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Behind the rhetoric of being ‘business-friendly’, the National government has prioritised the interests of big business and foreign corporations over small business. The Green Party considers that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of our economy, opportunities, and jobs. We are calling for a fair deal for small business, and we will support SMEs.
SMEs are crucial to our economy. Around the world, governments have programmes to help small business to start up and get a foothold. For good reasons – they provide the backbone of most economies, generating most of the jobs and most of the local economic benefits that are the lifeblood of towns and cities. However, the government’s policies are more attuned to the lobbying of big business and foreign corporations than SMEs. The result is that SMEs are trying to compete on a playing field that is tilted to the advantage of these big companies and multinationals.
The GST problem
An example from the retail sector. Shops and small manufacturers across New Zealand face a new threat from Amazon opening a huge new distribution centre in Sydney. They not only have the advantages of huge scale in marketing and leverage with suppliers, they can supply most products into New Zealand without GST. This gives them an automatic 15% advantage. The government’s policy is that any imported product, purchased online and costing less than $400, does not pay GST. This not only means that New Zealand business is disadvantaged, but the government misses out on around $200 million in lost tax. The Greens would level the playing field by charging GST on all imported products.
Other tax issues
There are other problems with tax policy. It has been well-documented for decades that multinational corporates, like Apple, do not pay their fair share of taxes in New Zealand. They use tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes, usually by shifting their profits around the world to end up in a tax haven, where they benefit from secrecy and low or zero taxes. Australia and the UK have clamped down, through a Diverted Profits Tax that charges a penalty if multinationals are artificially structuring their businesses to avoid tax. The National government have repeatedly delayed the introduction of legislation. Again, New Zealand businesses are put at a disadvantage against their competitors who don’t have to pay tax, and the government misses out on tax revenue of at least $300 million per year. The Greens will clamp down on multinational tax avoidance, through a Diverted Profits Tax and other measures.
Dumping unfair competition
Small businesses are also not protected from unfair competition. The government passed legislation this year, against strong opposition from the Greens and other Parties, to impose a test that limits action against foreign companies that dump imports at below market prices in New Zealand. The government will not impose any surcharge (“countervailing duty”) if there is a net benefit to consumers from allowing unfair dumping. Even worse, the model they use to determine this benefit is heavily weighted in favour of doing nothing.
This provides an in-built incentive to foreign competitors. They can sell imported products at cheap prices until the local business is driven into bankruptcy and then put the prices up. The anti-dumping system is already hugely difficult for small business to access and this new law will only make it worse. Even if the small business shows unfair dumping, the government may do nothing about it. The Greens would repeal this law and defend New Zealand companies suffering from unfair competition. The Greens will also strengthen competition policy to prevent market dominance by a few large companies.
Government regulation also creates disadvantages to small business. Typically the compliance costs are far heavier on small business. Sound regulation is needed to avoid costs from poor or non-existent regulation such as leaky buildings, the Pike River disaster or the collapse of finance companies. However, regulation should be proportionate to the scale of the risk and the size of the company. In sector after sector, high compliance costs have led to the exit of small business and the market dominance of a few large companies, facilitated by the absence of sound competition policies. This is enabled by powerful lobbying of big business and foreign corporations and weak representation by small companies. The Greens will review compliance requirements for SMEs to identify ways to reduce the burden and will simplify implementation and reporting requirements.
Many SMEs get a foothold in the market through procurement contracts from government or local Councils, but procurement rules have been skewed to providing access for multinationals and favouring large integrated contracts that advantage large companies. The Greens will require government and councils to implement sustainable procurement practices, including fair access for SMEs, on the basis of best value to the economy. The Greens will also educate the public about the benefits of supporting local business and require Country of Origin labelling for imported single ingredient products.
Other disadvantages to SMEs are hidden in trade agreements. Free Trade Agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement contain preferential rights for foreign corporations and allow them to challenge New Zealand laws and regulations if they restrict their profits. These rights are not available to domestic business. The Greens will push for trade agreements that are in the interests of all New Zealanders, without the extreme rules that allow multinationals preferential rights, disadvantage SMEs and prevent fair rules on the economy.
The Green Party is independent of big business. We have consistently championed the cause of SMEs and recognise their contributions to the economy, local community and the fabric of New Zealand society. In government, we will remove the above disadvantages of small business and provide a clearinghouse to help small business deal with regulatory issues and reduce compliance costs.


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Retail investors check share prices at a securities brokerage in Fuyang, East China's Anhui province.
China's stocks dropped over 3 percent on market opening Friday after China and the U.S. announced reciprocal taxes on imports.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened at 3,172.77 points, down 2.78 percent on Friday morning.
The Shenzhen Component Index went down 3.37 percent to open at 10,511.16 points.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 3.60 percent to open at 1,751.71 points.
US President Trump signed a memorandum Thursday authorizing punitive annual tariffs of up to billion on Chinese exports under a Section 301 case on Chinese intellectual property policies and practices.
Then on Friday morning, China's Ministry of Commerce announced it is considering a tariff increase on imports of some products from the United States to make up for losses caused by the US tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China.
Analysts noted that fears of a trade war between the largest two economies in the world caused turmoil in the global stock markets.
On Wall Street, the major indexes suffered their biggest one-day percentage drop in six weeks on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 723.45 points, or 2.93 percent. The S&P 500 lost 68.23 points, or 2.52 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 178.61 points, or 2.43 percent.
Hong Kong stocks lost 1,140.82 points, or 3.67 percent, opening at 29,930.23 points Friday.

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Lake Shore Gazette
Leading News Website
Friction Modifier Additives Market Growth
Global Demand for Friction Modifier Additives to Incur Considerable Upsurge During 2016 – 2026
May 21, 2020
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic can be felt across the chemical industry. The growing inability in the production and manufacturing processes, in the light of the self-quarantined workforce has caused a major...
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Bitcoin is not for the big guys
Tuesday 03 November 2015
Big businesses are looking at bitcoin. Are they in for a disappointment?
In a recent article I looked at the last couple of years in Bitcoinland, concluding that what happened represented something like the dotcom bust for crypto. That naturally raises questions about the kind of companies that will weather the storm.
Read also: That was our dotcom bust. Now what?
The parallels are obvious. Huge VC and popular investment - in bitcoin’s case directly into the currency as well as the infrastructure - before the world was really ready to provide the customers and the revenue streams. After the dust settled, those who are left standing have to pick up the pieces and forge viable companies from what’s left.
In the case of the internet, there were plenty of companies that never made it (Pets.com springs to mind as a case study in failure). And there were some that did, like Amazon and eBay - big companies that had the VC investment and the right vision and business model, and could not only survive but thrive.
But is that really the internet’s success story? Is it not more the hundreds of thousands, millions of individuals and small businesses that built something new and different and profitable on top of this new technology? Technology that, after all, offered nothing less than the democratisation of information - access to know-how, customers, facilities and more. How many successful organisations today do not have a website? Not many.
Large, unwieldy and with voracious appetites: big corporations are not best suited to leverage what bitcoin offers
It’s my assumption that bitcoin’s success story will be similar, only more so. Like the internet, crypto is a democratiser, an enabler. And, far more than even the internet, it’s about dispersing power. Decentralisation is not just a benefit, it’s a core feature. Crypto brings low transaction costs and independence from single-point-of-failure control. That’s built into how it works. Change or try to co-opt that and you kill not only what it does, but what it is. Unfortunately, big businesses like centralisation and top-down control. There are a few companies that received huge amounts of VC funding but neglected to limit their burn rate that are cottoning on to that problem right about now.
That’s why I’m sceptical about big businesses leveraging bitcoin to turn a profit. Sure, there will be some that manage it. Exchanges, for example, need banks and regulatory approval, and those are things it’s easier to access when you’re large and influential. But centralisation is anathema to crypto. Not just ideologically but practically, because you can't control the thing that will cease to exist if you tame it.
What is more likely to drive adoption, in my mind, is the thousands and thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs who realise there are benefits to using crypto - lower transaction costs, access to international markets, circumventing capital controls or state intervention, finding customers who aren’t able to use credit cards for one reason or another.
Naturally, some big companies can do just that, too. But imagine the state of bitcoin in five or ten years. Will there be an equivalent of Google - a huge company with an effective monopoly on the market? That would be inconceivable, if only because it would crush the thing it was supposed to profit from. More likely, bitcoin’s success story will be one that is as widely dispersed as its network.
And that means some big companies are going to have to have difficult conversations with their investors.
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General Motors and its legal team are working diligently to ensure plaintiffs are unable to proceed in a lawsuit over vehicles’ loss of value.
According to Reuters, plaintiffs argue their GM vehicles have lost significant value following a slew of recalls not only involving the ignition switch component, but other items, too. The plaintiffs’ lawyer stated the “avalanche of defects” has “harmed GM’s reputation as a safe and reliable manufacturer, meaning its customers would not be able to resell their vehicles for as much as when they bought them.”
For GM, lawyer Richard Godfrey stated if the plaintiffs are endorsed by the court, it would open a massive liability for any automaker, setting a precedent. Even if the recall is not related to safety, it would put an incredible burden on automakers to be held responsible for depreciation.
“This is not opening the door, it is destroying the door frame,” he said.
The plaintiffs’ claims are worth more than $10 billion, as the court weighs whether to dismiss the proposed class action lawsuit against GM. A decision is expected to arrive in a few weeks.


