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If the PC is dead, how come so many companies are making money from it?
The PC industry has been exciting since the arrival of the Intel 4004 and Gordon Moore’s observation about the doubling of density in semiconductor memory manufacturing in 1965.
The industry has just reported on its 2016 third-quarter results, and what terrific results they were, for everyone. AMD let us know that PCs are not the only game in town being bolstered by console sales, even though they share the same X86 DNA with PCs. But regardless of AMD’s great results with consoles, more people use PCs for gaming, as measured in dollars and units.
Nvidia reported its best-ever quarter, with huge gains in PC gaming, strong sales in professional graphics, and increasing revenues bolstered by datacenter, automotive, and everybody’s favorite, deep learning and AI. Not huge yet, but Nvidia, in its diversification from the PC, has a commanding lead in those nascent markets.
The deep-learning software market is projected to surpass $10 billion by 2024, according to a report put out by Tractica.
Tractica’s analysis indicates that rapid advances in the field are now being spurred by three key market trends:
- Vast increases in the amount of data
- Significant improvements in machine-learning algorithms
- Exponential advances in hardware speed
Nvidia has a prestigious position in the supercomputer AI, DL arena now—their DGX-1 just entered the top echelon, with the machine hitting 4.9 PFLOPS to become the 26th fastest supercomputer in the world today. The important point here is that this is an Nvidia-built machine, not a university or government machine using Nvidia parts (see story, this issue).
Intel, AMD, and others (including Nvidia) can claim their processors are used in one or more of the top machines. Intel is enjoying that bragging right at the moment by being in the Chinese Tianhe-2, built with Xeon IvyBridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors.
Intel, of course, has a stake, and a historical one, in the emerging AI and DL markets. The company is taking clear aim at servers and AI/ ML/DL, where big data is one of the main drivers. The company is offering its Xeon Phi and FPGAs from their recent acquisition of Altera as an alternative to GPUs. And Intel’s long-standing partner and pal Microsoft has started rolling out Altera FPGA-based machines in its Project Catapult, the world’s largest deployment of FPGAs in the datacenter. It is designed to bring AI and DL capabilities to companies unable to afford a big machine of their own, or who have only one or two pro¬grams they need to run.
And everybody and their dog is giddy about IoT and all the data it’s going to spew out and thereby require lots and lots of servers and machine-learning algorithms to sort out the important stuff from all that data.
IoT is just a buzz word for connect sensors allowing their data to be easily accessed and analyzed. Those sensors include the kind that convert photons into electrons and can, with a little algorithmic magic, create an image of you being in the wrong place at the right time (proving you didn’t kill that cat), although heaven knows we could use a few less cats on the web.
Camera sensors are the largest population, and the most data-spewing sensor out there, clogging up our networks and filling up our servers. That, of course, is music to Dell’s ears, since they now offer the biggest suck-’em-up data machines in the world. And their customers like Microsoft and Amazon can’t seem to snap them up fast enough. We’ve heard a few three-letter agencies in the U.S., Europe, U.K., and Australia also have their checkbooks out. China and Russia make their own, from designs they, well …
So, the tone and meme about computing has shifted, and that’s a good thing. Today, and going forward, we will report on, and read about, the applications of these wonderful little processors we’re building, and not so much about the processors themselves; a philosophy and marketing program Qualcomm adopted years ago, to the consternation of component counters like us.
Our work (here at JPR central) will be a bit more challenging. We’ll have to look at a huge number of sources and tease out of them what components are in them. And, time permitting, if we do our job right, we’ll also be able to find out why a given component was chosen.
So not only is the “PC” market (which is a term long in need of changing) not dying, it’s getting more robust, more diversified, and more invisible as it burrows into every element of our lives. PCs aren’t just WIMPs (Windows Icons, Menu Point anymore); now they are big brother, little brother, and that annoying sister of yours.


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Newly launched website tenerife.co.uk, which provides bargain Tenerife holidays and advice from a local expert, has been featured in The Sun today after announcing that Tenerife was a baby-making hotspot.
tenerife.co.uk has also featured on Breaking Travel News, Travel Daily News International and on Yell.com. Have a look at the cuttings here;
tenerife.co.uk in The Sun
Yell.com and tenerife.co.uk
Breaking Travel News and tenerife.co.uk
tenerife.co.uk and Travel Daily News International

domain: news


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Most Apple observers weren't surprised to see the company say farewell to CEO Gil Amelio and longtime executive Ellen Hancock. Few expected it to happen so soon. And no one - including Apple, it seems - wants to say when and how all this turmoil could lead Apple to a period of prosperity.
Apple's depressed stock price - which hit a 12-year low of $13 a share last week - might have sped up Amelio's ouster, but analysts suspect that Fred Anderson, the CFO who was named acting CEO on Wednesday, may have also helped spark the ouster.
Pieter Hartsook, a Mac industry analyst who served Apple as a vice president through April of this year, said Amelio had been "disengaged" from Apple's strategic direction for some time, but added that he had expected the former National Semiconductor chief to stick around for a few more months.
The timing could also add some short-term turbulence to Apple's problems. "Replacing the chief executive will disrupt Apple, and cause them to lose some of their focus," said Hartsook. "The people that are staying need to think about replacing him and running the company, in addition to getting the products out."
Companies that market software for the Mac platform didn't seem shaken by the departures either, but reiterated their loyalty to Mac OS users. "We're rooting for Apple," a Macromedia spokeswoman said. "They're a great company, and we're dedicated to our Mac customers. The customers are what's important to us."
At Adobe, where revenue from design applications sold for the Mac platform has dropped from 80 percent in 1994 to 50 percent today, president Charles Geschke said that Mac users are not ready to give up on the company. "I think from our point of view, our customers are incredibly loyal to the Mac platform, so we want to make those customers feel supported in that decision," he said. "The challenge that Gil undertook was a really tough job, and I suspect they want to put more and more horsepower in the [CEO's] role."
Even arch-rival Microsoft had words of encouragement - however tepid - for Apple in its latest moment of crisis. "It's clearly an unsettling time for Apple and we certainly wish them the best in solving their issues," a spokesman said.
One of the key tasks ahead for Apple and its future CEO is to recapture the magic Apple represented to many users during the 1980s. "They haven't been capturing anybody's hearts or minds," said Tom Rhinelander, an analyst with Forrester Research. "They basically have just made a ton of mistakes, especially the acquisition of NeXT, which is not going to do much for them, and they've also lost a lot of the magic."
No short list has yet emerged of candidates for Amelio's successor, but some qualifications seem clear. Apple said it's looking for a consumer-oriented chief, and others feel a dynamic leader with the status of Oracle chief Larry Ellison or Sun CEO Scott McNealy would be necessary. "The Ellisons and the McNealys are at least offering up different visions of the future," he said. "Apple needs someone like that, who has an idea."
It also needs someone who is willing to take on a position that has proven a hot and uncomfortable place for others; someone who can do what Amelio, John Sculley, and Michael Spindler couldn't; someone who has what it takes to turn Apple's finances and fortunes around.
Or as Hartsook puts it, "Somebody with a pretty good ego."


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As with any new technology, this year’s iPhone XS has encountered a few snags out the gate. While Apple is known in part for their quick response to technology issues, early adopters are within their rights to be irritated by some of the following setbacks.
The first major issue iPhone XS users have reported involves the devices’ charging capabilities. Purportedly, some iPhone XS units refuse to charge when plugged into a Lightning cable; while the issue itself has been partially explained by Apple in the past (security features of late iOS 11 can prevent an iPhone which has been locked for long enough from recognizing USB peripherals such as the Lightning charge) it seems that some units simply won’t charge. Apple is currently looking into the problem.
Another common issue appears to be patchy reception on Verizon and Sprint networks, even in areas which previously facilitated decent call quality. The problem has been attributed to various hardware from the iPhones’ processors to the built-in antenna – as always, we’ll just have to wait and see what Apple has to say about this.
Wifi reception was similarly criticized on some iPhone XS units, but this problem actually has a more readily available explanation – when connected to a network which includes a 5 GHz band, the iPhone XS can default to the 2.4 GHz band instead, leading to objectively slower Internet speeds. Apple is expected to address this in a patch.
Some people have also taken issue with the iPhone XS camera’s built-in skin-smoothing feature, though you can reportedly reduce the feature’s effect by turning off HDR (tap the “HDR” icon at the top of the camera screen).
This seems as good a time as any to bring up my personal belief regarding early adoption of new technology – when a large-scale product (e.g., a new model of car, computer, or smartphone) is released, don’t be one of the first folks to buy if you don’t want to be the first to find out that it doesn’t work correctly. Let other people make that mistake. Despite being built on architecture similar to that of last year’s iPhone X, the XS is still a brand-new product running a brand-new operating system; it makes sense that its launch is a bit rocky.
It’s also worth noting that this happens pretty much every year. Ultimately, Apple will fix the most notable of the iPhone XS’ issues as presently as possible, and you can probably expect a patch or three to address some of the more minor issues along the way.
For now, there’s no reason to get XSsively upset.


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Hasbro’s European Vacation continues today with reveals at Barcelona Manga 2019 in Spain. Shown off were two new Marvel Legends figures – Dark Beast and Jean Grey. Both are due out in Spring 2020 with a retail of $19.99. Read on to check out the official pics!
The post Marvel Legends Dark Beast and Jean Grey – Barcelona Manga 2019 Reveals appeared first on The Toyark – News.


