text:
Amazon isn't alone in reportedly destroying unsold goods. Nike, Burberry, H&M and others have also come under fire for torching their own products.
Amazonreportedly destroyed 130,000 unsold and returned items in a single week. Burberry, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Nike, and Victoria's Secrethave also come under fire for the practice.
- The fashion industry makes up 10% of humanity's carbon emissions.
Amazon is not the only company that has been reportedly destroying unsold goods.
Amazon came under fire this week after a former employee told ITV, a British
But Amazon is far from the only offender.
Brands including Burberry, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Nike, JCPenney, Michael Kors, Eddie Bauer, and Victoria's Secret have all been accused of doing the same, according to various reports in recent years.
Burberry came clean about burning clothes and said it "used specialist incinerators that harness energy from the process." The destroyed goods totaled about $37 million, compared to Burberry's revenue of $3.8 billion that year.
"Burberry has insisted it's recycling the clothing into energy, except the energy that is recouped from burning clothing doesn't come anywhere near the energy that was used to create the garments," Timo Rissanen, an associate dean at Parsons School of Design and a professor of fashion design and sustainability told Vox in a 2018 interview.
The amount of garments that people have been buying annually has been steadily increasing since the early 2000's. Insider previously reported that the fashion industry makes up "10% of humanity's carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes river streams."
Chanel and Louis Vuitton have also participated in the burning of merchandise. Richemont, the Swiss company behind brands like Cartier and Montblanc, said in 2018 it had destroyed more than $500 million worth of watches to keep them out of the hands of resellers.
In response to ITV's reporting, an Amazon spokesperson told Insider that no clothes were sent to landfills, but "as a last resort," some may be sent to "energy recovery."
"We're working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero," Amazon said.
- Elon Musk calls on all Twitter designers, engineers doing software to sit on his floor of HQ for 'dense and intense' work
- It’s not just Mercedes, even bank deposits are competing with equities
- A former Facebook exec says an employee at a 'large tech company' once complained to the CEO in an all-hands meeting about the quality of company toilet paper
- India will succeed in handling inflation better: Sitharaman
- India's GDP growth comes in at 6.3% in Q2: manufacturing, mining witness negative growth
- Dharmaj Crop Guard IPO subscribed by a whole 35.49 times on last day
- Sensex, Nifty50 rewrite all-time highs yet again – RIL, HDFC twins most active, ICICI Bank touches new 52-week high
- Bollywood films failing is a phase, our films will bounce back strongly: Kajol


text:
CLAYTON, NC – After negotiations over the past month, the Clayton Rugby Football Club is proud to announce that they have come to an agreement on a long term deal with World Rugby Shop that expands upon the current partnership between the two organizations. The Clayton RFC first partnered with World Rugby Shop in 2015 and the partnership has since blossomed into a close and active relationship. Aside from providing equipment, uniforms, and apparel to the Clayton RFC’s players and fans, the two groups have expanded their collaboration to work together on the CottonTown 7s Rugby Festival and Player and Coaching Development Camps hosted in Clayton.
The agreement covers a broad range that sees both the Clayton RFC and World Rugby Shop enhance their mutually beneficial bonds. The previous agreement has been replaced by a more robust partnership that expands upon the terms of their original agreement. The biggest change is the focus on the development of the Johnston County Rugby Park, which is a joint project between the Clayton RFC and the Town of Wilson’s Mills, NC.
“World Rugby Shop is excited to enter into a partnership with Clayton RFC and Wilson’s Mills,” said Trevor Caterson, Multi-Sport Account Representative at Sports Endeavors, Inc. the parent company of World Rugby Shop. “As a relatively new club, Clayton has shown tremendous dedication to not only grow their club but to grow rugby as a whole in our home state of North Carolina. As a company, our core values are to inform, innovate and inspire the growth of rugby in the US and we believe the work that Clayton RFC is doing with their Wilson’s Mills project encompasses these values to the fullest. We are very excited to be apart what the future holds! “
The new agreement is already in place and was launched with an updated team shop for the Bootleggers that now includes merchandise from Gilbert and Under Armour along with other fan shop apparel never before offered in the club’s team shop. The World Rugby Shop presence will also be noticeable when the Johnston County Rugby Park opens in 2018.
“We couldn’t be happier to come to a new agreement with World Rugby Shop,” said Clayton RFC President Ted Hardy. “We are excited to have them on board as we prepare to open a new chapter for the club with our new rugby facility. Their support over the past couple of years has been extraordinary and we look forward to continuing to grow and strengthen our relationship.”

domain: news


text:
The currently untitled Smurfs reboot was originally planned for a summer of 2016 release, but Sony Pictures Animation announced Wednesday that the film has been pushed to March 31, 2017.
The reboot is a fully animated feature with no connection to the recent animated/live action hybrid films. It's said to be closer in tone to Peyo's original Smurfs. "With a fully animated feature close in tone and design to Peyo's original creation, we're embracing everything that has made the Smurfs so special for audiences worldwide," said Sony Pictures' President of Worldwide Distribution Rory Bruer.
Director Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) updated fans on The Smurfs' production blog, saying, "So when my partners and I here at Sony Pictures Animation realized that rushing towards a summer 2016 release date meant having to launch production on a story that was not fully in the place we wanted it to be yet, we have decided to give ourselves a little more time to not compromise quality and deliver the truly smurftastic movie we all want to see on the big screen."
Fresh MMO Crowfall's Kickstarter campaign has ended after 30 days, with the fledgling title managing to pull in $1,766,204 from 16,936 backers.
F1 2015 will launch on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from June 12 2015.
Unlike previous releases, the latest instalment of the racing franchise will arrive much earlier in the F1 season, boasting an all-new handling system and game engine.
“F1 2015 marks an exciting new chapter for Codemasters and Formula One; it’s a shift in direction for the game series, on new formats and our brand new game engine, with the game set to be released earlier in the season, launching this June,” said game director for Codemasters, Paul Jeal.
So what's new for F1 2015? In addition to the "spectacular visual fidelity", Codemasters' believes this is the best game yet for physics-based handling.
After a few weeks of brand new retail releases from Nintendo, March is going out like a lamb, with the marquee titles being a neat little arcade-style game from WayForward's James Montagna on Wii U and a new Lego Ninjago game on 3DS. Virtual Console also continues its steady trickle with the GBA game Namco Museum on Wii U.
Dot Arcade ($4.99)
Dot Arcade is the result of WayForward's James Montagna messing around with an 8-by-8 light dot grid and coming up with a fun retro, high-score wrapper for it all. Dot Arcade includes three games: Mr. Snake (where you eat things), Dodge Club (where you dodge things), and Rally Driver (where you race things).
The Valve-approved fan-created mod, dubbed Half-Life 2: Update, will be releasing on Steam tomorrow, completely free of charge.
The 7GB add-on serves up a number of visual enhancements, including improved lighting effects and more detailed environmental textures. A number of bugs that plagued the original PC release have been fixed as well.
Earlier this month at GDC, Valve announced it was experimenting with Half-Life in virtual reality. Whether or not the beloved first-person shooter franchise will ever make its way to VR remains to be seen, but the prospect of such an experience sounds awfully promising.
Microsoft has revealed all the titles Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will have access to as part of its Games with Gold program in April.
As promised last month, the company is celebrating more than 100 million games downloaded by offering twice as many free games as usual, so Xbox One owners get two and Xbox 360 owners get four. The games on offer are:
It looks like Spider-Man Miles Morales is joining the Avengers after this summer's Secret Wars comic book event. If things are indeed as they appear, that means Miles will make the jump from the Ultimate Marvel Universe to the main Marvel Universe, or at least whatever constitutes the "main Marvel Universe" after Secret Wars ends.
The full cover to Marvel's Free Comic Book Day offering -- leaked on 4chan late yesterday -- shows Miles as part of the All-New, All-Different Avengers that will form after Secret Wars. The team also features Iron Man (is that Tony Stark or someone "all-new"?), Captain America (Sam Wilson), Vision, Nova (Sam Alexander), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and the female Thor. Details on how this team forms and why are unknown, but we expect to find out during Secret Wars -- an event that sees the Ultimate Marvel U and the main Marvel U smashing together.
Konami has released a statement seeking to address the ongoing confusion surrounding Hideo Kojima's position at the company.
Taking the to Japanese Metal Gear Twitter account (via Kotaku), the company avoided addressing the the exact status of Kojima's employment while asserting the removal of his name was part of an ongoing rebranding to put Konami's name front and center.
A new Mortal Kombat X trailer has been released, revealing Liu Kang is indeed back as a playable character.
The trailer, exclusive to a Russian outlet for the moment, can be seen below and shows that both Liu Kang and Kung Lao are working for Shinnok since their souls fell into the Netherrealm at the conclusion of the 2011 reboot of the franchise.
What's also interesting is the brief appearance by Bo' Rai Cho at the beginning. We haven't heard rumours that he'll be a playable character up until now, though this certainly seems to suggest that may be about to change.
A whole slew of new Mortal Kombat X information was revealed last week during a NetherRealm Studios live stream. The fighting game will feature a new Kustom Kombat mode, similar to Test Your Might, and players will not want to rage quit matches. Lastly, there might be another five rumored fighters on the Mortal Kombat X roster.
Former Lost writer and producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach has written a highly informative essay looking back on the conception of the show and what it was like to be in the writers' room for the first two seasons. He also has a lot to say about the question of whether the show’s creators were "making it up as they went along," noting the answer is a complicated one, as is often the case for TV. With Lost, many notable elements fans would come to know as the series progressed were conceived very early on, even as the nature of doing an ongoing TV show also led to new elements being added all the time.
“The idea that there is a simple truth about the creation of Lost also begs to additional questions,” Grillo-Marxuach says in the lengthy and very detailed post on his website. “Did we ever know what the island was? And was it purgatory?”
MotoGP 15, the next major instalment in Milestone Studios' motorcycle racing series, has been unveiled and will release for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC this spring.
As detailed on the EU PlayStation Blog, the game will feature "a whole new level of rider customisation, an enhanced career mode and the entire 2015 season of the motorcycle world championship."
MotoGP 15 will feature over 20 different bike models for players to choose from, as well as 40 liveries sporting an array of official color options. The appearance of the rider can be modified as well, allowing gamers to pick their own boots, gloves, and outfit.
Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise: size matters. Evolve’s fourth monster, Behemoth, is lumbering, rolling proof of it. I got a chance to take the new biggest kid-on-the-block for a spin, and he’s a lot more interesting than you’d imagine a hulking physical brute to be.
It would be natural to assume, from his nearly comical size, that Behemoth is all about simply overpowering your opponents. After all, his health and armor pools are roughly 30% larger than the already-beefy Goliath’s. But those are resources he needs to be careful with. Throwing away armor to get in the hunter’s face is actually the easiest way to get yourself killed as Behemoth. What you need to do instead is make the hunters come to you on your terms.
Evolve’s first major update is coming on March 31, and probably the most exciting new additions are the four new hunters entering the fray. I had a chance to go hands-on with all four of them, and I didn’t walk away disappointed. Let me run you through all four of them, along with full match footage for each.
First up is Torvald the assault. His auto shotgun is different from Parnell’s in that the full clip empties after one button press, making it an unwieldy, but devastatingly powerful weapon up close against the monster. He can even toss a shrapnel grenade on the way in, which creates a bunch of weak points in the monster’s armor to blast away at. His mortar cannon is what defines him though. With easy point-and-shoot targeting, he launches a salvo of 4 artillery shells that fly over cover, dealing heavy damage.
NASA revealed more progress on its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), a step in the ongoing goal for humans to explore our solar system's Red Planet.
First, an uncrewed spacecraft will snare a boulder from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid using its robotic arms and move it into orbit around the moon for exploration by astronauts. NASA expects to take approximately six years for the robotic spacecraft to move the asteroid chunk into lunar orbit.
NASA's Orion spacecraft is then currently slated to launch the first manned mission consisting of a two-astronaut crew to explore the asteroid mass in the mid-2020s. The human missions will serve to test out new capabilities and technology for use in future human exploration to deep space, such as Mars.
Jupiter may have been the cause of the formation of our planet.
According to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the inner Solar System once contained a number of "super-Earths". Jupiter migrated inward from its orbit and "cleared out" these planets by sweeping them into the Sun, before returning to its normal orbit.
Jupiter's journey apparently laid the foundations for the creation of Earth and the other planets closer to the Sun.
The work came off the back of an observation that our Solar System is unusual in that it "lacks planets that reside in close proximity to the Sun".
The Destiny of Spirits team has announced via the Japanese PlayStation website that Sony will be ending the service of its free to play RPG Destiny of Spirits on June 30.
According to the announcement, "after this date, you will not be able to play or access the game, and all unused Destiny Orbs will expire." The end dates for Destiny Orb sales are June 30 in the Americas, April 28 in Europe, and April 29 in Asia.
Since its release in March last year, it has achieved over one million downloads.
In its final months, a "Fan Appreciation Campaign" will be launching, which will bring back past raid boss events with the final version 1.12 update.
The first teaser trailer for the next James Bond film, SPECTRE, will be revealed tomorrow, March 27 at 4.45pm PT / 7.45pm ET/ 11.45pm GMT.
The teaser will be hosted on the official 007 site and will offer our first glimpse into the plot of the flick, which will see Bond following a cryptic message from his past that sets him off on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation, while M plays politics to keep the secret service alive.
SPECTRE, the 24th official Bond film, is helmed by Skyfall director Sam Mendes and features a returning Daniel Craig alongside Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Andrew Scott, and Dave Bautista.
Jeremy Clarkson may one day return to the BBC in the future, according to the organisation's creative director.
Alan Yentob told Newsnight, "Of course I wouldn't rule that out, but that's not for now." Clarkson has yet to issue a statement in relation to the news, so whether he agrees with this assessment is currently unknown.
When asked about yesterday's decision to dismiss Clarkson over an incident involving him hitting a producer, he said it was a sad but correct decision. He also said it would be a shame to lose fellow presenters Richard Hammond and James May over the incident.
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection requires an 8.3GB day one patch on PS4, and an even larger 16GB patch on Xbox One.
The large patch sizes are mainly down to the Pre-Sequel's Claptastic Voyage DLC, which was only just completed and therefore couldn't be included on the disc. As you'd expect, there's also a host of bug fixes for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions too.
"For The Handsome Collection, a large day-one update will be available giving access to Claptastic Voyage and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2. This update will also address various bugs," an update explains. "Although the update is large (as it's adding an entire and brand new add-on campaign), we strongly recommend that all players download it before playing The Handsome Collection."
DC delivered another round of finales and climaxes as Convergence approaches, Marvel featured a handful of highly impactful Avengers and X-Men issues, and the indie books hit in full force.
Check out our comic book reviews, then let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Written by Jeff Parker | Drawn by Paul Pelletier


