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Independents fear a move by Smiths News to offer a fixed rate on carriage charges will only serve as a distraction from the case against “unjustifiably high” delivery charges.
In a letter to customers, the wholesaler outlined changes to its annual review into service charges, including a one-off offer to freeze their rates for a 24-month period.
This comes as an alternative to variable charges, which have increased by an average of 90p per week, per year, in the past five years.
But while the NFRN has welcomed the move, retailers told RN this week they were concerned it could stall the campaign for fairer charges.
Steve Archer, who owns three Premier stores in Staffordshire and Cheshire, said: “If you look at fuel prices, they are probably about 30% less than they were six months ago.
“Carriage charges are unjustifiably high, but because it is such a complicated matrix wholesalers use to work them out, retailers end up just putting up with it.”
AA figures for July show UK average prices for diesel were at their lowest for five years in 2015. Last month, the average price was 119.3p per litre compared to 136.1p in 2014 and 140.2p in 2013.
Carriage charges are unjustifiably high, but because it is such a complicated matrix wholesalers use to work them out, retailers end up just putting up with it
NFRN chief executive Paul Baxter said: “We have highlighted the recent reductions in fuel prices and pushed for these reductions to be passed onto independent retailers on a fair and equitable basis.”
Smiths News sales director Simon Gage said: “We have looked at how we charge for delivery, market volatility, the historical trend in increasing costs and ongoing uncertainty.
“We believe offering this opportunity to fix will see customers opt to stay at their current rate as it will safeguard their business against an increase for a further two years.”
Click here for more response from Smiths News.


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Google is offering to buy up to £600 worth of internet bandwidth in a bid to help its broadband customers get online faster and cheaper.
The search giant is selling the internet bandwidth for just £1 a month, which is far cheaper than the £1.95 it charged its internet customers when they first joined its broadband service last year.
It said that if it buys the bandwidth, customers could benefit from a 1GB of high-bandwidth fibre optic broadband for £5.35 a month.
The company is also selling the bandwidth for £1 per month, giving consumers an extra £100 in monthly internet costs, which could save them up to 40p per month.
Google said that its internet service had become “too expensive” and said it was working on a “better solution” for those who wanted to “keep their data at a reasonable price”.
The deal comes after the internet giant said it had already sold more than 2.6m internet connections last year, making it one of the biggest internet service providers in the world.
The move comes as the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating whether the internet giants should be required to sell their data to the public, after it was criticised by a number of internet users and activists.
“We are now seeing the cost of broadband continue to grow,” Google said.
“This is a great opportunity to offer customers the most cost-effective option for connecting to the internet for the future.”
It is also giving customers an extra 20p per minute, which it said would be “an even more affordable way to enjoy the web”.
The internet service company has previously said it would be investing “hundreds of millions” of pounds in the UK if it was forced to sell its broadband services to the government.
Google has also said it has been offering its customers free access to its own network, while it has also offered free internet access to a number who have been stuck in congested areas.
The internet giant is currently owned by Alphabet, which was formed in 2004 and is based in Mountain View, California.
Google previously tried to buy Facebook and Facebook bought Instagram in 2016.

domain: news


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It’s been a sociable and revelatory few weeks. I was very privileged to be invited to the newly opened Woburn Forest Center Parcs in Bedfordshire last week, to see the magnificent new Aqua Sana Spa, now the flagship venue of the group. This 7000m2 masterpiece boasts more than two dozen hot and cold, dry and wet experiences that offer an array of health and wellness benefits that also relax and indulge. Industry veteran, Don Camilleri (Development Director for Center Parcs) who is the visionary behind the Aqua Sana brand, described creating ‘journeys within journeys’ for the newest innovation. That little catch phrase couldn’t have been a more accurate summation of what you experience. Their ‘World of Spa’ seduces as much as it inspires and makes access to such a high level facility both affordable and accessible.
In discussing the stats around the creation of this new, brand matriarch – one stood out to me of particular note. 50% of the guests using Aqua Sana across the Center Parcs group are first time spa users. That is a compelling statistic and one that is significantly, and positively, contributing to the growth in the UK domestic wellness tourism segment. The Aqua Sana product is anchored to pampering and relaxation and Center Parcs stick steadfastly to that message. One might say that Center Parcs epitomizes domestic wellness tourism in the UK – from forest bathing and activities galore to spa relaxation, natural serenity and fabulous food. This experiential combination inspires a draw to optimal life balance that holds little boundary to age, gender or mobility.
At this year’s WTM, the first Wellness Tourism Programme will take place from Tuesday 6th to Thursday 8th November and feature panels that will discuss how wellness tourism is defined, the differences between medical and wellness tourism and how wellness tourism is being integrated into destinations, countries and business’ market positioning.
Education in this segment is key. As I write, I’m travelling back from the Madeira Islands where a wellness tourism education series was initiated this week, by the Madeira Promotion Bureau. The series will inform and demonstrate the opportunities and advantages being seen within the wellness tourism sector and their relevance to the Madeira market. This sort of pro activity showcases a forward thinking awareness and recognition for the reality of both the changing needs of the consumer and the decline in public health. It is impressive. And given the stunning natural beauty, healing sands and waters, also, wholly appropriate.
In a similar vein, last week saw the airing of the ‘Champneys’ documentary showing the wins and challenges of taking an iconic British ‘health spa’ brand through refurbishment whilst simultaneously trying to improve standards.
What I notice most, is the regional and global differences of what resonates with consumers. Many of the guests interviewed in the Champneys documentary were, similarly to the Center Parcs consumer, more ‘indulgence and pampering’ focused whilst, in addition, there were those checking in for more specific therapeutic reasons. In much of Europe, the activities might be the same but the related culture is more health and prevention focused. But bearing in mind, the first time user stats for Aqua Sana (at Center Parcs) alongside climbing first time gym memberships (PURE gyms report 30% of memberships as first time users) and the surge in more healthy eateries, juicing and ‘food as medicine’ concepts, the UK’s acceleration towards a more ‘European’ wellness consciousness, is well underway.


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U.S. Trade Gap Narrows 5.9%
The U.S. trade gap narrowed sharply in June as a strengthening global economy pushes up demand for American exports overseas.
The trade deficit with other nations contracted 5.9% from a month earlier to $43.64 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. The deficit fell because exports rose 1.2% while imports fell 0.2%.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a $44.1 billion deficit.
The report offered encouraging news for the U.S. economy, which has grown sluggishly this year but is starting to reap more benefits from strengthening economies overseas and a weakened dollar. Steady growth in Asia, Europe and South America is pushing up demand for American goods like soybeans and petroleum.
Exports of goods reached the highest level on record in June, after inflation. Petroleum exports also hit an all-time high.
Imports fell in June due largely to declines in consumer goods like cellphones, jewelry and apparel, as well as a drop in imported crude oil. Imports of capital goods rose, a possible sign of higher business investment spending.
The U.S. still imports more goods and services than it exports, and the broader trend shows a widening deficit. Through the first half of this year, the trade gap widened 10.7% compared to the same period a year earlier. Exports have risen 6% this year while imports have grown 6.9%.
The Commerce Department report on trade can be found at http://www.census.gov/ft900.
Write to Josh Mitchell at firstname.lastname@example.org and Eric Morath at email@example.com.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)


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Iain Thomson and Shaun Nichols discuss the stories that made the headlines in Silicon Valley this week.
Today's podcast covers the largest data theft in US history; Steve Jobs's attempts to persuade Palm not to poach its staff; the Department of Justice's approval of large fines for illegal downloading; and the first US internet addiction centre.
Dr Kuan Hon criticises GDPR consent emails that will only eviscerate marketing databases and 'media misinformation'
Apple squashes Steam Link app on 'business conflicts' grounds
Philip Hammond wants to forget rules that the UK agreed with the EU to ban non-European companies from the satellites
Instapaper to 'go dark' in Europe until it can work out GDPR compliance


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The latest Customer Satisfaction Index has found, not surprisingly, that people really like their iPhones.
The latest ACSI, which is published quarterly by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and rates a wide range of big-name tech suppliers on a 100-point scale, shows that Apple is simply outclassing its competition in the mobile phone market, as its score of 83 bests its nearest competitor by eight points. Apple’s closest competitors on the latest ACSI are HTC, LG and Nokia, all of whom scored 75 on the latest index.
Troubled BlackBerry maker Research in Motion had the lowest score among mobile phone manufacturers on this year’s ACSI, as its 69 rating trailed Apple’s score by a whopping 14 points. ACSI founder Claes Fornell says that RIM’s low ratings shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who’s been following the news surrounding the company for the past year.
“Companies with weak customer satisfaction often have weak stock performance,” Fornell says. “RIM’s sales are slumping amid a bevy of problems, from hardware and software issues to server lapses that have caused email and messaging outages. Over the past year, share price for RIM has virtually collapsed.”
Published in http://www.networkworld.com


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Motorola entered the folding segment in 2022 with the launch of the Motorola Razr . The company continued with the Razr 5G, which brought improved cameras and a more rugged interior. Now while the next-generation Razr is already in the works and will arrive soon, the Lenovo-owned company is now looking to dive into completely new territory: rollable phones .
According to Evan Blass , Motorola is developing its first rollable phone, internally known as Felix. Motorola’s vision for rollable phones appears to be different from that of OPPO and TCL, which have already unveiled their first concept phones. Both OPPO X 2021 and TCL Fold n ‘Roll use a flexible display that expands horizontally to transform a full-sized plate phone into a large tablet.
According to the report, Motorola’s rollable Felix expands vertically to make the device taller (rather than wider). One third of the phone’s display is hidden at the bottom and can be fully extended on demand to increase the actual screen space.


