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Tesla Chairman Elon Musk told the Bloomberg Dec. 21 that he had “absolutely” seen a chance that Tesla could become the world’s biggest automaker, without making the obvious joke at the expense of German automakers. Then on Friday, analysts at brokerage firm Wedbush set their target price for the company to $1,400 a share.
The optimistic outlook was the result of a research note detailing the cost-cutting initiative—including replacing labor in some parts of the U.S. with automation—and the market’s response to it. “The upgraded ZEV [zero emission vehicle] credits, China order, Tesla sales growth, factory operational improvements, and ramp-up in Model 3 production have all contributed to a potential $380B market capitalization,” the analysts wrote in the note. “We think the shares are worth $1,400.”
The analysts continue: “The bull case — $1,420 — assumes a 10% reduction in operating costs in 2018 relative to 2018 run rate, revenue of $63B, and margins in line with 2018 run rate. The bear case assumes Tesla is successful in scaling Model 3 production to 1,000 units per week and can narrow the gap with Model S/X production.”
Watson appears to be considering a competitive approach to his Asian partners, so the strikes at Masahiro Moro, the CEO of Tesla’s local venture partner, are not new. He did not respond to a request for comment regarding a Lian Sun article that claimed Tesla had decided to keep its China factory open, despite the significant tariffs imposed by Beijing on exported cars. Despite the bullish tone in the report, pricing for a Tesla Model S is only $14,000 less in China than it is in the U.S. It is a question of localization and the domestic car market’s many unique nuances and costs.
“You also have a further cut to the tariff for electric vehicles and electric buses,” Sueddeutsche Zeitung business reporter Sebastian Sprenger told Quartz. “It’s very hard to achieve something similar to this to make it cost-effective.” But perhaps this is where Musk’s wager is finally starting to pay off: in an era of tough times for rivals, shrinking losses and surprising share increases, the industry has no problem doing more with less and perhaps even making the Chinese tariff seem a bit blithely small.
Read the full story on Quartz.
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German customs in ‘panic’ to recover stolen Tesla Model S


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In a deal with a $9.2 billion price tag, eBay has sold its classifieds business to Adevinta ASA , with the pay out consisting of $2.5 billion in cash and approximately 540 million Adevinta shares.
eBay will acquire an equity stake in Adevinta of about 44%, gaining a third of that company’s voting stake.
Adevinta, based in Oslo, Norway, is a global online classifieds specialist, currently operating in 15 countries, with a portfolio that includes 35 digital products and websites. eBay’s classifieds platforms include 12 brands in 13 countries. The combined business will have a presence in 20 countries. eBay will become the largest Adevinta shareholder, and the companies will continue to partner in key areas post-closing to ensure a seamless transition, they stated, adding that they expect the scale provided by the partnership to create estimated annual synergies of $150 to $185 million over the next three years.
The sale is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals and customary closing conditions. The parties expect the transaction to close by the first quarter of 2021.
eBay has been pressured by activist investors to reconfigure the company. eBay sold its StubHub business to Viagogo in November of last year for $4.05 billion.
Moringstar analyst R.J. Hottovy, in a research note, characterized the transaction as a positive development, putting eBay classifieds in the hands of experienced global operators with strength in Central Europe. Hottovy added that, although he regards cross-selling opportunities between eBay’s core and classifieds marketplaces as limited, the deal allows eBay to participate in the growth of the global online classifieds market. He expects online classifieds to grow at about a 10% CAGR over the next five years, with near-term acceleration arising from COVID-19-related and other macro factors. The deal also allows eBay to better focus on its core marketplace, which has seen an uptick during the coronavirus crisis.
“We are pleased we reached an agreement with Adevinta that brings together two great companies,” said Jamie Iannone, eBay CEO. “eBay believes strongly in the power of community and connections between people, which has been essential to our classifieds businesses globally. This sale creates short-term and long-term value for shareholders and customers, while allowing us to participate in the future potential of the classifieds business.”

domain: news


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It’s time to ride the dragon! No not like that…
Bethesda has released the first trailer for the next set of DLC heading to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, titled ‘Dragonborn’.
The DLC will be released on Xbox 360 first on December 4th for 1600 MS Points and includes for the first time dragon mounts, new armour and a new plot arc detailing the return of the original Dragonborn.
It certainly sounds more interesting than the last set of DLC which featured raising a family and decorating your house. Unfortunately a PC and PlayStation 3 release date for this DLC wasn’tconfirmed, but we suspect it’ll arrive on both platforms by the end of the year.
Check out the new footage below:
Another month, another round of massive exclusives for our free-to-read magazine. In this issue we look at Landmark, Tropico 5, Carmageddon: Reincarnation, Trials Fusion and more!Download Now!


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SEOUL—Samsung Electronics shook up its senior ranks on Tuesday in a move that would replace all of its co-chief executives and strip its board chairman of any executive role for the first time as it looks to address concerns about a leadership vacuum at the top.
On the same day it delivered another quarter of record profits, the South Korean technology giant appointed new heads of its three main business lines: mobile, electronics components and consumer electronics.
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No school in the NCAA men's or women's tournaments makes more money than Duke.
Cincinnati, Stanford, and 17 other Division I schools are permanently eliminating dozens of sports programs in an unexpected loss from the pandemic
After cutting 11 teams, Stanford is the latest DI school to trim its varsity sports program. The trend could mark a turning point for the NCAA.
'Fortnite' made $1.8 billion in 2019, analysts say — that's down 28% from 2018, but it's still the biggest game in the world
Being the biggest game in the world has its benefits! "Fortnite" made nearly $2 billion in 2019 alone, according to a new report.
TikTok's parent company brought in over $7 billion in the first half of 2019, which is already more than the company made last year
ByteDance's revenue in the first half of 2019 is likely more than the company saw for the all of 2018, which was reportedly an estimated $7.2 billion.
Lyft's first-quarter earnings report, its first as a public company, comes days before rival Uber is expected to price its own shares.
Here is what investors should expect with Goldman Sachs' first-quarter earnings, due out ahead of Monday's opening bell.
Delta Air Lines reported first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street expectations, sending shares up 1.67%.
App Annie, one of Silicon Valley's most popular tools for measuring an app's success, crosses a $100 million milestone and unveils a product to launch another wave of growth
After company culture changes, App Annie crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and launched a new product called Mobile Web intelligence.
Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz explains how his $1.5 billion startup Asana hit a $100 million milestone
The $1.5 billion startup Asana announced that it has crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. CEO Dustin Moskovitz explains how Asana did it.
Nintendo's reliance on first-party games and hardware sales is incredibly risky, and the Japanese gaming giant knows it.
How much money is 'Fortnite' making? Nearly $2.5 billion in 2018 alone, according to the latest report
"Fortnite" made nearly $2.5 billion in 2018 alone, according to a new report. Being the biggest game in the world has its benefits!
'Fortnite' made nearly half a billion dollars on just Apple devices in 2018, according to a new report
How much is "Fortnite" making? More than you might think.
BI PRIME: Revenue for Microsoft's cloud computing service Azure is the slowest it's been every since Microsoft started posting revenue for Azure.
Amazon reported second-quarter earnings Thursday that far exceed analysts expectations. Investors cheered.
Southwest Airlines believes the emergency landing that left one woman dead cost the airline $100 million in business
Southwest Airlines is still feeling the effects of the emergency landing that left one passenger dead on April 17. CEO Gary Kelly attributed higher fuel prices and the effects stemming from the deadly accident on Flight 1380 for the reduced revenues. Southwest still posted a profit.
Fortnite just passed the $1 billion revenue mark, as it continues to be the leader in battle-royale video games — a genre that will, for the first time, end the year as a multi-billion dollar industry.
Netflix has spent over $30 billion on content since 2014 — over a third of it in the last year alone
Netflix's shared its Q2 earnings results on Monday, reporting subscriber growth that missed the mark by a little over a million. The stock price tumbled as some investors got worried.
PC shipments have decreased 30% in the six years since the industry's current peak, and now they're settling below 2007 levels.
How to build a business that makes money early on, according to the partner of a $400 million investment fund
Scale VP, a 'mixed stage' investment firm that backed companies like Box and DocuSign, has raised a $400 million fund to turn startups into profitable businesses.
A new Amazon feature might be coming to Snapchat — and it could give Snap a much-needed revenue boost
In a recent update for the Android version of Snapchat, there were lines of code that hinted at a future partnership with Amazon. The unreleased feature would be able to identify objects that the camera is pointed at, and users will be linked to the results on Amazon.


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Car fans were in dreamland when a fleet of mouth-watering supercars rolled up in central London for a secret meet-up.
The collection of car porn stunned onlookers and caused chaos in Piccadilly Circus as people swarmed to get a closer look at the exotic beasts.
Among them were a Ferrari 488, Ferrari 360 Spider, Lamborghini Huracan, Lamborghini Aventador, Lamborghini Gallardo, Nissan GTR, and new Bentleys.
With some of the supercars costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, they proved to be a rare sight in the capital.
It meant that other road users were brought to a standstill for 15 minutes as people rushed to take pictures of the cars.
In a video promoting the event, organiser Shabs Kream Ahmad of the group Piccadilly Boy Racers said: ‘Now that’s how you shut down London, true PBR style.’
Clearly, he was right – because this looks pretty ‘shut down’ to us.
Buses and takeaway riders were spotted struggling in the long traffic jams caused by the sudden appearance of the supercars.
But after a quarter of an hour, the group got moving again.
It is believed they drove down to London from the Watford area.


