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Posted Jan 14 2010 2:59PM
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) -- An antitrust lawsuit against Dwyane Wade should be dismissed because the NBA star has the right to control licensing of his name and image, Wade's attorneys told a federal judge on Thursday.
But lawyers for Wade's former partners in a failed restaurant venture contended that the Miami Heat guard violated antitrust laws by walking away, and they want $90 million in damages from Wade. They argue that when Wade withdrew permission to license his name, he illegally squelched competition for valuable personalized items such as signed basketballs, T-shirts and hats.
Wade's attorneys told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra that a celebrity has never been accused in a U.S. court of wrongly monopolizing his own memorabilia market. Wade's decision to terminate his deal with partners in the D. Wade's Place chain was within his rights to license his own image as he sees fit, attorney Robert Turken said.
"If you have a right to give a license, you have a right not to give a license. If you have a right not to give a license, you have a right to take it away," Turken said.
Marra said he would rule on the request to dismiss the case "as soon as possible" but didn't specify when.
Bruce Fein, attorney for the former partners, said Wade's decision to abandon the project triggered the antitrust violation because it removed a competitor in the memorabilia business. D. Wade's Place was envisioned as a national chain of upscale sports restaurants that would sell Wade items at its locations and on the Internet. Only two Florida locations opened and they quickly closed.
Wade's contract gave the venture rights to use his name and likeness forever, Fein said.
Wade ranks fifth in the NBA with a scoring average of 27 points per game, and he has lucrative deals with Nike's Jordan Brand, T-Mobile and Gatorade.
Wade, who turns 28 on Sunday, did not attend the hearing. He did take part in meetings last year aimed at reaching a settlement, but the talks hit an impasse.
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Multiple breaking news reports indicate that a deal has now been reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union regarding the UK’s exit from the EU.
After four years of negotiations, the subsequent resignations of two UK Prime Ministers, multiple blown milestones, and a lot of consternation and concerns among multi-industry supply chain management teams, and down to the final wire of uncertainty, this deal has reportedly come to agreement.
In a press briefing held in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen indicated: “It is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.” She reportedly further indicated that there will be a five-and-a-half-year transition period for the fishing industry in this agreement.
Multiple reports have pointed to stipulations over fishing rights as the final sticking point. Interesting enough, in its reporting, The Wall Street Journal indicated that rules related to the trade of electric batteries also went to the final wire.
The devil is always in the details, and over the coming days the various components to this over 1000-page trade agreement will be made public. The agreement also has to be ratified by both the European and United Kingdom Parliaments. Regarding the latter, given the very late timing, the EU Parliament will reportedly not be able to formally meet, discuss and ratify the treaty for the end of the year that comes in six days. Therefore a form of provisional agreement will be sought. Still unclear at this point is the timing of full ratification by the UK Parliament.
As Supply Chain Matters stated in our last published Brexit update, the initial service disruptions among various ports, air and rail have already occurred. The now verified occurrence of a new, and more virulent strain of the COVID-19 virus has added to the disruption as other EU countries are now restricting travel out of the UK without added virus testing requirements.
We would surmise the combination of both Brexit and coronavirus induced disruption will likely continue for the next several weeks. There simply is not enough time for governments to tend to all of the various details and revised processes related to the new trade agreement. Continued spread of the virus provides a further threat to the logistics and movement of goods. Thus, contingency and back-up plans will remain pertinent regarding the anticipated availability of industry supplies and component inventory. Whether there will be any granting of a grace period related to free trade remains an unknown at this point.
© Copyright 2020, The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group and the Supply Chain Matters® blog. All rights reserved.

domain: news


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Japan 'drone-brella' promises hands-free sun cover
It's the hands-free experience you never knew you needed—a Japanese company has developed a drone-powered parasol it says can hover over users, protecting them from the sun.
The drone-powered sunshade—being developed by Asahi Power Service—should be released next year, and will initially target those in need of a hands-free head covering wider than your average hat, like golfers.
The potential headaches posed by crashes, and regulations governing autonomous aircraft, mean the company expects the product will initially be used in closed private spaces, like golf courses.
"I decided to develop it as I don't like to hold an umbrella," company president Kenji Suzuki told AFP.
At 150 centimetres (60 inches) wide, the parasol prototype weighs five kilos (11 pounds), and so far can only fly for five minutes on one charge.
Asahi Power Service is hoping to quickly extend flying time to at least 20 minutes, partly by making the device lighter, Suzuki said.
"The first prototype we made was just a drone attached to a regular umbrella," he said.
"We are now testing the third-generation prototype and trying to overcome (the technological challenges of) hovering in a stable manner above the head of the user and then chasing the user."
The drones are fitted with cameras that help the parasols track their owners and stay over the correct head.
The company expects the device to have a price tag of about 30,000 yen ($275), a hefty investment for a parasol that isn't yet able to protect its users from the rain.
For now, the devices are not waterproof.
"Eventually, we aim to develop it into an umbrella," Suzuki said.
© 2018 AFP


text: During Investigate Midwest’s continuing probe of Seresto pet collars and deaths and injuries to dogs and cats linked to the collar, which repel and kill pests, reporters Johnathan Hettinger of Investigate Midwest and Emily LeCoz of USA Today were puzzled by the lack of response from veterinarians after the stories were published. With support from the Fund, the reporters kept digging and found that vets had collected at least $126 million from sales of the collars. They also unearthed allegations of price-fixing and other questionable practices that prevented vets from selling other, less expensive brands. These deals are often tied to lucrative financial incentives for vets, such as discounts and rebates. The reporters’ research led them to a lawsuit from a competitor that alleged that Bayer, which previously owned the company, blocked competition, harming consumers who were unable to find cheaper versions of the collars. Even today, the competition is not available at many of the biggest pet specialty stores, like PetSmart or Petco and they’re absent from popular online pet stores like Chewy.com or PetMed Express, the reporters found.


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Epic Games landed itself in some hot water with the FTC in regard to the way the game Fortnite violated COPPA rules and regulations. Today, we saw the announcement from the FTC that the case has been settled with two record-breaking settlements that will result in over $500 Million USD in fines. Yes, it's about Fortnite.
According to the FTC, Epic violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting information from children under 13 who played Fortnite without verifiable consent from a parent. In some cases, the company even made parents "jump through hoops" just to have their children's data deleted.
Because of this, Epic will have to pay a $275 Million settlement for violating the COPPA rule. This fine trumps the one that Google received back in 2019 in which the tech giant had to pay a $170 Million penalty over accusations of harvesting data from children on YouTube. Additionally, Epic must "adopt strong privacy default settings for children and teens, ensuring that voice and text communications are turned off by default."
This particular concern was addressed by Epic Games back in September as high privacy default settings for players under the age of 18 were implemented. These involve features such as Chat defaulting to “Nobody," profile details defaulting to Hidden, parties defaulting to “Invite Only," and personalized recommendations defaulting to Off. Players under 16 also have the mature language filter defaulted On for text chat.
The second chunk of change that Epic will have to pay relates to another part of the FTC's allegations surrounding Fortnite's store and refund systems. See, the FTC alleged that Epic deployed a variety of tactics to drive unintended purchases of virtual currency for acquiring perks such as outfits and dance moves in the game; these tactics ultimately led to millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers.
Now, Epic will have to pay $245 million to refund customers for its billing practices. Consumers who believe they were unfairly charged for in-game purchases can go to a website set up by the FTC to request refunds. The FTC plans to make refunds available even for the following users:
- Parents whose children made an unauthorized credit card purchase in the Epic Games Store between January 2017 and November 2018
- Fortnite players who were charged in-game currency (V-Bucks) for unwanted in-game items (such as cosmetics, llamas, or battle passes) between January 2017 and September 2022
- Fortnite players whose accounts were locked between January 2017 and September 2022 after disputing unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.
However, keep in mind that it will take a while to process the claims. Meanwhile, Epic Games will not admit or deny any of the FTC's allegations with the settlement. According to the company, they accepted this agreement because they want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and to provide the best experience for players.


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Apple, Amazon, Meta (formerly known as Facebook), and Google are under constant investigation for the monopoly tactics and scrutiny over their business practices. Recently, a new lawsuit was filed against Google on Monday, claiming the company used deceptive location tracking practices that invade users’ privacy.
The new lawsuits are filed in the District of Columbia, Texas, Washington, and Indiana, and they allege that Google made misleading promises to its users about how the company protected their privacy through the Google account settings. The lawsuit wants to put an end to Google using such practices and fine the company.
The lawsuit alleges that Google used “dark patterns” and other tactics and methods to influence its users’ decisions in ways that could benefit the advertising business, and likely, learn more about the user themselves. The lawsuit also alleges that Google designed its products to nudge and pressure its users into giving up location data “inadvertently or out of frustration.” The suits claim this violates various state and D.C consumer protection laws, says the The Washington Post report (via GSMArena).
José Castañeda, a Google Spokesperson, offered a statement to The Washington Post:
“The Attorneys General are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings, [...] We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight.”
It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t the first time Google got in trouble with using location data, and even we reported that Google buried the location settings so deep, that users actually had to look for it to find it on Android. Google was also found to be using location data, even when the location toggle was turned off. It’s not surprising to see a new lawsuit appear, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.


