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Katie Niederee and Julia Lawless, 202-224-4515
Hatch Statement on 232 Investigation into Auto Imports
Utah Senator Says, “Instead of taking from the pocketbooks of hardworking Americans, I urge the administration to remain focused on addressing China’s trade practices.”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Commerce launched a Section 232 investigation into imports of automobiles, trucks and automotive parts:
“Commerce’s 232 investigation into the national security implications of trade in automobiles, trucks and auto parts is deeply misguided. For most Americans, cars are the second largest purchase they make, after their homes. Taxing cars, trucks and auto parts coming into the country would directly hit American families who need a dependable vehicle, whether they choose a domestic or a global brand. Instead of taking from the pocketbooks of hardworking Americans, I urge the administration to remain focused on addressing China’s trade practices and to work constructively with our trading partners to increase opportunities overseas for American businesses, farmers, ranchers and workers.”
Background: In March, Hatch expressed disappointment with the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Last month, Hatch, along with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) urged U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to implement improvements to the Commerce Department’s process for excluding products from tariffs on steel and aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
A longtime advocate of establishing enforceable international rules for U.S. firms and workers doing business overseas, Hatch has fought to strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) standards around the world. Hatch authored legislation to increase U.S. enforcement of American IPR overseas, including improvements to the Special 301 mechanism and the establishment of a Chief Intellectual Property Negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Hatch also spearheaded efforts in Congress to enact bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to help open more markets for U.S. exports and strengthen IPR protections in U.S. trade agreements, and he led enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016.
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MikroPC Finnish magazine conducted a test to determine who is the toughest smartphone in terms of temperatures well below 0 degrees. Publication team tested 15 of the most popular phones available in Finland.
The tests took place in the “Weather Room”, a laboratory located in VTT Research Centre of the Finnish city of Espoo. Specialized research laboratory offers full control of internal temperature, which means that the temperatures indicated by the measuring apparatus can be modified even a fraction of a degree.
Initial temperature of the research laboratory was set at zero degrees Celsius, then was lowered incrementally with each five degrees, so when any smartphone has not worked. One by one, some of the most popular phones have yielded cold.
A major factor that makes smartphones not work below 0 degrees is the battery. When the temperature drops significantly, a mobile phone battery recorded as consumed, even if it is fully charged. Therefore the phone can not be started.
MikroPC team found that the smartphone is resistant to low temperatures Samsung GALAXY S II, which ran until the temperature reached -35 degrees Celsius. The phone continued to work without problems when the temperature reached -30 degrees Celsius. All five models who participated in the test Samsung crossed the threshold of -20 degrees Celsius.

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02 May BLU Settles with FTC for Sharing Data with Chinese Partner
Phonemaker BLU settled with the US Federal Trade Commission this week and agreed to implement a “comprehensive data-security program” where it will be subjected to third-party assessments of its security program every two years for 20 years.
BLU had been found to be sharing sensitive customer data which includes full text messages, real-time locations, telephone numbers, contacts, and installed apps with Shanghai-based AdUps Technologies which collected the data from affected devices as frequently as every 24 hours.
The issue was brought to light in 2016, after which BLU notified its customers that AdUps had stopped its data collection activities. However, it was found that AdUps still collected the data from older BLU devices without adequate oversight.


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Binance.com is believed to be in violation of the Payments Services Act, and the cryptocurrency exchange is expected to halt its payments services.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has stopped cryptocurrency exchange Binance.com from providing payment services in Singapore, and it has placed the company on its Investor Alert List.
MAS has reviewed Binance.com’s operations, and they believe the exchange has breached the Payments Services Act (PSA) for providing payments services without proper licensing. “Binance is required to cease providing payment services which are regulated under the PS Act to Singapore residents and cease soliciting such business from Singapore residents,” said the MAS spokesperson.
The cryptocurrency exchange has also been placed on the Investor Alert List by MAS to warn consumers that Binance.com isn’t regulated or licensed to provide any payment services locally. The list tracks several unregulated companies who have not been licensed by MAS but are wrongly perceived to be so.
Binance Asia Services (BAS), which is the Singapore arm of Binance.com, has submitted a license application under the PSA, and is currently allowed to operate the localised exchange Binance.sg while being exempted from holding a license for the provision of digital payment token services.
MAS has stated that it has been engaging Binance Asia Services on the issue, and expects the entity to start suspending facilitation of transfers of digital payment token assets with Binance.com. Binance Asia Services’ application is currently under review until the financial authority is satisfied that they are able to meet the requirements under the Payment Services Act.
In response to the release by MAS, Binance Asia Services has reiterated that Binance.sg is a separate legal entity from Binance.com with its own local executive and management team, and it does not offer any products or services via the latter.
The announcement is the latest bump in the road for Binance as it is rocked by waves of cryptocurrency regulations in the last few months. In July this year, the Securities Commission Malaysia had banned the exchange from conducting further operations in the country, and issued a public reprimand against Binance’s CEO Zhao Changpeng.
Within Asia, Thai authorities had filed a criminal complaint against Binance while Hong Kong issued a warning against their stock tokens, and Japan also warned that the platform was not registered to operate within the country.
Amidst the tightening regulations, Binance Singapore had appointed former SGX Chief Regulatory Officer and MAS Director Richard Teng as its new CEO earlier last week to head the Singapore operations and move towards creating stricter regulatory compliance.


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GM signs agreement with Posco Chemical for CAM
General Motors has signed a binding off-take agreement for cathode active material (CAM) with Posco Chemical. Under the agreement, which runs from 2023 to 2025, Posco will supply the material from its plant in the South Korean city of Gwangyang to Ultium Cells.
CAM study finds Germany & China staying on EV course
The Center of Automotive Management published its latest report on new electric car registrations in 2022. CAM found the EV markets in Europe and China grew against the globally declining market trend. There was a lot of movement, especially among the Chinese manufacturers.
Volkswagen tops CAM innovation rankings
Volkswagen is the most innovative car company in 2021 – ahead of Daimler and Tesla. This is the result of a new study by the German Center of Automotive Management (CAM), which regularly publishes rankings of the most innovative corporations and premium brands.
CAM study finds PHEV sales rose in Europe over Q1
An analysis by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) found that new registrations of BEVs and PHEVs increased strongly in Europe and China in the first quarter of 2021. China remains the largest electric market, just ahead of Europe. What is striking is the enormous increase in new PHEV registrations in Europe.
CAM study finds Tesla most innovative automaker
The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) has analysed the innovative strength of 32 car manufacturers looking at 291 innovations in the field of electric mobility. Tesla remains by far the top innovator in the technology field but is tracked by VW.
Newest CAM study shows Tesla as EV sales leader
With record sales of 367,000 passenger cars in 2019, Tesla has increased its deliveries by 50% and thus became by far the strongest selling electric car manufacturer in the past year, ahead of the Chinese manufacturer BYD with 219,000 new energy vehicles.
CAM study finds USA and China EV markets in decline
In the two most important markets for e-mobility, new car sales in 2019 as a whole were down, as CAM notes in its latest industry study Electromobility Report 2020. Germany, on the other hand, has the highest gains worldwide – if you include PHEVs.
CAM study reveals: German carmakers are most innovative
According to the study conducted by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM), when it comes to innovative strength, German carmakers maintain an international lead. Volkswagen is placed at the top of this ranking. This latest comparative study is the result of research among 38 car manufacturers.
Study: German carmakers have catching up to do
According to the latest CAM ‘Electromobility Report’, in which 212 series innovations in e-mobility have been evaluated by 30 car manufacturers over the past five years, German automobile manufacturers still have catching up to do.
CAM analysis: Electric car sales on the rise
Electromobility continues to gain momentum globally, as the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) states in its latest industry study. In the second quarter, sales of BEVs and PHEVs increased in many places against the overall trend.
More electric cars being sold despite market downturn
The latest report by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) forecasts electric vehicle sales to continue to gain momentum in 2019 – despite a decline in the overall number of car registrations. China and Norway remain the drivers and exceptions of the global trend.
All-electric car market share on the rise worldwide
The latest report on electric vehicle sales and innovation by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) compares e-mobility markets worldwide. So far, the positive trend continues throughout 2018, with PEVs now having a global marketshare of 4.6%, almost double from what it was in 2017. Two countries are the main drivers behind this development, with […]
CAM study shows China continues EV growth
China’s dominance of the electric mobility market still continues unabated. This is one of the results of the newest industry research report by the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) regarding sales trends in the most important global automobile markets.
Global EV sales.
Some 334,500 electric vehicles were sold worldwide from January to September of this year. The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) just published these figures, also showing that with 99,748 sales, China steels the crown form the U.S., where 91,425 EVs rolled off the lots.
wirtschaftsblatt.at (in German), auto-institut.de (CAM graphic with figures)


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Apple has added a new Free on iTunes section. Learn where to find it.
Granted, you have to try it for a full three months, but the math is still way in your favor.
Verizon is dubbing the day before Thanksgiving "Connection Day" and has a slate of gifts prepared for all wireless consumers -- not just Verizon customers.
Amazon has a bevy of discounts wrapped up in its launch of the Fire TV Stick, the e-tailer's answer to Google Chromecast -- but some of the deals aren't all that they appear.
Come Friday, the new metal-framed smartphone is up for grabs exclusively on AT&T's website and at its retail stores.
Developers will be able to buy ad space at the top of results so their apps pop up when users search for programs in Google's app store.
Get around on two wheels? This safety-minded gadget makes it easy to record the antics of drivers behind you when you're on your bicycle.
Technically Incorrect: In an interview, Google's product head, Sundar Pichai, replies to Tim Cook's criticism of Android.
In a 3-2 vote, the agency decides to apply the same rules that govern telephone service to broadband, with the hope that it ensures the fair and equal treatment of all traffic on the Internet.
Apple's iOS now controls approximately 89 percent of the smartphone industry's worldwide operating profits.


