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Rather than pay for expensive leases from traditional taxi companies or give up a portion of their earnings to startups like Uber and Lyft, many taxi drivers are banding together to form their own taxi cooperatives.
In these co-ops, each driver is an equal owner of the business, with a share of the profits and a voice in how the business is run. Denver, Colorado has one taxi co-op, Union Taxi, founded in 2009 with about 250 driver-owners. Now cab drivers in the city are already talking about setting up a second taxi co-op.
“We’re actually seeing a mini-explosion of interest in taxicab co-ops,” says Melissa Hoover, executive director of the Democracy at Work Institute. “These groups are responding to the same weaknesses in the industry that Uber is, but from a perspective centered around bettering workplace conditions, worker control, and compensation rather than ‘disrupting’ the model to benefit investors at the expense of workers.”
Drivers in a cooperative get to collaboratively establish their pay, the hours they work, and their working conditions–no small matters in an industry that employs many recent immigrants.
“It’s a way of achieving the American Dream for them, which is to own their own business,” says Lisa Bolton, president of Communication Workers of America Local 7777, which is helping the cab drivers set up the new cooperative.
In addition to the drivers already in Union Taxi, there are nearly 650 more cab drivers in Denver who want to start a new cooperative, according to Bolton. While some drivers who want increased autonomy may look to Uber and Lyft, most are more enticed by the prospect of owning and running their own business.
“They’re not part-owners in Uber and they don’t have a lot of control over any of the rules or their working conditions,” Bolton says. “I think taxi cooperatives are a growing movement. I think that it’s also a really good, innovative way to for the labor movement to help people fight for workers’ rights.”


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TurtleTree, a company specialising in sustainable nutrition, and Vegan Action, the most recognised vegan certification provider in the US, today announced the official vegan certification of TurtleTree’s animal-free sustainable lactoferrin, LF+.
This milestone establishes TurtleTree as the first precision fermentation dairy company globally to obtain vegan certification, and the first ever to receive the Certified Vegan logo in the 24 years it’s been administered.
In taking this step, TurtleTree is endeavouring to meet the evolving demands of conscious consumers.
While most precision fermentation products don’t involve animal products or byproducts, their bioidentical nature and the origins of the genetic codes required in production can make interpretations complex, particularly when adhering to vegan standards originally designed for plant-based products.
Regulatory approval also demands extensive safety testing, and some companies may opt for quicker, cheaper animal studies, and preclude their products from obtaining vegan certification.
This is a hot-button issue and potentially the reason most precision fermentation companies haven’t pursued official certification, despite stating they are vegan and animal-free.
The company aims to set a precedent that can help create a standardised definition of veganism in the context of precision fermentation.
LF+ is now the only vegan lactoferrin on the market, challenging the dominance of lactoferrin sourced exclusively from cows.
As the global vegan food market is projected to reach $36 billion by 2031, the demand for certified vegan products continues to surge. With this certification, LF+ is well-positioned to cater to this growing market and support large food and beverage companies seeking innovative, vegan-certified ingredients.
Fengru Lin, CEO and Co-Founder of TurtleTree, emphasises TurtleTree's dedication to aligning words with actions: "With this certification, we have put words into action. We want to build a food system that is sustainable and enables animals to live happier and healthier lives. As conscious consumers increasingly prioritise ethical choices, we aim to provide food and beverage brands with the unwavering confidence that our products align seamlessly with those evolving values.”

domain: news


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Bit late on this, but kicks news anyway.
So, the Jordan brand decided to release the Jordan 7 Premio BIN 23 on black Friday in the States. In a similar colourway to the OG Olympics.
OG Jordan 7 Olympics – special edition released to celebrate Micheal Jordans record breaking match in the ’92 Barcalona Olympics.
The new BIN 23’s:
With a limited release throughout the USA, few pairs will be available here. Expect to pay a premium over the retail price.
Price $175, (if you’re lucky enough to find them in the UK expect to pay £250 at least)


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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality regulations, also known as open Internet rules, face a hearing on Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Verizon Communications has challenged the FCC's au...
As TVs get higher resolution and bigger displays, while getting cheaper over time, cable operators may be able to cover an entire wall of your home with a screen that includes two full-size TV shows plus weather, upcoming show information, a social m...
The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing a proposed US$3.6 billion spectrum purchase by Verizon Wireless, a spokeswoman there said Tuesday.
Cox Communications plans to sell wireless spectrum licenses covering 28 million U.S. residents to Verizon Wireless for US$315 million, becoming the latest cable operator to join with Verizon for mobile services.
Cox Communications, which planned its own mobile network in 2008 but later settled for reselling Sprint Nextel service, stopped selling wireless altogether on Wednesday.
Many U.S. cable providers will offer broadband service for US$9.95 a month and an e-recycler will offer $150 PCs and laptops to low-income families in an effort to bring the benefits of broadband to more people across the country.
Cox Communications is backing down from its ambitious plan to build its own 3G cellular network, saying on Tuesday that it will decommission its infrastructure and use Sprint Nextel's network to provide its subscribers with a branded mobile service.
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Major irregularities found in over 20% of Slovenian restaurants in 2015
Ljubljana, 30 May - Inspectors of the Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection issued 280 reprimands for major irregularities to Slovenian restaurants and sweets shops last year, which is 26 fewer than the year before. Fifteen restaurants received a temporary ban on operation, web portal Pod črto reported.
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File photo: VCG
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Tuesday appealed to the Hong Kong society for support to end the violence as the Asian financial hub is expected to record a full year of negative economic growth in 2019.
Hong Kong has been gripped by increasingly violent protests over the last five months, which severely affected its business, finance, tourism, logistics, transportation and other sectors.
According to Lam, at the end of 2019, Hong Kong will likely show negative growth, meaning that Hong Kong will not achieve the positive growth of 0 to 1 percent it had downgraded to from the previous 2-3 percent annual growth it had set for itself.
The situation is grave, the chief executive said.
If the third-quarter GDP, which will be announced on Thursday, remains negative, the economy will have fallen into a stage of technical recession, said Lam.
The HKSAR government will follow the situation closely and take the necessary measures, she added.
The government last week announced a new round of measures valued at two billion HK dollars (about 255 million U.S. dollars) to assist sectors hard-hit by the economic downturn, including retail, catering, transport and tourism.
To date, the HKSAR government has invested over 20 billion HK dollars to support enterprises and secure jobs, said Lam.
"The fundamental solution is to contain violence and restore peace in Hong Kong as soon as possible so we can go back to our works in economy and others," Lam said.
She expressed firm support of the police force and condemned rioters' escalating and extreme violent acts.
Lam was speaking two days after financial secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong might have fallen into a recession this year, with retail sales, exports and tourism all in negative territory.


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The U.S. Government is Funding the Meat Industry in More Ways Than One
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says we’ll eat more meat this year than ever before. According to figures released last month, the department forecasts that the average American will eat nearly 10 ounces of meat and poultry every day in 2018 — nearly twice the amount we should be eating.
Our survival depends upon eating and drinking. We really don’t have a choice in the matter. The USDA predicts we’ll consume 222.2 pounds of meat, per person this year up from 216.9 pounds in 2017 and this has been climbing over the years. Of course, the more we eat, the more that will be produced.
Is it True That the More We Produce, the More We Eat?
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is suggesting that, as a nation, we are out of control with our eating habits. Yes, there are trends to eat healthier but the majority of our citizens rely upon cheaper methods of surviving. That usually means burgers or categorically, “fast food”.
“If everyone on the planet consumed and wasted as much as Americans — including eating as much meat — we would need five earths to sustain us”.
For the CBD and other green organizations, citing the government as the fault is somewhat hypocritical as “green organizations” use the laws on the books to seek out money from the government to push their agenda. Although they don’t believe in the statistics published by the USDA, they push statistics of their own to persuade public opinion. Chances are you could not get their statistics to verify their assumptions.
What if The Problem isn’t Meat Production?
It’s hard to imagine our country without meat. By the same token, it’s hard to imagine China with meat. Point is, our country is different, always has and always will be. Mountain men didn’t live off of grass and leaves. Meat sustained them and our culture moved in that direction. Becoming an industrialized nation meant allowing citizens to be productive. Today the battle isn’t about food sources; it’s whether or not we’ll have enough food to maintain a growing population.
Although we believe the government is too large and to manipulative, there is a tendency to turn a blind eye to reality.
• More government agencies than we need (the average American doesn’t realize there are currently over 600 agencies)
• Immigration laws that cannot control the millions that are pouring into our country;
• Climate change as a headline that really isn’t a problem (link to our climate page); and finally, government corruption and deceit that leaves all of us in the dark (that’s finally changing)
“If the market was allowed to dictate production trends we would be moving toward a sustainable food system. Instead, we are being force fed by the USDA.”
The Long Arm of Advertising
The CBD agenda may have started out as a good thing but like the government, they’ve used the “long arm of advertising” to persuade you that there are 489 billion pounds of toxic manure, which uses 21.2 trillion gallons of water, that uses 682 million acres of wildlife habitat and that it creates 337 billion pounds of greenhouse gases. Although these numbers may be accurate, how does the public know this? They don’t and by the sheer size of these numbers, you are persuaded to BELIEVE.
The push by the CBD uses advertising tactics that suggest “well if this is bad, then that is bad” to garnish your attention. Do you know the contents of a Hot Dog? Most don’t and although the contents may not be soothing to the ear, we eat them anyway. Conversely, where is the CBD on Cannabis? Rapidly taking hold of our country to suggest that beyond medical purposes, it’s now OK for casual uses. Really? We killed cigarette advertising years ago but now “weed” is the thing and advertised heavily.
We don’t disagree that eating healthier makes sense; it all comes down to ridiculous message of Climate Change. It’s not climate Change, its population growth and Sustainable Development.