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Nigerians slammed Buhari for showing support for Hyundai’s plan to establish an automobile manufacturing plant in Nigeria, with claims that the move is at the detriment of Innoson.
President Muhammadu Buhari is under fire for endorsing Hyundai Engineering Company Limited’s plan to establish a manufacturing plant in Nigeria.
Buhari had announced that the President/CEO of Hyundai Engineering Company Limited, Chang Hag Kim visited the State House in Abuja, to put forward a proposal to set up a vehicle manufacturing plant in the country.
While announcing the visit, the president stated
“I pledged the full collaboration and support of the Federal Government to make this planned investment a reality.”
The president’s announcement has however attracted wild reactions from Nigerians, who said that Buhari’s commitment to the promotion of the country’s local industry is questionable.
According to them, the presidency has since been belittling Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (IVM), a Nigerian automobile and bus manufacturing company, which was founded by Innocent Chukwuma Nwala.
The backlash from some Nigerians
Buhari was knocked as a local industry evangelist, as many criticised him for putting Hyundai forward before IVM.
While some Nigerians think it’s harmful to the Federal Government’s commitment to promote the local industry, others think it’s a smart move that will create more jobs in the country.


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The turn signals turn red one by one. After a slowdown in the French economy expected in the first quarter, the horizon for French companies is darkening. Buoyed by emergency “at all costs”, many sectors were able to benefit from the hibernation of the commercial courts for many months.
With the gradual disconnection of all these crutches and the deterioration of the economy as a result of the war in Ukraine, most economists expect a rise in the number of bankruptcies. †In this highly uncertain environment, fears of stagflation and fears of recession are on the rise. The consequences of the war in Ukraine could deal a huge blow to the global economy.” Oxford Economics economist Daniela Ordonez said in a recent press conference.
“No area spared”
In its latest report, unveiled on Monday, April 11, business data research firm Altares recorded: a 35% increase in bankruptcies between January and March compared to the first quarter of 2021. “In the first quarter of 2022, the noose of the health crisis loosened and aid stopped. A return to a form of normalcy that also includes a resumption of defaults. So the increase is starting and it is already very evident in sectors that depend from the resumption of consumption habits such as going to the restaurant or the hairdresser. No area is spared by the phenomenon”, emphasizes Thierry Millon, director of studies at Altares.
The outbreak of the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences for the old continent could accelerate the difficulties for many sectors. †At the beginning of 2022, confidence in the future gained ground: cash levels and well-filled order books indicated a recovery of the economy. However, since February 24 and the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the horizon has darkened: rising energy prices, supply difficulties, shortages of materials, rising inflation packages … so many signals that prompt caution”, he adds. The expert does not foresee a wave of bankruptcies in the coming months either. With the second round of the presidential election, scheduled for April 24, approaching, this first-quarter recovery could overshadow outgoing President Emmanuel Macron’s results.
An increase that is still below the pre-crisis level
The number of malfunctions has increased compared to the first quarter of 2021, from 7,406 to 9,972, an increase of 34%.6%. However, it remains well below the pre-Covid levels recorded in 2018 (14,698) and 2019 (14,146). It seems that young companies are most affected by this bankruptcy movement. Nearly half of the companies that filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter were founded less than five years ago.
Especially those who registered just before the start of the pandemic or during the health crisis (+52%). “The difficulties of young companies are especially pronounced in the activities of “multi-department stores” (mainly general food stores) where the defects are three times higher this quarter; but also in the catering (+180%), where the number of procedures is exceptionally was low a year ago”, point to the authors of the study.
SMEs on the edge
Given the size of the company, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees face much more difficulties than larger ones. The number of bankruptcies has thus increased by 56% between January and March compared to the first quarter of 2021, thus exceeding pre-crisis levels. On the other hand, companies with more than 50 employees seem to be resisting this wave of bankruptcies.
Trade and restaurants hit hard
The other lesson of this study is that consumer-oriented activities are paramount. These are mainly trade, catering and services to private individuals. In general food (+83%) or the clothing trade (+34%), the increases are staggering.
For the catering industry, this increase is not really surprising given the long months of closure of all branches. Many restaurateurs had expressed fears when government support was cut. Added to this were the high number of redundancies and serious recruitment difficulties since the autumn of 2021.


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T-Series is all set to enter the world of metaverses/non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as they partner with HEFTY Entertainment, a division of Hungama Digital Media. NFTs will be one of the association’s unmatched ‘money can’t buy experiences. The two companies collaborate as part of a partnership with Polygon – the leading Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development platform.
T-Series and Hungama have had a long-standing association that has led to their strategic partnership. Together, T-Series and Hungama will create the next big digital revolution, utilizing their extensive global distribution network and an enviable library of two lakh songs, 65,000 music videos, and 150+ films across Indian languages.
Our vision for Hefty Metaverse is to create an ecosystem that helps users to collaborate, interact, and engage with thriving web 3.0 communities that transition consumers into the Metaverse. By creating NFTs and rare collectibles, Hungama will enable fans to access special moments from T-Series’ vast catalog.
Two media giants #TSeries and #Hungama collab to lead the next revolution in India's digital entertainment industry. Hefty Entertainment welcomes you to #WEB3.#TSeries @TSeries #BhushanKumar @neerajroy @bollyhungama @HeftyVerse pic.twitter.com/b9xfIw8djO
— T-Series (@TSeries) January 24, 2022
Talking about the association, Bhushan Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director – T-Series, said, “We’re delighted to extend our alliance with Hungama, spanning two decades, and enable our community with access to the Metaverse. Having set the ball rolling, we look forward to expanding and enhancing the value of our content that leads to a further and rapid expansion of the global digital entertainment industry. Offering a future full of potential, interactivity and collaboration for our communities around the globe.”
Hungama founder Neeraj Roy also seems pretty excited about the collaboration as he added, “We are delighted to extend our long-standing partnership with T-Series and establish ourselves as first-movers into the Metaverse of entertainment. We look forward to redefining content consumption with this Web 3.0 initiative as we find new ways to collaborate and engage with fans. Our partnership with T-Series has strengthened with time and it is most commendable what Bhushan Kumar and his amazing team have built in the last few decades. We’re very excited to hold hands with them to enter the Metaverse and we promise to give billions of fans of Bollywood globally an experience that will see value accrue to them on our platform.”
T-Series President also shared his thoughts on the futuristic association and added, “T-Series has demonstrated its leadership position on the back of innovation and adoption of new technology advancements as we have continued to drive distribution across ever-evolving digital landscape. T-Series and Hungama’s partnership is built on mutual trust and we will continue to consolidate into more meaningful avenues, akin to our foray in the NFT space.”
After a successful decade, working on a diverse genre of films that have received box office success and critical acclaim, T-Series shall once again captivate the world with a wide range of movies in 2022 and beyond. Some of their forthcoming releases include Adipurush, Radhe Shyam, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Ek Villain Returns, Jhund, Action Hero, Hit, Anek, Animal, Thank God, Shehzada, and many more.


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Danisco MicroGard and NovaGard ingredient lines are now gluten-free
Danisco has made its entire MicroGard and NovaGard ingredient lines gluten-free in response to growing demand. Now the MicroGard natural fermentates - and the NovaGard antimicrobial blends, which include MicroGard ingredients - are produced using Sensient’s 5001L yeast extract, providing natural, gluten-free food protection solutions. The products are available in the USA, Canada and Mexico so far.
The gluten-free food and beverage sector experienced double-digit growth in 2009, according to data released earlier this year by Innova Database, which tracks new food and drink launches globally.
MicroGard fermentates and NovaGard antimicrobial blends are part of the company’s Care4U range of natural food protective solutions, which also includes Nisaplin and Natamax natural antimicrobials, Holdbac protective cultures and Guardian natural extracts.
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Upheavals to settle down in telecom, no threat to jobs: Manoj Sinha
- Author: Zachary Reyes May 25, 2017,
May 25, 2017, 23:21
Currently, sugar attracts specific central excise duty of Rs 71 per quintal plus a cess of Rs 124, which translates into ad valorem rate of more than 6 per cent. Including incidence on account of account of CST, octroi and entry tax, the present total tax incidence would work out to more than 8%, the finance ministry said.
However airlines may not transfer the benefits of a lower tax on economy class tickets to passengers, said credit rating agency ICRA Ltd, adding that the GST tax reforms will not have any material impact on air passenger growth either.
The medical device industry expects the tax load in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to increase, which will result in a higher cost burden on patients, an official said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, GST on business class air travel has been raised 3 per cent to 12 per cent. "Therefore, if the sector can not be exempted from the GST, we ask for the minimum rate of 5 per cent at the most, for the betterment and growth of the industry", said Babu.
The GST Council has finalized tax rate of 12 per cent on construction of a complex, building or civil structure for sale to a buyer.The current indirect tax rate on the sector is also in the range of 9-11 per cent, including service tax and VAT.
Once the GST regime rolls in on July 1, apartment owners will have to pay about 2.5% additional tax on maintenance charges.


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Brioche Pasquier starts production at new Milton Keynes site
Brioche Pasquier, one of the world’s largest producers of fine French patisserie and bakery products, has started production at its new site in Milton Keynes.
The construction of the 160,000 sq. ft. Buckinghamshire-based bakery facility started in March 2014; and has recently seen the first Milk Brioche Rolls be produced and sent to distributors for sale in the UK market.
Eric Jouet, Industrial Director, Brioche Pasquier UK said: “We have envisaged this happening since the day we first started distributing in the UK in 2001, and are proud that it’s finally a reality. It’s taken a lot of hard work by the team to get to this point, but we are ecstatic that we will now be closer with our UK customers and distributors.”


