly revolve around the possibility that the price of online advertising would increase, are overblown.
"We're quite certain that Microsoft is busy helping people get upset about things," he said. "Some of the other feedback (is) probably because we haven't explained the structure of the deal very well.
"You face a question as a large company that is trying to change things: How many of these initiatives do you want to take on that are either unpopular or are going to lead to criticism? The guidance we use is, What's beneficial to the end user?"
He went on to say that neither Yahoo nor Google would set the price of ads under the agreement, which are instead set via auction.
Schmidt's remarks echoed those of Yahoo U.S. President Hilary Schneider, who said last week that the deal would be beneficial to consumers, who would be able to see Google ads on some Yahoo pages that are now mostly ad-free.
Schneider's Sunnyvale company sees "this as adding to their product, not replacing it," Schmidt said. "The deal is completely not exclusive. Yahoo has no limitations to working with other people including, by the way, Microsoft."
During a wide-ranging conversation with reporters at Google's Mountain View headquarters, Schmidt, who was joined by company co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, also discussed other developments in what is proving to be an eventful fall for the for the Internet giant.
Google recently released a Web browser, Chrome, which Schmidt described as a "platform for a new category of apps." Next week, T-Mobile will unveil the first phone using Google's Android operating system.
Brin emphasized the open-source possibilities of both products, which he said contrast with the efforts of other companies.
"We're actually serious about this," Brin said.
Asked about the efforts to make money from YouTube, which Google has described as a priority, Schmidt said the company has "the luxury of time."
"We have the time to invest and try things that are really revolutionary," he said.
Looking at the larger marketplace, Tim Armstrong, Google's president of advertising and commerce, said an economic downturn could help the company because in placing ads online, companies have more accountability over their budgets, potentially leading to a move from offline to online advertising.


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With numerous studies linking soft drinks to rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes, especially in children, reducing consumption of sugary drinks would appear to have obvious benefits for public health. Limiting access to soft drinks at school has been shown to reduce children's overall consumption of such beverages, and raising the price of soft drinks through new taxes would likely reduce consumption among adults too.
Iowa native Susan Neely will lead the opposition to policies aimed at getting Americans to drink less pop, soda or sugary juice and sports drinks. In the Sunday Des Moines Register, Philip Brasher profiled Neely, who has been president and chief executive of the American Beverage Association since 2005. I recommend reading his whole article, but I will comment on a few key points after the jump.
Neely and her industry are trying to prevent Congress or the Obama administration from imposing more stringent restrictions on what the campuses can put in school vending machines. Congress is due this year to revise the rules for school lunches and other child nutrition programs. A key issue is whether the Agriculture Department will get the authority to regulate what can be sold in school vending machines.
Some critics also are calling for taxes on sugary soft drinks to curb consumption.
Neely's claim to fame is helping forge an agreement in 2006 between soft drink makers and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation):
The guidelines focus on reducing the number of calories children consume through beverages, with the understanding that balancing calories consumed with calories burned is the best way to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
The guidelines provide a broad range of lower-calorie and smaller-portion beverage choices: 100% juice, low-fat milk and bottled water in elementary and middle schools, with the addition of diet sodas, sports drinks and low-calorie teas in high schools. The guidelines remove full-calorie soft drinks from all schools.
Brasher's article quotes a longtime colleague who says Neely got the soft drink makers to agree to a "huge culture change" by adopting these voluntary guidelines, because they limited sales of leading brand names. I don't see the guidelines as a big concession from beverage makers, because they can still profit from selling their products in schools. Also, I don't consider diet sodas and sports drinks particularly healthy regular choices for teenagers. Brasher notes that "the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, recommends limiting [sports drinks] to student athletes after their workouts."
Anyway, I found a different part of Neely's biography more revealing. During the early 1990s, she worked in the health insurance industry's trade group and helped create the infamous "Harry and Louise" ad campaign that attacked President Clinton's health-care reform initiative. Speaking of the Harry and Louise ads, Neely told Brasher,
"I learned that it's possible to take an issue and a point of view and develop broad-based support for that point of view," she said.
For those who are too young to remember Harry and Louise, the ads developed "broad-based support" by focusing on the allegedly dire consequences that health care reform would have on average working families. Nowhere did they mention the potential impact on the corporations that funded the ad campaign.
Speaking about proposals intended to reduce soft drink sales, Neely is careful not to complain about how those policies would hurt the bottom line of American Beverage Association member companies. Instead, she emphasizes that many factors contribute to obesity and that soft drinks can be part of a healthy lifestyle, including plenty of activity and hydration. She also strikes a populist tone in her response to a recent commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine:
"We agree that obesity is a serious and complex problem. It defies both science and common sense, however, to think singling out one product as a unique contributor to obesity will make a dent in the problem." Moreover, [Neely] argued: "Taxing these products won't make an ounce of difference in reducing obesity. But these taxes will inflict serious pain to hard-working families, who face higher costs at the store and the risk of losing their job all in the middle of a devastating recession."
The authors of the New England Journal of Medicine piece, Yale professor Kelly Brownell and New York City health commissioner Thomas Frieden, are advocating a significant tax on soft drinks precisely because of evidence that
people are likely to cut back on consumption of junk foods and drinks as their prices rise even as purchases of milk, bread or flour hold relatively steady in the face of escalating prices.
One analysis by Brownell's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity indicated that for every 10 percent rise in the price of sugary drinks, consumption of those drinks falls by 7.8 percent. In their new commentary, Brownell and Frieden point to industry data that suggest there could be an even stronger push back: that every percent rise in cost translates into at least as large a percentage drop in consumption.
I understand the argument that significant soft drink taxes would be regressive, but so are cigarette taxes, and we accept those as a proven way to reduce smoking.
Another theme running through Brasher's profile was Neely's desire to cite her "experience as a mom" as the basis for her opposition to soft drink limits. She tells Brasher,
"If you eliminate one product, there will be another (unhealthful) product [...] My children need to understand how to make good choices."
And in a sidebar to the article:
As the soft drink industry's chief advocate, Susan Neely developed guidelines that called for eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages from elementary and middle schools. But that doesn't mean she doesn't let her children have them at home - as after-school treats. Bottled water goes with lunch.
Neely said she regulates her kids' consumption and tries to model good nutrition for them.
A pollster who has worked with her since Harry and Louise days told Brasher that Neely is
an effective leader for the soft-drink business because she understands a key audience: "moderation moms," relatively affluent women who want to protect their kids' health while still letting them have some drinks and sweets.
Judging from the number of ads for beauty and health products "invented by a mom!", Americans must have very positive associations about mothers' wisdom and expertise. And naturally, Neely is going to sound more persuasive as a mom trying to help her kids make good choices than as the chief executive of the soft drink industry's lobbying arm.
The idea that soft drinks can be part of a healthy diet and lifestyle is a major theme on the American Beverage Association's website and has been a staple of industry messaging for a long time. For instance, an article about the role of soft drinks in obesity and type 2 diabetes among children includes this passage for balance:
"All foods and beverages can play an important role in a healthy diet if they're consumed in moderation and also with regular exercise," said Tracey Halliday, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association.
Here's my problem with the "moderation mom" argument. Parents make their own choices about where to take a hard line and where to be lenient. In my household we're relaxed about bedtimes and snacking between meals, but we're very strict about television and drinks other than water or milk. I respect other parents who pick different battles, but I want public policy to reflect what's good for public health. In other words, let moms and dads be "moderate" about sports drinks or sodas on their own time, without giving kids easy access to unhealthy beverages in schools.
If the school nutrition program or other public policies are intended to reduce consumption of drinks with no nutritional value, then let's do what has been shown to reduce consumption: making soft drinks unavailable in schools and/or raising taxes on such products.
Please share any relevant thoughts in this thread.
Here's my response to Neely (4.00 / 1)
cuz believe me - I've been watching her sweet talk the Senate and receive praise from Senators like Harkin and Dodd. It's not JUST what you serve the kids in school. It's the marketing. They are still getting exposed to name brands with the "healthier" beverages being marketed in schools, and then they go home when the bell rings and they drink stuff at home too. You might only have 100% fruit juice at school but the same brand could have several products that are 10% juice, 90% high fructose corn syrup in the grocery store. You might have 10 oz serving sizes in school but 20 oz in the grocery store. And once you've got the kid loyal to your brand - AND believing that brand has the school's stamp of approval, they're gonna buy it in school AND out of school.


