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Trends in online dating 2016
Amazon’s AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are driving cloud spending growth as clients seek compliance, governance and the ability to change vendors.
This opens the door for APIs and browser extensions, containers, analytical databases and edge computing.
Information available to the users is based on pictures from Facebook, a short bio that users write themselves, along with linking Instagram and Spotify account.
Tinder is among the first "swiping apps", whose users employ a swiping motion to choose photos of other users, swiping right for potentially good matches and swiping left on a photo to move to the next one.
Netflix grew 6.7X to roughly 175 billion monthly minutes of video delivered per month since 2010, while the top TV networks declined an average of 10 percent.
Netflix has grown to 30 percent of home entertainment revenue, but still earns much less per user than TV, indicating room to grow revenue per user as people cut the cord.
Click or scroll through the slides to see the Internet Trends highlights, and read the full-report here. Yet desktop usage has only declined slightly, indicating it’s more of an addition of mobile than a shift to mobile.
Games now earn 0 billion per year, up 9 percent this year.While the price of smartphones is still prohibitively high at 8 percent of average annual GDP per capita, data cost has dropped from 3 percent to 1.3 percent since 2015, allowing more people to afford using a phone more.


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HoloLens 2 was not the only product Microsoft had announced during the Sunday afternoon press event ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Today, the Azure Kinect Developer Kit, an all-in-one vision system for computer vision and voice solutions, is a sophisticated version of Project Kinect for Azure announced last year at Microsoft's Build 2018 conference
"Azure Kinect is a smart edge device that not only sees and hears the people, the environment, the objects and their actions, but also understands them," said Julia White, vice president of Microsoft, on stage , "It only makes sense for us to develop a new device if we have unique capabilities or technologies to move the industry forward."
Azure Kinect combines a 1
"The accuracy you can achieve is unprecedented," said White.
Through the early adopter program from Microsoft, a customer – Ava Retail – Azure Kinect and the Azure Cloud, used a checkout platform for checkout and takeaway and the healthcare systems provider, Ocuvera, used the platform to find out when patients fall, and the nurses proactively inform about a possible fall. A third tester, Datamesh, experimented with a design model that compared digital vehicle design models with physical parts in the factory.
Azure Kinect – nearly nine years after Microsoft released the first Kinect motion-sensing gaming device The Xbox 360 console is available today in the US and China for pre-order. It costs 399 dollars.

domain: news


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Well, Eurobike — Europe’s largest bicycle trade show — kicked off yesterday, and as many of you know the U.S. equivalent Interbike is coming up in a few short weeks.
A few of us are signed up and ready to go for our annual coverage of Interbike for Bikecommuters.com and our sister site Mtnbikeriders.com…this will be the first year that I get to join RL and Moe and the other folks from Mtnbikeriders.com. Now that we’re signed up to attend, we’ve been getting bombarded by dozens of previews, press releases and invitations to vendor meetings at their respective show booths. It’s a great “sneak peek” at what we can expect at the show.
Overwhelmingly, the press releases for both Eurobike and Interbike focus on so-called “urban commuting” bikes (less racy, more practical) and electric/electric-hybrid bikes. Supposedly, this is the big year when E-bikes reach a sizeable market penetration into the U.S. They’re already wildly popular in many Asian countries and there is a decent market in Europe, but currently they still hold a tiny percentage of the U.S. interest. That’s fixin’ to change, if the PR is accurate…
What do YOU think? Are E-bikes going to take off here in the U.S.? Are there still too many skeptics here? Rest assured, we’ll be taking a look at the offerings at Interbike and sharing our thoughts with you…and will hopefully get to report on some promising technologies. Stay tuned!


