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BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA — Patek Philippe is best known for making some of the world’s finest wristwatches, but at its new Rodeo Drive boutique, pride of place belongs to something unwearable — a one-of-a-kind, cloisonné dome clock.
Designed to commemorate the boutique’s opening in July, it depicts, in colorful detail, a California idyll populated by a valley quail and a golden poppy, two symbols of the state. Sold to a seasoned collector for $117,000 within a week of its arrival, it is now on unofficial loan to the store while the owner looks for somewhere to put it.
“It was very special for us to get the clock in the first place,” said Thomas J. Blumenthal, president and chief executive of Gearys, the Beverly Hills retailer that owns and operates the boutique.
With only about a dozen such pieces made available every year to the brand’s global coterie of retailers, Mr. Blumenthal said he would be lucky to get another any time soon — and, judging by the strength of the secondary market, the frenzy may be just beginning.
“One barometer we have, to show that the market for modern clocks has increased rapidly, is by the price achieved for Patek Philippe dome clocks in the last few seasons,” said Sam Hines, head of watch sales at Christie’s Asia. “Ten years ago such clocks were fetching $30,000 at auction. In May this year we achieved a world record price, selling a late ’50s example for $297,000.”Continue reading the main story
More than just elegant nods to a bygone era, finely made clocks — be they decorative art objects or complicated timekeeping mechanisms, or both — have emerged as connoisseur favorites.
From its base in Le Sentier, in the Jura region of Switzerland, Jaeger-LeCoultre is among a handful of watchmakers actively pursuing the clock business. In January, the firm introduced a 10-piece limited edition of its Atmos clock that pays tribute to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Klimt, the Austrian painter. The $245,000 clock features a marquetry reproduction of one of Klimt’s paintings, “The Kiss,” using 1,200 pieces of exotic wood meticulously cut and assembled to cover the external surface of the cabinet.
A sign that more watchmakers see a future in clocks came last month, when Chopard, based in Geneva, introduced the L.U.C. Quattro table clock, the first of its clocks to be powered by a sophisticated mechanical movement.
Featuring an eight-day power reserve, dauphine-style hands that mimic those on its namesake wristwatch collection and a 16-centimeter, or about 6-inch, see-through back, the clock retails for $6,740 — far less than the watches of the same collection which start at $26,510.
Clock components are “obviously much larger and therefore slightly less complicated to manufacture and to assemble,” said Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard.
Fans of the sober German clock making tradition would do well to look up Erwin Sattler, a 54-year-old Bavarian firm known for producing table clocks, ship clocks, grandfather clocks and pendulum clocks.
The latter incorporate barometric and air pressure compensation systems that limit their deviation from true timekeeping to two seconds per month, said Richard Müller, co-owner of the company, speaking by telephone from the floor of MunichTime, a consumer watch and clock show in the Bavarian capital.
Where Erwin Sattler’s timepieces would not look out of place in a 19th-century salon, the Austrian firm Buben & Zörweg, founded in 1995, unites technology and craftsmanship in futuristic-looking products like its new $200,000 Grand Aficionado, which combines a high-security safe with a clock, humidor, wine cabinet and iPad docking station.
“We can completely customize the housing of our masterpieces and use selected woods such as Makassar or walnut burl wood, high quality carbon fiber, fine leather — whatever the customer desires,” said Martin Zeiringer, director of marketing at Buben & Zörweg.
The combination of exotic materials draws its inspiration from the decorative clocks of the Art Deco period of the 1920s and ’30s, which featured dramatic juxtapositions of gemstones, minerals, metals and crystals.
Take, for example, a mystery clock — so-called because its hands move without any visible operating mechanism — created by Maurice Coüet for Cartier Paris around 1920, in which the dial is a 400-carat octagonal-shaped citrine, around which circle rose-cut diamond hands.
The piece, currently available at the Siegelson showroom in New York, is just one of a remarkable assortment of clocks produced in the early 20th century by such respected makers as Verger Frères, Lacloche and Cartier, and sold by the estate dealer Lee Siegelson.
“What interests me is that they were produced entirely by hand by a team of master artisans,” Mr. Siegelson said. “We go through and clean them up so they’re all working, but that’s not the point.”
Sometimes, a clock comes along that ticks all the boxes for fans both of ornamentation and timekeeping. An example is the 1835 Duc d’Orleans Breguet Sympathique, going on sale at Sotheby’s New York on Dec. 4: Its virtually unprecedented degree of horological and historical significance explains the $5 million to $7 million estimate.
“It’s a total trophy,” said Daryn Schnipper, chairman of Sotheby’s international watch division, referring to the exceedingly rare piece commissioned by Prince Ferdinand Philippe of Orléans.
Containing both a clock and a pocket watch, the elaborate cabinet belongs to a rarefied group of timepieces invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet, the French court’s favored watchmaker.
“Part of the clock’s mechanism was to wind this particular watch, so that when the prince woke up, it was ready to roll,” Ms. Schnipper said.
After the prince’s death in 1842, the clock survived 125 years of French upheaval more or less intact. In 1974, Seth G. Atwood, the founder of the now-defunct Time Museum in Rockford, Illinois, worked with the noted British horologist George Daniels, a passionate Breguet scholar, to help locate the Sympathique and restore it.
Mr. Daniels, clearly besotted with it, sang its praises in his 1974 book, “The Art of Breguet,” which is quoted at length by Sotheby’s in its catalogue for the sale.
“The Sympathique is an ingenious and amusing toy such as only Breguet could conceive,” Mr. Daniels wrote. “They can hardly be described as useful or necessary, but great artists are not always motivated by such considerations.”Continue reading the main story


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Tunisia has expressed its concern following an announcement by the United Kingdom and the US of banning laptops and tablets in aircraft cabins on direct flights from Arab countries and Turkey.
Tunisia, which is among the countries covered by the British ban, said the directive will hurt its economy.
“This is something that we will raise with the Foreign Ministry,” Tunisia’s Tourism Minister Salma Elloumi said.
On Tuesday, the US and UK said the ban on electronic devices larger than a smartphone was being imposed as an anti-terrorist precaution.
Officials from Tunisia’s Federation of Travel Agencies said they feared the ban will hurt its tourism sector that has just started to recover following a spate of terrorist attacks that sent tourists fleeing.
“As long as England maintains these restrictions on Tunisia, and from time to time consolidates them with similar decisions, this will have a negative impact on Tunisian tourism,” Mohamed Ali Toumi, President of Tunisia’s Federation of Travel Agencies said.
The British ban that comes into force on Saturday, also targets Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
Fourteen airline companies are required to comply with the directive, including British Airways and EasyJet.

domain: news


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John Koetsier, Mobile Economist at TUNE
The growth of mobile ad blocking apps spiked 300% in the last three months, but marketers can take some comfort: mobile isn’t desktop, and everything is different.
There certainly is reasonable cause for concern.
A full 25% of mobile users currently have ad blocking apps installed, as we discovered by surveying almost 4,000 smartphone owners in the U.S and Europe. And based on the current growth rate of mobile ad blocking app installs, it’s possible that almost 80% could have ad blocking apps installed by late 2017. Continue reading
Rhoanna Glenn, Associate Director of Mobile at MediaCom
When iOS9 hit our devices and a new wave of ad blockers hit the app stores there was a sudden panic. This is the beginning of the end of advertising, all ads will be blocked and we will all be out of a job!!
Six weeks after this release and there is only one ad blocker in the top 10 of the productivity charts. So should we as advertisers and publishers be worried? Continue reading
Jide Sobo, Head of Mobile at MEC Interaction
The behavior of avoiding ads has been with us for a long time, in fact, probably since the first ad was developed! I think it has now entered into urban myth status, that the National Grid sees its biggest spike in power at half time in the FA Cup final, as everyone watching at home goes to the kitchen, puts the kettle on, and avoids the ads. Back in the 90’s we had the curse of the pop-up ad, which led to the development of third party pop-up blocking software. By 2004, most web browsers had pop-up blockers built in as standard and another era of ad avoidance came to an end. Of course, before pop-up ads, people had been avoiding TV ads by fast forwarding through the ad breaks on programs they had recorded on their VHS recorder, and they are now doing the same with services such as Sky+. Continue reading


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- The outlet on the Westlands’ Sq. turns into QuickMart’s twelfth 24-hour retailer.
- The opposite branches that function on a 24-hour foundation are Lavington, Chaka, OTC, Embakasi, Tom Mboya and Buruburu, amongst others.
QuickMart Grocery store has opened a brand new 24-hour retailer in Westlands, Nairobi, in a transfer set to gasoline competitors with rival chains like Naivas that operates an analogous outlet in the identical space.
The outlet on the Westlands’ Sq. turns into QuickMart’s twelfth 24-hour retailer.
The opposite branches that function on a 24-hour foundation are Lavington, Chaka, OTC, Embakasi, Tom Mboya and Buruburu, amongst others.
“Our new retailer that operates on a 24-hour foundation will open tomorrow (at this time) in Westlands Nairobi,” stated the retailer’s gross sales and advertising supervisor Betty Wamaitha.
She stated the brand new retailer that opens its doorways at this time would convey the retailer’s whole department rely to 46. The department will make use of about 100 employees.
“We’re trying ahead to providing recent greens, toiletry and fast-moving client items amongst different gadgets at this retailer,” stated Ms Wamaitha.
QuickMart gained an even bigger monetary muscle after Sokoni Retail Kenya acquired a controlling stake within the retailer and merged operations with its outfit Tumaini Self Service beneath the QuickMart model.
The QuickMart enlargement comes at a time Tuskys Supermarkets faces a critical money move hitch that has sparked a dispute with suppliers on account of money owed.
Tuskys, till lately Kenya’s high retailer with 53 shops, has lower than 10 retailers working amid stock-outs.
The retail business has previously seen an entry of latest worldwide gamers like Carrefour.
Because of this, retailers like Naivas Supermarkets have sought further capital to scale up operations in a extremely aggressive market.
Naivas signed an settlement with French fairness fund Amethis Fund to promote 30 % stake to its enlargement.


