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Consumer Reports' Question Posed on Facebook
This electric vehicle tax issue seems to rear its ugly head with regularity these days. So much so that hardly a week passes without at least one more US state adding itself to the growing list of those who either tax electric vehicles owners to make up for lost gas tax revenues or are at least considering it at the upper political levels within the state.
So, why not see what the public has to say in regards to this new form of taxation?
That's precisely what Consumer Reports set out to do in an online survey posted first on its Facebook page. The question posed by Consumer Reports is seen in the image above and, in next to no time, more than 300 comments poured in, most against this form of taxation.
Below we pulled out a few of the more informative and amusing comments:
"Of course not. They should be rewarded for saving the environment from the emissions and not using up the oil supplies unnecessarily. Don't punish them for doing the right thing."
"How about taxing people for not buying cigarettes? Or liquor?"
"If you use the roads, you should pay regardless of the type of vehicle you drive. I say scrap the gas tax and replace it with a tire tax. Everyone pays!"
"Let the government raise the tax on luxury vehicles to offset any loss."
"The oil companies continue to post record profits, so how about doing away with the total $4.4 billion in tax credits the government is giving each year to Shell Oil and Exxon/Mobil?"
To peruse all of the responses to Consumer Reports' question, visit the consumer advocacy group's Facebook page by clicking here.
via Consumer Reports


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According to an independent study, 90% of companies will be using data analytics by 2020, despite obstacles of data silos, security and lack of alignment
40% of businesses are already using data analytics in key business functions, such as sales, product development and marketing, with 23% planning to implement it within the next 12 months. This is despite a third of businesses stating several barriers to adoption.
The commissioned study conducted by independent analysts Forrester Consulting on behalf of Atos surveyed a global sample of more than 580 business and IT decision-makers from 11 industry sectors, across three continents. The firms strived to analyze the level of Data Analytics adoption across businesses worldwide.
Forrester predicts that this trend for Data Analytics adoption will increase within the next 3 years to nearly 90% of companies using data-driven business insight by 2020. In terms of barriers, 44% of respondents see the increase in the variety of non-structured data types as a significant challenge, while 35% are concerned about traditional siloed data practices and the lack of alignment between IT and business functions.
However, most businesses are taking action to remedy this with the majority of companies interviewed highlighting the following initiatives as critical priorities over the next 12 months: improve IT’s relationship with the business (71%) and reorganize IT to better align with the business (66%).
Ursula Morgenstern, Atos ESVP for Business and Platform Solutions, observes, “The pace at which an organization benefits from data analytics is determined as much by business issues as by technology. That’s why at Atos we put the emphasis on a business-led approach with Atos Codex, our offering for business driven analytics that leverages the Atos expertise in IoT and cognitive solutions.”
The research examined the ambitions and priorities of eleven industry sectors. We believe it revealed a clear emphasis on different market-specific priorities depending on sector. In the utility sector, for example, data analytics is seen as a pre-requisite in the development of smart grids, whilst in manufacturing, analytics is closely linked to the smart factory, particularly in connection with predictive maintenance. The research provides insightful industry profiles for analytics attitudes and practices across multiple industry sectors including energy and utilities, finance, government, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications.
Amongst its research findings, Forrester highlighted the need for organizations to be rigorous in setting clear and quantifiable business goals in all data analytics initiatives: this change is as much about process and culture as it is about technology.
Download the full study “The Future Belongs to Those Who Monetize and Maximize their Data” Click here.

domain: news


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The era of conspicuous competitionTen years ago, AmorePacific introduced a cosmetic product that never existed before in the market. It was the “cushion,” a sponge soaked with liquid sunblock and foundation, and it became a big hit for its convenience and effectiveness. Users said they were able to halve the time it took to put on makeup because the cushion replaced several products.
Its explosive popularity led other Korean and foreign competitors to follow. This June, French cosmetics maker Chanel launched its own line of cushion products, and four of the world’s biggest cosmetics companies — L’Oréal, Estee Lauder, Shisheido and LVMH — all have cushions in the market. It is now a familiar product for consumers around the world.
A corporate executive recently complained to me that it is hard these days to introduce a new service or product. It’s not easy to differentiate oneself because a new concept can be immediately copied by competitors. So I asked him what he would do if a rival company presented a service or product that caught his attention. He reluctantly admitted that if there were positive expectations for it, the company would have to make something similar. He was complaining about rivals imitating his products, but he was also doing the same.
“Be different or die!” Businessmen are obsessed with this idea, but reality also works the opposite way. While companies advocate differentiation and innovation, they are increasingly presenting similar products. The trend is more evident in highly competitive industries where companies sensitively watch rivals and imitate each another. In the end, consumers find it hard to distinguish between products. This phenomenon exists in nearly all industries, including food, communications and finance. As digital communication expands, the rate of imitation accelerates.
Companies are anxious and want to highlight the slightest difference they can offer, but consumers find everything to be more or less the same. Prof. Moon Young-me at Harvard Business School calls this “conspicuous competition.” Just like the idea of conspicuous consumption introduced by Thorstein Veblen, many companies spend time catching up with rivals and lose the original purpose of differentiation.
If a majority of companies continue to fly like migratory birds, keeping consistent distance from one another and moving at a similar speed, differentiation and innovation will be hard to attain. It might be lonely to break away from the flock, but when one looks at the world with fresh eyes, the true meaning of differentiation can be found as it had for Ikea when it began selling DIY furniture, and Heelys when it put wheels on shoes.
JoongAng Ilbo, Aug. 28, Page 34
*The author is head of the Innovation Lab at the JoongAng Ilbo.


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A SMALL Business Tribunal with powers to investigate and conciliate will be created to help independent traders avoid costly and time-consuming legal fights with other businesses.
It will also assist micro enterprises who are more likely to admit defeat than take an issue to court because of the potential for crippling expenses.
And a Small Business Advocate will be appointed to make the case for the sector in all reaches of government.
The moves will be announced today by Small Business Minister Nick Sherry.
Are you a small business owner affected by this? Do the government's measures seem like enough? Email us at email@example.com and tell us your story.
The policy proposals started to take shape late last year after the election, but the announcement comes at the end of a week in which news.com.au has highlighted discontent among small business operators, and the high number of closures between the 2007 and 2010 elections.
During the week the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia called for a Government strategy with a "comprehensive vision for the families who earn their living from their own business and who employ almost five million other people".
There were also warnings to the major parties that small business could campaign against them in critical seats at the next election.
Over the past five years some 20 per cent of Australia's 2 million small businesses were involved in disputes with another business, two-thirds of the clashes relating to payments. Around nine per cent of all these cases were "serious", according to a survey by the Department of Industry.
In just 6.5 per cent of continued cases was there legal action or intervention by a third party, and businesses with up to two employees were proportionally more likely to avoid taking any action
Businesses resorting to arbitration and mediation were more likely to get a satisfactory result than those who took legal action.
"My aim is to bring about a national business-to-business disputes resolution process that is accessible, prompt and as low cost as possible for small businesses," Senator Sherry said.
He said the aim was to keep out of courts disputes which "can be dealt with by low-cost and speedy services".
"With the economy recovering from economic downturn, maintaining cash-flow can be critical for small business survival," said Senator Sherry.
"Protracted dispute resolution may have serious consequences to cash flow and distract owners from day-to-day business."
Originally published as At last: Help for small businesses


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The East Lansing Farmer’s Market is up and open for business.
The market is located close to Grand River Avenue and is open every week until October 30, 2011.
The Farmer’s Market is a growers’ market, which means everything in the market place is homegrown, according to the market’s website.
They have a variety of vendors including Hang’s Market, Spartan Country Meats, Nightengale Farms, Clearview Orchard, Pregitzer Farm and much more.
Richard Bowie, a third-season organic grower at market, is not convinced that all the food sold at the market is homegrown.
“The market’s slogan ‘100% Homegrown makes us different’ is used as a gimmick,”said Bowie.
“I’ve seen a vendor carrying a barrel of produce and selling it to another vendor, which I assume was then sold at another market,” said Bowie.
Bowie claims that many vendors use the term organically grown loosely and without the certification.
“Many vendors use organic practices, but by law they cannot say they are a certified organically grown vendor,” said Michelle Carlson, head of information at the market.
“We apply sustainable practices to produce organically grown products,” said a representative of Pregitzer Farms, a vendor at the East Lansing Farmer’s Market.
“We use the resources available to produce a healthy crop for the lowest priced product possible,” said a representative of Pregitzer Farms.
Many vendors cannot afford the certification process and believe consumers should look past the term organic.
“Organically grown should not be the focus. Consumers should focus on the soil used and the nutrition.” said Travis Nightengale, also a vendor.
Julie and Luke Ray, a couple shopping at the market, said the term organically grown is used loosely and is really just a certification process.
“We look for factors like how much fertilizer did they spray,what is the soil built from, and our personal relationships with the vendors,” said Julie.
Not all vendors are credible, according to Julie Ray.
“I know personally Hang’s Farm claims their produce is grown organically from Vietnam but it is not,” said Julie.
Bowie believes the reputation of the market and the customers’ satisfaction is most important.
“We sell genuine products and are certified,” said Bowie.
“I expect the city and the East Lansing Farmer’s Market to enforce a verification process, in order to ensure fresh produce and to maintain the integrity of the market,” said Bowie.


