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"[Thomas Heatherwick] has been called an ‘ideas engine’ and the highly creative, diverse output from his studio has been truly extraordinary," said Christopher Guy Harrison.
West Hollywood, Calif. (PRWEB) March 18, 2015
Internationally-renowned luxury furnishings creator Christopher Guy Harrison will present the 2015 BritWeek Design Icon Award to innovative British designer Thomas Heatherwick at a private event at Christopher Guy’s stunning West Hollywood showroom, 8900 Beverly Blvd, at 7:30pm on Wednesday, April 29, 2015.
Heatherwick, who is founder of London’s Heatherwick Studio, has been called a “Leonardo da Vinci of our times” by his early patron, famed British designer Terence Conran. Heatherwick’s designs have included the Olympic Cauldron for the 2012 London Olympic Games, a curling pedestrian bridge in Paddington, London, a striking store front in New York for French company Longchamp, a prize-winning UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and the first re-design in 50 years of London’s iconic ‘Routemaster’ red double-decker bus. Heatherwick has been honored (CBE) by Her Majesty The Queen, and the studio’s work is currently the subject of two touring exhibitions in Asia and North America.
The award ceremony will be a signature event of this year’s BritWeek – an annual festival highlighting creative links between Britain and California (now also including a satellite festival in Miami, Florida). Previous recipients of the Design Icon Award have included London-based interior designer Nina Campbell, Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum and Royal Milliner Philip Treacy.
“I am so thrilled to be presenting this year’s BritWeek Design Icon Award here in West Hollywood to Thomas Heatherwick,” said Christopher Guy Harrison. “He has been called an ‘ideas engine’ and the highly creative, diverse output from his studio has been truly extraordinary. I cannot imagine a more worthy recipient.”
The Christopher Guy brand is itself known as a creator of the world’s most fabulous lifestyles, with a global footprint in luxury residential and hospitality industry design.
For further press information—and to submit a request for media credentials for the Wednesday, April 29th BritWeek Design Icon Award event at 7:30pm at the Christopher Guy Showroom in West Hollywood (8900 Beverly Blvd)—please contact Ms. Birgit Müller, Christopher Guy Brand Ambassador, + (323) 332-9520, or email: birgit(at)brandamb(dot)com
Please register for media credentials no later than Tuesday, April 28th as space will be limited.


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Richard White: Elon Musk's Hyperloop's $6 billion price tag "just pie in the sky"Historians in the News
tags: railroads, Richard White, Stanford University, transcontinental railroad
Elon Musk, a serial entrepreneur who was a co-founder of PayPal and the electric car company Tesla Motors, sent people in California into a tizzy on Monday when he released a white paper outlining a hypothetical high-speed transportation system called the Hyperloop.
There were a number of curious questions about the Hyperloop, which Mr. Musk’s white paper claims will be able to travel at up to 800 miles an hour and transport people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes. While physicists agree that technically, on paper, this is possible, economists seem to agree that technically, on paper, the price tag of $6 billion is impossible.
Richard White, a professor of American history at Stanford and author of “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America,” said Mr. Musk’s project was “dramatically overblown and the price is drastically underestimated.” He said in an interview that Mr. Musk’s document outlining the price of the project was “just pie in the sky.”...
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There are thousands of start-ups coming up every day with the dream of being financially successful. Most start-ups use AI just for the purpose of increasing the valuation by implementing the technology in bits and pieces for the sake of using it shares Niranjan Ramakrishnan, CEO, Encircle Technologies INC with Kaanchi Chawla of Elets News Network (ENN). Edited excerpts:
What position do you think Indian healthcare start-ups are in right now, and how are they doing?
“Remote” is the most used keyword during and after Covid, which was the catalyst that enlivened healthcare start-ups to deliver telehealth. Tech start-ups were very quick in adopting new-age technologies like data science, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to deliver various healthcare services remotely through various business use cases such as Homecare, Femtech, ChildTech, Disease reversal Fitness, etc. Yet another highlight is, most of the startups learned to integrate traditional healthcare delivery with advanced technologies, and most of them were attracted by the big hospital chains, larger corporations, and investors to raise huge funding.
Over the past few years, healthcare has seen a dramatic evolution. New developments and trends in the healthcare sector are being developed by start-ups in that sector. Do you believe the healthcare services offered by start-ups to patients are of high quality?
There are nearly 7700 active healthcare start-ups in India as on Nov 2022 which is almost a 100 per cent rise from the 3500 healthcare start-ups in 2021. The overall volume of start-ups, their fund-raising capabilities, the nature of their service offerings, and the ability to cover the volume of relevant customers are up in the last couple of years which shows that the start-ups started realising the value they deliver through their platform. However, revenue realisation vs revenues projected to investors continues to be an issue. New-age entrepreneurs understand that in the competitive start-up ecosystem, the stickiness with the customers (patients or families) is directly proportionate to the outcome based on the service.
Do you believe Artificial Intelligence is making a sufficient contribution to the expansion of start-up healthcare companies in India?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used for finer accuracy, earlier detection, advanced prediction, and faster analysis thus supporting clinicians, technicians, and business executives in delivering quality healthcare and efficient services. In my opinion, though there are quite a few great use cases of AI applications in healthcare, we are yet to implement or adopt AI technology to its fullest extent to help the public at large either in improving healthcare or reducing the cost for patients.
Most start-ups use AI just for the purpose of increasing the valuation by implementing the technology in bits and pieces for the sake of using it because of the lack of necessary skills, cost, and understanding by the promoters.
Hospitals and doctors may streamline operations, engage patients, streamline procurement procedures, and more with the help of digital care ecosystems provided by health tech start-ups. What are your thoughts on it?
If we review the offerings of the top 20 healthcare start-ups, they cover teleconsultation, ePharmacy, crowdfunding for medical emergencies, the clinical community, the healthcare marketplace, corporate wellness, children, femtech, homecare, remote patient monitoring, EMR – EHR, eCommerce, disease reversal, chronic disease management, diagnostics, referrals, scheduling & appointment, medication management, alternative medicine, and healthcare finance & payment solutions. Most of these healthcare start-ups cover end-to-end healthcare services of hospitals, doctors, administrators, ancillary services, and patients as islands of services in a fragmented manner, thus allowing a healthcare consumer (patient) to realise the integrated benefit of the integrated start-up ecosystem.
What opportunities and threats do you think Indian start-ups in the healthcare industry face?
The Indian healthcare technology market is expected to grow from $2 billion, which is just 1 per cent of the overall healthcare industry’s value, to $50 billion in the next ten years as per the report by RBSA Advisors.
The healthcare technology market is set to grow in the areas of remote (home) healthcare, ePharmacy, fitness, wellness, chronic disease management, analytics, and personal health management that includes eCommerce. This is bound to expand both in B2B and B2C markets.
Most of the start-ups are aiming at the valuation game to join the Unicorn world and just focus on customer adoption, and data mining but are not focusing on integrated healthcare delivery with the aim to solve the key challenges of the healthcare world.
There are thousands of start-ups coming up every day with the dream of being financially successful without a proper understanding of the domain or technology and miserably fail to sustain.
How did this year go for Indian healthcare start-ups? What are their expectations for the future and where do they envision themselves as 2023 draws closer?
As mentioned in the earlier response, the year 2022 saw almost 100 per cent growth in terms of volume, revenues, and market share of healthcare start-ups in India. Overall Healthtech is expected to grow from $2 billion to $50 billion in the next decade. With the fear of a recession, start-ups may experience a challenging situation to convince investors, and raise capital in 2023. However, companies with innovative concepts, strong business models, delivery mechanisms, and good resources may see great success.