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“Person-to-person contact is the lubricant that prevents jams in the cogwheels of selling and buying.”
Business means travel or at least meant travel for a high percentage of people who work in toys and consumer products. Before the pandemic, some of us were in the air close to every week of the year, while others traveled monthly or quarterly. We are an international business, so many of us also flew to Hong Kong, China, Viet Nam, and Europe.
Things are getting somewhat back to normal (keep your fingers crossed), so the prospect of flying will become once again part of our lives. It seems, however, that many corporations are rethinking the need for travel.
I found an interesting article on the subject on the website Axios. Written by Erica Pandey, in her article, “Business travel might be going out of style,” it tells us:
Companies have made it a year and a half mostlywithout traveling for work — and now more and more of them are considering dramatically reducing business travel to slash costs and cut carbon emissions.
Ms. Pandey points out that air travel is currently running at only 30% of 2019’s levels. It’s expected to stay there.
The cutbacks are taking the form of sending fewer people. For example, The Toy Association’s Steve Pasierb told me that toy companies have reduced the number of employees they are sending to Dallas. It’s too early to know by how much, but it could be as much as 25%.
Companies are also turning to computer screens rather than airplanes to bring their employees together. Still, person-to-person engagement is vital in building intercompany relationships, resolving problems, and selling new products. A salesperson’s presence is vital in building rapport, reading body language, and making “the big sale.” They need to be there.
Physically being there is a competitive advantage. So, I think companies will cut back on travel until they lose to a competitor who got the business because they made the trip.
Person-to-person contact is the lubricant that prevents jams in the cogwheels of selling and buying. Business travel will come back.


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After news reports in the last few months that the French eat as much fat as Americans yet have about half the number of heart attacks, sales of red wine and foie gras soared in the United States.
But those who were quick to embrace the promise of this French paradox may have to reconsider. An American nutritionist says there is a simple explanation: The French have only recently begun to eat as much fat as Americans have been eating for almost half a century, so it will take several decades before the French heart disease rate is likely to match the American rate.
``The French paradox is a narrow window in time,`` said Dr. Marion Nestle, chairwoman of the department of nutrition at New York University and editor of the surgeon general`s 1988 Report on Nutrition and Health. ``The French diet is newly high in fat, and heart disease rates just haven`t had time to catch up.``
In a paper presented recently in New York at a symposium on wine, Nestle said the French diet was quite low in fat in 1965. It was not until 1985 that French consumption of fat caught up with American levels, and it takes 20 to 30 years for arteries to become clogged.
Nestle`s paper came after several months of news reports, including a segment on the CBS News program ``60 Minutes,`` linking consumption of red wine with a low rate of heart disease. In the eight weeks ending Jan. 12, sales of red wine in American supermarkets rose to 1,374,000 cases, 354,000 more than in the same period of the preceding 12 months, according to Information Resources Inc., a San Francisco company that scans 2,400 supermarkets nationwide.
Sales of foie gras have increased too, since news reports in November on French research suggesting that foie gras consumption might be beneficial to the heart.
Dr. Serge Renaud, a French researcher, first suggested that consumption of foie gras might improve cardiovascular health. He has also suggested that drinking wine provides protection against coronary heart disease. (Other studies have indicated that moderate consumption of alcohol in any form is beneficial.)
Renaud, director of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Lyons, was on the panel with Nestle in New York. He said Nestle
``could be right.`` But, noting that much of Americans` fat comes from meat, he added: ``The type of fat is different in France. The increase comes from cheese, and cheese fat is different. We have no indication that the increased intake of fat will increase the rate of coronary heart disease.``
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has kept data on national food supplies since 1961, when 28 percent of the calories consumed by the French came from fat. Fat consumption has increased has increased to 39 percent in 1988, the last year for which figures are available.


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- On the heels of a free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea, Ford plans to expand its sales in the country by 50% to about 6,000 vehicles in 2012, the Detroit News reports. Sales will include the 2013 Fusion and Escape, as well as the Explorer, Taurus and diesel Focus.
- Toyota estimates it will sell 9.58 million vehicles globally in 2012, up 21% over 2011’s 7.95 million, Bloomberg News reports. The automaker is betting big on a sales lift from its redesigned Camry, whose U.S. sales improved 55.9% in January, as well as more versions of its Prius hybrid.
- Chrysler will trade Eminem for Clint Eastwood in its Super Bowl commercial this Sunday, The Wall Street Journal says. Last year's two-minute spot won an Emmy; its follow-up will be the same length, sources told the publication, with the venerable Eastwood "giving the country a pep talk."
- At the White House's behest, import automakers transported executives and fuel-efficient cars, including fuel-cell vehicles from Honda and Mercedes-Benz, to the nation's capital for President Barack Obama's tour of the Washington Auto Show. But Bloomberg reports Obama paid little notice, spending most of his half-hour tour alongside a Dodge Dart, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford C-Max and Chevrolet Malibu, among other cars from Detroit automakers. Michael Stanton, head of the Association of Global Automakers, told Bloomberg his member automakers "were just terribly disappointed" at the apparent snub.
- Automakers and car dealers added 15,000 of January's 243,000 jobs, the Labor Department reports. Today's better-than-expected report dropped unemployment to 8.3%, the lowest since February 2009, notes Bloomberg.
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Technology allows us to see in 3D, why not hear that way too? Joe Hayes is working on a unique set of speakers that make it possible for people interested in listening to things in 3D.
Twenty-one years and 8000 hours of work later, his part-time project has finally developed into a fledging business in Brisbane employing seven people.
He has raised $600,000 through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board, a capital-raising platform for local entrepreneurs, as part of his bid to raise $2.5 million overall.
Manufacturing is due to commence in May.
Mr Hayes described his system as “3D sound”, a system that generates “acoustic holograms” that offered “the same sound to actually being there”.
He was in the midst of finalising distribution in Australia with local company Dynamic Music.
“The Acoustic3D technology is not an extension of existing audio technology,” Mr Hayes said.
“The implementation of Acoustic3D’s diffuser and algorithms completely replaces the traditional approach to audio technology with a new method to mathematically generate sounds that can be manipulated to produce a distortion free, three-dimensional sound experience.”
Photo by West McGowan
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Lukashenka: Guilt for devaluation lies on you
16:07, — Politics
The dictator rebuked Belarusians for buying foreign currency and shopping abroad.
Lukashenka made this statement during a visit to BelAZ plant in Zhodzina, his press service reports.
“You are crying prices are very high. I begin to press for lower prices. So, we keep prices low, but salaries are overinflated. But what worries me most of all? What do you do with your extra money? You rush to currency exchange offices to buy foreign currency and then ask if we will have devaluation.
If we have devaluation, it is you who do it,” Lukashenka said to workers.
”The president says so, but we go abroad to buy foreign clothes, because ours have worse quality. It's not the point. Border guards say some people cross the border 700 times [a year].
What are they doing there? They buy the foreign currency that we earn, take it from the country and bring clothes. Yes, the EU offers them on lower prices and foists this rubbish on you for $3 billion,” Lukashenka said.
The ruler again mentioned the global crisis and promised that Belarus would look good after the crisis was tackled.
“We didn't stop in difficult times. We rely on the real sector of economy rather than on oil and gas. We will look good after the crisis is over,” he said.
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By Lubna Hamdan
Event will include celebrity chef appearances, food-related consumer and trade events, activities, and promotions.
The Dubai Festivals and Retails Establishment (DFRE), an agency of Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) announced that the dates for this year’s Dubai Food Festival (DFF) will be from February 6 to 28 across the city of Dubai.
The festival is a 23-day event that celebrates the Emirate’s emergence as a culinary destination. It will include celebrity chef appearances, food-related consumer and trade events, activities, and promotions.
The event’s main theme, "Find your Flavour,” will focus on the diversity and multicultural nature of Dubai’s culinary scene, and its vast pool of 200 nationalities. It will also showcase some of the Emirate’s best home-grown food concepts and ideas.
"The festival programme has been designed to highlight the range of flavours that inspire Dubai's menus, drawn from the cuisines of the 200 nationalities that live in the city, as well as the traditions of Emirati cuisine and hospitality, an increasingly important element of our tourism offer," said Laila Mohammed Suhail, chief executive officer of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE).
Marking its second edition, DFF 2015 will host celebrity chefs like Michelin-starred Jason Atherton, award-winning Greg Malouf, TV’s prized Sanjeev Kapoor, Queen of the Arabic Kitchen, Manal Al Alem, critically-acclaimed chef and best-selling author, Silvena Rowe, and the renowned Saudi Arabian super chef Yousef Khumayes, many of whom have restaurants in the UAE.
This year’s version will also feature a line-up of new events, such as the “Foodie Film Night,” “Fatafeat Kitchen,” “Food Truck Convoy,” and “Dine on the Creek with Celebrity Chefs.”
In addition, DFF 2015 will be stretched across four minor themes: Emirates Cuisine, which will focus on Emirati dishes and culture, Home-grown, which will focus on home-grown restaurants and concepts, Multi-cultural Dining and Street Food, which will focus on multicultural dining and street food, and International Chefs and Restaurants, which will focus on regional and international celebrity chefs.
The festival will also bring back favourites from DFF 2014 such as the Beach Canteen, Dubai Food Carnival, Taste of Peru, GulFood and the Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF).
Some of its chosen venues include Za’abeel Park, Madinat Jumeirah, Jumeirah Kite Beach, Dubai Marine, and Pier 7.For all the latest gourmet news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and Linkedin, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.
This should be a fun and exciting festival, enjoy it everyone.