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Stockport-based musicMagpie, a pioneer in refurbished and recycled consumer technology has successfully completed the roll out of its SMARTDrop Kiosks in Asda stores nationwide.
There are now kiosks in 290 Asda stores across the UK, meaning that 90 per cent of the UK’s population lives within a 15-minute drive of one. So far, over £7m has been paid out to customers using the kiosks, with 25,000 phones having been traded in at an average price of £273 over the past 12 months.
For customers, the kiosks offer an even faster and easier way to recycle unwanted phones for instant cash. Customers take their phone to a kiosk, receive a valuation, deposit it and then have the money paid to their bank or PayPal account within minutes, which they can then use to pay for their shopping in-store that day if they choose.
For musicMagpie, the kiosk network gives it an opportunity to buy incremental units by unlocking the value of the unused tech in homes across the country.
The kiosks are part of a wider sustainability partnership between musicMagpie and Asda. An affiliate agreement between the two businesses means that Asda customers can buy and sell refurbished consumer technology such as mobile phones, tablets, DVDs and CDs with musicMagpie through the Asda website and mobile app.
When selling, the items can then be dropped off by the customer at any Asda store, from where they are transferred to musicMagpie using Asda’s “toyou” service. In addition, Asda sells musicMagpie’s pre-owned DVDs and CDs in over 200 of its stores across the country.
musicMagpie is now exploring further opportunities for its SMARTDrop Kiosks, to make it even more convenient for customers to sell their old tech.
Steve Oliver, CEO and co-founder of musicMagpie, said: “We are delighted to have completed the rollout of our innovative SMARTDrop kiosks with Asda. In the current climate, it’s critically important that we make it as easy as possible for people to free up cash – especially as we know that that the average household has 11 items of unused consumer technology lying around, totalling £16.5bn across the UK and depreciating by the day. The wider partnership with Asda is an integral part of our ‘buy more, sell more, rent more’ strategy, and gives consumers even more opportunities to make decisions that are both smart for them and smart for the planet.”


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Harvest Moon is coming to PC, and this time, fingers crossed, it'll actually happen. The newly announced instalment, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, will get its first showing at E3 next month, on both PC and Nintendo Switch (it's coming to PS4 too, for what it's worth).
All we really know so far is that it exists. No images exist yet aside from the logo embedded above, though the following notes were in the press release:
"In Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, players begin the game as they set out looking for a fresh start and new surroundings. During their voyage, their ship is hit by a monsoon and goes down. As they drift into a small harbor town, now in a shambles from the storm, it will be up to the player to help rebuild the town and save the lighthouse...but it won't be easy! Nevertheless, with some hard work growing crops, tending livestock, and gathering materials for repairs, players will be able to make new friends, start a family, revive the lighthouse, and save the town!"
If this whole Harvest-Moon-is-coming-to-PC scenario sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you remember Seeds of Memories. Announced back in 2015, it was a fairly mediocre looking outing which ended up hitting Android and iOS and... maybe the Wii U? Whatever the case, Wes saw it and was not impressed. Hopefully Light of Hope will prove a true contender in this competitive post-Stardew Valley world.


