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BayChi Summit: networking creates growth
Invest in Bavaria is also organising a meeting for managing directors of Chinese companies in Bavaria this year, in cooperation with the Chinese Consulate General in Munich, the City of Munich and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Germany. The BayChi Summit shows: it is important to Bavaria that the Chinese business community in the white-and-blue state develops successfully and feels "at home" - networks play a major part in this in particular. The event, which takes place every autumn, has become a fixture in the Chinese business community’s calendar in Bavaria.
The event was opened this year by Dr Wolfgang Hübschle, head of Invest in Bavaria. Mr. Hübschle, who had just returned from a business trip to China a few days earlier, emphasised the good collaboration with Chinese companies. The opening of the third representative office in China in Chengdu also shows the great significance of the Bavarian-Chinese friendship.
Ms Jingqiu Mao, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Munich, delivered the welcome address on behalf of the Chinese. The Consul General emphasised the positive development of Bavarian-Chinese economic relations and pointed out the huge importance of the Chinese community in Bavaria.
The annual highlight of the evening is the presentation of the Bavarian Newcomer Award. Ms Rita Roider, Head of Location Marketing at the City of Munich, awarded this year's prize to the Chinese car manufacturer First Automotive Works - FAW for short. FAW settled into the WeWork premises in Munich in 2018 and runs a design R&D centre.
The attendees were able to exchange ideas and expand their network in a relaxed atmosphere in the historic “Silbersaal” at the Deutsches Theater in elegant Neo-Rococo style with typical Bavarian decorations and professional music entertainment. Here’s to another meeting next year! Servus, Zai Jian!
Pictures of this event can be found here.


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Supply chain spotlight: Air cargo & passenger travel, making the connection
07 / 10 / 2021
The news that America is to relax its travel rules to allow border entry to vaccinated passengers from the UK and EU has been welcomed by the airfreight sector.
While many may view passenger travel and air cargo as separate sectors within the air industry, they are in fact directly, and indirectly intertwined.
With cargo often transported via the bellyhold of passenger aircraft, prior to the pandemic, the air cargo industry typically represented about 12% of airline revenues on average.
It is also worth remembering that passenger opportunities for short and long-haul help to fund essential air services, which then facilitates increased freight movements.
Freighters benefit from a cargo-led hub at East Midlands airport, but also operate services at Stansted airport, which is shared with low-cost airlines.
Prior to the easement of restrictions announcement made in September, the Airport Operators Association (AOA) and Airlines UK called for restriction-free travel for fully vaccinated people.
In a submission to the Global Travel Taskforce, the groups highlighted the need to rebuild passenger confidence, urging clear communication on vaccination status and greater certainty and predictability so that travellers are not wary of rule changes, disruption or significant unexpected costs.
The businesses explained that while the rest of the economy had been able to reopen without restrictions, complex rules remained in place for aviation, including the high cost of testing, and highlighted the unique position of aviation having a ‘worse summer’ this year than last.
In 2019, the US was ranked as the world’s largest importer, so it is critical that capacity returns to pre-pandemic levels as swiftly as possible.
Following the more recent announcement regarding the easement of restrictions, internet searches for flights between the two countries has taken off; British Airways Holidays saw an increase of nearly 700% for searches to destinations including New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
This is encouraging for both sectors whose growth is so interlinked; air travel is a key enabler of trade between the two countries which in 2019 was worth an estimated £196bn.
Overall, while passenger travel is vital and the easing of restrictions is much welcomed news for the wider aviation industry, wider society also plays an essential role in the growth of airfreight.
It is important for the air industry to gain societal permission to grow, which will subsequently help the growth of air cargo.
To do this, aviation must become sustainable; Logistics UK therefore supports government’s Jet Zero strategy which sets out its proposed approach and principles to reach net zero aviation by 2050. To find out more about this, please visit GOV.UK

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KUALA LUMPUR (August 3): Parlo Bhd’s significant shareholder Thirty Keystone Sdn Bhd will settle the group’s RM1.26 million profit shortfall by releasing its 11.47 million or a 3.15% stake to Malaysian Trustee Board for the latter to sell the shares to satisfy the shortfall.
“The parties have mutually agreed that the valuation date will be Aug 2 and based on the (then) closing price of 11 sen per Parlo share,” the tour firm said in a stock exchange filing today.
Thirty Keystone’s share release will lower its stake in Parlo to 10.04%. It will remain the group’s second largest shareholder after Yap Fu Fah, co-beneficiary owner of Thirty Keystone with a 44.48% stake in Parlo as at July 23.
Parlo, formerly known as Cybertowers Bhd, had on July 2 said that the shortfall in its profit, which had been guaranteed by Yap at RM4.8 million for the 2017 financial year, was due to increased expenses under wholly-owned unit Parlo Tours Sdn Bhd.
The profit guarantee was according to the group’s regularisation plan and set out in a circular to shareholders dated August 3, 2017.
On Aug 1, Yap and Thirty Keystone received notification of the shortfall requiring them to settle the sum within 14 business days of the notification or by Aug 21.
Shares in Parlo were untraded today. It has a market capitalisation of RM40.04 million.


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Credit Suisse estimates that the wearable technology market will grow from $3 to $5 billion, where it is today, to $30 to $50 billion over the next three to five years. Within retail and apparel, “wearables,” consisting of accessories with embedded sensors and displays, are already commonplace from sports brands (think Nike’s FuelBand). As another example, Adidas revealed a digital technology-enabled sneaker, being developed in conjunction with Google Glass, at this year’s South by Southwest.
However, Credit Suisse thinks the technology could soon turn into a “mega trend,” as more and more consumers embrace smartphones (which tend to be a necessary hub for wearables) and as an ecosystem of entrepreneurs devoted to the technology springs up to develop myriad ways to make it useful. Thus, it should infiltrate fashion beyond sports gear. Credit Suisse itself recommends eBay and Under Armour, along with Google (of course) as its current top picks for creating a future wearables market.
However, based on the rumored forthcoming “iWatch,” the firm also recommends Apple. If and when Apple introduces such a product, it could be the catalyst to launching wearable technology into the mainstream, just as the iPhone made smartphones the new normal. When this happens, will fashion be racing to catch up, just as it had to with e-commerce and social media?
Look, we know retail brands aren’t technology companies. However, as wearable tech takes its inevitable place in the zeitgeist, now might be the right time for a progressive designer or a particularly savvy label to forge a partnership with a start-up or a tech company looking to create a product that’s perfect not just in terms of its digital service, but its design, too.


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Four-day working week trial launches in the UK
BID TO MEASURE WHETHER EMPLOYEES ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE WITH LONGER WEEKENDS
LONGER WEEKENDS = MORE PRODUCTION?
A trial of a four-day working week has launched in the UK in a bid to measure whether employees are more productive with longer weekends.
There has been much debate for years over the benefits of a shorter working week and it appears more businesses are now willing to take the plunge, as the Covid-19 pandemic shifts the global work model perhaps for good.
Around 30 UK companies are taking part in a six-month trial of a four-day week, where employees will be paid the same amount as if they were working their usual five days.


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Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900K review: The new "best" gaming processor
Note: This review was first published on 4 November 2021.
Intel’s long-awaited 12th-generation of processors have arrived, and boy, has it arrived with a big bang. When AMD launched their Ryzen 5000 series last year, it wrested away Intel’s final grasp on the gaming performance space, with their Ryzen 9 5900X beating out their blue competitor’s 10th Gen Core i9-10900K in both single-core and multi-core benchmarks. To rub salt to Intel’s wounds, it even bested Intel’s incumbent top processor that only came out the first half of this year, the 11th Gen Core i9-11900K, in most areas.
With the arrival of the 12th Gen Core i9-12900K however, Intel finally has a processor that not only bested AMD’s best in the realm of gaming performance, but also comes with a companion chipset that truly takes PC gaming technology to the next level in 2022.
New processor, new companion chipset
Our editor-in-chief Vijay has covered in detail on what makes the 12th Gen Core ticks as compared to previous generations of Intel processors, and crucially, how Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 has more fine-grain support for it as well. You can (and should) read about them in the links below:
- Intel unwraps Alder Lake performance hybrid scalable architecture for desktops and notebooks
- Intel unveils 12th Gen Core Alder Lake desktop processors with six "K" SKU processors
The TL;DR version of is that Intel has decided to launch their latest high-performance hybrid design multi-core processor microarchitecture, Alder Lake, for desktop enthusiasts as opposed to previous generations when the company would do so for their mobile processors first. Since Intel’s desktop parts are finally moving to a new process node with a brand-new architecture, they want to lead with their highest performing models before filling out the rest of the series.
Before I jump to the fun part of this feature, it would be remiss of me to not talk about the new top-end companion chipset – the Intel Z690. Part of what makes Alder Lake and by extension, the Core i9-12900K, exciting is that it brings with it new capabilities like DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. This, unfortunately, means you will be looking at a substantial investment in procuring a new motherboard, DDR5 memory, and very soon, PCIe components like SSD and even the next generation of GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD.
To benchmark our Alder Lake processors, ASUS sent over their latest ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard and from the photo above, we can quickly see that the 12th Gen Core uses the new and larger LGA-1700 socket. Interestingly, the new socket is expected to support up to three generations of Intel Core processors, possibly in a bid to compete with AMD’s purported Socket AM5 for platform longevity. Cross your fingers.
I’ll be reviewing the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero separately, but I do want to interrupt my Core i9-12900K review to highlight a couple of understated features that ASUS has brought to their latest motherboard.
The first is a notch that latches onto your SSD drives without the need for a screw. It allows for replacements of SSD in a quick and hassle-free manner – it’s actually a great feature for testers more than end-users, to be honest.
Next, ASUS has also added what they called a “PCIe Slot Q-Release”. As the name implies, it’s a button that you push to release a graphics card on the first PCIe slot. This negates having to use a long tool, such as a screwdriver, to push the PCIe lever down. Again, it’s a wonderful and convenient tool for testers like myself.
I’ve got to commend ASUS for putting out such quality-of-life improvements onto their motherboards (I’m sure these will appear on some of their other Z690 models as well), apart from just adding on accessories that, quite frankly, are more gimmicky than functional.


