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General Mills, one of the world’s largest food companies recently completed the installation of additional lines to produce Fruit Gushers at their plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The location was chosen for transfer of a line from a closed Asia location. In addition to the Fruit Gushers products, the facility produces Fruit by the Foot, nearly 1 million lbs. per day of Cheerios and Lucky Charms along with 99% of the Betty Crocker frosting goods. The operation in Cedar Rapids has 650 employees and has received nearly $1 billion in capital since 2004.
General Mills remains focused on serving food people love through category-leading brands include Cheerios, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Häagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Progresso, Totino’s, Pillsbury, Old El Paso and more.


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GOVERNMENT scraps old method of classifying economy
Tuesday, May 22nd 2001, 12:00 am
By: News On 6
WASHINGTON (AP) _ After 60 years of faithful service, the government is saying goodbye to the Standard Industrial Classification system in favor of a more modern way of keeping tabs on the $10 trillion U.S. economy.
Government number crunchers at the Commerce Department said Monday that the old system, which identifies types of businesses tracked in various economic reports, had become outdated. The last time it was revised was 1987.
While the old system emphasizes manufacturing companies, the new system, called the North American Industry Classification System, is broader and includes more companies involved in the services and high-tech industries.
The new system classifies 1,170 industries, versus, 1,004 tracked under the old system.
Over time, the new system will be used for many of the government's economic reports. But for now, the change will affect just some of them. They include monthly figures on: retail sales, factory orders, and orders for costly manufactured items, known as durable goods. The durable goods report comes out Friday and will use the new classification system. All three reports come out of the Commerce Department.
For durable goods, the new system looks much the same. However, computers, communications equipment and semiconductors are broken out. Previously, those businesses were lumped into larger categories.
Similarly, in the retail sales report, electronics and appliance stores will be broken out, rather than being embedded in a broader classification.
Bars and restaurants will continue to be included in the monthly retail sales report, but in a new category of ``food services.''

domain: news


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A recent survey has revealed that Ola is the sixth most data-hungry ride-hailing and taxi app, while GrabTaxi and Yandex Go were ranked first and second, respectively, with Uber coming in third place.
According to cyber security firm Surfshark, which published this study, apps frequently request access to various elements of the user's smartphone, such as contacts, microphones, and even cameras. This enables them to collect data about its users, which they can package and sell for more income.
“Ride-hailing apps are no different – they collect a lot of user data, and some of them even use it for target ads and marketing products from different companies,” said Surfshark and added that it was found that nine of the 30 applications examined use the information they collect for "Third-Party advertising".
“That’s why our research team has decided to deep-dive into the world of ride-hailing and see which services are the most data-hungry using our data sensitivity index,” it said.
The research team looked into the popular 30 ride-hailing apps in the Apple Store and compared their data collection practices. However, it also noted that different privacy options may be available in Google Play Store apps.
According to Surfshark, the data sensitivity index—which assesses how data-hungry ride-hailing apps are using a simple point system—was created using 32 distinct categories of data collected from the Apple Store.
These points were calculated in the manner of—the app scored 1 point for data that isn't associated with a user's identity (such as app crash data), 2 points for data that could be linked to a user’s identity (such as names), and 3 points for data that could track users across apps and websites (like user ID).
The result of the study showed that the popular Southeast Asian transportation company GrabTaxi collects 27 out of 32 possible data points listed in the Apple Store—10 times more data than the least data-hungry app Rapido.
“The only types of data it doesn’t collect are health and fitness, sensitive information (race, ethnicity, religion, etc.), and gameplay content. The app also shares some of its collected data like product interaction, name, email, phone number, and user ID with third parties,” noted Surfshark.
Moscow-based Yandex Go, the second most data-hungry ride-hailing app in the list, gathers information including purchase and search history, precise and course locations, all users' contact information, and identifiers like user ID and device ID. As per the report, it also has access to a user's images, videos, and audio files as well.
Uber has access to the videos, photos, texts and emails of its users, while Ola is believed to be gathering 18 data points, as per the research. The latter also shares email addresses and phone numbers with advertisers said the report.
Additionally, as per the study, Rapido only asks for information that is required for the app's functionality, such as the user's name and phone number.
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Hortonworks, a Silicon Valley-based open-source platform for storing and analyzing big data, this afternoon filed for a $100 million IPO, becoming the first Hadoop company to do so.. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol HDP.
Hadoop is one of the hottest open source frameworks for storing and analyzing chunks of data. It helps developers and enterprises to build solutions for what many call “big data,” which has become a multi-billion dollar industry. IDC predicts the big data market will become a $100 billion industry by 2020, with Hadoop comprising half of its value.
Hortonworks previously filed confidentially with the SEC, via a 2012 JOBS Act provision, the federal law that allows companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to undergo much the process confidentially. If it wanted to actually list in calendar 2014, this was basically its last week to make the S-1 public (due to a combination of holidays and regulatory waiting periods).
The filing makes for interesting reading – 2013 saw the company earn $11 million in revenue and make a net loss of some $36.6 million. For the first half of 2014 is grew its loss to $86.7 million while revenue was up to $33.3 million.
HP made a $50M equity investment in Hortonworks in July, while Blackrock and Passport Capital led a $100M funding round back in March. Hortonworks’ valuation is over $1 billion dollars. In terms of the capitalization table, Yahoo is still Hortonwork’s biggest shareholder, with almost 20 percent of total equity. Benchmark Capital holds around 19 percent, an its partner, Peter Fenton, sits on the Hortonworks board.
Hortonworks’ business model is more dependent than others’ on open-source software—meaning the software itself is free, but the company charges for regular updates and other services. Rival companies maintain some open-source software but sell proprietary add-ons as well as services.
The biggest challenge to Hortonworks may be Cloudera’s partnership with Intel Corp. In May, Intel invested $740 million in Cloudera, which has raised more than $1 billion at a valuation of about $4.1 billion. Intel is integrating Hadoop into its chip sets. Similar to Intel’s previous investments in open-source software vendors VMware Inc. and Red Hat Inc., the bet is that in a few years, this will be a commonplace technology.
Cloudera CEO Tom Reilly said in an interview that his company wasn’t yet ready for an IPO, although its revenues and customer numbers were double those of Hortonworks, which said it had just under 300 customers, including partners. Cloudera was also losing money, but at a lower rate, he said. “We would like to be a public company, and we will do it on our time,” he said. Unlike Hortonworks, which received a sizable portion of its revenue from its partnership with Microsoft, Cloudera’s revenue came entirely from paying clients, Riley said.
Another Hortonworks rival, MapR, has said it would go public next year.


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President John Dramani Mahama says government will not relent on its efforts at investing in key sectors of the economy to create jobs for the people.
According to him, investing in local skills training coupled with government determination to revamp Ghanaian indigenous industry are crucial to resolving the unemployment situation in the country.
President Mahama was speaking at the start of a three-day working visit in the Ashanti Region where he visited the Defence Industries Holding Company (DIHOC) shoe factory in Kumasi.
The tour is to afford the President the opportunity to inspect ongoing projects and also assess progress of work on various development projects initiated by the government.
Expressing joy at the state of work at the factory, President Mahama recounted how the factory was revamped after collaboration with the Czech Republic.
Work however began in 2012.The factory, he said has transformed significantly and is now producing boots for the security services.
“I must say am impressed. We are now able to produce our boots for our security services. The Armed Forces of Ghana are having all their boots manufactured here. And today when I came Immigration Service have also placed an order for their boots and am sure that the Police Service, the Fire service, the Prisons service, Customs Excise Service and all will soon start purchasing their boots from here so that we don’t have to import the boots from outside," he stressed.
Reiterating the need for Ghanaians to purchase and use made in Ghana goods, President Mahama indicated that when Ghanaians produce goods and consume them locally, it will empower indigenous companies as well as create jobs especially for youth in the country.
President Mahama also urged the ministries of Trade and Industry, Education and Local government to“put a program together so that we can make shoes, sandals and footwear to accompany the school uniforms for the school children’’
He charged Ghanaians to be confident in the government, adding that Ghana is blessed and will make more progress to surmount what he described as temporary challenges with the economy.
The Defence Industries Holding Company (DIHOC) have trained 200 people in shoe production and 50 are currently working with the expectation to expand the activities of the factory in order to engage more of the youth.
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Birks sales jump 24% in the first-half fiscal 2020
In the midst of a five-year strategic plan, Canadian luxury jewelry retailer Birks Group is starting to benefit from its significant investments, reporting on Thursday a 24 percent sales increase for the first-half of fiscal 2020.
The Montreal-based company reported net sales of $85.3 million, up by $16.6 million, compared to net sales of $68.7 million, reported during the same period last year.
The increase was primarily driven by the company’s retail business, as the company starts to benefit from the significant investments it has made in its retail network over the past two fiscal years.
Sales were driven by a 12.2 percent increase in comparable store sales and by the incremental sales from its flagship stores and other key locations following their recent renovations.
"As part of the company's strategic plan, fiscal year 2020 was poised to reap the benefits of the company's investments in its flagship stores in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and other key locations, as well as its cost reduction initiatives during its transformational fiscal years 2018 and 2019,” said Jean-Christophe Bédos, president and CEO of Birks Group, in a news statement.
The company's flagship stores were completed in Montreal in June 2018, in Vancouver in February 2019 and in Toronto in March 2019.
Birks brand development has also helped the company grow key performance indicators, while its improved portfolio resulted in an increase in sales of third party branded watches during the period.
For the twenty-six-week period ended September 28, the company narrowed its losses, recording a loss from continuing operations of $4.5 million; a vast improvement on the loss of $10.4 million for the same period last year.
Looking ahead, Bédos said that the company will continue to focus on the execution of its strategic plan and its four key initiatives including expanding its e-commerce and wholesale channels, renewing the Birks bridal and fine jewelry product offerings and more.
Birks currently operates 26 stores under the Birks brand in Canada, one retail location in Calgary under the Brinkhaus brand and two retail locations in Vancouver under the Graff and Patek Philippe brands.
Earlier this month, Birks appointed Lanita Layton as its vice president and chief omni-channel sales and marketing officer.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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Earlier today Verizon unveiled Gametanium, their new subscription service for Android games.
The service covers 50 tablet games and 100 games for smartphones, including Doodle God, Fruit Ninja, Plans vs Zombies, and World of Goo. The cost is $6 a month, a fee which will be bundled with your Verizon Wireless account.
This sounds like a good deal, but like any Verizon offer you need to read the fine print. The subscription is per device, not per account. For those of us with more than one Android device the cost will add up fast.
I’m also not convinced of the value. This service will cost $72 a year, and you could buy 30 or more games with that money.