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The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is the biggest event of the year for millions of gamers. The majority of coverage ends up gawking over the latest news out of Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo, and we certainly will provide our insights in those places if we believe they have been insufficiently explained, but E3 is also a big time for PC gamers too.
5 GHz and unlocked to go from there.
AMD, specifically, has a lot to say this year. In the year of the next-gen console reveals, AMD provides the CPU architecture for two of the three devices and have also designed each of the three GPUs. This just leaves a slight win for IBM, who is responsible for the WiiU main processor, for whatever that is worth. Unless the Steam Box comes to light and without ties to AMD, it is about as close to a clean sweep as any hardware manufacturer could get.
But for the PCs among us…
For those who have seen the EA press conference, you have probably seen lots of sports. If you stuck around after the sports, you probably saw Battlefield 4 being played by 64 players on stage. AMD has been pushing, very strongly, for developer relations over the last year. DICE, formerly known for being an NVIDIA-friendly developer, did not exhibit Battlefield 4 "The Way It's Meant to be Played" at the EA conference. According to one of AMD's Twitter accounts:
On the topic of "Gaming Evolved" titles, AMD is partnering with Square Enix to optimize Thief for GCN and A-Series APUs. The Press Release specifically mentioned Eyefinity and Crossfire support along with a DirectX 11 rendering engine; of course, the enhancements with real, interesting effects are the seemingly boring ones they do not mention.
The last major point from their E3 event was the launch of their 5 GHz FX processors. For more information on that part, check out Josh's thoughts from a couple of days ago.


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Purchase of ironing equipment in France
In France, the consumer price index (CPI) of irons remained relatively stable between March 2018 and March 2019, amounting to about 90.5 that last month. This matches the CPI of small electrical household appliances in general. At the beginning of 2019, the CPI of these devices in France reached 94.18, while in March 2019 it fell below 93 .
Electrical household appliances in France
Globally, the market for small domestic appliances in France represented 822 million euros during the first quarter of 2020 but reached over 1.26 billion euros during the last quarter of 2019.


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According to an analysis by Travel Data+Analytics, in May 2023 booking sales for vacation trips were one percent higher than before the crisis. However, the number is still eleven percent below the value that could be achieved in 2019.
Turkey and Greece are particularly in demand. Egypt and Tunisia are also being booked more and more frequently. The undisputed number one should still be Mallorca and the other Balearic Islands.


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Even the notoriously cranky Kanye West is smiling today. Or at least he should be.
The 36-year-old new dad of Kim Kardashian's baby North West has created a clothing line with French brand A.P.C. that's selling faster than Kanye raps.
The nine-piece collection — which consists of the essentials like jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies — went on sale online Sunday morning at about 10 a.m. Paris time and, according to People, immediately sold out and crashed the A.P.C. website. Although some items have already been restocked, only the less popular sizes (size 25 jeans or an XXL T-shirt, for example) appear to still be available.
West and Kardashian were photographed together in Paris this spring as he worked on the designs, but the collaboration was only announced this summer. A.P.C. designer Jean Touitou explained that the project actually took two years.
"Over the months, we kept hanging out and finally came up with the idea of doing a small capsule collection of clothes together," Touitou said in a statement.
If you haven't yet had the opportunity to buy a silkscreened tee with skeletons on it for about $137 in U.S. dollars, or a gray hoodie for about $222, the website is taking pre-orders through Wednesday.
West's previous attempts at fashion design have not always been successful. When he debuted his women's fashion label, DW Kanye West, at Paris Fashion Week in 2011, critics were not exactly kind.
The International Herald Tribune's style editor Jessica Michault took to Twitter to give her straightforward assessment: "The Kanye West show, in my humble opinion, is proof that everyone can love fashion but not everyone can be a fashion designer."
What do you think of West's latest threads?
More Celebrity Features on Yahoo!:


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January 11, 2012 |
The decline in food grain prices over the past three months has impacted agri input demand negatively and is likely to put pressure on the December 2011 quarter results of India's agrochemical companies. With the rupee weakening over 20% during the quarter, the cost pressure on India-focused firms is expected to be higher. Companies with an overseas exposure will, however, continue to do well. Prices of a number of agrocommodities have fallen considerably in the past three months of 2011.
November 15, 2006 |
NEW DELHI: United Phosphorus (UPL) is acquiring Cerexagri Group of companies which is engaged in crop protection products from French chemicals group Arkema in a e111m (Rs 640 crore) deal. The deal will propel United Phosphorus as the third largest generic agrochemical company in the world. Cerexagri is the crop science business unit of French chemical major Arkema with annual revenues of about e 200m. Arkema was formed when French oil and gas giant Total restructured its chemicals business in '04. Recently, Total spun it off through an initial public offering.
March 2, 2011 |
BANGALORE: The Indian Agrochemicals Industry is expected to grow at 7.5 per cent, to reach over USD 1.7 billion by 2012, driven by various factors including need for foodgrain self-sufficiency and the momentum in floriculture and horticulture sectors. "Increasing population, high emphasis on achieving food grain self sufficiency, limited farmland availability coupled with pressure to increase yield per hectare and growth in horticulture and floriculture is expected to increase the usage of agrochemicals in the future", Founder and Managing Director Camson Biotechnologies Ltd Dhirendra Kumar, told PTI. Companies are increasing their marketing efforts to train farmers, among other things, about the right use of agrochemicals in terms of quantity to be used.
July 6, 2011 |
In an interview with ET Now, Rajju Shroff, CMD, United Phosphorous, talked about the growth opportunities in global agrochemicals industry and company's future plans. Excerpts: ET Now: Do you believe that for FY12 and possibly even FY13, things are already showing a sign of improvement and would show much more colour than what FY11 showed? Rajju Shroff: I would like to tell you that India chemical industry or pesticide industry is very advance.
July 30, 2012 |
At a time when India Inc is facing the pressure of high inflation and global and political uncertainty, a new challenge is looming large: the increasing perception of inadequate rainfall this year. Recent readings suggest that there is a rainfall deficit of 22%. If this trend continues India could be facing a drought-like situation. For Corporate India, which has grown on the consumption theme during the last couple of years, mainly in rural and semi-urban markets, this could have serious implications.
July 10, 2011 |
MOSCOW: India and China, the world's two biggest producers of agro-chemicals, have agreed to hold buyer-seller meets here on an annual basis to pool their efforts to market products in Russia , which is the biggest consumer in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). A first-ever "International Crop Science Conference and Exhibition (ICSC 2011)" was organised here last week by the Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI), with the cooperation of CHEMEXCIL and the China Crop Protection Industry Association (CCPIA)
March 6, 2014 |
The ability to develop new agrochemical molecules for the farm sector has proved a key differentiator for Dhanuka Agritech, which has forged technical tie-ups with seven multinationals across the US, Europe and Japan. The company's expansive reach with one of the largest distribution networks in the country with 7,500 distributors is a major strength. Dhanuka Agritech builds only the formulation facilities while it purchases technical grade agrochemicals from MNCs or domestic companies.
March 22, 2002 |
mumbai: multinational agrochemical giant aventis cropscience has acquired the 23 per cent stake held by the vapi-based bilakhias in the joint venture bilag industries for rs 243 crore. aventis' stake in the agrochemical company has increased to 74 per cent from 49 per cent, leaving the bilakhias with a 26 per cent strategic holding. aventiscrop science (france) has received the foreign investment promotion board permission to hike the stake. the deal has taken place almost three years after bilag industries was formed by spinning off the pyrethroid agrochemical business of another bilakhia group company, mitsu industries.
January 1, 2014 |
NEW DELHI: Indian equities have seen a liquidity-driven rally in 2013, with the Sensex adding 9%, or 1,700 points, and Nifty nearly 7%, or 400 points. FII inflows were strong during the year and they pumped in more than Rs 1.13 lakh crore into Indian equities. Elections are the major trigger for 2014 and investors expect that the new government would take strong decisions for the growth, Religare Retail Research said in a note. The important factors that may affect the stock market in the year 2014 are global and domestic market environment, inflation , interest rate scenario, fiscal/trade scenario in India and policy actions from the next government, among other things, added the report.
April 23, 2010 |
MUMBAI: Rallis India , an agro-chemical firm, on Thursday said its annual net profit rose 40% due to better product mix and cost control, reports Our Bureau. Net profit of the Tata company rose to Rs 101 crore in the financial year ended March 2010 from Rs 72 crore last year. Net sales during the period grew 5% to Rs 878 crore.