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Two-minute snippets from Adele’s new album 25 leaked
Just two days before its official release, two-minute snippets of all the songs of soul singer Adele’s highly anticipated third album 25 have been leaked online.music Updated: Nov 18, 2015 16:39 IST
Just two days before its official release, two-minute snippets of all the songs of soul singer Adele’s highly anticipated third album 25 have been leaked online. The clips of each of the 11 songs were posted online by London record store Juno Records. Billboard reported that though the link has now been removed, many Adele fans did get to listen to the tracks.
There were reports that American Target stores have allegedly put 25 on shelves earlier than expected after someone tweeted a picture of what appeared to be the new CD. “@HausofFrancis Just copped that new Adele album at Target retweet if you want me to leak it,” the post read.
Watch Adele’s new song When We Were Young from her new album 25:
A representative for Adele, however, shot down the reports, saying, “The Target sales are not true.”
News of the leak comes just days after she teased a brand new track. The British star debuted a snippet from When We Were Young, taken from 25, during a recent interview with 60 Minutes Australia.
Watch Adele’s hit number Hello from her new album 25 here:
First Published: Nov 18, 2015 16:33 IST


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Lasso Data Systems, leading provider of CRM homebuilder software solutions for the residential new-home industry, has been selected as Heartland Homes' CRM sales software to manage prospect and purchaser information across its portfolio of residential communities throughout the Pittsburgh area.
“Studies by the NAHB and NAR have both shown that all sales people struggle with performing follow up effectively,” stated Kevin Oakley, Director of Marketing at Heartland Homes. “Using an effective CRM tool like Lasso is going to give us a huge competitive advantage. Our initial test of the Lasso system was with out online sales counselor over four months. Her efficiency skyrocketed, but more importantly, she started selling more homes. She went from being 6% of total company sales to 25% in four months – with no other changes to our process,” adds Oakley. “With those kinds of results, I knew the next step was to get our entire sales team on board with Lasso CRM as quickly as possible. The team at Lasso has been great to work with too. They just added the ability for BDX/NewHomeSource.com leads to be entered directly into the system saving us tons of data entry time.”
“We are extremely pleased to be selected to provide our CRM software services to Heartland Homes, an award winning homebuilder with an exceptional reputation for quality and value who is also a leader in innovative approaches to marketing and sales” stated Dave Clements, CEO, Lasso Data Systems. “We look forward to serving the Heartland team for years to come,” added Clements. Read more…
Learn more about Lasso's recent news and announcements here.


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The California Air Resources Board has substantially stiffened antipollution rules for diesel cars, going beyond Federal standards despite protests from manufacturers that the requirements could not be met.
But the board also voted Thursday to permit its executive officer to work out what it called trade-offs with individual auto manufacturers to relax diesel standards in exchange for lower emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles.
''Most manufacturers have indicated they won't be able to meet the standards, but we don't believe that,'' said Patty Heinen, a staff engineer for the board.
General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, which manufacture the heaviest diesel cars, will be the most seriously affected, said a board spokesman, William Sessa.
General Motors will have no comment until company officials could see a copy of the ruling, according to a spokesman, Anthony V. Gagliardi. 8 Companies in State MarketContinue reading the main story
In 1982 eight manufacturers offered 40 diesel models for sale in California, compared with only two manufacturers who had diesels on the market in 1975, the board said.
In a unanimous vote, the board adopted rules that will cut the permissible level of soot-like particulate emissions by diesels to 0.4 grams per mile in 1985, 0.2 grams per mile in 1986 and 0.08 grams per mile in 1989.
The level of particulate emissions now allowed in the state is 0.6 grams per mile, which is the Federal standard. A gasoline-powered car emits about 0.2 grams per mile.
The board action came after its staff warned that particlate emissions, because of their size, can bypass the human body's natural filtering system and cause tissue damage deep in the respiratory system.
The board says diesels account for 8 percent of the car sales in California, adding that the figure is expected to increase to up to 20 percent by 1990.
At a scientific conference sponsored by the board this year, researchers warned that if standards were not tightened and the number of diesels on the road increased as predicted, visibility would be cut by half in Los Angeles by the end of the century and would also be substantially reduced in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego. Companies Asked 2-Year Delay
Besides contesting the lowered standards for particulate emissions, manufacturers had sought a two-year delay in rules that would reduce the permissible level of nitrogen oxide emissions to one gram per mile by 1984. The current level is 1.5 grams per mile.
The board voted not to delay the the new rules, but it approved a plan permitting its executive officer, James Boyd, to work out trade-offs with individual manufacturers. A manufacturer could win a waiver of the tougher rules on nitrogen oxide in exchange for improving the emission levels of its gasoline-powered cars.
The board estimates that diesel engines emit from 30 to 100 times more particulates than gasoline engines and about twice as much nitrogen oxide over the life of a car but that they produce fewer hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions.
Last Tuesday, the California Assembly approved a long-delayed bill that would require antipollution devices on automobiles to be checked every two years. The bill stipulates that if cars fail to meet emission standards, owners could be required to make repairs of up to $50.Continue reading the main story


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Factory activity expanded at a faster pace than expected in September as production and hiring increased, suggesting that manufacturing should help keep the economy out of recession.
The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday its index of national factory activity rose to 51.6 last month from 50.6 in August.
September marked the 26th straight month of expansion in a sector that has shouldered the broader economic recovery and the factory report implied the an outright contraction in output would probably be avoided.
Economists had expected the index to edge down to 50.5. A reading above 50 indicates expansion manufacturing.
"Manufacturing is not falling off a cliff. Again this is not an indicator that points to a U.S. recession without a much bigger shock out of Europe," said Alan Ruskin, a currency strategist at Deutsche Bank.
U.S. CONSTRUCTION EXPANDS ALSO
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected rebounded in construction spending in August as outlays on state and local government building projects rose sharply.
Construction spending rose 1.4 percent to an annual rate of $799.15 billion, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent drop.
Stock indexes cut their losses on the data, while prices for Treasury debt pared gains. The dollar trimmed gains versus the euro.
Data last week showed that cash-rich businesses continued to invest in machinery, a trend that economists expect to hold and keep the economy expanding despite a pull back in consumer spending because of weak income.
Manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of gross domestic product and almost 11 percent nonfarm employment.
The tenor of the manufacturing report was strengthened by a an increase in hiring last month, which could be a good omen for Friday's employment report.
The economy failed to add jobs in August, leaving the unemployment rate at a lofty 9.1 percent.
Other details of the factories survey showed production rebounding last month after contracting in August. However, new orders contracted for a third straight month, potentially pointing to a pull back in manufacturing in the months ahead.
But inventories are growing at a slower pace and the ISM viewed customers' supplies as too low, which is should boost future orders.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and David Lawder)
DETROIT – The United Auto Workers union has called local leaders to Detroit on Tuesday, a strong sign that a contract deal with Ford Motor Co. is near.
Such a meeting normally means an agreement has been reached, and union bargainers brief local leaders on the details. UAW spokeswoman Michele Martin said Monday that although no deal has been finalized with the company, the union is hoping it will have one to present to the leaders.
"To get all those people here from across the country, people have to make travel arrangements," Martin said. "I think they must have some hopeful anticipation to call the meeting."
Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans would say only that bargaining continues and it's progressing.
The four-year deal with Ford is expected to be sweeter than the contract approved by UAW employees at General Motors Co. last week. It's likely to have profit sharing instead of annual wage increases for Ford's 41,000 UAW members. It's also expected to bring down Ford's hourly labor costs, which are the highest in the U.S. auto industry.
Any deal must be approved by the membership, but that could be a problem because many expected the company to restore pay raises and other benefits they sacrificed to help Ford through tough financial times starting in 2007.
Talks between the union, Ford and GM have gone fairly smoothly this year, with Ford expected to settle more than a month ahead of the last contract reached in 2007. Four years ago, Ford and the union didn't reach agreement until Nov. 3.
Up next will be Chrysler, where the talks could be more contentious. The company isn't making as much money as Ford and GM and probably can't afford the same deals.
The UAW talks are watched closely because they set wages for more than 112,000 workers in the auto industry and set the bar for pay at auto parts makers and in other manufacturing industries.
The GM deal gives workers $5,000 signing bonuses, $1,000 a year for three years to cover inflation and at least $3,500 in profit-sharing this year. The worst GM workers can do is $11,500 over the four years of the contract. GM was able to avoid a pension increase for the first time since 1953, and Ford's terms are expected to match that.
More than 1,900 entry-level workers at GM, who make about half the roughly $29 per hour paid to a GM factory worker, got raises of more than 20 percent. Ford has only about 70 entry-level workers, and will try to lower its labor costs by hiring more of them.
(Reuters) – Shares of Eastman Kodak (EK.N) rose more than 35 percent on Monday after the company said it had no intention of filing for bankruptcy.
The company issued a statement on Friday saying it hired the law firm Jones Day which specializes in restructuring, but that it "is committed to meeting all of its obligations and has no intention of filing for bankruptcy."
Bloomberg reported on Friday the company was considering filing for bankruptcy, which sent shares tumbling. Kodak shares lost more than half their value on Friday.
Kodak shares rose 39 percent, or 30 cents, to $1.10 on Monday. Shares are still trading below levels before the bankruptcy reports surfaced.
Once synonymous with photography, Kodak has struggled with the move to digital cameras and failed to turn a profit since 2007. It has been exploring a sale of its digital imaging patents, worth an estimated $2 billion, and hired investment bank Lazard in July to explore options. It also borrowed $160 million against its credit line last week.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker. Editing by Robert MacMillan)


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How Much Did You Spend?
Hopefully you had a nice, safe shopping weekend and you didn't end up in a brawl over the hottest toy or a flat screen TV. How much did you spend?
Overall, shoppers in the US spent $11.4 billion on Black Friday, and $52 billion over the holiday weekend. That amount is hard to wrap your brain around. But here's something that allows you to see where you fit in with the rest of the country...
The National Retail Federation says the average shopper spent $398 over the three day shopping weekend. Did you spend it on one flat screen? On several little gift sets containing hot chocolate mugs and mixes, and screwdrivers and pocket knives? Something tells us that won't be the end, and the shopping tallies are continuing to ring up.
The holiday shopping season has just begun. Good luck! Shopping on Cyber Monday is much safer - no crowds to fight. Sorry boss, not a lot of work getting done today.


