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updated 12:39 pm EDT, Fri May 16, 2014
Accessory maker speeds up CarPlay deployment
Pioneer has begun demonstrating Apple CarPlay-ready NEX head units to various media outlets, and will actually introduce CarPlay support in "a few weeks," the company says. That support is slated to arrive in the form of a software update for current NEX units, beating expectations that the public would have to wait for new models shipping in the summer. To install the update, owners of compatible NEX products will have to download firmware from Pioneer's website and copy it to a USB drive.
The update should make Pioneer the first company with any form of CarPlay on the market, beating even car manufacturers like Volvo and Ferrari, which are planning native integration in 2014 vehicles. Aftermarket add-ons like Pioneer's may be crucial, since even as more carmakers come on board, relatively few new vehicles are expected to get native support, leaving old ones out of the picture almost entirely.
Pioneer's implementation should be full-featured but relatively unadorned; the only unique onscreen element will be an icon to return to the NEX main menu. Prices for the upcoming CarPlay-compatible NEX units will start at $700.


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The first indoor mall to be constructed in New York City in 40 years has finally opened and The Mall at Bay Plaza in the Baychester/Co-op City neighborhoods of The Bronx does not disappoint.
With 780,000 square feet, The Mall at Bay Plaza is the largest shopping mall in New York City bringing with it over 1,700 permanent jobs. With newcomers to The Bronx such as the high-end Michael Kors, a Victoria Secret, and the ever popular H&M, Bronxites will no longer have to trek outside of the borough into Manhattan or Westchester — and in turn will keep their money here.
Another first is a new Macy’s, which is one of the anchor tenants, and is the first brand new Macy’s built from the ground up in over 30 years. (Fun fact: Macy’s currently has 850 stores nationwide and the second store opened outside its original Herald Square 34th Street location was in Parkchester in The Bronx. Also, the founder of Macy’s, Rowland Hussey is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery).
During the opening ceremony, Public Advocate, Letitia James declared, “The people of the Bronx no longer have to go to the border into Westchester to shop, goodbye Westchester!”
New York State Senator Ruth Hassel-Thompson stressed the importance of being able to keep our money within our districts which goes back to what we said earlier. “It gives our young residents an opportunity for employment,” added Hassel-Thompson.
New York State Lieutenant Governor Robert J Duffy stressed the state’s commitment to improve access and egress to the area off the I-95 corridor and commitment of funds to make sure that traffic doesn’t become the nightmare that the community has been fearing.
Once the mall opened promptly at 10AM, thousands came through the doors and were in awe. A young shopper was besides herself saying, “This is a really big deal for me and The Bronx, we don’t have to go far for the same stores we shop at in Westchester or Manhattan.”
As I walked around and finally reached H&M, there was a line of hundreds of people waiting to get inside the two-level store but unfortunately had to wait a bit as there was a ribbon cutting for the store’s first Bronx location.
The winners today are the people of The Bronx, both those working and the shoppers. Everyone I spoke to who worked at the mall said they were from The Bronx and according to the developer the number is about 90% of employees are from our borough. Two of these individuals were Danny and Valleirya who both work at Sprint and were excited to be there.
The Mall at Bay Plaza offers a wide variety of stores for all Bronxites from the super high end Michael Kors and Swarovski to the casual and affordable GAP and H&M.
The space feels very similar to The Westchester in White Plains but with a slight urban feel. This is something we all definitely can be proud of for it is definitely the most beautiful mall in all of New York City offering an experience unparalleled in the city.
The economic impact of the mall extends outside its walls. As I exited the mall, I was able to get a taxi by the stand. The driver, Donald Anderson, was excited about the Mall At Bay Plaza. I was his first official fare from the new mall. “I can’t believe how huge it is!” exclaimed Anderson as he drove me to the train station.
Mr Anderson has been in the states for 12 years and is originally from Jamaica. “I first briefly lived in Brooklyn but I didn’t like it. I came to The Bronx and I love the Bronx since I moved here 12 years ago. This is where it’s at. We may not have all the developments like the other boroughs but it’s still beautiful.”
I, along with many Bronxites are excited to keep our money in our beloved Bronx.
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Welcome2TheBronx/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Welcome2TheBronx/

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Published:May 4, 2023
Today’s highly competitive consumer goods industry has high demands from packaging. They expect their packaging to deliver filling differentiation, cost reduction, and increasingly aggressive sustainability targets. Brand Owners and Retailers...
May 11, 2023Read more
The world celebrated its first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, this year on 29th September. In this article, we probe the role packaging plays in containing...
May 4, 2023Read more
The shelf life of a food product is defined as the period during which the product is considered acceptable for human consumption. The sensory characteristics of a food or beverage...
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According to ComNews, the company expects the upcoming World Cup to act as a catalyst for the development of HD broadcasting technology and creation of high-quality TV content in 4K.
Interactive set-top boxes that support 4K will be made available to MTS subscribers from this April, on the eve of the World Cup. They will be supplied by China’s ZTE, with 60,000 earmarked for a pilot launch.
Initially, the company will target the devices at the B2B sector.
It has previously been reported that MTS also plans to launch four Ultra HD channels this year.
Its 4K offer will eventually be available cable, DTH and IPTV, on the basis of its GPON MH+GTS network.


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Amazon to Expand in Seattle with Big Downtown Tower. Last month, Amazon said it will spend more than $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees outside its hometown of Seattle. The Seattle Times reports the company confirmed Tuesday it has signed a lease for the entire office portion of a planned downtown skyscraper that will become the second-tallest building in the Pacific Northwest. , which is developing the Rainier Square project, told the Times.
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Scott Smith Retires from HOKA NAZ Elite
The 2:09 veteran marathoner leaves after eight years
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Scott Smith, one of the founding members of Northern Arizona Elite, announced his retirement yesterday on Instagram. Smith, along with current team members Ben Bruce, Stephanie Bruce and Kellyn Taylor, was part of the group’s original roster of nine athletes in 2014. Over the next eight years, Smith would become one of America’s top marathoners, represent the United States at the World Championships, and break the 2:10:00 barrier at the age of 34.
Smith graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2010 after a collegiate career that saw him break school records at 5,000 meters (13:56.72) and 10,000 meters (28:35.71). After graduation he joined the adidas McMillan Elite professional team in Flagstaff, Ariz. where he was coached by Greg McMillan. During that time he finished third at the USATF Road Mile Championships, ran 22:47 for 8k, 44:01 for 15k, and 47:12 for 10 miles–proving he had a future in professional running. He made his marathon debut in 2013 at the California International Marathon, finishing fourth in 2:16:04.
In January of 2014 Smith joined Northern Arizona Elite where he reunited with former McMillan Elite teammates Bruce, Bruce, and Taylor. His first marathon for the new team was the USATF Championships at the 2014 Twin Cities Marathon where he finished third in 2:14:40. That mark earned Smith a spot at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing where he was 28th place. In 2016, Smith competed at the United States Olympic Trials in the Marathon and in the 10,000 meters on the track, finishing 14th in both races. The following year he lowered his marathon personal best to 2:12:21 en route to an eighth-place finish at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon. In 2018, he posted his best ever finish at a World Marathon Major when he placed sixth at the Boston Marathon in historically bad conditions. The fall of 2019 saw him lower his best yet again when he ran 2:11:14 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. He competed in his third Olympic Trials a few months later, finishing 19th. In December of 2020, at the age of 34, he set his lifetime best in the marathon, running 2:09:46 at The Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz.
Smith’s final race with the team was the 2021 Boston Marathon, held in October, where he was 17th place in 2:14:29.
Smith spoke to his teammates on Monday and reflected on his time in Flagstaff.
“I told the team that this part of my past will always be a significant part of my future. While I am indeed excited for my future I will miss being a part of this team immensely. I am so thankful to Ben Rosario and Jen Rosario, all of my current and former teammates, my family and friends, and my wife, Nicole, for all their help and support along the way. And countless others.”
HOKA NAZ Elite coach Ben Rosario said that Smith helped shape the NAZ culture and that he will be remembered for much more than his race results.
“Scott personifies what our team has been about for these last eight years. Performance-wise, he came in as a bit of an underdog, but he believed in himself and our program and was willing to find out how good he could be. Turns out that was pretty darn good. But his legacy for us will be how he treated others, how he wanted success for his teammates just as badly as he wanted it for himself, and how he made those around him better. As we move forward into this next phase of HOKA NAZ Elite where we bring on the very top runners from the NCAA, we hope to honor that legacy by passing on what we learned from Scott to every new athlete that joins our team.”
At the team’s end-of-year banquet on Monday night, the coaching staff created and named an award in Smith’s honor, the Scott Smith Teammate Award, to be given out every year to the athlete that best represents what it means to be a HOKA NAZ Elite teammate.
Smith did leave the door slightly open for a return to competitive running.
“My time here has come to an end. It’s a retirement with a soft “r,” Smith said. “So I’m not sure what running holds for me, but for now it feels pretty darn nice to just jog two miles every morning with the dogs.”
About HOKA ONE ONE®
HOKA ONE ONE® is one of the fastest-growing performance footwear and apparel brands in history. Conceived in the mountains, HOKA footwear delivers an unprecedented combination of enhanced cushioning and support for a uniquely smooth ride. Every day, HOKA pushes the innovation and design of its footwear and apparel by teaming up with a deep roster of world champions, taste makers and everyday athletes. From finish lines to everyday life, HOKA fans love the brand for its bold and unexpected approach, and its belief in the power of humanity to create change for a better world. HOKA empowers a world of athletes to fly over the Earth. For more information, visit hokaoneone.com or follow @hokaoneone. #TimeToFly
About Deckers Brands
Deckers Brands is a global leader in designing, marketing and distributing innovative footwear, apparel and accessories developed for both everyday casual lifestyle use and high performance activities. The Company’s portfolio of brands includes UGG®, KOOLABURRA®, HOKA ONE ONE®, Teva®, and Sanuk®. Deckers Brands products are sold in more than 50 countries and territories through select department and specialty stores, Company-owned and operated retail stores, and select online stores, including Company-owned websites. Deckers Brands has over 40 years of history of building niche footwear brands into lifestyle market leaders attracting millions of loyal consumers globally. For more information, please visit www.deckers.com.