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An ongoing study addressed 595 virtual and enlarged reality professionals about their business development in the shopper and venture markets. Directed by VR Intelligence and SuperData, the study demonstrates that 24 percent of the respondents report solid deals in the venture advertise while just 18 percent indicate solid deals in the customer showcase.
As per the report, the two principle hindrances VR needs to defeat are headset costs and an absence of substance. Albeit original headsets like the Oculus Rift($400) and HTC Vive ($500) have fallen in cost since their presentation, they’re as yet a high-dollar venture. These headsets likewise require a not too bad work area fit for rendering the encounters, which could be an extra mind-boggling expense cost.
Out of the considerable number of respondents, 52 percent trust an absence of substance is the biggest obstruction, down from 62 percent in VR Intelligence’s 2017 overview. Additionally down is their supposition of HMD estimating, with 52 percent trusting cost is an issue versus the 60 percent vote in 2017. In the mean time, movement affliction is the slightest of their worries, with 25 percent trusting movement infection is an obstruction in 2018, down from 28 percent in 2017.
“The adjustment in sentiment on evaluating is undoubtedly an impression of the value drops from real headset makers like HTC, Oculus, and Google; while advancements in content creation are beginning to mitigate this specific hindrance to selection,” the report states. “Moreover, remain solitary gadgets like Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage have cut down the passage point cost of top notch VR as they don’t require a support or ground-breaking PC.”
The review’s respondents trust AR will hit standard reception before VR because of equipment and substance. The study focuses to Pokémon Go, Nintendo’s very well known amusement for cell phones with an AR component. Night Sky will list all the known stars, planets and heavenly bodies with a state of a camera while Amazon’s application can put virtual furniture and different merchandise into your genuine environment.
The overview demonstrates that 12 percent of the respondents trust AR will achieve standard selection inside a year taken after by 34 percent trusting appropriation will occur inside two years. However 33 percent figure selection will go standard in three to four years while 21 percent trust mass appropriation won’t occur for a long time or more.
With respect to VR, the overview paints an alternate picture. Just 6 percent of the respondents trust VR will go standard inside a year while 27 percent trust it will occur inside two years. Different respondents weren’t exactly a cheerful, with 42 percent trusting VR won’t go standard for another three to four years while 26 percent trust VR won’t be mass-received for at least five years.
“The sit tight for purchaser selection has seen numerous VR and AR organizations target venture as their hotspot for shorter-term income and development,” the report includes. “From car to engineering, retail to tourism, assembling to development, immersive tech is affecting the manner in which organizations work, outline, convey and offer.”
For the undertaking, the greatest selection of VR is inside the instruction division taken after by design/building/development, producing, human services, car, managing an account and financing, et cetera.


