text:
Homegrown cab aggregator Ola has announced that it’ll be binding in food delivery service Foodpanda in its app. With this announcement, Ola will now be hosting Foodpanda’s delivery service through a ‘Snacks’ menu with the Foodpanda logo adjacent to it. The emu can be accessed from the bottom left of Ola app’s UI.
The news comes almost ten months after Ola bought Foodpanda from the German-based Delivery Hero. As dubbed by OLA CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, Crave Party will offer the new ‘Snacks’ button on the Ola app. First-time users will be able to redeem desserts for as low as Rs 9 with other snacks coming in at Rs 19 and a biriyani starts for Rs 79.
This is not a heavy integration of Foodpanda on the Ola app as clicking on the Snacks button will lead users to the Foodpanda app or the Play/App Store, in case the food delivery app isn’t installed on the device. This will thus work similarly to how Uber flaunts its UberEATS service by redirecting users to the UberEATS app from the original Uber app.
As part of the announcement, Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in a blog post, “We added Foodpanda to the Ola family earlier this year to build on our shared love for food. It gives us the opportunity to deliver great food experiences to everyone and the journey has just begun. At Foodpanda, our mission is to connect us deeper with our love and passion for food, and build not just a great delivery experience but also a great food experience!”
Earlier this year, Ola alsobought Mumbai-based ticketing and commuting app Ridlrtoadd train, bus and metro bookings on its mobile platform and thus, taking a significant stance in the public transportation business in the country.


text:
Seinfeld is one of those comedy series that rules eternal, but after the show left Hulu in June, fans have been getting impatient. They know Netflix picked up the show, but why isn’t it streaming there yet? Now we know why and when it will finally drop on the streaming channel.
Seinfeld coming to Netflix in September
Fans may remember that Netflix announced in September 2019 that it would be taking up the global rights to Seinfeld from Sony, the distributor. In fact, the streaming channel had to battle HBO Max, NBC Universal (Peacock) and Hulu for the rights. Meanwhile, Hulu already had the streaming rights in the US, which lapse in 2021.
Seinfeld finally left Hulu in June this year, but the popular sitcom won’t immediately be available on Netflix. It turns out it is now only expected to drop on the streaming channel in September 2021.
Popular NBC series
Seinfeld first aired on NBC from 1989 through 1998 and was extremely popular. Furthermore, with comedies performing well on streaming services, the popular show is now in high demand. However, many studios decided to take back licensing for themselves in the US, including Warner taking back Friends and Peacock now having exclusive rights to The Office.
How can we work out exactly when Seinfeld will drop on Netflix? Looking at when the comedy was first added to Hulu does give an idea of when the contract was coming up for renewal.
— Hulu (@hulu) September 16, 2019
Originally, Seinfeld was supposed to arrive on Hulu in April 2015. However, the show was delayed and didn’t actually arrive until June 26, 2015. This was a huge deal for Hulu, as each episode was valued at $875k, with a total package price of $160 million. It is currently unknown how much Netflix paid for the rights, but it is likely much more than Hulu paid.
When does Seinfeld drop on Netflix?
This led fans to believe that all seasons of Seinfeld would drop on Netflix on June 27, 2021, but that isn’t likely to happen. In fact, according to Vulture, the popular series may not hit Netflix until September 2021 at the earliest.
They wrote that industry insiders close to the situation told them Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer won’t land on Netflix until closer to the fall.
Which Netflix regions will stream Seinfeld
Those living outside the US, worry not, as Netflix has landed the global streaming rights to the series. This means every region covered by the streaming channel will have Seinfeld available to binge.
As to how many episodes will drop, all 180 episodes across nine seasons will be available to stream on Netflix. Also, Netflix will get all episodes in the upscale 4K format, depending on your region.
Are you excited to see Seinfeld drop on Netflix around September 2021? Let us know in the comments below.
- Audrey Roloff Stunned By What Jeremy Roloff Did With His Hair? - April 15, 2022
- ‘Selling Hamptons’ Star Opens Up About Season 2 And His Possible Return - April 14, 2022
- Will Netflix Release Season 2 Of K-Drama ‘A Business Proposal’? - April 13, 2022

domain: news


text:
The owner of an independent auto dealership contacted the Albuquerque Police Department to report their 2002 Jeep Liberty was stolen. The owner advised the Jeep was stolen during a test drive from their dealership located in the Southwest Area Command. The officer verified the auto theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Jeep.
Within 12 minutes after the activation, a detective with the Albuquerque Police Department Auto Theft Unit picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Jeep with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol and unmarked vehicles. Following the audible and directional cues from the PTC, the Jeep was tracked and located to a motel in the area of University and I-40 in the Southeast Area Command. The Auto Theft Detectives observed the Jeep was unoccupied and set up surveillance on the vehicle to see if an offender would return. The surveillance was rewarded with the safe apprehension of two subjects and the quick recovery of the stolen Jeep. The Jeep was towed from the scene for safekeeping and will be released back to the dealership at a later time.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Jeep Liberty in September 2001 by Pitre Chrysler in Scottsdale, Arizona.


text:
The mass market beauty brand, NYX Cosmetics, is looking for a buyer. The employees of the brand were notified early this week at a company event that NYX, Los Angeles, Inc. is exploring strategic alternatives, particularly as it plots its global expansion, according to industry sources. The company is said to have tapped investment bank Piper Jaffray for the purpose. Currently, about 25 percent of NYX, Los Angeles, Inc. ’s sales are international.
NYX, Los Angeles, Inc. has captured the attention of many potential strategic and financial players, for its meteoric growth in mass color cosmetics, an area dominated by large brands such as L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble Co..
When it comes to YouTube, the brand has ranked in the first places among beauty brands with 318 million video mentions, along with Urban Decay with 347 million and Maybelline with 371 million, according to Pixability.


text:
Korea’s LG Chem says it has signed a major contract to supply batteries for Audi’s plug-in hybrid and micro-hybrid electric vehicles, reports Reuters. It places the value of the contract at “hundreds of millions of dollars” and expects the deal will lead to even more business from Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen.
LG Chem currently has 20 major customers for its batteries, including General Motors, and it expects combined sales of its large size batteries to top $10 billion by 2018. LG is the second-largest manufacturer of EV and hybrid batteries, behind Panasonic and its partner Tesla Motors.
Meanwhile, Audi is leading the way forward for 48 volts electrical systems, called micro-hybrids. The extra voltage will make it possible to fit things like electric turbochargers to Audi cars that are not full hybrids in the future.
Audi has also promised to deliver e-tron plug-in versions of every vehicle in its lineup by 2020, which would certainly require a whole lotta batteries. Here’s hoping LG Chem is up to the task.