text: There are buzzwords for everything these days, but 'staycation' makes sense in a city like Hong Kong - especially with the stale economy now. There are plenty of hotels in the city boasting spas and day spas that offer seasonal experiences to provide the relaxation and feeling of escape that stressed and tired urbanites crave. 'There is definitely a trend for the staycation recently,' says Four Seasons Hotel spa spokeswoman Nicola Chilton. 'It's a great opportunity for people to get to really know their home city.' Landmark Mandarin Oriental spa director Marie Harrison says that with more people staying in Hong Kong this summer, the hotel's spa is seeing guests snapping up half- and full-day packages to recharge and relax 'to thoroughly unwind and beat stress'. According to market intelligence firm Lightspeed Research, staycations were already sweeping the world last year. Lightspeed says 37 per cent of Britons changed their holiday plans last summer because of concerns about rising prices and a sputtering economy. At the same time, Lightspeed says, 60 per cent of its French survey respondents and 54 per cent of Germans were tightening their belts and spending holidays at home. Spa operators in Hong Kong haven't missed the opportunity and are targeting stay-at-home holidaymakers amid the increasing popularity of holistic wellness. 'With the launch of our signature therapies, we've seen a real drive in interest from our guests as it targets health and wellness [as] developed in consultation with specialists in traditional Chinese medicine and master aromatherapists,' says Harrison. She says summer means there is a greater emphasis on body treatments as people reveal more flesh, and that the Landmark Mandarin's Little Black Dress treatment is one of its most popular. It involves a full-body scrub before a massage that incorporates pink grapefruit and juniper oils for toning. It lasts 90 minutes and costs HK$1,130 on weekdays or HK$1,180 at weekends. Chilton says the Four Seasons has packages designed for people who want to escape but remain close to home. 'We have also created a staycation with a difference that lets guests enjoy our two hotels in Hong Kong and Macau,' she says. 'It's called the spa and shop package.' The offer includes two nights at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, one night at the Four Seasons Macau on the Cotai Strip, round-trip ferry transfers, daily breakfast, a private poolside cabana and a 60-minute spa treatment in Macau, plus HK$1,000 credit for the spa and shopping privileges in both cities. Prefer to be outdoors? The Four Seasons is also introducing poolside treatments at its spa this year, ideal for those who want a quick, resort-like escape. 'For people not planning on heading overseas this summer, it's quite likely they'll choose to treat themselves here, and the spa is the ideal place to do that,' says Chilton. 'Not everyone dislikes the heat,' she says. 'Many of our guests choose to stay with us in the summer so that they can make use of our pools and spend time relaxing or swimming.' For busy executives, the hotel offers the lunch-time-length Executive Escape package. It involves a choice of one of its 45-minute spa treatments, including a back, neck and shoulder massage, mini-facial or a hand or foot treatment. Following the treatment, lunch is included on the pool terrace overlooking Victoria Harbour. If you really have to get back to work pronto, lunch can be packed to take with you. The deal is available from Monday to Friday and costs HK$780. Sense of Touch spa owner Anna Orvay also says more people will stay put this summer. 'You'll notice a slight change in the travel patterns of holidaymakers,' says Orvay, who has four spa spots in Hong Kong. 'Since people think they have saved some bucks by not booking their next summer vacation, the mentality in Hong Kong is, 'I have more money to spend in the city', and spas are still considered good getaway places,' she says. 'The fact people feel pampered at spas creates the feeling they have gone somewhere out of the city, while in reality they are still in the city.' 'Summer is the best time to flaunt our bodies ... and, of course, day packages make wonderful summer escapes. Three hours of total pampering is already a getaway,' says Orvay. Sense of Touch also has summer specials, including the Totally Enrich Feet package (HK$330), another called Hands (HK$220) and its Rose Hydrating Cocoon (HK$750/60mins). They're all available at the chain's Lan Kwai Fong spa. The Grand Hyatt's Plateau Spa - which has a residential wing for spa-goers separate from the other hotel rooms - is also catering for stay-at-home holidaymakers. 'Guests are looking for a place to unwind and to escape from the heat while not worrying about the hassle of travelling,' says hotel spokeswoman Gladys Young. 'At Plateau, we have local guests checking in just to relax and enjoy the treatments. 'We believe spa-goers will take advantage of spa deals because not only can they do something they like, they can also do it at a better rate. Also, they don't have to go far for a holiday. A spa stay is so convenient and yet helps them save some money.' Plateau has recently introduced a summer package that it calls Escape the Turmoil at Plateau. For the lucky sum of HK$8,888, guests at the spa can enjoy three Plateau facials of 75 minutes each, three Plateau massages of 60 minutes each, three personal training sessions of 60 minutes each, three Hong Kong massages of 60 minutes each and a one-night stay in a Plateau room. The package is available until the end of August.


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Even after getting clobbered in the last month, cryptocurrency prices are still flying high. Investor interest in the nascent digital currency market remains strong, and Bitcoin (BTC 2.03%) and Ethereum (ETH 4.02%) prices are up a respective 370% and 1,600% since the start of 2020.
This is having a real-world impact on some businesses. NVIDIA (NVDA -10.01%) is a prime example. It launched new hardware designed specifically for crypto mining (the process in which digital assets are created and managed) just a few months ago, and sales are skyrocketing.
The crypto industry is notoriously volatile, though, and this has created headaches for NVIDIA in the past. But this isn't the semiconductor giant's first rodeo. This time around, it has quite a bit more visibility into how the young crypto market is impacting it financially.
A $400 million windfall
NVIDIA announced the launch of a new chip lineup called the CMP (cryptocurrency mining processor) in Feb. 2021. CMPs are off to a hot start.
NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress said on the first-quarter fiscal 2022 earnings call (NVIDIA's current fiscal year ends in Jan. 2022) that CMP sales totaled $155 million. Pretty impressive for a fresh product launch that's only been available for a couple of months, even from a semiconductor industry leader like NVIDIA.
In spite of wildly volatile crypto prices (Bitcoin and Ethereum are each down about 45% from their all-time highs as of this writing), Kress said CMP sales are staying strong. The company is forecasting CMP revenue of $400 million during the fiscal second quarter, the three-month period ending in July 2021.
Could crypto prices tank NVIDIA?
While a new chip contributing $400 million in quarterly sales is impressive, this is still a relatively small number for NVIDIA. The company is forecasting total revenue of $6.3 billion in the current quarter, up a whopping 63% year over year. CMP would thus be only about 6% of sales.
It's nevertheless a notable new contributor to growth, but it's still video game and data center GPUs that are the driving force here, not cryptocurrencies. Gaming and data center sales were 85% of the total in the fiscal first quarter.
The extra detail from NVIDIA's top brass is a nice luxury, though. Back in 2018, plummeting prices for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dragged NVIDIA along with them. Though designed for high-end video game graphics, many NVIDIA GPUs are available for purchase through retailers and are programmable for other uses.
One such prominent use-case is crypto mining. Given the lack of visibility on who was making retail purchases, it only became apparent after Bitcoin tanked that many gaming GPUs were actually getting scooped up by crypto miners. And when Bitcoin fell in price, those miners stopped buying.
CMP thus represents an important chip product. It helps ensure the company's new RTX 30 GPUs end up in the hands of actual gamers (the RTX 30s can detect Ethereum mining and cut computing power to make them less desirable to miners, encouraging the purchase of a CMP unit instead). It also helps NVIDIA get more insight on where its products are being used, which should help with forecasting future financial results.
That doesn't mean RTX 30 GPUs aren't getting bought up by crypto miners at all. However, the CMP lineup should help disaggregate video game sales from other end markets.
Long story short, if crypto price volatility continues and CMP demand suddenly dries up, investors have a clearer picture on how this will impact NVIDIA going forward. Though the company is deriving benefit from the digital-currency industry, this is still first and foremost a video game and data center chip business.


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Corinne Versini, GenesInk CEO, successfully participated to French President Emmanuel Macron trip to China with the Forum Economique Franco Chinois
During this 3 days trip to China, to reinforce commercial relation ship with China, Corinne Versini, GenesInk’s CEO, being part of the Economic delegation has accompanied French President and pursued GenesInk’s development in China.
Monday, November 4th , 2019
All day Travel to the People’s Republic of China – Shanghai President Emmanuel Macron meets with French and German economic actors in China.
Tuesday, November 5th , 2019
All day Travel to the People’s Republic of China – Shanghai and Beijing Inauguration of the Shanghai Pompidou Centre Participation in the opening of the International Import Fair in Shanghai
Wednesday, November 6th , 2019
All day Travel to the People’s Republic of China – Beijing Speech by the President of the Republic on the occasion of the closing of the Franco-Chinese Economic Forum Press conference by President Emmanuel Macron from Beijing, after a three-day visit to China Joint statement by Emmanuel Macron and XI Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China Action Plan for Franco-Chinese Relations Beijing Call on biodiversity conservation and climate change.
Corinne Versini, first row, fifth from the left.


