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The more rounded shape of the SUV makes it look smaller than the outgoing model, but that's probably just an illusion.
It was way back on June 7, 2016 when our spies caught on camera the next-generation Mercedes GLE for the very first time. Now, nearly two years later, a spy video is showing the posh SUV has entered the final stages of testing ahead of an official reveal likely scheduled to take place before the end of the year.
Several prototypes of the GLE were spotted and all of them were covered in camouflage from front to rear. Nevertheless, the disguise can’t hide the fact that Mercedes’ designers were quite busy when drawing the new luxury SUV as the shape of the body has gone through significant changes. It looks substantially more rounded now and that gives the impression of a smaller body, but we’re pretty sure the next generation will actually grow in size a little bit to distance itself from the GLC.
Speaking of the GLC, the smaller luxury crossover seems to have inspired Mercedes’ designers as the next-gen GLE appears to follow the same recipe, prompting some folks to describe its appearance as an upsized GLC. That being said, we’ll reserve our final judgment until the moment the camo will come off the high-riding model formerly known as the ML.
Despite its expected increased footprint, the 2019 GLE should lose a few pounds as a result of switching to the MRA platform. That will enable better packaging translating into a more spacious interior where we will also see Mercedes’ swanky new MBUX infotainment system first implemented in the latest A-Class.
Engines and gearboxes will likely be carried over from the E-Class, while a hot hybrid GLE 53 should arrive before the range-topping 63 model. Both high-performance derivatives were spotted roughly a month ago and logic tells us these will use the same powertrains as the E53 and E63 models, respectively. These spicier AMG flavors won’t be available from day one.
Meanwhile, the regular GLE could debut as early as October at the Paris Motor Show before going on sale late 2018 / early 2019.


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Fluorinated chemicals have only been a part of our lives for less than fifty years, but in that time they have infiltrated every corner of our bodies, our homes, and our waterways. A new resource from the Green Science Policy Institute titled Fluorinated Alternatives: Myths versus Facts sheds some light on current research, and suggests alternatives to using these chemicals at all.
Up until the 1970s, there was a craze to protect furniture from kids and pets by using a clear plastic covering on the family’s best seating - usually in the room reserved for guests or important occasions. It had the strange effect of making the room seem like it was embalmed, but it lengthened the life of the furniture by preventing it from being soiled.
The introduction of stain repellants for furniture must have seemed like a big advance. You didn’t need the plastic covers; you could just infuse the surfaces with this modern stain and water repellant chemistry called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), or C8 for short, a key ingredient of Teflon. The idea was so exciting and the chemistry so versatile that new uses were developed and applied to everything from Gore-Tex and other waterproof clothing to ski wax, from tennis rackets to stain-proof coatings for carpets and furniture, from food wraps to fire-fighting foam.
Although concerns about its toxicity were apparent early on, industry continued to manufacture and market it and to conceal the hazards. The story has now been detailed by investigative journalists and in court documents from a massive class action lawsuit, among other legal challenges. The result is that nearly every American is exposed to the highly-persistent and toxic chemical, and 6.5 million Americans in 27 states are drinking water contaminated with it. C8 has been linked to high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, pregnancy-induced hypertension, thyroid disease, testicular cancer, and kidney cancer. More recent research suggests a possible link with ovarian cancer; prostate cancer; lymphoma; reduced fertility; arthritis; hyperactivity and altered immune responses in children; and hypotonia, or “floppiness,” in infants.
C8 is being phased out as a result of years of activism, legal action, and public pressure. However, new similar chemistries, including molecules like C6 and C4, are now widely used. A new generation of scientists and activists have started to raise concerns about the new chemistries, while industry claims the products are safe.
One of those organizations is the Green Science Policy Institute. They have just released a new fact sheet called: Fluorinated Alternatives: Myths versus Facts. The information is sobering and should give us all pause because the compounds are still so widely used in everything from food wrappers to carpet and furnishings, and we all have the potential to be exposed to them every day.
Some of the concerns detailed in the new fact sheet include:
- The new chemicals are very persistent. Like their long-chain (C8) cousins, they will be with us forever.
- The fluorinated alternatives are even more difficult to clean up from the environment than C8. Activated carbon filtration doesn’t work as well on the new C4 and C6 chemicals.
- Studies show that highly-fluorinated chemicals can move from contaminated water into food crops such as lettuce and strawberries. The new chemicals are found in such crops at higher levels than C8 chemicals.
- Experimental animals exposed to the new chemicals had increases in several types of cancer and changes to the liver and immune system.
- In 2015, more than 200 scientists from around the world signed the Madrid Statement, which called for limiting the production and use of fluorinated chemicals because of concerns about toxicity.
- A recent study found that concentrations of short-chain fluorinated chemicals were higher than C8’s in human kidney, lung, liver, and brain tissue.
Most importantly, the new chemistries are NOT necessary. Many brands are removing all highly-fluorinated chemicals from their products, such as IKEA, Crate & Barrel, Levi Strauss, and more than 50 others.
Health Care Without Harm has been at the forefront of this issue through the Healthier Hospitals program. The Healthy Interiors goal was designed to reward hospitals that move away from ALL fluorinated chemistry. As part of the program, we helped create lists of furniture, textiles, curtains, and other products that do not contain fluorinated chemistry. Download the lists of products without fluorinated chemicals and join other leadership hospital systems in making a commitment to eliminate the unnecessary use of these problematic chemicals.

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THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: Dutch electronics company Philips blamed a patent lawsuit and slow growth in primary markets of China and Russia for its €103m loss in the third quarter of its financial year.
21 Oct 2014
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: Electronics manufacturer Funai is suing Philips for €312m in compensation for the failed sale of the Dutch company's entertainment business.
6 Oct 2014
THE NETHERLANDS - Dutch computer chip manufacturer and global high technology bellwether ASML slashed its forecasts for the next six months despite almost doubling profits in the first quarter.
17 Apr 2014
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: Electrical appliance and household goods group Philips switched back into profit in for 2013, the company said.
29 Jan 2014
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: Dutch vehicle navigation systems manufacturer TomTom said its profits fell by half in the third quarter year-on-year, blaming a fall in car sales for the poor results.
31 Oct 2013
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: Anglo-Dutch food and cosmetics company Unilever, seen as a bellwether for global consumer spending, warned on Tuesday (1 October) of slowdown in sales growth brought on by weakened demand in emerging markets.
2 Oct 2013


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The Formula 1 car Lewis Hamilton piloted to victory at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix sold this weekend for a near record-setting amount. RM Sotheby's held the live auction during the 2021 British Grand Prix, Hamilton's home track, in front of approximately 140,000 race fans, and sold the McLaren MP4-25A for £4,836,000. The car's selling price met RM's expectations of £3.2 - £5 million.
Hamilton's McLaren is the second most expensive F1 car ever sold at auction, trailing Michael Schumacher's 2001 Ferrari F2001 that sold for £5,449,607.43 in 2017 at another RM event. This is the first F1 car piloted by Hamilton to head to auction, and its high selling price could indicate that there's a market for Hamilton's cars that could one day set a new record that could exceed Schumacher's.
Gallery: Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren MP4-25A
"Sir Lewis Hamilton's achievements in the sport are so remarkable that they may never be bettered, and so cars with which he is associated are likely to be the most coveted in the decades to come," said Shelby Myers, RM Sotheby's car specialist and global head of private sales.
Race fans not only got to witness the auction, but they also got to witness the McLaren perform demonstration laps around Silverstone Circuit. The car was prepped by McLaren Racing's Heritage team with McLaren and Mercedes techs on hand for full support. McLaren test driver Rob Garofall piloted the racer, letting the crowd listen to the car's 2.4-litre Mercedes-Benz FO 108X V8, which must have been quite the treat to hear alongside the V6s teams use today.
The car has a history beyond Hamilton's 2010 Turkish Grand Prix history. The car was instrumental in helping the team take second in the Constructor Standings while also helping Hamilton take second place in the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix. The racer also took Jensen Button to a third-place finish in the 2010 season's final race.


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New Delhi: Indian Railways have once again changed its rules. The new rule states that the senior not in possess of Aadhar card will be barred from getting railway ticket discount.
The issued orders by the Indian Railways, from April 1, 2017 states that Aadhar card should be provided while booking rail tickets by the senior citizens for availing 50 percent concession.
As per railway sources, initially with the implementation of the rule with the senior citizens, later Aadhar card will be made mandatory for rail ticket booking for every individual.
One of the senior railway officer said that Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has planned to implement the rule with an aim to wipe out the agents’ market for booking tickets.


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Dixons Carphone reports strong results for the 2016 Christmas season, with fiscal Q3 2016 (ending 9 January 2017) revenues growing by 5% Y-o-Y thanks to mobile device sales.
The company also points out TVs and domestic appliances and best sellers, as well as record sales seen during the Black Friday and Boxing Day discount periods.
“I am pleased to be reporting another good Christmas period of growth-- our 5th consecutive year," CEO Sebastian James says. "At a time of significant political uncertainty around the world, it was heartening to see that customers were choosing to enjoy the benefits that new technologies could bring to their lives during this holiday season."
However the retailer says it plans to hold further consolidation throughout 2017, as it will close 134 outlets. These include 79 large PC World and Currys stores in the UK and Ireland, followed by the merging of remaining stores. The retailer hopes such closures and mergers will lead to savings of around £20 million from 2017-18 sales.
As for the future, Dixons Carphone hopes revenues for the financial year ending 29 April 2017 will reach £475-495m with a "meaningful uplift" in Y-o-Y growth.