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‘Apple picking’ on the rise, UD police talk preventative measures
Published: Monday, March 4, 2013
Updated: Monday, April 22, 2013 21:04
When sophomore Michael D’Amico turned his back last July outside of Jastak-Burgess Hall, he discovered that his phone was missing. Thanks to his “Find My iPhone” application, he was able to track his phone to Durham, N.C.
“The phone was broken so the person who stole it tried to fix it at the Apple Store,” D’Amico said. “When they turned it on, the police were able to track it to the store.”
D’Amico was a victim of a new crime that has been termed “Apple picking,” where people have specifically been stealing iPhones from unsuspecting victims.
To combat the trend, the New York Police Department announced that it would be partnering with Apple to form a new squad dedicated to finding and recovering lost iPhones and iPads.
Despite this development and recent events, the university’s Police Services Commander Robert Simpson said phone theft is a relatively small problem on the university’s campus, however, there has been an increase in the past year, he said.
“In fall of 2012 there was an increase in phone theft, and most of these incidents occurred on the central green due to an open opportunity for the suspects to take the phones,” Simpson said.
Simpson said if a phone can be found using an app, it may lead to an arrest. However, the phone must be on the thief’s person for a police officer to take legal action.
Sophomore Keri Betters said she thinks the university is not doing enough to prevent theft and believes it would be helpful if the university police adopted a similar policy to the NYPD’s.
“I think it’s frustrating that we don’t have a lot of theft prevention at the university,” Betters said. “It is becoming such a problem, especially recently, that I think spending the extra time and money to have the NYPD’s new iPhone unit would be extremely worth it.”
Betters said people use their cell phones and tablets more than ever for various tasks, and the new unit could prove to be beneficial.
“Nowadays we rely so heavily on our iPhones and iPads that they’re no longer just technological devices, but our calendars, social profiles, clocks, document organizer and email,” Betters said. “Because of this, so many people would benefit from the NYPD unit because it has become a serious need.”
Sophomore Patrick Crane, who is the Lead Product Specialist at the UD Apple Authorized Campus Store, said not many students know about the “Find My iPhone” app, and this lack of knowledge could lead to missing out on opportunities to retrieve their phones.
He said this app can send messages to your phone and play a sound at full volume even if the phone is on silent mode.
Crane also said there is a “lost mode” option on iPhones and iPads which can be turned on remotely. It displays contact information so someone can call the owner of the device and return it.
Crane said as a worst case scenario you can remotely wipe all personal information from the phone, but all these options can only work if the phone is turned on.
“Apple includes standard GPS radios in all of its iPhones, location accuracy is further refined by using cell-tower and Wi-Fi triangulation,” Crane said.
If you purchase a new iPhone from Apple, customers are offered the chance to purchase “AppleCare+”, which is Apple’s extended warranty for the iPhone, Crane said. This package costs $99 and will cover two incidents of accidental damage, including cracked screens.
In order to prevent theft, Officer Daniel Garibaldi of the university’s Public Safety department encourages students to be aware of their surroundings. He said when students are studying or staying in a common area, they should keep their phone and other belongings close by.
“When outside, be aware of your surroundings, walk in well lit areas, and be sure walk with a buddy or a friend,” Garibaldi said. “In areas that you’re not familiar with, it is okay to call someone, but be sure you are cognizant with where you are walking.”


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Street Fighter V won’t have an in-depth story mode when it launches on February 16, but Capcom’s announced a “cinematic expansion” coming next June for free. It’ll apparently go “deep” into the series’ mythology, taking place between the events of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter III.
The next expansion for Paradox’s city builder, Cities: Skylines, is called Snowfall. Announced today, the addon will introduce a weather system and a temperature mechanic to the game, along with a couple new public transportation options, like trams. Snowfall will be out on PC “later this year.”
LEGO Marvel Avengers is a massive game packed with iconic comic book characters. It’ll just be a bit more massive on PlayStation 3 and 4 when it launches later this month. And with Ant-Man involved, a bit smaller as well.
Lara Croft really didn’t have to worry about eating or staying warm in the main portion of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Oh, she got cold sometimes but you knew it wasn’t going to kill her. But, in the new Endurance add-on for her latest game, Lara Croft can freeze to death or die if she hasn’t eaten for a while. Like she…
Whether it’s a good old-fashioned expansion pack or modern DLC, spinning additional content for already-released games has been a standard practice in the industry for decades. But the best expansions do more than simply add a few extra hours of the same game for you to play.
The newest unlockable Batman costume in Arkham Knight doesn’t want your money. It wants your time, Caped Crusader. You don’t just have to complete the game to get it. You have to complete it at 240%.
The final story-centric add-on for Batman: Arkham Knight throws multiple archvillains at the Dark Knight when it comes out on December 22. And the Season of Infamy is apparently taking some cues from Arkham Asylum, the first Batman game from dev studio Rocksteady.
In October, we reported that Destiny would be ditching the DLC plan for year two, replacing big downloadable content packs with cosmetic microtransactions and free missions. Two months later, Bungie’s finally confirmed it.
The next slate of Mortal Kombat X characters includes Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface, Alien’s xenomorph, Bo Rai Cho, and Tri-Borg. Bo Rai Cho is described as “master of the drunken fist” and Tri-Borg is a mashup of Cyrax, Sektor, and Robot Smoke. They’re arriving “first quarter of 2016.”
Lara Croft’s next challenge will be coming from the realm of creepy old fairytales. The Baba Yaga: Season of the Witch DLC for Rise of the Tomb Raider comes out next month.
Star Wars: Battlefront’s Battle of Jakku downloadable content is now live for preorder customers, giving Star Wars fans their first taste of The Force Awakens. As it turns out, it tastes a lot like Tatooine.
Batman: Arkham Knight’s latest add-ons focus on Catwoman and Robin, with both characters taking on Gotham’s bad guys in the aftermath of the game’s ending. Is it worth dusting off this summer’s latest Bat-game? Not really.
When Techland announced its Dying Light expansion, The Following, it was going to cost $15 for anyone who wanted it outside the season pass. Today, the developer announced the DLC’s price is increasing to $20, but there’s still time to get it at the old price, and anyone who already bought the season pass is safe.
Alongside Star Wars: Battlefront’s pricey $50 season pass, EA says it’s going to be releasing “new maps” for free “in the coming months.” Most people seem to dig Battlefront, with the game’s biggest problem being a lack of content.
It’s always been confusing to access the downloadable content in the Souls games, and this tradition continues with Bloodborne. It’s not as arcane as it was in the past, but there are steps you should be aware of—it’s not just a menu.
One of 2015’s biggest surprises, Rocket League, is getting a significant update in December, with a new map that will radically change how you play the game.
If you’re a Blood Bowl 2 player wondering why some armor colors were removed from the game and turned into paid DLC, know that’s a mistake. “We’re aware of the store content issue caused by the latest patch and are working quickly to resolve it,” the game’s developer, Cyanide, told me.
Retro RTS fans, take note: the African Kingdoms expansion for Age of Empires II HD hits at the end of the week. Here’s what that’ll entail.


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"Elders Scroll 6" recent news and updates revealed of the game creator facing a dead wall in terms of its release date. Also, profits are noted to lag and fall owing to Bethesda, the game developer's, decision to focus first on "Fallout 4."
According to Ecumenical News, "The Elder Scrolls 6" is one topic that is always being discussed by gamers. Unfortunately, it seems that video game fans would be waiting longer for the game to arrive, if it is ever released at all. And aside from its release date, new features or changes to its gameplay have always been part of the rumor mill."
The latest rumor teases that Bethesda Softworks would present the newest "The Elder Scrolls" title during this year's E3, and the annual gaming event is slated to happen in Los Angeles from June 14 to 16, as noted by the same post.
It stands to reason that the vice President of Bethesda Softworks Pete Hines has affirmed the major developments concerning the game. Although Bethesda will continue to make the "Elder Scroll," the priority for now is given to "Fallout 4."
Hines said, "We do smaller stuff, we don't publish to scale, we try to publish to quality. Make sure everything we do is noteworthy."
"Elder Scrolls 6" would not hit the game stalls despite the rising demands. As the game creators and Bethesda revealed the possible reasons, it is undeniable that the game developers have their hands full with "Skyrim 2" and "Fallout 4, reports iTech Post.
As the "Elders Scroll 6" prolongs its hiatus, it is incontestable that the creators are facing a dead wall. However, it remains uncertain on whether profits will fall if the sequel is not released by Bethesda owing to the developers' stance to promote and finish "Fallout 4" first.