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Airbnb has revealed its new headquarters in Dublin, which mark the first time the company has been able to determine the architectural layout of one of its offices.
The new headquarters, dubbed The Warehouse, was designed by the company’s in-house environments team in collaboration with Dublin-based practice Heneghan Peng Architects.
Set inside a disused warehouse, the new headquarters have been completely designed from scratch – a first for Airbnb – and will become a blueprint for other campuses across the world.
Following feedback from staff at the Airbnb Portland office, the environments team were keen to create a space that made it easier for employees to find each other.
This led to the “neighbourhood” concept, which involved dividing the space up into a series of primary and secondary workspaces.
The primary workspaces consist of 29 neighbourhoods each filled with identical components – one large table, personal storage, one or two standing desks and one lounge spot.
The secondary workspaces include the large open atrium, kitchen area and the meeting rooms – each of which are inspired by existing Airbnb listings around the world and designed by local employees.
“The Warehouse was a rare opportunity for our team to start from scratch and further evolve the Belong Anywhere workplace philosophy that makes Airbnb unique,” said Airbnb’s lead interior designer Rebecca Ruggles.
“The combination of neighbourhoods with the visual and physical connection across the atrium provides just the right balance of privacy and socialisation”
The neighbourhoods are organised around a bleacher-style staircase that connects the basement to the first floor.
Named the Agora, after the ancient Greek term for a public open space, the staircase serves multiple purposes, including a conference space and a “lounge-style” working environment.
“Our ambition has often been moderated by the constraints of an existing structure that can’t be altered,” said Aaron Taylor Harvey, head of the environments team. “It was with the Dublin Warehouse that we finally had the opportunity to provoke the level of interaction and cross talk that we’ve always imagined.”
Earlier this year, the company launched its own design studio, creating a house of the future for a Tokyo exhibition as its first project.


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digital economy - News, Features, and Slideshows
digital economy in pictures
Australia took another step toward “fair use” copyright reform with a paper released this week by the Australian Law Reform Commission, but implementation of the ALRC’s recommendations is not yet a sure thing.
By Adam Bender | 07 June, 2013 14:02
Westpac Bank and MYOB have launched a digital toolkit called ‘Ready for Business’, a joint initiative to help small businesses get a foot in the door in taking advantage of digital technologies.
By Rebecca Merrett | 29 April, 2013 16:17
Parliament House in Canberra was buzzing this week as National ICT Australia (NICTA) exhibited the latest broadband, digital economy and technology innnovations. NICTA partnerships with Sydney Water and Infosys were launched on the day.
By Hamish Barwick | 14 February, 2013 10:17
Federal and state government agencies in Australia have yet to realise cloud computing’s role in the digital economy and should look to the example set by service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to an Australian analyst.
By Hamish Barwick | 22 November, 2012 16:03
Developed by the CIO executive Council in conjunction with Rob Livingstone Advisory, Pathways Advanced is a 12-month CIO delivered, small group, mentor based professional leadership development program. Pathways Advanced brings together best practice, thought leadership and business insights for today’s most promising ICT professionals
- FTAccount Manager - DataNSW
- FTStudio Design ManagerVIC
- FTDigital Performance Manager - MediaNSW
- FTDigital Marketing CoordinatorNSW
- FTSenior SEO ManagerNSW
- FTClient Service Director - Search: SEO & PPCNSW
- CCWeb / Mobile Developer - Magento - HTML5, CSS - Excellent CMS SkillsNSW
- FTChief Information Officer - CSIROACT
Technology has become the heart and soul of every business, but IT workload and system complexity become more challenging. This whitepaper details the future of IT, the major challenges facing CIOs, and the three ways to transform IT so CIOs can lead the way.
- Sorry movie goers, Google Glass, other wearables banned from cinemas
- Drupal: If you weren't quick to patch, assume your site was hacked
- After rocket explosion, no air, water pollutants detected
- Microsoft releases stopgap POODLE protection for Internet Explorer
- Smartphone share of overall mobile phone sales stalling at 70 percent
- Pirate Bay co-founder found guilty of hacking in Denmark
- Apple Pay rival MCX defends security after hackers steal emails
- Germany backs plan to retain personal flight data across EU
- Startup Capriza scores $27M to Zapp legacy apps into mobile ones
- China: Facebook not banned, but must follow the rules
- Google AI project apes memory, programs (sort of) like a human
- Nintendo targets new health business with sleep sensor
- Vodafone asks how data retention applies to M2M
- China's Xiaomi surges to become world's third largest smartphone vendor
- Cunningham Lindsey uses Wi-Fi units to work during natural disasters


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WEST HOLLYWOOD — Starting as early as 6 o’clock Tuesday morning, cannabis retailers in West Hollywood opened their doors for the city’s first day of legal adult-use sales. A total of four shops, all located within a roughly two-mile section of Santa Monica Boulevard, planned to be open throughout the day on Jan. 2.
West Hollywood, which is surrounded entirely by the city of Los Angeles, is expected to be a hotspot among Angelenos, who may have to wait weeks until licensed adult-use stores open in LA proper.
Shortly after 9 a.m., it seemed to be business as usual at Alternative Herbal Health Services (AHHS)—busy, but not overwhelmed. Security guard Andy Bird, who greeted a steady stream of customers as they entered the shop, said that when he arrived at 5:15 a.m., a line of eager customers was waiting outside the door. They were allowed inside the check-in area to wait, he said, but were not allowed to make any purchases until after 6 a.m. due to state limits on operating hours.
A medical cannabis dispensary since 2004, AHHS is one of the oldest operating storefronts south of San Francisco and was also the inspiration for the Netflix show “Disjointed,” said store owner Jason Beck. Its expansion into adult-use sales has brought mostly subtle changes in the rather cozy dispensary, such as setting up two separate cash registers—one labeled “adult-use” and the other “medical.”
Beck plans to open the shop at 6 a.m. all week to feel out customer demand.
“This is a 24-hour city,” he said. “Let’s just see what the market dictates.”
So far, he’s seen some interest from early birds on their way to work or having just left one of the many nearby gyms. If that early-morning demand dies down, however, Beck said the shop may eventually start opening later.
Mark Joyce, a veteran of the Vietnam War, made his first-ever trip to a cannabis store on Tuesday, joined at AAHS by his dog JuJu. Joyce said he has long used marijuana for “personal use” but was forced to purchase the product through illegal channels. “It’s legal now,” he said. “It’s all fun and games.”
A few blocks west of AAHS, a line began to form outside the upscale cannabis chain MedMen beginning around 8:30 a.m., according to the store’s staff. In addition to multiple local news trucks parked outside the store (and a food truck selling bagels), the line outside the dispensary continued to grow in anticipation of its 10 a.m. opening.
— Hayley Fox (@EPfox) January 2, 2018
MedMen security and employees were outside to manage the crowds and hand out branded red tote bags emblazoned with the phrase “Mainstreaming Marijuana.” Bill Araiza, in town from Dallas, Texas for the Christmas holiday, described himself as a “cannabis enthusiast” and said he had also been in Denver in 2014, when Colorado became the first US state to begin legal adult-use sales.
“In Denver it was more of a sensation,” he said, suggesting that because medical marijuana has been legal in California for so long, there’s “not quite as much excitement” around adult use.
But for visitors like Jeremy Parks, who was visiting Los Angeles from Oklahoma for the Rose Bowl game on Monday, legal cannabis is still a novelty. Oklahoma still criminalizes even medical cannabis use.
Parks said his reason for coming to MedMen today was simple: “To get some marijuana!”
Parks chose MedMen because he heard about it on the news, he said. He planned to leave with some pre-rolls and a few other products.
In line behind Parks was Patrick Roe, a 26-year-old L.A. resident who previously held a medical marijuana card but allowed it to expire. He has no plans to re-up either, as he doesn’t consume very often and will now have ready access to cannabis from nonmedical stores. He sees cannabis as a replacement for alcohol, he said. “I’d rather smoke than drink.”
At Los Angeles Patients & Caregivers Group (LAPCG), which opened at 11 a.m., the line remained steady throughout the morning and early afternoon. Lindsey Reese, a budtender working the front desk, said that most of the morning’s customers had been first-timers and adult-use consumers. Only about 15%, she estimated, are returning medical patients.
She stopped to answer the phone. “LAPCG, this is Lindsey speaking,” she said. “We’re recreational today!”
Most callers have wanted to know whether or not they’ll be a difference in quality between medical and adult-use products. They’re also curious about tax rates and how long they’ll have to wait in line, she said.
The answers? State taxes are currently are 24.5%, and while West Hollywood doesn’t charge any local taxes, it could eventually impose one. And the midday line took about half an hour to get through.
In line was one customer who had something extra to celebrate: a 21st birthday, allowing entrance to the newly legal shops.
Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to Alternative Herbal Health Services as the oldest operating cannabis storefront south of San Francisco. Los Angeles Patients & Caregivers Group opened on the same day. Leafly regrets the error.