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Sydney’s award-winning Royals Hair salon, with 3 salons on Sydney’s North Shore and Hills District, is officially the BEST SALON in NSW/ACT and Australia, winning the two major awards at the Australian Hair Industry Awards (AHIAs) at a gala dinner night attended by the industry’s elite, on Sunday 29th April in Brisbane. No strangers to awards’ success, Royals has been rewarded and recognised as a salon that excels in the business of professional hairdressing, proving that a keen business sense and exceptional business acumen is essential to running a successful salon!
The award for State Salon Business of the Year (NSW/ACT) recognizes the salon that shows highest customer excellence in facilities, environment, customer care, services, menu and training. The Australian Salon Business of the Year award was announced on the night and was awarded to one of the winners of the State Salon Business of the Year. The winner is determined based on the highest judging points and a secondary round of judging if required.
A strong panel of Industry and business experts from all over Australia spent three full days at one of the AHIA state judging events held in Sydney and Brisbane scrutinizing over 180 entries in the second AHIAs. Also a winner on the night was Royals Hair Cherrybrook co-owner Travis Bandiera who took out the award for HairBiz HOT SHOTS Fashionista. HairBiz HOT SHOTS is an Australian hairdressing competition boasting four cutting-edge categories, each reflecting the talent, drive and originality of hairdressing’s hottest, aged 30 and under.
Specially designed to highlight fearless individuality, unparalleled passion and boundary- breaking creativity, traits that Australian hairdressing is recognising more and more within its youth movement, and qualities that are pushing hairdressing above and beyond. The HOT SHOTS awards represent the industry’s brightest young stars. On Monday 30th April, Travis and the salon received additional finalist nominations in the prestigious Hair Expo Australia awards – the Oscars of the hair industry.
The salon and its team of talented hair magicians has been nominated as finalists in the following categories:
- Colour Technician of the Year – Travis Bandiera
- New Creative Force of the Year – Travis Bandiera
- Salon Business of the Year
Winners will be announced at the Gala Night in Melbourne on Monday 11th June 2018.


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According to one analyst, the first phones based on Windows 7 Phone will running very slow. Asus would have stopped the production of its model by major problems with both the software and the hardware.
According to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, Microsoft currently has major problems with Asus to produce the first Windows 7 Series Phone to launch. Asus is expected as one of the first manufacturers to provide a smartphone on the new OS from Microsoft that was announced last week. Microsoft used the demo for an early sample of the Asus phone equipped with an early build of Windows 7 Phone. According to Kumar the first phone we need only to be expected next year and the target date of Christmas no longer met. Another interview with Microsoft CEO for Europe would actually prove that the OS perhaps even earlier on the market. The spokesman talks in his interview on October this year the OS on the market two months earlier than planned would bring.
Previously knew All About Phones based on various sources report that the OS has been around in September introduced by different manufacturers would do. Moreover, it is somewhat early to talk about production problems as the development of a telephone often takes around 8 months. It is far from certain that the production actually delayed as both producers and emphatically refer to silence the press conference.


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Aluminium futures down on weak global cues
Taking weak cues from global markets, aluminium prices fell marginally by 0.13 per cent, to Rs 113 per kg in futures trading today as speculators offloaded positions.
Besides, subdued demand in the domestic spot markets also weighed on the metal prices.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in October declined by 15 paise, or 0.13 per cent, to Rs 113 per kg in business turnover of 345 lots.
The metal for delivery in April fell by a similar margin to trade at Rs 114.50 per kg in 13 lots.
Analysts said the weakness in aluminium at futures trade was mostly in tune with a downtrend in base metals at the London Metal Exchange on speculation that the US Federal Reserve will begin scaling back monetary stimulus as the economy improves.
Source: Economic Times


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Maungdaw, Arakan State: Sub-Inspector Thaung Htay, a traffic officer, is harassing travelers on the Maungdaw–Kyein Chaung (Bali Bazaar) motorway, according to a traveler on this road.
“The traffic officer is checking all the vehicles as per his duty, but the officer is also checking the travelers, which is not his duty.”
“The officer is searching all the goods of the travelers and harassing the travelers by asking for money which they are carrying from Kyein Chaung.”
The travelers or businessmen who are plying this road bring goods from Kyein Chaung to sell in Maungdaw markets where they earn a small profit from rural products, said a driver from this road.
“The officer asks for money from all the vehicles whether we have the appropriate documents or not.”
The officer recently seized four plastic bottles that contained ten gallons of gasoline from one Rohingya businessman named Abdullah, and asked for 80,000 kyat, said a businessman from Maungdaw.
“The people get only a little profit from reselling gasoline, but now the traffic officer is searching for goods like gasoline in the car which are plying Maungdaw and Kyein Chaung roads.”
The traffic officer seems to only be searching Rohingya travelers.


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Ask a city cyclist to name the most frustrating aspects of commuting on two wheels, and they’ll probably tell you that potholes are near the top of the list. But Greater Boston’s ragged roadways have almost been a blessing for Loud Bicycle Horn creator Jonathan Lansey. The Somerville resident developed the Loud Classic, a car horn that cyclists can affix to their two-wheeled vehicles, back in 2013, and in May, his company will release the new-and-improved Loud Mini, a smaller, sturdier version of the horn developed in part with help from the area’s uneven pavement.
“The roads here are so bumpy that it’s like accelerated life testing,” Lansey laughs. “By now, they’re, like, bomb proof.”
Loud Bicycle came to life three years ago thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign and a relatively simple idea: People on bikes are safer if drivers can hear them. Lansey had a 3D-printed horn prototype and a hunch that cyclists would want to buy a product that let them be heard—a hunch that was confirmed when the initial crowdfunding effort raised more than $50,000. But it took a while to go from prototype to mass-production; the first Loud Bicycle Kickstarter page is full of updates about setbacks and changes to the horn. “I was a novice then,” says Lansey. “Our team had never really done this before.” He worked with backers to get input about design, and the Loud Classic hit streets in late 2014. Loud Bicycle returned to Kickstarter to fund the Mini, raising almost $28,000 in late November.
Lansey says that the Loud Bicycle horn is much more effective than a cyclist’s only other attention-getting alternative: yelling. “When you yell, you’re like, ‘Did they hear me? Are they gonna listen?'” he explains. Shouting can also escalate into altercations. Drivers don’t realize that a cyclist who’s hollering at them probably isn’t doing so to be a jerk, but rather, to alert motorists to their presence. “There’s no way to yell non-aggressively,” Lansey says. And he understands that driving in the city can be stressful—when you’re sitting in traffic, the last thing you want is to be berated by a person zipping by you on two wheels. Rather than inspiring anger, the reaction from drivers who hear a blaring bike horn is, if anything, confusion.
Well, confusion… and maybe a little bit of shame. Lansey recalls a friend who had a near-miss with a driver making a right turn into a parking lot. That friend tried to make eye contact with the guy to get his attention, which, unsurprisingly, didn’t work. “With a horn, the driver knows, and everyone around them knows,” Lansey says. “It’s embarrassing to get honked at—it’s a strong memory.”
Like its predecessor, the Loud Mini plays two separate tones that give it that robust—and we mean robust—sound. “With two notes, you’re exciting more neurons, so your brain is like, ‘Whoa, something’s happening!'” Lansey says. The horn’s broadband sound also interacts with the brain in such a way that drivers can actually pinpoint where the honking cyclist is. Without getting too technical, Lansey compares it to the high-pitched whine that electronics sometimes make. That one-tone sound lets you know that a TV is on somewhere, but you can’t pinpoint exactly where. Not so with the Loud Bicycle horn. “[Drivers] know—not just that this is a horn—they know where the sound is coming from,” Lansey says, making it perfect for situations like the parking lot righthand turn.
In addition to its more compact and less destructible design, the Loud Mini will also let cyclists accessorize their safety features—Lansey plans to release the 3D model for the mini’s removable front plate so that riders can print one out in any color they like. (He already has a glow-in-the-dark frontplate and a clear one that he plans to put lights behind.) “I don’t like patents as much as I like innovating, that’s just the way I like to do things,” he says. Plus, “It’s expensive! I’d rather buy more bike horns.”
And if the Mini doesn’t do it for you, just sit tight—Lansey and co. are currently working with Traffic Droid to create a bike horn that sounds like a truck horn. Now, that will leave a strong memory.


