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The report’s recommendation to expand tourism to increase economic growth comes on the heels of a recent rebasing of gross domestic product (GDP) and the latest household budget survey, which challenges the traditional view of the Tanzanian economy. With the income per capita at $950 and the poverty rate down from 33% to 28% in 2012, the country is closer to reaching middle-income status, according to the report. In 2014, the report notes that the economy continued to expand by around 7% with controlled inflation averaging 5%.
Despite significant tourism growth and currently employing around a half million people, many Tanzanians do not reap the benefits; about one-third of the country’s population still lives below the poverty line. According to the report, not only is tourism a booming global industry, it is also capable of creating a large number of jobs, setting the stage for a new tourism strategy that reaches more Tanzanians.
To help the country reach its goal to increase tourism revenue eightfold by 2025, the report outlines three pillars to address current tourism challenges;
- Pillar I: Diversification of Geographic Locations and Tourism Segments
Currently, tourism caters to the high-value tourist who can pay several thousand dollars to see animals while at exclusive resorts in two specific locations: Northern circuits around Arusha and Zanzibar. Diversification of the industry would include both expanding geographic options and other tourist attractions that meet the expectations of a broader range of tourists, such as beach activities, cultural as well as business tourism.
- Pillar II: Integration of Tourism Activities at Existing Attractions
Arguably, Tanzania’s tourism industry is not creating enough high-value, productive jobs for local workers, with an average worker making only one-third of what his or her counterpart makes in Kenya. In addition, many resorts rely on imported materials, equipment and food. Proactive policies, developed jointly by the public and private sectors, are needed to address these two areas with the goal of enhancing local skills and quality to meet the standards of this highly competitive industry.
- Pillar III: Improvement in the Quality of Governance
The tourism industry is currently constrained by the imposition of multiple taxes and levies that discourage investors, particularly small investors and increases opportunities for rent seeking and corruption. This pillar involves the implementation of a fair, business-friendly taxation system and the development of transparent redistribution mechanisms, including to local stakeholders.
If the goal of increasing tourism is achieved, the increased pressure on the environment will also present some challenges that will need to be managed, according to the report. These include managing uncontrolled poaching of giraffes and elephants, competition for water resources and land that can generate l conflicts of interests between farmers, hydropower operations and the preservation of natural ecosystems that support Tanzania’s tourism.


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British fashion professionals including Christopher Bailey from Burberry and Caroline Rush, the CEO of the British Fashion Council give their take on how Brexit might impact the UK fashion industry.
Guests at luxury label Burberry are treated to a live performance from 80’s singing sensation Alison Moyet as models sashayed down the catwalk in cut out dresses, tailored coats and black lace designs.
Burberry designer Christopher Bailey takes inspiration from British folk craft for the fashion label’s latest collection; says he is “so proud” of Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne.
(Reuters Business Report) – Britain’s Burberry brings London Fashion Week even closer to home.
For the first time its catwalk show has been broadcast live to the world via the internet.

domain: news


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- Top 10 Car Features Women Love - October 7, 2023
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DETROIT — Automakers are expected to keep up a brisk pace of new-vehicle introductions over the next four years as the industry recovers from supply constraints and continues pivoting toward electric vehicles, according to the annual “Cars Wars” study of the U.S. product pipeline.
John Murphy, a senior auto analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said he expects automakers to launch roughly 245 new models over the next four years. That averages out to 61 per year — 50 percent higher than the average over the past two decades.
Of those new vehicles, 60 percent will be either electric or hybrid while 40 percent will be internal combustion.
“It is still very clear from our analysis that the advent of alternative powertrain vehicles, most notably battery-electric, is here, which is encouraging,” the study said.
The new model mix from 2023 to 2026 is expected to be 78 percent crossovers and light trucks and 22 percent cars.
The annual study, published since 1991, is based on the notion that newer vehicles directly drive increases in market share for automakers and thus an automaker with a higher replacement rate has a better chance to increase market share.
This year’s report says the industry’s average replacement rate, 23 percent, is elevated over traditional levels, largely because of new EV startups launching vehicles that are offsetting the below-average replacement rates from some established automakers. Still, Murphy said the new players aren’t guaranteed to be successful.
“Generally, we have given the companies the benefit of the doubt that they will launch models in their targeted time frames, but we remain skeptical around their ability to execute production/sales at high volume,” the report said. “Additionally, we expect a fierce competitive environment will manifest from incumbent OEMs also ramping up their alternative powertrain product launches, which could limit success for these newer entrants.”
Other findings in this year’s report include:
- Among the Detroit 3, General Motors has a replacement rate roughly on a par with the industry average while Stellantis trails all automakers.
- Japanese automakers each have a “somewhat volatile product cadence” over the next four years. Toyota is the relative leader among the group, while Nissan lags and Honda is in between, the study says.
- Replacement rates for Hyundai and Kia remain ahead of most incumbent automakers, although the study says they have a slow cadence over the next few years that ramps up through 2026.
- European automakers’ total replacement rate is slightly below average over the next four years, with Mercedes-Benz leading Volkswagen and BMW.


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After 1,500 hours on the picket line, Starbucks workers at a store on Boston University’s campus ended their strike last Wednesday, declaring victory. Their manager will be replaced, as they had demanded. The baristas had alleged a litany of offenses by the manager, ranging from homophobia to simultaneous hour cuts, short-staffing, and the hiring of new staff.
Not only will the Starbucks at 874 Commonwealth Avenue get a new manager, but workers say the local district manager has committed to including baristas in an investigation into the former manager’s conduct, something the Starbucks workers were determined to achieve. District managers oversee store managers in Starbucks’s corporate hierarchy.
The baristas had also sought more input into how the shop runs on matters like scheduling. While they won no firm guarantees, such as a management-labor committee, workers were convinced that the district manager will operate in good faith moving forward, and that they have the muscle to make sure that he does.
“It felt like a win to us. We thought we could return to work as long as we stay vigilant to make sure that these talks aren’t just talks and actually happen,” says Nora Rossi, a shift manager at the store.
The strikers faced their fair share of resistance, notably from the company and law enforcement.
The strike, which lasted 64 days, ended just weeks after the workers were told by the district manager that “the company was never going to talk to us about our demands, and was never going to negotiate with anybody in the union,” says Spencer Costigan, an employee at the Boston Starbucks. (Costigan was interviewed prior to the end of the strike.)
It was the first open-ended strike in the brief history of Starbucks Workers United (SBWU). The national barista-led movement has unionized 240 company-run stores across the country since last December. While the pace of SBWU’s expansion has slowed, dozens more store elections are still scheduled in the coming months. On Monday, Starbucks proposed bargaining dates for a first contract with 238 of its 240 unionized stores.
Among the major developments that ended the Boston workers’ revolt was a company flyer posted in other area stores on Sunday that stated that unionized stores would not be subject to a new availability policy that workers at non-union stores are now forced to labor under.
According to the two-month-old policy, workers must make themselves available for 150 percent of the hours they wish to work. Starbucks Workers United says that Starbucks illegally applied the policy to unionized stores by unilaterally imposing it without bargaining at numerous stores around the country.
“We’re not asking for anything drastic with this strike, we’re asking that the company follow the law,” says Costigan.
Moreover, the campaign says that district managers and store managers often modify the policy according to their own preferences. At the store at 874 Commonwealth Avenue, says Costigan, the erstwhile store manager asked staff to be available for upward of 35 hours per week, while granting a maximum of 18 hours of work to any given barista.
“A lot of our workers are students who couldn’t give the availability Starbucks had suddenly started asking for,” says Rossi.
Unions and rank-and-file members provided crucial backing for the strike in Boston. The most notable support came from other Starbucks workers, with several other Massachusetts stores joining in weeklong solidarity strikes. More than 100 Starbucks workers in the region were simultaneously on strike in early September.
But baristas weren’t the only ones backing the Starbucks picket on BU’s campus. Unionized truck drivers were a crucial ally.
“The Teamsters have been the linchpin to all of this … we maintained the 24-hour picket lines so they couldn’t make any deliveries to our store like food or milk or anything like that. So [Starbucks] couldn’t reopen even if they wanted to,” says Rossi.
She added that Teamsters have a contract clause that allows them to not cross picket lines.
Boston University graduate students who recently announced their intention to unionize were also key supporters of the Starbucks workers, particularly with students flooding back on campus several weeks ago. Barista Taylor Dickerson says that when students returned, the baristas identified community education as a key need, and the grad students played a role in providing that.
“It’s kind of a cool give-and-take between the two unions … we’re both offering support to each other, they’re coming by our picket all the time, they’re educating their people and everybody on BU’s campus about what we’re doing,” says Dickerson, interviewed prior to the end of the strike.
The striking workers received an outpouring of community support on the picket lines, in donations to their strike funds, and in other ways. Local political organizations like the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter provided presence on the picket line and other support. Further, politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and City Councilor Kendra Lara provided strong backing for the baristas.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though. The strikers faced their fair share of resistance, notably from the company and law enforcement. At midnight on August 8, according to Costigan, the Boston Police Department received an anonymous call to show up at the picket line at 5:15 a.m.
“The only people who would know to have somebody come out at five in the morning would be the company,” says Costigan. “So it had to be management.”
While two officers in a BPD cruiser observed, Starbucks employees with a U-Haul lugged away the patio furniture that workers and supporters had been using for weeks. The police maintained a presence at the site in the weeks to come, even parking a paddy wagon next to the picket on several occasions.
On September 15, after being threatened with trespassing charges by the company, the strikers moved their picket to the sidewalk. Organizers later tweeted that police “harassed and filmed picketers, refused to show their badges, and made misleading statements about the law.”
In the end, though, the baristas won, not Starbucks.
“It’s been pretty life-changing,” says Rossi. “A lot of us were very disheartened and bitter by how we were treated during the COVID pandemic, by Starbucks cutting our hours and short-staffing again, even when people were desperate for this paycheck.”
And what’s next?
“Just remaining vigilant and taking care of each other and taking care of ourselves,” she says.