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Chinese company Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) shipped samples of 128-layer NAND flash memory to controller manufacturers. According to the source, YMTC has signed an agreement on the supply of flash memory chips with the popular Lexar brand specializing in SSDs, memory cards and USB-drives.
Lexar, a well-known brand in Western markets, was previously owned by Micron Technology, which in 2017 sold it to Longsys, a Chinese electronic conglomerate.
Allegedly, the first YMTC product supplied by Lexar will be 512 Gb 128-bit 3D QLC NAND flash memory chips designed for Lexar nCard microSDXC memory cards. This series includes 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB models, featuring write speeds of up to 70 MB / s and read speeds of up to 90 MB / s.


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PALO ALTO, Calif., June 5, 2018 — Rubrik, the Cloud Data Management Company, today announced the appointment of Shay Mowlem as Senior Vice President of Product & Strategy. Mowlem will be responsible for driving Rubrik’s global product vision, design and development, and strategy. He will report directly to Rubrik Co-founder and CEO, Bipul Sinha.
“Shay has been a driving force behind the strategy and success of some of the industry’s most prominent enterprise software companies,” said Bipul Sinha, Co-founder and CEO, Rubrik. “Rubrik is on a mission to simplify how organizations around the world keep and use their data. We are fortunate to add Shay’s experience to help lead Rubrik’s next wave of innovation and growth.”
Mowlem brings more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software and product development to Rubrik. He most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer at Mulesoft, a Salesforce Company, which provides the most widely used integration platform for connecting SaaS and enterprise applications in the cloud and on-premises. Prior to Mulesoft, he held executive product and marketing positions at Splunk, where he helped the company to rapidly elevate its leadership in the technology industry. His earlier experience includes product and marketing leadership roles at both large and high-growth technology companies, such as CA Technologies, Opsware (acquired by HP), and Portal Software (acquired by Oracle).
“Companies are looking for solutions that address the exploding complexity and cost of managing data in the datacenter and cloud. Rubrik has created a category-defining cloud data management platform that helps enterprises navigate those challenges,” said Mowlem. “I am thrilled to work with Rubrik’s world-class product team and to help further our innovation, market growth, and customer success.”
Mowlem is the latest in a series of strategic appointments to the Rubrik leadership team, including Chief Financial Officer Murray Demo and Chief Marketing Officer Kara Wilson. Rubrik also recently added Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson to its Board of Directors. These executives bring deep experience across technology and software, and will help lead Rubrik through a period of hypergrowth and rapid innovation.
Earlier this year, the company announced a bookings run rate approaching $300M, which makes Rubrik one of the fastest growing enterprise companies of all time. Rubrik recently broke new ground by introducing Polaris, an industry-first SaaS platform for data management applications.
Rubrik delivers instant application availability with data protection, search, analytics, archival and copy data management. Hybrid Cloud enterprises benefit from Rubrik’s market-leading Cloud Data Management platform with simplicity, instant data access, app mobility, policy-driven automation, ransomware protection, and analytics at scale. For more information, visit http://www.rubrik.com and follow @rubrikInc on Twitter.


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David Beckham, arguably the world's most famous soccer player, has just been announced as the newest global brand ambassador for Tudor watches. He will be a big part of the current "Born To Dare" campaign, which was first announced back in March during Baselworld. We don't normally talk a lot about brand ambassadors and sponsorships here on the 'dink, but it's hard to overstate the impact that someone this high-profile and with this dedicated a fan base can have on a watch brand.
It's a big year for Tudor. The manufacture has released a slew of new watches, including a brand new chronograph in the Black Bay Chronograph (with its movement made in partnership with Breitling, no less), the Black Bay 41, the Black Bay Steel, and the Black Bay Steel and Gold (as seen on Beckham's wrist above). Tudor has basically sat out of the ambassador game for the better part of two decades, and if there was a time to make a push and get back on that horse, this seems like as appropriate a time as any. It would be tough to imagine an ambassador that could help with this more than Mr. Beckham too, and it will be interesting to watch how Tudor utilizes him across the world.
You can get a small taste of what might be coming here:
You can read more about these new watches by visiting Tudor online.


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Posted by Chanda Gunter
Well Google+ has dominated the social media news this past week while Facebook is conveniently adding video and group chat at the same time. The battle of the social networks is roaring and you can find out what the industry leaders and the Zuck have to say about it.
Posted by Chanda Gunter
Can Google’s +1 rival Facebook in the social media realm?
June 14th, 2011 @ 11:00am
By Chanda Gunter, ksl.com
SALT LAKE CITY — In March, Google announced its new +1 feature that will rival Facebook’s “like” button on most websites.
This month, the feature was recently launched in beta form and has sparked many conversations concerning its staying power. The idea behind the +1 button is to have users rely on their friends’ recommendations, so the question is just that, will they rely on recommendations while searching Google?
Here is how +1 works:
1. While searching information on Google, click the +1 button of the site you preferred.
2. A user’s friends will see this recommendation the next time they are searching something similar and will help lead them in the right direction.
3. The more friends a user has that clicks +1, the more recommendations he or she has.
Google is known for its outstanding search engine results and algorithm measuring techniques, but it’s not known for its social ability like Facebook and Twitter.
With the implementation of the +1 button, Google hopes to change that and in a sense, compete with Facebook. What it really boils down to is advertising dollars. Both Google and Facebook make most of their money through advertisements.
While Facebook can offer advertisers a more targeted audience because of its ability to capture important data such as age, location, gender and lifestyle, Google must now compete for that ability if it wants those same advertising dollars.
Google’s answer to the lack of social ability is Google Buzz and Google Profiles. Introduced over a year ago and implemented into any Gmail user account, a profile can be set up and information shared over the Web much like Facebook and Twitter. A Google account is required to take advantage of the new +1 feature and will likely increase the amount of Google Buzz users.
While there are some pluses to the new +1 feature, there seem to be more negatives and many questions asked.
~ On the plus side:
1. Facebook needs competition and who better to compete than Google, right?
2. Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm for improved search results, and the social-sharing aspect of user feedback could change the way we receive our information.
3. Search results could become more personal and relevant to the end user
~ On the negative side:
1. A Gmail account in needed to participate
2. Not all friends can see the +1 feature as they can on Facebook or Twitter. When someone “likes” an article it posts to his or her wall and allows for comments. Google’s +1 is only seen by Google friends and/or friends who happen to be searching the same thing.
3. There is currently no mobile version of the +1 feature
4. Facebook is already a proven marketing system and is already recognizable
5. A Google Buzz account can be connected with Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and a user’s Gmail contacts but is not available to connect with Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or Yelp.
For now, the +1 feature is still in experimental phase and as a Gmail user, it needs to be opted in to use it. It has a lot of room to grow and will no doubt increase the number of Google account users, but the question still remains” Will Google compete with Facebook? Possibly down the road, but with Facebook’s 500 million-plus users, Google has a long road to travel.
Google hoping other sites like recommending tool
Google Inc. is hoping other websites will like its recently introduced system for recommending online content and ads.
Chanda Gunter is the owner of The Social Network, a social-media marketing company based out of southern Utah. She is a marketing consultant, public speaker, columnist, event planner and teaches several social media seminars and classes monthly.
Article published by http://www.ksl.com