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Goodbye sideboob! Underboob has become the hottest new fashion trend, with celebrities rocking the look in everything from evening gowns to bikinis.
The daring fashion trend was featured prominently at Giambattista Valli’s Paris Fashion Week show in early March 2022. The Italian fashion designer used large center cutouts down the middle of his dresses that not only they showed a lot of upper abs but also a lot of lower chest. .
Her celebrity fans ate up the look, wearing the underbust designs on her show. Vanessa Hudgens she rocked an adorable red halter minidress with a daring slit on the left thigh. But as if that wasn’t flirty enough, the dress featured a plunging scoop neckline to match the large cutout in the midsection. The top was held together by a small white strip of fabric across the center of Vanessa’s chest, as she proudly displayed both cleavage for the photographers who gathered to photograph the celebrity arrivals of the show.
not to be less, olivia culpo she also wore a Valli design for the show. Her dress was exactly the same style as Vanessa’s, but off-white. She combined with a transparent white skirt with rows of ruffles that showed the legs of the former Miss Universe through the fabric.
The underboob style was elevated to the red carpet by kourtney kardashian for the Hollywood premiere on April 7, The Kardashians on Hulu. She went braless in a high cut black crop top that showed off the bare underside of her breasts. Even though the rest of her outfit was conservative, top with a long cape going down her arms and back, along with a floor-length black skirt, her bare midriff with a flash below her breasts turned out to be a sexy win. .
model and influencer jordyn woods showed that the new way to wear a bikini is to have it high on the breasts so that the bare bottom is visible. She crushed the look in a floral bikini in a series of sexy Instagram photos on April 7.
Halsey they proved there was another way to show off the underbust look by wearing a black wrap wrap top for a makeup tutorial video on April 17. They looked sensational while doing their eye makeup in a striking look.
Scroll down to see photos of celebrities rocking underbust looks.


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Lethally sweet: UK and global health is at stake as the world’s most powerful sugar barons capitalise on every drop in insulin.
Cold weather is likely to make more people susceptible to diabetes this winter in the UK and worldwide, as sugar intake is set to soar, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns.
How much sugar we have in our tea, coffee or hot chocolate can determine our life spans. This is not a killjoy statement: latest statistics on diabetes will send shivers down everyone’s spines.
According to the latest WHO Media factsheets/fs312/ published this November: ‘The number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014[…]’.
Diabetes is believed to be a major cause of nerve damage, blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
It is a lapalissade to say that health is the most important thing in life. But it appears to be belied by as an obvious truth when it comes to the global health/sugar industry ratio.
If sugar does more harm than good, why is sugar still tax free? Sugar taxability is a very sensitive issue, almost untouchable, one may say.
Sugar is a commodity in the UK and worldwide: its price is set in big international markets.
It is believed that the Florida-based Fanjul Brothers, most well-known for being sugar barons, are currently the ones making the rules, and even WHO doesn’t dare curb those rules.
The multibillionaire Fanjul Brothers fled Cuba to settle in Florida after Fidel Castro’s revolution and have made a fortune through growing and marketing sugar since. They have also allegedly made their wealth by funding politicians regardless of their political party as well as bribing scientists to forge statements over the danger of sugar in our daily intake.
It is little surprise that WHO once allegedly amended its statement over the health-threatening danger of sugar consumption, after the sugar industry threatened to cut its funding.
As Guardian Health editor Sarah Boseley wrote in her article ‘Sugar industry threatens to scupper WHO’: ‘The Sugar Association, together with six other big food industry groups, has also written to US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson asking him to use his influence to get the WHO report withdrawn.’
Craving for sugary foods in the UK and worldwide is a habitual aspect of the festive season: as the end of year approaches, we swop our salads and fruit bowls for mince pies, cookies, fizzy drinks, chocolates, pastries and cakes of all sorts.
WHO describes diabetes as ‘a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels’.
The last insulin drop is in the hands of the world’s must powerful sugar barons because even if we have control over the amount of sugar we put in our tea, coffee, cakes, what about the refined sugar contained in the whole range of genetically modified foods we purchase in supermarkets?
Genetically modified food such as breakfast cereals, dry fruits, pasta sauces, frozen meals, canned fruits and vegetables, to list a few, are high in refined sugar. But the sad news is that the food industry is more concerned about making money than promoting public health.
With their aggressive advertisements and marketing campaigns, food companies usually leave the consumers with very little knowledge and thus awareness of the danger of refined sugars in their ingredients.
Why do we become more addicted to sugar during cold weather?
According to nutritionists, in winter, with less sunlight and less exercise, most people crave sugary foods to help deal with low seasonal moods.
Carbohydrate-rich food consumption then triggers blood sugar levels to spike, raising blood insulin levels.
When this happens, the amino acid tryptophan travels up to our brains, where it is converted to serotonin —a brain chemical that makes enhances our mood.
It is little surprise that ice cream makes us feel more content. Ice cream contains a lot of added sugar, plus milk –a natural source of tryptophan. Together, these properties lead to a great release of serotonin to relieve stress and make us feel happier.
The sad news is that diabetes was once a much rarer condition until the world became addicted to sugar.
Who is to blame? Arguably, the sugar industry has been even more successful than the tobacco industry.
We often express our love and appreciation to offspring by unknowingly offering them poisonous treats such as sweets, candy, cake, chocolates, doughnuts, cookies, as a reward for good behaviour or achievement.
The link between sugar and illness was first spotted in 1913 by an American physician of Harvard Medical School, Frederick Madison Allen (1879–1964).
Madison Allen worked seven days a week for years before he discovered that insulin could extend the lives of diabetes patients.
He concluded that ‘diabetes incidence was greatest among the races and the classes of society that consume [the] most sugar.’
He also theorised that restricted calorie intake and engaging in regular exercise would prolong the life of insulin, producing beta cells.
Invisible sugar in genetically modified food
Did you know more than 60 per cent of a Slimfast drink is made up of sugar?
Latest reports on the Statistics Portal website show that sugar production, thus consumption, has increased worldwide from 2009/2010 with a forecast for 2017/18 in a million metric tons: ‘Approximately 170.81 million metric tons of sugars were produced in total worldwide.’
Our modern addiction to sugar is killing us, and it may be too late to stop it if we do not make a radical change on our daily sugar intake.
Driving, tobacco, alcohol and gambling are taxed. Why not refined sugar? The answer is in the hands of lawmakers and food standards agencies.
Also, it is crucial for lawmakers, food agencies, regulators, governments and sugar barons to find a compromise and come up with an acceptable landmark agreement on tackling excessive sugar intake for the world’s population so that it can grow and age healthily.


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Renewable energy like solar and wind is booming across the country as the costs of production have come down. But the sun doesn't always shine, and the wind doesn't blow when we need it to.
This challenge has sparked a technology race to store energy — one that goes beyond your typical battery.
Heat Storage: Molten Salt And A Giant Solar Farm
Batteries are often used to store solar power, but it can be a costly endeavor.


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Spring pictures will be taken on Friday, April 16th. Only those that purchase a picture package will be photographed.
News & Announcements
Graphic of Safe Dismissal Procedures
Shepherd ISD has a new Bullying Reporting system! It is called Stop!t. We began rolling the program out last week and it is available for students across the district. Please take a look at the attached documents to learn more.
For more information about what's going on at Shepherd Intermediate, go to our Facebook page!


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When Apple announced at its closely watched September product launch event that it would soon introduce an Emergency SOS feature powered by a network of satellites orbiting the Earth, Brooklyn probably wasn’t the isolated location it had most in mind to use.
But on a rainy afternoon last week, I found myself trying to connect to one of Prospect Park’s satellites as part of a demo of the upcoming feature. I came out from under a huge oak tree the rain began to fall harder. I then moved my device slightly to the right and quickly regained signal access and continued texting with an emergency dispatcher.
The rain was not the issue; it was the leaf that limited my phone view of the sky
On Tuesday, Apple ( AAPL ) will launch its Satellite Emergency SOS feature for iPhone 14 owners in the United States and Canada, with plans to expand. In the UK, France, Germany and Ireland next month. The free feature promises to put iPhone users in touch with dedicated dispatchers in emergency situations when the satellite cell phone network is unavailable.
Mountaineers, emergency responders and intrepid travelers are well aware of the existing world of satellite phones, which provide SMS and data services anywhere on Earth. Now Apple is trying to do the same with its iPhones, helping this year’s consumers not only enjoy their devices better, but also live more securely as part of a broader device. In the process, its expensive products may become a little more essential in an uncertain economic environment with some rethinking expenses.
Apple recently invested $450 million in Globalstar, a global satellite service, and other providers to support the development of 24 low-orbit satellites at an altitude higher than the International Space Station. The investment is part of Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which was previously used to produce glass with Corning and facial recognition laser technology.
During my test Using an Apple-provided iPhone 14, I tried to call 911, but it was automatically redirected to Emergency SOS via Satellite dispatchers for demo purposes. When the device could not connect to the mobile service, a small green icon appeared in the lower right of the call screen to start a text conversation with the emergency services.
I was asked to fill out a questionnaire and was asked some short multiple choice questions; I realized I was lost but not injured. Almost 20 seconds later, I received confirmation that my geolocation coordinates had been sent to a dispatcher, along with my medical ID, emergency contact information, and answers to my questions. I was told to keep the answers short, likely to reduce the amount of data needed to transfer to the satellite and back to a sender. I was also asked to identify nearby landmarks and where I entered the park. My entire exchange lasted about four minutes.
Apple said the size of the messages was greatly condensed so that satellites could be routed more efficiently to ground stations located around the world. Once received, texts are sent to local emergency services or a relay center with Apple-trained emergency specialists who can dispatch help.
But even in a city, I lost satellite access several times when I couldn’t see the sky clearly. A grayscale circle with a green signal image has appeared when connected, but turns yellow when conditions were poor and red when connectivity was lost. I walked To find a satellite about 200 meters from my original location. once there I naturally held the device in my hand; Apple said there’s no need to lift or shake.
When it works, the life-saving potential of this feature is obvious. But there are some notes For starters, it’s text alone; users will need to physically hold the device in their hands to initiate an exchange, which is not always possible if they are injured. The tool, however, works with iPhone 14 and Apple Watch crash detection, so it can automatically dial emergency services or send coordinates to a dispatcher when the user is unconscious or can’t reach the iPhone.
For now, Satellite Emergency SOS only works in English, Spanish and French, though senders They have professional interpreting services available for many more languages. Apple said it also might not work in all areas, such as places above 62° latitude, including northern Canada and Alaska.
For iPhone 14 users who want to see how the tool works and test the process of searching for a satellite, a demo is available in the Settings section “Emergency SOS by satellite”. Apple said the feature is available for free for two years and will then reevaluate the offer based on what it learns about usage during that time.


