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Costco announced last month that it plans to boost capital spending in fiscal 2015 by 25% – 35% in order to open 31 new warehouses and relocate four others, and increase spending on remodeling activities. Costco CFO Richard Galanti said capital spending for 2015 will total about $2.6 billion, compared with $2 billion in fiscal 2014.
Of the 31 new warehouses (compared to 30 opened in 2014), 19 are planned for the U.S.
For fiscal 2014, Costco’s net income increased 0.9% to $2.1 billion, with net sales up 7.1% to $110.2 billion.
While Costco’s results continue to be strong, rival Sam’s Club, a Walmart subsidiary, is struggling.
“The divergence from Costco is striking,” according to an analyst at the Cowen Group who was discussing Sam’s Club for a Huffington Post story earlier this year. “They’re basically in the same business, but apparently they’re not in the same business.”
In the story referenced above, analysts said the reasons for Costco’s success and Sam’s Club’s struggles may include the following:
- Even though Sam’s Club stores are more upscale than Walmart, Sam’s may be relying on customers who need food assistance, and with the decline in government assistance, poor consumers are cutting back on spending. In addition, Costco explicitly targets customers with more money, so its shoppers may be more resilient in times of economic uncertainty and less price sensitive.
- Costco customers are incredibly loyal, and their Kirkland brand may have a lot to do with that. According to an analyst quoted in the Huffington Post story, Costco uses the Kirkland brand to sell quality products at an affordable price, creating brand – and Costco – trust. And as for membership, which accounts for about 75 percent of the company’s operating profit, the renewal rate is nearly 90 percent. The free samples and $1.50 hotdogs don’t hurt, either.
- Costco probably has better leverage with suppliers than Sam’s, because the quality and popularity of the Kirkland brand allows Costco to sell its own version of a product if suppliers don’t meet its demands.


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Guy Negre was a Formula One motor racing engineer. The Frenchman has been looking for 15 years for backers for his invention – a car that runs on air – and he now has the backing of Tata, who have invested 20 million Euros in his project.
Negre’s car uses compressed air to move pistons, which in turn also helps compress the air again in a reservoir. The car also has an electric motor, which also compresses air. This electric motor uses batteries that need to be charged. The compressed air can also be filled up at service stations in a matter of minutes.
His company Motor Development International based in France has developed an entire series of engine and car prototypes, some of which include fuel engine options together with the compressed air system. The fuel engine is used to extend the car’s range when not in reach of a special power point or a service station.
The car will be built in India and pre-production will start this year. It is protected by 50 patents, and the car will cost between 3,500 to 4,000 euros (RM17,000 to RM19,400). It weighs not more than 330kg and goes up to a top speed of 150km/h. Projected range is about between 160 to 320 km, depending on traffic conditions.
“It is clear that with oil at $100 a barrel this will force people to change their use of fuel and pollute less. My car is zero pollution in town and almost no pollution on the highways,” said Negre.
Look after the jump for a video on how the engine works.
Video: The Air Engine

domain: news


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Here comes Amazon – Burlington County prepares for traffic with a $10 million road project
Plans to make $10 million worth of infrastructure improvements are being made to lessen the anticipated impact on traffic when Amazon opens its 1 million square foot distribution center in Burlington later this year. Burlington County officials say they will add lanes, improve jughandles and require Amazon to stagger their employees' shifts so that workers will not be arriving or departing at peak commuter times.
Burlington County is launching a $10 million road project to prepare for an anticipated increase in truck traffic when Amazon opens a 1 million square foot distribution center in the area this year.
Burlington County Freeholder Director Kate Gibbs announced Wednesday that the county will make a series of improvements along the busy northern Route 130 corridor, adding lanes to surrounding roads and reconstructing jughandles in the vicinity of the Amazon center, being built in Burlington Township and Burlington City.
The 50-acre site was formerly home to U.S. Pipe & Foundry, which closed more than a dozen years ago.
County officials say that area is already clogged with truck traffic because more than 12 million square feet of warehouses and industrial parks have sprouted in Florence, Burlington and Mansfield Townships in recent years, bringing with them more than 6,000 employees.
"While we are thrilled by the region's job growth and its positive impact on our property tax base, there is a downside,… Infrastructure improvements have lagged behind development, causing unnecessary traffic headaches," Gibbs said.
She said Amazon has agreed to stagger its employees' shifts so workers will not be arriving or departing at peak commuter times. The company is also considering shuttle service for its employees from an off-site location. Carpooling incentives will also be considered, Gibbs said.
Amazon.com Inc. spokeswoman Rachael Lighty has said the facility will create 600 full-time jobs. She could not be reached for comment on those initiatives.
Among with the highway project, the county is planning improvements to the intersection of Route 130 and Florence-Columbus Road, which leads to I-295, Gibbs said.
Initially, the project will be funded by the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which will contribute $10 million. The commission expects to be reimbursed by the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund.
"The traffic is already a nuisance, and we know Amazon is coming," said Jason Tosches, the county's spokesperson. "We know our residents can't take more traffic, so we want to put this in place."
Burlington Township planning officials required Amazon to restrict truck traffic to routes along the Delaware River, away from residential areas, as part of the permitting process.
Amazon has several other centers in South Jersey, in Florence, Logan and Swedesboro, according to CoStar Group, a real estate tracker. Another warehouse is expected to open in West Deptford next year. Amazon also has expanded its delivery service for Whole Foods to the Philadelphia area, including Mount Holly.


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EV startup Faraday Future in talks to go public by SPAC merger, Auto Information, Automobilnews
By Ben KlaymanDETROIT: Electrical automobile startup Faraday Future goals to shut a deal quickly to go public by a reverse merger with a special-purchase acquisition firm (SPAC), its chief govt stated on Monday.
“We’re engaged on such a deal … and can have the ability to announce one thing hopefully fairly quickly,” Carsten Breitfeld stated of the potential of a SPAC deal.
Breitfeld declined to say who Faraday is negotiating with or when a deal would shut.A SPAC is a shell firm that raises cash by an preliminary public providing to purchase an working entity, usually inside two years.
SPACs have emerged as a fast path to the inventory marketplace for firms, significantly auto know-how startups, and have confirmed widespread with buyers searching for to echo Tesla Inc’s excessive inventory valuation.
Breitfeld, who joined the Los Angeles-based firm as CEO final yr, additionally stated the corporate would ship its first electrical luxurious SUV, the FF 91, 9 months after securing funding, with quantity manufacturing starting 12 months after such a deal.
Faraday has stated it needs to boost $800 million to $850 million to launch the FF 91.
It is going to initially construct the automobile at its plant in Hanford, California, however finally will use a contract producer in Asia with which Breitfeld stated Faraday has signed an settlement. He declined to establish the corporate.
As soon as one of many extra hyped EV startups, Faraday burned by $2 billion in money and its founder Jia Yueting finalized his private chapter submitting in June.
Breitfeld stated Jia not owns inventory in Faraday, which is greater than half owned by staff by an govt partnership and an worker inventory possession plan. Jia’s stake had been a “main blocking level” to bringing in different buyers, he stated.
Breitfeld acknowledged Faraday has struggled prior to now with executing its marketing strategy.”Due to the historical past and typically the unhealthy information of the corporate, not everybody is basically trusting us,” he stated. “They wish to see that we have develop into a steady firm.”
Breitfeld, a former BMW govt, additionally co-founded Chinese language EV startup Byton. Breitfeld left Byton in early 2019 and that firm suspended manufacturing in July to reorganize.


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There’s been a SodaStream fad before — 10 million U.K. households were making carbonated drinks at home with the company’s gadgets at their peak in the 70s and early 80s — but are we seeing another SodaStream fad today?
A series of bad management decisions and changes in consumer tastes meant the company’s fortunes quickly declined from that peak a few decades ago. And a newly focused management seems to have it on another rapid rise today: Since CEO Daniel Birnbaum took over in 2007, revenues have quadrupled and SodaStream seems to have found its groove again. Some analysts think the company could be doing a billion dollars in sales by 2016.
Plenty of investors doubt whether the latest sales spike is any more sustainable than the last one — more than 30% of the company’s stock has been loaned out to short sellers, suggesting plenty are betting that it will begin falling at some point.
Barclays says that is a bad bet to be making. In a note out today, its analysts made a case for buying the company’s stock, estimating it could eventually be worth $100 per share (it’s trading today at $72.35). Its logic:
1) SodaStream has already moved beyond a “fad”. Our analysis suggests there are currently 7.6mn users globally; we expect the user base to increase to 19.3mn by 2016. We view the recent JV signed with KitchenAid as additional proof of concept
2) we demonstrate on page 3 that the $1 billion revenue target by 2016 is achievable;
3) barriers to entry are higher than you may think – retailers seem unwilling, so far, to introduce more than one gas distributor into the retail system.
Kitchenaid will design a SodaStream machine in a similar look and feel to the company’s expensive and beloved mixers, the two company’s said this week. A SodaStream dispenser unit is also embedded in the door of a new top-of-the-line Samsung fridge, and the company seems keen to do more co-branding deals with other appliance makers.
“We became a platform to the industry of soda,” Mr Birnbaum said at a recent investor day presentation. “More and more partners are coming to us and saying, we want to play there too. That’s where the action is. It’s where the beverage action is right now.”