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AlphaTauri reveals new principal lover
In advance of the 2023 F1 period, Scuderia AlphaTauri has introduced a multi-12 months partnership with PKN ORLEN, just one of the major oil and gasoline corporations in Central Europe.
The Polish oil and gasoline corporation have a extended affiliation with System one with the agency obtaining served as title sponsor of the Alfa Romeo workforce in excess of the previous several years. Orlen has now made a decision to lower its ties with the Swiss-Italian workforce and produced as a substitute a swap to the Faenza-based mostly AlphaTauri outfit.
Orlen is a multi-utility corporation, functioning in Central Europe and Canada. The issue gives electricity and fuels to in excess of a hundred million Europeans whilst the innovative merchandise are promoted to about a hundred nations around the world on six continents. As aspect of its sustainability ambitions, the corporation aims to achieve emission neutrality by 2050.
CEO of PKN ORLEN Daniel Obajtek explained: “ORLEN Team is Central Europe’s most major multi-utility issue, serving extra than a hundred million buyers. Worldwide manufacturer recognition is necessary to attain our strategic targets. Practically fifty percent of the Group’s revenues appear from product sales overseas.
“That is why we continually target on activity sponsorship, a cornerstone of our existence in the most prestigious racing collection. With System 1’s publicity, we achieve hundreds of thousands and thousands of followers around the world and have crafted a constant advertising and marketing system in Poland and overseas for several years. We will continue on to leverage the huge likely of the activity with our new cooperation with Scuderia AlphaTauri.”
Group Principal Franz Tost commented: “I’m happy to be setting up the 2023 period with these kinds of optimistic information for the workforce. ORLEN are just one of the main oil and gasoline corporations in Central Europe and this partnership will let them to more maximize their manufacturer consciousness, via the worldwide platforms we supply as a workforce. I’m wanting ahead to viewing their symbol showcased on our new auto at the start in New York Town future thirty day period and also how this partnership progresses in excess of the coming several years.”


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Amazon Shipping is the conglomerate’s delivery solution that it offers to retailers and sellers on both Amazon and other e-commerce platforms. It has today [24 November] announced that it will partner with parcel delivery management and shipping software nShift to bring more next-day delivery options to its customers.
Amazon Shipping is now available in nShift’s carrier library, making it easier for businesses to choose Amazon’s service to deliver their products quickly. The nShift carrier library gives users the ability to choose from over 1,000 delivery providers, which the company says “enables businesses to offer the optimal range of delivery options and enhance their customer experience.”
Ines van Gennip, Head of Amazon Shipping EU, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer parcel delivery solutions to customers of all shapes and sizes. By working with nShift, we can offer fast and reliable delivery speeds to even more businesses through our technology-enabled logistics network.”
Johan Hellman, Vice President of Product and Carrier at nShift, observed, “Consumers are increasingly expecting next-day delivery service, and if e-commerce companies cannot offer one, they risk losing their competitive advantage.”
Hellman believes the agreement with Amazon will be mutually beneficial, saying, “By adding Amazon Shipping to our carrier library, we are offering our customers another highly reliable and fast delivery service that enables them to serve consumers.” to provide a delivery service that builds loyalty and encourages repeat purchases.”


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Many consumers voluntarily buy more than one type of insurance from the same company so they can get a discount on premiums.
But what if an insurer wouldn't sell you a homeowner's policy unless you also purchased auto insurance from it, too?
Some insurers are doing just that.
The Fayetteville Observer reported early this year that Allstate was canceling the homeowner's policies of nearly 46,000 North Carolina customers because they didn't buy auto insurance from the company, while N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance was taking similar steps with about 28,000 policyholders.
Another report, in Online Auto Insurance News, revealed that Allstate wasn't renewing about 4,000 homeowners' policies in Arkansas unless those customers also bought auto insurance with the company.
Sometimes called "forced bundling," the practice requires consumers to buy a product or service they don't want in order to get something they do want. It's not new. Consumers for years have complained about such bundling among phone service providers and by cable companies that package unpopular channels with must-see TV.
But now this take-it-or-leave-it bundling is coming to insurance. Maryland is weighing legislation that would ban the practice before it becomes commonplace here.
"We need to insure that consumers have a choice," says Peter Killough, the people's insurance counsel, a consumer advocate within the Maryland attorney general's office. "It's one thing to buy a product and they give you a discount. It's another thing to say, 'If you don't buy our product … you can't have anything from us.'"
Maryland's bill, sponsored by Dels. Tom Hucker of Montgomery County and Mary Ann Love of Anne Arundel County, would prevent an insurer from denying or canceling homeowner's or renter's insurance because the customer doesn't also have auto insurance with the company. Likewise, the insurer wouldn't be able to deny auto coverage to customers who don't buy a homeowner's or renter's policy with the carrier.
Insurers would still be able to offer discounts to customers who voluntarily buy multiple policies from the same company.
It's unclear how much forced bundling goes on in Maryland.
Angie Segal, a business coach from Silver Spring, says it happened to her a few years ago. Another insurer offered auto insurance for half the price she was paying with Allstate. Segal, a long-time Allstate customer, asked her insurer for a rate reduction, adding that without one she would switch to the other company.
She says Allstate told her that she had made a claim on her homeowner's insurance in the previous year, and that if she canceled her auto policy she also would lose coverage on her home.
"I didn't want to go find homeowner's insurance if they would drop me," she says. Allstate raised her deductible, which lowered her premium, but the price was still more than what the other insurer offered, she says.
"I really did feel threatened by Allstate," she says. "It didn't seem fair to me. All I was doing was looking for good rates."
Allstate did not respond to requests for comment.
Insurers notify the Maryland Insurance Administration when they plan to change the terms of who is eligible for coverage.
The agency has identified at least one filing last month from an insurer — Florida-based Merastar Insurance Co. — that would require consumers to buy auto and homeowner's policies if they want coverage, says Vivian Laxton, director of public affairs. The filing is under review, she says.
Laxton adds that the agency, which supports the Maryland legislation, hasn't received consumer complaints about mandated bundling. But the agency has heard from about a dozen consumers complaining of raised deductibles that can be lowered if customers buy multiple lines of insurance from the same carrier, she says.
Steven Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist with the Insurance Information Institute, says such bundling isn't "forced" because consumers have a choice.
"You can walk. You're free to go," Weisbart says. "The market is and remains highly competitive."
Insurance providers that require bundling do so as a marketing strategy to build stronger ties to customers, Weisbart says.
"The more contact, the more relationships you have with a provider, the more likely you are to stay with that provider, to feel good about being with that provider," he says.
But Allstate dropped tens of thousands of customers in North Carolina. Surely, that's not good for business?
"It's possible to be too successful," says Weisbart, adding that some insurers want to reduce their exposure in certain areas. If a company sells all the homeowner policies in a region that's then hit by a disaster, the company could be devastated.
"Many of them truly are assessing whether they are too concentrated" and need to spread their risk, he says.
Bundling isn't bad — if it's voluntary. In fact, you can usually save 10 percent or 15 percent off your annual premiums by getting auto and homeowner's policies from the same place.
But mandated bundling isn't good for the consumer who wants to shop among insurers for the best deal on different policies. Legislators here should pass the bill so Marylanders can maintain their right to choose.


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Asia-only 'Red Friday' sale announced on Apple's online storeWhile details of the sale have yet to be revealed, Apple on Tuesday announced that its so-called "Red Friday" sale will take place on Jan. 25 in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
The announcement of the one-day sale comes just hours after an update brought Valentine's Day-themed advertisements to Apple's U.S. and international online storefronts.
The exact nature of the discounts and which products they apply to has yet to be announced, though last year's Red Friday sale saw price cuts to certain Macs, iPads, iPods and Apple accessories.
As with the Valentine's Day special, Apple is providing free laser engraving for iPods or iPads purchased through the Online Apple Store as well as free shipping.
Apple recently initiated installment payments in China for iPhones and MacBooks, allowing customers to spread out payments at staggered interest rates for up to two years.
On Topic: General
- This week on AI: Apple's no-good terrible quarter, a death in Cupertino, 'Apple Watch 2' rumors & more
- Apple redesigns Support website with clean layout, responsive UI
- Schiller schools internet on correct Apple device plurals, but Cook says 'iPad Pros'
- Apple will attempt data extraction on iPhone of teen lost at sea, report says
- Tor Myhren officially starts as Apple's new VP of Marketing Communications


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The EU General Data Protection Regulation is coming into law on May 25th, marking the end of one of the most popular speculative talking points the cyber security industry has seen. The regulation has easily been the most discussed topic over the last few years outside of individual security incidents such as the WannaCry attack or Equifax data breach.
It’s easy to see why. The sweeping new data rights the regulation will introduce for EU citizens, combined with the huge potential fines for companies failing to protect the data in their care, means that the EU GDPR has prompted a sea change in attitudes towards data for most companies around the world.
The broad nature of the regulation and its lack of prescriptive language also means that every information security company has had an angle to wade into the discussion – and hundreds of vendors have gotten involved over the last two years. Frankly, it will be a bit of a relief for the regulation to come into law so we can move the conversation on from speculation to proven impacts.
The GDPR is finally coming into effect in just under two months after dominating the conversation for two years but curiously we still see some vendors entering the fray as though it were a relatively obscure development that was discovered just last week.
At best we can expect any journalist covering the GDPR to roll their eyes at any vendor trying to bring in a hot take this late into the game. These belated pitches will almost certainly not be offering anything that hasn’t been said a hundred times over the last few months.
Inevitably, these vendors are trying to enter into the discussion from an outsider’s position. Unless you are following the local news agenda on a daily basis it’s difficult to gain an idea of what’s fresh and new and what’s already reached saturation point in the media. This is precisely why your local PR partner is vital in guiding you on the local media appetite for topical issues like the EU GDPR. For those vendors based outside of the region, finding a partner specialising in the UK market is essential to cracking leading local issues like the GDPR.
Likewise, establishing yourself in the narrative of an industry as dynamic and fast-moving as cyber security is extremely difficult without the help of a specialist with an insider’s perspective. The growth of the cyber market and contrastingly shrinking newsrooms means that the inboxes of most technology and business journalists are full to bursting with hundreds of pitches a day. I know several journalists who routinely delete thousands of unread emails on a weekly basis.
Breaking through this wall of noise to claim a place in the narrative is all but impossible without both in-depth knowledge of the undercurrents of the cyber security industry and first-hand knowledge of the local market and the specifics of its key press.