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Swrve Lands $10m Series B Funding for Automated App Marketing
- Sunday, September 21st, 2014
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This brings the total capital raised by the company to $22m, which Swrve says it will use to accelerate its global expansion, continue building out its platform and make hires in sales, marketing and engineering.
Swrve’s platform provides A/B testing and analytics for app publishers which can be used to roll out automated campaigns incorporating push notifications, in-app messages and native content editing. Its clients include Activision, Warner Brothers and EA – all notable publishers of mobile games, though the company has recently been working to its focus, boasting a 10x increase in non-game app customers in the past year.
The funding round was led by Acero Capital, along with existing investors Atlantic Bridge and Intel Capital, and Acero general partner Rami Elkhatib has joined Swrves board of directors.
“As our conventional understanding of eCommerce becomes increasingly obsolete, and more and more consumers conduct business via mobile devices, it is platforms like Swrve that will control and grow the consumer relationship,” said Swrve CEO Christopher Dean, who was appointed in June from a background at Skype and Urban Airship.
“Our vision is to orchestrate the messages and content around data and increase the retention of users to make them lifelong customers,” Dean said. “We are moving to non-technical customers in a wide variety of markets and this capital will enable us to reach them quickly and efficiently.”


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- Google has been locked in a debate for weeks with the likes of GetYourGuide, Trivago and HomeToGo over outstanding ad payments.
- The search giant is said to have forced the online travel companies to pay their bills in June and July even though their own revenues had been cut significantly by lockdowns around the world.
- Axel Hefer, chief executive at Trivago, told CNBC that Trivago has "missed a collaborative spirit from Google."
Behind closed doors, Google is engaged in a bitter standoff with the online travel industry. The issue is global but German travel companies have been particularly outspoken.
Activity booking platform GetYourGuide, hotel finder Trivago, and Airbnb rival HomeToGo have been feuding with the search giant about their unpaid advertising bills since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Online travel companies were particularly exposed to the devastating economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak as lockdowns brought worldwide mobility to a near standstill. New bookings dried up and the sites had to refund tens of millions of dollars to customers that were unable to travel.
In a joint letter, a group of German travel start-ups asked Google, which has helped the businesses thrive over the years by promoting their websites in its search results in exchange for a fee, to share the burden.
The letter didn't work as the companies hoped it would. CNBC has been able to confirm through multiple sources and materials that Google demanded advertising bills were paid in full.
"Google refused to do anything and instead asked us to pay immediately in the midst of the pandemic," said GetYourGuide Chief Executive Johannes Reck, who persuaded SoftBank to invest $500 million in his Berlin-based company last year.
Reck told CNBC that Google's behavior during the coronavirus "is the match that has ignited a much greater fire."
Google played down the allegations and said it is working with its travel partners to help protect their businesses.
"We've taken a number of measures including helping them surface their cancellation policies in our travel search products," a spokesperson for the company said.
As times got tough, a group of German firms wrote a letter to Google on April 30 — two days after parent company Alphabet posted quarterly earnings with $41.1 billion in revenue — asking the search giant to postpone collecting their bills. The letter was authored by the German Start-ups Association (The Bundesverband Deutsche Startups) and signed by eight travel start-ups including GetYourGuide and Trivago.
Unlike Facebook and Microsoft's Bing search engine, Google has not been overly accommodating when it came to delaying or reducing unpaid bills, according to three of the companies that signed the letter.
All of the companies that signed the letter paid Google in full in June or July.
"We're absolutely not satisfied with the support Google offered during this ongoing crisis" Patrick Andrae, HomeToGo's co-founder and CEO, told CNBC.
Axel Hefer, chief executive at Trivago, told CNBC that Trivago has "missed a collaborative spirit from Google."
He added: "As one of the largest players in the travel ecosystem and probably one of the very few still generating profits right now, I would have expected more solidarity."
Facebook oﬀered some online travel companies an immediate 60-day delay in payments and proactively provided credits to test new ad products during recovery, thereby oﬀsetting some of the incurred losses.
Bing immediately oﬀered payment delays of at least 90 days, with ongoing review, should the recovery not start.
GetYourGuide is one of the firms that is particularly upset with Google. Valued at over $1.5 billion, the start-up wouldn't be the size it is today if it weren't for the U.S. search giant. But the relationship has become increasingly frosty in recent months.
In February and March, GetYourGuide spent over 4 million euros ($4.7 million) in advertising on Google's platforms, acquiring customers who canceled and were refunded. After that, bookings dropped to less than 1% of 2019 levels.
Following April's open letter, there was a media storm, and Reck said Google "shut up for a couple of weeks."
However, on May 8, Google asked GetYourGuide for full payment on all ad bills with no credit or discounts for any canceled and refunded bookings.
On May 15, Philipp Schindler, senior vice president and chief business officer at Google, held a call with online travel companies. He promised a generous recovery package and acknowledged that travel is in dire straits. The package included payment support, credits on non-Adwords platforms and other benefits. He also said Google was struggling, too.
Nothing happened immediately afterward. But in the week of May 25, as Germany eased its lockdown measures and travel picked up slightly, Google started asking travel companies to commit to a payment plan, saying their accounts would be suspended if they didn't comply.
When asked about a possible suspension, a Google spokesperson told CNBC: "We treat payment terms with our customers or partners as confidential and we're not able to disclose details."
Conversely, the online travel firms needed to secure Google Search ads more than ever at this time. Google has a 90% market share on search engine traffic in Europe and more than 75% of travelers in Europe consult Google before they travel, Reck said. As soon as GetYourGuide started to advertise again, Google essentially said "pay now," or commit to this payment plan, according to Reck.
The payment plan allowed GetYourGuide to delay payments by a maximum of six months but the company would have only been able to do so much advertising with Google while fulfilling the payments. "That didn't make sense because you don't want to constrain yourself in the rebound," said Reck.
In an updated statement provided Thursday, a Google spokesperson said: "We fully recognize the enormous challenges facing the travel industry, and we've been working in close collaboration with travel advertisers to help them protect their businesses and look toward recovery."
They added: "The issue of payments collection applies to only a very small number of travel companies, and virtually all of our partners in the industry do not have overdue bills with us. As a matter of fairness, we're applying the same rules equally to all of our clients asking for relief, across both travel and the many other sectors that've been impacted by the pandemic."
Reck and Dominik Schwarz, chief inbound officer at HomeToGo, told CNBC that Google is trying to become a more dominant player in travel.
Arguably, it all started in 2010, when Google bought ITA, the leading platform for flight data.
"Google has better travel data than any other company on the planet," said Reck. "We see Google aggressively moving forward trying to get content from other companies in the travel space in order to build their own products."
HomeToGo filed a complaint to the European Commission last year.
"While all companies in the industry compete over delivering the best experience and the best product for travelers, Google decided to take a big share of the whole market for free," said Andrae. "Google achieves this by implementing a huge and eye-catching advertising space on the general search after the paid results, rerouting traffic at no costs and that otherwise would go to competitors right into their own product, cutting off other providers from being seen at all."
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has yet to decide whether to investigate the case and it has not offered further comment.


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Comments /5001 Views / Thursday, 25 October 2012 00:04
amanté, Sri Lanka’s first brand of world-class intimate wear, was unveiled in Sri Lanka yesterday, celebrating the Sri Lankan consumer’s endorsement of premium lingerie.
Gracing the Sri Lankan market for the first time after a groundbreaking launch in India in October 2007, amanté offers Sri Lankan women access to international-standard intimate wear, customized to suit the unique contours and preferences of the South Asian woman.
As a subsidiary of MAS Holdings, South Asia’s largest intimate apparel exporter and manufacturer, amanté revels in its guaranteed product integrity.
With 25 years of excellence in the field, MAS Holdings services a clientele of the most renowned lingerie brands in the world. amanté expertise is combined through global design studios, experienced designers, insight to the latest international trends and technologies, along with an integrated supply chain to offer consumers pristine quality, premium lingerie.
As the first Sri Lankan lingerie brand that endeavoured to venture in to the world, the team behind amanté carried out extensive research before entering the vast and yet somewhat conservative Indian market.
In 2010, amanté was voted ‘Product of the Year’ by the Indian consumer in the largest independent survey carried out in India. Despite India’s cultural inhibitions towards lingerie, amanté’s focus on customer centric innovation proved to be their biggest differentiator, making them a formidable brand in the short span of five years.
With the same successful formula in mind, the brand now wishes to tap in to the Sri Lankan market of fashion savvy, discerning and contemporary women between the ages of 21-45; women who want to feel good about themselves, women who are now more confident and fashion conscious.
Also the benefits of the brand add to its value; technical superiority that gives the best fit with no discomfort, durable colour-safe products, the finest quality fabrics and accessories, leaving room for no misconceptions. Specifically designed to fit South Asian women, amanté is bound to stand out in the market due to the perfect fit it is ready offer to the Sri Lankan consumer.
“We focused greatly on the preference of Sri Lankan women, and manufactured products in accordance with their requirements in mind. The bottom line is, she ultimately makes the decision for herself as to which lingerie brand makes her look good, fits well, and is available at the right price,” stated Ajay Amalean, Director of MAS Holdings and amanté.
“That is exactly what amanté is here to offer, adding to it some world-class fashion and panache.”
The brand’s passion for perfection has already made amanté one of the leading contenders in fashion, fit and innovation within the premium lingerie segment in India. The team expects similar recognition from Sri Lankan consumers, offering them a special launch offer price on products for 2012.
Ajay asserted: “We refuse to compromise with our product and brand experience, and wish to offer the modern Sri Lankan woman a brand that understands her body the way she does. She is no longer making a choice, but a statement.”
Amanté aims to offer two fashion collections per year, and is available from 24 October at three department stores in Colombo and suburbs, namely, Cotton Collection at Dharmapala Mawatha, the Hyde Park Corner Glitz outlet, and Cool Planet located in Pelawatte, as well as the anything.lk online store and outlet at Thimbirigasyaya.
The brand’s retail presence will be expanded further in the future with plans to expand to 50 outlets by 2013. The company also plans to launch an exclusive amanté outlet in the near future.
24 February 2017
Even after discounting for political rhetoric (on all sides), economists are convinced that our economy is in a critical stage. This course is the culmination effect of how the economy has been managed over the last few decades. At the same time, ...
24 February 2017
FEVER – There is a sense in which tradition (not always defensible on rational grounds) is a rite of passage for politicians as much as for schoolboys in which to “Be (Thou) Forever” means players from all walks of life partake i...
24 February 2017
When the BJP was getting a lot of bad press all over the world and particularly in the US, to counter the bad press, Lal Krishna Advani, then BJP President, decided to launch an overseas wing to educate American lawmakers, the American people and ...
23 February 2017
The WHO South-East Asia Region is making rapid progress against vaccine-preventable diseases. The Region was certified polio-free in 2014. Maternal and neonatal tetanus was routed in 2016. And routine immunisation for diseases such as diphtheria a...


