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- Roshan Perera on Mövenpick’s five year anniversary
Having opened their doors to it’s 24-storied property five years ago in January 2017, Mövenpick Hotel is celebrating their fifth year of lighting up the Colombo skyline with its unique brand of hospitality and stylish vertical experience.
Over the years, as a 5-star hotel, Mövenpick introduced guests from across the world to an intriguing and fascinating gastronomic journey, encapsulated in a luxurious and stunning interior. Commenting on this significant milestone the Mövenpick General Manager Roshan Perera said: “Having served Colombo for five years, we have had the privilege of facilitating customers, the world over, to create their own magical Mövenpick moments.” However, he added that these five years also did comprise many challenges for the hospitality industry.
Perera stated that having faced many remarkable highs and also some very deep lows caused by tumultuous external challenges, in its five years of existence, the anniversary theme for Mövenpick Colombo is aptly, “Celebrating Five years of Gratitude”.
Elaborating further on the theme, he expressed that there is no doubt that they have come thus far, because of the trust that their customers and partners placed in them, allowing Mövenpick to be part of their cherished moments. He added that Mövenpick Colombo seeks to celebrate its customers and partners, whose loyalty supported the hotel and gave it wings to fly high and rise above choppy waters, to remain filled with purpose and optimism. “To Mövenpick Colombo, its customers are simply put, their very raison d’etre and this fifth year anniversary is completely dedicated to celebrating all of Mövenpick Hotel’s treasured guests,” he stated graciously.
He also added: “In order to say ‘Thank You’, we have created an array of ‘Gratitude Offers’, to highlight how much we appreciate the patronage and loyalty of our customers.”
At the high tea that was exclusively held for the media to celebrate their anniversary, it was announced that the Mövenpick has curated meticulously planned “Gratitude Offers” that showcase its appreciation of guests and partners. A 25% discount will be presented at any restaurant of choice, on all à la carte meals. An extended three-hour “Happy Hour at Vistas” will begin from 5 p.m. till 8 p.m. Robata Grill and Lounge, the hotel’s Asian inspired restaurant will also gift a free bottle of wine to diners who dine in groups of five, in addition to the 25% discount available on à la carte. These offers are available from 7 to 16 January.
Meanwhile Ayu will serve a special “Weekend Celebration Buffet” at affordable rates. This special buffet will be available on 7 to 9 and 14 to 16 January and Perera told us that it will also feature a mouthwatering kid’s buffet selection, making it a scrumptious celebration for the whole family.
Also on offer will be incredible staycation deals, with all-inclusive junior suite offers for with special pampering touches such as breakfast in bed and high tea for two at Ayu restaurant. This is in addition to a host of other remarkable room deals for a relaxing break to unwind and recharge after a tough 2021.
We asked Perera what initiatives they’ve taken in order to ensure the safety of their guests from the pandemic, to which he responded that Mövenpick Colombo considers the safety of guests and employees as priority and therefore, is stringently focused on guest safety and adheres to the highest safety standards stipulated by the AccorHotels Group, of which Mövenpick is a part of.
So take advantage of all these irresistible offers and head on over for a relaxing meal or a staycation.


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"Don't drink and drone!" That's the advice in this fun video produced by SparkAerial, a start-up co-founded by Jacobs School computer science alums Radley Angelo, Kurt Selander and Austin Hill. The company bills itself as a full-service UAV shop and offers for example custom-built quadcopters and other flying UAVs and aerial cinematography services.
The team got their start in the Engineers for Exploration program here at the Jacobs School. Their got to accompany researcher Albert Lin on his expedition to find Genghis Khan's tomb in Mongolia. Since then, their work has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America and the National Geographic Channel, among many others.
They have recently launched a Kickstarter to create a drone pilot school. So far, with 26 days to go, backers have pledged $3,115 of a $5,000 goal. The money would go to creating an aerial cinematography video training series and an online resource center for aspiring drone pilots.
According to their Kickstarter page:
Our goal here is simple; we want to teach the world how to have fun, fly safe, and capture amazing content. The series covers everything from the basics, like choosing a copter and taking off for the first time, to more advanced piloting maneuvers that will make your video the talk of the town.

domain: news


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According to the official, the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union or EAEU are struggling to reach a common position on the regulation of cryptocurrency.
Iya Malkina, Assistant Chair of the Eurasian Economic Commission, said that EAEU member countries did not support the recent initiative to create a unified regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in the Union.
At a briefing on Wednesday, Malkina explained that the Eurasian Economic Commission has received several proposals to synchronize rules in the blockchain and cryptoindustry. The EEC also recommended the development of a uniform basic regulatory framework within the Eurasian Economic Union with a uniform glossary and principles. “But this proposal did not receive support,” the official said.
Malkina said that the EEC has been analyzing the impact of cryptocurrencies on the macroeconomic stability of the EAEU countries since December 2017.
The EAEU is an economic federation of countries located in Eastern Europe, Western and Central Asia, which includes in particular Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia. The federation was formed in 2014 to facilitate the free movement of goods and services, as well as to ensure general macroeconomic policy.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, the EAEU is looking for an approach to promoting cryptocurrency regulation and has published its first report on issues related to cryptocurrency regulation in 2019. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Finance urged the EAEU to launch its own system. Digital currency to circumvent US sanctions.


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Here’s What You Need to Know About CBD Oil
In the past year there’s been a growing buzz for CBD, short for “cannabidiol” which is a chemical compound found in marijuana. It comes in a variety of forms, including oil, creams, and capsules. While CBD won’t make you high, many people have found that it helps with moderate anxiety and chronic pain. It also, apparently, makes for a pretty good vinaigrette.
What Is CBD Oil?
The two most prevalent oils that come from cannabis plants are hemp oil and CBD oil. According to Westword’s in-house weed expert, the biggest difference between the two is which part of the plant they’re sourced from; hemp oil is pressed from the seeds, while CBD oil is derived from the flowers. Neither oil contains THC, the psychoactive chemical that makes Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties seem like the pinnacle of western cinema.
Hemp oil and the kind of CBD oil that we’re discussing are sourced from hemp, which is a kind of cannabis that must contain less than 0.3 percent THC. Hemp is considered an agricultural product, while marijuana is, you know, a recreational one.
CBD oil gets its own powers (and its abbreviation) from cannabidiol, one of the many cannabinoids, or chemical compounds, found in the cannabis plant. It has recently been considered as a treatment option for everything from anxiety to chronic pain, and researchers have considered its potential to help with some forms of pediatric epilepsy and with opioid addiction.
Here’s where we point out that no, this is not the same as medical marijuana; that involves marijuana, not hemp, and it definitely includes THC. Also, double-no, these claims have not yet been evaluated by the FDA.
CBD Oil and Food
CBD oil has also started to appear in foods-with-benefits, like Not Pot chocolates, a snack that is being sold as a “chocolate with benefits.” Its manufacturer suggests that CBD content might aid relaxation and de-stressing. Somewhat confusingly, though, it uses cutesy branding like “We go high,” while reminding customers that no, really, CBD oil isn’t going to make you high.
At this year’s Orange County Fair, chef Keiko Beatty did a cooking demonstration that involved using CBD oil in a vegan chocolate pudding and in the strawberry vinaigrette that accompanied her arugula tofu hemp salad. And, on the other side of the country, organic vegan juice bar Raleigh Raw has started offering CBD oil as an add-in for its smoothies.
Just remember, whether you’re eating CBD oil in bite-sized chocolate pieces or pouring it over your salad, those Garfield movies are still going to be terrible.
Have you tried cooking with CBD oil? Have you felt any less stressed after consuming it?


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PetSmart employees are suing the company claiming staffers are being forced to pay thousands for 'free' grooming training
- PetSmart employees are suing the company on claims it's illegally saddling staffers with debt.
- Participants in "Grooming Academy" are required to pay back thousands in fees if they leave the company before two years.
PetSmart employees are suing the company on claims that the retailer's "free" grooming training program is, in fact, not so free after all.
In a class-action lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, plaintiff Breann Scally alleges that though PetSmart "promises aspiring groomers free, paid training," the company is illegally saddling staffers with debt by forcing some to pay back thousands in training costs as part of a repayment stipulation.
According to the suit, employees interested in participating in PetSmart's Grooming Academy must sign a "Training Repayment Agreement Provision," which states that if an employee leaves before two years, they are required to pay back the $5,000 cost of the training.
The stipulation also applies to employees who involuntarily leave the company if they are fired or laid off, the lawsuit states.
Scally writes that the stipulation "strips PetSmart workers of bargaining power that they could use to seek out employment opportunities in which they would be paid more or treated better."
Further, the lawsuit claims the training fails to deliver on promises to provide "exclusive instruction from a dedicated teacher in a classroom setting as well as a supervised, hands-on grooming experience."
"Prospective groomers quickly find themselves grooming dogs for paying customers and may have to struggle for attention from overextended trainers or salon managers," the lawsuit states. "Despite its academic-sounding name, Grooming Academy does not provide employees with a recognized degree or credentialing."
A PetSmart spokesperson told Insider that while the company does not comment on litigation, the company is "proud that PetSmart's on-the-job training program offers a rewarding career path without the out-of-pocket costs associated with other training programs" which "can cost more than $10,000."
"PetSmart is committed to supporting the professional development of our associates," the spokesperson said.
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Salesforce is no longer interested in making a bid for Twitter, which means the troubled firm may not be sold after all, although its advisers are still seeking other potential bidders.
Earlier this month it was reported Twitter wanted to conclude negotiations about its potential sale before 27 October, when it reports its Q3 earnings.
By then Google and Walt Disney were already out of the running. Salesforce was probably the last company that was still mulling an acquisition.
“In this case we’ve walked away. It wasn’t the right fit for us,” Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, said in an interview with the Financial Times.
“You’re going to look at price, you’re going to look at culture, you’re going to look at everything,” he added.
The report said Benioff was under pressure from shareholders and investors, as they wanted to know why a company that sells sales enterprise software wanted to buy a troubled internet company.
A venture capital investor close to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Salesforce’s decision may put an end to speculation of a sale and help Dorsey focus on a strategy to bring back user growth at the company, Reuters reported.
The Salesforce pursuit of Twitter came after it lost out to Microsoft in acquiring LinkedIn.
Twitter was seeking a sale after struggling to grow its user base for more than year, and remains loss making.
It is thought to be valued at $16 billion.