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Five different Brut and Sure deodorant and antiperspirant sprays have been recalled due to the risk of the presence of benzene when using the sprays, the US Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
"While benzene is not an ingredient in any of the recalled products, our review showed that unexpected levels of benzene came from the propellant that sprays the product out of the can," the FDA said in a press release.
Benzene, a human carcinogen, can cause cancers including leukemia and blood cancer of the bone marrow. It can also cause blood disorders. According to the CDC, breathing in high levels of benzene may cause dizziness, drowsiness, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and headaches and confusion, among other symptoms. Direct exposure to the skin and eyes can cause irritation.
Read more: Best deodorants for 2022
No injuries or adverse effects have been reported from using Brut or Sure aerosols, with the voluntary recall "being conducted out of an abundance of caution," the FDA said.
The affected products include Brut Classic Antiperspirant Aerosol 4oz and 6oz, Brut Classic Deodorant Aerosol 10oz, Sure Regular Antiperspirant Aerosol 6oz and Sure Unscented Antiperspirant Aerosol 6oz -- all with expiration dates on or before August 2023. The products were sold in the US and Canada.
The FDA has advised people to stop using them immediately and dispose of the cans.


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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Sharing is caring
17 May 2022
For many businesses, the current new car supply shortage and hybrid working model has left them with a somewhat curious dilemma.
New vehicles are not available to replace company cars at the end of their lease or contract. But there's a car park full of pool cars not being used by employees who are now working from home.
Putting pool cars to work could be the answer. However, for many businesses, they don't have the technology and resources to manage pool car usage.
Tap and Go
Europcar's innovative 'Tap and Go' technology can be installed into a company's pool car, supported by an easy-to-use booking platform for a well-managed and clever way to keep employees mobile when they need to be - without relying on their own vehicles.
Using an all-devices app, drivers can book their own rental and access the vehicle in the car park with just a tap of their smartphone on the windscreen. And fleet and travel managers can monitor the use of their business fleet efficiently with monitoring and reporting, via the platform providing real-time updates on bookings, vehicle utilisation and even CO2 consumption.
Take just the tech - or the cars too
Europcar can supply the tech for a company's existing pool car fleet. There's no need to rent vehicles from us.
If you need cars too, our full corporate car sharing service includes vehicle maintenance and cleaning, safety checks, fuel card and roadside assistance.
No grey areas
On demand corporate car sharing not only means business mobility keeps moving; it helps reduce reliance on grey fleet - employees' own vehicles - which tend to be older, less reliable, more polluting and are not usually fitted with the latest safety features. Knowing more about the vehicles employees are driving supports the duty of care obligations of every business.
There's a sustainability benefit too. Research from CoMoUK, the shared transport charity, shows that a car share scheme can have significant benefits in reducing congestion and emissions. Each shared vehicle can take 18.5 vehicles off the road and typically shared vehicles are more environmentally friendly, emitting on average 26.5% lower carbon emissions compared with the average UK car. Businesses that create their own corporate car share scheme could be part of that 'green' story.
To find out more about Europcar Corporate Car Sharing visit www.europcar.co.uk/business or call 0371 384 0140


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In a global exclusive interview to coincide with the unveiling of a new advertising campaign for Ermenegildo Zegna, a part of the brand’s repositioning strategy, Imran Amed sat down with head of design Stefano Pilati to discuss his plans for modernising the venerable Italian menswear label, while embracing its rich heritage in tailoring and fabric development.
PARIS, France — French billionaire Bernard Arnault wants you to spend the night and eat his pastries. After decades of acquiring luxury goods that consumers can drink and wear, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA last week bought a five-star hotel in St. Barths and in June added a storied Milanese cafe, accelerating his push to meet all his well-heeled clients’ earthly needs.
ISTANBUL, Turkey — Social unrest in Turkey and Brazil is making it harder for luxury-goods makers to keep shoppers spending in a difficult economy, according to Ermenegildo Zegna.
In our latest CEO Talk, BoF’s Imran Amed sits down with Gildo Zegna on the day of Stefano Pilati’s debut show for Zegna Couture to talk about how Ermenegildo Zegna, a family-run business started in 1910 in the small town of Trivero in the Biella Alps, has become a luxury menswear benchmark for global success.
MILAN, Italy — Stefano Pilati, who arrived at Zegna from Yves Saint Laurent, inventively fit contrasting scrunchy, crumpled cuffs, at times suggestive of armbands, on tailored jackets, coats and fine sweaters. In another twist, shirt cuffs were folded over elbow-length sleeves on finely knit sweaters, layered again with a longer scrunched-up sleeve.


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At Lane Tech high school in Chicago, Illinois today, Apple announced a new education-focused iPad, along with new software designed with teachers and students in mind.
The new iPad measure in at 9.7-inches and notably includes Apple Pencil support, a feature typically kept exclusive to Apple’s iPad Pro line. While Apple uncharacteristically highlighted a third-party keyboard during the keynote, the new 9.7-inch iPad doesn’t feature the iPad Pro’s magnetic accessory port, which means it isn’t compatible with Apple’s smart keyboard.
“Education is a big part of who we are as a company,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, kicking off the keynote presentation held in a high school auditorium.
Apple’s Greg Joswiak, the company’s vice president of product marketing, took to the stage to reveal the new, upgraded iPad.
Specs wise, the new iPad features an 8-megapixel that’s capable of shooting 1080p video, a 9.7-inch retina display, Touch ID, up to 10 hours of battery life, a built-in gyroscope/accelerometer, and Apple Pencil support. The new iPad weighs in at 0.45kg (1lb).
The company also claims that there are 200,000 education-focused apps currently in the App Store. Pages, Notes and Keynote, three of Apple’s key iPad apps, now support the Apple Pencil. Another new education focused feature called Smart Annotation, allows teachers and students to “write and add marks directly on the page itself.” Digital book creation, which Apple says is built directly into Pages, is coming to the iPad, too.
“More and more Apple Pencil Apps just keep coming,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of product marketing.
The Apple Pencil won’t ship with the iPad, but the company did reveal new third-party options. Apple revealed that Logitech is working on its own stylus, dubbed ‘Crayon,’ for the iPad that’s priced at $49 USD. Apple is also boosting its free iCloud storage limit from 5GB to 200GB for students.
Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad is priced at $429 CAD, with last year’s iteration coming in at $449. This means that the company’s new iPad is only $20 cheaper than last year’s model, though this new version does include a number of upgrades.


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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has given the formal assent to Competition Commission Bill to make it an act of the parliament. The law to establish Competition Commission of Pakistan; tasked, among other things, to prohibit commercial enterprises from unfair practices. The National Assembly and Senate had passed the law completing the parliamentary approval of the Competition Bill after nearly a year of grueling rows.
The 62-clause bill with formal assent by President Asif Ali Zardari has become an act of parliament that will reactivate a powerful Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) mandated to ensure what the draft says
“free competition in all spheres of commercial and economic activity to enhance economic efficiency and to protect consumers from anti-competitive behavior” in the country


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Traders on Wall Street have gone wild over online restaurant reservation system OpenTable, rewarding it with a price/earnings ratio as high as 130. That's the kind of valuation you'd expect to see for a company that has discovered a cure for cancer, not one that enables people to book a seat at, say, Buca di Beppo or one of the many other restaurants in its network.
While OpenTable seems to work well for most full-service restaurants that participate, a few operators have begun to question whether the benefits are worth the cost.
To be sure, not all operators are doing the questioning. At Restaurant Hospitality's just-concluded New Directions Conference in Chicago, industry superstars Paul Bartolotto and Drew Nieporent went out of their way to praise OpenTable. Nieporent said he held out against installing OpenTable in his legendary restaurants for a long time, but loves it now.
You can't get a stronger endorsement than these two guys gave. But not everyone in the industry shares their sentiment.
Mark Pastore, partner in San Francisco standout Incanto with chef Chris Cosentino, is one of them. He wrote a thoughtful piece on the subject that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle's online food blog.
Here's Pastore's take on OpenTable's sky-high market valuation. “That translates to more than $100,000 for each contract it holds with the approximately 14,000 restaurants listed on OpenTable.com. Sadly, many small neighborhood restaurants may themselves not be worth as much as the value that has been placed on their business with OpenTable.” Touché.
He also cites an unnamed three-and-a-half star San Francisco restaurant whose owner cuts a check to OpenTable each month that is larger than what he personally makes, despite spending 80 hours per week on the job. This operator keeps the service because he feels his customers “would revolt” if he dropped it.
The customer database is another issue. OpenTable maintains it, so a restaurant's customers wind up having a relationship with OpenTable, not the restaurant. Pastore laments that “by permitting a third party to own and control access to the customer database, restaurants have unwittingly paid while giving away one of the crown jewels of their business, their customers.”
Is it worth it? OpenTable says its system pays for itself, because restaurants using it fill an average of at least 300 seats each month and that operators need only fill 12 incremental seats each month to cover the cost of offering the service.
Pastore counters that OpenTable's math assumes that a large number of reservations booked by OpenTable are incremental, generously defined as “guests who would not have otherwise visited the restaurant and were seated at a table that would otherwise have sat empty for the evening.” Maybe, he says, they would have found the restaurant some other way. He also notes that being part of OpenTable was once a competitive advantage. But now that so many restaurants have signed up, that's no longer so.
If you're wondering why Wall Street traders have bid OpenTable so high, consider this line from Pastore. “We live in the Golden Age of Google, in which web-based services have transformed many consumer and business functions by making them easier, more accessible and drastically less expensive,” he says. “That's ultimately the most perplexing thing about OpenTable: unlike so many other web services, this one has actually driven up operating costs, not reduced them.”
Incanto isn't a member of OpenTable and isn't likely to become one. We don't know if you should join or not. But keep an eye on its stock price; indirectly, it says a lot about where the industry is going.