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THE makers of Irn-Bru are facing a legal battle which could threaten their multi-million pound sales in Russia.
An Eastern European firm are taking AG Barr to court in a bid to end their brand protection in the country.
If the case is successful, it could pave the way for cheap imitations of Scotland’s other national drink being sold in Russia.
A source said: “Russia is a major market for Irn-Bru and they are pulling out all the stops to protect the brand there.
“The idea of some cheap knock-off being sold to Russians is very worrying.”
Russians spend millions of rubles on Irn-Bru. It is the third biggest-selling soft drink in the country behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
It is manufactured and distributed in Russia by the Pepsi Bottling Group on behalf of AG Barr.
Business Investment Group Holdings have launched an action at Moscow Commercial Court in a bid to end Irn-Bru’s protected status.
They want a judge to cancel the protection of the Iron Brew, Irn-Bru and Phenomenal trademarks
The case is due to be heard next month and the Cumbernauld-based firm have hired a team of top Moscow lawyers to defend the claim.
A source said: “This has come as a bit of a surprise because Irn-Bru has been sold in Russia for more
than 10 years without any problems.
“AG Barr are a bit unsure about what this company’s motivation is in trying to get their legal protection
stopped, although they have launched similar claims against other brands including Heineken.”
A Barr’s spokeswoman said: “Irn-Bru has been a successful brand in Russia for well over a decade, where it is produced under licence.
“We will vigorously defend our trademarks in all relevant territories and this case is no exception.”
No one from Business Investment Group Holdings was available for comment.
Speaking in 2008, AG Barr chief executive Roger White told how the Russian market was important.
He said: “If you walk down the street in Moscow and go into any of the kiosks, you will see Irn-Bru. It is doing extremely well.”


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According to a posting on the Boy Genius Report, Google will soon release a smartphone Nexus 4G is expected to have great abilities, which include: the ability of high-definition video capture, a very large screen, and dual-core processor.
Reportedly, Nexus 4G, the ultra-thin device, will be launched to the market at the time of day of thanksgiving, Boy Genius Report speculates. Because at the time seems right and provide more opportunities. Good for the gadget lovers, and gadget manufacturers. This is in accordance with the following statement: “Thanksgiving would be the ideal time to bring to the market, from the point of view of everybody,” said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst at IDC, TechNewsWorld. “That’s when a whole lot of people trying to get their stuff out.”
But there is a question about the device to be used in the operation of these sophisticated objects. Whether Google will offer the device under its own brand, or will work closely with device makers to create a flagship device the way it is with Motorola. This news is still confusing.
The dual-core CPUs to be used is The dual-core CPUs running at either 1.2GHz or 1.5 GHz. moreover, the possibility of OMAP processors will be 4460 or ultra-low power 28nm processor from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Krait. in addition, for portable and mobile multimedia applications will use OMAP (Open Multimedia Application Platform) which is the name for a line belong to the system on chip (SoCs) developed by Texas Instruments. The Krait Snapdragon is the next generation mobile processor architecture Qualcomm.
Another news that made the release of Nexus 4G increasingly making more people curious about is the news that this gadget will have 720p high-definition big screen, the 4G LTE radio, video capture and playback 1080p capability, front-facing camera 1MP, and a 5MP camera in the back.
This smartphone will also be running Android 4.0 and has advanced features such as the Android menu-based software instead of hardware button controls.
With completeness, the Nexus 4G is likely to be targeted primarily at developers because “Offers Android in its purest form without any of those fancy user interface, and developers do not want foreign things,” said Llamas. “Everyone is secondary.”
Nexus 4G can be further developed and have varying results. That of course depends on the type of connectivity desired and who makes the device.


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May 12, 2008 (London, UK) — After a recent identity theft case that sentenced Fouad Mourtada to three years in prison online businesses are currently on high alert. Mourtada was charged with opening a false Facebook account under the name of Moulay Rachid, the Moroccan Prince. Additionally, BackgammonMasters Mexico site found users with the names of Prince William, Tom Cruise, Madonna and other famous icons. These accounts were found to be fake as well.
A BackgammonMasters.com spokesperson said “We’ve seen a trend in the industry for people to register popular names, as we call them “Gold usernames” such as backgammonking, pokerking, blackjack-king and celebrity names which are just as popular. We see people in game forums even buying and selling these usernames. For these people its status, kind of like having a custom license plate. As long as the games are for fun, we are not concerned.”
Though these players with “Gold usernames” have only played in Poker, Blackjack, Backgammon and other fun online money games, gaming companies are beginning to look out for these accounts following the Facebook case.
However, some governments are concerned because of the insults that fake accounts cause their famous leaders. Though Mourtada was released from jail after serving only 43 days of his sentence because of pressure from Human Rights organizations and petitioners, the case has resulted in a new awareness that usernames can be a serious matter. Ali Ammar, Mourtada’s lawyer, said that “This is a cultural problem; this is the first time a Moroccan poses as a very important personality on the Internet. This is already a common practice in European countries.”
Released by http://www.gammonish.com – backgammon online source for news and information. More about online blackjack and poker can be found at:
Lucky Skill Ltd.


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A chef’s perspective on trending sauces, dressings and marinades
June 12, 2017
Prepared Foods talks sauces with Chef Andrew Hunter, who began his training at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and has worked in various industry segments including fine and casual dining, and corporate R&D.
Prepared Foods talks new products with Jonathan Davis, senior vice president of research and development for ARYZTA LLC, Los Angeles
January 6, 2017
Editor’s Note: Jonathan Davis has been with La Brea Bakery since it opened its doors more than 25 years ago. He studied at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco before taking a position with Nancy Silverton at La Brea Bakery.
A new product development director’s perspective on fresh food formulation, shelf life and food safety
November 14, 2016
Prepared Foods talks with Dan Zakri, director of new product development at Sandridge Food Corp., a Medina, Ohio, processor of refrigerated entrees, sides, salads, soups and more for retail, in-store deli and foodservice channels.


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Hyundai India is likely to launch the all-new Santa Fe SUV in February 2014, with the launch possibly happening at the Indian Auto Expo, an event is scheduled to happen in February, next year. The all-new Santa Fe SUV has been spotted doing testing runs on Indian roads for nearly a year now. The 2014 Santa Fe is a 3rd generation model that is based on Hyundai’s Storm Edge design philosophy, a more subdued version of the Fluidic design philosophy.
The Storm Edge design appears on both the outside and the insides of the SUV. Apart from a design that tilts more towards a crossover than a SUV, the 2014 Santa Fe comes with lavishly appointed, high quality interiors, a traditional Hyundai trait. With a hefty set of features and creature comforts, the 2014 Santa Fe could lead the luxury SUV pack in India, especially when it comes to the equipment levels on offer.
While international versions of the Santa Fe are available with petrol and diesel engine options, the Indian version of the SUV will make do with a 2.2 liter turbo diesel engine that outputs 197 PS of peak power and 422 Nm of peak torque. As is the case with international variants, 6 speed manual and automatic gearbox options may be offered on the India-spec Santa Fe as well.
With market leader Toyota Fortuner being in the cross hairs of the 2014 Santa Fe, Hyundai will do well to equip the SUV with front wheel drive and all-wheel drive options. Adding a front wheel driven, manual gearbox equipped variant to the Santa Fe is likely to allow Hyundai to price the SUV sharply. Slightly larger than the outgoing model, the 2014 Santa Fe is a seven seat SUV.
Save for the Verna and Elantra Fluidic sedans, Hyundai India hasn’t been able to crack the 10 lakh rupees+ premium car market in India. The Santa Fe SUV, which has been imported into the country through the completely built unit (CBU) route, will need CKD assembly for costs to come down. To keep a tab on costs and price the 2014 Santa Fe competitively, Hyundai India is likely to CKD assemble the new SUV at its Sriperumbudur factory, off Chennai.


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DENVER, (KDVR) — With fires burning across the Colorado high country, weekend snow will bring some much needed relief.
But for bars and restaurants, the cold and snow is another blow to struggling businesses.
“The bulk of all of our business, has been outside,” says Mary McKnabb, the co-owner of Inga’s Alpine Tavern in Denver. “So we’re scrambling to make it happen for the guests outside.”
McKnabb and co-owner Kerry O’Brien can only seat 43 people inside the bar, but their spacious patio can seat more than 60.
That’s raising concerns incoming snow and cold could cut their business in half.
“We’re getting a lot bit nervous, actually,” says McKnabb. “We’re trying to get heaters, tents, whatever we can do, to survive the winter.”
On Saturday, McKnabb and O’Brien purchased four propane heaters for the patio.
They hope the expense will keep customers comfortable throughout the winter.
“We need them, we need them to come,” she says. “We’re going to need that support. We’re going to need it desperately in the winter months.”
Across town at the Blake Street Tavern, owner Chris Fuselier purchased a 20 foot snow-rake to protect his outdoor beer garden.
“We have to make sure we continue to get the snow off the tent, so it doesn’t collapse,” he says.
The beer garden can seat more than 100 people, making up roughly a third of Blake Street’s COVID capacity.
“It really saved our business,” says Fuselier. “We hope that it saves our business for the winter time.”
Fuselier plans on adding heaters to the tent in the coming weeks, but those heaters won’t be available Sunday.
“Tomorrow’s going to be really interesting because we’ve got the Broncos game against the Chiefs,” he says. “So we’ll see how willing people are to go into the tent without heat.”