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From the magic of Photoshop about iPad to tracking background sounds levels from a smartwatch, innovation is here now to evolve our everyday life.
Some new software and service founded this present year which could probably alter resides
- Photoshop for iPad at long last established this year
- Fruit generated their well-known smartwatch better still with new features and apps
- Bing revealed the next-generation Assistant this current year
Each year we see a collection of growing developments in technology, encouraging to help make our everyday life much better. Big tech businesses internationally work very hard to create life-changing software and services that consumers would like and invest their cash on. 2019 got exactly the same while we saw a couple of useful software and computer software providers attempting to shape all of our upcoming, aspiring to making our lives more successful and enriching. We have now rounded upwards the very best applications and treatments that launched this season that made an impact of many of us.
Listed here are 8 ideal newer applications and services that established in 2019:
Photoshop for iPad
After a lengthy hold, Adobe’s top program finally landed regarding the apple ipad in 2010. Photoshop for iPad showed up with an elementary set of attributes and a promise that activities simply get better. In November this season, Adobe included even more services to Photoshop for iPad like the much-awaited Select subject matter feature.
The application is compatible with most current apple ipad systems running iPadOS. Any time you have an Adobe artistic Cloud membership, Photoshop for iPad has already been part of the plan.
Bing launched their affect video gaming service, Stadia, in November in 2010. It absolutely was created with a rather expected group of issues, several attributes, but it is a-start and situations could best improve. Google Stadia streams top-quality console and PC video games appropriate within your Chrome browser, Pixel 3 mobile phones, or perhaps the Chromecast super online streaming news member.
Google Stadia promises getting the Netflix-of-games featuring its $10 a month registration fee. But it is not simply a subscription solution as yahoo are attempting to sell video games exactly like more electronic shop. At this time, Google Stadia offers around 22 games and are anticipated are added next season.
Next-generation Bing associate
At Bing I/O 2019, the browse monster revealed an improve to its virtual assistant. Called once the next-generation associate, Google assured its popular virtual assistant gets better, quicker, and normal. Bing said it developed new message recognition and code knowing versions to enhance Assistant. These new AI models can let associate to operate locally on a user’s smart device.
The next-generation Bing Assistant claims to produce responses up to 10 hours faster, while operating in your area on a person’s cellphone. Google Assistant may also perform numerous tasks at a time. The next-generation Bing Assistant first showed up on Pixel mobile phones and is expected to roll-out to other smartphones later the following year.
In 2019, fruit founded yet another release of iOS simply for the iPad labeled as iPadOS. iPadOS was largely simply iOS, but a lot more fitted to the bigger display. An important aim of iPadOS will be promote productivity of iPad consumers, or uk czech dating even in layman conditions, putting some apple ipad a tad bit more useful.
iPadOS includes an innovative new home monitor, much better multitasking gestures, an all-improved Files app, and a lot more. Apple furthermore promised desktop-class internet exploring on Safari for any iPad. iPadOS deals with all iPad sizes beginning iPad Air 2.
Register with Apple
With iOS 13, fruit released a new way to sign in to apps and web pages. Users had two big options to sign in up until the ability arrived, register via a prominent social media program eg facebook, or sign up for a fresh levels on the site or perhaps the app. The previous is actually at risk of privacy risks although the latter is just annoyingly boring.
Register With Apple lets users produce accounts on applications and internet sites using their Apple ID. The element was created in a way which shields users’ confidentiality. You don’t find yourself giving individual information every opportunity you need to check out or need an app or an internet site .. You can even mask your own current email address while signing around.
Sounds software on Apple View
There’s lots of facts around that implies that fruit Check out was a lifesaver. This current year, Apple made it also better with a bunch of additional features and software. One of these will be the newer sound software from the Apple Watch.
The sounds software displays ambient sound level close to you and falls a notice if you should be subjected to ‘repeated, long-term’ deafening audio. This may assist in preventing loss of hearing ultimately. The app utilizes the microphone present in the Apple see to monitor ambient sound. People can pick a noise threshold for pertinent cautions.
Apple launched the subscription-based voice games services also known as Fruit Arcade this present year much more than 150 countries. Fruit Arcade will cost you Rs. 99 every month in India and is suitable for parents posting this means six folks of children can promote alike membership on suitable gadgets.
Apple Arcade promises to carry more than 100 exclusive video games on Mac computer, new iphone 4, in addition to iPad. These video games feature no in-app purchases so there are no in-game adverts sometimes. Apple Arcade brands may also be playable without an energetic net connection. People may hook up the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One video game controllers to tackle games regarding iPhone, apple ipad, and Apple television.
Pattern Monitoring on Apple Watch
Apple added another function to their well-known smartwatch this year called Cycle Tracking. The ability enables lady to register and track her monthly menstrual. It is also of good use if you are planning to start a family (or trying to not). The function try reinforced during the Health application and is quite user friendly. The personal data is stored about customer’s tool and is alson’t distributed to a third-party.
For any current technology development and feedback, follow Products 360 on Twitter, fb, and yahoo News. For most recent movies on devices and technical, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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To say craft beer has experienced a boom in Northern Ireland in the past couple of years would be an understatement.
It’s hard to keep up with who’s who in the craft beer world so to that end we profile 4 breweries, both new and established, who have just launched new beers that we’d highly recommend you get a sip of sooner rather than later.
Their beers contain only water, malt, hops, yeast and knowledge
There are plenty of people who claim to know their beers, but few have the qualifications to prove it. David Rogers is the only qualified Master Brewer who is at the helm of an independently owned craft brewery in the island of Ireland. He achieved a Diploma in Brewing in 2008 and went on to become an IBD (Institute of Brewing and Distilling) Master Brewer, in 2013, one of only 12 to qualify globally.
Northbound was born in 2012 when Martina and David Rogers returned from nine years in Sydney, Australia, where David worked in a local brewery.
They started selling beers from their microbrewery in Campsie in April 2015 and now their beers are available all over Ireland.
They say the business came about thanks to destiny and the love of beer.
The four beers that have on offer right now are Kolsch Style Beer (Great Taste Award winner), Pale Ale, Sticke Alt and Limited Release IPA.
It may be cloudy – harden up – it’s craft beer
The new Double IPA from Farmageddon is so new that we don’t have a picture of it yet. But trust us, it’s going to be pretty damn amazing when it launches the week after Christmas.
Weighing in at an almighty 8.5% it’s Farmageddon’s strongest brew to date. It also notches up as massive 118 on the IBU scale. For non-beer geeks that means it’s incredibly bitter.
The three hops used in the brewing process – Sorachi, Equinox and Galaxy – are incredibly rare and create a flavour the like of which you’ll never have experienced before.
Eoin Wilson said: “We brewed this beer for ourselves. It’s going to be a challenge for some people but for those who like double IPA it’s going to be something special.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard for the past six months to allow us to expand and be able to make beers like the double IPA. It’s a very exciting time for the Farmageddon co-op.”
The legend awakens
Gallopers Craft Beer is the brainchild of 26 year old Belfast entrepreneur Declan Holmes and in just a few short months it has not only achieved significant listings in the trade throughout Northern Ireland he has plans to bring the brand to the export market.
The man himself is getting a few second glances as he goes out and about to promote his beer. That’s because he bears more than a passing resemblance to his famous father Eamonn Holmes!
Declan said: “Actually the Gallopers name was my dad’s suggestion when we were brainstorming what would be a recognisable Northern Ireland brand. His mother used to threaten him and my uncles that they had to be home at night before Galloper Thompson got them!
“I’m delighted that the headless horseman legend is getting a new lease of life with a younger generation, but the most important thing is that people like the taste and come back for more.”
“Entrepreneurial spirit runs in the family so I’m determined to make this a success not just in Northern Ireland but to take the legend of Galloper into Great Britain and further afield. So watch this space,” said Declan.
Gallopers Golden Ale passes the post at a steady 4.3%.
Handcrafted local ales
In the hills outside Newtownards, homebrewer turned microbrewer Willy Mayne has been busy turning a historical former bull’s house into Bullhouse Brewing Company, an innovative microbrewery aiming for an early 2016 launch.
Willy has managed to find a use for modified dairy equipment to maintain rural authenticity on the 100 year old farm. Bullhouse are planning on launching with an Imperial Stout and a Farmhouse Saison, turning speciality local ingredients into flavourable experiences.
The blurred image of the beer label in the photo above is deliberate. This product is so top secret that we’d been hunted down and given third degree Chinese burns if we revealed any more details about it.


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Fortnite Season 8 is currently live and it has brought many significant changes to the game. The latest update for the game has added two new locations to the game. Also, a new weapon has also been added to the game. In the latest update of the game, many weapons also got vaulted. You can find all the relevant details below.
As Fortnite Season 8 has gone live, data miners have started doing their work as usual, and they have leaked out all the upcoming skins, gliders, pickaxes, backblings under the update v8.00.
Down below we have listed down all the cosmetics which have been revealed out by the data miners.
Fortnite Season 8 New Skins
Fortnite New Back Blings
Fortnite New Gliders


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Lexus Plows Into Hybrid Territory
ONG>DETROIT Toyota Motor Corp. announced Tuesday that it would start selling a hybrid version of its Lexus RX 330 sport utility vehicle in two years, which will probably make it the first luxury automobile to use the highly fuel-efficient technology and the second such SUV on the market.
The plan was part of a flurry of announcements at a preview of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week relating to fuel-efficient technologies. Which technology was being talked up, however - hybrids, diesels, fuel cells, hydrogen combustion - depended which automaker was doing the talking.
European executives, used to wide acceptance of diesels in their home markets, stressed the need for wider acceptance of diesel in the United States.
On Monday, General Motors unveiled a new plan that includes offering in 2005 a version of its Saturn Vue SUV, which uses hybrid technology - a fuel-efficient combination of an internal combustion engine supplemented by an electric motor. The company also plans to offer milder forms of electric power in four other high-volume models by 2007.
Ford Motor Co., which plans to sell a hybrid version of its Escape SUV in December - likely the first hybrid SUV - showed a new prototype at the auto show that uses hydrogen to fuel an internal combustion engine and supplements it with electric power.
All the major automakers are working on electric cars powered by fuel cells that do not need to be plugged in because they generate an electric current from a chemical reaction.
The frenzy of public relations on fuel efficiency in the U.S. market are largely a response to increasing regulatory and social pressures.
Last month, the Bush administration said it planned to increase federal fuel-economy standards for pickups, SUVs and minivans by 7 percent, a minuscule increase from the perspective of environmental groups but still the largest increase in more than a decade.
California, highly influential in the debate because it sets its own clean-air standards that other states follow, has passed legislation to reduce automotive greenhouse gas emissions.
Since the late 1990s, Toyota and Honda Motor Co. have been the only two car companies that sell cars that use hybrid power.
Toyota sold more than 100,000 of its Prius subcompact hybrids since they first went on sale in Japan in the late 1990s and Honda offers a hybrid version of its Civic and an aluminum hybrid called the Insight.
"Major advances in our hybrid system and in the number of vehicles carrying it will help us achieve our worldwide goal to put 300,000 hybrid vehicles on the road annually by the middle of this decade," said Fuji Cho, president of Toyota Motor. "More importantly, it will spread advanced, low-emission technology faster and further around the world."
Dieter Zetsche, the chief executive of the Chrysler Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, said Monday he still had considerable doubts about the business case for hybrids. Government tax incentives are seen as key to their immediate promise. Modern advances in diesel engines, Zetsche said, were more promising.
His company plans to start selling about 5,000 diesel versions of its Liberty SUV in 2004.
Chrysler's corporate cousin, Mercedes, said Monday it would offer a limited amount of diesels on the company's E-Class sedan in 2004.
Cars for the ultrarich
The latest in a bumper crop of new models aimed at the ultra-rich is a 1,000-horsepower prototype from the Cadillac division of General Motors Corp., the Sixteen, which was shown Sunday night at the auto show in Detroit, the New York Times reported.
The car looks like a cross between the Batmobile and a Rolls-Royce, and GM said it would be the first 16-cylinder engine made since the 1940s - if GM decides to make it.
The car is a pet project of Robert Lutz, the former president of Chrysler Corp. who now is vice chairman of product development at GM and who says the Cadillac brand has been undermined by blandness. The Sixteen's amenities include silk carpets, walnut inlays and a two-piece hood that opens up like a Faberge egg, with wings unfolding to reveal a jewel-like engine.
"It seems to trigger powerful emotions," Lutz said. "It's all about re-establishing Cadillac as the standard of the world and providing a tangible vision to the outside world and ourselves of what we want Cadillac to become, so it becomes almost a religious symbol of our belief in Cadillac and what we want it to be."
But will cars that cost several hundred thousand dollars be worth the effort for a company that has a hard time competing with the Honda Civic? And how many cars can wealthy automobile aficionados such as P. Diddy and Donald Trump afford?
The industry seems intent on finding out. At the auto show, the all-frills cars were out in force. They included the Phantom, the first Rolls-Royce produced by the company's new owner, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG; a "cheap" Bentley from Volkswagen, the Continental GT, which will cost about $160,000 when it goes on sale this year, and the Maybach, DaimlerChrysler AG's first foray into the segment.
"There has been a market there, but the more you glut it, the harder it becomes," said Efraim Levy of Standard Poor's. "Right now, that market can't keep up with the stock market."
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Splatoon 3 adds to the list of available Salmon Run stages by restoring a location from Splatoon 2. Salmon Run Next Wave, the 4 player co-op mode Splatoon 3, only had 3 stages at launch, so another location is probably a welcome addition for many fans. This latest news about the mode comes as players await the release of Season 2 of the game in about a few weeks.
Not long ago, Nintendo revealed new details about its upcoming season Splatoon 3. Known as Chill Season, the developer provided details on a number of different features coming to the arena shooter. For example, it was revealed that two maps will be added to the game, the new Brinewater Springs and Flounder Heights from the original Splatoon. Additionally, new weapons, equipment and X Battles have already been revealed. However, the developer isn’t done revealing the upcoming content, continuing to drop new information for eager fans to check out.
Among the latest information to be revealed was news of the Salmon Run for Splatoon 3. On November 18, the Splatoon North America Twitter account announced that a new Salmon Run stage had been added to the game. Specifically, he noted that the location was Marooner’s Bay, which had been featured in the past Splatoon 2. The scene was described as “an egg-collecting dream” based on the message from the developer, and would become available with Chill Season on December 1st.
In addition, some images of Marooner’s Bay were shown, providing a look at the layout of the return location. One of the highlights of the design was the huge ship that took up most of the stage. In addition, the images provided a glimpse of the sand dune on which the vessel was located. An elevator to the upper level of the ship was also seen in one of the shots.
As expected, many fans had their thoughts on the announcement, with some commenting on the tweet. Many players seemed excited about the reveal of more Salmon Run content, as the post has already garnered more than 13.4k likes. While many people seemed happy about the stage’s upcoming return, some noted that they were waiting for the developer to bring back Ark Polaris, another classic Salmon Run stage from Splatoon 2.
In addition to this return stage for Salmon Run, it is worth noting that Nintendo wants to add even more content to the Splatoon 3 through the Big Run. Teased for a while now, Nintendo has revealed that the event brings the classic Salmonid splatting action of Salmon Run to other maps, such as Wahoo World. Time will tell on what other details Splatoon 3 are revealed ahead of the start of the next season.
Splatoon 3 is available for Nintendo Switch.
MORE: Everything Revealed About Splatoon 3’s 2022 Chill Season So Far