text:
Sony’s game director said that through pre-orders, Sony’s demand for PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles is “very substantial” because Sony hopes to seize the opportunity in the global game market when the game is released on November 12.
In an interview, Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said that Sony pre-sold as many PS5 consoles in the United States in the first 12 hours of its predecessor PlayStation 4 device as it did in the first 12 weeks.
Ryan told Reuters: “The demand expressed by the booking level is very, very large.”
Sony has sold more than 100 million PS4 devices and is trying to persuade its user base to upgrade to new devices to play games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and to enhance graphics, sound and feedback with new controllers.
The PS5 release was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic not only promoted the development of game companies, but also disrupted the global retail network, game development and manufacturing supply chain.
Ryan said: “It is very likely that not everyone who wants to buy a PS5 on the launch day will find the PS5.” He added that the company is “doing its best” to ensure the supply of shopping at the end of the year. season.
Sony is expected to announce its quarterly gaming profit growth on Thursday, as PS4 users shift to higher-profit downloads, and PS5 is expected to be the first next-generation device that will not cause the gaming division to cause annual losses in its release year.
Sony has established an internal studio network to produce exclusive works, including Ghost of Tsushima from Sucker Punch Productions, to fend off competitors including Microsoft Xbox and new entrants, many of whom are struggling.
Ryan said: “AAA game development is an extremely complex and difficult thing.” He added that Sony “has learned lessons for many years” and these experiences help ensure the PS5 release lineup.
Sony plans to increase the capabilities of its studios organically, but “it is possible to enhance internal capabilities through selective acquisitions,” Ryan said.
Analysts questioned that the expansion of the gaming business driven by consumers trapped at home will last longer.
Ryan said that Sony will promote this participation.
Ryan said: “We are definitely looking up, thinking we can do better than we thought.”
Industry insiders warned of the impact of the pandemic on early game development.
Ryan said: “The initial concern about the impact on the 2021 and 2022 roster is reasonable, but it may be alleviated now.”
© Thomson Reuters 2020
Is the iPhone 12 mini and HomePod mini the perfect Apple device in India? We discussed this on the weekly technical podcast Orbital, you can subscribe via Apple Podcast, Google Podcast or RSS, download the episode, or click the play button below.


text:
The Landis Taipei (台北亞都麗緻飯店) is negotiating with its employees about a plan to introduce unpaid leave as its business suffers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hotel management said in a statement yesterday.
The statement was the hotel’s response to a Chinese-language media report the previous day that said the Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) on April 1 would introduce a three-month plan under which employees would take six days of unpaid leave per month.
It is the latest move by the group to offset declining guest numbers following the closure of the Landis Taichung (台中亞都麗緻飯店) on Monday last week, the report said.
Landis Taipei said in the statement that it is still discussing the plan with its employees and would reveal the details once an agreement is reached.
“It is necessary to have staff consent” before cutting working hours, the statement said, expressing the hope that employees would understand the difficult situation the company is in.
The provisional furlough policy would be rescinded if business recovers quicker than expected, the statement said.
With the closure of the Landis Taichung, the Landis Group has five local hotels and resorts: the Landis Taipei, the Tayih Landis Hotel Tainan (台南大億麗緻酒店), Pause Landis Resorts (璞石麗緻溫泉會館) in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來), the Landis Resort Yangmingshan (陽明山中國麗緻大飯店) in Taipei and the Landis Inn Chuhu (竹湖暐順麗緻文旅) in Hsinchu City.
Landis Group business development division assistant general manager Gary Lo (羅明威) attributed the closure of Landis Taichung after 13 years to the economic slowdown, surging rental fees and operational costs, as well as the impact of the pandemic.
“We never made enough to cover our losses,” Lo said.
Landis Taipei shares fell 1.45 percent to close at NT$21.50 on Friday last week. There were no trades yesterday.
NOT ALL GOOD: Analysts warned that other data for last month might be less rosy due to the virus and analysts expect the PMI to contract again next month Chinese factory activity saw surprise growth last month as businesses went back to work following a lengthy shutdown, but analysts said that the economy faces a challenging recovery as external demand has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the World Bank said that growth could screech to a halt. China is slowly returning to life after months of tough restrictions aimed at containing the virus, which put millions of people into virtual house arrest and brought economic activity to a near standstill. The strict measures saw a closely watched gauge of manufacturing plunge to its lowest level on record in February,
The output of the global smartphone industry this year is to contract by 7.8 percent on an annual basis as the COVID-19 pandemic ushers in a global recession, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report on Monday. The global production of smartphones is expected to fall to 1.29 billion units, as the pandemic dampens demand for consumer electronics, leading to a decline in shipments across Europe and North America, TrendForce said. With consumers delaying smartphone purchases and thereby lengthening the device replacement cycle, overall prices would suffer a setback that is expected to negatively affect the profitability of smartphone
ELECTRONICS Lite-On delays sale of unit Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said it would postpone the sale of its solid-state drives (SSD) business to Kioxia Holdings Corp, formerly known as Toshiba Memory Holdings Corp, due to disruptions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the Taiwan-based electronics components supplier struck the deal with the Japanese firm, agreeing to sell the unit for US$165 million. Citing unfinished integration work due to the pandemic, Lite-On has deferred today’s closing date until further notice, adding that the delay would not have a negative effect on the unit’s operations. AUTO PARTS Hiroca approves dividend Automotive interior parts supplier Hiroca
DEVELOPING TALENT: The electronics contractor is looking to recruit people to work in core tech fields and emerging industries like electric cars and robotics Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, has launched a recruitment drive, offering a monthly salary of no less than NT$45,000 (US$1,485) to university graduates. For those with a master’s degree, the starting pay would be NT$52,000 per month at the minimum, while doctorate degree holders would receive at least NT$60,000 a month, Hon Hai said a statement issued early this week. The latest recruitment drive is aimed at attracting talent in core technology fields — artificial intelligence, semiconductors and next-generation mobile communications — and emerging industries — electric vehicles, digital healthcare and robotics, the


