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Don’t Expect to See Kate Upton in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Any Time Soon
We learned that her uncle is Florida congressman Rep. Fred Upton. We learned she loves comfort food and snacks like french fries and ice cream. We learned Upton gained so much weight last summer, her friends staged an intervention to ensure she landed the SI Swimsuit cover. We learned Mark Sanchez cooks her dinner at his home. We learned she “doesn't know” if they're dating. We learned that America has a love-hate relationship with her. And, according to Gawker, we learned her bust size is 33DD. Details, people! We also learned there's not a snowball's chance in hell you'll see the Most Viral Girl on the Web in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show anytime soon.
This tidbit comes from Guy Trebay's fascinating profile of Upton's meteoric rise to fame over the past year. You should read it. It hits particularly close to home for us, since we fondly remember when the very first first pictorial of Upton started circulating. We'd like to think we helped thrust her into the spotlight back when she was unknown and no one online had any idea who she was, before her Beach Bunny pics and last year's SI Swimsuit Issue. In fact, there was so little known about Upton at the time that we saw someone speculating she was Australian and just ran with it.
The piece contains quite a few quotes about Upton from fashion world Illuminati, including her agent Ivan Bart praising the 19-year-old as “the Jayne Mansfield of the Internet.” But there's also this damning quote quote from Sophia Neophitou, the creative director of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show:
“We would never use” Ms. Upton for a Victoria’s Secret show, Ms. Neophitou said by telephone last week from London. And, while Ms. Upton has, in fact, modeled on occasion for the company’s catalog, her look, said Ms. Neophitou, is “too obvious” to be featured in what has become the most widely viewed runway show in the world.
“She’s like a Page 3 girl,” Ms. Neophitou said, referring to the scantily clad voluptuous women featured in The Sun, a London tabloid. “She’s like a footballer’s wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy.”
Ouch. Burn. It's a sad comment, really, because VS could use the occasional curvy woman for those of us who are getting bored by barbie doll Candice Swanepoel clones. It is certainly a viable question as to where Kate's career goes from here (presumably to Hollywood, a la Brooklyn Decker — she's got a cameo in the upcoming “Three Stooges” flick). But Neophitou's smug shrugging off of Upton makes us wonder why Victoria's Secret cast her in a catalog lingerie spread last March? Clearly it was an attempt to cash in on her under-the-radar virility with a one-night stand. Now that Ms. Upton's broken through to the mainstream, VS is content to throw her out like a half-eaten leftover burrito. That's their loss. The rest of us are just happy to let our favorite all-American girl dance.


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Theo nguồn tin Varsity Spirit trên trang mạng của prweb.com.
400+ expected at marijuana business event at the Caribe Royale Hotel & Convention Center in Orlando on Saturday, March 25, 2017
ORLANDO, FL (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 23, 2017
Just weeks before new state medical marijuana regulations are set to be enacted, all of the nascent industry’s key players will gather at Florida Cannabis Coalition’s CannaBiz Day Conference at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, FL, March 25, 2017. Florida voters mandated medical marijuana with 72% support on the ballot in November and the state began issuing patient ID cards this week, confirming that this industry is here to stay.
The largest marijuana business organization in the state, Florida Cannabis Coalition was founded in 2014 to inform and connect anyone interested in Florida’s marijuana industry – and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. This is reflected by the organizations 600+ members and 400+ attendees expected next month.
Key industry sectors represented at CannaBiz Day will be: dispensing, growing, professional and financial services, infused products, private equity investors, legal, ancillary products, medical professionals, tech and testing labs.
Isaac Dietrich, co-founder and CEO of MassRoots (OTCMKTS: MSRT), the “social platform for marijuana”, will deliver a keynote address along with special guests which will be announced in the weeks to come. More than 15 cannabis experts and professionals will take part in all-new presentations and Q & A sessions focused on the business side of the marijuana industry.
For a complete agenda and show reservations, go to
Produced by Green Carpet Events, a division of FMCC Investments Inc., the CannaDay Conferences are both the oldest and largest Florida state business events for the cannabis industry. Recent events include Green Carpet Sarasota and Canna-Ed Day Boca Raton. Watch video here: https://vimeo.com/205140094
Interview Availability: Florida Cannabis Coalition representatives are available for comment and interview beginning today. Members of the media are invited to a MEDIA ONLY preview of the CannaBiz Day Event the evening of Friday, March 24th at 4:00 PM. For media credentials please click here: http://floridacannabiscoalition.com/press-credentials/
About Florida Cannabis Coalition
Florida Cannabis Coalition is a membership-based organization providing a central touch-point for credible professional services, strategic guidance, planning and resources for those in the medical cannabis sector. Florida Cannabis Coalition is committed to the safe and successful implementation of and new medical cannabis laws throughout Florida and is comprised of the most scrupulous individuals and organizations in the business community. Learn more at http://www.FloridaCannabisCoalition.com.
Media contact: Pete Sessa, pete(at)floridacannabiscoalition(dot)com, 813.351.9784
Note: We are not responsible for typo error, price change, substitute item, or available of item from online ads.
Lưu ý: Chúng tôi không chịu trách nhiệm về lỗi ấn, thay đổi giá, hàng thay thế, hoặc có sẵn mặt hàng quảng cáo.