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Plex for Chromecast may be close at hand
Google’s Chromecast is undoubtedly one of the greatest home-media devices currently on the market, and for $35 you definitely get a great deal. Yet, the Chromecast, has lacked the ability to play local media. Considering it is a media device, this is a major downfall. Luckily this drawback on the Chromecast may likely soon go away, and Chromecast users likely will not have to wait very long. Many clues have been given for Plex, a local media streaming app, as having Chromecast support.
After exploring the files of Plex Media Server software, a Reddit user posted images of a file called Chromecast.xml. Many sources claim that this file allows the software to decode a video and covert it to a Chromecast file, where it can be outputted on your TV, via Chromecast. This may seen quite standard, but considering that this is mostly used for local-media, and the function of Plex software, users may finally be able to view local media on Chromecast, and it may happen very soon.
Plex has been very quiet about Chromecast capability, yet they have been hinting it for a long time. Plex has been used on many devices similar to the Chromecast, such as on Roku, and it features the missing link for Chromecast, to a full-featured and competitive Chromecast. Plex may not be the only app allowing local-media on Chromecast in the future, but it will most likely be the first.
Being a new device and a recent entrance to the market, even with local-media, Chromecast has a long way to go. The device is still in-need of many apps, luckily it’s under Google’s control and we are already seeing the app condition getting better. Google’s Cast API is taking more steps in this weekend’s hackathon. With the hackathon, Google will allow developers to develop their own apps for the Chromecast. Google has also updated the firmware for the Chromecast which includes a re-designed home-screen/launcher, which hints more and greater features in the future.
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Samsung is on a hot streak nowadays with devices like Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Note II, and their competitors are working on devices to get head-to-head with Samsung.
It would seem that one of the carriers has finally heard the cry for no bloatware, as Sprint is planning to continue the policy of allowing users to remove bloatware apps on future devices. This all started with the Evo 3D, when Sprint gave owners the option of uninstalling bloatware, such as the Sprint Nascar app, from the device without the need for root.
OpenFeint, a leading provider of cross platform social gaming, has announced that they are unloading a slew of top-notch games on the Android world. Starting today with Halfbrick Studios’ Fruit


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Early bird shoppers run into a Target store in Aurora, Ohio looking for bargains at the beginning of ‘Black Friday’ shopping early Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. Shoppers, who had snapped their wallets shut since September, flocked to stores and malls before dawn Friday to grab deals on everything from TVs to toys for the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, feared to be the weakest in decades. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
We are not lemmings.
You do not have to feel guilt – or peer pressure for that matter – about NOT rushing out and buying Chinese landfill crap from WalMart.
I am planning on puttering in the garden today. I might go out for coffee (to the locally owned and operated coffee place, not a chain), but that is about it.


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Historic Nationwide Privacy Settlement Reached For Users of the Zoom App
Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson and Mark Molumphy of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, the Co-Lead Counsel representing Zoom subscribers and users, announced a groundbreaking agreement with Zoom to settle a nationwide class action based on allegations that Zoom failed to provide end-to-end encryption of Zoom meetings, improperly shared user information, and left many exposed to “Zoombombing” by unauthorized third parties.
Under the proposed settlement, Zoom will pay $85 million in cash compensation and implement comprehensive reforms to its business. The settlement is subject to Court approval, and a motion for preliminary approval was just filed in the Northern District of California.
Earlier this year, the Court ruled on Zoom’s motion to dismiss, addressing several novel issues raised by the case, including application of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act and alleged violation of privacy and unfair competition laws in California, where Zoom is based. The Court allowed several claims in the litigation to move forward.
Tina Wolfson, a founding partner at Ahdoot Wolfson said:
“In the age of corporate surveillance, this historic settlement recognizes that data is the new oil and compensates consumers for unwittingly providing data in exchange for a ‘free’ service. It also compensates those who paid for a product they did not receive and commits Zoom to changing its corporate behavior to better inform consumers about their privacy choices and provide stronger cybersecurity.”
Mark Molumphy, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP said:
“Millions of Americans continue to use Zoom’s platform with the expectation that their conversations will be kept private and secure. If approved by the Court, this groundbreaking settlement will provide a substantial cash recovery to Zoom users and implement privacy practices that, going forward, will help ensure that users are safe and protected.”
The case is In re Zoom Video Communications, inc. Privacy Litigation, Case No. 5:20-cv-02155-LHK (N.D.Cal).


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A free market economy is a sound development catalyst as jobs, opportunities and wealth are created. Unfortunately; as has been the case with anything unbalanced, capitalism can be downright devastating if left to its own devices. One cannot help but to think of scandals like Enron, Worldcom, Renaissance Zimbabwe and numerous others. Insatiable greed is a reality. Conversely too much government control in any economy can result in stagnation due to a lack of incentive and purpose. A fine balance of the two is a trusted success formula.
Due to the critical role ICT is playing in the socio-economic advancement of developing countries, its stability is attracting greater focus. The more access a nation has to affordable and reliable telecommunications solutions, the higher its growth prospects become. Mobile phones alone have transformed nations like Kenya with Michael Joseph-CEO of Safaricom Kenya stating the following, “I think half the GDP growth in Kenya comes because of the mobile phone revolution, not because of anything else. It has provided these people means of communication”. Telecoms experts have now unanimously agreed that the second phase of growth lies in the development of broadband. On this note the International Telecom’s Union has published a press release stating that every 10% increase in broadband has contributed 2.5% to the booming Chinese economy. More information on this can be found in an article published by Biz Tech Africa.
When all is said and done, the ultimate question is whether Zimbabwe’s consumers are getting value for money or not? The economy has made very encouraging progress since dollarization however costs of living and doing business have continued to hover above the rest of Southern Africa. Are the operators entrusted with accelerating Zimbabwe’s entrance into the information age doing so? We have often been told that affordable and quality broadband is not as simplistic as attributing undersea cables to it. We’ve also been told that the government’s generous waiver of duties for ICT products, a move we expected to result in the most affordable prices in the region is also not that simplistic. We are really eager to find out what your comments on this are.
Ipad Min 2
Rarely Used 2019 SE2719H Dell Monitor + Gaming Mechanical Keyboard
Lenovo ThinkPad S1 Yoga
Elsewhere on the continent consumer activism in the ICT sector has resulted in a greater balance. On the 27th of May 2010 consumers in Ghana staged a demonstration in protest of shoddy services. According to Ghanaweb the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), together with other consumer right groups, called on all mobile phone users in the country to switch off their mobile phones from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. Cell C South Africa was banned from using the term 4GS in its marketing as this was found to be false. The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa ruled against the campaign, and the company’s CEO issued a public apology. Cell C apparently meant to say that 4GS stood for: 4 (for) Greater Services. Zimbabwe is in a similar position as some operators have begun referring to themselves as Africa’s telecoms leaders and others promoting themselves as 4G complaint yet selling 256Kbps and 1mbps packages.
A converged effort on the part of consumers and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe is required to blow away the smoke screens of deception consumers have had to deal with. A balance must be struck in which all stakeholders of the ICT sector find common ground and transparently lay their facts out.


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NOMADIC, the new dairy brand, has launched a new Mango Lassi drink, a modern twist on the traditional refreshment will be available nationwide with an RRP of £1.49. Stocked in Tesco and through Ocado from mid-October, this creamy drink comes out just in time for the Hindu festival Diwali, which this year falls on the 23 October.
Available in a 330ml bottle this new product will join the current brands portfolio, which includes NOMADIC Oats and Yogurt Pots, launched last month. The dairy brand aim to bring something different to the yogurt category and as such is launching world inspired dairy, both for eating and drinking on the go.
NOMADIC, born from two existing dairy brands, offers a unique selection for consumers who are increasingly seeking to experience more international and interesting flavours. Founders Alan Cunningham and Nir Sapir believe that their Mango Lassi is a perfect addition to the range and look forward to offering a different drinking experience to the consumer.
Cunningham said: “Nir and I are incredibly excited about NOMADIC and this exciting phase of growth. Our Mango Lassi is a fantastic addition to our range; we are looking forward to people trying our delicious addition to the NOMADIC journey.”


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Despite a downward revision to economic growth in the first quarter, moderate growth is expected to continue for the remainder of 2012, according to Fannie Mae’s (FNMA/OTC) Economic & Strategic Research Group.
However, risks to the economic outlook have tilted to the downside. Factors such as a decelerating trend in hiring, potential contagion in the euro zone from fiscal issues in Greece, and the potential of a massive fiscal drag in the U.S. indicate that the balance between upside and downside risks has diminished.
For all of 2012, growth is projected to come in at 2.2 percent. Consumers remain key to the overall outlook, as attitudes appear to be reaching a plateau after a few months of improvement early in the year. Loss of momentum in labor market conditions, sluggish income growth, and decreasing saving rates suggest that consumers may need to moderate spending unless income picks up.
“For the third year in a row we are experiencing a spring lull in economic activity,” says Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “Our view is that the underlying resilience of the economy and of consumers in particular that has been demonstrated during the past couple of years will persist. However, the magnitude of the uncertainties surrounding the European debt crisis and our fiscal condition here in the U.S. implies that the risks to the outlook are clearly tilted to the downside.”
The housing market has performed relatively well in the current environment supported by record affordability and very low interest rates, with home sales up 8 percent year over year, but from very depressed levels in numeric terms compared to 2011. In turn, cautious optimism remains in place for continued gradual healing of the housing market, albeit in the face of various headwinds, including weak employment growth, rising student loans, and a continuing stream of foreclosed households.Main measures of home prices have firmed in recent months, as the share of distressed sales has declined in a strong seasonal period. Despite this recent encouraging trend, the Group continues to expect that home prices on a national basis will show a slight additional decline before bottoming in the beginning of next year.
For an audio synopsis of the June 2012 Economic Outlook, listen to the podcast on the Economic & Strategic Research site at www.fanniemae.com.