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Are Britain’s lost parcels really being auctioned off on eBay? Postal system is in chaos and the internet flooded with people claiming they have undelivered Royal Mail packages to sell
There's little about a brown cardboard box to lift the spirits, not even when it’s wrapped in wrinkled clingfilm.
Hard, then, to imagine that the package just handed over to us on the doorstep of a dishevelled terrace house in Street, Somerset, is one of the most sought-after items on the internet – a consignment of ‘lost and missing post’, purchased on eBay for £360.
We’ve no idea what’s in it. Neither does the young Filipina who has taken our money. But that’s the point.
Because this parcel, and thousands like it, form part of a growing lucrative lockdown trade as punters make blind bids for unopened packages of other people’s mail. It is, of course, a gamble, which is part of the attraction.
One photograph released just before Christmas summed it up: a vast mountain of undelivered parcels spilling out of sacks at a sorting office in Bristol. According to one analysis, more than 7.5 million packages have been lost or stolen since the start of lockdown – and a growing amount of undelivered mail is for sale in a nationwide game of lucky dip
Will our cardboard box contain valuable jewellery, designer clothes… or cheap plastic tat?
There are other questions, too, as we haul our prize to the car boot. What about the people who were supposed to receive the post? Is the box full of Christmas presents lost in the December chaos? Is it even legal?
Britain is awash with lost, missing and unwanted mail as the postal service creaks under the pressure of Covid-19 and the expansion of internet shopping.
One photograph released just before Christmas summed it up: a vast mountain of undelivered parcels spilling out of sacks at a sorting office in Bristol.
According to one analysis, more than 7.5 million packages have been lost or stolen since the start of lockdown – and a growing amount of undelivered mail is for sale in a nationwide game of lucky dip.
A Mail on Sunday investigation found hundreds of items purporting to be ‘lost post’ being offered online, with bidders apparently determined to cash in on a mail system in crisis.
Some bundles – said to be parcels from leading courier firms as well as Royal Mail – are going for more than £1,000. Using hashtags such as #mysterypackage, the resellers can be found on sites including Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree.
A Mail on Sunday investigation found hundreds of items purporting to be ‘lost post’ being offered online, with bidders apparently determined to cash in on a mail system in crisis
The popularity is partly driven by the bizarre ‘unboxing’ craze on YouTube and TikTok, in which buyers post videos of themselves opening packages – including lost parcels – on screen
We watched as an eBay consignment of 300 unopened parcels was sold at auction for more than £1,000. Another bidder paid £800 for 280 parcels supposedly lost by Royal Mail.
A collection of ‘undelivered electronic goods’ is advertised on Facebook Marketplace for £1,234. The seller, Sammi John, writes: ‘Undelivered parcels amazon all brand new its [sic] a gamble game you win some you lose some.’
The popularity is partly driven by the bizarre ‘unboxing’ craze on YouTube and TikTok, in which buyers post videos of themselves opening packages – including lost parcels – on screen. There are losers as well as winners, and they include the woman who came to the door in Somerset.
Admitting that she had originally paid £400 for the box on eBay – and that she’s made a £40 loss on the sale to us – she said: ‘I think there are people who are making money from this but there has been no lucky dip from me. I have been silly.’
We were disappointed, too, when we finally opened the box and the packages inside, all with their original address labels torn off.
The star item was a Sony Experia X smartphone with a 23 megapixel camera and a 32GB memory which, if it’s genuine, might be worth £80 to £100. As for the rest, we had acquired a coffee percolator, Himalayan salt crystals, cheap lipsticks, an electric hotplate, costume jewellery and various items of clothing. Our £360 haul could not have been worth more than £200 in total.
The Mail on Sunday bought more than a dozen parcels from eBay in an attempt to get to the bottom of the trade.
Five of them, all labelled ‘Royal Mail special delivery signed for’ (although this might not be genuine), contained boxed plastic spinning games made in Vietnam and marked for children over the age of six.
In a box wrapped with brown paper and marked ‘Fragile’, we found a Marvel Comics figurine. A brown paper envelope contained Ninja Power Rangers toys.
Royal Mail happily admits that, like its rivals, it sends some undeliverable items for auction.
One source suggested that, before lockdown, it was dispatching ten lorries a day to auction houses such as Biddle & Webb in Birmingham, Wellers in Guildford, Surrey, and Simon Charles Auctioneers in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
And it’s clear there are times when things go wrong with deliveries. Take the case of St Peter’s Church in Suffolk, which ordered £8,000 of silverware to celebrate the Eucharist at its family services. Church members were dismayed to learn that one of three precious packages in the care of Royal Mail had ‘disappeared’.
Their dismay turned to incredulity when they found the missing silverware had been put up for sale at an auction house in Guildford – by the Royal Mail.
Ruth Lincoln, warden at the church in the village of Copdock, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If they had looked inside the parcel properly, they would have found the name of the maker with his address.’
Jennifer Bailey, the owner of specialist online footwear brand Calla Shoes, has similar concerns. Only a month or two after Royal Mail lost a consignment of her shoes, she found some of them on eBay.
‘A customer messaged me saying they’d seen my shoes on eBay, which surprised me as I only sell direct. I’ve never put anything on eBay,’ she said.
‘I contacted one of the sellers asking why he was selling my shoes and he said, “Oh I bought them in a job lot at an auction house.” I was livid.’
In 2019-2020, Royal Mail received some 250,000 complaints from customers about lost post. In a survey, a third of Britons said they’d had items go missing.
The system reached a state of near-collapse in several towns in December, and regulator Ofcom has warned that unless Royal Mail adapts to the increased demand its future could be at risk.
Yet that demand seems insatiable if the volume of cheap imported goods continues to rise.
Last year the postal and courier system had to handle an estimated 200 million additional parcels, obliging Royal Mail to take on an extra 10,000 people. It is building a new parcel hub in the Midlands to handle a million items a day.
Despite occasional mistakes, Royal Mail and its rivals deny having anything to do with the internet trade in lost parcels.
Jennifer Bailey, the owner of specialist online footwear brand Calla Shoes, has similar concerns. Only a month or two after Royal Mail lost a consignment of her shoes, she found some of them on eBay
A Royal Mail source said that undelivered items would never be auctioned off ‘blind’, let alone in their original packaging. And low-value goods never even make it to the auction house – they are burned.
The process works – or is supposed to – like this. If Royal Mail is unable to deliver a package, it is kept at the local sorting office. If no one claims it within three weeks it is returned to the sender or, if the sender’s address is not clearly marked, shipped to a huge returns centre in Belfast.
Items are then held by staff for a further month, while ‘parcel detectives’ try to return the package to the rightful owner.
The parcels are opened and, if no addresses can be found, the contents are separated – clothing, electrical items, jewellery – and sent to auction.
The £1 million a year this generates is ploughed back into compensation for missing post and into the cost of running the Belfast centre.
Courier firms Hermes and DPD have similar systems for selling undeliverable items, although a Channel 4 investigation showed that, at one point, Hermes had been sending parcels directly to an auction house despite having the correct details for the intended customers.
A spokesman said: ‘Hermes successfully delivers more than 630 million parcels each year and has a policy of sending undeliverable parcels to an auction house. Hermes makes no profit from these sales as it has already paid out compensation to its customers.’
Buying packages that genuinely have no owner is completely legal. But it is little surprise that the murky online marketplace is riddled with dishonesty.
It’s easy to fill a box with cheap junk and claim it’s a ‘missing parcel’. There’s nothing to prove the packages for sale on eBay and Facebook were even posted, let alone that they’ve been in the hands of firms such as Royal Mail, Hermes or DPD.
The true driving force behind the trade in other people’s parcels appears to lie several thousand miles away in China.
Goods sold over the internet at rock-bottom prices are overwhelming the British postal system. According to one estimate, ten million Chinese packages arrive each week, often organised by an anonymous group of UK-based middlemen in a process known as ‘drop-shipping’.
Often badly addressed, thousands of them prove undeliverable. And, because it’s not worth the cost of returning them to China, the UK-based wholesalers pump them out on to the internet, knowing there is a market for mystery packages.
One victim, Jim Prater, bought a £150 pallet of ‘undelivered Royal Mail and Hermes parcels’ after seeing an advertisement on Facebook, but discovered they came from a Chinese ‘drop-shipper’.
He posted his haul on YouTube to warn people of the ‘scam’, which left him with a collection of tops, T-shirts and children’s toys. He’s not the only person to have been left out of pocket.
‘They were definitely not Royal Mail [parcels],’ he said. ‘Most of the guys I’ve spoken to say the same thing. It’s cheap stuff from China where the return cost outweighs the postage.’
Another YouTuber, John Fitzgerald, bought 20 packages for £6 each from Facebook Marketplace. He found the contents – including a Donald Trump teddy bear and a breast pump – were worthless, and tracked them back to a company called CE China Express in Walsall, West Midlands. ‘I’ve paid £120 for what’s going in the bin,’ he said.
When The Mail on Sunday bought a lot of five packages for £95 from an eBay seller called chelseflin3, she refused to let us collect them in person, saying: ‘It’s fine il [sic] just post out due to the coronavirus I’m vulnerable you see and iv [sic] got children.’
The parcel mostly contained cheap plastic children’s toys worth no more than £10 in total. And when we tried to return the smartphone in the Somerset bundle to a man named inside the packaging, he promptly vanished from view, leaving nothing to say that these were genuine – or that the packages had ever even been posted.
Additional reporting: Simon Trump


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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — What will restaurants look like when they finally reopen for diners?
“Bar Rescue” host and executive producer Jon Taffar says the restaurant industry faces enormous challenges in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.READ MORE: Irvine Family's Cat Dies In Cargo Area Of Plane During International Flight
“Short of a vaccine, we’re not gonna get 100% of the way there,” he said.
Public health experts have offered up solutions like operating at half capacity when restaurants get the green light to reopen their dining rooms. Taffar says trying to operate at a lower capacity will threaten the viability of the whole business.
“No business can run at 50% capacity and make the money to pay its employees and sustain itself,” he said.
Taffar said that restaurants will have to retool the way they operate in large ways to avoid cross-contamination — not of food, but of potential pathogens like COVID-19. He says he believes restaurant operations can be compartmentalized into three areas — credit card and cash transactions, running food and drinks, and direct contact with customers that would include busing tables, taking orders and upselling food.READ MORE: Smith, Taylor homer in Dodgers’ 3-1 win over Phillies
“By separating all of these positions…We start to create an opportunity to stop cross-contamination,” he said.
But he says the survival of restaurants will depend most on customers — not on whether they come in, but on whether they behave.
“I’m more worried about the customers,” Taffar said. “When the first customers come, and the second group of customers want to come and they’re watching if the first group of customers don’t wear masks, don’t act responsibly, and send the wrong type of imaging, customers are gonna be scared to come.”
The restaurant industry is already heavily regulated when it comes to food handling and cleaning protocols, so Taffar says customers don’t really need to worry about catching coronavirus from kitchens.MORE NEWS: Southland Braces For Triple-Digit Temperatures, Wildfire Risk
“If we all act responsibly, with masks and distancing, more people will come to restaurants,” Taffar said. “If customers act irresponsibly, the restaurant industry is even more doomed.”