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In a bid to find the next big startup ideas in Australia, Larry Kastelman of Oxygen Ventures offered a prize of up to $5m in funding.
5 finalists were selected out of 300+ applications received from startups around Australia and internationally, and they were invited to pitch live at the sell-out event held last night at the Deakin Edge theatre in Melbourne’s Federation Square.
Each had 5 minutes to pitch, then face a grilling from the judges that made Dragons’ Den look like kindergarten.
The room was full of entrepreneurs, investors, startups of all sizes, and service providers, all buzzing with excitement as the finalists presented.
- Blue Sky: an app that aggregates retailers together in an “app-mall” which provides users with a consistent shopping experience, no matter which retailer they’re visiting.
- WeTeachMe: an online marketplace for booking in-person courses that does all the admin and marketing for course providers.
- eCal: a system that allows marketers to reach into your calendar (with your permission) to keep you up-to-date about events you’re interested in attending.
- Black Delta: developers of the high-octane Kart Sim racing game.
- eTaskr: seeking to re-invent the way large companies work by creating an internal eLance/Freelancer environment where employees can publish details of jobs they’d like help with (when they’re busy), and volunteer to help your colleagues and learn new skills (when you’re not as busy).
Each one had significant traction already and were seeking funding of between $450K and $2.5m.
First, the winner of the People’s Choice award was announced: Black Delta. Not a huge surprise given the predominantly male, tech audience!
But finding an overall winner proved much more difficult. The judges discussion was described as “robust” and they couldn’t agree on who the outright winner should be … so instead they announced a draw between eCal and WeTeachMe (the extra trophy is in the mail!).
Even though these two were the outright winners, Kastelman announced that Oxygen Ventures would be speaking to each of the finalists to see if they could reach agreement on terms … so everyone’s a winner!
According to Kastelman;
“Oxygen Ventures is always looking for great startups, with world-changing ideas, that we can partner with to grow the company. We’re not a traditional VC. We provide funding plus we become closely involved in the development of our portfolio companies to help them succeed.”
All in all, it was a great night, a fantastic opportunity for each of the startups, and a coming-of-age for the Australian startup scene.
(Ed: This special article was written by Jeff Robson who actually attended the Big Pitch in Melbourne on 17 June 2014.)


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In the past few years, Mozilla’s open-source Firefox browser has done what most people would have considered impossible, which is chip away at Microsoft’s choke-hold on the browser market. Considering Microsoft’s advantages in this market–Internet Explorer comes pre-installed on nearly every PC–this is nothing short of amazing.
Estimates of Firefox’s current penetration vary, but most put the browser’s share at more than 15% (with 100 million+ downloads). On SAI, which obviously has tech-savvy readers, Firefox accounts for a full 42.3% of visits, only half a point less than IE’s 42.7% (Apple’s Safari accounts for most of the rest, with 13%). This shows the extent of Firefox’s encroachment on what was once Microsoft’s turf, as well as the amount of market growth opportunity left.
So how much is Firefox/Mozilla worth?
Any analysis has to start with the fact that, so far, Mozilla hasn’t made much of an effort to build a business. The company’s main revenue stream is simply per-browser carriage revenue for that little Google search box you see in the upper right corner of your browser tool bar–about $1 per download, according to some estimates. Even without slamming the accelerator to the floor, there’s a lot more where that came from (advertising on the default landing page, for example).
Current Estimated Financial Performance
Still, according to the NYT in May, 2007, the for-profit company the foundation set up to handle Firefox has generated more than $100 million in revenue over the past few years: $6 million in 2004, $52 million in 2005, and so on. A reasonable continuation of that ramp would suggest that Mozilla Corp. might now have a run-rate of at least $100 million to $200 million per year. And, again, that’s before it has really started trying to build a business.
What about costs? The same NYT article put Mozilla’s employee count at about 90, with more hiring planned. So let’s say there are now 125 full-time employees at a fully loaded cost of $150,000 per employee ($19 million a year), plus another, say, $30 million a year in facilities, services, equipment, and other costs.
That adds up to costs of about $50 million a year, leaving Mozilla with annual profit of $50 million-$150 million on a $100-$200 million run-rate. Yes, if/when the company decided to go public, costs would rise and profits would drop (Sarbanes Oxley alone would burn $5 million), but revenue would rise, too. So suffice it say that this is already a pretty nice business.
How much is the current business worth? Let’s tax that profit range and apply multiples: $50-$150 million pre-tax gets you about $35 million – $100 million after tax. A business this exciting would probably trade for at least 30X-50X current profits, which would put you at $1.5 billion to $4 billion using the mid-point of the multiple range. Based on the valuations of other companies–$200 billion for Google, $7.5 billion for Facebook (discount that crazy Microsoft investment by at least 50% to get to fair-market value)–this seems very conservative, and it’s still a boatload of money.
When Will Firefox/Mozilla Go Public?
Mozilla’s earnest Mitchell Baker and friends will, of course, publicly say “NEVER!” But let’s be serious. Why wouldn’t the Mozilla Foundation, which presumably exists to do good for the world, want to be the proud possessor of several billion dollars worth of public company stock? The Google Foundation, also a good-doing 501c3, certainly hasn’t done badly with its own stash of GOOG. And, over time, like any smart foundation, Mozilla and Google will likely want diversify their holdings so they can continue to do good for decades.
Also, as well as Firefox is doing as a part-time love project, it could do even better with some major marketing, deal-making, and distribution power behind it. Every company in the world (save Microsoft) should want a Microsoft (and Google) competitor to succeed. So every company should want to at least consider a partnership with Firefox.
And what about those thousands of open-source coders who have built Firefox? What’s in it for them? Won’t they scream bloody murder?
Some of them will, yes. And some of them will storm off and found other “pure” open-source projects and hang out with communist billionaire Craig Newmark and grouse about how the world’s going to the dogs.
But others–dare we say most?–will continue to contribute and carry on the Firefox anti-IE fight, especially after Mozilla distributes pre-IPO shares to the most prolific contributors (vesting over four years, of course, with more options granted every year, so as to ensure ongoing loyalty).
Go ahead and call us retro: We still think Mozilla should buy the Netscape brand and site from Time Warner and rename the company Netscape (and the browser Netscape Firefox). But even if the company sticks with “Mozilla,” we’re looking forward to the IPO.
Henry Blodget is a writer, co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief for The Silicon Alley Insider
Compliments of The Silicon Alley Insider


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The Jewish High Holy Days start on Sept. 22, 2017, with the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and lasts until sundown on Sept. 30 when Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement ends. The eight-day period is expected to account for about 20 percent of all kosher wine sold in 2017, according to an executive with the largest importer of such wines.
The timing of both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, like most Jewish holidays (and the Christian Easter holiday), is based on the lunar calendar, so the date changes annually. Sometimes, it can begin in the first week of September.
Jay Buchsbaum, executive vice president of marketing at Royal Wine Corporation, said the relatively late timing of the holidays this year has sparked an uptick in sales.
“This year it is later in September… People are back from vacation and ready to buy and have more time to do it, “Buchsbaum said. “Whenever this happens we expect a very strong season. Coupled with the general growth in kosher wine in both quality and quantity and we expect as much as a 20 percent increase in sales.”
While kosher wine sales account for a fraction of the total wine sold in the United States, the kosher-wine industry as a whole has seen growth of about 20 percent per year over the past five years. Gabriel Geller, Royal’s public relations director, attributes the growth to two trends: One, wine consumers in general are discovering Israeli wine, the majority of which is kosher, and tow, American wine drinkers who keep kosher drink more per capita than the average wine consumer.
“Americans drink 8–10 liters [of wine] annually, while [kosher wine drinkers] consume 15–20,” Geller said.
Kosher wines’ reputation and reality have moved from sweet, syrupy brands, such as Manischewitz and Kedem, to dry wines of world-class quality. In addition to wine from Israel, quality kosher wines are produced in California, France, Italy, Spain, South Africa and New Zealand.
But since this is the New Year, the company has “our biggest bump in sweet and dessert wines since many celebrating the holiday drink a sweet wine specifically as a ‘sign and hope for a sweet New Year,’” Buchsbaum said.
“Reds still reign supreme, with rosé now taking a big chunk, and whites are actually in third place this year,” he said.
But Geller noted, “Rosé is definitely a trend that has reached the kosher market…In one year we from nine to 26 rosés in the portfolio and it’s a big hit.”
Published: September 13, 2017