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A WOKINGHAM man has been appointed managing director of the UK’s newest toy company specialising in technology-enabled toys.
Stephen Wilks, from Barkham, will be responsible for growing and managing Kidz Delight UK Ltd, which was launched in January.
He will also work to increase the company’s market penetration in retail stores and home shopping outlets.
Mr Wilks, 47, has more than six years experience in the toy industry, having been vice president of sales for Leapfrog Toys (UK) Ltd and managing director for Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro.
While at Hasbro he oversaw the phenomenal success of the Pokemon trading cards that generated sales of more than £80 million.
Alistair Booth, managing director of IDS UK, Kidz Delight’s parent company, said: “When we launched Kidz Delight it was essential that we found a veteran professional to lead this new strategic venture.
“Stephen Wilks brings experience, creativity and extensive contacts within this market sector to the position.”


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The government should not raise import duty on medical devices as it could be detrimental to the health care sector of the country, industry body CII said today.
Apprehending a rise in import duty on medical devices in the forthcoming Budget, CII Chairman of Medical Technology Division, Pavan Choudhary said, "The increase could be detrimental to the health care sector as it will not only hurt patients but also will shrink the booming market.".
Read our full coverage on Union Budget
Imports account for 80% of medical devices industry in the country.
"Medical devices produced domestically are of very basic nature, and the major ones are all imported. So any increase in taxes will increase the price which will hurt the general public the most," he said while speaking at a CII event.
The industry body has also asked the government to correct inverted duty in the sector where in some specific segment duties on raw material is higher than the finished product.
CII Medical Technology Division, Member Probir Das said, "Tariff regime cannot promote Make In India where the manufacturers have to depend on imported raw materials."
He added, "Not a single country can say that they are self sufficient of every raw materials and we are so behind them. If we want to manufacture devices domestically, we need to get the components and a higher duty will only hinder this."
The body has also asked the government to provide fiscal incentives and tax holiday to new companies to promote the sector and build an innovation fund.
"Like the IT sector was provided with tax sops in the initial years which led to the IT revolution in the country the government should also take such steps to promote this sector in the country," Choudhary said.


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35,000 sqm exhibition area with 700 exhibitors (including campsites) and 450 show vehicles onsite
22,193 visitors from 20 countries in three days
Thematic activities were highly popular and attracted great attendance
The first Caravaners’ Camping Zone was organized successfully. 200 vehicles and nearly 300 RV fans gathered for a memorable experience.
The seventh edition of All in CARAVANING concluded successfully at the Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center (Beijing) on June 24, 2018.
AIC 2018 was held for the first time at Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center (Beijing). Thanks to the well-established AIC brand awareness in the past seven years, the flow of visitors at the event actually increased. In a total of three days, 22,193 visitors from 20 countries visited AIC 2018, which was a steady increase over the previous year. AIC received 8 visitor delegations including “AIC Yan Delegation”, “CITIC Prudential Exclusive Delegation” and “Pinxiang Vision Delegation”.
AIC 2018 drew the attention of Chinese mainstream media outlets, including CCTV, Beijing TV, China Daily, China News Agency and Xinhua News Agency that actively covered this highlight of caravan industry. Moreover, media outlets such as promobil and Reisemobil International from Europe also came to report on the event and brought the bustling AIC scene to the world. Industry media outlets including Xcar, Caravan News, FBLIFE, CCRV, dayrv.com and lvyouw.net were present onsite for live reports on the trade fair, bringing latest news updates about AIC 2018 around the clock.
Mr. Axel Bartkus, General Manager of Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., said: “We have been fully confident in moving to the new exhibition venue. The positive response to AIC this year proves that this is a wise decision which is in line with market demands, and we have withstood this test. The enthusiasm of visitors for RV holidays continues to rise, which makes us feel excited. It gives us a feeling for the trend of the future. For this reason, we have already had the exhibition plan for next year.”
Exhibitor satisfaction once again improved as they achieved significant results
Thanks to the excellent exhibition space and facilities of the Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center (Beijing), exhibitors are able to put on full display of their best exhibits. With eye-catching visual design and brand showcase, exhibitors greatly improved the quality of their presentation, bringing AIC ever closer to its parent show – the world’s leading Caravan Salon from Düsseldorf, Germany in terms of professionalism and the international style.
A total of 35,000 square meters of exhibition space both indoors and outdoors witnessed the active and lively business talks between visitors and exhibitors that result in signature of numerous purchase orders and contracts. Many exhibitors made a good start on the first day of AIC 2018 by impressive sales. RV International, Yutong, Jinguan, LiveZone RV, Weihang RV, Huabeihui, Zhongya RV, Yate RV, Broadriver-horse, Yunshang RV, Qingdao Kailei, Sixing RV, Zhongqijingfu, among others have all sold a number of vehicles with remarkable results. The caravan accessories zone and camping zone also have been well received with a great number of visitors and outstanding sales outcome. The exhibitor questionnaire survey indicates that exhibitor satisfaction rate is as high as 89%, further supporting the tremendous business value that AIC brings with its continuous innovation.
Delivery of professional knowledge and RV culture through highly acclaimed concurrent events
Speech Corner for release of new vehicle/technology has been bustling with visitors. More than 30 press conferences and exchange meetings have been held here in three days, covering industry topics, technical forums, new product launch as well as experience sharing. Over 1,000 participants have been recorded at the Speech Corner. The multi-angle and all-round conference content helps visitors interpret and understand hotspot topics. Most of the participants expressed that they have “benefited greatly from it and got new ideas”.
The B9 Game Zone, which debuted in the outdoor area, received great attention and participation. Despite the hot weather, visitors were highly engaged. Dynamic tactical game, rugby and other ball games took place one after the other with tremendous passion and vitality.
AIC CLUB’s family activity zone continued its popularity in previous years. A total of nearly 3,000 families came to AIC 2018 for a wonderful weekend. Through a variety of games and educational programs, these “young caravan camping participants” were inspired and had a sound understanding of RV and its lifestyle.
In addition, the Anyi & AIC RV Football Tournament was successfully held on the evening of June 23. The passionate football game adds “flames” to the 2018 World Cup.
The colorful concurrent activities of AIC 2018 made it “not only a professional RV trade show” but also a “carnival” for all people.
AIC show comes closer to RV fans
This year, AIC launched its first Caravaners’ Camping Zone. With full support from Green Mall Resort, the camping zone attracted about 300 RV fans with a total of 200 caravans in three days. In addition to visiting AIC, RV fans also experienced camping life in the camping zone, making new friends and sharing fun travel anecdotes.
On the evening of June 23, the first “Night of AIC RV Fans” was held successfully, bringing AIC closer to the RV fan groups. This is a key step for AIC, which marks the beginning of a more localized AIC that “connects with RV fans and follows the needs of end users”.
Grand prizes announced at the glamorous AIC Award Ceremony
Once again, AIC 2018 Exhibitor Banquet this year was presented in the glorious style of an “Oscar Awards Ceremony”. A total of 9 grand prizes were announced. The dinner party first presented the “AIC 2018 Outstanding Contribution Award”, thanking domestic and foreign partner associations and agencies for their support and company for the past seven years.
The family that has been travelling the world for five years to 34 countries, i.e. the "RV Princess" won the title of "AIC Caravan Ambassador" this year. Mr. SHEN Zhiping and Mr. XIE Zanfeng received “Fashionable RV Owner” award.
The 2nd AIC AWARDS were officially announced, with 18 companies honored as MOTOR HOME OF THE YEAR, 6 companies awarded the title CARAVAN OF THE YEAR and 3 companies receiving MOBILE HOME OF THE YEAR title. All award receivers have successfully introduced outstanding caravans into the market, winning favor from users as well as recognition of the industry.
To promote innovation, AIC 2018 launched “AIC Innovation” for the first time this year which is an award honoring AIC caravan accessories exhibitors. 11 companies received this prestigious award.
Finally, AIC presented two new special awards, “Best Booth Innovation Award” and “Best Booth Design Award” in recognition of exhibitors' ingenuity in booth construction and brand display.
During the dinner, a Sino-German beer contest and a lucky draw also took place in the wonderful atmosphere with live band music. Chinese and foreign friends gathered together to celebrate the friendship and extend happiness to the next exhibition.
AIC 2019 - the 8th All in CARAVANING will be held at the Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center (Beijing) on June 14-16, 2019. For more information, please scan the QR code and follow our official WeChat account or visit www.aicshow.com.
Mrs.Tian Qun, President of China Self-driving Tour and Camping &Caravaning Association (STCCA) of CTACA / Managing Director of CITS Group Corporation
The exhibition has ended on a high note. We are delighted to find that with the continuous improvement of consumption capacity and consumption level, China’s caravan tourism market has been attracting more and more attention from world-class caravan companies. As the first state-owned tourism company supervised by the central government to enter the caravan industry, “HKCTS•RV” will team up with outstanding domestic and international companies to advocate the positive caravan tourism culture and develop high-quality products that meet the needs of Chinese consumers. Meanwhile, we will continue to promote the development of the industry, meet the needs of the people for a better life, and forge ahead while remaining true to our original aspiration.
Mr. Fang Dehe, Secretary-general of China Association of Automotive Manufacturers Recreational Vehicle Industry Committee
The performance of AIC at the new site exceeded our expectations. It shows a high degree of professionalism and internationalization. The exhibitors and visitors had business talks in a warm atmosphere, which is essential for the development of the entire industry and reflects the strong momentum of the Chinese RV market.
Mr. Liao Hongbin, President of RV International
This year, AIC was held at a new site. Although the exhibition center is located in suburban Yizhuang, the organizers have made a lot of promotional efforts in advance, so the number of visitors has remained at a high level. As an integrated service provider of the caravan camping industry chain, RV International displayed products such as caravans, tents, aluminum mobile homes and outdoor camping equipment, and launched many commercial innovation models, which were supported and recognized by the industry. We sincerely hope that AIC will expand its scale, achieve greater success, and become the benchmark of China’s caravan camping industry exhibitions.
Mr. Hong Junhua, General Manager of Hunan Pilote RV Co.,Ltd
Hunan Pilote has participated in AIC for the first time, but our Pilote brand and the organizer Messe Düsseldorf are already “old friends” in the European markets. The new exhibitors mean that AIC is becoming even more significant, and more and more consumers are turning their attention to caravans. This year’s AIC has interpreted a new way of life to the public while focusing on style and professionalism. I hope Hunan Pilote will grow together with AIC in the future!
Mr. Zhang Tongjie, President of Luoyang Erwin Hymer-Loncen Caravan Co. Ltd.
This is the third time our company has participated in AIC. Throughout the exhibition, a continuous stream of guests came to our booth for consultation, and many of them reached a cooperation intention with us. By participating in AIC, we have not only expanded our business, but also found excellent strategic partners, which are vital to our future development.
Mrs. Chen Yunfen, General Sales Manager of TOURIST RV
As a strategic partner of TOURIST RV, AIC has created opportunities for us to enter the international market. Domestic RV enthusiasts saw a more complete range of RVs, and RVs “Made in China” were shown to the world! Originated from CARAVAN SALON held in Düsseldorf, Germany, AIC has not only presented numerous international RVs, but also spread the RV culture to China to let more people understand RV lifestyle. I’d like to thank AIC for its support to TOURIST RV!
Mr. Yannick Vöhringer, Vöhringer GmbH
This year, AIC was held for the first time at the Etrong International Exhibition & Convention Center (Beijing). Although the number of visitors is slightly lower than the previous editions, the exhibition has improved its professionalism, as evidenced by the fact that those coming to the exhibition are all industry insiders and trade visitors. AIC has been positioned as a high-profile caravan show. It serves as a professional platform for effective branding and product display to promote the gradual entry of German products into the Chinese market.