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Total Transaction Management (TTM), a provider of transaction-oriented middleware, has launched RESTjee API software. RESTjee is designed to streamline creation and implementation of REST APIs for access to virtually any data store. Its ease of use stems from the elimination of server-side code.
Realm, a mobile-first application development startup, recently announced the release of a new service tier. The Professional Edition aims to bridge the gap between the free developer-edition and the enterprise edition which had been previously offered.


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Canon has more-or-less confirmed what many had hoped, and rumor sites had already been reporting: in-body image stabilization (IBIS) and dual card slots will both be included in the “high-end” EOS R model that the brand is “considering” (read: has in development).
The revelation came during a meeting between Amateur Photographer magazine and Canon UK in London. AP writes that, while it’s still “early days” for the development of this camera, “we were told that the company is looking into developing in-body stabilisation” and that the high-end EOS R model “will be designed with dual card slots.”
This probably comes as a relief for Canon shooters who are holding out for that rumored high-end EOS R, but it comes with a caveat. As Canon Rumors explained in a recent report, this news, combined with the development announcement of the Canon EOS 1D X Mark III without any mention of IBIS, makes it very unlikely that Canon will include IBIS in any of its upcoming DSLRs.
Meanwhile, it’s been rumored time-and-again that Nikon’s D6 will feature IBIS.
For all the talk of DSLRs being obsolete in the face of the mirrorless revolution, it certainly looks like we’re in for a fresh flagship showdown between Canon and Nikon just in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Something to look forward to while we wait for the next generation of full-frame mirrorless cameras.


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When passing new laws regulating business, rarely do policymakers consider the unintended consequences. But they are always present.
In this case, it has to do with a 2011 New York law aimed at regulating Airbnb—the service that allows people to rent out living spaces on a night-by-night basis as a sort of bed and breakfast—hence the name. Like ridesharing services Uber and Lyft, Airbnb is considered a part of the growing “sharing economy” that has both liberals and conservatives cheering the smart use of existing resources for the mutual benefit of willing parties. The sharing economy is an example of the free market at work, satisfying the needs of consumers and padding the pockets of anyone with an extra room or car (see here for more).
Like ridesharing, Airbnb has been wildly popular. Also like ridesharing, or really any innovative new service, it has a huge target on its back for local and state bureaucrats wanting to regulate it. Aiding this effort is the fact that the hotel industry has loaded for bear against its new, smaller internet-oriented competitor.
So back to the New York law. In 2011, the State of New York passed a law that defines “illegal hotels” so that state and local agencies can more easily regulate them. The Cato Institute’s blog Cato@Liberty has a post up explaining how the law has had the unintended consequence of affecting actual bed and breakfasts—the very kinds of businesses the law was intended to protect!
Apparently, New York City bureaucrats are now using the law to investigate not only Airbnb properties, but also actual bed and breakfasts (B&B), throwing up tons of red tape to make doing business harder than ever.
The blog quotes from a Crain’s New York Business article that puts in clear terms the difficulty borne by the city’s B&B industry in the wake of the law.
The law, along with competition from home-sharing service Airbnb, has decimated the already small bed-and-breakfast business in the city, current and former B&B operators say.
One wonders if the law would have passed had interested policymakers taken the time to speak with real-life bed and breakfast owners and Airbnb operators to see how they would be affected. Maybe, just maybe, they would have seen that adding layers of regulations to small business owners would put them out of business.


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Business & Policy
US Corn-Based Plastics Gain Popularity in Japan
Researchers and processors are exploring more industrial applications using farm-based commodities, and it appears that work is beginning to pay-off, with Japanese investors increasing imports of corn-based plastics in 2008.
October 31, 2008 By United States Grains Council
October 31, 2008
With the worldwide increase in popularity of ‘going-green,’ US polylactic acid (PLA), the biodegradable plastic-like material made from corn, has certainly made waves in overseas industries. “Products made from PLA are gaining popularity among consumers with its environmentally friendly characteristics in two dimensions: One is its biodegradability and the other is its sustainability,” said Hiroko Sakashita, US Grains Council associate director in Japan. “Currently those products are drawing the attention of environment conscious companies including ones making efforts to show reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.” According to Japan customs’ trade statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, Japan, the second largest importer of US PLA, imported close to 5,800 metric tons in the 2007 calendar year, 99 percent of which came from the United States. So far in 2008, Japan has already imported nearly 5,000 tons from the United States and is expected to purchase more. USGC has promoted the use of PLA in Japan through educational videos and marketing efforts including taking a group of fashion designers to the Value Enhanced Grains International Conference in Orlando, Fla., in 1999 to demonstrate PLA textiles in the apparel market. Many Japanese companies have invested in the environment-friendly material because it can be processed like any other thermoplastic material, but is a more sustainable option. PLA has been adapted into Japanese production for uses such as automobile manufacturing, utilizing the fabric material to make the seats currently used by Mazda; building materials; household electric appliances and furnishings; food packaging; disposable packages and many more durable goods. PLA development has also succeeded in improving soft and clear films with enhanced heat resistance, making food packaging and disposable packaging more accommodating.
NatureWorks LLC, a joint venture company owned by Cargill and Teijin Limited, reportedly has plans to double its current production capacity for PLA with mentions of plans to expand facilities to the Asian region. “This news interests Japanese manufacturers very much,” Sakashita said. “Japan’s industry is expecting that PLA supply cost might be lowered by the potential expansion in PLA production.”


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Historically, we have thought of the "gamer" as a male between the ages of 10 and 24. But industry experts know that this demo has been changing for quite some time,
especially in the area of casual games, which are easily accessible, often free and not necessarily time-consuming. According to a report from the Casual Games Association, a significant portion of
the 150 million users worldwide are women over 30: "What that suggests rather clearly is that casual games have succeeded in expanding the overall electronic games market, creating greater gender
balance than could ever be achieved by the first-person shooter and massively popular multi-player PC and console games."
Lifetime Games, a top section of mylifetime.com, ranks among the
Top 25 online gaming sites for women but apparently thinks women prefer games like The Perfect Prom Dress
and Open House
, the goal of which is to build complete couches, over games
. "It is a great way for a woman to check out and relieve stress for 20 minutes," says Dan Suratt, vice president of digital media for Lifetime. Indeed, we're sure
nothing relieves the stress of the campaign trail for Michelle Obama like a good dress-up game. The site boasts 1 million unique visitors each month; the potential first lady clearly isn't the only
one rushing home every night to check out the latest game. But who is playing? If you take a look at the comments sections, the answer becomes clear: illiterate women and women who don't speak any
English. Of course, the games found on Lifetime could be a classic case of quality being sacrificed for quantity: Starting early this year, Lifetime's goal was to release a new game every week.
(Recently: Use the BurgerTron to assemble mouth-watering meals and keep your customers satisfied.)
Women's important role in online gaming is not limited to one of consumer. In
collaboration with Playboy Enterprises, THQ Wireless recently launched Playboy Games. The first title, Pool Party
, is supposedly based on "actual events held at the Playboy Mansion," such as
water balloon fights, waterslide slaloms and aquatic mechanical bull riding. All those women gamers can now maneuver animated, bikini-clad Playmates. Hooray for gender balance.


