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Indianapolis unveiled two solar powered lawnmowers as part of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050.
Hogsett says the new mowers are one of many tools the city will use to lower emissions on “Knozone Action Days,” when air quality is especially bad.
“We will use more electric vehicles and tools like our new Mean Green electric mowers,” Hogsett says. “These battery-powered mowers operate with zero emissions, use solar energy, and run much quieter than their fossil-fueled counterparts.”
Mean Green Mowers representative Zach Mersch says the mowers cost $23,000 each and can run for about 7 hours per charge. The mowers are expected to have a lifetime use of about 3,250 hours and use about 21 kilowatts of electricity for each hour of use.
By comparison, a gas-powered Dixie Chopper lawn mower costs between $6,000 and $8,000 and can be warrantied up to 3,000 hours.
The Indianapolis Parks Department currently uses 61 lawn mowers.
“In 2018, we mowed over 40,000 acres of parks and trails and now with the addition of two electric mowers, we are reducing our city’s carbon foot print,” says Indy Parks Director Linda Broadfoot. “We are taking a big step towards helping our air quality for the people we serve.”
Mean Green Mowers says if Indianapolis replaces the remaining 59 gas-powered mowers with their solar-powered electric mowers, it could eliminate emissions equivalent to m ore than 100,000 cars.


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Nissan is about to make an investment in Renault’s electric vehicle (EV) business that might range from $500 million to $750 million. So what if it loses $687 million as it sells its Russian operations to a state-owned company for one euro? The manufacturer promises to stick to its earnings projection for the fiscal year that ends in March 2023.
The demand for transportation electrification has upended the whole auto industry at the same time as these intertwining Nissan stories. The Russian offensive against Ukraine complicates Nissan’s already challenging and evolving economic influences. After the highly denounced invasion on February 24 of this year, over 1,000 enterprises already ceased operations in Russia and departed the country.
The majority of the media attention has, however, been on Nissan’s efforts to stabilize its business operations through a new partnership with Renault. According to sources, executives from Nissan and Renault met this week to discuss an EV takeover, shareholdings, and other issues.
The last weekend was largely spent by Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida and COO Ashwani Gupta with Renault CEO Luca de Meo and Senior Vice President of International Development and Partnerships Francois Provost. The Suzuka Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix was plagued by a horrible storm that caused numerous red flags, safety cars, and an extremely dull race. The four executives had plenty of time to talk while they waited for restarting due to the severe weather.
Monday at the Nissan corporate offices in Yokohama, their deliberations resumed.
THE ALLIANCE’S PUBLIC FACE On October 10, Renault Group and Nissan Motor Co. issued a curt joint statement from Paris, Tokyo, and Yokohama amid rife speculations. The Alliance claimed that as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen the alliance’s collaboration and its future, they are now having frank discussions about a number of initiatives.
The topics discussed include:
a deal on a number of important joint endeavors spanning various markets, goods, and technology A key step towards Nissan Ambition 2030 is Nissan’s contemplation of investing in the new Renault EV business, which will help Renault’s Renaulution goal. To guarantee sustainable Alliance operations and governance, the companies continue to push for structural reforms. The brief statement concluded with the remark that the Alliance members would communicate further as needed.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN NISSAN AND RENAULT What is known as follows.
The newly established Alliance: Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi Motors have been approached by Renault to invest in a new EV project. Renault CEO Luca de Meo is developing the reimagined business model. Key elements of the negotiations will be on Renault maintaining a minority ownership in the legacy business and a potential initial public offering as they outline how such an EV investment will effect their Alliance. The intentions of the company would also need to be approved by the French government, which owns 15% of Renault.
Introduction of Renault to the EV market: As part of a new growth strategy, Renault intends to spin off its EV business into a distinct company. In an earlier statement, Renault stated that by 2023, the EV facility would be in France and employ roughly 10,000 people.
Nissan’s ownership of Renault is 15%, although it has no voting rights. Nissan might become more competitive as a result of the new arrangement.
Overall financial situation of Nissan: Last year, Nissan unveiled a strategy to target 50% electrification by 2030 while investing 2 trillion yen ($13.8 billion) over a 5-year period. For the first time since Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s previous CEO, was fired four years prior, sales increased in the quarter ending March 2022. (and jailed in Japan). Totals for June 2022 came to around $10 billion in cash . According to Morningstar , free cash flow will become positive at around 388 billion yen ($2.7 billion) by 2024.
I want to see the money. The June Nissan cash and equivalents allowed the corporation plenty of room to buyback some of its stock and invest in the EV business of Renault. Nissan’s profitability and sales have surpassed expectations, and the firm will probably upgrade its prognosis when it releases its quarterly results in the first part of November.
Why can’t we simply all get along? A new operating agreement between the companies will be necessary due to the modifications. It would be fascinating to see how that plays out since Carlos Ghosn, who was brought in by Renault to save Nissan in 1999 and who later rose to the position of CEO of both manufacturers and chairman of their alliance, will be involved. Later, he expanded the agreement to include Mitsubishi Motors, but he was detained in 2018 on suspicion of underreporting his income. In December 2019 in a guitar case , he managed to flee Japan, and he is now in Lebanon.
Nissan views Renault’s present reorganization as an opportunity to reevaluate their relationship, which dates back decades and has frequently been tense and jealous. This is how Nissan thinks about the Alliance’s progress. Nissan sees its impending partnership with Renault as a software and advanced EVs venture.
Nissan has previously asked Renault to examine its ownership stake in Nissan, and now Renault is selling its Nissan shares. The agreement is conditioned on Renault reducing its ownership of Nissan from its current 43% to 15%. When the agreement takes effect, Renault’s vote rights will likewise be immediately limited.
Renault will benefit from the new arrangement because it needs money to carry out its battery-powered aspirations. The value of the block of shares to be reserved is now at $4 billion. As one of the Alliance’s members, Mitsubishi Motors, has already announced plans to exchange technology in an effort to spread the cost of electrification, Renault’s EV aspirations may help offset some expenses.
In what time frame will the shares be sold? With the option to put shares in a trust and grant Nissan the right of first refusal for any stock that is offered for sale, Renault will gradually sell its ownership in Nissan. Any contract will have clauses barring Renault from selling shares to other companies or activist investors.
Is it solely EV at all times? No. It appears that the factory will also research and produce combustion and hybrid powertrains in addition to EVs. Nissan’s unique strategy, which continues to place a strong focus on hybrid motors, actually restricts the opportunities for collaboration (an internal combustion engine with a battery electric capacity). The Alliance’s ambitions for electrification do not currently include Nissan’s E-power hybrid technology.
Exist any potential obstacles to this newly created Alliance? Nissan’s unwillingness to let Renault to transmit combustion powertrain technology to Aurobay, a joint venture between Volvo Cars and China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and other investors, could prove to be a stumbling block in the negotiations. Obtaining approval from the Japanese government and Dongfeng Motor Group, Nissan’s longtime partner in China, are two more obstacles for the combustion-powertrain agreement.
An unnamed source revealed internal Alliance dialogues in Auto News Europe , providing insight into the Alliance’s history. Reuters added further information.
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Petra Diamonds on the verge of making negative revenue
An absolutely flat 1st quarter of financial year 2016 has already been announced by Petra Diamonds which includes a “zero” revenue and just 1% growth in the production of solitaires. The diamond firm has said that it is still on the right track for the next year’s production of 3.3 to 3.4 Mcts for 2016 and approx 5 Mcts for 2019.
Petra Diamonds has got production done but there is absolutely no revenue in the 1st quarter of the financial year of 2016. The solitaire giant said that there are a lot of factors responsible for it.
The results of Petra Diamonds for company’s revenue report for the 1st quarter of FY-16 shows no revenue at all and just a slight increase in the production.
The company said that there are a number of factors responsible for this situation including the most dramatic weakening of South Africa’s currency which has offset the impact of the flow of cash of the prices of the US $, a slowdown of the Chinese economy, excess inventory readied and less production from Cullinan and Williamson.
The diamond king conducted its very 1st analysis of the FY this month in which about 696801 Carat contributed to sales yielding about $68.9 million. But, on the other hand, the prices went down by around 8%. Apart from the 96% in terms of volume and 90% in terms of value of the solitaires were offered in the market. The parcels still not sold would either be up for sale at some negotiated cost or would be pushed to the 2nd tender which is most likely to happen in the 1st week of Dec. The 4 following tenders have been scheduled for 2nd half of the financial year of 2016.
The firm said it is still on track for the production guide of 3.3 to 3.4 Mcts for the financial year 2016.


text: Joe Biden has addressed the issue of “shrinkflation” in a video posted on social media. He called on companies to stop reducing the size of products without reducing prices accordingly. The practice of shrinkflation is common during periods of inflation. A report by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey found that household and grocery items decreased in size while prices increased. Biden expressed concern over the impact of shrinkflation on family budgets but did not mention any specific actions his administration would take. The economy is a significant concern for voters, with opinions often influenced by party affiliation.