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HTC Wants To Move Away From Physical QWERTY Keyboards
QWERTY keyboards are much easier to use than on-screen keyboards regardless of how good these SIPs have become over time — and their swiping alternatives. However, HTC thinks it’s time to move away from the slide-out keyboard-enabled concept.
Speaking at an event in Seattle HTC creative director Claude Zellweger said that while there’s still demand for physical QWERTY keyboards, they don’t allow HTC to move forward with its design principles, thus the company decided to move away from the sliders. “We feel that putting too much effort into that would take away from our devices”, he said regarding the hardware keyboards. This, combined with HTC’s refusal to consider large-battery-capacity phones — and go with a thin form-factor — represents what the company believes is the way to go. What do you think?


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|By PR Newswire||
|April 17, 2014 05:08 AM EDT||
SHANGHAI, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Weichai Group Holdings Limited ("Weichai"), one of China's largest automobile and equipment manufacturing groups, today announced the launch of its new logo at the 2014 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. As the first Chinese brand to sponsor the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team, Weichai's new logo will be present on Ferrari's F1 cars and on the drivers' uniforms in 2014.
The new brand strategy and continued sponsorship reflects Weichai's drive to become a leading equipment manufacturing group globally. With the motto "Green Power, International Weichai", the Company aims to boost sales from 100 billion yuan in 2013 to over 200 billion yuan by 2020 and become one of the world's top 500 companies. Through its partnership with Scuderia Ferrari F1 team and ongoing investment in its international operations, Weichai plans to continue to expand its global presence in 2014.
At a press conference with Scuderia Ferrari held today in Shanghai, Mr. Xuguang Tan, Weichai Group Chairman, said, "In almost 70 years since the company was founded, Weichai has transformed into a company with four business platforms covering vehicles, power trains, luxury yachts and auto parts. We are committed to continuous innovation and the ongoing expansion of our product offerings. We are also focused on building our brand, and the launch of our new logo and enduring partnership with Scuderia Ferrari form an important component of Weichai's development strategy."
In the China market, Weichai owns brands including Weichai Power Engine, Shaanxi Fast Gear, Hande Axle, and Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck. In order to better integrate into the international market, Weichai Group runs its global businesses following two guiding principles; to leverage its international operations to expand the reach of its core, high quality product portfolio and to rapidly integrate acquisitions into the Group.
Since 2009, Weichai has successfully completed three international acquisitions. In January 2009, Weichai Power acquired Moteurs Baudouin SA, a French designer and manufacturer of engines for the marine sector. In January 2012, Shandong Heavy Industry Group, a Weichai Group subsidiary, acquired a 75% interest in Italy's Ferretti, the world's largest luxury yacht manufacturer. In December 2012, Weichai Power acquired a 25% interest in KION Group, the world's second largest manufacturer of forklift trucks, and 75% of Linde Hydraulics, a KION subsidiary and leader in hydraulic technology.
At the press conference, Fernando Alonso (winner of the 2013 F1 China Grand Prix) and Kimi Raikonnen were present.
Mr. Tan said, "Ferrari is a universally recognized and highly respected brand in China, and we wish Scuderia Ferrari a triumphant return to Shanghai at this year's Grand Prix. With our new global strategy, we hope that Weichai Group can continue to emulate Ferrari's success internationally."
About Weichai Group
Founded in 1946, Weichai is one of the largest automobile and equipment manufacturing groups in China. The Group has approximately 60,000 employees globally, and its 2013 revenuewas RMB100.4 billion. In 2013, Weichai ranked 147th among China's top 500 enterprises, 65th among China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises, and 6th among China's top 100 machinery industry enterprises. Weichai is the only enterprise in China that includes four business platforms covering vehicles, power trains, luxury yachts and auto parts. It is a multinational company with subsidiaries located in Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, and with wholly owned or holding subsidiaries in various provinces and cities in China such as Shandong, Shaanxi, Hunan, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shanghai and Beijing.
Weichai services its international business with offices in more than 30 countries, over 400 authorized service stations and a series of operation centers in Chicago, Marseilles, Forli, Frankfurt and Singapore. Weichai has sold over 100,000 heavy-duty trucks, more than 250,000 engines and other products to more than 100 countries and regions around the world. By the end of 2015, Weichai plans to add 140 new overseas service stations, and increase international revenue to 30% of the Group's total revenue.
About Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the automobile brand. It is the oldest team in Grand Prix racing, and statistically the most successful F1 team in history with a record of 15 drivers' championships and 16 constructors' championships. The team principal is Marco Mattiacci, and the drivers are Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
SOURCE Weichai Group Holdings Limited
The Internet of Things will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, demonstrated how to move beyond today's coding paradigm and shared the must-have mindsets for removing complexity from the develo...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that MangoApps will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. MangoApps provides modern company intranets and team collaboration software, allowing workers to stay connected and productive from anywhere in the world and from any device.
Jul. 30, 2016 02:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,484
The IETF draft standard for M2M certificates is a security solution specifically designed for the demanding needs of IoT/M2M applications. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Brian Romansky, VP of Strategic Technology at TrustPoint Innovation, explained how M2M certificates can efficiently enable confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity on highly constrained devices.
Jul. 30, 2016 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,184
“delaPlex Software provides software outsourcing services. We have a hybrid model where we have onshore developers and project managers that we can place anywhere in the U.S. or in Europe,” explained Manish Sachdeva, CEO at delaPlex Software, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Jul. 30, 2016 02:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,685
Keeping pace with advancements in software delivery processes and tooling is taxing even for the most proficient organizations. Point tools, platforms, open source and the increasing adoption of private and public cloud services requires strong engineering rigor – all in the face of developer demands to use the tools of choice. As Agile has settled in as a mainstream practice, now DevOps has emerged as the next wave to improve software delivery speed and output. To make DevOps work, organization...
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Predictive analytics tools monitor, report, and troubleshoot in order to make proactive decisions about the health, performance, and utilization of storage. Most enterprises combine cloud and on-premise storage, resulting in blended environments of physical, virtual, cloud, and other platforms, which justifies more sophisticated storage analytics. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Peter McCallum, Vice President of Datacenter Solutions at FalconStor, discussed using predictive analytics to mon...
Jul. 30, 2016 12:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,130
The IoT is changing the way enterprises conduct business. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Eric Hoffman, Vice President at EastBanc Technologies, discussed how businesses can gain an edge over competitors by empowering consumers to take control through IoT. He cited examples such as a Washington, D.C.-based sports club that leveraged IoT and the cloud to develop a comprehensive booking system. He also highlighted how IoT can revitalize and restore outdated business models, making them profitable ...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Isomorphic Software will exhibit at DevOps Summit at 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Isomorphic Software provides the SmartClient HTML5/AJAX platform, the most advanced technology for building rich, cutting-edge enterprise web applications for desktop and mobile. SmartClient combines the productivity and performance of traditional desktop software with the simp...
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"When you think about the data center today, there's constant evolution, The evolution of the data center and the needs of the consumer of technology change, and they change constantly," stated Matt Kalmenson, VP of Sales, Service and Cloud Providers at Veeam Software, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
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Internet of @ThingsExpo, taking place November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, is co-located with the 19th International Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world and ThingsExpo Silicon Valley Call for Papers is now open.
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We all know the latest numbers: Gartner, Inc. forecasts that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 percent from last year, and will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. We're rapidly approaching a data production of 40 zettabytes a day – more than we can every physically store, and exabytes and yottabytes are just around the corner. For many that’s a good sign, as data has been proven to equal money – IF it’s ingested, integrated, and analyzed fast enough. Without real-ti...
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Actian Corporation has announced the latest version of the Actian Vector in Hadoop (VectorH) database, generally available at the end of July. VectorH is based on the same query engine that powers Actian Vector, which recently doubled the TPC-H benchmark record for non-clustered systems at the 3000GB scale factor (see tpc.org/3323). The ability to easily ingest information from different data sources and rapidly develop queries to make better business decisions is becoming increasingly importan...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that 910Telecom will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Housed in the classic Denver Gas & Electric Building, 910 15th St., 910Telecom is a carrier-neutral telecom hotel located in the heart of Denver. Adjacent to CenturyLink, AT&T, and Denver Main, 910Telecom offers connectivity to all major carriers, Internet service providers, Internet backbones and ...
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Nintendo to buy Sega?
Supposedly in Tokyo some kind of a secret deal between Nintendo and Sega is going down, this deal is for the purchase of Sega that is said to be worth two billion dollars! The President of Nintendo Co. LTD strongly denied the allegations saying that there is not one chance that Nintendo would pursue Sega, and he's got some great points too. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that when the rumor broke out and denied, Sega's stock price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange [Nikkei] rose 10.5%, while Nintendo's decreased, 5.4%. "There is absolutely no chance that Nintendo will buy Sega," said Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo, in a statement on Wednesday.
NYT is also reporting that these talks have been going on for a few months now, but Sega and Nintendo executives find this a joke, as one Nintendo rep laughed at the statement saying, "In this industry there are various kinds of rumors". But The Times went as far as to say that Sega's Chairman, Isao Okawa had been trying to sell Sega for quite a while now, and the he had even held meetings with Microsoft. This I believe can be all true, Sega lost $357.4 million last year, and analysts believe that that number may have increased, even though Sega Dreamcast sales have risen 24% this holiday season.
What may turn out to be a coup-de-grace to Sega is the fact that KMart has pulled all Dreamcast related items (including the console) off of their store shelves, and KMart is quite the populated store, to say the least. Here in the US Sega's share of console sales has dropped to 17.5% in the fourth quarter, meanwhile last year at the same time that number was 18.8%. It's obvious that Sony is to blame here, ever since their entry into the 3D world back in 1995, Sega and Nintendo have been struggling to keep up. Sega was able to sell over 500,000 Dreamcast units in a one months period after the system's launch on 9/9/99, but Sony's Playstation 2 Entertainment Console stepped all over that record like GodZilla would over a human being, by selling that same amount of units in a few short hours just recently on October 26th.
Sony now holds 67.9% of total console sales that is including both PSOne (Playstation) and Playstation 2 up from last years 49.1%. Sega is in second place claiming 17.3% hardware sales, leaving Nintendo in third with only 14.8% hardware sales. If anymore info arises on this topic, we'll have you covered.