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Ubisoft Commits To Improving Relationship With PC Gamers
Posted on Friday, February 22 @ 09:34:00 PST by Jonathan_Leack
PC gaming has been neglected for almost a decade, but developers are beginning to wake up.
Speaking to MCV UK, Ubisoft's Stephanie Perotti shared the company's commitment to become more popular with PC gamers around the world. She said:
Although Far Cry 3 on PC suffered from several glitches and wasn't quite as fulfilling as promised, it was a step in the right direction. Assassin's Creed III did an even better job with visuals that were immeasurably better than their console counterparts, and was much more stable than previous games in the series.
Sony recently announced that the PlayStation 4 will be built on x86 architecture which is what the majority of PC games are fond of. Furthermore, it's in the best interest of multiplatform developers such as Ubisoft to work on improving their relationships with PC gamers so not only do the console releases fly off store shelves, but more PC gamers are interested as well. If there's one thing we've learned from releases such as Diablo III and Guild Wars 2 it's that the PC community is much bigger than people realize, and can produce sales figures beyond what even the best-selling consoles can muster. With even less work needed to port games over next-generation, it's a huge potential source of profit that should be fully taken advantage of.
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- Regional headquarters for North America and Europe established
- Reorganization to support sustainable future growth of the company
- Regional HQs empowered to swiftly respond to market trends and customer needs
- Company aims to complete global reorganization by 2019
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Kia Motors Announces Overseas Business Reorganization
Release Date: 18 June 2018
Kia Motors Corporation today announced organizational changes within its overseas operations, as the company grants greater autonomy to each region in an effort to spur sustainable growth and enhance innovation.
As a first step in its global business reorganization, the company has launched Kia Motors North America Headquarters and Kia Motors Europe Headquarters, effective July 2. More overseas markets will be transformed into regional headquarters as the company aims to complete its global reorganization by 2019. These changes are in line with last October’s restructuring at Kia’s headquarters in Seoul, which saw the establishment of a Global Operations Division.
Each regional unit’s responsibilities will extend across every aspect of the business, ranging from product planning, marketing, sales, and manufacturing. It will operate with greater integration, to actively respond to rapidly evolving market trends and customers’ needs. Each regional headquarters will also have functional divisions for planning, finance, products and customer experience, so it can secure and optimize more effective decision-making systems within each region.
The regional groups, in close collaboration with corporate headquarters, will play a hub role to lead continuous innovation within each market and advance Kia’s global business operations to the next level.
The newly-launched Kia Motors North America Headquarters will encompass Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia and Kia Motors Mexico (manufacturing), the company’s production hubs for the Americas, and three sales units – Kia Motors America, Kia Motors Canada and Kia Motors Mexico (sales). The newly established regional headquarters will be led by executive vice president Byung-kwon Rhim.
Kia Motors Europe Headquarters will expand Kia Motors Europe (KME)’s current role beyond sales operations, bringing under its wing Kia Motors Slovakia (KMS). Yong-kew Park, who is currently senior vice president for European Operations Division at corporate headquarters, will be promoted to executive vice president to lead the unit.
15 Jul 2020
15 Jul 2020


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This year, Myntra took the EORS a step ahead with a robust, star-studded social media strategy that had something in store for everyone.
Myntra is no stranger to grand sales — this year’s edition of End of Reason Sale being their 14th! A well-established IP, EORS has over the years helped them get millions of customers. On July 3, 2021, the first day of the sale, they facilitated the purchase of about 4 million products, their highest-ever opening day traffic. The e-commerce store was also able to make inroads into Tier 2-3 and beyond cities as more than half of their customers were making their first purchases from these geographies. We take a look at the extensive social media campaign strategy that made it possible for Myntra to run EORS in such a stride.
Key Hashtags: #3JulyonMyntraEORS, #MyntraEORSstartsAtMidnight, #KoiBhiReasonChalegaMyntraEORS, #MyntraEORSGameZone, #MyntraEORSDeliveries, #KheloMyntraEORSGameZone, #LovingMyntraEORS, #MyntraEORSTreasureHunt and #IndiasBiggestFashionSale.
Gamification during the pre-sale period helped Myntra engage almost 2 million shoppers. This included several smaller social media contests where people could participate for a short duration and win prizes. This was in addition to the 1.6 million customers that chose to facilitate their marketing efforts with Shout & Earn invitations for additional sale offers. They also partnered with various social media influencers and celebrities, who created humorous and piece-to-camera content to create buzz for the sale.
The aspect of how a grand sale can trickle down to help with business continuity for small vendors was also highlighted prominently during the pre-buzz phase. Perks for Myntra Insiders were also announced. The creation of a wishlist was central to these activities.
Like all e-commerce brands, Myntra is big on promoting its partner brands, especially the ones that have celebrities attached to them. This strategy comes with a mutual benefit for both parties as well as the consumers. This year too, Myntra promoted some of their biggest brands to the hilt. Brand ambassadors of the said brands featured in EORS ads, nudging people to give it a shot. Interactions between Myntra and their partner brands could also be seen happening over social media.
Influencers & Wishlists
Majorly run on Instagram, Myntra’s influencer marketing campaign revolved around wishlists and the idea of gifting and indulgence. In the first leg of the campaign, which was run before the sale went live, participating influencers listed out reasons for why one should wait till EORS to shop to their heart’s desire. In the next phase, influencers were roped in to showcase their purchases and share their joy.
Carts Full of Contests
To make things further interesting, Myntra took to Twitter to engage consumers in various contests, creating a Game Zone on the platform. They had to either answer a simple question or share a specific pandemic experience — their creativity resulting helping them clinch extra vouchers. These contests were run every evening, an hour apart, keeping people hooked on the brand’s schedule. It also gave Myntra the option to control and tweak the traffic on their website and the app.
Twitter Treasure Hunts
Given the massive scale at which Myntra has been trying to promote EORS, there were plenty of opportunities for consumers to spot their ads on different platforms. Myntra leveraged this by asking people to save and share these instances — to get even more vouchers. Another interesting thing done by them was to leave some Easter Eggs on their app and nudge consumers, via Twitter, to spot these during their scrolls and share the screenshots online.
To close the loop, Myntra has been asking people to share pictures of their moments of receiving and enjoying the delivery of their bought goods. Even this aspect has been incentivised with vouchers. The type of content being encouraged includes unboxing videos as well as happy faces in case of gift parcels.
Myntra pretty much went down their usual path with the promotions of EORS 14. They incentivised each action being requested from consumers. Glitz and glamour were added with the help of brand, celebrity, and influencer content. They kept people hooked through the process and closed each loop, all the while appreciating and assisting people. Nudging people to spend more time on the app worked wonders in their favour as even this activity came with the possibility of winning a prize. They had also put in the efforts to strengthen their processes and it was evident in their operations. Although a tried & tested path, numbers do show it all came together beautifully for Myntra!


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AUSTIN - AT&T Inc. will soon be looking for applicants to more than 1,800 jobs in Texas, including 300 in Austin.
The Dallas-based company announced the positions include technicians for U-verse installation, customer service representatives for the company’s call centers and hundreds of openings at retail stores.
AT&T employs 35,000 workers in Texas.
In April, AT&T executives said the company is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic network capable of 1 gigabit per second Internet speeds, the same speed of the so-called Google Fiber network scheduled to launch in Austin by mid-2014.
Our twice-weekly e-newsletter provides a quick overview of Texas real estate markets. Because your time is valuable.


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JTI has secured its second private prosecution of an individual caught selling counterfeit versions of its legitimate tobacco brands at a car boot sale.
At Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court last month, Evtim Yotov pleaded guilty to selling tobacco products that broke UK labelling and packaging laws.
He was ordered to pay a total of £1,180 in fines and costs.
Evidence of the offences was obtained via a series of undercover mystery shopping operations conducted outside a car boot sale held at Coles Park Stadium, London.
Eight illegal products, all 50g packs of roll your own tobacco, were purchased during the investigation.
Charlie Cunningham-Reid, JTI UK head of corporate affairs, said: “We welcome the decision made by the Court in this case.
“This is the second successful private prosecution supported by JTI against a criminal selling illegal tobacco, which demonstrates the company’s commitment to help tackle the problem of illegal tobacco and we will not hesitate to take similar action in future.”
The conviction was secured in partnership with anti-illicit trade experts TM EYE.