text:
31-07-2014, 21:25 #1
[EN] Controlador do Online.net propõe comprar T-Mobile USA por US$ 15 bilhõesThe French cellphone carrier Iliad said on Thursday that it had made a $15 billion bid for a majority stake in T-Mobile.
The move by Iliad, the fourth largest cellphone operator in France, comes as T-Mobile and Sprint continue discussions on combining the third- and fourth-largest operators in the United States behind AT&T and Verizon.
Under the terms of the deal, Iliad said it would offer $15 billion for a 56.6 percent stake in T-Mobile. The French company said it valued the remaining stake in T-Mobile at $40.50 a share, based on unspecific cost savings totaling $10 billion to be created from the deal.
In total, Iliad said its offer value T-Mobile’s shares at $36.20, a 17 percent premium on the carrier’s closing share price on Wednesday. T-Mobile’s shares rose 6.4 percent, to $32.91, in afternoon trading in New York.
“The U.S. mobile market is vast and attractive,”Iliad said in a statement on Thursday. “T-Mobile has successfully established itself in the market by positioning itself, in many respects, in a similar way to Iliad in France.”
The French carrier said it had submitted its offer to T-Mobile’s board, though no deal has yet to be accepted, according to a company statement.
Founded in 1999, Iliad has gained market share in France by offering cheap deals and improved customer service compared with the company’s larger carriers, including the former state telecommunications monopoly Orange.
In the first quarter of 2014, the latest figures available, Iliad had 14.3 million customers, including 8.6 million mobile subscribers and 5.7 million fixed-line users. By contrast, T-Mobile has more than 50 million cellphone customers.
The French company, which has a market value of 11.9 billion euros, or $15.9 billion, reported 1 billion euros in revenues during the first quarter of 2014.
Revenues at T-Mobile, which has a market capitalization $25.3 billion, reached almost $7.2 billion during the second quarter of the year, the latest figures available.
Yet it is unclear how Iliad would achieve that $10 billion in cost savings, since the French company has no presence in the United States. Analysts have reckoned that a tie-up of Sprint and T-Mobile would reach into the tens of billions in large part from both companies cutting duplicate functions like marketing and back-office operations.
Buying a big stake in T-Mobile could also test Iliad’s financial capabilities. The French company had a market value of about $16 billion as of Thursday, while T-Mobile was valued at roughly $25 billion.
Iliad said that it would pay for the proposed deal through a combination of debt financing provided by a consortium of banks and an additional equity fundraising worth about 2 billion euros.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the approach.
01-08-2014, 10:01 #2
T-Mobile Gets a Bid, But Not From JapanAugust 1st, 2014 by Rob Powell
Yes, a bid landed on the table for T-Mobile today from a foreign wireless carrier backed by a billionaire with a talent for disruption. But it wasn’t from Softbank and Masayoshi Son was not involved. The French carrier Iliad, which is backed by Xavier Niel, has come out of nowhere to offer $15B in cash for a 56.6% stake in T-Mobile US.
Softbank and Sprint have been widely rumored to be preparing for a buyout of T-Mobile US, but have been moving cautiously after getting an initial negative response to the idea from regulators. Iliad wouldn’t face the same issues, since they aren’t in the US market and thus wouldn’t reduce competition.
However, Deutsche Telekom AG doesn’t appear to be too enamored with the idea, with those $40/share plans with Softbank looking rather larger than the $33/share Iliad is proposing. But given the easier regulatory path, if Iliad has room to bid a bit higher then DT just might bite. But just where the financial rationale for Iliad’s current bid comes from seems a bit mistifying to analysts since the synergies available seem rather minimal.
T-Mobile’s disruptive strategy in the US is similar to what Iliad has been doing in France, however, and perhaps that is what has grabbed Niel’s attention. But it sure does seem like he’d be doubling down on an already risky strategy.
Masayoshi Son already sent one fellow maverick billionaire rival packing in his takeout of Sprint and Clearwire. Now another has lined up to take him on. This could get interesting.
01-08-2014, 17:56 #3
- Data de Ingresso
- Oct 2010
- Rio de Janeiro
Excelente. É a operadora com o melhor customer service e melhores preços; e pior tecnologia ;-)
06-08-2014, 12:46 #4
Sprint Apparently Tosses In the Towel On T-MobileAugust 6th, 2014 by Rob Powell
According to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg this morning, Sprint has given up its quest to purchase its rival T-Mobile US — again. Of course, it’s not an official decision and even if true they could restart things in a heartbeat if they wanted to, but the WSJ has had the inside track on this since the beginning.
The issue has never been about how to successfully woo T-Mobile, but rather how to get regulators to if not approve then perhaps just look the other way. But while the FCC’s recent indication it wouldn’t even allow the two companies to make a joint bid in the pursuit of spectrum was a blow, I think it was Iliad and its billionaire protagonist Xavier Niel that killed the idea.
Iliad’s surprise bid for T-Mobile US knocked out the main pillar underneath the case to allow Sprint to buy them. Regulators like 4 and not 3, and Sprint’s main argument was that 4 is not viable in the long term. Iliad’s bid, however, says that at least part of the industry thinks it is and is willing to invest in #4 despite the scale problems. That boosts the position of regulators substantially, and Sprint was already having trouble convincing them.
The question now is whether Iliad will have a followup bid for T-Mobile US. DT was not impressed with the first one, but that was with Sprint in the picture. Now that Masayoshi Son is apparently taking is ball and going home, the yardstick that was being used to call Xavier Niel’s bid inferior is no longer handy.
Sprint’s CEO Hesse may be out now too they say, though I’m not sure any of this is his fault. [Update: Marcelo Claure has been named Sprint's new CEO. ] T-Mobile’s ‘uncarrier’ campaign has certainly shaken things up this past year, and not just in terms of subscriber momentum.
14-10-2014, 10:57 #5
Iliad Comes To Its Senses
France's Iliad bids adieu to T-Mobile, withdraws takeover bid
French telecom provider says T-Mobile and parent company Deutsche Telekom refused to entertain its new offer.
October 14th, 2014 by Rob Powell
Yesterday another chapter in the never-ending saga of who will buy T-Mobile came to a close. Iliad and its billionaire founder Xavier Niel has dropped its campaign to acquire a majority stake in the company.
The French alternative mobile operator had been assembling a followup bid after getting the cold shoulder over the summer. They were said to be aiming for a 2/3 share at about $36, which would have been in the ballpark of what DT was looking for. But apparently DT simply decided it wasn’t interested at this time. Iliad had set itself a deadline of mid-October for coming up with a viable deal, and they stuck to it. Investors seem glad they have, and indeed such a deal was a bit hard to figure out on paper.
So with AT&T, Softbank, and now Iliad fallen by the wayside, the John Legere and the Uncarrier will try to keep up the momentum. Through a series of provocative, audacious moves, the once beleagured fourth rail of US wireless has been posting big subscriber growth numbers and shaking up the established mobile order. Perhaps someday they’ll even convince DT to stop trying to escape from the USA.
But the next suitor is widely expected to be Dish. The theory is that Charlie Ergen and crew are about due to tilt at another windmill, and who knows this time they might capture it.
14-10-2014, 11:12 #6
- Data de Ingresso
- Oct 2010
- Rio de Janeiro
Ô mulherzinha dificil essa T-Mobile! :-)


text:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year yet it’s the most impactful time for the environment. The National Environmental Education Foundation finds that household waste increases by more than 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. This year, reduce waste by incorporating sustainable practices into your holiday shopping routine.
Blog / blog post
Though the fashion industry has a long way to go with the representation of black people, several black designers have been using their voices to be the change they want to see. Read about five black designers who are using their brands to uplift the black community.


text:
- YouTuber smashes Apple Watch Ultra with hammer, puts it in a jar of nails to check its durability. Did it pass?
- No, it's not a movie! NASA crashes spacecraft into asteroid as big as a 'football stadium', Twitter calls it spectacular
- WhatsApp to roll out 'Call Links' feature, allow 32-users to join group video call
- Apple gets festive-ready, announces massive discounts on iPhone 14, AirPods, iPad Pro & more
- Netizens slam Flipkart after iPhone 13 orders cancelled, e-commerce giant says mostly successful deliveries & ‘less than 3% impacted due to anomalies’
According to reports, the Nord smartwatch is likely to be launched in India in the first week of October and will most likely cost under Rs 10,000.
“The Nord Watch will bolster OnePlus Nord's hold within the wearables segment and aims to make the signature technology accessible to a wider set of audience,” the company said in a statement.
The upcoming Nord Watch by OnePlus will flaunt a 1.78-inch AMOLED panel with 60Hz refresh rate, 368x448 resolution. The smartwatch will also flaunts peak brightness of 500 nits, which will help users with visibility, especially when under direct sunlight.
The tech giant will reportedly also offer around 100 customisable watch faces online. The OnePlus Nord Watch will support Bluetooth 5.2. The smartwatch will also come with 105 sports modes.
YouTuber smashes Apple Watch Ultra with hammer, puts it in a jar of nails to check its durability. Did it pass?
No, it's not a movie! NASA crashes spacecraft into asteroid as big as a 'football stadium', Twitter calls it spectacular
As per reports, the Nord Watch will also offer health tracking tools such as step count, sleep tracking, heart rate and stress monitoring, Sp02 sensor and more.
OnePlus had earlier teased fans by sharing a partially-obscure image of the forthcoming device. The smartwatch has a rectangular dial with rounded edges. The device also has a multi-functional button placed on the right side of the wristwatch. The new OnePlus smartwatch is tipped to take on Xiaomi, Realme and Noise devices.
Nord earlier entered the entry-level hearable segment with the launch of Nord Buds, Nord Buds CE and Nord wired earphones.
The Nord's foray into smartwatch category comes at a time when with shipments of 6.3 million units, India's share of the global wearable band market reached 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2022, its highest ever.
- Front page
- Pure Politics
- Economy & Companies
- Learn more about our print editionMore
- US Will be India’s Best Natural Ally for a 100 Yrs
Few bankers have been as prescient and as prepared as JPMorgan chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon to face a crisis and bail out those who get into trouble. In an interview with MC Govardhana Rangan, Bodhisatva Ganguli and Joel Rebello, the go-to banker even for the US Federal Reserve said he expects that global financial metrics could get worse before getting better.Car Production Hits High Gear on High-octane Sales
Workers across the automobile hubs in Gurgaon-Manesar, Chennai, Pune and Sanand are working longer hours and even on weekends, as carmakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, Tata Motors and Mahindra build up inventory.DGGI Raises ₹55,000-cr Tax Demand from eGaming Cos
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has sent out a dozen pre-showcause notices to online real money gaming (RMG) companies over goods and services tax dues of about ₹55,000 crore, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Read More News on
ETPrime stories of the day
9 mins read
3 mins read
11 mins read


text:
Signing of law lowering LLC fees called a great day for small businesses in Illinois
Small business owner Rep. Keith Wheeler (R-Oswego) said Wednesday became a better day for Illinois entrepreneurs.
“We have a long way to go for Illinois to be as competitive as we want it to be and should be, but this is an important bipartisan step to lower the barrier to entry for those who are willing to enter the market in our state,” Wheeler said at the press conference where Gov. Bruce Rauner signed SB867, which immediately lowers limited liability companies (LLC) startup fees and LLC annual renewal costs from $250 to $75.
Wheeler said as a small business owner, there is “no real guide” to commencing a commerce, but it is incentives like SB867 that make the process more tangible. “Small business has a stronger and louder voice in Springfield because we have done these things, so that makes this a great day for our state,” Wheeler said.
SB867's primary sponsor, Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park), and co-sponsor, Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills), spoke about the bipartisan support needed to see the long-awaited legislation pass.
“Hopefully in an hour, someone will try to start a business here in Illinois and they will do it for a lower cost,” Cullerton said, recalling the first press conference for the bill taking place at a South Side Chicago hot dog stand and Sente's hard work to see it through till the end.
“She got bipartisan support, sponsors from both sides of the aisle,” Cullerton said. “Today, the governor is going to sign this bill, showing again bipartisan support to make business better here in Illinois.”
Sente said the only word to describe her thoughts was pride over a bill that received overwhelmingly bipartisan support, “especially at a time when I don’t think we come together enough, we came together on this issue.”
Rauner echoed comments about it being a great day.
“This is a great day for the people in Illinois, today we send a clear, strong and powerful message that Illinois is changing,” Rauner said, adding SB867 is a pro-business, pro-growth, pro-investment and pro-job creation legislation. “That is the message to the rest of the nation and around the world.”
Wheeler cited Steve Jobs' Apple startup and how the American dream is often started with an innovative tinkerer in their garage.
"Usually the hobbyist is trying to express himself through his business or ideas, but it is not a business yet,” Wheeler said. “It becomes a business when someone actually files their paperwork and becomes an LLC.”
Wheeler said his time on the House floor is often about small business growth and job creation discussions, which was finally coming to fruition Wednesday.
“Today we are finally making that a more realistically affordable process for people who are innovating in our state and that makes us better as a state,” Wheeler said. “I am very proud of the fact that we got this done.”
Other LLC fee reductions include the Reinstatement Fee from $500 to $200; Reserved Name Application from $300 to $25; Amendments from $150 to $50; and Name Transfer from $100 to $25.