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Frank Gatewood and his wife Betty have traveled for many years, but he still comes back to the AAA travel show.
“It provides a great deal of information centrally located, where you can pick it all up at once,” Gatewood said. “It saves a lot time.”
Gatewood said he’s looking at taking trips all over the world. He said this helps him to find out what to expect when he gets there.
“We’ve been a lot of places in the world,” Gatewood said. “You really can’t go until you know what’s going on and what the opportunities are.”
Travel agent Jacqueline Bass of AAA said that’s the purpose of this expo. It wants to help people get where they want to go.
“You can probably get the experience of the travel agents that are here,” Bass said. “They know more about the destinations, they’ve traveled to them and they also have sold different trips there.”
There’s also a new group AAA just created for single women. Bass said it’s a good opportunity for them to travel.
“It’s an opportunity for them to sign-up and travel with other women,” Bass said. “If they don’t want to travel by themselves. They have an opportunity to travel with other women that have the same interests they have.”
She said this may make travel more possible for single women.
“They won’t have to be afraid,” Bass said. “They can travel with other people for security purposes. Also for expense purposes. It’s an opportunity to travel with a reduced for no single-supplement waiver. If you travel by yourself, usually there’s an added expense.”
Gatewood said this makes him feel better prepared for his travel.
“We can review it and make informed decisions,” Gatewood said.
You can sign-up for the women’s travel group at any AAA office. It is open to any woman who wants to travel with a group.


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Top brands in £6bn meltdown: M&S, Sainsbury’s, Dixons, Kingfisher and JD Sport suffer three months of hell
The retail sector has suffered a chill that has wiped billions from some of Britain’s top firms.
It comes amid fears consumers are threatening to cut their spending to cope with inflation rises, low wage increases and Brexit uncertainty.
In the past three months a total of £6 billion has been wiped off Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Dixons Carphone, B&Q owner Kingfisher and JD Sport.
Sainsbury's is among several top high street firms to see their share price tumble over the past three months
Debenhams, Mothercare and online electricals retailer AO World have suffered declines of around 20 per cent. Online firms Asos and Ocado fell 7 per cent.
Jobs are at risk too. Asda has begun consultation with more than 3,200 staff amid plans to close 18 stores.
Discount retailer Wilko has said 4,000 jobs are at risk – around a fifth of staff – as it restructures its management to cope with a ‘challenging retail landscape’.
Tesco, the UK’s biggest retailer, is cutting 1,200 head office staff.
Shadows of wider economic concerns are also looming. Inflation continues to rise faster than wage increases.
Meanwhile, last month GFK said consumer confidence has slumped to the level seen after the shock Brexit vote. Last week, Dixons Carphone shares tumbled 23 per cent, cutting its value by almost half since the start of summer.
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After several years of escalating prices for Nevada-grown alfalfa - and rising supplies as farmers planted more of the crop to cash in on the trend - prices have dropped in half due to oversupply and weakened demand.
The per-ton price for Nevada hay peaked at $199 in September 2008, but starting in January 2009 hay prices began an almost steady downward trend and now stand at less than $100 per ton.
The dramatic price reduction affects the operations of dozens of Northern Nevada farmers: Humboldt, Lyon, Pershing and Churchill counties are the state's most productive alfalfa growers.
Marcia Ernst and her husband operate an 80-acre alfalfa operation in Fallon that Ernst inherited in 2007. She's put off planting one of her fields because of the tumbling prices, and she's still got hay in her barn with more growing in the field. Ernst says current prices are at levels that haven't been seen since the late 1990s, and she's concerned she won't be able to sell all her crop this year.
Ernst sells mostly to smaller horsemen and cow or goat owners.
"It has been hard," she says. "I didn't have any trouble getting rid of hay in 2007, and 2008 was no problem, but I have one-third of my crop left and will be cutting again in June."
Demand for alfalfa and hay grasses has waned for a number of reasons. Foremost, says Don Gephart, agricultural statistician with the National Agricultural Statistics Service, is the fact that there's more than double the amount of hay under roof today than there was two years ago.
Further impacting hay prices is decreased demand from financially struggling Nevada dairymen, who have switched from alfalfa to cheaper feed stocks, and reduced demand from horse owners, who have either sold animals or turned them loose to free graze on rangeland.
"When you are making $200 an acre on alfalfa as opposed to $80 on wheat, you get an oversupply on alfalfa," Gephart says. "It is going to be much harder for alfalfa growers financially. It's going to put the pinch to them. Inputs are not going down any, but the market is coming down on them."
When prices rose dramatically during 2007 and '08, horsemen and other large animal owners began driving out of state for lower-cost forage, says Valerie Whitfield, purchasing agent for Stockman's Supply in Elko. But people who chose to travel to Idaho farms for their hay purchases erased any gains made by lower-priced out-of-state feed through the high costs of fuel, she says.
"People were getting together on truckloads and splitting it for a better price - but then again, once a person drove a truck to Idaho, by the time they go up there and back, it was just silly, really."
Whitfield says hay sales at Stockman's declined the past few years as cash-strapped horse owners either turned their animals loose or gave them away. Stockman's Supply currently sells alfalfa for $12 a bale and hay-grass mix for $13.49.
Reno-area feed stores are feeling the effects of an oversupply as well. Sales of more expensive feeds soured as the recession took its toll on the wallets of large animal owners, says Cindy Oxley of Green's Feed on North Virginia Street. Equine owners that didn't either sell off their horses or find new homes for them started buying cheaper alfalfa cubes and pellets.
"As our economy shifted, horses in particular kind of took a hit," Oxley says.
"They aren't something people have to have. People did what they had to do to decrease the size of their herds."
Dave Atherton, manager of Feed World on Spokane Street in Reno, says sales are slow because so many people former customers have sold off their horses, or they are buying direct from farmers.