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By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
14 September 2014 | A sympathetic and clever way for airlines to give back to society is to use their ‘corporate infrastructure’ to assist social initiatives. For example, back in 2012 Spanish flag carrier Iberia, national pizza chain Telepizza and open innovation network Ideas4All organized the ‘Books for Colombia’ campaign which saw Telepizza asking its customers to donate unused books to the pizza delivery person after they have ordered a home delivery. Iberia then flew all collected books to Colombia for free where they were distributed to local schools.
A similar concept has also been carried out by KLM over the past few years.
Located near the center of the Netherlands, De Hoge Veluwe National Park is one of the nation’s most visited national parks. It’s 5,500 hectares (55 km2) are home to the renowded Kröller-Müller museum, a wide variety of plants and animals – and about 1,800 white bicycles. These bicycles were introduced to the park in 1974 to provide free – and environmentally responsible – transportation in and around the park.
Each year, De Hoge Veluwe retires and replaces about a fifth of its bike fleet and wants to ensure that their retired and refurbished bikes are given a meaningful second life. The bicycles are therefore not discarded but are given a new purpose. First they get fixed up at nearby De Hoenderloo Groep, a training and residential ceter for disadvantaged youth. Then hundreds of the bikes get a free transport – courtesy of KLM – to a destination where they can be put to good use. Read full article »
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
6 September 2014 | We have seen airlines experiment with the latest digital technologies such as Google Glass (Virgin Atlantic, Spring), smartwatches (Vueling, Iberia, airberlin), and even drones (easyJet).
Besides giving airlines an idea of the feasibility of deploying the latest digital devices into daily operations, the trials also create lot of PR (see also the ‘Innovation is the Marketing’ trend in our free The State of Airline Marketing 2014 report).
The latest technology on the block is virtual reality. Virtual reality company Oculus has been building momentum since it launched the Kickstarter campaign for its Oculus Rift headset – a head mounted virtual reality 3D display, which features an ultra-wide field of view and low latency head tracking – two years ago. The company was acquired by Facebook earlier this year for USD 2 billion.
As the travel industry is always among the first to trial new technologies, companies such as Emirates, Marriott Hotels and British tour operator Thomas Cook recently let the public try on Oculus Rift headsets to immerse themselves in a 3D environment.
According to Thomas Cook, “the technology advancements in virtual reality over the last 18 months have made it a real contender for playing a key role in changing the way we can showcase experience-based products to our customers.”
Emirates ‘Innovation Lab’
Set up in 2012, the Emirates Innovation Lab is a platform where Emirates’ creative minds can come together and brainstorm on pioneering ideas, develop them, and apply these ideas to the airline business.
At the GITEX Technology Week in Dubai earlier this month, the Emirates Innovation Lab showed one of its creations which combines Google Street View with the Oculus Rift headset to give users an immersive experience of an Emirates A380 aircraft – allowing a person to be “transported” on board and have a virtual tour of the onboard lounge, the shower spa, and the Business and First Class cabins. According to Emirates, The Innovation Lab will be exploring the use of the technology for their potential use in cabin crew training and applications. Read full article »
This article originally appeared on TheDesignAir
By Jonny Clark, TheDesignAir
2 September 2014 | So it isn’t often we think ourselves as that awkward L-shaped brick from classic computer game Tetris, but fundamentally that’s how aircraft seat designers see us. Unfortunately-shaped wedges that have to fit neatly into a rectangular shape.
In a constant fight to give airline passengers more space, more comfort and a better quality experience, the war of the seat configuration continues. British Airways’ latest patent application shows that perhaps the ideal future of front of the plane comfort isn’t as clearly cut as we once thought.
Originally, in 1999 British Airways brought the flat bed concept to the skies with it’s Club World seat. Seen as a quantum leap in Business Class comfort, with space only considered for the super wealthy, who could afford First Class opulence. Since then many carriers have offered similar comfort, but the forward and backward concept took into consideration the ergonomics of the body, offering more space to the wider upper body. This was done by creating interconnecting forward-backward seats that operated as a singular unit, reducing seat costs and increasing space where it was needed – around the shoulders.
The original club world seat was then fairly quickly redesigned, to what we see on BA’s fleet today. The modern seats offer more privacy, more space, and more technological advancement. But the seat concept is sound, even the older seats can still be found on BA’s subsidiary OpenSkies 757 fleet now titled ‘Biz Bed’.
The forward backward concept was new, and whilst open to initial scepticism, proved a success, and was quickly admired by business travellers, who enjoyed the extra comfort, for little extra price, due to the LOPA (the seat’s real estate on the plane) being hardly compromised compared to the big bucket recliners that the rest of the industry enjoyed. Read full article »
Special thanks to Kai-Chin Shih at >talkairlines for providing input for this article.
2 September 2014 | Airlines operating the A380 superjumbo – such as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Korean Air – have been using the relatively large amount of cabin space on this flagship aircraft to feature social areas such as onboard bars and lounges in their premium cabins. The A380 provides 50 percent more floor space compared with the B747, but airlines on average install only 35 percent more seats.
On the B777-300ER – which is replacing the B747-400 as a flagship aircraft – airlines such as British Airways (‘Club Kitchen’), American Airlines (‘Lobby Bar’) and Japan Airlines’ (‘Sky Gallery’) have been reimagining how the galley located in the premium cabin could become the domain of passengers as well, after regular service is over.
‘Sky Lounge’ galley
The latest example of how the galley in the premium cabin can be turned into a social area (on non-US flights where it is prohibited for passengers to stand or group together on board) comes from Taiwan-based China Airlines, which will feature a ‘Sky Lounge’ in the Business Class on its upcoming fleet of B777-300ERs.
Designed by well-known Taiwanese architect Ray Chen – who has been responsible for the design of the flagship store of book chain Eslite in Taipei – the new design of China Airlines’ Business Class cabin aims to give customers a feeling of relaxing in their personal reading space. The texture of persimmon tree grain has been used to decorate the partition walls of the cabin, and the Business seats feature stand-alone reading lamps.
The ‘Sky Lounge’ galley located in the middle of the Business Class cabin of China Airlines B777 (seatmap here) doubles as a self-serve bar and social area. During the flight, passengers can choose to walk up to the lounge to enjoy food and drinks while chatting with other passengers. Read full article »
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
27 August 2014 | We have reported before on ‘upcycle’ initiatives from airlines, with carriers such as KLM (uniforms), Finnair (seat covers, seat belts, curtains), Delta (seat covers) and Air France (life jackets) giving discarded airline interior materials a second life as stylish bags. The benefits are three-fold: waste is recycled, airlines add an eco-friendly touch to their brands, and many consumers like the story behind the upcycled product. Here a few more interesting recent examples.
Boeing: From carbon fiber to sports gear
Boeing and American manufacturer of sports equipment Russell Brands are working together to incorporate leftover carbon fiber from B787 Dreamliner production in Russell Athletic protective athletic gear. Composite materials make up 50 percent of the primary structure of the 787, including the fuselage and wing.
Boeing and Russell Athletic see significant benefits in using aerospace-grade carbon fiber because the carbon filaments provide a high strength-to-weight ratio and greater durability. Aerospace-grade carbon fiber is thinner, stronger and approximately 10 percent lighter compared to competitors.
An initial collaboration uses the material in Russell Athletic’s new CarbonTek football shoulder pad system. The aerospace-grade carbon fiber is strong, thin, light and durable, Boeing said. In football pads it also offers increased range of motion and secure fit for the athlete’s body.
Boeing says several “elite” college players from Division I universities will be wearing the CarbonTek during the upcoming football season, as well as Russell Athletic’s three pro football ambassadors: Pierre Garcon, Mark Ingram and Colt McCoy.
Southwest: From seat to soccer ball
After a large-scale interior redesign of many of its B737 aircraft, Southwest found itself with an excess of 80,000 leather seat covers — enough to fill the EmpireStateBuilding. “We had this idea of ‘could we do something with this leather beyond recycling it or shredding it? Could we repurpose it?’” says Marilee McInnis, the airline’s senior manager of culture and communications.
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
21 August 2014 | One of the most popular sections of the IFE system is the moving map. Compared with the two-dimensional maps that are still found on the IFE systems of almost any airline, the latest maps now offer the option to deviate from the flight path to look at specific land marks and zoom into ever greater detail – Google Earth style.
Dubbed geotainment, this location-triggered content displays geographical and historical information relevant to the location of an aircraft on, or around, its flight path. Says Boris Veksler, CEO of Betria Interactive – which has developed the FlightPath3D geotainment app: “Travel is exploration. Delivering informative destination ‘geotainment’ services gives the passenger a form of discovery in anticipation of their arrival. It is natural and engaging extension of the moving map.”
The deployment of geotainment-based flight maps is still in its early stages. On its fleet of B787s, Norwegian features a geotainment app on its IFE systems from FlightPath3D on the moving map channel, while Singapore Airlines has become the first customer to sign up for a new ‘geo-entertainment’ product for moving maps developed by Airborne Interactive in association with the Royal Geographical Society.
Delta, meanwhile, in early 2013 added a ‘Glass Bottom Jet’ geotainment feature to its ‘Fly Delta’ iPad app. On flights in North America passengers can use their own device to view the ground below via maps enriched with interesting information on various points of interest near the route. Passengers do have to be connected to the paid onboard Wi-Fi network though.
Air France KLM
Air France and KLM have also become early adapters of the geotainment trend. The airlines have selected FlightPath3D to deliver their next generation moving map and ‘geotainment’ service.
Passengers can follow the flight path as their trip progresses and learn more about points-of-interest during their journey via text and images. They can also choose from several interactive 3D views or use free roaming mode to investigate the world they are flying over. Read full article »
Images: Boarding Area
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
18 August 2014 | In 2010, Delta and food and beverage operator OTG launched a novel restaurant concept at New York JFK Airport that allows passengers to order food and drinks via iPads installed at dining areas at the gate. A server then delivers the food to the customer’s seat within 10 minutes. The concept has since then been rolled out by OTG to other airports around the USA, including New York LaGuardia, Chicago, Minneapolis St Paul, Orlando and Toronto Pearson.
JFK T4 Sky Club
Last year, Delta opened its new Terminal 4 at New YorkJFKAirport. The new Delta T4 also features a 24,000 square feet Delta Sky Club where passengers can work, relax and dine at one of the more than 400 seats, 50+ work spaces and a ‘Sky Deck’ outdoor terrace (video tour and images of the lounge here and here).
Premium meals and drinks
Responding to passengers requests for more substantial meal options in its lounges, Delta in 2010 introduced a paid dining concept at four Delta Sky Club lounges at New York JFK Airport. The new full-service concept offers made-to-order breakfast, sandwiches, salads, small plates and desserts for purchase, as well as premium beverages. Meals are USD 10-15 and premium drinks USD 12 and the Delta Sky Club ‘Café’ includes dedicated seating areas within the lounge, but visitors also can order from the menu and dine anywhere in the lounge.
In its JFK T4 lounge, Delta has added a self-service element to its premium meals and drinks offering. Those who want to eat more than what is available on the buffet can order via iPad ordering stations, which is a similar concept to the Delta/OTG iPads that are installed at the public gates. Read full article »
10 August 2014 | Dutch rail operator NS and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport are trialling an innovative new service, called Schiphol Warranty Service, that provides train passengers – who signed up for the service – a guaranteed on-time arrival at the airport so they will catch their flight.
Travellers who have signed up for the service and have paid the euro 5 fee will be monitored for any disruptions throughout their journey from the NS rail station of departure until the check-in desk at the airport. Passengers have to choose one out of three schedule options suggested by the Dutch Railways which all should transport them to airport arriving at least 2 hours (Schengen countries) or 3 hours (non-Schengen) before departure.
Their journeys will be monitored via an app that will track the participants’ departure station, date and time of the departure flight, flight number, number of people travelling and how many suitcases they carry. NS then will check for any travel disruptions and/or changes along the way.
If anything will go wrong during the journey, the app will notify passengers with alternative routes or any travel advice. If there are no train options available in time to bring customers to the airport, NS will then search for other travel options via bus or taxi.
Then, as soon as passengers arrive at the airport, they will be picked up by customer service staff and escorted to the nearest check-in desk. In worst case scenario, if the guarantee cannot be met and passengers miss their flight, NS then will organise hotel stay and rebooking or refund of the flight.
“If there are any failures along the way, we will ensure that passengers catch their flight, even if it means calling them a taxi,” says Commercial Director of NS Hans Peters.
More than 10,000 NS customers have received a letter inviting them to participate in the trial which takes place between mid-July and September 1st. NS hopes that eventually some 1,500 customers will take part in the programme.
By Raymond Kollau, airlinetrends.com
28 July 2014 | At airlinetrends.com we continuously monitor the global aviation industry for product and service innovations launched by airlines in response to cultural, technological, and economic changes that influence airline customers’ needs and expectations.
The product and service innovations that we report on our website aim to show how airlines can come up with creative solutions with the aim to improve the passenger experience, increase revenues and/or lower costs.
For those who have been too busy to keep track of the latest airline product and service innovations, here the 10 articles that we believe are among the most interesting product and service introductions in the first six months of 2014.
Air France, KLM and partners have developed a novel electronic bag tag and baggage tracker that enables passengers to label their luggage at home, drop bags at the fast bag drop and trace their luggage in real-time. The service will be introduced at the end of 2014. Read article »
Hidden inside the press storm caused by Etihad’s announcement of its luxurious new A380 comes a smart design innovation of the airline’s new Economy seats. Etihad’s so-called ‘Economy Smart Seats’ feature a ‘fixed wing’ headrest, designed to provide a firm surface for passengers to lean on while sleeping. Read article »
Virgin Atlantic has started a six-week trial together with airline IT provider SITA to learn how wearable technologies such as Google Glass and Sony Smartwatch could improve the passenger experience and speed up the check-in process at its London Heathrow lounge. Read article »
Following an earlier initiative by Virgin Atlantic to trial Google’s wearabla smart glass, Chinese LCC Spring Airlines has equipped flight attendants with Google Glasses on a flight from Shanghai to Chengdu, becoming the world’s first airline to deploy the device inside the cabin. Read article »
Airlines are teaming with consumer electronics firms to trial the latest wearable tech. Following the recent launch by Vueling and Sony of the first smartwatch-based boarding pass, Iberia and airberlin have announced their own initiatives, partnering with Samsung and Pebble respectively. Read article »
Philippine Airlines is the launch customer of Sogerma’s new Equinox 3D seat, which decrease the default pitch in a full-flat Business Class seat by raising one seat above the other when moving to the bed position. PAL is also the first full-service carrier to remove all IFE screens from its A330 widebodies, including those in Business Class, offering passengers wireless-only IFE&C instead. Read article »
Along with basic objectives such as protection and preservation, clever food packaging appeals to consumers’ emotions and brings a product alive. Two great examples of attractive and fun packaging can be found in India, where low-cost carriers JetKonnect and IndiGo have come up with quirky buy-on-board ranges. Read article »
Air France and its catering subsidiary Servair have launched a new initiative which sees a Servair chef boarding a long-haul Air France flight once a week in order to add a culinary touch to the inflight experience, gather direct feedback on the menus served, and train cabin crew on the spot. Read article »
Taiwan-based China Airlines is the second airline to install Air New Zealand’s innovative Skycouch. Renamed as Family Couch, China Airlines will install the seats – which can be turned into a small bed – in ten rows on the right-hand side of its Economy Class. Read article »
Following the provision of Nokia Lumia 820 smartphones to its entire crew last year, Delta will replace the devices with with larger Nokia Lumia 1520 ‘phablets’ later this year, saying the new devices are meant to serve as a platform for future, more personalized in-flight customer service. Read article »
The State of Airline Marketing 2014 is a free annual report published by airlinetrends.com and Simpliflying that identifies the latest trends in airline marketing and communication. The report puts the individual cases highlighted in the monthly editions of our premium Airline Marketing Benchmark Report into a broader perspective.
Download the free report here »
15 July 2014 | Faced with ever more experienced consumers, who routinely ignore the commercials and ads thrown at them, airlines – just like other consumer brands – are finding new ways to break through the advertising clutter to reach and engage consumers.
Besides dreaming up experiental marketing and creative – traditional media-based – initiatives, airlines around the world are equipping themselves with the tools and know-how to conquer the digital marketing revolution, experimenting with new social media platforms and launching mobile campaigns that link the online with the offline world.
In today’s fast-moving environment, it is important not just to be creative and innovative yourself but to be more striking than your immediate competition as well. However, given the speed at which things move in digital media, it is no easy task to stay on top of the latest trends, fads and innovations.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, SimpliFlying and airlinetrends.com have published the premium Airline Marketing Benchmark Report. Published monthly, the report contains a selection of 15 of the most innovative marketing and advertising campaigns launched by airlines around the world.
Across the more than 350 innovative marketing initiatives [infographic here] that have been featured to date in the reports, we have identified 7 trends that range from onboard micro events to visual culture to people power and creative out-of-home initiatives – and reflect the current state of airline marketing.
VIDEO: 7 AIRLINE MARKETING TRENDS
Ranging from mid-air fashion shows to inflight bingo and product giveaways, a growing number of airlines are organizing surprise onboard events in order to turn an otherwise unremarkable flight into something passengers will talk about on social media, generating some ‘earned’ publicity for the airline.
As technology is evolving at a rapid pace and many airlines have problems to think outside the box in order to develop innovative new services, forward-looking carriers are recognizing they better team up with the creative and technology classes to co-create new applications in so-called ‘hackatons’.
Tapping into today’s visual culture, the selfie craze has also hit airlines, while airline videos on YouTube videos – from safety videos to commercials featuring football stars to tear-jerking spots – have gone on to become immensely popular. Read full article »
This trend appears in the upcoming edition of our 2014 The State of Airline Marketing, a free annual report published by airlinetrends.com and Simpliflying that identifies the latest trends in airline marketing and communication. Download the free report here »
10 July 2014 | Unlike investments in new aircraft, cabin interiors and seats, innovations in services in order to improve the passenger experience do not have to have large financial consequences.
It basically comes down to creative ideas, and the current revolution in social media and personal digital devices allows forward-looking airlines to come up with new services that — even though not all of them will be a great commercial success — will contribute to the airline’s brand by creating buzz and a sense that the airline is trying to improve the experience.
BA’s ‘Happiness Blanket’
In an effort to gain more insights into – as well as promote – its onboard products and services, British Airways has conducted an experiment at 30,000ft to find out more about how passengers sleep and rest in the air, in order to help shape services such as timing of meals, types of films shows and seat positions.
The airline asked passengers located in different cabins to cover themselves under a so-called ‘Happiness Blanket’, which is woven with fibre optics, uses neuro-sensors to measure a person’s brainwaves and ‘meditative state’, and which changes colour – from red to blue – to show when they are at their most relaxed.
Additionally, a special headband – the MyndPlay BrainBand – has been used to measure a person’s meditative state on a scale of one to 100. This is then relayed via Bluetooth to LED lights woven into the blanket.
When the number is low it will turn red or when it is near the 100 mark it will turn blue. As well as detecting brainwave activity, it can also monitor a user’s level of concentration and relaxation.
British Airways will analyze the data from the blankets to make the in-flight experience better. The color patterns will give an idea to the crew on the behavioral response of the passengers to in-flight services such as the timing of meals, the menu, and the movie options. Read full article »
This case appears in the July 2014 edition of the Airline Marketing Benchmark, a monthly report by airlinetrends.com and Simpliflying that identifies the latest innovative marketing capaigns recently launched by airlines around the world. Learn more »
3 July 2014 | There are few things that put a smile on people’s faces like kids creating imaginative drawings and proudly showing the result of their hard work. Moving beyond the regular (read: slightly boring) children drawing competitions, airlines such as Aeroflot, Korean Air and Jetstar Asia have opted to actually feature the creative results from these competitions on their inflight materials, aircraft liveries and boarding passes, which adds a sympathetic touch and a nice story to their brand.
Inflight event (Aeroflot)
To strike a chord with passengers, Aeroflot celebrated International Children’s Day in a creative way. On June 1st, young passengers flying with Aeroflot on that day took part in a painting exhibit onboard more than 20 long-haul flights.
The kids were given some time to create their drawings using a colouring set from the amenity kits for children. Other passengers were also involved in the action: As the kids were trying hard to make a nice drawings, parents were ready to help, while others were watching the process, eager to see the results.
Having finished their drawings, the little artists then proudly presented their masterpieces to the whole aircraft walking up and down the aisles and were rewarded with passengers admiration and a gift from Aeroflot – a funny inflatable plane.
“For kids it was a good chance to express their impressions of the journey with Aeroflot and for us to let them feel our care and love. The festive atmosphere made the flight unforgettable. It was a truly touching moment to see the kids being the heroes of the day!” reads an Aeroflot statement.
During the first half of June, Aeroflot also organized a ‘Colors of the Earth and Sky’ painting contest on social media. Out of 400 entries, 20 winners were chosen who were awarded with a visit to Aeroflot’s main office in the center of Moscow and their paintings could be used in the design of future amenity kits and other services for young passengers on board.
Aircraft livery (Korean Air)
Another sympathetic initiative is Korean Air’s ‘Draw Your Own Plane’ contest, which has been held several times by the airline. One campaign asked kids in elementary schools across South Korea to make a drawing inspired by South Korea’s heritage, while another event saw kids busy painting at one of Korean Air’s aircraft hangars (images here). The winning creations, chosen out of hundreds of drawings, were featured on the liveries of a Korean Air B747-400 and a B737-800. Read full article »
American Airlines’ Wearable Hackaton case is part of the ‘COOL TECH’ trend that appears in the upcoming edition of our annual ‘The State Of Airline Marketing’ report.
29 June 2014 | As technology is evolving at a rapid pace and many airlines have problems to think outside the box in order to develop innovative mobile-based services, forward-looking carriers are recognizing they better team up with the creative and technology classes to co-create new applications.
Emerging out of bankruptcy protection in 2013, American Airlines has pushed hard to shake off its old image, trying to prove that its new brand image is more than skin-deep. In 2013, the airline organized a hack-a-thon at the annual SXSW event in Austin, inviting more than 60 developers to work with American’s mobile travel API (application programming interface) to see what they could come up with.
At the end of the event a total of 15 apps were created. The winning app entry was ‘AirPing’, a tool that provides live updates to flight changes and delays and estimate travel times to the airport. The app also provides airlines with real-time information on the whereabouts of passengers to better determine how many seats can be provided to customers on standby.
According to the airline, it looks to explore new touch points with its customers and partner with developers to bring their technology to market. As AA puts it: “Wearables will give travelers timely, unique data at the right time and place during their journey. New opportunities will also be opened thanks to in-flight Wi-Fi throughout all of American’s aircraft. And, location is always key and it just got big in a micro way with American’s aggressive beacon rollout to all its hub airports.”
At the recent 2014 Air Transport IT Summit, SITA and American Airlines also announced the largest deployment of iBeacons so far at Dallas Fort Worth’s Terminal 4. Starting this summer, a 180-day trial will use 100 iBeacons will involve a group of ‘beta’ passengers before making it available to the general public in the next quarter.
American’s hackaton at SXSW proved not to be a one-off initiative, as the airline has recently partnered with innovation platform Wearable World to organize the Wearable Hackaton event, which saw 200 creative techies make their way to San Francisco on June 6 and 7 to work directly with American’s development team, hardware and API partners to create the next app for wearable devices such as smart watches and interactive glasses, for trial on American Airlines. Read full article »
By Hildegard Assies, airporttrends•com
24 June 2014 | Consumers today want to be online and connected all the time, wherever they are. Travel is no exception, and this is often a time when travellers need information the most. Passengers are increasingly more connected as they travel and are empowered by smartphones. With the majority of air travellers (70 percent at last count) now carying one or more personal devices – a much higher penetration than among the population at large – there is an opportunity for airports to differentiate the airport experience through mobile-based services.
So how have airport operators been doing so far? In this briefing we take a look at how airports are responding to today’s connected travellers with mobile-based services and ‘tech amenities’.
The Intelligent Airport
Mobile technology and ubiquitous connectivity enable airports to continuously interact with their customers throughout their journey and as described in reports such as SITA’s ‘The Intelligent Airport’ [PDF here], mobile will be the game changer enabling airports (and airlines) to create personalised experiences.
According to SITA, ‘The Intelligent Airport’ is an airport which leverages the convergence of three trends: passenger self-service, mobility and collaborative decision-making – to create a smart predictive environment for the most effective flow of passengers and goods through an airport, both during normal operation as well as during times of disruption. Possible scenarios include:
Says Francesco Violante, CEO of SITA, “The rise of self-service and the growing impact of trends like big data, business intelligence, analytics, cloud and, of course, mobility, are making the ‘always-connected’ traveler a reality.” […] “What is clear is that most passengers want information services on their mobiles to help them through the journey, including flight search and flight and baggage status. So it is no surprise that the vast majority of passengers think technology helps when traveling.”
Although the realization of the ‘intelligent airport’ vision is still in an early stage, several forward-looking airports have come up with innovative mobile-based services:
This article originally appeared on >talkairlines
By Kai-Chin Shih | >talkairlines
22 June 2014 | China Airlines has finally released details on its Boeing 777-300ER Economy Class, which will include normal Economy Class seats and the new Family Couch. Family Couch is a version of Air New Zealand’s (ANZ) revolutionary Skycouch. ANZ licensed the seating type to China Airlines earlier this year, making China Airlines the first airline other than ANZ to install the seats.
Family Couch is a row of three Economy Class seats that together adapt to create a flat flexible space to stretch out and relax in. Passengers can raise the footrests and armrests 90 degrees during inflight and enjoy a comfortable sleep. The experience can be further enhanced with the mattresses, pillows, and blankets provided by the cabin crew.
Specially designed seat-belts, to be attached to the passenger’s seat and the front seat-back (which is the reason why Family Couch won’t appear in the first row) are also handed out by the cabin crew, indicating that unless one buys Family Couch ticket, he/she can’t enjoy the bed-seat. When all the footrests and armrests are raised up, the total area of the seat set will be 64cm wide and 140cm long.
This new type of seat will be installed in the ten rows after the first row of Economy Class. However, they will only be limited to the far right section. A three-person ticket for Family Couch can be up to 60 percent cheaper than the fare of three Business Class seats.
Both the Family Couch seats and the normal Economy Class seats are manufactured by Zodiac Aerospace. The seats are slimmer than China Airlines’ current Economy Class seats and can allow passengers to recline up to 118 degrees, compared to the current 106 degrees and seat pitch is 32 inches. Each seat comes with a 11.1-inch high definition personal screen which uses Panasonic’s new eX3 system.
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Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an underperform rating and set a GBX 420 ($5.80) target price on shares of Royal Mail in a research report on Friday, March 16th. Deutsche Bank cut Royal Mail to a sell rating and dropped their target price for the stock from GBX 450 ($6.22) to GBX 359 ($4.96) in a research report on Friday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Royal Mail from GBX 410 ($5.66) to GBX 440 ($6.08) and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector performer rating and set a GBX 445 ($6.15) target price on shares of Royal Mail in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Royal Mail from GBX 375 ($5.18) to GBX 415 ($5.73) and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, December 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Royal Mail currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of GBX 452.69 ($6.25).
Royal Mail (LON:RMG) opened at GBX 527.20 ($7.28) on Friday. Royal Mail has a 1 year low of GBX 367.80 ($5.08) and a 1 year high of GBX 575 ($7.94). The stock has a market capitalization of $5,230.00 and a P/E ratio of 1,464.44.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: This article was originally posted by Ticker Report and is owned by of Ticker Report. If you are viewing this article on another publication, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of United States and international copyright legislation. The original version of this article can be read at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/3303660/royal-mail-rmg-earns-sell-rating-from-liberum-capital.html.
Royal Mail plc provides postal services. The Company’s segments include UK Parcels, International & Letters (UKPIL), General Logistics Systems (GLS) and Other. UKPIL operates in the United Kingdom collecting and delivering parcels and letters through approximately two main networks, the Royal Mail Core Network and Parcelforce Worldwide.
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'Batman: Arkham' Latest News & Update: Leaked Details On The New Game; Damian Wayne As The Main Character? 'Suicide Squad' Game Coming In 2017?
A brand new "Batman: Arkham" game that will feature Bruce Wayne's son, Damien might have been leaked by Warner Bros Games Montreal in its latest promotional and recruitment footage. There were rumors back in June that the studio is currently developing the "Batman: Arkham Origins" but at the same they are also working on a "Suicide Squad" game as well.
The new "Batman: Arkham" game is reported be set 10 years in the future, featuring Bruce Wayne as an old man with a beard and uses a walking stick, mentoring his son Damien to fill his shoes as the new Batman. According to WWG, Damian Wayne will have a Batbike and will be facing iconic villains from the Batman Comics, Flamingo, Poison Ivy and White Rabbit.
The leaked "Batman: Arkham" game also introduces new characters and redesigns like the Black Mask as a female character and some upgrades to the Batcave. Apparently Dick Grayson will be the Nightwing and will have his head shaved. The"Batman: Arkham" game story is similar to the Batman Beyond cartoons and will take place in more than just one night.
Aside from the "Batman: Arkham" game, a NeoGaf member also posted some details on the "Suicide Squad" game which is expected to be released next year. "Suicide Squad" will be a "brawler" type coop-action game where you can create and upgrade your personalized avatar in the WB Games Montreal game.
It is still unclear on who among the "Suicide Squad" members will appear since the information on the leak includes "many characters to choose". Warner Bros. Games Montreal also posted a video about the expansion of the DC Universe in an "interactive" space and shows a few clips of the open world game in development and where the possible "Batman: Arkham" game was hinted according to Wccftech.
Stay tuned for more news here on GameNGuide as we give you the latest update on the "Batman: Arkham" and "Suicide Squad" game by the WB Games Montreal.