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TCO Development: Navigating the Sustainable IT Revolution
As companies continue on the path to sustainability and CIOs begin to demand sustainable IT sourcing, it may be time we lift the curtain to the risks and the often-overlooked human cost behind IT sourcing. IT supply chains can be riddled with exposure to labour law violations, unsafe working conditions, harmful emissions, and toxic waste streams.
A Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) coordinated global review of randomly selected websites has so far found that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading consumers.
Exaggerated, unverified sustainability claims and industry-wide greenwashing increases brand risk and add to the challenges faced by those looking to drive authentic sustainability and ethical procurement.
Released today, the company behind the sustainability certification for IT products TCO Certified, TCO Development, has launched a new report – 'Navigating the Sustainable IT Revolution, The critical role of independent verification'.
Offering insights based on the experience with TCO Certified, along with expert voices from policy officials, NGOs, scientists, factory auditors, product testing, and procurement, the report helps IT buyers identify and understand the sustainability risks associated with IT procurement, how to avoid use independent verification organisations to avoid green/blue washing and false claims. The report also helps you to find an ecolabel with rigorous verification standards and three key questions to ask suppliers.
"The millions of workers in the supply chain often face poverty wages, dangerous and unsafe working conditions, and stand without social protections. This has clearly been identified within electronics and IT," says Parul Sharma, CEO of the Academy for Human Rights in Business, who has contributed to the report.
"It's critical that organisations get independent proof of environmental and supply chain impacts connected to the products they source. Reputations, stakeholder credibility and accuracy, are on the line more than ever," says Clare Hobby, Director Purchaser Engagement, Global at TCO Development.
"With our Impacts and Insights report, we want to give purchasers the tools for avoiding the common risks of relying on greenwash and false product claims. Getting proof of what's actually happening in the IT supply chain gives any organisation the confidence to stand behind their sustainability efforts," Clare Hobby concludes.
Download the report Impacts and Insights: Navigating the Sustainable IT Revolution.
About TCO Certified:
With over 30 years of experience, TCO Certified is the world-leading sustainability certification for IT products. Their comprehensive criteria are designed to drive social and environmental responsibility throughout the product life cycle. Covering 11 product categories, including displays, computers and mobile devices, compliance is independently verified, both pre and post-certification.
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Economic recovery in the north-east is reflected in the latest figures for Scottish commercial property sales, an expert said yesterday.
Scottish Property Federation (SPF) director David Melhuish said Aberdeen had outshone both Edinburgh and Glasgow, in terms of sales value, for a second successive quarter.
Sales in the Granite City during the three months to June 30 were worth a total of £123 million, he added.
Sales activity in Edinburgh and Glasgow was “subdued”, worth £122m and £104m respectively, he said.
While Aberdeen’s total was down by 26% on the first three months of the year, it marked a 68% jump year-on-year as the north-east started to rebound from a severe oil and gas downturn.
The figures are from SPF’s latest commercial property market report, which also highlights a 29% drop in Scotland-wide sales quarter-on-quarter.
Nationally, sales during the three months to June totalled £684m.
And while sales in Aberdeen soared year-on-year, the latest Scottish total was down by 13% on April-June 2017.
The Granite City lagged behind Scotland’s two largest cities in terms of sales volumes during the latest quarter.
Aberdeen notched up 48 sales, compared with 110 in Edinburgh and 129 in Glasgow. Analysis of the latest figures for Aberdeen shows sales volumes up on the previous three months (27) but down on the same period last year (57).
Mr Melhuish said: “Overall, it was a mixed quarter for Scottish commercial property sales, with Aberdeen again showing signs of recovery, but subdued elsewhere.
“Generally, recent data for Aberdeen points to a significant improvement on the figures from late 2015 through to 2017.”
Recent deals in Aberdeen include City Wharf, a six-storey mix of retail and leisure accommodation, along with Grade A office space, on Shiprow, which changed hands for £11.35m.
The Travelodge building in Justice Mill Lane sold for £9.8m, while two units at ABZ Business Park, near the airport, fetched a total of £6.43m.
A giant warehouse on Wellington Circle, let to Swedish furniture firm Ikea, wholesaler Booker/Makro, Pure Gym and coffee chain Starbucks, was snapped up by Indian investors for £22.5m and retail units at 196-206 Union Street sold for £5m.


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Carlsberg Singapore is calling all green advocates, university students, creatives and entrepreneurs in Singapore to contribute to its self proclaimed status of “probably the most sustainable beer in the world.”
It has launched a global crowd-sourcing campaign “Cheers to Green Ideas”, which is initiated by the Carlsberg Group headquartered in Copenhagen. “Cheers to Green Ideas” is a global corporate sustainability campaign in partnership with the Think Tank Sustainia, to inspire and incentivise people and companies around the world to provide ideas on how to make Carlsberg beer more sustainable.
The beer brand is looking for ideas that can help Carlsberg improve the environmental impact of beer production, from processing of raw materials, to brewing and transportation, all the way through to recycling of packaging. They should also inspire positive change in consumer behaviour to help drive a more sustainable future. Examples could range from innovative packaging ideas to ways of incentivising recycling, and technologies to increase energy or water efficiency.
“We are delighted to roll out this global crowd-sourcing campaign in Singapore that exemplifies our founder’s firm belief in innovation through the incubation and realisation of great ideas. With the growing pool of innovative young minds in our forward thinking city, we believe that this would afford a splendid opportunity for locally grown sustainability solutions to be implemented on a global scale,” Jolene Yeo, marketing director, Carlsberg Singapore.
The campaign will also be rewarding those with innovative ideas. The Cheers to Green Ideas Award, which is primarily intended for established companies or entrepreneurs with a viable sustainability concept, will see the winner get US$20,000 and a chance to collaborate with Carlsberg experts. Meanwhile, the JC Jacobsen Special Award is aimed primarily at consumers (fun, engaging, behavioral change-based ideas). The winner will receive a US$10,000 and a chance to collaborate with Carlsberg experts.


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Halo Infinite Player Count Dropping: Can it Be Fixed?
Halo Infinite’s initial launch last year was huge. It opened early with a free-to-play multiplayer, getting a great reception from players and fans. It even blew the launch of games like the latest Battlefield completely away. However, cracks have started to show. Between recent delays to key content, lack of co-op campaign, and problems with gameplay, Halo Infinite has stalled.
Even worse, the Halo Infinite player count is dropping. This is what’s happening and why the game has taken this turn.
Halo Infinite’s problems are piling up
Halo Infinite launched to a lot of fanfare, but it has had a few problems since then. Most recently, delays have hit the game. The most recent was the online co-op campaign, this has now been pushed back. It won’t be launching alongside Season 2 of the game in early May. Forge is still on track to finally come with Season 3, but that could be quite a while away at this point. Season 2 of the game will bring some anticipated game modes to the title, but nothing that fans haven’t been expecting for quite some time already.
Halo Infinite has been no stranger to delays. Once the multiplayer launched last year though, most thought the title was back on track. The co-op campaign alongside other features have already seen delays. Season 1 itself has had an extension already, pushing the game’s initial season into a lengthy run. These have been pretty big as far as teething problems go. The game has struggled to maintain a regular flow of content, which has been frustrating for players.
Halo Infinite Player Count Dropping
The initial launch for the Halo Infinite player count was impressive. The game grabbed attention in a way that few Halo titles lately have, managing to achieve hype not seen since the series’ iconic roots. However, the drop-off has been fast in some places. Nowhere is it clearer than on Steam and PC. From a daily high of 30,000, Halo Infinite dropped to 15,000 within months. This is backed up by its performance on platforms like Twitch, where it has struggled to take off.
The Halo Infinite player count dropping on PC is down to some complaints with the game which are pretty understandable. The game isn’t really geared towards a mouse and keyboard which is the dominant play style on the platform. It’s had decent numbers elsewhere, but in general, the count is definitely trending downward. It seems a clear indicator of the fans being unhappy with the game’s progress or lack of progress so far.
Can Halo make a comeback?
Halo Infinite’s drop from prominence isn’t the most surprising given the way development has gone. The title has had trouble following up on its launch, even after it took the extra time needed before release initially. The Halo Infinite play count dropping is a sign of people growing frustrated with the game and its current state. So, what can be done to fix this?
One of the main problems has been how long the content takes to get to the game. However, this isn’t a problem that can be so easily fixed. Development time stretching on might just be the reality of how quickly Halo content can be completed. There isn’t an easy solution for a game’s updates not quite coming quick enough. Content delivered in a timelier manner is clearly a big concern for players, and if Season 2n and 3 keep to their schedule it would likely go a long way. However, there are more general problems with gameplay that fans need addressing too. It’s not just content, but the overall experience.
Halo Infinite’s strong launch showed real potential for a Halo resurgence, as has the continued strength of Halo Infinite esports. If the game can reach a schedule for content that keeps players a bit more satisfied, then the Halo Infinite player count should stabilize a bit. However, players might not feel like sticking around in the meantime.
Halo Infinite’s release schedule was a bit different with pretty core areas of gameplay coming in later seasons. Once this first season is over, we might be in a better place to judge. Otherwise, there are a few good reasons to be worried about Halo Infinite right now.


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Singapore exports log weaker-than-expected rise in December; full-year growth hits 7-year peak
SINGAPORE exporters ended 2017 on a muted note after a year of surging growth, with shipments coming in way below expectations in December.
But for the whole of 2017, growth came in at its strongest pace in seven years on the back of robust global demand for tech products.
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew 3.1 per cent in December, undershooting economist estimates of an 8.6 per cent rise and also much slower than the preceding month's 9.1 per cent increase.
This came as electronics exports - a key growth driver for the economy over the past year - declined 5.3 per cent over the same month a year earlier.
Non-electronics shipments made up the shortfall, rising 6.8 per cent.
NODX to Singapore's top 10 markets went up, with the exception of Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Thailand and Indonesia. The largest contributors to the NODX increase were the European Union, South Korea and Malaysia.
In a note, OCBC Treasury Research pointed out that NODX to China, Singapore's largest export market, also dipped 6 per cent in December.
"This bears watching to see if the December slump to China is a seasonal blip."
For the whole of 2017, NODX grew about 9.2 per cent taking into account the latest December data. This was the strongest pace of expansion in since 2010 and also blew past official forecasts. Trade agency IE Singapore had tipped NODX to rise 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent for the full year.


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Red Veteran Ted Schilowitz Working on CinemaBarco
Barco also partnered with Audience Entertainment on its initiative, which will be further detailed next week at CinemaCon.
Barco has confirmed that Ted Schilowitz --the first employee at of camera maker Red, who left the company last fall for a consulting post at 20th Century Fox -- is also consulting on CinemaBarco. This is effectively a new brand from the digital cinema technology maker that encompasses lobby promotions, interactive preshow and social media, as well as Barco laser projection and Auro 11.1 sound.
Also on Tuesday, Barco revealed that another piece in this initiative is a partnership with New York-based media technology company Audience Entertainment to create an interactive platform for moviegoers called iD (Interactive Dimension). According to the companies, iD could allow audiences to "move and interact as a group, working as a team to influence and determine the outcome of the stories unfolding in front of them." It is recommended for use with advertising, preshow and feature presentations.
Barco plans to further explain its initiative at CinemaCon, which begins March 24 in Las Vegas.
Schilowitz began collaborating with Barco while at Red and more recently has been working with the company at its headquarters in Belgium. Said Barco vp global entertaiment Todd Hoddick in a statement, "Ted brings a refreshing, childlike enthusiasm combined with his unique brand of disruption toward our effort in creating new, exhilarating and communal entertainment experiences."
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Earlier this month, Amazon unveiled it’s new product, the Echo – a voice-controlled, cloud-connected speaker. The easiest way to conceptualize the Echo: Think Siri without the smartphone. The slim, unobtrusive speaker can detect your voice across a room, where it acts as a personal tech assistant from the future. Want to hear your favorite song? Just ask. Suddenly remember something you need to add to your to-do list? Call out to “Alexa,” and she’ll jot notes, take dictation, and more. The list goes on.
Need to know what to wear outside and are too lazy to stick your head outside? All joking aside, Amazon’s Echo represents the future of computing, where cloud-connected devices respond to your every whim without you needing to pick up your phone or look at a screen. With the colossal flop that was the Amazon Fire Phone and a fairly lackluster embrace for Siri, it remains to be seen what impact the Echo will have, but it’s already turning heads in the tech world.
The price is $99 for Prime members, $199 retail.