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Next year will bring the recognition that developers have embraced public cloud computing because of its speed and agility. Enterprise IT groups will then comprehend that internal offerings have to meet the much higher expectations of developers-expectations raised by what they now recognize is possible. Internal IT groups will confront the reality that warmed-over virtualization isn't nearly enough-and getting to public levels of agility will require process streamlining and end-to-end automation. In a word, it will mean re-engineering, which is much more difficult than buying a new product with the expectation that it will magically make one's private cloud as attractive as the public alternatives.
Expect to see many, many articles next year on the organizational change necessary to successfully implement private cloud computing. If you're implementing a private cloud and haven't thought through how you're going to integrate end-to-end automation and remove process roadblock, you have a problem. A big problem.
3. The Public CSP Business Will See a Pricing Bloodbath
The recent tit-for-tat storage price battle between Google and Amazon, key to the first AWS Re: Invent conference, is just a warm up for 2013. Next year will see ferocious price competition as CSPs attempt to blunt Amazon's growth. Even those that have heretofore eschewed price competition will have no choice but to jump into the fray.
For example, Hewlett-Packard, which not that long ago said "the notion of just standing up a VM for raw compute is kind of done" and promoted the importance of a cloud ecosystem, this week launched its OpenStack-based cloud service with a pricing structure that undercuts Rackspace by a third. That's not exactly the mark of a provider focused on value-added services.
We'll see plenty more of these price wars as CSPs recognize platform wars are a market share land grab. The winners turn into monopolies and the losers slink off the field. However, as Warren Buffett so memorably says, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." Translation: pricing wars are going to show who's really prepared to be a volume player in cloud computing.
Next year, cloud providers will come to understand that cloud pricing is a marginal cost-yield management exercise; efficient design, low-cost operation and, crucially, high utilization are fundamental to success. Land grab economics favor CSPs with access to significant capital. Expect those with access to pursue that advantage. It's no accident that Amazon recently sold $3 billion in bonds. It's arming for the battle.
One can expect real dislocations in the CSP industry as players have to rethink their business plans based on lower revenue streams, including some who conclude that being a cloud provider is a never-ending money pit and decide to exit the industry. We've already seen a couple of departures: the high-profile GoDaddy and the lesser-known Harris, which exited after reportedly spending $100 million on a cloud infrastructure.
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Blennerhassett Hotel marks 125th year
PARKERSBURG – The Blennerhassett Hotel kicked off the celebration of its 125th anniversary by letting people eat cake – and cupcake.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Blennerhassett Hotel, which is celebrating through the month of May.
More than 200 mini-cupcakes created by Downtown Bakery in Parkersburg were handed out Tuesday afternoon in the hotel lobby as part of a customer appreciation event for visitors and guests, said marketing director Nicole Slattery.
Hotel guests and community visitors stopped in through the afternoon to mark the anniversary and enjoy the cupcakes, Slattery said.
“I believe it was a successful event,” she said.
Carrie Nesselrode, executive director of Downtown PKB, was among those who stopped in Tuesday to mark the anniversary.
“What other organizations and what other companies do you know that get to celebrate 125 years; it’s wonderful,” Nesselrode said. “They are a wonderful establishment, a wonderful historical part of downtown. We’re glad to celebrate with them and hope they’re here for a hundred more.”
The historic hotel opened to the public on May 6, 1889. It was built by two prominent businessmen, William N. Chancellor and J. Kaltenecker, and was originally intended to be named The Argyle.
The Blennerhassett Hotel is locally owned by the Ross family who has given it a multi-million dollar renovation. The hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of the Historic Hotels of America and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
To highlight the hotel’s anniversary through the month of May, several events will be celebrated, including specialty historic cocktail and food menu items, a 125th Anniversary Overnight Package, as well as commemorative historic souvenirs. The hotel staff is researching historic items to place on display throughout the year.


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Google said contractors are listening to customer audio recorded by the company’s virtual assistant, a disclosure prompted by a media report that adds to privacy concerns associated with the technology.
Belgian public broadcaster VRT NWS said in a report this week that the Alphabet unit employs contractors around the globe to listen to some recordings of conversations that people have with the Google Assistant, which is available on its Google Home speakers and Android devices.
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Haris Aslam and the Philosopher's Biscuit. As a critic said recently remarking on FB's skill, 'It's miraculous - this level of ignorance makes you think he has never read the books.'
It is therefore natural that the world of Rowling fans, which numbers slightly more than FB's handful of loyal supporters, should turn to him for elucidation. There is anxious mystification among them after the launch of JK Rowling's new website, called Pottermore. Nothing is known about this project beyond the name and logo. FB understands that there are many rumours. Some think it's a new book involving, others that it's the long-promised Potter encyclopaedia or an interactive gaming site. The more world weary say that it is just a PR stunt ahead of the release of the final Harry Potter film in July. There are fewer suggestions that the website is devoted to encouraging more senior wizards or muggles alike to spend more time in the garden shed.
|Laurie Potter - hero of new website|


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It will surely benefit the consumers, but lifting the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice, without providing the agriculture sector with the appropriate protection, will burden rice farmers, an official of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) said.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror last Friday, PCC Economics Director Benjamin E. Radoc Jr. said the government, particularly the Department of Agriculture (DA), should provide rice farmers the proper safeguards before it allows the entry of more rice imports.
“The DA must prepare the sector first before we open the market [to foreign entities],” Radoc said.
As the state’s antitrust agency, the PCC perceives the lifting of the QR presents opportunities to consumers. Without the constraint, buyers can now choose between local rice and foreign rice, which is expected to be cheaper due to low production cost.
Once the QR expires, Radoc said the country will be flooded with Thai and Vietnamese rice, which he described as not only cheaper, but also of better quality.
“Filipino rice farmers are not the best producers of [the staple] for these reasons: because of technology, the culture of land that we have. So, if you are the DA, help them identify where they are better at,” he said.
The PCC official said the DA must examine the comparative advantage of Filipino farmers, and to look into opportunities it can offer to farming households.
Radoc urged the DA to cooperate with local government units in assisting farming households develop a “more diversified set of income”.
As an alternative, the government can offer regular jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities to members of farming household, while preparing the rice sector.
Radoc said imposing tariffs on rice imports is not the “proper way” to address the problem. “If you lift the QR and replace it
with tariffs, what difference will that make?”
For instance, imposing a high tariff on imported rice that are on a par with those produced locally would not benefit consumers as this would not result in lower prices.
“At the end of the day, we want to have a healthy competition for the consumers to benefit, and we do that because we force the producers to be more efficient,” Radoc said.


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Maruti to launch cheaper versions of Alto, Swift and WagonR
Country's largest passenger car maker, Maruti Suzuki is going to introduce the new variants of Alto, WagonR & Swift in a bid to mitigate the prospective challenges posed by rivals Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen which are set to enter in small car segment of the country.
The move by Maruti Suzuli India Ltd, the Indian arm of Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor, would further stimulate competition in the country's highly potential small car market. The proposed new versions would be cheaper than the existing models and the firm is going to reverse the industry trend of by launching new variants at cheaper rates.
Maruti's CEO S Nakanishi had said few days ago that 2010 would bring new challenges for the company. He added, "We have to gain volumes to protect our market share with global car makers entering the compact car segment."
The new variant of Alto is expected to hit market in next three months at lower rates than its existing model for taking on Tata's Nano and keeping it top player in the sub-Rs 3 lakh segment. Alto has been selected for newer version as it fulfills Bharat Stage-IV norms for CO2 emissions and other criteria.