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2020 was a year of bumper returns for handbags and watches.
Javed Fiyaz has about 50 watches, including timepieces formerly owned by the Sultan of Brunei and Prince Charles. “I collect some for passion and sometimes for investment,” he says.
It’s the passion part that is paying off. A diamond studded Richard Mille RM 15 he bought for £300,000 ($417,818) in 2012 has now doubled in value. A Patek Philippe Grand Complications Sky Moon is already worth more than the HK$18.9 million ($2.4 million) Fiyaz paid for it in 2019.
Overall, the price of collectible watches has risen by 89% over the past decade, according to new research from the Knight Frank Wealth Report. It is part of a broader desire to buy second hand luxury which has captivated the super-rich during a year that curtailed their usual spending.
Pre-pandemic, if you wanted something that would both increase in value and look nice you went for art. But Covid-19 has turned the rules of luxury investing on their head. For the first time in five years, the value of investable art turned negative, forcing the wealthy to look for luxury investments in more unusual places.
Javed Fiyaz (left) with Jay Rutland, John Caudwell and James Stunt at The F1 Party in 2014.
The most profitable luxury investment of 2020 was the humble handbag. According to Knight Frank, the price of collectible handbags rose by 17% in 2020. The price was driven up by the not-so-humble sale of a Hermes Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Retourne Kelly 25 handbag for $437,330 in November, a new record.
Rather than being a means for the not-so-rich to show status, second hand fashion has now become a lucrative investment, outperforming most stock markets. Nowhere was this more evident than in the sale of a “game-worn” pair of Michael Jordan’s trainers for $560,000 in May.
“Customers have gotten savvy and are thinking about luxury purchases as an investment,” says Tracy DiNunzio, CEO of luxury marketplace Tradesy.
A Yamazaki 55 single malt whiskey sold for HK$6.2 million ($800,000) in August 2021
Unsurprisingly, 2020 was also a good year for booze as well. The value of fine wines jumped by 13% during a year which sales of all alcohol types rocketed.
But even within the drinks trade niche areas have outperformed the mainstream. Wine and spirits merchants Justerini & Brooks reported their biggest month ever for rare scotch whiskey sales in May. Although the price of rare whiskey fell this year, over a 10-year period the category eclipses all other luxuries, and most other investments (with the exception of Bitcoin) having risen by 478%, according to Knight Frank.
Just as Bitcoin has driven investment into other cryptocurrencies, savvy investors are now looking at other spirits, such as tequila, brandy or cognac, which might ride whiskey’s wave.
Will these niche luxury investments continue to do well in 2021? Many expect normality to resume as soon as real-life auctions return.
“No works of art broke the $100 million barrier in 2020,” says Knight Frank. There are few right-minded billionaires who will spend that sort of money without inspecting something first.
As a result, major auction houses have postponed their largest sales until in-room bidding can resume. Artworks, such as Francis Bacon’s “Triptych” series which sold for $84.5 million in December, set a record during a year where few grand masters or impressionists were put up for sale.
Francis Bacon’s painting “Triptych” series sold for $84.5 million, the most expensive artwork sold … [+]
But others point to deeper, psychological reasons that have fundamentally changed the way the super-rich spend. “Nostalgia causes wellbeing,” says a recent paper by Talor A. FioRito and Clay Routledge published in Frontiers. The study into nostalgia shows that “negative affective states such as sadness, loneliness, and meaninglessness trigger nostalgia and nostalgia, in turn, enhances well-being, feelings of social connectedness, and perceptions of meaning in life.”
If nostalgia helps combat sadness and loneliness then it has never been more important than now, and luxury purchases can play a part. “Given the impact that Covid-19 has had on the way we live, work and shop, it is unsurprising that imposed isolation during the pandemic has fuelled nostalgia-driven luxury purchases,” says Effie Datson, global head of Family Office at Barclays Private Bank.
I write about the fortunes of Europe’s wealth amidst the continent’s political ups and downs. I cover billionaires and where their money ends up: The charities and


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Venture Capital firms Kibo Ventures and PeopleFund led a US$5m Series A in cross-border e-commerce company iguama.
(PR Newswire) MIAMI, Jan. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — iguama, the fastest growing leader in cross-border e-commerce serving Latin America, today announced a US$5m Series A financing round led by technology venture capital firms Kibo Ventures and PeopleFund.
The company provides consumers in Latin America access to U.S. retail brands typically not available for purchase in local malls. Founded in 2014, the company is the first cross-border e-commerce shopping club where members receive competitive pricing on popular U.S. merchandise, exclusive deals, promotions, and savings on purchases from renowned merchants such as Nordstrom, BCBG, Target, Overstock, Juicy Couture and more. All local customs, taxes and shipping are handled by iguama, removing international barriers from customers and providing a seamless shopping experience.
“We are very excited to join forces with Kibo Ventures and PeopleFund,” said Diego Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of iguama. “We are committed to expand our cross-border e-commerce platform to the rest of Latin America and eventually Europe as well.”
“iguama has assembled a very unique and experienced team in technology, e-commerce and cross-border logistics,” said Matias de Tezanos, co-founder and CEO of PeopleFund. “Cross-border e-commerce is becoming more and more relevant and Latin America is still an underserved market; iguama is very well positioned to become a very important and successful player in the region.”
“iguama’s cross-border e-commerce technology provides tremendous value to millions of Latin American shoppers looking to access the best U.S. merchants and get delivery of their purchases to their door,” said Aquilino Peña, co-founder and Managing Partner of Kibo Ventures. “We look forward to working closely with the iguama team and supporting them in their vision of growing their brand and reaching millions of consumers in Latin America and Europe.”
The company recently announced that Weihua Yan, an experienced e-commerce leader, has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Yan was previously co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of diapers.com, an e-commerce company acquired by Amazon.


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AfricaStay recently announced a suspension of its twice-weekly flight service between Johannesburg and island paradise, Zanzibar.
Zanzibar vacations on hold – for now
AfricaStay has suspended of its bi-weekly flight service between Johannesburg and Zanzibar from 18 June until 12 July 2022. These flight are the only direct flights between South Africa and the island paradise of Zanzibar, so some holidaymakers are having to put their plans on hold for now.
The reason for the suspension is reportedly for servicing purposes, as the aircraft that is used for the flights, an Airbus A320, needs to undergo maintenance.
Two repatriation flights are in order, however. One of these occurred on Saturday 18 June, and one will happen on Tuesday, 21 June. AfricaStay owner and CEO, Marian Sandu said that these two flights would ensure that customers already in Zanzibar would be able to make their way home.
Sandu said that AfricaStay remained fully committed to Zanzibar as a destination and apologised to customers.
“For obvious reasons, we cannot allow clients to go on the outbound flights without knowing how they will return. We explored many, many different options, but due to current circumstances in the market, there simply is no suitable aircraft available as a substitute.” he said.
Already booked a flight with AfricaStay? Here’s what you can do
Acording to Travel News, AfricaStay is offering affected customers several options:
- Passengers can continue with their holiday plans, travelling out on 18 June or 21 June on the charter service. AfricaStay will assist in booking the return Zanzibar-Johannesburg ticket, at an additional cost, on one of the available scheduled airlines; or
- Passengers due to travel between 25 June and 12 July will be offered a credit by AfricaStay to the value of the charter flights booked, towards new return flights operated by an alternative scheduled carrier; or
- Passengers may postpone their booking and travel after 16 July 2022, subject to availability – seasonal surcharges may apply; or
- Affected passengers may cancel their vacation and receive a full refund on the air portion. AfricaStay says it is negotiating with the hotels regarding the accommodation portion; or
- Customers may opt to receive an AfricaStay travel voucher for the current value of their holiday, which will be valid for three years from the original travel date.


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KOCHI: Google today showcased the latest features available in Google Maps that can help people.
KOCHI: One of the main attraction of the National Welding Seminar is the robotic welding.
KOCHI: With a robust startup ecosystem to its support, Kerala has all the potential to.
China has got its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) news anchor. The anchor resembles a male.
SEOUL: In an impetus to 5G deployment, Samsung Electronics on showcased here how its solutions.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: UST Global, a leading Digital Transformation solutions company, today announced its partnership with pCloudy,.
GOA: Microsoft today unveiled new entrants to its Surface family in India to empower enterprises.
Google Pixel 3 series is due to launch in October 2018, if one goes by.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: UST Global, a leading digital technology services company, in partnership with Microsoft, has embarked.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will launch T-Slide, an ergonomic mouse for people with motor.