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The damages caused by hurricane Sandy might range from $10 billion to $20 billion, which means there’s one sector that probably hates Sandy more than anyone else – the insurance industry.
Month: October 2012
Breast cancer fundraising had some bad PR this year. How did the Komen debacle affect the scene? It’s still the women’s causes that are given the most support by corporations.
Even as Hurricane Sandy batters the northeast and the media reflects on it and other recent super storms, no one is talking about climate change as one of the factors causing this new storm trend.
While major media focuses on a doomsday model that takes us closer to global disaster, innovative models are creating alternatives now to lead us into a better future.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has put up a grant of $10 million to establish a new biofuel consortium for the northeastern U.S., which could provide new opportunities to participate in the emerging biofuel sector.
In response to the Greenpeace “Detox” campaign, Marks & Spencer announced new commitments to make the use of chemicals in textile production safer, including the elimination of all releases of hazardous chemicals throughout its entire supply chain and products by 2020.
Nick Aster had a chance to sit down with Jan Hill, a vice president at CH2MHill to talk about the importance of water to the company as well as an interesting initiative the company launched last year called water match.
A new, nature-friendly triple-bottom-line economic model will steadily replace the old profit-centric model as the impacts of environmental destruction and inequality become impossible to ignore.


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During this weekend’s Tokyo Game Show, publisher Koei Tecmo announced that its feudal franchise Dynasty Warriors will be making the leap to mobile platforms iOS and Android.
Not much in the way of intricate detail was offered regarding the new Dynasty Warriors mobile title, though a short teaser trailer appears to show that it will feature a scaled-down version of the franchise classic musou gameplay. Players will select a team of up to three characters, pulled from various entries in the Dynasty Warriors franchise, before diving into typical, mass-brawling action.
Despite the heavy on-screen combat depicted in the video, Koei Tecmo has noted that Dynasty Warriors is capable of “comfortable one-handed play” suggesting that you’re going to be getting your thumb-tap on. Also, of no surprise to anyone, both microstransaction and gacha elements will be featured, as players gather fighters for their ever-expanding roster.
Dynasty Warriors is currently in development for iOS and Android. In related news from the weekend, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires was also announced for PC and consoles.


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Revolutionary refrigeration technology developed by a company in Gwynedd has been used by Unicef to transport drugs to its relief efforts in the Philippines.
In the first three months of this year the United Nation’s children’s organisation used 200 fridges from Sure Chill as part of its programme to help those affected by typhoons in the area.
And the business has now been given a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a range of smaller vaccine fridges with a cool life of up to 30 days even in the tropics.
The fridges are the brainchild of British inventor Ian Tansley who, with the help of angel investor Peter Saunders, has created a system which remains cold for up to 12 days without power.
Sure Chill has spent almost a decade developing the technology and its vaccine fridges are now used in 40 countries around the world.
Mr Saunders invested £2.5m for 80% of the company and set its founder the task of developing a new refrigeration system.
The duo now have global ambitions for their firm and its technology now has patent coverage in 89 countries around the world.
They met in 2005, a year after Mr Saunders had sold Halo Foods.
The investor told the Sunday Telegraph: “Ian is an expert in alternative technologies and green energy and I decided to build a business around him.
“All the vaccine fridges on the market require a rechargeable battery.
“The problem is that once the battery fails, the expensive piece of kit goes to waste.
“The World Health organisation was looking for a solution.
“After Ian has his brainwave he locked himself in a room for a week. He had built this crazy, Heath Robinson arrangement, but the thing worked the first time we tested it.”
Sure Chill’s turning point came when the company was able to get an endorsement from the World Health Organisation, the Clinton Health Initiative and climate scientist Sir John Houghton who was was Chair of the Nobel Prize winning Scientific Assessment Group for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and said: “Sure Chill has the potential to improve the living conditions and healthcare of populations in some of the poorest countries and to lessen the impact of global warming on mankind. There can be no greater purpose.”
Mr Tansley said Sure Chill has just trialled a device which can maintain its temperature for 37 days.
It is also in talks with a number of beverage companies about rolling out its fridges in markets where the electricity supply is sporadic.
Mr Tansley said: “People selling drinks have hugely ambitious targets and they won’t be able to meet them without reaching vast new populations in developing countrie.”
Sure Chill has also signed a licensing agreement with Godrej, a white goods manufacturer in India, to start mass producing its technology.
Mr Saunders said: “We are following the Intel model. We want Sure Chill to be in every refrigerator.”
In its latest set of accounts for the year to March 31 2013 Sure Chill’s chairman said: “It takes time for any new technology to gain recognition and be adopted but I feel that we are reaching that position now.”
Sure Chill’s turnover for the year was up 39% to £1,170,000.


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Nintendo's movie aspirations are to become a reality following an announcement that the platform holder has partnered with animation company Illumination.
As confirmed by Business Wire, Nintendo and Illumination have reached an agreement to develop and animated film based on the world of Super Mario.
Talks have reportedly been ongoing for over a year as Nintendo negotiated a framework that provided enough creative control.
The project will be produced by Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, and Shigeru Miyamoto, co-representative director of Nintendo.
The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and distributed theatrically worldwide by Universal.
It has been over 20 years since the universally-panned Super Mario Bros. movie bombed in theatres, but Nintendo's return to movies has been hotly anticipated nonetheless.
The partnership between Nintendo and Illumination is brimming with potential. Nintendo is riding high from the success of the Switch and Super Mario Odyssey, while Illumination is responsible for the Despicable Me and Minions franchises, which include two of the top-four grossing animated films of all time at $5.7 billion worldwide.