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Ingles Markets got off to a promising start in fiscal 2022 with robust first-quarter sales and earnings growth.
For the quarter ended Dec. 25, net sales totaled $1.39 billion, up 16.9% from $1.19 billion a year earlier, Asheville, N.C.-based Ingles Markets reported Thursday. The gain easily bested upticks of 11.6% in the previous quarter and 10.4% in the 2021 first quarter and built on elevated grocery sales since the onset of COVID-19.
Excluding fuel sales, overall grocery comparable-store sales surged by 10% year over year for the 2022 first quarter, according to Ingles Market's 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Customer transactions grew 7.3%, with the average transaction size rising 3.4%. In the filing, the regional grocer said the pandemic has continued to drive more meals being consumed at home, in part due to school closures, and customers scaling back on dining out. Food and gasoline inflation also lifted dollar sales, the company stated. The 2022 first-quarter comp-sales results built on a 15.2% gain in the prior-year period.
“We were fortunate to have good sales and overall results for the quarter that includes Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Ingles Markets Chairman Robert Ingle said in a statement. “Despite supply chain disruptions from the Omicron variant, our associates did an excellent job of meeting customer needs under difficult circumstances.”
Gross profit in the first quarter came in at $350.5 million, or 25.2% of sales, up from $314.2 million, or 26.4% of sales, in the 2021 quarter. Operating and administrative expenses rose to $260.1 million from $238.2 million a year ago, driven primarily by higher employee costs in a tight labor market, Ingles Markets said.
At the bottom line, first-quarter net income totaled $66.2 million, up 23% from $53.8 million in the 2021 quarter. Basic and diluted earnings per share for Class A common stock were $3.57 and $3.48, respectively, versus $2.73 and $2.66 in the prior-year period. For Class B common stock, basic and diluted EPS were $3.24, up from $2.48 in the 2021 quarter.
Capital spending totaled $21.3 million in the 2022 quarter, compared with $34.2 million a year earlier.
Ingles Markets finished the first quarter with 198 supermarkets in six states, including 74 in North Carolina, 66 in Georgia, 35 in South Carolina, 21 in Tennessee, and one apiece in Virginia and Alabama, compared with 197 stores a year ago. The food and drug retailer also currently operates 111 in-store pharmacies and 107 fuel centers.
*Editor's Note: Article updated with comparable sales information.