text: NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Potash (POT), Syngenta (SYT), Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), CF Industries Holdings (CF) and Deere & Company (DE) are five agriculture stocks with potential upside of 8%-21%. Being analysts' favorites, these stocks have no sell ratings.The agriculture industry is the talk of the street since a few months now, as global food demand has elevated to historic highs. The beneficiaries of this trend include the farming industry, equipment suppliers, fertilizer and pesticide companies and other service providers. Moreover, weather-related production shocks in major food exporting countries have triggered this crisis. On the demand side, rising income levels and a growing middle-class in emerging markets like China and India are pushing food demand further. With the world facing tight supply conditions for milling-quality wheat, as Australian wheat production has downgraded and European supply is offline, the U.S. is now the best source for milling-quality wheat to meet increasing demand from North America and the Middle East. To benefit ethanol producers, the U.S. government has extended its 45 cents per gallon tax credit by a year.


text:
After the long holiday weekend, investors appeared to return to the markets with renewed optimism on Tuesday. U.S. stocks gapped higher at the opening bell, following the pre-market release of better than expected earnings news from a few of the U.S.’s top retailers. Within the first half hour of the trading day, investors received an additional boost of confidence as the February PMI Manufacturing Index flash reported a reading of 54.3. Any reading of 50 or above signifies expansion in the manufacturing sector, so even though the February reading was slightly below the prior month’s reading of 55.1, it still signifies a decent rate of growth. The Flash report is usually released about a week prior to the final report and gives investors some heads up on what to expect for the current month.
All the major market averages closed at new all-time highs on Tuesday with the Standard and Poor’s 500 rising 0.60 percent and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.47 percent. More importantly, Tuesday’s rally was broad based, with the Russell 2000 Small Cap Index leading the way higher, up 0.78 percent on the day.
In some ways, the stock market’s advance looks completely healthy, such as the resent highs in the New York Stock Exchange’s advance decline line. However, for some subsets of the market such as small companies, other indicators are beginning to show that that number of small company stocks participating in the recent rally is beginning to decline. This means that fewer companies are lifting the indexes, and just one sign that a rally is running out of steam.
Another indication that the recent rally in long in the tooth is the recent outperformance of two typically defensive sectors. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index rose 1.26 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index gained 1.01 percent on the day.
We will continue to watch and see what happens with the various government and economic announcements in the next couple of weeks.
Laif E. Meidell, CMT
We hope you have a great week,
Pat Meidell, Laif Meidell and Heidi Foster
Weekly Economic Update
RETAIL SALES ROSE 0.4% IN JANUARY
Consumer spending on household electronics and appliances powered this gain. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.1% advance. Core retail purchases also rose 0.4% last month. The Department of Commerce revised the December increase for retail sales upward to 1.0%. Across the 12 months ending in January, retail sales advanced 5.6%.1
INFLATION PRESSURE MOUNTS
In January, the headline Consumer Price Index climbed 0.6%. That was its greatest monthly gain in four years, and it took annualized inflation to a 4-year high of 2.5%. Producer prices also jumped 0.6% in January, in the largest monthly increase seen since September 2012; that development left them up 1.6% year-over-year.1,2
BUILDING PERMITS UP, HOUSING STARTS DOWN
Unsurprisingly, groundbreaking declined in January. The Census Bureau recorded a 2.6% fall for housing starts in the winter weather. The rate of permits issued for future projects, however, increased by 4.6%.3
FURTHER GAINS IN A BULLISH FEBRUARY
The S&P 500 pulled off another weekly advance, adding 1.51% from February 13-17 on its way to a Friday settlement of 2,351.16. Its 5-day performance actually lagged both the Dow and the Nasdaq: the blue chips gained 1.75%, to 20,624.05, as the broad tech sector benchmark rose 1.82%, to 5,838.58.4
Monday is Presidents Day, so U.S. stock and bond markets are closed; America’s Car-Mart and Dillard’s report Q4 results. Tuesday, Advance Auto Parts, Cracker Barrel, HealthSouth, Home Depot, Kaiser Aluminum, La-Z-Boy, Macy’s, Medtronic, Newmont Mining, Nautilus, Papa John’s, Red Robin, and Walmart all join the earnings parade. On Wednesday, earnings from Cheesecake Factory, Chico’s FAS, DISH Network, Fitbit, Garmin, Green Dot, HP, Jack-in-the-Box, L Brands, Popeyes, Public Storage, Six Flags Entertainment, Square, Sunoco, Tesla, TJX, Toll Brothers, Transocean, and Weibo complement minutes from February’s Federal Reserve policy meeting and January existing home sales numbers. A new initial claims report arrives Thursday, along with earnings from AMC Networks, Baidu, Chesapeake Energy, Gap, Herbalife, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hormel Foods, iHeartMedia, Intuit, Kohl’s, Live Nation, Mitel, Nordstrom, Pinnacle Foods, Sears Holdings, Sprouts, and Toro. Friday, earnings from Berkshire Hathaway, Boise Cascade, Foot Locker, JCPenney, Magellan Health, and Revlon emerge, plus the final February University of Michigan consumer sentiment index and the January new home sales report.


text:
It is the dreaded annual shopping ordeal most likely to reduce the average man to a quivering wreck.
But this Valentine’s Day the Mayfair bra and knicker store Victoria’s Secret claims it has found a “painless” solution to the lingerie-buying trial.
It has turned the top floor of its flagship Bond Street store into a discreet consultation area far away from the humiliations and furtive lurking of the public areas below.
Men are invited to talk over the lingerie preferences of their wife or girlfriend with a personal shopper in its “Angel Suite”.
Consultations take about 90 minutes but can last as long as four hours with no minimum spend.
The most expensive item in the store — a jewel encrusted bra costing £1.6 million — has been sold but it is not unusual for men to emerge with thousands of pounds worth of bras, knickers, nightwear and perfumes.
A complimentary bottle of champagne is included and food can be ordered from the Hush brasserie nearby. The Angel Suite is not just for men and most users, who include the singer Katherine Jenkins, are women. Wedding parties are frequent customers with bride and bridesmaids coming in for a mass consultation.
According to executive vice president Monica Mitro: “Angel Suite Consultants are trained to put men at ease and to provide options for the perfect gifts. They know exactly what questions to ask and are experts in fit and style.”
The Evening Standard was invited to road test the service ahead of the fourth biggest retail event of the year after Christmas, Easter and Halloween.
I was ushered into a room lined with fake bookshelves that could have been part of a five-star hotel’s penthouse with comfy sofas and “antique” wooden chests of drawers.
The drawers are full of bras — in sizes from 32C to 38DD — and the walls decorated by large prints of Victoria’s Secret models, wearing very little.
The consultation with my “personal shopper” — Victoria’s Secret do not want her named following an acid attack on a member of staff — took place in one of five cubicles lined with pink crushed velvet flock wallpaper.
For once I had come armed with the right sizes and my shopper navigated me confidently through the dangerous shoals of lingerie decision-making. The embarrassment factor was hugely reduced if not eliminated altogether.
If a customer is feeling brave the personal shopper will walk with him onto the floor to look at more options. But most, like me, decide it is much safer to hide in the cubicle.
At the end of the consultation a cab delivers the purchases to work or home to spare the buyer the awkward walk laden with bags of ladies’ underwear.Reuse content


text:
A flat top-line growth complemented by a stupendous increase in operational expenses, especially on account of employee cost, have cost the engine manufacturer Greaves Cotton its profitability in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
The company has, for the quarter ended Jun '12, lost about 200 basis points in its operating profits (excluding other income) while its net profit after tax dropped nearly 10% since the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
A significant surge in the company's employee cost, from Rs 29 crore in Q1 FY '12 to Rs 37 crore in Q1 FY '13 has had a sharp impact on its EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and tax) that has slid 17% year on year. In fact, as a percentage to sales, the employee cost has shot up from 7% in Jun '11 quarter to 9% in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
While the company has done reasonably well in its engine business, the margin loss has been tremendous in the infrastructure equipment business which reported - 4.6% margins against margins of 0.2% clocked in by this particular business segment in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The margin decline in its core engine business has been to the tune of about 100 basis points.
However, with the share of its engine business in the total revenues having increased from 84% in Jun '11 quarter to 88% in Jun '12 quarter, it appears that the company is now focusing its synergies on its core business.
The company has in fact recently inked a long - term supply contract for the supply of diesel engines with Atul Auto. The company already has long-term supply agreements with automobile majors like the Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Piaggio.
While these supply agreements do provide a revenue support to the company, concerns on the margin front have impacted the company's valuations, in the past few months.
The trailing twelve month (TTM) price to earning multiple (P/E) for Greaves Cotton has fallen sharply from over 12% at the beginning of May '12 to 8.6% currently. This is at a great discount to its peers like Cummins India, Kirloskar Oil Engines and also Swaraj Engines making it an attractive buy at the current levels.