text:
HISTORICALLY CANADIAN-PACKED FIELD @VOLVOCAROPEN SIGNS CANADIAN @LISETTESTYLE AS PREMIER SPONSOR
Lisette L Montréal and Lisette L Sport, a Canadian-based apparel company, to sponsor the 2016 Volvo Car Open
DANIEL ISLAND, S.C. – The Volvo Car Open has partnered with a new premier sponsor Lisette L Montréal for the April 2 – 10 Daniel Island, SC tennis tournament which is part of the Family Circle event series of programs. This is the first time the Canadian-based apparel company has sponsored a tennis tournament.
For more than a decade, Lisette L Montréal has been designing women’s pants with a purpose: crafting the perfect fit for women of all body types, shape and size. The pants are designed to create a slim fit by a built-in tummy control with flaterie panel and contoured waistband. The pants are sold online, as well as in fine boutiques across Canada, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Lisette L Montréal will support the 2016 Volvo Car Open’s Official Player Party and Ladies Day. In addition, they will sell merchandise from a weeklong pop-up shop during the tournament.
“We are so excited to add the Lisette L Montréal brand to our event,” said Bob Moran, Volvo Car Open Tournament Director and General Manger. “They are truly a world-class international brand that will speak directly to our largely female audience. This program is not just about branding, but creatively reaching our fans through a unique pop-up shop on-site and sponsoring Ladies Day, while also entertaining our players at the Lisette L Montréal Player Party. We are clearly excited with this new partnership.”
As part of their on-site promotion, Lisette L Montréal will give away a free pair of pants every half hour throughout the entire week of the event. Any fan that tries on a pair of Lisette pants at their Volvo Car Open pop-up shop or at Anne’s Downtown will be entered to win a pair of pants.
“We are absolutely thrilled to participate in the 2016 Volvo Car Open,” said Lisette Limoges, Lisette L Montréal Founder and Creative Director. “We are such fans of these incredible athletes and the city of Charleston and are honored to be working alongside Volvo. We are beyond excited to share our latest collection with the fans, players and city of Charleston!”
Tickets for the 2016 Volvo Car Open are now on sale. For more information on tickets, call 800.677.2293 or visit http://www.volvocaropen.com. Patrons can purchase single session tickets, or choose from a variety of ticket and travel packages.
About Lisette L Montréal:
For over a decade Lisette Limoges has been designing women’s pants with a purpose: crafting that perfect fit for all women and all body types. The goal was to leave no body behind and she has done just that. Lisette’s career in fashion began on the sales side, but she yearned from the outset to do much more. Lisette L pants are known to flatter women of every body type, shape and size. They are designed with a tummy control mesh on the inside and come in a variety of colors and patterns. The pants are sold online as well as in fine boutiques across Canada, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
For more information on Lisette L, call (800) 855-LISETTE, visit https://lisettel.com/, Facebook (Lisette L), Twitter (@LisetteStyle) or Instagram (LisetteLMontreal).
About the Volvo Car Open:
The Volvo Car Open is the largest women’s only tennis tournament in the world. The tournament receives four days of live broadcast domestically on ESPN2, and is viewed internationally in more than 165 countries, featuring more than 100 hours of live broadcast and more than 3,000 delayed global broadcast time, reaching 10+ million viewers worldwide. The event, formerly known as the Family Circle Cup, moved to Charleston in 2001 from Hilton Head Island and will celebrate its 44th anniversary in 2016.
For more information on the Volvo Car Open, call (800) 677-2293, email firstname.lastname@example.org, visit http://www.VolvoCarOpen.com, Facebook (Volvo Car Open), Twitter (@VolvoCarOpen) or Instagram (VolvoCarOpen).
—A. Alpino, Volvo Car Open


text:
It’s National Doughnut Day: Here’s a little history behind the tasty treat
Today is National Doughnut Day, which is a day to, well, I guess appreciate and eat doughnuts.
Nothing significant about the date, but here’s some info on doughnuts you may find fulfilling, or at least fodder to break the ice at a breakfast party.
>>LIKE FOOD? Sign up for our weekly At the Table newsletter, a dive into the local dining scene.
How did doughnuts make their way into American cuisine?
According to thespruceeats.com, the Dutch were making olykoeks (oil cakes), from as far back as he mid-1800s.
They were just balls of fried dough and, because the insides didn’t cook as quickly as the outside, the balls were filled with fruit, nuts or other things.
>>VOTE: For your favorite doughnut shop in our Best of Palm Beach County contest
When did Americans first get a mass taste for the treats?
That would have been World War I, when Americans on the battlefields in Europe were served doughnuts from women volunteers. The taste for tasty cakes continued when the soldiers returned home.
>>Want to find a local Thai place? Italian? Greek? CHECK OUT our EATS database
What about the first doughnut machine?
According to smithsonianmag.com, the first doughnut machine came about in 1920, in New York City. That’s when Adolph Levitt, Russian refugee, sold them from his bakery.
When did the Krispy Kreme enter the show?
Frenchman Joe LeBeau, who had moved from New Orleans to Paducah, Ky., sold the recipe and name Krispy Kreme to Ishmael Armstrong. Armstrong and his nephew sold them door to door to a local businessman. That man hired his nephew and a few years later that nephew, and a few friends, started the business in Winston-Salem, N.C., selling them out of their 1936 Pontiac.
Can’t mention Krispys without Dunkin’
The first Dunkin’ Donuts was opened in Quincy, Mass., in 1950.
What about locally?
While there’s nothing wrong with chain doughnut stores, according to the Best of Palm Beach County contest held last year, the best doughnuts in Palm Beach County actually was Jupiter Donuts, which now has locations in, of course Jupiter, Royal Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Boca Raton, Stuart and Largo.
Doughnuts by the numbers
— According to radio.com, the average American eats 31 donuts a year, or about 2.6 a month.
— There are more than 25,000 doughnut shops in the U.S. making more than 10 billion doughnuts a year.
— Younger people (aged 18 to 34) prefer to try unique flavored doughnuts like pickle-flavored, Sriracha and s'mores, according to Dawn Foods, a global manufacturer and ingredients supplier to bakeries.


text:
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock was little changed on Tuesday despite a price target increase from one analyst who cited the strength of the Microsoft cloud business. The company also said in a post today that it had to halt security updates to patch the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities for devices running on AMD chips after reports that the patches were pushing some of the machines into an “unbootable state.”
Praise for Microsoft cloud business
In a note on Tuesday, Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan said he boosted his price target for Microsoft stock from $100 to $115 per share, citing strong checks in the cloud channel. He noted that the cloud is about one-third of the company’s revenues and is growing at a rate of about 38% year over year. He expects the cloud business to drive a 9% increase in consolidated revenue and 12% increase in EBITDA over the next few years.
He explained that the Microsoft cloud business is “attractive” because it improves “customer lock-in” and is driven by faster innovation. He also said that the Microsoft cloud business offers more potential to up-sell customers and carries lower operating costs than the rest of the company. Further, the Microsoft cloud business is cannibalizing other industries and thus driving growth in overall IT spending, which also boosts the company’s legacy IT products.
Horan estimates the Microsoft cloud business, which includes Azure, Office 365, LinkedIn, Dynamics and Search, at $35 billion. He estimates cloud revenues growing at about $10 billion annually with EBITDA of $5 billion to $6 billion. His estimates exclude gaming, which will also be moving to the Microsoft cloud business.
Tax reform should also benefit Microsoft stock
In addition to the cloud business, he also named other positives for Microsoft stock. For example, the company is expected to benefit from tax reform, along with most other tech majors holding large piles of cash overseas.
Horan estimates that the company has about $130 billion in cash held outside the U.S., and he believes it will split any cash it repatriates between shareholders and acquisitions. He estimates Microsoft stock buybacks to reach $18 billion in fiscal 2018 and $25 billion in fiscal 2019. He also boosted his dividend estimates for the company, adding that a special dividend could be declared for Microsoft stock holders.
Microsoft patches Meltdown and Spectre
Microsoft stock has climbed since the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities were initially revealed last week.
The company confirmed on Tuesday that the security updates to patch those vulnerabilities are slowing down certain PCs and servers, with systems running on older Intel processors being affected the most. Microsoft also revealed today that the security updates placed some PCs running on AMD processors in an “unbootable state.” The company is now working with AMD to fix the issues, which the chip maker said seem to be affecting some of its older-generation processors.
AMD stock slipped on Tuesday following Microsoft’s post. The chip maker’s shares had skyrocketed in the days following the first report about Meltdown and Spectre due to claims that there was a nearly zero chance that its chips were vulnerable. Microsoft stock closed down 0.068% at $88.22 on Tuesday.


text:
“Bleisure” travel, where business and leisure travel meet, takes centre stage in Airbnb’s new offering. The home-sharing online facilitator that allows users to lease or rent private homes now offers a new feature that caters to “millennial bleisure” travellers.
Airbnb has stated that more than half of its business trip bookings included a Saturday night in 2016, which implied that travellers had planned to explore the city in which they were in while on business. The company has therefore grown its number of business-friendly residences.
Business-smart residences include basic amenities for business travellers, from laptop-friendly workstations to wifi and self check-in options, and the online interface has been made more user-friendly.
READ MORE: Airbnb’s new innovations
A third-party booking tool, which makes it easy for both employers making the bookings and the employees travelling to make changes and even get in touch with the host, has also been launched.