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Tag Archives: Africa Internet Group
Africa Internet Group: Latest News
Peter Pedroncelli, 6:37 pm AFKI Original
History was made in 2016 when Africa could finally celebrate its first startup unicorn, with the Africa Internet Group, now known as Jumia Group, being valued at over $1 billion in February last year. In doing so, it became the first privately owned startup to gain unicorn status, joining an elite group of 150 or so companies around the globe. The company is based in Lagos, Nigeria, and operates as a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular S.A, using a sales approach similar to Amazon.
Kevin Mwanza, 4:10 am AFKI Original
Africa’s largest hotel booking website, Jovago, is counting on its focus on local travelers across the continent to wave through a slowdown in tourist numbers in East Africa, one of its leading markets, due to increased terrorism threat. Estelle Verdier-Watine, Jovago’s Eastern and Southern Africa managing director, told AFKInsider the startup was edging closer to breaking even in the region despite reduced tourism activity in Kenya, one of the region’s largest tourist market.
Staff, 3:50 am
Africa Internet Group (AIG), a subsidiary of Rocket Internet, is renaming its companies in the African market to become part of one huge Jumia brand. This means all startups under AIG are undergoing some form of rebranding or the other. Basically, their names are going to be changed to Jumia-something. Jovago will become Jumia Travel, Lamudi will be Jumia House, HelloFood is morphing into Jumia Food, Carmudi will be Jumia Cars, Vendito will become Jumia Deals, and Everjobs will be known as Jumia Jobs.
Kevin Mwanza, 4:44 am
Mobile phones are driving e-commerce sales in Africa as more people on the continent acquire smartphones and internet use, especially in urban areas, rise, a new report by performance marketing firm, Criteo has shown. The report showed that the number of retail e-commerce transactions taking place through smartphones in Nigeria spiked by 73 percent within the first quarter of 2016
Kevin Mwanza, 5:31 am
Africa’s first tech unicorn, e-commerce websites holding company Africa Internet Group (AIG), has received $80 million additional funding from mobile giant Orange in addition to the $326 million it raised last month. AIG, the holding company for Africa’s fast growing online retail startup Jumia with operation in 11 countries, crossed the $1 billion valuation mark in March after it announced that French insurance giant AXA had invested $84 million for an eight percent stake.
Kevin Mwanza, 4:16 am
Africa Internet Group (AIG), one of the largest e-commerce companies on the continent, has raised $245 million (225 million euros) in one of the largest fundraising rounds by an African-focused tech firm. The funding has been raising from US-based investment bank Goldman Sachs and existing investors South African telecom MTN Group and German startup incubator Rocket Internet.
Kevin Mwanza, 6:41 am
French Insurance giant AXA plans to invest 75 million euros ($84 million) for a 8 percent stake in Africa Internet Group (AIG), one of the largest e-commerce companies on the continent. Nigerian-owned AIG is the holding company for Africa’s fast growing online retail startup Jumia that has operation in 11 countries. AXA’s investment now pushes AIG’s valuation to slightly over a billion dollars.
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FOREIGNER, WHITESNAKE, and JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING, are getting into the holiday gift-giving spirit early with the announcement of their 2018 29-city summer “Juke Box Heroes Tour,” produced by Live Nation. Nothing warms up the chilly holiday season like the promise of a hot summer tour, and concert tickets make the perfect gift.
Indiana stop in July
The legendary artists will appear live at Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana on Friday, July 13, 2018. The three bands are led by Englishmen Mick Jones, David Coverdale, and Jason Bonham who are part of the fabric of British rock, and will bring a summer of great music across the country. Foreigner’s 40th Anniversary tour was one of last summer’s best selling runs.
Tickets and information
Tickets for the “Juke Box Heroes Tour” are on sale at https://www.livenation.com/. Tickets for Foreigner VIP packages including Meet & Greets with the band will be available at http://www.foreigneronline.com/vip2018 .


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One of the founders of 1990’s giants Gateway Computer has died.
In 1985, Mike Hammond, 53, met fellow co-founder Ted Waitt when they worked for a Des Moines computer and software seller.
The pair created a computer company. They set up in a vacant space on the Waitt family cattle farm thanks to $10,000 in collateral put up by Waitt’s grandmother.
Waitt once told Business Week magazine that because of a non-compete clause with their previous employer he and Hammond operated under the fake names “Max Wheeler” and “Ed Zimmerman” when setting up “Gateway 2-Thousand.”
Originally called Gateway 2000, it was one of the first widely successful direct-sales PC companies, which it copied from Dell. It emphasised its Iowa roots with low-tech advertisements proclaiming “Computers from Iowa?” The computers were built from Texas instrument parts. Gateway built brand recognition in part by shipping computers in spotted boxes patterned after Holstein cow markings.
In 1989, Gateway moved its corporate offices and production facilities to North Sioux City, South Dakota. In line with the Holstein cow mascot, Gateway opened a chain of farm-styled retail stores called Gateway Country Stores, mostly in suburban areas across the United States. It dropped the “2000” from its name on October 31, 1998
Hammond served in various capacities for the company that eventually grew to more than 24,000 employees across the globe. However more people entered the market and profit margins shrank. The company tried to expand into consumer electronics and opened retail stores, but didn’t succeed.
In October 2007, the company was flogged off to Acer for US$710 million. J. T. Wang, the company’s chairman, said in a statement that the acquisition “completes Acer’s global footprint, by strengthening our US presence.”
Hammond when on to set up Dakota Muscle to restore and repair classic cars.
The bloke who created an empire based on really expensive management software, which no one was quite sure what it did, has died.
Klaus Tschira, one of the co-founders of European software giant SAP, has died unexpectedly at the age of 74, his foundation said.
Tschira, a trained physicist, left IBM to found SAP in 1972 together with four IBM colleagues: Hasso Plattner, who is still the company’s chairman, Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Werner Hector and Claus Wellenreuther.
SAP began by developing software that could process data in real time rather than overnight in batches, and went public in 1988.
It is now Europe’s biggest technology company, with revenues of $18.9 billion and had more than 74,000 employees in 2014.
He also founded the Klaus Tschira Foundation (KTF) in 1995 as a non-profit organisation to support projects in natural and computer sciences and mathematics.
Tschira, a billionaire, stepped down from SAP’s supervisory board in 2007. He is survived by his wife Gerda Tschira and two sons.
John Akers, one of the “Last of the Great Big Blue Mohicans” who led IBM to its longtime dominance of the computer industry died of a stroke on Friday. He was 79 years old.
Akers was a former fighter pilot who served as IBM’s chief executive from 1985 to 1993, this was a critical time for Biggish Blue as PCs, Microsoft and Intel started to grow.
However Akers was determined to keep IBM operating using its traditional methods, particularly when it came to being nice to employees.
Akers joined IBM in 1960 and rose through its sales ranks. Four years later, the company released a machine called the System/360 that cleaned the clock of rivals and Akers found himself very busy.
He received 16 promotions in a span of 23 years, but he also dubbed the IBM uniform of blue suits, white shirts and striped ties as “very square.”
As IBM’s mainframe sales tanked in the 1980s, Akers ordered reorganisations and job cuts. During his tenure, IBM posted its first operating loss and recorded more than $15 billion in charges.
He resigned, under pressure and was replaced by Louis Gerstner, Gerstner delivered big changes, including plant closings and a shift away from hardware and toward software and services.
However, Akers was known as a gentleman, who liked and cared for his employees.