domain: news


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Most Recent Articles by Ben Comer
Forest Labs will acquire Clinical Data for $1.2 billion, and expand its primary care sales forces in preparation for the launch of Viibryd (vilazodone HCI), executives said in a conference call.
Savient Pharmaceuticals launched Krystexxa, an orphan drug for chronic gout, and deployed a mix of sales reps, education specialists and business managers to help expedite reimbursement from payers.
Health Union, an online health information and social media company, announced the launch of its first website --Migraine.com--intended to foster "interactions about health conditions between and among patients, caregivers, professionals and providers."
Sally Field's winsome smile may have helped to curb declining sales of Roche's Boniva in 2010, but it didn't carry the drug past Warner Chilcott's Actonel, despite a substantially higher DTC spend.
Savient Pharmaceuticals launched Krystexxa (pegloticase), an orphan drug for chronic gout, on Monday, and deployed a mix of sales reps, education specialists and business managers to help expedite reimbursement from payers, executives said on a conference call.
More Articles by Ben Comer
- Five things for pharma marketers to know: Friday, October 10, 2015
- Digital still not top priority in healthcare: survey
- Six things for pharma marketers to know: Thursday, October 8, 2015
- BI and Lilly launch DTC campaign for Jardiance
- Five things for pharma marketers to know: Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Specialty medicines continue to be a hot category, one in which spending has surged behind products that treat medicine's most complex diseases. This eBook lays out the needs and hurdles along the specialty drug pathway, explaining how stakeholders are working to get meds into patients' hands and ease their experience. Click here to download.


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T-Mobile answers Verizon by adding HD video and hotspot to unlimited plan
T-Mobile reader comments 18 Share this story T-Mobile USA is trying to top Verizon's latest move by adding high-definition video and 10GB of high-speed hotspot usage to its $70 unlimited smartphone data plan. T-Mobile CEO John Legere made the announcement on Twitter today, saying that the T-Mobile One plan will get HD video and the 10GB of high-speed...
I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its component fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark


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In a bid to address the growing need of smartphone users for better cameras, global technology company, Vivo, has recently released its latest flagship midrange smartphone -- the V17 Pro.
Armed with six versatile cameras, photography enthusiasts and ordinary users alike can now take photos and videos that allow them to go beyond limits.
The V17 Pro's dual elevating front camera is a combination of a 32-megapixel main selfie camera and an 8-megapixel Super Wide-Angle selfie lens that can capture wide angles up to 105 degrees.
For social media junkies the main selfie camera produces crisp images that can be shared easily. While the ultra-wide-angle camera is perfect for group shots and selfies as it can capture breathtaking landscapes in the background.
Vivo V17 Pro's 32MP dual elevating selfie camera also allows for a bezel-less screen which makes the display perfect for watching videos and playing games.
Aside from the 32MP dual elevating selfie camera, the smartphone is also equipped with four more cameras in the rear.
The 48-megapixel main camera has a ½" Sony sensor, a large F1/8 aperture, and embedded AI algorithms that help in taking better photos.
While the 8-megapixel super wide-angle camera allows shooting broader subjects. There is no need for stitching apps or constantly switching to panoramic mode with the ultra-wide-angle
lens. Now you will not miss that one second of capturing the sunrise over the horizon because it took you a few seconds to shift from normal to another shooting mode.
It also has a 2-megapixel Super Macro camera that allows the shooter to capture little details in sharp and crisp colors.
Two beautifying camera features are also included in Vivo's latest flagship smartphone: the 'Pose Master' suggests various poses, while the 'Super Night Mode' feature addresses the perennial problem of shooting in low light.
The V17 Pro runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 AIE processor with 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM. Its 4100mAh battery, with Dual-Engine Fast Charging Technology, brings higher durability and faster charging that ensures long-lasting and safe mobile experience.
For more information, visit Vivo's website or check out their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
NOTE: BrandNews articles are promotional features from our sponsors and not news articles from our editorial staff.