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The Quesalupa has been a big hit on the Taco Bell menu since its debut in 2016, so a tasty variation is definitely a welcome treat for fans. If you’re in Toledo, Ohio, you’re in luck, as Taco Bell is testing a new Fajita Quesalupa there.
This new version of the Quesalupa boasts a fire roasted Fajita Quesalupa shell, poblano sauce, lettuce, cheddar, tomatoes and of course, plenty of cheese. Check it out now at participating Taco Bell locations in Toledo, Ohio for a limited time.
Last year Taco Bell tested a new Cantina Crispy Melt Taco at select Detroit-area locations. After a successful test run, the new item will now enjoy a nationwide release.
The Cantina Crispy Melt Taco is a refreshing option on the Taco Bell menu as it boasts a crispy white corn shell that houses seasoned beef, reduced-fat sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, melted nacho cheese sauce, and a three-cheese blend. Truly this is a melty heaven.
Veggie lovers can swap out the seasoned beef with black beans.
To help promote this nationwide launch, Taco Bell is offering Rewards members exclusive first dibs to the new Cantina Crispy Melt Taco from October 5 through October 6.All fans have to do is use the Taco Bell mobile app for pickup orders at participating locations.
The Cantina Crispy Melt Taco will be available to all starting Thursday, October 7, 2021.
Taco Bell fans in Arizona have plenty to be excited about, as the brand is testing out a new 30-day taco subscription service in the state. Specifically dubbed the Taco Lover’s Pass, it’s a taco subscription service that gives users one taco a day for 30 days, exclusively through the Taco Bell app.
Here’s all the details we know about the Taco Lover’s Pass:
The Taco Lover’s Pass is a digitally exclusive offering that gives fans the chance to satisfy their taco cravings every day for 30 days. To purchase, users will add the pass from the Online Exclusives section of the Taco Bell app menu to their cart and complete the regular checkout process.
With the pass, consumers can redeem one taco a day, choosing from Taco Bell originals like the Crunchy Taco, Spicy Potato Soft Taco, Crunchy Supreme Taco, Soft Supreme Taco, Doritos Locos Tacos and the Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme via the Taco Bell app.
The pass is currently being tested for a limited time in Tucson, Arizona. (Prices vary between $5 and $10 depending on a user’s location).
Below is a list of participating locations in Arizona where you can get the Taco Lover’s Pass:
Back in February of this year we reported on Taco Bell testing a new Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco item in Charlotte and Nashville. To recall, this menu innovation was buttermilk fried chicken coated in tortilla chips, paired with a creamy chipotle sauce, with the jalapeño buttermilk-marinated chicken nestled in a puffy bread that’s shaped like a taco.
Starting September 2, this new Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco will be available nationwide at participating Taco Bell locations for a limited time.
Now the uniqueness in this item lay in its ambiguity. It looked more like a sandwich but folded like a taco — an unexpected head scratcher that eventually lead to its popularity in the test markets.
Whether the Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco is a taco or a sandwich is a toss up and really worth some discussion, which is why Taco Bell has enlisted actual debate teams to make the call — on September 4 Taco Bell will use two debate teams from the University of Georgia and Clemson University to go head to head in the name of ‘Team it’s a Sandwich’ and ‘Team it’s a Taco’.
“The Great Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco Debate” will air on Saturday, Sept. 4 during the Georgia vs Clemson primetime college football game on ABC 7:30 p.m. ET via a sixty second and three thirty second ad spots.
Taco Bell is a standout when it comes to innovation in the fast food game. They’ve proven their forward-thinking prowess with a constant flow of new menu items and tweaks to their brand. This time around, Taco Bell is looking to modernize the fast food drive-thru experience.
This new restaurant concept is called ‘Taco Bell Defy’, a 3,000 square foot space in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota dedicated to keeping the digital consumers’ experience in mind.
Taco Bell Defy was built in partnership with Taco Bell franchisee Border Foods and Minneapolis-based Vertical Works Inc. and changes the drive-thru experience with three of four lanes dedicated to mobile or delivery order pick-ups, with skip-the-line service for Taco Bell app customers. Mobile orders can be redeemed with digital check-in screens through unique QR codes, while orders are fulfilled through a proprietary contactless lift system. What’s more, two-way audio and video technology creates a seamless and contactless process between customers and staff.
Nacho Fries have been one of Taco Bell’s most beloved innovations in most recent years, with different iterations of it always received favorably by fans. Now Nacho Fries are being reimagined as new Loaded Taco Fries.
This time Nacho Fries get transformed into Loaded Taco Fries by being topped with seasoned beef, crunchy red strips, nacho cheese sauce, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and spicy ranch sauce.
Fans can now order this new item, available nationwide, a la carte or in a burrito for $2.99.
Whether it be a considerable deficit in chicken wings or boba, food shortages have stifled the restaurant industry this year. It’s a tough beat to catch for an industry already ravaged by the pandemic, with ripple effects affecting all facets of businesses.
Taco Bell has particularly suffered from shortages lately, with their beef, chicken, tortilla, and hot sauce supply being affected most. The chain was forced to address the issue with a message posted to their site apologizing to fans, “Sorry if we can’t feed your current crave. Due to national ingredient shortages and delivery days, we may be out of some items.”
The shortage of hot sauce has been the most worrisome to customers, with many upset about its scarcity.
It’s a rough time for those trying to Live Más, but another statement released by Taco Bell to CBS News offered more details on the situation: “Due to national transportation delays happening throughout most of the industry, we may temporarily be out of some items. Apologies for the inconvenience and we hope to feed fans’ current Taco Bell cravings again soon.”
Taco Bell is adding on to its robust menu with new Flatbread Tacos. The Flatbread Tacos will come in two versions: Loaded Chicken Flatbread Taco and Beefy Potato Flatbread Taco.
According to Chew Boom, the newFlatbread Tacos will be available nationwide starting Thursday, July 22, 2021.
To drum up hype for the Flatbread Tacos’ nationwide launch, Taco Bell is giving Rewards Members early access to the new items from July 19 through July 21, 2021, through the Taco Bell mobile app.
It’s important to note that early access to the Flatbread Tacos is only available from July 19 to July 21 after 9:00 a.m. and can be redeemed only through the Taco Bell mobile app for in-store/drive-thru pickup orders, at participating US Taco Bell locations while supplies last, and is not available with a web pay-ahead, pickup order or delivery orders.


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Pokevision was the first big map and radar for finding Pokemon in the game Pokemon GO. Then Niantic and Nintendo ordered them to shut down – but the name remains. Today we’re running down the most updated list of alternatives to the original Pokevision – not so much because we recommend people use them – in fact we don’t. Instead, this is a list of Pokevision alternatives made to show legit players that there are tools out there that could be considered Pokemon GO cheats. This isn’t a tip line.
Amazingly it would appear that Skiplagged’s Pokemon GO radar system has survived the weekend. Generally services such as these are knocked out of commission by Niantic within days of being posted – but they seem to have kept up.
Skiplagged is also a service that helps users find flights across the country. They just happened to have stumbled upon a way to turn this Pokemon GO craze into a way to drive potential customers to their website – how handy for them!
SEE ALSO: Pokemon GO update incoming
Much like what we’ve seen from Pokevision and alternative services in the past, Pokemesh can show a user which Pokemon surround them.
The image you see at the head of this article comes from Pokemesh – the app. That’s the big differentiator here: Pokemesh allows the user to see this map while they’re using their smartphone – so it’s not just meant for spoofers.
What’s also interesting about Pokemesh is their button for Paypal. They’re accepting “donations,” which opens the door for Niantic and/or Nintendo to press charges for making money from their service with a 3rd-person app. We’ll see.
A service very similar to Pokemesh, this is another 3rd-party APK users are asked to install outside of the Google Play app market. As such, any users planning on using this – or any other 3rd-party APK downloaded outside the Google Play app store – to use extreme caution. SlashGear does not condone nor take any responsibility for the use of apps distributed outside the Google Play app store.
Users are asked by the developer of Pokiimap to follow development through his XDA Developers forum thread. He already expects his Github listing to be taken down soon.


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Asian media reports unanimously that AMD will significantly raise the prices of the acquired company Xilinx. In the best case, there is talk of 8 percent, but certain product groups are said to be 25 percent more expensive.
AMD emphasizes that this is how they want to recover the increased costs and investments in a stable supply chain the group in a letter. The price increases will be applied to all affected products from January 9, 2023, even those that have already been ordered and entered in the backlog, but customers will still have to wait for this due to the long delivery time.
Almost all Xilinx product series are increasing in price, with the exception of their most advanced solution based on a 7nm process. Here the price should have been set correspondingly higher from the outset, the greatest shortage and highest price spiral recently prevailed more in the ranges from 28 to 45 nm. Ultimately, the 25 percent additional costs apply here, while at the lower end it is “only” 8 percent are.
The fact that it affects the mature processes, as the older manufacturing solutions are called in the industry, is nothing new. This is exactly where countless car manufacturers are on the hunt for chips, but the production capacities in this area have been expanded only minimally or not at all for years. That is currently changing, even industry giants such as TSMC are building new factories explicitly only for 28 nm chips, one of which may even come to Germany “>Xilinx cost AMD almost USD 50 billion (in shares)
In the end, the acquisition of Xilinx not only cost AMD the previously forecast USD 35 billion, but also nearly $50 billion. However, the new branch of the company shows a stable economic situation and delivered a convincing picture in the last quarterly figures, although the integration into AMD costs money in addition to the operative business with a profit. The first products that combine the know-how of both sectors should be available in 2023.


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|The former Four Seasons Manele Bay will re-emerge in February as the Four Seasons Resort Lanai.|
Interest in visiting Honolulu and Hawaii’s Neighbor Islands is on the rise, according to MMGY Global’s 2015 Portrait of American Travelers, continuing to top all domestic destinations except National Parks. The modest gains Hawaii made in 2015 over 2014 may get a boost thanks to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
The luxury accommodation company is looking forward to a huge 2016 in the Aloha State as its first hotel in Oahu (the former JW Marriott Ihilani Ko Olina Resort & Spa) is slated to open in January, while two closed Four Seasons hotels on Lanai will be back in business. Although the Oahu news may have made a bigger splash, the Lanai news was probably more needed for Hawaii as a whole. The island, which is owned by billionaire Larry Ellison, closed all of its resorts, except the 11-room Hotel Lanai, this past spring.
On Lanai, with most of the hotel rooms on the island closed for renovation, arrivals declined in August by 20.3 percent while visitor expenditures were reduced by two-thirds (down 67.2 percent to $2 million) compared to August 2014, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
But you can expect those numbers to soar in 2016 as the Four Seasons Manele Bay is expected to re-open in February. When it re-opens, it will be renamed the Four Seasons Resort Lanai. Four Seasons, The Lodge at Koele, which is currently housing the construction workers for the island’s renovation projects, could also open in 2016. It was originally supposed to re-open in December. In fact, it was announced recently that Four Seasons Resort Lanai is now confirming reservations from March 1 onward.
Following a multimillion-dollar transformation, the Four Seasons Resort Lanai will offer guests an escape on their own 90,000-acre secluded Hawaiian island located nine miles from Maui.
The lobby-to-roof makeover includes 217 redesigned guest rooms, including 51 suites, newly refurbished lobbies and seating areas for contemplation, additional dining experiences, such as the award-winning Nobu Lanai and One Forty, American Steak, Hawaiian Seafood, a renovated spa, luxury retail boutiques featuring Missoni, Jimmy Choo and the Lanai Collection, a newly outfitted Pro Shop at the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Manele Golf Course, along with the addition of a luxury transfer fleet.
A lagoon-style, free-form central pool has a cascading waterfall and two spas. Lanai’s diverse topography creates an island of unique contrasts, with activities ranging from hiking, horseback riding and adrenaline-filled ATV adventures in the green upcountry lands to off-roading across red dirt roads, colored from volcanic rock.
Guests can enjoy ocean views on every hole of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Manele Golf Course, snorkel in a marine sanctuary teeming with colorful fish, go on whale watching tours or dive into The Cathedrals, featuring lattices of lava rock which resemble stained glass when light hits.
The new Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina is also accepting reservations for travel beginning June 1, 2016. The property has also launched a new website with details on its 358 guest rooms and suites, five restaurants and lounges, four pools, white-sand beaches, multi-level Spa and Wellness Centre, tennis facilities and water sports, and preferred access to the Ko Olina Golf Club.