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S.A. businesman pairs tequila and moving vans
Few things taste better than a cold beer after the sweaty job of unpacking furniture from a move.
Or so reasons Paras Arora, whose Live Oak Wine & Spirits recently added U-Haul moving equipment and supplies to its offerings. The four-month-old liquor store, located at 12107 Toepperwein Road, signed an agreement to stock the rental giant’s trucks, trailers and other gear.
“To me, moving and having a drink go together, plus I had the parking space, so I figured why not?” says Arora, 21, who recently relocated to San Antonio from Florida. “It was also zero investment for me, which is nice.”
Arora looked into other ventures to supplement Live Oak’s revenues — among them, luxury car rentals. But he elected to go the slightly-less-glamorous U-Haul route because the company charges no franchise fee and provides around-the-clock support to its dealers.
He expects truck rentals to make up about a third of his business this year.
U-Haul officials wouldn’t say how many other liquor stores rent U-Haul equipment, but added that the company’s 1,500 dealer affiliates represent a wide range of businesses. Those entities help fill in the gaps between U-Haul’s larger, company-owned stores.
“You can see the diversity of the businesses that affiliate themselves with U-Haul,” spokesman Monty Gonzales says. “It ranges from gas to stations to hardware stores to storage places.”
The idea of pairing booze and box trucks wasn’t that big a leap, Arora says. Several friends in Florida rented U-Haul gear at their convenience stores.
And U-Haul never raised any issues about Live Oak’s other line of business.
“This is a package store, not a bar,” Arora says. “If it had been a bar, that probably would have been a different story.”
Sanford Nowlin covers energy/utilities, transportation/aviation and manufacturing.
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International Year of Fruits & Vegetables 2021What we do
International Year of Fruits & Vegetables 2021
UN 2021 International Year of Fruits & Vegetables
2021 has been designated by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). The IYFV is a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health as well as in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The four objectives of the 2021 IYFV are:
- Raising awareness of and directing policy attention to the nutrition and health benefits of fruits and vegetables consumption.
- Promoting diversified, balanced, and healthy diets and lifestyles through fruit and vegetable consumption.
- Reducing losses and waste in fruits and vegetables food systems.
- Sharing best practices on promotion and consumption, improved sustainability, supply chains and capacity strengthening.
The 2021 IYFV falls within the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) and the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028). FAO is the lead agency for celebrating the year in collaboration with other relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations systems. All information regarding the 2021 IYFV is available via the dedicated FAO website here.
On the 15 December 2020 FAO’s Director-General QU Donguy launched the 2021 IYFV with an appeal to improve healthy and sustainable food production through innovation and technology and to reduce food loss and waste.
FAO released a IYFV 2021 Background Paper, which provides an overview of the fruit and vegetable sector and a framework and a starting point for discussion for the Year. The Background Paper outlines the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, but also examines the various aspects of the fruit and vegetable sector from a food systems approach, and highlights the interlinkages of stakeholders and key issues to be considered for action during the IYFV.
Freshfel Europe is encouraging the EU fruit and vegetable community and beyond to support this important international year. Freshfel Europe is calling on its members to proactively engage in the 2021 IYFV to maximize the outreach of this exceptional yearlong initiative to boost consumption and raise awareness of the sector’s constant work to improve the health of all citizens and increase global sustainability. Freshfel Europe’s press release on the launch of the 2021 IYFV is available here.
Freshfel Europe campaign #SpeakUp4FruitVeg
To support and celebrate the 2021 IYFV Freshfel Europe is running a digital campaign ‘#SpeakUp4FruitVeg’. Launched in January 2021, the campaign is targeted at EU decision-makers to better support the sector in EU policy-making.
Through regular posts on its social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) throughout 2021 Freshfel Europe hopes to boost support for the sector by EU decision-makers including European Commission officials, Members of the European Parliament and Member State representatives.
Further information about the #SpeakUp4FruitVeg campaign is available via the campaign launch press release, otherwise please contact the Freshfel Europe Secretariat.
Freshfel Europe’s #SpeakUp4FruitVeg campaign is supported by Maastricht University’s PREMIUM Project programme.


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Hotline: David Jones to continue his role
David Jones will continue in his role as the chief executive of Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG Worldwide following his appointment as the Havas group chief executive. Jones replaced Fernando Rodes Vila in the role earlier this week as Havas announced a 20 per cent rise in 2010 net income to EUR110 million.
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Last time its was Target now it is the turn of the United States grocery giants Albertsons and SUPERVALU. AB Acquisitions LLC, the company that operates the Albertsons grocery store chain posted a blog post detailing the data breach on their website Thursday. SUPERVALU also follow suit.
You can imagine the scale of leak as Albertsons is the second largest grocery store chain and SUPERVALU is the third largest chain in the United States, behind the leader Kroger’s. In the blog post, Albertson said that it had “recently learned of an unlawful intrusion to obtain credit and debit card payment information in some of its stores.” SUPERVALU on its blog post claimed that the “criminal intrusion may have resulted in the theft of account numbers, and in some cases also the expiration date, other numerical information and/or the cardholder’s name from payment cards used at some point of sale systems at some of the Company’s owned and franchised stores.”
As per the reports available, the breach which began on June 22 and lasted till 17th July, 2014 may have exposed the credit and debit card information of almost all of its customers at various grocery store locations in more than 18 states.
The blog post says that Albertsons stores in Southern California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Southern Utah were affected by the breach directly. It also says that third party store customers users of ACME Markets in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, customers from Jewel-Osco stores in Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, Shaw’s and Star Markets stores in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island may also been exposed due to the leak
On the other hand the other chain which was hacked, SUPERVALU is also facing a massive data breach. it said that 180 of its Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Shop ’n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy supermarket and liquor store locations are impacted.
AB Acquisitions has informed the law enforcement agencies and is working with SUPERVALU to understand the severity of the leak. Reader may note that Albertsons was owned by SUPERVALU until its sale to AB Acquisitions in 2013 for $3.3 billion therefore both of them were using the same backend system to manage their customer records, which was hacked by the cyber criminals during the said period.
At present both the companies said that there is no evidence of stolen payment card information is being misused but it is usually noticed that the criminals usually offer such stolen credit cards for sale on the underground forums on the Tor anonymizer network in due time. Both companies are offering affected customers one year of free credit monitoring services.


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It was one of the Inland Empire’s oldest and biggest shopping malls. The Carousel Mall in San Bernardino has reportedly closed its doors permanently.
For the past few years, the 43-acre mall in downtown San Bernardino was really struggling to stay alive. So, it’s really not that big of a surprise that it’s now closed.
Carousel Mall originally opened as Central City Mall back in 1972, and in the prime of its existence it housed 52 stores and 3 major department stores.
It was in 1991 that the mall was renamed to Carousel Mall.
CBS Los Angeles reports the last 14 tenants were evicted from Carousel Mall this year and the doors were permanently closed Friday.
There are plans for property as the city of San Bernardino said they’ll demolish the mall and build new shops, restaurants and housing.