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The government must do more to reduce the number of cut-price and multi-buy offers on unhealthy food to help curb childhood obesity, a group of MPs say.
The report, by the Health Select Committee, also calls for rules on junk food advertisements to be made tougher.
It argues the government’s official obesity plan contains “vague statements” that are “inadequate”.
But ministers say the strategy is the world’s “most ambitious plan on childhood obesity”.
The main features of the government’s long-awaited childhood obesity plan, published in October 2016, were a sugar levy and a voluntary target to cut sugar in children’s food and drink by 20% by 2020.
But health organisations and campaigners were almost universally of the view that there should have been wider action.
In the latest Health Select Committee report, MPs made further calls for curbs on big discounts and price promotions on unhealthy food, citing evidence from the food industry that responsible retailers were being disadvantaged by those who continued to offer discounts on food high in sugar and fat.
‘Price war on vegetables’
The report states the committee is “extremely disappointed” the government has not regulated discounting and price promotions to offer retailers a “level playing field”.
But the committee welcomed moves by retailers “such as Aldi and Lidl” that have reduced the number of multi-buy deals and focused on a single price, in order to reduce consumption.
Public Health England has announced it will start monitoring the effect price promotions have on people’s sugar intake.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggest that the amount of food and drink bought on promotion in the UK has reduced from 40% to 26%.
Director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie said: “Evidence shows that more retailers are moving towards low prices, these multi-buys are already diminishing because that’s what consumers want.
“They want surety [of low prices] at point of purchase.”
The consortium’s representative Andrea Martinez-Inchausti said retailers had internal policies to promote healthier products, and last Christmas was “one of the first times when there was a real price war over carrots” and other healthier products.
But she said there would have to be industry-wide agreement if junk food promotions were to be reduced.
The MPs also suggested a range of measures to regulate junk food adverts seen by children on TV, such as extending current restrictions to apply across all programmes that children are likely to watch rather than to just programming specifically aimed at children.
They also recommended the levy on sugary drinks should be extended to milk-based drinks that have added sugar.
Committee chairman Dr Sarah Wollaston said: “We are extremely disappointed that the government has rejected a number of our recommendations.
“These omissions mean that the current plan misses important opportunities to tackle childhood obesity.
“Vague statements about seeing how the current plan turns out are inadequate to the seriousness and urgency of this major public health challenge.”
But responding to the report, public health minister Nicola Blackwood said: “We welcome the committee’s recognition of the progress we have made in this area, delivering the most ambitious plan on childhood obesity in the world.
“It is backed by the soft drinks industry levy as well as the most comprehensive reformulation programme of its kind, anywhere.”
She added: “Voluntary approaches have been shown to be very effective, but as we have repeatedly said, we have not ruled out further measures if results are not seen.”
Meanwhile, Tim Rycroft, of the Food and Drink Federation, said: “The government has challenged the entire food industry to help people get fewer calories from sugars by adapting recipes, lowering portions and encouraging people to switch to low sugar options…
“This ambitious programme, and the work on calories to follow, present a major challenge for industry.
“Manufacturers, for their part, are up for this challenge.”
He added: “We are pleased that the committee recognises the landmark move made by companies in supporting changes which stop adverting of products high in fat, sugar and salt in media aimed at under-16s.
“The most recent Ofcom review found current restrictions on TV advertising, comprehensively adhered to and enforced, to be appropriate and sufficient.”[“Source-bbc”]


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First Fairtrade vegetables open the door for Kenyan farmers associations
The first Fairtrade certified vegetables, green beans from Kenya, will go on sale in supermarkets from this week (24 May), creating new opportunities for hundreds of small-scale impoverished Kenyan farmers to sell under Fairtrade terms and through the Fairtrade premium invest in community projects.
The move has been made possible by the extension of new Fairtrade standards for vegetables, to include small-scale outgrowers who can only access export markets by selling their crops via larger plantations. The new standards allow these outgrowers to trade on via larger Fairtrade certified farms and receive their share of the Fairtrade premium, as well as supporting the small-scale outgrowers to become producer organisations who can be certified in their own right.
The first Fairtrade beans to the UK will come from a group of 23 outgrowers from Mweiga. They sell to Homegrown Kenyan Ltd, a Fairtrade certified plantation, who buy in vegetables from small scale farmers from 10 areas located in the higher rainfall areas of Kenya.
Stephen Kairu is from a farmers association of 10 farmers from the Mweiga group. He lives with his wife Mercy Nyambura, and two daughters as well as his mother and sister and her two children. Stephen rents four acres (1.6ha) of land and grows vegetables on three of them, mainly fine beans, garden peas, and baby corn.
Stephen dreams of owning his own farm and a better life for his children, which he hopes the Fairtrade premium will help him achieve. He says: ‘Primary education is now free but few children continue into secondary education because it is expensive. I would really like to give them the best education possible. And then they can go to greater heights.’
The biggest challenges that the farmers face are a lack of water, unfavourable weather and changes in consumer demand that make their markets unstable, and their incomes unpredictable. To read Stephen’s story or find out more about how the vegetables are grown go to www.fairtrade.org.uk
The first batch of Fairtrade certified boston green beans, will go on sale in selected Marks & Spencer stores. Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, said: ‘Working with Marks & Spencer over the last few years has brought more and more farmers into the Fairtrade system. This product first will help small scale farmers who are currently selling directly to a plantation, to make the leap to selling in their own right under Fairtrade terms and becoming organised producer organisations. In the long-term, they, their families, and communities will directly benefit the Fairtrade Premium, to invest in community development projects.’
The farmers who will decide democratically how to invest the premium say that plans include building a local secondary school as the nearest one is currently very far to travel and constructing a small medical clinic. As water is a big concern, they say they would like to invest in water conservation projects including: improved irrigation schemes to reduce waste; replacing water channels with pipes; and digging water pans to collect rain water and run off from the fields.
Development of the new standards has been a two-year project funded by the Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund.
For more information contact Faith Mall, Media & PR Manager, the Fairtrade Foundation on 0207 440 8597.
– ENDS –
Notes to Editors
1. Development of the new standards has been a three year project funded by the Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund. For more information go to : http://www.sainsbury.co.uk/food/fairtrade/fairdevelopmentfund/fair-development-fund-partnership.
2. The FAIRTRADE Mark is a certification mark and a registered trademark of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body which licenses the use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products which meet international Fairtrade standards. This independent consumer label is now recognised by 72% of UK consumers and appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than 7.5 million people – farmers, workers and their families – across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
3. Over 4,500 products have been licensed to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark including coffee, tea, herbal teas, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, grapes, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, apples, pears, plums, grapefruit, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, mandarins, lychees, coconuts, dried fruit, juices, smoothies, biscuits, cakes & snacks, honey, jams & preserves, chutney & sauces, rice, quinoa, herbs & spices, seeds, nuts & nut oil, wines, beers, rum, confectionary, muesli, cereal bars, yoghurt, ice-cream, flowers, sports balls, sugar body scrub and cotton products including clothing, homeware, cloth toys, cotton wool and olive oil.
4. 7 in 10 households purchase Fairtrade goods,, helping Fairtrade sales reach an estimated £800m in 2009, up from £712m in 2008. There are over 460 producer organisations selling to the UK with 872 certified producer groups in the global Fairtrade system, representing more than 1.5 million farmers and workers.
Head of Media Relations
020 7440 7686/07770 957 451
Media and PR Manager
020 7440 7695/07825 827 791
Media and PR Manager
020 7440 8597/07766 504 947
Assistant Press Officer
020 7440 7620


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Biggest Loser Finale Stirs Controversy, CVS Drops All Tobacco Products and More!
Fans of The Biggest Loser had social media buzzing about its newly minted winner, Rachel Frederickson -- expressing concern that she is too thin -- as she lost nearly 60 percent of her body weight. [TODAY]
CVS has announced that it will no longer carry any tobacco products, making it the first major U.S. chain to stop selling cigarettes. [Reuters]
It's no secret that we're all about the Winter Games, which is why we seriously heart these drool-worthy Russian recipes. Whip 'em up during any and all Olympic viewing parties in honor of this year's host city, Sochi. [BuzzFeed]
Sign up for one of these killer upcoming marathons from mid-March to early-June and start training today! [Life by DailyBurn]
Our fave way to let a little love in for Valentine's Day? These chest-opening (or rather, heart-opening) yoga poses. [POPSUGAR Fitness]
Image Credit: Courtesy of Trae Patton/NBC


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The Coalition and Microsoft Studios announced the release date for their upcoming third-person shooter game, Gears of War 4.
Along with the release date reveal, the fifth installment in Gears of War series and fourth main installment gets a cover art and multiplayer beta announcement.
“Gears of War 4 marks the beginning of an epic new saga for one of gaming’s most celebrated franchises, as a new band of heroes rises to confront a fearsome new threat.
Harkening back to the dark and intense roots of the original classic, fans can expect a familiar, yet distinct evolution of gameplay, including brutal and intimate action, a heart-pounding campaign, genre-defining multiplayer and stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4.”
Gears of War 4 is scheduled to be released on October 11, 2016 for Xbox One.
You can like our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or add us to your circle on Google+ to keep yourself updated on all the latest news around the web.


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Nissan India has rolled out the 50,000th unit of the Nissan Magnite from the Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL) plant in Chennai. Magnite was the first global product to launch under the Nissan NEXT transformation plan to deliver lasting value to the customers.
Since its launch, 50,000 Magnites have been produced in Chennai, despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing semiconductor shortage.
The Nissan Magnite scored a 4-star safety rating in the adult occupant protection category by Global NCAP in February 2022. The ‘Make in India, Made for the world’ SUV provides safety through a variety of driving conditions, making it a versatile build SUV for any setting. From navigating city traffic to winding hilly slopes, the quality of its body coupled with its range of safety features is what builds the customers’ trust in the Nissan Magnite’s safety.
Following the successful introduction of Magnite in South Africa and Indonesia last year, the award-winning car is now also available to customers in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Uganda, Kenya, Seychelles, Mozambique, Zambia, Mauritius, Tanzania, and Malawi.
The Nissan Magnite comes with the best, lowest-in-class maintenance cost of 30 paise/km (for 50,000 kms). It offers owners peace of mind via a two-year warranty (50,000kms) which can be extended for up to five years (100,000 kms) at a nominal cost.