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Antigua and Barbuda, renowned as one of the Caribbean’s leading wedding and honeymoon destinations has won the 2018 World Travel Award for ‘Caribbean’s Most Romantic Destination’.
The win for Antigua and Barbuda, announced at the World Travel Awards Caribbean & North America Gala Ceremony 2018, means the country has now won the award an impressive four times in a row.
Antigua and Barbuda Minister of Tourism, The Hon. Charles Fernandez said it was an honour to be receiving the award. “Antigua and Barbuda has always been a favourite amongst honeymooning couples, and couples seeking a hassle-free destination wedding.
Our 4-peat win as ‘Caribbean’s Most Romantic Destination’ serves a great endorsement for our romance product and the level of service we deliver year-on-year.”
Voted for by travel and tourism professionals and consumers worldwide, the award recognises the commitment to excellence which the organisation has demonstrated over the last twelve months.
Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) CEO Colin C. James said, working with a cross-section of partners, a number of marketing activities are planned throughout the year aimed at strategically growing the romance business.
The Tourism Authority’s 2018 Silver Magellan award-winning marketing campaign made it easy for consumers to receive information on romance packages and gave them the opportunity to enter sweepstakes to win free weddings and luxurious hotel stays; while the travel trade and press received new updates on the destination offerings.
The ABTA CEO said, “Consumers can certainly feel confident booking their weddings, honeymoons, vow renewals or romantic holiday to Antigua and Barbuda, knowing that we have the professional expertise on-island to meet their needs.”
In another win for Antigua and Barbuda in the romance arena, the destination was also recently named by The Caribbean Wedding Industry Awards as ‘Caribbean Honeymoon Destination of the Year’ and ‘Caribbean Most Romantic Destination of the Year’. The Caribbean Wedding Industry Awards and Expo was established to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence in the wedding industry across the Caribbean.