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It was launched by General Motors as a more premium sidekick to Holden in 2012 before rapidly retreating to the safety of Europe in 2013 after barely making a ripple, let alone a splash, on the sales charts.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Opel was offloaded by The General alongside British sibling Vauxhall in 2017, at which point it joined Peugeot, Citroen, and DS under the Groupe PSA umbrella.
The merger between PSA and Fiat Chrysler in 2021 saw it become part of the Stellantis family where it now lives, manufacturing attractive hatches and SUVs on platforms shared with the latest Peugeot products.
Based on a recent trip to Europe, there are plenty around. The Italian autostrada was full of Mokkas and Astras, both of which look excellent in person. They’d look great on Australian roads, in fact.
Stellantis is currently scattered to the wind Down Under. Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat are distributed by head office, while third-party distributor Ateco takes care of Ram and Maserati.
Another importer, Inchcape, looks after Peugeot and Citroen. The Inchcape stable would be the most natural home for Opel in my grand plan, where it could replace slow-selling Citroen and act as a more affordable foil to Peugeot.
Peugeot has been rebuilt as a premium-ish brand occupying the space between Volkswagen and Audi, as evidenced by pricing for the new 308. It kicks off just shy of $44,000 before on-roads, giving the brand no rival to entry-level Golf or Mazda 3 models, let alone the Koreans.
Why not allow a less expensive, less luxurious Astra to sit below it, offering Europhiles a more affordable alternative to the Golf without undermining Peugeot’s premium push?
Sourcing cars from Europe is expensive in 2022, but Peugeot has admitted to CarExpert it has the option of getting a cheaper 308 to our shores if consumers demand it. In other words, it’s not impossible.
As for the Mokka? Given it’d compete with the strong-selling Volkswagen T-Roc, Mazda CX-30, and Toyota Corolla Cross, there’s no shortage of demand for cars just like it. The larger Grandland X SUV looks sharp as well, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Opel even has a range of electric cars it’s starting to roll out in Europe. There’s an Astra EV, a Mokka EV, and electric versions of its small Combo van, Corsa city hatchback, Vivaro medium van, and Movano large van.
Save for the Corsa, there’s demand for all those electric cars Down Under.
A lot of the factors that might make it hard to sell Opel locally are gone. The Mokka and Astra share their platforms with the Peugeot range, so it’s not as if you can’t get parts locally – nor would the new brand force Inchcape to carry myriad new SKUs in its parts warehouses.
Opel builds the Astra and Mokka in right-hand drive for the UK market at its plant in Russelsheim – the same plant which supplied the ZB Commodore to Australia in big numbers before its axing – so it’s not as if there’s no way to make cars for our market.
Holden is long dead, and any affiliation between Opel and General Motors in Australian minds is likely to be weak (at best) given the brand only lasted 12 months Down Under. Melbourne Demons supporters (AFL, northerners) might remember the Opel name, given it sponsored the team for a year, but that’s about it.
The market has changed significantly since 2013, with the launch of Cupra and Genesis proving buyers are willing to take a punt on a new brand if it’s telling the right story. Opel even relaunched in New Zealand recently.
Throw in the fact a fresh badge gives Inchcape (or Stellantis itself) a chance to experiment with selling cars online or direct to consumers without upsetting existing dealers, and you’ve got a pretty appealing recipe.
It’s also a chance to replace Citroen with a range of cars that has a chance to make some serious inroads in the Australian market.
With just 241 sales to date this year, Citroen is less popular than Maserati in Australia, and only narrowly outsells the likes of Ferrari and Bentley. That represents growth, but the brand still teeters perilously close to why bother territory.
Its range is interesting, led by the funky C5 X crossover, but there’s no danger of the average Volkswagen or Mazda buyer being tempted by what it’s offering. The C5 Aircross hasn’t fired a shot in one of Australia’s busiest segments, the C4 is a niche city car hampered by an optimistic price, and the less said about the C3 the better.
The free-thinkers and contrarian cosmopolitan buyers who’ve traditionally supported Citroen are gravitating to Polestar and Tesla in droves as EV sales take off, and Cupra, Genesis, and Skoda offer more cohesive cars for those unwilling to buy a big-name brand.
It’s hard to see Citroen dragging itself out of the hole it’s in without a huge marketing push and a different product approach Down Under, neither of which looks likely.
Opel could be the missing piece in the Inchcape (and Stellantis) puzzle Down Under, and perfectly complement the ever more premium Peugeot – call it a one-two punch aimed squarely at Volkswagen.
At the moment, it’s fighting with one hand tied behind its back.


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TL;DR – Woah.
Following some rumours, it’s now official. American handbag brand Michael Kors has purchased Italian luxury goods house Versace for more than $2.12 billion, including debt, providing Kors an entry into the high-end European luxury market.
Michael Kors Holdings will be renamed Capri Holdings Limited with the acquisition.
Versace was founded by the late Gianni Versace in 1978 and is now creatively helmed by his sister, Donatella Versace.
“This is a very exciting moment for Versace,” Donatella Versace said in a statement, “It has been more than 20 years since I took over the company along with my brother Santo and daughter Allegra. I am proud that Versace remains very strong in both fashion and modern culture. Versace is not only synonymous with its iconic and unmistakable style, but with being inclusive and embracing of diversity, as well as empowering people to express themselves. Santo, Allegra and I recognize that this next step will allow Versace to reach its full potential.”
With the acquisition, the Versace family will be given €150 million of shares in Capri Holdings Limited, with Donatella keeping her role as creative director.
The Internet doesn’t seem to be taking this piece of news too well though,
Can’t wait to see how their next collection will be like.
(Cover image via)


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On Sunday April 29, Disney Store celebrated the grand opening of its newly-redesigned store at Glendale Galleria, in Glendale, Calif., the location of the very first Disney Store. In 1987, Disney launched the concept known as entertainment retail, and today Disney Store is celebrating its 25th anniversary and thriving as an innovative specialty retailer. The grand opening of the remodeled Glendale Galleria location took place on World Wish Day, a celebration of the day that sparked a global wish-granting movement by Make-A-Wish. In honor of World Wish Day, Disney Store hosted two wish kids and their families and provided a magical shopping experience at the Glendale store, and donated 10 percent of its sales on opening day. At the celebration, the first 500 guests who visited the store received free Mickey Mouse ears. From noon to 4 p.m., a meet and greet with the characters Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Belle and the Beast took place in the mall’s center court.
To celebrate World Wish Day nationwide, Disney Store donated 5 percent of the gross sales revenue it received that day from store locations in North America (up to $50,000). A special Jiminy Cricket Vinylmation™ figure avaiable at Disney Store locations nationwide and on DisneyStore.com was released on World Wish Day, and for each one sold (from April 29 — May 31, 2012), Disney Store will donate $1 (up to $15,000) to Make-A-Wish America. To support Make-A-Wish locally, Disney Store will donate $250 to each chapter in the U.S. and Canada, for a total of $17,500, to assist with local wishes throughout the year.
We admire the outstanding work of Make-A-Wish and are proud to celebrate with two wish kids at the grand opening celebration at our very first store in Glendale, CA. Disney Store’s mission is to create magical experiences for families every day and we are honored to be a destination where Make-A-Wish children and families can enjoy special time together.
Jim Fielding, president of Disney Store and Make-A-Wish International board member
The Make-A-Wish children will “unlock imagination” with a beautiful oversized lock and key and officially open the Disney Store at 11 a.m. on April 29. Disney Store’s signature opening ceremony will take place every day thereafter and one lucky child will be invited to participate.
Disney Store’s new design aims to deliver “the best 30 minutes of a child’s day” through immersive experiences, including a Disney Princess castle with a magic mirror, translucent magical trees, Disney·Pixar CARS neighborhood, and the Disney Store Theatre, featuring the latest in Disney entertainment. As guests look above in the store, they will see a unique skyline with iconic Disney storytelling scenes. The interactive design features magical experiences for Disney fans of all ages to enjoy. Since launching its new design in 2010, Disney Store has been transforming its stores into awe-inspiring retail destinations to the delight of guests around the world.
To find a Disney Store location, guests can visit www.DisneyStore.com/storelocator or call (866) 902-2798. Guests can also sign up for email alerts at www.DisneyStore.com/Updates, become a fan on www.facebook.com/DisneyStore or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/DisneyStore to stay connected to your favorite destination.


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Supply chains across the globe have been buckling under the strain of economic slowdown. Microsoft’s new supply chain platform aims to ease supply crisis by bringing together data and AI
Supply chains across the globe have been buckling under the strain of economic slowdown. For nearly three years, the global economy has been witnessing a downward trend due to a multitude of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
There have been disruptions on the logistics front, delays in production, over reliance on third parties, and so on. All this combined has exposed the weaknesses of today’s global supply chains.
We witnessed how the shortage of microprocessors and semiconductors disrupted the automotive industry. Today, concerns have been raised about everything, from lithium supply for electric vehicle batteries to restaurant food supplies.
According to McKinsey, global supply chains are faced with three critical challenges: labor shortages, equipment availability and the ripple effect of the global bottlenecks. The supply chain concerns are of a steeper magnitude and uncertain duration.
Reimagining supply chain
Microsoft recently announced its supply chain platform to help drive efficiency and agility for enterprise users.
The platform will help organizations maximize their existing supply chain investments with an open approach, bringing together Microsoft’s AI, collaboration, low code, security, and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications to a composable platform.
Following the launch, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella posted on LinkedIn: “It’s time to transform supply chain operations. That’s why we’re bringing together data, AI, and collaboration – to tackle customers’ most urgent supply chain issues.”
According to a Microsoft blog post, consumer packaged goods company Kraft-Heinz, Daimler Trucks North America and fitness firm iFit are already using the tech as part of the preview period.
“We have hundreds of thousands of parts that we are sourcing from suppliers globally. Our customers, dealers and partners expect excellence in all we do, which also means looking closely at all aspects of our supply chain. The Microsoft Supply Chain Platform and Supply Chain Center will enable us to make processes more efficient end-to-end,” said Lutz Beck, CIO, Daimler Truck North America.
The platform will also allow Microsoft partners to “bring their industry and domain expertise to create integrated solutions.”
Building sustainable supply chains
According to Microsoft, sustainable supply chains are one of the biggest opportunities for organizations to reduce their carbon footprint. However, it is one of the most challenging areas to address because decision makers lack the data and insights to optimize the selection of suppliers, routes, fulfilment and products.
“Supply chain agility is critical to persevere in today’s economic climate. This means understanding and taking real-time actions based on supply chain data, securely and with sustainable business practices. We’re excited to deliver on this first step in our commitment to reimagine the supply chain with our customers and partners,” wrote Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications & Platform, Microsoft.