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Amazon to sell Nike shoes directly via brand registry
AMAZON.COM Inc will begin selling Nike shoes directly through a brand-registry programme designed to keep counterfeit goods off the site, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The approach lets Nike Inc take greater control over how its products are sold,
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If you’re going to drink, wine is the most calorie-friendly selection with a typical 20 calories per ounce. Each 5-ounce glass would then be 100 calories with no cholesterol, sodium or fat. This is true for both red and white wine, from merlot to chardonnay. Sherry, a sweet, fortified wine runs a bit higher with 32 calories per ounce but it is usually served in smaller portions as an after-dinner drink.
A substance found in red wine could double endurance as well as cut weight and reduce the risk of diabetes, according to a new study.
High levels of the substance – called resveratrol – could help shed weight and boost tolerance for exercise because it activates a “longevity gene”, according to a study published in the journal Cell by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Prof Johan Auwerx at the University Louis Pasteur. Read more here >> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3345048/Lose-weight-on-red-wine-diet.html#


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As part of a bigger effort to construct out its U.S. consumer organization, London-established Barclays is now offering unsecured personal loans online, targeting primary and you can very-best consumers. This has been analysis its on the internet credit system that have select U.S. customers since the later a year ago and you will intends to roll it completely force in the 2018, said Curt Hess, the new President away from Barclaycard You.S.
Barclays provides $33.step one billion from property in the U.S., the bulk of that are mastercard money so you’re able to users which have stellar borrowing details. Their signature loans generally consist of $5,100 and you may $35,100000 and can be repaid in three, four or five many years. The interest prices consist of cuatro.99% to help you % additionally the financing hold no origination charges otherwise prepayment punishment, Hess said.
“It is an ever growing field plus one that individuals come across attractive,” Hess told you from unsecured personal https://paydayloanslouisiana.org/cities/franklin/ credit. “This really is an organic extension out-of being more of good monoline card company.”
Barclays can get certain strong battle on the space, not simply out-of online lenders such as for instance Excel, SoFi and you can LendingClub, and in addition from other finance companies that have been beefing up the electronic potential to try to maintain towards the upstarts.
By way of example, this new $208 billion-resource SunTrust Banking companies during the Atlanta makes unsecured personal loans anywhere between $5,000 and you may $100,000 due to their on line credit program LightStream, it circulated within the 2013.
Goldman Sachs along with offers on the internet financing thanks to an individually labeled organization called Marcus. This has unsecured signature loans anywhere between $step three,five hundred and you will $29,one hundred thousand, limited to the goal of merging credit card debt, and also in their first 12 months made throughout the $step 1.eight billion in the financing regularity in that business.
Barclays has had a webpage out of fintech lenders’ playbook by making the whole procedure, off application to money, completely digital and providing borrowers’ close-instantaneous behavior into the loan applications
Some other banks, together with Fifth 3rd Bancorp, Synovus Financial and you will Nations Monetary, have likewise improved individual financing by way of a partnership towards fintech corporation GreenSky, which gives finance on section out of income in the home update stores.
“There can be a selection of various other fintechs that have been in it space all of the that have a little other strategies, but generally speaking, what they’ve got found the would be the fact there can be a desire for food for people to have accessibility such unsecured private financing,” told you Alex Johnson, a senior manager from solution business and you may transformation involvement on FICO.
Craig Schleicher, an older director inside PricewaterhouseCoopers’ user loans category, asserted that fintechs’ achievement for the drawing customers who are in need of short loan elizabeth.
“We now have viewed it end up being an even more main part of banks’ procedures to retain their customers and you can preserve buyers relationships,” the guy told you. “Which is contributed to so much more financial investments during the digital technologies, increased experience and you may competition towards cost among antique financial lenders, also.”
Hess said the new consumers Barclays was centering on are interested in having fun with new fund getting things such as debt consolidation reduction and you may renovations
It is very incorporating its own possess, such giving borrowers otherwise prospective individuals accessibility a customer support associate as long as they need assistance inside financing process.
Johnson cautioned you to definitely banks entering this field would be to completely understand their target market and exactly how consumers use its personal loans. Probably the primary and you may very-best companies are not totally exposure-free.
“When you find yourself focusing on customers who would like to re-finance personal credit card debt, everything might find would be the fact those types of users may enjoys good credit risk indicators from the a higher rate. When you dig in it, you could find they are continuous to expend the minimum to your the credit card, however, they have been racking up a lot more financial obligation,” he said. “Their real exposure tends to be a small steeper than just it looks on the surface.”


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The chief executive officer of Binance crypto exchange responded to a tweet on “bitcoin adoption by the two countries”.
Changpeng Zhao is the CEO of Binance crypto exchange. Binance exchange is currently standing at the first rank in the whole crypto industry, in terms of the highest crypto trade volume contributor. Exchange is known to provide services with full security and quality with a better user experience.
On 30 April, Newzealand based popular Bitcoin investor Lark Davis tweeted that a total of two countries have adopted Bitcoin as Currency officially.
Changpeng Zhao responded to the tweet and noted that no one country is willing to go first and also no one country has dared to remain last.
In this way, Binance’s CEO asserted that more and more countries will follow each other and adopt Bitcoin as a legal currency.
Another crypto proponent supported the comment of the Binance CEO and noted that it remains beneficial to step first, as a first-mover advantage, but at the same time first-movers needed to do huge work.
El Salvador & Central African Republic
No doubt that El Salvador and the Central African Republic (CAR) adopted Bitcoin as legal tender under legal laws and rules but in reality here, the situation for both the countries was different “during the Bitcoin adoption”.
When El Salvador was in the initial phase of Bitcoin adoption, the country’ govt faced huge criticism and trolling from other countries’ experts. Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, also faced backlash from their opposition leaders.
But the path for CAR was not hard to adopt Bitcoin as Currency because it followed the footsteps of El Salvador and also faced a very small extent of criticism.
Now other countries, which are interested in adopting Bitcoin as a currency, will not face huge issues because they already have two example and two existing Bitcoin as currency use framework, which they can adopt blindly with small modifications.


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These days, the term “artificial intelligence” seems to be a buzzword we can’t escape. While AI has made its place known in tech development for a while, it’s also slowly making its way into other industries. For many, this new technological leap conjures up sci-fi images. With it comes a fear that AI will soon take over the world as we know it.
Truthfully, AI is already playing a very big role in our daily lives. For example, when you perform a search on the internet or scour a dating app for potential matches, artificial intelligence is at play. According to research, in many business sectors, the use of AI has grown more than 270% over the short span of four years.
Here’s what everyone wants to know: what will AI mean for workers in the future? As history shows, any technological advancement creates the fear that the human workforce will become obsolete. The truth is probably not as bad as the outlook, but it’s also not as straightforward as we’d like to think.
Artificial Intelligence and the Online Casino Industry
AI has a significant impact on the gambling industry, whether in a land-based casino or the online variety. As the worldwide remote gambling sector is expected to hit an impressive $112.09 billion by 2025, many establishments are evolving rapidly to make use of the latest tech to give players a better experience. The aim of online casinos is to deliver safer and more realistic gameplay through AI. Other than that, algorithms also use collected data to present a selection of games that will most likely entice punters. One of the biggest ways that artificial intelligence will affect the job market is through the use of AI to replace live dealers.
How Live Dealers Reign Players In
The house always wins, and that’s because game operators exploit mathematical probabilities and human behavior. Many casinos rely on attractive staff to help sustain an image of class, grandiosity, as well as excitement. Can you picture a casino without the expressions of live dealers and floor staff, whether they’re friendly or menacing? With the use of AI, one sure thing that will go out the window is the aura of a casino.
Live dealers maintain order and ensure games are fair. They offer tips to beginners, watch out for cheaters, and set expectations, all to the benefit of players. When a punter feels comfortable with a dealer, chances are they will stick to the table for much longer than expected. Would a machine have the ability to entice players to continue playing in a similar fashion? That’s doubtful, especially when you consider a robot’s lack of charm.
There is a reason why online casinos strive so hard to replicate the experience of live establishments. Players aren’t only there to gamble; they’re also hungry for a memorable time. A live dealer brings a social element to gambling, and its importance cannot be understated.
Does AI Have the Upper Hand?
In Macau, a company called Paradise Entertainment has developed a robot dealer prototype. This machine has the ability to manage card games and play against others. The company’s next step is to improve the robot so that it can recognize faces and make small talk in several languages. Another company based out of Hong Kong, Hanson Robotics, has created an interactive robot with facial expressions and conversational ability.
One crucial point to consider is expenditure. A casino, whether online or live, spends a fortune on salaries. Over the last decade, studies show that the average dealer’s salary has gone up by 150%. This is where AI has a significant advantage over humans, as robots are far cheaper to maintain. Tipping dealers will also go out the window when robots are serving, saving gamblers a few bucks and ensuring fairness at the same time.
AI-powered casino dealers will involve less human error. In today’s casinos, basic human mistakes cost operators millions of dollars. By using robots, there will only be programming errors to be dealt with, and these are few and far between.
Finding the Right Balance
Perhaps what the future holds is a balance between live dealers and AI. There are just some things a human does that a computer cannot replicate. On the other hand, some players might also prefer less social interaction and a more direct gaming approach.
Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly improve the conventional online gaming experience, especially when it comes to game suggestions and security. However, it does little to envelop players in a realistic setting.
What Does the Future Hold?
Playing with a machine takes away the romance, mystery, and unpredictability of gambling with humans. However, casinos are also weighing that against their chief objective – profit. Chances are, live dealers aren’t going to lose their jobs any time soon, but this career choice might not be viable come the next decade.