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Sony’s upcoming IFA event may see the company unveiling its unique QX10 and QX100 camera lens attachments, in addition to the much-rumoured cameraphone codenamed Honami. Some press images of the attachments have already been leaked earlier, but SonyAlpha Rumors has also released parts of the manual for both camera attachments.
Both lens models feature their own battery packs, on top of various other features such as a display panel, shutter button, zoom lever, microphone, belt hook, tripod mount, and a Memory Stick Micro slot. On top of that, the lower-end 105g QX10 attachment sports a similar 18MP CMOS sensor and f3.3-5.9 lens as the Sony WX150 camera, while the 179g QX100 features the same sensor as the RX100 II with Zeiss lenses – which we must say is pretty awesome.
It may be too early to tell, what with the potential release of the Sony Honami and the Samsung Galaxy Note III, but the QX10 and QX100 may just be the most innovative products to be announced at IFA 2013.


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ConnectiD unveils world’s smartest address book app at TNW 2015 in NYC
Innovative, patented technology set to revolutionise the way people keep in touch
ConnectiD seamlessly connects users to everyone they know on the service when they join, with updates received in real-time. In addition, ConnectiD will be one of the first services to solve the issue of exchanging contact details without both users requiring the app.
With a vision to organise the world’s contact information, the ConnectiD team have placed great emphasis on trust and users control of their own information, and have developed the app to deliberately avoid spamming contacts in your address book. The user has complete control over how they share their details and with whom, via two different profiles available at launch.
With plans to deliver on the promise of a meta-network, ConnectiD wants to help users be better informed about their contacts before they reach out, so has included Timezone Awareness and a Smart Predictive Dialer to reach contacts more quickly and easily. It also has a range of other features lined-up to deliver on the promise of the world’s smartest address book.
The founder who is a successful Yacht Broker based in London, created ConnectiD after becoming frustrated by how much time it takes to exchange contact details when meeting new contacts. Having downloaded a number of apps to help him tackle this, he ended up with a contact list full of duplicates and incorrectly merged people, and decided there must be a better way.
Pricing and availability ConnectiD will be free and launched initially on iOS (iOS 7.1 or above) shortly followed by Google Play.
In 2015 methods of communication have increased to an unprecedented level. With the launch of ConnectiD, we have the opportunity to make contact details truly digital and create one of the first meta-networks. There is a significant market opportunity for the universal issue of up-to-date contact details and we believe we have created something innovative and unique, that will change the way people exchange details now and in the future.
ConnectiD Limited is a software development company based in London, UK.
Media Contact Information:
Allison Wightman - firstname.lastname@example.org - +44 7767 647717
Diana Florescu - email@example.com - +44 7440 412353
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ConnectiD Limited is a software development company based in London, UK. ConnectiD is an easy to use app to access, share and automatically update contact information.
It has the vision to organise the worlds contact information by providing a patent pending service to help people and businesses access up to date contact details.
Be the first in line to Get ConnectiD for Up to date contacts. Always.
Media Contact Information:
Allison Wightman firstname.lastname@example.org +44 7767 647717
Diana Florescu email@example.com +44 7440 412353


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I suspect that the sustained amount of tracks that Apple will continue to sell via the iTunes music store will continue to decrease. I think this because they don’t seem to have the new releases that matter to what I perceive as their target audience. The new Radiohead cd, Hail to the Thief, was released today, and it is nowhere to be found on the iTunes music store. In fact, they also do not have about ten other new major label releases that I think matter from the last couple of months. For instance, the new Metallica cd, although that may have something to do with Metallica themselves, I find it amusing that their music is not available via this legal electronic distribution channel when they complained so vehemently about Napster. While adding the indies will be a huge step forward, and I am happy to see Apple pursuing them, I think they need to take a look at the Billboard top 200 album chart every week, and ask themselves why about half the CD’s on the current one are not available from their store. I don’t think a brick and mortar store would find it acceptable to only have half the merchandise that their customers were asking for, and I hope that Apple is treating this the same way.
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Motorola Introduced the World's First 200 Megapixel Phone
The multinational mobile phone manufacturing company 'Motorola' introduced the world's first 200-megapixel camera phone leaving behind all other companies.
In addition, Motorola outdid the competition by including a 60-megapixel selfie camera in the new phone while still including a 200-megapixel main camera.
The company has updated its camera technology and is introducing the "Motorola Edge 30 Ultra," claiming that its cameras can provide superior results to high-end video cameras.
There are three cameras on the phone's back: a 200-megapixel primary camera, a 50-megapixel secondary camera, and a 12-megapixel third camera.
On the front of the phone, a 60-megapixel selfie camera is offered, making this the first phone with such a high-resolution selfie camera.
A Snapdragon 8 Plus generation one processor powers the 47.6-inch screen of the phone, which runs Android 12.
The phone has various memory packs, including 128GB, 512GB, and 12GB RAM.
The phone has been introduced in three different colors, and the company claims that this time the design of the phone has been improved, and the display has also been upgraded.
A 125-watt fast charger is available, and the smartphone with the highest megapixel camera has a 4600 mAh battery.
The phone will soon be sold in Asia in addition to Europe and the US, where it is now exclusively available for purchase.
The phone's price is currently more than 2 lakh Pakistani rupees because it's pricing in Europe has been set at 900 Euros.
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A scientific debate over the health risks and benefits of farm-fresh milk took over a Newmarket court today.
Dairy farmer Michael Schmidt called on two expert witnesses to testify to the inherent safety of raw milk and its myriad health benefits for consumers.
Ronald Hull, an expert in dairy microbiology from Victoria, Australia, took the stand this morning to confirm the health benefits of raw milk. Untreated milk, he told the court, contains beneficial bacteria that boost human immune systems and protect the milk itself from pathogens.
The second phase of the ongoing raw milk trial, which deals with Schmidt's constitutional challenge to mandatory pasteurization laws, started yesterday afternoon.
Earlier in the week, Schmidt, who operates an organic dairy farm in Durham, Ont., defended himself against 20 charges laid under two different acts, which stem from his production, storage and distribution of raw milk.
Schmidt told the court yesterday that the outright ban of raw milk is "overbroad legislation" and said the current laws surrounding mandatory pasteurization infringe on his — and his cow-share members' — rights.
"We, as individuals, have the right to decide what is good for our body, our soul and our spirit," he told the court.
Dr. Theodore Beals, a pathologist, professor at the University of Michigan and advisor on raw milk management in Michigan, testified that raw milk is not inherently risky and that farmers who produce raw milk directly for the consumer have appropriate farm management systems in place to ensure the farm-fresh milk is safe for consumers.
Shannon Chace, a lawyer with the Ministry of the Attorney General, challenged both Hull's and Beals' expert testimony, suggesting that the weight of peer-reviewed scientific literature clearly rests on the side of mandatory pasteurization.
She suggested the opinions of both Hull and Beals are "the minority view."
Prosecutors are expected to call their expert witnesses to testify to the health risks of unpasteurized milk this afternoon.
The trial continues.


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Korean crypto exchange executives sentenced to jail for falsifying trading volumes
Two executives of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Komid were sentenced to jail this week “for their role in preparing fraudulent reports on trading volumes on their platform.” Writes about this The News Asia.
The CEO of the exchange, Choi Hyunsuk, received 3 years in prison, and the second defendant in the case – 2. “This is the first time that representatives of the virtual currency exchange were sentenced to prison, presumably overstating the volume of trading,” the publication says..
Komid went live in January last year. According to the publication, Choi created more than five fake accounts during the launch phase and used them to inflate trading volumes in both cryptocurrencies and the Korean won. He was charged under the articles for “fraud, embezzlement and malfeasance”.
“Prosecutors described a scheme in which two defendants fabricated 5 million transactions on their platform to trick investors into thinking the displayed trading volumes were real. The organizers of the scheme earned about $ 45 million on this. They are also suspected of using a “bot” to automatically create large applications that attracted users, “writes The News Asia.
The court noted: “Choi committed an act of fraud against countless victims. The conviction is due to major damages caused by the creation of falsified electronic records. “.
Edaily reports that the court took into account the fact that the damage was minimized by returning part of the funds. “The defendants appear to have committed this crime without clear fraudulent intentions,” the judge said. “However, as a result, customer confidence in the virtual currency exchange was undermined, and the domestic virtual currency market was negatively impacted.”.
In December last year, similar charges were brought against the leadership of one of the largest exchanges in South Korea – Upbit. They allegedly faked about $ 226 billion in trading volume, which allowed them to sell about 11,500 bitcoins to 26,000 investors. Upbit pleaded not guilty.
In China, they began to block the bank accounts of bitcoin miners following the accounts of traders Blocking bank accounts, the owners of which are associated with the market…
Experts tracked hackers who stole $ 60 million from the Japanese crypto exchange Zaif Cybersecurity experts from Japan Digital Design, which is…
Binance Futures: 20% of Clients Prefer to Trade at 100x Leverage or Higher Binance Cryptocurrency Exchange has released a new report on the work launched in…