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Asda's decision to pull out of Black Friday may have hit the headlines last week, but the move was far from unprecedented. In the US, where this seasonal price-slashing frenzy originated, held on the Friday after Thanksgiving, retailers have also started to back off. The outdoor and sporting goods chain REI, which has more than $2bn in annual sales, is set to close all of its 140 stores on Black Friday, while tech retailer Newegg says it will spread any discounts over a fortnight. The question is why.
Asda’s chief executive Andy Clarke says the firm is responding to what customers want, but in terms of sheer volume, the event is only growing in popularity in the UK. The Office for National Statistics measured a 1.6 per cent rise in sales volumes during November 2014, equating to growth of 6.4 per cent on an annual basis, largely down to the Black Friday effect.
It is also growing online. According to IMRG and Experian, consumers spent £810m on Black Friday last year. This year we expect it to top £1bn.
Although Black Friday has witnessed some uncouth scenes to say the least, to claim shoppers have had enough is not quite telling the whole story.
The truth is many retailers are divided over Black Friday. Our new report on the subject, released today, finds that a third of major retailers think it is unsustainable and unprofitable. Heavy discounting combined with surging, unpredictable demand can make it difficult to maintain margins and meet customer expectations at the same time. Retailers that do not have the infrastructure and capabilities to give customers what their brands promise are running the risk of alienating them and harming long-term sales.
We did find, however, that those major retailers with an established omni-channel capability are poised to capitalise on Black Friday’s huge sales potential. Indeed, the event is amplifying challenges we are seeing across the retail sector. The consumer may want to browse in store, order online and pick up at the train station. They might return the item to the store and, when they do, pick up an alternative ordered via a mobile app. At each step they expect retailers to know who they are and what their recent interactions with the brand have been.
At the same time, consumers want more rapid deliveries. The industry is locked in an arms race with online-only retailers which is seeing next-day and even same day delivery become the norm.
It is hideously complex and eye-wateringly expensive for incumbent retailers to meet all of these expectations, and even more so when so many sales are concentrated on one day of frantic discounting. It is not just about building a flashy front-end sales system. It requires visibility of stock and accurate data from the store and the carrier, to the warehouse, distributor and supplier, all linked up with the online shop window. Some are asking IT systems, now a couple of generations old, to do things they were never designed to do.
Leading retailers who have built the back-end systems to fulfil the front-end promise will benefit from the huge sales volumes on Black Friday. They will decide what they can offer and deliver that – literally. But crucially, they will know what their costs are and how to keep the proposition profitable.
So enjoy the crush while you can. Black Friday won’t stay this way forever.


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Almost 30 years ago, music giant Sony decided that vinyl was dying, and that in future it would only release albums and singles in modern formats, such as cassette tapes and CDs.
But the company has now announced that, in response to rocketing vinyl sales in the past few years, it will again be producing records, with the first batch scheduled to be made in a factory southwest of Tokyo (according to the Washington Post).
It is currently unclear which artists will be selected for the newly-revived retro format, which the company hopes to get into production by March 2018.
In all fairness, Sony's original decision to cease making vinyl probably made sense back in 1989. With the advent of personal music devices, many customers were gravitating away from bulky records, and towards smaller, more easy to transport formats.
Later, of course, music storage became even more intangible, with the advent of MP3 players and, shortly after, streaming.
One thing the company didn't count on, however, was vinyl's enduring retro appeal, especially among Millennial "hipsters" and music snobs (sorry, real music lovers).
According to vinyl aficionados, the flawed, not quite pristine nature of the sound produced by a vinyl recording adds a certain depth and warmth to the music. This quality, they claim, is lost when other formats are used.
There's also, let's face it, something undeniably cool about owning an extensive record collection. Shelves full of CDs just don't have the same appeal.
Perhaps because of this, in 2015 US vinyl sales reached $416 million, their highest since 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.


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Wednesday, 28 March 2012
EMI sale raises more competition issues
Whilst its rumoured that Universal Music may well be selling some of their music publishing catalogues to fund their planned purchase of EMI's recorded music divisions, UMG has so far resisted the temptation to offer concessions to competition regulators in Europe during the European Commission's initial investigation into the proposed acquisition. However, Sony/ATV has apparently offered concessions in a bid to allay fears about its acquisition of the EMI music publishing business. Sony/ATV (Sony own the company along with Michael Jackson's estate) is leading a consortium of investors to buy EMI Music Publishing, which is likely to remain a separate entity if the takeover goes ahead - but even an independent EMI would still report into Sony/ATV's management. The EC confirmed Sony/ATV had offered concessions yesterday, but gave no details as to what exactly they were. The regulator added that the proposals would push back its phase one investigation into the Sony deal until 19th April, when it will announce whether the Sony-led consortium has won approval, or whether a full three month inquiry will be required for this deal too.
Meanwhile, in the US, California's Attorney General Kamala Harris has reportedly started making her own inquiries into the two EMI deals, separate from the ongoing competition investigation being conducted in the US by the Federal Trade Commission. According to Bloomberg, Harris's office has made contact with various people and organisations likely to be affected by the deal, though it's not clear to what end, or what power the Attorney General would have to hinder any deal-making if both transactions were approved at a federal level. And the Commerce Commission in New Zealand has invited interested parties to make submissions to its inquiry into Universal Music's proposed takeover of the EMI record companies. Areas on which the Commission says it will be focusing include Universal's claims that the independent sector in New Zealand currently enjoys a strong competitive position, the extent to which artists can now circumvent the label system, and the extent to which piracy limits the big rights owners' power in setting prices, especially in the digital domain. A final decision is due on 13 May although the European Commission has said that it will need until August to review Universal's EMI bid. In Europe the acquisition is being strongly opposed by pan-European indie label trade body IMPALA, while Warner Music is thought to be lobbying against the deal in both the US and Europe.


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By Katlene O. Cacho
FOUR young Cebuano startup entrepreneurs have big dreams for Cebu--to help Cebu earn a spot in the global men’s fashion industry.
But to get there is a big challenge for both public and private sectors, said Elated Industries financial head Don Gerardo Frasco. He said that while entrepreneurs have huge dreams for their businesses to be known globally, government intervention is important, especially in addressing the gaps in the value chain.
Frasco together with Carlos Miguel Canga, Ralph Vincent Lapus and Mikey Walls formed Elated Industries, a homegrown startup company the produces a premium men’s fashion line.
Aside from sourcing some raw materials abroad, the team collaborates with the cottage industry of skilled sewers and stitchers, mostly women, for their clothing collection.
Read the full article here.


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Renault Duster is soon going to re-launch its luxurious and strong SUV. Its picture has come out even before its launch. You will read information about Renault Duster through today’s blog news. You will also get to read about the specifications of the Renault Duster. However, Renault’s sister brand, Dacia, launched the all-new Duster in Europe last year.
Renault Duster Design
As expected, the Renault version has a silhouette similar to the Dacia Duster. One special thing is that the grille has changed, and we have Renault badging and not the Dacia logo.
The rest of the front design, including LED headlights, fog lamps, and bumper, remains the same as the Dacia Duster. We have not seen any changes in the side profile, and the SUV sports much black cladding. Slight changes have been made to the alloy wheels compared to the Dacia Duster. At the rear, apart from the new Renault logo, we have not made any changes.
Renault Duster Features
Duster includes 10-inch infotainment, digital instrument cluster, 6-speaker Arcamis 3D sound system, electronic parking brake, wireless Android Auto, and Apple CarPlay. The Indian model may also have additional features like a sunroof, ventilated seats, and ambient lighting. With ADAS becoming standard in this segment, we expect Renault to make it available in the Indian version as well.
Renault Duster Specifications
|1.0-litre turbo petrol
|1.3-litre turbo petrol
|Turkish (TBD), India (Potential)
|1.2-litre plug-in hybrid
Renault still needs to reveal the specifications for the Turkish market. However, the Dacia Duster has three engine options. The first option is a 1.0-litre turbo petrol which produces 120bhp. The second option is 1.3-litre turbo petrol, which produces 168bhp.
If this option comes to India, it could be the most powerful car. And the last option is the 1.2-litre plug-in hybrid engine. If this option becomes available in India, it could be a big step forward in the hybrid segment.
Renault Duster Launch Date in India (Expected)
However, if we look closely, the Renault Duster is a one-seater SUV. If we look at its launch date, we can guess that the Renault Duster 2025 is expected to be launched in India in October 2025. Renault Duster 2025 will compete with Tiago, Punch, and Comet EV.
Renault Duster Price in India (Expected)
Renault Duster is powered by a 1499 cc engine and 1 transmission. Renault Duster 2025 ex-showroom price can start from Rs 10 lakh.