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Semtech Corp. said Wednesday its fiscal 2011 second-quarter earnings increased as the semiconductor maker's revenue jumped by more than 70 percent.
The company said net income rose to $19.7 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with net income of $7.4 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings amounted to 42 cents a share, the company said.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast a profit of 39 cents a share. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Revenue rose to $113.2 million, ahead of the $110.8 million anticipated by Wall Street.
Management said it continued to see robust demand in its communications, consumer and industrial end markets during the quarter.
The company expects net sales in its fiscal third quarter will be up between 6 percent and 10 percent from the second quarter. It projects to earn between 33 and 35 cents a share.
Semtech shares added 72 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $17.63 in aftermarket trading after rising 6 cents to $16.91 during the regular session.


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Kotaku reports that Apple is planning to release an iPad mini with a smaller 7.85-inch screen. The new iPad is reported to be a counter attack by Apple against upcoming tablets that will be running the new Windows 8 operating system.
The new device is said to be priced competitively and will cost between $249-$299. If the rumors turn out to be true, are you interested in a mini iPad?
NetEase, has a story on a rumored new mini Apple tablet.
NetEase claimed that the device will be released around the third quarter of this year to “counter attack” the upcoming Windows tablets. The report further claims that the devices will cost anywhere from US$249 to $299 and that there will be an initial 6 million units ready for launch.


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By Michael Wentzel
Gannett News Service
TORREY, N.Y. - For many people, a vineyard evokes a romantic dream of natural beauty and pleasurable work that yields a sophisticated and elegant product.
But a vineyard and small winery can be an expensive, labor-intensive and time-demanding business that must consider the risks of weather, pests, plant diseases and consumer tastes.
The startup cost for a new small winery in the Finger Lakes, N.Y., region easily can reach $3 million in the first four years and create substantial debt. Income grows slowly and a vineyard and winery require working seven days a week, every week of the year.
"A risk analysis of owning a winery wouldn't even come near reality," says John Martini, who started growing grapes on Seneca Lake 30 years ago. "Even the most pessimistic predictions are too optimistic."
But Martini, owner of the Anthony Road Wine Co. here, would not choose another life.
"The ability to plant a vine and see it end up in a bottle and see people enjoy it is very important," he says. "There might not be financial rewards, but there are psychological rewards."
Because individual wineries routinely go through an extended growth phase, profits rarely become cash in owners' pockets, says Jeff Franklin, senior vice president of the National Bank of Geneva, which has supported many Finger Lakes wineries with loans.
"Any and all cash gets plowed back into the asset," he says. "Like many businesses, wineries have to stabilize growth to get into profitability. Equity growth and long-term returns are what puts cash in the pocket."
Martini and his wife, Ann, bought 100 acres of farmland on Seneca Lake in 1973 to grow grapes and raise a family. They taught themselves the business while living in a trailer.
"Friends said start a vineyard and we did," John Martini says. "It wasn't because we were smart. We didn't know any better."
The Martinis initially sold their grapes to the Taylor Wine Co., and then to wineries across the state. In the late 1980s, they decided to go into the winemaking business, establishing Anthony Road, and introduced their first bottle of wine in 1990.
"We needed another market for our grapes," says Ann Martini.
Like many wineries, they hold weekend festivals and serve special foods to attract new consumers. John Martini drives to New York City every weekend to sell his wine at a Union Square market.
Still, the Martinis have monthly debt payments ranging from $15,000 to $17,000.
"We pay our bills. I sleep at night," John Martini says. "But I've signed away everything but my children."
Morten and Lisa Hallgren have taken a different approach with their new business, Ravines Wine Cellars, by keeping costs and debt low.
"We're starting out with the basics needed to make wine of high quality," says Morten Hallgren, 40, chief winemaker at Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars.
The Hallgrens borrowed less than $200,000 to launch the business. They sometimes swap wine or services for the use of equipment. They are buying handpicked Finger Lakes grapes for their first wines while they plant vines on their 17 acres.
The plan is showing early success. The Hallgrens won the award for the best dry Riesling at the World Riesling Championships at the Corning Museum of Glass in May.
At New Land Vineyard, Dale Nagy does most of the work himself. Sales have improved in each of the two years since he bought the vineyard but need to increase more, he says.
"I have to expand to grow or I'll stay in debt," Nagy says. "I believe in the quality of my wines."
The most important and most profitable point of sale for the small wineries is the tasting room. "If I can get people here for tasting, the wine will hook them." says Nagy. "I'm not looking to be rich. My plan is that this will be my living. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner."
CFO in spotlight, off hot seat
LaSalle bets on rebound
Look Who's Talking: MARVIN LEWIS
Queen City rewind
Ex-CEO's mansion imperiled
Shutting down a business is tricky
Lessons from a pioneer
Buying wine here is a social occasion
Vineyard owners develop taste for business despite hardships
Tristate business notes


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Blog: UK cheese makers feel the heat
Michelle Russell | 27 July 2011
Over 3,000 cheeses from around 25 countries, under a 70,000 sq ft marquee and in blazing heat. It might not sound like an ideal way to spend a Tuesday but for the UK cheese sector yesterday (26 July) was the start of a key event in the industry calendar.
Around 40,000 visitors made the trip to Nantwich in Cheshire for the largest two-day agricultural show in the UK and the International Cheese Awards. The great and the good of the cheese industry gathered for the event, which saw the likes of Arla Foods, Dairy Crest, First Milk, Wyke Farms, Asda and Tesco display their wares for the trade to sample.
And, of course, just-food was in attendance and, among other executives, managed to catch some time with Wyke Farms managing director Richard Clothier, First Milk's commercial director Richard Hollingdale and Dairy Crest customer marketing manager Adam Mehegan.
All spoke of the tough economic pressures the industry is facing but, amid the challenges, emphasised the importance of continued investment and innovation. And all three pointed to three key trends that manufacturers are focusing on - health, packaging and flavour.
Clothier told just-food that, as consumers "migrate up the flavour profiles of cheese", it is important that Wyke adjusts its innovation to suit.
"Consumers are looking for stronger and stronger cheeses, particularly ones that articulate more and more provenance, so we've been trying to innovate the packaging to articulate that better to the consumer," Clothier said.
He added that, along with flavour, key issues include adding healthier products to the company's portfolio and developing improved "packaging functionality" in the form of zip-tight packs and shelf-ready packs.
Mehegan told just-food that it is important for manufacturers to offer something unique to the consumer.
"As a business we are always trying to identify where the growth is going to come from. People are very emotive about cheese and if a brand offers a point of difference then they will buy it," he said.
"Lighter variants have now launched and the headroom there for growth is considerable. Health remains a massive focus for us going forward," he added.
And so as the show came to a close for the trade visitors yesterday, the industry prepared itself for today's consumer event, which for the manufacturers is seen a key day for receiving important feedback from the people who of course will buy and eat their products.
To follow on from our earlier notice and after some hard work from our technical team, just-food is back live after today's power outage....
Much of the UK has felt the impact of Storm Doris today - and just-food's head office has been no exception....
A year after union officials alleged Fyffes abused workers on plantations in Central America - and called on the produce giant to be kicked out of the Ethical Trading Initiative forum - the company is...
Much of the chatter about where 3G Capital could look next has centred on packaged food - but might the private-equity fund be about to extend its foodservice empire?...
- US food next wave on display at Winter Fancy Food
- Does Kraft Heinz want to swallow Unilever whole?
- Focus: Nestle CEO plan to balance sales, earnings
- Comment: Meal kits in US - don't believe the hype
- Wessanen eyes growth in "resurgent" organic market
- Unilever launches operational review
- Kraft Heinz pulls Unilever bid
- General Mills issues profit warning
- Kerry operating earnings strengthen on slow sales
- Glanbia focuses on nutrition with Irish dairy spin


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Although the few looks that still follow the route of the Taiwanese firm HTC are placed in the presentation of…
Although the few looks that still follow the route of the Taiwanese firm HTC are placed in the presentation of thenext Wednesday May 23, the company itself has decided to detract from a certain role that is called to be its next star phone, through the announcement of a new terminal that will arrive later this year.
His name is HTC Exodus , and the main peculiarity is that it’s about The company’s first phone based on blockchain technology . This, among many other things, means that it will be an ideal device for users to use it as a physical portfolio for their cryptocurrencies, as well as being compatible with decentralized applications.
The manager of the division that will bring the world to HTC Exodus is Phil Chen, founder of HTC Vive division of virtual reality. In the announcement of the terminal, of whichChen stated the following:
“Through Exodus, we are excited to support underlying protocols such as Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity and more. We would like to support the entire blockchain ecosystem, and in the coming months we will announce many more exciting alliances. ”
HTC, in addition, wants to go further, and plans to accept cryptocurrencies as a valid payment method when acquiring the Exodus . However, the price has not been specified at the moment, nor have its specifications been. The only thing we know today about its technical section, is that Android will be the operating system responsible for giving it life.
On the other hand, the firm intends to create your own blockchain network, with all Exodus devices operating as nodes, with the objective of facilitating operations with cryptocurrencies.
“We visualize a phone where you have your own keys, you have your own identity and data, and your phone is the core.”
It is worth emphasizing that HTC Exodus will not be the first smartphone in the world based on blockchain technology . This title belongs, a terminal launched in September last year by the Russian company Sirin, which should see the light at the end of 2018 at a price close to $ 1,000.
Although, on paper, smartphones based on blockchain should offer greater security to users who own cryptocurrencies, thanks to the inclusion of what in the field of this type of technology is called cold wallet , in addition to greater ease when making exchanges without having to pay mining fees, manufacturers have not yet shown evidence to justify the usefulness of this type of terminals with respect to a conventional smartphone and specific software. I am afraid that we will have to wait until the first devices equipped with this technology see the light to see if, indeed, they are worth it.