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India textile sector needs more stimulus - minister
NEW DELHI, June 1
NEW DELHI, June 1 (Reuters) - The Indian textile sector will require more fiscal stimulus from the government and 300 billion rupees of investment annually to maintain growth momentum, the textile minister said on Monday.
"There are many challenges before the textile sector. The government will impart momentum to this $52 billion industry by striving to achieve a growth rate of 8-10 percent per annum," Dayanidhi Maran told reporters.
India's textile exports have been hit after recessions at developed nations. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)
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Jan Dhan Yojana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will promise on Thursday to provide a bank account for every Indian household when he launches a major initiative that could save billions of dollars in welfare spending and help mend strained state finances. Full Article


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After punching the clock with Betsey Johnson for nearly 30 years, the designer’s longtime confidante and chief executive officer Chantal Bacon has exited the company.
The news was made official Monday, just a month after Steve Madden Ltd. revealed it had taken over a $48.8 million defaulted loan to Betsey Johnson LLC. Bacon first teamed with the designer when she was part of Andy Warhol’s underground scene and has stayed by her side since those early days. However, as of April Bacon was no longer “actively involved” with the company and started to scale back her day-to-day involvement, she said via e-mail Monday. “Going forward, I will not be involved at all,” she wrote.
For the time being, she is content to get away from Seventh Avenue. “I’m traveling now and my plans are to enjoy life to it’s fullest…and I’m loving it!” she wrote.
This spring Castanea Partners, which bought a majority stake in Betsey Johnson LLC in 2007, put in place a management team of mostly Johnson staffers, according to a source familiar with the company. Former Henri Bendel president Susan Falk is on board with the firm as a consultant. Johnson’s chief operating officer, Jonathan Friedman, said he assumed some of Bacon’s responsibilities a few months back. A new ceo should be named in the coming weeks, he said.
“The question that might be lingering is what this means for Betsey. She is totally committed and will continue to be integral to the intricacies of the business,” he said. “She is still very excited and energized. She obviously misses Chantal. But going forward she will continue to be the namesake of the brand, and will do what she does so well — design.”
Johnson did not respond to a request for comment, and a Steve Madden spokeswoman declined comment.
Industry sources familiar with the negotiations over the debt agreement said Madden will make a major announcement regarding its plans, possibly as early as this week.
The way things stand, should Johnson not repay the loan by Aug. 20, 2012, Madden would own the brand. Madden already licenses handbags, small leather goods, belts and umbrellas under the Betsey Johnson and Betseyville trademarks. The collateral for the loan includes the company’s intellectual property, so Madden could be in line for the labels it holds as licensee.
Frederick Schmitt, managing director for the Sage Group, which advised Johnson in the 2007 sale of a majority stake to Castanea Partners, said Monday, “It seems Betsey Johnson may have found a plan to execute its current and future business potential.”
He also said that neither Johnson’s nor Bacon’s personal finances are tied up in the Madden loan. Friedman confirmed that Monday, saying, “The loan is secured by the assets of the company. Betsey and Chantal are not personally liable for the debt of the company.” In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Madden said its loan agreement is secured by “the borrower’s personal property, accounts, deposit accounts and cash, equipment, fixtures, general intangibles, goods [and inventory] as well as the pledges of membership interests of each of Betsey Johnson and Chantal Bacon.”
Executives at Castanea Partners did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
With the exception of a few middle-management positions, Bacon’s departure was the first major one for the company in recent months, Friedman said. There are about 55 staffers in the Seventh Avenue showroom and about 10 or 15 more in its Secaucus, N.J., warehouse and offices. There are no plans for layoffs or significant cost cutting at this time, Friedman said. “Over the last two years we’ve done some of that already. Right now we’re looking forward to invest in the business and to grow the business,” he said.
Store closings are not anticipated either, according to Friedman. There should be 65 to 70 Betsey Johnson boutiques by the end of the year, with Miami, San Francisco and Boca Raton being the next ones on deck. Contrary to industry speculation, the company is not planning to introduce an apparel label for the mass market at this point, Friedman said.
But an industry source involved with the company said there is “a large possibility” that some stores would be shuttered in the coming months. “Initially, they are going to give the stores a chance. It is not news to anyone that we are still in a difficult [retail] environment,” he said.
“What he has done at Vuitton is really exceptional,” said @gameofthrones’ actress Gwendoline Christie on @mrkimjones’ final show for @louisvuitton. “He has rebooted luxury in terms of making it commercial, viable and contemporary. And most importantly artistic. He has never compromised his artistic vision for the sake of commodity.” (📷: @zefashioninsider)
After seeing a demand for men’s wear from its customers, British contemporary women’s wear label @ariesarise has added a men’s wear component and will launch a unisex collection with @mrporterlive. The 20-piece collection includes jackets, denim, logo T-shirts and more with deconstructed ‘90s vibes. Set to launch on January 18, you can shop the pieces on Aries’ website and on mrporter.com. #wwdfashion
“And so spending so much time with a character who thinks like that, inevitability you try and analyze yourself and go back and think about your own demons and dark chapters that you had in your life,” says @thedanielbruhl of his role in TNT’s “The Alienist.” The show, set in the Gilded Age of New York, also stars Dakota Fanning and Luke Evans. Head to WWD.com to read about how 39-year-old Brühl prepared for the role and why he thinks the show is so relevant to today #wwdeye ( 📷: @Eriktanner)
Now that Celine Dion’s collection has topped $10 million in sales, the pop superstar, fashion icon and newly-minted industry player is eyeing growth in Asia. Read the full report by @tiffanyap, link in bio. #wwdnews #celinedion
“My personal philosophy to beauty is paying attention to oneself. I love to be outdoors, lots of fresh air, trying to take care of yourself as best you can. I always notice that comes through,” says Felicity Jones, the global face of @shiseido-owned @cledepeaubeauteus, which launches today. Head to WWD.com to read more about the actress’ love for beauty and how she prepared for her new role in “The Basis of Sex,” playing the young Ruth Bader Ginsburg. #wwdbeauty (📷: @dandoperalski)
Among the familiar faces at @off____white’s show was a surprise figure: Japanese artist @takashipom, pictured here on Wednesday morning. Other show-goers included @jerrylorenzo, who spoke about his upcoming project: a @nike collaboration for back to school, with designs inspired by his childhood on the West Coast. Sitting in the front row were Future, Don Crawley, @miguel and more. See the rest of the photos on WWD.com #wwdeye (📷: Stephane Feugere)
According to @laurentsai, former “Terrace House: Aloha State” cast member, she didn’t know she was auditioning for the Japanese version of “Real World.” “I was telling a couple of my friends and someone’s like, ‘That sounds a lot like Terrace House.’ I was like, ’No it can’t be.’” Turns out, it was. But Tsai isn’t just a reality star — she’s an illustrator who has worked with Starbucks Japan and most recently, she’s dipping her toes into the fashion world. Head to WWD.com to read about her time on the show, modeling and her art. #wwdeye (📷: @danieldorsa)
More changes are coming to New York Fashion Week: Beginning with the spring 2019 collection, @alexanderwangny will move his New York show to June from September, adopting a biannual schedule with collections shown in June and December. Additionally, the @cfda is planning for an official summer/winter fashion season taking place as soon as June and December 2018. Read more about the upcoming changes on WWD.com. #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @slovekinpics)


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For the many people who have been waiting to order a Steam Deck, it looks like you’ll be getting your chance sooner rather than later. Valve is moving on to Q3 reservations, and they’re increasing their production.
Like the PlayStation 5, the Steam Deck has seen its own share of shortage. Back in July of 2021, reservations for a spot to reserve a Steam Deck became available. People scrambled to reserve their spots, which resulted in dates reserved all the way through Q3, 2022. Furthermore, though the Steam Deck was supposed to start shipping in 2021, it got delayed into February of 2022 due to material shortages.
At this point, according to Valve, they have just sent out the last group of Q2 emails. This means that anyone who reserved a spot and was told they’d be able to purchase a Steam Deck in Q2 will now be able to do so. This also means that starting on June 30 this week, Valve will begin sending out Q3 emails.
More importantly, Valve stated on Twitter that production has increased, and that they will be sending out Steam Decks faster that before. “Production has picked up, and after today we’ll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week!” the company explained. “If you’re expecting your email and haven’t received it yet, give it some time to make its way through the internet.”
Lawrence Yang, a designer at Valve, clarified exactly what this statement by Valve meant. “In previous weeks we were shipping x units / week to customers, starting this week we’ll be shipping 2x units / week,” they explain. Furthermore, Yang explains on Twitter that the doubling of Steam Deck shipments will also begin on Thursday this week.
Yang also recently warned against using a mod that allows people to install a larger NVMe SSD to the Steam Deck. “Please don’t do this,” they say. “The charger IC gets very hot and nearby thermal pads should not be moved. In addition, most 2242 m.2 drives draw more power and get hotter than what Deck is designed for. This mod may appear to work but will significantly shorten the life of your Deck.”


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Rocksteady Studios has confirmed that there are certain issues with some new copies of its Batman: Arkham City title, which don't have the special coupon with a code for the Catwoman DLC, and has promised that customers affected by the issue will be compensated.
Batman: Arkham City was released yesterday in North America and is getting ready to debut this Friday, October 21, in Europe, but already there are a big issue with the new copies that are now on sale, which don't have the special voucher with a code to download the Catwoman DLC for free.
As such, customers who buy the game new are forced to pay $10 in order to get the DLC, just like those that get a used copy of Arkham City.
Rocksteady is aware of the issue, and said that customers will be compensated for their problems. Other details weren't given, so those affected by the missing DLC codes will have to make due just with Batman in the single-player campaign.


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So much of the response to the $104m sale of a Giacometti sculpture in London this month revolved around speculation that the buyer was new money from an emerging market. Several commentators went so far as to declare the buyer was someone who didn’t understand the value of the art itself just because of the out-sized price. Even in
Scott Reyburn’s Bloomberg story revealing Lily Safra, widow of billionaire Edmond Safra, as the buyer, Philip Hoffman of the fine art fund is quoted saying the next statue in the edition will sell for £20m and that the work is not an investment piece at that price. Perhaps Mrs. Safra bought at $104m because she wanted to own the piece, not for the financial return:
The Hong Kong-based real-estate developer Joseph Lau was among the unsuccessful telephone bidders, Rachel Kong, the businessman’s personal assistant, said in an e-mail on Feb. 23. “Our last bid was indeed much higher than the high estimate of Sotheby’s, though in vain eventually,” Kong said.
Two London-based dealers, speaking independently and anonymously to Bloomberg News, have identified the buyer as Safra. “The sculpture has been delivered to her place in Belgravia,” said the first of these dealers, who has contacts with the shippers who transported the piece.
The second dealer said that Safra had become interested in buying the Giacometti after her negotiations for the private purchase of another cast of “Walking Man I” from a dealer had fallen through prior to the auction. This other version had been priced at about $45 million to $50 million, said the dealer.
Lily Safra Paid $103.4 Million for Giacometti, Dealers Say (Bloomberg)


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Unconfirmed but viral report has it that Microsoft is planning to feature an iris scanner on their yet to announced Lumia 940XL.
Just over a month after there were reports that Microsoft is planning to introduce two high-end Lumia devices – codenamed Talkman and Cityman, according to leakster @evleaks. The highly regarded serial leaker sent out a tweet today confirming that an iris scanner will be employed on the Cityman. This model is believed to be the Microsoft Lumia 940XL, while the Talkman is expected to be the Microsoft Lumia 940.
Specs-wise, the device is said to be powered by a Snapdragon chipset with octa-core CPU, and sport a 5.7-inch QHD display. It is expected to come with 3GB RAM and 32GB of expandable storage, and pack in a 3,300 mAh removable battery.
In terms of camera, the Lumia 940XL is said to feature a 20MP rear unit and a 5 MP front shooter. It is expected to run Windows 10 out of the box.