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This week, we bring your valuable attention to a new flavour of job perk, a brand hoaxed by fake PR, a brand that faked its own campaign’s demise, and a visionary bit of tech that makes ancient architecture more real. Enjoy.
Finger lickin’ good… job perks
How does a fast food chain reduce staff turnover? Fast food jobs are famously basic, and restaurant workers are usually happy to move on in short order. Well, KFC have a truly tasty solution. The chain has taken its basic, bland restaurant job, and coated it with a tasty combination of education and opportunity.
The KFC Foundation has announced that it will partner with one of the USA’s leading online universities, to offer restaurant employees paid tuition to earn their college degrees.
KFC staff in the US can choose from more than 60 different bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and certification programs offered by Western Governors University (WGU) in the fields of business, IT, education and healthcare.
This partnership is a true demonstration of industry leadership that will make a real difference to people’s lives. We hope it works for both the company and the employees. Well done, KFC.
Sweet lies, and total nuts
Early last week M&M announced the retirement of their surprisingly controversial “Spokescandies”. The company’s official account seemed to concede defeat, confessing that changes they had made to their Spokescandies’ appearance was something “America could not agree on”. In their place, it would introduce Maya Rudolph as a brand ambassador America could agree on.
Where did this all come from? Well, a little over a year ago, M&M changed the footwear of some of the characters in order to make them more relevant and inclusive. Most notably, it swapped out the thigh-high go-go boots on the green M&M to a more comfortable trainer.
These changes were somehow picked up by the far-right’s leading Chicken Licken, Tucker Carlson, who promptly, and predictably, accused the brand of being – you know what’s coming – too woke.
“M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous, until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them”, he warned, seemingly unaware that he was discussing how attracted he is to a coated nut. But he succeeded in putting branded candywear firmly on the nation’s political agenda, eventually forcing M&M to retire their spokescandies.
The following Friday, just five days after the announcement, M&M reversed the decision to remove their Spokescandies, claiming it was just a stunt to drum up some excitement for its upcoming Super Bowl advert where the Spokescandies are set to be joined by Rudolph.
Was this the plan all along? Or was it a knee-jerk reaction to a bit of controversy? To us, it feels like a pretty short stunt but we’ll let you make up your own mind on that one.
Fast Fashion Furore
Adidas was recently the target of a PR-worthy PR hoax. To draw attention to what they claim are serious human rights abuses, campaign groups The Yes Men and the Clean Clothes Campaign, released fictitious press releases in Adidas’s name, and even held a ‘fashion event’ in Berlin.
The fake press releases presented a “revolutionary plan to overhaul the company”, and a new clothing line called ‘Realitywear’, that shows the reality of the working conditions in Adidas. The release included celebrity names, like Pharrell Williams and Bad Bunny, that were said to have contributed to the line.
The activists urged Adidas to sign the Pay Your Workers agreement by the Clean Clothes Campaign.
Adidas has denied the allegations and insists that its workers are paid fairly.
What we want to know is… did the stories land? See the full story here.
Drone to life
We love a bit of speculative art, and we love seeing big ‘what if?’ questions answered with pizzazz and style. So of course we love the latest project by Amsterdam-based studio DRIFT, who asked themselves “What would the Sagrada Familia look like if it was finished?” and then answered their own question. With a drone-created lightshow.
The drones were used to dramatically outline the completed shape of various incomplete monuments – including the Colosseum, Whitby Abbey in the UK, Plovdiv Amphitheatre in Bulgaria, the ruins of Soli in Turkey and, yes, a completed Sagrada Familia.
It’s a pretty incredible marriage of art and technology, both beautiful to look at AND potentially a new tool for architects to visualise the future. See more here.


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RIM shares drop as head of global sales quits company
Shares of Research In Motion were down about three per cent in Thursday morning trading after the BlackBerry maker’s head of global sales resigned.
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TORONTO — Shares of Research In Motion were down about three per cent in Thursday morning trading after the BlackBerry maker’s head of global sales resigned.
A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that Patrick Spence has left his role after holding various positions at the company for the past 14 years.
“Patrick will be taking on a leadership position in a different industry,” said Tenille Kennedy in a prepared e-mail statement.
RIM’s stock was off 33 cents to $11.04 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Spence had a hand in the launch of RIM’s early pager devices and later the BlackBerry’s meteoric rise to one of the world’s best-selling smartphones.
Before being promoted to the global sales position last July he was a managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
He leaves his position at RIM as the company heads into the crucial period leading up to the launch of its new line of smartphones later this year.
Spence’s exit also follows the appointment of two veterans from the mobile computing industry earlier this month.
Former Sony Mobile Communications executive Kristian Tear takes the role of chief operating officer this summer, and will also handle the sales responsibilities, Kennedy said.
In the meantime, chief executive Thorsten Heins will handle the sales role.
Frank Boulben will become RIM’s chief marketing officer after working as executive vice-president of strategy, marketing and sales for LightSquared.
- NEW Ontario VW owners could be forced off road without clean-up
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- Leafs fans aim low as season kicks off tonight
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Low loonie is boosting manufacturing, making interest shift from Calgary and Edmonton to Montreal. Timber and agriculture is driving foreign interest in Saskatoon.


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Alimta ANDA Products Hit Double Digits With Several Launches
Fresenius Kabi Has ‘Broadest Portfolio Available’
Following patent expiry on 24 May, Alimta ANDA products have reached the US market, eating into a product that generated more than $1.2bn in sales last year.
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Amneal has set a launch date for its ready-to-use presentation of pemetrexed after the FDA approved the 505(b)(2) product under the name of Pemrydi.
Waverley is evaluating options for its generics as it looks likely to throw its all at the company’s lead product candidate in the hopes of luring a development partner or buyer.
Hot on the heels of the first US generic Nexavar launch by Viatris, Dr Reddy’s has followed with a second sorafenib rival. The product represents the latest in a string of significant US launches for the Indian company.


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AT&T has unveiled details of its new OTT service DirecTV Now, which will launch on November 30.
On November 28 AT&T will unveil details of its new OTT service DirecTV Now, which will offer 100 channels at a starting price of $35 a month.
AT&T is to buy Time Warner in an $85.4 billion agreement.
Ten of the leading pay-TV services in the United States have between them lost 663,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2016.
WATCH VIDEO. AT&T plans to launch DirecTV streaming video services over a wired or wireless internet connection from any provider and from virtually any device – smartphone, tablet, smart TV, streaming media hardware or PC.
Netflix has asked the FCC to reject the upcoming merger of AT&T and DirecTV unless its competitive concerns are addressed.
AT&T has entered into an agreement to buy DIRECTV for $48.5 billion (€35.4 billion), in a stock and cash transaction for $95 per share based on Friday’s closing price.
TiVo has settled on pending litigation with AT&T, the US telco also entering into a patent licensing agreement with the next generation DVR technology provider.


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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon Prime Day this year was postponed from July to October. The proximity of this date to the end of the year holidays has caused many to consider it the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
This year's Amazon Prime Day, for many, marked the “unofficial” beginning of holiday shopping, which experts suppose will be the longest shopping season ever.
In a year when social distancing is recommended, shopping in October instead of the holiday season will avoid the massive traffic jams that occur at department stores during the end of the year.
In order not to be left out of this trend, other retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Overstock will have their own online sales special this week, to compete against the e-commerce giant.
According to a report by eMarketer, Prime Day's worldwide sales are expected to add up to about $ 10 billion this year, which would represent a 43% increase over last year.
The increase in sales would be driven by new members and buyers looking for Christmas deals and wanting to shop from the comfort and safety of their homes, and the incredible growth e-commerce has had over the last months.
Amazon Prime Day, although it is a two-day event, has been extended beyond a week in previous editions.
This year, with people staying home so much more, household, electronics, and gardening supplies are expected to be the top sellers.
This year Amazon reported that it would have more than a million offers including televisions, electronics, household items, and toys.
AirPods, for example, are $ 50 off and Apple Watches are $ 200 off.


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Things have not been good for Nintendo
of late, and that's almost a bit of an understatement. With rivals Sony and Microsoft trouncing the daylights out of the company on shelves and Nintendo itself seen regularly apologizing to gamers over an ongoing lack of games, it's clear Big N is not as big as it once was, nor is it likely to be so again. But Nintendo has something of a strategy afoot to take on a new and potentially more lucrative market, one that may help the company find a new path in a post-console wars future: health gaming.
We've heard previously how Satoru Iwata
, the company's chief executive, wanted to step past gaming and offer up a new kind of entertainment, specifically, one that improves the “quality of life” for people. Naturally, many will balk at the idea of opening up a new product line while sales on the core product are clearly in decline, but this isn't a new strategy for Nintendo. This is, rather, a strategy that has worked before with the Wii, and one that may work again with the Wii U.
The Wii was something of an anomaly. The games weren't particularly great, nor memorable. The graphics weren't exciting, the plots not adult. Many games were just collections of mini-games. But what made the Wii the massive seller it was was the unique control scheme. Buttons now a sidebar, the Wii focused on motion, on waving, on getting people up out of their collective seat and playing games. Wii Bowling, Wii Sports...these things were like actually playing a game, but without actually playing the game.
Nintendo's “vitality sensor
,” first announced in 2009 but never actually shipped, looked to augment this course of action a bit, giving gamers a chance to connect heart rate to the game itself and potentially even use that heart rate as part of the game. But what Nintendo knows about healthcare is likely pretty slim, and that's a development that would probably cause Nintendo to have to turn to other firms in the field. Still, if Nintendo were to do that, it might just have the kind of intellectual property and long-standing reputation to make this a worthwhile venture; playing Nintendo is associated with a fun activity for a whole host of people, and making healthcare fun is the kind of thing that would really be welcome on several ends of the spectrum.
Can Nintendo do it? Sure it can. It's going to have a bit of a hard road in front of it to pull off such a feat, though, as this is comparatively new territory. But it has a foundation in this market that could be tough to resist, and may ultimately give its users a whole new angle to work with. Only time will tell just how well it all works out—more information would definitely be a help—but Mario et al may be helping us get well rather than just entertaining us soon.