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Workation | Global travel trend amid lockdown
Apr 25, 2021
Coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns left corporates with no choice but to operate remotely. The employees working on sites had to work from home for the longest time. And now with the second wave of COVID-19, the work from home trend doesn't seem to end anytime soon. Severity of the situation did confine people to their tables and chairs at home, which was definitely a little different from a traditional office setup. But one thing that gained popularity amidst this pandemic as soon as restrictions were lifted was that people started booking resorts, villas, hotels in remote places contributing towards a new global trend of "Workation".
Lockdown turned vacations into workations and several accommodations across the country and globe started promoting this trend. The essentials for workation comprises all COVID protocols in place, strong WiFi, mobile network and food. The workation gives all the feels of a vacation with work included.
In late 2020, people started booking places in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Goa, Coorg, Kerala, Uttarakhand etc. to escape the feeling of being locked in at one place for months together. As most people were isolating at home, travelling did seem like a rescue so workations became popular. Even the thought of waking up in the middle of majestic mountains or serene beaches helped many to kick anxiety and fear out of the door.
Since a major chunk of the year was spent in lockdown, people wanted to travel so when restrictions were lifted last year, people chose to turn work-from-home opportunity into workation.
Travelling in these tough times comes with its own challenges and it majorly depends on the respondents to take more precautions and create normality for themselves.
With the second wave of coronavirus in 2021, it is an established fact that working remotely has entered the mainstream so people will have to combine leisure and work in their own ways again. Definitely, travellers would prefer visiting lesser known destinations over crowded places like last year. The alternative destinations will be preferred in 2021 also once restrictions are uplifted.
The pandemic has also helped people to question their choices and its impact on locals and surroundings. Coronavirus might have halted 2020 and 2021 travel plans but "workation trend" is here to stay for the longer term. People will also decide to opt for sustainable travel options in future.
The global travel trends are being revised amidst pandemic and lockdowns. Since tourism is a major economic contributor, there is a possibility in near future for people to travel with vaccine certificates to prove their immunity. Multiple surveys conducted by various travel aggregators suggest that more than 70 percent of travellers will think twice to spend money on travelling and even if they decide so, people will choose lesser-known domestic destinations only.


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Extra fees mislead consumers about real prices.
"Adult tickets $19! Kids from $10." That was the "special" pre-purchase price advertised for seats to a game at Wellington's stadium. Squint and you could make out the words "booking fees apply". These fees meant you couldn't buy a ticket for the price claimed.
It's been dubbed "drip pricing" – the practice of adding extra fees to the advertised price of goods and services. Ticket touts aren't the only offenders.
On top of the $299 headline price for a flight from Auckland to Rarotonga, Harvey World Travel charges a $24.95 online booking fee per person. Rival House of Travel charges a $14.95 per person online booking fee for a flight to the same destination.
You may not discover these types of add-ons until you've trawled through the fine print. And if you're buying products online, the extra fees and charges may not be revealed until you've almost reached the end of the payment process.
Companies use drip pricing because it makes consumers more likely to buy. Research by Vicki Morwitz and Shelle Santana from New York University has found consumers are more likely to buy when the headline price excludes mandatory fees. Conversely, they're less likely to purchase when fees are disclosed up-front.
A 2011 report by the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) also points to "a compelling range of evidence" that drip pricing reduces the extent to which consumers shop around because it makes comparing full-price offers more difficult. By the time the extra fees are revealed, consumers are also more likely to be committed to the deal.
While drip pricing isn't new, it's becoming increasingly common. The Commerce Commission says there's a "growing trend" for traders to separate out additional charges from the headline price, creating the impression that products are available more cheaply.
The commission has identified drip pricing in the promotion of airfares, motor vehicles, rental cars and telco services. It’s found that "in some of these areas significant costs continue to be separated off from the headline prices, complicating consumer decisions".
A favourite of car dealers is to advertise new vehicles at prices that exclude compulsory on-road costs. These costs, which include paying to register the vehicle for the first time, can add hundreds of dollars to the purchase price. A 12-month registration fee for a petrol-driven 2000cc car is $431.06; a diesel vehicle costs $560.92. On top of that, you may be up for road-user charges if you're buying a diesel car.
If you pay for products with a credit or debit card, you could also face extra charges.
Since Air New Zealand introduced its card-payment surcharge in 2010, the fee has doubled from $2 to $4 per passenger for each one-way domestic trip. Jetstar has increased its charges from $2 to $5 over the same period. Both airlines levy higher card-payment fees for international travel.
Until 2009, a "no surcharge rule" prevented retailers from passing on fees they were charged by the banks for card transactions. But after the Commerce Commission brought proceedings alleging anti-competitive arrangements, the credit-card companies and banks agreed to withdraw this rule.
The demise of the no-surcharge rule was expected to reduce costs to consumers as card issuers would come under pressure to lower their fees. However, price reductions haven't necessarily been passed on to consumers elsewhere.
Australia ended its no-surcharge rule in 2003. But the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has found a "surprisingly high" number of retailers have responded by charging excessive fees. RBA figures show that card surcharges have been increasing even though merchant fees – the amount the retailer pays to their bank – have dropped. According to the RBA, the average merchant service fee for Visa and MasterCard is around 0.8 percent but the average surcharge is closer to 2 percent.
This has led to concerns that the surcharges are being used for revenue gathering rather than to cover costs – and the RBA has now announced rule changes to limit both credit- and debit-card surcharges to the "reasonable cost" of card acceptance.
It’s not hard to find fees on this side of the Tasman that are above the Australian average:
- Ticket agent Ticketek applies a card-processing fee of between 2.45 to 2.6 percent for certain events. Ticketmaster charges a fee of up to 2.3 percent for selected events. Both also charge a separate "transaction fee" for bookings.
- Fly with Air New Zealand on a $138 "Grabaseat" return flight from Auckland to Wellington and the card-payment fee will add over 5 percent to the total cost. (You can avoid this fee by using internet banking, Travelcard or Airpoints Dollars to pay for your tickets.)
- Book a flight with Jetstar on a similarly priced deal and card surcharges will add another 6 percent to the cost. (You can avoid Jetstar's surcharge if you pay by internet banking, voucher or Jetstar MasterCard.)
The Commerce Commission says it's begun work to evaluate the impact of changes to the MasterCard and Visa card schemes since the settlements reached in 2009.
The Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading representations about price. But the Act hasn't been effective at regulating drip pricing. We believe "all-inclusive pricing" rules are needed. All-inclusive pricing would force companies to disclose the full purchase price upfront.
Australia already has these provisions. Companies there are prohibited from advertising a component of the price without prominently showing the total amount the consumer has to pay.
Law changes due to take effect in the EU in 2014 will also require traders to clearly disclose the total cost of the product as well as any extra fees. In addition, surcharges for credit- and debit-card payments will be restricted to the actual cost of card acceptance. We'd like to see the same rule here. At present, there are no specific regulations governing card-payment fees.
Here are some examples of drip pricing we found:
Above and below, fees mean you can't buy a ticket for the price claimed.
Below, a favourite of car dealers is to advertise new vehicles at prices that exclude compulsory on-road costs.
Below, extra fees and charges may be waiting in the fine print when making website bookings.
- Price is a key factor in consumers' purchasing decisions. But drip pricing misleads consumers about the real price they have to pay. "All-inclusive pricing" rules are needed to clamp down on these practices.
- Retailers need to be upfront about credit- and debit-card surcharges. The consumer’s costs should be the same as the seller’s costs for accepting card payments. Otherwise, sellers are just double-dipping.
Report by Jessica Wilson.
Telcos are notorious for it – using pricing that's so confusing you almost need a maths degree to work out if you can get a better deal by switching. It's a state of affairs that's been dubbed a "confusopoly". Former Telecom CE Theresa Gattung famously talked of employing confusion as a marketing tool.
A revised Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code in Australia is attempting to tackle the problem by requiring telcos to display "unit prices". From this year, most print ads for mobile phones will have to display standard charges for a two-minute national call, a standard text and 1MB of data. From March 2013, telcos will also have to provide potential customers with a two-page "critical information summary" setting out key terms and conditions, including standard charge information.
The code has been revamped following a public inquiry by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The authority expects the code will provide better protection for "long suffering telco consumers". Long-suffering consumers on this side of Tasman would benefit from similar protections.
Misleading prices file
Our members share their experiences of misleading pricing.
Got an example of misleading pricing? Let us know: [email protected]
Really quite fine print
12 August 2013 An ad for tickets to a Hurricanes v Highlanders game in Wellington in July 2013 has brought new meaning to the words "fine print". Read more.
Misleading ticket prices
30 May 2013 Anyone who wanted to see the Warriors vs Bulldogs game in Wellington last month would have found it impossible to pay only the advertised $25. Read more.
A night at the opera or a day at the music festival will cost more than just the advertised ticket price.
Need our help?
The Consumer Advice Line is available to all our members for support on any consumer-related issue. Our expert advisers can explain your rights and help you resolve problems. Become a member now from just $12 and we'll help you get a resolution.


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Nevada recreational marijuana sales are declining because they’re still running out, according to that state’s taxing authority.
An August 10 written determination by Nevada Dept. of Taxation Executive Director Deonne Contine, the agency found recreational cannabis sales are down 20-30% “because they simply cannot meet demand.”
“The variety of products being offered has declined as much as 65% due to the inability to have products picked up and delivered by distributors,” the filing also said.
Contine wrote there is a concern people may return to purchasing recreational marijuana on the black market if retail stores are unable to meet demand. Colorado has recorded 5% sales increases every month since it began recreational sales in 2014, and the agency believes Nevada could do more because it has a larger tourism industry.
Since recreational cannabis sales were allowed in Nevada, stores have recorded brisk business. But because of issues getting product distributed to stores, shelves have started running out. Retailers are demanding delivery seven days a week, eight to 10 times a day. Right now, deliveries take seven to 14 days, the report said.
The Nevada Dept. of Taxation has passed emergency regulations for marijuana distribution. The state is also in the midst of a legal battle with liquor distributors over who can supply marijuana, with court hearings ongoing.
Right now, the closest licensed recreational marijuana dispensary to Utah is in Mesquite, a 45-minute drive from St. George. West Wendover’s City Council recently approved an ordinance in support of establishing a licensed dispensary. The city will soon begin taking bids for a facility with a potential opening by the end of this year.
West Wendover is about 90 minutes from Salt Lake City.
Read the Nevada Dept. of Taxation’s written determination here:


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Mexico-based company acquires Sheboygan’s JL French
SHEBOYGAN — A company based in Mexico has acquired Sheboygan’s “JL French.”
French makes automotive castings, and has six factories worldwide, employing about 1,900 people.
The CEO says the transaction provides long-term financial support.
The Mexican company is called “Newak,” with 18,000 employees worldwide.
The deal must be approved by regulators before it becomes official.