text:
Editor in Chief
- Dec 30, 2010
- Reaction score
- Austin, TX
Today is one of the hottest news days of the year apparently. Not only have we had a slew of awesome Droid Turbo news, we also have had several pieces of Nexus device news. This latest rumint suggests that we won't have to wait any longer than tomorrow to find out all the juicy details of the Nexus 9, Nexus 6 and Android L!
According to an article in Forbes, Google will simply announce the new Nexus products on their Android blog sometime tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th). Forbes claims to have insider info revealing that the HTC-made Nexus 9 Android tablet will be available for pre-order on October 17th, and will ship to retail stores on November 3rd. They also claim pricing info has been revealed: the 16GB version will cost $399 and the 32GB LTE version will retail for $499.
Furthermore, the intel revealed by Forbes suggests that the previous rumored specs are mostly accurate, including the tidbit that it will have HTC’s boomsound and dual front facing speakers. They didn't reveal any further Nexus 6 details, except that the Motorola-made product will also be unveiled tomorrow. Forbes made it clear that both devices will debut the new Android L operating system from Google, which is not really unexpected...
The great news about all of this great news is that at least it's all happening quickly so we shouldn't have to spend too much time deciding between all of these awesome devices!
Here's a link to our Motorola Nexus 6 section: Motorola Nexus 6 Android Forums at DroidForums.net


text:
A Texas mother who treated herself with a “talking” Chewbacca mask from Kohl’s delighted the internet this past weekend and gave the department store—and other retailers stocking the mask—quite a branding lift.
Candace Payne uploaded her video, tagged “Oh I’m such a happy Chewbacca!,” Friday. By Monday it had become the most watched Facebook Live video in history, with 140 million views and counting.
Since the video upload, digital content engagement around Kohl’s increased by 101% compared to the previous week, according to digital marketing technology company Amobee. The retailer then posted its own video where it presented Payne and her family with a load of Star Wars merchandise and Kohl’s gift cards, a move that lifted digital content engagement by another 187%, according to Amobee.
Candace Payne’s viral video ticked all the boxes of an extremely effective viral branding campaign—she was relatable, she mentioned (and appreciated) Kohl’s, and, above all, it was spontaneous and authentic. Payne’s delight in treating herself to the small birthday gift is infectious.
By Monday she was on television and had a spokesperson, but when she made the video she was a busy mother who reserved a small chunk of her day and her funds for herself for a change.
Kohl’s, in perhaps an obvious move, capitalized on Payne’s spontaneous shout-out by presenting her and her family with Star Wars swag and gift cards, captured on video.
That, according to Amobee, only added to the video’s viral branding lift. The whole shebang has not only helped give Kohl’s some positive attention, but also other retailers (Amazon, Wal-Mart) selling the Chewbacca mask and Star Wars merchandise in general.
But, at its core, that lift could not have been planned: by far the most valuable aspect of the phenomenon was that Payne’s motivation to share her delight in the Chewbacca mask was thoroughly real, unprompted, and unaffected.
“People can appreciate artistic images coming from brands, especially on Instagram,” Toni Box, senior director of social media and content at PM Digital, told Retail Dive. “But they definitely appreciate real-time imagery over the staged images that can be stodgy. There's something about that off-the-cuff imagery—it’s authentic, and that’s becoming more important.”


text:
Two months have passed since Superior grocery store Castles Market quietly changed ownership.
As Ken and Cathy Kuhl head off into the sunset of retirement, a new chapter begins for the Darlow family and the longtime local business.
New owner Chris Darlow’s career didn’t start out with working in aisles or produce departments.
Instead his background in engineering frequently brought him to the Superior area for repairing bridges along Interstate 90.
However, his wife, Krystle Darlow, spent much of her childhood in the grocery stores that her grandparents owned and operated in Spokane. So, when the young couple from Missoula dreamed up the ambition to purchase and run a business themselves Castles was an ideal opportunity.
“We absolutely loved the area and the town of Superior…ultimately, we felt Castles was the perfect fit for our future and the town of the Superior would be a wonderful place to raise our children,” Chris stated.
The Darlow’s worked diligently to encourage the smoothest transition possible.
“Chris was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few months in the store with the Kuhls prior to takeover,” Krystle said. “He spent a lot of time working with all of the current employees, getting to know them and ensuring they were comfortable throughout the takeover process.”
The store was originally established back in 1916 and for the past 40 years the Kuhl family oversaw business. Much has changed in that timeframe which longtime employee, Guy Gould, can attest to. Gould was hired on when Tom Castles owned the store, and has been a friendly face at checkout for 38 years now.
“I’ll miss that this was the last standing family owned business in town, but it’s a good thing that it’s changing hands, new blood and a new young family to continue on with,” Gould said.
Over nearly four decades Gould has seen hand stamps come and go, the use of marking guns for products, and the installation of newer digital cash registers. He mentioned that the most noticeable difference in the store since the Darlow’s started is the layout.
“A lot of our customers have commented and said it feels less cluttered and more open, it’s easier to find things,” explained Gould.
Another fresh business approach that the Darlows are planning to utilize is the popular platform of social media.
“As many of the members of the community know, we have started Facebook and Instagram pages for the store,” Darlow said. Krystle has worked very hard on creating these pages and posting all of our daily lunch specials, soups, in-store specials, promotions, and new items.” He added, “We have had very positive feedback from the folks that have been taking advantage of our social media pages.”
Throughout the store they are looking for ways to enhance what’s already been offered for many years.
In the deli, this will include adding pizza, hot dogs, hot sandwiches, fresh green salads, and more baked food options.
In response to the community’s feedback the Darlow’s have already incorporated a fresh fish department, numerous organic products including cage free organic eggs, organic canned vegetables, and organic butter options along with several new gluten free and vegetarian products.
One of the hardest decisions moving forward is the matter of the stores namesake.
“We have spoken to many community members listening to both the pros and cons of changing the name or leaving it the same,” he said, “In order to preserve the Castles legacy and move forward growing our business in the direction we feel will best serve the community, we have decided that it is best we make the transition to our legal business name of Darlow’s Quality Foods.”
Operationally, the employees and owners have already instated the name switch in daily tasks.
“We answer the phones, refer to in conversation, print on receipts and accept checks written to Darlow’s Quality Foods,” Chris said. “ As far as the Castles décor and iconic signage outside and in, it will take time to complete those costly transitions.
“I think it’s marvelous that Chris and Krystle are here, they have so many great ideas, and I’m excited for the stores future!” Gould said.
For now the stores hours remain the same, the shelves are stocked, and the familiar cashiers and stockers are at work. The only difference is behind the scenes a new entrepreneur is learning the ropes and sits in the front office.
“One thing Ken always mentioned to me is that as a store owner you’re going to have many good days, and probably even more days where you question why you decided to go into this business, but at the end of the day you get the rewarding feeling of knowing you are here serving the needs of this wonderful community,” Chris said.


text:
Official figures showed sales volumes last month were 0.4% higher than in September and 3.4% ahead of October last year.
It was the biggest year-on-year increase since May 2008 at the beginning of the recession.
John Lewis fuelled the feel-good factor with news that sales so far this week at its department stores are 15% up on the same period last year.
David Barford, director of selling operations at John Lewis, said: "This is really encouraging. Branches are noticing a definite Christmas feeling and our online operation continues to go from strength to strength.
"Customers are getting their homes ready for Christmas and are gift buying in earnest across beauty, toys, fashion and consumer electronics."
The robust performance on the High Street was a rare piece of good news on a generally gloomy day for the UK economy.
The Office for National Statistics said shoppers are flocking to the High Street to buy clothes and shoes.
The figures showed sales volumes for clothing and shoe stores were 10.7% up on a year ago. Annual growth in non-food retailing reached 3.5% against 1.6% across food stores.
Analysts said shoppers are bringing forward online purchases due to fear of disruption from the postal strike.
The looming reversal of the VAT cut, which sees the levy go back to 17.5% from 15% on 1 January, also lured shoppers into stores.
Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics said: "High Street spending is still holding up reasonably strongly in the face of some pretty adverse conditions for consumers."Reuse content


text:
NEW YORK: Companies that provide online advertising technologies agreed on a standardized method for counting viewers last week. They also agreed not to promote their adoption of that method until 2005.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), along with multiple partners, has developed an industry standardization that ensures more accurate counts in the number of people viewing an online ad. It was designed to give advertisers, who might have been scared off do to disparate measurement issues, more comfort in accepting the statistics they receive regarding their advertisements.
But advertisers who want to know immediately if a company enabling online advertising is using the standardization will have to wait.
The non-promotion agreement was fostered in order to give companies time to implement the standardization and create a level competitive field, according to IAB president Greg Stuart.
"Everyone agreed not to talk about their individual status publicly until mid-next year," Stuart said. "To get everyone to say, 'We're going to set aside our self-interest for the greater good of the industry for the short term' is a big deal."
Thirty-five of the 37 major companies, called ad-serving technologies, have agreed in principle to the auditing standardization proposed by the IAB. They still do not have to follow the standardization and, if they adopt it, will not be able to send out press releases announcing adoption until that agreed-upon time.
Ad-serving technologies - companies that develop tools that advertisers and web publishers use to plan, execute, and analyze advertising programs - also benefit by reducing discrepancies and improving operational efficiencies.
Among the approved standardizations is that ads views will not be counted if the web browser is refreshed or switched before the advertisement can properly load.
Stuart estimated that the strategizing took 14 months to accomplish, on top of the initial work done two years ago.
The IAB announced the standardization yesterday by giving the Wall Street Journal the exclusive and has been working with the industry trades on stories.
It also put out a press release on Business Wire.
The project was initiated by the IAB and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, which Stuart said would be creating its own communications strategies to members.


text:
Jeffersonville Holiday Open House returns for 2020 to help local businesses
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in southern Indiana.
The annual Holiday Open House continues in downtown Jeffersonville. This year, the holiday event is three days.
Most participating stores and restaurants are offering special deals, as well as giveaways. Much like other events that have taken place during the pandemic, organizers have put in place guidance to prevent any spread of the coronavirus.
Business owners highlighted the importance of the event because of the negative impacts the pandemic has had on their operations.
The Holiday Open House kicked off Thursday, runs until 5 p.m. Friday and will close out Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.


text:
12 European-themed 'towns' near Dongguan are scheduled to be completed this year.
by Bailey Hu, 28 February 2017
When you think of China, what brands come to mind?
by Ryan Gandolfo, 21 February 2019
Huawei ended 2018 with a spectacular social media blunder.
by Ryan Gandolfo, 02 January 2019
Next time you make fun of Huawei phones, just know that they could end up saving your life.
by Bridget O'Donnell, 20 April 2017
The phenomenal zoom function of Huawei’s new P30 Pro is the toast of the internet.
by Matthew Bossons, 16 April 2019
Are you missing the grand old-world architecture of your European home nation? Huawei can help you out.
by Bryan Grogan, 14 March 2019
The airport's 5G network base station can reach 1.14 gigabytes per second, which is about 50 times faster than the current 4G network.
by Ryan Gandolfo, 28 January 2019


text:
Employees at Kenya Airways’ hangar in Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters
A walking safari through Kenya’s Maasai Mara reserve, where you get up close with big cats and elephants, is a lesson in adventure.
From cruising along the Norwegian fjords to treading a wildlife trail in Kenya, we bring you the perfect holiday guide.
It is among the latest technology deployed to combat poaching at Ol Pejeta, a private conservancy on Kenya's Laikipia plateau that shelters the only two northern white rhinos left on earth, among other endangered giants.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, and the Department of Economic Development — Ajman (Ajman DED), agreed upon enhancing the electronic connectivity in the field of licensing private medical and pharmaceutical facilities,
US retail sales rebounded moderately in October although consumers did cut back on purchases of big-ticket household items like furniture and discretionary spending, which could temper expectations for a strong holiday shopping season.
British consumers, whose spending has helped the economy through the Brexit crisis, cut back on their shopping in October, according to official data that adds to signs the economy is losing momentum.