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPressnews.biz (Press Release) Dec 13, 2014 -- Dubai, UAE, December 13, 2014 -- Camille Paldi, CEO of FAAIF, exhibited at the 3rd OIC Annual Halal Congress in the emirate of Sharjah, UAE. Currently, the halal food products industry stands at $2 trillion worldwide with Muslim countries accounting for $700 billion. The industry is expected to grow to $3.7 trillion in 2019. Currently, the GCC procures US$ 26 billion annually in halal food imports. The CEO of the Islamic Development Economy Development Center in Dubai, Abdullah Al Awar, stated that, “the spread of Islamic sectors such as Islamic banking, halal food, fashion, cosmetics, tourism, and other sectors was no longer a matter just for the Muslim world, but now an international phenomenon.”
|Issued By||:||Camille Paldi|
|Phone||:||+971 56 950 0562|
|Country||:||United Arab Emirates|
|Tags||:||camille paldi, faaif, oic annual halal congress, sharjah, Islamic Finance|
|Last Updated||:||Dec 13, 2014|
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MRFR Press Release/- Market Research Future published a half-cooked research report on the blockchain in retail market.
The blockchain technology offers the retail industry an opportunity to accept cryptocurrencies for payments, enabling cross-border payments and micro-payments. Several retail companies such as Walmart Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Limited, and Shopify are leading the way by adopting Bitcoin transactions.
Blockchain has immense potential to streamline transport and logistics processes to track every stage of a product’s journey with real-time information resulting in the reduction of stolen, lost, or damaged goods. Walmart Inc., an American multinational retail corporation, has already adopted the blockchain technology to keep track of each piece of pork sourced from China with detailed information regarding origin, processing and storage of the product. With the help of blockchain technology retailers are implementing transparency in the supply chain management. Wave, an Isreali company, provides blockchain technology to retailers to assist them in tracking their supply chains with the secured and paperless process. Blockchain allows retailers to capture data at every stage of customer interaction to assess customer buying patterns and trends. Retailers are proactively exploring blockchain’s capabilities along with artificial intelligence and big data analysis for customer loyalty schemes to store loyalty points within a single wallet making it easier to track and redeem the reward points.
The global market for blockchain in retail is estimated to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period from 2023 to 2030. The geographic analysis of the blockchain in retail market has been conducted for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the rest of the world.
North America region dominates the market due to the presence of key market players of blockchain technology solutions that drives the market growth in this region. Many retail companies in the US, Canada, and Mexico have adopted blockchain technology to streamline critical business processes such as payments, supply chain, transportation, logistics, auditing and consumer loyalty schemes.
The market is witnessing a substantial growth in European countries, namely Germany, France, the UK, Spain, and Russia. European retailers are adopting cyptocurrencies to promote cross-border trade. For instance, a French retail giant, Carrefour SA has adopted blockchain ledger technology solution— IBM Food Trust—developed by IBM Corporation, to track and trace chicken, eggs, and tomatoes shipped from farms to stores.
The market in Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a higher rate owing to the wide-scale adoption of blockchain solutions by retail enterprises in China, Japan, India, Australia, and Singapore. Adoption of blockchain by e-commerce enterprises and fashion brands is also expected to drive the market growth in this region.
The Middle East and Africa region presents immense opportunities for key market players as the retail and e-commerce enterprises in this region highly adopt blockchain technology.
The prominent players in the market of Global Blockchain in Retail are IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, SAP SE, Amazon Web Services,Oracle Corporation, Bitfury USA Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Cegeka, Auxesis Group, Blockpoint Systems, BlockApps, R3, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Coin Sciences Ltd., and Cognizant.
The other market players include Coinbase, Bitpay, Blockverify (Venture Proxy Ltd), and Guardtime.


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SAN FRANCISCO — When Jennifer Tejada, chief executive of PagerDuty, decided to take the software company public, she wanted to avoid this week. The stock market closes on Good Friday, and many people are on spring break. She had also feared being drowned out by a horde of other tech initial public offerings.
“I remember saying, ‘I hope we don’t get run over by the ‘unicorn’ stampede,’” she said, using the term for private companies valued at more than $1 billion.
Pinterest, a digital pin board company that is also going public, wanted to beat Friday’s holiday, according to a person familiar with the situation. It wound up scheduling its I.P.O. for Thursday — the same day that Zoom, a video conferencing company, will list its shares.
And Lyft and Uber, the ride-hailing companies, decided to leave breathing room between their I.P.O. filings so as not to run into each other, said two people familiar with the deliberations, who were not authorized to speak publicly. When Lyft filed first, Uber gave itself a 30-day cushion before revealing its own prospectus last week.
The maneuvering is the result of what promises to be a blockbuster year for tech public offerings. With a glut of prominent start-ups coming to market all at once, the companies, their bankers and the stock exchanges face a conundrum: Who goes when?
I.P.O.s are generally a crowning moment that validate years of work. So companies approach the day as something more than a financial transaction — it is also a coming-out party, a branding event and a celebration. And it is a time when the companies do not want to share the spotlight.
“Most of these companies have been private for 10-plus years, and it’s a huge moment,” said Nelson Griggs, president of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, who oversees new listings. “Having their own day is important.”
The investment banks that manage the I.P.O.s have been working to space out prominent offerings by a few weeks so companies don’t step on one another’s toes, according to three bankers, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential client matters.
The biggest concern has been steering clear of the week that Uber goes public, they said. Its market debut next month is expected to be the largest since 2014, and the company has told some of its investors that its stock sale might value it at up to $100 billion. That would leave little attention for any other company.
Many companies that plan to list their shares this year are racing to do so in the first six months, to sidestep any potential economic or market downturn. In January, they had to put their I.P.O. plans on ice for a time because the partial government shutdown affected the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency that reviews public offering prospectuses.
Yet even if the stock market and economy remain strong, excitement over I.P.O.s is likely to fade as the year goes on, especially with so many listings on the docket.
“There could end up being I.P.O. fatigue because it is going to be overwhelming,” said Barrett Daniels, a partner at Deloitte who focuses on I.P.O. advisory work.
If all of the large private tech companies that might be candidates for offerings went to market, they could issue over $100 billion in new stock, said Kathleen Smith, a principal at Renaissance Capital, which tracks I.P.O. data. That would surpass 2000, the peak of the dot-com era, when companies raised $96 billion.
So much new stock could prove difficult for the market to absorb. “I do think there’s going to be some potential indigestion,” Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Daniels of Deloitte said, “We’ve never seen so much money be requested in a single year.” He added, “We’re in uncharted waters.”
Josh King, vice president for communications at the New York Stock Exchange, said it was capable of handling multiple I.P.O.s and had twice hosted seven on the same day. There is only one finite resource that the exchange must manage for all of the offerings flooding into the market: the opening and closing bell ceremonies, when companies ring in and close out the day’s trading. Still, plenty of slots are available, he said.
Many companies use the bell-ringing ceremonies as a branding moment. When Lyft went public last month on the Nasdaq stock exchange, its top two executives, Logan Green and John Zimmer, rang the opening bell from a newly opened support center for its drivers in Los Angeles. Pink confetti rained down, and the celebratory image was instantly memorialized.
PagerDuty, which is based in San Francisco and makes software that helps companies respond to complaints and other incidents, was founded in 2009. It became a unicorn, valued at $1.3 billion by private investors, in 2018. On Thursday, it went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
PagerDuty did not want to miss the opportunity to stand out on its first day of trading, so it brought Pagey, a smiling, bug-eyed, neon green cardboard-and-felt company mascot, to the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor. Pagey frolicked around and photo-bombed CNBC interviews with Ms. Tejada.
Transporting Pagey across the country from its home in San Francisco was not easy. The bulky mascot suit couldn’t be flat-packed into a FedEx box. Ms. Tejada said PagerDuty’s executives had contemplated buying Pagey a plane ticket.
“We held our breath a few times when we didn’t know if he-she-they would make it on time,” Ms. Tejada said. (Pagey has no gender.) But she was determined to get the mascot to the trading floor to help show off PagerDuty’s lighthearted company culture. The company eventually packed Pagey in a customized box and shipped it via courier.
In the end, Ms. Tejada’s concerns about being overshadowed by other tech offerings were moot. PagerDuty’s stock soared nearly 60 percent on its first day of trading.
The company picked the right date for its listing. Minutes after the market closed that day, Uber unveiled its I.P.O. prospectus — and attention immediately shifted.