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The rise of the chinese middle class driving chinese a shares skyward
Western stores should bear in mind of the new market opening due to enhancing success amongst the Chinese population. With that comes boosted affordability for deluxe products production, automobile makers, as well as cosmetics business. Furthermore,” hypermarkets”, such as Carrefours, see much success in metropolitan China. In Shanghai, for example, regarding 63 percent of the whole retail profession is done at modern hypermarkets. China’s house enhancement market is the fastest expanding in the world -increasing at 12% a year. There is much competition for slots in top colleges and also this results in “pressure-spending” to buy an excellent education and learning. A research by ACNielsen cites that, in regards to credit lines,” only 2 percent of Chinese cardholders regularly roll over their bills, in contrast to paying in full monthly. ” Similarly, as the center class expands, automobile sales in China are skyrocketing. than what is butted in New york city. they start to purchase’ cost effective’ high-ends, like skin creams and also cosmetics. “Regarding two fifths of Chinese individuals will be in the middle courses in ten years time, according to Andy Xie, Principal Economic Expert for Asia-Pacific at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and also professional on Chinese A share firms. China’s impending access to the Globe Trade Organization and the organizing of the 2008 Olympics will certainly be anchors for stability and also reform this years.


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With any luck, Sunday will be the day that football officially comes home, and on that day the city will be a sea of St George Cross flags.
Today, however, Coal Drops Yard reveals a flag extravaganza of a more colourful kind, with the unveiling of the second in its flag installation series, this time created in partnership with London’s conscious fashion poster girl Bethany Williams.
The installation is an extension of the ‘All Our Stories’ fashion collection the sustainable designer and humanitarian released at London Fashion Week in June, which took inspiration from a series of storytelling workshops that Williams ran with the families of the Magpie Project, a charity that supports women and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Williams teamed up with illustrator and artist Melissa Kitty Jarram to transform these stories into a series of illustrations, which in turn have now been transposed into flags.
To make the flags, Williams worked with the London College of Fashion’s Making for Change, a fashion training and manufacturing programme established at HMP Downview in 2014 and now also based at Poplar Works that focuses on giving those who have finished their sentence a soft landing back into community and paid employment. “They said they really enjoyed making the project,” said Williams. “As the designs were simpler to make than clothes, they were more involved.”
Creating art not clothes is something that Williams, who graduated with a BA in Critical Fine Art Practice from Brighton University before completing an MA at The London College of Fashion in Menswear, has wanted to explore for some time, and the Coal Drops Yard project had instant appeal. “It’s really important to me that it’s accessible and free to all,” said the designer.
The flags themselves are made from an earth-friendly mix of organic cotton and hemp, and when the installation is taken down on September 5, the flags will be cut up and re-purposed into a limited edition, unisex fashion collection, including shirts and matching shorts, tote bags, masks and accessories that will be sold in Kiosk N1C in Coal Drops Yard and Browns Fashion. A proportion of profits, as ever, will go back to the Magpie Project and Making for Change.
“It’s been such a turbulent and hard year for everybody. I think it’s nice to have this release,” said Williams. “Hopefully it’s quite hopeful and uplifting.”


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Watchdogs are set to announce energy price caps for some of Britain’s poorest households today.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will confirm plans to control how much prepayment meter customers pay.
A probe will recommend a clampdown on suppliers that charge over-the-odds, along with efforts to boost competition.
Around four million customers have prepayment gas and electricity meters fitted in their homes.
Yet despite including many elderly people, and hard-up families, they pay among the highest prices.
Figures provided to The Mirror by Citizens Advice show the gap between the average prepayment meter tariff and the cheapest deal on the market has grown to £235 a year.
There are also stark differences between suppliers, the research found.
For example, Ecotricity does not charge prepayment meter customers any more than its cheapest deal.
The gap between the two for British Gas is £57.84 a year.
Extra cost a year to meter users
Yet Co-operative Energy ’s cheapest prepayment meter tariff, at £1,180 a year for gas and electricity, is £405 more than its cheapest dual fuel online deal for someone paying by direct debit.
Prepayment meters customers with npower pay £431 a year more than those able to get the best deal.
But the biggest gap is small supplier Extra Energy , where the cheapest deal is £769 a year yet charges prepayment meter customers £1,202 on average - £431 a year more.
Extra Energy said it was obliged to offer a prepayment meter tariff but that it had a handful of such customers.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Prepay energy customers pay a high price for a second rate service.
“Our new figures show PPM energy customers have to fork out on average £235 more a year than direct debt customers.
“A new safeguard tariff to protect PPM customers would be welcome news.”
Co-operative Energy said it “intends to work towards eliminating the differential between pre-pay and standard variable rate tariffs” as it rolls out smart meters, which reduce the cost of servicing customers.


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Online shopping is on the rise — among children, preteensBy ABHA BHATTARAI
The Washington Post
August 12. 2018 6:50PM
Nine-year-old Isabella Colello shops for just about everything online.
She scrolls through the Amazon app on her phone at least once a day. She gets ideas from YouTube, searches on Google for things she wants and sends the links to her dad: Pink swimsuits, earrings, Adidas sneakers (he said yes); Gucci backpack (no).
“It’s like, I’ll put 18 items in my cart, and we’ll end up getting like one or two,” said Isabella, who lives in Sharpsville, Pa., and spends about $100 a month online. “It’s so much better than going to the mall because there aren’t that many places to shop anymore.”
Children and preteens are more connected to the internet than ever before, which means retailers are looking for new ways to market — and sell — directly to young shoppers on their phones, tablets and laptops. Gone are the days of blanket television ads, marketing experts say. Instead, companies are flocking to Snapchat, YouTube Kids and other mobile apps to reach children with personalized messages.
Nearly half of 10- to 12-year-olds have their own smartphones, according to Nielsen. By the time they’re teenagers, 95 percent of Americans have access to a smartphone.
“Kids are shopping on their phones and influencing much more of their families’ spending,” said Katherine Cullen, director of retail and consumer insights for the National Retail Federation. “As a result, retailers are paying a lot more attention to pint-sized customers.”
Back-to-school season is peak time for direct-to-kids marketing. Brands such as Five Star, which makes binders and folders, and Red Bull, the energy drink maker, have released new back-to-school “filters” on Snapchat, while clothing chain Justice is advertising in-store fashion shows on its app. Families are expected to spend an average of $685 per household on clothing, shoes and other items for school-age children in the coming weeks, according to the National Retail Federation.
But advocacy groups say marketing to children directly on their smartphones — where companies can collect data on users and tailor ads to specific consumers — also raises a number of concerns, not just about privacy but also about the kind of influence those ads may have on young children.
“As adults, we might think it’s a little weird or creepy if we’re getting targeted ads that follow us from site to site,” said Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. “Kids, though, are especially vulnerable because they have no understanding of what those ads are or why they’re seeing them.”
Nearly 1.5 million children age 11 and under have active Snapchat accounts, according to data from eMarketer, which expects continued double-digit growth in coming years. (Snapchat requires that users be at least 13.)
The social media platform — which is particularly popular among teenagers and 20-somethings — has emerged as a holy grail for retailers in search of young consumers. That is especially true, the company says, during back-to-school seasons, where last year users spent an extra 130 million hours using the platform to chat with friends and connect with popular brands like Vans, Hollister and Michael Kors.
“Kids have their own screens and are choosing exactly what they want to watch at younger ages,” said Nick Cicero, chief executive of Delmondo, a New York firm that helps brands such as Red Bull and MTV market themselves on Snapchat and other social media platforms.”
Justice, the clothing brand, is popular among the under-13 crowd and pitches its mobile app to parents as “a safe place where your girl can create, engage and have fun with awesome girls just like herself.” Once in the app, shoppers can save items to a wish list that they’re encouraged to email to their parents.
Amazon.com, meanwhile, allows children as young as 13 to create their own logins for online purchases. (Parents can either set spending limits or ask to approve all purchases.) The company declined to say how many teenagers had signed up for teen accounts since they were introduced late last year but said “customer response has been strong.” (Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, also owns The Washington Post.)
It’s been over a year, Kristin Harris says, since her kids watched TV.
Instead, her 6- and 10-year-old daughters spend hours a week watching videos on YouTube, where companies such as Nike and Nintendo routinely partner with “influencers” to get their toys, clothing and accessories featured in videos.
“The videos that really get their attention are the ones where kids are playing with toys like Breyer Horses or Hatchimals — those really get them interested,” said Harris. “As an adult, you’re like, ‘Why are you watching this?’ But the next thing you know, they’re asking for Hatchimals because they saw them in a video.”


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Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZ) reported net sales increased 43% to $51.0 billion in the first quarter, compared with $35.7 billion in first quarter 2017. Excluding the $1.6 billion favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 39 percent compared with first quarter 2017.
Operating income increased 92 percent to $1.9 billion in the first quarter, compared with operating income of $1.0 billion in first quarter 2017. Net income more than doubled to $1.6 billion in the first quarter, compared with net income of $724 million in first quarter 2017.
Operating cash flow increased 4 percent to $18.2 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $17.5 billion for the trailing twelve months ended Mar. 31, 2017. Free cash flow decreased to $7.3 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $10.1 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2017.
Amazon’s quarterly sales got a large boost from Whole Foods, which it acquired last year and accounts for most of its physical stores revenues, with $4.3 billion in physical stores first-quarter revenue. Sales in its largest segment – online stores – were up 18 percent in the quarter year over year to $26.9 billion.
Quarter Highlights for Business
Amazon Global Selling allows small and medium-sized businesses to more easily connect with international customers. In 2017, global sellers’ sales grew by more than 50% worldwide, representing more than 25% of total third-party seller sales on Amazon.
Amazon launched Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in Australia, offering small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon.com.au the ability to leverage the Amazon fulfillment network to better scale and reach more customers.
In Europe, Amazon launched additional locations for public fulfillment center tours in Spain, Italy, and the U.K., joining over 25 other sites across North America and Europe.