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Will Native Australian Ingredients ever be Mainstream?
Words by Sofia Levin
Images: Sofia Levin & supplied
Australia’s food scene is distinguished by multiculturalism and access to land, which "abounds in nature's gifts". Like the national anthem, our culinary history ignores First Nations people, who have cultivated and harvested native ingredients for more than 60,000 years.
Ask someone from overseas what defines Australian cuisine and they'll throw you a line about "shrimp on the barbie" or Vegemite. Ask an Australian and they're likely to stumble. While Australian food is characterised by multiculturalism, it's ignorant to overlook tens of thousands of years of First Nation people living off the land. Yet it’s only since 2017 that native Australian ingredients really started to hit the headlines, and our education continues to trickle down from fine-dining restaurants with non-Indigenous people at the helm.
Ask Bruce Pascoe, Bunurong man and award-winning writer, teacher and anthologist, whether we have a national cuisine and he'll tell you that until native ingredients become mainstream, we don’t.
“I don’t think we’ve had an Australian cuisine yet. I think we’re about to have one. We’ve been searching for a national identity and cuisine is part of that,” he says.
In his book Dark Emu, Bruce shares that Indigenous Australian communities were first to bake bread using native grains, tens of thousands of years before the Egyptians. Just this year at his farm in East Gippsland, Bruce harvested and baked with mandadyan nalluk, native dancing grass, for the first time in 200 years. Although restaurants play a pivotal role in educating consumers about native ingredients, Bruce believes that they will only become mainstream when readily available in supermarkets.
Connecting Indigenous Farmers with Buyers
Chris Mara, executive director of not-for-profit Outback Spirit Foundation, agrees. The Foundation was set up to support Indigenous growers supplying native ingredients. It’s Chris’ job to connect them with businesses that want to use their products.
“The supply chain is fragile, it has never been commercially developed other than in a craft setting – cottage industry sort of stuff and for restaurants – but when you go into mainstream supermarkets, you have to be able to supply a significant volume, even if it’s only a tiny proportion of the product,” says Chris.
After departing Coles Group as corporate affairs adviser, where he was also chair of the Coles Indigenous Food Fund until 2014, Chris was appointed as the foundation’s executive director in 2015. He now works with about a dozen Indigenous growers across Australia. The bush foods industry is estimated to be worth around $20 million, yet a survey by industry group Bushfood Sensations found that Indigenous representation is less than one per cent. Chris believes that an Australian food product can only be “authentic” if an Indigenous farmer supplied the native ingredients it uses.
“If you’re going to grow the pie and have more people tasting these products, you’ve got to have more customers to sell to. It’s a rising tide carries all boats situation,” he says.
The Outback Spirit Foundation was founded by the Robins Food brand in the early 2000s. Its chef-owners started using native ingredients in condiments back in the 1980s, but found it difficult to commercially source ingredients from Indigenous suppliers. In 2007, they launched the Outback Spirit label in Coles supermarkets, with 10 cents per product sold going back to assisting Indigenous suppliers. The future of Robins is uncertain after the company went into administration in March 2020, but Chris is hopeful that someone will take over manufacturing and that the foundation, which is set up separately, will survive.
The simplest way for native ingredients to become mainstream is for them to be processed into more familiar products. In Coles you'll find Outback Spirit pork sausages spiked with kakadu plum and beef snags made with mountain pepper. There are also tomato, barbecue and sweet chilli sauces.
“There are herbs and things that people don’t really understand how to use. When people taste them they are really impressed, but it’s hard to get consumers to change their habits,” he says. “Restaurant trade will help drive it, but it’s important to keep these things on the shelf.”
Ancient Produce, New Techniques
Chris says he is “more optimistic than ever” about the future of native foods. Plant yields have quadrupled and there’s proactive species selection and breeding taking place. One of the growers supported by Outback Spirit Foundation is Dominic Smith of Pundi Produce. Dominic, who is 37 years old, is from Yuin country in New South Wales but was raised in Adelaide. His farm is in Monash in The Riverland region of South Australia. Dominic started farming native ingredients a few years ago, transitioning from commercial products like basil and lettuce to river mint, rosella, saltbush, muntries, bush tomatoes, lemon myrtle and aniseed myrtle. By the end of winter he will have planted 15 acres of wattleseed. A direct-to-customer website launches in the next month.
“The demand outweighs what’s being grown. I’m just finding the market’s ready,” he says. “I’m looking at purchasing another 44 acres in the next financial year and planting that up full of wattleseed. Hopefully I’ll be able to start a program getting a few guys working out there, a few Indigenous fellas, and then proceed onto them getting their own farms to keep building that up.”
Dominic, who plans to export wattleseed, is also a couple of years into a nursing degree, en route to becoming a doctor. I ask how he plans to sell the world wattleseed and do medicine simultaneously.
“I like learning. Knowledge is power, you know?" he says. "I just want to be whatever I set my goals to be, because then there’s nothing in my way except for myself. If I’m to help other people who come from a similar background, then they can go, ‘Well if he can do it, maybe I can do it.’”
Demand More Native Ingredients
From a consumer perspective, Nornie Bero, head chef and co-owner of Mabu Mabu cafe and catering in the west Melbourne suburb of Yarraville, says the best thing the general public can do to make native ingredients mainstream is increase demand.
“Go out and ask your local grocers, go out and ask your local spice places, ‘stock this product’. Do it, because the more we ask for it, the better the prices are going to be,” she says.
At Mabu Mabu, Nornie incorporates Australian ingredients into accessible and familiar dishes and condiments, whether emu and native yams in tacos or calamari battered with saltbush and pepperberry. The reason people don’t eat more native ingredients, she says, is because we don’t know how to use them.
“It’s one thing to be on MasterChef and put a sliver on top, but you need to explain it to people. You need to make them aware of how it smells, what the flavour is like, where it comes from and how to use it as well.”
“I just don’t think there’s enough conversation around the actual product. Most people walk in the door and they’re like, I don’t know how to use that,” she says.
Nornie references saltbush, which she calls “black man’s oregano”, and says there’s no excuse not to have ingredients like it in our pantries beside introduced herbs and spices.
“We all live in this multicultural Australia and I want us in the food industry, for people, to take note… I want to start the conversation about Indigenous people around food, because I always know that’s when I’ve had the best conversations,” she says.
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With CES around the corner, AMD is expected to take the virtual stage once again with CEO Lisa Su “presenting the AMD vision for the future of research, education, work, entertainment and gaming, including a portfolio of high-performance computing and graphics solutions,” the company stated, without giving any further details on what products could be unveiled.
Su’s keynote is scheduled for January 12. Given the ongoing state of the pandemic, CES is switching to an entirely virtual format, which is good news for tech fans. For gamers interested in the latest announcements from AMD, this means that unlike in previous years, you won’t have to be in attendance in Las Vegas to follow along. The company’s press conference will be livestreamed and open to the public this year.
How to watch AMD’s CES 2021 keynote
Su’s keynote is expected to kick off at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET on January 12. Like AMD’s recent Ryzen 5000 desktop unveiling and its debut of the Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards, fans can tune in on AMD’s YouTube channel or visit AMD’s CES page to watch the stream live.
Once we have a direct link to the livestream, we’ll embed it into this post.
If you’re unable to tune in live, you can also follow Digital Trends’ CES 2021 coverage for all the latest news about AMD and other technology companies from the trade show.
What to expect from AMD’s CES event
Though AMD did not hint at what could be announced, we expect the company to provide updates on its console, PC, and mobile platforms. AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics architecture is found in the latest gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, including the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and desktop PCs sport its Radeon RX 6000 graphics. Its desktop processor, the Ryzen 5000 series, has been a hit with gamers. Given that these products were introduced in just the last few months, we don’t expect AMD to announce any next-generation chips, but there are bound to be a couple of surprises in AMD’s presentation.
We can likely expect AMD to announce its mobile products at CES 2021. Given the success of Ryzen 4000 mobile processors on laptops, the company could likely use the venue to debut its next-generation — though unconfirmed — Ryzen 5000 mobile chipset. Ryzen 5000 mobile CPUs are expected to be based on the same Zen 3 architecture that AMD debuted on the desktop variant, and the company will likely focus on performance uplift, energy efficiency, and gaming.
If this does happen, AMD will likely showcase a few mobile designs from some of its partners. With Ryzen 4000, notable partners include Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. With Ryzen 5000 mobile, we can expect a range of laptops ranging from slim and light designs that will compete with Intel-powered Ultrabooks to gaming-centric notebooks that either pair with AMD’s Radeon graphics or even the next-gen mobile graphics from Nvidia. For reference, Nvidia has yet to announce its GeForce RTX 3000 series GPUs for laptops.
Ryzen 5000 mobile notebooks will also allow AMD to take on rival Intel’s 11th-gen Tiger Lake processors, renewing the rivalry between the two companies.
It’s also unclear if AMD will address the recent shortages that have plagued its recent desktop silicon. as well as GPUs from Nvidia. at CES 2021. While Nvidia had had given updates on its GPU shortage, AMD has thus far remained silent on the matter after having previously teased its competitor.
The post AMD CES 2021 Keynote: How to Watch and What to Expect appeared first on TechFans.


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Virtual reality is probably the closest thing right now toward a new age of technology. With the rise of VR content and hardware in the past year, it is pretty surprising how the number of its users isn’t as high as those who own smartphones and tablets. But when you look at the price of VR gadgets that are currently available in the market, it all makes sense.
A Virtual Reality Check
It’s not that VR is suffering the Google Glass phenomenon. Gamers love it, 3D architecture companies such as spacialists.com use it to create compelling architectural designs into reality, and other businesses want to tag their products with it, but if a single headset will cost you around $600, VR is not something you can easily implement on a wider scale.
There’s also the issue of compatibility with the devices users currently have. Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE demand high-end specs that mostly the affluent can afford. Sadly, VR is still a luxury, but the good news is that some companies, like Intel, may turn the tables on the dominating VR players.
Toward Affordable VR Systems
Kim Pallister, director of the Intel VR Center of Excellence, discussed with the attendees of the 2017 Game Developers Conference (GDC) the next steps for making VR staple in the tech industry.
Pallister explains that some people who like VR don’t think a phone is good enough for VIVE, so they would rather aim for a solution in that area. She says that’s something she expects to see the whole industry focus on over the next couple years, which will be a piece of how you get down to more affordable price points. Or a VR that works with thin and light notebooks and doesn’t require a big desktop.
With Intel taking this direction, mid-range VR products might soon hit the shelves. Until then, people can wait. To be ahead, however, is to consult with VR experts as early as now on how you can take advantage of this exciting technology.
Within Your Grasp
If you’re looking forward to making use of virtual reality for your business or personal pursuits, it’s best to consult with 3Darchitecture companies, which have a fair experience in using this technology. You’d be surprised at what kind of innovative solutions VR can provide for your problems.


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Inside TWTR’s Results
The company reported a net loss of $125.4 million, or 20 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $511.5 million, or $1.41 per share, last year. Excluding special items, earnings were $79.3 million, or 12 cents per share, up from $9.8 million, or 2 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expected to see adjusted EPS of 6 cents.
Revenue surged 97% to $479.08 million from $242.68 million last year. Analysts expected to see revenue of $453.14 million.
Looking ahead to the first quarter, TWTR expects to see revenue between $440 million and $450 million. For the full year, revenue is expected to be between $2.30 billion and $2.35 billion. Analysts expect to see Q1 revenue of $449.68 million and $2.3 billion for the year.
Revenue Growth in the Spotlight
From a valuation standpoint, Twitter is growing at about 90x 2015 earnings estimates, which is a decent valuation considering its revenue growth. This stock is ideal for more aggressive investors who are willing to take on risk.
Mutual Funds to Watch
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The Bottom Line
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Sometimes we all get lucky.
For those who missed it, Leamington, my neighbouring town, was in the New York Times the other day.
Leamington got lucky. Leamington didn’t diversify. It had all its tomatoes in one basket and eventually the tomato got squeezed.
Ironically, Heinz buyer, Warren Buffet once said that “Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you’re doing.”
Now, the factory is still running, and the new owner is doing a pretty mean business. And who is their number one client? You guessed it – Heinz!
The Highbury Canco owner says, “now, it’s about securing new products,” but he’s only half right.
He’s right that now is the time diversify the heck out of that factory. Who doesn’t love a good tomato chutney?
But it’s also the time to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Does 50% or more of your company’s revenue come from a single client? If so, you’re setting yourself up to get juiced.
Let’s be ignorant this time around instead of just getting lucky.