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Android Key Lime Pie to be launched this fall
Google to hold a event on September,29th to announce 2 Nexus Devices and Final Android 6.0 Marshmallow
[Firmware Download] NEWER Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime (SM-G530H) Official Android 5.0.2 Lollipop Firmware Available for XXU variants
[Photos, Price & Specs] Samsung Officially announces Galaxy Note 5 with 4GB RAM and ultra-sleek body
Android Key Lime Pie to be launched this fall, internally, this version of also called "K Release". We still don't know if Key Lime Pie is Android 4.3, or Android 5.0. We'll probably find out more on this in the couple of weeks.
Manufacturers that build devices using the official version of Android-which comes with Google's Web services preinstalled-weren't previously allowed by Google to use the Android name to promote devices other than smartphones and tablets. Over time, Google has changed its "compatibility" restrictions to allow for more device types.
Samsung has said it's working on an Android-based watch with smartphone-like capabilities. Wearable computing is a hot area of development for startups and technology giants. The Wall Street Journal reported in February that Apple was developing a watch-like device with smartphone features.
Earlier this week, Sony announced its new (own) Android-powered wristwatch, called Sony SmartWatch 2. This will be available starting September for $199.99.


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The Consumers’ Federation of Australia has today welcomed the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s appointment of CFA Executive member Catriona Lowe as an a representative to its Consumer Consultative Forum (CCF).
The CCF is a key element in the ACMA’s approach to consumer engagement. The CCF has been structured to provide the opportunity for consumer representatives to ventilate issues and suggest solutions with senior representatives of industry, regulators and government policy makers.
CFA Chair Jo Benvenuti said of the appointment, “Catriona has strong credentials in effectively representing the consumer issues of everyday Australians to government and regulators, and in particular likely policy impacts on low income and vulnerable consumers. I’m pleased to see such an authoritative CFA representative sitting alongside other respected advocates and congratulate the ACMA on their appointments to the Consumer Forum.”
Ms Lowe joins seven other new consumer representatives including:
- Stella Avramopoulos (Kildonan Uniting Care)
- Hollie Baillieu (National Farmers Federation)
- Teresa Corbin (Australian Communications Consumer Action Network)
- Narelle Clark (Internet Society of Australia)
- Daniel Featherstone (Indigenous Remote Communications Association)
- Chris Jeffery (Council of the Ageing WA)
- Professor Julian Thomas (Swinburne University)
‘‘Our new representatives will bring a variety of complementary knowledge, skills and relationships to the forum,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.
“The new forum balances experience and new ideas, with the appointment of four new members and the re-appointment of four existing members. The new appointments will strengthen the CCF’s ability to focus on particular issues facing consumers in regional and remote, low-income, aged and Indigenous communities.”


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Shares in Go-Pro (NASDAQ:GPRO), the digital action camera maker, sank over 12% in pre-market trading in New York as latest quarterly earnings disappointed as it swung to a loss.
Net loss for the three months was US$34.5mln compared to a profit of US$122.3mln, in the same period of 2014.
For the year net income was down almost 73% at US$36mln compared to US$128mln the previous year.
GoPro founder and chief executive Nicholas Woodman noted that fourth quarter revenue was the second highest revenue quarter in the company’s history.
"However, growth slowed in the second half of the year and we recognize the need to develop software solutions that make it easier for our customers to offload, access and edit their GoPro content.”
In addition, the firm said revenue for the current quarter would come in well below expectations.
The company has faced competition from China, where rivals have been making cheaper cameras.
The firm also said Brian McGee is set to take over as chief financial officer from Jack Lazar from next month and that it would cut production of some of its action cameras.
GoPro's new action cameras will now only include the Hero4 Black, the Hero4 Silver and the Hero4 Session.
In December last year, the group re-priced its Hero4 cameras, which dented the firm's overall sales.
Last month, shares of GoPro plunged after it told the market revenue would come in below expectations.
In the year-to-date, the company's shares have lost 40.5%.
Shares in New York are down 12.7% at US$9.35 at the time of writing.


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Rumors of a Prius
coupe from Toyota
have been floating around for at least a couple of years – to no avail. However, now that new Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has decreed that Toyota needs some excitement
in its lineup, and Honda
has announced that the production CR-Z
coupe will debut this fall, a real Prius coupe may finally gain some momentum. A new rendering that has popped in Japan shows a hybrid
coupe with more resemblance to the new Hyundai Genesis
coupe than any current Toyota.
If the Prius coupe does become reality, it could get a more powerful version of the powertrain from the current 5-door hatchback, possibly with as much as 134 hp from the 1.8-liter engine. It's also possible that Toyota could just drop in the powertrain from the Lexus
HS250h, which uses a 2.4-liter engine based on the Camry
. There's no word on whether the coupe will come stateside although if the CR-Z succeeds, it seems a good bet.


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Jan 7, 2014
Electronic Arts founder launches anti-bullying educational game
Since stepping down as CEO of Digital Chocolate in 2012, Hawkins has been focusing his attention on If You Can Company, a startup that creates educational videogames for 6- to 12-year-olds.
Bucks Free Press: 'Moshi Monsters' creator awarded OBE
THE FOUNDER of online phenomenon Moshi Monsters said he is "thrilled" at being awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Years Honours.
Moshi Monsters founder honoured
The founder of British startup Mind Candy, which created the hit Moshi Monsters game, has been named in the New Year Honours list.
Moshi Monsters' Michael Acton Smith among those honoured in New Year's Honours list
Michael Acton Smith, founder of Firebox and Mind Candy, and creative mind behind the incredibly successful Moshi Monsters franchise, has been made an OBE in the New Year's Honours list.
Moshi Monsters - The Movie: A bit complicated for me - but a nine-year-old loved it
Moshi Monsters is an interactive online game for young children, conceived by a British company called Mind Candy.


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What a difference a year makes. In recent months, Australian shares hit a record high, the Aussie dollar dipped to levels not seen since the GFC and interest rates were cut to historic lows.
The Pulse Trade tensions between the US and China are still a source of significant uncertainty for financial markets. Political risks and trade uncertainty have seen a vicious cycle of selling in emerging market currencies as investors react to contagion fears. US shares rose in August on the back of positive company earnings results, while […]
The Pulse US economic growth shot to an annualised 4.1% in the June quarter but the market is questioning whether this is sustainable. The impact of US and Chinese tariffs has been noticeable in Asian export growth but US manufacturing activity is yet to be hit hard. In Australia, the RBA continues to keep rates […]
The Pulse US core consumer prices lifted in line with the Fed’s 2% inflation target, vindicating June’s rate hike. Slowing credit growth and infrastructure spending is pointing to softer Chinese growth for the June quarter. Australia’s labour market continues to tighten, but employment growth and hours worked have lost momentum and wage growth is subdued. […]
The Pulse Inflation continues to creep higher and is close to or at 2% in major developed markets, although core measures of inflation remain below target Despite slower-than-expected March-quarter growth in the US, there are signs of a stronger June quarter, including improved consumer spending and business investment Tariff threats between the US, China and Europe […]


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Lawnmower market keeps on rolling
The swelling demographic of aging homeowners is one of the factors that will propel sales of exertion-saving lawnmowers through 2021, according to a recent study.
The Freedonia Group’s “Power Lawn & Garden Equipment Market in the U.S.” expects demand for power lawnmowers to rise 3.2% per year to $4.2 billion in 2021.
A limiting factor on lawnmower sales is the slower movement to homeownership among younger adults – leading to less widespread ownership of a lawnmower. Demand also could be restrained by climate-change-induced reductions in lawn sizes, or removal of grass lawns altogether as a conservation-driven home improvement trend.
On the future of electric mowers, analyst Ellitott Woo writes: “Gains for electric products will be mostly limited to less powerful consumer-grade types, and electric lawnmowers will remain a niche product overall.”
The Freedonia Group is a Cleveland-based industry research firm.
For comparison’s sake, Freedonia’s forecast for US Lawnmover sales growth (3.2%) is stronger than its forecast for hand tools (1.7%), but weaker than its forecast for siding (5.6%).
Next Big Thing: Educational VR
Lowe’s Cos. is embarking on the next chapter of its virtual reality journey.
Starting Tuesday, March 7, the home improvement chain’s store in Framingham, Massachusetts, debuted its “Holoroom How To,” Lowe’s first-ever virtual reality DIY skills-training clinic. As consumers enter the interactive virtual reality (VR)-based environment, they wear an HTC Vive headset to receive “hands-on” tutorials on basic DIY skills, including supplies and steps, needed to complete a project.
The first module teaches how to tile a shower.
“This allows us to teach our customers in a way that we could have never previously imagined, and give them the confidence they need to undertake a daunting renovation,” according to Lowe’s Innovation Labs.
The chain’s prior virtual reality programs helped customers visualize their kitchen and bath renovations, “but we have found a unique opportunity to use the VR platform for skills training,” according to the chain.
“Our studies show that Holoroom How To actually lifts unskilled DIYers to a memory performance level comparable to that of experienced DIYers,” Lowe’s said. “This allows us to teach our customers in a way that we could have never previously imagined, and give them the confidence they need to undertake a daunting renovation.”
Two stores in Canada will be next to feature the VR-based classes.
Product Central: Milwaukee M18 FUEL Blower
Outdoor power equipment is one of those categories we habitually return to because the cutting-edge products tend to look vastly different on a year-by-year basis.
This year, as with the previous year, the products have come back bolder, stronger and, actually, quieter (thanks to advancements in engine technology). Manufacturers are serving up more robust battery offerings, as well as innovative new lineups to be powered by them.
Here is a product featured in a recent issue of HBSDealer:
Milwaukee M18 FUEL Blower
Part of Milwaukee’s M18 FUEL lineup (all of which feature the Powerstate Brushless Motor, RedLithium Battery Pack and Redlink Plus Intelligence Hardware and Software), this blower possesses the power to clear from 15 feet (while emitting 30% less noise than a standard gas blower).
Check out other OPE products featured in the March 2017 issue of HBSDealer.