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Yahoo kicked off its first Mobile Developer Conference on Thursday, introducing a new mobile developer suite. “Designed to help developers understand, measure, advertise, monetize, and enhance their apps, the suite includes five new products, including Flurry Analytics Explorer, Yahoo App Publishing, Yahoo App Marketing, Yahoo Search in Apps, and Flurry Pulse,” a spokesperson for Yahoo… Continue reading Yahoo Releases Tools for Mobile Development
Yahoo has announced new details about its BOSS Search API, including pricing updates. The company says developers will pay $0.80 per 1,000 searches for unlimited service. Yahoo offered more details in its search blog. “ A more limited web results service with a lower price point will also be available for developers who can utilize… Continue reading Yahoo Offers More Details On BOSS Search API
Developers with an interest in “smart” TVs might want to give a second thought to Yahoo’s involvement in the field. Today, Yahoo put out a call for developers to build widgets for the Yahoo Connected TV Store. Juan Carlos Perez reported this afternoon, “Yahoo is expanding its Connected TV program so that developers can build… Continue reading Yahoo On Lookout For TV Widget Developers
Yahoo isn’t going to stand in the way of developers who want to make money. Yesterday, the company cleared the path for developers to monetize social data gathered from over 600 million (consenting) individuals. This isn’t a free-for-all, of course; Yahoo wants everyone to comply with certain terms and conditions. Still, this looks like the… Continue reading Yahoo Commercializes Social Streams
Yahoo’s SearchMonkey developer tool is soon going to be effectively yanked out of its tree. Yahoo’s decided to discontinue the tool as the company continues to rethink its approach to just about everything, and that means SearchMonkey will no longer be available as of October 1st. A post on the Yahoo Developer Network Blog explained,… Continue reading Yahoo To Cut SearchMonkey Tool
If the Yahoo User Interface interests you, a new giveaway should be right up your alley. In return for just a question or couple of sentences, copies of Daniel Barreiro’s and Dan Wellman’s YUI 2.8: Learning the Library are being made available. That book is currently selling for $71.08, so “free” is a pretty huge… Continue reading YUI Book Giveaway Begins
Another opportunity for developers to become familiar with Yahoo’s way of doing things is almost here. A session known as YUI: Open Hours is scheduled to take place tomorrow, and a fair number of useful details should be shared. The main attractions at this event will in fact be Nate Cavanaugh and Eduardo Lundgren of… Continue reading YUI: Open Hours Planned For Wed.
Yahoo gave an update on its cloud storage platform, Sherpa today. Yahoo says the service addresses scalability, availability, and latency needs of Yahoo sites. “Sherpa is horizontally scalable, and supports this scale elastically based on capacity demands. Sherpa is globally deployed within Yahoo! and data is replicated asynchronously (typically under a second) across data centers.… Continue reading Yahoo Gives An Update on Sherpa


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The Government of Rwanda has lifted a coffee zoning policy that required farmers to sell their produce only within their localities.
The Agriculture ministry on Thursday lifted the order, which had been in effect since 2016.
The policy required coffee farmers within specific geographical zones to sell their crops exclusively to designated coffee processing facilities, while banning external sales or purchases.
In its statement, the government did not reveal reasons for lifting the ban.
"Purchasing and trading coffee cherries is permitted throughout the country without restriction,” said the Agriculture ministry.
Rwanda is Africa's ninth-largest Arabica coffee producer, with around 400,000 farms.


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Conventional wisdom holds that the line between choosing a PC or tablet often comes down to content creation and consumption. Most people don’t want to create documents and spreadsheets using a tablet device. But it’s become clear that users do prefer to consume content on a tablet. Unfortunately, between content creation and consumption there’s a gray area surrounding the editing of an existing document. Turns out most people who consume content on a tablet would also like to be able to edit that content on the same tablet.
To address this issue, Good Technology this week announced that users of its Good Work secure mobile email application can now both view and edit Microsoft Office attachments. Lynn Lucas, chief marketing officer for Good Technology, says that by tapping into Microsoft Office Web Apps, users of the Good Technology mobile platform no longer have to wait until they can fire up a PC to add a comment to a particular document or change a set of numbers.
Lucas notes that the latest survey of its user base not only showed a spike in the number of mobile applications being activated, but half of the users indicated they wanted to be able to edit documents using a tablet or smartphone.
Good Technology, says Lucas, plans to further investigate what other types of documents mobile users want to be able to edit. Users of the Good Technology platform, says Lucas, can already access files residing in Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce applications. But Lucas says the message is clear: Users of mobile computing devices want to be able to do a lot more than just read their email.
How the ability to edit documents from a mobile computing device will affect whether more users lean away from PCs remains to be seen. But when you consider the amount of time most people spend creating complex content versus just trying to interact with it on a simple level, the shift to mobile computing devices may become much more pronounced than people ever thought.


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Blog: Christmas Traditions Abound (12/24/21)
Today, many of our readers observe special traditions that may have bonded generations of their families around Christmas time, or are simply a new, but much-loved, activity that brings them closer to loved ones during the holiday season.
The Daily American Republic has often, during my years with the publication, shared some of those precious moments with our community, and this year I have asked readers and colleagues to share a few of their stories.
Here is what they had to say.
Reader Jane Stilwell said December is full of reasons and ways to celebrate for her extended family.
“During my 65th birthday, I have had many special Christmas memories,” Stilwell said. “Growing up, we would host both sides of our families for Christmas. “
She remembers her family getting up early, opening the presents, picking up and starting to prepare for the guests.
“We had soda in the house, which was unusual, and family members would bring food to help feed everyone,” she said. “Our grandfather Fairless usually pulled the turkey we ate.”
A holiday tradition, she introduced to my family, is to open one gift on Christmas Eve and then the others on Christmas Day. In Georgia, we enjoyed attending Christmas Eve services at midnight. Singing and praising with other believers at the start of Christmas Day is a special time.
Stilwell’s favorite keepsake is placing homemade ornaments on the tree.
“A few favorites have pictures of our kids on them,” she said. “Thinking about memories helped make decorating work more enjoyable. Finally, another tradition is to place children’s Christmas books on the coffee table for children and visiting adults to enjoy. As an adult I love to read classic Christmas books on the birth of Christ. When I was teaching, I added a book each year to the collection.
Pat Jakylovich said: “As I read your article, what occurred to me was O’Henry’s ‘Gift from the Magi’. “
Since high school, Jakylovich has “read this wonderful story every year. Two very poor and loving people offer their most precious gifts to please each other … It reminds me of something of the scriptures, ‘Money and gold I don’t have, but what I ‘have, I give it to you!’ “
Jakylovich shared another more relevant memory, which took place after the Thanksgiving meal.
“We piled into the car and headed for the ‘Lighting of the Plaza Lights’ in Kansas City, Missouri. Thousands of people, millions of lights creating a wonderland, ”said Jakylovich.
“Rain, snow, ice, cold, nothing stopped us for almost 30 years,” she said.
Although going on the hike no longer seems an option for Jakylovich, she remarked “but the memories are forever”.
A coworker can’t wait to spend Christmas with her family, where they always eat a shepherd’s pie on Christmas Eve, have a coffee cake on Christmas morning, and her father reads Luke’s Christmas story.
Another co-worker says Christmas is more fun as a grandparent. His role has essentially changed from being a parent to that of a grandparent.
This year our staff members have started what they hope will be a new tradition for DAR, welcoming Santa Claus downtown.
Staff members who helped with this year’s event said watching the children’s faces light up when they met Santa Claus and the joy of the families who attended the event was a wonderful way to celebrate with friends and neighbors.
My vacations seem to be different every year, but my decision is to celebrate them, whether with family or friends, with joy.
I challenge everyone to do something special for themselves and for others. Have a special meal, call someone and wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Barbara Ann Horton is a writer for the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Comments are closed.