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Cheerios may have been the target of racist backlash after featuring a biracial family in a commercial earlier this year, but that didn't hurt Cheerios' image too much. In fact, the company landed a spot on YouGov BrandIndex's list of top 10 brands with the best reputations.
YouGov's latest ranking, which the market research firm releases bi-annually, is based off of about 600,000 interviews with American adults during the first half of 2013. YouGov asked interviewees if they had heard positive or negative things about the nation's biggest brands and calculated each brand’s “buzz score” on a scale of -100 to 100, with positive scores indicating positive brand perception.
Here are the top 10 brands with the best reputations:


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Big decline in energy costs sends wholesale prices tumbling
WASHINGTON – A huge drop in energy costs helped push prices at the wholesale level down last month by the largest amount in nearly three years. But with the cost of gasoline rising again, the reprieve could be short-lived.The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices fell by 1.4 percent in February as food and energy both recorded big declines.But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the February decrease, saying it was heavily influenced by a warmer-than-normal winter, which cut demand for home heating fuel and helped energy producers rebuild inventories that had been depleted after last fall’s hurricanes.The government reported Monday that the average retail price of gasoline soared by 13.8 cents last week to $2.50 per gallon for regular grade. Unleaded gasoline futures are up by 42 cents per gallon since mid-February.The rise in futures contracts will soon be pinching motorists at the pump, and what happens to crude oil prices remains the big wild card on what will happen with inflation this year. While crude oil prices have dipped below $60 per barrel this week, it is uncertain how long they will stay at that level.”Your guess on where oil prices are going to go is as good as mine,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. “It just depends on the Middle East and who knows what is going to happen there.”The drop in the overall Producer Price Index was much larger than economists had been expecting. It followed a report last week that the closely watched Consumer Price Index edged up a tiny 0.1 percent in February following a 0.7 percent jump in January.Outside of energy and food, core prices at the wholesale level rose by 0.3 percent last month, a bigger increase than the 0.1 percent economists had forecast.Wall Street investors chose to worry about the worse-than-expected increase in core inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 39.06 points to close at 11,235.47.Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, said he believed core inflation at the consumer level, which last year was 2.2 percent, would be around 2.5 percent this year.Increasing labor costs, reflecting a stronger job market, and an expected weaker dollar, which will drive up import prices, will contribute to pushing core inflation higher, he said.The Federal Reserve, which would prefer to keep core consumer prices rising at around 2 percent, will be closely watching the increase in inflation pressures, Zandi and other economists predicted.The central bank will hold its first interest-rate-setting meeting with Ben Bernanke as chairman next Monday and Tuesday. Analysts believe they will vote for the 15th straight quarter-point increase in the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge each other, since policy-makers began tightening credit nearly two years ago.Many economists believe as long as inflation does not worsen significantly, the Federal Reserve is likely to increase rates one more time at the May 10 meeting, pushing the funds rate to 5 percent, and then move to the sidelines for the rest of the year.”There is a certain appeal to going to a nice round number like 5 percent,” said Bill Cheney, chief economist for John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. “But if we get some bad inflation numbers, then they won’t stop at 5 percent.”The retreat in wholesale prices in February was the largest one-month decline since a similar 1.4 percent plunge in April 2003.Gasoline prices were down 11 percent, the biggest drop in nearly three years, while natural gas prices fell by 4.1 percent and liquefied petroleum gas, used for heating homes, dropped by 14.3 percent. Those declines reflected the fact that demand was reduced because of the unusually warm January, analysts said.Food prices were down 2.7 percent in February, the biggest drop in nearly four years, led by a 27.1 percent decline in vegetable prices.There was a 0.5 percent rise for light trucks, the category that includes sport utility vehicles. Prices were also up for pharmacy products, newspapers and other periodicals and construction machinery.Vail, Colorado
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Video: CBS News Visits a Thriving Peanut Partnership in Haiti
November 15, 2013
In rural Haiti, peanuts are helping to create jobs, provide nutrition and improve farmers’ livelihoods.
For years, peanut farmer Gustave Esteme struggled to feed his family in the central plateau region of Haiti. But after receiving agricultural training facilitated by TechnoServe, “he’s growing three times as much – enough to feed his six children three meals a day instead of two,” reports CBS News producer Christina Ruffini.
CBS News visited Gustave for a segment on how Nourimanba, a peanut-based fortified product, is creating economic opportunities in rural Haiti. Four years ago, the nonprofit Partners in Health teamed up with Abbott Laboratories, a global health care company, to produce Nourimanba and distribute it to malnourished children. Last year they opened a brand new processing facility, which employs 20 men and women from the community and has substantially increased production.
TechnoServe joined the partnership to help train hundreds of growers like Gustave, who supply the facility with peanuts. Farmers learn techniques, such as proper spacing of plants, which help boost their productivity and increase their incomes.
The ripple effects of the Nourimanba project extend beyond the farmers and processing plant employees to local entrepreneurs and small businesses. Former teacher Joseph Roland became an entrepreneur with help from a microloan and training from TechnoServe. Now he tills the soil for peanut farms. “He says helping grow Haiti’s agriculture sector is more important than his work in the classroom,” reports Ruffini.
Related Blog Posts
After battling leaf rust on his coffee farm in Honduras, Oscar Ramirez won 2017's Cup of Excellence competition and broke records for Honduras's coffee sector after applying best practices he learned from TechnoServe's MAS program.
In Tanzania, TechnoServe is developing solutions to foster a new generation of women leaders like Mama Crize in the cocoa value chain.
For National Nut Day, we are celebrating some of the top ways that nuts offer an all-in-one solution to creating lasting, inclusive change for families and economies around the world.


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Leveraging on the craze around ICC World Cup and cricket, Syska World Cup Campaign is a theme song to promote their audio products
Composed by Teenu Arora & Schbang, Syska World Cup Campaign, titled, #EkHiDhun is an attempt by the brand to create a brand image that resonates with the celebratory spirit for cricket in the country. It is a part of their campaign, ‘Sound of Celebration’ that drives home the message of how cricket is a sport that’s born in the gullies and is an integral part of India’s social fabric. The song takes a look at the journey of Indian cricket players from gullies to the cricket ground at Lords.
Explaining the timing of the campaign, Nirav Shah, Digital Marketing Head, Syska Group says, “Cricket is one of the most celebrated sports in this country and it’s natural that most brands would want to capitalise on it,” adding that while other brands tried to talk about their product lines, Syska picked on the nostalgia around the game.
“We have seen a fairly good response considering that quite a few brands have launched their campaigns at the same time, some with mighty celebratory power,” he adds. Shah feels that Syska managed to hit the right notes as the team has noticed college students and other sharing the song video and dancing to the hook steps shown.
“When we conceptualised this campaign, the objective was clear that we need to bring our community together via the medium of music,” says Akshay Gurnani, Co-founder-CEO, Schbang, adding that the Syska World Cup Campaign was amplified with the help of prominent dancers and college students.
Shah tells us that the final piece didn’t move much from the initial thought process and feels that the teams were able to execute well. “Our idea of Sound of Celebration was to celebrate the various festivals and moments that impact India at large,” he says, adding that the world cup was the best place to start.
He further tells us that the campaign wasn’t created from the RoI expectation, rather the intention was to augment Syska Accessories as a niche category. “Syska is well known in the LED segment. Through this campaign, brand augmentation was our core focus,” he tells us.
The song was marketed on digital platforms via social media channels — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. In addition to sharing important moments of the match, Syska has been actively sharing #Throwback cricket facts to keep the engagement going.
Syska ran two interesting contests online as a part of the Syska World Cup Campaign, one where they asked fans to cheer for the Indian cricket team to win the ICC World Cup matches and in the other, fans participated in karaoke with Syska. In both cases, they got responses via tweet as well as in comments of the Facebook posts.
Additionally, the brand has been attempting to keep the engagement alive with commentary on India matches and general cricket trivia.
Further, the brand had also partnered with syndicate networks for the song to be published across. There are plans to launch ringtones and other assets as well. Shah says, “The song has been promoted by celebrity choreographer Melvin Louis and cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, among others.”