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Covering the Natural, Organic, Sustainable, & Healthy Food Industry
The company announced today the close of a $90 million round of funding led by GV (formerly Google Ventures).
Karen Nation, certified sports nutritionist and founder of Creation Nation, developed a protein bar and energy bite mix to give consumers a fresher, healthier and customizable option for snacking. Creation Nation’s bars and bites are easy to make, require no baking, and target food tribes including gluten-free, paleo, vegan, and keto.
The new venture, known as Nursery, will serve as an incubator for emerging brands. Founder Adam Melonas told brands he is planning to shift away from a shared kitchen model to one where Nursery will also take an equity stake in the brands using the space.
Fat Snax founder and CEO, Jeff Frese, is on a mission to help end metabolic diseases influenced by lifestyle. Fat Snax produces low carb cookies and teas, targeted at the low-carb ketogenic fitness community. The company is looking for strategic partnerships to help grow its retail footprint.
Taste Radio Ep. 140: How to Solve Billion-Dollar Problems, According to Ripple Foods Co-Founder Adam Lowry
In this episode, Adam Lowry explores the development of both Method and Ripple and how lessons from the former factored into the foundation for the latter. He also shared his perspective on how the funding environment for CPG brands has changed.
Vietnamese-inspired coffee brand Copper Cow Coffee today announced the close of a $2 million round of funding today. The round was led by Silverton Partners, which contributed half of the capital, with CRCM Ventures, Montage Ventures and Social Starts also taking part.
Beanfields CEO Arnold Ventura explores the development of his professional life amid the rapidly evolving food and beverage industries and how lessons gleaned from each role have molded his perspective on business and his leadership style.
On the second day of NOSH Live Winter 2018, entrepreneurs, investors, analysts, and executives gave their perspective on how to innovate, differentiate, and navigate in a rapidly changing industry.
Creation Nation, a maker of no-bake protein bar and bite mixes, emerged as the winner of the 2018 NOSH Pitch Slam product competition held during the two-day NOSH Live winter conference on November 29 and 30 in Santa Monica, Calif.
The question of how to bring consumers into new categories and products rather than freezing them out — to grow the tribe, in other words — was posed by NOSH.com editor Carol Ortenberg at the start of the first day of NOSH Live Winter 2018 today. Over the course of the morning’s main stage presentations, experts from across the industry weighed in on how food companies both large and small can tackle this critical challenge.
Organic condiment maker Primal Kitchen is set to be acquired by The Kraft Heinz Company in a deal valued at approximately $200 million, the companies announced earlier today. The transaction is expected to close in 2019.
If you couldn’t make it to Santa Monica this week for NOSH Live Winter 2018, we can help treat your FOMO. All main stage presentations and Livestream Studio interviews will be available to stream live on your computer, smartphone or tablet on November 29th and 30th, presented by Nutrifresh Services.
Rick Tyrrell, CEO at Natures Intent, focuses on creating high quality, dark chocolate covered, dried fruit snacks. The company is committed to responsibly partnering with its farmers, suppliers and customers.
NOSH Live is now less than 48 hours away and we’re ready to unveil the companies participating in this winter’s Sampling Experience & Expo, powered by PINATA. This delicious two-hour mini-event takes place on the first day of the NOSH Live Winter 2018 conference, Thursday, November 29th, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Four months after selling a majority stake to San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP), frozen food brand Brazi Bites announced today it has brought on Michael Guanella, the former President of nut butter brand Justin’s, as CEO.


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VRT could rise on new cars in Ireland.
It could come into force as early as next year.
As early as next Janurary the price of a new car in Ireland could rise as much as 1,000 euro, under the goverments proposed overhaul of the Vechicle Registration Tax, ahead of this years budget due to take place soon.
The Irish government have said that buyers of newer cars with what they call 'average' or 'above average' emissions should have to pay more tax, this is in order to push people towards more eco friendly cars.
This new tax shake up is in a special tax strategy group with insiders in the motor industry warning that it could increase the cost of new cars by 1,000euro for an average family car. The TSG group also propose to increase the VRT bands from 11 to 20. If this new tax is inforced it would reduce road tax for EV's from 120 to 100 euros.
What do you think about this new VRT tax? Would it entice you to buy an electric vehicle?


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The city’s biggest economic development stakeholders are putting the call out for Winnipeggers to get behind their first-ever branding campaign and help attract businesses, people and their wallets to the Manitoba capital.
Economic Development Winnipeg unveiled the “Made From What’s Real” brand and logo in early June, an exercise that included feedback from more than 700 Winnipeggers from all walks of life through surveys, one-on-one interviews, in-person stakeholder group sessions and focus tests.
“We need to be ambassadors for this city—to be loud and proud about Winnipeg—what it offers us—our families and our future,” says Dayna Spiring, president and CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg (EDW). “We need to tell a story of Winnipeg, written by Winnipeggers—one that is reflective of what our city is today innovative, creative, connected, diverse and so much more.”
The brand will be used far and wide to showcase Winnipeg to the world and the many opportunities the city presents as a great place to visit, work and invest.
Peter George, CEO of McKim.Sherpa, the marketing agency that spearheaded the campaign, says the brand speaks to the genuineness of Winnipeg and its people.
The red colour scheme, for example, is designed to convey the city’s warmth, strength, heart, passion and generosity.
The logo is deliberately neutral so that it could mean a number of things depending on your point of view. It could be a cog, in a nod to the city’s industrious roots, a sun rising over the river, or a “W” and “M” for Winnipeg and Manitoba.
McKim has been doing place branding work for a number of communities throughout the province over the last few years, including Brandon, The Pas, Dauphin, Thompson, Gimli and Portage la Prairie. In several cases, McKim replaced brands built around water towers.
“An inanimate object will always struggle to do the job of a good place brand. That’s because an icon isn’t as ownable as your character. Character-based place brands work because they convey a feeling,” he says.
When asked what cities McKim had looked at when compiling its research, George replied “all of them.”
“When you do something like this, you look at cities that would be in the competitive set, particularly for tourism and economic development. You’re looking at similar-sized cities across North America that are landing the new Amazon or financial services offices. New York and Paris aren’t our competitors. We look at a ton of different cities to see what they’re saying and to make sure we’re saying something different.”
Winnipeg has never had a brand like this before and Spiring says EDW and other stakeholders needed an aligned way to tell their story, something that people could rally behind.
“We’ve heard a lot of stories about brands that didn’t work or things that people weren’t proud to call their own. We wanted something that would resonate with Winnipeggers, something that we could use to sell this city around the world,” she says. “If you haven’t been to Winnipeg in the last five years, you don’t know this city. If you live here, you know the Winnipeg story is constantly changing and evolving but what stays the same is our authenticity.”
Spiring says EDW will examine a number of metrics to gauge the campaign’s success, including polls on Winnipeggers’ optimism, hits on their online videos and how often people engage with the logos. EDW also encompasses Tourism Winnipeg and YES! Winnipeg.
“We’re going to look at our tourism numbers, our visitations to world-class attractions and see what kind of traction we get as a city when we go out to attract investment and trade,” she says.
One of the campaign’s primary goals is to turn Winnipeggers from armchair critics to raving fans.
“This is intended to change people’s perceptions, to change the channel,” says Colin Ferguson, CEO of Travel Manitoba.
It shouldn’t be that much of a stretch because the city has changed so much in recent years, starting with the return of the NHL in 2011, the surge of many new businesses and a growing sense of pride.
“That pride is real, it’s honest and it’s truthful,” he says.
The last time a branding exercise of this magnitude was undertaken was 2006 when the province commissioned “Spirited Energy,” a campaign that was almost universally panned and never got out of the gate. One of the many criticisms was that it was conceived by a Toronto-based marketing company.
“We’ve learned from the lessons of Spirited Energy,” Spiring says. “When we sat down to do this, we decided it had to be something that Winnipeggers would feel was their own. It’s a very different time and a very different brand,” she says.


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What drains an electric car battery most?
From air-con to smartphone charging – how much range is wiped-out when using these nine common features
One of the biggest concerns about switching to electric vehicles (EVs) is range anxiety – that bottom-clenching fear that you’ll be stranded at the side of the road with a flat battery.
And there are lots of tales about how quickly you can deplete an EV’s battery by running common features, such as air-conditioning on hot days and the heater in winter.
Does a battery deplete faster at night because you’re using the headlights more? And do you lose miles of range if you plug a smartphone in to charge? These are among just a few of the questions motorists rightfully have as we inch closer to the 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel motors.
Thankfully, a new report from a team of EV experts claims to have all the answers, estimating the impact of different features on an electric car’s battery.
Gridserve, which operates charging stations across the UK, has compiled a list of its most-commonly-asked questions to ‘EV Gurus’ and leasing consultants who work at their sites.
In a bid to set the record straight once and for all, the EV-charging firm has done the math to highlight what the true impact is.
It claims to have utilised live vehicle data, manufacturer tech sheets and lots of number crunching to calculate how much energy different features require – and then converted that into how many miles per hour it will zap from an EV’s battery.