text:
Sri Lanka enjoys claimed help on the Paris Club out of creditor regions getting a Us$2. The new pub in addition to listed you to Asia got offered “specific and you can credible capital guarantees” with the January 16 and you may advised other two-sided financial institutions perhaps not element of the category, particularly China, to increase comparable assures as soon as possible. Sri Lanka closed a primary agreement on IMF to your extended funds facility in the Sep just last year. It will need acceptance from the IMF manager panel and therefore will demand capital assures away from secret two-sided loan providers or other industrial creditors. China, Asia and you can The japanese could be the premier two-sided lenders, which have Asia accounting for half the You$14bn away from bilateral financial obligation. India said inside the mid-January that investment/debt settlement through Export-Transfer Bank out of India could be similar to the IMF plan.
So far, Asia has replied which have a two-12 months moratorium away from dominant and you can desire money due inside the 2022 and 2023 through Export-Import Lender out of Asia. Asia EximBank states which do assistance Sri Lanka’s services so you’re able to keep the IMF business however, offered zero facts. Sri Lanka owes Asia EximBank particular United states$2. Sri Lanka even offers claimed over support from a group of international bondholders, which said it was ready to engage easily and effectively with Sri Lankan authorities to develop thereby applying restructuring terms to change the country’s financial obligation sustainability which help they regain usage of in the world funding myself several months. New bondholder classification are shaped for the Summer this past year and is composed of about 29 individual creditors, and additionally Amundi Advantage Government, BlackRock, HBK Money Management, Morgan Stanley Capital Government and you will T Rowe Price Couples, which includes Rothschild & Co since monetary adviser.
Sri Lanka said towards March cuatro that it was alongside finishing every pre-requisites required for the IMF professional approval. The new random bondholder class had said the brand new IMF programme purpose, as the known about page away from help India sent to the brand new IMF, would be to reduce the proportion regarding societal obligations so you can GDP in order to 95% by 2032 (off 114. The brand new sovereign’s failure to settle its worldwide obligations keeps longer so you’re able to its promises provided to loans raised by the condition firms, together with SriLankan Airlines. The atmosphere service provider on the February eight announced a conference out-of standard into the an excellent You$175m eight% government-guaranteed bond owed . The newest standard taken place down seriously to a low-percentage of one’s discount hence fell owed to the December 25. The state-had company, which in fact had didn’t beat brand new non-payment inside a thirty-date sophistication period, said when you look at the a statement in order to SGX to your March eight that it intends to show next to the bondholders in the near future.
Credit club signature loans remark
The state standard came in new aftermath regarding SriLankan Airlines’ circulate in order to terminate a permission solicitation within the mid-January. The newest concur got sought for bondholder recognition to waive coupon repayments to own a-year also to accept an effective a dozen-times waiver off events regarding standard.
Intel increased United states$11bn in the thread sector for the Tuesday, marking it the most significant All of us business offering in approximately ten days, because the suit demand allows investment-stages individuals so you can issue in dimensions once more. The newest eight-part elderly unsecured offering made up All of us$step one.5bn three-season, US$1.75bn four-season, US$1.25bn eight-year, US$2.25bn ten-seasons, US$1bn 20-seasons, US$2bn 31-year and you can All of us$step one.25bn 40-12 months cards. The final business borrower in order to print over United states$10bn in a single contract is actually Craigs list for the erica, Citigroup, JP Morgan and you can Morgan Stanley put the brand new A2/A/A– rated cards during the Treasuries and additionally 75bp, 105bp, 135bp, 155bp, 175bp, 195bp and 215bp, respectively, toning up to 20bp-25bp out of initial rates thoughts. Certain markets users told you the fresh new securities shown worthy of, providing profile in keeping with straight down-rated IG consumers as traders fret the businesses heavier money spending plans will weigh to the their equilibrium layer and you can credit ratings. All the about three product reviews businesses have already downgraded Intel this season more such as concerns. “New prices moves them with the that kind of Multiple B-style of town,” said Tony Trzcinka, collection movie director at Impax Resource Government. “The fact they have been pricing in this you can downgrade is just about to mark many people.” Instance, Starbucks’ brand new around three-seasons elderly note, rated Baa1/BBB+, came in from the 68bp more than Treasuries to the Tuesday. This new issuer’s solution to lean on the offered-dated tenors ‘s the latest illustration of how companies are exploiting interest in course, told you several other collection manager. Despite the relatively flat All of us bodies bond produce curve, corporate thread shape nevertheless offer greater advances with the long stop. “You will find a little bit of going after happening right here,” the portfolio movie director told you. “Individuals are going for the best distribute thread.” The fresh new reasonable costs of Intel’s this new cards factors to the problems faced because of the their company. Moody’s said on the March step three it wants the business so you can publication negative totally free dollars flows over the 2nd several to help you couple of years, deficits and therefore Intel will make up with debt money. To be sure, Intel features around us all$28bn out of exchangeability on the their harmony piece as of December 31. CFO David Zinsner told you from inside the Monday’s repaired-money individual demonstration one Intel are purchased the Single A beneficial credit rating. Intel earmarked the new providing getting general corporate motives. As such, continues might have to go toward businesses big investment costs, plus intentions to create a processor bush inside the Washington, by which Brookfield Structure People states it could render You$15bn regarding financing. That particular investment had a weird co-financial support arrangement payday loans Minnesota where Brookfield grabbed good forty two% share about opportunity, with the rest browsing Intel. In January 26 money telephone call, Intel President Tap Gelsinger told you the company wants to complete the next such price this current year. These assets to the the newest chip plants carry out gain benefit from the 25% income tax credit to own semiconductor creation passed by the brand new Biden administration inside August.


text:
Working in over 30 emerging markets, and having had the opportunity to visit many of these countries in recent months, I have noticed that the role of the Internet is changing. It is evident that across the emerging markets, an increasing number of people are switching online every year. The Internet revolution in emerging countries has been different from the digital wave that already swept the developed world. In fact, earlier this month, the Chairman of Channels Television predicted that the level of Internet penetration in Africa would rise to 50 percent by 2025, increasing from 16 percent currently.
As the number of Internet users increases, consumers have greater access to information, products and services. For those working in the real estate industry, this means the focus for 2015 must switch online and to mobile for marketing their properties and reaching the maximum number of potential customers.
For homebuyers, the growth of the Internet has made the house-hunting process more convenient and less time-consuming. In many emerging markets, the only way to find homes was to drive around and look for the "for sale" signs outside available properties. The advent of the Internet has enabled these house-hunters to search for properties from the comfort of their own home, narrowing down the search to only the real estate options that meet their personal requirements.
Working closely with sellers, developers and brokers, it has become clear to me that the Internet significantly helps them, particularly when it comes to cost. Advertising via online platforms costs a fraction of traditional, print media. Instead of paying for a quarter or half page advert, which has a word and image limit, developers, brokers and sellers can promote their properties, including as much information as they like, and a number of images.
An added bonus of using the Internet is the ability to analyze how many people have clicked on a link, the number of email and telephone ledas, and the percentage of call-back requests. This real-time feedback enables sellers, developers and brokers to see the performance of their listings and calculate the conversion rate, as well as return on investment.
For many people in the emerging markets, the first time they access the web they will be using a mobile device or smartphone. The development of mobile communication technology, and the increasing affordability of smartphones is resulting in an increasingly mobile marketplace. For example, in Pakistan, there are an increasing number of 3G and 4G users in the country, which now boasts around 15 million smartphone users. From advertising to user experience, real estate companies must adapt their services to cater to the growing mobile audience.
Technology is developing at a rapid speed. As connectivity improves, and we see the emergence of 5G services, more emerging markets will see a shift away from traditional offline house-hunting methods. Having an online presence is now a must-have for real estate agents, developers and sellers, as the sector begins to acknowledge that the Internet is an integral part of the modern house-hunting process for emerging markets.