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Farm Share is proud to distribute fresh and nutritious food to those who need it most.
Billions of pounds of fruits and vegetables go to waste every year in America. Plenty of food waste happens in farms, and the main reason for produce being thrown away is cosmetic for unappealing color, shape and size. This is mostly driven by supermarkets that don’t want to display “ugly” produce on their shelves.
After seeing good produce thrown away because it didn’t meet standards cosmetically, Patricia Robbins decided to launch Farm Share in 1991, and started calling local farmers. It was a win-win situation as they didn’t have to watch the fruits of their labor go to waste, and they contributed to a good cause to alleviate hunger.
After 28 years, Farm Share is still driven to help people in need. Based in Homestead, it distributes free of charge fresh produce and federal food packages to Florida’s 67 counties, feeding hungry people from Pensacola to Key West and everywhere in between.
To do so, Farm Share relies on local farmers and brokers who donate the produce that fails to meet market conditions. “In Florida, twenty percent of farmers’ produce (fruits and vegetables) goes to retail stores and supermarkets; the remaining 80 percent goes to waste,” says John Delgado, operations assistant at Farm Share. It also gets local, federal and state funding, and private donations to sustain the operation.
On the other side of the supply chain, Farm Share has built partnerships with more than 2,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, churches, senior centers, veteran groups, and other nonprofit organizations that receive the food. Last year alone, Farm Share distributed more than 55 million pounds of food to more than 17.5 million households residing in Florida.
To qualify to become Farm Share partners, organizations and agencies must undergo a thorough process. For instance, it is essential to be registered in Florida as a nonprofit, and, most importantly, partners can´t make commercial transactions out of donations.
“There are two ways to distribute food out to the community. Partners pick up from us and distribute in their area; on the other hand, we deliver to the community directly with the support of government officials and law enforcement. People come and line up. We serve from 500 to 1000 people in three hours,” adds John Delgado.
Farm Share optimizes its operational efficiency through the support of a solid network of volunteers, that allows it to keep its administrative overhead to less than one percent of its operational budget. Right now, it has only 51 employees in its four warehouses around Florida.
Currently, Farm Share keeps working hard to keep its mission to alleviate hunger and fight poverty in Florida. To donate, volunteer, or for more information about Farm Share, call (305) 246-3276 or visit www.farmshare.org.
Haz clic para leer en Español:


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Terms of Service
Inside Facebook's plan to be more human
by Jack Regan & Contessa Gayles
Laurie Segall visits Facebook HQ to get an inside look at the company's plans to put humanity back in technology.
Magician or hacker?
A Broadway show where social media is a character
Can tech bring jobs back to a factory town?
'I had to clean up underwear': Startup responds to harassment suit
Red Pill: A search for dating advice turns into radicalization
Where to go when thrown off YouTube? Alt-Tech
Amazon's effect on local economies
Snapchat stock loses $1.3 billion after Kylie Jenner tweet
Here's what young conservatives at CPAC think of the media
CNN anchor to NRA spokesperson: How dare you
What is blockchain?
Kerri Walsh Jennings: I was warned to not get pregnant
An outrageous card offering 0% interest until April 2019
Spend $500 in the first 90 days with this card and receive a $150 bonus
5 cards charging 0% interest until 2019
Pay no balance transfer fees with this 0% APR card
'Black Panther' again tops box office, roars past $700 million worldwide in week two
Why companies are abandoning the NRA
Why 3% is the scariest number for stocks


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By Ashley Rader
Future liquor store owners in Elizabethton might face additional requirements after city council members discussed amending a city ordinance to include limiting the number of liquor stores allowed.
Council members held a workshop on the issue Wednesday afternoon.
When council passed the first reading of the ordinance governing liquor stores in the city, the number of stores was unregulated, which meant anyone who met the permit requirements could open a store.
After the passage of the first reading, city leaders started to question whether the number of liquor stores should be limited to make the most of the sales tax revenue available to the city.


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Google got developers to fix vulnerabilities in 275,000 apps on the Play Store from 2014 – 2016, showing the changing role of mobile app security testing for the Play Store. In most cases, the apps had the threat of a block on updates from failing to meet app security requirements.
As part of Google’s App Security Improvement (ASI) program developed in 2014, Google runs mobile app security testing for all the apps on the Play Store to test for known vulnerabilities. When a known security issue is discovered in an app after mobile app security testing, the app developer is notified via an email and also alerted on the Google Play Developer Console to the security issue.
Initially, mobile app security testing was only focused on embedded Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials as it was a common problem at the time. Exposed AWS credentials often result in serious compromises of cloud servers that store all user content. The scan also checked for embedded Keystore files that hold public and private cryptographic keys used for securing connections or encrypting data.
When the ASI program was started, developers were notified of the mobile app security issues without any obligation to fix each one. In 2015, Google started mobile app security testing for a wide range of issues and giving deadlines to the developers to boost app security across the Play Store. Along with the notification, Google also sends complete details of the vulnerability and provides guidance on how to fix it. If developers do not fix the issue by the a deadline they may be blocked from releasing new updates for their apps.
As a move towards strengthening mobile app security, Google put checks on six vulnerabilities in 2015, all with patching deadlines; and 17 in 2016, out of which 12 were given a time limit to fix the issues. These included many issues such as development frameworks and advertising SDKs, insecure third-party libraries and insecure implementation of Android Java interfaces and classes.
Till April last year, the ASI program made possible the patching of 100,000 mobile apps. The number has increased threefold since then, with 90,000 developers patching security flaws in over 275,000 apps, making a dent in the problem of mobile app security and showing the need for mobile app security testing.
Codified Security is here to help make your mobile app secure whether it’s for iOS, Android, or to make sure you’re clearing the OWASP Mobile Top 10. For mobile app security testing try out Codified Security.


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Just as the best-dressed team thought their days scouring the streets of the UK had come to an end, we’ve decided to send them out for one final push, and this time they’re focusing their efforts right here in the capital.
As part of the best-dressed competition, Harrods are offering a prize worth £30,000 including a wardrobe of designer clobber, alongside a series of spa treatments in the new men’s grooming lounge and a beautiful Longines watch. As such, we thought we would return the favour, taking the opportunity to scour the halls of the Knightsbridge department store in search of men up to the challenge.
The team – including four Esquire editors and a professional photographer in the shape of Wayne Tippetts - will be prowling Harrods’ menswear department between 11.30am and 4pm this coming Saturday, May 15th.
We’ll be on the lookout for men who step beyond convention and take the initiative when it comes to their style. We’re expecting the competition to be fierce, so fix up, look sharp and hotfoot it down to Harrods in your finest garb. As ever we’ll be posting our exact whereabouts throughout the day via Twitter and Facebook, so keep your eyes peeled for more.


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It isn't often that American consumers think about the U.S. International Trade Commission. That may soon change, as a recent commission decision affects a version of one of the most popular consumer electronics products in recent memory.
The ITC 0372 -1.69 % is a federal agency that investigates allegations of unfair trade practices, such as patent, trademark and copyright infringement. In June, it banned importation to the United States of certain Apple AAPL -1.55 % iPhone 4s and iPad 2s after ruling that the devices infringed on a Samsung patent. Unless the administration intervenes, the ban could be in effect by August 5.
High-tech products can implicate thousands of patents. If the ITC finds that a product infringes even a single one, it can stop the product at the border. But that's basically it. The commission can't levy much in the way of a lesser penalty. In the end the consumer suffers when the use of such an enforcement tool is unwarranted.
As Justice Anthony Kennedy noted in a 2006 patent case (about a district court order), automatic shutdown orders can become a "bargaining tool to charge exorbitant fees to companies that seek to buy licenses to practice the patent." That "exorbitant fee" is the patent tax. When it buys nothing inventive and merely raises consumer prices or slows innovation, the whole purpose of the patent—"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts," as the Constitution says—is lost.
By early August, the Obama administration must decide whether to veto the ITC's decision to bar the devices alleged to have infringed on a Samsung patent. Should it?
This case has no effect on Verizon, VZ 0.12 % because the products at risk of being stopped at the border run on AT&T's T -0.29 % network, not ours. Verizon hasn't taken a position on whether Apple or Samsung is right about their patent dispute.
What we have warned is that patent litigation at the ITC—where the only remedy is to keep products from the American public—is too high-stakes a game for patent disputes. The fact that the ITC's intellectual-property-dispute docket has nearly quadrupled over 15 years only raises the stakes further. Smartphone patent litigation accounts for a substantial share of that increase.
The president can veto the ITC's decision "for policy reasons," according to statute. But a president hasn't vetoed an ITC decision since 1987, and what spare guidance on veto decisions exists dates from a Carter-era case that had nothing to do with patents. The paucity of vetoes, and the absence of any patent-tailored standards to guide such a decision, have created the potential for an anti-consumer exclusion order from to ITC to go unchecked. The White House can remedy this problem by adopting a set of clear principles for patent infringement cases.
The president should announce that the administration will follow three principles to decide whether to bar imported high-tech goods that have been found to infringe a patent. The proposed principles are similar to the principles the U.S. courts are developing for deciding exactly the same question: When should an infringed-patent holder get to shut down a product people are using?
Here are three instances under which the president should veto an exclusion order:
• When the patent holder isn't practicing the technology itself. Courts have routinely found shutdown relief inappropriate for non-practicing entities. Patent trolls shouldn't be permitted to exclude products from our shores.
• When the patent holder has already agreed to license the patent on reasonable terms as part of standards setting. If the patent holder has previously agreed that a reasonable licensing fee is all it needs to be made whole, it shouldn't get shutdown relief at the ITC.
• When the infringing piece of the product isn't that important to the overall product, and doesn't drive consumer demand for the product at issue. There are more than 250,000 patents relevant to today's smartphones. It makes no sense that exclusion could occur for infringement of the most minor patent.
The ITC has a unique role. It renders decisions under tight statutory deadlines designed to speed the delivery of justice. Unlike district courts, it can order Customs agents to stop goods that have been pirated, for instance, or infringe a patent, at the border.
The ITC does a great service in upholding intellectual property rights in a wide spectrum of cases. But the ITC also expects the number of intellectual property cases before it—which grew from 11 a year in 1998 to 69 a year in 2011, and despite a decline to 40 in 2012—to "remain at elevated levels."
If the administration signaled that it would veto ITC relief orders in instances where courts would have found such orders inequitable, it could discourage parties from clogging the ITC's docket with such cases in the first place. Then the White House could, mercifully, find it unnecessary to veto ITC decisions, perhaps for another 25 years.
Mr. Milch is executive vice president of public policy and general counsel of Verizon Communications.