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LEVIS partner ITAINNOVA hostsed an online conference on 21-25 November 2022. The first day of TECHWEEK was dedicated to “Sustainable Mobility”: Mobility faces the challenge, especially in large cities, of generating new, less polluting models that support the new mobility demands of citizens. In the coming years, autonomous and clean vehicles, interconnected mobility, and intelligent systems for the distribution of goods will be key. The TECHWEEK aims at any company or organization that wants to learn first-hand about the challenges that must be addressed for the future of society.
ITAINNOVA has been engaged in a process of reflection with leading players in each area to design innovative solutions aligned with each of their challenges, identified 5 areas that will have a great impact on society in the coming years, and set up 5 events:
21/11/2022: Sustainable Mobility
22/11/2022: Digital Agroindustry
23/11/2022: Efficient and Circular Industry
24/11/2022: Intelligent Health
25/11/2022: Clean Energy
The EU Project LEVIS was presented by Agustín Chiminelli from ITAINNOVA on 21 November 2022, 12:10 – 12:25 pm.
Picture and event info credits: II TechWeek | Movilidad Sostenible – ITAINNOVA


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KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) is assured that bilateral ties with Ankara will be further enhanced with the current visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to Turkiye.
“I’m assured that hotter ties between each nations will boost bilateral commerce, particularly within the export of Malaysia’s commodities, akin to palm oil,” Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamarudin mentioned in an announcement at present.
Her visit, which additionally witnessed the signing of a number of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) between each nations, added further impetus to Malaysia’s efforts to boost its commodities exports to Turkiye, Zuraida mentioned, including that she led a commerce mission to Turkiye in late March this yr.
Zuraida mentioned she met Turkish Minister of Trade Dr Mehmet Mus on March 27 and delved into Malaysia’s intentions to accentuate downstream actions of the palm oil trade.
Malaysia additionally provided its experience in pure rubber expertise, primarily in seismic rubber bearings that are able to absorbing earthquake tremors for the development trade, together with bridges and railways that are quickly rising in Turkiye, Zuraida mentioned.
During that journey in March, she additionally known as on Turkiye to help Malaysia’s palm oil merchandise, she mentioned.
There had been additionally discussions to make Turkiye a hub for Malaysian agricultural commodities to enter Europe and Central Asia, Zuraida mentioned.
Turkey is a crucial marketplace for Malaysia’s agri-commodities. The commerce worth of Malaysia’s agri-commodities with Turkiye amounted to RM6.02 billion in 2021, with an export worth of RM5.99 billion versus RM4.01 billion in 2020.
The 4 agri-commodities exported to the republic are palm oil-based merchandise (RM4.38 billion), adopted by rubber (RM1.29 billion), cocoa (RM304.5 million), and timber (RM8.43 million). – Bernama


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Consumers likely don’t think twice about swiping their credit cards through a retail outlet scanner, but they should. As it turns out, “swipe” fees are one of the most lucrative fees for banks and card issuers — and one of the most costly for consumers.
For the record, credit card swipe fees, paid by both merchants and consumers, rack up $48 billion in fees annually, according to the National Retail Foundation.
The NRF paints the card swipe fee as harmful to consumers and retailers, and wants Washington to do something about it in the upcoming financial reform bill.
Says the NRF’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Mallory Duncan: “These fees drive up prices for the average family by hundreds of dollars every year and depress the ability of main street merchants to thrive and grow ... Financial services reform isn’t complete without swipe fee reform.”
Swipe fees — otherwise known as interchange fees — are fees charged by card issuers every time a card is swiped in a retail transaction. The NRF reports that the average fee is 2% of the transaction amount and that the $48 billion figure has tripled since 2001, when swipe fees accounted for only $16 billion. The foundation also says that the average U.S. household spent $427 in “higher prices” in 2008, compared to $159 in 2001.
While the CARD Act of 2009 did include a provision to study interchange fees, it didn’t take any direct action against swipe fees. But that could be changing.
On May 6, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a bill to require major card carriers like Visa (Stock Quote: V) and MasterCard (Stock Quote: MA) to negotiate card swipe fees with retailers, rather than impose fixed fees on them. The bill also includes a provision that would allow retailers to give discounts to consumers who use cash or a debit card to make a purchase — thus taking the swipe fee out of the equation.


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Rice-based baby food like rice cakes and puddings contains illegal levels of dangerous arsenic according to scientists.
Last year the EU set controls for maximum levels of inorganic arsenic in a bid to battle health risks.
Arsenic can shackle babies’ development and lead to long-term health problems.
Scientists form Queen’s University Belfast examined products and found half still flout the laws.
Professor Andy Meharg, lead author of the study and Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences at Queen’s, said: “This research has shown direct evidence that babies are exposed to illegal levels of arsenic despite the EU regulation to specifically address this health challenge. Babies are particularly vulnerable to the damaging effects of arsenic that can prevent the healthy development of a baby’s growth, IQ and immune system to name but a few.”
Over exposure to arsenic can lead to heart, nervous system and developmental problems, along with diabetes.
Researchers examined urine samples from babies who were breast and bottle-fed.
More arsenic was found in kids who had been formula-fed, especially those given rice-fortified formulas. Babies’ exposure to arsenic increased as they were weaned off, which the scientists say shows a clear link between rice-based solid baby food and arsenic exposure.
They also compared baby foods containing rice sold before and after the new law.
Higher levels of arsenic were actually found in products sold after the new regulations.
Nearly 75% of the rice-based products specifically marketed for infants and young children contained more than the standard level of arsenic stipulated by the EU law.
Professor Meharg explained: “Products such as rice cakes and rice cereals are common in babies’ diets. This study found that almost three-quarters of baby crackers, specifically marketed for children exceeded the maximum amount of arsenic.”
Up to 85% of the arsenic can be removed by percolating the rice before bottling it up.
Professor Meharg adds: “Simple measures can be taken to dramatically reduce the arsenic in these products so there is no excuse for manufacturers to be selling baby food products with such harmful levels of this carcinogenic substance.
“Manufacturers should be held accountable for selling products that are not meeting the required EU standard. Companies should publish the levels of arsenic in their products to prevent those with illegal amounts from being sold. This will enable consumers to make an informed decision, aware of any risks associated before consuming products containing arsenic.”


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Coming to work to find a practically barren parking lot at the old Wal-Mart site, Autumn Smith could only compare it to a ghost town.
Smith, manager of Payless Shoes, said her store will survive without the country's largest company as a neighbor. Steady customers will come, she said, but she could already see a difference Wednesday morning with a lack of foot traffic.
"You wouldn't think one store would make such a difference," Smith said.
Small stores in the shopping center between Koontz Lane and Clearview Drive find themselves without a major retail draw with Wal-Mart's Wednesday relocation to a bigger supercenter two miles south on Highway 395. That doesn't bother some of them, though.
Mike Childers, owner of the General Nutrition Center, said he sells such speciality vitamin products, he doesn't expect to be affected.
Susan Paul, manager of PetSupermarket, and Heather Chandler, assistant manager for Pier One Imports, echoed Smith's sentiments that their customers would stay and business would probably be fine. Getting the extra random, walk-through traffic will be the challenge, they said.
Across the country, what super Wal-Mart's do affect are grocery stores. One of Carson City's three Albertson's stores and a Raley's store are located within about two miles of the new supercenter.
Albertson's officials were unavailable for comment Wednesday. Raley's spokeswoman Nicole Townsend said the stores in both Carson City and Gardnerville are consistently voted best grocery store.
"We understand that Wal-Mart is part of the retail landscape," Townsend said. "We've served the community for decades, so we feel we have many customers who have been shopping with us the same amount of time. They see the things that set us apart."
Townsend said Raley's service, quality products and value will continue to keep customers from straying to the Wal-Mart supercenter.
Wal-Mart opened 21 stores across the country Wednesday. All but four were supercenter discount and grocery stores.
Wal-Mart decided to relocate its Carson City store after failing to negotiate an agreement with Raley's which would have allowed it to expand. The company left behind an empty, 119,000-square-foot building that Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill said shouldn't "be vacant long." What will go in the site is a matter of speculation.
Wal-Mart took with it to Douglas County an estimated $1 million in sales taxes, which makes up roughly 2.5 percent of Carson City's $40 million, sales-tax dependent budget.
City leaders made unsuccessful efforts -- including attempting to broker a deal with Raley's and offering several Carson City sites including the city's fairgrounds and Fuji Park -- to retain the retail giant and its millions in local sales tax revenue.


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Having started the year 2021 quite well, Sony has expanded its product range with the FE 35mm f/1.4 and FE 50mm f/1.2, as well as the unique Alpha 1 camera. However, according to the latest Sony rumors, the company will reveal its new lenses without slowing down.
Accordingly, it is among the leaked rumors that the next Sony lenses will be compact G series E mount lenses. These are the Sony FE 24mm G E-mount Lens, Sony FE 40mm G E-mount Lens, Sony FE 50mm G E-mount Lens.
Sony ‘G-series’ lenses sits below the G Master (GM) series high-end lenses with an affordable price. Sony users recently met the FE 20mm F1.8G (B&H Photo / Adorama) and E 16-55mm F2.8 G lenses (B&H Photo / Adorama /Amazon) in this series. For the newly anticipated G-series E-mount lenses the aperture is expected to stand at f/2.8. Official announcement is expected in next few weeks, stay tuned for more info.
Sony’s latest GM flagship lenses are now available from major stores. The FE 35mm f/1.4 GM lens is available for $1,399 (B&HPhoto, Adorama, Amazon) while the Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM will be available in mid-to-late May for $1999 at B&HPhoto. Adorama.
Latest Sony Rumors : FE 24mm, 40mm, 50mm G E-mount Lenses Coming Next
Nokishita leaked Sony’s next lenses, which will be compact G lenses that are 24mm, 40mm, and 50mm.
The next lens that Sony will announce is a compact G lens, which will be FE24mm, FE40mm and FE50mm
Also join the Sony Camera Users Facebook Group to share your Sony photography.