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Family Dollar shareholders are expected to gather in Charlotte, NC, on Thursday and approve the $76.45 cash-and-stock takeover by rival Dollar Tree — ending one of the nastiest chapters in the dollar-store wars.
The $8.5 billion takeover is also likely to open a new chapter in the retail sector — about how Richard Dreiling, CEO of the No. 1 chain in the sector, Dollar General, misread regulators and blew his chance to grab hold of the long-coveted Family Dollar chain.
Dreiling offered more than Dollar Tree — $80 a share — but will be stuck on the sidelines Thursday as his two major rivals get larger.
“They should have approached the Federal Trade Commission earlier [about its higher rival proposal] and been more hostile with them,” a hedge fund trader said Wednesday about Dreiling and Dollar General.
Also, Dreiling never made an unconditional proposal, further injuring his offer.
The CEO, as part of his misread of the FTC, said he was willing to divest 1,500 out of what would be 20,000 combined stores — but Family Dollar contended that regulators might demand more.
Family Dollar was right and Dreiling was wrong.
The FTC would have required Dreiling to divest as many as 4,000 stores, The Post reported exclusively on Nov. 19.
Family Dollar recently confirmed The Post report.
“Dreiling put in a request to the FTC to review their offer 30 days after they began to show interest,” a source close to the situation said. “He wasted too much time.”
Dollar General did not want to sell 4,000 stores, as it would be buying Family Dollar at around a 12 times EBITDA multiple, and likely would be selling the stores at a much lower 6 times EBITDA, sources said.
“This merger shows that when you are in a battle, you need to move as quickly as you possibly can,” the source close to the situation said.
Dollar General declined comment.


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Music producer Yana Rudkovskaya sells her wardrobe for millions of rubles. This was reported by the Telegram channel. pink birkin.
47-year-old Yana Rudkovskaya decided to sell some branded items from her wardrobe in the Oskelly online store. So, the wife of figure skater Evgeni Plushenko put on sale a red Olympic shirt from the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collection, estimating its cost at 2.7 million rubles. The editors of the Tatler Heroine Telegram channel, emphasizing the exclusivity of the party on display, said: “How everyone fought for these things, how they stretched all ties, how they “searched for Paris” in order to achieve at least something.
Journalists also noted that the music producer is trying to sell used products at a higher price than their original cost: “Yana clearly decided to count all her efforts and turn them into money. “The hero studied offers from Yana on the resale platform. He seems to think that things only become more expensive after you wear them.”
Formerly socialbites.ca reported He said Timati boasted a Hermès crocodile bag for €242,000.


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Dozens of race-goers faced a desperate wait to get their frocks and suits in time for Ascot last week after a Wokingham dry cleaners closed over financial difficulties.
Barrett dry cleaners in Peach Street closed earlier this month after its owners failed to pay rent for several months and the landlord decided to take back possession of the shop.
Customers returned to the shop to pick up goods after Friday, June 11, to find the shop closed.
Barrett owners have since been working with letting agent Pennicott, which is based in Peach Street, to get access to the shop so people can collect goods.
Dozens of people queued for 20 minutes and more last Thursday when the shop was able to open for two hours so customers could collect items.
George Spence, from Wokingham, had dropped a duvet off at the shop the week before. He returned to Barrett twice to collect it only to find the shop closed both times.
He said a notice finally appeared on the shop door telling customers they could collect goods from 11am to midday last Thursday.
Mr Spence said: “There was a lot of people there. Our duvet had been washed but there were some people who collected goods that hadn’t been washed.”
Many of the customers were Ascot race-goers or brides who had left their wedding gowns to be cleaned.
Charles Essilfie-Cuonduah, owner of Barrett, said the run-up to Royal Ascot week, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday last week, was one of the shop’s busiest times.
He said some race fans were disappointed to not be able to collect their suits or dresses, however many were able to collect their items in time.
Steve Griffin, from Pennicott, emphasised the agent had done everything in its power to get goods back to customers.
He added organising this had been difficult in terms of logistics and time.
Mr Griffin said: “We have had to go through hell to try and enable people to get in there and a vast number of people have managed to get in and get their goods.
“There are a few that have not. We are trying to help them right now as well but it is difficult.”
Following the closure, there was no legal obligation for the letting agent to re-open the shop for people to collect goods.
Mr Essilfie-Cuonduah added he hoped an agreement could be reached with the landlord as he now has the ability to pay what is owed.
Mr Griffin said discussions are taking place to resolve the situation.


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Marketplace for Tuesday, September 11, 2012
World Trade Center developers have brought a lawsuit against United and American Airlines for not doing enough to prevent the September 11th attacks. The IRS awarded $104 million awarded to a banker who blew the whistle on his company, but was also convicted of being part of the conspiracy. There are signs that the luxury goods sector is finally being affected by a weak economy. A North Carolina community college is training students so that they are qualified for manufacturing jobs requiring new skills. And Sarah Gardner talks to journalist Bob Woodward about his new book “The Price of Politics,” which examines the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.


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MSC Cruises has pledged to eliminate the use of single-use plastics across its global fleet by the end of the coming Dubai cruise season, March 2019, making it the second major line […]
The Port of Durban has scooped the prestigious title of Africa’s Leading Cruise Port 2018 at the 25th annual World Travel Awards, widely regarded to be the Oscars of the travel industry.
The deployment of a much larger cruise ship in the South African market is a sign of MSC Cruises’ confidence in the SA source market, and of South Africans’ growing desire for […]
British cruise tourists have listed Dubai as their choice for number one luxury holiday destination, ahead of the Maldives and the Seychelles, according to MSC Cruises UK.
For the first time ever, eight cruise lines will be homeporting nine cruise ships in Dubai for the 2019/2020 winter cruise season that runs from November to March annually.
For the first time ever, four cruise lines will be homeporting in South Africa for the 2019/2020 winter cruise season, sailing roundtrip out of Cape Town and Durban.
MSC Cruises will deploy MSC Orchestra in Durban, South Africa for the 2019/2020 cruise season, instead of MSC Musica, according to scheduled itineraries for both ships.
The 2019/2020 Middle East cruise season, which runs from November, 2019 to March, 2020 is set to be the busiest and most popular in the history of cruising in the Arabian Gulf, […]
In the last five years the number of cruise tourists sailing from Dubai has doubled. In the coming 2018/2019 cruise season 725,000 passengers are expected to cruise from Dubai aboard one of […]
One of the easiest and most affordable family holiday options is a cruise. Cruise vacations are easy to plan compared to land holidays, they’re kid-friendly (with the right cruise line) and the […]


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Sometimes getting a company to do the right thing by the earth isn’t a matter of threats or fines. It’s a question of dialects.
"Being able to speak the language is important," says Shauna Sadowski, N05. "Companies have their own language. The field of sustainability is quite different … it’s about a triple bottom line, or how you consider the impact on people and communities, the environment, as well as the financial profit."
Whether the discussion turns to leverage ratios or organic farming techniques, Sadowski can converse fluently. A farmer’s daughter with a business school degree, she has helped Fortune 500 companies translate environmental wish lists into persuasive business cases. She currently tackles sustainability issues for Clif Bar & Co., a California-based maker of energy bars and nutrition drinks that prides itself on its earth-friendly practices.
Sadowski’s area of expertise is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The proposition: that a company should put some conscious thought into its effects on people and the planet. Doing so can certainly look good to consumers, and help sell more widgets in the short term. But the companies that consider the future, Sadowski says, have done their scenario-based risk analysis. In corporate-speak, it’s called "continued supply assurance."
"We cannot continue at the current pace of conventional agriculture," she says. "The amount of pesticides, the amount of soil erosion, just the natural degradation that is taking place with the intensification in agriculture is not sustainable. And it’s contributing to the problems of climate change and water scarcity. Companies have to do things regardless of the consumer. I realize some people will always ask, ‘If consumers won’t buy it, why should we do it?’ If you don’t start looking long-term at this, you won’t have a supply any more, and then you will have nothing to sell."
Clif Bar already buys more than 20 million pounds of organic ingredients (nearly 70 percent of its total ingredients) each year. It hired Sadowski to focus on other attributes that contribute to a sustainable food system, like whether its suppliers use renewable energy and are water-efficient, as well as the social side of food production and processing, like community engagement and workers’ health and well-being. A supplier code of conduct is also in the works.
"I believe that only by working within our supply chain—connecting the various players together along the way, from farm to final product—will we truly contribute to a more sustainable food system," she says.
Raised on a 500-acre farm in Saskatchewan that her father’s father had tilled, Sadowski saw both the pros and cons of working the land. "It was not the idyllic farm life that sometimes is romanticized," she said, noting the financial hardships of running a medium-sized farm. "If you didn’t get big, you got pushed out."
Wanting a more lucrative career, she studied business at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and spent the next four years as a consultant, advising Fortune 500 companies on best practices in strategic planning. Mergers and acquisitions and portfolio analysis were a far cry from the wheat fields of Canada, but "I liked the analytical thought that went behind it," she says. "The issue may have been, say, outsourcing, but the way that you think about it, the analysis that goes on behind it, can really be taken across any problem. This is when I started going back to the socio-economic side of things. How can I bring in these business skills in a way that can benefit society?"
The problem she wanted to tackle was the food industry. So she enrolled at the Friedman School and began to look at ways for the public and private sectors to work together toward sustainable development. Along with Kristen Rainey, F07, she helped put together a panel on sustainability throughout the supply chain, bringing together farmers, companies and NGOs to talk about how they work to promote social and environmental responsibility in their organizations.
After graduation, she moved to San Francisco and took a job with the nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility, where she helped food and agricultural companies incorporate environmental and social practices.