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CAMP HILL, Pa. (AP) -- Rite Aid Corp.'s revenue from established stores climbed 1.3 percent last month, even though generic drugs continued to dent its performance.
The Camp Hill, Pa., company said Thursday that pharmacy revenue from stores open at least a year climbed 1.6 percent, despite a hit from cheaper generic drug introductions, while front-end sales rose 0.7 percent.
Revenue from stores open at least a year — or same-store sales — is considered a key indicator of retailer health because it leaves out results from locations that have opened or closed in the last year. Rite Aid ran 4,611 drugstores at the end of July, or 35 fewer than the same period last year.
Rite Aid is the nation's third-largest drugstore chain, trailing Walgreen Co. and CVS Caremark Corp.
An influx of cheaper generic equivalents of brand-name medicines has hurt drugstore chain revenue for several quarters. But the generics also help drugstore earnings because they come with a wider margin between the price the pharmacy pays to buy them and the reimbursement it receives for doling them out.
Rite Aid's total drugstore revenue for the four-week period that ended July 27 was $1.9 billion.


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US snacking and confectionery giant Mondelez International has beat analyst consensus forecasts for organic sales growth in its third quarter.
The Cadbury chocolate owner reported a 4.9% rise in third-quarter net sales US$6.66bn and an organic print of 4.4%. The increase in organic sales was higher than the 2.6% growth consensus analyst forecast.
Mondelez expects adjusted earnings per share to rise 5% on a constant-currency basis, compared to a flat performance in the recent quarter at 63 US cents, which was “primarily driven by operating gains offset by unfavourable taxes”.
However, Mondelez has warned currency effects will likely negatively impact revenues this year.
“The company estimates currency translation would decrease 2020 net revenue growth by approximately 3% with a negative $0.04 impact to adjusted EPS.”
Emerging markets had a mixed performance in terms of reported and organic revenues. Net revenue in Mondelez’s emerging markets fell 3.1% in the third quarter to $2.28bn, but was up 5.3% on an organic basis. For the nine months, they dropped 7.2% to $6.62bn and rose 1.7% on organic terms.
Nine-month revenues for the group climbed 1.7% to $19.2bn and were up 3.9% organically.
In contrast, developed markets saw revenues increase 9.6% in the quarter to $4.3bn and were 3.8% higher on an organic basis. Year-to-date sales rose 7.1% to $12.66bn and 5.2% organically.
Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put said: “Our third-quarter performance was strong across all key metrics, with broad-based revenue growth as demand remained elevated in developed markets and sequentially improved in emerging markets.
“Our teams are executing well and we continue to deliver share gains by meeting the needs of customers and consumers, despite the uncertainties caused by Covid-19.
“Our strategy remains unchanged and we are accelerating certain initiatives and increasing the investment behind our brands to further support long-term sustainable growth.”


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IMO, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown is probably going to rule the universe someday. Calvin Klein has obviously recognized this, because the brand cast Brown as one of the faces of its new By Appointment line — and though we only get one snap of her, Brown's Calvin Klein campaign shot is everything.
2016 was Brown's breakout year, and it was jam-packed full of awesome. In addition to winning our hearts as Stranger Things' tenacious yet wary young Eleven, the 12-year-old starlet firmly established herself as a dazzler on red carpets, covered the winter 2016 edition of Dazed, and proved she is a ridiculously good rapper.
It was only a matter of time before a brand tapped her, and now the perfect pair-up has happened. On Jan. 22, Brown shared news of the campaign on her Instagram, saying, "I am so honored to be a part of this."
By Appointment is the first post-Raf Simons takeover collection from CK, and it's a bespoke line comprised of 14 different styles which CK's website says will be "handcrafted and made to measure in NYC."
And Brown isn't the only model. According to a tweet from the brand, the By Appointment series will have "[a] cast of distinct individuals [to bring] the idea to life: Whether famous or unknown, all are treated equally."
Eliminating the lines between celeb and layperson is core concept of the By Appointment collection. On By Appointment's sparse webpage, CK says it's "[a] different departure for Calvin Klein: No longer solely for celebrities, rather an open made-to-measure service."
Models starring in the photos released on Jan. 22 include Brown, Selena Forrest, Lineisy Montero, Natalie Westling, Abbey Lee, Kiki Willems, and Tessa Bruinsma.
While all the models are all slaying, Brown has obviously brought the intensity that made her a standout in Stranger Things. Like she's done with literally everything else she has worn before, she elevates this CK look to a whole other level, and fans can't wait to see what's next.
Raf Simons' first CK show will debut Feb. 10 at New York Fashion Week, and will hopefully give us a look at the full scope of what By Appointment has in store. Until then, just gaze upon this image of Brown whenever you need tough-girl motivation.


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Oh, there will still be "bears."
MAGIC KINGDOM, FL -- The Walt Disney World Resort and Spa and Center for Societal Change has announced a new project, sure to excite parents of all genders! Disney is continuing its current project (called "Woke Kingdom," according to insiders) by re-theming the beloved attraction Country Bear Jamboree.
We caught up with Disney (the company) spokesbeing Jun Disney (no relation) to find out more.
"This is just one more step in solving all of the world's problems! ...
This stance is "just as likely to be popular as the last one!"
BR'ER BANK, CA -- The Disney Company has taken a beating recently over its political stances. Once the most trusted name in family entertainment, a recent poll shows that level of trust down to 54% overall. With some subgroups, the trust in Disney's programming is as low as 23%.
"Our leaders are a bit confused," says Disney (the company) spokesperson Jun Disney (no relation). "All we did was push back hard ...
Apparently Walt isn't happy.
BURBANK, CA -- Sources within the Disney Company say that CEO Bob "Bob" Chapek is being visited by the Ghost of Disney Past.
Disney (the company) spokesperson Jun Disney (no relation) confirmed the haunting, but said it is no big deal.
"The ghost first showed up when Chapek started charging for things that used to be free for guests," Disney (no relation) told Uncle Walt's Insider. "That was unsettling, sure, but Bob's pretty used to the visits by now."
"You learn ...
Rumor is they're heading for New York City, where they can say "gay."
WALT DISNEY WORLD, FL -- The Walt Disney World Resort and Spa and Alternative Lifestyle Grooming Center announced today that it is packing up and moving out of Florida.
"It's obvious that our values don't align with those of the state any more," said CEO Bob "Bob" Chapek. "I mean, they have a law now that says teachers can't discuss sexuality with 5- to 8-year-olds without parental consent! Who wants ...
Pictured above: guests in the foliage.
DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS, FL -- During a recent visit to the Walt Disney World Resort and Spa and Savings Vacuum, our own Uncle Walt experienced incredibly long attraction Stand-By queues -- so long that the lines stretched off the paths and into the landscaping!
Because of the recent cash-grab scam [Ed.: Well, one of them] perpetrated by Bob "Bob" Chapek, Lightning Lane, guests at the Disney Parks, Resorts, Spa & Labor Camp have encountered even longer ...


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Black Friday shoppers are returning to stores, setting a record online
Shoppers returned to stores on Black Friday, with a sharp increase in brick-and-mortar foot traffic and record online shopping, showing consumers have changed their approach in the busiest season.
According to retail analytics provider Sensormatic Solutions, Black Friday in-person visits to stores grew 2.9% year over year despite decades of inflation.
Additionally, thanksgiving visits to physical stores increased 19.7% from 2021 as more retailers opened their doors on Thursday than a year earlier.
Far fewer stores are open on Thanksgiving than on Black Friday, so the increase is somewhat misleading, Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting at Sensormatic, told The Post.
“If I look at previous seasons when stores were open on Thanksgiving Day, the traffic on those days is so light compared to a normal Thursday,” Field said.
Field added that Black Friday’s surge in shoppers in stores is a better indicator of how the rest of the holiday season will pan out. “We’re expecting good things today and for the rest of the weekend,” he said. “Plus 2.9% is a great start to the Christmas season.”
The National Retail Federation expects November and December holiday sales to increase between 6% and 8% compared to 2020 to $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion, respectively. But how much of the increase will reflect inflation rather than more giving is unclear at this point. Inflation cooled slightly in October but still reached 7.7%, putting pressure on budget-strapped households.
Holiday retail sales have risen an average of 4.9% over the past 10 years, the NRF said, with pandemic spending driving significant gains in recent years. Last year’s holiday sales rose 13.5% from 2020 to a total of $889.3 billion, breaking previous records.
But a lot of the growth is now coming from consumers who are letting their fingers do the shopping.
Black Friday online sales hit a record high as more people than ever chose to check their smartphones for holiday deals.
Cyber spending on Black Friday hit $9.12 billion this year, up 2.3% year-on-year and surpassing the previous record of $9 billion set in 2020, with the main drivers behind the increase, according to Adobe Analytics electronics, toys and exercise equipment goods.
Not only has online spending set records this year, but so has the way shoppers made their purchases.
Almost half of online sales were made from a smartphone, 48%, which is an all-time high for mobile shopping, up from 44% last year.
The data also sheds light on how shoppers are dealing with inflation-driven pricing, with the popularity of “buy now, pay later” plans increasing dramatically.
Total buy now pay later orders increased 78% last week compared to the previous week. Revenue from those orders increased 81% over the same period.
“As Black Friday saw record spending online, we’re also seeing clearer signs of a price-conscious consumer this year,” said Vivek Pandya, senior analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “Shoppers are using the Buy Now, Pay Later payment method more this year to buy desired gifts for family and friends.”
Financial concerns also plagued in-store shoppers, with 42% saying the timing of discounts and promotions will affect their shopping plans.
“I don’t think we’ve asked that question in other years,” Field said. “This question came from the fact that they said finances play a big part.”
One shopper who wasn’t bargain-hunting was President Joe Biden, who spent an hour and a half shopping on Tony Nantucket Island with first lady Jill Biden, his daughter Ashley Biden, his son Hunter and wife Melissa Cohen’s grandson Beau.
The first family stopped at at least nine stores on Small Business Saturday, once exiting luxury boutique David Chase to the cheers of a small crowd gathered outside on a windy, 46-degree afternoon. One person shouted “I love you” as the Bidens crossed the street, and POTUS replied, “Thank you!” as he waved to the group.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/26/black-friday-shoppers-back-to-stores-set-record-online/ Black Friday shoppers are returning to stores, setting a record online