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Provincetown inns awash in laundry
As if inn and motel owners didn’t have enough to worry about this summer, what with a depressed economy, a rainy June and a state Legislature planning on raising the room and meals taxes that affect primarily tourists. Now they have dirty laundry.
The commercial laundry company that washes the sheets and towels of most of the local inns, guest houses and small motels in Provincetown dropped the bomb a few weeks ago: P&J Services, located in New Bedford, would no longer be able to serve its customers. The last laundry load dropped off that week was the last load ever, sending inn owners scrambling for a replacement company. But there are only two commercial laundries on Cape Cod. And they aren’t accepting new customers.
As a result, inn owners across town are having to do their own laundry, putting a strain not only on them but possibly on the town’s water system.
“It’s pretty bad for almost everybody in town,” said Rainer Horn, co-owner of Carpe Diem Guesthouse on Johnson Street. “Right now we are washing and washing and washing.”
Carpe Diem, and many of the other guest houses, had used a company called Mama’s Laundry for about 10 years. But that company ran into difficulties and was acquired by P&J last winter. Rob Filloramo, one of P&J’s owners, said Mama’s was supposed to handle the transportation of the laundry to and from Provincetown while he handled the cleaning. But Mama’s pulled out. P&J tried to continue the service here but it took too long to make the drive from New Bedford and back.
“Provincetown needed service almost every day. For me to get there twice a week was hard. They’re really nice people. But it just wasn’t going to work,” Filloramo said. “In the summer, it’s very, very busy. In the winter, it’s closed. Not just slow. Closed.”
That seasonal impact on the demand for laundry services is one reason it has been so difficult to find a replacement for P&J. Cape Cod Commercial Laundry, based in Hyannis, services large hotels in Provincetown like the Sandcastle. But guesthouse owners said the company won’t take any small customers, particularly if they are located on Commercial Street, which is a driving nightmare in the summer, or if they require the delivery truck to use Commercial Street to get to the inn.
The other Hyannis-based service, Acme Linenmasters, services the laundry needs of several restaurants in town but makes part of its money from renting tablecloths and napkins to the businesses. When guesthouse owners called them, they were told Acme’s delivery trucks to Provincetown were at capacity and they couldn’t handle any new clients. But some inn owners suspect one of the reasons for the reluctance is because a commercial washing machine can handle up to 125 pounds of dirty sheets and towels. A small guesthouse has an average load size of 25 to 30 pounds, according to Steve Tait, co-owner of the Aerie House & Beach Club on Bradford Street. That means the commercial machines would run below capacity, decreasing revenue.
“There is virtually no interest in taking on Provincetown business,” Tait said. “The loads are too small and the deliveries are too time-consuming.”
The result is that a lot of people who didn’t have to do their laundry now do. That has forced some of them to purchase additional dryers, as the Fairbanks Inn did, and hire staff to do the washing and pressing. Tait said he has had to purchase more sets of sheets and towels to give him minimum laundry loads.
“When we talk to [Cape Cod Commercial Laundry], they only want to do 70-pound minimum loads. That may take us three days to accumulate and we might not have enough stock. So we’re buying extra sheets and towels, plus we have laundry pick-up fees that we didn’t have to pay before,” Tait said.
“It is a big issue, not only for the inn owners but for the town,” said tourism director Robert Sanborn, who also owns the Prince Albert Guesthouse on Commercial Street. “The inns are doing their own laundry, which impacts water usage.”
That not only costs the inn owners more in water bills, but also may put a strain on the town’s water supply, which consistently over-pumps its allowed gallonage in the summer, when the town is full of visitors. That is one reason town administrators have discouraged a commercial laundry opening in Provincetown in the past, according to Carpe Diem’s Horn. And he wants the town to help figure out a solution.
“Now we’re all using more water,” he said. “We are reaching out to the city for help and answers to this problem. Being a vital part of the tourism draw into Provincetown, we do hope we can look to our leaders for help in this matter.”
Pru Sowers can be reached at email@example.com


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Fertiliser Ministry seeks funds for setting up 11 new CIPET centres
The Centre has approved setting of up of 11 new centres including an Advanced Polymer Design and Development Research Laboratory of CIPET, Minister of State for Fertilisers Mansuk L Mandaviya said.
Fertiliser prices may fall due to demonetisation: Ananth Kumar
The government would look into raw material costs and rationalise the tax stru...
Mr FM, not seeds, we want to buy fertiliser
The norms need to be eased further as of the total seed sales, the private sector also has a subs...
Fertiliser makers say sales intact despite cash crunch
Industry body Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) said it will get clarity on sales volume by December-end as the rabi planting season has just begun.
Government may cut subsidy to P&K fertilisers if MRP is unreasonable
The government has been implementing Nutrient Based Subsidy policy for decontrolled phosphate and potash (P&K) fertilisers since April 2010.
CCI clears Tata Chemicals-Yara Fertilisers deal
Mergers and acquisitions beyond a certain threshold requires the approval of CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors.
Fertiliser subsidy arrear seen at Rs 40,000 crore by next March
The government sets the maximum retail price of urea. The difference between the cost of production and the retail price is reimbursed to manufacturers as subsidy.
IT Ministry probing Rahul Gandhi's Twitter account hack
"We are probing the incident (hacking of Gandhi's account)," a MEITY official said in response to a query.
No proposal to set up a pharma ministry: Government
"The creation of separate ministry for pharmaceuticals is a matter to be considered keeping in view the mandate of all the central govt ministries/departments dealing with the sector.
Lower chemical fertiliser offtake to hit FY17 turnover: IFFCO
IFFCO, which has 36,000 cooperative societies with around 4 crore member farmers, officially kicked off its golden jubilee celebrations from Kalol unit today
Commerce Ministry favours 'restriction free' gold imports
The minister further said that custom authorities have confiscated a huge haul of smuggled gold in places like Delhi, Kochi and Chennai.
IOCL, FCIL & HFCL roped in to revive three ailing fertilisers units
Initially, NTPC and Coal India formed a 50:50 joint-venture to revive the Sindhri and Gorakpur fertiliser units.
Mahesh Shah, others being probed for 'false declaration': Finance Ministry
Mahesh Shah, a businessman from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, recently created a sensation by declaring a whopping Rs 13,860 crore in unaccounted wealth.
Sushma Swaraj's absence has not affected her ministry's work
Swaraj, however, will not attend the 'Heart of Asia' meet in Amritsar as she's undergoing tests for kidney transplant.