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Nvidia has announced its latest updates to Omniverse, its real-time 3D design collaboration platform. Highlights include a new version of the Omniverse-compatible version of
Pixologic has unveiled some of the features coming up in future releases of ZBrush, including a standard camera with real-world lens properties, folders
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Retail giants have always had to deal with petty theft, but a growing trend of organized retail crime is now not just eating into company profits, it’s threatening the safety of workers.
“It’s a big problem for retail,” Home Depot (NYSE:HD) CEO Ted Decker told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “This isn’t the random shoplifter anymore.”
The home improvement retailer has faced the loss of two employees — Gary Rasor, 83, and Blake Mohs, 26 — who were killed during separate theft incidents over the past year.
Just last month, the Miami Herald reported a Florida pastor was arrested and is accused of organizing the theft of roughly $1.4 million worth of goods from numerous Home Depot locations in the state.
Organized retail crime and theft are growing in both scope and complexity across the country, according to a study from the National Retail Federation (NRF) — to the extent that former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli recently described it as an “epidemic … spreading faster than COVID.” The NRF also estimates theft is costing the retail industry about $100 billion.
What’s behind this alarming trend?
Theft at Home Depot stores has been “growing double-digit year over year,” the retailer’s VP of asset protection, Scott Glenn, recently told ABC News.
“More and more we’re seeing the risk being brought into the stores, and people being hurt or people even being killed in many cases because these folks, they just don’t care about the consequence,” Glenn said.
Home Depot isn’t alone in experiencing an uptick in organized retail crime, which the National Retail Federation defines as the large-scale theft of retail merchandise with the intent to resell the items for financial gain.
About 70% of retailers believe the threat of organized retail crime has increased over the past five years, according to the 2022 National Retail Security Survey.
To reduce the risk of theft and other crimes in its stores, Home Depot has started locking up high-value items, some of which Decker says may surprise customers.
“They’re not all big — they’re not all power tools and generators. You can have a circuit breaker — [worth] $50, $60, $80 — those are all high-theft items.”
When asked if Home Depot would have to shutter certain stores — following the footsteps of other retail giants — the CEO says the retailer has so far managed to avoid that.
However, Decker says the company is increasingly concerned over the safety of their employees and customers. As a result, they’ve invested more in security guards, more lighting in their parking lots and recording towers.
“It’s not a place in retail that many of us thought we would be,” he said.
Read more: How can I stop the pain and make money in this nightmarish market? Here’s 1 simple way you can protect your nest egg
Avoiding stolen goods online
When it comes to organized retail crime, “a lot of this product is [re-sold] on online marketplaces,” Decker said.
To counter this, the retail giant has been working with local, state and federal governments to help them understand the problem and come up with a viable solution.
Late last year, Congress passed the INFORM Consumers Act. The act requires online marketplaces to collect, verify and disclose certain financial and identifying information from “high-volume third-party sellers” — those with more than 200 transactions and $5,000 in revenue in a 12-month period.
INFORM Consumers, which took effect June 27, aims to increase the transparency of online transactions, while also deterring criminals from using online marketplaces to sell stolen, counterfeit or unsafe items.
Decker said he’s “super happy” the bill passed as “it’s going to make those marketplaces vet their sellers.”
In the meantime, the big-name retailer must continue “to manage” its theft challenges and cope with the “pressure on [its] gross margin,” the CEO added.
What to read next
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.


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Nicholas Newman Eniday May 2016
The replacement of old-fashioned light bulbs with LEDs is playing a big role in fighting global warming as windmills, solar panels or electric cars. The light-emitting diode or LED light has created an energy revolution, producing a crisp white glow with up to 80 percent less power than traditional incandescent lamps. The inventors of the LED were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2014 for creating the blue light needed to complete the colour spectrum, which spawned a new industry in 1997. Nicholas Newman looks at how LEDs are saving us money and how it is used in all aspects of our life, including providing specialised lighting for cars, medical applications and theatres
The light of the sun and even artificial lighting are essential to human existence and comfort; the latter by extending the day beyond the onset of night and facilitating the 24 hour day of work, rest and play. In recent years, traditional light bulbs have been giving way to more energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lights both indoors and outdoors, offering novel lighting solutions and new uses such as LED signage in the transportation sector.
The development of LED lights has opened a range of new opportunities, chief of which is LED digital signage, used to provide real-time information for travelers by bus, car, cycle, ferry, train or tram. LED signage is becoming commonplace to divert, entertain and inform travelers about arrivals, delays and waiting times for services. In addition, LED lights are becoming ubiquitous as lighting on cars, motorcycles and bicycles, owing to their mechanical robustness and long life.
Elsewhere, LED’s are being used as a source of light for machine vision systems, which require bright and consistent illumination to make it easier to record and monitor information. A case in point is the barcode reader which tallies shopping items at the check-out; the optical computer mouse that navigates the personal computer; and atmospheric detectors measuring dust, haze, smog, smoke, volcanic emissions and even clouds of water droplets or ice.


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Criterion creative director Craig Sullivan has confirmed that the upcoming Need for Speed: Rivals
, developed by offshoot studio Ghost Games, will not be released on either Nintendo's Wii U or Sony's PlayStation Vita.
Speaking with The Sixth Axis
, Sullivan cited the platforms' low install base and the extra work required to successfully port the title as reasons for giving the hardware a miss, when the franchise's previous entry, Need for Speed: Most Wanted
, appeared on both consoles.
] didn't really sell that many, in terms of the Wii U market," said Sullivan. "We did a load of extra work on the Wii U version, and we had a lot of guys working on that stuff, you know?"
Publisher EA has signified a cooling relationship
with Nintendo's Wii U platform in the past, saying as recently as May that it had no titles in development for the console. The fact that EA's next-generation Frostbite 3 engine, on which many of its titles are being developed (including Need for Speed: Rivals
), has not been ported to either Wii U or PS Vita is another sign that EA is not particularly invested in delivering titles for those platforms.
] is going onto new hardware, and you have to work out where you focus your efforts," said Sullivan. "The 200 people working on this game are only capable of making so much, and doing so many different versions of the game, so we had to go with where we think the biggest audience will be for the game."


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Tourism and Hospitality Conference Welcome to Georgia! The National Awards of Tourism will be held on at the beginning of June, this year and is organized by Welcome to Georgia! and co-organized by the Bank of Georgia and will be the fourth annual one.
The project aims to encourage Georgian tourism and hospitality industry and promote the recognition of companies and brands in the field and to better represent Georgia in the international tourism market.
The organizers of the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards Project promise much more interesting competition year for the companies working in this field. New jury expert board and other news will be publicly known on the Third Tourism and Hospitality Conference Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards.
“We are preparing for the fourth ceremony very actively. This year will be new nominations. We will try to appreciate the work of the private sector in tourism development “, – said Giorgi Chogovadze, head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration.
Two years ago within the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards Bank of Georgia successfully launched special category for small and medium segments – “THE FASTEST GROWING COMPANY OF THE YEAR IN THE SME SEGMENT AWARD”. The main reason for initiating this category was to encourage and motivate companies working in the SME segment in tourism and hospitality industry. And last year for the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards 2017 Bank of Georgia developed second, a very special category – “The best female entrepreneur in the tourism industry awards”. This category was created specially to encourage and motivate female leaders who have dedicated their career to the development of Georgian tourism and hospitality industry and from the beginning of this nomination has great response and interest from the side of women working in this field.
“Project is very successful, so many companies take part in it. The Bank of Georgia tries to maximize its support for this sector. This year we will have an even more exciting offer for participants. The first two nominations, which are small and medium business, and the most successful entrepreneur woman remains and we have another nomination, which will be very interesting and we will announce a bit later “- Zurab Masurashvili – Head of Micro and Small Business Banking Department of Bank of Georgia.
Tourism and Hospitality Conference within Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards Project was launched in 2016 and represents an unique business platform to exchange information, to communicate and catch up with the latest trends and challenges in tourism and hospitality sphere and Georgian Business industry in general. The aim of this conference is to consolidate representatives of respective industry, government officials; international and local experts, media and opportunity to promote among the broad target audience, to establish all key persons of industry.
The fourth Tourism and Hospitality Conference will consist of panel discussions; B2B meetings and interesting presentations from the top market suppliers and professionals will have a chance to get latest developments and upcoming projects in Georgian tourism and hospitality industry.
The winners will be revealed in December at the Welcome to Georgia! fourth event of the National Tourism Award.