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iPhones represented 48.9 percent of the UK’s smartphone-based web traffic in Q2, according to a new study by Chitika.
While Samsung came in at the expected second place, its percentage (22.8 percent) was much closer to BlackBerry’s (16.8 percent) than it was to Apple’s. The rest of the numbers were made up of HTC, Nokia, Sony, Google and Motorola handsets.
This is likely to be disappointing for the South Korea-based Samsung, which has recently been investing heavily in marketing its smartphones in the UK — including a “rebranding” of London’s Heathrow airport’s Terminal 5 in order to promote its latest Galaxy S model.
Yesterday Cult of Mac revealed that Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smartphone was outsold by both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c during the month of May: the first month Galaxy S5 was on sale in the country.


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The organizers of CEEGC2017 are excited to announce a new panel on the Agenda which will aim towards giving updates and advices about the role of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the online gambling industry. The Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference is going to take place between 19-20 September at the Kempinski Corvinus Budapest.
In their press release, the organizer expressed feelings that they are certain that if you open up your internet browser, listen to the radio streams or just watch the news on TV, a new piece about Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency will pop up.
And if you are in the online gambling industry, no doubt you’ve heard about how the industry is embracing Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency is not a new thing, as a matter of fact, in 1998, Wei Dai published a description of “b-money”, an anonymous, distributed electronic cash system which shortly thereafter, was followed by “Bit Gold” created by Nick Szabo.
Just like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would follow it, Bit Gold was an electronic currency system which required users to complete a proof of work function with solutions being cryptographically put together and published. A currency system based on a reusable proof of work was later created by Hal Finney who followed the work of Dai and Szabo.
The first decentralized cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was created in 2009 by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. It used SHA-256, a cryptographic hash function, as its proof-of-work scheme. Many other cryptocurrencies have been created though few have been successful, as they have brought little in the way of technical innovation. On 6 August 2014, the UK announced its Treasury had been commissioned to do a study of cryptocurrencies, and what role, if any, they can play in the UK economy. The study was also to report on whether regulation should be considered.
It didn’t take much time for the online gambling industry to eye out the possibilities of adopting Bitcoin and this has lead to a total of 4.5 billion in BTC to be wagered since 2014.
Bitcoin gambling has continued to rise in popularity over the years. Many people believe Bitcoin is the perfect currency for online wagers and cryptocurrency-based gambling statistics have shown that the market agrees.
It is clear that Bitcoin gambling is just one of many excellent platforms that demonstrates the cryptocurrency’s real-world use cases. Using bitcoin has allowed for more privacy-centric gambling, alongside quicker ways to fund casino accounts, pay out jackpots and reward players. Online gambling is a huge industry with a volume of $45.86 billion in 2016 and Bitcoin has captured just a tiny fraction of this market so far.
This is why the team at EEGEvents has designed an exclusive panel for the second edition of Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference in partnership with BitMalta.
The panel will be moderated by Joseph F. Borg – VICE-PRESIDENT of BitMalta and Senior Advisor to WH Partners


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ReutersMay 23, 2013
ReutersMay 23, 2013
Cars.comMay 16, 2013
Displaying items 1-12 of 176 » View southbendtribune.com items only1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-15 Next >
AP Auto WriterDETROIT (AP) — Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, closing above their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years. GM shares reached $33.77 Friday before slipping back to close at...
Portland Press Herald, MaineOver the last two years, East Bayside has experienced a business boomlet from people roasting their own coffee, brewing their own beer, baking their own bread and making their own Popsicles. Now, two local businesses are spearheading an effort to loosen...
Tags: Consumers, Sales, The Boston Globe, U.S. Congress, Coffee
The News & ObserverWhen Mike Stenke rolled out his Klausie's Pizza truck in Raleigh three years ago, people would ask him what he was doing, and then tell him to move. Raleigh was slow to embrace this new class of mobile entrepreneurs, and many of Stenke's competitors hid...
Tags: Foods and Beverages, Raleigh, Rodeo, Hamburgers, Food Industry
The Ram 1500 half-ton pickup trucks are wearing the familiar-looking exteriors, but the 2013 models have an impressive list of improvements and an extensive lineup. Nine models are available to fill the needs of a variety of consumers. Models and...
The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.A power outage affected about 2,000 Consumers Energy customers after a truck clipped power lines. Terry DeDoes, a spokesman for Consumers Energy, said the outage began Wednesday just before 1:30 p.m. and mostly affected customers in Leelanau County....
Tags: Consumers Energy Company
Portland Press Herald, MaineView Food Trucks of Portland in a larger map At long last, Portlanders will be able to walk up to a food truck this summer and grab a hamburger, taco, hand pie, cup of coffee or other casual fare -- years after the food truck revolution invaded other...
Tags: Vehicles, Sales, House Building, Business, Land Price
Autoblog.comFiled under: Spy Photos, Truck, Chevrolet After taking the 2013 model year off, it looks like Chevrolet is putting the final touches on the next-generation Colorado, which is already on sale in South America, Asia and Australia. While we don't know when...
Autoblog.comFiled under: Truck, Chevrolet, GM, Luxury, Off-Road It's no secret that fullsize pickups are the financial engines that power Detroit automakers - it's been that way for decades. In recent years, though, growing consumer appetites for dolled-up trucks has...
Trucks are the hottest segment of the U.S. auto industry this year, as housing and construction rebound and small businesses open the purse strings to replace aging equipment. Sales are up 11% through the first four months of this year, far above the...
Tags: Toyota, Automotive Equipment, Ford, GMC, Chrysler
May 17, 2013 |Story| AP Member Choice Limited
May 13, 2013 |Story| McClatchy-Tribune
May 11, 2013 |Story| McClatchy-Tribune
May 10, 2013 |Story| Aberdeen News
May 9, 2013 |Story| McClatchy-Tribune
May 8, 2013 |Story| McClatchy-Tribune
May 7, 2013 |Blog| Autoblog.com
May 5, 2013 |Blog| Autoblog.com
May 4, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Original site for Trucks topic gallery.


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General Shale Goes Gold In The Masonry Alliance Program
The MAP Is An Exclusive, Comprehensive Industry Immersion Initiative For Suppliers That Begins In 2024
By Dan Kamys
General Shale, North America’s largest masonry solutions manufacturer, has joined the 2024 Masonry Alliance Program at the Gold Level. General Shale becomes one of just 70 companies to receive unparalleled access to the $33 billion masonry industry.
"General Shale is pleased to participate in the Masonry Alliance Program as a Gold Level Partner. As the largest manufacturer in our industry, we are committed to utilizing this position of leadership to continue advocating for clay masonry in design,” said Luke Guinn, Director of Marketing, North America. “The innovative and flexible channels provided through the Alliance Program align well with our own strategies in communicating the economic benefits, sustainability, and longevity of community infrastructure achieved through masonry solutions.”
Availability for verbal commitments in the Masonry Alliance Program is now open to any interested company. The MCAA has recently launched a dedicated website, masonryalliances.com, with full details on the program. Starting in 2024, the MAP replaces Strategic and Corporate Partnerships as the only way for active suppliers to remain involved in MCAA activities.
“We are thrilled to welcome General Shale to the Gold tier of the Masonry Alliance Program. It’s important for us to continue strengthening our relationships with material producers as we move into this new endeavor. We look forward to bringing General Shale's knowledge and expertise to the industry through this new level of immersion,” said Dan Kamys, MCAA Director of Content.
The Masonry Alliance Program is broken into four tiers: Cornerstone, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. Items such as event attendance, advertising in MASONRY Magazine, sponsorships, content development, and more will no longer be available to any company outside of the 70 within this program.
About General Shale: General Shale’s mission is to continue as the preferred solutions provider of building materials in North America because of the enduring quality, energy efficiency and natural beauty that our products provide. Driven by innovation that is modern and future-oriented, General Shale employees set the standard because of our shared commitment to safety, the environment, and an intense focus on creating the ultimate customer experience.
About Mason Contractors Association of America: The Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA) is the national trade association representing mason contractors in the $33 billion industry. The MCAA is committed to preserving and promoting the trade by providing continuing education, advocating fair codes and standards, fostering a safe work environment, recruiting future manpower and marketing the benefits of masonry materials.
About the Author
Dan Kamys is the Editorial Director of MASONRY Publications.