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California to Vote on Labeling Genetically Modified Foods
Steve Baragona November 02, 2012
About 80 percent of the packaged foods on American supermarket shelves contain ingredients from genetically modified organisms, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association. credit: VOA/S. Baragona
As Republicans and Democrats battle for votes this November, another fight is brewing in the western U.S. state of California. Voters there will decide if foods made with genetically modified ingredients must carry a special label.
Backers say people have a right to know what they are eating. But opponents say labels would be costly, confusing and unnecessary.
GMO foods widespread
Walk into any American supermarket today and you are surrounded by genetically modified foods. Corn sugar, soy protein, cottonseed oil – you’ll find these and other ingredients in about 80 percent of the packaged foods on the shelves, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group.
And nearly all the corn, soybeans and cotton grown in the United States are genetically modified varieties designed to better resist insect pests or chemical weed killers.
They have been on the market for more than 15 years. The nation’s largest physicians’ group, the American Medical Association, notes that there have been no negative health effects reported.
But Chico, California, resident Pamm Larry does not trust them.
“People used to think that smoking wasn’t addictive,” she says. “My understanding is, there’s a lot of stuff like that.”
Larry says years from now, researchers could find health problems from eating genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.


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Here's the deal: Microsoft has shipped Windows Home Server to both OEMs and distributors, and customers are already taking delivery outside of the US. Microsoft tells us that there is no "launch date" for WHS. Rather, after the code was released to manufacturing last month, it was passed to OEMs and distributors, and those guys are on their own schedule. Likewise, there will be no officially-announced pricing, as Microsoft does not disclose any OEM or system builder pricing.More info over here>/a>.
However, Microsoft has also established a tech support availability date of August 27 for the North American market, and while the company told Ars Technica that this is not a release date, it is meaningful. Since the license that comes with "system builder" versions of WHS will require "system builder" support, that support will need to be ready. Hence, the appearance of these materials is an indication that Microsoft expects the product to be offered by US stores near the end of the month. (For more on "system builder" status and what it entails, check out this previous report on OEM Vista.)
Hardware products incorporating Windows Home Server are still a month away, according to our own sources at two different companies working on products. However, the "system builder" version of the code is already appearing in stores around the world, and pricing is showing up in several markets.
Windows Home Server already available in the wild
Posted on Tuesday, Aug 21 2007 @ 03:03 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck


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A majority of respondents to a survey conducted by India Today and Karvy Insights feel that soaring prices of onion and other food items are indicators of the poor state of the Indian economy. The poll called the Mood of the Nation (MOTN) surveyed 12,141 people across India. The majority believe that it is either growing slowly or not growing at all. The survey responses are in line with recent estimates. According to the national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), India's GDP growth may fall to an 11-year low of 5 per cent in the current fiscal. Watch as India Today's Rahul Kanwal discusses the current state of Indian economy, the results of the survey and the chances of revival with experts at the World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos.
Copyright©2022 Living Media India Limited. For reprint rights: Syndications Today


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By Tina Bellon and Akanksha Rana
(Reuters) – Lyft Inc (O:) on Tuesday reported report quarterly income of greater than $1 billion, however the ride-hailing firm forecast slower growth in the brand new yr as ridership growth stagnated in the second half of 2019.
The firm didn’t change its goal to realize profitability on an adjusted foundation by the tip of 2021 regardless of its bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc (N:) final week transferring ahead by a yr its profitability goal.
Lyft reported income of $1.02 billion in the fourth quarter, forward of analysts who anticipated $984 million in quarterly income, based on IBES information from Refinitiv.
For now, the corporate continues to make losses, reporting an adjusted internet lack of $121 million.
Lyft operates solely in the United States and a few Canadian cities. Its lively rider buyer base in the fourth quarter grew to 22.9 million from 22.Three million the earlier quarter. That compares with Uber’s international 111 million lively platform customers in the identical interval.
While Lyft’s ridership grew by greater than 6% in the primary half of 2019, growth in the second half slowed to round 2.5%.
Uber initially echoed Lyft in saying it might be worthwhile on an adjusted EBITDA foundation by the tip of 2021. But the corporate final week moved that concentrate on ahead by a yr, now promising buyers it might be worthwhile on that metric in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The adjusted EBITDA metric at each firms excludes bills for stock-based compensation and different objects. Share-based funds at Uber in all of 2019 amounted to just about $4.6 billion, or roughly a 3rd of income.
Lyft’s stock-based compensation got here in at $1.6 billion for all of 2019, or 44% of full-year income.
Both firms went public final yr, Lyft in March, Uber in May, with many early workers and buyers promoting their shares.
Uber and Lyft, each dependent in San Francisco, are pursuing completely different roads in search of profitability, with Uber pouring cash into facet companies which have to this point misplaced cash and Lyft remaining targeted solely on transferring folks round.
Lyft in January minimize 2% of its workforce in its gross sales and advertising division to realize its profitability goal, however mentioned it plans to rent extra folks this yr.
The firm continues to be spending closely, with complete prices in 2019 rising to $6.3 billion.
Uber and Lyft have traditionally relied on heavy subsidies to draw riders.
Lyft in October mentioned a rising variety of prospects had been paying full value, with reductions and promotional incentives reducing.
But Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi informed buyers throughout an earnings name on Thursday that Lyft over the previous month or so had been extra aggressive in giving out reductions to draw prospects.
Fusion Media or anybody concerned with Fusion Media won’t settle for any legal responsibility for loss or injury on account of reliance on the data together with information, quotes, charts and purchase/promote indicators contained inside this web site. Please be totally knowledgeable relating to the dangers and prices related to buying and selling the monetary markets, it is among the riskiest funding kinds attainable.


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Sanpellegrino opens new mineral water bottling facility in Italy for Nestlé Vera Naturea
Sanpellegrino Group has opened a new mineral water bottling facility for Nestlé Vera Naturea in Castrocielo, Italy.
The €16m project presents a new model for future development of the entire mineral water industry.
The plant is expected to produce 220 million liters of water during the first year. It utilizes energy sourced exclusively from renewable sources, resulting in zero CO2 emissions.
Any waste materials will be collected separately and recycled. Nestle said the Naturae mineral water source holds particular value for the entire Sanpellegrino Group as it enables the company to complete a key multisourcing project.
The company uses three water sources within in the national territory to improve the local water resources and complete the process from bottling to delivery to consumer.
The Naturae mineral water source joins the already active water sources based in the North of Italy, San Giorgio in Bosco in the Province of Padova and in the South of Italy, Santo Stefano Quisquina in the Province of Agrigento.
Nestlé Waters CEO Marco Settembri said: "Castrocielo new plant represents a proof of excellence not only in the entire Italian scenario, but also at an international level thanks to its innovative technologies, which make it Nestlé Waters' best site in the optimization of the consumption of water per bottled liter.
"This industrial project is a further proof of Nestlé Waters desire to invest in innovation and sustainability, continuing to promote the local water resources."
Image: The new plant is expected to produce 220 million liters of water during the first year. Photo: courtesy of Nestlé Waters.