text:
NRI pitch for tax removal
NRIs have made a strong case to withdraw the controversial FBT tax in the upcoming budget.Updated: Feb 21, 2006 13:21 IST
Non-Resident Indians have made a strong case for withdrawing the controversial Fringe Benefit Tax in the upcoming budget, besides liberalising insurance, pension and the FDI regime especially in the retail sector.
Asked by PTI about their expectations from the coming budget, NRIs in several countries also demanded a single window system to attract investment from overseas.
"I expect the Finance Minister to heed to the industry plea and withdraw the Fringe Benefit Tax, which was the major irritant in an otherwise well received Budget a year ago," leading entrepreneur and Hinduja Group President G P Hinduja said here.
United States India Business Council President Ron Somers said in Washington that the council will continue to press for opening up partially closed sectors and make the case for initial openings in areas that have been completely closed like professional services.
"Already we have seen one announcement in the opening of the retail sector. It has been extremely encouraging and we are hopeful that in the next few days we will see announcements regarding the opening of the insurance sector to 49 per cent. That was promised a year ago and we are waiting patiently," Somers said.
Calling for a one-point contact or a single window for processing projects in infrastructure, construction and other major areas, Consortium of Indian Industries in Malaysia Chairman Umang Sharma said, "Let there be a friendly and efficient approach. No investor wants to run from pillar to post looking for information in a foreign country."
First Published: Feb 21, 2006 13:21 IST


text:
Liz Rowe has a delicious job — she’s an award- winning chocolatier
A CRAFT CHOCOLATE COMPANY IS WINNING AWARDS, AND THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF DUNEDINITES
CHOCOLATE IS A FORCE to be reckoned with. Liz Rowe should know; she followed the path to the dark side five years ago. And by dark, that’s 100 per cent cacao chocolate, with no milk, no sugar – only refined cocoa beans sourced from the Solomon Islands. That chocolate lured her down a path quite different to her original goal — she had wanted to be a painter and ceramic artist until chocolate distracted her.
It started as a hobby, roasting cacao and tempering chocolate (heating to combine ingredients) in her home kitchen, and evolved into full-blown chocolate nerdiness. “I found it quite fun and I thought it wouldn’t be too hard to scale up and make a bit of extra money to fund my art habit. Fatal last words: I bought more equipment and suddenly I had six sacks of beans in my kitchen.”
She founded OCHO (the Otago Chocolate Company) in 2013 and now employs three full-time staff and a handful of part-timers producing 90 kilogrammes of chocolate a week. OCHO is sold in speciality stores nationwide and at the Otago Farmers Market.
Liz’s dark chocolate bars had the judges raving at the recent New Zealand Chocolate Awards. OCHO’s Solomons 100 Per Cent Cacao and 75 Per Cent Fiji Cacao bars were both awarded gold medals in the dark chocolate bean-to-bar category.
Head judge Elle Crocker, aka Elle Coco, the Britain-born chocolate expert from the British Academy of Chocolate and the International Chocolate Awards, described the OCHO Solomons chocolate as one of the best 100 per cent cacao chocolates she has ever tasted. “Often 100 per cent cacao chocolate is dry on the palate but this isn’t, and it is surprisingly fruity with a creamy texture. It is good chocolate.”
Liz keeps close contact with growers and
the cacao supply chain in the Pacific region to ensure the quality of her beans. “Agnes Pilopaso, an enterprising woman in her 20s, manages a large cacao farm in Honiara on Guadalcanal with her father. Her fermentery dries and ferments beans from around the district.
“It didn’t make sense to go looking for beans from halfway around the world — why would I get beans from Madagascar when I can get beans from the neighbours? It’s a bonus as I can meet and support people like Agnes, who is a really inspiring woman.”
Dunedinites have always held chocolate close — the Cadbury Chocolate Factory was at the heart of the city for 150 years. When Cadbury’s shut its doors earlier this year, people were keen to put their money where their mouth is. A PledgeMe crowd-funding campaign for OCHO raised $2 million in 36 hours, a New Zealand crowd-funding record.
OCHO shares were priced at a low $100 to keep them attainable and most of the 3570 investors own less than 10 shares.
While it won’t come close to replacing the 350 Cadbury jobs, the capital raised is providing OCHO with larger premises and new equipment. Production will increase to 10 times eventually.
Liz says the demand for craft chocolate is growing. “The Cadbury closure showed how much chocolate means to New Zealanders. At the moment, craft chocolate is where craft beer was 15 years ago so we might see an explosion of growth. I’d love to see New Zealand known for being a great chocolatemaking region, much like we’re known for our wines.”
Liz Rowe was inspired to start making chocolate in her Dunedin home after sampling crude chocolate made from stone-ground cacao while holidaying in Ecuador.


text:
What factors will help packaging paper businesses grow?
In 2021, packaging paper production enterprises were assessed to have many favorable factors for growth thanks to the high increase in domestic and world demand for paper.
Paper production line at the second Vina Kraft paper factory in Binh Duong
According to SSI Securities Joint Stock Company (SSI), paper packaging consumption in Vietnam is expected to increase by 12% in 2021-2025, thanks to the continuing urbanization rate. SSI forecasts that the urbanization rate in the country is estimated at 40% in 2024 compared to 37% in 2019. The paper packaging segment also benefits from the rapid growth of Vietnam’s e-commerce.
According to the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, Vietnam’s e-commerce will grow impressively in 2020 with an increase of 18%; the market size is 11.8 billion USD, estimated to account for 5.5% of the total revenue. Retail sales of goods and service revenue nationwide. Vietnam is also the only country in Southeast Asia with double-digit e-commerce growth. In addition, Vietnam’s total export prong maintained its growth momentum, which will boost demand for paper packaging in the future.
In terms of production capacity, according to statistics from the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association (VPPA), in the period of late 2020 and early 2021, there were eight industrial packaging paper factories put into operation with a total capacity and designed about 1.4 million tons/year.
Accordingly, by the end of 2020, with a capacity of about 800,000 tons by enterprises: Marubeni Group 450,000 tons/year, Khoi Nguyen Paper One Member Limited Company 120,000 tons/year, Phat Dat Paper Production and Trading Company Limited 100,000 tons/year. Annually, Global General Trading Production Co., Ltd., 80,000 tons/per year, and Tan Huy Kiet Trading Co., Ltd., 50,000 tons/per year.
These paper production lines will operate near the maximum designed capacity in 2021 and add more than 700,000 tons of paper to the market.
In 2021, it was expected that several other lines would be put into operation with a total design capacity of about 600,000 tons/year; in which; Miza Joint Stock Company will operate the line 120,000 tons/year, Hung Ha Paper Company Limited 100,000 tons/year, Hoang Van Thu Paper Joint Stock Company 100,000 tons/year, Viet Tri Paper Joint Stock Company 150,000 tons/year, other units about 100,000 tons/year.
VPPA also pointed out positive factors affecting the growth of packaging paper in Vietnam. The country’s export turnover target will increase by 5%, and the industrial production index will increase by 8% and maintain the same trade surplus as in 2020. Industries that use a lot of paper packaging set export growth targets. Exports will reach over 10% in 2021, such as agricultural, forestry, and fishery products and processed industrial products, including textiles, footwear, furniture, phones and components, computers, and outcomes: Electronics and components, vehicles, and spare parts.
The trend of moving industrial plants of FDI enterprises from large production centers to Southeast Asian countries or moving back to domestic production (multinational companies of Japan, the United States, EU) has changed countries’ structure and economic structure, including Vietnam.
Combined with that is the shift of businesses from China, Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China), and Japan in processing export paper packaging due to the challenge of the 25% tax rate of the US. for China from the end of 2019 to the middle of 2021 began to have a high effect.
2021 is also a year when it is possible to take full advantage of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam has signed, especially the new agreements Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EU). EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), etc., have helped increase the number of industries with high demand for paper packagings, such as agriculture, fisheries, apparel and leather, mobile phones, and electronics. Domestic retail consumption is also forecasted to rebound strongly by over 10%.
According to the VPPA, restricting plastic waste and plastic bags and promoting alternative paper packaging shows signs of extensive and robust development in Vietnam by 2021.
In addition, the consumption of packaging paper in the world and Asia is forecasted to grow again by over 3.5%. Many countries and regions will issue orders to restrict or even ban the use of plastic bags, especially in major economies that will do this firmly in the period 2021-2022.
Export of packaging paper and paper packaging to the Chinese market in 2021 has a higher prospect than in 2020, as China is forecast to have a supply shortage of more than 5 million tons and may be higher when the ban on paper imports is withdrawn. The formula takes effect from January 1, 2021. Paper prices are higher due to pressure on domestic fees, primarily environmental and energy costs (an environmental tightening policy has been implemented since October 2020).
Export of packaging paper and paper packaging to the markets of countries participating in new trade agreements such as CPTPP. EVFTA will increase enormously due to tax incentives and growth in trade transactions.
However, in terms of challenges, exports to China will also have to compete fiercely with many other countries because China reduced the import tax on corrugated paper to 5% in 2020 for many countries before that. Over 7% depending on the country, while this 5% tax rate was previously only preferential to some Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries.
What factors will help packaging paper businesses grow?
Vietnamese packaging paper manufacturers will also face many challenges, such as consumption competition among domestic manufacturers due to many new production lines being put into production; competition with imported paper: imported paper is expected to come stronger from countries in the region such as Laos (480,000 new tons), Malaysia (500,000 new tons) and from Indonesia, Thailand due to the domestic demand of Vietnam. They are low, so that they will increase exports to Vietnam.
Packaging paper manufacturers also face the challenge of a shortage of production materials, and prices remain high in the first six months of 2021 because the primary sources of recovered paper are North America, Europe, and Japan are still being affected. The COVID-19 pandemic strongly influences them.
Social distancing reduces the collection rate of paper materials; the lack of containers and freight is also a big problem, so the lack of raw materials and high prices are clearly shown. Meanwhile, the domestic collection is low, and the quality of raw materials is not high, not enough to meet the demand when the new capacity is expected to increase by 1 million tons.
Despite many significant challenges, paper enterprises have grasped the opportunities to raise well. VPPA said that in 2020, the total consumption of packaging paper would reach 4.286 million tons, up 0.9% compared to 2019. Although the consumption growth rate is low, compared to the general growth rate of the world, it decreased by 5 .0%; this is still impressive.
Notably, the export of packaging paper in 2020 reached 1,526 million tons, up 95.3% compared to 2019; this is the most significant export increase in the industry’s history.
2020 is also the year the paper industry has very positive business results, especially the strong growth of the packaging paper segment
For example, in Dong Hai Ben Tre Joint Stock Company (stock code: DHC), in 2020, the company’s net revenue from sales and service provision will reach VND 2,888 billion, more than two times higher than in 2019, while receiving profit after tax was 2.15 times higher than last year, getting nearly 392 billion dongs. This is the highest profit in 13 years.
According to Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company – VCSC, Dong Hai Ben Tre’s business results exceeded expectations mainly thanks to the paper segment. This securities company estimates that the paper business’s revenue in 2020 accounted for 88% of total revenue, and packaging revenue accounted for 12% of total income, increasing by 2% compared to 2019. Particularly in the fourth quarter, packaging revenue increased by 8% over the same period in 2019 and 5% compared to the third quarter of 2020.
Assessing the prospects of the paper industry in 2021, VPPA said that paper manufacturing enterprises have both opportunities and challenges. Still, Vietnam’s paper industry, especially those producing packaging paper, has and will surpass it. Overcome difficulties, and take advantage of opportunities to develop.
According to TTXVN
HOANG VUONG PAPER PACKAGING CO., LTD
With more than ten years of operation in paper packaging, and built a brand reputation in the market. Hoang Vuong Paper Packaging Co., Ltd is proud to be a private packaging enterprise in Vietnam that many big domestic and foreign brands accompany.
Hoang Vuong Paper Packaging Co., Ltd always accompanies your company in finding creativity and seeking innovation and difference. Your success is the result and motivation for us to continue to be more creative and professional.