text:
By Nicola Harrison2014-03-24T13:39:00
Marks & Spencer has unveiled another impressive line-up of influential women for its new womenswear marketing campaign.
Please sign in now if you have a subscription
Retail Week is the most trusted source of business intelligence for the retail industry. Subscribe now to enjoy:
Discover Retail Week subscribe now
Please note, if you have recently purchased a subscription, it may take a few minutes before your account is updated.


text:
Panama and CAFTA-DR - March 2023
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is accepting applications from U.S. exporters for a regional trade mission to Panama City, Panama from March 19-23, 2023.
“Panama is the economic, financial, and logistics and transport hub for Central America and this trade mission will provide us with an exciting opportunity to expand our growing presence across the region,” said FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley. “This is a perfect time to expand U.S. agricultural and food exports to Central America, where the rising incomes and a growing middle class in Central America are driving demand for consumer-oriented products and more.”
During the mission, FAS staff and regional experts will provide in-depth market briefings while in country. The agency will also arrange targeted business to business meetings for U.S. agribusinesses with potential customers from Panama, a bilateral Free Trade Agreement partner, as well as buyers from countries in the multilateral Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
Combined total agricultural exports to CAFTA-DR countries and Panama totaled a record $7.6 billion in 2021, up 50 percent since 2017. In 2022, agricultural product exports are on track to exceed that figure by nearly 25 percent. Guatemala is the largest country by population in the region while the Dominican Republic is the largest economy and the United States’ largest agricultural product export market in the region. Costa Rica and Panama are both important tourism destinations and are home to thousands of American and international expats, helping to drive demand for high-quality imported food products. Moreover, Panama is a global top-five per capita consumer of U.S. food exports.
The region offers strong capabilities in logistics, distribution, processing, cold chain, and more. Strong opportunities exist for exporters across many industries, including but not limited to:
- consumer and processor-oriented food;
- dairy products;
- beer and wine;
- snacks and packaged foods;
- health functional foods, such as gluten and sugar free, keto, and organics.
How to Apply
Application Deadline: December 30th, 2022


text:
Elon Musk: “10’000 people needed for Giga Texas”
The Tesla CEO recently took to twitter stating that the electric vehicle manufacturer will need over 10’000 people for its Giga Texas plant “just through 2022”.
It was back during the electric car manufacturers Q2 2020 earnings call, that Elon Musk announced Tesla’s plans to build a Gigafactory close to Austin in Texas. The company has previously stated that it aims to have the plant up and running, to a certain extent by mid year 2021. What this entails is however not clear.


text:
Black Friday has become a massive holiday at least within the United States. It’s a massive event around the country where retail stores mark products at a massive discount in an attempt to move units for more stock and also to bring in some sales. We’re still a month out from the holiday event but we may have a leaked image for Walmart’s video game console deals.
Again, this is a supposed leak so we can’t confirm the legitimacy of this advertisement. Regardless, the deals are pretty nice for the various consoles advertised. If you’re in the market for a new console or plan on purchasing a console for a loved one this holiday season then take a look at these deals below.
Rumored Black Friday Console Deals
- Sony PS4 1TB Slim – $149
- Sony PS4 1TB Pro – $299
- Xbox One S 1TB All Digital – $149
- Nintendo Switch – $199
- Nintendo Switch Lite – $149
The best part of the Black Friday event lately is that more and more retailers are utilizing online retail options. Rather than going to the stores at midnight for the various deals, you can sit back and purchase the products online. However, some select items are in-store-only with each location limited to the amount readily available. As a result, you’ll want to make sure to check out advertisement deals and the fine details before you prepare to either rush out to the stores or hopping online. With that said, if you’re looking for some deals right now for video games and peripherals then check out our weekly deals page right here.


text:
By Lisa Johnston
New products on display at the American International Toy Fair, held in N
CES 2014 Las Vegas– VOXX International unveiled new in-car and on-the-go electronics, new takes on rear-seat entertainment systems, and a car-audio marketing partnership with automotive lifestyle brand DUB.
This TWICE webinar, hosted by senior editor Alan Wolf, will take a look at what may be the hottest CE products at retail that will be sold during the all-important fourth quarter. Top technologies, market strategies and industry trends will be discussed with industry analysts and executives.
CES 2014 Las Vegas – Samsung used its 2014 International CES press conference to underscore a huge focus on Ultra HD TV (UHD), more than tripling the number of SKUs from 2013, while stressing specialized contributions to overall picture quality, future-proofing and feature performance.
CES 2014 Las Vegas — Monster is moving into the TV business.
The audio company kicked off its 35th anniversary celebration during International CES with its usual cadre of celebrity appearances, bolstered by the announcement of new partnerships, new power products and, of course, new headphones.
With a nod to its legacy, head monster Noel Lee said the company also plans to bring back its old cables and old logo.
CES 2014 Las Vegas – A curved 105-inch Ultra HD television with 21:9 aspect ratio, Ultra HD TVs with curved OLED displays up to 77 inches, an expanded selection of FullHD OLED TVs, and an expanded selection of Ultra HD LCD TVs up to 105 inches took center stage yesterday at LG’s press conference.
Las Vegas — Sharp is coming to International CES with its first Bluetooth speaker, first nearfield communications (NFC)-equipped Bluetooth soundbar, its first Bluetooth-equipped microsystem and first Bluetooth-equipped executive component system.
Sharp is also displaying its first Blu-ray/SACD player with WiSA-compliant wireless technology to stream soundtracks to WiSA-certified active speakers.
All products ship in the first half. Prices weren’t announced.
Las Vegas – Pioneer plans its first in-dash navigation units that connect to a cloud-based subscription service to download traffic and other data, and it will launch its first head units that are compatible with iDataLink’s Maestro module to retain OEM infotainment system functions in select Ford, Chrysler and GM vehicles.
Las Vegas – Traffic-data supplier INRIX teamed up with BMW to offer what they call the industry’s first in-car intermodal navigation system, which monitors real-time traffic conditions and alerts drivers to faster public modes of transportation.
The system, which will be displayed at International CES, also provides turn-by-turn navigation to the nearest bus or train station in time for the next departure.
Las Vegas – Krell Industries is bringing high-power Class A amplifiers back into its line after an absence of more than seven years but adding patent-pending technology to improve Class A efficiency and reduce Class A amplifier size to suit changing consumer lifestyles.
The amps are also positioned as making the most of high-resolution audio formats because Class A technology eliminates the crossover distortion generated by Class A/B amps.
As a result, the amps deliver the low-level details, subtleties and spatiality of high-resolution music, the company said.
Las Vegas — Funai Electric subsidiary P&F is bringing its first two Philips-brand under-TV speaker bases to International CES along with a wireless home-theater system and an expanded selection of soundbars and Bluetooth speakers.
The company is also adding AptX and AAC streaming over Bluetooth for the first time, offerings its first two active bookshelf speaker pairs with embedded Bluetooth, and launching multiple Apple-docking speakers, including its first with dual 30-pin and eight-pin Apple connectors.
Here’s what’s coming:
Las Vegas – Toshiba officially entered the Chromebook market today with a $279, 13.3-inch device.
While the Chromebook market has made a splash in education circles, Toshiba believes this model’s larger screen size will change the perception of the Chromebook from a browsing-centric device to one capable of serious productivity through the use of Google supplied docs, sheets and slides software.
To further highlight this new perception, Toshiba has powered the Chromebook with an updated Intel Celeron processor.


text:
Ocean State sets date for grand openingDonates truckload of food, lacrosse equipment
Rockland — Rockland's newest large retailer will have its grand opening and ribbon-cutting March 22 on Camden Street, an event that will include the donation of a tractor-trailer load of food to area food pantries.
Ocean State Job Lot will likely open Wednesday or Thursday, March 19 or 20, at the former Wal-Mart building on Camden Street, according to company spokesperson David Sarlitto. It will hold its grand opening and ribbon-cutting starting 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 22.
The City Council and representatives from the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce have been invited to participate in the event.
The Rhode Island-based retailer will occupy about half of the former Wal-Mart building, taking up about 40,000 square feet, and will employ about 50 people.
As part of the opening celebration, the company will donate a tractor-trailer truckload of food to the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, according to Sarlitto. Good Shepherd will distribute the food among area food pantries including the Area Interfaith Outreach pantry in Rockland, said Good Shepherd Food Sourcing Manager Nancy Perry. This is part of Ocean State's “Three Square Meals” Community Meal Assistance Program, providing food throughout the seven states where the stores are located.
Sarlitto said the new store will also donate DeBeer lacrosse equipment for a women's team being formed in the area. He said he had contacted a coach from Oceanside High School East.
In addition, residents are invited to come to the store that Saturday for samples of food and other products.
Courier-Gazette Editor Daniel Dunkle can be reached at 594-4401 ext. 122 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
NZ Tech Podcast » NZ Tech Podcast 176: Build and hands on Windows Phone 8.1, Galaxy S5 and Gear Neo, Sony Xperia E1.
We discuss Microsoft’s latest news from Build and go hands on with Windows Phone 8.1. We also take a look at the Galaxy S5 paired with the Galaxy, and Sony’s budget Xperia E1. And Kim Dotcom faces new legal action – this from seven Hollywood studios.
This episode produced and hosted by Paul Spain (@paulspain) with guests Nathan Mercer (@nathanm) and Bill Bennett (@billbennettnz).
Get the Podcast here:
IBM blamed weak hardware sales for the poor start to its year. The company turned in the lowest first quarter revenue for five years. Sales were US$22.5 billion.
Significantly hardware sales fell 23 percent to US$2.4 billion. IBM has struggled with hardware as it attempts to move into more lucrative markets such as cloud computing and big data. The company’s Systems and Technology business unit, the division responsible for most hardware sales, has now been in decline for more than two years.
The news is a worry for the wider technology industry. IBM is an industry barometer, where it goes, others follow.
Most of the enterprising computing old guard trailing in IBM’s wake, including Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Cisco and EMC face equally difficult transitions away from depending on now-commoditised hardware towards cloud and similar services.
Enterprise computing spending continues to spiral down as companies shift more and more workloads to software-as-a-service and other cloud-based technologies as they wind-down in-house IT. When they make the shift, many of the larger companies choose newer partner companies.
There’s also a move away from big projects towards smaller upgrades showing a quicker return on investment.
During the first quarter IBM sold its low-end server business to Lenovo and talked openly of selling its software defined network operation, although that didn’t happen. It also talked of investing US$1.2 billion in cloud computing.