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Micro-display LED tech could light up the next generation of face-wearable gadgets.
A month after the release of Home, Facebook is working to answer criticisms with improvements.
Platforms that combine networking with user interfaces will help companies test post-PC ideas.
Mobile network speeds in urban areas could dramatically increase if consumers connected small, public base stations to their home broadband.
Twitter #music, EQuala, and Piki help you share and discover new music with friends, but they’re not all winners.
What gets removed from China’s social networks shows how censorship strategies are advancing, and can even hint at the government's plans.
Zoomboard—a miniscule keyboard that zooms when you tap it—could make it easier to type on smart watches.
A home science experiment that probed billions of Internet devices reveals that thousands of industrial and business systems offer remote access to anyone.
Electromagnetic interference can turn a plain LCD into a touch screen on the cheap.
Messages that quickly self-destruct could enhance the privacy of online communication and make people feel freer to be spontaneous.


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Maybe something is on netflix or Amazon Prime that you would enjoy. US Massage castroville Booval the UK: "Scrap tax on tech giants or no post-Brexit free trade agreement" Escoet month the UK government revealed its plan to levy a two percent tax on the revenues of tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Facebook. The Trump administration, Granviloe response to the plan, is reportedly ready to Free pallets Melbourne away from an agreement that newly inaugurated Prime Minister Boris Johnson is relying on heavily with a no-deal Brexit fast approaching.
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Full stop'", the west coast lawmaker said.
Kevin Brady, a Republican congressman from Texas echoed similar sentiments, asserting that the tax would hamper free-trade agreement negotiations. UK Prime Minister Johnson had this to say when asked about the proposed digital tax: "I think it's deeply unfair that high street businesses are paying tax through the nose, whereas the internet giants, the Tamzin escort Granville - Facebook, Amazon, netflixand Google - are paying virtually.
We've got to find a way of taxing the internet giants on their income, because at the moment it is simply unfair" The French government has also initiated a plan to tax US tech giants.
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Last weeks financial news may give optimists encouragement that the storage market is finally picking up steam. More-pessimistic observers (they call themselves “realists”) may prefer additional evidence, such as purchasing surveys or a change in the penny-pinching course of venture-capital firms. Those portents were also visible.
While we had, after all, just a weeks worth of announcements, some results came from big players as well as bellwethers of the enterprise storage market.
- EMC Corp. last week reported $1.48 billion in revenue and $82 million in profit in the second quarter of 2003. The results followed close on the heels of EMCs acquisition this month of Legato Systems Inc. The second quarter earning beat both its prior quarter as well as the year-ago quarter. (See “EMC Announces Robust Earnings” for more information.)
- QLogic Corp. followed the Fibre Channel camp and reported first-quarter revenues of $126.2 million, up 5 percent from the previous quarter. The company said sales from Fibre Channel products rose 9 percent in that period and accounted for 74 percent of its total revenue.
- Seagate Technology also reported a boost for the quarter. Revenue totaled $1.55 billion for the quarter ended June 27, with net income of $160 million. While the revenue of the year-ago quarter was similar ($1.47 billion), the year-ago quarter generated a net loss of $198 million. The company said there was increased demand for its enterprise Cheetah lines.
A couple of companies showed the barest profit (or loss) in the past quarter—still, that was an upswing from past performance. MTI Technology Corp. reported a $602,000 profit, up from its net loss of $10.8 million in the year-ago quarter and $1.4 million in the previous quarter. (The companys fiscal 2003 year ended in April.) In addition, storage services company Datalink Corp. reported increased revenue of $26.4 million for the quarter ended in June, an increase of 25 percent from the previous year. This performance almost brought the company into the black; it reported a net loss of $186,000.
Meanwhile, tape vendor Quantum Corp., which will announce its quarterly results later this month, warned investors of lowered expectations for revenue and earnings. In the release, the company said it hadnt met sales targets for media and that sales growth had slowed this spring.
Certainly, another positive sign for the storage market would be a loosening of venture-capital purse strings for startups. There were several such rounds of funding reported last week.
One notable beneficiary of venture funding was NAS vendor BlueArc Corp., which announced it has received $47 million. According to reports, this is the largest single round of venture funding in more than two years. BlueArc said it had increased its revenue 57 percent over the year-ago quarter and added 20 percent more customers. (Of course, such yearly statistics can be dramatic for startups.)
Buyouts are always a consideration when it comes to startup companies, as weve seen from recent actions of larger players such as EMC. According to Thomas Lahive, senior analyst with Enterprise Storage Group, we will see similar acquisitions over the rest of the year. At the same time, he said companies on the buying side will be more picky than in bubble days. Large companies will avoid impulsive shopping.
Candidates for todays buyout must meet two important criteria, according to Lahive. “First, there needs to be a cohesive fit into a companys technology strategy,” he said. Secondly, startups must bring an existing customer list and established support infrastructure to the table. Startups that seek to be bought out “need to be run as an independently owned, successful organization. That means customers,” he said.
At the same time, a recent poll of enterprise customers should provide even more assurance that the upward trend should continue.
“The 18-month recession looks like it might be breaking,” said Lahive, pointing to a just-compiled survey of purchasing plans of storage managers. He said the second quarter spending survey showed an up tick. The spending should increase over the next quarter.
Enterprise storage buyers “looked at the food in the second quarter. But they may really taste it in the third quarter,” Lahive said.
Still, he cautioned against over-optimism. A realistic expectation will be a growth rate in the upper single-digit range or even a bit higher.
Of course, there will be more results announced in the weeks ahead and the current picture may change. I savor the moment.
David Morgenstern is a longtime reporter of the storage industry as well as a veteran of the dotcom boom in the storage-rich fields of professional content creation and digital video.
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Leader Class Optimus Prime As DA-28
It seems like there’s a surge of Optimus Prime toys lately. After the Primes have filled up most classes even Ultimate and Supreme, Leader class was left without a candidate.
Just not long after the Ultimate and Supreme Jetwing Optimus versions made a big hit among fans, here we go again serving Optimus Prime in his premier Leader class category.
Thanks to Kapow and Full Metal Hero, we now have a new image of TakaraTomy’s upcoming Transformers Dark of the Moon Leader class Optimus Prime known as DA-28 DX.
While speculations run high about him being a redeco of Revenge of The Fallen leader class Prime, Full Metal Hero has prove them all wrong. DA-28 will be known as DA-28 DX Redecoration Optimus Prime and he will be the same figure from Jetwing Optimus Prime MINUS the jetpack with a new redeco!
Judging from the prototype, it this Optimus Prime will be equipped with a brand new weapon – known as the Buster gun to tally with it’s MechTech ongoing campaigns.
The only mystery left is, what colour scheme is this Prime going to be?


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Alhambra’s original historic Route 66 local favorite, Twohey’s restaurant, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, has opened an extension of its fare to Pasadena with a re-imagining of classic American food at their new Twohey’s Tavern.
Writer. Eater. Los Angeles appreciator. Someone has to do it.
Photo by Tatsu Oiye ~ Anna Knudson at Art Beyond the Glass II, 2013. Originally published on Hollywood Patch Art of the Patch coming to Los Globos Thirty of L.A.’s top bartenders will be showcasing their artistry, from painting to photography, live music and, of […]