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By Emily Hamann
The Bellingham Business Journal
It’s real estate, revolutionized. Zeppidy, Inc., a startup based in Portland, Oregon is hoping to use technology to transform the real estate industry.
This month Zeppidy plans to add the real estate data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which means its services will extend to most of Washington, including King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
Gary Schultz, founder and CEO of Zeppidy, said other industries have already gone through a tech revolution.
“What we see is consumers craving more transparency, more simplicity,” he said.
Sites like Zillow and Redfin are a good middle point, but Zeppidy is transformative, in that it guides buyers and sellers through the entire process, and gives them unprecedented transparency over the entire process.
“Our solution is a web platform where everyday people can be in the driver’s seat from search to closing,” Schultz said.
For potential buyers (or even just browsers) it starts with the home search. Users can search for properties in more than one area at once, and filter properties based on everything from price and number of bedrooms down to what appliances the home has.
Each listing includes information about the neighborhood, schools, nearby stores and restaurants, market trends, and even lets users estimate how long their commute would be.
For most users, that’s probably where it will end.
“People who are looking online today, 99 percent of that interest is just looking,” Schultz said.
However, when serious buyers are ready to take the next step, Zeppidy will guide them through it. Upon request, the platform will match a user up with a participating real estate agents. Once a buyer and an agent get connected, the buyer, and their spouse or other family members, and the agent set up an individual profile on the site, and collaborate together on different listings, sign up for open houses, and share notes.
When it’s time to make an offer, Zeppidy generates all the legal documents, and sends them the various parties to get filled out.
Real estate agents pay to subscribe to Zeppidy (they also pay Zeppidy 25 percent of their commission if a referral results in a sale), and they get all their software tools in one place.
Currently, Schultz said, real estate agents use piecemeal technology, and need to switch to a different program for each part of the buying or selling process.
With Zeppidy, everything is in the same place; they can see all their clients’ activity. If they have a listing through Zeppidy, they can see every action taken on the property, they can read feedback left by potential buyers who have viewed the property, and the program even generates flyers.
Agents can send clients to look for homes on Zeppidy without sending them to a competing company. Zillow is full of ads for other agents; Redfin is its own brokerage.
“Agents have a place where they can collaborate with them that’s neutral ground,” Schultz said.
If a seller wants to go it alone without a listing agent (a tempting choice in the current seller’s market) they can pay Zeppidy a flat $599 fee. For their money, Zeppidy has partnered with a national real estate photography company, which will come out and take photos of the property, Zeppidy will walk seller’s through creating the listing, which it then posts, and send to the listing service. It can even generate a Craigslist ad.
It also offers advice and to-do lists on when to schedule inspections, etc.
Zeppidy launched a beta version of the site in Portland a few months ago.
“We were really well received here in Portland,” Schultz said. Many of the real estate agents who signed on have already signed up for a yearly subscription.
The site has been under development for more than three years. The company has eight employees.
Schultz has spent his career on the business side of tech. He got inspiration for Zeppidy when he was going through the home buying process himself.
“When I went through the process, it was very inefficient for me to have access to the data I wanted,” he said. He realized the inefficient system was adding hassle and expense to the process.
“There’s not a level of transparency and understanding,” for buyers, he said. He dreamed of building a platform to transform real estate the way sectors like travel and finance have already been disrupted.
Once upon a time, vacation plans were booked through travel agencies. Now there’s Expedia. Sites like E-Trade let people be more hands-on with their investments.
It’s time for those same type of tools, which gives users access to more information, and more control, to be available for those buying and selling a home, Schultz said.


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Today, Google unveiled Stadia, a new cloud-powered streaming platform.
Google announced the news during a keynote, hosted live from GDC in San Francisco. Google CEO Sundar Pichai took to the stage to unveil Stadia, stating that the company had been “building a game platform for everyone”.
The platform is cloud-fueled, which means players can play games across multiple devices, including laptops, TVs and mobile phones without the need for powerful hardware.
A demonstration was shown, showcasing the ability for players to simply click on an advert placed inside a YouTube video, which will take them directly to a playable game in less than five seconds. The first title to be shown was Assassin's Creed: Odyssey.
Stadia promises new features for YouTube creators too. YouTube's head of gaming Ryan Wyatt took to the stage to speak about the experience Stadia will give to creators and their communities.
"Gaming has always been the backbone of YouTube," Wyatt said.
"Stadia is designed to bring creators together."
Head on over to InfluencerUpdate.Biz for the full story.
Check out our GDC coverage throughout the week right here.


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Companies in the UK are focussing their ad spend away from print media, now more so than ever before, new research has revealed.
A survey of 1,325 UK marketing professionals carried out by leading digital marketing agency, Marketingsignals.com, revealed that 56% of UK based businesses have turned their main focus away from spending on print advertising during the past 12 months.
As companies become more digitally integrated, many are seeing the benefits of digital marketing for their business growth and development.
The top five reasons why British companies are turning their marketing spend away from traditional advertising methods, and focussing on digital;
1 – Transparency over ROI, making spend easier to attribute to sales (64%)
2 – Increased conversions compared to more traditional advertising methods (62%)
3 – Lower investment and a more targeted audience reach (55%)
4 – Social media targeting (37%)
5 – Flexibility to change a strategy mid-course (24%)
The top reason given for this shift away from print to digital was the increased control companies have over their ad spend, with results being much more measurable, as they are fully trackable and most importantly, attributable. In fact, 64% of those surveyed said that this transparency over ROI was their main reason for moving the majority of their ad spend over to digital.
In addition to being able to accurately measure ROI, almost the same number of respondents (62%) said that the increase in conversions (compared to traditional advertising methods) was a major reason why they shifted their budgets.
For more than half of the companies surveyed (55%), the ability to reach a more targeted audience (with an investment level that’s much lower compared to other traditional advertising methods) was cited as their primary reason for preferring digital advertising.
37% of those surveyed said they were actively using social media advertising as a tool to acquire new customers. A strategic social media campaign can ensure that businesses are speaking to the most relevant potential customers for their products or services by building out tailored personas based on location, gender, interests and income level (amongst many others).
Completing the top five reasons why UK businesses are focussing their advertising spend on digital, was flexibility, with one in four (24%) of those surveyed saying that having the agility to change tact and strategy mid-campaign was a key reason for their increased focus on digital.
Gareth Hoyle, managing director at Marketingsignals.com comments: “Of course companies like ours are aware of the benefits of digital marketing and SEO, it’s the reason why we exist! It’s fantastic to see that in 2019, more companies than ever have become fully on board with the digital age.
“Pretty much every company has some form of online presence, as it’s almost a necessity to survive in this day and age, though it’s really interesting to see some of the reasons behind the upscaled shift in budgets being researched and published.
“In short, British businesses are fast seeing the benefits to their bottom line when their marketing departments focus their advertising spend on digital.”


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Apple has been added to a patent infringement lawsuit by Typhoon Touch Technologies, which claims that Apple’s iPhone violated two Typhoon touch-based computing patents. The patents, issued in 1995 and 1997, refer to any touchscreen device capable of collecting information, and are focused on in-field situations such as police stops. Despite this, AppleInsider reports, the patents are so broadly worded that nearly every company manufacturing a touch screen tablet computer or smartphone may have violated some parts of both patents, which are claimed exclusive to a company listed as Nova Mobility. While the complaint originally named only Dell, whose Latitude XT tablet PC was the primary catalyst for the lawsuit, other companies such as Fujitsu, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Nokia, Palm, Panasonic, Samsung, and Toshiba have been added in addition to Apple. Typhoon hopes to be awarded both financial damages and an injunction against the products involved, which would last until the companies agree to pay a “reasonable royalty” every three months.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robin Givhan--aka the only fashion writer at a major newspaper to be taken seriously--is leaving The Washington Post after 15 years of service, according to a memo released by Yahoo! News.
Givhan moved to Washington from New York two years ago to cover Michelle Obama nearly full time, but was still a fixture at the European fashion shows. She's best known for her elegant analysis of the wardrobes of political figures, although we also privately admire her for wearing a tracksuit to an Elise Overland show. (Because once you're that important, you can wear anything.)
What's Givhan's next move? We've yet to find out, but she did work at Vogue briefly in the early part of the last decade and continues to freelance for magazines like Harper's Bazaar. We wouldn't be shocked if she moved to a glossy in a very senior role. (Alternatively, she may be departing to focus on books and freelance.)
Update: Givhan will join the staff at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, which recently merged. Newsweek is now edited by Tina Brown, former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor and founder of The Daily Beast. Givhan's title will be special correspondent for style and culture, and she'll remain in Washington.