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Hungarian “digital-first” luxury brand Kincsem has revealed that it has appointed CALLUM to design its new electrified hypercar. Callum, headed by Ian Callum CBE, has been given “an empowering and open brief” for the new luxury car. The final design will be revealed later this year.
The Kimcsem brand is said to bring the world’s best talent together with the latest technology to develop beautifully designed, high-performance products.
The Hyper-GT will be Kimcsem’s first product, but they expect to expand their portfolio into several other segments, including finance and AI. They also intend to launch a similarly-powered luxury SUV to complement the electrified hypercar.
The name Kimcsem is derived from a Hungarian racehorse that was undefeated over its career of 54 races. In tribute, the Hyper-GT will be restricted to just 54 production models. Production will take place in the UK.
“Our pioneering approach to digital technology allows us to create without constraints and place the individual at the center of the design process. Our customers will experience new levels of dynamic personalization that has never before been possible,” comments Tibor Bak, the Swiss-based Hungarian founder of Kincsem. “The Kincsem Hyper-GT, designed by Ian Callum, will bring together new modes of digital integration into development, design, manufacture and ownership.”
Engine power is said to be from a Formula One-derived hybrid unit. Autocar reports that the powertrain may feature four electric motors, with possibly a V10 engine acting as a range-extender. The publication also says that the engine will be developed by a company that is already known for its association with F1, while the chassis will also be designed by a British marque. They also mentioned that the hypercar will be similar in size and layout to Jaguar’s stillborn C-X75.
“With Kincsem, we have that rare privilege to not only create a beautiful car, but also form a design language for an innovative luxury brand,” says Ian Callum. “Refreshingly, Kincsem has said there are no rules, enabling us to pose the question ‘If we could do whatever we wanted, what would we do?’. That’s one of the most invigorating opportunities for any designer. The team at Callum is extremely excited to start work.”


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Port operator HIT seeks to clarify 'misleading' ad from strikers
The strike-hit port operator placed its third advertisement in newspapers on Tuesday, saying it needed to offer “the truth behind twisted remarks” earlier made by the strike organiser.
In the heavily worded advertisement, the Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) said that the advertisement placed by strike organiser Union of Hong Kong Dockers was “misleading” and that it needed to offer clarification.
The HIT advertisement criticised the union and union leader Lee Cheuk-yan for changing their statements about dockers’ pay rise in the past years.
It said that the unionists said at the beginning of the strike – on its 27th day on Tuesday – that the dockers’ pay at present is worse that what they got in 1997.
“But they later changed their mind and said it is not up to the 1995 pay level,” the advertisement said.
The ad said the pay level at present is actually better than in 1997, but did not say if it is better than in 1995.
It also emphasised that crane operators can get rest within their 12-hour shifts, fending off claims by the union that they get no rest at all.
It also criticised the union’s advertisement for misleading the public by saying Hutchion Port Holdings – of which HIT is under – made HK$780 million in profit last year.
HIT’s advertisement said this amount of profit is from all of the 52 ports from 26 countries under Hutchison Port. Profit made by HIT was less than one tenth of this amount.
Meanwhile, the 450 striking dockers will meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss their next step.


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Digitalization of automotive repair and component sales, complemented with advanced technology incorporations in the automobile aftermarket component manufacturing, is expected to boost the market growth.
Employment opportunities abound in Class 8 vehicles, especially for those who are properly trained in servicing electronics, frames, suspensions, collision damage and other skills beyond engine repairs.
China, the U.S. and Europe were the three main markets, amounting to 90 percent of all the electric vehicles sold. China remained the largest market in 2016, accounting for more than 40 percent of global EV sales.
A rise in innovative business models and services such as e-retailing, telematics and connected car systems, and e-stores are factors propelling demand and creating value for customers in a price-sensitive market.
The border adjustment tax, which would impose a 20 percent tax on imports, has the support of House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans, but is opposed by others in the party and several import-heavy industries including auto manufacturers, dealers and parts suppliers.
Avoiding costly violations, examining fundamentals of the U.S. auto market and analyzing big data in the auto sector were topics of three speakers at the NACE Automechanika Business Outlook Conference today.
Dozens of bills were introduced by numerous states related to connected vehicles. The varying standards create a regulatory quagmire for companies that want to build vehicles that can be driven in all 50 U.S. states.
Amazon must have loved announcing that major traditional aftermarket suppliers have agreed to support their new push. Now that almost all items are available through Amazon Marketplace, direct selling of most popular SKUs to Amazon is snowballing.
Aftermarket suppliers need to become holistic solution providers and extend their capabilities beyond manufacturing by incorporating digital innovations in their channels to market, including distribution, sales and service.
Customer demands for expedited delivery and e-commerce capabilities have put new pressures on the supply chain. Shippers have to be able to provide rapid (often same-day) delivery of goods with a high level of visibility for customers.
Bosch North American Regional President Colin Fielding recently provided information about the company’s worldwide electric vehicle (EV) efforts in response to a series of questions posed by Aftermarket Business World.
Joe Madden, principal analyst at Mobile Experts, discusses the company's report on automotive Internet of Things (IoT) devices, in which the firm predicted that overall wireless IoT module shipments for automotive will triple by 2021.
The U.S. automotive aftermarket is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.6 percent through 2020, according to the “2017 Joint Channel Forecast Model” produced jointly by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) and the Auto Care Association.
Aftermarket V2V devices will play a big role in determining how quickly autonomous vehicles become successful. But just how big a role will be determined by how the intricacies of the proposed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) standard work out.
Automotive eRetailers in the Americas are redrawing the boundaries of aftermarket service through innovative business models and transforming automotive product sellers into end-to-end solution providers.


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Ford study suggests most Americans don’t know nothin’ about EVs
As Ford amps up its electric-vehicle campaign in advance of the launch of the electric F-150, it has been trying to get an idea of where people are in terms of acceptance and understanding of the EV market.
As part of the brand’s research into the emerging market, it funded a study that polled drivers across international car markets to see just how much or little they understood about EVs.
Read the whole news at driving.ca


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Apple Confirms It Has Already Been Scanning iCloud Mail to Combat Child Exploitation
Eric Friedman, head of Apple's Fraud Engineering Algorithms and Risk unit, puzzled many earlier this month when he claimed that the tech giant has "the greatest platform for distributing child porn." His curious statement has provoked several questions for Apple regarding user privacy, phone scans and the details of its new anti-child abuse effort.
As Apple seeks to detect and report potential child abuse imagery, the tech giant also appears to be coming clean about the scope, and duration of its surveillance on users.
The company confirmed to Apple-centered outlet 9To5Mac that its plan to periodically scan users' iCloud photos and iCloud backups for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) is only partially new, as Apple - has been routinely scanning both incoming and outgoing iCloud mail for such content.
Apple's email surveillance has been active since 2019, and would apply to those using the Mail app on an iOS-enabled device.
The company's admission came in response to 9To5Mac probing the anti-fraud chief's claim that Apple was "the greatest platform for distributing child porn."
The outlet, like many privacy advocates, questioned how Apple would know about the distribution of such content without conducting some form of surveillance.
Apple did not address Friedman's comments directly, but did highlight the scanning of users' iCloud mail, as well as the scanning of "other data," which does not refer to iCloud backups.
Some hundreds of CSAM reports are submitted each year.
Based on Apple's response, it is possible the anti-fraud chief was using known data to make inferences about other exploitative content that exists on its platform.
Apple's planned rollout of new surveillance capabilities has also been slammed by an international coalition of civil and policy rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Privacy International, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Access Now.
The group asserted that the expanded capabilities could be "used to censor protected speech, threaten the privacy and security of people around the world, and have disastrous consequences for many children."
Concerns about the security of iMessage's end-to-end encryption were also raised.
"Once this backdoor feature is built in, governments could compel Apple to extend notification to other accounts, and to detect images that are objectionable for reasons other than being sexually explicit," the coalition argued.


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There is some big news brewing over in West Chester—a group of committed volunteers are in the early planning stages of developing a community-owned, full-service cooperative grocery store.
Food co-ops are member-owned and -controlled and membership is open to all. While the store will be open to the public, the members will determine the direction and development of the store and its services. Co-ops encourage member participation and feedback, and operate to meet member-determined goals. The growing food co-op movement is making it possible for consumers to take back control of their own food supply.
The West Chester Food Co-op has already reached out to vendors at The West Chester Growers Market to offer new opportunities for local producers to reach more consumers. Additionally, the West Chester Food Co-op hopes to support community efforts at hunger relief, nutrition education, environmental protection, and other issues to benefit the region.
Interested in getting involved in their start-up efforts? The co-op is looking for volunteers who are savvy in social media, IT and web design, community outreach, communications, marketing, and graphic design.
Additionally, there are opportunities to assist with leadership in the development of the co-op by participating on the steering committee or assuming a sub-committee role.
The co-op is holding a meeting on Monday, August 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the West Chester Municipal Building, Room 240 (401 East Gay St., West Chester) to review and adopt the steering committee charter and elect steering committee members.
Some fun and informative events are currently in the works, too. On August 7, the co-op will have a table at Swingin’ Summer Thursday, a festival for the whole family that features great food, live music, clowns, dancers and more from 6:30–9:30 p.m. between Gay and Darlington Streets.
On September 11, join the co-op for happy hour from 5–8 p.m. in the St. Andrews room at Church of the Holy Trinity (212 S. High St., West Chester). Enjoy a buffet featuring local food, local beer and music. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.