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American River Nutrition is Opening New Frontiers with Vitamin E
Down to a ScienceFor some time now, Dr. Barrie Tan says, vitamin E suffered from what might be considered a public relations problem of sorts.
Indeed, the dietary supplement, a noted antioxidant discovered in 1922 and available to the public for decades now, had been drawing mostly unfavorable reviews for its disappointing lack of benefits for cardiovascular health. One large-scale clinical study even concluded that it actually increases the risk of prostate cancer.
But Tan, president of American River Nutrition (ARN), stressed that the bad press essentially concerned what would be considered one form of vitamin E.
As he explained, the supplement is not a single compound — contrary to popular belief up until a few decades ago — but rather a family of at least eight similar, yet structurally different, molecules. And while the once-popular vitamin E alpha-tocopherol has seen its stock fall somewhat in recent years, the lesser-known form of the supplement — tocotrienols, as they’re called — have seen theirs rise amid links (through tests on animals) to everything from improved cardiovascular health to delaying the onset of cataracts; from enhanced bone health to cancer treatment and prevention.
And it is a product known as DeltaGold, with the marketing slogan “Simply Tocotrienol,” that Tan will be manufacturing at a 25,000-square-foot facility now taking shape in Westmass Development’s Hadley University Business Park, in the shadow of the UMass Amherst campus, where he was once a professor of Food Science and Nutrition.
In recent months, the company, the plant, and Tan have been in the news — primarily because the facility will use propane rather then natural gas, simply because there is a moratorium on new natural-gas hookups in that region, a ban that has many concerned about possible long-term effects on economic development and that has also thrust the proposed but highly controversial Kinder-Morgan pipeline even further into the spotlight.
But Tan hopes to change the tenor of the headlines concerning his venture, and, in many ways, he already has.
Indeed, there’s been a steady stream of articles in various health publications regarding tocotrienols, DeltaGold, and Tan. Most of these stories talk about the supplement’s potential and about ongoing studies and trials. However, evidence is mounting that this natural form of vitamin E, derived from annatto (an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree — more on that later), could have a number of significant health benefits.
“We’re engaging a study on cardiovascular benefits, and there are also studies on several forms of cancer,” said Tan, adding that the phrase “Simply Tocotrienol” captures the essence of this development, and its significance, because DeltaGold is considered to be the only natural, annatto-derived tocotrienol that is free of tocopherols.
And that’s important because research has shown that tocopherol interferes with tocotrienol benefits, essentially resulting in that aforementioned bad press, he explained, adding that, in 1996, it was first determined that the cholesterol-modulating properties of tocotrienol were found to be compromised by what Tan called a vitamin E “sibling” — alpha-tocopherol.
“The researchers concluded that effective tocotrienol preparations should contain less than 15% of alpha-tocopherol and more than 60% of desmethyl tocotrienols [gamma- and delta-tocotrienol],” he told BusinessWest, adding that the only natural source of tocotrienols that fits those tight parameters is annatto, derived from trees grown mostly in Central and South America, but also India and Sri Lanka.Tan has found a way to extract the tocotrienol from annatto through a proprietary distillation process that produces no toxic or harmful byproducts, and he’s ready to take his venture to a much higher level.
For this issue, BusinessWest talked at length with Tan about DeltaGold, American River Nutrition, research on possible pharmaceutical versions of the product, and where he wants to take this company in the years to come.
A Venture Takes Root
Tan has taken a rather circuitous route to his current station as an entrepreneur and researcher at the forefront of developments with vitamin E. In fact, he summed up that path and detailed what’s transpired over the past several years by borrowing from Robert Frost.
“We certainly took the road less-traveled,” he said, referring to what became years of research and development of the far-lesser-known variety of vitamin E, and eventually DeltaGold. It’s a trek that’s taken him from his native Malaysia to Amherst and eventually to South America, where he found not only what he originally set out to find — a plant rich in carotene — but also something more promising, and lucrative, just a few yards away.
Our story begins in late November 1982, when Tan arrived at UMass Amherst. He taught there for more than a decade, first in the Chemistry department and later the Food Science department. It was during that latter assignment when he initiated work with vegetable oil and, through that, the tocotrienol form of vitamin E, which he found in palm oil.
“We didn’t know much more than that this was a different kind of vitamin E,” he explained. “We started doing research and found that it was different in its properties than tocopherol.”
Research in this area eventually led to formation of a business venture called Carotech, which, as the name suggests, was involved in products derived from carotene. It was later sold to a Malaysian concern. At the time, Tan said, he lacked the skills needed to lead a business, and when the Asian economy tanked in the mid-‘90s, Tan started a lab from which he created American River Nutrition in 1998. He told BusinessWest that he soon put aside work with tocotrienols and went back to researching potential medical uses of carotene.
This work took him to South America in early 2000 to search for a plant said to be a potent source of carotene. He found that plant, a much larger version of the traditional, garden-variety marigold, but 30 feet away, he found something else.
“It’s what the British call the ‘lipstick plant,’” he noted, referring to the achiote, which bears a red fruit, or seeds, which natives of that region used as body paint and, yes, lipstick; other uses include the coloring of cheese, margarine, fabric, and other products.
But Tan made another key discovery.
“The chemist in me hypothesized a theory,” he explained, “which is that there must be something very powerful that protects the carotene color from this annatto, which is not protected otherwise, from degradation. I wondered what it might be.
“This question that I raised eventually helped us in the discovery of this form of vitamin E [natural tocotrienol],” he went on. “We thought that it could be a powerful antioxidant, or anything, really. But shocking to us, and to everyone else, it was the most potent form of vitamin E.”
Fast-forwarding a little, Tan said ARN eventually filed a patent and commenced work on a method for effectively extracting this new form of vitamin E, one free of tocopherol, from the plant’s fruit.
“I decided that this was a gamble worth taking,” he said. “So … to use the simplest term I can think of, I was all in.”
Over the next six years, research continued into the engineering of a process to extract the tocotrienol and take what eventually became known as DeltaGold to the marketplace.
“It was very risky — we weren’t making any sales,” he said. “Those were lean years, but we had a rich patent, and we found places that would process this for us in the United States and were able to get into the business.”
The timing wasn’t ideal — the nation’s economy nosedived in 2008, slowing Tan’s pace of progress with his venture. But a critical mass of sales had been achieved, and solid foundation had been established on which to build.
And he’s doing just that — figuratively and quite literally.
Indeed, with financing from Citizens Bank and the U.S. Small Business Administration, Tan is erecting his facility in Hadley, one in which he expects to grow the workforce from the current nine to 15 or 20.
Meanwhile, he’s working to broaden a customer base that already includes a number of manufacturers of dietary supplements and related products, including Nutricology, Biotics Research Corp., Bronson Laboratories, and many others who use DeltaGold in products bearing their brand names.
Tan’s undertaking is another gamble, but he remains all in, as he said, because the news on tocotrienols, and especially those derived from annatto, is increasingly promising.
One recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Missouri, for example, found that certain doses of tocotrienol, combined with a healthy diet, decreased lipid levels significantly after four weeks. According to another report’s findings, published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, tocotrienols from annatto, mainly composed of delta-tocotrienol, stimulated bone formation and cut back bone decay in a post-menopausal osteoporosis rat model.
Another study found that vitamin E tocotrienals from annatto may slow the development and reduce the number and size of breast tumors in rats, and still another concluded that annatto tocotrienol may delay the onset and progression of cataracts when given in a topical formulation.
“There might be 100 researchers at universities and institutions conducting research on tocotrienols, and they seem to say that they are good for chronic conditions,” said Tan, listing as examples type-2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer.
Research involving DeltaGold and a number of cancers is ongoing, with involvement from students at the university, he continued, adding that others, as noted, are exploring its potential benefits with cardiovascular health, bone health, cholesterol, and other health issues.
“Over the past five years, we’ve been focusing on investments in clinical studies,” Tan went on. “Everyone wants to know what this will do in human beings. It’s an easy question to ask, but not an easy question to answer.”
Fruits of His Labor
Just how that question is eventually answered will obviously be a huge factor in the future of DeltaGold and ARN, Tan acknowledged.
But in many ways, the gamble he has taken is already paying off.
That chance discovery in South America years ago is bearing fruit in many ways, and this venture has tremendous potential to blossom into a business with national and international reach.
Indeed, by taking that road less traveled, Tan and ARN have embarked on an intriguing and potentially lucrative entrepreneurial path.
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]


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BMW has released details of its Olympic fleet for London 2012. The official unveiling in London showcased the more than 4,000-strong fleet of BMW and MINI cars, motorcycles and bicycles that will transport officials, media, volunteers and athletes during the games.
BMW says that its Olympic fleet will average 64.5mpg and 116g/km of CO2, with 80 per cent of vehicles compliant with EU6 emissions standards. That betters LOCOG’s 54.2mpg and 120g/km requirements for the fleet, and Transport Director Richard George described BMW as a ‘one-stop shop solution’ for the needs of the Olympics.
The most prominent model in use will be the new 320d saloon, making up 1,550 of the overall fleet. The 320d will be used in the Olympic Torch Relay, as the supporting vehicles for cycling events and will carry 67 technical delegates to multiple venues throughout the Games.
There will be 700 BMW 520d transfer vehicles, 200 MINI Cooper D ‘on demand’ vehicles at walk-up taxi-rank style locations, including Heathrow Airport, 17 X3 xDrive20ds – which will also join the torch relay –and 10 X5 xDrive30ds chosen specifically for towing capabilities. There will also be 25 BMW motorcycles, including the F650GS and R1200GS, for cycling and other road-based events.
BMW has focused on showcasing its efficient and low emission vehicles during the Games, with electric vehicles included in the fleet. There will be 160 BMW 1 Series ActiveE, the electric version of the BMW 1 Series, which will transport athletes and broadcasters, as well as 40 MINI E electric vehicles. A further 20 5 Series ActiveHybrid saloons will fulfill a transfer and shuttle role.
The use of electric vehicles will showcase London’s electric charging infrastructure, with 120 new ‘high speed’ charge points installed at various locations to support them. The first is at former British Motor Show venue the ExCeL Centre in Docklands, which will host seven Olympic and six Paralympic events.
The BMW fleet will be serviced and stored in depots around London during the Games, with the cars being returned to BMW at the event’s conclusion.


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just a While Ago - On 16 September in...
Here's what was making the drinks news on this day in years gone by
Here's a look at what was happening on this day in...
Poland's spirits industry has urged the country's prime minister not to press ahead with plans for a 15% rise in tax on the category.
The Czech government has ramped up an emergency crackdown on bootleg alcohol and issued a blanket ban on spirits above 20% abv.
Diageo has created a new business unit in North America for up-and-coming drinks brands in its portfolio.
United Spirits has lined up the acquisition of majority control of Indian drinks firm Pioneer Distilleries.
Asahi has denied interest in acquiring the Orangina business, following claims that it may launch a bid to rival Suntory, according to a report.
Constellation Brands has said it is eyeing expansion on Russia's wine market, with the opening a susbidiary group in the country.
Bacardi has been tipped as the most likely winner for the hand of Vin & Sprit, should the Swedish company be put up for sale.
Brown-Forman has insisted it remains committed to "rebuilding" its Italian wine brand Bolla after selling its namesake winery.
The Mexican government wants to reduce the tax on beer if sold in reusable bottles, to encourage brewers to use more environmentally friendly products.
Shares in Allied Domecq dipped early yesterday after comments from AC Nielsen suggested a mixed picture for the company.
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Representatives earn credit report reviewer certification
April 1, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
More than 25 Pioneer Services Representatives recently completed an educational study program on the new Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). After an examination, they were certified as Credit Report Reviewers by the award winning, nonprofit Institute of Consumer Financial Education (ICFE) based in San Diego, Calif.
FACTA was enacted to provide many new protections and rights for consumers, including free credit reports annually for all consumers and protections against identity theft. Many financial services professionals, including debt and credit counselors, are enrolling in the program to get up to speed with the new law.
"We want to make sure that each and every service member knows how this new law affects them," says Tom Holcom, president of Pioneer Financial Services, Inc. "By having certified Credit Report Reviewers in each of our offices, we are able to provide the men and women who serve our country with another valuable, free service that further improves their quality of life."
The growth of consumer credit has been explosive over the past ten years and relatively few Americans bother to look at their credit profiles. But identity theft is now the nation's fastest growing crime. Most consumers aren't even aware they are victims until they look at their credit report and see a new credit account they did not originate.
"We have been offering free credit analysis for a number of years," says Holcom, "but this new law gives consumers new protections against identity theft and inaccurate information on their credit report. We wanted to make sure that every military service member who walks through our doors could take advantage of the law. It has always been our goal to help our clients become more financially stable and this is yet another tool that will help us reach that goal."