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Danish toy production company Lego announced in 2018 that it would stop its production of plastic blocks by 2030 and will alternatively use plant-based material in their attempt to reduce plastic waste. While they are embracing the topic of sustainability, its head of corporate responsibility Tim Brooks told global news agency AFP that they have no plan to abandon plastic. Instead, they aim to improve the materials they use in producing the toy bricks and that it will be 100% sustainable by 2030.
“We want to use plastic in a responsible way,” Brooks said, adding that they want it in to be durable, high quality, and reusable. They are encouraging their customers to pass their Lego kits or bricks on to younger generations the reason why they want it to be durable and reusable. The robustness of their bricks means that the toy can survive generations even if the player accidentally stands on them. This is also one of the best selling points of Lego bricks.
How to make it 100% sustainable
Currently, the majority of Lego pieces are made of a petroleum-based substance called acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). It is the same substance used in making household appliances. However, they have already made changes in their materials. For instance, 2% of their overall plastic pieces are now made of a sugarcane-based polyethylene, which is a bio-sourced material. They said that it is a technical challenge since most of these bio-sourced materials come from bushes, leaves, and trees that do not meet the same durability standards as their past productions.
Lego said that they do not want their customers to notice that the Lego bricks they are purchasing today are no longer the same as the old plastic materials. The physical properties they mention are sticking power, colorfastness, and strength, of the toy bricks. As of now, the team has refused to share their production secrets but ensured the public that they are reusing their waste products in producing the materials.
Brooks went on to say that using recycled materials is “very interesting” but one also needs to understand where these materials are coming from. In 2014, the company also said that they will be reducing their carbon footprint by partnering with the international non-governmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature, which is working in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.
Climate savings in making toys
WWF Denmark's head Bo Oksnebjer said that Lego has shifted to using wildcraft as a renewable energy source and made climate savings in the process. Now, they are looking into using alternatives to plastic. Lego is also currently working to improve its toy packaging by reducing the plastic bags that separate the Lego pieces. They have also slashed the size of the toy boxes to lessen the transport volumes. By 2025, the company aims to use only renewable or recycled materials.
Being the parent company of Lego, Kirkby has also invested almost $1 billion in wind turbines for the production of electric power. Environmental group Surfrider Europe’s spokeswoman Antidia Citores said via science and technology platform Phys.org that Lego also needs to consider their production end since it will not reduce emissions if they are only planning to replace one plastic with another. That move is not a revolution, especially in terms of carbon emissions and pollution, she added.
Recycled plastic toys, though, also contain one of the thousand chemicals that is restricted under the toy safety legislation in a country, said Natasha Crookes from the British Toy and Hobby Association. This is what makes it a challenge to produce environmentally-friendly toys for kids.
Approximately 20 billion Lego elements or bricks are produced every year in the Lego factory in Billund, Denmark. This is equivalent to about 2 million bricks produced per hour or 35,000 per minute. The mods they are using in the production are 0.0002 mm, so accurate that only 18 out of a million bricks produced fail to meet the company’s high-quality standard, reports the National Geographic.
In terms of Lego brickumentary, a mathematics professor shared that there are 915,103,765 ways to combine six Lego bricks. The world’s children spend about 5 billion hours a year playing Lego elements.
In a worldwide survey conducted by database company Statista, the brand value of Lego in 2015 reached US$ 5.4 billion, which increased to 6.7 billion in 2016, 7.02 billion in 2017, 6.5 billion in 2018, and 6.9 billion in 2019.
When the first Lego miniature appeared, people decided that toys’ faces should only have one color and that is yellow. The facial features should also portray a neutral and happy face. There are now many guises that Lego figures appear in, including Steven Spielberg, Spiderman, and Santa Claus.
But just as the piles of plastic toys take up space of many family homes, environmentalists are also saying that they are contributing to the amount of plastic that ends up in oceans and landfills.
The estimated share of global plastic waste disposal methods is recycled (19.50%), incinerated (25.50%), and discarded (55.00%). Packaging was the dominant use of primary plastics, with 42% of plastics entering the use phase. This is according to Our World in Data, a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems. If measured in tonnes per year, the packaging industry produces 146 million tonnes, the building and construction industry 65 million tonnes, other sectors 59 million tonnes, textiles industry 47 million tonnes, consumer and institutional products 42 million tonnes, transportation industry 27 million tonnes, electrical and electronics industry 18 million tonnes, and industrial machinery 3 million tonnes.
In March 2018, BBC reported that Lego “made too many bricks.” It had too much stock in their shops and warehouses and there wasn’t enough to get the toys into stores. Nevertheless, about 75 billion bricks are sold annually in more than 140 countries. The Danish company has also tested ways for customers to recycle bricks by informing their customers that they can ship their unwanted bricks back to them so that it will be given to other kids. Their program started in the US.
Resources should be used and sourced responsibly and this is what Lego has recognized. If their project will be proven successful, it can benefit not only today’s generation but the future as well. By collaborating with environmental charities, Lego is also showing that fossil fuel-free toys can be a reality soon.


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U.S. federal federal federal government nationwide protection panel has expressed concern about gay relationship software’s ownership
Chinese video gaming business Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. is wanting to offer Grindr LLC, the favorite gay relationship application it offers owned since 2016, after having a U.S. federal government nationwide protection panel raised issues about its ownership, in accordance with people acquainted with the problem.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in america (CFIUS) has informed Kunlun that its ownership of western Hollywood, California-based Grindr is really a nationwide threat to security, the 2 sources stated.
CFIUS’ concerns that are specific whether any effort had been designed to mitigate them could never be discovered. America happens to be increasingly examining application developers throughout the security of individual information they handle, particularly if a few of it involves U.S. military or intelligence workers.
Kunlun had stated final August it had been finding your way through a preliminary general public providing (IPO) of Grindr. Due to CFIUS’ intervention, Kunlun has shifted its focus to an auction procedure to market Grindr outright, considering the fact that the IPO could have held Grindr under Kunlun’s control for a longer time period, the sources stated.
Grindr has employed investment bank Cowen Inc. to manage the purchase procedure, and it is soliciting purchase interest from U.S. investment businesses, also Grindr’s rivals, in line with the sources.
Rare undoing of the finished purchase
The growth represents an unusual, high-profile exemplory instance of CFIUS undoing an purchase which includes recently been completed. Kunlun took over Grindr through two split discounts between 2016 and 2018 without publishing the purchase for CFIUS review, in accordance with the sources, rendering it susceptible to this kind of intervention.
The sources asked to not be identified as the matter is private.
Kunlun representatives would not react to demands for remark. Grindr and Cowen declined to comment. A spokesman when it comes to U.S. Department regarding the Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, stated the panel will not comment publicly on specific instances.
CFIUS’ intervention within the Grindr deal underscores its concentrate on the security of individual information, after it blocked the purchases of U.S. datovГЎnГ lokalit geek, blbeДЌek cash transfer business MoneyGram Overseas Inc. and mobile marketing company AppLovin by Chinese bidders within the last few 2 yrs.
Private data has emerged being a main-stream concern of CFIUS.
– Jason Waite, worldwide trade and investment attorney
CFIUS will not constantly expose the reasons it chooses to block a deal into the businesses included, as performing this may potentially reveal categorized conclusions by U.S. agencies, stated Jason Waite, somebody at lawyer Alston & Bird LLP focussing in the regulatory facets of worldwide trade and investment.
“Personal data has emerged as a main-stream concern of CFIUS,” Waite stated.
The unraveling regarding the Grindr deal also highlights the pitfalls dealing with Chinese acquirers of U.S. organizations trying to bypass the CFIUS review system, that will be primarily based on voluntary deal submissions.
Past types of the U.S. buying the divestment of an organization following the acquirer would not apply for CFIUS review consist of Asia National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation’s purchase of Seattle-based aircraft component manufacturer Mamco in 1990, Ralls Corporation’s divestment of four wind farms in Oregon in 2012, and Ironshore Inc’s purchase of Wright & Co, a provider of expert liability protection to U.S. federal federal government workers such as for instance police workers and security that is national, to Starr Companies in 2016.
Kunlun acquired a big part stake in Grindr in 2016 for $93 million. It purchased out of the rest for the ongoing business in 2018.
Grindr’s founder and ceo, Joel Simkhai, stepped straight down in 2018 after Kunlun purchased the staying stake in the organization.
Kunlun’s control over Grindr has fueled issues among privacy advocates in the usa. U.S. senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal delivered a page to Grindr just last year demanding responses in relation to the way the application would protect users’ privacy under its Chinese owner.
Kunlun is certainly one of Asia’s biggest mobile video gaming businesses. It had been element of a buyout consortium that acquired Norwegian browser company Opera Ltd for $600 million in 2016.
Established in 2008 by Tsinghua University graduate Zhou Yahui, Kunlun additionally has Qudian Inc, a Chinese credit rating provider, and Xianlai Huyu, A chinese mobile video gaming business.