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Lucid Motors plans to manufacture its Lucid Air in Casa Grande, Arizona. (Photo provided by Lucid Motors)
Land Advisors sells 80 acres for $800M Lucid Motors plant
Land Advisors Organization’s broker Kirk McCarville represented the Buyer, Pinal County, in the transaction of 80 acres from Vernon Lester Barnes on December 21, 2018.
The 80 acres are being used by Lucid Motors to develop an $800 million plant, with engineers planning to break ground in March or April of this year. In the next 4-5 years, Lucid Motors is expected to employee 2,000 people in the Pinal area, to help with production of the Lucid Air Car.
For more information regarding the Pinal market and more specifically this transaction, contact Kirk McCarville at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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While Ottawa will soon nix pre-arrival PCR testing for short trips abroad, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable is continuing its cross-country campaign that calls for the removal of mandatory pre-departure PCR testing for fully vaccinated travellers.
The Roundtable, a cross-Canadian coalition of leaders in the tourism and travel sector, joined travel and hospitality leaders in Quebec on Wednesday (Nov. 24) to amplify its message to Ottawa.
The groups say that mandatory pre-departure PCR testing for fully vaccinated travellers to Canada is a major obstacle for international visitors and prevents Quebec's ability to showcase itself to the world.
Quebec business, sport and cultural leaders – including leaders from the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, Clarion Pointe Aéroport Québec and Croisières AML– joined the Roundtable in calling on the feds to remove the pre-departure PCR test policy for fully-vaxxed visitors – regardless of trip duration.
For decades, international visitors have flocked to Quebec during the winter to to experience its unique and world-renowned events such as the Carnaval de Quebec, the Hôtel de Glace and the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, the Roundtable said.
“International visitors have significant positive knock-on effects for the broader Quebec economy,” the Roundtable said in a release on Wednesday. “Without international visitors the survival of local events and businesses is being threatened.”
Quebec's tourism industry supports 402,000 jobs and more than 30,159 businesses, more than two-thirds of which are located outside the Quebec City and Montreal region, according to the Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Quebec.
The vast majority of these businesses are small businesses, with 82.4% having fewer than 20 employees. It is estimated that for every dollar spent by tourists, approximately $0.70 benefits the Quebec economy.
Pre-departure PCR tests for arrivals into Canada runs counter to the recommendations made by the Canadian federal government's COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel, which, in May, concluded that fully vaccinated travellers should not require a pre-departure test for a trip of any duration.
Recent changes by the federal government removing the PCR test requirement for those that have been outside of Canada for less than 72 hours “does nothing to help Quebec businesses,” the Roundtable said.
“Travel measures should be based on a traveller's vaccination status and should be consistent with the recommendation of the government's Expert Panel,” the Roundtable said. “The Canadian government's mandatory pre-departure PCR test to enter the country leads international travellers to do business elsewhere and hurts international tourism and our local economy.”
Rally the troops
The Roundtable’s campaign to end pre-arrival PCR testing ramped up on Oct. 28 at a press conference in Toronto, where Wendy Paradis, president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA), travel advisor Lorraine Simpson and Michael MacKenzie, executive director of Canadian Snowbird Association, explained how pre-arrival testing is impacting the seniors market.
A second press conference was held on Nov. 4 to highlight how barriers, like pre-arrival testing, disproportionately impact average Canadian families.
Then it was off to Banff, Alberta on Nov. 9 to explain how “unnecessary” barriers to travel are threatening the success of Alberta's ski season.
Then, on Nov. 11, a press conference was held in Vancouver to present how pre-departure testing is “threatening the survival of Vancouver businesses and freezing business travel.”
Following Ottawa’s decision to allow Canadians to return home without having to show a negative molecular (PCR) test for trips 72 hours or less, a change that kicked in Nov. 30, the Roundtable has said that Ottawa is “trying to solve one problem by creating another.”
The group argues that the change creates a “significant disadvantage for Canadian businesses that rely on American travel into Canada” by incentivizing one-way travel south of the border as Americans still require a pre-arrival PCR test to visit Canada.
"Canada stands alone as the only country in the world that is basing its travel rules on trip duration rather than vaccination status,” said Beth Potter, co-chair of the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable and President & CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, last week. “To help rebuild Canada's tourism industry we need testing requirements that are consistent with those in place in other countries. And we need to harmonize those requirements across all modes of transportation be it by plane, car, boat, coach or train.”


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Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: ATI) reported fourth quarter 2012 sales of $1.10 billion and net income of $10.5 million, or $0.10 per share, which includes a special charge of $8.8 million, or $0.08 per share. Fourth quarter 2012 net income excluding the special charge was $19.3 million, or $0.18 per share. The fourth quarter 2012 special charge reflects asset write-downs in the Engineered Products segment associated with consolidating casting facilities.
In the fourth quarter 2011, ATI reported net income of $31.7 million, or $0.29 per share, on sales of $1.25 billion. Fourth quarter 2011 results were impacted by restructuring and Ladish acquisition expenses, which reduced earnings by $2.8 million, or $0.02 per share.
For the full year 2012, net income was $158.4 million, or $1.43 per share, on sales of $5.03 billion. Net income for the full year 2012 excluding the fourth quarter special charge was $167.2 million, or $1.51 per share.
For the full year 2011, net income was $214.3 million, or $1.97 per share, on sales of $5.18 billion. Results for 2011 included $29.6 million of charges, net of tax, for Ladish acquisition expenses, accelerated recognition of equity compensation due to executive retirements, and restructuring and start-up expenses, which reduced earnings by $0.26 per share.“The fourth quarter 2012 was negatively impacted by headwinds resulting from uncertain global economic conditions,” said Rich Harshman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We saw continued conservative inventory management throughout the supply chains of most of our major end markets. These actions appear to have been driven by near-term concerns about the U.S. economy related to resolution of U.S. fiscal policy issues and challenging economic conditions in Europe, Japan, and to a lesser extent China. While these headwinds are creating challenging short-term conditions, we remain optimistic about the long-term growth opportunities in many of our global markets.”
- ATI’s sales to the key global markets of aerospace and defense, oil and gas/chemical process industry, electrical energy, and medical represented 67% of ATI sales for 2012:
- Sales to the aerospace and defense markets were $1.62 billion and represented 32% of ATI sales.
- Sales to the oil and gas/chemical process industry were $956 million and represented 19% of ATI sales.
- Sales to the electrical energy market were $600 million and represented 12% of ATI sales.
- Sales to the medical market were $224 million and represented 4% of ATI sales.
- Direct international sales were $1.8 billion and represented 36% of ATI 2012 sales.


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Businesses in one of Nottingham’s oldest traditional shopping centres say they are struggling to survive due to the landlord’s decision to close the top half of the building back in April 2023.
The arcade was once a popular cut through for the public but can now only be accessed from Angel Row, and the shop owners claim the impact of this has caused a decline in customers for those of them still operating.
According to traders, footfall has fallen by seventy-five percent, causing some shops to go days without seeing any customers.
Semera Zengin, from Tk Hair Salon Turkish says she has been feeling the effects of the upstairs closure.
“My business is now not very good because this gate is closed.
“There were people coming round before but now there are not any people,” she said.
These pressures have been felt across the arcade.
Kenneth Springer, manager of The Royal Natty said business has been down by about three quarters since the closure of the gate.
“There is no footfall through here so nobody knows that we are here in the arcade,” he said
“I rang them up and told them they could not do this legally or morally”
– David rose
These shop owners say the decision to close the top floor of the building felt very sudden and some of them were forced to quickly find a new space for their business.
David, who owns Music Inn Records, was previously located in the upstairs of the arcade but moved downstairs after the top half was shut.
David said the landlord gave us a month of notice, and I rang them up and told them they could not do that legally or morally.
“We are running businesses so we need at least three months notice,” he said.
However, now he is settled in his new location there have been some positives.
“I hate to say it but its actually worked in my favour because a lot of people think I have just moved in here.
“They didn’t know I was upstairs because upstairs was little bit left out,” he said.
The West End Arcade:
- The arcade first opened in 1926, making it Nottingham’s oldest shopping arcade
- The top floor was added in the 1960’s
- There was an escalator that connected the two floors but was removed after an incident in 2012
- The top and bottom floor are owned by two separate companies
Although Nottingham City Council own the building, they lease the building long term to a Salford based company and have stated that they do not have any say in how the building is run.
The property company who run the arcade didn’t want to comment on the subject.
Although the shopping centre is only half the size it used to be, the shops downstairs continue to trade in the historic space.