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MUMBAI, May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
After stamping its authority in the offline test prep industry, Mumbai-based Plancess EduSolutions Pvt. Ltd. is ready to prove its mettle in the online test prep industry. Started in 2011 by three batchmates at IIT Bombay, Plancess has quickly grown to a team of 130+ Plancessians. The proceeds of the latest round would be used to accelerate product development and expand distribution presence in additional geographies.
Many B2C players across industries have seen tremendous success in the online space with the rapid adoption of mobile technology and Internet services. After being dormant for a while, India's ed-tech industry has seen encouraging activity off late with over $15 million in investments committed over the last month alone. The news of Plancess' $2 million round comes on the heels of Toppr's round of $10 million from SAIF Partners and Helion Ventures. The industry is valued at $8 billion in India and over $80 billion globally, and with Plancess setting its eyes on other entrance tests across the world, this would be a space to watch for.
Nitesh Salvi, Director & Co-founder at Plancess EduSolutions Pvt. Ltd. exuberates his confidence in the sector's potential. "India witnesses close to 1.5 million applicants for the IIT JEE every year, and this is just one of the many entrance tests in India. Education is very highly placed in our social structure - and rightly so. Every parent wants their child to go to the best institute and the best institutes require the student to qualify through an entrance test. It's not difficult to guess why the test prep sector is one of the fastest growing segments in India's education industry," says Salvi.
Mr. Gogri, Chairman of Aarti Group, said, "The team at Plancess is making aggressive inroads into the education industry. It has quickly grown into a structure, which has a strong product roadmap and stable business model for its print and digital offerings. We are pleased with the vision, commitment and speed of execution of the founding members. Rarely have we come across an education technology venture in India, which has rapidly scaled from a hostel room to a team of 130+ individuals who are brimming with energy to make things happen."
Plancess has been in the news lately because of its recently announced partnerships. With Wiley, Plancess stands to gain increased visibility on the bookshelves across India. The partnership with Samsung would bring a line of tablets with pre-loaded Plancess study materials in the market, thereby making quality preparatory content available at affordable prices in the digital format.
"We've taken painstaking efforts to ensure that nothing short of the best educational content reaches our users. Till date, we have successfully catered to 10,000+ IIT aspirants and are proud of the fact that close to 20% of our users have made it to the qualifying ranks at IITs and other leading engineering colleges in India. Having experienced the process ourselves, we thoroughly understand what it takes to reach there. It absolutely made sense that best should train the aspiring youth. This is the reason why our materials are designed and validated by the top 100 rankers in IIT," said Salvi, explaining how the products are coming from experts who have cleared the test themselves.
Traditionally, the test preparation space had been dominated by coaching institutes concentrated in certain parts of the country. This not only restricted the availability of quality faculty and preparation material in limited centers, but is also largely out of reach of many promising students with limited means because of the exorbitant tuition fee charged by these institutes, ranging anywhere between INR 50,000 to as high as INR 3,00,000. Plancess' products bring a relief to aspirants' pockets as the products are affordably priced between INR 2300 to INR 25000, without compromising on the quality of the content. This brings all IIT aspirants at a level field, an ideology Salvi completely believes in. "With Plancess, our endeavour is to make the best educational content accessible and affordable for all. Each child should get an equal and unbiased opportunity to rise," he said.
Shedding light on the vision of the company, he added, "We will not limit ourselves to the IIT preparatory sphere; several other avenues are severely underserved as we speak. Our initial focus would be on expanding our product portfolio into medical entrance preparation, and we are optimistic about helping 50000+ engineering and medical entrance aspirants by 2016-17."
About Plancess EduSolutions Pvt. Ltd.
Founded by IITians, Plancess EduSolutions Pvt Ltd. is India's first and largest education content delivery company, bringing out the smartest way of studying through its powerful video lectures, study material and online test series developed by Top 100 JEE Rankers, and an Android application for JEE preparation for staying connected on the move.
To discover more, kindly visit http://www.plancessjee.com/
Plancess EduSolutions Pvt. Ltd.
SOURCE Plancess EduSolutions Pvt. Ltd.


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Soaring prices are straining both consumers and businesses. With inflation at a 40-year high reaching 8.3%, companies need to put their customers at the center of decision-making now more than ever. Our inflation study, The State of Consumer Spending: Inflation Impacting Consumer Confidence, found most consumers are searching for less expensive ways to shop (82%) and sticking to a budget (40%). Not only are shoppers reducing spending, but they are also changing their purchase behavior across dining out, travel, groceries, apparel, entertainment, and more. Business leaders need to understand how inflation is affecting consumer spending and what these rising prices mean for their company.
1. Dining out | Strike three for restaurants?
We all know when COVID struck, restaurants were slammed by the shutdowns. This first wave caused about 17% (over 100,000) of restaurants to shut down according to the National Restaurant Association. Capacity restrictions caused the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer to experience a revenue drop of roughly 36%. In the spring of 2021, a second wave hit this industry known as The Great Resignation – when workers began voluntarily leaving the workforce at alarming rates. This new influx of job openings continued to strain the accommodation and food industry. Most of us experience this firsthand dining at restaurants with slower service, fewer menu options, and limited hours of operation. Now, a third wave is closing in…inflation. If you know anything about tsunamis, a key sign before it strikes is the water residing and pulling away from the shore. We may very well be in a similar situation as inflation has already begun pressuring consumers. It may only be a matter of time for the restaurant industry.
Restaurant owners will continue to take a hit if financial situations worsen for families. This decrease in dining out will indirectly impact other peripheral industries such as food and beverage, farming, restaurant technology, entertainment, and more.2. Entertainment | Grab your popcorn, these cutbacks are cinematic
Rising prices are forcing shoppers to prioritize spending. Entertainment and recreation is one of the top three categories consumers are cutting back on according to our research. Approximately 1/3 of respondents are reducing entertainment spend and prioritizing other categories such as groceries, gas, rent/mortgage, and healthcare. Looking closer at this category, the top five entertainment cutbacks include movie theatres, concerts, nightlife, sporting events, and streaming services. As more Americans absorb the blow of soaring prices, the entertainment industry may continue to take a hit.
Like food service, entertainment companies and organizations impacted by this industry should be prepared to pivot. Businesses must listen to the voice of their customer and consider new creative solutions supported by predictive analytics to navigate these uncertain times.3. Groceries | Vegetarians may be on the rise with soaring grocery prices
Groceries consistently show up as one of the top two factors impacting consumers. As prices continue to rise, shoppers are not only prioritizing spending on groceries but changing their shopping behavior. One of the most interesting findings businesses should be aware of is Americans are cutting back on name brands and switching to private labels/generic grocery products. When looking at specific groceries, consumers are buying less meat and seafood. According to Evercore ISI’s report, chicken prices have increased as much as 70%. Other products consumers are cutting back on include snacks, alcohol, organic food, produce, and many more.
Americans are limiting their discretionary spending and being intentional about where they spend their money. Businesses should test new products and brands that appeal to this new influx of price-conscious customers.4. Apparel | Consumers purchase apparel, footwear, and accessories based on need and versatility
Over 40% of shoppers are noticing higher prices for apparel footwear and accessories and over 1/3 of consumers are spending less in this area. When looking at how Americans are prioritizing their spending categories, apparel ranked towards the bottom along with entertainment and travel. Inflation is impacting jewelry sales the most followed by dress shoes, seasonal apparel and footwear, handbags, and many others. It was clear in the results that consumers are making purchases based on necessity.
Retailers should focus on creating products that not only meet a need but are versatile for the end-user. With over 40% of consumers shopping for deals and about 25% using more coupons, promotional strategies can help businesses capture demand and increase gross margin. Learn about our retail price optimization tools.
5. Travel | People are simply driving less
It’s no secret prices at the pump are skyrocketing. One glance at GasBuddy’s latest research is striking. Fuel costs are impacting consumers more than any other category we surveyed, and this effect is not only reducing disposable income but forcing businesses to implement creative solutions that drive results. According to our study, Americans are driving less overall and taking fewer vacations. This decrease in transportation is a significant obstacle for both in-store experiences and supply chain. Passing shipping and material costs on to the consumer is hindering demand capture and sell-thru. As a result, many companies are relying on industry-leading predictive analytics to overcome supply chain disruptions and pricing challenges.
Understanding this shift in travel behavior and spending can help businesses make better decisions around in-store vs online product assortment to create leaner inventory. Companies should also be cautious not to offset too much of their costs caused by inflation onto their consumer. Adopting price optimization software can help you not only capture demand but create winning product assortments that drive your business forward.