text:
If retailers and developers in the US put photovoltaic panels on the roofs of some 100,000 thousand existing malls and superstores across the country, it could generate 84.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean electricity a year, enough to power nearly 8 million homes.
That was the conclusion of a study published at the start of the year by environmental think tanks Frontier Group and Environment America, who said such a move would prevent more than 52 million metric tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere each year.
Retailers could go even further by installing solar-panneled canopies in their vast parking lots, giving customers protection from rain and sun.
The study said it’s just one example of how the US is failing to exploit its vast solar resources; it has the technical potential to produce 78 times as much electricity as it used in 2020 just with solar energy, the study said.
Retailers have made a start. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, as of 2019, Apple, Amazon, Walmart and Target had solar installations totalling almost 1.4 gigawatts of capacity, around 11% of the total commercial solar capacity installed in the US that year.
As of February 2021, Ikea had 54 solar arrays installed across 90% of its US locations, CNN reported in March.
But that’s still a drop in the ocean compared to the potential afforded by nearly 700 sq km of retail roofscape in the US, an untapped area equivalent to nearly eight Manhattans.
So why don’t they do it?
CNN asked five big retailers – Walmart, Kroger, Home Depot, Costco and Target – what prevented them from embracing rooftop solar.
Walmart, Target and Costco didn’t answer that question, but Craig D’Arcy, director of energy management at Home Depot, which has 75 rooftop solar arrays among its approximately 2,300 stores and more planned, said ageing roofs were the biggest barrier. Some may not be capable of supporting a solar array.
If a roof needs to be replaced in the coming 10 to 15 years, it didn’t make financial sense to add solar systems now, he told CNN.
Home Depot considers rooftop solar “where the economics are attractive”, he added.
Edwin Cowen, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, told CNN that labour costs, a lack of incentives and layers of regulation could also be preventing retailers from harnessing the sun.
Make it attractive and easy
In their study, Frontier Group and Environment America, urged all levels of government to implement policies that incentivise solar investments.
They include expanding federal investment tax credit for solar power; making it pay for retailers through feed-in tariffs; enabling clean energy financing tools; and streamlining solar permitting and interconnection to make going solar easier and faster.


text:
Stundins says it's a 110-unit, 236,900-square-foot town-home project spearheaded by Houston developer Frank Liu of InTown Homes , who hopes to plant "moderately priced" for-sale properties on the lot -- which is more or less one of the centerpieces of theDowntown Dallas 360 plan .
"We worked with Brent Brown at the CityDesign Studio to look at the site plan and street elevations, and they did a lot of modifications to get to this point," says Stundins, who sent the conceptual renderings you see above and after the jump. "We also looked at Downtown Dallas 360 and looked at that site as more moderately priced. The land's expensive, which makes it harder to do for-sale at really, really inexpensive [prices]. But the units will be priced at the lower end of what's for sale downtown."
If Liu gets the TIF incentive, he would expect to begin building by the end of December, with completion date set for September 30, 2013.
But Stundins knows there will be objections; he's already heard from folks who want to know why the project doesn't contain a retail component, or at least a live-work piece on the ground floor. That was part of a previously planned project set to go on the site, but Stundins says it's much more difficult to demand that with a town-home development.
"The city overall has a larger concern with Farmers Market," he says. "The city wants to privatize it, but we only got one bid, and retail's difficult down there. You don't want to put in retail if nobody shops there. Marilla, because of City Hall Plaza, doesn't really go anywhere. Eventually we'll have to look at: Is there a better way to use our resources with Farmers Market and what's the appropriate amount of retail space. There's more work we have to do.
"And it's difficult, because if you look at the space, 20 percent is allocated to shopping and 80 percent to storage and trucks. The question is: For downtown land, is that the most efficient use?"


text:
Episode 48-- Weekly IoT News Update
IoT news for this week:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a global call for countries to come together to create new GDPR-style data privacy laws
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is a major proponent of the the recent European data regulation GDPR, which came into force in May 2018.
China’s fast-paced growth has resulted in it being one of the most extremely flexible nations in terms of technological integration into existing infrastructure.
Commentary: Smart bulbs, smart switches and other smart lights have never been better or more affordable -- and new options are coming this year from Ring, GE, Philips Hue and more. So what's stopping you from buying in?
Rumors about a Pixel Watch have abounded for years. Such a device would certainly make sense as Google attempts to prove the viability of its struggling wearable operating system, Wear OS.
Studying how tree frogs regulate their communications, so each amphibian in the colony can hear everything, could provide ideal data traffic routings, scientists say.
The Edge Marketplace - the internet equivalent of edge opportunities over the next 10 years, has the potential to dwarf the first 10 years of the modern internet age (95 – 2005).
SeeTree, a Tel Aviv-based startup that uses drones and artificial intelligence to bring precision agriculture to their groves, today announced that it has raised an $11.5 million Series A funding round led by Hanaco Ventures, with participation from previous investors Canaan Partners Israel, Uri Levine and his investors group, iAngel and Mindset. This brings the company’s total funding to $15 million.
The spinoff of GE Digital and the sale of ServiceMax have left the future of the Predix platform hazy and underscores the difficulty of digital transformation.
Edge gateways have emerged as architectural components that improve the performance of IoT networks, and vendors have stepped up with off-the-shelf devices flexible enough to meet the varying demands of individual deployments.
More than any prior Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2019 was all about smart homes and the digital assistants inside them.


text:
In an effort to continue improving its music discovery, YouTube is rolling out three new playlists on their YouTube Music app. These playlists are focused on personalized mixes of new music based on machine learning and user listening history. The new playlists are: Discover Mix, New Release Mix and Your Mix. Continue reading for more details.
The first new playlist, Discover Mix, features new music and artists that the user might like. This playlist will include artists that the user has never heard before, as well as unheard tracks from artists that the user listens to frequently. This playlist is customized for each user and relies on the user’s historical listening data on YouTube Music and YouTube.
The second new playlist, New Release Mix, is similar to Spotify’s Your Release Radar and focuses on recent releases from a user’s most listened to artists. This will be a useful tool for fans that want to stay up-to-date on the latest releases from their favorites artists. Finally, the third new playlist, Your Mix, is a combination of a user’s most listened to tracks and artists, as well as new songs that a user hasn’t heard yet. These new songs are recommended based on previous listening data, and will hopefully be a useful tool for music lovers that are looking to discover new artists.
All three of these playlists will be updated weekly and can be found on the “Mixed for You” shelf on the home screen, or by searching in the app. These playlists will start appearing on users’ YouTube apps within the next month, and should help YouTube compete more squarely against other streaming music services like Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL. Google (parent company of YouTube) will be slowly phasing out Google Play Music in favor of YouTube Music, which will be a huge advantage to artists and musicians that have put effort into their presence on YouTube in the past. YouTube Music is now the default music app that comes pre-installed on Android devices, and you can expect to see Google continue to prioritize the YouTube Music app across its various devices and products in the future. As always, feel free to reach out to us with any questions!


text:
Although the world has been in the grips of a global recession for all too many months, the car industry hasn’t been hit quite as hard as we expected. The dips in sales were significant, but they were also recoverable from for most large car companies – meaning that 2009 was simply a year that called for sticking it out and hoping for the best.
Now it seems like the worst is past us. German car manufacturers, of the likes of BMW and Audi, have reported German car exports rose by more than a half in March compared with a year earlier. They certainly aren’t back at the sales/export levels that we could have seen in the years before the recession – but the experts in the industry expect us to be back up to that point by 2011 if all goes well.
It seems that the worst of the recession is past us – and may well be receeding!
© 2011-2017 THE Blog About Cars All Rights Reserved


text:
London has gained a reputation as a leading fintech hub, hosting more and more innovative technology start-ups but can they be considered as friends or enemies of financial services? This is exactly what Junes debate from the Digital Banking Club (TDBC) set to find out. Jessica Longley reports on the action
NTT Datas Global Payment Hub will allow Chinas ecommerce retail consumers to use Chinas local payment options including Tenpay and WeChat Pay, in addition to the current accepted choices of UnionPay, AliPay and all other majoy payment method for online transactions.
Many businesses at the 2016 PayExpo conference introduced prepaid cards, but what makes PassportCard different is its attempt to penetrate the saturated niche market that is travel insurance. Jessica Longley met with Sharon Haran, CEO of PassportCard, to discover how exactly it aims to revolutionise travel
In the aftermath of Brexit, several businesses are considering to relocate part of their operations outside of the UK due to regulatory requirements. Visa, the world’s largest credit and debit card issuer, could be next.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get industry leading news, data and analysis delivered to your inbox
Monday proved yet another defeat for the UK as Iceland beat England 2-1 in the ironically named Euro 2016. Tweets and Facebook posts mocking the UK’s downwards spiral came pouring in as the country turned into a laughing stock.
ParentPay, an online payment service, is planning on launching a new financial platform in the UK called Nimbl. This product introduces a prepaid MasterCard card and smartphone app to encourage financial awareness and independence amongst young people.
More than a third (34%) of consumers will not conduct a sharing economy transaction without having assurance about the identity of the other party in the transaction, according to a recent survey conducted on behalf of HooYu by Atomik Research


text:
Letter from the Editor
Most tech companies shoot their proverbial wads at CES, showing off their finest wares for the coming year and beyond. Usually, this means that the second week in January is a peaceful time, meant for reflection upon the technological wonders seen in Las Vegas. Nintendo, however, is not most tech companies.
This week revealed much more about the company’s forthcoming next generation console, the Switch, which many on the Engadget staff have been eagerly awaiting. You’re not gonna believe this, but a good portion of the internet says that the price, at $300, is too high — despite the fact that its pricing is right in line with the console competition from Sony and Microsoft. Regardless, early returns on its innovative home/mobile console hybrid hardware design are good. And yes, there will be a new Zelda game available at launch in early March, with a brand new Mario game on sale before the end of the year.