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A WHITBY seafood business is celebrating 25 years in business with the news that it is to now supply to supermarkets.
Whitby Seafoods is the largest supplier of Scampi already providing to caterers all across the country.
With one in four households now eating Scampi each year the business has been able to expand.
However, the availability of Scampi, especially from Whitby is limited because of fishermen facing fewer days at sea and increased fuel costs.
Laura Whittle, Whitby Seafoods sales and marketing director said: “This new product helps to deliver delicious seafood but at affordable prices and ensure we can make scampi available for everyone to continue to enjoy.”
Whitby Seafood’s has been trading for over 25 years and is the largest supplier of Scampi providing to caterers all across the country and more recently to supermarkets.


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“Feinbeissen“ with enthusiasm guaranteed
Harald Pfeffer and his team are setting culinary highlights "A good event is not enough for us, we want to make the best of it." This claim and no less is the golden rule of Harald Pfeffer, managing director at Feinbeisser catering. The professional chef and in Hamburg long-established caterer has made his passion his profession and offers its customers an exceptional all-round service.
From the choice of location, theme oriented food conceptions and drinks to decoration, Harald Pfeffer and his team coordinate all they customers wishes and needs. It does not matter if it is an event for 15 people or a big event with more than 1000 "We see ourselves as partners and therefore support our customers before, during and after the events," says Pfeffer.
In implementing these individual event concepts Feinbeisser-Catering operates as a full service agency. "Each customer is a new challenge," says Pfeffer, who of course, focuses in addition to professional personnel , on maximum quality for all processed ingredients. The feedback speaks for Feinbeisser catering. The company recorded an increasing number of requests for full service events for companies as well as individuals, who favors the passionate and extremely service-oriented work of the caterer. The culinary range is huge. Whether meat, fish, fruit, vegetables or finger food - Pfeffers crew is always looking for the optimal solution ft achieve the desired wow effect and an appropriate price-performance ratio. "We see our mission as fulfilled if the customer is excited during and especially after the event", says the Managing Director.


text: LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Belgian brewer InBev be:000379310 said Friday that first-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders more than doubled to 166 million euros from 58 million euros. Revenue for the period rose 22.9% to 2.79 billion euros as total volume of drinks manufactured rose 5.9% to 50.1 million hectoliters, or 10.6 billion pints. The company said its operating profit margin for the quarter was 29.5%, up from 23.8%. Analysts polled by AFX News had been forecasting a margin in the range of 28.4% to 29.8%. InBev said the strongest growth was in Latin America, while Central and Eastern Europe sales suffered from the unusually cold weather. InBev said the competitive environment remains challenging, but added its long-term objective of margin expansion is on track.


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A couple of good new interviews on Just Auto this week. Firstly, to learn how electronics specialist NVIDIA is developing artificial intelligence and high performance computing products for the automotive industry, we spoke to Tim Wong, director of technical marketing. The company’s DRIVE Concierge is designed to transform the digital experience inside the car. Omniverse Avatar technology enables it to serve as everyone’s digital assistant, helping them by making recommendations, reservations, making phone calls and providing alerts.
Volkswagen has shown the production model versions of its new all-electric ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo which go on sale in the autumn in Europe. With the ID. Buzz, Volkswagen of America will also be initiating the comeback of the so-called microbus in the US and Canada. The ID. Buzz, which is built by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles in Hannover, is also based on the VW Group’s Modular Electric Drive Kit platform (MEB). We caught up with chairman of the board of management at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Hannover, Carsten Intra, to tell us more.
Japanese and German automotive manufacturers dominated YouGov’s 2022 rankings of the best global brands – as determined by consumers around the globe. Global rankings are determined by a brand’s Index score, a measure of overall brand health calculated by taking the average of General Impression, Quality, Value, Customer Satisfaction, Recommendation, and Corporate Reputation scores. They cover 22 markets in all (see below for a full list). YouGov shortlisted the top ten brands in each market, creating 220 scoring opportunities in all. Toyota placed first with a score of 170, some way in front of second-ranked Mercedez-Benz (153), and third-placed BMW (123). From there, the places narrowed: just five points separate fourth-placed Audi (95) and fellow German automaker Volkswagen (90), with Honda close behind in sixth (88). The table opens up again in seventh place, with Volvo earning 53 points, only to narrow again with eighth-placed Ford (48) and Nissan (44). Lexus rounds out the top 10 with 34 points.
And now, the answer to that question you long asked yourself: What is a gigafactory and where are they being built? Gigafactories are an increasingly important driver of FDI, but attracting this investment requires a varied mix of incentives. Tesla’s gigafactory in Texas is the kind of facility that regions all over the world are looking to attract. The competition for gigafactory investment is only set to increase, with global capacity predicted to be 10 times its 2020 level by 2030, according to research by Just Auto parent GlobalData. So what is a gigafactory? Read on.
New targets related to fuel economy in the US should herald significant changes in the EV market. The National Highway, Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released the final national fuel economy standards for 2024-2026 model year light vehicles. The new targets replace the 1.5%/year fuel economy improvements contained in the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) regulations passed in 2020. By the 2026 model year, the new fuel economy targets closely align with the EPA’s CO2 targets released in December 2021. The result is a projected 49 mpg national light vehicle fleet average for the 2026 model year. Our vehicle and powertrain forecasts already account for the changes finalised in the new fuel economy law due to its eventual parity with the pre-existing EPA standards.
The New York International Auto Show was back this week and there were multiple vehicle global launches. The cancellation of Beijing, which would have been the biggest motor show so far of 2022, means the Big Apple’s equivalent gained even more importance. We have a list of public premieres.
Mercedes-Benz has developed a long-range BEV concept that has managed to cover more than 1,000 km on a single charge. The car comes with a number of technical innovations including a specially developed lightweight battery that is around 30% lighter than an EQS pack. It is also air-cooled rather than liquid. Travelling from Sindelfingen across the Swiss Alps and Northern Italy, to its destination of Cassis on the Cote d’Azur, the car covered more than 1,000km (600 miles) in everyday traffic, on a single battery charge.
Toyota said it would launch its new bZ4X battery-powered SUV in its home market on 12 May, as it steps up its effort to reduce its carbon footprint. The bZ4X is Toyota’s first vehicle on a dedicated EV platform which it developed with Subaru. It is produced at the Motomachi plant which, the automaker said, now uses CO2-free utility power derived from renewable sources. Toyota claimed its new BEV SUV offers a power-efficiency performance of 128Wh/km, giving it a cruising range of 559km (347 miles). It is compatible with rapid DC chargers worldwide and its battery can be 80% recharged in 40 minutes.
Automakers have been scrabbling to lock in supplies of battery materials. Latest: Glencore announced a multi-year sourcing agreement in which it will supply GM with cobalt from its Murrin Murrin operation in Australia. Cobalt is an important metal in the production of EV batteries, and the cobalt processed from Australia will be used in GM’s Ultium battery cathodes, which will power electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. GM said the the agreement built on a commitment both companies share to create strong, sustainable and resilient supply chains through collective industry and multi-stakeholder platforms. Both are members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), and the Murrin Murrin operation conforms with the OECD-aligned Responsible Minerals Assurance Process.
Chinese lockdown woes continued this week. Bosch suspended auto parts production in Shanghai and Changchun due to COVID-19 rules. The supplier said it had stopped production at a thermotechnology factory in Shanghai and an automotive components site in Changchun in northeastern Jilin province. Two other parts plants in Shanghai and Taicang were maintaining closed loop operations, in which workers sleep, live and work in isolation to prevent virus transmission, the manufacturer said.
You get what you pay for, I guess. Citroen’s DS 4 and the Honda HR-V have done well in the latest round of Euro NCAP testing while a Dacia, not so much. The DS 4, from Stellantis’ premium brand, achieved a four star rating in standard form but five stars when equipped with optional safety equipment. Honda’s third generation HR-V wass also awarded a four star rating. Meanwhile, Dacia ended up on the wrong side with the Jogger, a variant of the Sandero Stepway, earning just one star.
Hyundai electrification build is coming to America. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) later this year will assemble the hybrid version of the Santa Fe SUV. The electrified variant will join the Elantra sedan, Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs, and Santa Cruz on the Montgomery assembly line. The new hybrid is the start of the automaker’s electric vehicle production in the US. Recently announced production updates at HMMA including the start of hybrid production, will cost US$300 million and add 200 jobs.
Have a nice weekend. (A long one for us here in the UK).
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, Just Auto