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Cross-Border Cannabis Deals Getting Craftier
The border between Canada and the United States is not as clear-cut for cannabis companies.
Canada’s legalization of marijuana in 2018 has created a new generation of startups north of the border and investors are flooding with the hope that they will follow the path Canadian companies did by getting an early start on U.S competitors before America repealed prohibition all those years ago.
Now that so many US states have legalized recreational cannabis use, it has become clear who will dominate this new market: Americans! And some Canadians cannot even sell or ship products across borders due to legal restrictions on exporting outside North America – at least not yet. But there is hope on the horizon thanks to a string of recently signed agreements between certain groups.
Tilray Inc.’s purchase of MedMen Enterprises Inc.’s debt last week is the latest example in a recent trend that could help Canadian companies buy U.S.-based targets if legalization occurs – Tilray’s first such creative cross-border deal, Canopy Growth Corp.’s option to buy Acreage Holdings gives it access to Atlanta’s SweetWater Brewing Company and Manitoba Harvest; Aphria merger lets them make THC drinks or distribute cannabis in Southeast
Canadian retail company Fire & Flower has made a massive cross-border deal by opening up a dispensary in Palm Springs, California. The store is licensed through American Acres, which changed its name to the much more appropriate sounding “Fire and Flower U.S Holdings.” This agreement will also allow them to open other stores throughout Arizona, Nevada, and other areas of California, as well!
Scotts Miracle-Gro, the gardening company that has made a fortune selling cultivation equipment to cannabis growers in Los Angeles and Seattle, just invested $150 million into Toronto’s RIV Capital. The investment gives Scotts access to “a larger marketplace.”
Scotts Miracle-Gro is known as much for its fertilizers and other gardening supplies as it is for making loads of cash off growing sales from farm tools used by marijuana cultivators in LA and Seattle. This month, they’ve gone all out on investing 150 million dollars with Toronto’s RIV Capital, which provides venture capital financing to cannabis industry entrepreneurs. Scotts has also set up its own subsidiary called Scott Labs which will focus solely on weed research and development if/when legal restrictions are lifted.
Simultaneously, Flora Growth has also been a major player in the American market for some time now, and with anticipated federal legalization of marijuana looming on the horizon, the Columbia-based operation has already set its sights on capturing at least part of this lucrative American market.
Flora Growth just recently purchased a vape pen maker that will give them access to both sides of legal trade; allowing it to profit from production as well as retail sales once it becomes fully legalized here in America.


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With the last bits of winter quickly becoming a distant memory, it means changes are coming as spring settles in nicely. Some of those exciting changes can be found at the Nisqually Red Wind Casino in Yelm. Their former Coho Cabaret has recently undergone extensive renovation and is now the Coho Sports Pub. This new restaurant will soon be hosting a slew of interactive sports parties with food and drink specials throughout the day. The Coho Sports Pub grand opening will be Monday, May 1.
The Red Wind Burger Challenge will tempt the hungriest of patrons and those who desire to be on the Wall of Fame. Contestants who take on the 5 lb. Burger Challenge will indulge in a two-pound burger and bun topped with 10 ounces of ham, eight slices of bacon, four slices of Swiss cheese, four slices of cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles. The burger will be served with a one-pound side of fries and the contestant will have 45 minutes to complete the Red Wind Burger Challenge. If a contestant finishes the belly stretching challenge, their meal is free of charge, they will receive an official T-shirt, a $20 gaming voucher, and their name will be featured on the Wall of Fame.
"We saw it as a fun challenge for our guests," said Tyson Kruger, Red Wind Casino's marketing manager. "It is definitely something new and exciting that we are happy to be offering." The Red Wind team members will have the first opportunity to take on the massive Burger Challenge Wednesday, April 26, during their quarterly team member meeting. The Red Wind Casino team members are excited to unveil the new Coho Sports Pub and all it has to offer. The new space will feature a 160" Projector TV, as well as 21 additional televisions throughout to watch all your favorite live sports. The Coho Sports Pub will also be offering a brand new food menu that will also include breakfast options.
Nisqually Red Wind Casino, 8 a.m. to 5 a.m., Monday-Wednesday; 24-hours, 8 a.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Monday, 12819 Yelm Hwy. SE, Olympia, 360.412.5000, redwindcasino.com


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Newegg announced new plans for Black November, the company’s month-long campaign on tech products. Now in its 12th year, this year’s Black November comes with Newegg’s first-ever Black Friday Price Protection, which assures customers that when they shop on the site, they will get the lowest possible prices offered on the site from November 1st through November 30th.
“We anticipate customers shopping earlier than ever this year, so we’re kicking off Black November with massive discounts across the board starting at midnight on November 1,” said Anthony Chow, Newegg’s Global CEO. “And to remove any doubt about whether customers are getting the best deal offered on Newegg.com, our new Black Friday Price Protection guarantees the lowest possible prices throughout the month of November.”
The company added, “Taking advantage of Newegg’s Black Friday Price Protection is simple: if a customer purchases an eligible product displaying the “Black Friday Price Protection” badge on Newegg.com November 1 through November 22, and then after purchase that same product is discounted to a lower price on Newegg.com on or before November 30, Newegg will automatically refund the difference to the original payment method. There’s no need to track prices or submit a claim – refunds will be automatically processed by December 7.”
The company is also offering an extended return window this year. The company stated that all eligible purchases made between November 1st and December 24th can be returned until January 31, 2021.
Newegg’s savings begin at midnight on November 1st with a three-day Black November Kickoff Sale filled with some of Newegg’s most aggressive deals of the month across all categories.
The sample deals from Newegg’s Black November Kickoff Sale include:
- AORUS CV27Q-SA 27″ Frameless Curved 1500R Gaming Monitor – $369.99 (valid 11/1-11/3)
- Gigabyte Aorus 5 15.6″ 144 Hz Intel Core i7-10750H GeForce RTX 2060 512 GB SSD Gaming Laptop – Only @ Newegg – $1,149.00 (valid 11/1-11/8)
- ASUS ZenBook 14 Ultra-Slim 14″ Laptop , 1 TB PCIe SSD UM425IA-NH74 – $849.99 (valid 11/1-11/8)
- ABS Gladiator Gaming PC Intel i7 10700F GeForce RTX 2070 Super 1TB SSD – $1,199.99 (valid 11/1-11/3)
- EVGA SuperNOVA 850 GA, 80 Plus Gold 850W,Power Supply 220-GA-0850-X1 – $119.99 (valid 11/1-11/3)
- ASRock B550M STEEL LEGEND AM4 AMD B550 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX AMD Motherboard – $109.99 (valid 11/1-11/8)
- G.SKILL Trident Z Neo Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C18D-16GTZN – $89.99 (valid 11/1-11/3)
- Seagate IronWolf 8TB NAS Hard Drive ST8000VN0022 – $179.99 (valid 11/1-11/8)
- SAMSUNG 860 EVO Series 2.5″ 500GB SATA III V-NAND 3-bit MLC Internal Solid State Drive – $54.99 (valid 11/2-11/8)
- Polk Audio TL1600 5.1 Compact Surround Sound Home Theater System with Powered Subwoofer – $179.00 (valid 11/1-11/8)
- InFocus Classic Series 45″ 1080p Roku Smart LED TV (IN-45FA40PR) – $179.99 (valid 11/4-11/8)
The company’s Black November will also add Newegg’s Black November Gaming Edition Sale (November 4th-8th), featuring great deals on gaming components, systems and storage. Then on November 9th, Newegg will launch Black Friday Starts Early Sale, a two-week event featuring early Black Friday and Cyber Monday savings, with new deals released daily. On November 23rd, Newegg kicks off its week-long Black Friday & Cyber Monday event with site-wide savings on products in all categories.
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The much-anticipated pizza spot from seasoned San Francisco chef Eric Ehler is finally ready to open its doors on Thursday, Sept. 15, in the Tenderloin. Called Outta Sight, the shop at 422 Larkin St. will specialize in large, 18-inch thin-and-crispy cheesy New York-style pizza, available both by the whole pie and by the slice.
Ehler, who has experience cooking in fine-dining Michelin-starred restaurants like Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown and working with pizza at places like PizzaHacker, started Outta Sight as a pop-up in 2020. He eventually landed a permanent residency at Fig & Thistle wine bar in Hayes Valley, which he will continue to operate. But the Larkin location will be Outta Sight’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant that’s 100% owned and operated by Ehler and his business partner, Peter Dorrance, who met while cooking together at Mister Jiu’s.


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Schools, hospitals and the wider public sector will be encouraged to buy "locally sourced" fresh and seasonal produce, according to Number 10, under an £18 million food initiative.
Up to £400 million of up to £600 million spent by the public sector on imported food and drink could be sourced from within the UK, they added.
By opening up these contracts, we can help (our farmers) create more jobs, invest in their businesses and make sure people in our country have a healthier lifestyle. It's a triple-win - and will mean a brighter future for our country.
More top news
A look ahead to the forecast for today across the UK.
Tackling and scrums should be banned in school rugby games due to the risk of serious injury, according to health experts.
Luke Sinnott has won a gold medal in the 200 metre sprint for amputee competitors, now he is giving it to the family of a fallen soldier.


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Zynga's long-time reign over Facebook games has come to an end, toppled by the appropriately named King.com.
The 2013 edition of SecureIT is a definite improvement over its predecessor. Its antiphishing component went from zero to hero, and it's better at malware removal now. However, it's still not great at cleaning up entrenched threats, and its firewall component is iffy. Don't install it unless you can guarantee there's no trace of malware on the system.
From AT&T's extension of FaceTime over cellular to Leap Motion's retail deal with Best Buy, here's what you missed yesterday.
MediaFire on Wednesday launches its Android application, along with 50GB of free storage.
Facebook will be adding search features to users' accounts soon. But there are two very different views on what search functionality should and will accomplish.
Facebook is reportedly rolling out a free calling option among iPhone Facebook Messenger users.
Microsoft on Wednesday released a new app called HelpBridge, which lets users give and get help in the event of a natural disaster.
AT&T is extending FaceTime over cellular to any compatible iOS device on a tiered data plan from the carrier.
Ubisoft is delaying the launch of Splinter Cell: Blacklist. It is now expected to hit stores on Aug. 20, months after the intended "spring 2013" launch.
A U.S.-based power plant was hit with a malware attack thanks to an infected USB stick used for software updates.
The NRA produced a lousy mobile game to score political points. If you want to score some actual points shooting firearms on your mobile device, try these games instead.
According to marketing site Wishpond, Facebook photo posts receive more click-throughs and likes than more barren messages.
AV-Test continually evaluates dozens of popular security solutions and periodically reports their results. In the latest report, Microsoft, AhnLab, and PC Tools failed to receive certification. However, the average score for all tested products is a bit higher than in the previous test.
The judge involved in the "app store" case between Apple and Amazon ordered the two companies into the negotiating room.
Popular iOS game Temple Run is offering players even more chances to slide, leap, and collect coins in its sequel, releasing today in the U.S.
Google has provided users with a new way to waste time today, thanks to an interactive homepage doodle in honor of entrepreneur Frank Zamboni.
Lomography's Kickstarter project — the Smartphone Film Scanner — has taken off, earning double its funding goal in just two days.
NRA: Practice Range is a slap-dash affair with little to offer besides some basic shooting games. It almost certainly aims to get by (and make money) off the NRA's existing pool of users.
Disney Interactive today announced what the company called its "most ambitious gaming initiative ever" - Disney Infinity.