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Rolls-Royce says it has broken two speed records for an all-electric aircraft, with its first electric plane, The Spirit of Innovation.
As it speeds toward its 2030 deadline for a fully electric fleet, Bentley is taking the scenic route, beginning with the Flying Spur Hybrid, which debuted this week in Europe.
Polish luxury catamaran builder Sunreef Yachts, has launched an electric solar panel and wind turbine-powered catamaran, the Sunreef 80 Eco.
A car that changes colors could help improve fuel efficiency and reduce battery strain on EVs, BMW says about its new technology.
Passengers flying Air France-KLM will see a surcharge on ticket prices to help offset the cost of sustainable aviation fuel starting this week.
Van life isn’t new to Mercedes-Benz, but the new EQV van—one of the first electric camper vans to come to market—aims to make luxury glamping synonymous with sustainability.
2021 was filled with sustainability victories across the board. And the trends are only going to continue in 2022, according to the Ethos founders.
As electric and hybrid vehicles replace combustion engines, where does that leave motorcycles? Are they a sustainable mode of transport?
The new 620-mile range EV concept, the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, features vegan cactus and mushroom leather, landfill waste, and bio silk.
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Target Corp.’s first-quarter profits rose 28.5 percent, boosted by sales of high-margin discretionary items, including apparel.
Although the economy and consumer sentiment have improved, Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said on a conference call Thursday that both are “somewhat unstable and fragile” because of high unemployment and large state and federal deficits that “will continue to create uncertainty and volatility. As a result, we continue to be cautious regarding our sales outlook.”
For the quarter ended May 1, Minneapolis-based Target reported net income of $671 million, compared with $522 million in the same year-ago quarter. Earnings per diluted share increased to 90 cents from 69 cents in the same period last year, the highest EPS from continuing operations in Target’s history, excluding holiday-driven fourth-quarter results.
Customers “are putting well-considered discretionary items back in their baskets,” said Kathryn Tesija, executive vice president of merchandising. “They are indulging while feeling smart in their decisions. We’re seeing this trend particularly in home and apparel. Both men and women are freshening up their casual wardrobes and picking up new shoes and accessories for spring.”
At the firm’s retail division, sales rose 5.5 percent in the quarter to $15.16 billion from $14.36 billion, reflecting a 2.8 percent increase in comparable-store sales and the contribution from new stores. Earnings before interest expense and income taxes (EBIT) were $1.11 billion, a 15.2 percent increase from $962 million in the same period last year.
The retailer’s first-quarter gross margin rate was 31.3 percent, up from 30.8 percent in 2009, because of gross margin rate improvements within categories. The impact of the sales mix on gross margin rate was essentially neutral, as sales increased at a similar pace in both higher-margin and lower-margin categories.
The first-quarter sales, general and administrative (SG&A) expense rate was 20.6 percent, down from 20.9 percent a year ago, driven by continued strong productivity improvements in stores, combined with disciplined expense controls.
Brian Sozzi, an analyst at Wall Street Strategies, said customers are going to Target for fresh foods or consumables, such as toothpaste, and shopping for apparel. “[Consumers are] looking for that sense of satisfaction after saving up for so long,” he said.
By contrast, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. called its apparel business a “work in progress” after reporting first-quarter results on Tuesday that topped Wall Street’s estimates. “You definitely don’t see the type of assortment at Wal-Mart that you do at Target,” Sozzi said.
Liberty of London + Target, a limited time program consisting of 300 items across several areas of the store was “an undisputed success,” Tesija said, noting that consumers responded to the color and prints in the collection and the springtime optimism it suggested. “The most popular items were women’s tops and accessories, girls’ dresses, tabletop and storage,” she said.
Target’s collaboration with Zac Posen for Go International in April included 44 pieces with a top price of $200. Cynthia Vincent’s footwear will be available until July, and Eugenia Kim’s hat collection will be in stores through the end of June.
Regarding back-to-school, Tesija said, “last year’s environment was challenging, and we anticipate more favorable results.”
@tradesy is turning the concept of a showroom upside down with its new space in Santa Monica. Here, the company plans to hold events, art exhibits and a showcase rare fashion pieces like this Louis Vuitton boxing set. Get all the details on Tradesy’s first showroom on WWD.com. #wwdnews
Spotted last night at the @erdem x @hm launch event: Kate Bosworth, Rashida Jones, Kirsten Dunst and Selma Blair. The party, which took place in LA, also marked the opening of their pop-up shop. “I was interested in creating a collection that wasn’t in any way disposable. It was about pieces you’d create and keep forever, things that have a permanence to it,” designer Erdem Moralioglu said. #wwdeye (📷: Katie Jones)
Renee Zellweger in yellow in 2001 and again in 2017. Chosen as one of the 12 @pantone Leading Spring Colors (and dubbed “Meadowlark”), it only makes sense that the bright hue stands the test of time and is making a resurgence this season, seen already on stars like @blakelively and @gigihadid. (📷: Donato Sardello & @rexfeatures) #wwdfashion #tbt
Dior’s 70th anniversary celebration continues with a new exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. “Christian Dior,” which is scheduled to run through March 18, takes a look at the founders tenure from 1947 to 1057 and feature 40 designs. Pictured here is an evening gown from the Ailée, fall 1948-49 haute couture collection. #wwdfashion (📷: Brian Boyle)
As one of the most recognizable models in the world, Christy Turlington Burns has an insider’s view of the fashion industry and the allegations of sexual harassment swirling around it. “I can say that harassment and mistreatment have always been widely known and tolerated in the industry. The industry is surrounded by predators who thrive on the constant rejection and loneliness so many of us have experiences at some point in our careers,” Turlington told WWD, along with her suggestions for how the modeling world should protect younger women and men. Read more on WWD.com. Link in bio. (📷: Tony Palmieri) #wwdnews
@asics America has tapped a new brand ambassador: famed DJ/record producer @steveaoki. This initiative is intended to set the tone for the new brand identity and philosophy and will include partnerships with influencers and in-store and off-line activations that will continue into next year. This is Asics’ most significant marketing effort in two decades, and is expected to attract younger consumers to the brand. #wwdfashion
24-year-old Jean Prounis is redefining the rules of jewelry. Formerly a studio assistant to Jemima Kirke and a design apprentice at Ghuran, she focuses on handcrafted subtleties and ancient goldsmithing techniques. “There was a really sterile feel in the environment and I wanted to have jewelry with character that shapes how you wear it everyday,” Prounis said. Each piece is hand made in New York, either by Prounis or three other jewelers in the district. #wwdfashion
“These collections continue to build on that vision, empowering differently abled adults to express themselves through fashion,” said @tommyhilfiger of his line of adaptive apparel, which launches today. The line consists of 37 men’s and 34 women’s styles based upon the pieces from the spring Tommy Hilfiger sportswear collection. #wwdnews


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Uploaded on Jan 30, 2007
On January 18th, 2007, Google organized Unbound, an event at the New York Public Library examining how the book business has changed and how it will continue to evolve. Attendees from the book publishing industry heard from thought leaders and industry veterans who are taking advantage of our increasingly digital world. This video shows some of the highlights from the day.


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Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) President Richard Coon told members during a Committee Week luncheon that an ad hoc committee’s exploration into combining the three industry shows into a potential “RV Industry Week” – an idea supported by many across the industry – has essentially been tabled, at least for now.
A major obstacle (see earlier posting) was presented by the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA), which stated that it was locked into the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas through 2014 for its annual RV Dealers International Convention/Expo and Paris/Ballys for 2015. In a separate press release, RVIA said that it was moving to reschedule the Louisville Show to late September/early October pending further review by the ad hoc committee and a nod from the Kentucky Exposition Center concerning the proposed new dates.
During the luncheon, Coon elaborated on the thought process performed by the ad hoc committee as it examined options.
“You know there’s been lots of talk about combining RVDA and RVIA shows,” Coon told RVIA members at the June 12 event held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. “So what we did back in February is form an ad hoc show committee – a separate and broader group from the RVIA Show Committee. This group, made up of manufacturers, suppliers, associations and some dealers, looked at the possibility of combining all three shows – RVIA, RVDA and the Elkhart Open House in one location for a solid week in order to have something we’ve termed ‘RV Industry Week.’”
Coon noted that the committee also reviewed several other options, including relocating the National RV Trade Show from its long-time venue in Louisville, Ky. However, in looking at various facilities when it met in Indianapolis in February, it became clear to Coon and others that the facility would not work – despite the fact that it’s closer for manufacturers – because it’s simply not big enough.
The biggest Louisville Show in recent times at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville in 2007 was 925,000 square feet and last year’s show was a resurgent 730,000 square feet while capacity is a bit over a million square feet. However, in Coon’s view, indoor facilities in Indianapolis (555,000 square feet) or Cleveland (626,000 square feet) simply did not offer enough space.
Considering that it would be an earlier show, outdoor sites were also considered for overflow purposes, but “nobody really wants to be the ones to exhibit outside,” according to Coon.
“So, we’re going to pull that ad hoc committee back together again and discuss this with them and we’re going to try to figure out if it makes any sense,” added Coon. “But I do think we have to face the fact that this industry has shrunk 30% in terms of manufacturing since 2007. Suppliers and dealers aren’t any better off. And the other thing we have to face is the fact that things are getting more and more expensive – from airline tickets to everything else.
“So, you know, what’s the value proposition of going to the shows? How much time have you got to spend? So, that really needs to be looked at hard and get the industry together and try to figure out what we can do.”


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OPTUS has emphatically denied reports it is planning to change its name to ‘Yes’.
Fairfax Media reported today that the telco was conducting focus testing and market analysis to see how it would fare if its ‘Yes’ tagline was adopted as its official name.
The report also pointed to a number of ‘Yes’-related trademarks filed over the past 12 months by Optus, including ‘Yes TV’, ‘Yes Crowd’, ‘Wi-Fi Talk Yes’. Optus has also recently renewed its trademark for the word ‘Yes’ on its own.
It said any change would require tens of millions of dollars in marketing to push the new brand, and the company was planning a “massive” branding push in coming months using the ‘Yes’ brand to promote its English Premier League broadcast rights.
An Optus spokeswoman said the reports were untrue. “We’re not changing our brand and we’re not changing our name,” she told news.com.au.