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He was just way too chill.

An Australian man was pulled over by police on Saturday afternoon for driving this homemade motorised Esky down a Victorian sidewalk.

Victoria Police / Via vicpolicenews.com.au
“I mainly drive the Esky to the shops,” he told the Herald-Sun. “It's handy for keeping the groceries and beer cool, but I never drink and drive.”

Earlier this month, an Adelaide man was charged with driving a similar vehicle around a shopping centre carpark.

SA Police / Via police.sa.gov.au


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A new pair of Galaxy Buds will be introduced by Samsung. It won’t be anytime soon but next year. It may be announced alongside the Galaxy S20 series which may also be ready a month earlier. It seems the South Korean tech giant wants to come up with new Galaxy Buds every time a new […]
The post Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro pair in violet surfaces on the web first appeared on Android Community.


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One of the region’s most prestigious technology awards has officially opened for 2022 nominations and is calling for Yorkshire’s finest, most innovative digital businesses to enter.
Hosted in partnership with Amsource, a specialist recruitment consultancy focused on the tech sector, and Ward Hadaway, a top 100 UK law firm with offices in Leeds, the awards celebrate the talent, creativity and sheer brilliance of the region’s tech start-ups, SMEs and large businesses. The awards recognise innovation spanning a number of categories including export success, entrepreneurship, sustainability and more.
Andrew Maeer, founder and CEO, Amsource, said: “We’re delighted to announce that entries for this year’s Leeds Digital Festival Awards are officially open and are looking forward to recognising the innovation and skills among our regional business tech community. These awards not only champion talent and originality, they also celebrate the resilience, grit, razor-sharp focus and dogged determination shown by tech businesses across the region. We’re looking forward to a fantastic awards night, raising a glass to Yorkshire’s finest digital businesses.”
Running for the fifth consecutive year, the awards are free to enter and there are 10 categories to choose from. Facilitator of the Year is back in the mix, with a sustainability award category making its debut this year. Other categories include Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Tech Place to Work, and a Tech4Good award.
Bill Goodwin, head of IP/IT at Ward Hadaway Leeds, said: “Ward Hadaway works with a wide range of SMEs in the regional technology space, supporting them on all kinds of business-related legal issues. We’ve experienced first-hand the great skills, ambition and commercial acumen the region’s digital businesses have and the awards celebrate these achievements and more. It’s wonderful that all of this ingenuity and talent is homegrown, right here in Yorkshire, and I can’t wait to hear the stories of success and journeys to continued growth at the awards ceremony.”
The judging panel consists of Eve Roodhouse, who leads on culture and economic development at Leeds City Council, Anna Sutton, founder of The Data Shed, which helps organisations optimise the data they hold, Sarah Hex, head of deal origination for Mercia Asset Management PLC and Alina Cameron who works for Tech Nation to support Yorkshire’s game-changing founders and leaders.
The deadline for entry is Monday, August 18 at midnight. Entries are free and businesses can enter multiple categories. The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 29th September at Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds City Centre and is also free to attend.
The Leeds Digital Festival is an open, collaborative celebration of digital culture in all its forms with the awards recognising all that is great about the digital and tech industry in Leeds and the wider region in the last year.
Stuart Clarke, director of the Leeds Digital Festival, added: “The Leeds Digital Festival Awards celebrates its 5th birthday this year and we’d like to invite tech businesses in Leeds and the wider region to enter the awards, choosing from a diverse range of categories. It’s an opportunity to put Yorkshire businesses centre stage and highlight the achievements and innovation that we have here right on our doorstep.”


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One of the many perks of working at The Manufacturer is the opportunity to visit manufacturing facilities doing all manner of exciting things the length and breadth of Britain.
Here, The Manufacturer editorial team list their most popular highlights, including the story of two dimwitted burglars who sawed the barrels off an antique shotgun (worth close to £60,000) to raid a post office for the princely sum of just £200!
How should manufacturers use digital technologies, in particular automation, to improve the internal supply chain – from Goods In to Goods Out?
BMW has embarked on a programme that aims to tighten every single link in their supply chain, external and internal, to create a model of manufacturing efficiency.
Nick Peters visited the BMW plant in Regensburg to learn more.
The Siemens factory at Congleton in Cheshire is something of an anachronism.
In the age of the mega factory, where space and economies of scale work together to create efficiency, Congleton must work twice as hard just to keep up. Surrounded by houses and the river alongside, it has zero room for expansion.
When the factory first started making variable speed drives 30 years ago, 400 workers annually produced 50,000. Today, the same number of workers, 400, produce more than one million every year.
Nick Peters paid the factory a visit to learn how.
For centuries, Stoke-on-Trent has been regarded as the ceramics heartland of the world.
To keep pace with the demands of today, the city can’t rely on its industrial pedigree, it needs to offer cutting-edge technology and manufacturing excellence.
Johnson Tiles and Steelite International are just two of the local ceramics producers doing exactly that, as Jonny Williamson found out.
The UK is Europe’s leader in space technologies, in both expertise and manufacture.
The furore over the UK’s possible exclusion from the EU’s Galileo GPS satellite project has obscured the fact that it is only one of the projects being developed here, as Nick Peters and Maddy White discovered when they visited Airbus Defence & Space in Portsmouth.
Modern British manufacturing is hailed around the world for its design and build quality.
But so too are those parts of British industry whose roots lie far in the past, and bear little or no relationship to the modern age.
Holland & Holland is one such company. Their bespoke, handmade shotguns are highly prized and highly priced, retailing for £250,000 each.
However, being in such demand does not shield them from the same pressures as everyone else in the sector, as Nick Peters discovered.
Like every business, Marshall has experienced customers demanding increased responsiveness, reduced production time and cost, and almost constant innovation.
The businesses decided to investigate the possibilities of integrating industrial-grade additive manufacturing solutions within its design and production process. Today, the company utilises the technology for prototyping, advanced tooling and final part production – which includes producing flight capable parts.
Jonny Williamson visited the company to discuss how it achieved its success, and find out what the future holds.
The soft drinks industry is worth £16bn to Britain. Despite this contribution, the industry has faced challenges and criticism in recent years, most notably the furore surrounding the impact of sugar on health and its links to obesity.
Established in 1875, AG Barr is a UK soft drinks manufacturer that has embraced changing markets and culture, including calls for lower sugar levels, and has been highly innovative across its numerous sites.
With that strategy of change and adaptation at its core, along with its focus on people and processes, the company has big ambitions, one of which is to hit a turnover of half a billion pounds by 2022.
Maddy White visited the company’s Milton Keynes site to discuss its expansion plans, its moves to reduce sugar levels, and how technology can drive up quality.
8. Compound semiconductors: Can the UK retain its global dominance in the technology driving our future?
We are constantly regaled with how our future will be changed by advances in technology: 5G super-fast communications, autonomous vehicles, AI, and digital life at bewildering speeds.
Rarely do we stop to ask what will power this technological acceleration.
The answer is compound semiconductors. And the UK is the global leader in this vital technology. But can it remain so? Nick Peters reports.
In a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Coventry you’ll find NP Aerospace, a defence company manufacturing bomb suits, armour plates, ballistic helmets and customised vehicles for many of the world’s armies and law enforcement agencies.
Maddy White paid them a visit.
Cheddar is one of the best-known cheeses in the world. It originates from the small village of Cheddar in Somerset, South West England, and it has been produced there since the 12th century.
To capitalise on the growing taste for the hard cheese, Daniel Barber began making Cheddar on Maryland Farm in Somerset in 1833. Six generations later, Barber’s now churns out more than 80 tonnes a day.
Maddy White dropped in to explore the future of cheesemaking.
If you’d like one of The Manufacturer editorial team to pay your factory a visit, drop us a line at [email protected]