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Wall Street’s main stock indexes pushed higher reaching new record levels as President Donald Trump caved in and signed a long-awaited $2.3 trillion Covid-19 relief bill to catalyze a recovery in the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 Index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index both gained 0.9%.
Shares of IMV Inc. jumped more than 14% after the clinical-stage biopharma company said that early studies showed that its vaccine candidate, DPX-COVID-19, has the potential to improve the span of protection against coronavirus infection. IMV concluded that preclinical safety as well as immunogenicity and challenge studies demonstrated a favorable safety profile and the potential for the long duration of antibody titers and protection against SARS-CoV-2. Additional supporting evidence favoring DPX-COVID-19 includes T cell response and “natural” immunity, the company said. Furthermore, the vaccine candidate was shown to be stable at 2°C to 8°C and room temperature for at least three months.
Clariant climbed almost 6% as its biggest shareholder, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), submitted its agenda for the upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled to take place on April 7, 2021. SABIC, which owns around 32% of Clariant, submitted two items on the agenda that it would like the Clariant Board of Directors to address. SABIC would like the Clariant Board to approve a special dividend of CHF 2 per share, or the maximum amount that can lawfully be distributed, dependent on the company’s financials as of December 31, 2020. The special dividend would amount to approximately $753 million, which according to Reuters, could drain the company’s reserves that could otherwise be used for acquisitions.
In cannabis news, Sundial Growers Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Simply Solventless Concentrates Ltd. (SSC) to produce its solventless cannabis concentrates products. The agreement will allow Sundial to utilize its Rocky View facility, while using SSC’s intellectual property to produce premium inhalable products and to expand its product pipeline. Furthermore, the parties are negotiating the possible sale of Sundial’s Rocky View facility for $5 million, pending the completion of due diligence and licensing approvals. Shares rose 1.5%.
Shares of Village Farms International pulled back after spiking more than 22% in one week. The stock dropped 7.2% after the company came out with a statement regarding the recent rally in the company’s stock price and increased trading volumes. On the request of IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada), Village Farms commented that, “it is not aware of any material, undisclosed information related to the Company that would account for the recent increase in the market price and level of trading volume of its common shares.” IIROC, which is Canada’s self-regulatory organization, had to temporarily suspend trading activity of Village Farms on Dec. 24.
In M&A updates, Delivery Hero surged almost 9% amid a Reuters report that the company has been told by South Korea’s antitrust regulator that approval for its $4 billion takeover of Woowa Brothers will only be given if it sells its Yogiyo subsidiary within six months. Delivery Hero agreed to buy Woowa, Korea’s top food delivery app, last year as it expands into Asia. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that if the unit was not sold, the combined market share resulting from the takeover would be 97% of food delivery transactions, giving it a near monopoly in the food delivery market.
In earnings news, Weibo plunged 13% as the social media company’s 3Q non-GAAP EPS declined 14% to $0.66 but exceeded analysts’ estimates by $0.06. Advertising and marketing revenues rose by 1% to $416.7 million. Meanwhile, value-added service sales declined by 11% to $49.1 million. Total net revenues in the quarter ended September 30 declined 4% year-on-year to $465.7 million on a constant currency basis, beating Street estimates by $14.81 million.
GameStop shares added another 2.7% after RC Ventures, led by activist investor Ryan Cohen, increased its stake in the video game retailer to 12.9%. According to an SEC filing, RC Ventures now owns 9 million GameStop shares. RC Ventures intends to “continue to engage, in discussions with the Issuer’s Board of Directors regarding means to drive stockholder value, including through changes to the composition of the Board and other corporate governance enhancements,” the company stated in the SEC filing.


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collected by :Molly Tony
Enter the Gungeon will launch on Xbox One and Windows 10 on April 5!
What can be said about Enter the Gungeon that hasn’t already been said?
Enter the Gungeon is set on a distant planet inhabited by living bullets and other strange creatures.
The gunfight dungeon crawler is part of the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative and supports both cross-buy and cross-save features between the two platforms.
For Xbox One owners wanting to experience this title, there’s good news.
as informed in
Punch Club arrives on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Nearly a year after being released on Windows 10, iOS, and Android devices – Punch Club is finally coming to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
In Punch Club you take control of a boxer who’s father was slain when he was a young boy.
So what kind of game is Punch Club?
The game can also be purchased for mobile for iOS, Android, and Nintendo 3DS.
He trains to fight in local tournaments, but can also enter into the world of underground fighting.
as informed in
The first big release comes on April 7 with the release of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
For fans of platformers, Yooka-Laylee for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac is released on April 11th.
While the Nintendo Switch will see fewer game releases this month, PC and PS4 see a hike in the game released after taking last month off somewhat to allow the Switch to shine.
Another big game gets released that same day, with Stardew Valley: Collector’s Edition going into stores for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Continuing the trend, Ira for PC and Mac release comes out on April 5, 2017.
collected by :Lily Soly


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Sony’s Xperia Z is tough. In fact it’s so tough that in a new video the high-end Android smartphone survives an extended bath in boiling soup.
This test of Sony’s claim that the Xperia Z can survive the worst circumstances comes via IGA07, who decided to test the device’s durability. In the video, which you’ll find below, the outfit actually gathers the needed ingredients for soup, brings the dish to a boil and then drop the Xperia Z in the bubbling broth for about a minute and a half.
After about a minute of stirring, they then examined the device (after a quick wipe down) to see if any lasting damage had been done, and found the device to be completely unaffected by the ordeal.
The outcome of this gourmet torture test won’t come as a surprise to Sony itself, who engineered the device to be the most disaster-proof device in its lineup. According to Sony, the Xperia Z won’t suffer damage from water for the first thirty minutes after it’s been submerged in liquids. It also features a metal frame made out of the same material as car parts and a scratch resistant screen that should be able to take anything a user’s key-infested pocket can throw at it.
Sony’s Xperia Z also comes with a large array of state-the-art internal technology, including a 13MP rear-facing camera, a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and 4G LTE for users who are on carriers who already employ the next generation wireless data standard.
In fact, we named the device, “Best Phone” during CES 2013.
Read More: Best Phone of CES 2013 Award
The device is also proving to a sleeper hit with consumers as well. According to Digitimes, Sony has completely sold through its entire stock of assembled devices to fulfill orders in Japan, Germany, France, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Unfortunately, American users still aren’t any closer to being able to get the Xperia Z through a domestic carrier. Potential owners can import the Xperia Z via Negri Electronics at a price of $771.50, but will have to be content with slower data speeds as the phone isn’t capable of communicating with either T-Mobile’s 3G network technology nor AT&T’s 3G or LTE network technology.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


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She’s one of the world’s most popular young stars and she’s taking literally every aspect of her career seriously. So seriously that she’s now ready to meet you! We hear superstar performer Katy Perry, who recently topped the late King of Pop’s monumental musical record for the most consecutive singles from one album, is launching […]
Rihanna’s supportive parents, Monica and Ronald Fenty, helped launch their daughter’s perfume yesterday at Cave Shepherd in Bridgetown, Barbados. Reb’l Fleur is the first fragrance first for the singer, and her parents couldn’t seem more proud, taking every opportunity to pose with fans and for the cameras. Rihanna couldn’t attend the perfume launch because she […]
Naomi Campbell’s former agent wants her prosecuted for perjury…the agent claims Naomi lied under oath in an affidavit. According to the NY Post, Naomi Campbell’s former agent, Carole White, wants the supermodel to be investigated by the Manhattan DA for possible perjury, claiming she lied under oath in an affidavit. White’s company is suing Campbell […]
Beyonce is gearing up for her second signature fragrance, due out next year. Heat Rush will be hitting stores in February of 2011 and is aimed to be a more “everyday fragrance” rather than an overtly sexy scent like her first perfume Heat. Coty Fragrance’s senior vice president Steve Mormoris told WWD, “It is our […]
[PHOTOS] Lady Gaga Names New Fragrance “Monster” There’s finally a name for the Lady Gaga’s new fragrance. The name she decided to name the scent is “Monster”. Is that something that you would want to wear?
Jordin Sparks is releasing a fragrance next week called “Because of You.” Sparks concocted a fruity floriental perfume that consists of notes of clementine, white imperial currant and orange blossom; a heart of nectarine, sharry baby orchid and coral charm peony, and a drydown of sheer musks, vanilla bean, Baltic amber and blond woods. “When […]
Lady Gaga Next Up To Drop New Fragrance Lady Gaga is slated to come out with her own fragrance. With her outrageous attire and innovative music, it makes you wonder what the smell would be like and if folks would buy it.
Remember the classic album My Life? Of course you do. Well Ms. Mary’s taking it to another level. She’s about to launch a new fragrance called “My Life”. Mary says: “I was crying out for help because I was going through so much,” she said of the period around the time of the recording, speaking […]


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NEW ORLEANS—Touting the recently launched Volvo VNL as “the most connected truck ever built by Volvo,” Volvo Trucks North America representatives detailed a range of benefits that enhanced connectivity will bring to customers—including annual savings of up to $3,400, based on improved uptime.
The new Volvo VNL made its public debut this week in VTNA's display at the American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition here.
Customers will experience increased uptime through even more accurate, data-based maintenance and key product design elements targeted to save fleets time and money, explained Magnus Gustafson, VP of connected services, during a press briefing.
“Leveraging our connected services such as remote diagnostics and remote programming, we have seen a reduction of up to 24% of unplanned stops through actionable insights to ensure that we don't take trucks out of service for items that can be handled during normal maintenance windows,” Gustafson said. “The entire truck is now capable of being updated remotely. Furthermore, we have decreased programming times, and we have made improvements to our remote diagnostics service, which is even more accurate than it has ever been before.”
Likewise, trucks are monitored by the 24/7 Volvo Uptime Center, and Volvo Trucks took its commitment to the customer a step further last fall with the launch of the all-in-one fleet management portal, Volvo Connect.
Volvo Connect suite of services
The suite of connected services offered by Volvo Trucks continues to grow following the launch of Volvo Connect.
Through Volvo Connect, customers can monitor their trucks in near real-time, see pending remote programming updates, and manage vehicle health data and safety items. The ability to see pending remote programming update availability in specific trucks from one portal allows fleet managers to notify drivers to perform the update the next time they are stopped and safely parked.
With the My Truck App, drivers can also receive insights on engine fluid levels, washer fluid, and potential light faults before they arrive at their truck to begin their pre-trip inspection. They can also set the climate control to reach their preferred temperature before arriving to start their shift.
“You can do comparisons to top-performing vehicles, bottom-performing vehicles, find correlations between operating routes, and so forth,” Gustafson said. “Parameter settings have been very insightful for our customers: Road speed limit—what is the truck actually set at?—and idle shutdown, all of which can also be configured over the air.”