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The aging population will continue to create demand for the medical device industry in Orange County and elsewhere, according to a report from Los Angeles market forecaster IbisWorld Inc.
As Americans grow older and live longer, there will be greater public and private spending on healthcare, which should allow hospitals and other providers to upgrade their equipment.
“Areas of strongest growth will be in medical devices that treat age-related illnesses,” the report said.
The report noted that the number of Americans who are 60 years of age or older is expected to increase at an average rate of 3% a year from now to 2015, which will bring that number to about 65.7 million people. By contrast, the average annualized growth forecast for the total population during that period is 0.9%
The growth rate in seniors should drive up demand for certain medical devices by hospitals, which make up 45% of medical device buyers, according to the report.
The report expects increased ordering of electromedical equipment, electrotherapeutic devices and medical imaging instruments. It also expects growth in heart devices, orthopedic devices and devices to fight obesity-related illnesses.
Overall, the report projects device industry revenue to grow at an average annualized rate of 4.8% to $50.7 billion from now until 2015, outpacing the expected 1.8% growth rate on average for the country’s gross domestic product during the same period.
Revenue growth will be carried by demand from hospitals and other healthcare providers for devices, providers’ need to replace aging equipment, electromedical technology advances and research and development.
“The future of the medical device manufacturing industry will be shaped by the same factors that affected revenue over the previous five-year period,” the report said.
Besides aging, the report touched on other factors affecting medical devices.
Consolidation in the industry is expected to continue. The report said although numerous startup companies are expected to enter the medical device industry each year, many of those will in turn be bought by large companies that want to acquire medical technology or to broaden their product ranges.
OC has seen several device deals this year, including the sale of Aliso Viejo-based LenSx Lasers Inc. to Alcon Inc. for $362 million, and Murray Hill, N.J.-based C.R. Bard Inc.’s $213 million buy of Irvine breast cancer diagnostic device maker SenoRx Inc.
The report also weighed in on a pending 2.3% tax on medical device makers’ revenue to pay for healthcare reform that starts in 2013 and is expected to raise $20 billion in a 10-year period.
It will be “a challenge for the industry and may encourage some consolidation of firms; however this is unlikely to affect the industry substantially until 2013,” the report said.
Sun’s Breakup Work
Sun Healthcare Group Inc., an Irvine nursing home company that’s preparing to split itself in two, said late last month that it netted $224.8 million in proceeds from a public offering of some 26.8 million shares of stock.
The company said that it would use the proceeds to repay a portion of outstanding debt under its existing credit line before the split.
Sun is set to spin off its real estate holdings as Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. in the fourth quarter, perhaps around late October, according to Richard Matros, Sun’s chief executive and Sabra’s future chief. Sun is splitting the company in a bid to create value on Wall Street for its real estate.
A debt offering for both Sun and Sabra is set for as early as this month.
Matros told analysts and investors on Sun’s recent second-quarter earnings call that Sabra would “be ready to go at any given time. It’s just a function of looking at the market conditions and picking what we think is the most optimal time to do it.”
Bits and Pieces
A pair of law firms that specialize in class-action shareholder suits said roughly two weeks ago that they would “investigate” Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. after it said it would pay $600 million to settle a federal probe of its marketing practices for its flagship Botox drug. Allergan declined to comment … UC Irvine Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Orange, said that the Joint Commission, a Washington, D.C.-based standard-setting and accrediting organization, gave UCI a full three-year accreditation. UCI also said that the commission identified several “best practices” at the hospital ranging from anesthesia services to medication management and medical records … NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Irvine healthcare software maker Quality Systems Inc., said that it successfully collaborated with clients who received assistance through a bureau of the New York City health department …. McGladrey Capital Markets LLC, a Costa Mesa-based investment bank, said its healthcare unit represented Solara Healthcare’s recent sale to Cornerstone Healthcare Group, which both are in Dallas. Solara and Cornerstone are long-term acute care hospital operators.


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“The extraordinary quality and overwhelming quantity of proposals we received this year is testament to the growing interest in FinTech Hive and the industry’s trust in its collaborative platform. As the region’s FinTech industry continues to provide unique solutions that address the evolving needs, we are committed to providing the FinTech space with invaluable access to, and feedback from, an international network of strategic partners and well-established financial institutions looking for innovative solutions to their everyday challenges,” said Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President of FinTech Hive at DIFC.
This year’s programme partners include:
- Strategic partners: Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC)
- Principal Financial institution partners: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Noor Bank, Riyad Bank, Standard Chartered, UAE Exchange, and Visa
- Financial institution partners: Arab Bank, Citi, Mashreq, MasterCard, National Bank of Fujairah
- Insurance partners: ADNIC, AIG, Noor Takaful, Takaful Emarat Insurance PSC and Zurich Insurance
In the first phase of the 12-week programme, the finalists will present to executives from FinTech Hive’s partners to introduce their technology offerings, obtain preliminary feedback and discuss potential mentorship opportunities.
The subsequent phase will revolve around engagement and mentorship between the finalists and partners, whilst gearing up for their pitch preparations for Investor Day, set to conclude the programme by the end of November. On Investor Day, each start-up will promote its concept to a host of investors, bankers, government officials and members of the media. Senior executives from DIFC Authority and Accenture will also be available throughout the programme to provide clarity around business procedures and the regulatory framework in the Centre.
FinTech Hive’s alumni who choose to join DIFC’s thriving community will benefit from a world-class ecosystem that offers an Innovation Testing License (ITL) if needed, a FinTech license, an interactive and collaborative workspace, along with access to the largest financial community in the region.
Earlier this year, FinTech Hive announced that it is collaborating with Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Labs globally to further cement the accelerator’s position amongst the most reputable financial hubs in the world. The move will bring about countless opportunities for innovators in the region by connecting them to Accenture’s Fintech Innovation Labs in New York, Hong Kong and London.
The finalists selected for the 2018 cycle of the FinTech Hive at DIFC accelerator programme are:
Pre-built artificial Intelligence solutions for financial institutions with customer experience management, hyper-personalisation and operations automation.
Game Change Solutions (United Arab Emirates)
Enterprise solutions for social banking, chat commerce and frontline productivity, enabling "Social banking" and "Social Selling" to allow banks to embed their brand and services such as payments, e-commerce into any social and messaging applications.
Amplified Payment System Ltd (Nigeria)
Connects banks, telecommunication companies and businesses to their customers to drive adoption of digital financial services through messaging.
Verify Payments (Bahrain)
Instant, low-cost bank transfers across the GCC
Next-generation, multi-channel payment solutions empowering consumers and businesses to pay and get paid.
Card-less and bank-less payment method that incorporates machine learning and consumer lending to provide the most seamless and secure means of transaction between retailers and emerging market customers.
Micro-savings application to improve customers’ spending habits and help them grow their savings.
iWealth (United Arab Emirates)
Education platform integrated with a mobile app, digital wallet, and bank cards, focusing on increasing Finance Intelligence for teens and parents at home by teaching healthy money habits.
Limitless (United Kingdom)
A mobile application targeting millennials to help them start investing.
Identity blockchain platform using artificial intelligence to automate KYC processes across digital platforms.
Money Mall (United Arab Emirates)
Financial coaching & personalised product recommendations, based on credit score, for everyone to achieve their financial goals and happiness
ebooc (United Arab Emirates)
A multi-participant loyalty program operating on blockchain & NFC technology.
bondsmart (United Kingdom)
Co-ownership bond platforms, helping financial institutions present fixed income in a simpler manner and their clients to invest bite-size amounts in institutional bonds.
Smart contract development company on blockchain technology, leveraging the latest innovations in cryptography, distributed ledger and smart contract technology to build the financial networks of the future.
Haseed (Saudi Arabia)
Robo-advisor that combines proven wealth management advancements with the crucial infrastructure to enable Islamic investments and address the underserved GCC region.
Blockchain-based digital identity and KYC solution offering GDPR compliance to business
Amani Technologies Ltd(United Arab Emirates)
Fully-automated KYC and on-boarding tool that will transform the on-boarding processes, eliminate noncompliance and create a KYC audit and reporting trail, whilst improving customer experience and reducing costs.
Addenda(United Arab Emirates)
End-to-end insurance settlement layer built on the blockchain using Hyperledger Fabric, allowing insurers to automate claims, cut overheads and identify fraud.
BetterTradeOff FinTech Solutions Ltd(United Arab Emirates)
Life-planning solution powered by advanced statistical models and artificial intelligence to empower people to make optimum decisions when financing their dreams.
Artificial Intelligence and blockchain-powered platform that merges multiple touchpoints into a single contact point and combines multiple administrative processes into sets of algorithmic modules embedded into a chatbot.
Turnkey IS Technologies LTD(United Arab Emirates)
Specialised insurance consultancy services company, providing the insurance industry with innovative “IT as a service” products and solutions for the underwriting cycle.
Virtual i Technologies LLC (United Arab Emirates)
Enables the insurance industry to move from good faith-based underwriting to data-based dynamic decision making.
About Dubai International Financial Centre
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is one of the world’s top financial centres, and the leading financial hub for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. The Centre provides a world-class platform connecting the region’s markets with the economies of Europe, Asia and the Americas and facilitates growth in South-South trade and investment. An onshore, international financial centre, DIFC offers a stable, mature and secure base for financial institutions to develop their wholesale businesses.
The Centre offers all the elements found in the world’s most successful financial industry ecosystems, including an independent regulator and judicial system with a common-law framework, a global financial exchange, inspiring architecture, powerful, enabling support services and a vibrant business community. The infrastructure within the district features ultra-modern office space, retail outlets, cafes and restaurants, art galleries, residential apartments, public green areas and hotels.
Located midway between the global financial centres of New York, London in the West and Singapore, Hong Kong in the East, DIFC (GMT +4) fills a vital time-zone gap with a workday that bridges the market and business hours of financial centres in both Asia and North America.
In 2015, DIFC launched its 2024 growth strategy, a blueprint for the next decade of growth of the financial hub. This strategy aims to stimulate trade and investment flows along the South-South economic corridor encompassing the Middle East, Africa, Southern Asia and Latin America.
Currently, 2,003 active registered companies operate from the Centre, with a combined workforce of 22,768 professionals.
DIFC continues to pursue expansion into new services and sectors within the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, an area comprising over 72 countries with an approximate population of 3 billion and nominal GDP of US$7.7 trillion.
For further information, please visit our website: difc.ae, or follow us on Twitter @DIFC.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Dubai International Financial Centre Authority
Senior Manager, Communications
Tel: +971 4 362 2453
Tel: +971 4 560 9600
© Press Release 2018


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Halloween has evolved from an occasion focused primarily on children into a major holiday event celebrated throughout the U.S. by both children and adults.
A survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) reveals that U.S. consumers spent an estimated $6 billion on Halloween candy, costumes and decorations in 2010. According to the NRF survey, $1.8 billion was spent on Halloween candy and $800 million on children’s costumes last year.
How much did consumers spend on Halloween costumes for adults in 2010?
D. $1 billion
$1 billion was spent on Halloween costumes for adults in 2010. That compares to $800 million spent on childrens’ costumes
In addition, Halloween celebrants spent $1.6 billion on decorations and $200 million on Halloween costumes for their pets.
If we presume that Dane County residents are average when it comes to spending on Halloween, then they spent an estimated $9.5 million on Halloween costumes, candy and decorations in 2010.
For more data information from the National Retail Federation.