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However, two other analysts contacted by Computerworld said they have doubts that Apple will put NFC in the next iPhone.
"NFC is not that important to Apple, as they have other proprietary payment options," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "NFC is not taking off very quickly, so there is no real pressure on Apple to include this functionality, at least in this round of products."
Apple is also widely expected to include a fingerprint reader chip in the next iPhone, which could be used to complement NFC for security. Or, Apple could focus on the fingerprint chip and leave out NFC, Gold said.
Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy was more emphatic in his prediction there won't be NFC in either the expected iPhone 5S or the iPhone 5C. "I don't expect the 5S or 5C to have NFC because I don't think Apple knows how to control it or make money on it," Moorhead said. "There's an outside chance the 5S would have it, at least for Apple to say they have it."
Yankee Group forecasts NFC-based transactions in the U.S. will grow from $166 million in 2013 to $2.3 billion in 2017, aided by merchants moving to NFC-ready payment terminals inside stores. That's still just a fraction of the global NFC payments for 2013 of $60 billion that Yankee Group has projected.
A turning point in the U.S. toward NFC will come in October 2015, when merchants must either upgrade their terminals to accept what's known as the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) smart chip card or accept liability for any fraudulent transactions that occur at terminals that are not upgraded, Yankee Group said. Those EMV terminals will accept most if not all NFC payments, McKee said.
"NFC at the point of sale is stagnant for now in the U.S. and will remain that way until EMV terminals arrive," McKee said "Right now, one of the biggest roadblocks is merchant acceptance."
McKee said it is unclear how successful Isis will be with a national rollout this year, partly because its results from trials in Salt Lake City and Austin haven't included many details. While Isis confirmed it has 4,000 retailers supporting Isis in those two cities, it has never disclosed how many actual customers are using Isis-ready smartphones to make NFC transactions at those merchants, he noted.
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China’s big bet on ‘new quality productive forces’
Don’t tell Donald Trump, but his pledge to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods may help accelerate Xi Jinping’s efforts to move Asia’s biggest economy upmarket in ways Washington never saw coming.
Granted, President Xi has been previewing his buzz-phrase of “new quality productive forces” since at least last September. Though cryptic and a tad ambiguous, Xi’s inner circle has been selling it as the answer to China’s economic future.
Little did Team Xi know that former US president Trump would be helping the Communist Party sell the strategy. In the months since September and the National People’s Congress in early March, Trump unveiled his plan to make trade wars great again.
On top of crushing new import taxes, Trump says he plans to revoke China’s “most favored nation” status if elected in November. These steps could make Trump’s 2017-2021 stint in the White House seem tame by comparison.
In doing so, Trump’s Republican Party is reminding Xi’s party of the folly of acting time and time again to boost domestic demand-led growth.
To be sure, China wants to get its consumers to spend more and save less to keep growth near 5% year after year. That means continuing to raise incomes and building more robust social safety nets to encourage spending.
It also means creating deeper, trusted capital markets so the average Chinese can invest in stocks and bonds — not just real estate.
Yet Beijing’s extreme focus on goosing consumption time and time again is counterproductive, many economists say. It leaves China susceptible to boom-and-bust cycles that require urgent attention at the expense of moving the economy upmarket. And China’s heavy reliance on exports leaves the economy vulnerable to Trump-like trade war antics.