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The newly formed Rocky Ford Growers Association is limited to growers in Southern Crowley County and Otero County for now but Michael Harikata, a member of the association, said he sees no reason it can’t be opened up to others in the region in the future.
“Our bylaws are set so we can change them and expand if need be,” Harikata explained. “The association would have to vote on them and they would have to follow all of the same rules and be really good farmers.”
Harikata said the reason they have initially limited their association in scope is because they are in damage control and want to take small steps to get the Rocky Ford brand name back to what it once was.
Harikata said he anticipates quite a few people will want to join the association and that he would be excited to have them.
“Everybody as a whole has a bigger voice than an individual, so this is a good thing,” Harikata said. “I’d be excited about others joining our association in the future and I am definitely not against it.”
Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar said he hopes that others in the region join the association.
"I encourage all Colorado cantaloupe growers and even vegetable growers to join this group," he said. "It is an important part of returning Rocky Ford cantaloupe to prominence."
The association has a membership fee of $100 and members pay $50 per acre of produce produced, according to Harikata. Right now there are 15 growers who belong to the association.
Bill Grasmick, who owns Grasmick Farms in an area outside of the Rocky Ford Growers Association perimeter, said he understands what the Rocky Ford farmers are doing and that he supports them.
“I’m very proud of those guys for what they’re doing. I really compliment them,” he said. “They want their own protective association that they can control and they feel comfortable keeping it in their area, and I understand that.”
Grasmick said that while he would consider joining the association, he’s not going to push the issue.
“We feel like we can maintain a great safety standard here and I’d like those guys to enjoy their trade name of Rocky Ford,” Grasmick said. "They deserve it."
Grasmick said he hasn’t considered creating an association like the one in Rocky Ford because he feels his region is too small for something like that. He’s also confident he can maintain excellent standards of production.
“We’re working to get certified in a lot of the same things the Rocky Ford guys are,” Grasmick said. “We take food safety very seriously, pride ourselves on it and are confident we can maintain it even without being in an association.”


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Simon Mayos mid-morning show on Scala Radio will be sponsored by Disney for the first six months.
Other sponsors getting involved with the digital station from launch include AJ Bell, Bensons for Beds, Davidstow Cheddar, Emerald Waterways, Kilimanjaro Live Ltd promoting Andrea Bocelli & Hans Zimmer, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Salisbury International Arts Festival, Sandals Resorts, and Royal Historic Palaces.
Simon Kilby, Chief Revenue Officer Bauer Media said: “Our insight has uncovered a modern audience using films as a gateway to classical music and this launch partnership with Disney for Simon’s first commercial show is a brilliant fit for the cultural explorers of Scala Radio.
“This bespoke creative campaign will capture our audience’s imagination with the most eagerly-awaited Disney titles arriving in 2019 accompanied by a modern classical soundtrack fitting of its place in modern life.”
The bespoke Scala Radio and Disney campaign, which is brokered by OMD, runs from 4th March until 4th August and encompasses branded content across radio and digital platforms featuring a suite of individual Disney entertainment products.
In addition to he weekday show, Simon Mayo will also host a Saturday show from 10am till 1pm, which looks like this:
10am – Countdown of the Official Scala Singles Chart – compiled by the Official Charts Company and featuring the most streamed classically inspired tracks across the UK from the past week..
11am – Nigel Barden on food and drink..
12pm – Simon introduces an author to the Scala Radio Book Club. Confirmed guests include Melvyn Bragg (9th March), Emily Dean (16th March) and David Hepworth (23rd March).
Scala Radio launches this Monday morning at 10.
New show on @ScalaRadio launches Monday at 10. And if you miss your daily ‘baffling questions about everyday life’ feature, you and they will be welcome at the Mayo Clinic. You can email email@example.com #homeworksucks
— Simon Mayo (@simonmayo) February 28, 2019


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PBS data shows Pakistan exported sports goods worth $77.892 million during July-September 2021-22, exports of footballs increased by 14.60 percent, gloves by 1.99 percent, and all other goods by 36.96 percent in this period.
ISLAMABAD: The exports of sports goods witnessed an increase of 16.81 percent during the first quarter (July-September) of the current financial year 2021-22 as compared to the exports during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year 2020-21.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan exported sports goods worth $77.892 million during July-September 2021-22 against the exports of $66.682 million during July-September 2020-21, showing a growth of 16.81 percent.
Among sports products, the exports of footballs also increased by 14.60 percent as it surged from $32.426 million last year to $37.159 million during the current year.
The sports gloves exports rose by 1.99 percent by going up from $17.682 million last year to $18.034 million during the current year, the PBS data revealed.
Likewise, the exports of all other sports goods increased by 36.96 percent from $16.574 million last year to US $22.699 million during the current year.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis the sports goods’ export witnessed an increase of 28 percent in September 2021 as compared with the export of the same month of last year.
The sports goods exports in September 2021 were recorded at $27.335 million against exports of $21.356 million in September 2020.
During the period under review, the footballs and gloves exports also increased by 33.86 and 10.08 percent respectively whereas the exports of all other sports products increased by 34.56 percent.
Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, the exports of sports goods increased by 12.95 percent during September 2021, as compared to the exports of $24.202 million in August 2021, the PBS data revealed.
On a month-on-month basis, the exports of footballs and other sports commodities increased by 28.59 percent and 1.80 percent respectively while the exports of gloves declined by 2.42 percent.


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- President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that Amazon was causing ‘tremendous loss’ to the Post Office.
- Package delivery is actually one of the few areas of growth for the USPS.
- Shares of Amazon fell about 2% after the tweet. You can track the stock price in real-time here>>
Shares of Amazon declined about 2.1% in early trading Thursday after President Donald Trump tweeted the e-commerce giant was putting “thousands” of retailers out of business and hurting the Postal Service.
“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,” he said early Thursday. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”
Shares are set to open down roughly 1%, near $US1,418, Thursday.
Trump’s tweet comes a day after Axios’ Dan Primack reported the President is “obsessed” with Amazon, and is eyeing legal means to go after the company. According to Axios’ unnamed source, Trump is considering a change to Amazon’s tax status or a crackdown through anti-trust rules.
It’s not clear how much revenue the Postal Service generates from shipping Amazon packages, but parcel delivery is actually one of the few areas of growth for the money-losing public-private agency.
Numbers crunched by Vox in December – the last time Trump tweeted about Amazon – show parcel revenue increased $US2.1 billion during fiscal 2017 for the Postal Service. Still, the post office is a money-losing business, posting a net loss of $US2.7 billion last year.
The White House told reporters on Thursday that the president currently does not have a plan to make changes as it comes to Amazon, but is consistently attempting to find ways to “level the playing field” for businesses in the US.
Shares of Amazon are up just over 20% since the beginning of 2018.


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Apple has said it will remove a central feature from two of its flagship watch models in the US, while the iPhone maker fights a legal battle over a patent dispute on the technology behind it.
The company said Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models would go on sale on its website and stores from Thursday without the blood oxygen tracking feature.
The tech giant was banned from importing and selling the two models in October by a government commission.
It followed a complaint from medical-monitoring technology company Masimo that it had infringed patents.
Masimo accused Apple of hoovering up its employees, stealing its pulse oximetry technology and incorporating it into Apple watches.
Apple appealed against the ban that was imposed by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) – and in December, the US Court of Appeals granted its request to temporarily lift the ban.
However, the same court on Wednesday ruled to resume the ban pending the outcome of Apple’s appeal against the ITC’s order.
In a statement, Joe Kiani, Masimo’s founder and chief executive, said the court ruling “affirms that even the largest and most powerful companies must respect the intellectual rights of American inventors and must deal with the consequences when they are caught infringing others’ patents”.
Following the ruling, Apple said it “strongly disagreed” with the ITS’s original decision and that it should be reversed.
It added it would disable the blood oxygen function to comply with the order.
The legal fight could take a year to resolve, and analysts had expected Apple would strike the feature, which is marketed for fitness uses, rather than pull devices from sale in one of its biggest markets.
Existing Apple Watches – and devices sold outside of the US – are not affected by the court orders.
The new versions sold in the US still have an app icon for the blood oxygen feature, but customers will be unable to access it, Apple said.


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Surprise? Chevy Volt's Euro Twin Opel Ampera Selling Well
The Opel Ampera recently went on sale in Europe and is off to a good start. The Detroit News reports that General Motors has already received 7000 orders for the Chevy Volt's European twin and is on track to meet its goal of selling 10,000 Amperas by the end of 2012.
With gas in Europe costing almost twice as much as here in the States, the Ampera seems to resonate with fleets and customers looking for somewhat upscale fuel-efficient transportation. It probably doesn't hurt that the Ampera recently became the 2012 European Car of the Year, serving as the first-ever winner developed in the U.S.
So far, 60 percent of Ampera sales have been fleet or commercial customers. The Opel Ampera went on sale in February and the Vauxhall Ampera is set to arrive in U.K. showrooms by May. The Volt, which is sold in a few countries in Europe, also went on sale in February.
Some analysts, however, are skeptical the Ampera can maintain its success in a region where consumers have long embraced diesel engines for fuel efficiency. As with the Volt in the U.S., some wonder how well the Ampera will fare at a price -- 41,900 euros ($55,817) -- that reaches luxury car territory, without the benefit of tax credits in some European countries.
Source: The Detroit News