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A freedom of information request was filed to 400 councils in the UK. It revealed “Location Discrimination” with drivers in the South of England paying close to 30% more to charge their electric vehicles than those in the North of England and Wales.
There are 21 councils across England and Wales (which includes Leeds, Bridgend and Woking) where it is 100% free to charge an EV using council-owned public chargers.
After calculating the average price of council-owned chargers in each area, it costs drivers 32p per kWh to recharge in the South, compared with just 25p per kWh for people in the North.
What’s better: cheaper EV charging or more EV chargers?
EV Drivers in the south of England certainly have one thing going for them – access to 1,468 more on-street charging points than those living in the north. But, unfortunately, they spend considerably more to use them.
British Gas is calling this ‘location discrimination’. A full transition to EVs simply isn’t financially viable ahead of the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars for some drivers. In addition, it will cost drivers in the South over 10% more to use the cheapest council-owned chargers than drivers in the North.
There are two kinds of people: people with driveways and people without driveways
The problems associated with EV charging are particularly bad for people without driveways, and by extension, without their own charger. These people are reliant on a public charging infrastructure, which puts pressure on the government and EV technology companies.
Some believe that the need for public charging makes transitioning to an EV world unrealistic. However, data shows that those without a driveway or off-street parking are considerably less receptive to the idea of driving an EV than those with a driveway. In an increasingly strained world, this is another potential sign of a growing inequality divide.
The public doesn’t know the truth about EVs
EV companies need to convince the majority of the public that an EV world is realistic soon, not just in a futuristic-world far-away world.
Information about EVs isn’t yet abundantly clear. Many people feel like they don’t know precisely how driving and charging EVs would work practically.
EVs, like most technology, seems to divide people. At the moment there appears to be those ‘in the know’ and those who think the only kind of EV is a Tesla.
Information on public and home charging costs needs to be made more transparent to the public. Otherwise, people are liable to believe that only millionaires will be able to afford chargers and that a utopia of readily-available charging is impossible.
Most motorists have no idea about differences in charging costs, and most asked have agreed that clear information on charging costs would make the switch from fossil fuel to EVs a more practical proposition.
Where is charging the most accessible?
British Gas’ survey of England and Wales found that the West Midlands is serving their residents the best with cheap council-owned chargers. The next cheapest region is the East Midlands.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have plans for ‘government-mandated, subsidised and maintained public EV charging infrastructure’. The ChargePlace Scotland and ecarNI networks will give either free or heavily discounted charging for the region.
People are calling the differences in charging infrastructure between parts of the country a ‘postcode lottery’. The difference between areas is staggering. In the South West, the cheapest charger costs 63p per kWh. In the East of England, it costs 40p per kWh to charge.
British Gas’ data show that most people expect charging costs to be the same in the North as in the South. However, the truth is much different. The effect this will have on the country remains to be seen.
Councils need to take charge
The Government needs to continue investing money into public charging infrastructure in all regions of the UK equally to support their levelling up plans.
There are currently 21 councils that have vocally supported local EV adoption, so there will likely be a greater uptake of EVs in these areas than in councils where it is expensive to charge.
If charging doesn’t become more accessible in general, we could see a slower overall adoption rate. There will likely be large differences in EV usage in various parts of the country. Nationwide plans and policies to make charging available, cheap, simple and efficient will make a significant difference to take up rates.


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Halloween costumes are already popping up in stores all over the place along with fall colored decorations. So while it may not seem like it…it’ll be pumpkin spice season before you know it!
It might be hard to believe being the middle of August, but based on a USA Today Article from just this month, it has stated that major bakery retailers are launching their pumpkin spice menus as early as August 18th!
Pumpkin Spice beyond the Latte
One of the main draws of pumpkin spice always seems to be the now-famous pumpkin spice latte, or PSL for those “in the know.” But as a baker, you already know that pumpkin spice season goes far beyond a simple latte.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: BakeMark


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TireHub LLC — a joint venture in tire distribution between Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (Nasdaq: GT) and Bridgestone Americas Inc. of Nashville — has received its regulatory clearance and will begin serving customers the first week of July, the companies said.
The transaction is expected to close in June, according to a news release.
TireHub, announced in April, combines Goodyear's company-owned wholesale distribution network with Bridgestone's Tire Wholesale Warehouse. The move creates a business, based in Atlanta, that will have more than 80 locations nationwide. About 45 of those locations, with 600 employees, come from Goodyear's wholesale operations, a company spokeswoman told Crain's when the venture was announced.
Peter Gibbons, an executive with 25 years' experience in manufacturing and supply-chain management, is helming an independent management team at TireHub.
TireHub will provide both Goodyear and Bridgestone passenger and light tires to third-party retailers, but Goodyear-branded stores will continue to sell only Goodyear products.
"There are no plans to integrate brands into the parent stores. Goodyear stores will remain Goodyear stores focused on Goodyear products," a Goodyear spokeswoman said in April when the deal was announced.
The move is designed so that both Goodyear and Bridgestone can grow their businesses by having a stronger national wholesale and distribution network, the companies said.


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Ambulnz, Inc. is developing proprietary technology that helps hospital facilities, nursing homes and patients order an Ambulance more easily and efficiently.
Via's platform is shaking up on-demand transportation in urban markets
Via – “OMG another ride-sharing app?!?!” or “an Innovative one”? I describe the Via ride-sharing startup that is trying to differentiate its value proposition to riders and drivers, and has also been making some strategic platform moves.
ChargePoint is helping catalyze the adoption of electric vehicles by creating world’s largest network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and transforming the future of transportation.
Uber started out in San Francisco as a simple on demand cab service. Today, no company better exemplifies the power of platforms in an era where digital and physical environments are beginning to merge.
This picture taken on January 20, 2015 shows a gridlock in Jakarta’s main road. Jakarta has just won the distinction of having the worlds worst traffic, according to a recent index. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images) Jakarta was chosen as the city with […]
The MTA has historically been super sensitive about sharing data with third-party developers…Who reaps the benefits as they transition to open data?
Never search for parking again! Luxe provides an easy to use on-demand valet service that will change the way you park in major cities.
Car manufacturer Daimler, who owns the Mercedes brand, has been quite aggressive in pursuing new business opportunities in the evolving context of urban transportation. Along the way the company is shifting from a product-centric business model to a platform approach to create and capture value.


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Scary Automotive Recalls
Proof positive that real life is always scarier than the movies.
If you’ve been paying attention to the auto news as of late, odds are you’ve seen something scarier than anything Hollywood can come up with: a flurry of dreaded auto recalls. Lexus owners got a fright after a fatal accident caused by faulty floor mats. The cars would accelerate uncontrollably until stopped by an immovable object or the floor mat was moved. Then Nissan joined the list with a huge recall of Altimas and Maximas due to faulty suspension components. Those are pretty terrifying, but fortunately the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and manufacturers caught the problem before things got too out of hand. That hasn’t always been the case, though.
Back in 2000, Firestone had a particularly embarrassing recall involving widely produced 15-inch tires called the ATX and ATX-II. Normally, a failing tire isn’t too big of a problem -- consumers simply pull to the side and swap the flat for the spare. The real issue came when Firestone partnered with Ford to make the ATX standard equipment on its Explorer SUV – a vehicle prone to roll over in the event of a flat. It’s estimated that 250 people died because of the defect and that up to 3,000 were seriously injured. The recall was a disaster for both companies, but likely saved lives.
Lexus isn’t the only company that has had a problem with vehicles accelerating uncontrollably. Way back in 1971, General Motors had to recall 6.7 million cars and trucks for a similar problem. Instead of floor mats causing the trouble, the GM vehicles had faulty engine mounts. Over time, the mounts would decay, causing the engine to slump forward and actuate the throttle. No one’s saying just how many consumers wound up in a dangerous situation because of the failure, but GM fixed the problem by either replacing the part or adding a supplemental engine restraint.
The claustrophobic out there will likely find this next one frightening: In 1995, Honda discovered its seat belt release buttons were prone to cracking and disintegration. The trouble resulted in owners being trapped in their vehicle, unable to exit. That may be kind of funny at the grocery store, but it's absolutely terrifying if the vehicle is on fire. The company recalled 3.7 million cars, including Civics, Accords, Preludes, Acura Legends, Integras and NSXs.
If these tales of terror have your pulse racing, don’t fret. NHTSA keeps consumers posted on all the latest recalls, and a searchable database allows you to find out if the car in your driveway needs a little attention from the dealer. You can find out more here.
(Logo courtesy of NHTSA.)
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Trump Denied the Possibility of Reviewing a Trade Deal with China
OREANDA-NEWS. US President Donald Trump ruled out the possibility of revising the trade agreement signed with China. Washington and Beijing reached a partial agreement in January of 2020.
“I’m not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too, they’d like to reopen the trade talk, to make it a better deal for them,” Trump told reporters when he was asked to comment on reports that the Chinese authorities want to resume negotiations on a trade agreement. According to the US leader, the White House should see at first if Beijing is able to act in accordance with the existing agreement.
China and the United States of America concluded a temporary trade agreement for two years. It is considered to be a first part of the trade transaction. The document provides for a return by the USA to the customs tariff regime in trade with China of the end of 2017 and a decrease in the level of Chinese tariff barriers for exports from the United States of the same time below this level.