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Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including CARDI’s contribution to food and nutrition security over its 40 year history, efforts to protect bananas from TR4 Fusarium wilt and the use of weaver ants as biological control.
Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
Fresh Plaza, 23th December 2014
AllAfrica News: Food and Agriculture, 26th December 2014
Fresh Plaza, 24th December 2014
- Kenya: Govt Cuts Fertilizer Prices At Ncpb to Increase Food Production
AllAfrica News: Food and Agriculture, 22nd December 2014
- CARDI contributes to ‘food and nutrition security to the Region’ over its 40 year history
CARDI News, 22nd December 2014
- Securing future food supply for the developing world
EurekAlert – Agriculture, 21st December 2014
- Africa: Maize, Rice, Wheat Farming Must Become More Sustainable
AllAfrica News: Food and Agriculture, 19th December 2014
- Of Beneficial Insects and Behavioral Games
IFPRI info, 19th December 2014
The Times of India, 28th December 2014
See more plant health news on the Plantwise Knowledge Bank.
If there’s another news story you’d like to highlight, please post a comment below.
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23 March 2023
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TVs get bigger and brighter every year, as many of the sets shown off at CES 2024 demonstrated. The consumer tech showcase was dominated by massive, blinding screens meant to blast out as much light and color as possible.
The most intriguing of this year’s new TVs, though, are the ones that render the television itself almost invisible.
Two companies are leading the charge. Samsung has debuted its transparent MicroLED screen, which makes an image appear on what otherwise looks like a clear piece of glass. LG has also come out with its own transparent TV, though its device looks more like an empty fish tank than a proper television set, with images that look like very nice holograms dancing around inside. LG’s set also has a black backdrop that rolls up behind the image to give it more of the contrast of a typical TV.
Other recent designs offer less of a wow factor, but still work to make the TV less prominent in your home. The Samsung Frame TV, first released in 2017, has a matte-finish screen that can be loaded with images of fine art, making it look like a framed painting when not in use. This year at CES, Hisense released its own version of this concept called the CanvasTV. Manufacturers have also been toying with screens that roll up; LG made a splash with its extremely pricey rollable television at CES in 2021. Projector technology has gotten good enough for most people to consider a nice 4K projector a true TV replacement. And a well-designed projector—like the LG CineBeam Qube or the Xgimi Horizon Max—fits into a room better than a big glass fish tank ever could.
“It’s all in the effort to try to remove the black hole from the wall that we’ve all been used to forever,” says Paul Gagnon, a consumer electronics industry expert and adviser at Circana who has focused on TVs for over 15 years.
The transparent screen technology shown by Samsung and LG has been used in commercial spaces for years, Gagnon says, but its high cost and energy requirements have kept it out of the consumer market until now.
“I don’t think most TVs are going to end up looking like this,” Gagnon says. “The majority of consumers are just looking for an affordable, high-quality screen that lets them watch the shows that they want to watch.”


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Google is expected to spin its vision of your connected life at its I/O developers’ conference tomorrow. Underpinning that will be a suite of hardware devices. Here’s what we’re hearing on that front.
Google is also expected to reveal its latest attempt at bringing Android to TVs, according to sources. Much like its smartphone approach, the TV effort will take multiple forms and come from a variety of manufacturers. Among those is a set-top box, code-named Molly, which should make its debut on Wednesday.
For the Android team, it’s at least the third try to crack the TV space, as both prior Google TV efforts met with tepid receptions. Android’s approach in the past has been to combine apps and a browser with the TV experience, while the more limited (and more successful) approach from the Chrome team has been a small device that can display video content that is sent over from a smartphone or tablet.
As expected, the first crop of Android Wear devices will make their debut, with wrist wear coming from Motorola, Samsung and LG. All three companies have their hardware ready to show in San Francisco, though they are all going to be limited to demoing just a few features on Wednesday, with the hardware makers more free to show their efforts starting Thursday.
Not expected to be seen at the show, though, is a Nexus tablet from HTC powered by the K1 chip from Nvidia. Such a mid-sized tablet is still expected to enter the market, but not until later this year, sources said, adding that a tablet debut at the developer conference was unlikely.
A Google representative declined to comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.


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Sure, we know Oregon's quality beers attract thousands of visitors to Oregon. The 2013 Oregon Brewers Festival this summer drew a record 85,000 people to Portland, about 52 percent of them from out-of-town.
But beer as a business recruitment tool? The state's economic development agency says yes.
Oregon's quality of life is major selling point for Business Oregon when touting the benefits of moving a business here. The state's beer culture has always been a part of that.
Now, Business Oregon has made that selling point much more tangible with an assist from Eugene-based Ninkasi Brewing Company, which has created special promotional bottling of a Northwest Pale Ale, called simply Oregon Beer. The partners collaborated on the label and Ninkasi donated 40 cases to the cause.
Business Oregon plans to use the beer at foreign and domestic tradeshows, as thank you gifts following recruitment meetings at business development events and more.
"There are 149 breweries in Oregon pumping $2.8 billion into Oregon's economy," said Governor Kitzhaber, who joined Ninkasi co-founder Nikos Ridge on Thursday in Eugene to toast the new beer. "With Oregon so well-known for the product, it's great we could partner with Ninkasi to represent the brewing industry and develop a unique promotional tool like this."
Kitzhaber gets his own label space on the bottle with a message that reads:
Craft beer is one of Oregon's many flourishing industries, but it's not all that's brewing in Oregon. A beautiful landscape with a highly skilled workforce driving the second-fastest growing GDP in the nation makes for a great place to do business. And of course...enjoy great beer.
Business Oregon already has a success story to share. The agency had Oregon Beer available at a recent tradeshow in California. A manufacturing site selector saw it and wandered over.
"After chatting about beer, he looks over at our business recruiter and said he may have a manufacturing project that would be a good fit for us," said Nathan Buehler, Business Oregon's marketing and communications manager. "Whether that turns into anything or not, that is a relationship we now have due to just starting a conversation over the beer."


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Leading Belarusian cable operator MTIS has announced a tender for a digital set-top box as it ramps up its digital rollout.
MTIS has already begun test broadcasting in digital in the Minsk area, where it can currently reach about 120,000 subscribers out of a total of 550,000. The operator is currently working out how best to price and market the digital service.
ICYMI: Sky adds users in UK as aggregation strategy begins to bear fruit digitaltveurope.com/2020/10/30/sky… https://t.co/Vly3BgpsU5
30 October 2020 @ 21:00:01 UTC
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30 October 2020 @ 20:00:01 UTC
Freeview Play introduces Accessible TV Guide digitaltveurope.com/2020/10/30/fre… https://t.co/SIzZf1W1mu
30 October 2020 @ 18:30:00 UTC


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It is well really worth noting that research finished up being funded due to the Ohio client Lending Association, though Rohlin reported no say was had by the group that is lobbying the methodology or results.
Pat Crowley, spokesman in terms of Ohio consumer Lenders Association trade group, deferred questions to a declaration this is certainly prepared
вЂњThe Ohio consumer Lenders Association is aimed at making sure thousands of underbanked Ohioans, which are overwhelmingly quite happy with our products, continue to obtain access to credit that is affordable. Any brand name legislation that is new imposes restrictive caps or onerous guidelines may do positively next to nothing but damage the very clients the legislation was created to assist by eliminating credit alternatives and exposing clients to more pricey alternatives such as unregulated off-shore internet lenders, overdrafts, power switch off costs, and sometimes even even even worse illegal financing tasks. Proposing general policy that is public restricts credit access without providing an authentic alternative puts thousands of Ohio families at a heightened danger. A one-size-fits all approach to things РІР‚вЂќ this is certainly what is being proposed by Pew will likely not gain Ohio customers, whom have many choices from OCLA users that offer an array of products and terms.вЂќ
The client Financial Protection Bureau summer that is last a federal guideline requiring short-term financial institutions to validate borrowers’ ability to invest their loan appropriate right straight back. Evaluating that credit www.pdqtitleloans.com/payday-loans-mt/ score is one thing those financial institutions have not needed to finish.
State lawmakers such as for example Rep. Michael Ashford, D-Toledo, advocate for reformed state legislation to generate loan providers in stability. But he has got since lost assistance from for the aisle in Rep. Marlene Anielski, R-Walton Hills, which have stated she will spend the remaining of her two-year term centering on committing efforts, as reported by Cleveland. Anielski announced she’d introduce a bill for payday financing reform in December alongside Ashford.
A bill has yet become introduced. And Ashford will never react to several requirements for remark about their vision for financial institution reform.
Just what could come next when it comes to guidelines handling those financial institutions is uncertain.
But opponents do not appear ready to offer up their battle. The bigger issue, they do say, may be the effect this is certainly general neighborhood economies these loan providers have actually РІР‚вЂќ that the industry keeps is very a confident one.
вЂњThis impacts the company enterprise community because if people are spending their resources on these interest this is certainly high, paying out the loans right straight back, they don’t have discretionary profits to obtain dishes, garments, cars, etc.,вЂќ Bennett said. вЂњthe commercial enterprise community should want customers your can purchase disposable profits to spend once you glance at the region.вЂќ
вЂњIn a period of time whenever Cleveland manufacturers along with other organizations would like a stable workforce, the doubt that this sort of loan provider creates in the workforce possesses harmful ripple effect durable in connection with worker economy in Northeast Ohio,вЂќ stated Melanie Shakarian, supervisor of development and communications through the Legal assistance Society of Cleveland. вЂњIt creates this generational poverty we’re constantly trying to fight.вЂќ
The industry takes exclusion with all the current indisputable fact that individuals short-term financial institutions aren’t benefitting the economy of their means that is very very very own.
A 2014 research by Kent State University associate professor of economics Shawn Rohlin claimed that the buyer that is short-term industry pumped $900 million in direct and indirect investing towards the Ohio economy, which caused residents’ earnings to move up by $400 million and developed a jobs impact total up to 10,500 full-time jobs.