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Google Executive Marissa Mayer Takes New Role in Location, Local Services
Marissa Mayer, Google Inc.’s vice president of search products, is taking a new role overseeing location and local services -- markets the company is counting on to boost sales.
Mayer, who joined in 1999 as the company’s first female engineer, will run an area that’s crucial to users and Google itself, the Mountain View, California-based company said today in an e-mail. Mayer also is joining Google’s operating committee, the company’s senior most management group, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because the move hasn’t been made public.
“Marissa has made an amazing contribution on search over the last decade, and we’re excited about her input in this new area in the decade ahead,” the company said.
Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, is putting more focus on local businesses and location services as it looks for areas of growth outside traditional Internet searches. The effort may help the company get more advertising from neighborhood stores and restaurants. More than 90 percent of the company’s revenue comes from online ads.
Mayer designed and developed the company’s search interface and expanded the site to more than 100 languages, according to Google. She has helped introduce more than 100 features and products on the site, including a faster Web search last month called Instant that gives users results as they type in queries.
Mayer’s search duties will be taken on by Udi Manber, vice president of engineering for Web search, according to the person familiar with the change. Manber, a veteran of Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., joined Google in 2006.
Google rose $2.55 to $541.39 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 13 percent this year.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at email@example.com


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But Juul’s four flavors are only a fraction of all of the e-juice flavors out there for buy. E-juice comes in over 7,000 different flavors, which are largely unregulated and undocumented. A public coverage group over at UNC has a database of a few of these flavors and their chemical constituents, however Juul pods haven’t been included. And it’s not just the presence of nicotine that matters. The type of nicotine utilized in e-cigarette merchandise also can have an effect on how quickly the chemical is absorbed into the body, as well as how much an individual is ready to absorb.
About Juul Menthol Pods
Those sicknesses—which aren’t linked to any particular company, product, or ingredient—have mostly hit individuals vaping THC, which Juul does not promote. But the outbreak spurred several congressional hearings on the protection of the merchandise and elevated strain on e-cigarette makers to reveal their merchandise are protected and don’t goal youngsters. You’ll never find this one of the best fruity-style of this mango flavored e-juice.
Featuring a beautifully designed sleek closed pod system, all you need to do to begin your JUUL expertise is pop in a JUULpod into the system and take a puff to provide vapor. Look no further than JUUL and their extensive number of JUUL pod flavors. After logging on and creating an account on the website, clients should enter their birth date and the final 4 digits of their social security quantity.
No different pods can evaluate to the experience that JUUL offers. The highly portable JUUL vaping device makes use of JUUL pods in its closed pod system to permit customers to enjoy the ease of vaping. Each pod accommodates nicotine salts to supply the nicotine different expertise they they are on the lookout for when trying to give up smoking. JUUL Labs is the leading e-cigarette company behind the JUUL vaping system.
- The firm will, nevertheless, proceed to sell its popular menthol-based flavors, including mint.
- According to data from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey, over 60 % of excessive Disposable Vape schoolers use mint-flavored e-cigarettes, practically the identical number as use fruit-flavored pods.
- Garrett Nelson, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, says mint and menthol account for 85 percent of Juul’s gross sales in US shops, where Juul is no longer selling fruit or dessert flavors.
Juul will proceed to offer its mint-, menthol-, and tobacco-flavored products. Since then, it has come underneath scrutiny from public-well being experts and scientists who fear about its reputation amongst young individuals. According to authorities information reported by The Washington Post, more than three million center- and high-school college students reported utilizing e-cigarettes in 2017, and about one-third said the flavors had been a giant issue of their choice. Juulannounced on Tuesday that it would quickly cease promoting flavored pods in stores, in a bid to curb an epidemic of adolescent vaping. The Maryland General Assembly is considering a bill that would ban all flavored nicotine merchandise inside the state.
“I’m deeply disturbed that business lobbyists were able to get President Trump to gut the ban on flavors that the FDA was belatedly planning,” wrote Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley in a statement. “Instead, this announcement is simply saying that FDA will target its enforcement on flavors, and even then it is carving out loopholes for tobacco and menthol flavors, and vape outlets.” Juul pledged to abide by the Food and Drug Administration’s forthcoming determination on vaping flavors. The agency is broadly expected to ban non-menthol, non-tobacco flavors, though watchdogs say Juul could try to rename its mint flavor as menthol. It also found that as these chemical compounds break down, they produce aldehydes—a category of compounds that features formaldehyde—which are recognized toxins for people.
Flavorings are often used in meals merchandise to fabricate or enhance flavors, but the safety of these products can change after they’re inhaled as opposed to eaten or touched. The FDA has required all vaping merchandise to file a PMTA as of 09/09/2020 so as to stay on the market. Juul has not filed a PMTA for his or her as soon as well-liked Mint Juul Pods or Mango Juul Pods, or any of their different discontinued flavors. Thus these flavors are not available on the market within the United States presently. All JUUL Salts e-liquids are made with a proprietary mix of natural oils, extracts, flavors, glycerol, propylene glycol, benzoic acid, and nicotine. These ingredients have been selected by a team of scientists to ship an unbelievable experience when combined with superior temperature-regulated vapor technology.
A 5% strength pod has about the identical amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes and roughly double that of many different e-cigarette manufacturers. Many vaping merchandise comprise nicotine, the highly addictive substance found in traditional tobacco products. Nicotine affects the reward centers in the brain, making it hard to stop using nicotine once you start. The more you utilize nicotine, the more your mind starts to rely on it to get the same effect—and the tougher it’s to cease. The FDA now bans the manufacturing and sale of flavored vaping products . Traditionally, vaping manufacturers like JUUL have added flavors to their merchandise to make them taste better to users.
Eonsmoke Watermelon Pods For Juul (juul Alternative Pods)
The excessive ranges of nicotine in JUUL merchandise might come as a surprise to plenty of users. When surveyed, almost two-thirds (63%) had no idea JUUL pods contained any nicotine at all.


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SRA maintains Phl sugar outlook
THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) maintains its Crop Year (CY) 2012/13 sugar production forecasts at 2.356 million metric tons. According to Ma. Regina Bautista-Martin, SRA Administrator the Philippines remained resilient despite the effects of Typhoons Pablo and Quinta that hit Mindanao and Visayas sugar-producing areas.
As of week ending December 16, 2012, sugar production for the current CY has already reached 872,978.87 MT, or 37.048% of the forecast production. This is 27.19% higher than than last year for the same period.
The increase in production is attributed to early milling, higher rate of crushing, and favorable weather condition in the last quarter of the 2012. On the other hand, based on SRA records, sugar withdrawals for domestic demand has been higher compared to last year’s level, at 28.61% for raw sugar and 22.80% for refined sugar.
SRA is expecting a strong sugar demand for 2013 due to stable sugar prices and the mid-term elections in May 2013.
Administrator Martin is also confident that the Philippine sugar will continue to be a dollar earner of the country as it continues to export to the US and other markets. Shipments under the US Quota program will start this January 2013, while exports to the world had already reached more than 20,000 metric tons.
World sugar supply is expected to have a surplus due to favorable crushing and weather conditions in some of the major sugar producing countries such as Brazil, India and Thailand. This will have pressure on sugar prices, but the SRA is hopeful that domestic prices will continue to be stable, as shown in price movements over the past months.
“The need to increase productivity and reduce cost of production is even more imperative now!”, according to Martin. “With import tariffs at 18% starting January 1, 2013, we need to be vigilant in assessing the impact of world market situation on local prices,” Martin added.


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Angela Brown, host of the Ask a House Cleaner show, addresses thousands of House Cleaners and Maids in July.
Angela Brown the House Cleaning Guru
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The ZenMaid 2022 Maid Summit is back for its fourth annual online convention that caters to residential cleaners, and this year the waitlist is exploding with house cleaners lining up to hear Angela Brown, CEO of Savvy Cleaner, dish the dirt on what nobody tells you about running a million-dollar maid service.
Angela Brown, host of the Ask a House Cleaner show and podcast, is known for practical solutions and she doesn't sugar coat the facts or hypes the realities of owning a cleaning business. Brown herself owned and operated one of the largest independently owned cleaning businesses in the Carolinas for 25 years, learning what worked through trial and error. At the ZenMaid summit from July 19 through the 25th, she plans to share the pitfalls and solutions so that house cleaners and maids can condense decades of learning into days.
"I was delighted when Amar Ghose, CEO of ZenMaid, asked me to speak at the conference," adds Angela Brown. "He is a friend and a leader in the cleaning industry and the invite is an honor."
Amar Ghose, owner of the popular maid service software ZenMaid, noticed back in 2019 that there weren't any online events that specifically catered to maid service owners.
"I wanted to help cleaners grow and scale their businesses," Ghose claims. "So, I reached out to the biggest and most successful cleaning industry leaders to share their knowledge, advice, and strategies with the cleaning community - all free of charge."
"It had to be free," Amar Ghose laughs, "because when I started my cleaning company Fast Friendly Spotless in 2012, I didn't have any money to attend the seminars and workshops I needed to grow a cleaning business. There were events happening all over the United States for maid service owners and everyone was attending but me. Free is all I could afford when I got started and I want to pay that forward to all the new cleaning companies that are where I once was."
ZenMaid's Maid Summit has become the go-to annual event for thousands of maid service owners in the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia. With nearly 50 speakers covering topics on marketing, sales, automation, systems, hiring, and training, there is something for every level of cleaning business owner.
It's free to attend the full five days of the Maid Summit. Go to https://maidsummit.com to get your free ticket now.
Director of Media Relations
Image 1: Angela Brown the House Cleaning Guru
Angela Brown the House Cleaning Guru deep cleans cabinets from a step ladder
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.