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Tech products marketing
The latest tech products advertising, campaign news, analysis and business insight in the computer, handhelds, mobile and video games sectors.
Latest tech products news and analysis
Royal Philips has released a campaign to push its new range of digitally-connected lightbulbs.
Following the news of Phones 4U's abrupt entry into administration, Campaign presents a list of some of the retailer's best ads.
The retailer, which is owned by private equity firm BC Partners went into administration on Sunday night and is to close its stores with immediate effect.
Channel 4 is dropping its catch-up service 4oD for a new online destination called All 4, which will host all of Channel 4's linear channels, digital content and services.
Ian Katz, the editor of Newsnight , wrote recently about an impasse in journalism, suggesting a deal to allow politicians to get their point across in traditional media and be less defensive. As the general election approaches, I think politicia...
The iPhone 6, though much anticipated, was OK but rather underwhelming.
Justin Billingsley, chief operating officer, Europe, Middle East & Africa at Saatchi & Saatchi, and the former Orange brand director, reviews the launch news from Apple and looks at the growing power of content.
Official viewing figures for UK television audiences will now include consumption on iPads and Android tablets following an overhaul of the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board.
Find out how to embrace digital change and inspire an innovation-led culture with the right talent strategy with our free webinar on Monday 15 September at 2pm, hosted by The Knowledge Engineers and Brand Republic Jobs, in association with Live Recru...
Dixons Carphone, Europe's largest mobile phone retailer, is looking for an agency to create a digital and integrated brand campaign for the mobile business.
BT's bold move into TV football wrongfooted deadly rival BSkyB. Now its boss is planning a similar shake-up in the mobile market. And, with his new focus on the customer, he might just pull it off.
Got something to say? The team at Brand Republic is trialling a new, site-wide chat function to give you even more opportunity to share your views.
With Apple expected to announce both the iPhone 6 and "iWatch" wearable initiative next week, Saatchi & Saatchi, Europe, Middle East & Africa chief operating officer, Justin Billingsley looks at what this could mean for brands.
Intel, the computer chip manufacturer with revenue of $52.7 billion (£31.8 billion), is reviewing its global creative account, putting the incumbent, Venables Bell & Partners, on alert.
From film to fashion, games to software, music to media, advertising to architecture, the UK's £71 billion creative sector is one of the nation's most important industries, driving economic growth and supporting jobs.
AppNexus, the ad tech company, has raised $60 million (£36.0 million) in investment, valuing the company at $1.2 billion.
Appropriating pop culture, getting banknotes taken out of circulation... Dave Trott reflects on his career highs.
Yo, the simplistic instant messaging app, has introduced a host of features to make it more attractive for brands and websites.
Protect Your Bubble, the insurer that specialises in gadgets, is pitching for a creative agency in the UK.
Buzzfeed, the expanding news and entertainment site, has appointed former Huffington Post and Yahoo leader, Greg Coleman, as president.
More industry sectors
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
- Data Journalist PRISM Highly Competitive, London
- Head of New Media Department for Work and Pensions Salary £60,030 to £72,880., Westminster
- Shopper Insights Manager PepsiCo negotiable, Theale
- CMI Director Ball & Hoolahan £95,000 + Car/Car Allowance , London (Central), London (Greater)
- Senior Brand Manager Diageo Great reward package for great talent, Amsterdam / Dublin / Madrid / London (Greater)
- Assistant Marketing Strategy Manager Thorntons £Competitive + Benefits, Alfreton, Derbyshire


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As a Schedule I drug, marijuana businesses and medical patients face hurdles
Practically everywhere you look, legal cannabis is expanding at a breakneck pace. For instance, Canada passed the Cannabis Act (officially bill C-45) on June 19, setting up Oct. 17 to be the first day that adults can legally purchase recreational weed. Canada is also the first industrialized country in the world to have given the green light to adult-use cannabis.
South of the border, Mexico wound up legalizing medical cannabis in June 2017. It’s worth pointing out that Mexico is among more than two dozen foreign countries to have legalized medical marijuana — and many of these markets will be counting on Canada to supply their product needs.
As a Schedule I drug, marijuana businesses and medical patients face a number of hurdles
But when it comes to the United States, we’re going nowhere fast, at least at the federal level. Despite 30 states having passed broad-sweeping medical cannabis laws since 1996, including nine states that also allow adults to consume recreational pot, the federal government has stood firm on its view of marijuana as a Schedule I substance.
To Read The Rest Of This Article On The Motely Fool, Click Here


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What do you do if you're a giant corporation devoted to selling people huge, $100/month bundles of TV channels they don't want anymore, but you also have a monopoly on selling high-speed Internet access, which they want very badly?
You take away unlimited Internet access from your Internet-only customers, and tell them they have to buy that TV package if they want it back!
Back in January, AT&T announced that the company would be happy to remove usage caps on its wireless network, but only if you subscribe to DirecTV or U-verse TV service. Then last month, AT&T carried this idea over to its fixed-line broadband network, announcing that it would be imposing new usage caps on its broadband users starting May 23. While AT&T says it will generously allow users to pay $30 more per month to avoid usage caps entirely, it also announced that users who subscribe to its TV services will be able to avoid usage caps entirely.
This month, an Oregon company by the name of Bend Broadband followed suit, informing its users that it would be happy to remove its usage caps (ranging from 150 GB to 500 GB), but only if users subscribe to television service.
ISPs Are Now Forcing Cord Cutters To Subscribe To TV If They Want To Avoid Usage Caps
(Image: Att-co-houston, Bill Bradford, CC-BY)
Illegitimate, popular vote losing, and manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that at a recent dinner with Tim Cook — what, you didn’t think they hung out and shared meals? — the Apple CEO made a “very compelling argument” that Apple may lose its competitive edge to Samsung because of Trump’s […]
Well before the collapse of Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme -- the largest in world history! -- accounting investigator Harry Markopolos had publicly accused Madoff of running a scam; now he says that General Electric is "one recession away" from bankruptcy, with a "balance sheet in tatters."
Nelsie writes, "Twitter user tweeting about inhuman conditions at Amazon warehouses gets brigaded by tag-team of warehouse workers who are paid to tweet about working at Amazon warehouses two days of the week."
The field of data analytics is growing as fast as the internet itself. Self-driving cars, airline pricing, and huge marketing campaigns are all driven by the insights that data scientists can distill out of vast sums of information. Even with the help of powerful software like Python, it’s a highly skilled position. But those skills […]
If you’re marketing on the web, your Google-fu needs to be strong – and up to date. Without a firm grasp on what drives traffic, you’ll never be able to take the wheel. That’s why even if you know where to put your keywords, a little extra effort goes a long way on any marketer’s […]
Want to keep the dentist away? A little tooth care at morning and night isn’t bad, but it won’t keep the stains from smoking or fried foods at bay for long. If you enjoy your food and want to avoid the consequences, an upgrade from that old analog toothbrush can make a huge difference. Among […]


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KingsRoad: Introduces Second Monthly Event, Ice Cycle Event and More
KingsRoad, the multiplayer action-RPG from Rumble Entertainment that delivers full-featured RPG depth, visuals and gameplay instantly in browsers, today announced the Ice Event Cycle, the second monthly in-game event for players to participate and earn unique items in KingsRoad. With the Ice Event Cycle comes all-new Appearance items for players to earn, as well as a revamped store that allows players to swap duplicate items for in-game currency to unlock the weapons, armor, and items they desire.
All new Ice Event Appearance items are now available for players to continue customizing their KingsRoad hero; with unique, ice-themed unlockables to equip and journey through the Icy Ruins and the Glacial Cavern on their way to conquering exciting new areas and enemies. Appearance items can be equipped over existing gear slots, adding an additional stat boost and creating a hero unique to each individual player without sacrificing the power and stats of the gear you love.
The Ice Event cycle kicks off today and will run until Wednesday, June 25th.
For more info, visit www.rumblegames.com/kingsroad
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Econsultancy has launched a new short course, AI for Marketing, designed to help marketing teams take advantage of artificial intelligence.
Taking place over three weeks, the CPD-accredited learning plan aims to assist delegates in identifying the potential benefits of AI across the customer journey and start implementing AI techniques right away, from marketing operations to creativity and campaign optimisation.
The launch comes as marketers are evaluating the impact of new generative AI functionality in design software, CRM platforms, customer service tools, and beyond. Indeed, Econsultancy’s Future of Marketing survey found that 32% of marketers say their organisation is already using generative AI tools, while a further 43% are actively considering it.
In line with Econsultancy’s commitment to multimodal learning, the new course includes a diverse range of formats, including live sessions and workshops, on-demand elearning content, and access to reports and trends insights.
Short course timeline:
- Week One: Live kick-off session with an Econsultancy analyst on AI and the customer journey.
- Week Two: Five on-demand elearning lessons on AI fundamentals, exploring real-world examples across industries.
- Week Three: A half-day workshop led by renowned marketing expert Neil Perkin, author of Building the Agile Business and host of Econsultancy’s Digital Shift trends briefings.
- Weeks Four and beyond: Continued access to Econsultancy’s latest trends, best practice research and case studies on AI application in marketing.
Who should take the course?
This course is tailor-made for marketing and ecommerce teams looking to embrace new skills and perspectives. The content has been developed to help generalist practitioners effectively communicate with colleagues and agency partners.
For more information, explore the AI for Marketing course page.
Since our inception over