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In some ways, John Travolta spurred Rick Worley to success.
Long before Worley opened Wild West of Myrtle Beach, Inc., he ran Worley’s Department Store in downtown Tabor City, North Carolina. His store didn’t even sell western wear until after the movie “Urban Cowboy” was released in 1980, starring a youthful Travolta.
“When ‘Urban Cowboy’ came out, people started coming in wanting to know, ‘Do you have any western wear?’” Worley said. “So we ended up picking up cowboy boots. [Then people asked] ‘Well, you’ve got the boots. Do you have the shirts?’ So we ended up picking up the shirts. Then we went to the second floor of that store and opened up a western store.”
The Worley family’s western apparel business gradually expanded over the decades, and Wild West now includes two retail stores and recently added a 50,000-square-foot distribution center in Loris. State and local officials on Wednesday announced that the company would be hiring 40 workers over the next five years as part of the expansion of Wild West’s ecommerce division.
“It’s interesting to see how it all evolved,” said Austin Worley, Rick Worley’s son and business partner. “There was no master plan. We just kind of went with whatever was working.”
And boots, brims and blue jeans always worked for the Worleys.
After opening the Tabor City western wear business, Rick Worley started buying out the inventory of other similar companies in the region. In the early 1990s, he was purchasing the stock of a store in Conway when the outgoing owner mentioned that the landlord would be willing to rent to him if he wanted to stick around.
Soon, the 2,000-square-foot Conway store was busier than the 12,000-square-foot Tabor City operation. Folks liked that they could buy their shirts and boots from a local guy who wasn't part of a corporate chain.
So Rick Worley told his wife that they needed to build a nicer place in Conway and it should be on U.S. 501. In 1996, they opened Wild West just past the S.C. 544 overpass. The store was originally 5,000 square feet. Two years later, they added another 7,500 square feet. Two years after that came 7,500 more. The store even expanded into saddles and horse supplies.
“Anything for the cowboy,” Rick Worley said.
As the business grew, the Worleys looked for more retail and warehouse space, finding both in the Surfside Beach area in 2013 when they bought another building. They assumed the new center’s high ceilings and an additional 8,000 square feet of warehouse space would be all they would need.
“I had no idea,” Austin Worley said. “When we bought that building, we thought that was it.”
But the Worleys began noticing their digital sales kept growing. And then the pandemic transformed that side of the business last year.
“With most brick-and-mortar [stores] being closed down, we saw a surge in online sales,” Austin Worley said. “And it hasn’t really let up much. We’re still up a lot over last year even. I think a lot of consumers that weren’t used to shopping online kind of developed that habit last year. … It went from being a necessity to being a convenience now, and I don’t see it turning back.”
The changes in the industry forced the family to again search for more space. Late last year, they found a warehouse in the Loris Commerce Park. The vacant building was originally built for Accent Stainless Steel, a Canadian-based manufacturer of microbrewing systems. The company arrived in Loris to much fanfare, with a celebratory groundbreaking in 2015 and the promise of 65 jobs. But the plant abruptly closed in 2018, laying off the few workers who had been hired.
Austin Worley said he was initially unsure about working so far from his Socastee home, but the Loris building proved to be an ideal fit. The Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC), the county’s industry recruitment arm, helped the company secure financial incentives to assist with the expansion. The Worleys bought the building in January for $1.9 million, according to property records.
“It certainly helps a lot,” Austin Worley said of the assistance from EDC President Sandy Davis. “She’s been amazing at helping us get up and going and get started here. So I think it was definitely the right decision. It’s an amazing property. We’ve had pretty good luck for the most part finding staff and being able to scale up rather quickly.”
As part of the incentives deal, the company is making a $2.5 million investment, which includes the building purchase and spending more than $600,000 on renovations, machinery and equipment. Both the state and county agreed to provide the company with grants to accommodate the expansion.
Wild West is in line to receive $50,000 from the county and $100,000 from the state, according to public records. The company also has the option of pursuing income tax and job tax credits.
The incentives are contingent upon the company reaching its hiring and investment goals. If the company doesn’t meet those benchmarks in the designated timeframe, it could have to repay some of the grant money.
The average hourly wage of the new positions is $12.50, according to the EDC. However, Davis said some positions pay more.
That average wage wasn’t high enough to meet Horry County’s threshold for awarding local incentives, so county council approved a variance last week that cleared the way for Wild West to secure the county grant.
Davis said the Worleys were willing to work with her office on finding an incentives package that fit their business.
“They’ve always been involved in Horry County, but they did not know of any type of incentives that were available to them,” she said. “They’ve been real appreciative and they’ve been really involved in everything. They wanted to ask questions and they wanted to know what was out there. … They are proof that you get what you put in.”
The company’s available jobs will be posted on the state’s SC Works website. The positions at the warehouse range from office staff who post internet listings to shipping and receiving crews. Austin Worley said the company also plans to hire a digital marketing specialist.
More than 20 Wild West employees are already working at the Loris hub and the Worleys expect they will have about 90 employees at all their locations once every position is filled.
The Loris facility is primarily focused on serving the company’s ecommerce needs. The warehouse is packed with rows of new boots and clothing. There’s an entire room dedicated to denim and another room for hats.
The place is a distribution hub.
"It's a baby Amazon," Austin Worley said.
Movie posters of actors from famous westerns hang in the lobby. It’s a fitting look for a company that got its start with a little help from Hollywood.
Despite the company’s strong growth, at its core Wild West remains a small business. Rick Worley focuses on managing the retail stores while Austin Worley handles the ecommerce division. Dianne Worley, Rick’s wife and Austin’s mother, is the company's bookkeeper.
The Worleys talk about changes in the business over the years and responding to the market’s demands. That, they said, is how they've persevered.
“It’s funny how doors in life open up,” Rick Worley said. “You walk into a door and it leads you to a certain direction. In our business, that’s exactly what happened. When the ‘Urban Cowboy’ trend came out, we stepped through that door and got into western wear. And then the opportunity to buy out a western store in Conway came available. We stepped through that door and that door led to buying the property on 501. And that led to buying the property in Surfside. And then the warehouse and the internet led to the door opening of buying this property and getting over here. So there’s doors in life. It’s not that we’re looking for a door. Doors just open up of opportunity and we decide to go through it and see what happens.”


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View the basic BABA stock chart on Finance. The agreement covers more than 0episodes from Disney series, as well as many of its films, and means . It provides online and mobile marketplaces in retail and wholesale trade, as well as cloud computing and other services. ADR stock price, stock quotes and financial overviews from MarketWatch. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
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The creator of indie darling Gunpoint has revealed their latest game Heat Signature (pictured), which released digitally on Steam last Thursday, has had a better launch week than its debut game.
Heat Signature has been in development for three and a half years and has cost 200,000 to make, developer Tom Francis wrote on his blog, "making it probably the biggest risk" of his career. Fortunately, the gamble has paid off, as shown by its very positive reception by the worldwide gaming press.
"I knew I wouldn’t have another Gunpoint-size success – that came out in the sweet spot for indie, when demand was high and supply was low," said Francis. "So my best-case-scenario was to do half as well as Gunpoint did in the same timeframe.
"It’s donebetterthan Gunpoint. Not by much, and it’s too soon to know if it’ll have the same long-tail Gunpoint did, but so far it really is a Gunpoint-size success. We hit #1 on Steam on launch day, and stayed in the top 10 for most of the week. Thank you so much to everyone who bought it and spread the word, and to everyone who’s left such lovely reviews. This was a huge gamble and I’m so relieved and grateful and frankly surprised it paid off.
"Now I’m in a state of simultaneously needing a) a break, b) to catch up on a backlog of urgent things I let slide during development, and c) to tweak the game in response to feedback. But I’m happy to be doing all that in the aftermath of a success, rather than eg. the shadow of a massive financial disaster. So thank you for that!"
Heat Signature isn’t the only Steam release to come out in the last few months by a high-profile indie dev from the platform’s early days, but at least Francis gave fans a bit more notice than Thomas Was Alone’s Mike Bithell did with Subsurface Circular, which released in August on Steam with a single tweet.
The difference between their releases, however, couldn’t shed a brighter light on the importance of marketing. According to SteamSpy, Subsurface Circular is currently estimated to have around 7,400 owners, while Heat Signature is sitting on almost 44,000. Of course, Heat Signature’s procedurally generated space theme is arguably more mainstream than Subsurface’s sci-fi text adventure, but it nevertheless paints a stark picture about how getting the word out about your game before release can affect initial sales.
As Francis himself points out, it will be interesting to see if Heat Signature has the same long-term appeal as Gunpoint, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on its progress over the coming months.


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The masked vigilante Batman is getting his own NFT collection. Warner Bros. subsidiary, DC in partnership with Palm NFT Studio has announced the launch of 200,000 NFTs, named the Bat Cowl collection which is set to drop on April 26.
The collection will feature 3D rendered images that are based on Batman’s 83-year long history and each NFT in the collection will have a unique set of features and traits, which will reflect the diversity of the Batman stories. Each NFT will be sold for $300.
The NFTs will be launched on DC’s NFT marketplace and owners of the DC FanDome NFTs, will get presale access to the Bat Cowl collection.
Bat Cowl holders will get access to a private DC Universe fan forum featuring behind-the-scenes content, select fan events, physical collectibles, merchandise, and more.
“The Bat Cowl Collection aims to redefine the NFT experience offering up unparalleled opportunities to one of the Studio’s most beloved franchises ” said Josh Hackbarth, Head of NFT Commercial Development for Warner Bros.
A two-year roadmap has been developed for the collectibles which will expand the utility for Bat Cowl holders every 52 days. The utilities include areas such as augmented reality, metaverse integration, and expanded wallet capabilities.
Upgrades for the collectibles will be available on nft.dcuniverse.com.
“Through the best-in-class, fan-first approach to the development of NFTs, we believe the Bat Cowl Collection will allow collectors to deepen their connection with Batman and the DC Universe, while embracing their fandom in the growing metaverse ecosystem ” continued Josh.
Palm Studio will lead the creative development of the project alongside the 3D design studio Daz3D. ”The Palm NFT Studio platform is built for brands as iconic as Batman to leverage the magic of Web3, keeping the crypto complexity under the hood to deliver a seamless fan experience in a way that is both environmentally sustainable and scalable ” said Matt Mason, Chief Content Officer of Palm NFT Studio.
Warner Bros. has been using the caped crusader’s popularity to make money from various sources. Only a few days ago Warner Bros. teamed up with the Cartamundi Group to launch “DC Hybrid Trading Cards” that feature physical cards along with NFTs. Batman will also be featured on these dual use cards.