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A Smethport woman is in McKean County Jail, charged with embezzling more than $130,000 from Bisett Building Center.
Tina Elder, 45, of 410 S. Mechanic St., is charged with theft by unlawful taking, three counts of forgery, two counts of theft by deception, and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition, all second-degree felonies, and one count of access device fraud, a third-degree felony.
According to the criminal complaint, Elder was employed by Bisett as the director of finance beginning Aug. 19, 2019, until she resigned Oct. 16, 2020. She continued to have online access to the company’s business accounts until Nov. 16, 2020. During the course of her employment, she had administrator access and transfer ability over the company’s accounts and the Visa credit accounts.
After an internal audit of the business, it was found that Elder had made numerous charges to the business Visa accounts and then electronically transferred funds from the business’ operating account in an effort to cover the charges. The funds were used for personal goods and services, and not for the business, the complaint noted.
On three of the checks, Elder allegedly forged the signature of the vice president of operations without his knowledge or approval, the complaint alleged.
The audit concluded that Elder had taken $132,913.34, the complaint stated.
She was arraigned Friday evening before on-call District Judge Bill Todd and remanded to jail in lieu of $50,000 straight bail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 21.


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What you need to know
- Scientists at the University of Göttingen and Münster University are building cheap microscopes out of old iPhones.
- Old iPhone 5 cameras and LEGO are being turned into inexpensive tools to avoid costly alternatives.
Scientists at the University of Göttingen and Münster University are using old iPhone 5 cameras and LEGO to build cheap high-resolution microscopes in place of expensive lab equipment.
According to a report by The Register, the scientists involved found that costly apparatus was causing people to avoid getting involved in science. They wanted to find a way to combat that – and a new Frankenstein's monster of a device was born.
As well as the Lego bricks, which form the bulk of the build, the project needed high-quality optical lenses. Two of these – a pair of acrylic ocular lenses combined with transparent tape into a single unit, and a glass low-magnification objective – are readily available. The high-magnification objective comes from somewhere else: recycled smartphones.
That high-magnification objective comes in the form of an iPhone 5 camera lens, apparently bought on eBay for a couple of dollars each. The team notes that the iPhone 5 camera models cost between €2 and €4, or $2.40-4.80.
After removing "all the fancy electronics" that aren't needed, the lens is put into its new home and a microscope is born. Now anyone can buy the parts needed – and use the guide the scientists have created – to build a microscope of their own. The guide is available in English, German, Dutch, and Spanish currently but the team says they welcome contributions that could make it available in other languages as well.
These are the best iPhone deals available today, but I'd still suggest heading to eBay if you want to take an iPhone apart!


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Fake police site 'fines' surfers for phony cyber crimes
Virus locks computer while pop-up site demands $100 payment
A pop-up message seemingly from RCMP which accuses computer users of cyber crime is one of the latest computer scams to target Canadians.
The sophisticated virus locks your computer and demands a $100 fine for alleged crimes of copyright infringement, pornography, or even terrorism.
Watch the video as CBC's Jennie Russell learns how the scam works and how it can be avoided.


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Darc Fusion Sheds Light on Virtual Reality in Dusty Tucson
August 10, 2015
By Simon Brimmer
Tucson entrepreneur Tony Ford likens the video product market to the Wild West, and he believes virtual reality technology is the Pinkerton of the business model. He hopes Darc Fusion, a Downtown special effects company, is on the right rail as marketers of viewable merchandise try to figure out what works.
As is the case in any of a number of enterprising undertakings, the Internet and technology age has dramatically changed the entertainment content nature of the business. In short, what are people watching, and how will they pay?
Well, sure they’re watching webisodes and subscribing to YouTube channels and checking out high-profile programming through iTunes and Amazon purchases, but the imbedded ad structure isn’t really benefitting marketers. Further, the YouTube model might be great for some individual content providers, but there isn’t enough to support an entire business.
But is the time right for virtual reality as a viable entertainment option?
Ford believes so, and notes investment in the technology’s potential has ballooned.
“Every company that had a pile of cash and was sitting on it during the recession, including Facebook, Google, Apple, Sony, Samsung, they are all putting a half billion to $2 billion into developing virtual reality hardware right now,” said Ford, who believes smart phones will be a driver and predicts many of the devices will be equipped with 4K screens in under two years. 4K is a necessity for the next step in phone-based virtual reality.
“Facebook bought Oculus; Google invested in Magic Leap, everybody has put their money in. The current business projection is virtual reality as an industry will grow 13,000 percent in the next three years. That’s five times faster than the iPhone. We’re looking to go from $5 billion globally now to $152 billion in the next five years.”
Darc Fusion wants a piece of that industry pie. The company also recognizes there’s a gap between the emerging technology and the material that needs to be produced to help make the virtual reality platform a viable commodity.
“Content is needed,” said Ford, “and that’s the space where we believe it will really pay off, and we want to be the creators for that space.”
Darc Fusion is in the process of creating some virtual reality projects related to regional historic events. Furthermore, it is near completion on a feature length endeavor.
“We’re about a month out from our first major VR cinematic piece, which is a reworking of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot for virtual reality headsets,” said Ford. “It’s a chance to be immersed in a flyout from Earth through the solar system, out of the galaxy and (beyond). It’s 3D and CGI driven.”
And it all but blew up the company’s computers. Because when you’re on the cutting edge, sometimes the material available doesn’t allow for a smooth transition into what it is you’d like to accomplish.
“We’ve burned through a lot of pieces of software designed for movie making. It’s too complex for the software to handle, so we have to invent our own pipeline based on different pieces of software,” Ford said. “We adopted some of our own hardware to help handle that data. We find a way to piece the software together to make what we have work.”
The impetus of Darc Fusion was as a joint effort between Ford, the entrepreneurial mind instrumental in the Startup Tucson small business incubator, and partner Christian Caballeros, who made a superlative first impression.
“He walked in one day and asked about potentially partnering for a business,” Ford said. “There are a lot of young guys who want to start a business, but they don’t all want to work hard. So the first thing I did was ask for his help on a video to try to get Tesla to move here. I’ll write the script and do the voice-over and you go shoot the footage and do some of your 3D animation. We’ll get that out and see if we can work together. He showed up three days later with a finished product, so I figured we could probably work together.”
Since then, Darc Fusion has been busy. Among its more traditional ventures, the company donated nearly $20,000 in effects footage to the Star Trek: Renegades pilot, a Kickstarter driven project which has a number of August screenings scheduled along the west coast.
“We did the holograms, the cityscapes of San Francisco in the future, the ship plating, all that kind of stuff,” Ford said.
But just as Star Trek is about exploring strange new worlds, Darc Fusion is about navigating the uncertain landscape of technology-based entertainment. In that regard, Ford seems to liken himself to a modern-day Magellan, or the VR version of James T. Kirk.
“Nobody really knows what’s going to work, and I’m actually pretty comfortable with that,” Ford said. “I don’t have to worry about being behind the curve. There’s an old saying: ‘if you’re worried about being too early, you’re too late.’ I think that applies in this new participatory narrative.
“Anything ranging from webisodes to driving fan fiction, all of that is new but we have to figure it out. The old model about a Hollywood studio producing giant movies and charging you 15 bucks to go sit in a room to have people watch it is dying. Everybody is aware of that.”
That’s where the awareness ends. If the old model is in trouble, what will fill the void? Ford is banking on Virtual being a prosperous Reality.
“There is no Scorsese. There’s no Spielberg for this yet. There’s no director,” said Ford. “Everything you’ve heard about film is dead. There’s no pan shot. There’s no closeup. There’s no jump cut. The audience is essentially the camera with 360-degree viewing space. They can look wherever they want. How do you tell a story when you don’t control a vision?
“It’s a return to the Wild West. We’re in it early enough that dusty old Tucson can create significant business. We can be innovative anywhere. That’s exciting.”


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If you've been using your commuter benefits for Uber, now you can add them to Lyft, too.
The underdog ride-hailing company is adding pre-tax commuter benefits to its payment options, five months after Uber introduced the service in New York and a week after(Opens in a new tab) Uber expanded that program to a dozen more cities.
Lyft's commuter benefits option will look pretty much like Uber's. Ride-hailing customers can link up to $255 of their monthly pre-tax commuter benefits, as provided by their employer. Customers will need to select their prepaid benefits card to pay and request a Lyft Line thats seats six people in order to meet regulations on what kind of transportation can use pre-tax money.
Lyft's program will work for employees who get their commuter benefits through the providers Zenefits, Benefits Resource, Wage Works, Edenred or Navia. Eligible cities so far are New York, Boston, Seattle and Miami.


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For global automakers, the current time has come to the node of change, the trend of fuel vehicles withdrawing from the stage of history has become more and more obvious, and the speed of transition to new energy electrification has accelerated significantly.
In terms of electrification, Tesla is already the “king of sales” of electric vehicles in the world, while Volkswagen is making an emergency transition and chasing Tesla. However, the attitude of Japanese cars towards electrification is not positive. Toyota and Honda have not launched new competitive pure electric models.
However, now that Honda is aware of the crisis, it has begun to pay attention to electrification reform at the strategic level, and even gave a time point for Honda to stop selling fuel vehicles.
On April 25, according to media reports, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibu announced yesterday that it will make electric vehicle EV and fuel cell vehicle FCV account for 100% of sales by 2040 in order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
Honda predicts that by 2030, 40% of its global sales will consist of battery electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles, and then 80% in 2035, and 100% of sales by 2040.
In addition, Honda will also equip all cars with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) by 2030, and strive to achieve zero fatalities by 2050.