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TAMPA — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is calling on major automakers to immediately replace millions of defective airbags or give drivers who have to wait on a repair either loaner cars or a reimbursement for rentals.
Nelson, D-Florida, said he didn't know the cost or feasibility of finding enough rental cars to handle such a massive recall. But he favored fining automakers who don't comply, perhaps millions of dollars a day.
Nelson also supported a formal investigation into the widening recall and said leaders of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be called to testify about "miscues" and "misfires." The senator is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Last week, the NHTSA, in an unusual move, urged owners of more than 7.8 million vehicles with potentially faulty airbags to seek an immediate replacement. However, the Tampa Bay Times and other media reported last week that manufacturers are short on parts, pushing back the replacement process.
"The people are in a panic, and they want to know what to do," Nelson said during an afternoon news conference at the Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse in downtown Tampa.
Holding one of the defective airbags, he described how explosive propellants can become unstable, causing a rupture. "This becomes shrapnel. It becomes projectiles," he said. "We're dealing with deadly stuff."
In separate letters to the CEOs of Toyota North America and American Honda Motor Co., Nelson criticized the automakers for not being proactive, and failing to pass on information about the recall on their websites. He suggested that both Toyota and Honda relay up-to-date recall information on their home pages and give customers a toll-free number for assistance.
The Department of Transportation has said it will conduct a review of the NHTSA, which has been criticized for its airbag recall along with other recalls earlier this year.
The defective airbags affecting a dozen automakers worldwide are made by Japanese auto supplier Takata. Airbag ruptures have been linked to four possible deaths and more than 100 injuries.
One victim, Corey Burdick of Eustis, a 26-year-old father of two boys, was blinded in one eye after his airbag exploded in an accident five months ago, sending a 3 1/2-inch piece of shrapnel into his eye, his attorney, Rich Newsome, said.
Newsome, of the Newsome Melton law firm in Orlando, joined Nelson at the news conference with harsh words for how automakers have handled the recall.
The attorney, who has represented auto recall and tire defect cases for 20 years, said automakers were slow to acknowledge the scope of the problem and even now should show a greater sense of urgency by phoning affected customers instead of mailing them.
Auto companies have given eight reasons for the cause of the defect — from moisture in the airbag to a quality-control problem, he said. They've also given conflicting advice on a proper fix, with some automakers receiving regulatory approval to disable the airbags and send customers home until replacement parts arrive.
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Both Nelson and Newsome said disabling the bags is a misguided temporary solution, giving drivers and passengers a false sense of security and potentially leading to worse injuries in an accident. "The airbag is designed to work in tandem with the seatbelt," Newsome said.
The recall was initially limited to areas of the country with high humidity, such as Florida. However, some lawmakers are urging more widespread action. Nelson is among them, saying it's "ridiculous" to think that in this mobile society, owners of affected airbags in northern states wouldn't be traveling to Florida.
Contact Jeff Harrington at email@example.com or (813) 226-3434. Follow @JeffMHarrington.


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Why I’m convinced this is the next iPhone
Yesterday, Business Insider posted this leaked photo of an as-yet unreleased and unannounced phone.
They claim that it’s the iPhone 6, and I think they’re right. Here’s why:
- The case design borrows directly from the iPad mini and the new iPad Air. All of the styling cues are there. Smooth corners on the back of the case, satin-like finish, ultra-thin profile.
- The home button is clearly a TouchID unit, which we would expect Apple to keep in any update of the iPhone.
- The balance of earphone jack, Lightning connector port and speaker/mic perforations are all exactly where you’d expect them to be based on the iPhone 5s layout.
- According to BI, the phone’s screen dimensions are pegged at 4.7″ which up slightly from the iPhone 5/5s/5c at 4″. This might be the biggest surprise of all given that until now, Apple has been reluctant to increase the width of the iPhone, arguing that based on their extensive R&D for the original iPhone, the current width is ideal for most users. But if there’s one thing that Samsung has been able to prove, it’s that a lot of folks either don’t mind bigger phones, or they’re happy to trade off a little comfort in return for a bigger screen size. In any event, it looks like Apple has finally bent to consumers’ tastes on this, although it’s clear from the photo that they have done their best to minimize the impact on width. Look closely – the side bezel is razor-thin, providing what I suspect is the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a true “edge-to-edge” display.
- So what about sticking to their guns? Well here’s where we get to the fun part. Rather than acknowledging they were wrong about screen size, I think Apple will market this new iPhone as the “iPhone Air” – the choice for people who want ultra-thin, ultra-light and “the most beautiful display of any mobile phone” while retaining both the 5s and the 5c as options for those who still prefer the original dimensions.
- I expect the price to be the same as the current iPhone 5s, while the 5s and 5c will drop by between $50-$100 at launch.
- So a bigger, thinner iPhone? Is that it? Yes. With the possible exception of the inclusion of NFC and a better camera (you can never have too much improvement in a camera), I don’t think the iPhone Air will have (or will need) any new features. I think the simple fact that folks who didn’t buy the iPhone because the Galaxy line was bigger (and who will now reconsider the iPhone) represents a huge potential win for Apple, especially as they start to compete in China now that they’ve secured the China Mobile deal. I think that Asian users of smartphones have already shown a significant preference for large-screen phones and that this will continue.


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For the past year, the creators of the Oculus Rift have maintained that the best, most innovative experiences for their virtual reality headset will come from small, independent developers. They're the ones willing to take risks, they say, the game makers unburdened from traditional thinking.
Those smaller developers, Oculus says, will be the trailblazers, inspiring other game makers to create their own VR-enabled games.
"The VR rulebook is being written right now," Nate Mitchell, VP of product at Oculus, told Polygon in an interview. "And there's a very high probably that the killer apps [for Oculus Rift] don't come from AAA developers, but from indies just trying new things. It's pretty much a level playing field in terms of game design."
To promote that idea, Oculus recently held an extended game jam in collaboration with Indiecade, offering up to $50,000 in prizes. Some 400 teams competed, with more than 200 games ultimately being submitted. Mitchell said it was an opportunity to "get people experimenting," so that other developers can learn about the possibilities of VR and explore games that can't be achieved on a monitor.
"We're big believers that great software drives hardware adoption," Mitchell said. "Helping developers build great games and content makes the content that much stronger. Without great games, the Rift is just a heavy pair of ski goggles, right? By working with developers to do a game jam, giving them the opportunity to innovate, it gave them an opportunity to try new things.
"Because VR is an entirely new medium, we wanted to give people a chance to play with it for 24 hours and then change, change and change; give them a chance to fail fast and hard, then iterate to to see what works."
At this past weekend's Indiecade festival, Oculus brought what they consider some of the best VR experiences created by indie developers during that three week-long game jam. Those experimental games included titles like Dumpy, an on-rails first-person game in which you wield a colorful elephant trunk. Players wreak playful havoc by whipping their head and Dumpy's trunk around.
Other highlights from the Oculus VR Jam appearing at Indiecade included Dreadhalls, a first-person dungeon crawler that masterfully captures the sensation of creeping through a haunted house. With scant light available to the player from oil lamps, Dreadhalls is not only an immersive horror experiment, it illustrates how well head-tracking can be used to complement and simplify the user interface. Simple things, like physically looking down to bring up a procedurally generated in-game map, work perfectly. But it's the act of being able to peek around a corner, tilting your own head and seeing a pair of dimly lit eyes staring back at you, that really sell the Oculus Rift.
The game jam's open call grand prize winner, hacking game Ciess, provides a similar sense of immersion albeit in a very different context. Ciess' addictive puzzle-solving would likely work perfectly fine without a Rift, but the headset lends the experience a Lawnmower Man-like virtual realism.
Many of the Oculus VR Jam finalists and winners are available to download from the competition's website. Mitchell says Oculus is working with developers to bring some of the game jam titles "to fruition," but it's up to the individual creators if they want to flesh out their games further and release them commercially.
Oculus' VR game jam, Mitchell said, was full of surprises for the company, which works closely with game developers and does "tons of prototyping internally."
"People are always sending me things that I'm surprised that they work... or don't work," Mitchell said. "As a gamer, I was skeptical at first of third-person in real-time strategy games [on Rift], and now I've played multiple third-person RTS and god games that have worked flawlessly.
"There's a bunch of stuff I can't talk about that has blown me away."


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Since opening, Nottingham Contemporary has always been innovative when it comes to exhibitions, events, workshops and performances. Next year on Saturday 14th January 2023 they are all set up to do it again, this year with a showing of F.W. Murnau’s version of Nosferatu.
Next month Nottingham Contemporary will be opening doors to a new exhibition that is sure to get anyone riveted with intrigue. It is called Hollow Earth: Art, Caves & The Subterranean Imaginary and here is what you need to know about the upcoming exhibition in Nottingham.
Last week, we sent our marketing team to Nottingham Contemporary, which has been described in the past as “the most inspiring gallery in the UK” by The Guardian. Nottingham Contemporary opened its doors in 2009 and has welcomed two million people and presented over fifty exhibitions.


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NASHIK: A helpline launched by the Food and Civil Supplies department two months ago on May 1, to improve the public distribution system (PDS) of basic items such as foodgrain, oil and LPG cylinders, has failed to evoke a satisfactory response; only six complaints having been received so far. However, officials pointed out that since the telephone-based system has no scope to register anonymous complaints, it discourages citizens from calling.
"Under this grievance redressal system, consumers calling the number 1800-22-4950, need to register their ration card number before filing their complaint. The complaints are marked to the respective officer, down to the level of tehsildar, " an official from the district supply office (DSO) said.
Speaking on action taken over ration card related complaints, officials said that the DSO had issued a notice to a fair price ration shop after it received a complaint that the shop did not operate according to its scheduled timings.
"An enquiry with other card holders revealed that the shop had not been errant in it ways, but a notice was issued to the establishment anyway," officials said.
In other complaints such as consumers not receiving LPG cylinders, the issues actually amounted to deficiency in document compliance by the complainants themselves, or the complainants' ration cards had been cancelled by the gram panchayat.
A senior official however said that there was no doubt that the new system discouraged complainants from sending vital information to the department anonymously as well.
"One may recall that the office had acted on anonymous complaints that were made manually, by citizens coming into the office. The department was able to carry out action against two PDS shops in 2011 in Baglan and Nashik city, which led to a seizure of goods. However, within the current system no information is allowed to trickle down," the official said. He, however, pointed out that even today citizens could still manually register anonymous complaints with the office.
District officials said that the helpine launched by the Food and Civil Supplies Department does not allow anonymous complaints which deters citizens from reporting irregularities in foodgrain, oil or LPG cylinder supplies.