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Profit margins for ethylene rising toward record levels and could continue to climb, as boom of cheap shale gas in US creating oversupply of ethane feedstock, analysts say
October 17, 2012
– Profit margins for ethylene, a colorless gas used to ripen fruit, open flowers and make products from plastic bags to paint removers, are surging to near record levels and may climb further, reviving fortunes of U.S. producers.
Two of the commodity’s largest makers, LyondellBasell Industries NV and Westlake Chemical Co., have posted their highest-ever profits and their shares have gained 66 percent and 91 percent respectively this year. Their margins will continue to improve as constrained production capacity pushes up prices, say Brian Maguire and Bob Koort, analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Houston.
The driver is cheap shale gas, which is rejuvenating the country’s chemical industry after a decade of decline. Hydraulic fracturing of shale rock formations, known as fracking, cut U.S. gas prices to a 10-year low in April. It has also produced an oversupply of ethane, a natural gas component that is converted to ethylene with heat and pressure in a process known as cracking. Gas liquids, mostly ethane, supply about 85 percent of the feedstock for U.S. ethylene makers.
Ethane at Mont Belvieu, Texas, the main supply hub for Gulf Coast chemical makers, has fallen 67 percent in a year to 31.6 cents a gallon.
Consumers and manufacturers alike benefit. Ethylene is the raw material used to make polymers -- sturdy chemical compounds that are building blocks for products in the transportation, electronics, textiles, construction and packaging industries.
Plastic bags and packaging are made from the polymer polyethylene. Cheap ethane has cut the cost of producing polyethylene-based products by about two-thirds from a 2008 peak, making the U.S. competitive with low-cost producers in the Middle East, according to an Oct. 9 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The cost advantage may spur $30 billion of ethylene investments, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. said in March, including the first U.S. plants since 2001.
While the global ethylene industry operated at 85 percent of capacity in August, the lowest since 2009, U.S. producers ran flat out.
“We could see peak margins in 2015-16, before we see a new wave of supply,” Maguire said in an interview. “It’s been 12 years since we built a new cracker in this country and we’ve never tried to build four or five at the same time, so labor and material constraints could cause these projects to be delayed.”
Producers in Asia and Europe, where fracking has yet to catch on, rely on naphtha, an oil-derived raw material that’s more expensive than ethane. LyondellBasell and Westlake produced ethylene this year for an average of about 18 cents a pound using ethane -- 20 cents less than naphtha-based producers -- while ethylene sold for about 49 cents a pound, according to Maguire. Ethane-based production costs are currently about 13 cents a pound, he said. U.S. producers including Dow Chemical Co. are changing their processes to use more gas-derived liquids such as ethane.
Ethylene margins will remain “very good” into early 2014 at least, said Jeffrey Burke, a New York-based portfolio manager at Goldentree Asset Management, which includes Westlake shares in $16.3 billion of assets.
Little new ethylene capacity will come on line in the next several years, so global operating rates must rise to meet demand, Maguire said. That will lead to higher prices that should boost margins another 25 cents a pound by 2015 or 2016, potentially doubling earnings for producers in the U.S., Maguire said.
“That is something we’ve never seen before,” he said.
Goldman recommends buying Houston-based Westlake, controlled by the billionaire Chao family, and LyondellBasell because both have more leverage to improving ethylene profit on a per-share basis than neutral-rated Dow, the biggest U.S. chemical company.
David Harpole, a LyondellBasell spokesman, declined to comment.
“We have recently announced a number of initiatives that expand our bottom line and take advantage of the low cost ethane feedstock that shale gas is providing,” said Dave Hansen, a Westlake spokesman. “This advantage will be with us for years to come.”
Westlake rose 7.8 percent to $77.78 in New York, the most intraday since Aug. 2. LyondellBasell climbed 5.7 percent to $54.36, the most since July 27. Dow gained 5.6 percent to $29.91, the biggest advance since Nov. 30, 2011.
Still, ethylene margins face tests. Tighter operating rates are relatively easy to forecast because new factories take years to build. Yet if gas prices rise, so will the cost of ethane and other feedstocks.
UBS Securities LLC recommends selling Westlake shares because of a looming increase in ethane costs that will narrow margins, Gregg Goodnight, a Houston-based analyst, said in an Aug. 27 note. Gas prices will rise in the fourth quarter and for years after, leading ethane prices to double to 70 cents a gallon by 2016, he said.
The correlation between gas and ethane prices isn’t as strong as some believe, Goldman’s Maguire said, noting recent price changes. Gas has surged 24 percent since touching a two- month low on Aug. 28 while ethane has gained 5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Higher gas prices aren’t a major threat to ethane prices because processors and pipeline companies such as Enterprise Products Partners LP are willing to invest in added output, even amid slim margins, Maguire said. That’s mostly because the chemical industry is dangling the prospect of increased ethane sales at higher profit when new ethylene plants open later in the decade, he said.
Ethane supply growth through 2015 will be more than twice demand growth from incremental ethylene expansions, keeping a lid on ethane prices even if gas prices rise, Maguire said. Average ethane prices may rise to 48 cents a gallon in 2013 from 45 cents this year, he said.
“The period of ethane oversupply is just beginning,” Koort and Maguire said in an Oct. 9 report.
Ethane supplies will get a boost starting in the second quarter when Enterprise and DCP Midstream LLC open separate pipelines to bring natural gas liquids from Conway, Kansas, to Mont Belvieu, Maguire said.
In the meantime, ethylene demand should increase about 5 percent a year, assuming 3.5 percent global economic growth, outpacing estimated annual supply growth of about 2 percent, Maguire said.
Tightening ethylene supplies will allow the highest-cost producers in Europe and Asia, which have coped with break-even margins at times this year, to raise prices. Because ethylene derivatives such as polyethylene, used in packaging and plastic bags, are globally traded, higher prices provide an “umbrella” under which U.S. producers can widen margins, he said.
When operating rates top 90 percent, ethylene buyers become concerned about supply scarcity, giving producers more power to raise prices, Maguire said. Cheap feedstock costs have led U.S. producers to export about 10 percent of polyethylene production and 40 percent of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, used in pipe and vinyl siding, he said.
Ethylene supplies should get tighter through 2017 when Chevron Phillips opens the first of the new wave of U.S. plants, P.J. Juvekar, a New York-based analyst at Citigroup Global Markets, said in a report. In the meantime global operating rates should rise and feedstock costs should remain relatively low, he said in an Oct. 8 note.
Juvekar recommends buying shares of Dow, the world’s biggest ethylene producer, and LyondellBasell, and he doesn’t rate Westlake.
Westlake plans to expand the cost benefit by adding ethylene capacity in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and making adjustments to use more ethane, projects that will boost 2013 earnings by $1 a share, Maguire said. A new factory to make chlorine, an energy-intensive process, will open in mid-2013 and add another 60 cents to Westlake earnings next year, he said. That will help earnings increase 29 percent next year to $7.14 a share, Goldman estimates.
That’s higher than the rest of the estimates compiled by Bloomberg because other analysts aren’t fully accounting for Westlake’s expansions and a continued feedstock advantage, Maguire said.
Hassan Ahmed, a New York-based analyst at Alembic Global Advisors who shares Goldman’s optimistic view of U.S. ethylene, said rising operating rates combined with cheap ethane could double earnings over several years at Westlake, LyondellBasell and Dow, all of which he rates as a buy.
“The margin we are enjoying in the U.S. is exclusively because of the cost advantage,” Ahmed said in a telephone interview. “The next leg of the margin uptick will be because of the cyclical upswing in utilization rates.”
--Editors: Ken Wells, Simon Casey
To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Kaskey in Houston at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at email@example.com


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Heineken Lagos Fashion Week (LFW) will return for its 8th season from the 24th to the 27th of October, 2018. The bi-annual showcase held in Africa’s largest city, has become a permanent fixture in the global fashion calendar. Every year, the Lagos Fashion Week tents welcome buyers, media and fashion enthusiasts to view the collections of young, emerging and leading designers across Africa.
Lagos Fashion Week leads the way with initiatives that support, strengthen and develop the fashion industry. Beyond the runway, the annual event provides a platform that’s gradually re-positioning fashion as a useful tool for commerce and creativity in Nigeria.


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Luxe eyewear giant Safilo saw its business in the US recovering in Q3 and Europe being on the road to recovery, both regions offsetting a weaker Asian market and the loss of some key licences (such as Dior and Fendi).
Max Mara's Max&Co has teamed up with Margherita Maccapani Missoni in the first of a new series of of design partnerships entitled &Co.llaboration, as the Italian creator returns to design after a six-month hiatus.
The Milan women’s fashion week starts on Tuesday with a schedule of 173 events, 65of them catwalk shows, featuring the return of Cavalli, Versace and Jil Sander, MM6’s first physicalshow and many interesting new names.
Milan Fashion Week is scheduled on September 21-27 with an extensive programme including 65 shows, 42 of which will have in-person guests. Physical events will be in a majority, 125 as opposed to only 46 digital ones.
The fashion industry is continuing to be “too slow” to deliver details on ethical practices, according to a new report by The Fashion Transparency Index, which tracks 250 of the world’s biggest brands and retailers.
When Max Mara staged its Marella Agnelli moda resort 2022 collection at sunset on Tuesday in the Bay of Naples it marked the latest step in a subtle and long-term repositioning of the house as a major fashion player.
There is a great debate in fashion. Will women want elegance and sophistication when the pandemic eventually ends or will their biggest needs just be ease and comfort? Ian Griffiths of Max Mara, believes in the former.