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Beth Karlin / Shopping Centers Today – The sale of used clothing, whether called secondhand or vintage or gently used, is exceedingly popular now. And with celebrities like Kim Kardashian having taken to cleaning out their closets by selling their secondhand duds on eBay, we may well be at the place where used apparel meets celebrity auction meets spring cleaning.
To be sure, the concept of reselling used apparel is hardly any newer than the clothing itself. In 1991 Chip Gergen and Gerald Block saw they could profit from reselling secondhand garments, so they co-founded Berkeley, Calif.–based Crossroads Trading Co., which now operates 35 stores, most of them in California. The chain is about the size of Tucson, Ariz.–based Buffalo Exchange, another secondhand up-and-comer, which has 30 stores around the country. Thus neither of these is big enough just yet to distract segment giant Plato’s Closet, which caters to teens and tweens through some 300 stores nationwide. And yet that may only imply that these hungry smaller competitors have nowhere to go but up.
Today Gergen and Gabriel Block, son of the late co-founder, are following their growth instincts to new places. They have launched Fillmore & 5th, an offshoot of smaller shops — at 1,200 to 1,500 square feet, these are less than half the size of the 3,500-square-foot Crossroads stores — that offer designer clothes on consignment. For the most part, the Crossroads Trading stores buy brand-name, though not necessarily couture, apparel from sellers who, though less famous than Kardashian, perhaps, are equally eager to make room in their wardrobes. The Crossroads Trading shops buy this clothing for cash or offer the sellers an option of store credit.
“Fillmore & 5th is a way for us to pursue an additional, higher tier of merchandise than we offer at Crossroads,” said Block. “Crossroads’ top 20 percent of inventory is F&F’s bottom 10 percent.” The company operates three Fillmore & 5th shops, in California, one of which is at Town & Country Village, a Palo Alto mall. There is also one in San Francisco and another in Long Beach. Block says the company wants to open more of these, especially in shopping centers, where they may be able to cultivate relationships with national developers. In the beginning that was a pipe dream, he says. “The chaos of a thrift store was our nemesis,” Block said. “It was definitely hard to get landlords to sign on.”
The longstanding perception of resale shops was that they were little more than junk stores, but this has been undergoing dramatic change. “The idea of consignment and resale stores as viable retail concepts began typically with home furnishings and then found a market in clothing,” said retail consultant Jeff Green, who runs an eponymous firm in Phoenix. “In high-growth markets like Phoenix and Palm Springs [Calif.] and edgier markets like San Francisco and New York, consignment and resale shops have gained quite a following, especially since the economic downturn.”
As demand grows, Crossroads Trading is spiffing up its image, having hired architecture firm Gensler to help design the high-fashion Fillmore & 5th stores. Meanwhile, “we are still very actively pursuing opportunities for Crossroads,” Block said.
To date, most Crossroads Trading stores have been stand-alones or -operate at the strip centers of local landlords. But demand is such that it’s a sector worthy of the attention of national mall developers, observers say. Many members of the Millennial generation check for the presence of resale shops when considering a new neighborhood, according to online real estate website Rent.com. “A majority of these 18-to-33-year-olds have to contend with student loans and starting salaries, making them a fiscally conscious bunch,” the site reported in an April blog.
But interest is hardly limited to Millennials. Everyone enjoys a treasure hunt and hope they can uncover a Dior, say, among racks of used clothes. Today many shoppers will proudly show off resale bargains as a badge of pride. And Hollywood stylists are forever pointing out in the media that one can find one-of-a-kind booty at secondhand stores — and at the same time, help the environment, because the garments purchased might otherwise have gone to the landfills. Developers might do well to take note of these twin benefits of cost savings and environmentalism.
“I exclusively buy used clothes,” actress Shailene Woodley told People magazine. “I’m going to be a citizen of this planet, and I’m going to do my responsibility and live in stride with nature instead of constantly fighting against her.”


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Amazon is monitoring Whole Foods union efforts with a high-tech heat map
Usually, when workers organize a union, they face opposition from their employer in the form of threatening flyers posted in the break room, or captive meetings that extol the virtues of management. Some employers also (illegally) fire workers who are leading the charge. But now, welcome to 2020. Business Insider has a bombshell report on how Amazon-owned Whole Foods is keeping an eye on stores at risk of unionizing with an elaborate, data-rich, interactive heat map. It calculates risk based on a staggering array of metrics—employee turnover, racial diversity, calls to human resources, OSHA violations, and local poverty and unemployment rates. High-risk stores, naturally, are tracked as bright red dots on a map of the United States. Not diabolical at all.


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Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 June 2020:
West African nations are beginning to assess whether it is time to re-open their borders for trade and free movement of people. Since the first case of coronavirus was announced in the region three months ago, there have been debates about the impact the global pandemic is having on the regional economy as well as the economy of respective member States.
Writing in a statement published last week – 17th June 2020, the ECOWAS Ministerial Coordination Committee on Transport, Logistics and Trade made key recommendations on the harmonization and gradual re-opening of land, air and sea borders for restoring cross border economic activities, especially the movement of humanitarian personnel, medical supplies and equipment and essential goods in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those recommendations will be discussed at the next Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
The ECOWAS Ministerial Coordination Committee Ministers discussed and agreed practical measures based on the report of the regional experts, as well as the draft Guidelines for the Harmonization and Facilitation of Cross Border Trade & Transport in the ECOWAS Region on the Covid-19 Pandemic and Related Post-Recovery Actions.
The ECOWAS Ministerial Coordination Committee Ministers recommended a gradual and coordinated opening of land borders and airports of ECOWAS Member States based on health data on the evolution of the pandemic. They also called for appropriate fiscal measures to be put in place by respective governments to support the effective implementation of the guidelines.
According to the report, the opening of the borders must be based on the proposed guidelines for the mitigation of health risks and the harmonization and facilitation of cross-border trade and transport in the ECOWAS region in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The need to reopen borders, sea and airports they said is driven by the urge to begin to revive the economies of ECOWAS member countries.
The Ministers recommended a three-phased approach, beginning with local, internal, domestic, air and land transport within ECOWAS Member States, then a second phase which involves the opening of land and air borders.
Following a review of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in respective Member States, a third phase of opening air and land borders to other countries with low and controlled levels (according to WHO classifications) of COVID-19 contamination rates will be pursued.
The Ministers further called for accurate information sharing on opening-up measures among Member States in the spirit of solidarity, collective self-reliance and inter-State co-operation through bilateral and multilateral consultations. They also called for the need to ensure speedy and safer clearance of transit goods at the borders and minimize physical contact in customs, cross-border trade transactions through the rapid deployment of the new ECOWAS Interconnected Goods and Transit Management System popularly termed SIGMAT.
ECOWAS ministers called for provision of such information to private sector actors namely shipping lines, Airlines, cross-border transporters and traders, media and civil society, while ensuring strong collaboration at borders among control agencies.
Owing to the need to ensure an effective coordination mechanism to follow-up implementation of the guidelines at both national and regional levels, the Ministers called for the use of existing State or regional structures and committees responsible for ensuring the proper application of the protocols on free movement on Community corridors and borders of national and regional trade.
The Ministerial Coordinating Committee, chaired by Nigeria’s Aviation Minister Senator Hadi Sirika, made a plea for “strong and determined support for the ownership and implementation of the guidelines” once adopted by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Fascinating stuff. But did the ECOWAS committee discuss the concerns of President Buhari over the ECO. I said it from the beginning that Sierra Leone should not join the ECO. Are they still listening to my concerns? Anyway, SALEXIT will not be very far away in my view. Read this appalling article from Reuters – https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-westafrica-currency/nigerias-buhari-sees-threat-to-west-african-currency-plan-idUSKBN23U324
God bless our LEONE. Amen and Amen.
I found it hard to believe sometimes, its easier to transport goods to the markets of Europe, or North America or in some cases to China, than within the ECOWAS sub region member states. Even before the COVID19 pandemic hit, problems of logistics, and bureaucracy have always hindered trade of goods and and service in the region. The lack of good roads and Air flights delays, or in some cases none existent at all is a major stumbling block to the sub-region’s development. SADAC, its opposite number in East and South Africa, is doing better than us. Back in the seventies and eighties the region of East and South Africa were the trouble regions of Africa.
Thanks to Charles Taylor for bringing war to West Africa, we have now swap places as the epicentre of instability in Africa. The only thing that seemed to work in the west African sub region that doesn’t come under the Eagle eye of the sub regional authorities are those that pile their trade on human trafficking and gun runners. With that comes freelance Islamic terrorist. For far too long the west African sub-region governments are unable to reconcile themselves in tackling this form of modern day slave trade. It seemed to me anything that helps to improve the lives of our people, is never nurtured, enhanced, and improved.
The only thing that seems to thrive is the one that create unbelievable hardship and misery for people. It will be far easy to get goods from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, than taking the same goods next door to Ghana, or Sierra Leone. Until we have real open borders, good transport links like roads, freight trains, well paid immigration and customs officers, and improvements on airport facilities that can handle larger freight and aircraft, it will be very difficult to see how we unlock the potential of the West African sub-region economies for the benefit all. If the subregion economies were working like the European union, our region will be in a better shape. Right now there are too many bureaucratic huddles to jump.
Surely, a day will come when a gathering of ECOWAS leaders will finally yield sustainable results for the benefit of our people. Indeed, for many years they have been going and coming like travelers lost in an arid desert, like pigeons that couldn’t find their nests; like fishermen with leaking boats accomplishing nothing – yet their faces are always beaming with smiles. All of them, still proud of the barrenness that can always be found in their fruitless endeavors. (lol)


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A FASHION designer who had ‘FCUK’ inked onto her right shoulder when she was just 16 has finally had the embarrassing tattoo covered up.
Sarah Louise Bryan, a 28-year-old mum-of-two, from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, was desperate to cover up the ugly logo, which prevented her from wearing flesh-flashing clothing.
Sarah, who shot to fame after designing a £5,000 dress made from Skittles, is set to share her story on Channel 5’s Tattoo Disasters later this year.
She told Birmingham Mail: “Since the success of the Skittles dress I have been invited to a lot of red carpet events.
"I have been embarrassed wearing off-the-shoulder dresses and people would make comments about the tacky FCUK design on my right shoulder which I had done when I was 16.
“The programme obviously highlights my embarrassment and the difficulties it poses me.”
Sarah has had the cringe-worthy emblem covered up with a huge picture of woman’s face that looks like it is melting.
She said: "I wanted the design to be very visual and artistic like me. The design is of a woman’s face dripping with ink and flowers.
Mum makes a dress from other people's PUBIC HAIR donated after an appeal on social media
Bride regrets taking rugby ace fiancé wedding dress shopping when he tells her he HATES her £2.5k gown
"I came up with the idea and the tattoo artist designed it. I think it is fantastic.
"The new design is really classy. The artist was world class and you can see that with the finished design.”
Sarah said she is “proud” of her new tatt and no longer “feels embarrassed” about donning revealing frocks and vest tops.
Meanwhile, in July, Sarah sent jaws dropping after unveiling a dress she had made out of pubic hair.
“I decided to make another design following the Skittles dress, I wanted to beat Lady Gaga’s meat dress,” she said.
“I wanted to beat her at the title of most disgusting dress so with the help of asking for pubic hair on Twitter.”
She spent six months collecting the fuzz and stored it in her son's bedroom.