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AstraZeneca could be eyeing Cubist
Lexington, Mass.-based Cubist sells an antibiotic called Cubicin, used to treat complex skin infections and the “superbug” MRSA. It is thought that U.S. sales of Cubicin could eventually top $1billion, and Cubist’s success in the tough antibiotics market has already marked it out as a possible acquisition target.
Last month, Cubist settled a patent dispute with Israeli drug maker Teva over Cubicin, which lessened the threat of generic competition. That prompted a number of analysts to suggest that Cubist could attract a suitor as other pharmaceutical companies, who are themselves facing oncoming generic competition, look to add new antibiotics to their portfolios.


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Optimism prevails in the retail sector of the United Arab Emirates, as retail sales are predicted to expand by 13 percent this year to $58 billion and by 6.6 percent annually to $70.5 billion by 2025 in the country, according to an analysis issued by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
So, what could possibly be fuel this growth? Here’s a quick look:
“The retail industry in the UAE started to recover much faster than expected, particularly in the fashion and luxury segments,” Cyrille Fabre, a partner and director with the Middle East arm of global management consulting firm Bain & Company, said in an exclusive interview with TRENDS.
In fact, the market has surged ahead and is now trading significantly above 2019 rates, owing to a variety of factors, the most notable of which is an increase in touristic flow, as seen by a more significant percentage of spending by tourists, and the return of the regular life, as evidenced by people’s return to shopping malls, he explained.
However, according to Fabre, the recovery is split into different parts.
The Food and Beverage section, for example, is still worse off than before the pandemic, while the electronics segment did very well during the pandemic as people equipped their homes. Hence, it is only slightly lower than where it was in 2019.
However, the fashion and luxury segments, which were significantly lower in 2020, have recovered faster in 2021.
“During the pandemic, no one was able to travel to Europe to spend their money, so retailers in Dubai were effective in persuading consumers to continue spending and purchasing luxury products in the UAE,” Fabre explained.
“They successfully retained part of the residents’ and nationals’ money that was previously spent abroad,” he continued. “They are now increasing their spending in the country. Never forget Expo 2020, which has revived tourists and a renewed sense of confidence in the Dubai economy, pushing people to spend more.”
Shift in consumer preferences
A study conducted by Bain & Company on global consumer trends and regional trends, combing through more than 1.5 million social media comments, showed that the pandemic accelerated several previously-observed patterns.
According to Fabre, people in the MENA region now place a high value on convenience, health, taste, and price.
“People nowadays, for example, want to save time when shopping by shopping online. They want faster delivery, and they want affordable products. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, affordability is crucial, and people enjoy good deals more than in the United States and the UAE. People also prefer healthy products that are free of harmful chemicals.”
He continued: “There is a fourth factor in the UAE and the United States, which is experience. People want a pleasant experience; they want experiential shopping, a high price for the product and great packaging, whereas these factors are less influential in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.”
Fully digitalized market
Even though the e-commerce industry expanded during the pandemic, Fabre believes online purchasing will never replace the physical experience. “We feel that there will always be a balance between digital and physical since we require stores for a variety of purposes,” he said.
For example, people in the fashion industry want to view and try products in person from time to time, and they also want to buy them immediately.
However, some categories perform better online than others. For example, buying an iPhone online is different from purchasing a gown since you already know the features of the former.
In those categories, the balance between shops and digital will be heavily skewed toward digital.
Retailers, on the other hand, are thriving in the areas of omnichannel and customer experience. As a result, stores may become more of a showcase than anything else.
Sustainability in the retail sector
The focus on a greener strategy is seen gaining traction across industries, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Unlike carbon-intensive industries such as heavy manufacturing and transportation, retail has the potential for more accessible and easily achieved sustainability.
Thus, the notion of sustainability is seeing a significant increase in the market for used luxury items in the fashion retail industry.
“For example, instead of having a luxury bag sitting in your closet if you don’t use it, you might cycle it or sell it to someone else,” Fabre explained.
“Consumers do it partially because they want to save money and this method is cheaper, and sometimes to discover bags that they couldn’t find elsewhere,” he added.
“We also see sustainability in many of the efforts that retailers are making to inform consumers that they are conscious of their social and environmental responsibilities,” said Fabre.
“Majid Al Futtaim, in my opinion, is a good illustration of this. It has announced numerous steps, such as removing single-use bags and single-use plastics from all their packaging in Carrefour stores by a particular date,” he explained.
“It is also placing solar panels on the roof of the hypermarket to ensure that it is powered sustainably. Many retailers are now taking similar steps to help make the world a better place.”
New regulations needed
Driving tourism is critical for retailers since tourists account for a significant portion of retail sales. The UAE in general and Dubai in particular are already major tourist destinations.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is just getting started, but the prospects are excellent. It is hoped that it will grow significantly in the future and the same in Abu Dhabi.
According to Fabre, another way to improve the sector is to optimize parts of the regulatory framework.
For example, regulations to register a new product are complex, and even more complex are regulations in Saudi for Saudization and employee movement.
Things are also difficult between landlords and the retailers, said Fabre.
When the business is not performing as well as last year, it is difficult for retailers to close the store since they would have to pay quite a bit by way of rent to the landlord.
Fabre said there should also be regulations — in terms of VATs and shipping — to optimize the framework of e-commerce to make it more equitable between the offline and online markets.
This article originally appeared on Trends MENA.


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It was touted as a "herbal health" product intended to improve a man's vigour. But the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) found that it contained undeclared medicinal ingredients used to treat erectile dysfunction, which should not be taken without medical supervision.
"In the case of patients with heart conditions, these products can interact with the patients' medications such as nitrates and can cause death," said the authority of the Herbal Health V+ product on Tuesday.
Herbal Health V+ was among six products flagged by the HSA. The other five, marketed under the Herbal Health brand by Ace Nutrition International, include Backplus 500mg, RU Special Cream, YI Special Cream, JI Special Cream and Xiang Special Cream. The HSA has since seized the products from the company's premises in Kallang Pudding Road and stopped all sales of these products.
"HSA is currently investigating the source of manufacturing of these products," said a spokesman. Members of the public who have any information on the sale of the Herbal Health products or other illegal products may contact HSA Enforcement Branch on 6866-3485 or e-mail email@example.com.
The Herbal Health range of creams claimed to treat skin conditions such as itchiness, eczema, dry skin, scaling heels and fungal infections but active ingredients are not listed on their labels.
Tests by HSA, however, revealed that they contained undeclared "Western medicinal ingredients which included an anti-allergy ingredient".
"Beware of miracle cures, even if friends recommend them... Do not buy dodgy products from small shops or off the street," said Dr Philip Koh of Healthway Medical Group.
HSA advises those taking the products to stop consumption immediately and seek medical advice.


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Showing results 1 - 10 of 16
Saturday, April 13, 2013 11:00 AM
A third-generation family business that has been operating in Pitt Meadows since the 1930s is the latest recipient to receive 'Buy Local' program funding.
Thursday, April 4, 2013 10:00 AM
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and B.C.'s Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick announced Growing Forward 2 program details for the agriculture and agrifood sector in British Columbia.
Saturday, February 16, 2013 9:30 AM
The Port Alberni Farmers' Market Association is receiving $5,000 from the B.C. government's Buy Local Program to develop a cookbook that will provide tips on how to prepare healthy and nutritious meals from seasonally available local food.
Thursday, November 8, 2012 1:45 PM
B.C. government funding is now available to support local food producers by encouraging British Columbians to shop for food produced in their own communities.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 9:30 AM
Canada and B.C. have targeted funding that supports business development, innovation, food safety, and sustainability under the Growing Forward Agreement in the fourth quarter of 2011-12. Growing Forward is a five-year framework that co-ordinates federal, provincial and territorial agriculture policy.
Monday, April 30, 2012 1:59 PM
Proposed changes to the Animal Health Act will ensure B.C.'s reputation as a producer of safe and healthy foods and animals.
Saturday, April 28, 2012 11:00 AM
The 2012 Guide to B.C. Fairs and Exhibitions is a directory of 57 celebrations of local foods, entertainment and community across B.C. between May 6 and Sept. 24, and it is available now.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:45 AM
One of the critical factors in our ability to grow B.C.'s agrifoods sector to a $14-billion-a-year industry by 2017 is a solid working relationship between the governments of B.C. and Canada.
Thursday, April 19, 2012 11:15 AM
A $75,000 grant from the Province will enable B.C.'s farmers' markets to better meet British Columbians' growing demand for fresh and local foods.
Friday, March 16, 2012 11:15 AM
British Columbia's new agrifoods strategy, released under the BC Jobs Plan, charts a path forward to increasing local food production and processing, while supporting job growth and healthy communities.


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On Dec. 29 the U.S. placed preliminary penalties on imports of some Chinese steel grating, saying the products were sold at below-market value to gain an unfair trade advantage.
This year the U.S. has imposed duties on other China-made steel products because of alleged dumping or export subsidies, including steel pipes.
The Commerce Department said it had preliminarily found that Chinese producers/exporters had sold steel grating in the U.S. at 14.36% to 145.18% less than normal value.
The steel grating is used for walkways, platforms and flooring. Imports of these products have increased sixfold between 2006 and 2008, to an estimated value of $90.7 billion, the department said.
"As a result of this preliminary determination, Commerce will instruct Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these preliminary rates," the department. The Commerce Department is scheduled to make its final determination in April 2010.
The U.S. and China for months have been locked in a trade tussle involving a number of World Trade Organization complaints and retaliatory measures on an array of products, including U.S. car products and chicken meat and Chinese steel pipes and tires.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009


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In a post from Blizzard’s Diablo 3 game director Jay Wilson he reveals that plans have now changed for the release of PvP in the game.
Originally Blizzard had stated that the Diablo 3 PvP would launch with a Team Deathmatch mode, this has now been postponed after play testing within the company. Testers felt that the it the mode lacked “depth” and “fighting with no other objectives” would not give the mode any longevity.
Blizzard has now decided that Team Deathmatch doesn’t live up to the quality of Blizzard games and they are “going back to the drawing board” to find a replacement for the mode.
They say that it might still be added in the future as a free content update but for now they are focusing on a Duelling mode that will be released in patch v1.07 some time at the start of 2013. More information about the duelling mode will be released in the future.
You can read the lengthy update from Jay Wilson over on.