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Marcella Birnell was a normal 45 year old woman who wanted to earn additional income for her family and decided to take one of those “easy” convenience store jobs at the Village Pantry Store. Not long after she started working there, she was shot in the head during a botched robbery attempt.
Shedding New Light on Dangers
While Marcella is still recovering from her head injury, her brother, Peter Tole is bringing her story to the attention of the entire state by trying to get a new law passed that will help to protect people who work in convenience store positions.
The law which will be called “Marci’s Law” will require all convenience stores to be fitted with partitions that are bulletproof. This wall of protection would give any convenience store owner or employee enough time to call the police and stay safe until help arrives.
Mr. Tole said: “These corporations are playing Russian Roulette with the lives of our family members,” Tolle said. “The corporations will not voluntarily provide the protection for the people who are on the frontline collecting the cash to hand over to them. It has to be done by law. They have to be forced by law to provide basic protection of these minimum wage workers who have no voice, no representation, and nobody listening to them.”
Cost Per Store
During the process of laying the foundation for the new law Peter Tolle researched the cost of bulletproof partitions and found that they cost an average of $7,500.
Mr. Tolle has also contacted other former and current employees of Village Pantry Store who have been victims of gun violence and is rallying more supporters behind the law.
Until the law gets passed it remains to be seen if corporations will do more to protect hard working, minimum wage workers like Marcella Barnwell since the economic recession has forced many companies to cut costs.


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The Imperial Tobacco Group has selected Greensboro as the headquarters location for a new company it is forming in anticipation of the Reynolds American/Lorillard merger. The British tobacco maker announced the selection Wednesday.
Tobacco-Free Kids spokesman explains why the organization's new campaign calls on retailers to end tobacco sales and urges consumers to shop tobacco-free. A tobacco company representative also responds to the initiative.
A national campaign is calling on retailers to end tobacco sales. The move comes in the wake of CVS Pharmacy’s historic decision last month to stop selling tobacco products.


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Boots UK, the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, has debuted its new Christmas advert.
The creative, which centres on gifting in an office Christmas lunch environment, is based around the insight that women have an innate intuition when it comes to buying presents that family and friends will really love.
Set in a restaurant, the story of the office Christmas lunch is packaged up in this 60 second film. Created by Mother, it aims to reinforce the message that Boots is the one-stop shop for gifts for everyone this Christmas
The advert highlights the vast range of gifts on offer at Boots stores this Christmas showcasing inspiring presents for family and friends at a range of price points.
With consumers still keeping a firm grip on the purse strings this year, the Boots’ Christmas offering hopes to offer bigger and better value than ever before, thanks to and extensive ‘Mix and Match’ promotion.
“This latest advert perfectly demonstrates the feel good factor and fun that Boots wants to share with its customers at Christmas time,” said Marketing Director at Boots UK, Elizabeth Fagan.
“With an extensive range of gifts available including gifts for her, him and children but to name a few, offering quality products at desirable prices has been an intrinsic part of Boots’ history for the past 160 years and this Christmas is no different.”
She added. “Boots understands what people want and makes them feel good – covetable celebrity ranges join the much-loved favourites to firmly establish Boots as the place to shop this Christmas.”


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With autumn in full swing and winter drawing close, Specsavers want to remind both new and long-standing customers about the importance of eye tests.
While everyone’s settling back into their routines, staff at Specsavers want to encourage customers to make eye checks part of their healthcare routines.
Eyesight should be tested at least once every two years to ensure they’re healthy, as well as making sure prescriptions are correct.
The Specsavers store in Wallington keep their doors open to all customers on Monday through to Sunday, to ensure commuters, office workers, mums and more can find a time to suit them.
Sunday opening hours are from 10.30am to 4.30pm.


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Microchip makers can't fool themselves any longer. Their notoriously cyclical $144 billion industry has plunged into the sort of worldwide slowdown that was supposed to be obsolete. In recent weeks, the bad news has been pouring in from chipmakers around the globe: Lower profits. Production cutbacks. Layoffs. In the end, 1996 could be the industry's worst year this decade.
Nearly every major semiconductor maker is feeling the heat: On June 20, California's National Semiconductor Corp. said it will take a charge of some $300 million in the quarter ending Aug. 25 to cover restructuring. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Cypress Semiconductor Corp., and others say their earnings are being pounded, too. In Europe, shares of giant Philips are in a swoon over chip fears. In Japan, Fujitsu Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., and others are scaling back huge planned expansions in production. From South Korea to Taiwan to Idaho, other chipmakers are also being rocked.
The critical questions for the chip industry and the investors who have bet heavily on its fortunes: Just how bad is it going to get? And how long can this devilish downturn last? One of the more pessimistic market watchers, Pathfinder Research Inc. in San Jose, Calif., forecasts a 9% drop in total semiconductor revenues in 1996--a gut-wrenching decline after last year's 42% gain. And Pathfinder's outlook for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips is much gloomier: a plunge of 36%. Faced with a possible glut, DRAM producers are scrambling to trim output. "We can't get around the fact that the DRAM business is a commodity market," says Thomas J. Engibous, president of Texas Instruments Inc.
Many market watchers aren't as pessimistic as Pathfinder. But any slowdown at all makes a mockery of what market gurus and chipmakers had been proclaiming: the end of their industry's cyclicity. Eternal double-digit growth was almost assured, they said, because chips have become so pervasive--vital components in everything from cars to computers to consumer electronics.
Bushwa. Richard L. Whittington, an analyst with SoundView Financial Group, proclaims that "1996 is a washout." Already, investors are feeling the pain. Hammered since late last year, chip stocks are now really getting whacked. Cyrix Corp. dropped 26% after warning on June 20 of a likely loss this quarter. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's Semiconductor Index has lost 41% since its high-water mark, posted last September. "The downturn seems to be affecting just about everybody," says Robert K. Beachler, strategic marketing director at chipmaker Altera Corp.
More bad news may be in the offing. The Semiconductor Industry Assn.'s book-to-bill ratio, which tracks the backlog of customer orders for chips against U.S. factory shipments, reached its lowest point ever in April, when it hit 0.79 (chart). It had been at an all-time high of 1.19 just eight months earlier.
SELF-INFLICTED. Still, none of this means the high-tech sector is heading for the tank. Unlike previous chip crises, this one wasn't triggered by a huge drop in demand. Rather, chipmakers inflicted the pain on themselves. After five years of increasing new capacity cautiously, they added new factories en masse last year. By the fourth quarter, 48 new plants were spewing out chips for a holiday boom that fell short of expectations.
Continued growth in demand will spare some companies. PC sales are projected to climb 19% worldwide this year, according to market researcher Dataquest Inc., down a bit from last year's 25.6%. PCs remain the gravy train for chip suppliers, accounting for about 40% of sales. That means makers of microprocessors, complex logic chips, and other proprietary products should ride through the downturn.
One of the unscathed--so far--is giant Intel Corp. It expects to notch a June quarter that equals its first quarter, when it earned $894 million on sales of $4.6 billion. And Intel says its gross margins should hold strong, at around 50%. Other makers of high-margin, specialized chips--such as S3, Xilinx, Analog Devices, and Microchip Technology--will be on the upswing by the end of the third quarter, predicts Prudential Securities analyst Mark Edelstone.
The real squeeze is being felt by the Big Three makers of DRAMs--Korea's Samsung and Japan's NEC and Hitachi. Prices on the spot market are in free fall, declining 75% since November. As a result, earnings of Asian chipmakers could plummet 40% to 50% this year. America's DRAM specialist, Micron Technology Inc., might fare even worse. Its second-quarter earnings were off 74% from a year ago, falling to just $58 million on sales of $771 million.
PIPE DREAMS. There are ominous signs that the price crunch is spreading. DRAM suppliers are switching production to more profitable designs, such as logic chips. Now, some of these markets are getting overcrowded, pinching more U.S. companies, including Cypress and Lattice Semiconductor Corp. Even Motorola Inc. has delayed two plant expansions.
Hard to believe, but this downward spiral was touched off by a minor shortfall in holiday PC sales. The industry was looking for a 40% surge, not the 25% one it got. That left PC makers and chip suppliers holding bags of DRAMs. But chipmakers kept on pumping out silicon, betting on a pickup in 1996. "Semiconductor manufacturers had very unrealistic expectations for growth in PCs," says Vladi Catto, Texas Instrument's chief economist.
The roots of the delusion trace back to Asia, circa 1989. Reacting to soft sales and a weak domestic economy, Japanese memory makers put the brakes on new plants. Instead, they ran existing factories at full tilt to squeeze out juicy profits. It worked: Memory chips stayed tight, prices held firm, and profits were enormous. But the strategy also enabled Korean rivals to grab more market share, since they were less adverse to plowing DRAM profits into new plants. Samsung Group climbed to the top of the heap--and earned billions from DRAM chips.
Japan's restraint produced the longest period of sustained prosperity in semiconductor history. But with no end in sight, the Japanese joined the latest round of plant-building. Technology improvements added to the glut. The resulting surplus of memory capacity may last through much of 1997, warns Edelstone. A continuing worry: Chipmakers are slated to add another 49 fabrication plants in 1997, figures analyst George Burns of Strategic Marketing Associates in Santa Cruz, Calif.
The wild card now is whether Asian producers really will pare back planned production hikes. Some analysts suspect empty promises made as a ploy to boost the spot-market price of DRAMs. If so, a glut could recur at any time. "It's like white-water rafting. All you can do is try not to hit the next rock," says Gary McDonald, a vice-president with memory supplier Kingston Technology Corp. Easy to say. But not easy to do when business is in a downward spiral.