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Vivo Launches V25 5G and V25e with the Latest Color Changing Glass and Powerful Camera Capabilities
vivo launched its latest V series smartphones — V25 5G and V25e in Pakistan. Following the immense popularity of the V23 series, vivo is once again ready to take the industry by storm through its newly launched smartphones. For these newly launched devices, vivo has continued itspartnership with Pakistan Cricket Team’s Captain and Number One Batsman in the country — as Brand Ambassador for V25 5G and V25e.
On this occasion, Babar Azam shared his sentiments about vivo and its latest V25 5G and V25e smartphones, “I’m delighted to continue my partnership with vivo, a global smartphone brand that is loved by the youth of country and is strongly committed to bringing global technology and innovation to the people of Pakistan. I am a big fan of vivo smartphones’ design and its amazing camera technology and am very thrilled about the launch of the new vivo V25 series.”
The newly added V25 5G and V25e offer a flawless combination of elegant yet innovative design, outstanding camera capabilities, powerful performance, and an upgraded experience.
Both the V25 5G and V25ehave come up with a Color Changing Glass back. This modern technology is responsible for the change in color upon exposure to ultraviolet light under the sun. This feature adds to the overall appearance of the device in addition to the Fluorite AG Glass and the elegant two-step design combined with a flat frame design.
“We at vivo aim to create the ultimate smartphone that combines innovation, cutting edge technology and highly aesthetic design for young age consumers who want to stand out and express their individuality through frames. The V25 5G and V25e deliver on all these factors — culminating years of research and innovation offered by vivo. From the color-changing technology to the exceptional camera capabilities, the V25 series is wrapped in a lightweight yet elegant design that elevates the lifestyle of its users.” said Mr. Oliver, Product Director at vivo Pakistan.
The new V25 5G and V25e come with outstanding camera capabilities and intuitive imaging technology. Both smartphones feature a 64MP OIS Ultra-Sensing Rear Camera that captures images and videos in ultra-HD even in low light conditions. The rear camera also offers the users Hybrid Image Stabilization that combines Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) capabilities to help produce clear videos even when the camera is shaking — allowing users to record videos with vivid details.
vivo V25 5G and V25e also come with aBokeh Flare Portrait which illuminates the night photography experience by making use of the dual camera system and AI algorithm to process the point light sources in the background and turn it into dreamlike flare bokeh and provides stunning images.
Furthermore, the front camera featured in both devices has turned the tables when talking about the premier selfie experience for users. The V25 5G features the 50MP AF HD Portrait Front Camera whereas the V25e dons a 32MP FF Front Camera — allowing users to create clear and stable masterpieces, and capture beautiful moments anytime, anywhere.
The front camera on both devices offers a highly advanced feature, Natural Portrait, which allows high-quality selfies and comes with face beautification options that intelligently enhance the overall texture, clarity, and naturalness of selfies.
The V25 5G and V25e provide ideal smartphones to tech-driven consumers, style-conscious trendsetters and photography enthusiasts for all their smartphone needs. To ensure a smooth experience, the V25 series features a 44W FlashCharge in addition to the 4500mAh battery.
Both smartphones offer new hardware upgrades and advanced features such as Double Exposure, Dual-View Video, and 90Hz Ultra Vision Screen that ensureindustry-leading performance across all usage scenarios.
The all-new vivo V25 5Gwill be available for purchase across Pakistan in three gorgeous color variants: Aquamarine Blue, Sunrise Gold and Diamond Black from January 10, 2023 at Rs. 109,999 only.However, vivo V25e will be available from January 14, 2023 in two stunning colors: Sunrise Gold and Diamond Black at Rs. 79,999 only.
vivo offers a one-year warranty for V25 5G and V25e along with 15 days free replacement and 6 months warranty for accessories. Both smartphonesare duly approved by Pakistan Telecommunications Authority and support all mobile networks in Pakistan. Zong customers can also get 12GB Free Mobile Internet by using their 4G SIM card in Slot 1 (2GB Internet / month for 6 months).
For more details, please visit vivo’s official website pages: https://www.vivo.com/pk/products/v25-5g


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The American GCA is set to hold a virtual meet-up during the Atlanta Market.
Join members of the greeting card industry for a GCA Virtual Meet-Up during the Atlanta Market on January 15. With travel restrictions limiting the options for international visitors to attend, the virtual event is a chance to connect, network and meet industry friends and colleagues.
The virtual networking hour is free for all US GCA members and $25 for non-members.
When: Friday, January 15, 2021
5:00 â€“ 5:15pm EST
- Happy New Year: Looking Forward, Looking Back
- US GCA President, George White
5:15 â€“ 6:15pm EST
- Networking Break-Outs: Take part in four 15-minute networking â€œZoom Roomsâ€. Every 15 minutes, youâ€™ll see an announcement that your room is closing and youâ€™ll be magically transported to another room to network with a new group of friends and colleagues.
Register here for the event GCA Virtual Member Meet-Up at Atlanta Market (weblinkconnect.com)


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The two companies claim their new technology offers up to three times the density of other 3D NAND competitors, with full production ramping up later this year.
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Solid State Drives - SSDs - are a product of convenience, not good architecture. Storage systems need to be re-architected to achieve the highest performance of NAND flash and, soon, byte-addressable non-volatile memory. Here's an example.
Samsung, Plextor, and Kingston are among the manufacturers preparing more tiny, high-performance SSDs that take advantage of the PCI Express connection.
Toshiba's SSHD range features second-generation NAND flash memory to improve performance levels.
The launch of the iPhone 6 and a growing SSD market has significantly boosted Samsung Electronics' NAND flash revenues, a research report has showed.
The iPad Air 2's performance enhancements will appeal to those who run graphically demanding apps, although Apple's quest for thinness comes at the cost of reduced battery capacity. Last year's iPad Air remains a good option, but the Air 2 will be the power user's choice.
Making flash SSDs look like disks isn't easy. In fact, advanced high-performance SSDs use more power and run much hotter than disks. They aren't your father's thumb drive.
The disk drive industry faces expensive technical challenges as they try to return to 40 percent capacity growth. Shingled drives could double disk density, if the performance kinks can be worked out. This firmware hack could do it.
The vertically stacked data layers promise faster performance than solid-state drives using conventional NAND flash memory, but at a higher price.
The new drives provide eight more layers than the first generation of three-dimensional V-NAND flash memory and will be targeted to high-end PCs as well as data centers.
Spanning 230,000 square meters in Xi'an, China, the new US$7 billion plant produces 10-nanometer NAND flash memory chips and is estimated to generate annual sales of US$9.74 billion at full capacity.
The new drive makes use of Toshiba's latest NAND flash and is being promoted for professional content creation and high-performance gaming applications.
As data usage continues to grow exponentially, IT managers will need to orchestrate multiple kinds of storage — including flash, hard disk and tape — in a way that optimises capacity, performance, cost and power consumption.
Navicure gains IT capacity optimization and performance monitoring using VMware vCenter Operations Manager
Fast-growing healthcare claims company Navicure is gaining better control and optimization across its IT infrastructure by deploying a comprehensive monitoring and operational management approach and taming IT complexity.
V-NAND offers a 20 percent performance increase, over 40 percent improvement in power consumption, and more than 20 percent increase in sequential and random write speeds.
RAM was once the king of the system performance boost. Now, there's a new kid in town that's usurping the throne: SSDs.
Kingston's new SSDNow E100 SSD offers a 10x improvement in endurance and reliability when compared to regular SSDs, a MTBF rated at 10 million hours, and promises increased performance and decreased power consumption.
According to IBM, the new mainframe can deliver 25 percent more performance and 50 percent more capacity with the same energy footprint as its predecessor, which started at $1 million.
SSDs, now a common option for new tablets and notebooks, can help small businesses boost performance of aging hardware.
A big step up from the previous S6 model, the seventh iteration of the RX300 majors on performance and capacity, and can be used to run a wide range of datacentre applications.


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Back in December, tech start-up OnePlus announced its plans to create the "perfect smartphone". The company said that consumers should "never settle" when buying a device, adding: "We don't accept the excuse that you can't create a perfect phone at a disruptive price."
With just days to go before its official launch, and following weeks of slowly drip-feeding new details about the device, the company has now revealed more information regarding pricing and availability. The OnePlus One will launch in sixteen markets initially:
- Austria (under €350 EUR)
- Belgium (under €350 EUR)
- Canada (under $400 USD)
- Denmark (under kr.2600 DKK)
- Finland (under €350 EUR)
- France (under €350 EUR)
- Germany (under €350 EUR)
- Hong Kong (under $3000 HKD)
- Italy (under €350 EUR)
- The Netherlands (under €350 EUR)
- Portugal (under €350 EUR)
- Sweden (under kr.3150 SEK)
- Taiwan (pricing not yet announced)
- United Kingdom (under £290 GBP)
- United States (under $400 USD)
Exact pricing info has not yet been revealed, but we would expect the cost of the device in each market to be pretty close to the amounts listed above.
Whether the One will live up to the considerable hype generated by the company over the last few months remains to be seen. However, on paper, it looks like a pretty compelling proposition, as this mini spec comparison with Samsung's new Galaxy S5 suggests:
The One beats or matches the S5 on most key specs, including its 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3100mAh battery, larger 5.5-inch display and 3GB of RAM. Even so, OnePlus says that its handset will be over 40% cheaper than the S5. The device fares similarly well in a OnePlus comparison with Sony's Xperia Z2.
The handset itself has still not been shown, even after all of the info that has already been revealed. But right on cue, everyone's favourite leaker, @evleaks, gave a glimpse of the device this morning, albeit in several unassembled pieces:
(Given the wording of his tweet, which could be read as an indication that the handset's launch has been delayed, we double-checked with Evan to confirm that was not the meaning he intended.)
In addition to promising that the device will be the "perfect smartphone", OnePlus raised expectations further in a Facebook discussion back in February, by saying it was "committed to creating the best smartphone ever". If you think this all sounds a bit too good to be true, you're not alone - many have expressed skepticism over whether the company can really deliver on its lofty promises. But with less than a week until the launch of the OnePlus One, at least we don't have to wait too long to find out.