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A rumour circulating the web claims that Apple is looking to add newspaper subscription plans to its App Store offerings.
In a move which throws a life-line to dead-tree media, Apple will offer paid-for digital versions of a range of newspapers through the App Store on iOS-based devices in exchange for a cut of both subscription and advertising revenues.
Although Apple is keeping quiet on its plans, the San Jose Mercury News quotes digital publishing expert Roger Fidler who is predicting that Apple will likely take a 30 per cent cut of the subscription charges generated from any digital edition along with a whopping 40 per cent of the advertising cash.
Such a scenario would be win-win for Apple, giving the company a wider range of content to tempt iPad holdouts while creating a whole new - and potentially extremely lucrative - revenue stream.
Publishers wouldn't lose out too much in the deal either: with Apple's backing, they've got a captive audience to sell their subscriptions to - and it's always possible that a buyer of a digital edition could be converted into buying its hard-copy counterpart.
The risk, however, is that subscribers would instead cancel their physical subscriptions in favour of the - presumably cheaper - digital editions, and unless the advertising revenue from the iPad version covers the extra loss the publishers could end up in real trouble.
So far the claims have yet to be confirmed, but with the iBooks electronic book market hotting up it's almost certainly a sector that Apple is looking at with growing interest.


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National, 13th March 2024 – Protectt.ai, a fast growing Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) firm delivering Mobile App Security platform on RASP (Runtime mobile App Self Protection), has established a Technology Leadership Advisory Board (TLAB) with the objective to provide strategic guidance to the company’s management, to shore up innovation in mobile security and enable more significant contribution to the rapidly growing Mobile App ecosystem. The Board assists in developing strategies to build world class products and scale business globally.
Ms Sunita Handa, Principal Strategy Advisor – Protectt.ai has been appointed Chairman of the Technology Leadership Advisory Board. The Technology Leadership Advisory Board includes industry leaders with diverse perspectives and extensive experience. Dr. V. N Sastry, Professor and Head Mobile and social media Banking Lab, IDRBT, Hyderabad; Mr. Guhan Muthuswamy, Co-founder at Mindgate Solutions Private Limited and Mr. Navaneethan M, Senior Cyber Security Leader have been onboarded as members of the TLAB.
Manish Mimani, Founder & CEO, Protectt.ai said, “We are ecstatic about the Technology Leadership Advisory Board at Protectt.ai with our esteemed board members who carry vast leadership and technology experience. Under the guidance of TLAB we aim to scale up our product innovation, market ready Mobile App security suite of products and expand global footprints.”
Protectt.ai’s Leadership Advisory Board will strive to significantly advance the Indian market’s Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) space, revolutionizing security through Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. V. N Sastry, Prof. and Head Mobile and Social Media Marketing Lab, IDRBT, Hyderabad said, “The RBI has issued Digital Payment Security Control guidelines for Banking Mobile App Security with the aim to boost India’s digital payments through enhanced security. Protectt.ai solution aims to provide a strong, secure, and trustworthy Mobile App Ecosystem while catering to global compliance.”
Navaneethan M, Senior Cyber Security Leader said, “At the 1930 helpline run by the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, there were 700,000 complaints of online fraud in April 2023 alone. This makes it critical to focus on building advanced defense mechanisms and is essential to instill user trust and maintain the integrity of mobile app ecosystems.”
The digital rails on which India is leaping ahead has at its core, the penetration of Mobile phones. As people become used to the convenience of mobile app usage, the digital advantage cannot be allowed to become a liability due to security incidences. App providing corporates may work in collaboration with cyber security experts to embed mobile apps with a security architecture having robust capabilities. Protectt.ai is contributing to combat against the risks posed by ever evolving cyberthreats.
Under the able guidance of Technology Leadership Advisory Board members, Protectt.ai is all set to take a big leap to expand its global footprint and offer its industry First Mobile Threat Defense solutions to App providers, said Sunita Handa, Chairman of the Technology Leadership Advisory Board.


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Sunday after Thanksgiving maintains BUSSy travel | News
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The days after Thanksgiving are typically busy shopping days, but they are also bustling with travelers.
Concord Coach Lines' Operations Manager, Dave Kent, says their transportation center put 45 buses on the road today. That number includes "protection buses" that are usually on standby when others fill up. Each bus seats about 51 people, making at least 2 round trips the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
"It looks like more and more people are using alternative transportation other than their car which is a great thing," says Concord Coach Lines' Division Manager, Dana Knapp, "We appreciate that."
Bus traveler, Mercedes Russell, says she plans to continue taking the bus, "as long as gas is this expensive."
The busiest day to travel by Concord Coach Lines is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.


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February 11, 2011
EU countries remove Vietnam's pangasius fish from red list
All European countries has removed Vietnam's pangasius fish out of World Wild Fund (WWF)'s red list, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said.
In late 2010, WWF offices in some European countries including Norway, Belgium and Sweden put the Vietnamese pangasius fish in the "Don't buy" list, urging local consumers not to buy the fish with an argument that the fish growing method in the Southeast Asian country is causing harm to the environment.
After the protest from Vietnam, the WWF sent its inspection team to check the fish production in the country.
The inspection team led by Mark Powell, WWF global seafood leader, admitted a mistake had been made while judging the pangasius fish was raised in unhygienic environments.
Vietnam is leading exporter of pangasius fish. It expects to earn US$1.55 billion from pangasius exports this year, up from US$1.4 billion last year.
The country plans to expand pangasius fish farming to 9,000 hectares in 2011 from 6,300 hectares in 2010 in Mekong Delta, Vietnam's largest supplier of the fish.


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The Jack Ma Foundation’s 2020 Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) competition has announced its top 20 finalists and three Nigerian entrepreneurs made the cut. They include Metro Africa Xpress (MAX) co-founder and Chief Growth Officer (CGO), Chinedu Azodoh; Soupah Farm-en-Market owner, Ifeoluwa Olatayo; and Oluwasoga Oni, CEO of medical tech startup MDaaS.
These three founders and entrepreneurs progressed into the top 20 from the round of 50 and will be representing Nigeria in the penultimate stage of the ABH competition.
The top 20 finalists also include two entrepreneurs from Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda and Senegal, and one each from Ghana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Benin.
Chinedu Azodoh (MAX)
Chinedu Azodoh, along with Adetayo Bamiduro, founded MAX in 2015 to offer motorcycle ride-hailing services via its mobile app in Nigeria. He doubles as the company’s CGO.
We could see the numbers . . . I had a car but I couldn’t drive it. I was using public transport to go everywhere.Chinedu Azodoh on establishing MAX
He obtained a Master’s degree in Finance at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has worked as an analyst and developer at Barclays and Goldman Sachs.
In the same year, MAX was founded, he joined the Techstars New York Accelerator Program. Two years later, he led MAX as one of 20 leading startups in growth and development at the inaugural pan-African XL Africa Program and participated in Alibaba’s eFounders Program.
Chinedu appeared on the 2019 Forbes Africa 30-under-30 in Business and Technology after winning the LAComotion Mobility competition in the preceding year.
Ifeoluwa Olatayo (Soupah Farm-en-Market)
Soupah was founded by Ifeoluwa Olatayo in 2013 to provide digital farming solutions which connect small scale local farmers with urban retailers.
Ifeoluwa had begun her food delivery business as Soupah Kitchen while at the University of Ibadan. There, she won the most creative business idea at the European-Nigerian Students Entrepreneurship Workshop organized by Oxford Brookes University, U.K.
You must be passionate about the business you’re starting or else you’ll run out of energy and give up.Ifeoluwa Olatayo
In 2019, she won the overall position at the 2nd National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) of the year award and emerged winner of the $1m Chivas Venture Nigerian final in February 2020.
Oluwasoga Oni (MDaaS Global)
Oluwasoga Oni founded healthtech company, MDaaS Global together with Opeyemi Ologun, Genevieve Barnard Oni and Joseph McCord in 2016 to bring up tech-assisted diagnostic facilities in Nigeria.
Oluwasoga is a Systems Design and Management Fellow at the MIT Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship and had worked as a software engineer in Nigeria before going on to study in the United States.
Together with his partners, he set up a mass Covid-19 testing centre in Ota, Ogun state to collect swabs, test them at the labs and donate personal protective equipment. Last year, Oluwasoga raised over $1 million in a funding round led by Consonance Investment Managers, with the Fund for Africa’s Future, FINCA Ventures, Techstars, Greentree Investment Co and angel investors participating in the round.
Nigeria’s three representatives among the top 20 ABH 2020 finalists will be looking to get through the competition’s next stage as they compete for their share of the $1.5 million grand prize.
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160 years ago the street formed the western boundary of the City. More recently, the neighborhood was home to working people, and somewhat forgotten. But today, according to a just published SFGate.com feature, Divisadero Street between Geary Boulevard south to Haight Street is a magnet for a young, upscale crowd.
Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte says, “There are traditional corner grocery stores and, at Fell, the Bi-Rite Market, a grocery purveyor to the tech boom, where everything is sustainable, gluten-free and pricey. Auto repair shops are just up the street from the Mojo Bicycle Cafe, which offers coffee, beer and bike repairs, or the Vinyl Coffee and Wine Bar at Oak and Divisadero, where 14 of the 20 customers the other evening were tapping away on laptops.”
Alva Capia scouted San Francisco for a year to find what he considered the perfect spot for the City’s first kava bar. He says it wasn’t the Mission, Valencia Street, or Polk Street. Instead, he landed on Divisadero, which he described as “the San Franciscan’s street.”
To see Divisadero at its best, you have to go there at night, when you’ll find the bars and restaurants packed, the sidewalks full of people, and lines out the door at the Madrone Art Bar on weekend evenings.