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With Y7 being the latest release Huawei is stepping up their game by releasing phones with astonishing features while being in the budget. With 7A releasing previous year the next phone in the Honor XA series, that is, the Huawei Honor 8A design renders are just leaked on the Internet.
Huawei Honor 8A Specifications and Design Renders Leaked!
Design wise the phone is not that different from other phones released just a few months ago. The phone which the renders resemble the most is Enjoy 9, Y7 Pro, Honor 8X Max. The phone features a 13MP single rear camera along with mediocre specifications. Considering the specifications, the Huawei Honor 8A will be a budget phone probably the cheapest phone by Huawei in 2019.
Here are the leaked specifications of Honor 8A
- Display: 6.09-inch IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution (1560×720 pixels and 283ppi)
- Dimensions: 56.28×73.5×8.0mm
- OS: Android 9 (Pie) + EMUI 9.0
- CPU: 2.3GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P35 chipset (MT6765)
- RAM: 3GB
- Storage: 32/64GB + MicroSD support (up to additional 512GB)
- 8MP with f/2.0 aperture
- 13MP with f/1.8 aperture
- 1080p Video Recording
- Battery: 3020mAh
- Sim: Dual sim supported
- Model Numbers: JAT-AL00, JAT-TL00, and JAT-L29
The phone seems to be the downgrade of Honor 7A and interestingly, there will be no fingerprint scanner this time around. The phones with either have a glass back or plastic but not a metallic body.
Huawei Honor 8A Design Renders
Here is the leaked Honor 8A design renders. [Photo credits: DroidShout]
Huawei Honor 8A Launch Date
The Honor 8A will be first launched in China on January 8 and then in the rest of the world. Let us know what do you think about the Honor 8A down in the comments below.


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Pudgy Penguins, a prominent NFT collection, has joined forces with Unstoppable Domains to introduce “.pudgy” domain names. This collaboration, unveiled on February 23, permits Unstoppable Domains customers to acquire top-level domain names ending in “.pudgy,” which can be linked with Pudgy Penguin NFTs.
This integration presents a plethora of possibilities for domain holders, including the capacity to transmit and receive web3 messages, conduct cryptocurrency transactions between domain addresses, and obtain exclusive utility badges via the new domains.
Sandy Carter, the COO at Unstoppable Domains, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to welcome Pudgy Penguins, a genuine trailblazer and a formidable brand, into the Unstoppable Domains family. This collaboration isn’t just about adding another domain; it’s about embracing a community that embodies the essence of Web3 and the evolution of digital identity.”
Unstoppable Domains to Launch Pudgy Ambassador Program
Additionally, Unstoppable Domains has introduced the Pudgy Ambassador Program and the Pudgy Storytelling Campaign to enhance community involvement further.
The Ambassador Program seeks to designate ambassadors from among Pudgy’s esteemed community members. These ambassadors will advocate for the adoption of “.pudgy” domain names and will be rewarded with exclusive Pudgy Ambassador badges.
Simultaneously, the Storytelling Campaign encourages users to craft and share content related to Pudgy on various social media platforms.
Every month, Unstoppable Domains will select community Storytellers to feature on its website, rewarding winners with multiple complimentary “.pudgy” domains.
Unstoppable Domains is renowned for offering easily recognizable domain names that can be linked to wallet addresses, allowing users to unify their digital identity across the web3 ecosystem. Instead of relying on intricate alphanumeric strings for cryptocurrency wallet addresses, individuals can associate their wallets with straightforward domain addresses ending in web3-focused extensions like “.crypto,” “.eth,” or now, “.pudgy.”
With the introduction of “.pudgy” domains, Unstoppable Domains enriches its partner lineup to encompass the tenth top-level domain.
Pudgy Penguins Sees Surge in Trading Volume
The announcement comes following a prosperous month for Pudgy Penguins. The collection witnessed a surge in popularity, briefly eclipsing the renowned Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) in terms of floor price, as reported by NftPriceFloor.
Currently, the floor price for Pudgy Penguins stands at 19 ETH, indicating a 25% increase since the start of February. In USD, the collection is valued at $56,540 after an impressive 66% rally.
With a market capitalization of $504 million, Pudgy Penguins currently holds the third position, trailing only CryptoPunks with $1.6 billion and BAYC with $651.7 million.
In addition, Pudgy Penguins recently unveiled an expansion of its collectible toy line across 1,100 new Walmart locations, bringing the total number of stores carrying Pudgy toys to 3,100.
In addition to this expansion, the project introduced 30 new toy designs. Noteworthy among these toys is the inclusion of QR codes, enabling buyers to unlock digital traits and collectibles within Pudgy World, the project’s ZkSync Era-based open-world game.
Moreover, Pudgy holders whose NFTs are represented as toys sold in-store will receive royalties from sales through the OverpassIP platform. This platform streamlines the licensing process and enhances real-world utility and value for Pudgy holders.


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Usually parking on campus is a burden, but last Sunday the parked cars attracted students who are excited by high-end hot rods.
The SuperCar Sunday event in Parking Lot 7 was filled with Ferraris, Bentleys, Porsches, Corvettes and Jeeps.
Dustin Troyan, the founder of SuperCar Sunday and former Pierce College student, was in charge of overseeing the event.
SuperCar Sunday was originally created around 20 years ago, according to Troyan. He founded the event while he was attending college and working at a coffee shop. He said the coffee shop had a large parking lot, so he decided to try and start a car show, and after many years, it has become the SuperCar Sunday event.
Troyan said that SuperCar Sunday is a good event because it allows people to come together as a community.
“I love seeing people happy,” Troyan said. “I love the event. I love the location. This is how the world is meant to be, if you look around, you have every race, religion, color, age and multi-generational families out here, and you know what we are doing, we are getting along. It is people coming together trying to enjoy friendship.”
Chris Marechal, a SuperCar Sunday attendee who was showing off his 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback, said he enjoys coming because it allows people who are interested in the same thing to come together.
“The car community, in general, is tight. We all have a common interest. We could be polar opposites on political matters, but when it comes to cars and we stay focused on that, we are all good friends and a large family,” Marechal said.
The event started at 7 a.m. and went until 11. There was a food truck serving coffee and breakfast, and a station where a man was selling his collection of toy cars.
Troyan said that SuperCar Sunday happens weekly unless there is rain or other issues, such as fires. He also said that this second year that they have been using Pierce to hold the event.
Some people came to show off their cars for the first time in public, some came to try and sell their cars, some came to try to promote their automobile businesses and some people who do not even have cars came just to check out things.
One car that was on display was the Raesr Tachyon Speed, own and built by Eric Rice, an attendee. Rice said that he spent more than four years building the car from the ground up. He said that the car currently has 1250 horsepower and reaches a top speed of more than 250 mph. Rice also said that his car is currently worth more than $1 million. Rice said he chose to bring out his car to help support SuperCar Sunday and the local car scene.
Troyan said that SuperCar Sunday allows anyone to come and check out the cars, which helps people to connect with each other.
“Something about SuperCar Sunday that is really unique is that we get everyone here, from celebrities to billionaires, down to people that don’t have cars,” Troyan said. “This event brings more people together weekly in the San Fernando Valley than any other event that I am aware of.”
On Sunday, Dec. 1, Troyan and SuperCar Sunday are hosting the event Motor-4-Toys, a charity car show and toy drive, at Pierce.


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NEW YORK (AP) — American Express swung to a fourth-quarter profit, the credit card company said Thursday, helped by a lower tax rate and more spending on the company’s namesake credit cards.
The New York-based company earned $2.01 billion, or $2.32 a share, compared with a loss of $1.21 billion, or $1.42 a share, from the same period a year earlier. Like other financial companies, American Express’ results a year ago were impacted by the passage of the new tax law, which required AmEx to make an accounting adjustment.
AmEx’s net income for the latest quarter came in well above analysts’ expectations, which were looking for the company to earn $1.80 a share, according to FactSet.
American Express continues to face a much more competitive industry, with big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup creating their own premium credit card products to compete with AmEx.
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In response AmEx has had to offer more rewards and perks with its cards. It spent $2.52 billion on rewards in the fourth quarter, up 11 percent from a year earlier.
But in the fact of more competition, AmEx has been able to encourage more customers to open accounts and spend more on its cards. AmEx card members spent $309 billion on their cards in the quarter, up 6 percent from a year earlier, charging an average fee of 2.36 percent on each transaction. It earns a fee every time its cards are used at a merchant. Total cards issued by AmEx were up 7 percent in the U.S., the company’s largest market.
AmEx also has been encouraging its existing customers to revolve a balance as well, a change from the company’s historic business model that focused on getting customers to pay their full balance each month. U.S. card member loans were $72 billion in the quarter, up from $64.5 billion in the same period a year ago.
But as the company has allowed more borrowed money on its cards, it has had to set aside more money to cover potential losses. Provisions for loan losses rose 14 percent to $954 million in the quarter.
Revenue in the quarter was $10.47 billion, less than the $10.58 billion that analysts had been looking for.
AmEx gave a forecast for its full-year 2019 earnings, saying it expects to earn $7.85 to $8.35 a share. Analysts are expecting $8.15 per share, according to FactSet.
The company’s stock slipped $1.73, or 1.7 percent, to $97.76 in after-hours trading following the release of the earnings report.


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Instabang has a 24/7 team on the lookout for nefarious profiles. People are encouraged to report behavior that violates the site rules.
The customer support staff also has a fraud department to ban fake profiles and bots. Our review of the site revealed that the team is reasonably successful in regulating scammers. There is a surprisingly low number of bots and fake accounts for a website this populated.
The profiles on Instabang mainly belong to real people looking to get laid. These people do not falsify profiles. The review found that most of them upgrade their membership to show how serious they are.
Instabang is encrypted to protect it from hackers. There haven’t been major security breaches for the 11 years it has been operational.
Furthermore, Instabang says it doesn’t sell members’ info to third parties. The site doesn’t allow members to post their exact addresses or personal contact info.