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LONDON — Britain’s economy shrank far more than expected in the second quarter, battered by everything from an extra public holiday to government spending cuts and the neighbouring eurozone crisis.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Finance minister George Osborne said figures released on Wednesday showed Britain had “deep-rooted economic problems,” adding that the slump in the second quarter was disappointing even when taking into account one-off factors that hurt.
Britain’s gross domestic product fell 0.7% compared with the first three months, the sharpest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in early 2009, the Office for National Statistics said, showing a bigger drop than any of the economists surveyed in a Reuters poll last week had expected.
Output in Britain’s service sector — which makes up more than three-quarters of GDP — contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter after growing 0.2% in Q1 2012.


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The Pokémon Company announced a new game for iOS at a major press conference Wednesday. It also revealed new cloud and sleep monitoring services.
New Smartphone Games
The company unveiled the new game, Pokémon Masters, at the event. Optimized for smart devices, it will be available on iOS and Android. More details about the game are set to be revealed next month. For now, the company is simply saying that Masters will feature on the go battles and well-known trainers from the franchise. Furthermore, mobile game Pokémon Quest is heading to China, the company announced. There will also be a new Detective Pikachu game for Nintendo Switch. It will conclude the story from the Detective Pikachu 3DS game.
The Pokémon Home cloud service was unveiled too. Players can store all the characters they have caught in the various games and bring everything together into one game system. Smartphones users can also conduct trades worldwide
Wake up With Pokémon
Ever dreamed of Pokémon? Now you can wake up with them. There is going to be a new Pokémon Sleep mobile app. Again, more details will be released in the near future. All we know at the moment is that how long a player sleeps for will affect the gameplay. There will be a new Nintendo peripheral device, and Pokémon Go+ will connect with Sleep. An embedded accelerometer in the device will send information to a user’s smartphone. Users can get an early look at the app today, but it will launch on mobile devices in 2020. This is not the brand’s first move into health and wellness. Previously, Pokémon Go integrated with Apple Health.


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NAMM 2022 was much smaller than previous shows. Do trade shows need to evolve and are they still relevant in a world of social media?
Lava Music has announced their new Blue Lava smart guitar based on the technology from the ME 3. Now cheaper and more affordable, as it uses HPL.
With BandLab Zire and Crowd review, you have two new tools for promoting your music and getting feedback from other artists and producers.
Release music regularly or are looking to get started in 2022? These social media tips for musicians will help you engage your audience.
Mixcloud adds live streaming with Live Studio, a new platform for musicians and creators. At the moment, it's only available to Mixcloud Pro subscribers.
Patreon is a great way to build revenue as a music creator - if you know how. Here are 5 ways to get the most out of Patreon for musicians.
Thought about or currently using Tunecore to publish and distribute your music? These 5 key aspects will help you get the most out of Tunecore.
Audio rooms on Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and Deezer let you engage with your fans and even generate income - let's see how audio rooms can help you.
Why do you make music? Thomann launches the #reasons2play contest; enter now to win q €50 voucher! But be quick: the contest closes 23 June 2021.
Steinberg has released WaveLab Cast, a new version of WaveLab designed as an easy-to-use audio editing solution for podcasting and social media content creation.
Mr Kittycastermusic aka Howard Gee almost vanished from the pedal scene after leaving Catalinbread. But is a new fuzz pedal in thew works? Are we witnessing the birth of a new pedal company?
Is it Metal Mickey's chest plater or Knight Industries Two Thousand's front lights? Or, is it another guitar tuner?
Larkin Poe just announced on their Facebook page that they are to get a new ZVex signature fuzz pedal called the Peaches N Cream and that it will sell exclusively via their band's web site.
Burls Art fast becoming a social media star thanks to his DIY guitar designs - his latest creation has a body made 100% from coloured epoxy resin and takes his work into new directions.
Looking like a scene from a certain Deep Purple track minus the water, Headrush's new Facebook teaser is telling us about the imminent announcement of a new product.
That Ryan Adams MasterBlaster Stratocaster wasn't officially launched at Summer NAMM as we were all hoping, but Ryan has unboxed one via his Instagram account, so it can't be too long!
It's been rumoured for a year, and for the first time John Mayer has posted the first clean photo of a PRS model that looks a lot like a Fender Stratocaster...


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The shift on counting exports would make the U.S. trade gap appear larger than it had in past years, which could give the administration ammunition in arguing that trade deals need to be renegotiated.136
Italy’s governing center-left Democratic Party was locked in a fierce battle over the best way to pull the country’s economy out of the doldrums as former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned as the party’s leader.
Copper bulls are looking smart—for now. Some of the world’s biggest mining companies are now poised to reap the rewards of a 30% surge in the price of copper, with Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore set to report earnings this week.
A current draft of Trump’s replacement executive order on immigration and refugees would try to keep restrictions on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, but would reverse the inclusion of green-card holders.658
Evening drinks in Milan, Italy’s sleekest city, are more main event than prelude. A guide to four bars where the aperitivo includes stellar snacks, ambiance and a few surprises (Harvey Wallbanger, anyone?)
For sale in every supermarket and simpatico with any style of cooking, the game green onion brings its gutsy flavor to an endless parade of recipes—including these, for scallion mashed potatoes, scallion sesame pancakes and green gazpacho.


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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The State of California is trying to keep consumer genetic testing companies from offering their services to the state’s residents and last week sent letters to thirteen firms saying they are violating state law, California Department of Health spokesperson Lea Brooks told GenomeWeb Daily News today.
The state will not disclose the names of the firms to which it has sent letters, or which laws their services violate, until the companies in question verify with the state that they have received the warnings, Brooks said.
With the move to begin regulating consumer genomics companies in the state, California follows New York State, which less than two months ago warned 23 companies that they must have permits to offer their services to New Yorkers.
New York’s warning letter was a shot across the bow not only to new companies, such as Navigenics and 23andMe, that last year entered into the fledgling field of consumer genomics, but also to technology suppliers Affymetrix and Illumina, which make the tools the testing companies use.
Whether California is focusing on consumer genomic testing companies or if it has broadened its authority to include technology suppliers will not be known until the authorities release the names of the companies it is contacting. California authorities also have not said whether information has been referred to the state’s Attorney General for further action.
One offense that genetic testing companies could commit would be to sell their products to California citizens over the internet without the request or counsel of a doctor, California Department of Public Health official Karen Nickel told Forbes.com last week. Another problem, Nickel said, could be that the companies’ tests have not been validated for accuracy or for clinical utility, which is required under California law.
Concerns over marketing genomic data to consumers and assertions about the ability of tests to predict disease risk were sharply rendered in January by Muin Khoury, director of the National Office of Public Health Genomics at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After publishing a critical op-ed in the New England Journal of Medicine with two other authors, Khoury told GWDN that consumer genomics as it is today should be considered “recreational genomics,” and that the field was premature and consumers were not ready to receive the “alphabet soup” of genomic information they were buying.
To Khoury and his fellow NEJM writers, the problem of how to show the clinical usefulness of these genomics offerings would prove to be the most critical.
“The bottom line here is that people are beginning to be concerned that there may be more harm than benefit,” Khoury said.


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A recent study from Juniper Research found that smart speakers such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, and the Sonos One will be installed in over 70 million USA households by 2022, reaching 55% of all homes. Google will be showcasing its products at CES this week in Las Vegas. But while device profits may have been negligible, the information companies such as Amazon and Google will learn from our purchases and habits will more than recoup those losses-and it's something you'll likely forget about as you're indoctrinated into the Alexa way of life. "So, it's no wonder we've sold tens of millions of all our Google devices for the home over this a year ago".
If you take a look at the Home Max, it only launched mid-December and costs $399.
Google sold more than one Home smart speaker every second since it started shipping in mid-October, taking the sales numbers to over six million, the company has announced. We're expecting the company to introduce more features for the U.S. market.
Amazon and Google are now vying to produce the best smart speakers and assistants in the hopg of dominating the booming market.
In the United States though, the company is adding more and more features to the Google Assistant.
To date, the voice-controlled Assistant is now compatible with over 1,500 smart home devices from over 225 different leading brands.
People can now broadcast their voice from Google Assistant on smartphones or voice-activated speakers like Google Home. Also, users can remotely control smart devices. Recently, it was reported Google is selling the Home Mini in losses as the overall cost of making a single Home Mini is more than $35.