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For many, entrepreneurship means risking the promise of a stable income and benefits for a shot at greater long-term financial success. Yet, in an economy characterized by increasingly unpredictable income volatility—even within a single job—many individuals view entrepreneurship as a necessary tool to realize a more certain economic future. Particularly for entrepreneurs of color, business ownership holds the promise to reduce generations of financial disparity. In fact, a report published by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation reports that business ownership reduces the average wealth gap between black and white adults from a multiplier of 13 to a multiplier of 3.
Small business ownership’s promise of long-term asset generation is not without tradeoffs. Unexpected shortfalls in revenues or increases in expenses can be devastating to a young business, and recent research by the JPMorgan Chase Institute reveals that small businesses operate with tenuous cash reserves to cover these costs. In fact, the typical small business could only cover expenses for 27 days in the case of a financial emergency. For businesses in low-wage industries, that time window drops to 19 days.
The consequences of small business cash flow volatility extend to the business’ employees, as well. The JPMorgan Chase Institute found that most small businesses experience unstable payroll and employment volatility. Volatility in payroll outflows is highest for younger small businesses with employees, and those with more volatile payroll patterns tend to have fewer cash buffer days.
Building on unstable ground
Recent research commissioned by mission-based small business lenders Accion in the U.S. and Opportunity Fund (made possible with lead funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and JPMorgan Chase & Co.) confirms that for many entrepreneurs, financial stability is equally important – if not more important – as business growth. Yet, as soon as a year after receiving their loans, many Accion and Opportunity Fund clients continue to cite finances as a key source of worry. Additionally, most business owners in the study said they are not prepared for a financial emergency. “It's a huge concern as a business owner, that something could just happen one day and it could really, really damage us as a young business,” said one Los Angeles entrepreneur.
Business cash flow volatility often has consequences for household finances. Most small business owners (76%) respond to cash flow challenges by using personal funds. This could mean drawing from personal savings, foregoing a personal salary or maxing out credit utilization limits, which can damage one’s credit score and impact opportunities to secure future sources of financing. (The majority of small business owners use personal credit scores to apply for business capital.) Accion and Opportunity Fund borrowers generally re-invest business profits into the business rather than the household – 55% of study respondents experienced an increase in business profits in the previous six months but only 30% increased their household savings over the same period.
When the solution is the problem
The declining availability of traditional small business credit means that fewer and fewer business owners have access to a critical source of working capital to help them withstand financial emergencies. The gap has also fueled the rise of high-cost alternative finance providers, which promise rapid access to funds that address business owners’ acute financing needs but can come at a cost. Because the industry is unregulated, there is broad diversity in the quality of these products from a consumer perspective—including variance in the level of effort made by the provider to disclose costly fees and pricing features and ensure that the customer can afford to repay the loan.
Often, small business owners find themselves in a cycle of debt after taking out a high-cost loan. In fact, approximately one in four small business loan applicants cite refinancing existing debt as their main reason for applying. Recognizing this trend in their own applicant pool, Opportunity Fund analyzed alternative loan contracts for 104 small business owners seeking relief from high-cost loan debt. Their analysis found that the average loan imposed an annual percentage rate (APR) of 94%. Further, the average monthly loan payment for business owners was nearly double their net income.
What is the role of mission-based lenders?
The challenges that arise from high-cost alternative loans illustrate that access to capital does not necessarily support economic prosperity. Even for those who access responsible finance products, financing is just one component of an entrepreneur’s journey toward long-term economic stability and resilience. What else should mission-driven lenders do to meet these challenges?
- Lending innovation: alternative finance products fulfill an important demand—to keep the doors open in the case of a pressing financial need. Mission-based small business lenders must better meet that immediate need before entrepreneurs turn to costlier options. For example, Opportunity Fund has a partnership with Lending Club that automatically pre-qualifies applicants for an Opportunity Fund loan, based on the data they provide through their Lending Club application. Accion is working with Common Cents Lab to use behavioral science research to help small business owners get through the application process, and is working with Salesforce, Cloud Lending and DemystData on a major innovation project to reach more business owners and improve the online application experience.
- Financial advising: Among those who participated in Accion and Opportunity Fund’s study, just over a half (54%) used a business financial plan. This illustrates the imperative of increased investment in financial advising that better equips business owners to plan for and manage financial emergencies while building long-term stability. Accion is working with the Center for Financial Services Innovation to better understand the barriers business owners face to adopting financial behaviors such as saving and business planning. These insights will be used to prototype, test and refine scalable solutions to help entrepreneurs overcome these barriers.
- Education: The financial landscape is convoluted and ever-changing, and entrepreneurs need support in navigating their options. Accion publishes 90+ online resources per year to help business owners build their business and financial skills. Opportunity Finance Network’s Venturize campaign, which helps small business owners understand their financing options, generated over 73 million impressions in its first year.
- Leadership: Advancing responsible lending practices is not just a moral imperative. It’s also a business imperative to ensure client satisfaction and business survival. That’s why more than 80 organizations—including for-profit and non-profit lenders, brokers and small business advocates—have signed on to abide by and promote the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights, a cross-sector consensus on the rights that small business owners deserve and what lenders and brokers should do to uphold those rights.
Business ownership is a powerful tool to foster inclusive economic growth. In order for that power to be realized, mission-based lenders must do everything in their power to ensure that the financial products and services available to underserved entrepreneurs are centered around their long-term success.
Join Accion and other mission-based organizations in supporting #FinHealthMatters Day (June 27), by tweeting and socializing stories about what financial health means to you. Be sure to use #FinHealthMatters when you tweet!


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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) said that its friends at Sony (NYSE: SNE) are so excited about Google TV that they reduced the price of their Google TV devices by $200. But it's only for a few days. Is it enough?
Sony's Google TV devices weren't exactly cheap initially, but if you love technology, the TVs and the Blu-ray player begin to look interesting pricewise. There is a $200 discount until Nov. 29, which means a 24-inch TV will go for $600, a 32-inch for $800, a 40-inch for $900, and a 46-inch for $1200. The Blu-ray player is listed for $300.
You have to have a fetish for gadgets to consider these prices a good deal; otherwise you'll just buy a decent LED TV for another $200 less.
We can't help thinking that Sony isn't so excited about Google TV as worried about it. With virtually no unique Web entertainment content left, there isn't much incentive to pick one of these TVs up and pay extra. Sony still advertises the TV with the line "Television, meet Internet," which makes us wonder whether Sony has already given up hope: Few mainstream consumers are interested in the fact that these TVs connect to the Internet. They simply want the additional content that's interesting for consumption on a TV.
Is this just a Black Friday incentive? Could be, but if those TVs had been selling well, we doubt that Sony would drop its prices now.
On the same note, we also hear that you could get a buy-one-get-one-free deal for a Windows Phone. The deal is available at AT&T (NYSE: T) and applies to the HTC Surround, LG Quantum, and Samsung Focus. From Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) website: "To take advantage of this offer head down to your local AT&T retail store, sign up for a two-year contract and you and a friend will have a couple of the coolest phones of the season." Seriously? Since when is a phone that is given away for free cool?
Buy-one-get-one-free cell-phone promotions aren't unusual, and we've seen these deals also with rather popular phones such as the Galaxy S at T-Mobile. But it seems that Microsoft is dipping very early into some extra cash to fire up its Windows Phone 7 sales, which may be selling much better than previous phones with Windows OS installations, but still aren't exactly rivaling Android or Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone sales.
Price drops are often designed to boost declining sales numbers, and we wonder whether that's the case for Google TV and Windows Phone 7.
- False Start: Google Proposes Faster Web, Chrome Supports It Already
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Google and Microsoft are Motley Fool Inside Value recommendations. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection. Apple is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick. The Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. This article has been lightly edited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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According to Business Insider reports, an American multinational technology company, Amazon corporate is likely to cut the salary of some employees by 50 percent.
Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy said, “The result is that compensations are impacted. And that is difficult. All of that is difficult.”
“But I am quite optimistic that we have the chance to emerge from this challenging time in a relatively stronger position than when we entered it,” Andy Jassy added.
The stocks of Amazon have declined by 35% declined this year. According to the report, this will result in a reduction in the salaries of the employees by 15% to 50%.
Amazon earlier also announced the sacking of more than 18,000 employees which was 80% more employees than previously planned. The company has also stopped corporate hiring.
Additionally, economic uncertainty has led to a really difficult time leading to job cuts, and an impact on stock prices.
Recently, Amazon also asked employees to be in the office at least three days a week from May 1. In a recent post on Amazon’s blog, chief executive Andy Jassy wrote the decision that was taken at a meeting. However, The CEO said the company has not finalized the details of the policy yet.
Earlier, Amazon delayed the joining dates for some university graduates until the end of 2023 due to cost-cutting efforts. Earlier, The onboarding of the employees was expected to be completed by May 2022.
The company froze hiring in September 2022. In October 2022, the company stopped hiring for more than 10,000 open roles in its core retail business.
Amazon from April- September 2022 reduced its headcount by almost 80,000 people. The company employs more than 1.5 million employees globally, which includes hourly staff as of September meaning the latest cuts would represent about 1% of the workforce. The company also shut down its three businesses in India.


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(NEW YORK--BUSINESS WIRE) FOX News has entered into a deal with Single Touch Interactive enabling mobile users to access FOX News Channel (FNC) on cellular devices, announced Jeremy Steinberg, Vice President, Digital Media Sales and Business Development, FOX News. The new product will provide a live audio feed of the network by dialing "#FOXN" (#3696) on mobile phones.
In making the announcement, Steinberg said, "We're excited to offer Fox News viewers a revolutionary new way to access the number one cable news channel."
Single Touch Interactive (STI) Founder and CEO Anthony Macaluso, added, "Single Touch is very excited to partner with Fox News. Delivering FNC real-time audio feeds directly to any mobile telephone anytime, anywhere is a wireless technology breakthrough and STI is thrilled to share this technology with today’s news leader."
"#FOXN" will connect viewers to FNC through a variety of services. In addition to offering a live audio feed of the news channel, the product will provide the latest on-demand news, business and weather headlines, ring tones and voice tones, as well as a call back service where users will be phoned when their favorite program is about to begin. The service will roll out initially on Cingular and will cost $2.99 per month.
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour general news service covering breaking news as well as political, entertainment and business news. For more than four years, FNC has been the most watched cable news channel in the nation and currently presents 8 out of the top 10 programs in cable news. Owned by News Corp., FNC is available in more than 85 million homes.
Single Touch Interactive is a pioneer and leader in customized easy-to-use wireless solutions. Single Touch's Patent Pending technology drives adoption by reaching new data subscribers, generating new revenue streams for carriers and content owners. STI's Pound program makes downloading content to your mobile phone as easy as making a phone call while the Mobile Machine enables consumers to download content from the Web to your mobile device by its simple drag and drop interface. Single Touch is a privately held, Southern California based company. For more information, please go to www.singletouch.net