text:
Andrew Norris said he liked the flowers, but it was the Tyrannosaurus rex Sunday at Leu Gardens that really caught the toddler's eye.
Andrew, almost 3 and wearing a T-shirt printed with dinosaurs, and his parents, Greg and Beth Norris of St. Cloud, were among thousands of people who converged on the Orlando gardens Saturday and Sunday for the annual spring plant sale.
Record attendance of 13,070 over the two days of the sale was buoyed by the gardens' "Dinosaur Invasion" exhibit, which features models of the prehistoric creatures around the 50-acre site, Assistant Director Keri Byrum said. On Sunday, plant lovers ignored a forecast of rain, and the weather rewarded them by staying dry.
"It's just so fun to see this many people interested in plants," Leu Gardens Executive Director Robert Bowden said.
About 1,000 people visit the gardens on a normal weekend day, Byrum said. Admission was free for the sale.
This year was the first that visitors could see Orlando's young Survivor Tree, which came from a Callery pear tree damaged during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center. The tree was saved and replanted at the memorial in New York City. Every year since 2013, three communities that have endured a tragedy are chosen to receive a seedling from the tree, a symbol of resilience and hope.
Orlando's tree, spindly when it was planted in early February on the lawn overlooking Lake Rowena, already is leafier and nearly 5 feet tall. The city, which owns Leu Gardens, was chosen because of June's Pulse nightclub mass shooting, which killed 49 people and hurt at least 68.
The focus of the weekend, however, was the nearly five dozen vendors who sold plants and gardening products including olive trees, bamboo, orchids, roses, bananas, herbs, butterfly gardens, birdhouses, planters and cement garden figures.
Debbie Johnson of Melbourne make intricate ceramic accessories for fairy gardens. She also transforms antique teacups and bowls into planters.
"There are no rules, no restrictions," said Johnson, who displayed goods from her business, The Edgewater Shop. "It's just having fun and using your imagination."
Many of the shoppers were repeat customers — the show was first held in 1997 — but others, such as Shellie Merrill, were first-timers.
Merrill, who moved to Port Orange from Maine three years ago, said she made the 57-mile trip on the recommendation of a friend who praised the selection of plants. Merrill is just learning about Florida gardening and chose spearmint for its smell and an assortment of small, variegated-leaf plants.
"I wanted sensory overload and I got it," she said.
Repeat visitors said they look forward to the sale because they can talk to growers directly and find plants they can't get anywhere else in Central Florida.
"I get good tips every year," said Cathy Shoemaker, 53, who left with small, colorful plants for a fairy garden.
Hopkins Tropical Fruit Nursery, for instance, was selling exotic trees, including lychee, starfruit, guava, loquat, tamarind and 27 kinds of mango.
"We're wholesale growers and we come here to support Leu Gardens," said owner Billy Hopkins of Immokalee. "This is one of the best botanical collections in the state, if not in the country — especially camellias."
Susan Magee, 48, just bought a house in Clermont and was at the sale to beautify her new yard. She said she appreciated the vendors who patiently explained how to to attract butterflies and select roses and what to plant to cover a concrete wall. But strolling the gardens was at least as big a draw as shopping for her and her family.
"We don't know anything about plants," said her daughter Ally Magee, 25. "We're just here for fun."
firstname.lastname@example.org or 407-540-5981


text:
Network-1 Technologies, Inc. agreed to resolve its patent litigation case against Polycom, Inc, pending in the United States District Court of EDTX, for infringement of Network-1’s Remote Power Patent (U.S. Patent No. 6218930, the ‘930 patent). Polycom was one amongst the sixteen defendants named in the litigation.
A mutual settlement was reached by both the companies to resolve this litigation. Under the settlement terms, Polycom agreed to license the ‘930 patent until March 2020 and pay a fee of $5 million for past sales on its Power over Ethernet (POE) products. Additionally, it will continue to pay royalties on the products until the patent term expires. The royalty payments also include POE products that comply with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standards.
In September 2011, Network-1, filed a patent litigation against sixteen data networking equipment producers for violating its ‘930 patent. Previously Network-1 reached a settlement agreement with 11 defendants. The remaining four defendants in the lawsuit were Avaya Inc., AXIS Communications Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, and Juniper Networks, Inc. Network-1 had decided to claim reasonable monetary damages including royalties from them.
At present, Network-1 has twenty-five license agreements in regard to the ‘930 patent which also includes added license agreements with Cisco Systems, Inc., Extreme Networks, Inc., Netgear Inc. and many other data networking sellers.


text:
The market for electric cars is shifting into high gear. Or at least that’s what the automaker Nissan says.
The Japanese electric-car maker said Saturday it may be able to sell more gas-free vehicles than it initially projected, as more and more countries embrace fossil-fuel alternatives, the Wall Street Journal reports. Nissan has sold more than 100,000 units of its electric Leaf worldwide since its launch in 2010. Nissan will begin selling the Leaf in South Korea in the second half of this year and expects to sell 1.5 million units of electric vehicles by 2020 as the company looks to emerging markets.
Despite having to overcome challenges like shorter range than gas-engine cars, relatively high prices and a minimal refueling infrastructure, tougher emissions standards worldwide will help spur the growth of the electric-car market, Nissan says.
- The Inside Story of Princeton's Cinderella Run at March Madness
- The Case for Betting on Succession's Tom Wambsgans
- For Both Donald Trump and Alvin Bragg, the Central Park Jogger Case Was a Turning Point
- If Donald Trump Is Indicted, Here's What Would Happen Next in the Process
- Alison Roman Won't Sugarcoat It
- Why Not All Observant Muslims Fast During Ramadan
- It's Time to Say a Loving Goodbye to John Wick
- Who Should Be on the 2023 TIME100? Vote Now
- Column: Ozempic Exposed the Cracks in the Body Positivity Movement


text:
By Lucy Battersby
Rubbish bins tracking pedestrians as they walk along the street sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. But recently it emerged that recycling and rubbish bins installed along a central London street were monitoring pedestrians through millions of smartphones.
However, the City of London ordered the company Renew to stop collecting data following a public outcry about the invasion of privacy.
''Irrespective of what's technically possible, anything that happens like this on the streets needs to be done carefully, with the backing of an informed public,'' the City's spokesman said.
In the same week stories emerged about Google reading personal emails and potential for its new glasses, which could allow Google to track what people look at and when.
This all begs the question: whatever happened to our privacy?
The technology used by Renew's bins is nothing new. In fact, similar technology is already installed and tracking shoppers around Australia.
The bins were registering the unique media access control [MAC] number of smartphones as they passed by a sensor. Another technology exists in the market that records a mobile's temporary mobile subscriber identifier number [TMSI]. Once located, computer programs track phones as they move between sensors. However, neither method collects data about the phone's owner.
Australia's Westfield already use this technology to track smartphones at three shopping centres. ''Westfield is capable of using the MAC identifier system in its centres, but cannot collect any data other than to know smartphones are moving within,'' a company spokeswoman said.
Westfield offers free internet access in three centres across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Visitors can opt into the service, but Westfield can also monitor the movements of smartphones even without the owners logging in to its Wi-Fi network.
Representatives for other shopping centre owners said they did not use MAC or Wi-Fi tracking in their centres. But QIC does use thermal tracking and cameras to monitor customer numbers, a spokeswoman confirmed.
Surprisingly, the smartphone tracking is not covered by Australia's Privacy Principles because it does not identify individuals, according to the Privacy Commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim.
''If they are not collecting the identity about who owns the phone, then under the Privacy Act they are not collecting personal information,'' he says.
''As soon as they can identify an individual then all that information becomes personal information and subject to the protection of the Privacy Act.''
Pilgrim says significant changes were recently made to Australia's 25-year-old privacy laws, including 13 new privacy principles effective from next March.
''Many of the reforms that have gone in place will assist in making sure the Privacy Act remains relevant, particularly in an environment where we are seeing rapid changes in technology,'' he says.
Rules about direct marketing have been included for the first time, giving consumers the right to know where an unfamiliar marketer got their information from.
Privacy has become a balancing act in an era when companies provide better services in exchange for some personal information, and individuals are willing to publish so much private information on social media sites.
But the Privacy Act still limits what companies can do with personal information, even if consumers hand it over voluntarily.
''It does not necessarily give an organisation the right to then go off and do a whole lot of unexpected things with that information. The Privacy Act limits what they can do to activities that would be in the expectation of the person as part of that transaction,'' Pilgrim said.
In recent weeks Google has been blasted for its attitude towards privacy after its lawyers submitted a court document stating people should have ''no legitimate expectation of privacy''. However, that quote was taken out of context; it was actually from a 1979 judgment. But Google's lawyers did argue that ''all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing''.
Google's terms of service clearly state that its products, including Gmail, ''are supported by advertising revenue''. In exchange for free email service, it scans messages for keywords supplied by advertisers. If an email contains keywords suggesting a user is planning a holiday, they are likely to get targeted advertising about their holiday destination, hotels and flights.
Similarly, Google collects data about the search terms people enter into its famous search engine. However, unless that person has signed into an account, it cannot tie search terms to a particular person, just guess at what that person wants. Just like the smartphone tracking, a lot of online data collection skirts around privacy laws by knowing what you are, but not who you are.
This week Google was caught lodging a patent for a ''head-mounted device'' that tracks what wearers are looking at and relays that information to a server than uses algorithms to identify images.
''Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents,'' the company says in a bid to temper speculation about how it might make money from Google Glass wearers.
Loyalty programs still have access to the most information about individuals and are allowed to manipulate data any way they like for hyper-targeted and personalised marketing because they have every member's permission.
For the general population keeping control of personal information is still possible and will become easier under the new privacy rules. But there is no doubt there is an enormous amount of anonymous data collection going on.