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Gardening titles saw circulations rise across the board for the first half of 2020 as lockdown Britain sought inspiration and horticultural solutions.
BBC Gardeners’ World, published by Immediate Media, saw a combined period-on-period rise in digital subscriptions and print circulation of over 30% to 221,422.
The title’s digital circulation leapt 164% to 14,845 from January to June 2020, while print numbers rose by 25.44% to 206,577.
Other titles that benefited from the UK population spending more time in their gardens included Bauer Media’s Garden News and Garden Answers. The latter saw a 17.47% rise in print circulation to 50,888, while Garden News recorded a print circulation of 37,776 – a 12.68% period-on-period rise.
And while leisure titles in the cookery category saw their print circulations fall as lockdown prevented consumers from leaving their homes, their digital counterparts recorded notable growth.
Olive, published by Immediate Media, saw a 229.81% leap in digital subscribers compensate for a -15.63% fall in print numbers, resulting in a combined print and digital offering of 34,114 – a 16.16% rise period-on-period.
BBC Easy Cook, another Immediate Media title, grew its digital subscriptions 103.67% period-on-period, although a -25.91% drop in print circulation saw the magazine brand’s total circulation down -10.08% overall to 24,258.
Likewise, BBC Good Food saw its digital subscriptions jump 96.29% over the half year, despite a -12.86% drop in circulation overall.


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LigoWave has released updates to the Infinity Cloud Controller and the Standalone Controller
LigoWave has released v7.66-1 service release for DLB v7.66 firwmare.
LigoWave is launching new subcriber unit under the DLB Series—LigoVision 5-15ac Dual—for all your outdoor CCTV scenanarios
LigoWave has released new v7.65 firmware for the LigoWave NFT series.
LigoWave has released firmware v7.66 for the LigoDLB and LigoDLBac series.
As most of people are in Quarantine or locked down, we are offering Infinity Wireless Networking course for free until the end of April.


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Last night, this 30-second advertisement ran to encourage folks to sign up in the "Health Insurance Marketplace," otherwise known as Obamacare:
"Now, for the first time, you can be covered -- with a quality health plan from the new health insurance marketplace, part of the health care law," says the male announcer.
"It's where brand name companies offer plans you can compare side by side. And it's the place to get lower monthly payments. ... So if you have an accident, get sick, or just need a check-up. Enroll now at the Health Insurance Marketplace at healthcare.gov."
This ad ran on ESPN.
Given the channel and given the nature of the ad, it seems pretty clear the ad was meant specifically to encourage young folks to sign up. Which would make sense, since the Obamacare marketplace needs a fair number of young (that is, healthy) people to balance the risk.
The ad is presumably sponsored by you, the taxpayer, via the Health and Human Services Department.


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In true Hollywood form, several new amenities have opened during the past year at Los Angeles International Airport designed to keep business travelers entertained -- as well as connected.
The Gate Escape, for example, is a full-service cyberport in Terminal 8 that lets passengers access a high-speed T1 Internet server from private cubicles with flat-screen monitors.
For $5 for the first 15 minutes, guests either check their e-mails and work on projects or they can opt to watch movies or television shows from a DirecTV satellite service or view free traveler information from the computers.
While there, faxes can also be sent and received, documents can be shipped or simply printed out, photocopies can be made and office supplies can be purchased. Two more Gate Escapes have recently been added at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminal 7.
Airport officials said more than half of LAX's annual 67 million passengers are comprised of business travelers, and finding new ways to accommodate them has been a priority, even as the city has begun debate on a $10 billion plan to modernize the aging airport.
The proposal, put forth by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn earlier this year, would entail a dramatic reworking of the airport, including the demolition of four terminals and the removal of all cars in the central terminal area.
"We know we're an older airport and we're lacking in the square footage that others have to do more for business travelers," said Paul Haney, an airport spokesman. "But we still have some pretty neat stuff going on. And our concession revenues show what we're doing is really working."
After Sept. 11, airlines, concessionaires and other tenants at LAX reduced their staffs by 10,000 workers. Since then, however, food, beverage and retail revenue has increased every month; as of May total concession revenue topped $20 million -- off just 1.5 percent, from the year's prior figure, officials said.
There's a variety of eateries and shops, including three Sunglass Hut locations where passengers can get into the L.A. spirit with $200 Oakley sunglasses.
The airport's business-related additions have helped boost sales. The Travel Right Cafe in American Airlines' terminal is an upscale cocktail lounge and deli with tableside dataport jacks and electrical outlets that allow passengers to use laptops or recharge cellular phones at no charge while they eat and drink.
The cafe, in Terminal 4, has 48 ports to accommodate up to 68 users, and offers sandwiches and salads from Boudin's Sourdough Bakery, chili, sushi and a full bar.
"It's our first concession at LAX that lets you eat, drink and stay connected," said Ramon Olivares, the airport's concession management director. "That's what L.A. is all about."


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NEW YORK — Nak Armstrong, who took home a Council of Fashion Designers of America award for innovation in accessory design in 2005, continues to live up to the accolade.
The designer will unveil a 40-piece collection at The Couture Show in Las Vegas next month, comprised of earrings, necklaces and bracelets that employ a technique designed to achieve a distinct mosaic motif. The line will retail from $650 to $5,500 and is crafted from 18-karat yellow gold, sterling silver and precious and semiprecious stones such as green and pink tourmalines, lapis, topaz, chalcedony, sapphires and raw diamonds.
Heavily inspired by mosaics and the fusing of Art Deco and Roman themes, Armstrong said a challenge was fashioning pieces that were “large with a lot of impact,” but also lightweight and competitively priced.
“I want to create something I hadn’t seen before. I wanted to fuse my inspirations together, and by doing that, make it a little bit more modern, lighter and feminine,” said Armstrong. “It’s our own version of mosaic — it’s how we translate mosaic from the literal sense to jewelry. It really delivers — you see more stones and less metal and have a much lighter piece.”
Armstrong conquered the technical challenges by developing a method that eliminates the need for a traditional bezel setting — and as a result, no metal covers the gemstones. This serves a dual purpose of reducing the amount of metal and framing the stones, which is what gives the pieces a mosaic effect. To achieve this, the designer uses a drill to make holes in the gemstones, which are then welded to sterling silver or 18-karat gold bars that surround the stone.
“I have to think about every design that I do and what the metal content is going to be. It used to be that the stone cost drove the price so you were trying to do less stones and more metal — and now it’s the opposite,” said Armstrong. “The more stones you can show, the bigger your pieces get — and for less money.”
The designer insists that his new offerings are entirely different than his previous jewelry endeavor, the almost-exclusively 18-karat gold and chain work-focused Anthony Nak collection, which he shuttered last year.
@tradesy is turning the concept of a showroom upside down with its new space in Santa Monica. Here, the company plans to hold events, art exhibits and a showcase rare fashion pieces like this Louis Vuitton boxing set. Get all the details on Tradesy’s first showroom on WWD.com. #wwdnews
Spotted last night at the @erdem x @hm launch event: Kate Bosworth, Rashida Jones, Kirsten Dunst and Selma Blair. The party, which took place in LA, also marked the opening of their pop-up shop. “I was interested in creating a collection that wasn’t in any way disposable. It was about pieces you’d create and keep forever, things that have a permanence to it,” designer Erdem Moralioglu said. #wwdeye (📷: Katie Jones)
Renee Zellweger in yellow in 2001 and again in 2017. Chosen as one of the 12 @pantone Leading Spring Colors (and dubbed “Meadowlark”), it only makes sense that the bright hue stands the test of time and is making a resurgence this season, seen already on stars like @blakelively and @gigihadid. (📷: Donato Sardello & @rexfeatures) #wwdfashion #tbt
Dior’s 70th anniversary celebration continues with a new exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. “Christian Dior,” which is scheduled to run through March 18, takes a look at the founders tenure from 1947 to 1057 and feature 40 designs. Pictured here is an evening gown from the Ailée, fall 1948-49 haute couture collection. #wwdfashion (📷: Brian Boyle)
As one of the most recognizable models in the world, Christy Turlington Burns has an insider’s view of the fashion industry and the allegations of sexual harassment swirling around it. “I can say that harassment and mistreatment have always been widely known and tolerated in the industry. The industry is surrounded by predators who thrive on the constant rejection and loneliness so many of us have experiences at some point in our careers,” Turlington told WWD, along with her suggestions for how the modeling world should protect younger women and men. Read more on WWD.com. Link in bio. (📷: Tony Palmieri) #wwdnews
@asics America has tapped a new brand ambassador: famed DJ/record producer @steveaoki. This initiative is intended to set the tone for the new brand identity and philosophy and will include partnerships with influencers and in-store and off-line activations that will continue into next year. This is Asics’ most significant marketing effort in two decades, and is expected to attract younger consumers to the brand. #wwdfashion
24-year-old Jean Prounis is redefining the rules of jewelry. Formerly a studio assistant to Jemima Kirke and a design apprentice at Ghuran, she focuses on handcrafted subtleties and ancient goldsmithing techniques. “There was a really sterile feel in the environment and I wanted to have jewelry with character that shapes how you wear it everyday,” Prounis said. Each piece is hand made in New York, either by Prounis or three other jewelers in the district. #wwdfashion
“These collections continue to build on that vision, empowering differently abled adults to express themselves through fashion,” said @tommyhilfiger of his line of adaptive apparel, which launches today. The line consists of 37 men’s and 34 women’s styles based upon the pieces from the spring Tommy Hilfiger sportswear collection. #wwdnews


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SweeTango apples has given its website a facelift to provide consumers with more information, including recipes, food and wine pairings, and where fruit may be purchased.
As the season progresses, it will be updated to include sampling opportunities and media clips, according to a news release.
The website, which also features profiles of SweeTango apple growers and a video history of the variety, is part of the larger Sweet Spot of Apple Season national marketing campaign unveiled in June.
That campaign combines traditional retail promotions with interactive digital offerings.
Retailers will be able to use the site to access variety images, logos and in-store signage, among other items.
SweeTango, the brand name for a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar varieties, is grown and marketed by the Next Big Thing, a Lake City, Minn.-based growers cooperative. The variety was developed by the University of Minnesota as MN1914.