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UK economy shrank in November, ending six months of growth
The UK economy shrank 2.6 per cent in November as the second national lockdown was implemented, ending the six month run of consecutive increases, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
November Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell back to 8.5 per cent below the levels seen in February 2020 compared with 6.1 per cent below in October 2020.
In the 12 months to November 2020, GDP fell 8.9 per cent, compared with an annual decline of 6.8 per cent to October.
The ONS noted that the services sector was the main drag on output, falling 3.4 per cent as a result of curbs on activity as the government announced further lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The largest contributor to this fall was accommodation and food service activities, followed by wholesale and retail trade, arts, entertainment and recreation. These sectors accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the fall in services.
All in all, the services sector is now 9.9 per cent below the level of February 2020.
Growth in construction
Construction and manufacturing were the only sectors to see growth in the month, reporting a 1.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent increase respectively.
Construction recorded its seventh month of consecutive growth, showing it was largely unaffected by the lockdown restrictions.
The ONS said the monthly growth was driven by increases in both infrastructure (9.6 per cent) and private new housing (4.7 per cent) meaning both sectors are above their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels at 9.1 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively.
The largest contribution to manufacturing came from the motor vehicles industry, which is now 1.3 per cent above its February pre-pandemic level.
Ayush Ansal, chief investment officer at Crimson Black Capital, said: “The fall in GDP in November wasn’t quite as bad as some had expected given the fact the economic shutters had once again been pulled down in England.
“Unsurprisingly, the sectors dragging down the economy included retail, food services, accommodation, entertainment and the arts, all of which were among the hardest hit.
“If Spring’s economic collapse sank a sabre-tooth fang into the GDP graph, it’s clear there are plenty more sharp teeth to come as the economy stop-starts.
“Markets have priced in a jagged recovery and are now looking along the curve to how the economy reacts to mass vaccination. All eyes now are on the future rather than the past.”


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New Delhi: Telecom operator Reliance Jio on Thursday announced a new post-paid plan with monthly rental of Rs199 which offers ISD calling service at starting price of 50 paise per minute to the US and Canada.
The company also announced international roaming service with outgoing calls at Rs2 per minute onwards.
“’Zero-Touch’ postpaid plan to offer unlimited benefits at Rs199 per month, international calling starting at 50 paise per minute and international roaming at Rs2 for voice, data & SMS for all Jio customers," Reliance Jio said in a statement.
The subscription for the plan will start from 15 May. At present, the lowest monthly rent of Jio post-paid plan is Rs309. Customers opting for Rs199 will not require to pay any security deposit and they will get unlimited free voice, SMS and 25 GB data at 4G speed, the company said.
Jio will offer calls at 50 paise per minute to the US and Canada, Rs2 per minute to China, France, Italy, the UK, Singapore, Bangladesh. Calls to the Middle East countries will be charged in the range of Rs4-6 per minute.


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The Storrs Farmers Market is making a name for itself as an organic location for fresh food and nutrition for University of Connecticut (UConn), students and surrounding residents.
The market, which has been running since 1994, supplies the greater Mansfield area with meat, baked goods, milk products, fruits and vegetables, according to the organization’s website.
The current Market Master, Carly Olson, said the organization prides itself on selling products that are fresh and grown locally.
“Next year will be our 25th year,” Olson said. “We’ve always been very food-focused but we’ve had a few of the same customers for the last 10 to 20 years.”
Olson said the farmers are a close-knit community and contribute individually to the market while still working as a team.
“Most of our farms are no more than 15 miles away,” Olson said. “So we’re known for having the friendliest farmers around. They’ll use each other’s produce.”
Olson said she is focused on keeping the market strictly to produce, but has allowed other vendors to infiltrate and sell their products over the years. The market has vendors who sell natural soap, as well as a UConn grad who sells candles.
Olson said the hallmark of the organization is that, although she is the Market Master, many of the decisions about market proceedings are made by the farmers.
“Everyone is willing to talk about how they grow and sell their food,” Olson said. “It’s an association of farmers.”
Olson said the primary customers at the market include UConn students and families in Mansfield, Willimantic, Ashford and other surrounding towns. The market is able to reach out to students through newsletters and advertisements that run on monitors in dining halls on campus.
“UConn is a great avenue to use to reach out to the greater Mansfield area,” Olson said.
Olson, who completed her undergraduate education at UConn and received her masters in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from Green Mountain College, said her education has allowed her passion for the market to grow.
“I’ve dedicated a decade to learning about supply chains,” Olson said.
The outdoor market will continue in front of the Mansfield Town Hall every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. until Nov. 17. At that point, the market will close operations until Dec. 1 and will then resume indoor sales at the Mansfield Public Library every other Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. the website says.
Olson said it is crucial that UConn students take advantage of what the market has to offer in order to keep students educated on the history of the university.
“Local farming is important to Mansfield and UConn because the university started as an agricultural school, and people are starting to forget that,” Olson said. “It helps keep the community grounded to its roots.”
Taylor Harton is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. They can be reached via email at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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© 2020 CobaltConnect| All rights reserved.
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
The world is slowly starting to return to normal after the COVID19 pandemic. You might notice that the liquor industry doesn’t look the same anymore. The quarantine has changed thousands of liquor store customer’s buying habits in a short period of time. The biggest new habit that is here to stay is buying alcohol online.
Friday, 25 May 2018
Liquor store owners face their fair share of problems when it comes to managing their business. Out-of-stock inventory, excessive manual tasks, lack of customer retention — the list goes on. One of the most important decisions that both new and experienced business owners will ever make is choosing the right POS system for their business.


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Renowned fashion illustrator David Downton has apparently been installed as the new artist in residence at Claridge’s Hotel in London – or so the rumours go.
The gorgeous Camilla Al Fayed – daughter of Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al Fayed – has just bought a 51% controlling stake in the London-based designer label, Issa. Camilla is said […]
Be still our beating hearts – Osman Yousefzada has created a capsule collection of five exquisite dresses exclusively for Selfridges, with each one just as mind blowing as the other.
News has literally just broken that Giorgio Armani has announced singing sensation Rihanna as the new global face for Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans for autumn/winter 2011.


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With its headquarters in Waunakee, WI, NORD Gear Corp. is celebrating its 40th anniversary in the U.S. this year with its sixth expansion – adding 86,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space.
NORD’s main products include gear boxes, motors and frequency inverters as well as industrial gear units.
Delivering double-digit sales growth for three consecutive years, NORD Gear Corp. is expanding for the sixth time since it built its North American headquarters in 1983. The global company began U.S. operations in 1979 in nearby Middleton, WI, sharing a building with Fristam Pumps – a continuing long-time customer.
NORD’s newest expansion will add 86,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space, which will help increase the company’s capacity and ensure a continued short lead time delivery.
The company currently delivers 22 percent of customer orders same day or next day, and 44 percent within five working days, including custom orders. NORD’s main products include gear boxes, motors and frequency inverters as well as industrial gear units.
Expanding its U.S. production capabilities, NORD also added a $6.2 million building expansion and new paint line in Wisconsin last year.
Torsten Schultz, NORD’s U.S. president, explained the company has almost tripled its capacity with its new paint line.
"On a daily basis, we currently assemble on average 650 gear units and 300 motors," he says. "We’re also expanding our facility on Charlotte, NC, by 15,000 square feet this year.”
Schultz says one of the reasons for NORD’s success is its strong engineering support and customer service. The company employs about two dozen engineers that help customers create solutions for their power transmission challenges.
“Our top business growth areas are in the warehouse logistics, airports, food and beverage industry, and the grain industry,” he says. “So whether customers are designing new baggage handling systems, conveyors for warehouses, or mixing tanks for food processing, NORD offers engineering support.”
In Waunakee, NORD employs 325 people. Across the U.S., NORD employs nearly 425 people.