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The Halloween campaign asks fans and followers to tell the beef jerky brand how they would #tricksasquatch or #treatsasquatch.
Beef jerky is not a treat typically associated with Halloween, but jerky brand Jack Link's wants to change that this year.
According to Jack Link's, its Sasquatch mascot has found WiFi in the forest and has taken to Facebook and Twitter to respond to fans tricking or treating him this Halloween.
From October 27 to 31, fans and followers who respond to Jack Link's Facebook and Twitter posts asking, "If @MeSasquatch came to your house, would you #tricksasquatch or #treatsasquatch?" may receive a personalized photo or video response. How Sasquatch responds depends on the feedback he gets from his fans and followers, Jack Link's adds.
In addition to these queries, a rep says Jack Link's is monitoring brand and topical keywords including hashtags like #jacklinks, #sasquatch and #messinwithsasquatch.
"We are also searching for people using #trickortreat or #halloween and validating relevance based on their copy beyond the keyword. It's a surprise and delight interaction," the rep adds.
As of October 30, Jack Link's has received about 1,500 messages, the rep says.
"We are 70 percent treats to 30 percent tricks. People seem to think that poor ol' Sasquatch has had enough tricks," the rep adds.
Per a rough count of Twitter hashtags on October 30, #treatsasquatch had about 290 mentions to #tricksasquatch's 250. However, many of these mentions come from @JackLinks itself, which is specifically targeting Twitter users with its query.
Consumer responses include, "I'd #treatsasquatch to a nice mud bath #spaday," "I would #treatsasquatch to some steak or something," "I would say, ‘Wait, let me get a pic!' :-) #tricksasquatch," and "I walk on the wild side. I would definitely #tricksasquatch."
Sasquatch has posted about 100 responses as of October 30, with some repeats. Sasquatch responses to #tricksasquatch include the user's Twitter profile photo in his fist and some responses to #treatsasquatch include Sasquatch cuddling with the Twitter user's profile photo.
A select few - or about 12 users - have received video responses.
"If Halloween doesn't say ‘Feed Your Wild Side,' I don't know what does," said Kevin Papacek, director of marketing at Jack Link's, in a prepared statement. "We love Halloween and our fans love Halloween, which is why we have created an engaging and delightful experience for fans that embodies the Halloween spirit."
This Halloween campaign was created by digital agency space150 and is supported by email, promoted Facebook posts and a jumbotron ad during the Minnesota Wild Game at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. on October 28, the brand says.
According to the rep, the campaign's target audience is "snackers with a desire to feed their wild side," which skews male, 18 to 35.
Jack Link's has 1.2 million Facebook likes. An October 27 post about the initiative received 2,000 likes.
@JackLinks itself has 2,300 followers, but the Sasquatch's @MeSasquatch handle has 11,000.
On the heels of a fantastic event in New York City, ClickZ Live is taking the fun and learning to Toronto, June 23-25. With over 15 years' experience delivering industry-leading events, ClickZ Live offers an action-packed, educationally-focused agenda covering all aspects of digital marketing. Register today!
Want to learn more? Join us at ClickZ Live San Francisco, Aug 10-12!
Educating marketers for over 15 years, ClickZ Live brings together industry thought leaders from the largest brands and agencies to deliver the most advanced, educational digital marketing agenda. Register today and save $500!
In addition to ClickZ and Search Engine Watch, Lisa's work has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Luxury Spot, LearnVest, MarthaStewart.com, GoodHousekeeping.com, amNewYork, and The Wall Street Journal. She's a graduate of Columbia's School of Journalism.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce
This Magic Quadrant examines leading digital commerce platforms that enable organizations to build digital commerce sites. These commerce platforms facilitate purchasing transactions over the Web, and support the creation and continuing development of an online relationship with a consumer.
Paid Search in the Mobile Era
Google reports that paid search ads are currently driving 40+ million calls per month. Cost per click is increasing, paid search budgets are growing, and mobile continues to dominate. It's time to revamp old search strategies, reimagine stale best practices, and add new layers data to your analytics.
June 10, 2015
12:00pm ET/9:00am PT


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Digital onboarding for Visualfiles is now easier than ever
Join Zylpha & Sinerix for a quick 30 minute overview of the VirtualSignature platform that can be accessed directly from within Visualfiles. This innovative system has been taking the UK legal marketplace by storm, and with Zylpha’s native Visualfiles integration it’s easier than ever to deliver an exceptional service to clients.
- 11am 16th March 2021
- 11am 23rd March 2021
VirtualSignature is not just an electronic signature tool but a comprehensive system that enables forward thinking law firms and legal departments to onboard, identify & verify new clients as well as a quick and efficient way to complete & witness key documents.
Discover how VirtualSignature can help you digitally transform all your document signing & customer onboarding workflow in just a few simple clicks.
Latest News & Updates
For all the latest news stories, visit the Zylpha Bundling Blog
Leading legal software innovator Zylpha has announced the launch of its new ‘Innovation Awards’....


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Stepping it up! Stars didn’t shy away from wearing some risqué ensembles and out-of-the-box outfits for the Fashion Awards on Monday, November 29.
The annual awards show, which was held at Royal Albert Hall in London, not only bestows awards to outstanding designers, but it also honors “creatives and individuals who created positive change within the fashion industry this past year.”
For this year’s event, Billy Porter was given all the hosting responsibilities. And given the star’s fabulous flair for fashion, it’s no surprise that he dressed the part.
The Pose actor arrived at the event in a houndstooth Richard Quinn dress with dramatic shoulder pads. He paired the ensemble with diamonds galore and black patent leather boots.
Porter has found himself at the forefront of gender-fluid fashion. He even made headlines earlier this year when he questioned Vogue’s decision to make Harry Styles the face of the non-binary style movement by placing him in a dress for their first-ever male cover.
“I created the conversation and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time. He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do,” the Broadway star said to The Sunday Times in October. “This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down.”
The actor later went on to apologize to Styles for bringing him into the discussion, clarifying that the conversation “is not about you,” but rather the “systems of oppression and erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture.”
While Porter was certainly front and center on the red carpet, he wasn’t the only star to make a statement. Gabrielle Union made a serious splash in a neon green Valentino gown that featured a voluminous ball skirt and flowing cape.
It was her beauty game that packed the biggest punch though. The Bring It On actress worked with hairstylist Larry Sims to create a next-level updo that added some major height to her hair.
Another must-mention is Kris Jenner. While the reality star stayed true to her style with an all-black suit, she did add an unexpected accessory. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians alum added a red, white and blue cape by Tommy Hilfiger to her ensemble.


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Railroad Park will be celebrating the winter holidays with an outdoor ice skating rink.
The park will feature a 50' by 70' foot rink with real ice starting the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25 at 10 a.m. It'll be open through mid-January, including Christmas and New Years.
Tickets cost $10 each for a two-hour session with a discounted rate of $8 per skater for groups of 20 or more. There will be ice skate rental available, but skaters can bring their own.
It'll be open 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Christmas Day and New Year's Day hours are noon until 8 p.m. The Boxcar cafe nearby will sell hot chocolate and other cold weather refreshments.
The park will also feature for the first time the American Family Care Holiday Market every Saturday from Nov. 26 through Dec. 24. featuring merchants selling seasonal merchandise.
"Railroad Park will come alive this winter in ways that it hasn't before," said Camille Spratling, Executive Director of the Railroad Park Foundation, said in a press release. "2016 has been about creating new ways for visitors to enjoy the park."
Other holiday season events will include them nights like "tacky sweater night" and "SEC team night," the schedule of which will be announced later.
Magic Ice USA, headquartered in Miami, will make and maintain the rink. The company has built rinks in Charlotte, Denver, San Francisco and Nashville, among others.


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United Parcel Service (UPS) has ambitious plans for their drone services!
Shipping giant, UPS, is testing drone delivery services in an effort that could have significant implications for the nation’s wireless network operators.
In a virtual presentation at the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Connect (X) trade show, Bala Ganesh, the VP of UPS’s Advanced, said that the company has conducted several drone tests since obtaining U.S. government approval to operate a drone airline in the latter part of 2019. According to Mr. Ganesh, they have been working on this for five years.
Ganesh highlighted the following three key drone tests conducted by UPS:
- “With drone company Matternet, he said UPS transported medical samples to testing labs at the WakeMed flagship hospital in North Carolina, which he said cut down transit time to less than five minutes to speed up diagnosis.
- He said UPS has tested launching drones from the top of its package delivery vehicles in rural residential areas. In a video, drones rise from the top of a UPS van to deliver packages to nearby residents.
- And Ganesh said the company participated in a White House event designed to test the viability of drones to handle deliveries amid COVID-19 lockdown orders. Specifically, he said the company started delivering medicine to a senior living facility in Florida several weeks ago.*
Ganesh’s appearance at the Workforce Investment Act’s (WIA’s) trade show is important because the event is specifically targeted at wireless providers, cell tower operators and others in the mobile industry, potentially indicating UPS’s plans to connect a fleet of delivery drones to 4G or 5G networks.
The fact is that UPS is already using wireless technology, which began with using AT&T’s 2.5G GPRS network almost 20 years ago, in order to connect thousands of its drivers to the Internet. Furthermore, UPS is testing a significant private wireless network at its distribution center in Billings, Montana.*
Although Ganesh has been hesitant to share additional information about UPS’s plans for its drones, he vaguely did share the following:
“We are continuing to evaluate different ways of connecting as the market matures. Wireless requirements is a critical piece of safely operating drones and we are testing and evaluating various operating models from different vendors. . . . We continue to evaluate private LTE and see opportunities for UPS.”*
In addition to UPS, which is pursuing the possibility of a fleet of drones powered by a wireless network, AT&T plans to use drones to create a bubble of wireless coverage in emergencies. American Tower, a cell tower company, uses drones to monitor its tower operations, while Verizon bought the drone company, Skyward, to sell drone services across the country.
UPS has beat out rivals, Amazon and Alphabet, to receive the U.S. government’s first full approval to operate a drone fleet to deliver packages and the company’s Flight Forward program received a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which will allow the company to expand its delivery services on hospital and college campuses.
UPS’s ambitions are paying dividends in the drone market since UPS’s pilots will now be able to fly drones beyond their line-of-sight, which obviously is a very important step forward for its drone delivery services. In fact, The fledgling Flight Forward unit is immediately doubling the number of drone flights it does for its customers.