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Every UK tour operator has suffered this year as global travel restrictions put much of the world out of reach. Even today, nine months after the start of the Covid pandemic, a quarter of countries – 59 in total – have still not reopened their borders. But for long-haul specialists like Africa Expertfounded by Chris McIntyre 26 years ago, the situation is particularly dire.
The government’s list of travel corridors dictates where Britons can go without needing to self-quarantine on their return home, and, until the addition of Namibia and Rwanda last month, all of Africa was snubbed. Moreover, thanks to the general non-essential travel advisory from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, tour operators are not even allowed to offer trips to countries outside the corridor.
“It’s been a tough year, to say the least,” McIntyre told Telegraph Travel. “Each year we typically take around 1,200 guests on premium safaris, with around half of our guests coming from the UK, a quarter from the US and the rest from various other countries. As of March, this figure dropped by about 80%.
So far in 2020, 27 holiday companies protected by Atol have gone bankrupt – with STA Travel and Shearings the most high-profile losses – but McIntyre believes many more are on the brink. “Over the years we’ve tried to save money for a rainy day, and we’re currently surviving on that,” he says. “I think other cautious companies have done the same, which might explain why we’ve seen relatively few failures so far. But if it doesn’t stop raining…if people can’t not travel properly by next summer, there won’t be many travel agencies.
McIntyre acknowledges the government has had to face tough decisions during the Covid crisis, but is scathing about its lack of support for an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of Britons.
“I just don’t think the government cares about travel – they canceled it from the start,” he says. ‘They think it’s just foreign currency going out and prefer people to go on holiday to Cornwall… let alone businesses going bankrupt and jobs being lost.’
McIntyre is particularly damning about the lack of any engagement with his industry, pointing out that no business leaders have been invited to join the Global Travel Taskforce, created in October with the aim of revitalizing holidays abroad. .
He adds: “There are other fundamental ways they could have helped. For example, they have hammered tour operators when it comes to offering refunds instead of credit notes, but airlines have not been under the same pressure. So tour operators are being ordered to refund customers when much of their money is sitting in airline bank accounts, not being returned, so they simply can’t.


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Chipotle Mexican Grill wants you back. The fast-casual Mexican chain is ramping up promotions to woo customers into its restaurants — after outbreaks of foodborne illness sickened hundreds of customers — causing sales to plummet. Now, with new safety procedures in place, Chipotle has launched a charm offensive, in the form of free food.
In its most recent campaign, Chipotle launched “Guac Hunter,” an online digital photo hunt game that rewards players for spotting differences in a set of two images before time runs out. Guac Hunter players who are able to successfully get through three rounds of the photo game are rewarded with a free order of chips and a guacamole side.
You can play the Guac Hunter game until March 31. All mobile offers for free guac and chips expire on April 10.
“This game allows our customers to enjoy some chips and guac on us, and perhaps encourage others to give our guac a try and see what they’ve been missing,” Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief creative officer, said in a statement.
The Mexican chain is planning to mail out 21 million coupons for food freebies in the coming weeks, Business Insider reports. The Mexican eatery also has plans to send out mobile promotions for free Chipotle food. The company is also considering rolling out a series of buy-one-get-one-free offers this summer.
Chipotle’s first big free-food promotion to rebuild its customer base was a free-burrito promotion in February. Of the 5.3 million people who downloaded the coupon offer online, roughly 2.5 million people ended up redeeming it.
“We fully expected that [offer] to go viral,” Crumpacker said. “That was our first test to see how much people really wanted to come back to Chipotle.
“Free burritos — turns out it works,” Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung said. “It brings people into the restaurants.”
Food Safety News reported that “hundreds of Chipotle’s customers were victims of six confirmed foodborne illness outbreaks in the second half of 2015.” They included cases of illness from E. coli and norovirus. FSN also reported:
Chipotle faces more than 100 civil claims by outbreak victims and their families, including a case filed by several high school students and one parent who were sickened in the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak. That case seeks class action and could include more than 1,000 members.
Meanwhile, stockholders also have filed at least two federal court cases seeking class action status against Chipotle because of the outbreaks, the report said.
Is free food enough to woo you back to Chipotle? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.
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BluGuitar has announced that the complete BluGuitar Amp1 System is now available in the U.S.
PRS Guitars has announced the new Sonzera series of guitar amplifiers, which consists of the Sonzera 50 Watt Combo, Sonzera 50 Watt Headand Sonzera 20 Watt Combo.
In addition to their complete line of electric guitars, Mitchell Guitars recently unveiled their impressive bass guitar collection.
Electric guitar and bass pickup maker Tom “TV” Jones is proud to announce the release of the Ray Butts Ful-Fidelity Filter’Tron guitar pickup, which was builtto Butts’ exact personal specifications.
For 2017, the king of shredding gear, Ibanez proudly introduces a new acoustic guitar specially designed for electric guitar players: the AEWC32FM.
For 2017, Ibanez is introducing a new Grand Concert style acoustic to their acclaimed Artwood series.
Inspired by the recent reissue of its classic OD850 fuzz pedal, Ibanez is releasing a new mini version—the FZMINI.
For 2017, Ibanez is introducing a new line of hollowbody archtop jazz guitars to its lineup, the Contemporary Archtop series.
Ibanez is introducing two new RG models, designed for the serious, experienced lead and metal guitarist.
Gibson showed a new guitar at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, and the few photos of it that are circulating are generating quite a buzz.
Ernie Ball Music Manrecently introduced its 2017 Spring Collection, just in time for the 2017 Winter NAMM Show, which takes place in Ahaheim, California, next week.
Morley, makers of pedals, switches and Ebtechaudio solutions, has released the DJ Ashba Skeleton Wah.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) has setthe stage for 2017 with the launch of the American Professional Series, a new professional-grade collection of electric guitars and basses.


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Global economy to remain fragile until 2018, according to IMF
Global economy to remain fragile for years to come, says IMF
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The global economy will not be back in 'decent shape' until at least 2018, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist has warned.
Olivier Blanchard said he feared the eurozone crisis, debt problems in Japan and the US, and a slowdown in China meant that the world economy would not be in good shape until at least 2018.
"It's not yet a lost decade," he said, adding: "But it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape".
According to the Guardian, Blanchard made his comments on a Hungarian website Portfolio.hu ahead of the IMF meeting next week in Tokyo.
Germany is expected to defend its handling of Europe's debt problems at the meeting, but Blanchard said there was more that Europe's largest economy could do to support Spain and other struggling euro zone nations, the report said.
In particular, he urged Berlin to accept a rise in inflation and wages that would make it less competitive with its trading partners.
"A somewhat higher inflation rate in Germany should simply be seen as a necessary and desirable, relative price adjustment," he said.
- Nip, tuck: Dubai's grand plans for being a major player in medical tourism
- Zain, UNHCR, Facebook to bring free internet access to urban refugees in Jordan
- Yemen Central Bank headquarters to relocate from Sanaa to Aden
- IMF report details the crippling economic effects of conflict in MENA
- Start Up Lebanon entrepreneurs head to Silicon Valley Roadshow


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PRUDENCE CAN MAKE YOUR ACCESSORIES THE MAIN EVENT
Such was the success of Sworders’ Auctioneers first Accessories sale that specialist Prudence Hopkins has now set up a series of valuation days dedicated to the field.
What’s more, she says her phone has been ringing constantly since she took £6000 on the rostrum for a Ralph Lauren handbag at the June sale, and she is already on the way to uncovering a vast array of previously unrecognised accessory treasures for her next auction in December.
The first of these valuation days is not until September, but Prudence is sending out the message that there’s no need to wait till then to find out whether your attic, wardrobe or jewellery box contains classics that can be turned into cash.
She is available five days a week at the firm’s Hertford office for anyone who wants to drop in with what they find.
Prudence, who has a BA Honours in Historical Fashion and Costume and a Certificate in Gemmology, has been an auction house specialist for a number of years. She is thrilled at the new lease of life for designer handbags and couture, vintage clothing, costume jewellery, luggage, sunglasses, pens and the like.
“The first sale was extraordinary,” she says. “By putting all these beautiful items together under the Accessories title and creating a dedicated sale, Sworders fired the interest and enthusiasm of a whole new audience of collectors, who either registered to bid online or turned up at our Stansted Mountfitchet saleroom.
“Attracting completely new clientele was obviously great for us, but it was also fantastic for our vendors, because it sparked healthy competition and boosted their returns.”
Apart from the limited edition Ralph Lauren metallic crocodile skin ‘Ricky’ bag that took £6000 hammer, the sale also showed how putting lots together in this way is an excellent way of making sure you market them to the right people.
A great example of this was one of Prudence’s favourite items in the sale, a Gaberdine mink-lined raincoat. Valued at £100-200 – the sort of price it could have expected to fetch in a general sale – it sold for £750.
“Now these buyers know we hold these sales, they will be back,” says Prudence.
She defines historical as is anything before Edwardian and vintage from Edwardian until the 1960s, with couture as one-off designer pieces.
Names that tend to attract bidders include Hermès, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Schiaparelli, Fortuny, Cartier, Ossie Clark and BIBA, although, of course, there are many others too.
Sworders’ managing director Guy Schooling said: “This Accessories sale is a new category for us and we were very pleased with the buzz in the room and online. It clearly demonstrates that there is a strong market for these type of items and, more importantly, it has attracted the right new buyers who have boosted prices all round.”
Anyone who wants to drop in to Sworders’ Hertford office will find Prudence at 42 St Andrew Street. Or you can ring her on 01992 583 508. www.sworder.co.uk


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Developer Lab Zero Games has announced that it will bring the 2D fighting game Skullgirls to mobile devices later this year. The mobile version of the game will be available for Android and iOS devices.
The mobile version of the game is being developed in conjunction with Hidden Variable Studios and will stay true to the original title while also adding several new features, including a new user interface to allow players to more easily control characters during combat.
The game is scheduled to relase later this year for Android and iOS devices.
Every contribution we receive goes directly into funding our journalism to ensure we can continue doing what we do best.