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Premia Foods Quarterly Profit Falls on Fish Sales Drop
AS Premia Foods, the biggest Baltic frozen foods producer, said third-quarter net income declined to 1.1 million euros ($1.4 million) from 1.6 million euros a year earlier as sales of fish and fish products dropped.
Revenue fell 2.1 percent to 23.6 million euros in the period
To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at email@example.com


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Digiday Research: Media buyers will grow spending in private marketplaces over open exchanges
Programmatic ad buyers will grow their spending in private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed deals in 2019, but their enthusiasm for open exchanges appears to be waning.
According to a Digiday survey of 280 media buyers, this November, 62 percent said they plan to increase spending in private marketplaces (PMPs) in 2019, and sixty percent said they plan to grow their investment in programmatic guaranteed deals.
Comparatively, just 34 percent of respondents are increasing the amount they spend in open exchanges while 20 percent say they’re cutting spending there, possibly to spend more in PMPs.
Though the majority of media buyers will funnel more dollars through PMPs, some question the efficiency of doing so, given the work they often require to set up in the first place. “PMPs are the bottle service of programmatic. They’re very costly and don’t necessarily deliver value, but they sound exclusive and safe,” said Jay Friedman, president at programmatic agency Goodway Group.
Another knock against PMPs is a lack of available inventory available for buyers to bid on. If publishers fail to allocate enough inventory to PMPs, deals can fail to transact at any real volume. Earlier Digiday research found that marketers believed insufficient inventory is the biggest shortcoming of PMPs.
Other issues such as brand safety and fraud concerns are also helping to drive spending through PMPs. Even with precautions such as ads.txt approved inventory or enforcing blacklists, many buyers feel more protected buying through PMPs than through open exchanges. Forty-four percent of advertisers previously surveyed by Digiday said that they use PMPs in attempt to improve brand safety.
“It’s a security blanket. To them, buying ads through the open market sounds scary”, Friedman said.
Programmatic guaranteed deals are gaining in popularity, too. The General Data Protection Regulation enacted on May 25th this year already sparked renewed interest in programmatic guaranteed and larger players like Twitch have been promoting them to buyers. Because buyers in programmatic guaranteed deals agree to pay for ads at pre-fixed prices, it takes out some of the guesswork of participating in exchanges.
Meanwhile, publishers are certainly willing to take advantage of buyers’ interest in PMPs and programmatic guaranteed deals. Despite the headaches PMPs can cause and the amount of troubleshooting they can require, publishers say the CPMs they can earn through PMP’s can be several times higher than what they receive for the same inventory in open exchanges.
Publisher expectations of PMP and programmatic guaranteed growth loosely mirror that of buyers. Seventy percent of publisher respondents to the Digiday survey said that they expect revenues to grow from PMP deals and roughly three-quarters expect similar results from programmatic guaranteed deals. Just 41 percent forecast revenue growth from open exchanges.
If publishers want to make the most of their PMP deals, they need to help buyers set clearer expectations about what to expect said Chip Schenck, senior vice president of data and programmatic solutions at Meredith. “Publishers need to be straightforward about inventory available to buyers in PMPs. You can say 100 percent of your inventory is available for a first look for buyers. But if the cost required to buy that inventory is well above what buyer is prepared to bid, then it’s not going to perform well.”
Publishers hoping that switching now to PMPs will rescue them from the downward pressure programmatic has caused on ad prices might be disappointed. “PMPs have to be about curation, about the right price for the right audience. Publishers setting up PMPs now aren’t going to see a gold rush,” Schenck warned.
Google Pixel creates ad campaign to highlight the 50th anniversary of hip-hop
Google Pixel is highlighting the birth of hip-hop with a new, multi-touchpoint ad campaign.
Marketing Briefing: U.S. marketers prepare contingency plans amid potential TikTok ban
The likelihood of a ban is still up in the air, marketers and agency execs say, which is why some are simply taking a wait and see approach while others are preparing contingency plans.
In graphic detail: Gamers are warming up to in-game ads
Comscore questioned gamers about their attitudes toward advertisements in games for its State of Gaming report. Digiday got a sneak peek.
SponsoredIn a cookieless world, publishers are embracing new approaches to personalized UX
Asaf Shamly, CEO and co-founder, Browsi With user experience at the forefront of many publishers’ minds, the eventual deprecation of third-party cookies is bound to wreak havoc for those who haven’t quite figured out how to adjust their ad model to the coming change. The problem is well defined at this point: They can’t afford, […]
Meta, Snapchat, Twitter layoffs spell trouble for agency relationships
The speed and scale of platform layoffs only compound the problem of marketers feeling neglected by the social media giants.
Lessons from marketers’ experience with generative AI
Enthralled as marketers clearly are with the possibilities of AI, they’re starting to think they might need a strategy for it.


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The agreement will see Sportsbet broadcast and take bets on British and Irish racing.
The deal will also see thoroughbred racing – which is already shown on Tabcorp’s Sky Racing network in the TAB app, in venues and homes – streamed on Sportsbet’s digital platforms.
RMG is owned by 34 British racecourses, while SIS holds the rights to all 26 Irish racecourses and Chelmsford City.
“We are delighted to team up with Sportsbet and grateful to our long-standing partners, Tabcorp, for helping to facilitate the partnership through broader distribution of its Sky Racing channel,” RMG commercial director Nick Mills said.
“This is a very exciting opportunity to increase the shop window for our racecourses, as well as generate additional international revenue.”
Paul Bittar, general manager of sports partnerships at Sportsbet, added: “We are really excited to be able to conclude this deal with RMG and SIS in order to bring live streaming of British and Irish racing to our huge Australian customer base.
“Sportsbet is always seeking to bring excitement to life for our customers and striking this deal on high-quality racing content supports this goal. We are also pleased to be able to support the sustainability of the British and Irish racing industries through new revenues.”


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We explain how to prepare a profit and loss statement and balance sheet to use for proof of income when applying for the Australian Government’s coronavirus stimulus packages.
The Western Australian Government has announced a range of measures to support WA’s small business owners during the coronavirus (as at 31 March 2020).
The new JobKeeper Payment announced on 30 March aims to help businesses who have been affected by COVID-19 keep paying employees, this includes people who are self-employed. Here are some key points about eligibility (as at 31 March 2020).
The Australian Banking Association has announced new loan deferral arrangements for small businesses affected by coronavirus (as at 30 March 2020).
The Australian Government announced an updated economic stimulus package to support the economy during coronavirus. Here are the stimulus details so far (as at 30 March 2020).
We’ve put together this practical checklist of what you can do to keep your business open and reduce the impact of coronavirus (as at 30 March 2020).
When you first develop an idea you may decide to test it as a hobby but it’s important for tax purposes to know when an activity becomes a business