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Audi at Design Miami/ 2013
Audi’s presence at Design Miami/ from December 3rd to 8th will be dominated by Audi Sport and will feature two of its sportiest models: the production model R8 Spyder and the R8 LMS ultra for customer racing. The Audi sculpture entitled “Fragmentation” serves as the backdrop. This three-dimensional installation plays with the red rhombus, the symbol of Audi Sport
Safety has a long tradition at Audi: 75 years ago, DKW engineers rolled a subcompact F7 down a hill in the interest of safety and caused a controlled rollover. Since this first crash test at DKW, one of the four brands from which Audi was created, Audi has regularly claimed the spotlight with new safety features.
Audi established its fourth consecutive annual U.S. sales record a month early with the 13.3% year-to-date sales gain recorded through the end of November 2013. Through the first 11 months of this year, Audi has sold 141,048 vehicles in the U.S. market to eclipse the previous record of 139,310 vehicles sold throughout 2012.
The countdown to an exciting future has begun. At round eight of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), a technological era came to an end. 2014 will mark the beginning of a new epoch in which nothing but maximum energy efficiency counts. This is what a completely new race car generation stands for. Exactly eight […] More »
There is to be an addition to Audi’s Q model family. The Board of Management and the Works Council of AUDI AG today announced that a new model will roll off the assembly lines in Ingolstadt as of 2016: the Q1.


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Bitcoin is inching closer to legitimacy.
The digital currency reached an important milestone Monday as the first regulated bitcoin-based security began trading in Stockholm.
Bitcoin Tracker One, the name of the security, rose in its first trading session, finishing at 9.73 krona, compared with an opening value of 9.69, according to data on Nasdaq OMX Nordic’s website. The security is listed on Nasdaq’s Stockholm-based exchange.
BTO, which is structured as an exchange-traded note, has been created to lure institutional and retail investors by allowing them to participate in a market that is transparent and well-regulated, said Adam Kostyal, a senior vice president and head of European listings at Nasdaq, in a news release issued Monday.
The listing is the latest of several notable developments in the history of bitcoin that have occurred over the past two weeks. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nasdaq was testing a way to use the blockchain, the technology on which bitcoin was built, in its Nasdaq Private Market.
Also earlier this month, New York state’s Department of Financial Services granted itBit, a startup bitcoin exchange, the first trust charter ever granted to a bitcoin exchange.
Bitcoin experienced a wild run-up in valuation beginning in the fall of 2013, eventually peaking well over the $1,000-mark. But its price soon crumbled after bitcoins worth hundreds of millions of dollars were stolen by hackers from the popular bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox last summer, saddling some customers with huge losses.
One bitcoin was recently worth about $236, according to the Coindesk Bitcoin Price Index, which analyses prices on several popular bitcoin exchanges.


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Japanese firm Denka Co. Ltd., recently revealed plans to deal with globally tight supply for Chloroprene Rubber (CR), and to increase its production of CR by 10,000 tonnes. Plans include resuming operations at its domestic Omi Plant and removing bottlenecks at Denka Performance Elastomer LLC (DPE), a subsidiary based in the US state of Louisiana.
Denka will invest several hundred million yen into these efforts, which will take 1.5–2 years before entering operation. The company is currently considering whether to move forward with production increases at both plants or focus on just one.
Denka’s Omi Plant produces CR using the acetylene method, and boasts a world-leading production capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year for the material. Meanwhile, DPE’s plant is able to produce 50,000 tonnes/year of CR using the butadiene method.
Global CR demand is estimated at 280,000 tonnes/year, and is expected to remain stable. Denka intends to sell high-performance grades of CR, and plans for this grade to make for an annual business scale of 2.5 billion yen by 2020.
Commenting on current market conditions, Denka says that further price increases may be necessary in the future to achieve and maintain stable supply.
Going forward, Denka intends to make more concrete plans for a production increase within the first half of the year.


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Micromax Ninja A50 features a 3.1 inch capacitive touchscreen and a SIRI like personal assistant feature called AISHA.
Micromax has launched a new entry level Android smartphone priced at Rs 4,999. Called the Superfone Ninja A50, the handset features a 3.1 inch screen, Android 2.3.6 operating system and a 650 MHz processor.
The main attraction of the phone, apart from its price, is AISHA or Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant, which works like SIRI application of iPhone 4S. But how well it works is something we will find out later. The idea of a personal assistant basically is that the phone takes voice commands.
AISHA will open a map, search web for query, dial number etc based on voice commands. It also enables people to update their status on social-networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. For the smooth functioning of AISHA, Micromax has a back-end tie up with Indian portals such as Timesjob.com and Simplymarry.com.
The Android lineup of Micromax includes A85, A75, A73 and A78, offering handsets in the price range of Rs 4,999 to Rs 12, 500.
Micromax has yet again released a smartphone in the budget segment with decent features.
Micromax has announced two phones with Joy series that offer colour screen, camera and other essentials like FM radio, alarm clock, flashlight and more.
The Android KitKat based Micromax Bolt AD3520 offers a dual core processor.
Micromax has tied up with Airtel to offer 500 MB of free 2G/3G connectivity per month for 6 months and is also offering a 4,400 mAh power bank to those who buy Micromax Canvas Breeze Tab P660.
The Micromax Canvas Tab P470 said to have support for 21 Indian languages.
The major attraction of Micromax Canvas Selfie is that it has 13 megapixel front and rear camera along with flash and Sony Sensor.
Micromax has even tied up with Aircel to offer 500 MB data per month for the first 6 months on Canvas Xpress.
Micromax has joined hands with Intel for a range of devices starting with this 8 inch tablet which will be available from November 29.
The Micromax Bolt AD 4500 is available from eBay for Rs 5,290.
Micromax Canvas A1 has Dual-SIM, 4.5-inch display, and quad-core MediaTek mobile processor.


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China’s biggest tech company in terms of revenue, Tencent (HKG:0700), has just revealed its 2012 Q2 and half-year financial results. The stats show the company – which has stakes in gaming, social media, e-commerce, and more – growing yet further. Revenue for the quarter stood at 10.53 billion RMB (US$1.66 billion), up 56.2 percent on the same time last year. Operating profits for the same period were 3.94 billion RMB ($622.8 million).
In terms of 2012 H1 figures, that’s 20.18 billion RMB ($3.19 billion) in revenues, with 7.63 billion ($1.21 billion) in operating profits.
Tencent, in its announcement this afternoon, described its online advertising business as having achieved “a significant year-on-year growth rate, due to new platform contributions and market share gains in key advertiser categories.” Ad revenues grew to $224.5 million in the first half of 2012, up 79 percent year-on-year.
Its online services, including social gaming revenues, were also lauded for their growth, climbing 42.6 percent from 2011 H2 to now hit $2.4 billion. Earlier this week we reported that Tencent’s QQ platform for IM and gaming has 30 million paying users, and their cash is evident in that impressive number. Tencent pointed out that “QQ membership subscriptions revenue also contributed to the increase.” Regular readers will know that Tencent is the market leader in both casual and MMO games in China, with a 33.7 percent slice of this juicy pie.
It wasn’t all good news, as Tencent described its growth in mobile services as “modest.”
As for e-commerce, there was no comparative figure to go by as Tencent’s e-tailing efforts have changed a lot in the past year with its launch of QQ Buy. We recently looked at how it has already become China’s third-largest B2C e-commerce site. Its revenues for 2012 H1 were $254.6 million.