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Amazon Upgrades Delivery Service Partners Program
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is encouraging employees to jump ship and start their own small package-delivery business. The Company is offering its workers USD 10,000 along with three months of their existing Amazon pay to get their new business up and running.
The initiative was first introduced as the Delivery Service Partners program in June of 2018. Amazon announced its U.S. workers could apply to start their own small businesses, delivering Prime packages in Amazon-branded vans and uniforms, with a USD 10,000 investment. The Company hopes this year that covering start-up costs will allow for a smoother transition from employee to business-owner.
New entrepreneurs will be guaranteed “consistent delivery volume from Amazon, access to the company’s sophisticated delivery technology, hands-on training, and discounts on a suite of assets and services, including Amazon-branded vans customized for delivery, branded uniforms and comprehensive insurance,” the Company said in a press release.
More than 200 independent contractors have signed up to handle deliveries since Amazon started its program last year. Between them they have hired thousands of local drivers to deliver packages.
Employees may also want to take advantage of Amazon’s proposed incentives amid automation efforts. The Company is considering replacing humans with machines to perform the job of boxing customer orders. The technology, which scans items coming down a conveyor belt and encases them in boxes, has been already been installed in a few warehouses. Amazon has considered installing two machines at dozens more facilities, according to Reuters. Each machine removes at least 12 human roles.
View original content here
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Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) has been rumored to be working on a Windows tablet for some time, and now Tom Warren of The Verge reports that we will be seeing the device very soon. The site also says sources have leaked the tablet’s specs to them.
Nokia tablet looks like a Lumia
According to the website, the device is code-named Sirius and is 10.1 inches in size. It will run on Windows RT and looks like it obviously belongs in Nokia’s Lumia of Windows Phones.
In August, Mohnish Pabrai took part in Brown University's Value Investing Speaker Series, answering a series of questions from students. Q3 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more One of the topics he covered was the issue of finding cheap equities, a process the value investor has plenty of experience with. Cheap Stocks In the Read More
The device is expected to be thinner than the current model of the iPad and weigh a little over a pound. The body of the tablet is expected to be colored, and it will have a 6-megapixel camera in the rear and a 2-megapixel camera in the front. The display is expected to have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and be improved to work well even outdoors.
Sources reportedly told The Verge that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s new tablet will run on a Snapdragon 800 processor made by QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM). It is also expected to have 2 GB or RAM. Nokia is said to be trying to get the device to offer 10 hours of battery life complete with LTE connectivity.
Other features of Nokia’s new tablet
The site reports that Nokia will price the new tablet around the same price as the iPad, although it won’t initially start out trying to undercut Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s tablet. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) is also said to be working on a keyboard accessory for the tablet which comes with a battery to extend the life of the device even further.
The new tablet is expected to be unveiled at the event Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) has planned for Sept. 26. The company’s 6-inch Windows Phone, which is codenamed Bandit, is expected to be offered some time later this year.


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Get in the KNOW
on LA Startups & TechX
This January, John McElhone moved to Santa Monica from, as he described it, “a tiny farm in the absolute middle of nowhere” in his native Northern Ireland, with the goal of growing the crop-monitoring tech startup he founded.
It looks like McElhone’s big move is beginning to pay off: His company, CropSafe, announced a $3 million seed funding round on Tuesday that will help it develop and scale its remote crop-monitoring capabilities for farmers. Venture firm Elefund led the round and was joined by investors Foundation Capital, Global Founders Capital, V1.VC and Great Oaks Capital, as well as angel investors Cory Levy, Josh Browder and Charlie Songhurst. The capital will go toward growing CropSafe’s six-person engineering team and building up its new U.S. headquarters in Santa Monica.
The nascent agtech company began in 2019 as a project between McElhone and his co-founder and high school classmate, Micheál McLaughlin. Growing up in the Northern Irish countryside, the pair developed an interest in technology, which led to ideas about how such technology could aid the agricultural communities they were raised around.
“We noticed that there was a lot of really new, cool technology coming into the farming market at the time,” McElhone told dot.LA. “But every single farmer in our area hadn't a clue how to get started with all this new fancy technology, because they would have to go to training sessions or learn how satellite imagery from NASA works. And farmers—their job is to farm, not to interpret data.”
The first version of CropSafe’s software aimed to bridge that gap. At its core, the platform is an interpretation engine that scrapes and parses through troves of weather data and satellite imagery to find the information that farmers need to grow and harvest more effectively. “CropSafe did that work for you and spots useful nuggets like, ‘Hey, there's blight in field no. 14; here's the exact location and what you need to do next,’” McElhone explained.
But the project, which began simply as a tool for friends and family in Northern Ireland, started drawing attention from users around the world; to the founders’ surprise, people began offering to pay for the service. “That was kind of a turning point—realizing it wasn't just our 200 people that wanted to use it,” McElhone said. So he packed his bags and moved to Southern California at the start of this year to try to build out the software in one of agtech’s hottest markets.
McElhone and McLaughlin now believe there’s a better way forward that would position CropSafe as more akin to a fintech platform for farmers: Because the software collects so much data on farms, it can offer insights into removing bottlenecks that farmers could leverage to secure crucial financing for equipment and other needs.
“If a farm is leasing three combines this year, with the data we have on that farm [and its] crops, we might be able to say: ‘Hey, if you lease an additional combine this year, we know that you will produce so-and-so additional yield and produce $25,000,’” according to McElhone. In an ideal scenario, CropSafe could allow the financing for that combine to be approved instantly on the strength of the data on its platform; the farmer clicks a button on the app, and the combine gets delivered the next day.
So far, McElhone is tight-lipped about partnerships in this area of its business, but said announcements should be coming this summer. The company is also considering offering farmers insights into the best times and places to sell crops, with CropSafe taking a small cut of revenues for the service. (The idea is that farmers would only pay when they see increased sales from using CropSafe’s insights, McElhone said.)
But the move to Santa Monica has already proven fertile for the company, which is planning to announce partnerships with other agtech companies that would allow CropSafe to act more as an operating system—one connecting autonomous tractors, weathers sensors, and other “internet of things” technologies to ensure better, more sustainable crops. With local startups like Future Acres and Abundant Robotics already operating in the space, CropSafe seems poised to benefit from Southern California’s position as a hub for agtech in the U.S.
- Molear, Proterra and Plenty Are Bringing Agtech Back to LA - dot.LA ›
- Moleaer, Proterra and Plenty Are Bringing Agtech Back to LA - dot.LA ›
El Segundo-based Dibbs, which brands itself as "the only real-time fractional sports card marketplace," secured a $13 million Series A round this week. Foundry Group led the round, with several superstar athletes such as Chris Paul and Skylar Diggins-Smith also participating.
Since last year, the sports card trade has reached record highs — in some cases, outpacing stock markets — with all-time high trading prices and a significant increase in online trades. The industry has even reeled in venture capitalists, including L.A.-based VCs Carter and Courtney Reum.
Alongside the growing interest in investing in physical cards is a booming market in trading sports-related digital tokens. The asset class known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has been expanding quickly, with marketplaces like NBA Top Shot making millions and upstarts like BallerTV minting tokens for high school athletes.
In a way, Dibbs combines these two industries. Traders can send their cards to Dibbs, who create digital representations of the card to be minted and sold as NFTs. While the card sits in a highly secure vault powered by PWCC Vault, the seller can profit off of the sales, and Dibbs takes a trading fee.
Dibbs sells these collectibles as fractional NFTs, meaning users do not have to contribute large amounts of money to participate in trades. Instead, they can own fractions of NFTs, which can be bought and sold on the platform.
So called "smart contracts" baked into the blockchain algorithm give buyers a full NFT once they've accumulated enough fractions. At that point, the user can either have the physical card sent to them or they can keep the full NFT to trade on other marketplaces.
"More than anything else, [the NFT craze has] gotten people to think about collecting differently," said CEO and co-founder Evan Vandenberg. "Before it was this kind of physical attachment, and I think people are now much more comfortable separating that possession from ownership concept and being able to do these things in a digital form."
Vandenberg said the appeal of owning a fraction of a sports card NFT lies in not only the affordability but also in the potential for this specific market to grow.
"Sports cards have been around since the 19th century, so we're talking about 100-plus years of actual collectability, of value," he said, adding that he hopes to see the market for digital cards grow as well. "I'm the biggest fan of NFTs. I hope they really have longevity."
The fractionalization of NFTs has stirred up controversy in the crypto world, prompting concerns that fractions of NFTs could at some point be reclassified as securities — meaning they would be legally subject to regulation. At the Security Token Summit last March, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said of fractionalized NFTs, "You better be careful that you're not creating something that's an investment product. That is a security."
Such talk doesn't faze Vandenberg, who said Dibbs does not see their fractional NFTs as securities.
"Where fractional ownership — whether ownership of a network like Ethereum, or a particular NFT — can be accomplished in a transparent, open-source manner, without making purchasers beholden to the management efforts of the promoters, we see that as a win-win."
According to Vandenberg, tens of thousands of people signed up to the platform's waitlist before launch, and over 110,000 trades were made on Dibbs while it was in closed beta, which ended earlier this month.
The platform is now available to anyone over 18 in the U.S., and nearly 20,000 non-U.S. customers remain on its current waitlist, Vandenberg said.
- Mythical Games Hopes to Pioneer Blockchain Gaming - dot.LA ›
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- NFTs Are Being Used to Give TikTok Dancers Credit, Profit - dot.LA ›
- Most Shittiest NFT Aims to Raise Funds for Autism Research - dot.LA ›
- OneOf Raises $63M for an Artist-Focused, Green NFT Platform - dot ... ›
- Folio Wants to Streamline the World of Digital Art - dot.LA ›
As the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed small businesses, some struggling companies turned to livestreaming-based ecommerce business Popshop Live to stay afloat.
Now, Popshop Live wants to prove that ecommerce via live streaming is here to stay.
Valued at $100 million, the company announced a Series A round of funding Thursday. Popshop declined to disclose how much it raised in the funding round, though TechCrunch reported the funding was around $20 million.
The round was led by Benchmark and included TQ Ventures, Mantis VC and Access Industries.
Popshop Live also hired former Instagram and Instacart executive Bangaly Kaba to lead platform growth and former head of Uber Eats Jason Droege to lead expansion, the company announced.
Founded in 2019, Popshop is one of several Los Angeles-based startups competing in the emerging livestreaming ecommerce world that includes talkshoplive, a streaming service for celebrities, and Whatnot, a streaming service for collectibles.
"Livestream commerce is not just a trend in China and through the pandemic," said Popshop Live board member Matt Cohler in announcing the raise. "It is an emerging multi-billion-dollar phenomenon whose growth is accelerating every day."
The company sees itself as a combination of online commerce with the experience of in-person shopping. Customers can scroll through live feeds of merchants selling items, interact with sellers and purchase items through Popshop's app. The startup claims that traditional brick-and-mortar sellers are shifting their focus to its platform, after seeing higher sales and rates of customer convergence.
- Online Shopping Trends: Livestreaming, AR and Influencers - dot.LA ›
- Popshop Live's Twist on E-Commerce - dot.LA ›