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At a steep curve on National Highway 1, at Jammu & Kashmir’s Patnitop, one would actually hear the roads honk when two vehicles approach each other from the opposite direction. This because of an unusual technology installed by HP Lubricants – it is the world’s first anti-collision vehicle management system that alerts drivers about approaching vehicles. Conceptualised, designed and executed by Leo Burnett India, the technology is named #RoadsThatHonk, and is aimed at making highways safer across Indian roads.
The project was launched on NH1 in North India, along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway, notorious for hairpin bends that makes it one of the most dangerous highways in the world (source: National Geographic). #RoadsThatHonk is named after the installed SmartLife poles that use radar technology across dangerous bends, alerting speeding drivers to slow down and avoid collisions. The poles are installed at key intersections, and use an advanced networked device to combine wireless technology, radar systems, and an anti-collision warning system -- all powered by solar PV modules.
Announcing the innovation, Rajdeepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia, said, “Leo Burnett India has always believed in humankind – we believe that creativity has the power to change and save human life. #RoadsThatHonk is rooted in a fundamental human need. For the first time ever, we have innovated a unique technology that helps make even the most dangerous roads safer for every driver, thereby saving precious lives.”
From insight to installation
The brief to the agency was to present the brand with a purpose of making roads safer. “Just believing in something isn’t always enough, both the brand and we wanted to make it come to life. And hence #RoadsThatHonk was born,” added Das.
It is not an easy task to come up with a technology and an idea of this kind in a matter of few days. The campaign took around a year to see light of the day.
Commenting on how the insight was generated, Das said, “We believe that the best way to define a problem is to live the problem. We’ve all been to hilly areas with bad terrains, had difficulty in navigating sharp curves, seen needless, gruesome accidents. In fact, we are always told to ‘drive safely, sharp curve ahead’. But apart from telling drivers to be careful, no one really thought of a way to make sharp curves and hairpin bends safer for them. We married common sense and technology to warn drivers of both sides of oncoming traffic, thus reducing the number of accidents significantly.”
Was it at all difficult to persuade the client?
Das answered, “HP Lubricants has always aimed at making roads safer for drivers. #RoadsThatHonk is an idea that is perfectly in sync with the brand’s vision, and the brand was on board with the concept right from the beginning.”
With great innovations come big challenges, talking about the challenges, Das said, “At the outset, it was challenging to identify the most dangerous hairpin bend among thousands in India. Each one was worse than the other. The next challenge was to identify and develop the right technology and design for the SmartLife poles. The third most important challenge was to actually set up the poles at the hairpin bends in a terrain like Patnitop on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.”
In the next phase, HP plans to identify more dangerous hairpin bends that are in need of SmartLife Poles, to make more Indian highways safer for commuting. They may come up with 18-20 more poles in the future.
HP Lubricants and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plan to take this technology to major highways in the country.
Peers review the campaign
Saurabh Uboweja, Brand Guru and CEO at Brands of Desire, has a point to make. He said, “From how I look at it, there are a few positives and negatives to the campaign. Firstly as a concept it is good, they have picked up a social cause which is good too. Although reducing road accidents doesn’t have anything to do with lubricants directly, I think it is positive to not have a direct linkage, especially if you are trying to do a social campaign. I would also like to give them the credit for being creative and trying to use an intelligent system.”
But Uboweja also finds the campaign largely pre-meditated. He said, “The thing with brand building is that it should never come across as marketing. There is a thin line between brand building and marketing and here it comes across too blatantly. Secondly, as an idea I think while they are contributing towards solving one problem they are creating another – sound pollution. If you think about it, the really savvy drivers who drive on the hills, their accident rates are very low and they will start to get distracted by this, for say 90 per cent of the drivers. It is a massive distraction. So for me it’s a huge let down from a safety point of view as it creates new risks.”
Analysing the campaign, Uboweja added, “It is going to be hugely damaging, if they run it as a big campaign. If you look carefully there is so much emphasis on the horn. People might start associating the brand with the horn. They have created a sound identity, which was completely unintended. Horns are creating noise pollution in all the developing countries, so essentially it is a negative identity that they are creating.”
Abhinav Kaushik, Senior Vice-President, Dentsu One, is in awe of the campaign, “Most of the lubricant brands operate at the rational level, at best some tap the emotional drivers. Rarely do we see brands catapult to a level where they talk at the ‘societal level’ and influence consumers so deeply that they create an inseparable bond with them. This brilliant activation from HP Lubricants is a powerful and stirring example of how brands need to connect to the society and the nation at large. And not just do a tick-mark CSR activity. This really sets a benchmark for other such brands within the category and outside to move up the notches and create meaningful and life-connecting engagements.”
Pramod Sharma, Executive Creative Director, Rediffusion Y&R, said, "Advertising is slowly moving towards 'Sensvertising'. Innovation is the future. It’s a great idea that reduces the risks of accidents. Implementation will be a challenge. But with a client such as HP, this can be done on a large scale. (A not so similar idea won at the Cannes two years back where a pre-programmed radio frequency intercepted your vehicle's radio frequency and alerted you of dangerous curve). HP idea works for me as it can be huge. Imagine this getting installed on almost all the highway curves. Superb!"
Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Communications India and Leo Burnett, South Asia: Saurabh Varma
Chief Creative officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia: Rajdeepak Das
Chief Strategy Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia: Dheeraj Sinha
Executive Director and Branch Head, Mumbai: Rakesh Hinduja
Creative Team: Gunjan Poddar, Arvindh Lochan, Himanish Ashar
Business Head: Sidheshwar Sharma
Account Management: Hirosh Mulky, Rumi Behramkamdin, Manish Verma
Production House: Prodigious India
Executive Producer: Vandana Watsa & team
Yuktix, Founder: Rajeev Jha & team
Secretary, PHA: Lovenesh Sathe
Project Director, NHAI: M.T. Atarde
Gammon India: Rohit Khajuria


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G'day and meet Kathy Raydings, aka "Grandma Uber."
This kind-hearted 57-year-old from the Australian Gold Coast has decided to specialize her Uber service. She thinks that women need an Uber driver they can count on to deliver them back home after a night on the town "without the risk of deviant, ill-intentioned drivers taking advantage of their youth and intoxicated state in a negative way," as Raydings told Huffington Post.
She started driving with Uber after she was attacked by a dog while inspecting a client'sÂ home as part of her job in the solar panel industry. But that was then, and this is now. Take a look at this video.
Raydings shows up with plenty of snacks and soft drinks for her passengers to enjoy. "I have a huge Bundy Rum esky in the boot filled with chocolates," Raydings told HuffPost Australia. It usually lasts a week and a half." (BTW, esky=cooler and boot=trunk).
The header of Grandma Uber's Instagram page shows how to get her schedule. She's also bringing on a team of additional grandmas under her umbrella, so there will be a fleet of granny Ubers in Brisbane.
"They'll obviously need to get their Uber approval and credentials, but then drive under the Grandma Uber banner and logo,â she said in the HPA story. âWe'll dress up their cars with stickers so the girls will recognize that it's another Grandma Uber.â (Here's Grandma Sheree's sked, for example.)
Gotta love these grandmas taking this extra step to keep young women safe!


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A hot tub purchase refund has been won by a lucky Award Leisure customer after the England cricket team were victorious over New Zealand at the end of the thrilling World Cup Final at Lord’s.
Since the start of June the Coast Spas and Regency Spas specialist dealer network has been running a World Cup-themed sales and marketing initiative to provide new customers with ‘Three Chances to Win’ their money back from a hot tub purchase if an England team won any of the 2019 World Cup football, cricket and rugby tournament finals.
The retailing powerhouse, which has showrooms in Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Birmingham, Tamworth and London, bowled over lucky winners Kim and John Franklin from Leicester after holding the prize draw that contained 84 prospective winning names of customers who had purchased their hot tub from June 1 onwards and before the Cricket World Cup Final match commenced.
Now the Franklins have had the good fortune of having the £5,890 price refunded on their summer purchase of their Award Suite hot tub that has received TV promotion exposure on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ show.
“John and his wife Kim were selected out of 84 entries to win their money back on their hot tub purchase, meaning they’re getting their Award Suite Hot Tub without paying a penny!” reported Award Leisure chief Mark Anthony.
Coming in at 203 x 203 x 86cm, the Award Suite Spa 25L incorporates a lounge seat within its Syncrylic impact resistant design that has three additional seats and has 25 adjustable jets. The specialist retail package includes storage steps with side planters, a hot tub thermal energy-efficient cover, adjustable spa umbrella, cover lifter, drinks cooler, plus a drinks and games table.
It was among the hot tubs on display; along with the popular 2019 WhatSpa? Best Buy Award-winning Regency Spas Baron, which comes in at 195 x 195 x 76cm and is produced by Coast Spas; at the Award Leisure stand during the recent Main Home and Lifestyle Show hosted at the Chelmsford Race Course.
Award Leisure; which is the first industry retailer to gain Which? Trusted Trader Accreditation and is WhatSpa? Approved, is building on its increased profile and status in the market, which includes Gold Award recognition in the prestigious 2019 BISHTA Awards earlier this year, by continuing the World Cup Rugby promotion with a chance for customers to win the money back on their hot tub purchases from any Award Leisure store that are ordered and installed before 9am on November 2.
Along with the World Cup sales and marketing initiative; Award Leisure is also promoting a wide range of hot tubs and swim spa products and accessories to consumers as part of a tandem advertising campaign in the 2019 editions of WhatSpa? and WhatSwimSpa? magazines.
These include 2019 WhatSwimSpa? Best Buy Award-winning models manufactured by Coast Spas; including the Regency Spas Emperor III Bench, which comes in at 3.84 x 2.29 x 1.35m, and the Coast Spas 1303 Lounge, which also comes in at 3.84 x 2.29 x 1.35m; in the sub £19,999 price range; Coast Spas 1401VE, which comes in at 4.08 x 2.39 x 1.35m, in the £20,000 to £29,999 price range; and the Coast Spas 2100 VE, in the £30,000 Plus price category.
Award Leisure has recently taken delivery of the 2100 VE, which has been dubbed as a ‘behemoth’ by WhatSwimSpa? after being proclaimed as the world’s largest infinity edge swim spa that provides ‘tandem swimming’ capability.
Coming in at 655 x 229 x 161cm and with a monstrous 10,487 litre capacity, the 2100 VE has seating capacity for seven adults and incorporates the Coast Spas patented Infinity Edge technology, 67 Trillium Stainless Steel Massage Jets, dual 24” waterfalls and luxury stainless steel massage jets and its extra wide shell provides enough space for two people to swim together comfortably.


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SINGAPORE - The Republic's ranking as the world's most competitive economy is encouraging, but the country has to continue to create opportunities for its people and businesses, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing.
Noting that competition is becoming more intense globally, Mr Chan said in a Wednesday (May 29) Facebook post that "to stay competitive, Singapore, as a small and open economy, must ensure that we continue to get our fundamentals right".
Singapore cannot afford to compete on cost or size, but can focus on its connectivity, quality and creativity, he said.
"We must leverage the brand of trust and standards that we have become known for, and continue to be a safe harbour for partnerships and collaboration."
Mr Chan's comments come after the Republic jumped from third place last year to reclaim the title of the world's most competitive economy, an accolade it last achieved in 2010.
Singapore beat the United States and Hong Kong to top the ranking by Swiss business school IMD, which looks at how well 63 economies do in four categories: economic performance, infrastructure, government efficiency and business efficiency.
In his Wednesday post, the minister said that Singapore needs to continue to diversify its linkages to access more markets, stay open and be plugged into talent, technology, data and finance flows.
"We must also enable our enterprises to boost their capabilities and scale up, while ensuring our workers are equipped with the skills - not just for today's jobs, but the jobs of tomorrow too," he said.
Mr Chan added that while tensions over trade and protectionist sentiments have made the economic outlook uncertain, there are still opportunities "so long as we continue to build upon what we have achieved and stay true to our fundamentals".
"With this, I am confident we can continue to distinguish ourselves from the competition," he said.