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INEWSBC | The women’s action for developing ward has launched the #MyPeriodIsAwesome project under the #TaxFreePeriodNam initiative to create accessibility of sanitary pads for women and girls.
The project was launched after a study conducted showing that 17% of girls receive or have access to sanitary pads in Namibia.
The #TaxFreePeriodNam was created to make sanitary pads cheaper as they are costly with a 15% tax reduction, and to make enable women and girls to buy sanitary pads tax-free.
The project has visited various schools in Windhoek to create awareness on this initiative, education on the menstrual cycle and sexual production.
This project is aimed at exempting VAT from sanitary products, and also hopes in ending period shame.


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Missing Gen II Starters From Two Km Eggs Found In New Pokemon GO Plus Trailer
Gen II starters Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Totodile have not been reported to hatch from any egg in Pokemon GO so far but this new trailer might have leaked that an upcoming egg hatching update will finally solve the mystery of the missing Gen II starter eggs.
If you missed the latest Pokemon GO Plus trailer, we haven’t. News of Pokemon GO‘s latest Water Festival event has drowned the internet with news of shiny Magikarp and shiny Gyrados last week, taking the spotlight away from the new Pokemon GO Plus trailer that was actually also released last week over at The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel.
This is why not a lot of people could have seen that tiny slip that Niantic might have given us regarding the issue of the missing Gen II starters in two km eggs.
Egg hatching has become a major feature in the game and ever since Gen II Pokemon was officially released in Pokemon GO,Pokemon trainers have started scavenging the wild for rare egg hatches. In fact, Pokemon GO Hub has already compiled a list of all Pokemon species that could be hatched from two km, five km, and 10 km eggs, based on real time info submitted by Pokemon GO players around the world.
Who’s your favorite Gen 1 starter?#Pokemon #PokemonGO #Pikachu #Red #Blue #Yellow #Genshiken #UCON2016 #kawaii pic.twitter.com/zNp495kP9G
— Genshiken UCON (@Genshiken_UCON) August 23, 2016
Gen I starters Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur have already been filed as Uncommon hatches in two km eggs on Pokemon GO. But ever since the Gen II Pokemon were released, Pokemon trainers at the Silph Road subreddit have been wondering why no one has yet to hatch a Gen II starter from a two km egg, contrary to what Pokemon trainers were expecting.
Despite the alarming lack of Gen II starter Pokemon Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Totodile in two km eggs since the issue broke last month, however, we’ve heard nothing from Niantic as to whether the Gen II starter eggs are just delayed, or if these eggs weren’t actually released just yet.
But it looks like Daily Star found the missing Gen II starters in Niantic’s newest Pokemon GO Plus trailer.
As Pokemon GOHub points out, if you look closely starting at the 1:04 mark in the Pokemon GO Plus trailer video above, you’ll notice the following egg hatches:
- Lapras (10KM, already known)
- Larvitar (10KM, already known)
- Aerodactyl (10KM, already known)
- Eevee (5KM, already known)
- Chikorita (2KM, new)
- Cyndaquil (2KM, new)
- Totodile (2KM, new)
As of now, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile could only be acquired in Pokemon GO by capturing them in the wild. No proof has yet to surface that a Pokemon trainer has hatched one of these Gen II starter Pokemon from an egg in the game. From what it looks like, Niantic will only be adding these Gen II starter eggs in an upcoming update, whether to replace the current Gen I starter two km eggs, or add them onto the roster.
Speculations about these Gen II starter Pokemon eggs say that they will be rolled out in an Easter event but Niantic has not given any hint as to whether an Easter event will indeed be held. But Niantic being Niantic, we know that they’ll be keeping their mouths shut about any update or event prior to the actual release date so we just have to stick around and wait for these Gen II starter Pokemon to finally make it to the two km eggs.
In the meantime, you can try your luck with the new shiny Pokemon up for grabs in Pokemon GO’s current Water Festival event.
@MYSTIC7 caught this shiny Magikarp, and now all my friends are really jealous! Halfway to a Gyrados now! Love this event???? pic.twitter.com/mBQZPf1SJo
— Ollie Eamens (@oli22111) March 24, 2017
[Featured Image by The Pokemon Company]


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The European Parliament broke new ground on Friday (19 May), when French Green MEP Pascal Durand submitted an own initiative report aimed at tackling products with an artificially built-in shelf life, with MEPs due to vote soon. EURACTIV’s partner Journal de l’Environnement reports.
“Unlike France, which chose the repressive route [by outlawing programmed obsolescence, ed.], we preferred a more consensual approach to ensure a large majority in the Parliament,” Durand said at a press conference in Paris on Friday.
Improving useful lifetime
The aim of the report is to lengthen the useful lifetime of products sold in the EU, enable and encourage repairs rather than replacement, provide better consumer information, end programmed obsolescence, tackle software obsolescence and strengthen the legal right to product guarantees through EU harmonisation.
“At a time when European industry is dying, resources are becoming rarer and more expensive and consumers are more sensitive to the lifetime of the products they buy, now is the time for Brussels to bring in legislation against programmed obsolescence,” Durand said.
Sector by sector
But big questions remain over how this can be done. “We have to prepare for sector-by-sector negotiations and find an agreement at the highest possible level, like with the eco-design directive,” the Green MEP said.
In fact, this report takes a certain amount of distance from the Circular Economy negotiations, precisely to allow for an approach that covers all products on the market. “The internal market committee has one major asset. Its regulations cover all sectors, unlike those adopted by the environment committee,” he added.
Commission has the last word
Negotiations are on track for the report to be adopted by the committee on 30 May. If this goes according to plan, the report will be put before the Parliament plenary on 3 July.
But it is the European Commission that will have the last word on whether or not the EU needs a directive on programmed obsolescence.


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Thursday, December 16, 2010
Chevrolet Volt hybrid cars (finally) on the way from Detroit to dealers
In frigid weather conditions, 350 ice-covered Chevrolet Volts hit the roads aboard transporter trucks headed from General Motors's Detroit assembly plant to car dealerships in California, New York, Texas and Washington, D.C. As such, GM just makes its self-imposed deadline of shipping the car, which features both a battery-powered electric drive unit and gas-powered engine, by the end of the year.
To further prime the public for the Volt's arrival (after nearly four years of hype and speculation), Chevy is auctioning off a Volt online. Despite the Volt's $41,000 ticket price, bidding has reached $185,000 with a few hours left—the auction closes at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. The auction's proceeds will be donated to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation (DPSF), which supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives in the city's public schools.
Chevrolet claims the front-wheel-drive, four-passenger Volt can travel up to about 56 km powered solely by its electric engine before the vehicle's gasoline-powered internal combustion engine kicks in to recharge the electric engine's lithium-ion battery. The Volt is designed to travel an estimated 610 km with a fully charged battery and full fuel tank.
at 10:48 AM


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The head to head rivalry between two tech giants OLA and UBER began not more than 6 years ago but both have had a significant impact on the markets.
The OLA way
OLA, an Indian based tech giant started its journey back in 2010. The Bangalore based firm rapidly expanded its business and reached the 1$ billion mark within no time. Ola cabs now serve their clients across major areas in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Although its first over seas array was to Australia, Ola cabs extended its journey to the UK and New Zealand by the end of 2018.
Although, OLA has the most number of app installs in INDIA, it does not seem to be at the top say the experts. This is just simply due to the wide availability of OLA cabs in INDIA. Ola serves 125 cities in India including bike rides, cabs and auto rickshaws which clearly sets up its standards high.
Uber with the cooler way
On the other side, UBER has not been quiet all time and the US based giant has rapidly been extending its markets in India. Although Uber has just arrived in 2013 in India, it has been a major competitor to Ola technologies which has been operating since 2010. Over the years, Uber’s sexual assault allegations against drivers has played a bit of a major set back in the industry. But, uber has coped up well with all of those and managed to get through.
Uber has rapidly managed to gain the driver’s confidence and making pathway for the most number of driver’s installs. This is a massive advantage for the US firm in India. On January 30, 2019 Uber launched Uber boats in Mumbai, expanding its routes to the other islands around. Uber boats have been generally operating from the Gate way of India jetty to Alibaugh and other islands around.
The Numbers war
Coming to the comparision of driver installs, the Uber’s driver app installs overtook Ola’s by a mile in 2018. Uber has picked up to a massive 65% increase by the end of Novemeber 2018 and Ola curves down to 30%. But the thing is they both are largely undifferentiated by their range of availability. “There is a very little to choose and the important side is from the supply side (both drivers and cars) than demand,” quoted Yugal Joshi, vice-president at Texas based advisory Everest Group.
While Ola has been rapid in its global expansions, Uber has been under the technological updates arena. “Our tech teams have grown upto 150% in 2018 and we are looking forward to a double increase in 2019,” said Uber engineering head Apurva Dalal. Coming to the net promoter score
for both the apps, they seem to be under one edge. The riders app NPS for OLA is 0.46 and its 0.54 for Uber. Whereas, the drivers app NPS is 0.72 for OLA and 0.64 for Uber. Both the NPS rating is out of 1 and both the giants lie on an even scale.
The subsidaries of Ola include Foodpanda whereas Uber has Uber Eats. On the long run both the tech giants will look to improve on the wide availability and modes of transport. The food delivery sector inclusion is a boost to both the giants but facing the regulatory hurdles is a back drop. This could push back their pathways due to the increasing vehicle pollution. India does not seem to have a wide use of these app services where public transport is widely available.
With six years into head to head rivalry in the Indian market, these tech giants would like to seek dominance in the 10$ billion market soon.