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All Lordstown Cruzes being recalled for inspection
The Plain Dealer of Cleveland is reporting that General Motors Corp. is recalling all 154,122 Chevrolet Cruzes it has made in Lordstown, saying mistakes on the assembly line could cause safety problems.
GM on Wednesday recalled the Cruze for a transmission problem that allows it to slip out of gear during driving or while parked, and it expanded a smaller recall over steering problem, the newspaper is reporting tonight.
GM said all Cruze owners should immediately call their dealers to schedule an inspection of their cars. Dealers will make sure that the steering and transmission connections are correct, possibly tightening a few bolts on some cars.
"We think very few vehicles in the population have either issue," GM Vice President of Global Quality Terry Woychowski said in a written statement.
For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.


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In musical theater, especially opera, the orchestra will start playing the brief snippets from the music of the show arranged into one piece before the curtain goes up. The overture is designed to familiarize the audience with the musical themes they’re about to hear. It serves to set the tone and begin the process of bringing the audience into the world of the show.
Looking past on the developments in the digital download market I can’t help but feel that we’re hearing the overture to 2008, catching little bits of the themes we’re going to hear as we progress through the year.
The strongest theme that’s being played, of course, is the one that’s coming from Apple. The company, as has been widely reported, seems to be on the cusp of announcing a deal with 20th Century Fox to rent movies through iTunes, with other studios rumored to be just working out the details of their involvement as well. Holdouts include Universal, which is doing everything it can to distance itself (wisely or unwisely) from Apple, Warner Bros. and one other studio, but it seems like they’re going to be in the minority when this finally gets rolled out.
In every story it’s mentioned that Apple currently lags behind other services such as Amazon in the online rental distribution field, but very few of them mention that’s largely because there are so few studio partners in iTunes right now. Disney is the only studio selling current movies, with Paramount only chipping in catalog titles and other less fresh films. Let’s review this in a year.
Apple brings with it two extremely important features: 1) Portability – You don’t have to be tied to an Internet connection in order to watch the movie like you do through Movielink or Netflix with their “Watch Now” service. And 2) Familiarity – Once people can find the movies they’re looking for with the iTunes Store I truly believe you’ll see rentals skyrocket and iTunes become a market leader.
And if you think this is going to end with rentals you’re mistaken. Studios will eventually begin testing selling movies through iTunes day and date with DVD releases and, as downloads speed up, a critical mass will form that will turn download-to-own into a viable option for just about everyone.
The brand loyalty Apple enjoys with iTunes will likely save it from a fate like that which has befallen Wal-Mart. The superstore giant, which is the largest seller of DVDs in the U.S., quietly shut down its year-old video download store just before Christmas. The decision was so quiet, in fact, that no one noticed until about six days after it happened.
The reason given by Wal-Mart was that Hewlett-Packard, which was supplying the technology for the service, pulled its support. But you have to think that if the service were viable and profitable, Wal-Mart could have found a substitute technology provider if they really wanted to. The signs point to Wal-Mart knowing deep down this wasn’t feasible and no one else being willing to step up and fill H-P’s shoes.
Meanwhile Blockbuster has raised the price of its Total Access service at the same time its cut back on the program’s features, eliminating in-store rentals for members and making other adjustments as well. And they’ve filed a trademark for something called “Blockbuster Media Minutes” that reads to me like they’re trying to supplement declining membership revenue with some online advertising dollars.
The movie industry is, it seems, trying to not make the same mistakes the music industry began making in 1998, some of which they continue to make today. While it is arguably true that 2007 has seen a good amount of innovation in music retail, especially in terms of more and more options that do not include convoluted and restrictive DRM schemes, they still seem to be prone to Hoof in Mouth Disease outbreaks. Take the recent news that the RIAA is now arguing that people who have made a personal back-up of the music they’ve bought on CD have actually violated copyright.
But just because it’s not making the same mistakes the music industry has doesn’t mean they’re not making a whole batch of their own. There’s been reluctance to let people burn DVDs of legally purchased movies, the inability to see iTunes as a partner instead of a competitor and a mess of others, including an uncanny knack to back download websites that went out of business six months after the announcement of the partnership. There’s also the MPAA’s apparent inability to link correctly to legal downloading stores, but that’s a separate issue.
The failure to innovate in a timely manner – not even in terms of breaking new ground but simply meeting the desires of the consumer – is going to come back to bite Hollywood in the back side in much the same way it has the music industry. By the time the studios decide how they’re going to allow people to watch movies in an easy to use and portable manner, people will be using their mobile devices for broadband video. Or, as we’re now seeing as video game makers move in to take advantage of the TV writer’s strike, people will simply gravitate toward what is available on the platform of their choice and decide to do that instead.
That last point is the key and is something that needs to be built into all consumer-facing programs: People have decided what platform they prefer to use and are looking for content there. If there are movies there, they’ll take them. If it’s just games, they’ll take that as well. If it’s something else, then that’s what they’ll consume. The same goes for distribution points within each platform as well. Most of the television networks have figured out they can’t count on everyone to come to their own official website to watch streaming programming, so they’re distributing it via Joost, Hulu, AOL Video or any of a dozen other major sites that people are already using. Being seen, they’ve found, requires checking their egos at the door and just allowing the content to be out where the people are.
Record labels never figured this out, that it was better to form partnerships than draft lawsuits, and that’s why they’re dying quickly while illegal downloading continues unabated.
But Hollywood, if they can wake up to the notion that making content A) hard to find online and/or B) difficult to use because of DRM or other nonsense, both will contribute to no outcome but their eventual demise, can survive in the new media age. That requires putting the audience first. Without their support – both financial and in terms of word of mouth – the movie studios will find themselves with a comfortable, familiar business model that’s being clung to even as it’s failing them completely.


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- Dollar bulls are scattered
- The Dollar is reeling after Trump’s tariff attack on Mexico
- There is no economic outperformance from Japan, but still Yen rises
- Target USDJPY down to 107.45
USDJPY posted losses on Friday after two positive sessions to close the month at 108.28 (-1.21%).
Source: www.tradingeconomics.com, Spotlight Ideas
This came amid a widespread risk-off trade throughout the global financial markets as risk sentiment deteriorated after Trump announced tariffs on all goods from Mexico. The price he seeks to not impose these charges is that its southern neighbour curb illegal immigration into the U.S.
This created fresh concerns over the aggressive external policy by the U.S. President and if there is truth in the way, Mexico has promised to retaliate the situation could get even worse down the road. All at a time when there seems little progress in the trade dispute with China or any lowering of tension between the U.S. and Iran.
The chart above shows a Fibonacci extension of the major range in May 2019. The fact that 109.00 was not defended with any conviction underlines the rapid collapse in the pair on Friday. Indeed, all the technical measures from “One Minute” through to “One Month” all read as “Strong Sell”.
Therefore, despite a sense that some market participants may take a contrary view and see being short-term oversold I am looking for USDJPY to fall further, That, will only be ameliorated if 109.00 is regained in quick time.
The Yen has stayed strong despite Japanese data disappointing the market. Tokyo inflation rose by less-than-anticipated in May, up by 1.1% vs. the previous 1.4%, while Retail Trade posted a modest 0.4% advance in April. Housing-related data showed that Construction Orders fell in April a whopping 19.9%, while Housing Starts decreased by 5.9%. Industrial Production was the only figure that showed some improvement, up by 0.6% MoM and down by 1.1% YoY.
The Yen is the notable outperformer in the G10 space as safe-haven flows support and for that reason I am seeking more Yen gains to 107.45.
Sell at opening
Target 1 107.45
Stop at 109.20