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Huawei Kenya held a media briefing at their Kenya headquarters near Lavington. This was refreshing as last year when they were to do a demonstration of the Nairobi Smart Cities project; they scaled it down as soon as they heard the Cabinet Secretary was not going to show up for the event.
Huawei has been operating in Kenya for 19 years since 1998. They have done lots of projects mainly in the telecommunications space; they rolled out networks for Safaricom and Telkom Kenya and also launched the Ideos, the $100 smartphone with Google and Safaricom.
The Huawei Kenya representatives spoke about ongoing projects with the government such as cloud services for the entire Kenya government, roll out of government fibre to all 47 counties, and police security & 4G networks. Since 2015 they also provide the software for M-Pesa for Vodafone to roll out across Africa and the world. They also provide about 2/3 of the infrastructure of Safaricom and also power M-Kopa solar payment systems.
Huawei is a $75 billion company with 180,000 employees (80,000 who work in R&D), and operate in 170 countries. It is entirely employee-owned by 81,000 employees in China while the founder/CEO owns 1.4% of the shares. They have 300 staff working in Kenya and provide about 100 scholarships a year for Kenyans to study in China.
In 2016, Huawei sold 139 million smartphones – (number three behind Apple and Samsung). They work hard to combat the reputation that Chinese means ‘low quality’ and Huawei is the world biggest patent filer, and have been granted over 62,000 patents. They spend over $10 billion a year in R&D – and build their own chipsets, batteries, and some phones have three antennas etc. to optimize their phones.


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Image Above: Nathalie McKee (left) and Lisa Davy have celebrated ten years working for hardware distributor, Carl F Groupco. Pictures show Nathalie and Lisa working from their home offices during the pandemic.
Carl F Groupco’s Regional Sales Team Leader Nathalie McKee and Purchasing Manager Lisa Davy have both celebrated ten years’ service for the hardware distributor. Nathalie and Lisa are the latest in a lengthy list of long servers for Carl F Groupco. During 2020, Credit Controller Edward Barnard also achieved the accolade and they join eighteen other Carl F Groupco employees who have passed the decade milestone.
In 2010, Nathalie joined the company as Sales Co-ordinator and was subsequently promoted to Regional Sales Team Leader. Nathalie enjoys her busy role managing the sales office team in the Peterborough head office, keeping customers updated regarding products and services; developing the internal sales team; preparing sales reports; taking responsibility for large customer accounts and liaising with customers. Nathalie says Carl F Groupco is a great company to work for: she emphasises the close teamwork, particularly during the pandemic where the organisation has pulled together to continue supplying essential hardware products.
Lisa Davy also joined the company a decade ago after previously working for the company in the sales department. As Purchasing Manager, she oversees ordering stock and ensuring product is available for On Time In Full delivery. Lisa also focuses on maintaining good relationships with suppliers. She is ably assisted by Bobbie-leigh Mckillop. Lisa observes that, over the last ten years, a major achievement for the company has been overcoming Brexit, twice – Lisa played a key role in ensuring stock levels were organised for the two major Brexit deadlines to safeguard supply of hardware throughout.
The celebrations were marked by colleagues who extended their thanks and congratulations to Natalie and Lisa who were working from home at the time due to coronavirus restrictions.
Carl F Groupco: www.carlfgroupco.co.uk


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This year saw 25 percent more desktops, notebooks and tablets sold in the U.S. compared to last year, but it was not a pleasant one for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The company’s flagship MacBook computers were outsold by Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chromebooks in the U.S., and the iPad lost market share to its Android and Windows counterparts, according to a new report from the NPD Group.
The data in the report, published by the New York-based market research company, showed that a total of 14.4 million desktops, notebooks and tablets were sold in the U.S. in 2013. Overall, Chromebooks and Android-powered tablets collectively had the biggest impact on this jump -- selling 1.76 million units -- from January through November of this year, while Apple’s MacBook and iPad lines lost market share during the same period.
"The market for personal computing devices in commercial markets continues to shift and change," Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. "New products like Chromebooks, and reimagined items like Windows tablets, are now supplementing the revitalization that iPads started in personal computing devices."
Chromebook sales witnessed the most drastic change with a 9.4 percent increase in market share compared to the same 11-month period in 2012. While Apple’s notebooks accounted for only 1.8 percent of the market -- a drop from last year's share -- Windows-powered notebooks dominated despite a drop of 8.8 percentage points from last year’s 42.9 percent share.
In the tablet segment, the iPad’s share was greater than that of both Android and Windows tablets. However, the iPad's share of unit sales in the U.S. this year was down from the same period a year ago, while sales of tablets powered by Android and Windows grew by 4.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
In the list of top personal-computing device brands, Apple stood third with a 16.1 percent unit share in 2013. This list was led by HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Lenovo (HKG:0992) with a 30.4 percent and 23.3 percent unit share, respectively. Samsung (KRX:005935) came in fourth with a 10 percent unit share.
The news follows a report in October stating that Mac sales were down 7 percent year-on-year for the full September quarter, as the decline of traditional PC sales has been triggered in part due to the rising popularity of tablets.
"Tepid Windows PC sales allowed brands with a focus on alternative form factors or operating systems, like Apple and Samsung, to capture significant share of a market traditionally dominated by Windows devices," Baker said. "Yet the Windows PC in commercial channels is clearly not dead, and its biggest brand proponents, HP and Lenovo, remain deeply committed to that product."


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Rajeev Chitalia has been invited as the Chairman of the National Executive Council (NEC) for Plastindia 2018 to be held in Feb 2018 at Gandhinagar. He was the Vice President of Plastindia Foundation for 2013-2015 period. Mr Padeep Nayyar and Mr Tushar Parekh are the two Co Chairmen of the NEC.
His company Precious International an ISO 9001:2008 certified company exports their products to 23 countries worldwide. In the year 2008 Mr. Chitalia established an Pvt. Ltd company Electrofocus Electricals Pvt. Ltd. an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, introducing an entire new range of products that catered to the electrical contracting as well as electrical utility companies worldwide. He was elected as the Vice Chairman of The Plastics Export Promotion Council in the year 2009 and after serving his term for 2 years took over as the Chairman of The Plastic Export Promotion Council for the years 2011 - 2013.


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What we're reading this morning in the Motoramic Dash about Nissan reviving Datsun, the boomlet in tiny Toyota hybrids and the latest big cat in China:
Nissan revives Datsun brand for developing markets [Bloomberg] Nothing would make me happier than to report that Nissan has decided to revive the Datsun brand for a line of small, inexpensive sports cars in the spirit of the original 240Z and the 510s that have turned into a favorite of classic racers — but sadly, that's not true. Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn will bring back the Datsun name, but only for a series of small cars in places like Indonesia that Nissan feels might cheapen its own name.
Hyundai teases new seven-passenger Santa Fe for New York Auto Show [Hyundai] This is one of the "teaser" shots released today of the updated Hyundai Santa Fe SUV the Korean automaker will reveal at the New York Auto Show in two weeks. Hyundai devotes a few hundred words to describing the new look of the Santa Fe as "Storm Edge" design, and congrats to them for that piece of creating writing, but the real news lies in the photos showing three rows of seats, which would pitch the Santa Fe as a full-fledged competitor to models such as the Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander.
Jaguar Land Rover seals deal with China's Chery [Reuters] Because the one thing missing from the Chinese market is luxury SUVs, Jaguar Land Rover has agreed to build a plant and research center in eastern China with Chery, the kind of partnership required by Chinese government rules. Those same rules require a lengthy approval process before anything can proceed — and no one can say when that approval will arrive.
Toyota Prius C gets early price gouging [GreenCarReports] The new Toyota Prius C coupe is not just a hit in Japan, where demand has forced Toyota to ramp up production. As GreenCarReports found, a Florida Toyota dealer saw an opening to put a $6,995 "market adjustment" mark-up on one Prius C, pushing its final price higher than a regular Prius. Anyone confronted by such behavior from dealers has two choices: Haggle them until their fingers bleed from keystroking a calculator, or just sit tight.
Top photo: AP


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By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The folks from the Lil’ Pop Shop in West Philadelphia have just opened a second store, at 4th and South Streets.
Owner Jeanne Chang’s initial popsicle store and her mobile ice pop truck did so well this year that she opened a second store across town.
“We’re opening up at 534 South 4th Street, which is across from Jim’s Steaks and Starbucks,” she tells KYW Newsradio.
And their flavors are unconventional.
“We have a cherry lambic,” Chang says. “We use fresh cherries and then we add a lambic, which is a German cherry beer, to it. We are mostly inspired by what’s seasonal and what comes from the local farms, and we also have a strawberry rhubarb lemonade right now, and all the ingredients except the lemons are local.”
Hear the full “Lil’ Pop Shop” interview (runs 4:19)…


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The US Senate has passed another bill in hopes of salvaging America’s small businesses, to the tune of nearly $500B and some Democrats say there will be more on the way. Meantime we are waiting on the House to approve the bill, that vote is expected tomorrow.
I get it, desperate measures for desperate times and all, but there is no way Uncle Sam can spend our way out of this mess. The only way to get the economy back on track is to…well…get the economy back on track and we are seeing the first signs of that.
Meanwhile those $1200 stimulus checks that many people haven’t gotten yet? Well there are signs that that’s not enough either and that should come as no surprise.
According to a Wallet Hub survey 60 million Americans are less than three months away from going completely broke. What's more a staggering 29% are less than one month away from running out of money.
No amount of money whether it be PPP or personal stimulus checks can save this economy. Only reopening it (carefully) can do that.