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(J. Cole’s third album ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ has now sold over 1,000,000 copies.)
Rapper, J.Cole is sure having a great week!
Cole just concluded his epic concert in Fayetteville last weekend, giving the hometown crowd a night to remember by bringing out Jay-Z, Big Sean and Drake.
Just days after Drake hit the platinum mark with ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’, J. Cole’s third album ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ has now sold over 1,000,000 copies including streaming since its release on December 9, 2014. Although only 80.94% of the numbers are reported, he has already sold at least 7,733 copies SPS this week which takes him over the huge mark.
Streaming is definitely going to become a huge part of music, especially with the new artist-owned TIDAL service which J. Cole is a part of, amongst others. Congratulations to J. Cole and the entire Dreamville team!
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Source:: The NET


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A lot of kids who have asked Santa for a smartphone this Christmas will be very happy after research revealed nearly a quarter of Australian parents will be gifting their child a mobile device.
According to a report commissioned by Telstra, 23 per cent of Australian parents surveyed will be giving their son or daughter a new smartphone as a Christmas gift.
The majority also believed 12 to be the appropriate age to buy their child their first phone.
Only one in 10 parents were comfortable for children under 10 to have a smartphone
The research found that safety was the primary reason for giving their child a phone (62 per cent) with 45 per cent of parents saying their child had also asked for one for Christmas.
Another reason (24 per cent) was because their friends had one as well and they didn’t want their children missing out.
But parents also have a degree of apprehension about their child getting their first smartphone with concerns about cyber safety, spending too much time on the device (63 per cent), cyber bullying concerns (61 per cent) and exposure to inappropriate content (61 per cent).
“As a mother of two, I understand how difficult the decision is when weighing up whether to give a child their first phone,” said Jackie Coates, head of the Telstra Foundation.
“The truth is there is no ‘right’ age for a smartphone – it really comes down to whether a child is able to demonstrate trust and responsibility by following agreed rules and handling the phone sensibly.
“Before handing over a child’s first phone, it’s important to use the opportunity wisely to have the discussion with your child and lay out expectations on how your family uses mobiles and technology.
It’s really great to see from our research that the majority of parents are prioritising having this conversation with their kids.”
Other key findings from the research:
– Managing usage: Parents plan on managing their child’s phone usage with methods like parental controls to limit screen time and access to certain sites (45 per cent) and having access to their social media accounts (29 per cent).
– Agreed expectations: 73 per cent of parents would only gift their child a smartphone if they had discussed safety and agreed on expectations of their usage.
– Preference for prepaid: Pre-paid remains the most popular option for a first phone (37 per cent), with a quarter of parents (25 per cent) willing to spend between $100 to $200 on a phone for their child, while 34 per cent consider a phone case and screen protector essential.
Monitoring social media: a third (34 per cent) of parents plan on restricting access to social media sites, while 29 per cent of parents plan on having access to their accounts.
Here are the Telstra Foundation’s top smartphone safety tips for parents:
– Set the rules: One of the simplest ways to make sure children have a healthy relationship with their digital devices is to involve them in setting boundaries around acceptable screen time.
– Togetherness: Not all screen time is created equal. Allocate screen time with your kids, where an activity is more valuable for their development, the more time they can spend doing it.
– Be a good example: Be a good role model, if you want the dinner table to be a device-free zone. That means the same rules apply to you too. Children are happier to follow rules if they feel like everyone is playing by them.
– Clock off: You can’t be looking over your children’s shoulders at all hours of the day. There are a range of parental control tools to help families become more mindful about screen-time habits.
– Lock it down: It’s worth teaching kids from a young age not to share passwords with others or across different sites and accounts and get them in the habit of using passphrases so they’re hard to guess but easy to remember.
– Stay involved: There’s no need to be overbearing but encourage kids to use their devices in communal areas of the home. That way if they do come across something they weren’t looking for they can let an adult know straight away.


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All FIPB records will now be digitised; old and unnecessary files will be weeded out Come January and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will go paperless for submission of applications, granting of approvals and keeping various records. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi promises to give a push to online services for investors, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) cell in North Block will also become largely digitised later this month.These moves by the finance ministry will go a long ... Rediff.com, 1 month ago
After Apple's high profile iCloud fiasco, Google is the latest cybercrime victim with Russian hackers posting usernames and passwords of close to five million Google accounts online. The list was posted on bitcoin forum btcsec.com by a user called Tvskit. The user claimed that about 60 per cent of the passwords are still active. The same Google account password is used across all Google products like Gmail, Youtube, Hangouts, Drive and Maps. Acknowledging the leak in a blog post, Google said it ...Rediff.com, 2 months ago
on your WebpageAdd Widget >Get your members hooked!


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Airtel names new Product and Innovation Director
TELECOMS| Sept. 26, 2011, 11:45 a.m.
As part of its drive to deliver relevant and innovative mobile solutions in Africa, Bharti Airtel has announced the appointment of Willie Ellis as the Product and Innovation Director for Africa.
He brings over 16 years experience in telecommunications. Most recently, Ellis was the Managing Executive responsible for New Product Development at Vodacom South Africa.
During the period, Ellis was responsible for creating and leading IT & Billing, Products and Services, Technology Strategy, Architecture and Planning across Vodacom . Most notably, he contributed to the evolution of the Vodacom product suite from being voice centric to a much larger focus on data.
Airtel’s Chief Marketing Officer for Africa, Andre Beyers said: “Airtel intends to be at the forefront of mobile innovation that has direct benefit to millions of customers especially in voice, data and content.
We are making bold steps in bolstering our ability to produce and commercialize world class products, whilst enhancing our innovation credentials in a rapidly evolving voice and data communication environment. We will use consumer insights to develop and roll out innovative, best-in-class products and services that delight our customers every day and create a high degree of differentiation.”
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MainOne marks 5 yearsIn its five year existence, MainOne has invested over $300m in infrastructure in West Africa. Read More
MTN CEO restates commitment to educationThe Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Michael Ikpoki, has restated the telco’s strong commitment to partnering with government to develop the education sector. Read More
VP commissions Huawei Seeds for the Future programmeGhana’s Vice President, H.E Paa Kwasi Amissah Arthur, has officially commissioned the Huawei Seeds for the Future Programme in Accra. Read More
IHS plans to inject fresh $500m to grow capacityMohammed Darwish, managing director of IHS Towers, says the firm will soon inject another $500million into the business after raising some $2.5billion to finance expansion drives. Darwish spoke with biztecafrica.com in Lagos. Read More
More convenience for Airtel customers in Embu with new Airtel shopAirtel Kenya has opened a new Airtel shop in Embu town as part of the company’s aggressive expansion and upgrade plan. Read More
Nebula: You’re probably wasting 20% of your telecoms spendSouth African businesses are wasting up to 20% of their telecommunications spend every year, according to a new white paper by Nebula. Read More
Tigo CEO chairs Ghana Chamber of TelecommunicationsThe Governing Council of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication has elected the Chief Executive Officer of Tigo Ghana Roshi Motman as the new Chair of the Chamber. Read More
MTNC inaugurates new Service CentresMTN Cameroon has inaugurated two new Service Centres in the city of Yaounde. Read More
Airtel completes network upgrade in NairobiBharti Airtel has announced the completion of phase one of its network upgrade in Nairobi area. Read More
FEATURED STORYIHS plans to inject fresh $500m to grow capacity
Mohammed Darwish, managing director of IHS Towers, says the firm will soon inject another $500million into the business after raising some $2.5billion to finance expansion drives. Darwish spoke with biztecafrica.com in Lagos.
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[The new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, is a new coronavirus that has not been found in humans, and the new coronavirus pneumonia outbreak is spreading. As the holiday season winds down, the government is extending the Chinese New Year holiday and adjusting school hours to ensure the public’s health and safety.
Given that students cannot attend school in order to fall behind in their learning progress, the Ministry of Education proposed the initiative of “stopping classes without stopping school,” and the Education Bureau developed a corresponding plan to comprehensively coordinate all parties’ efforts, integrate and mobilize educational resources, carry out online teaching, independent learning, and online tutorials, and Q&A.
Students’ study issues have been resolved, but many people who are not at their posts and are unable to work can only choose to stay at home and fight the epidemic. Dull home life, playing games, and boiling drama have all become popular ways to pass the time. The cell phone and computer are undoubtedly the preferred tools for playing games, but the drama, watching movies, watching with cell phones and computers, the limitations of the screen size, watching movies, drama effect is undoubtedly greatly reduced, the TV has become the necessary tool to fight the epidemic at home watching movies, drama.
TV operating system built-in rich film and television, variety, drama resources, relying on TV hardware to bring high-definition picture and good sound quality is especially important, through the combination of TV hardware and system, to bring users a better viewing experience is particularly important. Furthermore, smart TVs can now not only boil drama and watch movies, but also education, games, shopping, and other large-screen activities, making large-screen games more realistic and exciting through the use of screen casting.
The majority of OTT systems are heavily customized based on smart TV systems, and system and feature upgrades are more frequent. OTT systems are based on Internet-era products and can respond quickly to consumer opinions in the products.
With the rapid growth of smart TV terminals, the number of OTT users continues to rise, and consumer upgrading has changed on the living room big screen, with users’ product preferences gradually shifting away from hardware and terminal brands and toward platform services and platform brands. The home coverage of OTT in 2019 is once again refreshed under the fierce OTT offensive, becoming the first choice of consumers’ living room big screen.
According to AVC data, the OTT industry will not only focus on content and advertising in the future, but will also have more operational value to refine, and the overall operational value is expected to rise rapidly. The total OTT market size is expected to exceed 40 billion by 2020, creating a very creative space and soil for the entire industry.
The same is true for big screens, which is why the OTT advantage is becoming increasingly obvious. This is due not only to the creation of content ecology by Internet titans, but also to the continuous innovation of industry titans such as Cool Open Network, Thunderbird, Rainbow Magic, and Polyglot. We chose systems from major brands to participate in this cross-sectional review, but because we couldn’t gather all of them, we reviewed them this time in terms of content resources, system design, membership mechanism, advertising strategy, and operational capabilities, in that order.