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Virgin Galactic will use Fisher space pens when it launches six astronauts to suborbital space on July 11, 2021.
Learn more about Virgin Galactic's plan to make space tourism and personal space travel a reality with SpaceShipTwo.
Richard Branson's path to space has been quite a bit longer and more circuitous than he anticipated.
For the tiny few of us who can afford to pay for a trip in space, Blue Origin is already ramping up its marketing against competitor Virgin Galactic.
This month, two billionaires will take to the skies in a pair of historic suborbital spaceflights that mark a dramatic change in what it takes to become an astronaut.
As the commercial race to suborbital space has heated up in the past few years, a tricky question has popped up again and again: Where does outer space begin?
Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson denied that he is in a billionaire space race with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Billionaire Richard Branson is set to fly to space aboard Virgin Galactic's next flight, which could take off as soon as July 11.
The FAA has updated Virgin Galactic's spaceflight operator license, allowing it to fly paying customers in addition to crewmembers, company representatives announced today (June 25).
A dramatic video lets us all fly along on Virgin Galactic's latest spaceflight, which occurred over the weekend.
Virgin Galactic launched its first SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceflight from New Mexico Saturday (May 22) in a big leap forward toward commercial launches.
Sixty years after Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly into space, a new symbol seeks to unite the hundreds of people who have followed his trajectory.
Virgin Galactic today (March 30) unveiled its second piloted space plane, a shiny silver vehicle called VSS Imagine.
Virgin Galactic won't be launching tourists to space this year after technical tweaks delayed the company's upcoming test flight by more than two months.
Virgin Galactic had been targeting Saturday (Feb. 13) for the next crewed test flight of its latest suborbital SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity. But that's not going to happen.
It will be Virgin Galactic's third spaceflight overall and the first to lift off from New Mexico's Spaceport America, the company's commercial hub.


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New FedEx Facility in Marion County to Create 100 Jobs
OCALA, Fla. - A new FedEx facility in Marion County will create 100 new jobs.
FedEx Ground negotiated with the City of Ocala and Marion County to build a hub facility in Ocala.
Construction began early this month and is expected to be completed by October of 2016.
The hub is being built on the Commerce Park property.
In the agreement with the city, FedEx indicated in spending a total of 122 million dollars.
- The city of Ocala gets a new FedEx Ground Hub
- County and City Approve FedEX plan
- FedEx Ground coming to Ocala
- Kid Who Hit FedEx Truck Gets New Bike
- Three Marion County Facilities Linked to Meningitis Outbreak
- UPS, FedEx Under Fire for Late Christmas Deliveries
- New policies at Lake City daycare
- City of Hawthorne annexes land to create jobs
- Bradford County Sheriff's Office creates safe place for online sales
- Child Hit By Fed-Ex Tractor Trailor


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After developer Atlus drummed up hype for an announcement though a countdown on Twitter, Persona 5 Royal‘s release date has been confirmed. While the game has been out in Japan since October 31 this year, the localized version of Persona 5 Royal will launch in the West on March 31, 2020 exclusively for PlayStation 4.
This is according to a Phantom Thieves-inspired message shared by the official PlayStation Twitter account. That came after an apparent leak on Amazon Canada revealed the date and two different special editions of the game.
We’ve covered P5R leading up to its release in Japan, and you can get a deeper look at the game with our Persona 5 Royal reveal trailer breakdown or our analysis on a number of the new features in the game.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.


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This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," September 19, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.
JOHN GIBSON, HOST: The outbreak of E. coli in America from fresh spinach has just spread to 22 states. Health officials say someone in Colorado has contracted the same strain of bacteria that's killed at least one person and sickened more than 100 others. And investigators are now trying to determine if bad produce killed a toddler in Ohio as well. Twenty-three-month-old Olivia Perkins died in late August from an E. coli infection. Her family believes bad spinach she might have eaten may have been to blame.
Meantime, the feds say there is no evidence anybody tampered with the nation's spinach supply, but my next guest says the crisis exposes yet another hole in our infrastructure, our security. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters is with me. He is the author of the new book, "Never Quit the Fight."
So Colonel Peters, I think a lot of us were surprised to find out that if you buy a bag of salad fixings, it essentially all comes from the same place. Is this the reason, you think, it exposes — this story has exposed a vulnerability?
RET. U.S. ARMY LT. COL. RALPH PETERS: Well, yes, indeed. And John, the first thing we have to say is that America's food supply is the safest in the world. It's amazing that we have so few problems, given the massive amounts, the massive difficulties.
But nonetheless, this mini crisis really has highlighted the centralization of food processing, distribution. So you have two dangers. Terrorism is one. I mean, it's usually written off because we say, well, entering the food supply is not a high payoff for terrorists. But it wouldn't be a question of hitting one point. Imagine if they hit a dozen or two dozen crucial nodes in the food processing chain.
This isn't the good old days, when every town and all these corner groceries, and you bought off the — the (inaudible) brought the truck around. Now it's all supermarkets, massive warehouses.
And so disrupting our food chain is a possibility. And my even bigger worry, even bigger than terrorism, is if we ever had a true pandemic, a deadly one like the World War I era influenza epidemic, highly contagious and deadly, the centralization of food supplies could make it very hard to feed people if you had quarantines, if you had disruption of interstate commerce and trucking. Supermarkets...
GIBSON: Colonel, look at this map. I mean, here the spinach all came from one place in San Juan Bautista, California, which is in San Benito, California, just east of Salinas, Monterey. I mean, did that tell people who might want to deal with — or interrupt the food supply or contaminate it, look, all you have got to do is go to one place?
PETERS: Yes, indeed, because of the centralized nature of our food distribution system and supply system, yes, you go to one place and you could have literally a nationwide effect. That's the warning here. And, again, John, imagine if a dozen or two dozen nodes were purposely hit — not just vegetables, but beef, milk — you not only get the real effect of killing people or making them sick, but you get the terror effect. People don't know what's safe to eat. And also, of course, massive economic costs.
So while it doesn't pay to get hysterical and exaggerate this threat, it's something we need to look at soberly and sensitively because it's not a small issue.
GIBSON: We will indeed. Colonel Ralph Peters, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, thanks very much.
PETERS: My pleasure.
Content and Programming Copyright 2006 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2006 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.


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New Delhi sources have stated that Country's second largest two-wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India commuter segment motorcycle CB Shine has surpassed the Hero Passion for the first time. HMSI sold 1,00,824 units of CB Shine making it the fourth largest selling motorcycle in the month of April 2017 growing at a whopping 51.18% when compared to 66,691 units in the same month last year.
Meanwhile the Hero Passion which has been one of the best selling motorcycles in India and for Hero Motocorp sold 80,053 units falling at a rate of 19.11% when compared to 98,976 units in the same month last year.
Both motorcycles fall under the same price range of Rs 50,000 -
Rs 60,000 (Ex-Showroom Delhi). According to the industry experts, customers
always want to have a better vehicle in terms of design, performance and power.
Moreover apart from Activa, Jupiter is the only scooter in the top 10 selling two wheeler lists. The Chennai-based two-wheeler maker sold 58,527 units growing at a 35.30% when compared to 43,256 units in the same month last year. TVS XL Super the only moped which posted negative sales of 57,938 units at 13.58% was pushed three ranks down to eighth position.
Mahindra, Ford extends tie up for making electric vehicles New York sources have reported that Chairman Anand Mahindra said Ford Motor and its Indian partner Mahindra & Mahindra could create their own electric car line in the country to help battle pollution from the vehicles clogging India’s roads, Mahindra & Mahindra, which already sells the e2o micro electric car, would be open to creating a new electric vehicle line in India with Ford, Mahindra said following the opening of a factory in Auburn Hills, Michigan, to produce an off-road vehicle for the
- TVS Motor confident on betting rural buyers in South
- In next four years, Hero Electric eyes to touch Rs.1000 Crore
- Availability of BS VI fuel in Delhi also gives an opportunity to the vehicle manufacturers
- GST on Automobile industry retained by 28%
- Kawasaki Ninja 650 is available in the market and it's cost will leave a lump in your throat!
- Electric Vehicles Industry are happy with the decision made by Karnataka High Court
- Ford Ecosports booked within few minutes on Amazon
- Hyundai Expand Sits Network in Pune
- GST not imposed for second hand car sold by an individual
- Buzz in transport Industry advanced from Electronic vehicles to Autonomous
- Will Road tax be increased for automobile industry?
- India Honda Cars to export 1.6L Diesel Engine to Thailand
- Volkswagen Polo is worth taking a look at its history
- Tax rate on hybrid cars will not be reviewed: Arun Jaitley
- Cess on Automobiles, Rubber been abolished: GST effect


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Alessandra Ambrosio: Christmas Bikini Cutie
Getting into the holiday spirit, Alessandra Ambrosio pranced around the beach in Los Angeles sporting a festive red bikini on Monday (December 16).
The 32-year-old supermodel mommy also donned some red reindeer antlers as she hammed it up for the camera as part of a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot.
Ms. Ambrosio has been looking forward to celebrating Christmas all month, as she previously posted a photo with her giant Christmas Tree via Twitter.
Alessandra captioned the pic, "It's that time of the year .... #christmastree #christmasspirit #holidays #funn #sundayfunday.”