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More than half of the UK’s remaining energy suppliers are on the verge of collapse and are “technically insolvent.” According to analysis by the accounting company Price Bailey the credit risk scores and balance sheet data, has found that the 22 remaining suppliers and two businesses which have suppressed scores and 12 have negative assets, this excludes the Big Six.
Price Bailey analysis means that 55% of the remaining energy firms who supply electricity and gas are insolvent and are at risk of going bust.
According to the Delphi Score, 12 firms are deemed “technically insolvent” with six being put in the “Maximum Risk” category, whilst only 10 of the remaining energy firms have a score “Above Average Risk” or higher.
Matt Howard, Partner at Price Bailey said, “The winter of discontent for the energy supply sector is unlikely to end soon.
“Around half of suppliers have already gone bust and at least another half are technically insolvent and at imminent risk of collapse.
“These businesses will find it almost impossible to access extra funding unless directors provide personal guarantees, and few are likely to do so in the current climate.
“We are seeing a domino effect.
“Every time a small energy retailer goes bust, that increases the financial strain on the rest of the ecosystem, making those businesses more vulnerable to collapse.
“It is possible that only one or two of the challenger brands will be left standing alongside the big six this time next year.”
Howard added, “The business models of many of the small suppliers are not sustainable in an era of rising wholesale prices.
“Aggressively undercutting to gain market share when prices are low is a risky strategy.
“Many of the smaller businesses which are going bust are failing precisely because they did not buy energy in advance, opting instead to buy wholesale energy on the ‘spot’ market.”


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When the word startup was not even popular in India, then there was a person who was engaged in creating something new. Byju Ravindran, coming from a tech background, wanted to change the education sector of the country, so he was engaged in creating an online learning platform. He started BYJU’s in 2011 which had become a big company by 2015, and the word startup in India started climbing in 2016. Today, when Byju’s is facing the investigation of ED, it is very important to know that this is not the first controversy related to the company.
Let us inform that the ED has raided two offices of Byju’s in Bengaluru and the house of the company’s founder and CEO Byju Ravindran on Saturday. The company is accused of violations of FEMA law. The ED says that it has seized several documents and digital data related to it during the search.
read this also: Forbes magazine once told Byju the country’s youngest billionaire
Byju’s blossomed in Kovid
The time of Kovid was excellent for many tech companies of the world. Due to the lockdown, the world shifted online and BYJU’S also took advantage of this. In 2020, the company bought coding learning platforms like White Hat Junior. After that in 2021, he bought Aakash Educational Services, which is the largest education service brand in the country to prepare for medical examinations. But by 2022, the company’s crisis started, and it did not go smoothly at all.
Where did Byju’s stress start?
The financial stress of Byju’s, which got Unicorn status in the year 2018, started when the company could not release the financial results for the financial year 2020-21 on time. The company’s audited results were released after a delay of 18 months. Then the company showed its loss of Rs 4,588 crore. Whereas in the financial year 2019-20 just before this, it was just Rs 262 crore.
See also: ED raided, Byjus said this in his clarification
The company is yet to release the result for the financial year ended on March 31, 2022, while after this the financial year 2022-23 has passed completely. From April 1, the new financial year has started in the country from April 1, 2023. In the financial year 2020-21, Byju’s also came under the purview of GST Intelligence. However, then the company settled the matter by paying the dues.
While the delay in the financial results of the company has shaken the confidence of its investors, many questions have already been raised on the financial functioning of the company. The controversies related to the company did the work of ‘leprosy on all this’.
Byju’s has been associated with controversies
Byju’s promotion at a time Shahrukh Khan Used to do But when his son Aryan Khan’s name got involved in a drug case, Byju’s broke the relationship. After this, Byjus got embroiled in other controversies. In this, whether the company has to lay off people in 2022 or expensive football players in the time of layoffs. Lionel Messi Signing up as its new brand ambassador.
Must Read: BYJU’S started by taking leave from job to teach tuition
Even more controversial was the allegation of Byju’s buying the database of children and their parents. When this matter of pressurizing parents and children to subscribe to BYJU’S caught fire, it National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to summons. Later the company also gave its clarification on this, but they say that it was just a damage control.
Recent controversy related to Byju’s Sardar Patel Keeping up with When there was a ruckus on the information published in the company’s study material about Sardar Patel’s views on the Kashmir issue.
Why has ED reached Byju Ravindran’s house?
When Byju’s was on the path of progress, then its founder Byju Ravindran was also a shining star. in the year 2020 Forbes India’s Richest People Ravindran was India’s youngest billionaire in the list. His wealth was estimated at $3.05 billion. And in just 3 years, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is camping at his house and office.
The ED has said in its statement that Byjus has violated the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). From 2011 to 2023, the company has Rs 28,000 crore Raised foreign direct investment of Rs. while in the meantime Rs 9,754 crore Transferred in the name of Overseas Direct Investment in foreign companies.
Not only this, the most attention of ED Rs 944 crore The expenditure has drawn. The company has shown this in its accounts as expenditure on advertising and marketing. The rest of the ED’s investigation is still going on, so there is a possibility that more will come out in this matter. At the same time, the company has termed it as a ‘routine inquiry’ in its clarification.


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In celebration of the release of Disney’s The Lion King, the upcoming groundbreaking feature film helmed by Jon Favreau in theaters July 19th, The Walt Disney Company is proud to announce a global conservation campaign to raise awareness and support the dwindling lion population across Africa.
Since Disney’s The Lion King was first released in theaters 25 years ago, half of Africa’s lions have disappeared. Lions face rising threats, such as poaching, loss of prey and destruction of habitats. However, research shows the lion population can recover.
Disney has already donated more than $2.9 million to the Wildlife Conservation Network’s (WCN) Lion Recovery Fund (LRF) and its partners, and will make additional grants as well as invite fans to participate and help increase the donation—for a total contribution of up to $3 million. Fans may participate by taking part in celebratory experiences and purchasing special edition products, as part of The Lion King Protect the Pride campaign.


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Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY) Berry is honored to be named number 35 out of 2,000 public companies on America’s Most Responsible Companies presented by Newsweek and global research firm Statista, Inc. Berry secured the number four spot on the list within its respective industry. The list includes the top 500 most responsible companies in the United States across fourteen industry subcategories. Companies were evaluated on their publicly available performance data for the three areas of ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance).
Focused on ESG
Berry has placed special emphasis on its ESG efforts, leveraging its global capabilities to help customers meet their sustainability goals. In addition, Berry has increased its transparency on relevant ESG topics. With an industry-leading safety record and robust code of ethics, Berry is proud of its achievements thus far in the areas of corporate stewardship.
Within this focus on environmental sustainability leadership, Berry has recently announced the following:
- Our goal to achieve 30% circular plastics use by 2030, surpassing our previous goal to use 10% post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin by 2025
- Agreements to secure over 600 million pounds of recycled material, including advanced recycled material from top suppliers (PureCycle, LyondellBasell, Borealis, and Repsol)
- Secured ISCC PLUS certification for 39 sites globally
- Led through participation in industry organizations like the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition and the Film & Flexibles Coalition
“I am proud of our people who contributed to our debut on this list which includes our customers and peers,” said Berry Chairman and CEO, Tom Salmon. “Our focus on sustainability and corporate responsibility are incorporated into our day-to-day decisions and are fundamental to who we are. This commitment drives us to be better for our customers, employees and communities.”
About the ranking
The list of America’s Most Responsible Companies begins in a pool of the top 2,000 public companies by revenue based in the U.S. and recognizes the holistic view of ESG. For the environmental category, companies were evaluated on key performance indicators (KPI) in areas such as waste, emissions, energy use, water use, environmental engagement, and long-term performance. For the social category, KPIs spanned the dimensions of leadership diversity, employees, philanthropy and engagement, and long-term performance. Lastly, in the governance category, areas of evaluation included disclosure and transparency, economic performance, and long-term performance. In addition, they conducted a survey, asking 11,000 U.S. citizens about their perceptions of the companies related to corporate social responsibility. All elements were weighted to produce a final score.
At Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY), we create innovative packaging and engineered products that we believe make life better for people and the planet. We do this every day by leveraging our unmatched global capabilities, sustainability leadership, and deep innovation expertise to serve customers of all sizes around the world. Harnessing the strength in our diversity and industry-leading talent of 47,000 global employees across more than 300 locations, we partner with customers to develop, design, and manufacture innovative products with an eye toward the circular economy. The challenges we solve and the innovations we pioneer benefit our customers at every stage of their journey. For more information, visit our website, or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter.
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Food keeps on getting cheaper. That’s a boon to the hard-pressed British consumer after years of stagnating wages, but it’s not so great for farmers and food manufacturers who are increasingly under the cosh.
There’s fresh evidence of this today from business recovery firm Begbies Traynor. Its research found that 1,414 food manufacturers are in ‘significant’ distress, defined as having minor CCJs or being having experienced a sustained or ‘marked’ drop in their key financial figures. That’s up from 728 this time last year, a 94% increase.
‘With £1 deals for fresh produce goods such as bread and milk remaining a firm feature at the major supermarkets, it’s no wonder that suppliers lower down the food chain are struggling to achieve a fair price for their produce,’ said Julie Palmer, a partner and retail expert at Begbies Traynor.
‘Meanwhile, wastage on farms continues to be a problem as suppliers are increasingly struck by last-minute order cancellations and overzealous cosmetic specifications set by the large supermarkets when it comes to the look of food that it will accept from farmers.'
The squeeze has been particularly acute for small and medium-sized companies, with a 120% increase of those in significant distress. ‘Mass price reductions have severe consequences for less established food retailers and suppliers, particularly SMEs, who now seem to be locked in a David and Goliath-style battle; although this time it appears David can’t win,’ added Palmer.
There’s little sign of things getting better any time soon though. Latest data from Kantar Worldpanel showed grocery price inflation had fallen further to -2% in the three months to the end of March, the lowest level since at least 2006.
The Groceries Code Adjudicator is getting new powers to fine misbehaving retailers but will only be able to tackle specific instances of wrongdoign rather than deflation in general. Palmer said that the increasing prominence of discount supermarkets could also make the problem worse. Though Aldi and Lidl both source their fresh produce in the UK, Palmer suggests much of their processed food is sourced abroad.
'Looking to the future, the picture only gets bleaker for small UK food suppliers, as German discounters, Aldi and Lidl, are predicted to capture 20% of UK market share,' she said. 'As the majority of Aldi and Lidl’s packaged stock comes from overseas, struggling UK suppliers could find themselves squeezed even further, if not stamped out altogether.' That might be a bit of an overstatement but it's certainly true that Britain's food manufacturers aren't out of the woods yet.