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John Carney at NetNet:
Remember the great farm labor crisis of 2012? Of course you don’t. Because there was no farm labor crisis in 2012. A report from Capital Press, which bills itself as “The West’s Ag Site,” makes it clear that Washington’s apple growers—one of the most frequent alleged victims of the farm labor crisis—actually wound up with a record number of pickers. But somehow this still counts as a shortage.
“ A record number of people worked in Washington’s record apple harvest this past fall, but still some apples were left on trees because more pickers were needed, sources say. There were 55,653 seasonal apple workers working in October, 54,543 in September and the previous high was 48,065 in October of 2009, said John Wines, an economist for the state Department of Employment Security in Olympia. Among other duties, Wines has been tracking tree fruit labor for 18 years. The 55,653 workers is indicative of the record 129.2-million-box crop requiring more workers but does not mean there was not a shortage, he said.”
This claim that there was a shortage despite a record number of pickers doesn’t quite make sense. It makes a lot more sense to say that farmers decided that leaving some apples on the trees was a more economical decision than paying the marginal cost of additional labor needed to pick every last fruit. This is how businesses decide whether to expand—balancing the revenues from expansion versus the costs. And apple farms are businesses. Why would every apple ever be picked, absent some kind of apple shortage?
Think for a moment about how many newspapers, magazines or books go unsold. They are “rotting” on the shelves of bookstores and newsstands. Some get sold off at rock bottom “clearance” prices. Others just aren’t worth the shelf-space and get pulped because the book-seller’s cost of continuing to sell them exceed the expected returns. This is exactly the same thing that happens with apples in Washington: farmers hire as many pickers as they can at the wages they are willing to offer, and let the remaining unpicked fruit fall from the trees. This isn’t a crisis. It’s a market.
Quite. And what Rubio and the rest of the immigration’ reform’ crowd want to do is (essentially) rig that market against farm workers. Charming.


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Today’s economic wasteland has unsurprisingly managed to support the very rich. However, unlike the olden days, when being deep-pocketed wasn’t quite as loathed and the rich could spend lavishly and freely in daylight in the open plain, lately they’ve taken to shopping in hidden enclaves. Secret underground shopping parties that take place in hotel suites, private showrooms, or rich people’s abodes are proliferating so the species can shop without feeling — perish the thought — embarrassed about their money. Eve Goldberg, owner of diamond dealer William Goldberg, just opened one such secret salon. “People are saying: ‘It’s that time of year; I want to buy something, but I feel a little weird,’” she told the New York Times. “Often they tell me, ‘I don’t want to be out there making an announcement with a big bag that says Harry Winston.’”
Not only are they avoiding public shame by purchasing, according to the Times, crewelwork pashminas and pavé-diamond pet collars only among each other, these rich people are also having fun doing so. Consumer psychologist Eric Spangenberg calls these secret spending parties “the high-end equivalent of a Tupperware party.” Secret-shopping-party organizer Joan Horton notes the rich people enjoy “the camaraderie and social experience.” They get an even bigger kick out of the whole thing when organizers donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
The rich must be quite ashamed of their innate need to spend lots of money, because attendees of these underground shopping fests didn’t even give quotes to the Times. But naturally, a few of them had no problem posing for pictures for the story while shopping.


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InterContinental Hotels has announced it has signed an agreement to open two new hotels in Istanbul, including Turkey’s first Holiday Inn Express.
The agreement, with Turkish real estate investment company ORA Istanbul Real Estate Investment and Development Co., will bring the total number of IHG hotels in the country to 11, seven of which are in Istanbul.
IHG signed a 20-year management contract with ORA to develop a 281-room Crowne Plaza and a 146-room Express by Holiday Inn in Istanbul’s Bayrampasa district. Both hotels are due to open in the first quarter of 2010.
The announcement comes the same week IHG opened its 263-room Crowne Plaza Ankara.
The Crowne Plaza Istanbul Bayrampasa and the Holiday Inn Express Istanbul Bayrampasa are being developed as part of ORA Istanbul Urban Entertainment Center, an entertainment, retail and exhibition complex located between the city centre and the airport.
IHG Chief Operations Officer Europe Division Robin Wicks said: “Turkey is among the fastest growing tourism markets in the world, particularly Istanbul, its largest city. The opening of these two hotels in Istanbul, as part of such a key development for the city, will make these properties a strong addition to the IHG portfolio - it’s great to see the first Holiday Inn Express coming to Turkey. We are delighted to be working with ORA which brings great local knowledge to the development.”


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Government officials have dodged questions about what specific action Australia is taking to respond to concerns over the widespread use of forced labour in Xinjiang.
A parliamentary committee is considering an import ban on products and components produced in the western Chinese province under proposed laws put forward by independent Senator Rex Patrickt necessarily appearing.?
The United Nations has urged companies and countries to closely scrutinise their supply chains over concerns about the alleged detention and forced labour of ethnic-minority Uighurs in China:1618620402602,.Those with rescheduled appointments will be contacted by email or phone.?He has describe?
Experts and Uighurs in Australia have raised concerns that Australia does not have specific measures in place to combat the use of forced labour in XinjiangThe government say.?


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Sony has warned that UK deliveries of CDs and DVDs could be affected after its only British warehouse for content products was the subject of an arson attack in north London as part of the on-going riots in the city – which some police have blamed on video games such as Grand Theft Auto.
Reuters reports that the three-storey, 20,000 square-metre warehouse has been burning since late on Monday or early Tuesday in the London borough of Enfield, which has been the site of rioting that has spread from the Tottenham area.
"There will likely be some impact on deliveries," said Yoko Yasukochi, a spokeswoman at the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate in Tokyo.
"We cannot determine the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage yet because it's not possible to enter the building," she said. No injuries have been reported from the fire, she added.


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TOKYO – It is not an official sponsor of the Olympic Games. It will go invisible to the millions of viewers who start tune up this week. But without them, the Tokyo Games could not have taken place.
The driving force behind the Olympic curtain is Dentsu, an advertising Goliath with almost mythical levels of power and influence in Japan.
As the gatekeeper to the world’s third largest economy, it has become an important figure in international sport. It played a prominent role in Tokyo’s Olympic bid, then was named the Games’ exclusive advertising partner, and raised a record-breaking $ 3.6 billion from Japanese sponsors.
With almost complete control of the Olympic marketing bonanza, Dentsu was Japan’s biggest winner of this year’s Games. But with the pandemic devastating the event, a company that is used to always being at the top is in an unfamiliar position.
His expectation of an enormous stroke of luck has faded. The promotional campaigns and promotional events that sponsors typically run in the months leading up to the Olympics have been canceled or scaled back, depriving Dentsu of what analysts call one of the most lucrative parts of the sports competition.
And with the start of the Olympics, some of Dentsu’s largest customers have withdrawn. Toyota, a top sponsor, said Monday it will not run any Olympic television commercials in Japan during the Games, reflecting concerns about a possible public backlash against companies drawing the event.
For those customers who continue their Olympic advertising campaigns, Dentsu faces a serious test of news control. Polls show that around 80 percent of the Japanese public are against holding the Olympic Games, which have been postponed for a year and will now take place in Tokyo amid the state of emergency.
“What kind of message are you sending right now? It’s a really tough question, and sponsors are definitely affected, ”said Osamu Ebizuka, a veteran of Dentsu’s sports marketing department and now visiting professor of business administration at JF Oberlin University in Tokyo.
When asked how it would do its customers towards the Olympic Games, Dentsu said that it is “not a sponsor” and therefore “is not in a position to comment on it”.
Despite its challenges, Dentsu remains an unprecedented force in Japan. It is by far the largest marketing company in the country, handling nearly 28 percent of the country’s huge advertising budget.
Dentsu started out as a news agency in 1901 before realizing that it was more profitable to package its content with advertising. In the run-up to World War II, it was merged into a state intelligence service that spread propaganda for Japan’s imperial army.
Under the US occupation, the organization split into three parts: the advertising agency Dentsu and Japan’s two largest news services, Kyodo and Jiji Press.
In the years that followed, Dentsu is hardwired into almost every major institution in Japan. In addition to its many corporate and media connections, it served as the unofficial communications division of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in its more than 75 years of almost continuous power.
Conspiratorially minded people sometimes refer to the company as Japan’s CIA, a puppeteer who uses its vast network to gather information and shape the fate of the nation.
The comparison is fanciful, said Ryu Honma, a writer who started writing about the company after working for rival Hakuhodo. But the company has undoubtedly made itself indispensable to Japan Inc.
Dentsu is the nation’s fixer, with a reputation for getting things done no matter how difficult they are. For years it has been known for a ruthless work ethic, exemplified in a creed called “The Devil’s Ten Commandments,” which instructed employees “never to quit a job even if it kills you.”
Its customers are the who’s who of the Japanese company – part of a list, as Dentsu likes to put it, that includes 95 of the top 100 advertisers in the world. It recruits from among Tokyo’s top universities and is said to favor the children of politicians, celebrities and industrial giants.
While most advertising companies outside of Japan avoid conflicts of interest by only representing one company in a particular industry, Japanese companies are often less exclusive. Dentsu often works for competing firms in the same sector, one of the keys to its ubiquity.
Dentsu offers practically every type of service related to communication. Dentsu advertising managers sell Dentsu commercials with actors represented by Dentsu to television stations where Dentsu manages advertising sales.
July 20, 2021, 2:59 p.m. ET
The company buys up entire blocks of airtime before selling ads to fill them. Its influence on television advertising is so tight that the Japanese competition authority has issued two warnings.
It has a significant impact on traditional media, both broadcast and print, which are reluctant to offend the company and its customers for fear of losing advertising money.
Dentsu’s TV dominance has made it an indispensable partner to the Japanese political class. It was Dentsu who persuaded Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to appear as the character Mario from the Nintendo video game series – also a Dentsu customer – at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Sport has long been an important part of the company. Dentsu was one of the first advertising agencies to see how international sporting events can raise the profile of customers abroad and help them open up new markets, said Michael Payne, who for many years headed the marketing department of the International Olympic Committee.
Dentsu has used its role as a channel for Japanese advertising money to become an integral part of the finances of global athletics and swimming, while building strong relationships with, among others, FIFA, the governing body of football, and Major League Baseball.
The company’s ties to the Olympics go back to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics when Dentsu was responsible for public relations. The games were not yet commercialized, and Dentsu’s role was more a sign of his size and political influence.
But in 1984, when the Los Angeles Olympics first depended entirely on private funding, Dentsu rushed to include its corporate clients in the mix.
Basics of the Summer Olympics
Dentsu took the lead in the application process when Japan hosted its second Olympic Games, the 1998 Nagano Winter Games. And when Tokyo decided to compete for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the company was the obvious choice.
Tokyo lost to Rio de Janeiro after a Dentsu-led bid that was widely criticized for being awkward and exorbitant over budget. Regardless, Dentsu went to the top and, according to a government hearing at the time, took almost 87 percent of the Tokyo Committee’s expenses.
Concerns about the company’s performance in 2016 didn’t stop it from playing a significant role in the 2020 bid, said Nick Varley, an advisor who led the presentations.
The application committee assured him that Dentsu would not be involved, he said. But when he received his contract, he was surprised to find that it was an agreement with Dentsu.
On the surface at least, Dentsu provided mostly logistical support and handled the domestic side of the campaign, Varley said.
But behind the scenes the situation seems to have been darker.
The French authorities have been investigating corruption allegations related to the Tokyo 2020 bid process for years. Questions include the role a powerful former Dentsu employee played in lobbying people with longstanding ties to the company to influence the outcome.
The scandal led to the resignation of the head of the Tokyo Olympic Committee. Dentsu said it was not involved.
Regardless of how the games were won, the company was able to make a huge profit. Within a year, the Tokyo Olympic Committee had named Dentsu as its marketing partner, following a bidding process that competitors said was a foregone conclusion.
The first thing Dentsu did was break the habit of only one company representing each product category. For example, while past games were only sponsored by one bank or airline, Tokyo 2020 will be sponsored by two at a time. This enabled Dentsu to use its connections to convince nearly 70 domestic companies to pay over $ 3 billion in support of the games.
“The Tokyo Games were kind of weird among those of us in the industry – that’s in no way derogatory – the Dentsu Games,” said Terrence Burns, a sports advisor and former executive director of the International Olympic Committee.
“If you want to do sports marketing in Japan, this is your first and last stop, to be honest. They hold a lot of the cards, ”he added.
Dentsu needed a win. It has been difficult to adapt to the rise of digital media. It was damaged by a massive overwork scandal and high profile suicide related to the company’s intense work culture. And even before the coronavirus, the company had started to record losses.
But when the pandemic broke out, Dentsu’s Olympic bet went wrong. The exact financial impact on Dentsu is unclear, said Ebizuka, the company’s former managing director, but there is no doubt that it is “sorry”.
Right now, Dentsu can only hope for the best as it tries to help its customers navigate the unsafe situation, Ebizuka said.
You have no choice but to send a “subtle message,” he said: “Let’s look to the future and just get through the pandemic together.”