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The Fatheads brand is best known for their life size wall art decals depicting famous athletes along with items like huge football helmets or team logos, but with their newest additions to the prod
Forza Horizon 3 is the next chapter in the incredible open-world racing series and the makers of the game are promising more than 350 vehicles when the new title hit shelves in September.
In the world of American automotive performance, few names have gathered as big a following as quickly as the Hellcat Dodge Charger and Challenger.
If you are reading this, you surely know that the 2015-2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and the 2015-2016 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat are powered by a supercharged 6.2L Hemi V8 that delivers an adve
FCA hasn’t offered up any information on the 2017 Dodge Challenger or 2017 Dodge Charger, but there are a few clickbait sites claiming that the SRT Hellcat package will be getting a power bump for
While it doesn’t come as a huge surprise, the Chrysler Group announced yesterday that production of the Dodge Dart will cease sometime in September, seemingly announcing the end of the sporty compa
After the 7th race of the 2016 NHRA season, Don Schumacher Racing had only put a Dodge Charger funny car in the winner’s circle one time, but in the next 7 events, the factory-backed Mopar teams ha
After I was tagged into a handful of conversations on Facebook about the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat getting a big bump in power, I reached out to a few of my inside contacts to see what they
Back on June 21s, we brought you the official news that the Dodge Viper would come to an end after the 2017 model year, but to celebrate the legacy of the ultimate American supercar, FCA announced
June 2016 really wasn’t a great month for the muscle car segment, with the Ford Mustang, the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro all posting month-to-month and year-to-year declines in sales
While the Australian market has typically received different high performance Chrysler/FCA products than those sold in the United States, the Mopar muscle community has a massive popular Down Under
The 2016 NHRA drag racing season didn’t start out the way that the Dodge Charger drivers from Don Schumacher Racing had hoped, with just a single win in the first six races of the season, but with


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After two and a half successful years leading Innovate Finance, the UK membership association for global FinTech, Lawrence Wintermeyer has stepped down as Chief Executive.
Compliance.ai announces its search for Regulatory Heroes to assist as "Experts in the Loop" (EITL) for classifying and ranking regulatory documents on its AI-powered financial regulatory platform.
POSB today celebrates the official launch of a global first – the POSB Smart Buddy programme – in 19 primary schools.
Blockchain: the fever of the ICOs must be brought down. This form of funding, which allows small business to reach millions via blockchain and cryptocurrencies, is facing a dangerous bubble driven by speculation.
The team behind the highly successful Australian FinTech website have soft-launched their FinTech employment marketplace platform, Australian FinTech Jobs.
Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd (“PIL”), PSA International Pte Ltd (“PSA”) and IBM Singapore Pte Ltd (“IBM”), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to explore and trial proof of concept (POC) blockchain-based supply chain business network innovations.
International law firm Simmons & Simmons will be a legal partner to FinTech Hive at Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFC), the first-of-its-kind accelerator in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced the Coco Framework, a first-of-its-kind innovation that will advance enterprise adoption of blockchain technology.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Hong Kong Cyberport (Cyberport) was held today to set up the HKU x Cyberport Digital Tech Entrepreneurship Platform (Platform). The Platform is the first-of-its-kind collaboration between HKU and Cyberport aiming to form a closer partnership to build a unique digital tech ecosystem for Hong Kong spanning the aspects of human capital, innovation and technologies, entrepreneurship, and legal and business expertise.
NCR Corporation, (NYSE: NCR) a global leader in omni-channel solutions, today announced the deployment of Microsoft’s Windows 10 Internet of Things (IoT) Enterprise software with a leading European financial institution.
© Finextra Research 2017


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Actually, four German Dax companies could celebrate their 175th birthday on October 1st. Because then it will be an anniversary of the partnership agreement that Siemens started with. What started as a backyard workshop for building improved pointer telegraphs is now helping companies worldwide in the fourth industrial revolution, building intelligent infrastructure and a marketplace for digital services. On the way there, the group has changed again and again and helped three other DAX companies into the world.
It has become difficult to explain Siemens clearly, because digitization and software for industry and infrastructure are playing an increasingly important role in the group. And much of what was once associated with Siemens, such as cell phones, telephones, refrigerators or power plant turbines, the Munich company no longer produces today.
It is still easiest with the smallest of the three core divisions, mobility: trains and rail infrastructure. They are perhaps the most prominent direct point of contact with the average consumer - although the customers here are cities, corporations or entire countries. And here, too, things are becoming more and more digital, from predictive maintenance thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) to the networking of train inventory management, reservations and ticket sales.
Digital Industries as the most successful division
But Siemens recently earned most of its money in its Digital Industries division, far away from consumers. This is about factories and production lines and their simulation, about detecting problems and fixing them before they occur, about continuously monitoring and optimizing production - also with regard to resource consumption and energy consumption. Artificial intelligence, digital images of reality and cloud solutions are the tools here. "We can connect the digital and real worlds like no other company," emphasizes CEO Roland Busch. For example, Siemens was involved in the rapid construction of plants for corona vaccines and is working with Daimler to create the car factory of the future.
And the next goals have already been defined: together with the graphics card manufacturer and specialist in chips for artificial intelligence Nvidia, Siemens wants to develop a kind of industrial metaverse and combine its digital models with more realistic representation and real-time AI from Nvidia. This will "literally open up another dimension" to digitization, enthuses CEO Busch. "Experts from all over the world can work together virtually as if they were in one room, and thus achieve more much faster and more sustainably."
At the same time, the group is building an ecosystem under the name Xcelerator, in which not only its own services but also those of third-party providers are to be offered and networked. And if you want, you don't even have to buy the hardware and software for it, but can purchase it as a complete package as a service.
"Never a pure software company"
In the meantime, the turn to digital has almost gone too far for some. "Siemens will never become a pure software company," emphasized Jürgen Kerner, chief treasurer of IG Metall and Siemens supervisory board member, in August, and urged investment in production in Germany as well. One of Siemens' key strengths is being represented in both worlds. Thanks to its hardware, the group is already in the machine room of industry - where the pure software competitors first wanted to go.
"Our claim is that we are constantly reinventing ourselves, anticipating new technologies and trends, remaining agile and not resting on our laurels," says Busch. "We also want to play a leading role worldwide for the next 175 years."
In recent years, this reinvention has not only been evident in often digital advances and an emphasis on topics such as climate protection and resource conservation, but also in a radical restructuring. While other companies were struggling with the Corona crisis, which Siemens put up with with amazing stability, the group completed the focusing project.
Away from the general store image
After a rather unpleasant start to the new millennium with a bribery scandal and a period of weakness in business, Siemens wanted to get away from the image of the general store that manufactured everything from cell phones to gas turbines. This is also the reason for two of the other Dax companies already mentioned. With Siemens Healthineers and Siemens Energy, the Munich-based company with Berlin roots has brought its healthcare technology and energy technology to the stock exchange in recent years. Both large enough to be included in the Dax themselves. And both would not exist if a company had not been founded on October 1, 1847, which initially - for legal reasons - was not even called Siemens, but after the business partner Halske.
The fourth Dax group is still missing. It is the only one that does not bear the name of the company's founder, but it was also created as a spin-off: Infineon's roots are in the former semiconductor division of Siemens. And all four companies have another special feature in common: Their fiscal year does not begin on January 1 like most German corporations, but on October 1 - like the history of Siemens 175 years ago.


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Chesterfield record shop celebrates fifth birthday- and launch of its own music label
An independent record store '˜turning' five this year is marking the milestone with the launch of its own music label which will attract and recognise talented Chesterfield artists.
Tallbird Records, based on Soresby Street, has become a hub for music fans and musicians in the area since its launch in 2013- and hopes to further its success with the Tallbird record label.
Owner Maria Harris says a loyal customer base, personable service and a generous loyalty card scheme is what has kept the indie thriving in a digital age- and she now hopes to give something back by investing in the town’s undiscovered artists.
The first album release on the Tallbird label is An Endless Summer Daze by Indie-folk musician Songs For Walter aka Laurie Hulme, which is available on vinyl and CD.
Maria said: “We’re proud of the town and keen to promote artists from Chesterfield and the surrounding area who’d like to advertise under our banner.
“We continue to bring great music to Chesterfield in a variety of ways. We stock both second-hand records and new releases, participate in national events like Record Store Day and often put on live music.
“In the past we’ve had bands like Reverend and the Makers and The Cribs.
“Our loyalty card scheme has been really successful- for every £20 a customer spends in-store they get a stamp, and ten stamps earns them a free vinyl or CD product worth up to £20. We’ve given away hundreds of redemptions so far.
“What’s lovely is that people keep coming back, not just for the music- they pop in for a chat.
“I’d like to thank everyone who has supported us over the years.”
Find the store online at tallbirdrecords.co.uk, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TallbirdRecordShop and Twitter @TallbirdRecords.