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The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday that it is holding its target for the overnight rate at 5%, with the Bank Rate at 5¼% and the deposit rate at 5%. The Bank is also continuing its policy of quantitative tightening.
“Inflation in advanced economies has continued to come down, but with measures of core inflation still elevated, major central banks remain focused on restoring price stability. Global growth slowed in the second quarter of 2023, largely reflecting a significant deceleration in China. With ongoing weakness in the property sector undermining confidence, growth prospects in China have diminished. In the United States, growth was stronger than expected, led by robust consumer spending. In Europe, strength in the service sector supported growth, offsetting an ongoing contraction in manufacturing. Global bond yields have risen, reflecting higher real interest rates, and international oil prices are higher than was assumed in the July Monetary Policy Report (MPR),” said the Bank.
“The Canadian economy has entered a period of weaker growth, which is needed to relieve price pressures. Economic growth slowed sharply in the second quarter of 2023, with output contracting by 0.2% at an annualized rate. This reflected a marked weakening in consumption growth and a decline in housing activity, as well as the impact of wildfires in many regions of the country. Household credit growth slowed as the impact of higher rates restrained spending among a wider range of borrowers. Final domestic demand grew by 1% in the second quarter, supported by government spending and a boost to business investment. The tightness in the labour market has continued to ease gradually. However, wage growth has remained around 4% to 5%.
“Recent CPI data indicate that inflationary pressures remain broad-based. After easing to 2.8% in June, CPI inflation moved up to 3.3% in July, averaging close to 3% in line with the Bank’s projection. With the recent increase in gasoline prices, CPI inflation is expected to be higher in the near term before easing again. Year-over-year and three-month measures of core inflation are now both running at about 3.5%, indicating there has been little recent downward momentum in underlying inflation. The longer high inflation persists, the greater the risk that elevated inflation becomes entrenched, making it more difficult to restore price stability.
“With recent evidence that excess demand in the economy is easing, and given the lagged effects of monetary policy, Governing Council decided to hold the policy interest rate at 5% and continue to normalize the Bank’s balance sheet. However, Governing Council remains concerned about the persistence of underlying inflationary pressures, and is prepared to increase the policy interest rate further if needed. Governing Council will continue to assess the dynamics of core inflation and the outlook for CPI inflation. In particular, we will be evaluating whether the evolution of excess demand, inflation expectations, wage growth and corporate pricing behavior are consistent with achieving the 2% inflation target. The Bank remains resolute in its commitment to restoring price stability for Canadians.”
The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is October 25.
“No surprises today as the BoC held the policy rate at 5%. With last week’s GDP release showing a contraction in the second quarter, and growing signs of a cooling in the job market, there was little pressure for the BoC to keep raising rates. Our expectation is that this period of “weak economic growth” is set to continue over the rest of this year and into early 2024,” said James Orlando, Senior Economist with TD Economics.
“Although the BoC has moved back to the sidelines, it doesn’t mean it will let up on its hawkish rhetoric. It needs to make sure that financial conditions remain tight for the economy to continue to slow. Markets are still in the ‘will they, won’t they’ camp, with pricing for another hike around 50%. Given that the slowdown looks to continue, we think the bar for another hike has been raised.”
Douglas Porter, Chief Economist with BMO Economics, said the Bank has certainly left the door ajar to the possibility of more hikes, but unless growth rebounds in Q3—which we doubt—the BoC is likely done with rate hikes.
“The softer growth backdrop will bring inflation back to 2% over time in our view and in the BoC’s models, even if the short-term CPI outlook is much more problematic. Holding rates steady at the next meeting will require some nerve as the next two CPI reports could see headline inflation approach 4% (the next one is due Sep/19), and will likely require still-chilly growth and some calming in core inflation,” he said.
“With this pause on increasing interest rates, the Bank of Canada concludes that interest rates seem high enough to bring inflation back down. This means they recognize the early signs of weaknesses in the economy and labour market,” said David-Alexandre Brassard, Chief Economist, CPA Canada. “Interest rates will remain high for a few more months and as they make their way through the economy, more consumers will be faced with higher debt payments.”
CPA Canada’s consumer debt survey shows that as many as one-third (33 per cent) of indebted Canadians admit they don’t understand the impact of rising or falling interest rates on their debt.
“This is particularly concerning as families struggle with payments on both mortgage and consumer debt,” said Carolyn Goodwin, CPA, Senior Manager, Social Impact at CPA Canada. “With 46 per cent of Canadians carrying non-mortgage debt, it’s important to tweak your budget to reduce your cost of borrowing and save money in the long run.”
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)
Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.
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Shopify Opens the Door to China
A partnership with JD.com gives the platform’s merchants access to the world’s second-largest economy.
Here are today’s highlights:
Big companies expect customers to continue accepting higher prices.
“Hot-desking” can save companies money but alienate employees.
Here’s one reason minority-owned banks are disappearing.
Shopify is partnering with JD.com, the ecommerce giant, to help American merchants sell goods in China: “The deal marks a significant step up in Shopify’s China expansion and is another step in JD’s internationalization efforts. JD said it will open an ‘accelerated channel’ for brands on Shopify to begin selling via its cross-border e-commerce site in China. Merchants can set up shop in three-to-four weeks rather than the typical 12 months that it takes foreign brands to begin selling in China, JD said. JD will handle the price conversion as well as logistics from U.S. to China. JD has its own logistics arm with a vast network of delivery workers and warehouses which the company sees as a competitive advantage over its rival Alibaba.” READ MORE
Amazon will open a brick-and-mortar clothing store: “The first Amazon Style store, located in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, California, will open its doors later this year, the company announced Thursday. The store will feature women’s and men’s apparel, shoes, and accessories from a mix of well-known and emerging brands, with prices catering to a wide range of shoppers.”
“When shoppers walk into the store, they’ll see ‘display items,’ featuring just one size and color of a particular product; the remaining inventory for each product will be kept in the back of the store.”
“After logging into the Amazon app on a smartphone, they’ll scan a QR code on the item to view additional sizes, colors, product ratings and other information, such as personalized recommendations for similar items.”
“After scanning the QR code on an item, shoppers can click a button in the Amazon app to add the item to a fitting room or send it to a pickup counter.”
“In the fitting rooms, Amazon has added touch-screen displays, which shoppers can use to rate items or request different styles or sizes to be delivered to their fitting room.” READ MORE
Big companies expect customers to keep accepting higher prices: “Procter & Gamble is betting the world’s consumers will remain undeterred by higher prices on household staples from Pampers diapers to Gillette razors. The Cincinnati-based consumer-products company said sales increased 6 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a year earlier, fueled in part by the company’s largest average price increases since the spring of 2019. Executives on Wednesday said its price increases will continue throughout 2022, and predicted higher profitability and improved margins in coming quarters even as labor, freight and raw-materials costs continue to balloon due to the global supply-chain turmoil.”
“‘The consumer is very resilient and very focused on these categories of clean home and health and hygiene,’ P&G finance chief Andre Schulten said in an interview.”
“Mr. Schulten said that in addition to absorbing higher prices, consumers also are switching to pricier, higher-end products, such as trading liquid laundry detergent for costlier single-dose pods.” READ MORE
THE COVID ECONOMY
Even if it transitions to endemic, Covid will continue to exact a price: “This new normal won’t be the same as the old normal: Endemic Covid-19 will still take a toll on health, work and mobility; the only question is how big. Predictions about the end of the pandemic have a dispiriting record. Hopes that vaccines would bring herd immunity, that more transmissible variants would always be less deadly, or that the Delta wave would be the last, were misplaced. So be wary of forecasts that Covid-19 is about to become endemic. And if it does, ‘endemic does not mean really low,’ notes Caroline Colijn, a mathematician specializing in infectious disease at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. ‘It just means the system has reached some kind of stable state. Endemic could mean high levels of infections.’”
“Endemic Covid-19 could thus become a lasting ‘supply shock’ that degrades how much economies can produce, similar to the surge in oil prices in the 1970s.”
“In the past year, workers have reported declining satisfaction with their wages and a rising ‘reservation wage,’ that is, how much they would have to be paid to accept a new job, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”
“Nursing homes have boosted hourly wages 14 percent since the start of the pandemic, yet staffing has plummeted 12 percent, impairing their ability to accept new patients. Such shortages impose a cost that doesn’t show up in gross domestic product.” READ MORE
Starbucks is dropping its vax-or-test mandate: “Starbucks told its employees in a memo on Tuesday that they would no longer be required to be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus testing. Just two weeks earlier, the company had detailed the requirement and set a deadline of Feb. 9. The Supreme Court’s decision did not prohibit companies from keeping their vaccine rules in place, and many will continue rolling out stringent Covid-19 safety protocols, especially as Covid case counts remain high.”
“A November poll of 543 companies by the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson found that 57 percent either required or planned to require Covid vaccines, including 32 percent that would do so only if OSHA’s rule took effect.”
“Companies weighing vaccine requirements have grappled with a number of factors, according to Ms. Sonneborn, including concerns about labor shortages, the political perception of mandates and the need to keep workers safe.” READ MORE
Opinion: Minority-owned banks are disappearing, and the federal government bears some responsibility: “At the moment the Great Recession hit in 2008, America boasted 215 minority-owned banks. Today, only 146 so-called ‘minority depository institutions’ remain. That decline, a trend that might be termed ‘The Great Winnowing,’ began well before the bottom fell out of the nation’s housing market, and it reflects, in part, a broader trend toward consolidation within the world of finance. But Washington has also played an egregious role. For decades, regulators have embraced a set of policies that, when recessions arise, force the closure of struggling lenders that serve poorer and marginalized communities. In practice, this has the effect of allowing investors to purchase the closed lenders’ assets (loans and properties) while they’re devalued.”
“This vicious cycle has steadily worsened inequality because those assets — now owned by outsiders — skyrocket in value when the market recovers.”
“Federal policy and practice, in other words, ensures that the rich get richer and poor get poorer during each turn of the economic cycle.” READ MORE
“Hot-desking” can save businesses money—but also alienate employees: “Hot-desking is one of the most popular hybrid work-related changes employers have embraced over the past two years, according to numerous interviews with consultants, human resources executives and employees. The concept has gained mainstream popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred to a large extent by public-health requirements on physical distancing – existing layouts of many offices simply did not have enough room to seat employees at least six feet apart.”
“For employers, however, there’s an added bonus to hot-desking: It’s a savings tool. Why have 100 desks for 100 employees when many of them only come in fewer than three times a week?”
“For employees, however, the idea of not having your own designated desk has garnered mixed reactions. The Globe interviewed more than a dozen people who work in office jobs in various professional services companies in Toronto, and many said their workspaces feel impersonal because of hot-desking.”
“Even some HR professionals have started admitting the pivot to hoteling has left some employees disappointed. And organizational behavior experts say there is evidence that working in an open space without a designated desk or room erodes the culture of an organization.” READ MORE
Facing a shortage of truck drivers, a pilot program turns to teenagers: “During the pilot program, which can last up to three years, as many as 3,000 young truckers at a time will be required to complete 400 hours of cumulative probationary time with an experienced driver in the passenger seat. After that, until they turn 21, they will be able to drive solo but under continuous monitoring by trucking companies. The legal age for truckers who drive across state lines is currently 21, but those 18 and over can drive commercial trucks within state lines everywhere in the country except Hawaii.” READ MORE
Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, joins the work-from-anywhere movement: “Chesky, who announced his plans in a Twitter thread Tuesday, has been vocal about the pandemic changing the nature of travel as employees gain more flexibility to work from anywhere. Long-term stays, or those that are more than one month, were the company’s fastest-growing category during the third quarter and accounted for 20 percent of the nights booked. In November, Airbnb announced new tools to accommodate the work-from-anywhere lifestyle, including the option to search for listings up to a year in advance and verified internet speeds.”
“‘This trend is kind of like a decentralization of living, and it’s changing the identity of travel,’ Chesky said on Twitter. ‘So that’s why I’m living on Airbnb. It’ll be fun, but more importantly it will help us improve the experience for people who can now live anywhere.’” READ MORE
THE 21 HATS PODCAST
I Want to Double Sales This Year: This week, we introduce another new member of the 21 Hats Podcast team, Liz Picarazzi, who talks Shawn Busse and Paul Downs through a series of challenges she’s faced at her business, Citibin. Among those challenges: why she outsourced her manufacturing to China, why she’s trying to bring it back, why she’s struggling to find an American fabricator that wants her business, why she thinks she wasted all of the money she spent last year on digital marketing, how she managed to double sales anyway, and where she found the right person to handle the aspects of running Citibin that she doesn’t think she’s good at.
You can subscribe to The 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.
If you see a story that business owners should know about, hit reply and send me the link. If you got something out of this email, you can click the heart symbol, you can click the comment icon below, and you can share it with a friend. Thanks for reading, everyone. — Loren