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McDonald’s is using augmented reality app Blippar as part of its “biggest ever Christmas advertising campaign”, offering Amazon gift vouchers.
Under the deal, every food tray in McDonald’s will include an advent calendar, which comes to life with games, camera filters and instant win opportunities with the use of augmented reality app Blippar.
Customers can download the app, hold their phone over the tray mat and watch a new advent calendar door come to life each day.
The fast food chain will give away thousands of £10 Amazon gift vouchers via the app.
This is part of the McDonald’s Christmas campaign, which focuses on good times and celebrates the role of the restaurant chain during the festive period.
The campaign launches today (21 November) with the premiere of “Juliette the Doll” – a 90-second film, which focuses on a vintage wooden doll who comes to life after being left on the shelf for another year.
Emily Somers, vice president of food and marketing at McDonald’s UK, said: “December is an incredibly busy time for everyone and millions of customers will visit us in the next month so we wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for their continued support and custom by bringing festive good times to thousands of people this Christmas. The tray mat is our first step into augmented reality and we’re excited to see our customers using it.”
Simon Hewitt, board account director, Leo Burnett, which created the campaign, said: “We wanted to create something that could bring an extra bit of festive fun to every single McDonald’s customer and what better way to do that than by celebrating one of the great Christmas traditions – the advent calendar.
“So with the help of Blippar’s technology, we have changed every tray mat into an easy to interact with, immersive experience that we hope will create a whole raft of new good times this Christmas.”
Earlier this year, McDonald’s launched its Monopoly Prize Choice game, in partnership with Hasbro and agency The Marketing Store.


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019-19 85 80
We at Örebro Welding have finally invested in a brand new laser from Sefeng!
NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE
We welcome Jonny Eklund as our new Site Manager at Örebro Svets! It will be great to have a new person with a lot of energy and commitment!


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Wirex, a payments and crypto service, has added SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) Instant and Faster Payments for UK and EEA customers to transfer British Pounds and Euros between their Wirex and bank accounts.
Wirex has partnered with digital payment infrastructure provider, Modulr, to introduce the deposit and withdrawal methods, SEPA and Faster Payments, to their UK and EEA users. Wirex notes that users may transfer either fiat or crypto from its app.
Every user activating a Euro wallet within the Wirex app can access a unique IBAN and BIC for transferring from their bank account to Wirex, as well as send Euros to compatible bank accounts.
Faster Payments allow UK users to instantly send and receive GBP to/from their Wirex and bank accounts.
Pavel Matveev, Wirex CEO and co-Founder, commented:
“Offering additional choice and flexibility with the introduction of new top-up and withdrawal methods puts our Wirex users in charge of their money. The UK and EEA regions make up the majority of our customer-base, and with SEPA and Faster Payments being widely used, we know that this change will have a huge impact on them.”
Wirex noted that in the coming weeks it will roll out Plaid, a leading open banking provider.
Wirex is based in London, with offices in Singapore, Kyiv, Dallas, Dublin and Atlanta. Wirex reports over $5 billion worth of transactions processed since inception.


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uholiday, but cheap. The Munich tour operator FTI recently advertised three weeks in an all-inclusive hotel in Side, southern Turkey, including a return flight, with a starting price of 599 euros. This is how customers could read it on the front page of the Lidl-Reisen brochure, which the discounter puts out in its branches.
The company Big Xtra, an FTI subsidiary, is named as the originator of the package tour. The price is not even 30 euros per day and night. In fact, the special fare on Tuesday was only available for a travel date with a flight from Cologne, for the time when there was more demand Easter In 2023, the three weeks should cost at least around 1000 euros. But this also sets a saving signal.
After a strong holiday summer, in which booking turnover came very close to the pre-corona level, the travel industry is now adjusting to a new price awareness among its customers. The market leader TUI assumes that Germans will not stay at home, but will pay more attention to the price. The holiday budgets of many households did not increase. “No one ignores inflation. That's why many are looking for bargains or are still waiting a bit before booking," said TUI Germany boss Stefan Baumert on Tuesday.
"Difference between wanting and doing"
Baumert presented a study according to which 74 percent of those questioned would like to travel in the winter months. He didn't want to swear that so many actually set off. After all, according to figures from the holiday and travel research community, only 78 percent of the entire pre-pandemic year 2019 embarked on a larger trip. Baumert spoke of the "difference between wanting and doing". That means: The desire to go on vacation remains great, but not everyone fulfills their wish - especially not when energy and living costs are increasing.
The new frugality is also shown by the figures from the Yougov survey commissioned by TUI: According to this, every third person wants to make a decision about their trip at short notice, every fourth person is on the lookout for special bargains, and every fifth person switches to cheaper destinations, for every sixth person it seems certain that that the vacation will last fewer days.
It is to be expected that a travel group like TUI will assert that demand is not collapsing. It is surprising that savings tips that allow at least a little vacation are included. In the ranking of popular winter destinations, TUI now sees Egypt, with traditionally lower average prices, in second place behind the Canary Islands. In the past, Egypt only managed fourth place at TUI.
Higher travel prices for summer 2023
The forthcoming winter half-year seems to be the last opportunity for the time being to snag holidays at well-known prices. "Package holidays are not an inflation driver this winter," said Baumert. You will not see increases of 8 to 10 percent. Hotel and flight capacities were largely purchased last spring. Only for long-distance destinations, for which the purchase is made in dollars, does the changed exchange rate to the euro make it more expensive.
There is less optimism for next summer. "Purchasing is still going on, which will go hand in hand with price increases," Baumert admitted. The surcharge will remain smaller for trips to the Mediterranean, while the increased kerosene costs for flights will have a greater impact on long-distance trips.


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Apple is soon to be launching the augmented reality glasses into the world. A leading expert has confirmed the news that Apple is planning to launch its first Augmented Reality glasses this year. According to a source, it is believed that the iPhone makers are working on developing lightweight glasses with a smaller display that will get linked to a user’s iPhone respectively.
Robert Scoble, who was featured in the commercial photo shoot wearing a Google’s Glass in the shower who is also a respected blogger made the predictions about the Apple’s AR glasses during the online show of ‘This Week in Tech.’ Scoble cited ‘many sources’ that are situated ‘at the higher levels,’ and repeated his previous words that Apple will be launching its first ever AR headset soon.
According to the blogger, Apple has finally made a decision to move into its new ‘Spaceship’ HQ later this year or on the unveiling of the 10th anniversary of the iPhone in September, where the latest iPhone 8 will be announced. He said a lightweight pair of glasses is expected from the team of Apple, with the electronics on other places such as on user’s iPhone or any other wearable.
The wearable headset will be able to connect wirelessly to the iPhones and display the information that is superimposed onto the user’s view of the natural world. The makers believe to be working with Carl Zeiss on the project that can go on sale later this year.
‘A Zeiss employee confirmed the rumors that Apple and Carl Zeiss are working on a light pair of augmented reality/ mixed reality glasses that may be announced this year,’ as written by the blogger Robert Scoble.
‘I thought it was next year but now that I saw this I believe it will happen this year.’
It was talked by the firm about the projects have great potential suppliers for the Google Glass-style headsets. A recent report by Bloomberg stated ‘people familiar with the issue’ who asked not to be recognized.
Tim Cook, Chief Executive has been struggling his way down with the slow sale rate of the iPhone in recent quarters, sad that this year the company will be investing hugely into augmented reality (AR).
Augmented reality is nothing but a tool that overlays a digital layout of information with the user’s environment in the real world. The glasses would be the first ever product from Apple that will be focused directly at AR, according to a report.
Mr. Cook said in a conference call with the analysts that, ‘Augmented Reality can be really great, and we have been and continue to invest a lot in this. We are high on augmented reality for a long run. We think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.’
Apple being the largest company of technology has ordered a minimum number of near-eye displays for actual testing but has not received a lot for the production on a large scale, as reported.


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SUFFOCATION recently spoke with Scion AV about a number of topics including: the key to connecting with the audience, growing up in Long Island, and going as extreme as humanly possible. See for yourself:
Next year, Suffocation will release a brand new album, Pinnacle Of Bedlam, via Nuclear Blast Records.
In live news, Suffocation will be performing a brutally intimate show at Stamford Connecticut's Fiddler's on Saturday, December 8th. This show is an extremely limited engagement, with only about 150 tickets being sold.
Tickets are available at Metalkill.com and in person at Fiddlers, 280 Shippan Avenue Stamford, CT.
Included with the purchase of the ticket is an autographed picture of the band and a chance to meet the group.