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Around this time last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had intensive in-person classes, normal occupancy of campus housing, and many other routines of life on BU campuses. But one thing that even the pandemic couldn’t kill are online scams, often aimed at international students.
According to a BU today exhibit last fall, at least 22 scams were reported last August, and they defrauded BU students of nearly $ 300,000. This year, as the pandemic subsides, the BU Police Department expects greater and bolder efforts from the crooks.
Robert Molloy, deputy chief of the BUPD, saw one of these deceptions two weeks ago, when a trusted BU student placed an ad in the “Apartments Wanted” section of Craigslist and quickly received a promising response, accompanied by an apartment address. The deal would be guaranteed, the student was told, as soon as $ 3,200 was deposited into a designated bank account. As you might expect, says Molloy, the “tenant” disappeared as soon as the money was sent.
“We hear of many similar scams around this time every year,” says Molloy. “Students looking for an apartment should think twice before sending money to someone they don’t know. We recommend that students use only established and known local rental management companies.
And it’s not just rental scams that students need to watch out for. BUPD Detective Lieutenant Kelley O’Connell saw a variety of downsides. Some involve phone calls from foreign crooks advising students that their passports have been fraudulently investigated and asking for credentials, as well as funds to be sent to various accounts. Others, she says, offer fake checks to job postings advertised through the BU’s Career and Placement Center, and the cases studied show that reporting parties were often contacted through email addresses from the BU compromised.. Other scams involve fraudulent dating apps that persuade students to send compromising photos of themselves, she says, and then blackmail them for money with threats to make the photos public.
The good news, says O’Connell, is that more and more students are reporting fraud attempts to the police. She advises anyone suspected of being the victim of a scam to call the BUPD at 617-353-2121. She also suggests that students familiarize themselves with BU’s Phish Bowl, a great source of information for preventing cyber scams, and carefully review the fraud prevention tips from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement. Administrators.
These tips include the following:
Do not offer to deposit a check into your account if an unknown person asks you to. The person can pretend they don’t have an account themselves and tell a bloody story about how they need help cashing a check. It is important to remember that you are financially responsible for all items deposited into your account. Do not provide your login details to anyone. If you do, they can deposit stolen or counterfeit checks into your account. The bank will hold you financially responsible.
Don’t assume an email or phone call is genuine. Just because someone knows your basic information (such as your name, date of birth, and address) doesn’t mean the email or phone call is legitimate. Criminals will use a range of social engineering techniques to obtain your personally identifiable information. Never give your social security number.
Know who you are paying, via person-to-person payments i.e. Zelle, Venmo, etc. Only pay and receive money with people you know. Do not pay foreigners with P2P (person to person). Most person-to-person transactions are instantaneous and irreversible.
Don’t pay for merchandise online or over the phone with a debit card. Debit cards are vulnerable because they are linked to a bank account. You have a much better chance of resolving a fraudulent transaction when paying with a credit card rather than a debit card. Additionally, do not provide your debit / credit card numbers over the phone, email, or websites unless you initiate the call or order.
Do not use an ATM if you notice any wires or a skimmer attached to where you insert your card. Also, cover the keyboard with your hand, hat or other clothing when entering ID numbers. Notify the bank or local police if you observe one or more devices connected to the ATM you are using.
Do not make a debit card purchase without first checking the account balance. Most financial institutions allow the transaction to be processed even if you don’t have enough funds to cover the costs. This will result in unnecessary penalties and fees.
Get your free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. Each year, you can receive a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian). Upon receipt, check for unauthorized accounts, inquiries and unknown addresses.
If you think you have been scammed, contact the BUPD at 617-353-2121.
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -France is seeking to water down a planned joint EU-U.S. declaration on technology cooperation, against the wishes of other EU countries, EU diplomats said on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and the European Union hope to discuss chip shortages, artificial intelligence and tech competition issues during the first Trade and Tech Council meeting this week, senior U.S. administration officials said on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House pressed automakers, chip companies and others on Thursday to provide information on the ongoing semiconductor crisis that has forced cuts to U.S. auto production, and to take the lead in helping solve it.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday the Biden administration will take further action against Chinese telecoms firm Huawei if necessary, after some Republican lawmakers have pressed for more steps.
(Reuters) - Intel Corp Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger plans to attend a virtual White House meeting on the global chip shortage on Thursday, along with representatives from companies including Apple, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, GM, Ford and Stellantis, people familiar with the matter said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and White House economic adviser Brian Deese will host a semiconductor supply chain meeting convening at the White House on Sept. 23, the Commerce Department said.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - As Mexico aims to boost its manufacturing of semiconductors, it may build production facilities in its southern states, where much-needed water is available, according to Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier.
HANOI (Vietnam News/Asia News Network): Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên (pic) held phone talks with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to discuss bilateral economic and trade issues.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration is developing plans to quickly spend $52 billion to deal with semiconductor supply issues if Congress passes a bill funding such efforts, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday.
Chipmakers from Taiwan to the US are cranking up production to address shortages that have hammered automakers and other customers as they try to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.


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Telmap has announced the launch of two new APIs enabling website and mobile app developers to connect with its Mobile Location Companion. Users of websites which provide information about various points of interest can now send the location directly to the Telmap powered app that’s installed on their mobile device, for free. Intomobile
featured the news in an editorial piece online. Intomobile is a great site for Telmap to achieve coverage on as it targets mobile professionals and technology enthusiasts who may be interested in Telmap's mobile location based services.
RealWire Influence RatingReadership: 3,500,000
delivers breaking news, information, and analysis on the latest mobile phones and mobile technology. IntoMobile is the leading and most read daily mobile technology news site that caters to early adopters, mobile professionals, technology enthusiasts, and technology consumers alike.


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Brighton & Hove Business Forum
8-11 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton, BN1 1EE
Tel: 01273 735442
© Brighton & Hove
News - 17 July 2004
A wave of good news for domestic sales
A new survey from Lloyds TSB shows the biggest improvement in domestic sales since 1997. During the past six months sales have increased for 54% of businesses while only 20% experienced a decline.
Most businesses believe this growth will be sustained and 49% already have a much-improved order book. Profits are also edging up with more than a third of businesses reporting an increase.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that this has been a very tough year for retail in Brighton and while this report covers businesses across the spectrum perhaps this is the good news that the city's traders need to give them a warm inner glow as they face another long cold winter.
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Unfortunately, on November 1, 2013, the 36-year old building which houses the business was destroyed by an electrical fire. Current owner Jay Weaver, who took over the business from his parents James and Bessie Weaver, decided to re-build the 5,000 square foot building and re-start the business.
The Weavers originally built their home in the area before Lake Anna existed, but their property turned out to be within walking distance of the lake after 1972. The couple decided to make their home here, close to family and they felt it was a good place to raise children. After building a garage in Richmond and commuting back to the lake daily, James decided to build Weaver Auto Services, Inc. literally in their own backyard.
Jay Weaver took an early interest in working at the garage with his father since he was very young.
Eventually, he owned and operated Auto Tech on Route 208 in Spotsylvania for more than 12 years. For the past six, he has taken the reigns at Weaver Auto Services.
The fire was a huge wake up call for the family and they’ve taken provisions to ensure this type of loss won’t happen again. Nearly everything there was destroyed – equipment, computers, stored files, tools and much more. Now, Jay and his wife Melissa plan to regularly back up customer files and record and store them away from the location.
Local customers will be happy to see Weaver Auto up and running again and enjoy the convenience of automotive repairs and service for your vehicles, Virginia state inspections and they are now offering marine repairs and service. Call today to set up your appointment! 540-895-5492.


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Microsoft is working on the development of a new friend finding app for Windows phones known as People Sense and the new app, which is currently under the working title of Buddy Aware, uses Bing Maps to locate other Windows phones using the app in real time.
The app, which Trusted Reviews reports to be a “belated attempt to emulate” Apple’s Find My Friends app, allows users to message and call friends directly from within the app.
Currently, there’s no news on when the app is to be debut. It’s currently in the beta testing phase.
In an example of the app’s usefulness, the app can be combined with apps which provide directions such as Moovit and HERE Drive to provide directions to other People Sense users.
Whether the app is designed to work with Windows Phone 8.1 or the new Windows 10 is currently unknown.
In other app related news here on Immortal News, a new $35 smartphone app and dongle combo provides HIV and syphilis test results in a mere 15 minutes. As the app is powered by a smartphone’s battery, it’s completely portable; which makes it a realistic option for disease testing in remote areas around the world.
Are you excited for this new Microsoft people-finding app or are you an iPhone or Android user who won’t see any benefit from this new app designed for the Windows Phone? Also, do you think technological advances in social networking are strengthening human connections around the world or weakening them in an age where smartphone users are often seen with their noses buried in their hi-tech devices?