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Under Armour CEO Does Pro-Trump Damage Control
Under Armour CEO and founder Kevin Plank is still doing Trump-related damage control.
Plank has struggled to figure out his company’s messaging in President Donald Trump’s America. First, he expressed enthusiasm for Trump in an interview with CNBC, calling him a “real asset for the country” due to his pro-business stance. But last week, after a #BoycottUnderArmour hashtag began circulating on social media and as some of the company’s athletes spoke out publicly against Plank’s comments , Under Armour issued a release clarifying that it supports unity. “We engage in policy, not politics,” the company said.
Plank is in something of a bind. On one hand, he wants to work with the Trump administration to advocate on policy, especially as it relates to trade and U.S. manufacturing jobs, both issues that are critical to Under Armour’s business. But working closely with Trump—who some voters view as sexist, racist and homophobic—could hurt the Under Armour brand. That’s especially alarming considering Under Armour is highly reliant on younger, millennial shoppers, a demographic that tends to be more socially liberal than the overall American population.
Under Armour’s Trump-related backpedaling continued on Wednesday, with the Maryland-based sports retailer taking out a full-page ad in the Baltimore Sun featuring
Addressing the city of Baltimore, he wrote: “In a business television interview last week, I answered a question with a choice of words that did not accurately reflect my intent. I want to clarify to our hometown exactly the values for which Under Armour and I stand.” He went on to add the following:
“We stand firmly for equal rights. We believe that immigration is a source of strength, diversity and innovation for global companies based in America like Under Armour.” He also promised that Under Armour would publicly oppose the travel ban and take a public position on legislation around the country “in support of the interests of our teammates whenever policy conflicts with human rights.”
These statements come after several Under Armour-sponsored athletes, including NBA star Stephen Curry, ballerina Misty Copeland and actor/former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, issued statements that sharply conflicted with Plank’s pro-Trump comments.
The negative attention couldn’t come at at worse time for the brand. Late last month, its shares plunged around 25% after the company reported disappointing holiday sales and issued an underwhelming sales target for 2017. Even before Plank’s pro-Trump remarks, there were concerns Under Armour was struggling to compete with Nike (NKE) and Adidas (ADDYY).
Some fear the brand has taken a further hit.
“Commentary by the CEO in a CNBC interview in a polarized political climate, and pointed response by Stephen Curry, The Rock and Misty Copeland make it nearly impossible to effectively build a cool urban lifestyle brand in the foreseeable future,” wrote SIG Susquehanna analyst Sam Poser in a note to clients. He downgraded the stock to “negative” from “neutral” and slashed his price target to $14 a share from $24.
Poser added that “Regardless of CEO Plank’s political views or whether his comment was meant to be a Trump endorsement or a general opinion, we believe the decision to express a view in today’s highly charged political climate was a mistake.”


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Get easy way to undelete all files from Mac trash by using free partition recovery for mac software. With the help of professional...
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New data released by Apple suggests that users currently on iOS 7 are reluctant to upgrade to the latest iOS 8 release.
According to recent data, of the 174 million smartphones owned in the US in the month of September, nearly 42 percent of them were Apple iPhones.
BlackBerry's encryption efforts were years before Apple and Google's recent move to secure device data. NSA's chief lawyer said things didn't turn out so well for the former mobile giant.
Microsoft, Google and Apple are all looking to aggregate your health data, launch wearables and crunch your information in the cloud. How much does being an enterprise class cloud provider matter?
Apple is ruffling features by collecting search and location data from OS X Yosemite users through Spotlight features that some argue should be off by default.
Affordable DDR iPod recovery software helps users to revive important files from all major versions of iPod device such as mini, nano,...
Apple's iPhone remains the most popular camera on Flickr. The new models can capture content in even more creative ways so let's take a closer look at some methods.
Why would you store data that you can't read? To keep it secret. The first rule of secrets: Don't tell anyone. Exactly what Apple does. Here's how and why.
The number of requests to Apple for device or account data from Australian law-enforcement agencies went up in the first six months of 2014.
A warrant canary stating that Apple has 'never received an order' under the Patriot Act has been removed from its latest reports. That suggests such demands have been made.
The decision to hire a "head of law enforcement" comes in response to Apple moving to store some Chinese data to servers based on the country's soil.
Apple didn't spend much stage time explaining the tokenization process that underpins Apple Pay, but the method is seen as one of the most secure and fraud proof payment mechanisms available.
Apple lays out the reasons why it could reject new apps that use its HealthKit and HomeKit framework.
No, developers will not be allowed to sell your health data for targeted advertising.
Julian Assange (remember him from WikiLeaks?) wants out of the Ecuador embassy and no one cares. It looks like IBM's hardware sale to Lenovo is going through. Plus lots more worldwide government IT news.
Apple's move to store some of its Chinese users' data in the country has benefits — and drawbacks — for its customers.
It looks like that Apple wants to "hand-deliver" its software updates and audio and video content over the Internet to your door via its own content-delivery network.
Connected Data announces a new SSD-based Drobo Mini that gives what pro users have been clamoring for: performance. You can now edit video with a redundant array not much larger than a DVD drive.
Last year, only one ISP achieved six out of six stars in protecting user data. Now, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, among a handful of others, have stepped up.
Teliris brings Dimension Data the ability to scale in the cloud and increase its capabilities with managed video.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
- 1 Perfectly legal ways you can still get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)
- 2 How much does an iPhone 6 really cost? (Hint: It's way more than $199)
- 3 31 ways to improve your iPhone's battery life
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- 5 Review: Tile Bluetooth tag (verdict: Great)


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Hospital, providers go head-to-head
RINGEWOOD, N.J. - Providers here that sell home medical equipment have a new competitor: Valley Hospital. The hospital in August launched the Valley Health Marketplace, an online store offering a wide range of products, including HME. "Healthcare retail is a new idea for hospitals," stated Rita Donato-Edwards, Valley's director of retail strategies, in a release. The release goes on to state: "Many of the items in the online store are products that may be hard to find. With its comprehensive range of products, multiple stops for medical supplies on the way home from the hospital or during recovery are a thing of the past."