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Brace for up to 20 per cent decline in Hong Kong home prices, CK Asset senior director says
- Home prices could drop by up to 20 per cent in the next 22 months, as outlook darkens, says CK Asset executive director Justin Chiu
- Expect builders to slash new home prices along with the sliding market, he says
Hong Kong home prices could be headed for a multi-year downtrend that knocks valuations by up to 20 per cent, prompting major developers to slash prices for new homes along with the sliding market, according to a senior executive at CK Asset Holdings, the second largest developer in Hong Kong by capitalisation.
CK Asset executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung said on Tuesday that home prices could drop 10 per cent this year and by up to 8 to 10 per cent next year, amid simmering trade tensions between China and the US that show little sign of being resolved in the near future.
“We will adjust our selling prices if the property market is heading to a downtrend. But our projects would still have to make a profit as the sites were bought at lower cost years ago,” Chiu said. “Home prices will need to return to the level of end 2016 and early 2017 before the general public can afford to own a home.”
Hong Kong home prices dropped about 9 per cent from the peak in July last year to December, according to data released by the Rating and Valuation Department. For the whole of 2018, home prices grew 1.6 per cent, though the increase was the smallest annual growth in 10 years.
Donald Cheung, executive director of property developer Emperor International, said he expected home prices to drop a further 10 to 15 per cent.
“Whether it will rise again can only be determined in the third quarter because of uncertainties currently in the market,” he said.
Cheung said low interest rates and a modest supply pipeline in the long term meant that housing prices were unlikely to be shaken too drastically.
The bearish outlooks contrasted with rosier views by CLSA, Citibank and JPMorgan, which predicted home prices will rise by up to 15 per cent between April and December, driven by robust liquidity and pent up demand.
Meanwhile, home builders such as Henderson Land Development, New World Development, Sino Land and Chinachem Group, had a relatively benign view of the market, saying home prices could remain stable or even rise slightly this year.
CK Asset has raised the number of homes it will offer for sale to 2,400 this year, up 4.4 times from the 443 units it sold in Hong Kong in 2018.
CK Asset said its revenue from 2018 home sales in the city amounted to HK$15 billion (US$1.91 billion), a drop of 70.4 per cent from HK$50.6 billion in 2017.
The developer plans to offer a combined 4,600 homes for sale this year in Hong Kong and the mainland, slightly below the 5,000 units offered in 2017.


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While the closing of 600 Starbucks stores is bad news for the 12,000 baristas who will lose their jobs, it's an economic plus for others. The coffee giant is ramping up PR efforts to shape its message about its contraction. Edelman has been the company's firm of record for several years, and their offices in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, New York and Seattle (Starbucks' home town) are all engaged to work with local media for Starbucks. Besides Edelman, "Starbucks is relying on a PR roster that currently includes The Frause Group (Seattle), The Limtiaco Company (Honolulu), Eiseman PR (Chicago) Airfoil PR (Detroit), Cone (Boston), Brotman Winter Fried Communications (Falls Church, Va.), and rbb PR (Coral Gables, Fla.)." Grey Worldwide handles Starbucks' PR in Canada, which is fielding questions about any plans for closing stores there. All in all, it's an intensive PR effort. Bridget Baker, communications program manager at Starbucks said, "We couldn't be doing this without them all by our side."
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Republicans controlling the Missouri State House have come under heavy fire after starting their new session by tightening part of the dress code in a way that only affects women.
The updated code required women to wear a blazer in the House bedroom before it was changed to only require women to cover their arms, meaning jackets and cardigans will also be allowed. Outraged Democrats called the measure “ridiculous” on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.
Raychel Proudie, a State House Democrat, said in the chamber that “we are fighting, again, for a woman’s right to choose something. This time it’s his way of covering up, and the interpretation of someone who has no training in fashion.”
“I spent $1,200 on a suit, and I can’t wear it to the People’s House because someone who doesn’t have the range tells me it’s inappropriate,” she said. added.
The previous code said that “dresses or skirts or trousers worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots”.
Republican Ann Kelley argued that women should wear jackets because “it is essential to always maintain a formal and professional atmosphere”.
She suggested the dress code be changed so that “appropriate attire for women is business attire, including jackets worn with dresses, skirts or slacks and dress shoes or boots”.
Fellow Republican Brenda Shields said “all we’re trying to do today is take the same rules we have and make them clearer.”
Pete Merideth, Democratic State Representative tweeted that “the caucus who lost their minds over the suggestion that they should wear masks during a pandemic to respect the safety of others now spend their time focusing on the small details of what women should wear (in particular how to cover your arms) to show respect here”.
He added that Republicans were “changing the dress code because they felt a few women last year didn’t dress well enough for their standards.”
Republicans have come under fire on social media, with former US House Republican Rep. Joe Walsh Tweeter“Um… what country is this? What century are we? Ridiculous”.
“I mean it’s 2023. It’s amazing,” Maria Shriver wrote.
“Fun fact; the Australian parliament already mandates against us naughty ladies showing a bit of a shoulder. I have to keep a lid on things in the House,” Australian MP Dr Monique Ryan added.
“Women demand the right to bare arms, especially in the ‘show me’ state. Maybe if we called them “guns” instead of “weapons” those fools would back off. #MarjorieTaylorGreene, who often goes sleeveless to Congress, would not be so welcome,” Los Angeles Time columnist Patt Morrison tweeted.
“FOR YOUR INFORMATION. I do some of my best work in pajamas,” former Democratic state Rep. Trish Gunby wrote.
Missouri House rules can be debated every two years when a new session begins. Less than a third of the members of the Missouri House are women, the St Louis Post Dispatch Noted.
The dress code also applies to men, but this part of the code was not changed on Wednesday. It states that “proper attire for gentlemen should be business attire, including coat, tie, dress slacks and dress shoes or boots.”
“You sure don’t have the money from the salary we earn to go out and buy a bunch of new clothes or bespoke clothes, and I hope you can keep wearing your cardigan and voting on behalf of the people who have sent here,” Ms. Proudie added.
“You would think, you would think, all you would have to do is, say, dress professionally, and women could handle that,” Ms Kelley said in arguing for the updated code. “You’d think elected officials could handle that.”
She was debating Democrat Ashley Aune, who noted that Ms Kelley was wearing a sequined top at the time.
“But we walk around here in sequins and velvet for the lady’s point,” Ms. Aune said. “So what is appropriate, and why do you decide?”
“We have to overcome the glitter. This is ridiculous,” Mr. Kelley replied.
“Appropriate attire for women should be business attire, including jackets worn with dresses, skirts, or slacks, and dress shoes or boots,” the dress code for women now states.
Democratic State Representative Jamie Johnson tweeted“Just finished a floor debate on why knit blazers don’t include cardigans on an amendment limiting what women can wear in the House. Why would we need to add additional class barriers to the idea that anyone could represent the people”.


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June Ambrose Announces New Website, Juniverse, On Twitter
While there may not be a confirmed reality show just yet, June Ambrose fans have a new way to keep up with the stylist du jour: her new website, Juniverse.
Stylist to the stars and a celebrity in her own right, June Ambrose has amassed a loyal following with Facebook posts and TwitPics that show off her glamourous outfits and her domestic life as a rockstar Mom.
Starting in August, she’ll house those quotes and tidbits on her site in columns like On The Move, Style Stalker and Rock Mom that are sure to be entertaining.
She announced it on Twitter when a follower suggested she start a fashion blog:
We can’t wait for it to launch and sure it will quickly become one of the top online destinations for fashion lovers.


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The ongoing demolition drive and “negative sentiment” following the Kamala Mills fire tragedy will shave off the business of city restaurants and pubs by 25 per cent during the New Year celebrations, said an industry source.
Fourteen persons died in a fire at a roof-top pub in Kamala Mills compound in Central Mumbai on Friday. “The incident was very tragic and has turned the sentiment further negative for the industry’s upcoming New Year celebrations, which was already suffering due to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). We are expecting the business in Mumbai to be affected by 25 per cent this New Year’s eve,” Hotel and Restaurant Association Of Western India (HRAWI) President Dilip Datwani told PTI here.
Last year the business had been hit by demonetisation. According to industry sources, overall business on the New Year’s eve in Mumbai is about Rs 800 crore. “The fire incident was very tragic, and there is definitely a need to take action to make city restaurants and pubs a safe place for patrons,” Datwani said.
However, he expressed reservations about the civic body’s demolition drive in the aftermath of the fire, saying, the drive “left, right and centre” won’t solve the problem. “There is a need to review the situation. Definite action must be taken where it is needed,” he added. However, this will further scare people as no one will want to take any chance to venture out on the New Year’s eve, he added.
Since most hotels and restaurants have sold tickets and invested in New Year events, it is not possible to cancel them, he said. The HRAWI has called on its members to give paramount importance to patrons’ safety and observance of all fire safety norms. “Our members will observe a low-key New Year’s eve by sporting a white label or flag in grief for the citizens who lost their lives at Kamala Mills,” he said.
The HRAWI has also called for constitution of a joint committee of industry representatives and authorities to re-look at regulations in the wake of recent events. “We feel knee-jerk reactions against the industry will only further dampen and disrupt the spirit further,” he said.
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