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CLEVELAND (AP) — GE Lighting has completed a key stage in its expansion of a manufacturing plant in Bucyrus, Ohio.
The company hosted an opening celebration Friday to recognize its more than $60 million investment in the facility, which will manufacture energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs. Friday's event coincides with the installation of new equipment in the factory.
GE Lighting, headquartered in Cleveland, is a unit of Louisville, Ky.-based GE Appliances & Lighting.
The company said it will add more than 130 jobs at the facility over the next few years as the Bucyrus plant ramps up production to sell these products in global markets.
The first fluorescent light bulbs made from the newly installed equipment will begin to roll off production lines in December.
The State of Ohio is providing $1.2 million to help train new employees, and the federal government has awarded nearly $20 million in income tax credits related to this project to support the job creation.
Shares of parent company General Electric Co. rose 14 cents to $16.39 in afternoon trading.


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Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday begins a Covid-19 vaccination drive in the Capital city of Odisha for food delivery partners Zomato and Swiggy.
The BMC has made arrangement of special camp for the Swiggy and Zomato delivery partners at 7th Battalian high school and even for the Staff of Restaurants Association of Odisha at UPHC IRC Village, Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar.
BMC Zonal Deputy Commissioner Anshuman Rath said, “Around 1200 delivery boys of Swiggy will be vaccinated today and tomorrow. Vaccination of Zomato delivery boys will begin from Monday. We further plan to vaccinate delivery agents of other aggregators and medical stores on priority basis.”
The special drive was initiated to make home delivery safe for the citizens. More such groups will be vaccinated in coming days, said BMC official.
The second wave, however, is far more contagious, leaving frontline workers at the risk of catching the virus as they spend time shuttling between eateries and delivering packages.


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Airdrie-based spirits producer, International Beverage, is searching for four senior drinks industry executives to join its management team as the business prepares to roll out an ambitious global growth plan from 2023 onwards. The company has partnered with executive search agency FWB Park Brown to find the candidates for Vice President of Sales, Operations Director, Head of Supply Chain and Head of Finance and Risk.
As the spirits arm of one of the world’s top ten drinks producer ThaiBev, International Beverage is responsible for the global sales, marketing and distribution of a portfolio of premium brands, including single malt Scotch whiskies Old Pulteney, Balblair, anCnoc and Speyburn; the blended Scotch Hankey Bannister; and Caorunn, the pioneering super premium Scottish gin.
Managing Director, Malcolm Leask, said, “This is a very exciting time for our business as we embark on a dynamic new era of growth for our brands. We have one of the most impressive and highly respected brand portfolios in the industry and we need the very best people on our team to realise their potential and turn our plans into reality for long term success.
“The spirits world is an exhilarating and rewarding industry to work in, and at International Beverage we invest in and empower our people so that they can thrive in their roles and achieve their own goals and ambitions as well as our own. We have a wonderful culture across our business – hard work, pulling together as a team to overcome challenges and always taking the time to enjoy the milestones and celebrate success. We are very much looking to meeting some new faces over the coming months and welcoming four important new members to our senior team.’


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Del Taco Restaurants Inc. (TACO) Releases FY16 Earnings Guidance
Del Taco Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ:TACO) issued an update on its FY16 earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.53-0.56 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.55. The company issued revenue guidance of $446-449 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $446.83 million.
Shares of Del Taco Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ:TACO) traded up 4.21% on Monday, reaching $12.63. 1,166,529 shares of the company traded hands. The stock has a market capitalization of $479.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.54 and a 200-day moving average of $10.15. Del Taco Restaurants Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.37 and a 1-year high of $14.56.
Del Taco Restaurants (NASDAQ:TACO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 17th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The business earned $104.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.61 million. Del Taco Restaurants had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 2.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Del Taco Restaurants Inc. will post $0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of research firms have issued reports on TACO. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Del Taco Restaurants in a report on Saturday. Citigroup Inc. raised their price target on shares of Del Taco Restaurants from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 13th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Del Taco Restaurants from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $12.00 price target for the company in a report on Saturday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $14.00 price target (down previously from $16.00) on shares of Del Taco Restaurants in a report on Thursday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $13.50.
In related news, SVP David Pear sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.55, for a total transaction of $63,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 125,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,594. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. A.R.T. Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Del Taco Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $110,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Del Taco Restaurants by 667.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 249,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after buying an additional 217,279 shares in the last quarter. Keeley Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Del Taco Restaurants by 22.3% in the second quarter. Keeley Asset Management Corp now owns 825,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,512,000 after buying an additional 150,737 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in Del Taco Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Finally, Teachers Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Del Taco Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Institutional investors own 63.12% of the company’s stock.
Del Taco Restaurants Company Profile
Del Taco Restaurants, Inc, formerly Levy Acquisition Corporation, is an operator and franchisor of restaurants featuring fresh and fast made-to-order cuisine, including both Mexican inspired and American classic dishes. The Company operates Del Taco restaurants in approximately 20 states, including over one franchised restaurant in Guam.
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Paddlesports Retailer will be held at the Cox Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, August 27-30, 2018.
The event has again partnered with Rapid Media as the official media partner of the 2018 show. New for 2018 will be the Paddling Magazine Product and Industry Awards, held the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 29, of Paddlesports Retailer.
“We’re already working on developing the new Paddling Magazine Product and Industry awards,” said Scott MacGregor, Rapid Media founder and publisher of Paddling Magazine. This new initiative with Paddlesports Retailer will reward product innovation and showcase the efforts of individuals, organizations and brands dedicated to strengthening the paddlesports industry.
“Paddlesports Retailer is more than an industry sales event; it is an annual North American gathering of the paddling industry. And so our award categories will be a recognition and celebration of more than just the latest fabrics and new designs. We want to put the very best of all paddlesports on stage and be proud of our products, industry, programs and people,” says MacGregor.
Rapid Media is developing a nomination, submission and voting structure integrated with Paddlesports Retailer, which will stretch beyond the show floor.
“The scoring rubric we’re developing will include paddlesports and outdoor media, onsite and offsite retailers, and consumers,” MacGregor says. Onsite voting will account for a heavier weight, but there will be an online element as well. “The greater number of voters, the greater validation for winners. Not to mention more exposure for Paddlesports Retailer and all brands, products, retailers, personalities and programs involved in the awards.”
All onsite and online voting will close in time for the evening of Aug. 29–the second day of Paddlesports Retailer–when the first annual Paddling Magazine Product and Industry Awards ceremony at Paddlesports Retailer will take place.
In addition to Paddling Magazine Product and Industry Awards, Rapid Media will be preparing a special Paddlesports Retailer edition of their Paddling Business trade magazine, daily reporting from the show floor and pre- and post-show coverage. Rapid Media is lining up more ways to showcase the hottest new products for 2019. Rapid Media will focus on promoting products of attending brands to more retail buyers, media and consumers while fostering a vibrant paddlesports industry.


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News just in. Walt Disney has brought Marvel Comics in a Shares plus Cash Deal worth 4 Billions Dollars. The deal mean Disney will take over ownership of 5000 Marvel Characters.
The boards of Disney and Marvel have both approved the deal, which now needs the backing of Marvel shareholders and competition authorities.
Marvel chief executive Ike Perlmutter told the press that
"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,"
Disney has seen a downturn in profit over the past few years and many people see if the deal goes through that it a win win for both companies.
Not sure how Disney is going to affected Marvel Business but we will see in the future, what the Mouse House in Store for Spidey and the rest of the marvel crew, (Maybe a crossover with Mickey and Deadpool who knows)


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Scholastic stockholders sure could use a little Harry Potter magic on Wednesday.
Shares of book publisher Scholastic tumbled 7 percent, or $2.17 to $29, a day after the company posted a quarterly loss.
Scholastic SCHL, +1.07% best known as the U.S. publisher of the hugely successful "Harry Potter" literary series, reported late on Tuesday a bigger loss for its fiscal third quarter, reporting lower direct sales that were damaged by the national "Do Not Call" list and stricter inventory management by its trade customers.
The children's book publisher said it lost $6 million, or 15 cents a share, against a loss of $500,000, or a penny a share, the year earlier.
Sales jumped to $472 million from $433.7 million. Scholastic, said it expects to report earnings below $1.95 a share for 2004 but above last year's earnings per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call are looking for a profit of $2.17 a share. The shares of Scholastic gained 6 cents to close at $31.17, ahead of the announcement.
Meanwhile, Gannett GCI, +1.28% publisher of USA Today and many other daily newspapers, jumped $3.18 or 4 percent, to $89.24. Its revenues surged 6.7 percent to $546 million in February.
The company's year-to-date top-line growth rate of 5.6 percent is tracking only slightly behind our expectation of a 6.4 percent increase for the first quarter, said UBS, a securities firm, in an investment report.
But "given that revenue comparisons continue to ease into March, we are comfortable with our estimates for the quarter," the firm said. "The TV stations have posted a 5.1 percent revenue increase year-to-date, slightly ahead of our 4 percent forecast for 1Q."
Time Warner TWX, -28.57% rose 3.6 percent, or 58 cents, to $16.86 on speculation that it wanted to sell its troubled America Online unit.