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U.S. consumers want to celebrate Thanksgiving without spending more than they budgeted, and retailers are competing to offer discounts.
34% of consumers say they’re on the lookout for deals and coupons as they shop for Thanksgiving, according to consumer behavior research firm Circana. That’s even higher for younger shoppers: 44% of Gen Z and younger millennials will be searching for deals.
“Retailers are pulling out all the stops to provide good value across Thanksgiving essentials,” says Neil Saunders, managing director at retail analysis firm Global Data.
“Manufacturers and retailers have the opportunity to help consumers, many of whom continue to buy on deal, and celebrate Thanksgiving as they always have by understanding their specific needs and targeting promotions effectively,” says Joan Driggs, vice president of Content and Thought Leadership at Circana, in a statement. “There is also significant value in gaining a complete view of consumers and their purchasing strategies, such as plans to source dishes from both home and retail as well as restaurant and foodservice.”
Grocery discount strategies
Grocery retailers adopted different strategies for capitalizing on budget-focused consumers.
For some retailers, that means enticing shoppers with a free turkey, the focal point of the meal. BJ’s Wholesale Club will give members a free turkey if they spend $150 in a certain period, and ShopRite is offering a similar deal for a free turkey or ham.
Meanwhile, Walmart and some other grocery retailers are focused on advertising deals that impact the whole Thanksgiving meal. Walmart announced it would sell all the necessities for a classic Thanksgiving meal for a lower price than 2022 between Nov. 1 and Dec. 26. It comes in two varieties, one with ingredients for cooking the meal and one with pre-made dishes. Walmart says the holiday meal will feed six people for under $30.
Target’s offer is a Thanksgiving meal for four for $25. “We know our guests are looking for incredible value and ease as they get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones,” Rick Gomez, chief food & beverage officer, said in a press release. “In addition to our Thanksgiving meal for under $25, we can reach 80% of Americans with Same-Day Delivery with Shipt.”
Aldi, which recently relaunched its U.S. ecommerce website, is promoting a similar deal. The discount grocer says 70 Thanksgiving essentials are marked down up to 50%, including cranberries, butter, and gravy mix. Turkey is not included in the deal, however.
These sales are indicative of a larger trend around the holiday, Saunders says.
“There is a big emphasis on value for money” among consumers, he says.
Prepared Thanksgiving meals will remain relatively small
Retailers and restaurants are increasingly marketing prepared meals for Thanksgiving celebrants, but they remain a small part of overall spending.
“Anecdotally, we’re seeing more ads from retailers and restaurants promoting full Thanksgiving meals this year,” Driggs says. “But when we look at 2022, both dollar and unit sales of cooking meal kits for Thanksgiving were flat/down slightly from the previous year. Sales of these items peaked in 2021, however, and remain elevated from 2018 levels.”
Meal kit Thanksgiving sales totaled $8.2 million in 2019, growing to a peak of $17.3 million in 2021. However, they declined slightly in 2022, to $17.2 million.
Meal kit retailer Blue Apron is selling a Thanksgiving kit that it says serves six to eight people for $131.98. Competitor Hello Fresh’s Turkey Box, which serves eight to 10, retails for $199.90 this year. Consumers who buy these holiday-themed boxes tend to already be subscribers, rather than new customers, says Saunders.
Decor retailers could see Thanksgiving spending growth
65% of survey respondents told Circana that they plan to buy new holiday-themed tableware this year. However, just 7% expect to spend more than last year, and 20% say they will spend less.
“Home decorations seem to be particularly popular,” Saunders says.
And while many retailers are already advertising Black Friday deals, Williams Sonoma and Crate & Barrel both have homepages touting Thanksgiving hosting purchases. Notably, Williams Sonoma has a prominently displayed date by which customers can order items for Thanksgiving delivery.
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The Office for National Statistics could revise upwards previously negative Gross Domestic Product — or output — data for the second quarter this week, economists believe.
Peter Spencer, chief economist to the respected think tank, the Ernst and Young Item club, said there was a “fair chance” second quarter output could be revised from minus 0.8 per cent to minus 0.7 per cent. He said the UK could look forward to better economic data in the next two quarters, with a return to growth in the current third quarter.
Henderson New Star chief economist Simon Ward said: “The initial estimates looked surprisingly weak in light of recent surveys. It is possible there will be a small upwards revision. I think that at some point we will see revisions, to not just the Q2 figures but previous quarters.” Ward predicts growth of between 0.25 to 0.5 per cent this quarter.
Last week, data suggested that France and Germany had exited recession, raising hopes that Britain would soon follow.
Britain’s small businesses appear confident of a swift end to the recession, with half actively preparing expansion plans for the coming 12 months, according to a survey of 3,000 companies by Barclays.
According to Barclays, retailers are the most bullish, with 54 per cent poised to expand.
Barclays’ local business managing director Steve Cooper said: “Companies with growth plans could be taking advantage of a completely different competitive landscape where key competitors are missing or have downsized.” A separate survey by HSBC found nearly 40 per cent of 500 small to medium-sized businesses are contemplating expanding into international trade.
However, there are still mixed views on the timing of a recovery. Global advertising giant WPP will this week pour cold water on hopes of an early upturn: it is expected to unveil a first-half profits slump.
Unlike his rivals at Omnicom and Publicis, who believe the worst is over, it is understood that WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell will warn the economic environment will remain “tough” throughout 2009 and it will only start to pick up next year.
According to analysts’ consensus forecasts, WPP is expected to produce a pre-tax profit of £320 million for the first six months of 2008, compared with £385 million registered the previous year. Its interim results are due on Wednesday.


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Back in the 1980s and 1990s, we were bombarded with books on Japanese management techniques. Well, it's 2006, and DaimlerChrysler
The press release reads like Japanese Business Management 101. The company wants to "enhance competitiveness and promote further profitable growth" while it "further integrates the company's functions" and "reduces redundancies and remove management layers." Yawn. You kinda have to wonder why this wasn't done years ago.
But the company is trying to build a future that mirrors 2005 -- a year when 17 new products were launched. If you, like me, enjoy the fresh look that DaimlerChrysler is bringing to its automobile lines, you'll be pleased to learn that the company plans to continue the aggressive investments that have produced fresh automobile products.
To control costs, the company will centralize functions like finance, human resources, and strategy. This is what many expected when Daimler merged with Chrysler in 1998. But if you read the 1998 press releases now, the goals stated then look much the same as the ones announced today -- sharing know-how in engineering and manufacturing.
The company also plans to work outside its own organizational structure to achieve its goals. For example, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler engineers are working side by side with General Motors
A big dollar savings will come from a 20% reduction in the general and administrative (G&A) staff over the next three years. Like General Motors and Ford
DaimlerChrysler trades for 12.3 times expected 2006 earnings and pays a healthy 3.8% dividend. That's a realistic valuation, given that analysts expect the company to grow earnings by 6.1% annually for the next five years. It seems investors like the moves; the company's stock is up 4.8% today and is within a dollar of its 52-week high.
Bayerische Motorenwerke, better known as BMW, is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendation.
Are you looking for the best investments on Wall Street? Motley Fool founders David and Tom Garner recommend two for your consideration every month in the Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter. Try a satisfaction guaranteed subscription today.


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Guest essay: Federal food policies are misguided
The current Farm Bill is scheduled to expire at the end of the month. Sound familiar? It should. We were in the same situation a year ago.
For decades, the Farm Bill had bipartisan support because it included SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), which targets low-income families in urban areas, and also handed out billions of government dollars in subsidies to thousands of mega-farmers who grow corn for fuel and over-processed food products full of empty calories. The House of Representatives approved the nutrition-only Farm Bill last week,cutting $40 million from SNAP.
Putting aside the contentious SNAP debate for a moment, let’s focus on how we think about agriculture in this country. Farm-to-debt ratios among commodity growers are at record lows, making guaranteed subsidies a waste of scarce public dollars.
Let’s consider growing FOOD again.
The restructuring of farm subsidies could incentivize growers to produce foods to make this a healthier country. Historically, the Farm Bill titles have supported growing “food” for fuel and facilitated a food industry based on over-processed, unhealthy food, with only traces of actual agricultural product as ingredients. The health disparities that low-income families face can be attributed to the fact that over-processed and shelf-stable foods are cheap and accessible. Unhealthy foods are cheap, because the raw materials — corn, wheat and soy — are subsidized by our government and cost only pennies per pound.
If the government insists on manipulating agricultural prices, they should at least incentivize growers to produce foods that make this a healthier country — fresh produce should be less expensive than junk food! There are no lack of places to buy a bag of chips and a soda; however, many individuals lack the same access to purchase affordable fresh and healthy food.
It’s time for the federal government to incentivize healthy food production. Foodlink has introduced 38 new produce access points in the city of Rochester this year alone — but our efforts will not be sustainable if fresh fruits and vegetables remain unaffordable (and therefore inaccessible to millions of families) as a result of misguided federal policies.
Ferraro is executive director of Foodlink in Rochester.


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Organic certification cost share program now accepting applications
Published 10/03/2012, Alexandria Echo Press
Minnesota organic farmers and processors can now apply for a rebate of up to 75 percent of the cost of their organic certification.Word count: 102
The full article is available to newspaper subscribers. If you are a subscriber please log in to continue reading.