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129 websites shut down in week-long crackdown
The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post
Investigators identified 129 Indonesian-based websites that were allegedly used to distribute both illegal and counterfeit drugs as well as cosmetics in a week-long crackdown codenamed the sixth Pangea Operation.
The uncovered websites led to the investigation of 20 distribution facilities, during which investigators seized 292,535 pieces of illegally distributed drugs, traditional herbal medicine, cosmetics and health supplement products consisting 721 items worth Rp 5.59 billion (US$563,226).
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) said that following the crackdown, the government would be taking legal action against 14 cases uncovered during the operation.
'BPOM chairwoman Lucky S.Slamet, as the head of illegal food and drugs elimination working group, has asked the Communications and Information Ministry to blockade 129 websites,' the agency said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
The sixth Pangea Operation took place in Jakarta and five other areas in Indonesia ' Batam, Central Java, East Java, North Sumatra and West Java ' from June 18 to 25.
Compared to similar operations in 2011 and 2012, the BPOM said this year's Pangea Operation yielded significant improvements both in the number of websites identified and the scope of operations as well as the number and value of illegal products confiscated in the crackdown.
Previously, investigators seized Rp 7 billion worth of illegal products and named 5 people suspects during operations in six cities ' Bandung, Batam, Pekanbaru, Samarinda, Semarang and Surabaya -- from January to June.
In the same period, the BPOM destroyed more than 4 million pieces of illegal food and drugs consisting 17,031 different items worth nearly Rp 13 billion. (ebf)
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Rookwood Starbucks to temporarily close for facelift
A popular Starbucks Coffeehouse at Norwood's Rookwood Commons & Pavilion will be closed between Monday, Feb. 26, and Monday, March 12, for a major facelift.
Manager Turin Auguste said the business at 2692 Madison Road will be getting “a total gut job,” with new flooring, ceilings, cabinets and fixtures.
The décor will be changed up and the bar where coffee and other drinks are made will switch places with the cash register.
“The footprint will remain the same, but the place will look entirely different,” Auguste said.
Starbucks customers won’t have to look far for a nearby substitute.
There’s a Starbucks location a mile away at 3760 Paxton Ave. in the Hyde Park Plaza.


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Rocket Companies named former Airbnb exec Jonathan Mildenhall as Chief Marketing Officer, the company announced in a press release.
In this new position, Mildenhall will craft a marketing voice that unifies all businesses under Rocket Companies, keeping their branding in line. All marketing and communications teams will report directly to him.
“The role Rocket plays in helping people achieve the American Dream through home ownership and financial freedom is massive and cannot be overstated,” he said. “I am honored to be given the opportunity to work with this talented team.”
Mildenhall brings more than three decades of experience to the position. He is a co-founder of leading branding and marketing consultancy, TwentyFirstCenturyBrand. The company has worked with game-changing companies such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Zalando, PepsiCo, NextDoor, and Walmart.
Mildenhall will remain Chairman of that business.
Prior to opening his own shop, Mildenhall served as CMO at Airbnb and vice president of global advertising strategy and content excellence at Coca-Cola.
“Jonathan is one of the top marketing minds in the world, with a strong reputation for consistently delivering compelling campaigns that break through the clutter and become socially relevant,” said Varun Krishna, Rocket Companies CEO.
“I have been highly impressed by the number of incredible stories we have to tell. Countless customers, team members, and vendors have told us how working with Rocket changed their lives. I am looking forward to Jonathan and the team creating new and innovative ways to share these inspiring narratives with the world.”
Mildenhall is a board member of GoFundMe and Fanatics, and has been included on Forbes’ list of the World’s most influential CMOs, Business Insider’s list of the most innovative CMOs, and won Adweek’s Brand Genius award.
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Brazilian Steakhouse Looks To Accelerate Expansion Under New Ownership
Bain Capital Private Equity is buying Fogo de Chão, the chain of Brazilian-style steakhouses, in just the latest big restaurant company sale this year.
The sale price was not disclosed. Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported the deal with Bain valued the Brazilian steakhouse chain at about $1.1 billion, including debt.
The seller of the Addison, Texas-based chain of 76 restaurants worldwide is Rhône Capital, which has owned the eateries since taking the company private in 2018. In 2021, Fogo announced plans for an initial public offering, but that effort may be put on hold with the sale. Bain, based in Boston, didn’t respond to an email from CoStar News seeking comment.
New York-based Rhône, a transatlantic private equity firm established in 1996, bought Fogo for $560 million five years ago.
Like other restaurant chains sold this year, Fogo said having a new owner will let it accelerate its growth and expand. There’s been a flurry of merger-and-acquisition activity in the dining industry as investors return to the sector as Americans seek out experiences and go out to eat again as the pandemic has eased over time.
Just last week Fiesta Restaurant Group, parent of the Pollo Tropical chain, said it was being bought for $225 million by Authentic Restaurant Brands. And Darden Restaurants, the parent of Olive Garden, acquired Ruth’s Chris Steak House for $712 million in June.
Founded in southern Brazil in 1979, Fogo offers fare prepared using the churrasco cooking method. High-quality cuts of meat are roasted over an open flame and then carved by the side of tables by gaucho chefs. The chain expects to continue to operate under its current management team led by CEO Barry McGowan.
Fogo’s Revenue Growth
Under Rhône’s ownership, Fogo enjoyed rapid growth across markets, executing an expansion plan in the United States and internationally. The chain “is in its third year of 15% annual growth,” according to Fogo and Bain.
“Over the past several years, we made significant progress enhancing our unique offering and ability to bring the very best in experiential dining to more guests than ever before,” McGowan said in a statement. “Bain Capital shares our vision, and we are excited to leverage their extensive experience investing in and supporting the global growth of restaurant businesses.”
Bain Capital Private Equity has a history of partnering with companies to accelerate their growth and has experience in the consumer, retail, and restaurant industries. The company’s restaurant and food-related investments have included Bloomin’ Brands, Brakes Group Food Distribution, Burger King, Dessert Holdings, Domino’s Pizza, Domino’s Pizza Japan, Dunkin’ Brands Group, Retail Zoo, Skylark Restaurants, and Valeo Foods.
The firm has also made investments to support the growth of several companies founded in Brazil, some serving the domestic market and others expanding from that country to serve global markets.
For the Record
Morgan Stanley & Co. is serving as the exclusive financial adviser, Deloitte as accounting adviser and Sullivan & Cromwell as legal counsel to Fogo de Chão and Rhône. Debt financing for the transaction for Bain Capital is being led by Deutsche Bank, which is also serving as a financial adviser. Bain’s accounting adviser is PwC and its legal counsel is Kirkland & Ellis.


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In search for the US military Osprey aircraft that crashed last week in the waters off southwestern Japan
The UK is set to reveal negotiating objectives for its trade talks with the US next week amid rising concerns over the National Health Services (NHS) and food standards, the Department for International Trade has said.
The document is expected to set out Britain’s “red lines” on some controversial issues, including whether to open NHS, the country’s publicly funded healthcare system, to US private companies, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department as saying on Saturday.
There were also rising concerns in the UK that the trade deal will lower barriers to controversial American exports such as chlorine-washed chicken, which was banned in the European Union (EU) in 1997 over food safety concerns but is considered “safe” in the US.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly expressed his ambition for a “massive” trade deal with the US.
Earlier this month, he criticized “America bashers” who take a “hysterical” attitude towards US food.
In 2019, Johnson said that the US must lift restrictions on UK businesses if it wants a trade deal with the UK.
Earlier, President Trump had said talks about a “very substantial” trade deal with the UK were already underway.
He said a bilateral post-Brexit deal could lead to a “three to four, five times” increase in current trade – but provided no details about how that would be achieved.
However, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said a UK-US trade deal would not get through Congress if Brexit undermined the Good Friday Agreement.
Pelosi said the UK’s exit from the EU could not be allowed to endanger the 1998 Irish peace deal, which the US helped facilitate.
Trade deals involve two or more countries agreeing to a set of terms by which they buy and sell goods and services from each other.


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Indian automaker Mahindra Reva has announced plans to start selling its tiny Reva e20 EV in Europe by the end of the summer. Since the giant conglomerate Mahindra bought the Reva Electric Car Company in 2010, the company has become India’s leading EV developer.
“The way electric vehicle technology is growing in Europe, we expect it to play an important role there. We are looking at the opportunity to launch our electric vehicle there and expect to do so in the next six months,” Pravin Shah, Head of Automotive Global Operations, told the Press Trust of India.
Some see the European move as a necessity, in order to expand the market for a car that has been selling less than 1,000 units per year at home. India offers few incentives for EV buyers, and has little charging infrastructure, so EV-makers are struggling. Two years ago, 25 Indian firms were working on EV technology, but now there are about five, Shah said.
However, the Reva has had modest success in the 24 countries where the company licenses its technology to other automakers. Shah said the e20’s future depends on its ability to take advantage of government goodies in more developed markets. Meanwhile, Mahindra is trying to get New Delhi to support the Indian EV market with incentives.
“We are expecting some sort of allocation in the budget that’ll help in making the electric vehicles more affordable for consumers, as the current cost is very high,” Shah told India’s Business Standard newspaper.
Source: International Business Times