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Coromandel International Limited
Coromandel International Limited, India's second largest Phosphatic fertiliser player, in the business of Fertilisers, Crop Protection, Specialty Nutrients, Org...
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Coromandel International Limited has reported the financial results for the quarter and half year ended 30 September 2016.
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Indian fertiliser and pesticide maker Coromandel International Ltd recently reported a 41% fall in net profit in the quarter ended 31 December,2015 due to errat...
Date：Dec. 2, 2015 Category：Companies
Indian agrochemical company Coromandel International recorded an increase of 2.8% in consolidated turnover to Rs3,564 crores in the second quarter of FY2016 end...


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After more than 15 years, the change of ownership and the reversal from importing LNG to exporting, the
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RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (11/26/14)--CO-OP Financial Services announced that it is a Visa "engaged issuer-processor," authorized to immediately service the enrollment of credit unions in Apple Pay, making it the only credit union service organization with this designation.
"CO-OP is ahead of many competing credit and debit processors that have not been granted this designation because they do not have the direct links to Visa as we do," said Stan Hollen, CO-OP Financial Services president/CEO. "We are working directly with Visa without having to pass through an intermediary."
CO-OP has been active with both Visa and MasterCard since the introduction of Apple Pay in September to enroll its clients in the program. The company already has credit unions in the implementation validation process at Visa and MasterCard, and CO-OP expects many of its credit unions to be in the final stages of testing in December.
"We believe Apple Pay presents a unique revenue opportunity for credit unions by providing their members with the latest in digital wallet technology," said Hollen. "We are also seeking to bring the lowest aggregated issuers fees to our credit unions."
CO-OP is also focusing on industry education concerning Apple Pay. CO-OP conducted webinars in September and November on Apple's new digital wallet--content from which is now available on the company's Tokenization Resource Center. The center also includes an "Ask the Expert" feature for tokenization-related issues.


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There is no question that we have written many articles on Wal-Mart. Recently, however, we have written four pieces focused on change that is transforming produce procurement at Wal-Mart:
Then on Wednesday, February 3, 2010, the domestic buying apparatus that had been assembled mostly by Ron McCormick was “blown up.”
It appears there were two conference calls that day… one for the few who “made the cut” and the other to discuss how people could pick up their severance packages.
Confusion still exists. It appears that Procurement will be divided into three sectors: Global Procurement, Merchandising and Local Sourcing.
Financial Planning (Budgeting), Pricing, Customer Experience (Modulars) and Replenishment all seem to be separate pieces of the puzzle, not integrated fully with Procurement.
It is a big change and not just in personnel. It is a new model for doing business, and it raises at least five immediate questions we can try to answer:
A. What is the new business model?
It is hard to understand. Details are very sparse. As far as US Operations are concerned, the country has been divided into thirds. There is an Executive Vice President in charge of each area, and they are located in the field. We mentioned above how procurement will be divided up, but that is very sketchy at present. We have received calls from people in Wal-Mart looking for clarification. Those whose jobs were retained don’t know what they are supposed to do. Those who have been displaced don’t understand why. No clear sense of direction is apparent at the moment, although one would suspect that a few individuals know what they are trying to do and, presumably, that will become more clear with the passing of time.
B. Does the new business model offer the hope of a sustainable business advantage for Wal-Mart?
We heard that McKinsey was hired to help draft this program, although were not able to get confirmation on that. Without a doubt, though, the consultants and key individuals at Wal-Mart who have decided this course should be pursued believe this to be true. However, the final outcome is uncertain.
C. Does this adoption of a new business model create opportunities for competitors? If so, what are those opportunities?
We can already see that huge opportunities are being created for competitors. We don’t know what Wal-Mart will gain through the adoption of this new business model, but we clearly can see what Wal-Mart has lost. A supplier community that was once deeply dedicated to seeing Wal-Mart succeed now has ZERO trust in Wal-Mart — at least for right now. The Pundit rarely goes a day now without speaking to a vendor strategically looking to diversify business away from Wal-Mart. That being said, Wal-Mart is still a huge receiver, and its checks can be cashed. Wal-Mart will not go without produce and, if Wal-Mart keeps growing, it will be hard for suppliers to diversify away from such a large and growing buyer. It is a key factor to recognize, though, that no one seems willing to believe that Wal-Mart is a long term strategic partner.
This means, of course, that the best brands, the best suppliers, are open to be strategic partners with other retailers in a way they have not been for over a decade.
D. Where do suppliers of various types fit into the new model? Is there a place for brands? Is there a place for superior quality? Is the procurement of produce now strictly a matter of price?
Brands are clearly playing a diminished role. The current leadership believes that private label is the way to differentiate, much as the Western European retailers believe this. No surprise in this, as Jack Sinclair is from Western Europe. But more importantly, Wal-Mart is now purely a “margin play”, so private label and F.O.B. price are the priority. With regards to “quality,” there are indications that Wal-Mart executives are in a state of denial. They believe that their global procurement of produce has had no impact on quality. They also believe their Great Value is equal to national brand quality. And, what may portend a big problem in years to come, there are indications that top Wal-Mart executives are not open-minded on this subject. In fact we understand that at least some Wal-Mart executives fear that were they to suggest that this may not be the case, they would be perceived as being “old school” and might lose their opportunity for advancement or even their job.
E. In produce they just fired a load of people. How does this impact the implementation of this new business model?
This is an important point. Experience used to be valued at Wal-Mart. Now it seems to be regarded as being “out of touch”. Pam Kohn and DeDe Priest are not recognized as highly knowledgeable produce experts. It seems as if the few remaining executives with in-depth produce knowledge are marginalized with regard to decision-making. When you are the biggest buyer in the world, one doesn’t have to know anything. But the biggest buyer in the world should want its people to know everything. Ignorance allows others to slip things by and means one won’t recognize opportunities.
We began this series by pointing out that this new approach was the end of the Peterson era. That was true and made sense in speaking to the produce industry, which is still filled with folks who joined with Bruce Peterson 20 years ago to build Wal-Mart’s produce operation from scratch.
Yet, this is all taking place within a context much broader than produce or perishables. Most of what Bruce Peterson did was not original. What he mostly did was take the concepts that Sam Walton had developed in general merchandise and apply them to produce.
So what is really happening goes way beyond dismantling Bruce Peterson’s produce-buying procedures; what is really signified by all this is the end of the Sam Walton era at Wal-Mart.
All the things that Sam Walton believed in: EDLP. Item Merchandising, Interactive Supplier Interface, National Brand Merchants, etc., are all being dropped in favor of a different model.
Now we have to be careful. We cannot simply assume that the new model is wrong. There are many companies that were felled because they kept doing what made them great, even when circumstances changed.
Yet other companies were ruined by departing from core values. History will speak to this point.
The key is to recognize that a new culture exists at Wal-Mart. Like all corporate cultures, this one will have its strengths and its weaknesses; therein lies the opportunity and the risks for Wal-Mart associates, Wal-Mart’s competitors and Wal-Mart’s vendors.


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