text:
It has begun an online petition in the run up to Easter that has already amassed over 4,000 signatures urging the snacks giant to commit to a public deadline to source all its cocoa from third party certified sources.
Mondelēz said it had pledged $400m to its sustainability program Cocoa Life over the next ten years, was one of the biggest buyers of third party certified cocoa and had developed a Child Labor policy with Anti-slavery International.
‘Lagging behind other major companies’
“We recognize the commitments made by Mondelēz through their Cocoa Life initiative, however this particular Easter action is focused on the key step for a chocolate company to make a public deadline to certify their entire chocolate range,” Kate Dangerfield, global campaigns and communications coordinator at STOP THE TRAFFIK told ConfectioneryNews.
“On this particular issue we do feel that Mondelēz is lagging behind other major companies such as Mars, Ferrero and Hershey who have committed to 100% certification by 2020,” said Dangerfield.
Mondelēz rivals Ferrero, Hershey and Mars have all committed to sourcing only third party certified cocoa from organizations such as Fairtrade, UTZ Certified and Rainforest Alliance, which includes third party auditing to stamp out unlawful child labor.
Third-party certified volumes
We asked Mondelēz how much third party certified cocoa it was purchasing and what percentage of its supply was covered by its own Cocoa Life program. Michael Mitchell, senior director, corporate external communications at Mondelēz, said the firm’s goal was to be 100% sustainably sourced through Cocoa Life and third-party certification, but he mentioned no deadline and refused to communicate current levels.
Mitchell said that Mondelēz was the largest buyer of Fairtrade cocoa one of the largest buyers of Rainforest Alliance cocoa. Projections from 2010 data from the Tropical Commodity Coalition estimated that around 11.4% of Mondelēz’s predecessor company Kraft Foods’ 440,000 MT cocoa volume would be certified by 2012.
Dangerfield said: “We suspect Mondelēz is purchasing significant amounts of certified cocoa. However, they are not taking the simple step of putting a logo on their products. Why? Consumers shouldn’t have to read their Cocoa Life Initiative to know.”
“…The Fairtrade, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance logos provide this visible symbol. Until consumers see this visible sign, it is very difficult for them to be able to make an ethical choice at the point of sale,” she said.
Nestlé also sets no deadline
Like Mondelēz, Nestlé has not committed to a public deadline to certify its entire cocoa supply, but has announced its own sustainability initiative The Nestlé Cocoa Plan, which when it launched in 2012 mainly covered just 15% of the firm’s cocoa supplies.
Dangerfield said: “Although Nestlé have not yet agreed to certifying their whole cocoa range, they have already certified their entire product range in certain countries. They also have a relationship with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) which undertakes independent audits on a regular basis. Mondelēz have not told us what is in place of certification. We are looking for third party independent auditing and they have not revealed how they will do this.”
Last year, Mondelēz worked in collaboration with Anti-slavery International (ASI) to produce a five-pronged Child Labor Guidance Document that pledged the snacks firm would be pro-active, transparent, local, adaptable and collaborative on child labor.
“We don’t know the nature of Mondelēz’s relationship with ASI,” said Dangerfield. “Although they are a highly credible organization – is there independence in their relationship (as there is between Nestlé and the FLA) which means ASI can publish their findings publicly without pre-emptive critique and editing by Mondelēz?” asked Dangerfield.
Steps for all chocolate companies
STOP THE TRAFFIK is encouraging all chocolate companies to certify at least one chocolate product or range. It then urges companies to set a public deadline to certify their entire range of cocoa, before finally 100% is certified.
The organization is also pushing for annually on how money is spent to combat child trafficking for companies own sustainability programs. It also urges these programs to provide farmers a fair living income be audited by a third party.
Dangerfield said: “The Cocoa life initiative is very light with timelines and targets. We are unable to assess progress without this information.”
Mitchell said that child labor and net incomes from cocoa were tracked key performance indicators (KPIs) in the Cocoa Life program. “As with all our KPIs, they will be externally verified and communicated,” he said, but gave no further details. The Mondelēz man added that an update on the firm’s goal to be 100% sustainably sourced would be provided later this year as part the firm’s Call for Well-being annual progress reporting.
What does Cocoa Life pay farmers?
Fairtrade International guarantees a minimum price and a $200 premium per metric ton (MT) to farmers for certified cocoa, while UTZ Certified teaches farmers business skills to negotiate and in 2012 averaged a €112 per MT premium.
We asked Mondelēz what prices and premiums it paid to farmers in its Cocoa Life Program, but the firm said: ”The price we pay for cocoa is competitively sensitive.”
Dangerfield said: “The chocolate industry has made lots of promises they have not delivered on and we do not believe self-regulation in relation to human trafficking and child labor is adequate.”


text:
Mazda have just launched a new advertising campaign for North America along with a new slogan – “Driving Matters”. The new strategy and campaign goes hand in hand with the launch of the much-hyped all-new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, and it’s a significant departure from the simple but instantly-recognizable as Mazda’s “Zoom-Zoom” slogan, first seen in 2000.
Russell Wager, vice president of marketing, Mazda North American Operations, says “Through the Driving Matters campaign, consumers will get a glimpse at why driving matters so much to Mazda and why we obsess over every detail in designing our cars. Whether it’s for safety purposes or for maintaining our ‘fun to drive’ nature, it all comes down to the fact that driving matters to our customers and it matters to us.”
Harvey Marco, creative director, Garage Team Mazda, says “Mazda makes cars for people who take pleasure in driving, and “Driving Matters” perfectly aligns with that philosophy. Through our creative process, it became evident that Mazda’s inspiration for pure driving enjoyment is something that relates to the typical car buyer.”
We’ve always liked Mazda’s marketing approach. They’ve placed a heavy emphasis on the emotional connection to driving and to their cars, and anyone who’s ever taken a Miata on a spirited drive can relate to that. The new slogan and strategy aims to let everyone know just how much a good car and a good drive can improve their lives. We can also relate to that.
The Zoom-Zoom slogan is far from gone and will continue to be a part of the brand’s image and DNA. You can still see Zoom-Zoom in smaller print at the bottom of some of the new ads.
The new video spot shows off the Mazda3, Mazda6, but predictably, focuses heavily on the MX-5. It will be aired starting May 22nd via cinemas, television, print and online. The new print ads and the ethos behind the “Driving Matters” speaks to me as a car guy, but as an Asian who moved to Canada at age 18, and has never experienced suburban Middle America life, I found I couldn’t relate to the ad as much as others may. Check out the spot below.


text:
Blog: Brussels hits out at Russia's ongoing ban on EU pork imports
Dean Best | 27 June 2014
Moscow's decision to ban EU shipments of pork products entering Russia is "clearly disproportionate, discriminatory and not based on science", Brussels said today (30 June) as it detailed why it had asked the World Trade Organization to intervene.
Russia closed its doors to live pigs, pork and other related products from the EU in January after cases of African Swine Fever emerged in Lithuania and Poland, close to the border with Belarus.
Almost a quarter of EU exports of these products are sold to Russia and the move prompted Brussels to turn to the WTO to intervene - which Moscow in turn criticised, as we reported in early April.
At the EU's request, talks were between the two sides were held in late April and early May but the discussions ended without agreement. Today (30 June), the EU said it had taken the next step and asked the WTO to consider the issue at one of its disputes panels.
"The EU immediately put in place measures to contain the spread of the disease. Thus, EU products from the non-affected areas are perfectly safe. Despite our efforts over the last five months and the numerous bilateral contacts ewe had with Russia, there is no sign that Russia will allow trade to resume from the unaffected areas in the EU," said EU commissioner for health Tonio Borg.
In recent weeks, meat processors based in the EU, including Finland-based groups Atria and HKScan, have said the ban is affecting their sales.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said the ban had had "a severe impact on the EU pig sector, requiring crisis assistance measures".
Ciolos said: "During the 5 months the ban has now been in place, European pig meat producers have lost exports worth some EUR580m."
Brussels insists Russia has treated "other countries with similar or worse outbreaks more favourably, accepting imports from them".
And it claimed: "Russia also discriminates against others by failing to take measures in its own market despite the numerous outbreaks of the disease on its own territory."
How Moscow views the latest comments from Russia is unknown. Nevertheless, on Thursday, Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, claimed it had received information from the EU that said there had been outbreaks of African Swine Fever in Latvia.
Russian officials said only Lithuania was implementing "complex, consistent and systemic measures both for the disease control and spread prevention". They said Moscow had proposed a "joint programme" to control the disease but claimed the EU had "stated complete sufficiency of measures taken" and saw "no sense" in "systemic measures such as boar depopulation".
All the while, some of the EU's pork processors are feeling the pinch.
Since Theresa May took over as UK Prime Minister in the wake of the country's referendum vote to quit the European Union, she and her ministers have been at pains not to divulge their negotiating posi...
Greenpeace's long-running campaign against UK tuna brand John West, owned by seafood giant Thai Union, is now directing its fire against Sainsbury's....
The Obama administration appears to have conceded the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal will not be pushed through in the lame-duck session of Congress before Donald Trump is inaugur...
- Unilever 2016 investor day - the top takeaways
- The key questions for digital strategists in 2017
- Have food promotions reached tipping point?
- Mondelez goes beyond certified cocoa - analysis
- ABF on Brexit, M&A and grocery - interview
- Nestle unveils process to cut sugar by 40%
- Japan's Nagatanien buys Chaucer Food Group
- B&G acquires pasta sauce group Victoria Fine Foods
- Unilever focuses on "value" of spreads arm
- General Mills jobs to go in business revamp