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It's Time To Change Tracks at J&J
Stagnant growth in its core areas, sagging margins, and increasing competition has forced the company to seek greener pastures.
By Nita Jatar Kulkarni
There's just one thing that sets apart Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) marketer Johnson & Johnson (J&J) from its ilk. And that's an almost compulsive xenophobic streak that seems to run through the company, its publicly-held US parent and its Indian subsidiary. Where other FMCG players love to crow about even small achievements, J&J keeps its lips sealed Always.
The company's CEO, N.K. Ambwani, rarely meets the Press and, even when he does so, he reveals precious little. Ditto for his colleagues. Like members of a secret cabal, even former employees of J&J don't like talking about the company. When BT approached one of them, she said categorically: "Ask me anything, except about J&J or its products." Yet, it is no secret that rising competition is forcing J&J to change tracks, and change them fast.
The problem that the Mumbai-headquartered company (1998 turnover: Rs 548 crore) is facing is two-pronged. First, the segments where it is a clear leader, like baby-care products, aren't growing as rapidly as J&J would like. Second, with growing competition for its other products, the company is being forced to explore new avenues.
Of course, financially, things aren't terrible yet. To be sure, annual topline growth has been consistently over 15 per cent over the past 5 years. At the same time, J&J has strong brands like Savlon (antiseptic), Stayfree (sanitary napkins), Clean & Clear (skin-care), and J&J baby soap (baby-care). However, forced by competition to increase adspend and marketing-related expenses, and seek volumes by lowering prices in certain product categories, the company's bottomline is hurting.
In fact, while J&J's turnover has gone up from Rs 356 crore in 1994-95 (ending March 31) to Rs 548 crore in 1998 (ending December 31), net margins have declined from 8.70 per cent to 5.16 per cent in the same period. Financial figures for 1999 are not yet available at the Registrar Of Companies office in Mumbai.
Predictably, J&J's managers refused to speak to BT, but discussions with a cross-section of people, including the company's distributors, marketing consultants, and competitors, revealed pointers as to why J&J has lost its edge in the marketplace, and how it is trying to recoup lost ground. We also look at J&J's strategy to target teenagers through brand extensions of its skin-care and baby-care products. Says Anuraag Dabral, 27, Senior Consultant, KPMG: "Since growth in premium segments like baby-care is limited, the best thing for J&J to do is to enter volumes-driven ones." But will that work?
Chasing New Niches
The answer could well be yes. For instance, look at J&J's entry strategy in the skin-care segment in September, 1998. Leveraging its fastest-growing brand in the Asia-Pacific region, Clean & Clear, which was acquired in 1992, J&J adroitly avoided taking on competitors like Lakmé by targeting it at teenagers. Since most of the existing products in that segment were aimed at 20-plus customers, according to org-marg data, J&J was able to carve out a niche for itself in the marketplace and, within 3 months, pip Lakmé to the No. 3 slot.
Similarly, while the re-launch of a star-shaped kids' soap variant, that is aimed at children between the age of 5 and 12 years, in the same year was not too successful, J&J has initiated an innovative distribution technique by making the soap available in toy shops, and not just groceries and chemists. Likewise, the de-tangling shampoo for kids, launched in late 1999, gave the company the first-mover advantage although that segment is still in an embryonic stage. Agrees Dabral: "Indian mothers are still not ready to buy a separate shampoo for their children in any significant numbers."
That's a problem area because further consolidation in the Rs 230-crore baby-care segment, in which J&J has a 85 per cent marketshare and accounts for nearly a third of the company's turnover, seems difficult. In fact, the company may lose out due to stagnant growth and Wipro's aggressive foray in that market. Explains Anil Chugh, 36, Marketing Controller, Wipro: "According to our data, there has been de-growth in the premium baby-care market since 1998."
Therefore, Wipro, whose share declined from 16 per cent in 1996 to around 13 per cent in 1999, spent approximately half of its allocated advertising budget to push its baby-care products. Fortunately, for J&J, Wipro's Babysoft has a long way to go before it can make a dent in J&J's stanglehold. "It lacks brand pedigree, which is a must to succeed in the baby-care segment," says Anand Halve, 44, Partner, Chlorophyll Brand & Communications Consultancy. But Wipro is trying its best to make a mark.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about J&J's presence in the antiseptic market. After the initial growth, when Savlon chalked up a 14.70 per cent share in 1997, it is losing out to Dettol, and its share has declined to 12.50 per cent in 1999. Agrees Debashis Sarkar, 38, General Manager (Marketing), Reckitt & Colman, the manufacturers of Dettol: "A customer may try out our competitor's product, but she goes back to Dettol."
The solution, according to Dabral, is: "higher expenditure on advertising and marketing." But that's something J&J cannot afford as the incremental increase in volumes may not justify the expenses. Couple that with the fact that playing the volumes game in segments like sanitary napkins has already reduced overall margins. In fact, the company is reportedly incurring losses on one of its sanitary napkins' brands. Stayfree Secure, which was launched in late 1997 at a low price of Rs 20 for a pack of 10, has severely impacted the bottomline.
Moreover, the market needs in this segment have changed, which has been capitalised by competitors like Procter & Gamble (P&G). Last year, P&G launched Whisper's Wrap & Throw, and has now come out with Whisper Ultra. That has dented J&J's marketshare (in terms of value), which went up from 42 per cent in June, 1996, to 53 per cent in June, 1999. Elaborates Jayesh Ravindranath, 40, Associate Vice-President, Ambience D'Arcy: "Indian customers are increasingly behaving like their counterparts in the mature markets, where superior protection is taken for granted."
To reduce its costs--in a bid to improve margins--J&J has tried in vain to slash the margins of distributors and retailers. Last year, when the company decided to reduce the margins by 3 per cent for its products in the baby-care segment and sanitary napkins, the products were boycotted by distributors in south India. The company finally withdrew its decision, but the gainers in the process were P&G and Wipro. J&J had adopted the same strategy in both 1993 and 1995 when it slashed retailers' margins from 20 to 15 per cent. However, the company had to retract on both occasions.
Perhaps J&J needs to change its pricing and positioning strategy for some of its products, like Savlon and Stayfree. And get a foothold in new high-growth segments. In fact, recently, it launched a new frequent-use anti-dandruff shampoo, Nizral. But given the competition among anti-dandruff shampoo-makers, if J&J wants to take on new segments and new niches, it will first need a Clean & Clear strategy.
© Living Media India Ltd


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The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Tuesday April 3 2007
The Manchester dealership selling the Hummer car is Bauer Millett and not Bauer Mitchell as we called it at one point in this article. This has been corrected.
Just when you thought the clumsy, fuel-hungry army of Chelsea tractors was reeling from higher taxes and social embarrassment, an even bigger monster is about to invade Britain's streets.
General Motors has decided to launch a right-hand drive version of the American military's favourite vehicle, the Hummer, targeting UK consumers who want something large, different or just well-armoured. The H3 model is priced at a relatively modest £25,000-£30,000. The first of an estimated 1,000 a year was flown under wraps to Amsterdam last week from South Africa, where the cars will be made under a tax-friendly deal. It was then trucked to Manchester, home to Britain's first authorised Hummer dealer.
Mitch Millett, of the Manchester dealership Bauer Millett, will lose his monopoly within the year, as four new outlets are planned: in London, Birmingham, central Scotland and probably Northern Ireland. Manchester's success with left-hand drive H3s, especially in the A-streets of Wilmslow's Wagland, has convinced the company that a market is here for the taking. Premiership footballers have been a mainstay of Bauer Millett's success, after more than 30 years of experience with other striking and "different" American cars. "Becks bought his from my counterpart in Spain but he's used it over here," said Mr Millett, whose earlier coups include a 1977 Chevrolet Corvett sold to club owner Peter Stringfellow. "We've been getting plenty of others, and they like customising them."
Recent sales, all of left-hand drive models, include one Hummer with £25,000 worth of extras, including white spraypaint inside and out, and a pick-up for Bolton Wanderers' star El Hadji Diouf which is entirely matt black. More than 95% of buyers have been men but the ratio may be changing; Mr Millett recently landed a prep school headmistress.
"They're never primary cars. They're for people who want something which is fun and different," he said.
The H3s will be dramatically cheaper - and more practical - than the older H2s and especially the H1, a massive vehicle which is little different from US military workhorses in Iraq. Mr Millett has sold some of the 40 to 50 currently registered in Britain and still expresses wonder at their width. "I'm a tall man but if I sit in the driver's seat and stretch out my left arm as far as possible, I still can't touch the front seat passenger," he said.
The H1 sells for around £120,000 when available and the H2, almost as big but a little more civilian-looking, for between £50,000 and £60,000.
Lumbering along at between 18 and 24mpg, the latest Hummers appear conclusively carbon-dreadful, but their sales pitch will contest the case. At the launch Bob Lutz gave a guarantee that within three years the entire fleet would be able to run on biofuel, and Mr Millett, a quiet but persuasive salesman, enjoys rehearsing the "dust-to-dust" argument.
"It's all debatable, but the dust-to-dusters argue that this vehicle could be more carbon efficient than the Toyota Prius, if you take the whole process from manufacture to final disposal into account."
Hummers are also doing well in Russia, and the demand for marketing products and extras, from T-shirts and golf balls to portable Hummer barbecues, topped £300m in the United States last year.
Electric golf buggy, available in three sizes, from £10,000
Customised wheels from £2,195 Mountain bike £695
Grenade gearstick £499
Foldaway barbecue £232
Bumper logo inserts £119.95
Engraved drinking glasses £20
Golf umbrella £27
Eau de Toilette £38
Ballpoint pen £15
Model of car £5-98
Mouse mat £15
Hummer reserved parking sign £30