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Little Bay Baking Company announced a voluntary recall of Corn Bread and Muffin Mix that was sold before May 2, 2008 because it contains undeclared soy. People who may have a severe sensitivity or allergy to soy are at risk of developing a serious or life threatening allergic reaction if they consume these products unknowingly.
The Corn Bread and Muffin Mix was distributed throughout the United States via internet orders and in retail stores. The products are available in 12.6 ounce white paper tin tie bag packages sole under the names Little Bay Baking and GFCF Diet.
To date, the company has not received any reports of illness.
The recall was prompted after it was discovered that the mixes containing possible traces of soy was distributed but the packaging failed to reveal any presence of soy. A preliminary investigation indicates the problem was caused by a temporary breakdown in the company’s ordering process.
Consumers can return the recalled product directly to the company. For more information they can be contacted at 1-603-828-7236.


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The San Diego, Calif.-based company posted a loss of -$21.8 million, or -44¢ per share, on sales of $21.3 million for the 3 months ended June 30, for bottom-line loss of -19% on sales loss of -7% compared with the same period last year.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were -44¢, slightly ahead of EPS estimates on The Street, but analysts were looking for sales of $21.7 million.
“Demand for our next-generation t:slim X2 insulin pump remained high in the second quarter and we demonstrated strength both commercially and operationally,” president & CEO Kim Blickenstaff said in prepared remarks. “We made meaningful improvement in our gross margin and decreased our quarterly cash use by more than 30 percent sequentially, while continuing to provide industry-leading customer support.”
Tandem said it expects to post adjusted sales of $100 million to $107 million for the full year.
TNDM shares were trading at 58¢ apiece yesterday at close, down -9.8%.
The company also said yesterday that it inked a deal with Piper Jaffrey & Co. to sell up to $15 million in shares of common stock.
According to the deal, Tandem is slated to pay Piper Jaffrey a 3% commission on the gross sales price of shares sold.


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PMH's Anti-Tech Cartoon Figure Anchors Music Site's Personality
CHICAGO--Peterson Milla Hooks uses an unnamed character to give a distinct personality to NetRadio.com in its first campaign for the online music service.
The print, outdoor and Internet campaign, which breaks this week, employs boldly colored backgrounds and a crudely drawn black-and-white character--known around the Minneapolis shop as "The Guy."
"He's the low-tech antithesis of what's on the Web and what's flashy," said art director Dave Richardson.
In one execution, The Guy is featured with jumper cables attached to his ears, against the headline, "Or, start your day another way."
"The dot.com category is just jammed," said Joe Milla, creative director and copywriter at the agency. "Everything kind of looks alike. We wanted to appeal to a bunch of listeners."
NetRadio.com, a 4-year-old Minneapolis company, produces and delivers 120 streaming channels of music, news and information over the Web. It also powers an online music store known as CDPoint.
The campaign intends to position NetRadio as the source with the widest selection of music and information, said Brian Hooks, PMH's director of client services.
"NetRadio.com is all about music for my terms, my tastes and my life," Hooks said. "That's a proposition that is unique and creates an engaging relationship with the visitor."
The print ads will run in music and lifestyle magazines throughout the fall; outdoor boards will appear in New York and San Francisco. An animated version of The Guy appears on Web banner ads, and will likely show up in TV spots breaking early next year, Hooks said.
Billings for the campaign were not disclosed. However, NetRadio is expected to raise $35 million in an initial public offering later this month, with as much as one-third possibly earmarked for advertising, sources said [Adweek, July 19].


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This week, we’ve been covering the rise of cotton as an all-purpose filler in the food industry, and it looks like the trend is just starting to take off.
But why are we still buying cotton as a filler in our food?
According to a report from The Economist, cotton was once used in the manufacture of all sorts of products, including flour, pasta, bread and milk.
But today, cotton is being used in food production because of its ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions and because it’s cheaper.
But are cotton alternatives truly worth the cost?
According the report, many of the cheap alternatives don’t offer the same quality or functionality as cotton.
While the price of cotton has fallen by more than a third in the last five years, the average price per kilogram of the ingredient remains relatively unchanged, with the average cost of a litre of cotton now averaging around $6.50.
This means the average cotton cost per kilo has gone down by around 50 per cent over the last two decades, from around $7.50 in 2010 to around $3.50 today.
However, the environmental costs of using cotton are a real concern, according to the report.
“Cotton production is a huge environmental cost,” says James White, chief executive of Cotton Innovation, a Melbourne-based industry association.
“It takes a huge amount of land, water, labour, waste and environmental pollution to produce cotton.”
The Environmental Impact of Cotton Factfile: Cotton production Factsheet: Cotton and the Environment Factsheet: Cotton: the environmental cost of cotton Factsheet for a range of cotton ingredients Factsheet for a Cotton-based Food Product Factsheet on Cotton Ingredients Factsheet on Cotton Processing Factsheet to see how cotton can be grown and processed Factsheet of Cotton-Fining Machines Factsheet about cotton for a variety of applicationsFactsheet for Cotton-Cotton-Lamp Factsheet showing the different types of cotton-based cooking equipmentThe Environmental Cost of Cotton


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12:11 p.m. | Updated When it comes to liquor brands arriving on television to advertise, the sky, it seems, is the limit – particularly now that Skyy vodka is joining their ranks.
Skyy, sold by the Campari America unit of Davide Campari-Milano and Grouppo Campari, is to start running its first commercial on Thursday. Until now, the brand’s ads have appeared in print and online.
The commercial is to appear on cable channels like Bravo, Comedy Central, E!, ESPN, ESPN2 and TBS. Plans also call for the spot to run on Web sites that include Facebook, Hulu and YouTube.
Campari America is also looking into running the commercial during “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.
Other distilled spirits that have come onto TV recently include Hornitos, Jägermeister, Maker’s Mark, Pucker, Sailor Jerry rum, Skinnygirl and another Campari America brand, Wild Turkey. They have joined a lengthy list of liquor brands using television, including vodkas like Absolut, Grey Goose, Ketel One and Smirnoff.
For decades, makers of distilled spirits voluntarily kept off television, acceding to the requests of advocates who said it was inappropriate for liquor to be advertised on the most powerful medium of all. That changed in 1996, when a Crown Royal commercial ran on a station in Corpus Christi, Tex.
Since then, national broadcast networks and cable channels have begun to accept liquor commercials, as have local TV stations and cable systems. They usually restrict the commercials to time slots that are later at night and to programs that are watched mostly by adults of drinking age and older. “Saturday Night Live,” for instance, meets both criteria.
Those changing policies have “opened the door to many alcohol brands,” said Umberto Luchini, head of marketing at Campari America in San Francisco.
The company was not eager to walk through that door with Skyy because the brand “has always been driven by imagery, very stylish, very glamorous,” he added, which seemed more suitable to be expressed through print and out-of-home advertising.
But now that “the right creative content” has been developed, Mr. Luchini said, the decision was made to produce a commercial and run it on TV.
The commercial was developed by the Skyy creative agency, Lambesis in San Diego, and Digital Domain, the production company in Los Angeles, with its commercial unit, Mothership. Sil van de Woerd, a creative director at Digital Domain who is also a director, directed the spot.
The commercial takes place in a stylized world that seems a cross between a city from the film “Metropolis” and the Ice Hotel in Sweden.
“Those are, actually, references we looked at as design inspiration,” said Ed Ulbrich, chief creative officer at Digital Domain.
The world, it turns out, is a Skyy distillery, populated by attractive youngish men and women who go about their work to a song called “White Hot Magic” by a band named Polyamorous Affair.
“We tried to portray a glamorous, stylish, sleek” version of “the production of vodka,” Mr. Luchini said.
Campari America will spend about the same amount to advertise Skyy in 2012 than it did last year, he added. With television commercial time costing more than print ad space, that means “less print,” he said, along with “gaining efficiencies” in over all ad spending.
According to the Kantar Media unit of WPP, Campari America spent $16.6 million to advertise Skyy last year in major media, compared with $13.9 million in 2010, $3.6 million in 2009 and $6.1 million in 2008.