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Hyundai is doing all its best to keep up with the metaverse hype as the Korean automotive giant is planning to bring Boston Dynamics' robots in a virtual reality metaverse, TechCrunch has learned.
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While many details are yet to be disclosed, the corporation reportedly wants to use hardware as a kind of real-world proxy for VR interactions. Here is what Hyundai Motor Group President, Chang Song, had to say:
"The idea behind Metamobility is that space, time and distance will all become irrelevant. By connecting robots to the metaverse, we will be able to move freely between both the real world and virtual reality. Going one step further from the immersive 'be there' proxy experience that the metaverse provides, robots will become an extension of our own physical senses, allowing us to reshape and enrich our daily lives with Metamobility."
Hyundai also described scenario where a user accesses a "digital twin of their home in the metaverse while away from their physical home." With this functionality, users will be able to feed and hug a pet in Korea through the use of an avatar robot.
"This will allow users to enjoy real world experiences through VR," Hyundai said.
In December, Alibaba registered a new company in Beijing named Yuanjing Shengsheng focused on gaming aspects of the metaverse. According to reports, the new unit has $1.6 million in registered capital. It remains unclear though on what initiatives the new unit will be working on.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange


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Briefing: The recession: Signs of life
Last week the prospects of economic recovery were being hotly debated as apparently contradictory data emerged
Published: 17 May 2009
Data suggest worst of recession may be over The stock market has risen by more than 25% since early March on hopes of an early economic recovery, while the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its economic indicators suggested the worst was over for Britain. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a leading think tank, said the economy might have stopped shrinking last month.
Even in the troubled housing market, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that inquiries from potential buyers were at their best for nearly 10 years and the Council of Mortgage Lenders said the number of new mortgages had jumped by 29% between February and March. The British Retail Consortium said shops had enjoyed their best April for three years.
NOT SO FAST . . .
Unemployed numbers rise and eurozone still weak Unemployment jumped by 244,000 in the first three months of the


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With the flurry of activity around the Asian region - trade agreements, new financial institutions, geopolitical developments - it’s perhaps understandable the role ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, has receded somewhat into the background.
" ASEAN’s potential is greater than is commonly understood."
It would be a mistake to leave it there however. ANZ Research’s new report, “ASEAN: The Next Horizon”, re-emphasises the enormous potential of the regional grouping.
Indeed, that potential is greater than is commonly understood. New economic blocs will emerge. Demand for infrastructure – and hence Australian ore – is huge. A growing middle class will want a lot more of the calories New Zealand agriculture produces. Deepening economies will demand more of Singapore’s sophisticated financial services.
At the heart of the ASEAN opportunity is greater integration through the creation of a single market and production base.
During the next 10 years we expect ASEAN to replace China as the world’s manufacturing hub and we expect it to become the fifth largest economy in the world by the end of the decade.
ASEAN’s great attractions are favourable demographics, a young population and growing consumer class. Its potential is greater than is commonly understood. Consider iron ore: the infrastructure investment required in the region is double the size of the infrastructure investment to which China committed in the financial crisis.
The numbers behind ASEAN’s transformation are truly astonishing:
- Greater ASEAN integration and the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community could drive annual regional GDP growth of 6-8 per cent.
- Over the same period, annual intra-regional trade could reach US$1 trillion and G4 trade - trade with the US, Europe, Japan and China - could reach US$3.7 trillion.
- Foreign direct investment into ASEAN from the G4 will continue to grow strongly to around US$106 billion as companies look to expand production bases in the region.
Central to our optimism about ASEAN and the region is the positive feedback which will emerge as foreign direct investment grows while productivity improves together with greater urbanisation and an emerging middle class.
The numbers, striking as they are, are just the starting point. Implicit in achieving them is the need for bold thinking by companies and decisive leadership in the region.
We know ASEAN’s political leaders accept that greater integration through a single market and single production base is essential to realising the region’s economic potential.
That’s a start and there has been significant progress but much remains to be done.
The most critical challenges are:
- addressing infrastructure needs
- harmonising business conditions and regulation
- promoting greater financial integration.
Progress has also been uneven with some new ASEAN members - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – trailing in trade and investment liberalisation.
The challenges can be complex. For example, increasingly firms are adopting a ‘Thailand Plus One’ strategy, whereby they outsource more labour-intensive manufacturing to cheaper, nearby Mekong countries then ship them back to Thailand for assembly.
But when they try to navigate their way out of Singapore or even move goods in and out of Thailand, things get complicated very quickly. Reducing such frictions promises great benefits.
Singapore’s place is crucial. At ANZ, we know many of our customers are basing their regional treasury centres in Singapore, with manufacturing or trading arms across the region.
We see this with the big agricultural houses and FMCG groups, as well as manufacturers.
But even in Singapore, which will have a key role as a hub for technology innovation, high value-added manufacturing and for financial services, there are challenges. It will face greater competition from the Mekong economies as they move up the manufacturing value chain.
Singapore will also need to recognise profound structural shifts in its economy may accelerate with ASEAN’s rise, particularly the gradual move out of manufacturing and into services.
The ASEAN story is powerful well beyond Singapore or Australia and New Zealand however.
Three ASEAN sub-regions will evolve:
- Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos providing a large youthful labour force for new production platforms.
- Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines competing as the most cost effective mid-value manufacturing centres.
- Singapore, Malaysia will develop as dominant finance, technology and design hubs.
The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Agreement will be vital and completing the implementation of the agreement needs to be prioritised.
ASEAN could replace China as the world’s leading manufacturing centre and emerge as a key market for Australian exporters with the potential for the Australia-ASEAN trade and investment corridor to double and exceed US$210 billion by 2025, rising from US$90 billion in 2013.
The death of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew has reminded us of the strength of leadership and vision necessary to create the Singapore of today. But it has also reminded us of the enduring regional vision Lee brought. ASEAN was central to that vision.
Political vision and leadership are essential for such grand transformations. In Europe, the creation of the European Union as we know it was driven by the vision of Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl.
There is now the opportunity in ASEAN for strong domestic leaders to take on similar regional leadership roles to accelerate creation of the ASEAN Economic Community.
Business also has a role in encouraging and supporting this type of political leadership. Greater regional integration is in the interest of economic growth for all our communities.


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With just 10 days of orders under its belt, Toyota says it already has 600 people who’ve requested a Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car.
“That’s everyone that has gone on to Toyota.com/Mirai and requested a vehicle (since July 20),” company spokeswoman Jana Hartline tells WardsAuto July 30.
Not surprisingly, most of those 600 people fit the stereotype of who first buys an advanced-technology vehicle.
“The typical early adopters, the tech savvy…is what we’re seeing for Mirai,” she says.
Hartline says early data doesn’t reveal how many of the 600 already may own another advanced-technology vehicle, such as Toyota’s own Prius hybrid car.
The Mirai, estimated to achieve 300 miles (483 km) of range, will go on sale in California in October.
Toyota is targeting 3,000 U.S. Mirai sales from 2015 through 2017.
Important to note is Toyota will be vetting those requesting the car to make sure they live near refueling stations and meet other metrics.
Unlike Hyundai, Toyota plans to retail its FCV in both Northern and Southern California at launch, with four Toyota dealers serving interested Mirai buyers in each region.
Sales of Hyundai’s Tucson FCV, on the market since summer 2014, are restricted to three Southern California dealers.
The Mirai can be purchased outright, for $57,500, although Toyota last year said it expected 90% of sales to be leases. The Mirai and Tucson have the same lease terms of $499 per month for 36 months, but the Toyota requires a bigger down-payment than the Tucson’s, $3,649 vs. $2,999.
Meanwhile, Toyota classifies non-functioning or slow hydrogen pumps as something to be expected.
Green Car Reports last week spoke with some Tucson FCV drivers who said existing fueling stations in Orange County have been down for days or weeks at a time, causing them to park their vehicle. When the pumps are working, they are often slow to dispense fuel.
“The quick answer is this is sort of expected,” Craig Scott, national manager-Advanced Technologies Group for Toyota tells WardsAuto. “The stations that exist today were built many, many, many years ago, using funds that were set up to create demonstration stations. That’s exactly what these are. They were never intended for retail use.”
Newly built hydrogen refueling stations coming online now in California are being built with the public in mind, meaning refueling times should be akin to those at gasoline stations.
Hydrogen proponents have cited a typical refueling time being three minutes, although owner reports suggest current pumps can take as long as 20 minutes as they may need to come up to pressure after previously dispensing fuel to other vehicles.
“It’s why we got involved in infrastructure, to sort of speed things along,” Scott says, referring to Toyota’s partnership with First Element Fuels and Air Liquide to build dozens of hydrogen-refueling stations in California and the Northeastern U.S. in the next few years.
Even with a more robust infrastructure expected soon, Scott says some growing pains will arise, such as too many cars and not enough stations.
“There will be a period of discomfort if you will where the growth of cars exceeds the growth of stations, and then it catches up,” Scott says. “It’s just kind of normal business. I don’t think there’s anything shocking here.”