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Global Market Comments for January 14, 2009 Featured Trades (C), 1) The financial supermarket is an idea whose time has clearly gone, as we learn that it was just a strategy to lose more money, in more exotic places, in more exciting ways. The sale of Citibank’s (C) crown jewels at fire sale prices, like the deal with Morgan Stanley for Smith Barney, just to get enough cash to make it through the quarter, marks the beginning of the end. I believe that we are witnessing an effective voluntary dissolution of (C) to head off an involuntary chapter 11 filing. US bank earnings forecasts are still lost in Lala land. Expect more surprise shotgun marriages between banks, and dilution of existing bank common shareholders. 2) The Citibank developments, which have been unfolding since Monday, stuck a thumb in the eye of the stock market’s fragile 2009 rally. The 857 level in the S&P 500 a make or break point for the market, and traders had no problem taking it through the key number like a hot knife through butter. Bank and railroad sub indexes have already broken through their November lows, and retest for the main indeces is now in the cards. The markets are now telling us that the ‘end of the world’ trade is back in play. 3) I attended a luncheon today for old college economics professor, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. The bad news is that we will lose another three million jobs this year, taking unemployment easily into double digits. The good news is that we are not entering another Great Depression, or even a Japanese style lost decade. We are in the midst of a cyclical recession, albeit a very deep one, from which we will emerge in 2010. Part of the problem is that the share of earnings of the top 1% of American income earners has soared from 8% in 1980 to 23% in 2006. These people don’t spend their money, they invest it, effectively removing it from the retail economy. 4) In July, when gas was at $4.49 a gallon, I told you to buy a Hummer. Now I’m telling you to go skiing. Friends tell me that despite the best snow in years, the slopes at Vail are deserted. According to my old CPA, who is now the CFO of Vail Resorts, visitors are down 5.8%, lift ticket sales are down 7.8%, and hotel bookings are down 14.8%. Parking for private jets at the airport is easily available for the first time in years. Indeed, Costco is now offering two for one discount lift passes for almost every ski resort at Lake Tahoe. 5) Crude dives. More than 325 million barrels of crude are now in storage worldwide, a new record. This is equivalent to four days of global consumption, 16 days of US consumption, and 32 days of US imports, and the world is running out of storage. 6) With the Big Three carmakers now in their final death throes, there is one car maker whose sales are still booming. Smart Cars saw December sales jump 24% MOM to a total for the year of 25,000 units. With gas prices low, dealers are still able to market the 30 mpg vehicles as a hedge against future gas price spikes. At $12,000 they are so cheap they don’t need financing, are environmentally friendly, easy to park, a new fashion item, and are ‘cute.’
QUOTE OF THE DAY
‘Ten billion, here, ten billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money,’ said the late senator Everett Dirksen.