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Customers’ power today has never been higher due to the increasing number of connected devices and social networks, which empower them to directly influence pricing, share critiques online, and buy anything, anytime, anywhere, from anyone, Forrester CEO George F. Colony told delegates at LeWeb Paris today.
The next generation of customers in Europe watches less TV, listens to less radio, and reads newspapers less than its predecessors — but uses the Internet more and plays more videogames, according to a Forrester survey of more than 22,000 European online consumers. Generation Y consumers in Europe (those ages 22 to 30) already watch TV 18% less, listen to the radio 21% less, read newspapers 37% less, but use the Internet 25% more and play videogames 219% more. This trend is set to intensify among Generation Z — young consumers ages 13 to 21.
“Meet Europe’s new and dynamically changing customer,” Colony said, as he presented Forrester’s vision of how to win in the age of the customer on the main stage at LeWeb. Forrester defines the age of the customer as a 20-year business cycle in which the most successful enterprises will reinvent themselves to systematically understand and serve increasingly powerful customers. “In the age of the customer, only companies that are customer-obsessed will survive.”
“To serve these customers, you will have to move from systems of record to systems of engagement. Apps are just a small part of that equation. Instead, we’re talking about re-engineering your entire company to deliver great mobile experiences,” Colony writes in his blog post published at LeWeb. “Software is the new business currency, more important than financial capital. Your brands will compete against Google, Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon in setting the bar for great customer experiences. What it means: In the future, every company will be a software company.”
In the age of the customer, market share and customer satisfaction for corporations will hinge on the quality of the business technology (BT) — the technology, systems, and processes — that these companies deploy to win, serve, and retain this new group of highly demanding customers. Mobile engagement, according to Colony, will need to significantly grow as an area of investment for companies that want to become customer-obsessed. “We are witnessing a global mobile mind shift. Your customers are putting access to companies in their pockets and expect to engage with them as long as they can yield the right content, at just the right time, in the perfect context, with the highest possible convenience.” Other BT areas that are imperative in the age of the customer are customer experience, big data and analytics, and digital disruption.
To help those companies that wish to target global audiences determine how fast they have to act to offer mobile content and experiences, Forrester developed the Mobile Mind Shift Index (MMSI). The index measures how far along a group of consumers are in this change in attitude and behavior on three drivers of mobile engagement: device ownership, frequency of access, and diversity of locations. The MMSI of an audience or target group lets companies know the urgency with which they must deliver mobile content and services.
While online adults around the world are on their way to making the mobile mind shift, the speed and intensity of the shift vary significantly by age, gender, mobile operating system, and region. Globally, Forrester’s MMSI found the following differences, which Colony presented at LeWeb:
— European consumers are the least shifted. Germany, the UK, France, and Italy score lowest on the MMSI, while Turkey, Sweden, and the Netherlands, have the highest portion of shifted consumers.
— North American and metropolitan Latin American consumers are middle of the road. Online adults in the US, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil have MMSI scores between 27 and 30.
— Emerging Asia Pacific markets are furthest along in the mobile mind shift. More than a third of online consumers in Hong Kong, metropolitan China, and metropolitan India fall into shifted segments.
Colony’s slide deck and a video recording of his LeWeb presentation are available on his blog.


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RTE 2:16am: Amazon will launch a platform, Amazon Marketplace, to help people connect with products and services.
It will offer products, services and discounts across Amazon.com, as well as a range of other content.
The platform will be integrated into the company’s e-commerce website.
The Amazon Marketplace will be a one-stop shop for people to find, shop and buy online, with a focus on delivering the best value.
It is the first Amazon product to be launched on a platform.
The company said the platform will help people get more out of their online shopping experience.
This includes finding products online, buying online and paying for goods and services, and will also make it easier for people who don’t have a bank account to make online payments.
A second platform, Marketplace for Business, will be built on the same technology, but is expected to be rolled out later this year.
It was first announced in June 2016.
It would be a separate, one-off product, Amazon said, adding that it would be based on its “business services” platform.
“As Amazon continues to expand our business services offerings, it will be expanding its Marketplace for business platform to include other types of services, including a suite of products, products, tools, and services,” Amazon said.
The new platform is a big deal for Amazon.
It follows the announcement that it was expanding its cloud-based cloud services, but it also signals a shift away from Amazon’s traditional online stores, which have traditionally been a source of pain for its customers.
It’s been a challenge for Amazon to expand beyond its traditional online shopping platform, with its e-mail, Kindle app and other services all operating in the cloud.
It also has struggled to get its ebooks and audiobooks onto the same platform, a problem that has forced it to sell its digital library at a discount to help offset that loss.
A new online platform could help Amazon’s ecommerce business get a boost as it seeks to move away from its traditional store.
The move is part of Amazon’s plans to move more and more of its business to the cloud and away from brick-and-mortar stores.
Amazon’s business is heavily dependent on the cloud, and the platform could allow it to get more and better value from its cloud business, which has traditionally been the source of trouble for the company.
Read more: RTE2:16 am: RTRB CEO Rachael Coppinger confirms Amazon has no plans to close its brick- and-mortars stores, but says the company is not closing its ecommerce platform.
RTE:11am: RIT economist and former Bank of Ireland economist Rachaele Coppingers says Amazon is a “massive investment” in its cloud platform.
She says Amazon has already committed to investing in its Marketplace, which is a new platform to help its customers find and shop online.
“Amazon Marketplace is about building the platform for Amazon, but the platform is still a big investment,” Coppingering said.
She added that the new platform will provide an opportunity for Amazon and its customers to compete with other online retailers.
The former RIT economics professor said Amazon’s online platforms could be used to help customers get more value from their online purchases.
“They could be useful to people who aren’t able to shop at traditional brick-&-mortard stores,” she said.
Amazon also wants to expand its marketplace by making it easier to sell items online and by giving people access to its own video and music services.
The site will also be built with the same Amazon technology, including Alexa voice recognition and smart home controls.
Amazon is also planning to launch another service in 2019, the Amazon Businesses platform.
That service will offer businesses more direct links with Amazon, such as a direct link to Amazon’s website, Amazon Dashboard and the company to make purchases.
Amazon is also exploring other ways to help businesses grow.
Coppingery said that Amazon could also build its own virtual office, which could help with staff turnover and the development of new products.
RTE:12am: The US Federal Reserve’s chief economist says the US economy is at a “tipping point” with the Brexit vote, but that the economy remains weak.
He says the Fed will raise interest rates in 2019 and that its policy stance is likely to remain unchanged.
The Fed is raising rates from a record low of 0.25% on June 16 to a record high of 0% by the end of 2020, with the first rate hike scheduled for December 2019.
The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point last month to its highest level in nearly two years.
Economists had forecast a 1.5% rise in US rates by the middle of next year.
Finance Minister Chris Bowen says that the Government will have a plan in place by the beginning of 2019 for raising interest rates.
“The US economy has now hit


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New Delhi, Oct 10 (UNI) The headline inflation rate for the week ended September 27 moved down to 11.80 per cent as against 11.99 per cent from the previous week, posing a difficult riddle for the monetary authorities of easing liquidity or bringing down inflation.
The inflation rate continues to hover around 12 per cent for several weeks now as authorities combat the challenge of meeting liquidity crunch resulting from the deepening global financial crisis, even as industrial output at 1.8 per cent for August 2008 raised fears of an impending industrial recession.
The options now before the monetary authorities is akin to the metaphorical choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, lowering interest rates at the same time controlling inflation.
The WPI figures released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that the index for the major group 'Primary Articles' declined by 0.2 per cent, for the second major group 'Manufactured Products' declined by 0.1 per cent, while remaining unchanged for 'Fuel, Power, Light, Power and Lubricants'.
The Finance Ministry in a statement on inflation said the inflation rate in the same period in the previous year at 3.36 per cent was significantly lower. Thus, the low base year effect continues to produce figures of high inflation rate.
In the case of 'manufactured products', rate of inflation in the current week declined to 10.33 per cent, as compared to 10.55 per cent in previous week. Out of 318 commodities, a large number, 295 in all, have shown no increase in prices over the last week.
The Finance Ministry statement said annual rate of inflation is a cumulative impact of changes in prices over 52 weeks. Since consumption is spread over time, average inflation over 52 weeks is often a better measure of the impact of price changes.
Average 52-week inflation for the three broad groups of commodities indicates that while overall inflation is higher in the current year, inflation for primary articles is lower compared to the rates in 2007-08.
A round of interest rate cut worldwide, fears of global recession and symptoms that the Indian economy was showing signs of fatigue, pose a formidable challenge before the Central Bank left with no option but to do tightrope walking-- whether primacy is to be given to putting down the fires of inflation or lighting the fires of growth.
The Indian authorities have reiterated time and again that they were vigilant and agile to the evolving situation of the world getting into the grip of a bear hug of the global stock markets, the credit needs of various sectors and the need to keep up the image that India continues to be the world's second fastest growing economy.
Which way the wheel will turn, is in the realm of future, to which economic theory has little to offer. It is a field where astrologers and soothesayers excel. A desparate world may be left with no option but to turn to them, whatever be their credibility.
UNI SG/GS AK HT1824


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GVW opens new distribution center in Pennsylvania
GVW Parts Distribution has opened a new distribution facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
GVW expects the addition to improve service in Eastern United States as well as in Canada by shortening the time it take customers to receive parts. The new facility will add new positions to operate the facility and to expand its team of customer service representatives.
“Launching the Harrisburg facility is a great step for us, but it’s just the beginning,” said GVW general manager Dan Millar. “We are committed to creating a culture and infrastructure that works for our customers, and this facility is another step in keeping that promise. The next phases of our plans include adding distribution centers to serve the southeastern and southwestern states by the end of this year.”
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MillerCoors is making sure that whether it’s a quicker buzz at the bar or a zip down the freeway that you’re in on the latest addition to their beer business: a 1 percent increase in the ABV of Milwaukee’s Best Ice brews. Almost all cheap, commercial beers (including Natural Ice and Keystone Ice) rest at a Goldilocks ABV of 5.9 percent. Other domestic beers such as Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Michelob, and Miller hover between 4.1 and 5 percent. At 6.9 percent, Milwaukee’s Best Ice is clearly upping the ante — and they are letting everyone know.
ALSO: The 101 Best Beers in America
The commercial beer giant has launched an ad campaign with billboards along freeways and interstates touting the boozy boost in its popular American Adjunct Lager-style beer. And not many folks in the beer industry are too impressed seeing alcohol content becoming a main selling point. “I can’t recall ever seeing anybody advertising (the strength of a beer) and saying now that’s the feature of this brand that we’re featuring,” Eric Shepard, executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, said in a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper. “It’s not standard procedure.”
Other reactions accusing the ads of being detrimental to the safe consumption of the beer are coming from clergy members, attorneys, economists, and locals of Milwaukee (where the beer is brewed), as well as professors and experts in community health. "Clearly they are promoting this beverage based on its higher alcohol content,” Traci Toomey, a professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota, said in the same story from the Journal Sentinel via email. "The higher the alcohol content, the more quickly people become impaired and the more likely a community/state will experience and pay for more alcohol-related problems."
Meanwhile, representatives from MillerCoors are defending the ads as a means to educate consumers. Shortly after the announcement of the ABV increase, the company released a statement online that said it is "committed to leading the industry in transparency so that our consumers can make fully informed choices."