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Less than 1 per cent of used textiles worldwide are recycled into new textile fibres.
But now, a novel technology is changing things for the better.
German startup eeden has developed a chemical process that recovers cellulose from cotton and transforms polyester into its basic building blocks.
Both raw materials can then be processed into new, high-quality textile fibres and given a second life, creating a sustainable and economically beneficial closed loop.
Read the full article via this link: https://tech.eu/2024/03/01/this-startup-is-closing-the-loop-turning-cotton-pet-blends-into-new-textile-fibres/


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Micromax has announced a tie-up with TranServ to offer a native mobile payment solution on its mobile phones. Here’s how it will work.
Trying to tap into the increasing number of Indians starting to use mobile payments, smartphone major Micromax has announced a tie-up with TranServ to offer a native mobile payment solution. Micromax Informatics co-founder Vikas Jain said the first device with the new service will be available as early as next month and most of their devices will get a software update featuring the digital wallet.
TranServ CEO and co-founder Anish Williams said the idea was to offer a new option to consumers that covers the entire plethora of payments. Interestingly, the service will come with a Visa card to enable payments in the consumer to merchant world as well.
This will be the first holistic payment service in India, more on the lines of Apple Pay that is gaining currency in the US, though services like PayTM, FreeCharge and MobiKwik have become very popular in recent times.
From January, new Micromax devices will come with the integrated payment solution in the devices and the Visa card in the box. Users will be able to add cash to their wallets from credit/debit cards, net banking or even using cash at a Micromax store. While this is something most mobile wallets are offering, the Micromax payment layer will come with an offline element too thanks to the physical card. Williams said the card will offer access to the 1.1 million plus VISA enabled sale points in the country.
Jain said the service will improve the experience no matter what payment the user wants to make. â€œWe do not want to draw customers from other services and the idea is to offer them a new service,â€ he added. The company plans to offer everything from micro-payments to micro-loans and peer-to-peer money transfers along with e-commerce and utility payments. The service will be limited to Micromax devices. Incidentally, Micromax subsidiary YU Televentures had announced a suite of services last week which included a payment solution as well.


text: Istanbul, one of the most world’s most dynamic cities, will become the global capital of shopping and entertainment during the Istanbul Shopping Fest, which runs from 18 March to 26 April. Stores in the city’s shopping centres and in the heart of its shopping districts, such as Nişantaşı, İstiklal Caddesi and Bağdat Caddesi, will become a shopping paradise for brand-conscious tourists. The Istanbul Shopping Fest, which begins on 18 March, will welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors over 40 days and 40 nights. The giant festival, which runs until 26 April, will reinforce once again Istanbul’s reputation as the city that never sleeps as it becomes the world’s shopping capital for 40 straight days. The festival will include 24-hour shopping and substantial discounts, as well as shows, concerts and festivals. Ninety modern shopping malls are taking part in the event, offering hundreds of brand names both Turkish and international in the city’s Taksim, Nişantaşı, Şişli, Bakırköy, Fatih, Bahariye and Bağdat Caddesi districts, as well as in the more traditional shopping venues such as the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market (also known as the Egyptian Bazaar).


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“Innovation is at the heart of what we think about at GE and the pace of change is incredible,” shared Vishal Wanchoo, President and CEO, GE South Asia. Really, the challenge is – how do you think and act differently and propel the company forward? This was the opening line of thought that unveiled his keynote address – “Imagination at Work”.
Noting that it is good to share ideas, he went on to say that they do believe that communication is the basis of innovation in this century. Tracking the history of GE he pointed out that they have realized that they have to be “innovative to survive”. To innovate globally and locally, they leverage their team. As for innovating in India, it was “too big a footprint”.
GE had run a survey called Innovation Barometer in 20 countries across the world. The principles of communication were presented. The most important change observed was that it is not just about innovation within the company. The findings included: a sharp increase in Indian business executives stating their country has an innovation-conducive environment and an observed aspirational relationship between India and the US. And another pertinent finding was that Indian business executives embrace digitalisation when it comes to measuring the ROI of innovation, with an indication that digitisation has made it much easier to measure ROI of innovation.
Transforming the culture of the company – “active transformation” was about driving a culture change within the company. Here the question came up – is it OK to fail? In the case of start-ups, only a small percentage succeed, but the others keep trying again – increasing agility, confidence and customer relevance. At GE, they were used to launching products that failed, but there is a huge amount of learning from mistakes, so failing is OK. Was there a need to industrialise innovation in the company? There’s a framework of how they do it – test the market, look at existing technology, new business creation – a kind of start-up mentality. It’s basically creating and incubating growth opportunities, he pointed out. And, it also involves fostering local innovation. Touching on fostering local innovation, he presented a simple equation that was followed at GE, which was – Customer needs + Technology + Ecosystem = Locally relevant innovation.
When Arun Sudhaman (The Holmes Report) asked how important is communication in a company that embraces failure, and how do you engage employees to embrace this culture of communication and failure, Vishal Wanchoo was firm in asserting that “communication is the bedrock of the organisation, starting from the top”. A massive amount of communication, including training people, takes place. They also communicate and celebrate failure, stressing the importance of the learning achieved from each failure. Arun Sudhaman enquired whether as a business leader, GE had to change its style, and Vishal Wanchoo confirmed in the affirmative, without a doubt, saying that it was indeed, a real journey.
Definitely, steps were taken by GE to develop this culture. In terms of measuring, he was quick to say that they measure in a simple way, looking at the environmental and social impact. When Arun Sudhaman brought up the fact that in the Innovation Barometer, there was a significant increase in the perception of India as a market, he said that initiatives like Digital India, Start-up India, innovation hubs set up in different states have helped. India has become the third largest ecosystem in the world. India should be thinking about what the county should do to make an impact globally.
How would innovation impact future work? How will the advances impact the work environment? We have to be prepared as a company and country to have more transparency, there may be a ‘fear’ factor, but that has to be overcome.
Lastly, he had a message for communication leaders, to support this culture:
Be real, be partners with the businesses, the business leadership is important, connect with the ecosystem and leverage communication. “It’s not just innovation in the field of communication, but it’s about being a good partner”, he signed off.


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Etihad Airways’ loyalty programme, Etihad Guest, has joined hands with Abu Dhabi Mall, to grant shoppers the opportunity to win up to 1.5 million Etihad Guest Miles between now and September 26, 2018.
For every $54.50 spent at the mall, shoppers will be entered into a weekly draw to win 300,000 Etihad Guest Miles, enough for 10 flights to Sri Lanka, five flights to the Seychelles or two flights to Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Etihad Guest members can further earn Etihad Guest Miles by shopping at partner stores in Abu Dhabi Mall including MontBlanc, Damas and Al Jaber Optical.
Managing director, Etihad Guest, Yasser Al Yousuf enthused on the initiative: “For the back to school shopping season, we are proud to join Abu Dhabi Mall to provide shoppers additional rewards for their purchases. The lucky winners of the weekly 300,000 miles will have a vast choice of how to use their winnings — from flights, hotel stays and cars rentals to hundreds of products in the Reward Shop and donating to charity.”


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Amazon becomes official retail partner for 'Shark Tank'
Through Launchpad on Amazon.
Amazon today announced that it is an official retail partner for “Shark Tank.” The new Amazon Launchpad Shark Tank Collection, available at www.amazon.com/launchpad/sharktank, highlights products seen on “Shark Tank,” including the Hatch Baby, Third Wave Water and Stasher, among others. This collaboration, which coincides with the premiere of “Shark Tank” season 10, provides an opportunity for successfully-funded Shark Tank startups and entrepreneurs to launch and showcase their products on Amazon.com . “Shark Tank” season 10 airs on Sundays at 9|8c on ABC .
“We are thrilled to be working with the popular ‘Shark Tank’ franchise, highlighting products from startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Jim Adkins , Vice President, Amazon . “The Amazon Launchpad program is all about empowering creators and inventors, enabling them to reach hundreds of millions of customers. By teaming up with ‘Shark Tank,’ we are making it fun and easy for fans of the show to discover a wide variety of unique innovations and cutting-edge products.” More than 70 products that successfully received funding from Sharks during seasons 1-9 are now available for purchase on Amazon.com , with products from season 10 and beyond to be featured in the Amazon Launchpad Shark Tank Collection in the future. All startups and entrepreneurs that Sharks have invested in will be considered for the Amazon Launchpad program. In addition, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is offering a $15,000 credit for cloud computing services to each eligible “Shark Tank” entrepreneur. “For the first time ever, ‘Shark Tank’ has a store on Amazon.com dedicated to helping our entrepreneurs scale their businesses and highlight top products from the show,” said Barbara Corcoran , Shark. “We are excited for the Amazon Launchpad Shark Tank Collection to bring products from our entrepreneurs to retail for customers and fans of the series.”
“Our first big break as a company came with ‘Shark Tank.’ It got us the attention we needed to attract a wide audience,” said Ann Weiss , CEO of Hatch Baby. “Working with Amazon Launchpad feels like our second big break. We’re lucky to work with a team that understands the unique challenges facing entrepreneurs and who specifically supports and provides us with what we need to grow our business.”