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The real imperative in a world where ‘everything’ is digitized is that businesses need to rethink their operation and technology strategies and disrupt their own business models faster than their competitors.
While cyber defense teams are developing new security mechanisms and implementing new solutions to keep up with rapid global digitization and become more cyber resilient, cybercriminals are cultivating new techniques to evade them. It's a never-ending cycle. So how can you help keep your customers safe and withstand unexpected, high impact security events?
With technology playing such a pivotal role in today’s business strategy – thanks largely to mobility, cloud, analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) – organizations need to evolve their networks to adapt to growing digital business needs.
Partners that have a single supplier face a significant revenue risk in the event that supplier decides to sell off its data center assets to a company that is either unfriendly toward the channel or just doesn't understand it.
With news of Ingram Micro's plans to become part of China-based HNA Group comes speculation over what it means to the industry, government contracts serviced via Ingram, and to the distribution business as a whole.
The Strategic Service Provider model represents solution providers who become strategic partners to customers by recommending and implementing everything from communication providers to which application, platform and hardware providers to depend on.
The latest move to sell the Surface Pro through HP and Dell Direct sales teams, and the lack of communication from Microsoft, has left the channel wondering just what the big secret is when it comes Microsoft and its tablet?


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Amid its efforts to get out of the business of fake news distribution and to identify the fake accounts said to represent 2 per cent of its 1.79 billion monthly active users, Facebook for the fourth time in recent months is correcting erroneous advertising metrics.
In a December 16 update to a December 9 post declaring that it would revise the inaccurate methods used to calculate its Estimated Reach, Streaming Reactions, and Graph API traffic figures, Facebook on Friday said it had discovered reporting errors related to the way metrics partner comScore measured Instant Articles traffic for a small group of publishers.
Instant Articles is a Facebook program that allows publishers to distribute content through Facebook and to either sell their own ads, keeping all revenue, or to outsource ad selling to Facebook for an unpublished share of revenue.
Facebook said the measurement problem led to the underreporting of iPhone traffic from Facebook in comScore products during the period between September 20 and November 30 this year.
The social media giant said it has fixed the issue and is working with comScore to provide affected publishing partners with accurate data. To explain the snafu, the company said its legacy comScore integration has trouble handling HTTPS connections.
A company spokesperson told The Register that the misreporting didn't affect billable metrics, but declined to elaborate on what caused the reporting flaw.
The Washington Post, which publishes content through Instant Articles, on Friday said its visitor numbers provided by comScore "were significantly underreported" in September, October, and November, owing to the issue identified by Facebook. The publication said it expected its November unique visitor figure, 99.1 million, to be "comfortably across the 100 million unique visitor mark" once comScore corrects its figures.
A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to go into further detail.
Over the summer, Facebook acknowledged in a Help Center article that it had been miscalculating video viewership. The Wall Street Journal took note in September when it reported on a letter sent by ad buying agency Publicis Media to clients about Facebook's trouble with figures. And David Fischer, Facebook VP of advertising and global operations, apologized.
Then in November, Facebook said it was revising its metrics "to give our partners and the industry more clarity and confidence about the insights we provide."
Facebook's numeracy research remains ongoing. ®


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OffiSync, lets you collaboratively edit documents using Microsoft Office and Google Docs in tandem, and its plugin is the third most downloaded on entire Google Apps Marketplace. The company is launching some new features:
First, OffiSync is switching its pricing model. Now OffiSync’s integration with Google Docs will be free for all users — download free plugin, install it for Microsoft Office 2003, 2007, or 2010, and you can collaboratively edit documents alongside other users who’re also on Office or Docs. OffiSync will offer premium product for its Google Sites integration, for $12 per user per year or $30 lifetime.
Second, there won’t be any integration with Sites when Google launches its DocVerse product. OffiSync already sports full integration with Google Sites — you can upload a native Office document to your Site, then edit it collaboratively from Microsoft Office, with your changes synced to document in the cloud. Antebi says that businesses have been using this feature as an alternative to Microsoft’s SharePoint.
More Info: Plugin


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Munich - The world’s largest logistics trade fair transport logistic will take place in Munich at the beginning of June. All major market players will be there and discuss Europe’s opportunities against the background of China’s Silk Road Initiative, the shortage of skilled workers, paths to smart city logistics and the specific logistics trends on road and rail, water and air, among other things.“We do not feel uncertainties due to trade wars, economic developments or Brexit when participating in this year’s trade fair –to the contrary: The number of exhibitors has so far increased by 9 percent from 2,162 to 2,360 and its international share has risen by 3 percent to 56 percent,” Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München, stated.
Growth comes mainly from European markets, but participation from China has almost doubled to 64 exhibitors. There will be twenty-five international joint pavilions, including Sri Lanka, Romania, Lithuania, Poland and Turkey. “Logistics is the cornerstone behind global trade flows, and there is a great need for information and international cooperation,” Mr. Rummel said. The trade fair has opened another hall and consequently will extend over 10 halls and the open air area.
“Changing Global Markets –Is Logistics in the Driving Seat?” is the topic of the trade fair opening. Andreas Scheuer, Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, will open the fair, then Dr. FrankAppel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL; Dorothea vonBoxberg, Executive Board of Product and Sales of Lufthansa Cargo AG; Alexander Doll, Executive Board of Finance, Freight Transportand Logistics of Deutsche Bahn AG and Rolf Habben Jansen, CEOof Hapag-Lloyd AG will participate in a panel discussion. The round will be moderated by Anja Kohl.Artificial intelligence takes off
There will be approx. 50 forums in the conference program, focusing on the global economy, digitalization, the lack of drivers and skilled workers as well as sustainable city logistics. Artificial intelligence is seen as a promising response to many challenges. This is also the case in air freight, which –interalia –will be discussed in the forum “Artificial Intelligence: Next Level Air Cargo?”. Air cargo Europe is the world’s largest meeting of the air cargo industry and an important growth driver of transport logistic with 230 exhibitors.


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SALT LAKE CITY — If you ever bought a used car that broke down days later or had a roofer pocket your cash and walk away without putting shingles on an overhang, you're not alone.
The Consumer Federation of America's 2018 Consumer Complaint Survey Report, released Tuesday, includes nearly 1.15 million complaints about fraud, misrepresentation and sketchy business practices. And those are just the ones gathered by staffers from the 35 agencies in 21 states that participated in this year's annual reckoning. The compilation covers a broad range of misdeeds that seem limited only by a miscreant's imagination.
Folks were scammed at home, on cruises, at school, in shops and where they work. They lost money, time and in some cases property, like cars. They paid for schools that closed without refunding money, were charged for warranties they never agreed to, and signed on for fake vacation rentals. In one case in the report, roofing contractors pretended to be insurance adjusters, steering work to their company and potentially affecting the price the consumer expected to pay.
To get a sense of the range of complaints, consider these examples:
- In a twist on rent-to-own, a Connecticut woman signed a contract to buy a puppy by paying in installments, only to discover she was leasing it and would need to pay a buy-out charge or return the pet. The final cost on what was supposed to be a $1,200 dog came to nearly three times that amount.
- An elderly woman was sold a high-mileage, years-old car by a New York used-car dealer who charged 24.89 percent interest and hid fees in the contract.
- A Washington, D.C.-area funeral home wasn't licensed and couldn't issue death certificates, charged for services it didn't provide and in at least one case took an insurance payment of more than $50,000 — nearly 10 times the cost of the service it provided — but didn't refund the balance.
- Fake "experts" offered bogus advice to immigrants seeking help.
- Folks everywhere nationwide answered phone calls from what looked like local numbers, only to find Caller ID had been "spoofed."
Consumers facing those and other situations may be able to get help, but they need to contact local consumer protection agencies, said the federation's director of consumer protection and privacy, Susan Grant.
"The state and local agencies are the first line of defense for consumers, righting individual wrongs, stopping abusive practices in the marketplace and recouping people's money or saving them from paying unjust charges. They're the agency that consumers contact when the roofer has left the job half done, the used car they bought a few days ago has broken down or they realize they may just have become victims of the grandparent scam," she said during a conference call with reporters.
Lots of bad acts
The report includes a snapshot of the most common complaints, the fastest-growing complaints and the worst complaints. It also outlines new efforts within states to protect consumers and punish misdeeds. Consumers who want to learn more about preventing fraud will find expert tips at the end of the report.
The top complaints by volume in 2018 involved automobiles — everything from misrepresentation in the advertising and sale of new and used cars to bad repairs, lemons and towing disputes, among others.
Home improvement and construction complaints weren't far behind. Consumers contacted agencies about jobs that were poorly done and both failure to start and failure to finish jobs.
Third place went to retail sales — and complaints covered a broad range of misdeeds that included false advertising, poorly constructed merchandise, issues with rebates and coupons and gift cards, as well as not receiving what one purchased.
Other top complaint categories were services, landlord/tenant issues, utilities, health products and services, credit/debt, communications, internet sales, home solicitations, household goods and frauds like lottery and fake check scams.
During the conference call, Nathan Forster talked about problems with third-party companies convincing consumers to drop their usual utility provider — say a gas or electric company — and go with a reseller on the promise of lower bills, which doesn't happen. Forster, from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, told of a 90-year-old woman with dementia who supposedly signed up for service with such a supplier, though it was clear she was not capable of knowingly agreeing. In another case, a woman complained her father was signed up, though he couldn't speak English and clearly could not have understood what he was agreeing to.
Most disturbing, Forster noted, is that low-income people "disproportionately bear the burden." They're targeted because they have few resources and a need to save money. States also lose money when utility resellers commit fraud on consumers, he added.
The fastest-growing complaints involved fraud, medical billing or retail.
Fraud cases include "imposter" scams where individuals pretend to be from the IRS or local law enforcement, among other agencies.
Medical billing complaints cover a broad range, from unexpected charges to consumers not realizing care's cost and what would be covered by insurance, to deliberate mischarges.
Retail sales complaints were all over the place, too: high-pressure tactics, lousy quality merchandise, refund disputes, businesses closing before purchases are delivered and problems with gift cards.
The report details what different states and local governments are doing to combat consumer problems. Utah, for instance, recently passed a law requiring online ticket resellers to make clear they are not primary ticket sellers, among other disclosures.
Los Angeles is tackling its affordable housing issues through a temporary rent stabilization ordinance that caps rent increases and prevents unjust evictions.