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INDUSTRIAL PACK 2019 - Planning is in full swing, with growth and expansion on track for the upcoming event in Atlanta.Tuesday, October 9, 2018
The industrial, transit and protective packaging industry will gather again in 2019 after a highly successful inaugural Industrial Pack event in 2018.
After careful review of the 2018 post-event research and attendee feedback, the Industrial Pack team has a road map to exceeding the industry’s expectations once again
MORE ATTENDEES FROM KEY ORGANIZATIONS
Industrial Pack 2018 hosted over 1,100 visitors from 23 states, 11 countries with 86% being the key-decision makers from their organizations. Industrial Pack 2019 is on track for a 100% increase in attendees. This will mean more opportunities to network and learn from colleagues across the industry.
EXPANDED CONFERENCE AND BREAKOUT SESSIONS
The Conference at Industrial Pack 2018 was in very high demand. Next year, there will be even more sessions covering a broad range of the industry’s most important topics. These interactive sessions will be lead by the top industry thought-leaders.
INCREASED NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
To leverage attendees and exhibitors return-on-investment and time, there will be more networking opportunities throughout the 2 day event. From coffee breaks, the exhibition hall, and conference sessions, to informal networking events like attending a Braves baseball game and a whiskey tour, there will be more chances to forge new and valuable professional relationships.
ENHANCED PACK TESTING LIVE
The very popular 2018 Pack Testing LIVE event will return in 2019 and will showcase both manufacturing and packing.
BROADEN INDUSTRIAL PACK AWARDS
The highlight for 2018 was the first annual Industrial Pack Awards. For 2019 we will open up the awards to the whole packaging industry. Call-for-Entries will be announced in mid-October.
For more event details visit: www.industrialpackexpo.comView all Industry News


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Wi-Charge, the first company to commercialize over-the-air wireless charging, has announced improvements to its thumb-sized power receivers.
They can be embedded into – and charge – electric toothbrushes, game controllers, smart faucets, smart locks, and more.
The company’s power transmitter, which can power multiple devices across a 1,400 sq ft area, converts electricity into safe infrared beams, which are then delivered to receivers embedded in the electronic devices.
They convert the infrared energy into electricity, which is used to charge the internal battery or super-capacitor.
The Wi-Charge transmitter now has 40 per cent more power than the previous generation – meaning it can power more devices from a single transmitter, and charge devices that require greater power.
It also has a 30 per cent smaller receiver footprint, and can be more easily integrated into various devices.
The company’s technology is already deployed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Israel and elsewhere.
“We continue to push the wireless charging market forward, expanding what is possible for device manufacturers so they can delight and amaze consumers and end-users with what is possible in a world without wires,” said Ori Mor, Co-founder and chief business officer.
“In 2022, we proved that over-the-air wireless charging is ready for prime time by driving it into the market with a growing number of device manufacturers, partners, and customers.
“Now, we are closing the year by further expanding the market with significant technology enhancements that make wireless charging as easy to add to devices as Wi-Fi. We expect 2023 to be an exciting year with continued rapid innovation and deployments.”
Wi-Charge was founded in 2010, and is based in Rehovot, central Israel.


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PharmaSmart introduces next generation biometric kiosk
SC Johnson announces voluntary recall of insect repellent product
RACINE, Wis. — SC Johnson last week announced a voluntary recall of its Off! Botanicals Insect Repellent in a clear plastic bottle, which was manufactured between December 2011 and April 2014.
The recall is due to a packaging issue that could impact some containers of the insect repellent, the company stated. The issue doesn't affect proper use of the product, but it could allow the sprayer of the product to be removed from the bottle more easily than intended. In the event that a consumer could remove the sprayer from the bottle and drink the contents, the liquid could be harmful if swallowed.
The company said it received no reports that consumers have removed the sprayer or of any injuries. But because the packaging doesn't meet SC Johnson's high standards, a product recall was initiated.
Consumers will be given eithera face-value product coupon or a refund. The recall applies only to Off! Botanicals Insect Repellent I (4-oz. spritz bottle) and not to Off! Botanicals Lotion, Off! Botanicals Towelettes or any other Off! product.
Sam’s Club to provide free diabetes screening
- A1C blood test;
- Total cholesterol;
- HDL (good cholesterol);
- Risk ratio (relationship between total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol);
- Blood pressure;
- Body fat percentage; and


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Snapchat has landed Apple-owned Beats as the first consumer product brand to run a Sponsored Lens campaign.
On Black Friday, Snapchat users will be able to use the lens to dress up their selfies. The lens resembles Snapchat’s first popular one, which altered people’s appearance and had them playfully barfing rainbows. The Beats lens puts similar special effects over photos, superimposing cartoonish headphones over people’s ears, floating bubbles out of their heads and streaming light out of their mouths. And it’s musical, set to a Drake song, “Big Rings.”
“Through the Lens, Beats is giving Snapchatters the opportunity to engage and communicate with their brand in a personal and dynamic way,” Snapchat said in a statement today, announcing the campaign.
The campaign marks the latest attempt by the Los Angeles-based messaging app to monetize the animated filters, which launched in October. It sold the first Sponsored Lens for the Charlie Brown movie “Peanuts,” then launched a lens store.
Special lenses are sold in the in-app store, and the branded lenses, like this Beats one, are free to consumers.
Today, Snapchat revealed that 10 million lenses are sent every day among its 100 million daily users.
The company has been exploring new formats for digital advertising since it first sold sponsored snaps last year. It was early to push advertisers to experiment with vertical video on mobile devices, and now it’s challenging them to up their brands with animated filters.
It has attracted top brands, now including Apple, and has been visiting ad agencies more to educate them on the platform.
Still, some advertisers are skeptical about the app because it doesn’t have nearly the infrastructure of an advanced rival like Facebook.
Snapchat reaches the millennials coveted by advertisers, but lacks the targeting and reporting capabilities to prove the success of ad campaigns. Digital video advertising increasingly relies on brands’ ability to hyper-target specific videos to different audience segments, and independently measure viewability and sales impact.
Some major media buyers are waiting to see if Snapchat can fully develop its video ad product and are unwilling to spend big bucks on fun but fleeting lenses.
“Filters? That’s not how you build a billion-dollar business,” said one digital media buying executive. “But what they’re doing is different, and I applaud that. It is interesting.”
It clearly interested Apple, which is not known for leading the way with experimental social media marketing. Its first ever social media campaign was on Tumblr, last year.
Now, Beats, the headphones brand it acquired from Dr. Dre, has social media savvy, which appears to be rubbing off on Apple.
Apple Music has a Snapchat account as does Beats By Dre.
With the lens campaign, Beats will use popular Snapchatters to help promote the campaign, showing that the platform is starting to embrace its high-profile members. Influencers are increasingly important to Snapchat marketing campaigns just like they are on Tumblr or YouTube.
“This campaign is very on-brand for Beats, who is powering the experience, but inviting talent, the talent’s fans, and their own fans to bring the Lens to life creatively,” Snapchat said.
How agencies adapt as bots evolve
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SponsoredHow marketers are responding to shoppers’ wants this holiday season
Matthew Tilley, executive director, marketing, Vericast With the holidays right around the corner, the economy may force some consumers to adjust their plans and stretch their dollars even further. While some shoppers may rein in their spending, others will still go all out despite a cloudy economic outlook. Given the current economic climate, consumers are […]
How The Independent is getting brands on board to advertise against breaking news
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The memory giant issued a soft outlook amid declining prices and lower customer demand. However, expectations were low, and sales are expected to pick up later this year.
Caesars previously rejected Tilman Fertitta's unsolicited merger offer in November.
Apple shares traded higher Thursday after three analysts' upgrades for the world's biggest tech company ahead of its much-anticipated launch event next week in Cupertino.
Let's review the charts this morning.
Williams-Sonoma climbs after the specialty retailer beats Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings expectations.
Micron Technology shares traded sharply higher Thursday after the chipmaker posted stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings and echoed semiconductor sector rivals by forecast an uptick in global demand over the second half of the year.
Clothing maker and retailer Lands' End posts fiscal fourth-quarter earnings above analysts' forecasts.
Boeing shares traded lower Thursday amid reports that lawmakers, federal investigators and the Department of Justice are lining up to question executives at the world's biggest planemaker over two horrific crashes of its 737 MAX planes that killed nearly 350 passengers and raised serious safety concerns for the flagship aircraft.
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It’s a straightforward idea: Your travel group stays together in one area — whether it’s a large suite, connecting rooms or rooms that are all in the same part of the hotel. “It’s kind of a spin on going out to the Hamptons,” Shenman said.
For the 909-room hotel it’s one way to boost occupancy. “Business is rebounding,” he said. “It is certainly not at the levels that we’re accustomed to running in a busy city like New York City, but business is rebounding. People miss traveling.
“Our numbers are very encouraging for the fall,” Shenman said. “And again, to be clear, not normal levels for the fall. But I think that we’re hopeful that the recovery for New York City will be quicker than the experts had said.”
NYC & Company, the city’s tourism organization, has invested $30 million toward developing a marketing campaign — “It’s Time for New York City” — whose mission is attracting visitors to the city.
“It’s been a devastating time for the hotel business, but I will tell you things are starting to recover,” said Chris Heywood, adding that there’s a “robust pipeline” of new hotels opening and set to open in the city.
“Every week in June has performed better than the previous week,” said Heywood, “a pattern we expect will continue as the #ItsTime campaign takes off.”
The bit-by-bit bumps in tourism are welcome following 2020. An estimated 4 million visitors came to New York City between Memorial Day and Labor Day, down from 17.4 million for the same period in 2019. Heywood has estimated that 10 million visitors will come to the five boroughs this summer.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday said the city this week has seen its highest demand for hotel rooms since before the pandemic, with more than 481,000 rooms sold, a 17,000 increase from last week.
Dandapani is cautiously optimistic as he takes the long view. “We definitely see our industry coming back fully,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time, and time is a precious commodity.”