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Infinix Mobile, a company owned by Transsion Holdings, has announced the launch of the Infinix Hot S3 with 20-megapixel selfie camera featuring a dual soft light LED flash, in India.
The Hot S3 is the first handset from Infinix to offer a Full View display. The 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant is priced at Rs 8,999, while the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant comes with a price tag of Rs 10,999.
To be available for purchase exclusively via Flipkart, the handset will be offered in two colours – Sandstone Black and Brush Gold. The first sale on Flipkart is scheduled for February 12.
Infinix Hot S3 specifications:
#Dual SIM (Nano) smartphone
#XOS 3.0 based on top of Android Oreo
#5.65-inch HD+ (720×1440 pixels) 2.5D Full View display with a screen-to-body ratio of 81 per cent
#Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC
#Adreno 505 GPU and 3GB/ 4GB of RAM
#13-megapixel rear sensor with PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens, and dual LED flash
#20-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture, 5P lens, and dual LED flash
#32GB/ 64GB inbuilt storage, expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB)
#Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.2, OTG support, Wi-Fi, 4G VoLTE, and a 3.5mm headphone jack
#Sensors – Ambient Light sensor, Proximity sensor, G-sensor, and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
#4000mAh battery with xCharge
Speaking on the occasion, Anish Kapoor, CEO, Infinix India said, “India is an extremely significant market for Infinix and HOT S3 is getting launched in ‘India first’ before getting launched in other markets.”
“The Infinix Hot S3 combines the best-in-class display with aggressive specs in the mid-range phone segment. This time, they have taken it a notch higher with higher screen resolution and one of the finest selfie cameras in this price range,” said Ayyappan Rajagopal, Senior Director – Mobiles at Flipkart.


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The contaminated tomatoes we told you about Tuesday night on NewsChannel 11 at 10 have been pulled from produce aisles across Lubbock.
Certain tomatoes have been targeted for a recent outbreak of Salmonella in Texas.
The tomatoes include any Roma tomatoes or Field Grown Round tomatoes.
"It's too early to tell when the product will be back in the shelves. We are literally waiting for additional word from the FDA, and as soon as we've been cleared and feel comfortable putting the product back out we will do so immediately," said Eddie Owens, United Supermarket.
Meantime, all other tomatoes are confirmed okay.
So if you're shopping and you see tomatoes, what you find on the shelves are fine to buy.