text:
In February, the European Union announced that it would propose rules in 2008 to force manufacturers to limit emissions for new cars to an average of 130 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer by 2012. Luxury cars now typically emit roughly double that. Even stricter European targets are contemplated for 2020. In comparison, recent California legislation mandates roughly 190 g/km (adjusted for differences between U.S. and European test methods) by 2012, notes Friedman. Many European countries, including France, the U.K. and Norway, already have a CO2 emissions-registration tax, which disproportionately bashes bigger polluters.
"It's a balancing act, energy usage versus driving pleasure, but we Germans are very green right now, and car makers here are being heavily criticized," observes Thomas Meier, a portfolio manager at LOYS, an institutional investor in Oldenburg, Germany. The just-ended Frankfurt Auto Show -- arguably the auto industry's most important event -- was marked by numerous exhibitors placing low-emission models front row center, while pushing their high-performance cars to the rear. "It was like a gardening show," jokes BMW's chief financial officer, Stefan Krause.
The trick for BMW -- and all luxury-car producers -- is to reduce consumption and emissions without sacrificing the qualities that customers expect of their cars.
"It's a holistic approach," notes Hans Rathgeber, an engineer spearheading BMW's efforts to make its vehicles more efficient. "We look at every point in the car where we lose energy and try to reduce it." The stop/start function is just one prong of "Efficient Dynamics," he notes. Among the things that BMW has introduced or soon will: electric-powered steering to replace conventional hydraulic systems; a water pump that works only when needed, rather than continuously; brake-energy regeneration; leaner-burning fuel combustion, and a lightweight magnesium-aluminum engine.
Starting with the 2008 model year, 22 models -- accounting for 40% of the BMW Group's European sales -- will be producing no more than 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer, he says. This includes not only the Mini line of small cars, but also 1-, 3- and even some 5-Series models. Even the company's high-end 7-Series is getting greener, as BMW is building and testing 100 of the cars with engines capable of running on gasoline or liquid hydrogen. Using the latter, the emissions are mostly water vapor.
Fuel efficiency hasn't been a core demand of the German premium car makers' customers, notes Christoph Stuermer, a London-based auto analyst for Global Insight, a research and forecasting consultant. "But the awareness is changing.... BMW leads in making their cars more fuel-efficient on a wide basis, that is, across its entire fleet," he says. In comparison, he adds, Mercedes' most touted advance -- Bluetec technology -- is only for diesels.
BMW also has been more successful than its key competitors in implementing one of the better strategies for reducing a fleet's average emissions -- selling small cars. It introduced the Mini in 2001, having acquired it during a disastrous stretch in which it bought Britain's Rover, lost billions trying to fix it, and then happily unloaded it. The Mini has become a mega-phenomenon; more than a million have been sold in the past six years. Meanwhile, Mercedes' little SmartCar, which it intends to soon bring to the U.S., has produced billions of dollars in charges to earnings.
SO FAR, BMW'S GREEN-TECHNOLOGY prowess hasn't done much for its stock. Since June 2005, the Frankfurt-traded shares, which closed Friday at 43.57 euros, have returned just 27%, versus about 85% for the European auto industry group and 99% for DaimlerChrysler -- soon to become just Daimler -- which owns Mercedes, as well as huge truck-making operations.
Ironically, BMW's stock has weakened since the company took the mantle of world's top premium-car maker from Mercedes in late 2004. This year, BMW expects "high single-digit" percent unit sales growth, to "significantly more than 1.4 million vehicles." Last year, it sold 1.37 million. Through August, BMW's global sales (including those of the Mini and Rolls-Royce) were up 7%, while Mercedes' were off slightly. The smaller Audi's sales were up 9%.
BMW's challenge is clear, notes Henning Gebhardt, head of German equities at Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt: "Volumes have been fine, but at the end of the day, there's not been a lot of additional profit." While aggregate profit generally has risen steadily over the past seven years, pretax auto margins -- a key metric for most analysts and investors -- fell to 6.3% last year from more than 8% in 2001. It slid to 5.3% in the first quarter, before recovering to 5.5% in the second.
Rivals are doing better. Though unit sales fell 3%, the Mercedes Car Group's earnings before interest and taxes jumped to nearly €2 billion in the first half from a slight loss in the corresponding 2006 stretch. Daimler's premium-car unit sports margins around 7%, aided by lower costs and a decline in the quality problems that dogged it for a time, bloating warranty costs. The company is now aiming for 10% margins. Audi's profits in the first half jumped 67%, to €679 million.
Highflying Daimler also wins points from investors for selling over 80% of Chrysler recently and for having a CEO, Dieter Zetsche, who is considered shareholder-friendly. Besides the Chrysler move, he's promised to buy back up to €7.5 billion worth of shares -- something not common in Corporate Germany.
In contrast, BMW is seen as more conservative and aloof, less pressured to make shareholder-friendly moves because of the 47% stake owned by the Quandt family. Consequently, BMW, whose raison d'être is engineering, has less of a restraint on a tendency to "invest for investing sake," says John Botham, head of European equities at Morley Fund Management.
BMW's first-half net dropped 23%, to €1.34 billion, even as unit sales rose 5%. The company blamed higher material costs as well as the dollar's slide; BMW gets about 25% of its sales from North America. The greenback's decline hurt earnings in 2006, for example, to the tune of €666 million. Last year, the company earned €2.87 billion on nearly €49 billion in revenue.
The biggest beef that investors have with the Bavarian car manufacturer is its relatively high spending on research and development and on capital expenditures. According to Credit Suisse analyst Arndt Ellinghorst, BMW spends far more than its rivals on R&D, capex and labor per car. (See table below.) If it spent at a level equal to Mercedes, he adds, BMW could get its pretax auto margin back to over 8% and reduce annual cash outlays by about €2 billion.
Morley's Botham, who owns shares of Daimler but not of BMW, says he'd be more interested if BMW indicated that it is serious about cutting costs. Several other institutional investors tell Barron's much the same.
One thing that BMW does have going for it is valuation. At its recent price of €43.57, it was trading at over 10 times the 2007 consensus EPS estimates of €4.08, a big discount to its peer group, which trades at 14.1 times. Take out BMW's €6.5 billion, or €10 a share, in cash and the price-to-earnings multiple is even lower, notes Daniel Kerbach, a portfolio manager at LGT Capital Management, which owns both BMW and Daimler. And while BMW has been investing heavily, it now has many more improved models available as a result. "It will take a few quarters, but that will pay off," Kerbach adds.
BMW's new-model cycle is peaking this year, and sales should benefit in 2008 and 2009. "They've renewed their model range quite rapidly and haven't had all the revenue yet from all the renewed models," says Kristof De Graeve, an analyst at SG Private Banking in Ghent, Belgium, who's bullish on the company. BMW's margin of 5.5% in the second quarter was "much too low.... BMW is a bargain because margins could go up significantly," he avers.
JUST ABOUT ANY IMPROVEMENT could bolster the stock because few expect to see a gain. "There are very low, if not zero, expectations for BMW," says Merrill Lynch analyst Harald Hendrikse, who notes that the stock is trading at one of the lowest valuations in its history. The Munich-based manufacturer is getting no credit for having generally steady earnings growth since 1999, while both VW, Audi's parent, and DaimlerChrysler have had a rollercoaster profit history since then.
Hendrikse, who has a Buy rating on BMW, expects a sharp acceleration in second-half 2007 earnings and margins, stemming from continued good sales growth and relatively easy comparisons with results in 2006's last six months. Additionally, some R&D and capex costs were "front-end"-loaded in 2007, and will be less of a drag on margins in the last half, he observes. The stock, he contends, could reach the mid-50s if results turn out to be good. And it could go into the 60s, Hendrikse says, if BMW says the right things at its coming strategic review.
Investors are anxiously awaiting this presentation from Norbert Reithofer, who took the CEO reins about 12 months ago and is expected to lay down a strategy for BMW's long-term future. The market will be keenly attuned to anything that would suggest BMW aims to get margins up.
In that strategic review, "I'd like to see them bring down R&D," says Naimish Shah, an analyst with Lord Abbett, which owns a BMW stake. Cutting that significantly in the short term might be difficult, but "just the mere acknowledgment that their costs are higher than peers' would be a positive" for the stock, he argues. He'd also like BMW to talk about cutting capital outlays a bit and discuss any joint ventures or alliances it plans, to spread costs across a wider base of cars. Even a small decline in capex would significantly aid earnings, he says.
BMW CFO Krause is familiar with investors' concerns. To gain an edge for the long term, he says, "we had to invest" in things like Efficient Dynamics, but that "burdened R&D costs....but we know that's one area we can improve. Our capex needs to go down." He won't give specific numbers, but adds that the company has ample ammunition on the cost side: "We have leverage in the 'capital employed' part" of the return-on-capital-employed equation. As for the possibility of new alliances, he says: "We continuously explore with other manufacturers areas where we can cooperate. When it makes sense we will engage in it."
Shah says that BMW should also take advantage of its "flush balance sheet" to better the stock's payout ratio. He's "highly confident" that BMW -- whose estimated 2007 16% payout ratio (dividends and share buybacks) is lower than the 25% industry average -- will address this issue. After all, he continues, the Quandt family must be frustrated at the stalled share price, given the sales rise in recent years.
Only CEO Reithofer, who declined to speak with Barron's, knows what he'll say at the strategic meeting. But the company's top brass realizes that if margins stay where they are, the Quandts eventually will question management's strategy. In the past, they've shown no reluctance to make changes at the top.
Going green is probably a wise move for BMW, and good sales growth will push the shares higher in the near term. But to rev up the stock longer term, BMW must give shareholders more of what they want.