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GET TOGETHER HERE
Clarion® is ideal for owners seeking to strategically reposition their full service property to a focused service model. Our franchisees are supported by localized marketing tools such as eMenu programs and customizable sales collateral templates, as well as the global reservations system and resources of Choice Hotels International®.
properties open or under development worldwide
total Choice Hotels® proprietary contribution*
Check Out Clarion
- Clarion offers a strategic repositioning opportunity for full service properties
- Flexible food and beverage options to streamline operations and improve the bottom line
- Free best in class F&B support including use of two proprietary restaurant concepts
- Strong Reservation Delivery – 53.3% Central Reservations System Contribution in 2018!**
System Size (open or under development)
*Source: See Clarion Franchise Disclosure Document dated April 1, 2019, Item 19. For the 67 hotels that were included in the sample, 43 hotels or 64.2% met or exceeded the Total Choice Proprietary Contribution presented. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS MAY VARY.
**Source: See Clarion Franchise Disclosure Document dated April 1, 2019, Item 19. For the 67 hotels that were included in the sample, 29 hotels or 43.3% met or exceeded the Net Reservations Contribution. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS MAY VARY.
Choice Privileges Recognized As A Leading Travel Rewards Program by U.S. News & World Report
ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 7, 2019 — Choice Privileges, the award-winning loyalty program from Choice Hotels, has once again been honored by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Hotel Rewards Programs for 2019-20. Each year, the publication evaluates hotel loyalty programs to determine which programs, providers, and locations offer travelers the most value. This latest accolade marks...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels International to Report 2019 Second Quarter Results on August 6, 2019
ROCKVILLE, Md., July 8, 2019 — Choice Hotels International, one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, will report its 2019 second quarter earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, August 6, 2019. The company will also hold a conference call at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time, during which Patrick Pacious, president and chief executive officer, and Dominic Dragisich, chief...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Launches New Nationwide Advertising Campaign
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 17, 2019 — Choice Hotels International, Inc. , one of the world’s largest hotel franchisors, today launched a nationwide, multi-media creative advertising campaign featuring the tagline “Our Business is You.” The campaign leverages the consumer truth that “business” can be defined broadly—from meeting with clients to planning a family reunion. A key feature of the...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Honors Top Franchisees with Premier and “Best Of Choice” Awards at 65th Annual Convention
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 2, 2019 — Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) announced its Premier and “Best of Choice” award winners at the company’s 65th annual convention in Las Vegas. The elite Premier award designations – Premier Legacy, Premier Developer and Premier Hotelier – acknowledged three of the company’s top franchisees from 2018. Each of the winners were recognized for...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Announces Refreshed Look of Four Midscale Brand Logos
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 2, 2019 — Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) celebrated its 80th anniversary this year and continued midscale leadership by unveiling refreshed logos for Quality Inn, Clarion, Sleep Inn, and MainStay Suites at its 65th annual convention. Amidst the successful transformation of Choice’s flagship Comfort brand and following the recent launch of the Clarion Pointe brand extension,...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Grows European Footprint with Three New Hotels
ROCKVILLE, Md., April 1, 2019 — Underscoring its continued international expansion, Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), announced three new additions to its European portfolio: Hotel Aquarius Venice and V8 Hotel Köln @Motorworld, both members of the Ascend Hotel Collection located in Venice, Italy and Cologne, Germany, respectively, and Quality Hotel Ostrava, the first Quality-branded hotel to open in the Czech Republic. “Growing our global...more. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Announces the Opening of the Largest Hotel in its Growing Portfolio
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 21, 2019 — Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is pleased to announce the opening of the largest hotel in its portfolio – the Clarion Hotel The Hub in Oslo, Norway. The hotel offers 810 rooms, unique design, two bars, and a premium rooftop restaurant with stunning views in the heart of Norway's capital city. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels Announces 2018 ‘Best of Choice’ Award Winners at 64th Annual Convention
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 3, 2018— Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest hotel companies, announced its “Best of Choice” award winners last night at the company’s 64th Annual Convention in Las Vegas. …[ read more ]
Choice Hotels to Develop Clarion Hotel in Columbia, Pa.
Rockville, Md. (April 23, 2018) Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest hotel companies, signed an agreement with Cimarron Investments, LLC to develop a unique, new Clarion Hotel in downtown Columbia, Pa. The multiple-story, 60-room property is an adaptive reuse of the town’s historic potato chip factory, preserving much of its original structure. …[ read more ]
Clarion Hotel Brand Reunites Iraq War Veterans in “Meet Me at Clarion” Contest
ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 9, 2017 — The Clarion hotel brand awarded the 2017 “Meet Me at Clarion” contest prize to Army veteran Brent Wilsonfrom Chippewa Falls, Wisc. The prize package includes a group getaway to the home of country music, Nashville, Tenn., to attend the Country Music Association Awards. As this year’s winner, Wilson and five friends received a three-night stay and invitation to...more. …[ read more ]


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Do you have the best ham in Australia?
Now in its seventh year, the PorkMark Artisan Ham Awards have grown to become a highly recognised annual celebration, giving makers the opportunity to be crowned Australia’s best ham.
The results of the 2017/18 PorkMark Artisan Ham Awards will be announced this November, at the start of Australian Christmas Ham Season. Last year’s Ham Week generated a total 509 media reports, worth $5.4 million in advertising space, making it a great PR opportunity for the national and state winners.
- To identify Australia’s Best Artisan Hams and celebrate their makers nationally and state wide.
- To make consumers aware that over two thirds of ham consumed in Australia is imported from pork overseas.
- To reinforce that Australian ham is worth paying a little extra for. Celebrate the high quality Australian consumers deserve.
- To support the Australian Pork industry in the important lead up to Christmas.
Winners will receive:
- The highest scoring ham will be heralded as having the best artisan ham of the 2017 PorkMark Ham Awards and will receive one week’s free radio advertising in their state or territory, including all production costs.
- All finalists of each category receive a plaque for their shopfront and customised targeted media releases. State winners will also be mentioned in targeted media releases.
- Winners of previous awards have significantly widened their distribution networks, and seen sales increases of up to 400%.
- All entrants receive detailed feedback on their ham entry from three independent judges
- All licensees receive access to free DIY Christmas Ham promotion kits including posters.


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Profiting From Alexander McQueen’s Death?
Perhaps it’s unavoidable that after celebrity deaths, products associated with them go flying off the shelves. Alexander McQueen’s case proves no exception as it looks like people are both running to scoop up the designer’s wares, or trying to make a quick dime by selling them off. Over the past two days, more than 200 new Alexander McQueen auctions have been posted to eBay, not only advertising clothing and accessories, but also old magazine issues featuring the designer, domain names, and even the New York Post cover announcing his death. Similarly, Refinery29 reports via Twitter that a Barneys branch in New York had sold 500 of McQueen’s signature skull scarves in one day. That must be some sort of record, as they don’t come cheap (about $275 each!). [eBay, TweetPhoto.com]