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Chairman Carper’s Statement on Insolvency of Major Bitcoin Exchange
WASHINGTON: Today, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) release the following statement on the news of the collapse of Mt. Gox, a major Bitcoin exchange based in Japan:
“The disturbing news today from Japan is a reminder of the damage potentially ill equipped and unregulated financial actors can wreak on unsuspecting consumers. U.S. policymakers and regulators can and should learn from this incident to protect consumers. For months, our Committee has been calling on law enforcement, industry, and relevant regulators to come to the table and engage in meaningful dialogue to provide clear rules of the roads for entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers. Without these rules, businesses can’t be successful and consumers can’t be protected. If today’s news is true, it is a sad violation of consumer trust, whether through malicious action or simple incompetence. Regardless, it’s unacceptable.
“My staff is working closely working with relevant federal agencies to determine what lessons can be learned from this failure to help ensure this does not happen here in the United States.
“As any industry matures it will face growing pains and there will be individuals who believe they can use the fog of uncertainty to cover up their follies. When it comes to policy, it is the responsibility of the federal government to steer the boat, not row the boat. Our Committee will continue to work closely with relevant U.S. government entities to steer the boat away from nefarious actors – and it’s up to legitimate, law abiding industry partners to row the boat into law abiding waters.”


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General Motors’ OnStar communications business will begin this month to offer in-car connections to Facebook and text messages. OnStar will soon rolling out service that allow “voice-activated Facebook” operation from your vehicle. Drivers will be able to hear updates read to them or be able to update their own Facebook status as well as send text messages.
OnStar will also launch an ad campaign in mid-September with the tag line “Live On,” the source said. GM executives realize Ford’s image has benefited from marketing Sync, the person said, and GM wants to catch up.
According to source “OnStar is considering enabling some of these services for free to non-subscribers, but that hasn’t been finalized.”


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New data released by Fair Trade USA reveals a significant growth in socially responsible food. The biggest third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. said that data for its fresh produce program shows strong growth across nearly every source country and product, which translates into more than 71.5 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified fresh fruit and vegetables imported in 2011, or a 40 percent increase over 2010.
But Americans are not only going bananas over Fair Trade fresh produce. New additions such as watermelons, bell peppers, cantaloupes, tomatoes and others have made it into the Fair Trade Certified produce mix.
"There's a lot of momentum right now as retailers start to see positive sales data and ask more of their growers to get Fair Trade Certified," said Hannah Freeman, Director of Produce and Floral for Fair Trade USA. "They see Fair Trade as a way to invest in the sustainability of their supply chain while giving consumers the traceability they increasingly seek when purchasing fresh produce. It's like a farmers market gone global."
The organization anticipates that 2012 will be a success story, since over 55 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified produce were imported in the first half of the year, which is more than in 2010.
Antonio Pasolini is a Corporate Social Responsibility writer for Justmeans, Antonio Pasolini is a journalist based in Brazil who writes about alternative energy, green living and sustainability. He also edits Energyrefuge.com, a top web destination for news and comment on renewable energy and Elpis.org, a recycled paper bag/magazine distributed from health food stores in London, formerly his hometown for over a decade. He is also a happy herbivore.
KEYWORDS: Farming, Sustainable Food, socially responsible food, sustainability, Fair Trade USA, fruit, vegetables, Fair Trade Certified
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Posts From Scott Webster
Google’s single tap method of payment coming to snack machines in various markets.
Bitdefender, one of the bigger players in the internet security game, has released a new mobile security application for Android. Called Bitdefender Mobile Security, it’s the result of more than
The Sony Ericsson gets yet another exclusive game today as EA Sports brings FIFA 12 to the Xperia PLAY. Using gameplay optimized specifically for the “Playstation Phone”, players can have
One of Lookout’s principal engineers, Tim Wyatt, took to the company’s blog to weigh in on the situation surround Carrier IQ and the logging of keystrokes. According to Wyatt, Lookout
We’re still a few hours away from LG’s New York event this evening where we expect to see an official unveiling of the new Nitro HD for AT&T. Featuring a
Inertia: Escape Velocity Crash Lands onto the App Store and Android Market Today Challenging and Unique Anti-Gravity Platformer Promises Console Experience on Touch Devices Hermes’ ship has crashed in a
Designed for players of all ages, new Android game arrives on December 15th.
We just got word from Samsung advising that a white version of their AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket will be available on December 4th. The internals remain the exact same
Verbatim, no stranger to the tech industry, has rolled out a new Bluetooth keyboard this week with an attractive price tag and a pair of color choices. If you’re looking
We learned of a new RSS reader for Android devices today which provides a clean, intuitive way of keeping up to date with news as it happens. Called Unfold News
Gameloft has just dropped us a note, advising that they have released a free, ad-supported version of UNO into the Android Market. It appears to be the exact same experience
LG and Box today announced a partnership which will see the handset maker giving their Android consumers 50GB of free cloud-based storage. Those who own an LG Android device are
The top three hardware makers for Android in the United States are HTC, Motorola, and Samsung.
NewPCGadgets, the guys behind the incredibly simple yet handy Smartphone Coasters, recently reached out to us to alert us to their new Kindle Coasters. Looking much like a larger version of


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In a piece titled “Why Brands Should Enable the New Dad” yesterday, Matt Carmichael talked facts and figures about the recent father research by The Parenting Group and Edelman. What they found is that fathers feel that they’re doing a whole lot of grocery shopping and not getting credit for it.
Carmichael says that basically anywhere between 40% and 70% of dads say that they’re doing the grocery shopping for their household. The graphic above is from The Parenting Group and Edelman, minus our always-rude vandalism.
This commercial’s been floating around since the Oscars, but we let it go just to create a false sense of security. But, it’s been long enough, and Hyundai had its fun. Time to die.
Hyundai, your Azera commercial “Modern Life” does not depict modern life at all, propagates the untruth that fathers are incapable parents and cooks, and is insulting to mothers. So shame on you.
Some serious sh*t went flying onto Huggies’ wall yesterday. The fallout was in response to their latest “Dad Test” campaign, which was a series of 30 second commercials which transformed randomly photogenic dads into lab rats – or was I watching a preview for an Inception sequel?
Oh well, who needs to pay for focus groups when you have a free corporate Facebook page? When all else fails, use minigun.
Long story short: Philips knows for a fact that fathers don’t care about their babies. Also, Philips has money. Lots. You don’t. Checkmate.
Philips also doesn’t believe in fathers as parents. The story starts with a dude named Oren Miller. You might know him from his site, A Blogger and a Father. Oren was poking around the internet one day looking for hair clippers for kids, and unearthed Philips’ ugly opinion of dads. And being that us fathers have to stand together to defeat exclusion, Oren and I came together like Voltron to defeat Philips. It worked!
(It mostly didn’t work.)
We’ve been doing a fair amount of talk here about “dadvertising” lately – that is – ads involving or aimed at fathers. But what if these dadvertisements weren’t for fathers, but rather featured fathers to get to mothers? This is the question that ModernMom blogger Liz Hawks kicks around to varying degrees of success. And thanks to my buddy Kat Gordon, Founder of Maternal Instinct for bringing this article to my attention.
First off, let me just get this out of the way: Damnit, Hawks – let us have something. We’re finally starting to see commercials with a positive portrayal of fathers, and you’re going to make me think that marketers and ad wizards are just trying to get to you?!
…or, that was my takeaway from the infomercial. And it’s not just for fathers! If you’re a man that hates the sound of your wife’s voice, the My Zone Headphones are for you!
The poor dude above is a remorseful father. He often sits in his lounge chair and thinks back to his single days, when he’d hang out with his buddies all weekend, throw back a couple cases of beer and talk about how rad that one time in high school was when they all got some drunk senior chick from another school to show her boobs under the bleachers at homecoming. This dude just needs some sort of time machine to get him back to a more peaceful time when he didn’t have kids getting in the way, leaving their toys in the hallway and totally ruining his Saturday morning buzz.
The answer, inevitably, is My Zone Headphones, infomercial after the jump.
In an age where fathers are more involved than ever at home and in internet conversations, you’ve got to wonder how any brand still consciously ignores dads. That’s just what Triaminic has done, not only in their latest commercial, but also on their website.
Check out the offending ad and website material after the jump.


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As if traders did not have enough reasons to be worried, here is Deutsche Bank's Chief China Economist Zhiwei Zhang, who writes that the arrest of Huawei's CFO on Dec 1 due to an US extradition request over Iran sanctions "is a clear signal that the trade war is escalating to a new level. We think the probability of US and China reaching a trade deal by Mar 1 has dropped to 30% from 40%. US business interests in China face higher risk than before."
Some more details:
Huawei - Technology - Companies - China - News
Huawei has been widely recognized as one of the most successful technology companies in China. This news pushed policy makers in...


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HUL slips as royalty payments set to double in five years
The FMCG major, which reported a 15% increase in its net profit, announced that it will also enter into a new agreement with Unilever Plc (and entities of the Unilever Group) for the provision of technology, trademark licenses and other services to HUL.
“The new agreement envisages that the existing royalty cost of (approx) 1.4% of turnover will increase, in a phased manner, to a royalty cost of (approx) 3.15% of turnover no later than the financial year ending March 31, 2018, i.e., a total estimated increase of 1.75% of turnover,” stated a release issued by HUL.
Within minutes of the announcement, the shares fell to an intra-day low of R465.30, down 6.16% or R30.55. This was the biggest single-day fall in almost four years for the Indian major that boasts of brands across segments, including soaps, detergents, beverages, packaged foods and skin care.
By the end of the trading session, however, it recovered most of the lost ground to close at R481.55, down 2.88% or R14.30. The volumes also saw a huge spurt on Tuesday.
Experts tracking the counter say that the immediate knee-jerk reaction can be attributed to the increased royalty payment. Incidentally, the recent past has seen some other Indian companies also increasing the quantum of royalty payment to their respective parent entities.
“Our preliminary analysis suggests 3% and
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