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IRU is the trusted voice for mobility and logistics, upholding the interest of bus, coach, taxi and truck operators as well as the broader mobility and logistics industry.
By promoting and enhancing cooperation between industry and decision makers, IRU contributes to facilitating trade and building prosperity.
IRU champions excellence in road transport through international certification standards that create real competitive advantage.
New Year, new partnerships
New Year, new partnerships IRU welcomes new members to its growing network
Erik Østergaard receives Danish Knight’s Cross of First Class
IRU is proud to announce that Erik Østergaard, CEO of IRU’s member in Denmark, the Danish Transport and Logistics Association (DTL), and Vice Chair of IRU’s EU Goods Transport Liaison Committee, has been awarded the Knight’s Cross of First Class by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II.


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For most young South Africans, 2010 was marked by the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, so what does 2011 hold for Generation Y and what trends will take-off in the months ahead? Connectivity remains key in young people's lives and, with even more technologies and mobile apps at their disposal, their appetite for social status grows.
Jason Levin 18 Jan 2011
As the recession subsides into the euphoria of 2010, what trends will we see play out among South Africa's sharpest critics - the youth? The 2010 FIFA World Cup will take centre stage, but that stage will be shared with service demands, tech saturation and ad aversion. How can brands aiming to impress under-23s live up to these evolving expectations?
Jason Levin 15 Jan 2010


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The Easebourne based Cowdray Farm Shop has been named among Britain’s best rural businesses at the prestigious national Rural Business Awards ceremony.
The only UK-wide programme dedicated to showcasing the success of rural businesses, the farm was highly commended in the best rural food and drink business category.
The award was presented at a ceremony on Thursday attended by Cowdray Estate chief executive Jonathan Russell, marketing manager Sally Blackburn and farm shop general manager Rupert Titchmarsh.
It was compered by Jules Hudson of BBC ‘Escape to the Country’ fame.
Rupert said: “Being recognised in the Rural Business Awards is a real victory for us and for rural businesses across West Sussex. We always support local producers and businesses and we are thrilled that the Rural Business Awards showcase the success of rural businesses, large and small, and promote the importance of the rural economy. 2017 has been a great year for us and we’re looking forward to even more successes in 2018.”
“Farm shops, food producers and rural start-ups are a vital part of the UK’s economy, generating over £230 billion every year,” said rural affairs minister Lord Gardiner.
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Australia’s fresh fruit and vegetable company Costa Group Holdings announced it has acquired an additional 41% stake in Morocco-based blueberry grower African Blue, giving it a controlling interest of 90%.
Of the newly purchased shares, 37% is valued at approximately AUD$68m (US$52.4m) plus transaction costs, and will be funded from operating cash flow and existing debt, Costa said in a statement today (2 November). The value of the balance will be based on actual earnings and will be acquired over the next three years.
Avi Weizman, the general manager of African Blue, will continue in his role as a member of Costa’s international team.
The 41% share was bought from Gailes Holdings and Bennani Abdellatif, two of the founders in African Blue. Total Worldfresh, a subsidiary of the UK-listed fresh produce company Total Produce, will retain 10%.
In the year ended June, African Blue generated net profit after tax before self-generating and regenerating assets – an Australian accounting principle – of AUD16.6m.
Costa chief executive Harry Debney said of the transaction: “We are very pleased to have reached agreement with our joint-venture partners to acquire their interests in African Blue and become the majority owner.
“I want to acknowledge the important role our partners have played in contributing to the establishment of our blueberry plantings in Morocco and making the African Blue brand one that is recognised for its quality, particularly in the UK and European markets.”
African Blue has five farms in Morocco, with total plantings of 253 hectares and a further 63 hectares planned for fiscal 2018. Its key markets for blueberries are the UK and Europe, with 40% of the product being sold into the UK and 60% into Europe. The season runs from January to June, and begins up to six weeks ahead of the main growing region in Spain.
“Year-round demand from Europe and North America is one of the key drivers of the global berry trade,” said CEO Debney. “We are confident that we can continue to grow our share in not only the UK blueberry market, but also through continental Europe.”


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Every CEO today is feeling the growing pressure to take a position on some social or cultural issue that has become mainstream in our digital, partisan world. It is a quandary for many companies. Why stick your neck out by initiating a point of view if no one has protested yet or your brand has not appeared in the news? Yes, every brand situation is different and there is never a clear path to take, but here are some pros/cons on relevant options to consider:
Biggest “hot button” issues today – A 2018 study by Cone/Porter Novelli found that 71% of Americans expect companies to connect with them emotionally on issues that matter to them personally. They felt most passionate about these social justice issues:
- Privacy and Internet Security (86%) – think of Facebook…
- Domestic job growth (86% – vs. offshore?
- Access to healthcare (85%) – and how premiums keep rising
- Sexual Harassment (83%)
- Racial equality (81%)
- Women’s rights (80%)
- Cost of higher education (76%)
- Immigration (74%)
- Climate change (73%)
- Gun control (69%)
- LGBTQ rights (63%)
Stay quiet or be proactive?
It is not surprising for companies in controversial product areas like gun control to want to remain beneath the digital dialogue surface, but these brands are likely to be attacked by activists at some time, forcing pressure to take a stand. At a minimum, they must be prepared for such activist incidents, at least with a convincing response, and ideally a reserve of proactive initiatives that show they sincerely care about society and these hot button issues. The 2018 Edelman study revealed that 56% of respondents said they had no respect for CEOs who remained silent on such important issues.
Downside versus upside of being proactive
Any action will always alienate some customers, but more often a net gain can be realized if a position on a key issue is consistent with its brand values/image and is aligned with an overall trend that embraces its customers. Two insightful case studies show how a company can achieve this net gain, even in highly politicized categories like gun control:
- Dick’s Sporting Goods, when learned that the Parkland shooter used a gun bought at one of their stores, permanently banned assault-style weapons and then enacted an additional policy to enforce an age requirement of 21 for purchasing firearms. Immediately the number of Twitter messages referring to Dick’s jumped 12,000% from its average, with 79% being positive.
- Delta Airlines severed its ties with the NRA after the Parkland incident, and despite Georgia’s legislature taking retribution by eliminating tax breaks worth $50 million, its adjusted operating revenue in the following quarter improved by 8% marking a record for the company, and its e-commerce sales jumped 24%.
Take a political stand, or just focus on social issues
Most of the issues being pursued by activists tend to be socio-economic, although many can provoke a polarizing opinion by politicians. A big study by Morning Consult, a technology company focusing on survey research data, in July 2018 found that speaking about Trump, either positively or negatively, is far more likely to generate a strong backlash that may not compensate for any favors for a brand. Not surprisingly, this study showed that by far the most polarizing brand in America was Trump Hotels (spread between net favorability was 78), followed by CNN (spread of 66) and Fox News (spread of 54). In short, there is a clear risk for brands getting too involved in politics.
How to convincingly communicate your position
Assuming a credible alignment with a brand stand and its values, the best way to win over all stakeholders, including activists, is for the CEO to lead the charge for updated positions and new initiative. The recent American Banker/Reputation Institute survey concluded that the more visible a CEO is, the greater the trust by customers and the more positive impact its company brand can offer for society. (There is also a risk to the brand if a CEO gets into trouble – e.g. sexual harassment.) This also opens the door for storytelling, the most effective way to create a deeper emotional connection with customers, as it engages and inspires in a more memorable and credible way.
Use emotion to address passionate issues
There is a noteworthy level of cynicism in our society, especially among activists who believe proactive initiatives like sharing company profits is designed primarily to get positive publicity (e.g. 29% of all adults feel this way, versus only 9% who believe it is primarily to do good, from the Morning Consult survey). Any new program must not only reflect its brand values and personality but also be distinctive and show that it is from the heart – an authentic, emotion-driven program from a purposeful brand and not just a rationalized response to pressure from activists. Even Wall Street has recognized the power of such emotions; a “feel-good” index with metrics developed
by Just Capital to measure the practices of corporate America for social impact has recently convinced Goldman Sachs to build a new exchange-traded fund for this.
There is no easy answer for preparing for this turbulent world today, but ignoring the risks or threats to a brand reputation would be the worst road to take.