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On Saturday, April 27, Baseline Wine and Spirit Co. will be holding its annual Spring Fling fundraiser to raise money for prostate cancer research.
Che Bechard, owner of Baseline Wine and Spirit, has a personal investment in helping fight the disease. After losing his father to prostate cancer 10 years ago, he is dedicated to doing all he can to fight the affliction.
“We’ve raised over $30,000 in the years we have been doing the events,” Bechard said. “It is just a really fun afternoon. Everyone is in a good mood and the store is busy. There is music and food and it is really a great event.”
Baseline Wines, which has been open in Sherwood Park since 1988, is a unique wine boutique. According to the website, its success is cultivated from a passion in wine and working with people. This passion is pouring out in support of those impacted by prostate cancer.
“For me, a big part of the day is just seeing everyone,” Bechard said. “Sometimes you only see people twice a year, but they like to come out and support the event. The reps come out and donate their time and their samples. We have over 25 wines to sample. The minimum donation at the door is $10 and all that donation money goes to the charity.”
There is a two-pronged opportunity here for those that may be curious about the event. Not only is there a silent auction and door prizes, as well as live music, but Bechard believes that this a chance to donate to a good cause, but to also taste some wines that one might not have had the opportunity to in the past.
“We are sort of a niche store,” he said. “A lot of our customers do like to spend money on wine. We don’t want them to not come just because of the types of wine, so we make sure that there is at least one wine at each table that is around $50 retail.
“If you ever wanted to pull $50 on a bottle, it is a great way to try a bunch of wine before you buy.”
The event is from 1 p.m to 5 p.m. Information on the event can be found by calling the store at 780-449-4448.
tap here to see other videos from our team.


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On Monday as I was going through the first edit of my book on automation, I heard of the whopper Microsoft bid for LinkedIn. I then read CEO Jeff Weiner’sletter to employees announcing it.
Josh Bernoff calls the letter creepy. My reaction was more specific to the para below. I asked why is a CEO whose company thrives on recruitment of human employees painting such a dystopian future about jobs? Does LinkedIn think it can provide a safe harbor from all the wreckage it believes is headed our way?
Remember that dystopian view of the future in which technology displaces millions of people from their jobs? It’s happening. In the last three weeks alone, Foxconn announced it will replace 60,000 factory workers with robots, a former CEO of McDonald’s said given rising wages, the same would happen throughout their franchises, Walmart announced plans to start testing drones in its warehouses, and Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous car technology would arrive within two years.
I wanted to send Jeff a copy of the early edit version of my book. My book is pro-automation – in fact it has countless examples of robotic surgeries, drones for inspections at elevations, machine learning in various settings, driverless farming vehicles and on and on. My book also points out automation is gradual – takes years and decades, and works best alongside humans, making them safer, speedier, smarter.
Jeff’s examples just repeat news story headlines. I wonder if he has analyzed any of those scenarios in any detail.
Take the Elon Musk quote. Yes, Musk has said you should be able to summon your car from across the country. Driverless car technology is evolving nicely. It has been for decades. The 1958 Chrysler Imperial first introduced cruise control to the masses. In 1992 Mitsubishi introduced the LIDAR based distance detection system, a building block of many of today’s driverless prototypes. In 1999, Mercedes introduced Distronics assistive cruise control to the world. The DARPA funded Grand Challenges for driverless cars were first held in 2004.
Road infrastructure, on the other hand, has not kept pace. In fact, in response to a Consumer Reports test, Tesla has made changes to its AutoPilot feature to restrict its use on residential roads and roads without a center divider. Lane markings are widely inconsistent across our roads. Delphi, an auto parts manufacturer, took its driverless vehicle on a cross-country trip in 2015. It found that pavement markings are quite different across states in spite of uniform standards. Quite a bit of investment will need to be made in our signals, construction zones and roadside fiber to communicate with driverless cars – this when cities and counties will face a dip in speeding fine revenues when machines will be much more compliant with speed limits.
Our driving laws also need to evolve considerably. In Europe, truck platooning is likely to be an early (as in starting in 2020) use case for autonomous vehicles. Drivers will still be needed—by law they’ll have to keep their hands on the wheel. Platooning will lead to many benefits, but job losses? Not any time soon.
I could go on about driverless vehicles, but let’s next look at the Foxconn point. Foxconn is a remarkably well run company. It has delivered billions of Apple and other devices at high-quality and under unbelievable time constraints. It is always looking for efficiencies and has been trying out its Foxbots for years to supplement over million employees around the world.
Robots can do certain tasks extremely well, especially tasks which are repetitive and unpleasant to humans. But there are countless tasks where humans are still much better. Don’t believe all the hype that robots can do anything.
Japan is the leading maker and consumer of robots, accounting for half of the world’s production. It has the world’s largest concentration of robot engineers. Yet, these world leading experts have tried for five years following the Tohoku earthquake to use robots to clean the radiation at the Fukushima nuclear plant. So far, all the robots sent into the reactors have failed to return.
Let’s look at the McDonald’s point. McDonald’s and its franchisees are always looking for efficiencies in the kitchen, in the drive through, and other processes. Yes, because of the minimum wage hike, there is talk of kiosks to replace human cashiers. It’s already common in Europe. Will it take off in the US? Not a given. Don’t forget the consumer.
I personally use self-service technology everywhere. My research shows, however, shows many consumers are ambivalent about self-service. They have seen banks try to make money off ATMs, airlines off boarding pass kiosks, car rental companies off toll tags. Many want a discount for self service, not have corporations just use it to pad their profits. Still others are resentful of checkout machines which capture a video of their transaction. It is meant to reduce fraud but consumers worry that their privacy is also being compromised.
Here’s a common reaction from a consumer forum.”Part of the cost of an item is to pay for the service of checkout. I’m not going to waste my time and effort, and take someones job in the process, by checking myself out. If self checkout gave you a 5% discount on the total bill, I’d consider it, but otherwise, I’d rather not take someones job.”
The US Postal Service has been puzzled at the relatively low usage of its kiosks even after a decade of availability.Me, I would not wait in line for a postal employee, and prefer using the kiosk, but many consumers prefer not to. I can bet you McDonald’s and other food chains will have to factor this consumer sentiment as they consider kiosks.
Finally about Walmart. Amazon distribution centers have had Kiva robots zip around for years now. Guess what, they still have hundreds of employees in these centers.
Unfortunately, Jeff’s comments are like those being broadcast by way too many academics, analysts and politicians. They are projecting computing curves to job curves. Just because computing power is growing exponentially does not mean a direct, immediate impact on job curves.
In their positions, they should be a lot more careful about what they say. Since so many of them are so confident we are moving into a jobless future, the mood of the common person on the street is pretty gloomy.
I am sorry. I refuse to support their pessimism. My book, which should be out in a few weeks will combat that pessimism in much more detail and show countless examples of well done automation – that which makes humans safer, smarter, speedier.
(Cross-posted @ Deal Architect)