text:
Service Center Location Move
Starting December 15, the Pearl City Service Center location will be closing as Hawaiian Telcom will be opening a depot location in Kapolei (91-979 Kamaaha Avenue) on December 16. Depot business hours will remain the same.
Bill Block Service
Hawaiian Telcom offers Bill Block service free of charge to prevent unauthorized, non-telecommunications charges on our business customer's bills. To sign-up, call 643-4411.


text:
20: Charging Can Be A Challenge
Electric cars are still a new form of transportation and charging stations are now a hot commodity. For the consumers who live in middle America, finding a charging station can be a pain and installing a charging station in your home can be costly. The main thing with driving an electric car is that the range is limited, and you’ll need to find an electric charging station.
On top of the fact that finding a charging station is difficult, it also puts a strain on the power grid. Right now everyone is pushing for electric vehicles as states like California are experiencing rolling blackouts. It might be a bad move to switch entirely to electric cars at this point in time.


text:
Netflix recently unveiled its online delivery service, which will allow members to watch movies and TV shows on their PCs at no extra charge. In an interview with Reuters, Chief Executive Reed Hastings explained that the "instant viewing" feature is basically an extension of video sharing already made popular by sites like YouTube.com.
Its instant viewing feature, available only on computers that run the Windows XP and Vista operating systems, plays back DVD-quality digital files almost instantly after subscribers install special software from the Netflix site, a process that takes about 20 seconds.
To see the rest,
Online movie viewing time is awarded to Netflix subscribers based on their rental plans, with entry-level subscribers getting six hours per month and those with the most popular plans — three DVDS at a time — getting 18 hours per month.
Wow — 18 hours per month! Netflix is such an innovative company. This is sure to crush the competition from Blockbuster's Total Access plan ... at least for the time being.


text:
|▲ GM Korea Gunsan plant assembly line. (provided by Gunsan City Government)|
GM Korea on Feb. 13 announced its decision to shut down the Gunsan plant by the end of May this year. The abrupt shutdown announcement was released in a situation that Barry Engle, GM Executive Vice President and President of GM International, who recently visited Korea to press for the government financial aid. On the same day, a court ruling was made that GM Korea is the employer of subcontract workers working at the Gunsan plant and Bupyeong plant.
GM Korea, which is reportedly demanding the drastic downgrade of wages and working conditions, and its labor union affiliated to the Korean Metal Workers' Union lately started their negotiation process on wages and working conditions. However, concerns are raised that the commenced collective bargaining would be allegedly a General Motors' tactic to obtain various government financial aid and at the same time save the labor costs through the union concession with the intimidation of the plant closure.
Kaher Kazen, CEO of GM Korea said in the letter sent to the employees on Feb. 13, "GM Korea has recorded serious losses for the past several years and came to a conclusion to urgently take a crucial measure to restructure the company for its profitability and sustainability. As the first step, GM Korea decided to suspend the vehicle production of the Gunsan plant and shut down the assembly line by the end of May this year."
reported by Yang Ou-ram
translated by Kim Sung-jin
번역 김성진 email@example.com


text:
For those of us working in the digital marketing sector, spotting paid search ads is easy: they display above and below organic search results with small “Ad” labels beside them. But recent research suggests that most internet users are far less aware of sponsored listings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
This week, Search Engine Watch’s Graham Charlton presented some interesting findings that might surprise veterans of the paid search industry. Varn, a Wiltshire, England-based research firm, recently found that 55 per cent of UK internet users were unable to identify paid ads on Google SERPs.
Intriguingly, a survey Varn produced this February found that just over 50 per cent of respondents couldn’t identify paid advertisements, meaning awareness of paid ads has fallen approximately five per cent over the last few months.
Varn’s data doesn’t explain this tumbling awareness, but Charlton suggests that Google’s decision to remove ads along the right side of SERPs could contribute, as could changes to the “Ad” labels.
“While they used to be shaded to distinguish them from organic results, ads now look less like ads than ever,” Charlton writes. “Of course, the text is a clue, but it does seem that around 50% of users simply aren’t noticing that label.”
While unaware users may not be thrilled with Google’s increasingly subtle ad labelling, the changes may be positive for businesses hoping to attract more customers to their website.
As a Google Partner All Star Agency with access to insights on Google’s preferred practices, GrowthEngine Media can manage all aspects of your paid search efforts to ensure you’re found by your desired audience.


text:
Nude is normal,naked is natural
In Paris on Thursday, fashion designer Rick Owens gave audiences quite a show when he sent male models down the runway wearing clothes with peepholes that offered a glimpse of the guys’ formerly private parts.
“Nudity is the most simple and primal gesture — it packs a punch,” Owens said of his decision to have his models bare all. “It’s powerful. … Who else can really get away with this stuff? It’s a corporate world!”
View original post 558 more words


text:
We were expecting Nintendo to (perhaps) slash the price of its current console next month. But we may see a cheaper Wii in North America as soon as Monday, if reports from US retailer Target are accurate.
GenGame claims to have evidence of a price drop for the Wii coming to Target stores, which will purportedly hit Monday, April 18. According to what appears to be an internal communication to employees, the Wii would be as cheap as $US169.99 on Monday.
That will get you a “Black Wii Console with Motion Plus Controller,” according to GenGame.
That’s not as drastic a cut as the one that Engadget reported earlier this week, which pegged the Wii’s new price at $US149.99.
But perhaps Target is simply clearing house a little earlier in anticipation of the cheaper package, one with a more attractive bundle.
Nintendo Cuts Price of Wii to $US169.99 [GenGame.net]


text:
Brussels, Belgium, 25th May 2022 – On May 24th ERA Global held the Inauguration Meeting of the ERA Global US Advisory board. Almost after 30 months of the recent crisis and global pandemic, ERA Global will finally realize its plans dating back to pre-covid times and relaunch its first global non-digital activity, the ERA Global Las Vegas autumn conference. This shall be the start for embracing all the learnings and developments of these past 30 months. We shall endeavour to adapt and shape the future of the modern direct to consumer omnichannel business providing a perspective on global developments and gathering the specialist in that field to bring this business to the next level.
This summer ERA Global will restart these activities with its conference in Amsterdam, June 21st to 23rd and will finally return to the location where the industry formerly gathered once per year in Las Vegas and will hold a conference at the Cosmopolitan Hotel from September 19-21st.
Returning to Las Vegas is a very important step for the association to maintain and rebuild the global network. The scope of the US Advisory board will be to accompany this step by reviewing how to create additional member benefits and in particular how all the deep knowledge and the specialists of this industry can contribute to shaping the future of the direct to consumer omnichannel marketing and product industry.
“It is very important that while we are finally leaving the situation of a global pandemic and with this unfortunate situation in the east of Europe, we turn our mindsets and focus on future development, options and business opportunities. We have seen and will see tremendous changes in consumer behaviour and media usage. We unite all the specialists in that field in our industry and can provide a global perspective on best practices” Dieter Schneider CEO MediaShop Holding Group, Austria, Chairman of ERA Global
ERA Global will provide an exquisite set of educational sessions at their Las Vegas event. The range of issues that will be discussed will vary from the newest developments in (sales) platform technology to new forms of consumer interaction, amazing success stories and a global perspective to see what is working successfully and what is new all around the globe.
We believe that with the strong expertise that only our industry brings to the table our conference will be far beyond the next bestselling product. It will provide a 360° insight for anyone who wants to succeed in this business as we understand the need to optimize the full value chain. Poonam Khubani - President TeleBrands International, USA, Chair of the ERAG US Chapter
Post the conference ERA Global will offer a unique series of digital events to provide the opportunity for its global membership to constantly hear and learn from the best specialist how to catch the consumer eyeballs, how to create brand awareness, what are the latest developments in sales techniques and how to finally conduct the transaction.
“It was overwhelming to have such an esteemed group of specialists at the digital table devoting their time and sharing their insights. The extraordinary motivation and the spirit to deliver high value to all of our members and the global industry community as such will ensure the success story of this group of member volunteers. I thank all the members of the advisory board and call upon all interested members to join our group of specialists.“ Dr. Julian Oberndörfer, CEO ERA GLOBAL.
About the Advisory Board
The US Advisory Board is constituted of volunteer ERA Global members. It meets digitally on a biweekly basis to discuss how to deliver additional value to the ERA Global members and therefore support the mission of ERA Global to maintain and grow the international industry community.
- Dieter Schneider - CEO MediaShop Holding Group, Austria, Chairman of ERA Global
- Poonam Khubani - President TeleBrands International, USA, Chair of the ERAG US Chapter
- Jonathan Gregory - MD, Oak Lawn Marketing International, USA, Chair of the ERAG APAC Chapter
- Sergio Myers – CEO, Surging Media Group, USA
- Andy Latimer - CEO and Founder Blue Water Media, USA
- Katie Williams - President Ideal Living, USA
- Shaun Gluss – Vice President Sales Allstar Marketing Group, USA
- Jimmy Mishan – Vice President Emson, USA
- Ken Daly - CEO of JML, UK - Treasurer ERA Global
About the ERA GLOBAL Conference in Las Vegas
The first ERA GLOBAL US conference for multi-channel and direct-to-consumer companies worldwide is taking place from 19th to 21st September 2022 in Las Vegas, at an exquisite location. Our attendees will enjoy in Las Vegas an excellent chance to network with suppliers and discover new opportunities in the home shopping industry at the event. We will provide generous exhibiting space for the product suppliers, as well as designated business areas, perfect to hold meetings, exchange ideas and conduct business over the course of the 3-day event.
For further information
About ERA GLOBAL
ERA GLOBAL* is the only existing non-profit association representing the interests of the Multi-Channel Home Shopping Industry and direct-to-consumer business. Our members come from Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Australia, and are active all over the globe. ERA GLOBAL is the voice and network for businesses that offer innovative products to consumers through audio-visual presentation, the internet, and other electronic media, according to a recognized code of ethics. ERA GLOBAL advocates and supports the interests of our Global members and their customers.
* following the decision of the General Assembly of the Annual General Meeting 2021, the association will proceed with the registration of its new official name, Electronic Retailing Association Global/ ERA Global Asbl, BE 0867.005.301,RPM Brussels