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According to a new report, Apple is now taking a firm stand against what has long been one of the biggest problems with the App Store: spammy app reviews and ratings. Apple has apparently been removing false reviews since earlier this year, with one app in particular having had thousands of its fake reviews removed overnight.
The app in question is Better Fonts Free, which currently has 4,000 app reviews. The app at one point had more than 20,000 reviews, and since developers have no way of moderating or controlling them, the only reasonable conclusion is that they were removed by Apple.
According to the research conducted by TechCrunch:
Instead, what happened is that Apple did step in to remove this app’s ratings due to attempts by the developer to game the system. What’s more, this is not the first time the company has done this, we now understand.
In fact, any time Apple finds credible evidence of ratings fraud or manipulation, it can and “often” does take action to remove the ratings associated with that activity.
As there are with Facebook likes and Twitter followers, there are dozens of services which allow you to quickly and easily pick up as many “100% real” app reviews as you’d like. These services tout the ability to increase app downloads, sales, and attract more buyers — making it plainly clear why so many desperate developers resort to these tactics. Apple has warned that developers who use these services could be banned from the App Store.
Some may question how Apple can determine which reviews are legitimate and which are fake, but as you can see in the screenshot at the top of the post, they’re usually quite obvious. Also, it’s likely that many of these reviews are coming from a common set of IP addresses and once Apple is able to determine one as fake, it wouldn’t be hard to delete all the reviews and ratings that came from that address.
Overall, this is great news for those of us who simply want to peruse the App Store for the best apps. These fake reviews give light to apps that don’t deserve it, and with Apple removing them (or attempting to), the Top Charts rankings should become more accurate than ever.[via TechCrunch]


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Lesley Bell – who works at Lockerbie Lorry Park – has been going up to the park twice a week and giving out products, including baby wipes, kitchen rolls, toilet rolls and chocolate, to HGV drivers, who struggle to get hold of items due to the coronavirus outbreak.
But with current limits on the amount of products you can buy in supermarkets, Lesley has found it hard to get her hands on more goods.
She has now pleaded with the Lockerbie community to help her.
Lesley said: “Now the only problem I have is they will only let me buy one packet of kitchen roll, even after explaining what it’s for. It’s something that the drivers use every day and we need to look after them.”
Lesley’s kindness has not gone unnoticed. Lorry driver Tam Cargill posted on his Facebook: “This is Lesley, she works in the shop at Lockerbie Truck Stop. She’s been out each night in the lorry park giving out goodies to us truckers. She used her holiday money to buy the stuff. What a star, a big thanks from all us truckers.”
To donate, send a Facebook message to Lesley Bell.


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From giant subs to tiny pieces of raw fish, students at Winthrop University soon will have some new dining options close to campus.
A Charlotte restaurateur has finalized plans for a sushi restaurant in the old Time Out bar on Cherry Road, hoping to bring new life to a building vacant for about five years. The news comes shortly after Groucho's Deli announced it would open next door in the former Cupps coffee shop.
The deals mark two steps forward in the long-running effort to revitalize Cherry Road and, at least on this stretch, create more college-type hangouts around campus.
"People still see the opportunity associated with Winthrop, and Cherry Road carries a lot of traffic," said broker Randy Graham, who handled the sushi deal on behalf of Sperry Van Ness/Southern Commercial Realty. "There's a captive audience there. And really, if you want to serve the Winthrop population, that's where you have to be."
A similar sentiment came from the people at Groucho's, set to open next month in the former Cupps building. The Columbia-based sandwich maker boasts 18 franchises in the Carolinas, but this is the first in Rock Hill.
"The more activity there is, the better it is for all of us," store owner Meg Jenkins Locke said. "You can eat sushi one day, Groucho's the next day, White Horse the next day. If we can just get the old Taco Bueno set up, we'll be in good shape."
The sushi restaurant will be owned by Raymond Lam, who is involved with a Fuji Japanese steakhouse near the Super Target off N.C. 49 and a Chinese buffet off Arrowood Road in Charlotte. Lam could not be reached for comment Monday.
Renovation work should start sometime this fall, Graham said.
Coupled with the recent opening of an Earth Fare grocery store, the restaurant plans have delivered positive news to a street with its share of troubles.
For years, the block has been a mishmash of student rental houses, empty buildings and restaurants that come and go. Developers have tried to buy up properties in hopes of assembling enough land for a strip shopping center or multilevel retail project, but nothing has worked out.
Winthrop's stake in the revitalization effort is clear: Cherry Road represents the one side of campus that lacks a defined future. School boosters long have said a snazzy new project on Cherry Road could have kick-started redevelopment progress in the city's "Textile Corridor" -- a large swath of former mills near downtown -- by serving as a model of the possibilities.
Instead, the two recent deals show that the block appears more likely to be redeveloped one property at a time.


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Today Disney launched “Moana: Wayfinding with Code,” a free online tutorial that offers an introduction to the basics of computer science, featuring characters from the upcoming Disney animated film, Moana. In conjunction with the launch of “Moana: Wayfinding with Code,” Disney also announced activations across the world that invite millions of students to learn the basics of coding. Created in close collaboration with Code.org, the “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial will be available in more than 180 countries and 23 languages, including Samoan Polynesian, giving children all over the world the opportunity to learn the basics of coding.
“Today’s students are tomorrow’s storytellers and with this tutorial we’re working to introduce them to the technological skills they will need to bring their stories to life,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI). “By bringing together Code.org and Disney filmmakers, we’ve created a program that we hope will inspire kids all over the world to try coding for themselves.”
Over the past two years, Disney has hosted two Hour of Code tutorials, featuring characters from Disney’s Frozen and from Star Wars. In total, almost 40 million students have participated in these tutorials to learn the basics of coding.
“We’ve found that kids are much more likely to try computer science if it contains topics they are interested in, like their favorite Disney stories and characters,” said Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org. “Our work with Disney over the past two years has helped Hour of Code reach record numbers, inspiring millions of children of all ages to try coding and pursue an education in computer science.”
Disney Hour of Code Events:
Disney is working with leading organizations to host events around the world in an effort to reach millions of parents and students during CS Education Week (December 5-11) to introduce kids to coding. These events include:
Apple Stores: All 487 Apple stores worldwide will host block-based coding for young coders workshops featuring the “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial during their Hour of Code session December 5 through 11.
Code.org: Code.org will feature “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial on its site and will educate thousands of teachers and community leaders about how to use the Disney tutorial in their lessons. Register participation in a Disney Hour of Code here: HourofCode.com/Disney.
Family Code Night: “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” will also be part of direct family engagement in home and school learning. Parents and educators eager to bring new coding education to their kids can sign up today to receive the free “Moana Family Code Night Event Kit,” shipping in January. Family Code Night is a delightful high-impact elementary school event at which children and their parents do their first hour of coding, together, as part of a whole-school evening program that any school can put on. Celebrating family engagement in CS education, the Moana Family Code Night Event Kit will let any parent help their principal and school or youth group put on this family computer science learning event with a theme inspired by the film. Sign up for the free Kit today at http://www.familycodenight.org/Moana.
Disney Network: Disney will promote the “Moana: Wayfinding with Code” tutorial across its global channels in an effort to reach millions of families. Tutorial and toolkit found here: Disney.com/HourofCode.


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YOUNG people could benefit from a new youth centre if planners give the go-ahead to plans for a new 80,000 sq ft food store.
Salford Estates, the owners of Castle Dene Shopping Centre, in Peterlee, have submitted plans for the youth centre as part of a multi-million-pound development in the centre of the town.
Under the proposals, the existing 40-year-old youth facility, in Hailsham Place, would be replaced by a state-of-the-art centre.
A new health centre would also be built, as well as supermarket parking.
But in order for them to go ahead, planning permission must be granted to the proposed food store, as the store is needed to fund the youth centre.
Salford Estates spokesman Gareth Edmunds said: “The new youth centre is part of the exciting community hub that our town centre scheme would deliver.
“The Castle Dene scheme will draw trade into the town as opposed to out of it.”
The new youth centre would be located to the south of the shopping centre, opposite Peterlee Leisure Centre.
It would include flexible, modern and fit-for-purpose space, which developers say is key to engaging young people in east Durham.
The new 4,300 sq ft youth facility would be home to activities ranging from music and dance to fitness and a drop-in centre.
Paul Hebron, from the youth centre, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the town and a real win-win.
“While the youth centre is a tremendous asset for our young people, the focus on the town centre is also a real boost for Peterlee.
“We desperately want to see this scheme go ahead to make it happen.”
A public exhibition of the proposals held in August showed strong support for the plans, which are due to be determined by Durham County Council in May.
Salford Estates is one of three companies competing for permission from the council to build a new supermarket in Peterlee.
The others are North Blunts, who want to build a Morrisons supermarket on the site of the former North Blunts Primary School, in Burnhope Way.
The scheme also involves plans for housing and new sports facilities.
Tesco also wants to build a new store on the site of the former East Durham College, also in Burnhope Way.