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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:38 05:54 12:22 15:49 18:44 20:01
The UAE wood industry is expected to register cumulative growth of 126 per cent over the next 7 years driven by the boom in the construction sector as part of the Expo 2020 build-up.
Organisers of the Dubai WoodShow 2014, which will be held in three halls of the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, said that this growth will be powered by rising investments in the real-estate and infrastructure, in addition to the other expansion projects across the country.
Organisers said the event has received overwhelming response from international timber firms which are looking to establish regional presence through Dubai to meet anticipated demand as part of the buildup for Expo 2020. The Dubai WoodShow, to be held from April 8 to 10, 2014, will have participation of over 500 companies from 40 countries, an increase of 7 per cent compared to the previous edition.
The exhibition has been backed by more than 11 supporting associations including the UAE Society of Engineers, American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), China National Forestry Machinery Association (CNFMA), French Timber and Quebec Wood Export Bureau (QWEB) among others. It will feature 12 international pavilions as well as 62 international and local media partners.
Walid Farghal, Director General of Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions, organizers of The Dubai WoodShow said: “We anticipate more than 10,000 visitors to the show. The exhibition area has increased to 13,428 sqm, compared to 12,629 sqm in the previous edition”
“We are delighted with this success achieved since 2006 when we launched the exhibition with 75 exhibitors from 15 countries. We also expect increase in the volume of commercial deals due to the growing demand for home and office furniture,” Farghal said.
The last edition concluded with deals touching US100$ million, and attracted great interest from construction companies in the region that implement green solutions.
“We will conduct a series of seminars on the sidelines of the exhibition on the theme ‘Legal Timber products in Global Trading is a must’. These seminars will be addressed by experts during the three-day show,” Farghal added.
Companies participating in the upcoming edition include France, USA, Italy, China, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Sweden, Cameroon, Canada, Latin America and European countries and many more.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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W&E Today provides retailers and manufacturers with education and ideas that provoke innovation in the Western and English markets.
Issue link: http://wetoday.epubxp.com/i/235944
industry news Justin Boots, Justin Original workboots Amp up u.s. Manufacturing ÒOh well, oh well, I feel so good today, We just touched ground on an international runway Jet-propelled back home from overseas to the USA Ó Ñ Chuck Berry, 1959 F ast-forward, and Berry could Be crooning aBout Justin Boots and Justin original workBoots today: In the past year alone, Justin and JOW have increased their domestic manufacturing by a whopping 27.3 percent, matching their 27.3 percent increase in U.S. production from 2011 to 2012. From 2009 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2011, the two Justin boot companies also brought back double-digit percentages of their manufacturing from overseas. 1 Americans employed by Justin Brands new machine 10 years – the average experience of our bootmakers made per day in our American factories 6446 stores carry our Handcrafted in the USA boots 37% of our western boot sales come from Handcrafted in the USA boots 175+ Missouri factories 10,000,000 leather and linings cut in our American factories in 2012 Texas factory And across America, this sound business decision also has a very human beneft. Bill Hembree gets up at 3 a.m. every morning. The peaceful predawn is his quiet time to refect and sip cofee before heading out to work at Justin Boots in Cassville, Mo. "My family — they're real important to me," Hembree says. "A good job, you know, is important, and Justin's always made sure we had a good job here. I've worked here for the Justin Boot Company for 23 years. And working at the Justin factory is about putting a good quality product out there for American people to buy." Steve Gripka has worked for Justin for 29 years. Karen Atnip, too, has been with Justin for almost 30 years. And Dewayne Day says, "I've been around as long as the light fxtures have." Jeremiah Raver, Linda Rusk, Dan Smith, Augusto Herrarte, Luis Villegas, Stacie Reed, Pat Aldridge are also part of Justin's workforce and heritage. 34 Western & English Today Maine factory of workboot sales come from Handcrafted in the USA boots what it takes to make our boots: shipping of Justin western boots made here increased by 120 100% 12 ft Handcrafted in the USA styles 1 25% more jobs 1 20 1 since 2009 yd pair 134 years of bootmaking 8 domestic collections These individuals may represent a mere handful of Justin's employees, but unanimously, the 800-plus American Justin factory workers — both long-timers and new hires — have a message for their U.S. customers: "Thank You." While the two single-syllable words may seem "nice," but inevitably simple and meaningless, this is not the case for these workers. Their message reaches a grander scale. Justin Boots and Justin Original Workboots, two of Justin Brands' shining stars, began this "Thank You" campaign to inform the American public that Justin is bringing manufacturing back to the United States from China, ofering new jobs here at home. "Western boots are all about history and tradition," says Louis Russo, brand manager for Justin Boots. "We've been making boots in the U.S. since 1879. That's a powerful story to tell. And we are bringing an extent of our manufacturing back from China. But it's


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Short Bytes: Years ago, in an interview, Steve Jobs told the world what courage means for Apple. He called it a quality that allows Apple to choose right technologies for its products and users. He also said that if the customers choose to buy Apple’s products, the criticism means nothing.
However, this word, courage, isn’t something that was added recently in Apple’s dictionary. Instead, Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs talked about the same courage while defending his decision to block Adobe Flash, according to 9to5Mac. It’s being speculated that Schiller’s reference wasn’t accidental.
Here’s what Steve Jobs said:
He further adds that instead of focusing on criticism, Apple works to improve its products by choosing the “right technologies” for the users. “And you know what? They’re (customers) paying us to make those choices,” Jobs adds.
It’ll be interesting to see the initial sale figures of iPhone 7. If its loyal fans will spend their money on iPhone 7, the criticism won’t matter. “If we succeed, they’ll buy them, and if we don’t, they won’t, and it’ll all work itself out,” Jobs concludes.
Here’s the interview of Steve Jobs talking about “courage”:
Did you find this article interesting? Don’t forget to drop your feedback in the comments section below.


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Rise of luxury shoe brands like Jimmy Choo, Roger Vivier & others in Indian fashion
But this is not just about women's shoes. May be Indian women are filling a void, may be men have just discovered that there's more to shoes than one pair but footwear is one of the fastest growing consumer segments in the country. Given that the per capita consumption of shoes in India has gone up from 1.1 shoes a year in 2011 to about 2.5 shoes per year, we could soon have our very own shoe senoritas. A February 2012 Assocham report said that the Indian footwear industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 15% and is likely to reach approximately Rs 38,700 crore by 2015 from the current level of around Rs 23,600 crore. The reasons are plain vanilla: growing fashion consciousness, increased disposable income among India's urban middle class (45% of overall footwear market), low production cost, blah blah. But the real story is the rise of the humble shoe in the fashion food chain.
Designer Ravi Bajaj had lamented, "Fashion starts from the waist up with the shoes being relegated to the background." Even blogs tracking Indian celebrities' coming-of-age fashion consciousness point out that well thought out looks falter at the feet. Shoes, like feet, till now have been on the backburner. Not for us the Carrie Bradshaw cult of Manolos (yes, she's on first name basis with her shoes) or the bunion-causing nosebleed heels of Victoria Beckham.
But Deepika Gehani, creative head of Genesis Luxury Fashion that brought in Jimmy Choo — one of the first luxury shoe brands to come in to India in 2009 — says that it's changing now. "Earlier, new, aspirational consumers entered the designer segment through handbags. But in many cases, shoes are becoming an entry point today. Shoes have become the new handbags," she says. In three years of Jimmy Choo in India, they have five exclusive stores in three key Indian luxury markets — Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore — nothing compared to 50 stores in five years in China.
Fashion designer and style blogger Akanksha Redhu — who was part of red Shoe Soiree project for Steve Madden's India launch — ranks shoes at No 2 after bags for accessorising a look. "Shoes have their unique place in dressing that will always be the same but the amount of focus that place is now receiving is increasing," she says. When Indians Shoe Shop
The Assocham survey noted that buyers upgrade their shoe collection every two months and usually spend about Rs 6,000-8,000 every four months on branded footwear. Business consultancy Tecnova India — it assisted Christian Louboutin enter India by surveying the market for them — found out that while women purchase 1 branded pair of footwear per month, men purchase a pair per quarter.
"Women usually shop in the more unorganised sector because of lower prices but it's the men who are driving the growth of the branded segment," says Kanchan Lall, associate vice-president, Tecnova India. She adds, "Luxury footwear market [starts at Rs 15,000] is not more than 1-2% of the total market, while the premium segment [starts at Rs 5,000] occupies 15-20% of the market and is growing faster," she says.
Redhu says that though women have started paying more attention towards their shoes/heels, they are yet to shell out big for shoes. But they also never had the choices. Agreed Blahniks (available on beStylish.com) and Kirkwoods haven't come to India but with the Louboutin entry, it has become a "hot" segment.
Apart from the shoes with the sole of the devil, the recent entrants are Steve Madden, Paul & Shark, Tod's and Bally. Ermenegildo Zegna, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Bottega Veneta, Armani, Versace, Hugo Boss offer their line of shoes.
McQueen and YSL are available through TSG's Kitsch. Multi-brand designer shoe store Mumbai-based La Scarpa, meaning the shoe in Italian, also offers exclusive brands starting at Rs 15,000 to Rs 1,20,000. Come September, Reliance Brands will open its first Kenneth Cole outlet.
"The need for luxury shoes in India has become very critical," says La Scarpa's Bhavna Radhakrishnan, whose passion for shoes fuelled the setting up of this store in Mumbai's Grand Hyatt.


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Venture capitalists, such as Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, which invested US$3 million in BitPay, do not purchase bitcoins themselves, but instead fund bitcoin infrastructure that provides payment systems to merchants, exchanges, wallet services, etc. In 2012, an incubator for bitcoin-focused start-ups was founded by Adam Draper, with financing help from his father, venture capitalist Tim Draper, one of the largest bitcoin holders after winning an auction of 30,000 bitcoins, at the time called "mystery buyer". The company's goal is to fund 100 bitcoin businesses within 2–3 years with $10,000 to $20,000 for a 6% stake. Investors also invest in bitcoin mining. According to a 2015 study by Paolo Tasca, bitcoin startups raised almost $1 billion in three years (Q1 2012 – Q1 2015).
There are no physical bitcoins, only balances kept on a public ledger in the cloud, that – along with all Bitcoin transactions – is verified by a massive amount of computing power. Bitcoins are not issued or backed by any banks or governments, nor are individual bitcoins valuable as a commodity. Despite its not being legal tender, Bitcoin charts high on popularity, and has triggered the launch of other virtual currencies collectively referred to as Altcoins.
The price of bitcoins has gone through cycles of appreciation and depreciation referred to by some as bubbles and busts. In 2011, the value of one bitcoin rapidly rose from about US$0.30 to US$32 before returning to US$2. In the latter half of 2012 and during the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, the bitcoin price began to rise, reaching a high of US$266 on 10 April 2013, before crashing to around US$50. On 29 November 2013, the cost of one bitcoin rose to a peak of US$1,242. In 2014, the price fell sharply, and as of April remained depressed at little more than half 2013 prices. As of August 2014 it was under US$600. During their time as bitcoin developers, Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn warned that bubbles may occur.
With the Bitcoin price so volatile everyone is curious. Bitcoin, the category creator of blockchain technology, is the World Wide Ledger yet extremely complicated and no one definition fully encapsulates it. By analogy it is like being able to send a gold coin via email. It is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money.
After Bitcoin nearly reached $20,000, it was not able to maintain those figures. January did see a high of over $17,500 around the 7th, but this was short-lived and followed by a steady drop. By the end of January 2018, Bitcoin was at just over $10,000. By Feb. 5, it was under $7,000. It rallied again, getting over $11,000 in early March, but this was followed by a drop back below $7,000. The largest recent high for Bitcoin was in early May, when it was above $9,500. By late June, it was under $6,000. Following a rise to more than $8,000 in late July, Bitcoin has remained around $6,000 to $6,500, other than a brief spike up over $7,300 in September.
More recently, at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, global economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said, "Crypto is the mother or father of all scams and bubbles." He called out "swindlers" who tapped into investors' fear of missing out and took them for a ride with "crappy assets that went into a bust and crash — in a matter of months — like you have not seen in any history of financial bubbles."