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DStv Mobile, a leading player in the sub-Saharan mobile TV market across all capable portable devices, has introduced a brand new product: the iDrifta. Convenient and easy-to-use, this little gadget is set to enhance mobile TV viewing on popular Apple mobile devices…
Building on the ongoing success of the Drifta, Drifta USB and Walka, DStv Mobile has launched the iDrifta – adding to its range of innovative devices.
“The iDrifta is a plug and play mobile DVB-H receiver specifically designed for Apple mobile devices,” says Edward Kwame Owusu, Country Manager of DStv Mobile, Ghana. “It is portable and lightweight, and will allow users with Apple devices to enjoy all of the great entertainment they’ve come to expect from DStv Mobile.”
Compatible with the iPod 4th generation, iPhone 4/4S and iPad 1/2/3, the iDrifta is simple and intuitive to use. “After plugging it into your iOS device, the application opens automatically and you can start watching DStv Mobile right away,” explains Edward. “This means that viewers with Apple mobile devices can now access our full range of channels anywhere, anytime – from Africa Magic World all the way through to Nat Geo Wild.”
With DStv Mobile committed to remaining at the forefront of innovation, the iDrifta is a natural progression in the company’s strategy: “In order to continue to inspire, entertain and delight our subscribers, it is critical that we offer them the very latest world-class devices,” says Edward. “The fact that Apple’s mobile devices are so popular, and that subscribers using these platforms will now be able to access our offering, makes this launch even more exciting for our brand.”
The iDrifta uses DStv Mobile’s DVB-H signal – currently the most-cutting edge broadcast technology on the market in terms of handheld devices. The device additionally boasts a battery life of 3.5 hours.
“We will also continue using our learnings across Africa to enhance local subscribers’ experiences from both a content and technology perspective. This is a strategy that we’ve built on since first launching in Ghana in 2008,” adds Edward.
In addition to the iDrifta, subscribers can still make use of DStv Mobile’s Drifta, Drifta USB and Walka to enjoy music, sport, general entertainment, news and cartoons on the move – with all of the same great channels available across all of its devices.
The iDrifta device will be available from MultiChoice service centres, select retail outlets and online stores from 6th September 2012.
DStv Mobile coverage is available in Accra and Tema.
For more information about the perfect companion for your Apple mobile device, visit www.dstvmobile.com
We PAY for exclusives/breaking news...Got Any? Call/Whatsapp +447837576037 or E-mail: email@example.com


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The new truck goes high tech to make towing safer and easier.
Customers hooking up a trailer to the forthcoming Ford Super Duty can feel a little more secure on the road because of the new truck’s bevy of available safety tech. While things like blind spot monitoring aren’t new to the automotive industry, the Blue Oval is adapting the systems to work better on a heavy-duty pickup.
The Super Duty’s adaptive cruise control should make towing long distances easy. Like traditional systems, it can maintain a set distance from other traffic and hold a given speed. The Blue Oval’s tech also works when hauling something behind the pickup. The cruise can even activate the trailer brakes and diesel engine brake to keep the load in back under control.
Hauling is also safer with the Super Duty’s Blind Spot Information System. The radar in the taillights keeps an eye on what a driver can’t see. When towing, it can also monitor the side of the trailer for vehicles that might not be in the mirror.
Heavy-duty trucks usually aren’t very nimble handling vehicles, but Ford’s adaptive steering system combats this problem. The tech varies the steering ratio so that at low speeds the driver needs to turn the wheel less. As velocities increase, it then reduces the sensitivity. When the owners get on the freeway, lane-departure warning keeps them safe by vibrating the wheel if they drift out of the lane.
The new Super Duty goes on sale later this year. The tough-looking truck now wears a front end similar to the latest F-150. It also makes the switch to an aluminum body.


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by Steve St. Angelo, SRSrocco:
While the gold mining industry reports energy as only 15-20% of its total production costs, the total amount consumed by the industry is much higher. The market underestimates the amount of energy consumed by the gold mining industry because of the way it is listed in their financial statements. Thus, it takes a great deal more energy to produce gold than the market realizes.
Due to the complex supply chain system that we depend upon, most of the energy that is consumed in the production of goods, services, materials, metals, and commodities is hidden from plain sight. For example, a gold mining company will list “Tire Costs” in their Financial and Sustainability Reports. However, even though a tire cost is listed as a material cost, the majority of a tire’s production cost comes from burning energy… in all forms and in all stages.
For example, Barrick Gold consumed nearly 25,000 tons of tires in 2013 on its mining operations. According to the Rubber Manufacturing Association, it takes roughly 7 gallons of oil to produce a standard car tire. And from the article, This Is What A $42,500 Tire Looks Like, stated the following
One of the many unique aspects of the Cat 797 are its tires: More than 13-feet-tall, weighing 11,860 pounds, each Michelin or Bridgestone 59/80R63 XDR tire costs $42,500 and that’s when you buy the full set of six required by each $5.5 million truck.
Contains nearly 2,000 pounds of steel, enough to build two small cars and enough rubber to make 600 tires to put on them.
If the Rubber Manufacturing Association says it takes 7 gallons of oil to make one standard tire, and this article claims that the 13-feet-tall tire used by the Caterpillar 797 haul truck contains enough rubber to make 600 tires, then it takes 4,200 gallons of oil to make one of these giant tires. If we take a more conservative estimation of a smaller mining truck tire, it would likely consume at least 2,000 gallons or oil, or nearly 50 barrels of oil.
Furthermore, Barrick consumed 25,000 tonnes or roughly 50 million pounds of tires in 2013. How many large mining tires did Barrick use in its mining operations in 2013? Well, if we use a more standard mining tire called the Bridgestone size 40.0057, that is 11.5 feet tall, it weighs 8,500 lbs. Thus, Barrick consumed nearly 6,000 of these tires in 2013 (I am using 2013 data because Barrick stopped listing its tire usage in later sustainability reports).
Regardless, Barrick lists its tire costs as a material cost. However, if we take the time and dissect the entire “haul truck tire manufacturing and supply chain,” we will see that energy was the overwhelming cost in manufacturing one of these large haul truck tires. Even though it takes 50+ barrels of oil to make one of these large tires, this does not include the steel, other materials, the electricity and labor used in their production. We must remember, all the materials that were used in making a large haul truck tire was a result of a tremendous amount of energy all the way down the manufacturing and supply chain.
Goldcorp’s Production Costs: Don’t Report Full Amount Of Total Energy Consumption
Goldcorp, the fourth largest gold mining company in the world, published a breakdown of its production costs for 2018. According to their Jan 2018 Presentation, labor (including contractors) were the largest cost at 46%, followed by consumables (15%), energy (14%), Maintenance parts (9%), Site costs (5%), Explosives (3%), tires (2%) and other additional costs (6%):
Goldcorp stated their labor costs were 27% and contractors at 19% for a total of 46%. Goldcorp also broke down its energy costs to 7% for fuel and 7% for power (electric generation costs). Even though energy is only 14% of Goldcorp’s total production costs, the majority of the other items listed received their value from consuming energy down their entire manufacturing and supply chain system.
Read More @ SRSrocco.com


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Gulf Craft, the region’s largest and internationally renowned boat manufacturer, proudly add to their growing accolades by winning a coveted Arabian Gulf Yachting Award for its flagship Majesty 125 superyacht.
Following the global debut earlier this year at the Cannes International Boat & Yacht Show, the Majesty 125 has succeeded in raising the UAE manufacturing profile on the world stage with successful appearances in Monaco and Genoa boat shows, and helps once again to consolidate Gulf Craft’s growing market share in Europe.
Commenting at the awards ceremony, Erwin Bamps, Gulf Craft’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “As one of the UAE’s leading manufacturers, the launch of the Majesty 125 marked a milestone, not only for Gulf Craft as a luxury yacht manufacturer but for the UAE export industry as well. The exceptional quality and rigorous engineering standards that the Majesty 125 stands for, is a testament to what is possible in the UAE.”
The Majesty 125 is the most technologically advanced yacht ever built at Gulf Craft and is the flagship model in the manufacturer’s next generation Majesty Yachts range. With immaculately designed interiors, the Majesty 125 combines style and cutting edge engineering prowess. With a set of 2,400 HP engines, zero-speed fin stabilizer system, and redundancy on major on-board systems, the yacht is at the forefront of engineering innovation. The yacht was the first of its size to be constructed using the latest FRP vacuum infusion techniques, reducing weight while improving structural strength.
Established in 1982, Gulf Craft has been among the Middle East’s forerunners in commercial and industrial development, and has emerged as an ambassador for UAE manufacturing capable of producing world class products and exporting them globally.
For more information visit www.gulfcraftinc.com


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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- GeekNet (GKNT) shares are up 114.5% to $16.94 in trading today after the Fairfax, VA-based company was acquired by privately held teen apparel retailer Hot Topic for $122 million today.
GeekNet is the owner of retail website ThinkGeek which sells toys, gadgets and memorabilia related to pop culture movies and television shows as well as comics and other entertainment for "geeks".
Hot Topic, which operates over 650 stores in North America, will pay about $17.50 per share for the company, more than double the stock's previous closing price of $7.90.
Hot Topic announced that the tender offer for the company will commence no later than June 19.
"We are pleased to have entered into this agreement and look forward to adding Geeknet's innovative products and services to our portfolio," said Hot Topic CEO Lisa Harper.
"Geeknet's unique concept and approach to the online retail community is a strong fit with our business strategy, which is focused on delivering great products for avid fans of various licensed properties, and we are excited about the opportunity to help drive profitable growth and further enhance value for Geeknet's customers," Harper said.
TheStreet Ratings team rates GEEKNET INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:
"We rate GEEKNET INC (GKNT) a SELL. This is driven by several weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, poor profit margins, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share."
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
- The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Internet & Catalog Retail industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 80.9% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $5.07 million to $0.97 million.
- Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Internet & Catalog Retail industry and the overall market, GEEKNET INC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
- The gross profit margin for GEEKNET INC is rather low; currently it is at 18.09%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the weak results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 1.33% is above that of the industry average.
- Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 39.68%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 81.57% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
- GEEKNET INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GEEKNET INC reported poor results of -$1.24 versus -$0.03 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings (-$1.19 versus -$1.24).
- You can view the full analysis from the report here: GKNT Ratings Report