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Traditionalists were mourning the end of an era yesterday, as it was announced that there are now no Citroen Saxos remaining in their original condition. The last one was recently bought by Darren ‘Daz’ Smith of Wakefield and now has a 1000 watt bridgable amp, speakers where the boot used to be. It has also been lowered, fitted with 18 inch wheels, a wide bore exhaust, electric blue and yellow respray and most disturbingly a pair of fluffy dice has been installed.
Posted: Dec 19th, 2011
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Crystal Cruises is adding Miami to its Bahamas sailings as a port of call and for embarkation. The itinerary offerings will now be expanded, providing guests with a further choice from the world’s cruise capital.
Crystal Adds Miami as New Option
The cruise line adds Miami into the mix for its Bahamas offerings with the Crystal Serenity cruise ship. The vessel will start sailing to Miami during the August 7 cruise from Nassau, Bahamas. The ship will commence the embarkation day in Miami on August 9.
“We’re working hard to bring back safe cruising at PortMiami stronger than ever,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “I am so excited that Crystal Cruises’ new passenger service to The Bahamas from the Cruise Capital of the World will offer visitors a new travel destination from Miami and generate economic opportunities across our community. Thank you, Crystal Cruises, for choosing PortMiami as a homeport.”
This also now means that the seven-night voyages, which Crystal is calling “Luxury Bahamas Escapes,” will continue into early November 2021 and include a total of three embarkation ports. Crystal Serenity will depart on Saturdays out of Nassau, Bimini on Sundays, and Miami on Mondays.
“The terrific response to our deployment of Crystal Serenity’s Luxury Bahamas Escapes showcases the pent-up desire in cruising and we are thrilled to have resumed cruising on July 3 in The Bahamas,” said Jack Anderson, Crystal’s president. “By adding Port of Miami, we are giving travelers another convenient way to join these popular Bahamas cruises that provide vacation escapes both close to home and yet a world away, with amazing outdoor options from snorkeling and diving to eco-tours and deep-sea fishing, to just relaxing on some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.
The luxury cruise line has been focused on its return to cruising, and a major part of that has been Crystal Serenity in the Bahamas. The vessel became the second to homeport in Nassau following Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas.
The Crystal cruise ship departed her new homeport on July 3 to huge popularity and became the first in the fleet to resume ocean cruising. In March, the Luxury Bahamas Escapes made a record for the cruise line by recording its biggest single-day bookings.
The cruise line will slightly adjust its health protocols to comply with Florida for embarkations in Miami. Crystal only highly recommends and does not require that all guests are fully vaccinated. For other ports, guests 12 years old and over must be fully vaccinated.


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The Port of New York and New Jersey will implement an infrastructure fee on all cargo to pay for intermodal rail and road infrastructure and security.
The port authority board voted to approve the fee and eliminate a $57.50-per-lift assessment on containers handled at the ports’ ExpressRail ramps.
The new fee, expected to take effect in early February, will average less than $9 per 40-foot container, and will amount to $1.11 per automobile and 13 cents per metric ton on non-containerized cargo, said Rick Larrabee, the port authority’s director of port commerce. “Today the cost of moving a box from China to New York is about $2,000, so we’re talking about a very small increase in that cost,” he said.
The fee will put port shipments using truck transportation on the same footing as containers handled by ExpressRail. There currently is no per-box fee for truck shipments.
Larrabee said the port agency “conservatively” expects the change to boost rail cargo by 2 to 3 percent. Currently, 12 to 13 percent of the port’s containers move by intermodal rail. Increasing rail volume has been a top port authority goal for several years.
The fee is projected to generate $26 million a year, 27 percent more than the $20.5 million generated by the ExpressRail fee that will be eliminated. The port authority also plans to eliminate a much smaller fee covering the SeaLink program for gate access to port terminals.
“The purpose of this is to increase the efficiency of the port, and we believe it ultimately will reduce the cost of operations,” by providing an assured revenue stream for infrastructure improvements, Larrabee said.
The fee’s proceeds will be divided among capital improvements for ExpressRail, improvements to truck access roads, and unreimbursed costs necessitated by post-September 11 security.
Larrabee said improved roads, coupled with increased use of intermodal rail, will benefit motor carriers and truck-dependent shippers by smoothing cargo flow and eliminating delays. He said inadequate access roads contribute to accidents that impede cargo flow. He said 66 major wrecks have been logged in the port area this year alone.
The new fee will be collected by operators that lease port-owned container terminals, and by private owners of auto and general cargo terminals.
Contact Joseph Bonney at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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LAS VEGAS -- Via Technologies Inc.'s plans to slug it out with Intel Corp. on the low end of the PC microprocessor market are coming to light with details of its next two CPUs. Word of the Joshua and Samuel processors, which surfaced at the Comdex trade show here this week, is lending credibility to Via's strategy in what will likely be a tough marketing battle, according to analysts.
By early next year, Via will release a Celeron-compatible processor for the low-end PC segment, code-named Joshua. Via will follow that up in the second half with a highly integrated device that leverages all of its legacy products and its recent acquisitions. Code-named Samuel, the chip will feature a processor core, graphics components and core logic controllers, and is likely to go head-to-head against Intel's upcoming Timna chip.
"Our roadmap is pretty simple," said Wenchi Chen, president of the Taiwan-based Via Technologies, in a briefing at Comdex here this week. "We'll let Intel and AMD focus on the premium space, the 700-MHz-and-above area, while we plan to serve the low-cost PC space."
Joshua is to sample early next quarter and move into production by February at speeds starting at 400 MHz. Within a few months, Chen said it should rise to the 500-MHz range. The device will be pin-compatible with Intel's Celeron products, and Chen said it will be the first non-Intel CPU to plug into Socket 370.
Previously known as Gobi, Joshua came along with the Cyrix design team that Via acquired from National Semiconductor Corp. in June. This was followed by Via's acquisition in August of a second processor company, the Centaur unit of Integrated Device Technology Inc.
Historically, Via's own core strength is chip sets, and recently it has begun adding graphics technology acquired through joint design efforts with S3 Inc. By the second half of next year, Chen plans to put all those pieces together in the Samuel device.
Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research, of Scottsdale, Ariz., said the Samuel effort also stems from the Cyrix legacy. "The Cyrix design team has always been working on the Media GX line, and they were developing a fully integrated product that included graphics and core logic when Via bought them," he said.
However, the upcoming device will also pack a processor core from the Centaur team, which has long advocated small die sizes as a means to produce highly cost-effective devices, according to McCarron. That strategy fits with Via's plans to aim the Joshua at the value-PC market.
That schedule will put Samuel in competition with Intel's Timna chip, which could be released in the third quarter of next year. Analysts have been skeptical that Intel could complete the device on that schedule, because of its ambitious combination of processor, graphics, core logic and a Rambus memory controller.
Among Intel's other competitors, Advanced Micro Devices seems to be on a rebound with fast versions of its Athlon on tap and a recent announcement that the Sunnyvale, Calif., company will break even financially this quarter. However, AMD endured extensive losses over the past few years in its bid to remain a player in MPUs.
For its part, Via is focused on the same market that National and IDT had targeted. Their successes were limited and eventually they bailed out by selling to Via.
However, Chen pointed to a few key differences. "We are a fabless company, so we have access to the best fabs in the world, but we don't have to pay for them," he said. And, referring to the company's history in the cut-throat chip set market, he added, "We have a lot of experience in the value end of the marketplace. We are used to earning lower margins than the processor companies."
McCarron agreed with Chen's analysis. "AMD always had to earn high margins on its products in order to pay for some very expensive fabs. Via doesn't have that problem," he said. More important, "Via is used to playing in the chip set market where margins tend to range from 15-to-50%. In the microprocessor space, 50% margin is often seen as the bare minimum. Even if they don't manage to meet that or just stay at the bottom of the processor margin range, it will still be a step up for them."
Another factor in Via's favor is geography. U.S.-based AMD has always made a point of cultivating the top-tier U.S. OEMs, which puts it in direct competition with Intel. Via, by contrast, has direct access to second-tier Taiwanese PC companies that are beginning to cast a hungry eye on the massive Chinese market. Via's low-cost products are exactly the kind of chips that will offer high enough power and low enough costs to make a system attractive to the developing Asian markets.
"In the market segments in which they will choose to compete, I think Via will be a very credible competitor against Intel," McCarron said.


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“Mitch brings his dynamic personality and countless years of experience to the position. We are thrilled to have him on the team as Durante Rentals continues to grow,” says Durante Rentals Cofounder Anthony Durante.
In the early eighties, Garfinkel got his first opportunity in the construction industry as a sales representative for a line of diamond blade products. A few years later, he sold skid-steers, telehandlers and a variety of other construction equipment. Mitch eventually moved to a new position as a manufacturer’s sales representative. In 1991, he opened his own wholesale, retail and export equipment company supplying equipment to customers all over the country.
“It is a privilege and honor to be a part of Durante Rentals. I am excited for the opportunity to apply my expertise in all areas of equipment sales and rentals,” says Garfinkel. “I have known Durante Rentals Cofounders John and Anthony for 34 years and I am confident Durante Rentals will be the final stop along my career path.”


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Mind the Tech NY
"Why is Israel the center of innovation for financial services around the world?”
Fundbox CEO Prashant Fuloria was speaking at Calcalist's Mind the Tech NY 2021 conference
“I don’t need to stand here and convince you that the Israeli fintech ecosystem is on fire. You have seen the numbers, $2.5 billion in investments in the first half of the year alone, more than double of last year and that is just private funding, not including IPOs, SPACs or acquisitions,” said Prashant Fuloria, Chief Executive Officer at Fundbox, speaking at Calcalist’s Mind the Tech NY 2021 conference on Tuesday.“Skeptics might say it isn’t just Israeli fintech but that all global tech is on fire. Or you might say the pandemic is a once in a lifetime event that has caused an acceleration of digitization of financial services and all fintechs benefited from that. But that still doesn't explain why Israel in particular has benefited so much from this transformation? Why is a country that is roughly the size of New Jersey now the center of innovation for financial services around the world?” Watch Prashant Fuloria full address above.