text:
Cyber attacks are growing rapidly every time. Experts predict that in 2019, malware attacks will be the strongest weapon for hackers to launch their acts.
Malware was ordered by the hackers to infect internet or cyber platforms, such as social media on the computer or the mobile devices.
Malware can steal user device data and platform data. After the malware successfully infects the device or platform, the hacker can freely reclaim the user’s data.
In a short time, the malware can evolve to become more stronger. So far, the computer devices such as PCs, notebooks, and the others are still weak to the malware.
To prevent malware attacks on your computer, you must do
- Create a strong and unique password and don’t use a password that isn’t easy to guess.
- Install an antivirus on your computer and update it regularly.
- Avoid opening doubtful sites.
- Don’t just install the software and you should download it on the official website.
- Be careful of thescareware tactics.
- Be wary when using the public Wi-Fi.
- Deactivate the bluetooth if it’s not used.
Hopefully, these tips can protect your computer or PC from Cyber Attacks do by the hackers. B


text:
Nokia to unveil Windows phone next week
Microsoft said Thursday that Nokia is going to launch phones using Windows' new mobile operating system next week, giving a major boost to the US firm's come-from-behind phone software business.
Windows Phone division chief Andy Lees said the Nokia devices were a huge development for Microsoft as it struggles to capture a piece of the market for mobile operating systems already dominated by Apple, Google and BlackBerry.
"We are very excited about them (Nokia) being in the market," he told the All Things Digital AsiaD technology conference in Hong Kong.
"They have a lot of resources throughout the world and they will be a major accelerant to us."
Lees said the Finland-based maker of mobile phones saw Microsoft's "road map" for its new operating system and "decided to bet their whole company on Windows Phone based on that".
He said Google, maker of the popular Android operating system for mobile phones, was "very nervous" at Microsoft's entry into the market, even though Windows Phone has a long way to go before it rivals more established products.
"Weve been working hard on building an architecture that allows us to leapfrog our competitors by using the best components available," Lees said in reference to its hardware partners such as Nokia and Samsung.
Microsoft and Samsung last month announced they would cooperate in the development and marketing of Windows Phone.
(c) 2011 AFP


text:
There are some crypto projects embracing a new model that incentivizes both creators and their audiences while also strengthening the symbiosis that exists between many creator-communities. This model is known as Watch-to-Earn (aka W2E), which uses blockchain and other technologies to reward audiences that view and interact with creator video content. The XCAD Network (which is built on the Zilliqa blockchain) has had such a project in the works for a while now that is built upon the W2E model, and the company recently announced (via tweet) that on June 29, 2022, their long-awaited free desktop browser plugin built to work natively with YouTube will be ready for download from the Chrome Plugin Store.
How do I earn free cryptocurrency
This news will be of interest to both creators looking for new ways to monetize their content and support their future creations, and audiences looking for new ways to support their favorite creators while earning passive income doing something they enjoy (namely, watching YouTube videos). Unlike similar projects in the past whose incentives involved users needing to move around to different websites, the XCAD plugin’s watch-to-earn capability looks to make watching videos actually profitable for the first time both for audiences and creators, while also allowing users to remain on one platform – in this case, YouTube – watching content they enjoy.
The following article from CoinGape.com goes into great depth talking about this model, and the XCAD plugin in particular.
The Next Big Thing in Crypto: Watch-to-Earn
By Stan Peterson June 24, 2022 Updated June 24, 2022
The unique, innovative solutions offered up by the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in the past few years have been manyfold: from expanding access to financial services by building decentralized economic systems, to creating NFTs (non-fungible tokens) that can be applied to a plethora of industries ranging from fashion and art, gaming, event ticketing, video streaming, and many more.
Now, a new wave of crypto projects are emerging which build on the virtues of financial independence by offering internet users a way to make money from something they do every day: watching YouTube videos.
Watch-to-Earn (W2E) projects are those which make the everyday process of watching content on the internet profitable for the end viewer. Normally the video content industry sees revenue distributed between the content creator and the platform owners, with advertisers occupying a role between the two.
But the W2E movement brings the audience into the fold for the first time, allowing them to earn rewards not for suffering through mind-numbing adverts, but for watching and engaging with the content of their favorite creators.
Passive income is a familiar concept in the Web3 space, but its applications until now have been less than inspired. Staking coins in return for passive rewards has been around for years, but this imposes a big risk on the staker, who must lock-up a sizable portion of their funds in order to generate returns. Staking protocols typically see their rate of returns fluctuate wildly, making the endeavor unreliable as well as risky.
The GameFi (gaming finance) arena has also offered up the chance to generate passive income by playing blockchain-based games. However, these ‘games’ often resemble little more than one-click staking protocols with added graphics, failing to achieve success as one or the other.
Watch-to-Earn introduces the possibility for real passive income for the first time by integrating the reward mechanism with an activity that most internet users do every day.
Projects such as XCAD Network make this integration seamless by offering up a free browser plugin that works natively with YouTube. Video audiences earn crypto rewards for the time they spend watching video content, and these rewards can then be traded and sold on the open market.
Content creators who take part in XCAD’s reward system create their own unique, customizable tokens to distribute to their fans, without disrupting any usage agreement they may have with YouTube or advertisers.
In this way, Watch-to-Earn projects like XCAD effectively piggy-back on the scale and success of an already established platform like YouTube, offering up tools that work in tandem with the platform, and not against it.
Several projects have attempted to reward audience members for their viewing habits in the past, but these have typically been limited to their own specific viewing platforms, meaning users have had to hop around from website to website in search of rewards, which, in turn, has fostered a profiteering rush to the bottom.
With YouTube integration set to go live in the coming weeks, and Twitch integration slated to be unveiled very soon, XCAD would appear to offer an evolution of the Watch-to-Earn concept that makes watching videos on the internet profitable for the first time.
via this site


text:
Thursday, December 13, 2007, 12:00 pm PT (03:00 pm ET)
Briefly: More sightings of mysterious metallic grey MacBooksAs next month's Macworld Expo rapidly approaches, sources are reporting additional sightings of an unfamiliar MacBook model floating around Apple's Cupertino-based campus.
Most recently, a source described a "dark grey" or "gunmetal" colored notebook of slender proportions making the rounds in an area where Apple traditionally conducts stress tests.
Though noticeably thinner but otherwise similar in size to the company's 13-inch MacBooks, the notebook appeared to have a metallic sheen to it, which set it apart from the current black MacBook.
This most recent sighting seems to fall in line with earlier reports that a slender pair of notebooks were making their way around Apple's campus, clad in both traditional and black aluminum enclosures.
Still, there has been no definitive evidence to link these sightings the company's sub-notebook project, which has been detailed (1, 2, 3) by well-respected sources over the past year and is due to culminate early next month with an introduction at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
Additionally, it should be noted that sightings of particular colors and enclosures at Apple ahead of a product's release are not always fail-safe indicators of that product's final appearance. Apple is also likely working on more slender consumer MacBooks, which could at times be confused with the upcoming sub-notebook.
On Topic: Future Hardware
- Apple's interest in reversible USB plugs detailed in new patent application
- Continued production issues may force Apple to delay 'iWatch' until 2015, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims
- Intel's 'Core M' chip announcement suggests Broadwell-based MacBook Pros won't arrive until 2015
- Plethora of alleged 'iPhone 6' parts show Apple logo, cables & camera ring
- Offhand comment stirs hope that Apple could announce 'iWatch' in Sept. [u]


text:
FOOTJOY D.N.A HELIX
A new version of the popular D.N.A golf shoes will be available from Sept 1 at all major golf retail outlets.
Featuring a wider platform and lightweight construction, its new NitroThin 3.0 TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) outsole is reportedly 38 per cent more stable than its predecessor and 23 per cent lighter.
Achieved by increasing the width between cleat receptacles in the heel by 13 per cent, a new fit-bed was also developed with more lateral stability that integrates a 3D FoamCollar to lock the wearer's foot in place.
Timothy Yoong, regional brand manager of FJ, explained: "With the input and feedback from PGA Tour pros that had used the first generation DNA, the new re-engineered DNA Helix is now better in every sense of the word. Better grip, better performance, better in-shoe comfort and at a much lighter weight."
Pricing: $330 (Laced) / $360 (BOA Closure System)


text:
US Foods makes play further into the Midwest with new acquisition
Major food distributor US Foods has announced acquisition plans that will expand the company’s presence within the Midwest United States.
The Illinois-based company plans to purchase broadline distributors The Thompson Company, Braunger Foods and Variety Foods, which are all owned and operated by TOBA Inc. After entering the food distribution realm in 1995 with its purchase of The Thompson Company in Grand Island, Nebraska, TOBA Inc. continued its expansion into the sector with its acquisition of Sioux City, Iowa’s Braunger Foods in 2002 and Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Variety Foods in 2007.
With a collective annual sales volume of more than USD 130 million (EUR 112 million), the three companies conduct most of their business among restaurants, schools, grocery stores and convenience stores scattered across seven states in the Midwest.
“This acquisition allows us to expand further into the Midwest and positions us even closer to our customers,” said Russell Scott, Midwest president for US Foods, in a prepared statement acquired by Food Newsfeed. “We look forward to building on the expertise of the strong employee base at The Thompson Company, Braunger Foods and Variety Foods and welcoming them to US Foods.”
The sale of the companies is expected to close by late July, with the terms of the deal kept undisclosed. The approximately 250 team members working for The Thompson Company, Braunger Foods and Variety Foods are expected to be welcomed as new employees of US Foods once the deal is finalized.