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Pork Prices Strong During 2011Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:02:05 CST
Purdue University Extension economist Dr. Chris Hurt, predicts hog and pork prices will launch to record highs in 2011 due to a combination of high demand, high feed costs, and a smaller herd. Foreign buyers are expected to elevate pork exports by 10 percent, representing a record 21 percent of domestic production. As a result Hurt predicts this year, - the available supply per person in the United States will drop by nearly 3 percent. That will cause consumers to face record retail pork prices.
For producers, Hurt predicts live hog prices to exceed 60-dollars per live hundredweight, or more than 80-dollars on a lean basis. Historically a 90-dollar lean price, or about 67 live, was the top of futures markets. Some current futures prices now exceed 90-dollars for the spring and summer delivery contracts and raise the possibility of them reaching 100, or 75-dollars live.
The Purdue economist notes - a new era of high costs probably means there will eventually be a new era of record high hog and pork prices. According to Christ Hurt - feed costs aim toward a break-even year with costs estimated to be slightly over 60-dollar as well. So, there will be no great profit prospects during 2011
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Thousands of holidaymakers are still owed tens of millions of pounds through outstanding claims following the collapse of Thomas Cook.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said more than 250,000 claims – about 75% of the total received – have been settled through the Atol financial protection scheme it manages.
It has resulted in payments of more than £200 million since Thomas Cook went bust in September.
CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty said the regulator was in the process of undertaking the UK’s “largest and most complex” travel claims operation.
He said delays with processing the remaining claims were due to the “quality of information” received from Thomas Cook’s systems and the risk of scams.
It comes as the Insolvency Service said £585 million was owed to customers for package holidays, flights and other services after the firm collapsed.
A CAA spokesman said Atol is only refunding Thomas Cook’s package holidays and not flight-only bookings.
Mr Moriarty said: “We want to ensure we get the right amount of money back to the right people as soon as we can, and we have so far paid out over £200 million by settling over a quarter of a million claims, 75% of the total we have received.
“We understand that those consumers that have not been paid yet have had to wait longer than we had hoped and we are doing all we can to process these claims as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, our operation has had to include extra checks and processes owing to the quality of the information we received from Thomas Cook’s systems and the potential threats of scams and fraud.”
The claims process opened on October 7 and will remain open until September 22 2020, the CAA said.
Trade creditors such as hoteliers, airports and aircraft catering suppliers were owed £885 million following Thomas Cook’s demise.
Total liabilities for Thomas Cook Group were around £9 billion, with the majority owed to other companies within the group, including some which have ceased operations.
The Insolvency Service said it is not known how much of the money will be paid back as a result of Thomas Cook’s liquidation.
Some 300,000 of the cancelled holidays are financially protected under the Atol scheme, although earlier this month the CAA said around one in three of the first people to claim refunds were not paid within the 60-day target.
The regulator insists it wants to issue refunds “as soon as possible” but said some cannot be paid until additional information is provided by claimants.
Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom added: “It is totally unacceptable and irresponsible for companies to reward mismanagement, with huge bonuses for directors who fail in their duty of care to employees and creditors.
Many Thomas Cook customers have taken to social media to express their frustration over the time it is taking to get their money back.
Dale Edwards wrote on Twitter: “Day 67 still no refund. All information sent to Protect Claims.”
He added: “Really getting annoyed now.”


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RTX 4070 Founders Edition pictured
Just a few days before the official launch, scheduled for April 13th, the first Nvidia official performance numbers for the GeForce RTX 4070 have leaked online, showing it to be on par with the RTX 3080, at least with DLSS 3. It also appears that Nvidia will also launch an RTX 4070 Founders Edition (FE), which would make it the third FE graphics card in the RTX 40 series.
Major memory upgrade
The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell on earth yarn claiming that Nvidia could be preparing to give the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti a memory boost.
Geforce RTX 3070 Ti 16GB might be canceled
According to the latest rumor, Nvidia could launch the Geforce RTX 3090 Ti by the end of March, while the RTX 3070 Ti 16GB could be canceled.
Pushed back to mid-February
According to a report, a part of Nvidia's upcoming refresh has been pushed back to after the Chinese New Year, so only one SKU could be announced at the CES 2022 event.
Coming on June 3rd at $1,199 and June 10th at $599
Nvidia has officially announced the new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards that will be available on June 3rd at $1,199 and June 10th at $599.
Launching in early June
It appears that the Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Ti and the Geforce RTX 3070 Ti will be announced on May 31st, with availability in early June, at least if we do not see further delays.
RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB GDDR6X and RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB GDDR6X memory
Fresh rumors regarding Nvidia's new RTX 30 series graphics cards have started to appear, suggesting we will see a GA102-based RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB of GDDR6X memory in mid-April, and GA104-based RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB of GDDR6X memory in late May.
With 7424 CUDA cores and a 320-bit memory interface
According to the latest rumor, Nvidia is working on a GA102 based graphics card that will fit between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080, suggesting a more powerful RTX 3070 Ti.
Internal roadmaps point to the end of October
Although Nvidia has only officially confirmed three SKUs in the RTX 30 series, it appears that the mid-range RTX 3060 Ti might be also coming by the end of next month, featuring GA104 GPU with 4864 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR6 memory.


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(Pocket-lint) - OnePlus is preparing to launch a new budget device - which has been called both the OnePlus 8 Lite and the OnePlus Z - and new information suggests it might be coming on 10 July.
The information comes from a company insider familiar with OnePlus' plans, according to Android Central who was privy to this new information. There's no independent verification of this as the company has so far not said anything about its future plans.
However, the company co-founder, Pete Lau, has been on the record saying that OnePlus will be returning to the affordable segment, in a recent interview. That's a reflection on how OnePlus has changed over the last few years, moving from a company that offered high-end hardware at low prices, to one that mixes with the bigger smartphone brands.
That's left something of a gulf which is currently filled by brands like Xiaomi's Redmi sub-brand, as the mid-range gets more competitive both in terms of the hardware it offers, but also the price that you can get it at.
OnePlus, it seems, wants to use its brand value to leverage this low price bracket and expand its market share - and it's targeting India as the launch market.
OnePlus is India's biggest brand, so it makes sense that it will offer the OnePlus Z to the substantial Indian market, but will likely then move to offer the device in other regions. Currently there's no indicator of where this phone will be available.
Previous leaks have suggested a 6.4-inch 90Hz AMOLED display, Snapdragon 765G 5G hardware and a triple camera on the rear of the phone.
While the current global climate has seen some companies shifting launch dates around, this isn't the first time that we've heard about a July launch for the OnePlus Z, so hopefully there will be some good news coming soon.


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Ubisoft claimed last week that 3D TV would be mainstream by 2013 in a move that might suggest that the French gaming powerhouse is looking to capitalise on the growing interest that is being generated by 3D hardware and services.
The statement by the head of marketing at Ubisoft sounds a lot like a self fulfilling prophecy as existing 3D content is fairly thin on the ground and unlike HD, there's no easy way of converting flat 2D into 3D content.
So the problem really is to get enough content off the ground to kick start a virtuous circle; great content encouraging more people to buy 3D televisions to view Jaws's nozzle popping out of the screen in full HD to catch a bite of their lounges.
Prices have been falling markedly over the last few months with 40-inch Samsung LCD 3D Television sets now available for less than £850. These still need active 3D glasses to work their magic and these are not cheap.
Ultimately, we expect high end television sets to come with 3D as default over the next few years with the technology trickling down to mainstream devices like Blu-ray players, gaming consoles and set top boxes gradually.
But 2013 is too short a deadline for 3D TV to be available in most households in the UK. Bear in mind though that 2013 is one year after the London Olympics and chances are that the 2012 games will be the first ones to be available in 3D.


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Mark your calendars for Friday, October 3.
You will want to be present to witness the first-ever Adamson football game in the famous Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
According to Coach Ragsdale, tickets for this game will be available at the school beginning Tuesday, September 30 for $5/adults and $3/students. We were told that tickets bought at the gate on game day will be $8/adults. We were also told that parking is expected to be $10 per vehicle.


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The CoronaVirus (COVİD-19) pandemic has impacted deeply the anime industry, getting many anime conventions, anime series, anime movies delayed be that as it may, Anime Expo plans to figure out how to meet fans regardless of everything.
Recently, Anime Expo affirmed it would be dropping its occasion for July 2020 to guarantee the wellbeing of participants and visitors. In any case, over on their official Twitter account, Anime Expo connected with fans with a mystery about Anime Expo Lite.
Currently there is no detail on what the light occasion is about, however fans anticipate that this should be the show’s reaction to its conclusion. Sadly, its absolutely impossible an occasion gathering tens or a huge number of individuals can occur close by the infection episode. Notwithstanding, a large number of shows have done virtual occasions with ability, and that could be an opportunities for Anime Expo Lite.
The occasion is scheduled to occur July 3-4 and will include a huge number of brands. Organizations like Crunchyroll, Viz Media, Pony Canyon, and Bushiroad are scheduled to show up in some structure.
Anime Expo Lite will allow fans to make up for lost time with breaking anime news or be given any declarations which were set for the full show. Before, the occasion has likewise held a progression of prominent debuts, however it appears to be impossible any such plans would be changed over to this light program.
Anime Expo, abridged AX, is an American anime show held in Los Angeles, California and sorted out by the non-benefit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation. With uncommon exemptions, the show is customarily hung on the principal end of the week in July, which ordinarily agrees with the fourth of July, and goes on for four days. While at present facilitated at the Los Angeles Convention Center, in the past Anime Expo has been held in different areas, for example, Anaheim, San Jose, New York, and Tokyo. Anime Expo is the biggest North American anime show starting at 2017