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Why is it harder to get a restaurant reservation in Tampa Bay right now?
TAMPA — Every fall, Jenny Carey secures her family’s vacation reservations. They celebrate New Year’s Eve with dine at Bern’s Steak House, an annual tradition that has been in the making for more than a decade.
This year, Carey’s luck seems to have run out.
“Reservations disappeared in 60 seconds,” she said.
Anyone who’s tried to make last-minute or even regular reservations at Bern knows the Tampa steakhouse has the hardest time, otherwise the hardest tables to get in town. Reservations are offered on a rolling 60-day basis, with a new crop released daily at midnight.
Lately, however, reservations have been faster than usual – sometimes within minutes – which has long-time regulars like Carey wondering who, exactly, is grabbing coveted tables.
Now, a website allowing customers to bid on reservations and a local Facebook group that allows diners to swap tables are creating alternative avenues for those looking to secure seats at the South Tampa restaurant and other locations. difficult to obtain. And not everyone is happy about it.
Local radio station WiLD 94.1 first reported on the Appointment Trader website on October 19, noting that the service allowed potential customers to bid on reservations at some of the world’s most famous restaurants, including that of Bern. News of the site quickly spread on social media, sparking a storm of comments from Tampa Bay residents and Bern worshipers who feared the service had been taken over by bots, rigging the game for fellow diners trying to get reservations the old-fashioned way.
But Bern owner David Laxer said the panic seemed premature.
“I would definitely say that was overkill,” Laxer said.
Since learning their restaurant was listed on the shopping site, Laxer said his team has been monitoring reservations. So far there is no indication that reservations are being taken with the intent to sell or that tables are being booked under one name and then transferred to another.
Laxer said he was in contact with OpenTable, the online reservation platform used by the restaurant. A spokesperson for OpenTable confirmed they were investigating the matter and said that under the company’s terms of service, the resale of reservations or waitlisted places is prohibited.
But Appointment Trader does not use OpenTable or any other online reservation system to sell reservations, which founder Jonas Frey said prevented reservation platforms from being able to shut it down.
Instead, Appointment Trader uses an algorithm to determine the popularity of a certain reservation on a given night. Using this score, the program then assigns a value to the booking, which potential customers can bid on using the website. For example, on a Monday afternoon, a table for the following weekend at Bern might cost $170, while a table for a Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week might start at $75. Once a bid has been placed, a corresponding group of “sellers” can offer reservations to the highest bidder.
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Frey, who also co-founded the social networking app Levels, launched Appointment Trader in Las Vegas in July 2021 for people looking to trade and sell appointments at the Department of Motor Vehicles during the pandemic. The service quickly evolved to focus on restaurants and hotels, listing hard-to-get seats in some of the world’s most sought-after locations, including Carbone New York and Delilah in Las Vegas. Currently, Frey said the success rate is around 30%, which means three out of 10 people who use the site are able to secure a reservation.
So far, Appointment Trader hasn’t been a huge hit in Tampa Bay. In the past six months, only five people have managed to get a reservation at Bern through the website, Frey said. But now that more people are aware of the service, it seems to be gaining traction. Twenty bids totaling $2,260 have been placed in the past 90 days, with 95% of them in the past week following the publication of WiLD 94.1.
Exchanging restaurant reservations for cash isn’t a new practice, but most Tampa Bay restaurateurs say it hasn’t yet created major problems for the local industry.
Frey admitted that his website doesn’t exactly level the playing field for would-be restaurant goers, but allows those who can afford to pay more to secure reservations that would have gone to others. He said the website installs safeguards to discourage scalping, including limiting the number of bookings a seller can offer at one time.
There are also informal commercial spaces that offer restaurant patrons a place to exchange reservations at no cost. Dana Jacobs started the MOSTly Berns Reservations Facebook group in March 2022 after noticing a trend on the Moms of South Tampa group. People were increasingly canceling reservations at Bern and offering them for exchange on the website, enough that Jacobs figured the exchange could use its own page.
The page now has over 1,500 members and is very active, with members posting several times a week, often several times a day.
“It was literally word of mouth,” Jacobs said. “Everyone flocked to this page.”
There are rules: Only posts about Bern reservations are allowed, users can’t exchange money for reservations, and, “if you don’t show up for your reservation, we’ll kick you out,” Jacobs said. Since March, only two people have failed to show up, she said.
Despite the page’s success, it’s still a seller’s market: Jacobs said those looking to transfer restaurant reservations are the most successful.
“Unless we go into a massive market downturn, I think there will always be more demand than supply,” she said.
The fact that Appointment Trader and the MOSTly Bern Facebook group exist indicates a big shift in restaurant reservations, which are skyrocketing at restaurants across the country, including the Tampa Bay area.
Reservations for a weekend table at the famous Italian restaurant Rocca book up two months in advance, often within the first few days of publication. At the upscale Japanese restaurant Koya, reservations are taken a month in advance and are usually made within a few hours of the same day. And at the Edition Hotel’s new gourmet restaurant Lilac, reservations are taken 30 days in advance and currently show no tables available for the following month.
Some have attributed the current reservation craze to Tampa Bay’s sudden population boom. And local restaurants have seen a post-vaccination surge of diners returning to eat out after the early stages of the pandemic.
But there are other factors contributing to stalled bookings, Laxer said.
In March, faced with an ongoing labor shortage, Bern began closing on Mondays, meaning diners had one less day to find a restaurant reservation. And Bern’s dining hall is still not at full capacity, a remnant of the pandemic.
Part of the reservation problem can also be attributed to customer behavior.
“It’s no secret that people make a bunch of reservations at a bunch of restaurants and then cancel them when deciding where they want to eat,” said Bryce Bonsack, owner of Rocca.
“When people don’t show up for reservations, it’s extremely hurtful to the restaurant,” he said.
Bonsack recently remodeled his Tampa Heights restaurant to include more seating, which he hopes will make it easier to get a table. The restaurant can now accommodate 155 people, compared to 118 previously. Rocca’s bookings are also listed on Appointment Trader, something Bonsack said he was “blindly unaware of” until recently. He said he would be “extremely furious and disappointed” to hear that tables were being sold.
“I’m doing a deep dive on our side to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said.
Although restaurant reservations may be harder to come by right now, there are a few hacks.
Restaurants that don’t take reservations are usually easier to find, provided you show up early. And for restaurants that are already booked, showing up at times when other diners usually don’t — around 4:30 p.m. or after 9 p.m. — is a good way to get in. Most restaurants, including Bern’s and Rocca, don’t take reservations for the bar, leaving those seats open for walk-in customers. And simply calling the restaurant and making a reservation over the phone can often yield better results than trying to navigate online platforms, Bonsack said.
Carey, whose family still hopes to snag that Christmas Eve table at Bern’s, said she was disheartened by the experience and unsure if she’ll have to find a new place to dine this year.
“There are a lot of great stories that have come with our traditions in Bern,” she said. “It wasn’t just a Christmas Eve venue, it was a neighborhood venue. And that dynamic seems different now.


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Mon February 11, 2013
The Last Word In Business
Originally published on Mon February 11, 2013 10:41 am
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's move on from pretzels to potato chips with our last word in business. Why not - as in - why not make potato chips that taste like chicken and waffles or cheesy garlic bread?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Or hot sauce? Why not? We imagine that's what someone at Lays Potato Chips said because these chip flavors are apparently real.
MONTAGNE: That's according to the Associated Press, L.A. Times, and a number of folks who say they've already seen the new products in stores and posted photos online - this part of a contest in which customers offer their suggestions for new chip varieties.
INSKEEP: The company is expected to make an official announcement about the winning flavors tomorrow. One must only wonder what some of the rejected ideas were.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
MONTAGNE: And I'm Renee Montagne. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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There’s good news if you’re one of the 75 per cent of Irish people who drink coffee every day.
A new study has found that consuming a moderate amount of coffee daily doesn’t just put a pep in your step – it could also reduce your risk of an early death.
In a nutshell
Researchers in China surveyed the lifestyle and health habits of more than 171,000 people in the UK over a three-year period. They then tracked British death certificates over nearly a decade to find out how many of the participants had died, the Guardian reported.
Those who drank coffee had a significantly lower risk of dying than those who did not. This held up even when factors like age, sex, weight, ethnicity, exercise and smoking habits were taken into account.
The biggest benefit was seen by people who drank between 2.5 and 4.5 unsweetened cups of coffee per day – lowering their risk of death by nearly a third.
But even drinking decaf, instant or coffee with small amounts of added sugar was still found to give life expectancy a boost.
Benefits of coffee
There’s already a wealth of research into the health benefits of a regular brew, which is linked to a lower risk of everything from dementia to certain kinds of cancer.
The beverage can also help people control their weight and blood sugar levels thanks to the metabolic effects of caffeine.
However, the researchers noted more work needs to be done before it can be proven to lengthen your lifespan.
Because the study relied on people reporting how much they drank it might not be completely reliable. Coffee drinking is also more common among wealthier people, who are more likely to have better access to good food, healthcare and exercise.
Dr Christina Wee, deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, said, "Although we cannot definitively conclude that drinking coffee reduces mortality risk, the totality of the evidence does not suggest a need for most coffee drinkers – particularly those who drink it with no or modest amounts of sugar – to eliminate coffee.”
"So drink up, but it would be prudent to avoid too many caramel macchiatos while more evidence brews."


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Friday, November 28, 2008, 01:00 am PT (04:00 am ET)
Apple's Black Friday Sale: $101 off some MacBooks and iMacsApple on Friday morning kicked off its 24-hour Black Friday shopping event with deals largely reminiscent of those from last year. Highlights include up to $101 off some MacBook and iMac models, and $21 off Apple TV, Time Capsule, and iPod touch.
DealNN offers a rundown of the 2008 Apple Black Friday Sale, in which the Mac maker is offering $101 discounts on its latest generation "unibody" MacBooks and a $51 discount on the entry-level $999 white MacBook. Similarly, the company has cut between $51 and $101 off its line of aluminum iMac desktops.
iPod discounts include $11 off 8GB iPod nanos, $21 off iPod classics, and $21 off iPod touches. The same $21 discount can be found on Apple TV and the 500GB Time Capsule.
Other minor but notable Apple product deals include $11 off AirPort Express, $11 off the Apple iPhone Bluetooth headset, $5 off the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, and $5 off the iPhone 3G Dock.
In the third-party creative department, shoppers can find $32 off M-Audio's KeyStudio 49, $202 off Sanyo's Xacti VPC-E2 Waterproof Digital Camcorder, and $102 off the Canon Rebel XS Kit.
For headphones Apple is offering $52 off Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Headphone and $16 off each of the following: Sennheiser PMX 80 Sport II Headphones, Sennheiser MX 85 Sport II Earphones, and Sennheiser OMX 80 Sport II Earphones.
There's also some minor discounts on games, speaker systems and hands free kits.
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Singapore Ready Meals Rising In Popularity
Wednesday, October 25th, 2017 | 2557 Views
Singapore Ready Meals Rising In Popularity Demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) meals has been on the rise as consumer behaviour towards convenience foods grows with busy lifestyles.
The food innovation and resource centre (FIRC) at Singapore Polytechnic, an education institution, has worked on 1,000 projects from 620 companies. These projects range from innovative new food products for the Asian market to new workflow and automation that raise productivity.
To tap on the RTE market, Singapore-based Li Da Foods has partnered with FIRC to translate a local dish—chicken rendang—into an RTE meal.
After a year of research and development, the centre developed a halal and healthy chicken rendang in a retort pouch. The RTE meal, comprising chicken breast in gravy, could be prepared within a minute. The stable shelf life and robust packaging of the RTE meal also allowed the company to sell the meal in markets outside of Singapore.
To bring food innovation further, the centre has also developed RTE food concepts such as halal-certified vegetarian black pasta and local favourite Hainanese chicken rice with a low glycemic index which can be dispensed from a vending machine. These food concepts showcase the possibilities in food and packaging technologies that will enable local food manufacturers to innovate and grow new market segments.
Food companies can also tap on the centre’s expertise to compete in overseas markets. One company which had done so is Cocoba Private Limited, manufacturer of salted egg fish skin and potato chips. After nine months of trials and tests, the shelf-life Cocoba’s products were able to be extended with the latest packaging technologies. Its products can now be found in the Philippines and will soon be exported to Hong Kong and Indonesia.
“The centre has been a valued partner in championing the adoption of food science and technology over the past decade. (Its) efforts are critical in fostering a strong food innovation ecosystem that accelerates the development of commercial-ready products with global appeal, and helps companies stay ahead of the curve,” said Kee Ai Nah, group director, industry and enterprise, SPRING Singapore—a statutory board that helps manufacturers in the country.
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