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Dow Jones (DJ) named Chris Collins vice president of multimedia sales at The Wall Street Journal.
The New York-based newspaper publisher said Collins, 43, was vice president of multimedia sales at ESPN. He will report to finance chief Michael F. Rooney, who joined Dow Jones from ESPN in May as the company's first chief revenue officer.
"Chris brings to the
a proven track record of creating unique sales programs across multiple platforms at ESPN,'' said Rooney. "Our research proves that when advertisers buy across the
franchise, they spend an average of 20% more across our print and online products.''
Dow Jones is in the process of being acquired by Rupert Murdoch's


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Users will be able to send money domestically and internationally to more than 200 countries and territories from the convenience of the Viber app.
Western Union and Viber have created a mobile money transfer experience that will start and complete within the chat interface of Viber, not only providing the convenience of never leaving the app, but also contextualizing mobile money transfer within the personal relationships it supports, claim the companies.
More than that, leveraging Western Union’s platform, this new capability allows consumers to send up to GBP 400 when using a credit or debit card to be received in cash at more than 500,000 Western Union Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories.
If transferring to a bank account, consumers can send up to GBP 500. As part of this launch, consumers transferring money from the app to a bank account can take advantage of a zero transfer fee offer, for a limited time, according to the companies.
Earlier this year, both companies announced Viber users in the United States could send money to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
The Paypers. All rights reserved. No part of this site can be reproduced
without explicit permission of The Paypers(V2.3).


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NEW DELHI: The hot augmented reality app Pokemon Go
has not only revived the fortunes of its maker Nintendo, but is also helping other businesses make prop sales.
The go-to app for finding restaurants, Yelp
, has added a new filter called ‘PokeStop Nearby’. The filter shows a list of restaurants that have a PokeStops nearby
. It can be seen on both app and desktop version.
For those not aware of what PokeStops
are, it is a feature inside the insanely popular Pokemon Go
gaming app that lets users collect in-game items and attract different Pokemon
for capturing them.
“As you head into a weekend full of wild Zubats and Charmanders, remember to open up your Yelp app
or search Yelp.com for businesses with a nearby PokéStop. To do this on mobile or desktop, simply search for a type of local business (“bars,” “restaurants,” etc.), swipe through the filter options at the top, hit “PokéStop Nearby,” and voilà! You can now find places to simultaneously run errands AND stock up on materials needed to catch that Eevee you’ve been eyeing,” said Yelp product manager Will Cole in a blog post.
Users can also help the service in identifying a business that is near any PokeStops. They would need to “check-in to that location on Yelp and answer a quick question to let fellow Yelpers and trainers know that this is the place they want to be.” As per Cole, Yelp users have already identified thousands of PokeStops using the service in just 24 hours.
This move by Yelp is likely to soon added by competitors too. For now, the feature is enabled on iOS and Android in the US, Australia
and New Zealand.
The mobile video game besides these three countries recently was launched in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The video game recently surpassed daily active user count of Twitter and beat Facebook in terms of daily time spent.


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The Wall Street Journal has posted some tantalizing new details about Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7. The report paints a picture of the S7 as being a minor upgrade to the major revamp that was the Galaxy S6 but with a few new features to entice upgraders.
The biggest news, according to the Journal, is that the S7 and S7 Edge will feature a “pressure-sensitive display” which the report notes “will be similar to that offered by rival Apple Inc. on the iPhone 6s earlier this year.” Apple’s 3D Touch hardware launched with the iPhone 6S, Apple rolled out support to the core OS interface and packed-in apps, and tons of third-party apps (even Google) added support for it. Samsung lacks the sway over an app ecosystem that Apple has, so while it can update the core OS interface, we doubt many other apps will support the pressure-sensitive display, as was the case with Samsung’s early foray into fingerprint readers.
In the “not surprising” category, the Journal said that Samsung will again be releasing two versions of the phone—the flat-screened Galaxy S7 and the curved-screened Galaxy S7 Edge—and that both devices will look “will look largely similar” to their predecessors. The report said the phone is slated to launch in March with an unveiling at Mobile World Congress, which is similar to the Galaxy S6 timeframe, and it will come with a USB Type C-port, which is quickly becoming a standard for new devices.
The Galaxy S6 was the first Samsung flagship to scrap the microSD card slot, but data hoarders will be glad to hear that the microSD card is reportedly returning. It’s apparently only coming to the flat device, though—the report says that the microSD slot will not appear in the Galaxy S7 Edge.
2015 was the year Samsung removed the MicroSD slot from its entire flagship lineup, but it was also the year Google made an SD slot more useful than ever by adding an “adoptable storage” feature toAndroid 6.0 Marshmallow. The feature allows a user to declare an SD card “permanent” and format it just like internal memory. The internal and external memory pools are then merged together and managed by the OS, giving users more storage without making them worry about file management.
In the “very surprising” category, the report says Samsung is “considering adding a retina scanner” to the Galaxy S7. For now the report seems unsure about if the feature will actually make it into a retail product, noting that with three months to go until release, “features could change.”
Not to be outdone by Apple’s $799 iPad Pro, which has an ultra high-resolution screen measuring 12.9 inches diagonally and goes on sale next month, rival Samsung is gearing up to launch a brand new tablet with a huge 18.4-inch screen, the Galaxy View.
Although the View is yet to officially launch, some online retailers are now taking pre-orders for the $599 Android device, 9to5Google reported Monday.
Available for pre-order over at Adorama for $599 for an entry-level model with thirty-two gigabytes of built-in flash storage, the Galaxy View is powered by Samsung’s own 1.6 GHz Exynos 7580 octa-core chip with 2GB of RAM, code-named ‘Carmen2’.
On the connectivity front, the device includes Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi networking and Cat. 6 CA LTE cellular. Built-in storage is expandable up to 128 gigabytes via a micro-SD card.
The front camera is a paltry 2.1-megapixel module with 1080p video capture at thirty frames per second. There’s no LED flash on the front camera and there’s no second camera on the back.
Driven by Android Lollipop, the View’s gigantic 18.4-inch TFT screen has a full HD 1,920-by-1,080 pixel resolution. Samsung claims the View’s 5,700 mAh battery provides 8.5 hours of video playback time.
If the promotional images and the device’s moniker are an indication, Samsung is positioning the View as an inexpensive tablet with a massive screen, mostly dedicated to watching video and enjoying media.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, are the latest smartphones revealed couple of days ago at the Samsung Unpacked Event 2015. The main difference between the Note 4 and the Note 5 is the non removable back, which means no Extra Storage also and a smaller battery.
The S6 Edge Plus, which is the successor of the S6 Edge which doesn’t have a removable back already, gained a few extra inches and now has a 5.7 inches screen, like the new Note 5.
Since both of these new devices are completely sealed, they might be secretly waterproof or water resistant to be exact. EverythingApplePro has put these devices alongside the latest iPhone which is the iPhone 6 Plus to a water test, and the results are shocking! Watch the video below and see these devices take the Water Test!
Note that after the video was over the Samsung devices have been placed in silica kitty litter (to take the water and moisture out) and still no response. And the iPhone is still alive and fully functional!
So the iPhone 6 Plus is secretly Water resistant! unlike the new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus!
Marvel’s second movie about the Avengers titled Age of Ultron is out in the theatres and the company shook hands with Samsung for some special projects. After teasing the Iron Man-themed Samsung Galaxy S6 edge last week, the Korean giant has formally launched it for select markets.
This limited edition Galaxy S6 edge bears the same internals as the regular variant with 64GB of storage. It has been given the Iron Man look with red colored front and back, and gold colored metal frame. The phone will have a custom Avengers theme pre-installed and will be packaged in a limited edition Avengers box.
Samsung has packed an arc reactor-themed wireless charger in the retail package. The latter will also contain a clear protective cover.


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Kenya To Sign More Trade Deals With The US
Kenya is ready for more trade deals with the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme, President William Ruto said.
Ruto noted that Kenya has plenty more to offer the United States as a trade partner. Kenya primarily exports apparel products to the USA with the potential to export more products, including value-added tea, coffee, and cut flowers.
Kenyan President said he was looking forward to the US-Africa Summit in December to discuss expanding trade between Kenya and the United States.
The President spoke when he met a US delegation led by US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Dr. Jewel Bronaugh at State House, Nairobi.
She was accompanied by US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen, and Nebraska Deputy Secretary of State Cindi Allen, among others.©Standard Gazette, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Standard Gazette with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.