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Car and Driver Names 2014 Corvette Stingray to its “10Best” List
The 2014 Corvette Stingray continues to draw “oohs” and “aahs” from virtually everyone connected with the automotive industry.
Car and Driver magazine is the latest to honor Tadge Juechter and his amazing team’s creation by naming the new Corvette Stingray to its annual “10Best” list.
For years, dating back to at least 1984 with the introduction of the C4, the Corvette has always been a numbers car, capable of putting up segment-leading statistics but not always shining in other important areas.
That’s no longer the case with the seventh-generation Corvette, Car and Driver gushes.
“Judging from the new Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Corvette, GM now knows how to bridge the gap between the driver and the spreadsheet,” the magazine says. “These cars aren’t simply about the cold pursuit of data. They’re about the interaction between human and machine.”
(By the way, the CTS joined the Stingray on that magazine’s prestigious list, too.)
Car and Driver praises the Corvette for its new electric steering, which “reports the squirm of the tires and, by varying the resistance, every tenth-of-a-g change in cornering force.”
Likewise, the suspension has been tuned magnificently by the engineers, Car and Driver reports, making the Corvette capable of provoking “stupid grins every time you drive it.”
The Stingray earns kudos overall for being “just so well honed,” the magazine says.
“Not only is its electrically assisted steering system unexpectedly sensitive,” Car and Driver says, “you can practically feel the thousands of man-hours spent developing its Michelin tires, its stiffer structure, and, on Z51 models, its electronically controlled limited-slip differential.”
The magazine also uses a sidebar to explain how GM is able to sell the new Stingray at such a bargan price.
The engine is a masterpiece, but it’s just part of a batch of more than a million Gen-V V-8s used in many GM vehicles. So while it does have special features over some of its kin, overall the Corvette engine takes advantage of economies of scale by riding along with the whole family. That engine uses 150 parts fewer (and lots less dollars) than a comparably powerful BMW twin-turbo.
The light and stiff aluminum frame that’s used on all Stingrays is built at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant now, with robots and automated laser welding doing all the heavy lifting instead of humans.
Kudos, too, to Plasan Carbon Composites, which invented a new process that has been called the first major step toward mass production of carbon-fiber parts. That new idea has cut process time by 75 percent and reduced costs by 30 percent.
Brembo likewise earns a nod for contributing to the savings by building subassemblies – including the suspension knuckles, wheel hubs, brakes, speed sensors, and other parts in the wheel wells – and getting them to the factory with just-in-time delivery.
By the way, Car and Driver says it takes this list very seriously.
“For a full week each fall,” they say, “we lock the office, turn off our phones, and engage in the most comprehensive and focused driving in the car-evaluation business.”
Car and Driver


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Are you hungry yet?
Cult burger chain slides into San Antonio with special pop-up eatery
Update: Since publication, all time slots for both February 14 and February 15 have been claimed. We will update this story if White Castle makes more available.
Texans revere Whataburger. Californians rave about In-N-Out Burger. But in the Midwest, the burger chain with the most cult-like following might be White Castle.
White Castle, best known for its sliders — square burgers steam-grilled on a bed of onions and then served with a slice of pickle on a square bun — doesn’t operate any restaurants in Texas. However, San Antonio, the headquarters of Whataburger, soon will get a taste of White Castle, if only temporarily.
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, White Castle will spread the slider love February 14 and 15 with a pop-up restaurant at H-E-B’s store at 12125 Alamo Ranch Pkwy. in Northwest San Antonio.
The pop-up location will offer sliders as well as sides and desserts from 3-9 pm each day. Reservations, which are required, can be made at the OpenTable website.
Why did White Castle pick San Antonio for the pop-up? Well, it doesn’t hurt that H-E-B is based in Alamo City, and that the grocery chain sells frozen White Castle hamburgers and cheeseburgers.
“This is the first time we’ve done Valentine’s Day reservations and sit-down dining as a pop-up anywhere in the world, and we couldn’t be more excited than to be in San Antonio at H-E-B,” Jamie Richardson, vice president of White Castle, tells CultureMap.
For every customer — or “Craver,” in White Castle lingo — who’s served at the pop-up, the restaurant chain will donate $10 to charitable causes in the San Antonio area.
The San Antonio event will be part of White Castle’s annual Valentine’s Day dinner, held at most of the chain’s restaurants.
“Valentine’s Day has become a longstanding tradition that is very special to many of our customers and team members across the country,” Richardson said in a 2019 press release. “Many Cravers have shared stories with us about meeting the loves of their lives, or forming lifelong friendships at our restaurants, so we look forward to hosting this special event every year to help our fans build even more memorable moments.”
Based in Columbus, Ohio, White Castle operates more than 375 restaurants in 13 states, mostly in the Midwest. But it’s growing outside its traditional turf. The company’s first Florida restaurant is set to open in early 2021 in Orlando, while its first location in Arizona debuted in late October. And it now operates four restaurants in the Las Vegas area.
Although the fast-food chain is hosting an event in San Antonio, it doesn’t mean White Castle is eyeing a Texas expansion.
“We would never say never, but for now this is a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day and our great partnership with H-E-B,” Richardson tells CultureMap. “We have a strong presence in supermarkets in San Antonio and all over Texas, and can’t wait to greet our guests for the Valentine’s Day feast that will be one for the history books.”


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Netflix is expanding its presence at Hollywood’s Sunset Bronson Studios with a lease that will bring its total space to 560,000 square feet in several buildings as new-media companies continue to jockey for local production sites.
The content-streaming company has signed an agreement to occupy 43,000 square feet of soundstage, office and support space, Sunset Bronson owner Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. announced last week. Netflix already had 99,000 square feet of soundstages and other spaces at the site that it leased in the fall.
The expansion at Sunset Bronson follows Netflix’s February 2016 lease for a 14-story structure there called Icon Tower, which houses 326,000 square feet of creative office space. It also holds a lease for Sunset Bronson’s 92,000-square-foot Cue office building.
Hudson Pacific’s Bill Humphrey, who serves as senior vice president for its Sunset Studios properties, called Netflix’s expansion of production space a continuation of the entertainment company’s global distribution goals. Hudson Pacific also owns Sunset Gower Studios. He noted that that long-term leases ensure the company will have a place to produce content for the foreseeable future in an area of limited production space.
“They haven’t owned production studios for years, like Columbia Pictures or (Walt Disney Co.),” Humphrey said. “They need to rely on companies like Hudson Pacific to partner with them on means of production.”
– Diane Haithman
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Nothing’s debut, the Phone 1 smartphone, will not be coming to the US, the company confirmed to PCMag. “While we would love to bring Phone 1 to the entire community around the world, we are focusing on domestic markets, including the UK and Europe,” the company said in a statement. However, he added that “a limited number of investors from our private community” could get one in the US through a closed beta program.
Nothing showed off the device for the first time last week on Twitter following a mockery of founder Carl Pei. The most notable feature is a transparent back, revealing a wireless charging coil and a mysterious pattern that lights up. The company has also promised “an open and diverse product ecosystem” and the pure Android Nothing operating system.
The company further explained that “it takes a lot to launch a smartphone…from ensuring the phone is compatible with the country’s cellular technologies to partnering with carriers and local regulation, and since we’re still a young brand, we need to be strategic about it’s.” Even people in the closed beta program are likely to have issues with coverage and lack of support for features like voice over LTE, according to PCMag. Nothing made a similar reveal when the first 100 phones went on sale on StockX.
Still, Nothing has North American ambitions. “We have big plans to release a US compatible smartphone in the future,” the company wrote. The Nothing Phone 1 will debut in London on July 12; you can watch it via live stream if you RSVP in advance.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


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A shoplifter has been jailed after stealing multiple goods from Stoke-on-Trent's supermarkets.
Gavin Lancaster - who is so notorious for his thieving ways that he's on first name terms with the security - targeted Aldi, B&M and Tesco across the city over several days.
On one occasion he even left his stolen loot outside the store so he could head back inside to buy a carrier bag to take it away in.
The total value of the items the 35-year-old swiped was £2,179.99.
Now Lancaster - who has 73 convictions for 171 offences - has been jailed for 12 months.
Joshua Purser, prosecuting said: “On March 30, 2021 he stole alcohol, speakers and candles from B&M with a value of £350.
“On April 3, 2021 he stole a hedge trimmer from Aldi. On April 5, 2021 he stole £50 worth of alcohol from Aldi.
“And on April 30 he attempted to steal £755 from Tesco. He also attempted to steal two TVs from Tesco with a value of £428.
“He is no stranger to this. He takes the items, puts them out and goes back in as he realised he needs a bag and buys one.”
Lancaster, of Hardy Road, Walsall, went on to plead guilty to six counts of shoplifting and one count of attempted shoplifting.
Paul Kay, mitigating, said: “He is known very well to staff in the shops. The security man knows him by his first name. He asked if he could keep the TV. He doesn't cause any harm to anybody.
“It’s a short span of offending. He sells them to buy drugs or pay off debts.”
Jailing the defendant, Judge Paul Glenn told him: “It’s significant planning which places you in a high culpability situation.”


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Mike Beard, Merchant Development Director Encon Insulation is BMBI’s Expert for Insulation Products – Distribution.
Insulation sectors are experiencing strong sales although it is unclear how much of this is catch up from the poor performance in the first quarter due to the weather.
The biggest concern in the sector is product availability in a number of key areas, most importantly in both glass and rock mineral wool. This supply issue is likely to worsen and might well encompass other products as the year continues. Inevitably this will fuel price inflation, putting more strain on the supply chain.
We are seeing stronger support for specifications, in light of recent obvious events, which is a good thing for the supply chain as quality and added value helps grow the market.
Another boost has been that the weather over the last twelve months has really shown the benefit of good insulation standards: keeping the warm air inside in the winter and allowing the opposite in the summer!
In summary, the market is generally performing well – with the exception of the commercial sector. Areas for concern, however, include the availability of labour and the inevitable protracted arguments on planning whenever somebody talks about the need to build thousands of new houses.
One other concern to a possible Brexit impact – one not yet openly discussed – is the change to imported building materials and their product standards. Currently Industry leaders and trade bodies are lobbying the EU to keep the UK as a full member of the European Standards Organisations. Such standards could apply to the products, their manufacture and their in-situ performance. The relationship between CE-marked products and those that are BBA approved has not been clarified post-Brexit. Will CE marking, a significant marker on product conformity, remain in place and be recognised or will BBA take over? This area is currently under discussion by, Industry leaders and trade bodies, but I fear that there is a possibility that Brexit will overtake the discussion and the supply of products might be impacted.
Despite these supply issues and other concerns for the future, it’s worth noting finally that house building has risen at the fastest rate since 2015!