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U.S. Investors Embrace Paperless Bonds at Growing Rate TreasuryDirect Passes 100,000 Account Mark
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 10, 2003
The Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt said today that investors opened more than 100,000 accounts in its TreasuryDirect Internet-based service (www.treasurydirect.gov) where consumers buy U.S. Savings Bonds and manage their holdings in an electronic, paperless environment. TreasuryDirect went online in October of last year. At the end of October 2003, more than 100,000 accounts had been established, holding about $700 million worth of electronic securities. By comparison, online credit card purchases of paper savings bonds over the Internet at Public Debt's Savings Bonds Direct website only totaled $115 million in their first year.
"Investors are embracing the electronic approach to savings bonds in steadily-growing numbers, and discovering how easy and convenient it is to open an account," said Paul Vogelzang, Executive Director, Investor Education and Communications, of Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt. "From start to finish, the secure application process takes less than 10 minutes, and once completed and an account is open, consumers don't have to handle or keep track of paper bonds or other paperwork."
"We understood that after decades of buying a paper savings bond, people were going to take some time to change old habits," Vogelzang said, "But acceptance of the electronic system has been steadily growing, with more than 7,000 new accounts opened in the most recent week, compared to a rate of less than 5,000 a week just a few months ago."
Using the TreasuryDirect website, consumers can establish a secure account with the U.S. Treasury, purchasing and redeeming Series EE and Series I bonds and managing their savings portfolio online 24 hour a day, 7 days a week. Public Debt also offers Internet-based services for Treasury marketable securities.
The TreasuryDirect website is being developed as both a secure means for financial transactions and an educational site where consumers and investment professionals alike can safely and conveniently buy and manage their portfolios of government securities.


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Netflix has a message for ISPs that might be thinking about charging more to carry its video service in the wake of last week's net neutrality ruling: Do so at your own risk.
A new Google service uses YouTube to shed some light on the bandwidth delivered by ISPs.
Amazon has approached several major media conglomerates to discuss adding live cable TV channels to its Prime Instant Video service, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a battle between TV broadcasters and Aereo, a startup that streams television over the Internet, as the final step in a case that could have broad implications for the future of online TV services.
Snapchat, reeling from a recent hack that exposed millions of user names and partially redacted phone numbers of its members, will now let users back out of the feature that hackers abused.
Sony Corp. of America has agreed to sell its Gracenote music metadata business to the Tribune media conglomerate for US$170 million.
Italy's Supreme Court ended the prosecution of Google executives for allowing the posting of a video showing the bullying of a handicapped boy, three years after they were convicted of violating privacy laws.
Facebook, in a move poised to give a major boost to its position as a mass media platform, will soon start placing video ads into users' feeds.
The latest twist in the debate over in-flight calling might allow users of some Internet-based services to do voice and video chats immediately on some airliners.
Microsoft's acquisition of Skype is compatible with European Union competition law, the General Court of the E.U. ruled Wednesday.
Yahoo may soon be broadcasting more concerts following its acquisition of live music streaming startup Evntlive.
Call it a work in progress. YouTube is now trying to stanch the increased flow of spam on its site, just weeks after a new system was employed to clean it up, the company recently said.
Launched last night on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the Kiwi-designed Quebee is a miniature, standalone camera that can be controlled by your smartphone or tablet, and captures video, stills or time-lapse photography.
Yahoo has been hiring hotshot journalists to boost its news cred, and Monday's addition of Katie Couric could help with the company's efforts to reinvigorate itself. But it has to get the content just right.
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Online Retailers News
How to avoid buying counterfeit solar eclipse glasses
Experts are urging Americans watching the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse to buy smart when purchasing the necessary protective eyewear. With counterfeit eclipse glasses hitting the market, NASA and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) suggest that consumers purchase off their long list of verified
Amazon plans to distribute event tickets in the US
The online retailer aims to become source for concert tickets, putting them in direct competition with Ticketmaster.
Surveillance footage released showing dormitory explosion at university
To the index of other news tonight, a new video this evening of a dorm explosion. Surveillance footage capturing the June 28th blast in Kentucky. One university employee was injured in that blast, which investigators now believe was caused by a natural gas leak. It left that hole in the side of thf
What traditional retail stores are doing to compete with online retailers
ABC News' Becky Worley shares what traditional big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are doing to compete with Amazon.
Shoppers Look to Score More Deals on Cyber Monday
After a record-breaking Black Friday , shoppers are gearing up for Cyber Monday . More than 122 million Americans are expected to shop online on Cyber Monday to score even more discounts, according to the National Retail Federation . "Millions of consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend and
20,000 Safety 1st Strollers Recalled in the US Because of Defect
Approximately 20,000 baby strollers have been voluntarily recalled after many were found to have a defect that caused small children to fall out of their seat. The Safety 1st brand's Step and Go Travel Systems strollers have a defect that allows the tray folding mechanism to disengage while it is
CPSC Recalling More Than 500,000 Hoverboards Because of Fire Hazards
More than 500,000 hoverboards are being recalled because of fire hazards that pose the risk of injuries, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recall involves hoverboards from eight manufacturers/importers that are made with lithium-ion battery packs as well as 4,300 from
FBI Targeting One of World's 'Worst' Email Spammers
The FBI has launched a criminal investigation into a California man deemed one of the "Top 10 Worst Spammers" in the world, who can blast out a million unsolicited messages from his San Diego home in less than 15 minutes, according to court documents. Michael Alexander Persaud has been under
Could You Save $500 a Year on Makeup?
Becky Worley examines how much people spend on makeup in the latest installment of the "GMA" Biggest Waste of Money series.


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In early March, PureFunds, the ETF sponsor that in late 2014 brought you the “Cyber Security” exchange-traded fund (ETF) (HACK) released another on-trend financial product.
This time, PureFunds is hoping you’ll ‘play’ the video game space with its “Video Game Tech” ETF (GAMR).
I’ve been covering the video game industry for about 20 years, first as a buy-side analyst and then as a portfolio manager focusing on technology stocks.
My first reaction to learning about the GAMR ETF is…what took you so long? The cynic in me figured that this product was long overdue. But that doesn’t mean buying it is a good idea.
First, the GAMR ETF sports a steep 0.75% expense ratio, a level that verges on mutual fund territory. By comparison, the expense ratio for the popular S&P 500 SPDR ETF (SPY) is only 0.09%.
Yet 50% of the GAMR ETF’s net assets are in just nine stocks so you could easily re-create much of GAMR in your own portfolio and would likely do so more cheaply, depending on how much you pay to trade.
What’s more, the GAMR ETF isn’t exactly massively multi-player: There are only 36 separate stocks in the whole fund. This will make the product inherently more volatile than other, broader ETFs like the SPY or the QQQ.
Another thing to consider is that in the last few decades, narrowly-targeted investment products seem to emerge just in time for the peak of the trend on which they are trying to capitalize.
Remember the Jacob Internet Fund, begun in 1999? December 13, 1999, if we’re being specific. By September 2002, the Jacob Internet Fund had lost 95% of its value.
It’s worth noting that PureFunds released its Internet security ETF in November 2014 and though it rose for the next eight months, by late March 2015 it was down about 8% from where it was initially priced. By comparison, the Nasdaq Composite index was down about 2% over the same time frame.
Narrowly targeted ETFs like GAMR try to surf the momentum in the underlying stocks but as Zynga ZNGA (a GAMR constituent) and King Digital (KING) have shown in the last few years that momentum can reverse abruptly and painfully.
Video games aren’t necessarily zero-sum where hits always crowd out the duds. Sometime a new platform cycle causes all the publishers to fall while an installed base of hardware builds.
Of course, video games are now more than just the traditional consoles like xBox and PlayStation with which we’re familiar. Games for smart phones are wildly popular, but it’s been difficult for publishers like Zynga and Glu Mobile (GLU) to monetize that popularity over a multi-year time frame.
Major Chinese on-line services like Tencent Holdings (TCTZF) provide games on their platforms, but those firms are so large that even a hit game wouldn’t move the needle, in terms of revenue or stock price, in my opinion.
What about Virtual Reality? The production version of Facebook’s (FB) Oculus Rift was just launched in late March, complete with 30 titles.
Early reviews have been…lukewarm. I think Virtual Reality will make for some compelling game experiences. But history has shown that game companies, whether platform, publisher or accessory makers, have to climb an expensive learning curve associated with a major technology transition and that journey always takes longer and costs more than initially estimated.
If you’re looking for tech companies with high profit margins, occasionally high growth rates and selling products – like Grand Theft Auto – known to all your friends, then investing in video game stocks has a certain appeal.
Less Is More
Less appealing is the hit-or-miss aspect of gaming itself, where sales and profits depend heavily on the unpredictable tastes of mostly young men. Not to mention the industry seasonality that is oriented around the year-end holidays.
So what about the GAMR ETF? Buy, sell or hold? My take is that individual video game stocks are trading vehicles, not long term investments.
One publisher or platform can often succeed at the expense of another. Buying a whole bunch of them at the same time defeats the purpose of capturing the upside of a break-out game.
I believe you should take your video game trading cue from the real game of baseball: Wait for the right pitch. Not 36 of them at the same time.