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Facebook claims its new ad server will target ads on websites and mobile browsers more accurately than Google’s DoubleClick. But the big, public ad agency it’s partnering with says it’s more excited about Atlas’ impact on Facebook itself.
Yahoo has been rebuilding its research focus, and now a 250-person strong Yahoo Labs is trying to build the future of content. Full of experts in everything from personalization to deep learning, the group wants to make finding and consuming content as easy as possible.
A startup called Boostable is helping individual sellers in large marketplaces like Etsy and Airbnb target potential customers on sites such as Facebook. It’s yet another company trying to package up some advanced algorithms for users with little or no IT budget.
While consumers might be willing to trade their data for better experiences, John Foreman argues we might not understand the tradeoff at all. As machine learning advances, companies’ models will treat us as little more than machines.
People Pattern, an Austin, Texas-based startup focused on targeted marketing, has raised a $4.5 million series A round of venture capital from Mohr Davidow and a collection of private investors. It’s hardly the first company to think about applying new big data and data science techniques in the name of better understanding customers — that’s arguably the most popular use for these techniques — but People Pattern’s approach is noteworthy. It lets users mine both their internal data stores (e.g., Salesforce.com) and external sources (e.g., social media) to predict the highest-value users and the best ways to target them.
The tech world is still enthralled by Yahoo, if only to watch if the CEO du jour can remake what was a hugely important company. Here, four former Yahoo technology executives talk about why the company failed, and the great work it did while doing so.
WalmartLabs has acquired a predictive analytics startup called Inkiru to bolster its ability to create better customer experiences through data. The division of Walmart was created in 2011 on a foundation of big data.
Unlike Apple TV, which is largely about on-demand content, Amazon has a number of assets that could significantly enhance the linear TV experience if incorporated into a set-top box that worked in conjunction with a tablet.
Causata is really good at helping companies identify consumers and, thanks to new machine learning features, helping them predict behavior many steps down the line. Does all this personal data create a privacy concern? Depends who you ask.
There’s shift happening in the world of online data collection, meaning consumers might expect to get paid for access to their data rather than always playing the role of uncompensated mark. Done right, it’s a system where both sides of the equation stand to win.


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NH Girl Scouts set to celebrate partnership with Mattel, Barbie
BEDFORD — In her 55 years as a favorite doll of girls around the world, Barbie has had nearly 150 careers, including an astronaut, surgeon, teacher, soldier, and President of the United States. Her latest reincarnation: Girl Scout. And the Girl Scouts of the United States of America are proud to count Barbie as one of their own.
“Girl Scouting goes where the girls are, and Barbie is one of the most iconic toys in the world,” said Mary Ellen Hettinger, communications manager for the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, which serves all of New Hampshire and Vermont. “Barbie has come to represent girl power to a lot of girls and their moms.”
In July, Mattel unveiled Girl Scout Barbie, along with two of Barbie’s friends, Nikki and Teresa, who are also available in a custom pink and green Girl Scout uniform. The national Girl Scouts group, which partnered with Mattel last year for the “Be Anything, Do Everything” participation patch, will host events this summer to celebrate Barbie’s many careers and to encourage girls to also pursue anything they want to do. Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will host its event on Saturday at its headquarters in Bedford.
“We have a number of women in a variety of careers coming to speak to the girls, and because Girl Scouting is also supposed to be fun, each will be doing some interactive thing with the girls, some kind of hands-on thing that relates to what they do,” Hettinger said. Girls who attend the event will meet a Marine biologist, a doctor, a pilot, a children’s book author, an engineer, a teenage race car driver and Manchester resident Taylor Martin, and more.
Most of these “careers …have traditionally been all-male, but we’re about empowering girls,” Hettinger said. “We want to let girls know that all of these (careers) are open to them.”
Hettinger said there has been some pushback about Barbie representing the Girl Scouts from critics who say Barbie is too sexualized and represents an unhealthy body image for girls.
But according to the Girl Scout Research Institute, Hettinger said, most girls who play with Barbie see her as a toy, rather than a model of what they should look like.
“She’s wearing pink pants, she’s got eye makeup on, she doesn’t look like the girls look … but she is a Girl Scout, and the girls see her as a girl,” Hettinger said. “It’s part of the fun of a doll and dressing it up and being different things and trying on different roles.”
Girl Scout Barbie comes with miniature Girl Scout cookie boxes. The Girl Scouts’ cookie sales, Hettinger said, was the first financial literacy program for girls in the United States.
“It’s a way girls learn how to run a business, how to be an entrepreneur,” she said. The five principles of the cookie program are printed on Barbie’s tote bag: goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.
Hettinger said that the event on Saturday will be open to all girls.
Patricia Mellor, chief executive officer of GSGWM, said This isn’t just about Barbie and her hourglass figure. This is about what Barbie stands for, and we’re trying to focus on that career part of it, and just that the world is wide open for girls.”
Saturday’s “Be Anything and Do Everything” event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at GSGWM’s headquarters, located at One Commerce Drive in Bedford. Admission is $10 per girl. There is no fee for adults, and adult supervision is required.
For information, contact Nicole Nolan at 627-4158, extension 4142, or email firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Spotify is increasing its free trial period from 30 days to 90 days for new listeners.
Starting today, Spotify is offering eligible users three months of the service for free when they sign up for Spotify Premium. Spotify appears to be attempting to match Apple Music’s generous three-month free trial.
Spotify’s new free trial offering launches today for individual and student plans. The company says it plans to expand the trial to duo and family plans in the next few months.
Of course, you’ll need to be a fresh Spotify user who has never signed up for premium to be eligible for the offer.
Spotify’s move to increase the length of the free trial period could help retain users longer. However, the decision raises questions over whether Spotify’s average revenue per user (ARPU) will now erode further.
Spotify’s Q2 2019 results reported an ARPU of $5.40, just a slight improvement over its Q1 $5.25 ARPU. Extending the free trial by three months may drop that razor-thin margin into a loss in the coming months.
At the time, Spotify estimated that 75% of the impact on its average revenue per user could be attributed to product mix changes. The attempt to match Apple Music does set Spotify ahead of the rest of the streaming pack.
Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, YouTube Music, and Deezer all only offer 30-day free trials. Spotify has teamed up with hardware partners in the past to help widen its growth potential. The streaming giant currently offers four months of free premium streaming to Galaxy S10, Galaxy Tab S5e, and Galaxy Note 10 owners.
With Spotify shifting to 90 days, Apple will now face pressure to keep its lengthy trial offer intact. Some users were reporting seeing only one-month free trials offered by Apple Music last month, with Apple interested in shifting users into paid accounts.
Apple did not comment on whether its trial period would be changing.


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In an attempt to make strides in financial inclusion in the country, Equity has taken various steps to drive its fintech innovation strategy. The fintech sector has positioned itself as one of Africa top-performing economies. According to the AFDB 2020 figures, Kenya leads in the continent in financial inclusion.
Equity Bank has continued to drive digital payments and transfers through EazzyPay and mobile application EazzyApp. Last year only, the EazzyPay transaction value grew from Kshs. 6.7 Billion to Kshs 15.3 Billion recording a 129 per cent increase. while EazzyApp grew by 24% to hit 321.5million transactions.
To support deposit mobilization and digital payments, agency banking recorded a rise in deposit amounts from Kshs 524 .9Billion in 2018 to Kshs 589.2 Billion in 2019.
An implication that the business model is evolving from a fixed to a viable cost business model leveraging off variable cost 3rd party infrastructure principally mobile, internet, agency and merchant banking.
97% of all transactions happen outside the branch through EazzyApp. Equity customers are able to make payments and cash transfers in real-time from their bank accounts through the mobile phone. EazzyPay platform has been configured to allow Equitel subscribers and EazzyApp users to make payments directly to merchants. For instance, they can use them in supermarkets, petrol stations, restaurants, general stores among other outlets.
In line with the current reality, and core belief of giving dignity and socially and economically empowering customers and communities. The bank has waived Mobile Banking Transaction Fees up to 30th June 2020. This includes Equity Mobile bank transfers, Bank to Mobile Wallet transfers, Mobile Wallet to Bank transfers. As well as Customer Payments using Equity Cards and Mobile payments for Bills.


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Google is set to face inquiries from the advertising industry and the British government over recent concerns raised about ads being placed next to extremist content. An array of high-profile firms, advertising companies and government departments have already pulled their adverts from the tech giant, with more mulling doing the same.
Vodafone, Sky, HSBC, Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland have also thrown in their hat to the growing list of firms pulling out of featuring their ads on Google. Google's European head Matt Brittin and head of Google's agencies business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Mark Howe are slated to speak at the upcoming annual Advertising Week Europe event, the Guardian reported citing unspecified sources.
Brittin is likely to face a barrage of questions on how major firms' adverts ended up being displayed alongside extremist content, such as those posted by hate preachers and former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke. Experts reportedly estimated that extremists could have made around £250,000 from ads placed next to their YouTube videos.
Brittin will likely be one of Google's first executives to address the issue at the event, which will take place in London starting Monday (20 March) and conclude on 24 March.
The tech giant is also likely to face questions from the British government. Yvette Cooper, who chairs the home affairs select committee reportedly accused Google of "profiting from hatred," in a letter to the firm. The firm's senior executives were summoned to the Cabinet Office last week over fears that taxpayer-funded ads were displayed among "inappropriate" YouTube videos. Google's execs allegedly apologised and were asked to return to the Cabinet Office this week with a formulated plan on resolving the issue.
Although Google is yet to disclose its plans on how it intends handle the matter, reports speculate that advertisers may be told that they are not making enough use of existing tools. The tech giant may offer to provide further support to firms on how to make better use of the features.
Google UK managing director said last week, "We've heard from our advertisers and agencies loud and clear that we can provide simpler, more robust ways to stop their ads from showing against controversial content."