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You've probably seen it in your own neighborhood. Some restaurant or dry cleaner or hardware store closes because it can't make rent, and the space just sits there, empty, for months. Years, even. The pandemic boarded up so many storefronts across America that it turned what was already a Retail Apocalypse into something out of "The Walking Dead," fueling the "doom loop" that's ravaging even the mightiest cities. Urban dwellers fled and offices emptied out, which means walk-in traffic at street-level storefronts has taken a dive. Retail vacancy rates in major cities have soared by as much as 30% since the pandemic began — and in some "superstar urban cores," McKinsey & Company predicts, they could rise by another 26% this decade.
Still, as apocalypses go, this retail one is puzzling. If demand for storefronts is down, why don't landlords just lower the rent and get a tenant in there? That's supposed to be the magic of capitalism — its ability to auto-adjust to anything the world throws at it. But that's not what is happening with vacant shops. Even before the pandemic, one study found, street-level retail spaces in Manhattan were remaining vacant for an average of 16 months.
So if COVID isn't to blame for all the shuttered stores, what is? Well, when a landlord doesn't lower the rent to get a new retail tenant, it's because that landlord can't. The market that sets retail rents isn't only between tenants and landlords. It's also between landlords and the banks that finance the buildings. And the banks, in many cases, won't let property owners lower their rents enough to fill their properties. The pandemic may have emptied out America's storefronts, but it's banks that are keeping them that way.
The owners of America's retail spaces have always had a financial incentive to leave their storefronts empty. Unlike apartments, retail leases often last for years — which means landlords are looking for tenants who are a safe bet to stay put. "Because leases are long and eviction is costly, the value of waiting for a tenant with a high match quality for a particular space can be very high," a recent paper by two NYU economics doctoral students found. In other words, it makes sense for retail landlords to be ultraconservative and leave a space fallow until they find the "right" tenant.
But retail landlords also have to contend with the banks that hold their mortgage. If they built or redeveloped the building themselves, the financing may have been contingent on maintaining a certain level of rent. Which means the bank has veto power if the landlord needs to, say, lower the rent in the wake of a global pandemic. "If your financing assumed $50 a square foot, and you go in and lease the space for $25 a square foot, you're probably going to have to send the lease to the lender to approve," says David Greensfelder, a commercial real-estate consultant.
So if you're trying to lower the rent on your retail space, your bank may say no. And even if it says yes, it might demand you pay off a chunk of the mortgage up front, to account for the way you're lowering the building's value by lowering its rental income. In short, reducing the rent on your storefront might land you a tenant — but it could cost you big-time with your bank.
Of course, nothing is forcing banks to be all hard-assed about it. They're free to renegotiate or refinance the terms of mortgages, given the extraordinary downturn facing retail storefronts. In some cases, according to real-estate brokers I spoke with, banks have apparently decided not to stand in the way of landlords in San Francisco who are offering shorter-term leases and lowering retail rents anywhere from 20% to 50%. One popular restaurant space in the city's tech-heavy South of Market neighborhood that has been dark since 2020 is finally set to reopen this year as a bar and "entertainment concept" — but only because the landlord is offering the new tenant a below-market rate and improvements to the space.
But examples like that are exceptions to the rule. These days, after the housing crash of 2008, most lenders are actually less open to letting landlords adjust rents to match the prevailing market. "As the Fed is doing more and more stress tests on lenders, lenders are less and less willing to say: 'OK, we understand, we know what you're doing, vaya con Dios,'" Greensfelder says.
And if your financing comes through what's known as a CMBS — commercial mortgage-backed securities — you're going to need even more Dios to vaya with. CMBS lenders — the commercial equivalent of the giant cesspools of residential mortgages that crashed the global economy back in '08 — are far less likely than banks to modify the terms of individual loans. Before the pandemic, banks modified about 2% of their loans a quarter and CMBS lenders modified 0.1%. From 2020 to 2022, bank loan modifications got as high as 17%, but CMBS barely brushed up against 5%.
In other words, lots of landlords are sitting on space they can't rent, financed by deals they can't alter. And the future will be full of even higher vacancy rates, higher interest rates, and lower rents. What's a downtown property owner to do? "I can summarize it in two words," Greensfelder says. "They're fucked."
There is actually one scenario in which banks are willing to give retail landlords a break on their mortgages. Unfortunately, it's the kind of deal that makes cities worse overall. Banks often give better financing terms if a landlord can bring in what's called a credit tenant — a national brand like a Starbucks or a Target. That's because even if a big chain winds up shuttering a local store, the parent company is still around to pay the rent. "If a T-Mobile or a Verizon choose to close a store, the landlord knows they're good for it," says Larisa Ortiz, a managing director at Streetsense, an urban-planning consultancy.
You'd think everyone involved would be motivated to fill an empty storefront — landlords aren't making money, cities aren't getting taxes, and the neighborhood has an eyesore. But that eyesore may actually still be profitable to the landlord and the banks. "In SoHo, something vacant isn't necessarily vacant," says Ortiz. "Someone's paying rent there, and the landlord's perfectly fine with it. It's a vacancy to the pedestrian, but not to the landlord."
The favoritism shown to credit tenants means that over time, neighborhood streets lined with locally owned yoga studios and bike-repair shops gradually transition to streets full of Sephoras and Banana Republics. The message banks give to retail landlords is clear: Either go big, or go home. Lorenzo Perez, an architect and real-estate developer in Phoenix, says that storefront landlords wind up thinking, "Shit, I've got this expensive space, and I don't have the luxury or choice to go with cool, small operators, because my loan covenants or financing don't allow it."
Banks are also making things worse by financing developers to build even more retail space, despite all the empty storefronts blighting American cities. That's in part because many cities, aiming to create walkable neighborhoods, now require new apartment buildings to include space for retail on the ground floor. But those spaces will never rent, because the rent demands placed on them by the banks can't be met by the market. Rachel Meltzer, an urban planning and economics professor at Harvard, has been tracking retail and rental data in America's seven largest cities. Retail rents have flattened, she says, but the construction of retail space has not. "In LA and New York, they just kept building retail square footage," she says. No one's going to want it.
It's tempting to think, "Well, big financial institutions have to do whatever they can to make a decent return on their investment." I mean, banks are gonna bank, right? Lenders can't afford to let building owners offer long-term leases for most storefront tenants, because almost 70% of retail businesses fail within five years. "If you have a credit tenant with a 10-year lease, arguably the building is worth more because there's more stability," says Kazuko Morgan, an executive vice chair at the real-estate giant Cushman & Wakefield. "A local tenant, or a startup that wants to do a five-year lease — that's a much riskier proposition."
Still, from an urban-planning standpoint, the way we finance retail space makes no sense. Vibrant cities need healthy neighborhoods, and healthy neighborhoods need diversity on the street — front stoops, art galleries, bodegas, florists, snooty coffee places. Not just Targets and Citibanks.
To reverse the Retail Apocalypse, landlords and cities need to start thinking differently about what retail does for them. When the developers of Culdesac, a car-free residential community in Tempe, Arizona, wanted to add a retail component to the town, they tried something new. Instead of expecting restaurants and pet stores to make it on their own, as dog-eat-dog businesses, Culdesac's planners treated retail as an amenity — something essential to everyone's well-being. That creates the opposite of a doom loop: By offering lower rents to small, interesting retailers on the ground floor, landlords can attract residents willing to pay higher rents on the upper floors.
"They filled up all these cool, bookable micro-retail spaces with mom-and-pop operators," says Perez, who worked with Culdesac on its retail component. "They right-sized it, and they offered flexible lease terms."
A few cities are trying to make things easier for retailers. San Francisco has loosened up regulations downtown and instituted a controversial vacancy tax to incentivize landlords to fill their empty storefronts. But most cities aren't getting creative with their zoning codes. If we want to turn things around, local governments may have to step in with subsidies, or banks will need to give landlords more wiggle room.
"Something's got to give," says Meltzer, the Harvard urban planner. "Retail startups don't want to open where there's no one on the street. If left to the market, you just end up with these big vacant spaces." The Retail Apocalypse has been a nightmare. But just like in the movies, the postapocalypse could be even worse.
Adam Rogers is a senior correspondent at Insider.
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The Chinese daily reported last Friday (4 May) that beverage prices at several coffee shops have gone up as a result of the water price hike by the government. At one coffeeshop, the prices of coffee, tea and canned drinks have increased by $0.10 while the price of beer has climbed by $0.20.
This coffeeshop, the Kim San Leng coffee shop at Bishan Street 13, is one of several in a chain of coffeeshops owned by grassroots leader Hoon Thing Leong that have imposed the beverage price hike. Reporters who visited the coffeeshop found a handwritten note pasted at the cash register that read, “Drinks Coffee increase $0.10”.
When the publication contacted Mr Hoon, he confirmed that the coffeeshops in his chain imposed the drinks price hike from 1 May this year. He added: “We have not raised prices for 2 years. But in the last 1 year, our cost has increased by around 20%. So I think the price increase is reasonable.”
Mr Hoon – who sits on the boards of various associations, such as the Foochow Coffee Restaurant and Bar Merchants Association, besides serving as a grassroots leader – added that many coffeeshops increased their prices last July itself to cope with the hefty water price hike.
Mr Hoon, who was awarded the Public Service Medal by the Prime Minister when he served in the Environment Ministry in 1999, shared that his chain of coffeeshops is the last to raise their drinks prices.
The grassroots leader’s admission stands in stark contrast to the Government’s assurances that the water price hike should not affect beverage prices, after Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced last year that the price of water would increase by 30% to “reflect the higher costs of desalination and NEWater production.”
Speaking to reporters after Heng’s announcement, then-Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law Indranee Rajah assured that the water price hike would have “very minimal impact” on the price of coffee and tea. She emphasised that the cost of goods such as coffee and tea “should not and ought not” go up with the hefty water price hike, at a REACH post-Budget forum she chaired.
Indranee was promoted to full minister during the latest Cabinet reshuffle that went into effect this month. She now serves as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Education.
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