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FirstWord is one of just six companies celebrated in a new campaign run by the Daily Telegraph
It’s just over four years since FirstWord opened up shop to help clients think and act like publishers. Drawing on our experience as journalists and editors at some of the world’s most respected media outlets, we help clients grab and keep the eyes and minds of their customers in an increasingly noisy marketplace.
Not only have we succeeded for our clients, but in doing so we’ve also grabbed the attention of the Daily Telegraph.
This month we are one of just six companies to be included in its Great British Business campaign, which celebrates success and innovation. The only marketing company on the bill, we were chuffed to be identified as a leading light in the world of content marketing. The result is a short film on the Telegraph website, as well as an advertising campaign that will run on Channel 4 next month.
To prove that here at FirstWord we practise what we preach – if you’ve got something to say, just say it – we’ve made the full video available above as well as on our YouTube channel.
The fact that content marketing in general and FirstWord in particular caught the attention of the Telegraph for this campaign highlights how important the sector has become. The explosion of platforms carrying self-published content along with the diminishing ability of PRs to secure media coverage for their clients is behind that change. As a result, the content industry is showing healthy growth year-on-year.
According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2017 trends survey, UK companies last year spent on average 30 per cent of their marketing budget on content marketing, while 45 per cent expected to increase their content spend in 2018.
But successful content marketing isn’t just about self-publishing; it’s about being read – and that has never been harder. Well-crafted stories that inform rather than sell are a must. They help companies make real connections to their audience and this is our bread and butter. That’s why we’re at the forefront of content marketing. Quite simply, we are among the very best storytellers out there.
Our writers have each clocked up more than 10,000 hours in the most exacting newsrooms – including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, the BBC – honing their craft. We draw on this experience to help companies find the stories their audiences want to see and then we present them in the best possible format – blogs, listicles, interviews, infographics, videos, speeches, features, thought leadership, photography. We bring all the rigour of a newsroom to meet the needs of the boardroom. Quite simply, content marketing in our hands isn’t marketing, it’s journalism. That’s why FirstWord is the last word in content marketing.


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Governor Brown signs order to ban flavored vaping products for six months
Oregon Governor Kate Brown, on Oct. 4, issued an executive order putting a 180-day ban on flavored vaping products.
The Centers for Disease Control released a report stating there have been over 1,000 probable vape-related lung injuries nationwide. In addition, 26 deaths have been confirmed in 21 states — two of which were in Oregon.
While all the cases were associated with a history of e-cigarette or vape use, Brown’s decision was primarily made to prevent underage youth from vaping. Though laws prevent minors under the age of 21 from purchasing any of these vape products, Brown calls out “flavored nicotine vaping products and advertisements for those products” as the main contributor to the rise of youth vaping. “For example, among 11th graders in Oregon, use of e-cigarette products increased from 13 percent to 23 percent from 2017 to 2019,” according to the CDC.
Currently, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration are not entirely sure what causes these lung-related illnesses. The CDC has stated that the only commonality in the 1,299 cases nationwide is that the patients reported they had, or currently used e-cigarettes or other vaping products.
The executive order does not just target nicotine products but also cannabis vaping cartridges. In particular, THC cartridges obtained on the black market are linked to the outbreak, therefore it is not recommended to use nicotine or THC vaping products until more research has been done to identify the source of the problem.
What is currently unknown is the substance causing the ailments. Moreso, there is a possibility that multiple causes are to blame. In order to find the responsible substance, the CDC is currently investigating the sources of these products.
It is recommended to see a physician if experiencing any of these symptoms linked to these products: cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, or weight loss.
Some patients reported their symptoms as developing over a few days while others said it progressively grew worse over a couple of weeks.
A part of Brown’s executive order is to immediately ban chemicals and associated products when they are discovered to be the cause. She has also ordered that there be a warning label expressing the associated dangers to be placed on all vaping products along with an ingredient disclosure.
Another part of the order is to have the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and the Oregon Health Authority start a statewide vaping prevention campaign. Its focus will be to discourage consumers, especially the youth, from vaping products.


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The day is looming for the mass distribution that Tesla Motors has promised to its consumers. Along the way, Tesla Company affirmed the specs that will soon be integrated on the forthcoming Tesla Model 3 as well as the battery pack options. Also, notions of a fourth car is rising.
It appears that Tesla has made some progress in terms of the elements and the features that will soon be added on the new segment, which is the Tesla Model 3. The underlying features and specs for the Model 3 created much scrutiny for the firm particularly the battery pack option and the time frame for the distribution of the electric cars.
Given the fact that the company has gained much favor from the masses owing to the high demands, the company is also facing downtime regarding issues of distribution, consistency, efficiency and safety. Electric reports information pertaining to the battery that will empower Tesla Model 3 and the Model 3 will also feature a 60 kWh battery at such mark up cost of $190/kWh.
According to the same report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the base Model 3, is valued somewhere between $35,000 but there has not been any confirmation on the range and its energy capacity.
All the more, Tesla's Vice-President of Investor Relations, Jeff Evanson rebutted the analysis and speculations surrounding the cost of Tesla's battery pack. Evanson said that Tesla's battery pack cost is lower than the projections being rendered by analyst.
On a different note, this is not the only endeavor that Tesla aims to achieve. BGR reports that Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has given some future insights that the next model and segment that will follow Tesla Model 3's lead is less expensive and it will also showcase how Tesla has accomplished its goals and company visions.
"I'm super-excited about being able to produce a car that most people can afford. And there will be future cars that are even more affordable down the road. But, with something like the Model 3, it's designed such that roughly half the people will be able to afford the car. Then, with fourth generation and smaller cars, we'll ultimately be in the position where everyone will be able to afford the car," Musk said.
It stands out that Tesla is unveiling specs, battery pack options as well as releasing affirmations regarding the model 3 and the possible fourth new segment that will follow suit.


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Local Radio Support offers new advertising measurement system
Local Radio Support has created a new way for clients and agencies to book and measure advertising campaigns for independent and online radio stations.
After working with its technology partners and completing a successful trial with a major national agency, LRS is now ready to launch IRIS – Independent Radio Income Streams – for its member stations.
IRIS uses the bespoke technical system AIMS (Audience Impacts Measurement System) to track when an ad is broadcast, measuring the real-time delivered impacts through IP tracking and producing a total campaign delivery figure.
John Dash of LRS said “Previously advertising on non RAJAR stations has had little accountability for advertisers, IRIS changes all this – for the first time there is a credible route for trading airtime on independent radio stations who deliver previously hard to reach loyal, local audiences.
“The number of new stations is growing hugely in the UK but they’re often struggling for advertising revenue because in the past, not being part of a research model, there’s been no cost-effective way of measuring their audiences.
“Thanks to the new AIMS technology, all that is about to change. For the first time in the independent sector there’s a robust system in place to deliver real time audience numbers to agencies and advertisers, telling them exactly when their ads were played and how many impacts were delivered.”
Through LRS, IRIS also provides a single point of purchase for advertisers to access cumulatively significant audiences with a measured delivery system.
If you’d like to know more about IRIS, email email@example.com.


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-- Futures Veteran to Build Presence in UK, Europe
CHICAGO and LONDON, Nov. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- R.J. O'Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States, announced today the appointment of David Mudie as Chief Executive Officer of the firm's R.J. O'Brien (UK) Limited subsidiary, its London-based operation established earlier this year.
Mudie has more than 18 years of experience in futures, prime brokerage, sales and operations at major financial institutions in London and New York.
Joseph Murphy, Executive Vice President and President of the Americas, said: "David has excellent market experience, including his recent track record of taking a U.S. based company and substantially growing its brand in the UK and Europe. His vast experience, in-depth knowledge of futures, and great respect for the RJO brand and expertise make him ideally suited to lead our efforts, staff and growth in Europe."
Said Mudie: "RJO has an incredible brand in the United States that the company has cultivated for nearly a century. I'm looking forward to extending that premium brand in the UK and throughout Europe with the same breadth of product, expertise and service that has earned the company such respect among clients and peers in the U.S. We will focus on the core products and middle market niche that has fueled RJO's success in the States."
Mudie most recently served as European Head of Institutional and Retail Sales, Marketing and Execution for Penson Financial Services Limited in London. Previously, from 2009 to 2010, he was Head of Fixed Income Prime Brokerage for MF Global UK Limited in London. From 2006 to 2009, Mudie was Senior Vice President – Derivatives Product Group, Prime Brokerage for Newedge USA LLC in New York. Prior to that role, Mudie ran European Prime Brokerage for Refco Overseas Limited in London. He began his career in 1995 at Salomon Smith Barney International in London. In 1998, he joined Cantor Fitzgerald International Limited, where he spent six years in London, New York and Asia.
About R.J. O'Brien
Founded in 1914, RJO (www.rjobrien.com) offers state-of-the-art electronic trading technology and 24-hour trade execution on every futures exchange worldwide. Clearing more than 100,000 client accounts, RJO services a global network of more than 400 introducing brokers and many of the world's largest financial, industrial and agricultural institutions.
SOURCE R.J. O'Brien & Associates


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When it comes to determining true costs and accurate consumer usage for the new IT-as-a-Service model, there’s a lot more behind your business unit invoice than you think.
At EMC a team of business analysts has spent months conducting rigorous reviews of EMC’s IT data and then mapping and costing out every aspect of each ITaaS offering to make sure the new, financially transparent model is accurate.
As EMC IT makes the transition from working with a lump sum budget to charging back or showing back costs to individual business units for the IT services they consume each month, users can be confident that their usage is being carefully tracked and priced. After reviewing and remediating data gaps, we estimate that we are currently at 92 percent accuracy and climbing.
Getting to that level of quality data shouldn’t be underestimated, nor should the importance of such an achievement to the ITaaS transition. After all, each time a business unit consumes a service via ITaaS, IT needs to make sure the amount it is charged for that service reflects all of the costs to provide that service, from the more obvious infrastructure on which it runs to the labor supporting and other non-direct cost such as data center overhead.