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01:00 PM EDT, 05/18/2017 (MT Newswires) -- The broad-based major European indices closed lower in Thursday's trading session, as commodities-related stocks, and automotive firms burdened the markets.
In economic news, in the U.K., the quantity bought in the retail industry increased by 2.3% in April, compared with March, and by 4.0% compared with April of 2016, reports the Office for National Statistics (ONS). According to the ONS, the underlying pattern showed a slight increase in April, following a short period of contraction, increasing by 0.3%. It also said that anecdotal evidence from retailers suggested that good weather contributed to growth.
In Germany, turnover in the German accommodation and food service activities increased 3.1% in real terms, and 5.0% in nominal terms in March, compared with the same month last year, reported the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with the same period in 2016, turnover in the German accommodation and food service activities increased 0.1% in real terms, and increased 2.0% in nominal terms in the first three months of 2017.
And in France, the average unemployment rate in metropolitan France and the overseas departments (excluding Mayotte) stood at 9.6% of active population in Q1, after reporting 10.0% in Q4 of 2016, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). Among the unemployed, 1.2 million were seeking a job for at least one year, said INSEE. The long-term unemployment rate stood at 4.1% of active population in Q1 2017, and it decreased by 0.1 percentage points compared to Q4 2016, and by 0.2 percentage points over the year-ago period.
In equities, oil company Royal Dutch Shell led the FTSE lower in London, as it's B and A shares fell 3.5% and 4% each, followed by mining company Randgold Resources, which dropped 2.6%. Consumer finance firm Provident Financial, packaging and paper company Mondi, and real estate investment trust Land Securities Group, lost 2.5%, 2.3%, and 2.2% respectively.
In Frankfurt, stock market operator Deutsche Boerse and pharmaceutical firm Merck led the DAX lower, falling 3.9% ad 2.6% each, followed by airline operator Deutsche Lufthansa, which was off 1.8%. automobile manufacturers Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler lost 1.6%, 1.4%, and 0.8% respectively.
And in Paris, steel producer ArcelorMittal and food company Danone led the CAC into negative territory, falling 2.9% and 2.8% each, followed by supermarket operator Carrefour, which lost 2.1%. Automakers Peugeot and Renault dropped 1.9% and 0.9%, while tire maker Michelin moved 1.2% lower. Industrial group Bouygues was off 1.9%.
The FTSE fell 0.89%, the DAX lost 0.33%, and the CAC-40 dropped 0.53%.
Price: 28.96, Change: +0.06, Percent Change: +0.21
Copyright © 2017 MTNewswires. All rights reserved. MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.


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Ontario packaging plant closing
Canadian PlasticsCanadian Plastics
Graham Packaging Company L.P.has announced it will close its Burlington, ON blow-molding plant in January 2002. App...
Graham Packaging Company L.P.has announced it will close its Burlington, ON blow-molding plant in January 2002. Approximately 140 jobs will be eliminated as a result of the closing. According to George Stevens, vice president and general manager of the company’s Canadian operations, production at the Burlington plant will be relocated to either Graham Packaging’s Mississauga, ON facility or to a plant in the U.S.
"This was a difficult business decision, but one that had to be made to assure we will continue to operate as a healthy competitor in Canada," Stevens said. "We have concluded there is no longer a need for two plants in such close proximity."
Graham Packaging designs and manufactures custom blow-molded containers.


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By Tiernan Ray
Pacific Crest’s Brendan Barnicle this morning reiterates a Sector Perform rating on shares of Microsoft (MSFT), after cutting estimates for sales of Windows this quarter because of changes to Microsoft’s upgrade policy for the operating system.
In response to Microsoft’s announcement last week that it would offer coupons for those buying a PC now to upgrade to the next version of Windows, “Windows 8,” at a discount, Barnicle notes there was no option for upgrading to Windows “Home” edition.
That means buyers who would want the cheaper hardware that doesn’t run Windows “Pro” may hold off on buying a PC in the fiscal Q4 for Microsoft that runs through this month.
Writes Barnicle, “there is no option to upgrade to Window 8 Home. Window 8 has three primary SKUs: Windows 8 Home, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 RT (which is for ARM processors). Consumers who are looking for a low-end PC, like a Windows 8 Home model, will not have an upgrade option.”
He adds, “In addition to the stall ahead of Windows 8, more data from the PC supply chain indicate that PC sales are slowing.”
Barnicle cut his growth estimate from 7% to 4% this quarter. He now projects $18.5 billion in revenue for Microsoft this quarter, and 65 cents EPS. That is about in line with Street consensus.
Barnicle also cut his assumption this quarter for Microsoft’s “Server & Tools” business revenue from 16% growth to just 14%, asserting that Intel‘s (INTC) recently released “Romley” server chip is not turning out to be a “major catalyst,” according to Pac Crest’s survey of corporate CIOs.
Microsoft shares today are off 4 cents at $28.41.


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Samsung Electronic which is largest smartphone making company in the world yesterday shocked everyone when officials of company said that they are expecting a lesser amount of profit. Samsung’s executives noted that the company is seeing a slight decline in the demand for its major products and that’s why first quarter’s earnings reports might not be that much exciting. One of the primary reason why Samsung might not able to meet upto expectations is because of low seasonal demand in memory products.
Samsung uses memory products in building smartphones and other devices so if there’s weak demand for such products, then it’s evident that Samsung is going to book less amount of profit. However, this is not the first time when Samsung has said something like that. Because in January south Korean tech company announced that they are expecting less amount of profit for the third quarter ending and that’s what happened when earnings reports of Q3 came out.
If we look into other chip-making companies sales, then this market is going through some hard phase because overall the purchase of memory chips is declining at a faster rate which is affecting on Samsung’s other products also. Smartphones produced by Samsung are getting a slow demand since big companies like Huawei, Xiaomi is getting ahead of South Korean company in various regional and global market.
Accordingly, the semiconductor market have been declined by approximately 10.2% from last year, so it means not only Samsung but other companies are also suffering the most. Now some business experts think that export of semiconductors has slowed down in Asian and Western market because of ongoing trade tensions between US-China. The trade war is affecting a lot of semiconductor companies, and it seems like investors of Samsung might have to show some patience.


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Juban Crossing development still a year away
LIVINGSTON - Residents in Livingston Parish will have to wait at least another year before the Juban Crossing shopping center is complete.
More than half-a-million cubic yards of dirt have been moved since ground was first broken on the site nearly two years ago. Now nearly 95 percent of that work is finished, which means buildings could start going up in the near future.
Crews have been busy building ponds, drainage ditches and laying water and sewer lines. When complete, developer Steven Keller said it will look similar to Baton Rouge's Towne Center at Cedar Lodge.
Keller said the slow economy played a part in what took Juban Crossing so long to get underway.
"While we are not immune to the realities of the marketplace, we are working with retailers to establish a timeline that fits their plans for growth and a seamless construction site," he said in a statement emailed to News 2.
There's no word on exactly which stores or restaurants are on board to move in. Developers plan to have more information on who shoppers can expect to see by the end of the month.