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Wednesday, July 07, 2010
MUMBAI: Karuturi Global Ltd (KGL), the world's largest organised player in the floriculture industry said that it would invest $ 100-mn for setting up a sugar-cane crushing plant in Ethiopia (Africa).
"We will invest $100-mn in a phased manner to set up a sugar-cane plant in Ethiopia. The first phase of the plant is expected to be operational by October this year," KGL's Promoter and Managing Director, Ramakrishna Karuturi, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here today.
The plant will have a capacity to crush 7,000-tonnes per day, he said. The company will use 15,000-hectares of its three-lakh hectares of land it recently bought in Ethiopia for sugar-cane plantation, he said.
KGL is a global market leader in production and export of cut roses. It caters to the domestic and international markets through its Indian, Ethiopian and Kenyan operations.
The company exports cut roses to Europe, south-east Asia, the Middle-East, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand, besides sales in India. Exports constitute about 90 per cent of its revenues.
Posted by FRIENDS of ETHIOPIA:: at 11:38 AM


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FedEx pledges to go carbon-neutral by 2040 with EV delivery vans and more
The company responsible for moving so much around the US and the globe laid out a number of massive initiatives to reach its target.
It all started with Gran Turismo. From those early PlayStation days, Sean was drawn to anything with four wheels. Prior to joining the Roadshow team, he was a freelance contributor for Motor Authority, The Car Connection and Green Car Reports. As for what's in the garage, Sean owns a 2016 Chevrolet SS, and yes, it has Holden badges.
FedEx said on Wednesday it will do its part to cut emissions from its global business, which is a big deal for a corporation as sprawling as FedEx. The company said it's committed to become carbon-neutral by 2040 at the latest and laid out a number of projects and initiatives it will enact to meet its goal.
Chief among them is tossing any delivery vehicle that runs on fossil fuels to the curb. By 2040, FedEx said its entire ground fleet will consist of zero-emissions electric vehicles. Purchases of electric vehicles will ramp up to 50% in 2025 before all vehicle purchases move to EV in 2030. By 2040, the last of its vehicles with an engine will exit service. Going carbon-neutral doesn't stop at filling out a fleet of electric delivery vehicles, however. FedEx already announced an initial purchase order for General Motors' upcoming BrightDrop EV600 electric delivery vans.
The company said it will also work to transform its supply chains with "carbon–neutral shipping offerings and sustainable packaging solutions," and promised to invest in alternative fuels for aircrafts and vehicles. Perhaps FedEx would like to know more about Porsche's E-Fuel project. In addition to alternative fuels, the FedEx also plans to invest in more renewable energy sources for its facilities and energy management programs to cut its carbon footprint inside its operations further. Total planned investment to make all of this happen is a cool $2 billion.
All of this intertwines with a smaller part of the $2 billion planned: $100 million for Yale University to establish the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. The center will work on research to capture carbon more effectively, first focused on offsetting emissions from airlines. FedEx owns and operates the largest cargo airline in the world, so this is an important investment.
FedEx proudly points out that since 2009, it pushed industry-releated emissions down 40%, but the company knows there's work to do. Like so many other companies, including major automakers, this decade is shaping up to be a transformational one for FedEx.
GM revealed its new BrightDrop business unit at CES 2021


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Rejoice, Twinkies fans! The famous Hostess snacks are officially back on store shelves Monday. In honor of the Twinkies' triumphant return, take a look at Hostess products that have graced store shelves over the years.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got an early boost Tuesday as they won the vote in Dixville Notch, the New Hampshire hamlet that is home to the first vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.


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A total of 45,235 vehicles were registered in September, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Friday.
The number of motor vehicle registrations in Turkey fell in September, a 47.7 percent year-on-year drop, according to official data.
"In September, 20,969 cars were registered to traffic," TurkStat said in a statement.
In September, automobiles accounted for most new registrations, 46.4 percent, while motorcycles and small trucks represented 29.4 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively.
Compared to the previous month, motor vehicle registrations fell 29 percent.
TurkStat added that over 640,000 vehicle registrations were transferred in September.
As for the car makes, Renault made up 14.9 percent of new registrations, followed by Fiat with 9.9 percent, Volkswagen with 8 percent, Honda with 7.3 percent, and Nissan with 7 percent.
The next data on road motor vehicles is due for release on Dec. 4.


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Volkswagen-backed solid-state battery startup QuantumScape announced it has shipped its first 24-layer prototype lithium-metal battery cells to automotive OEMs for testing. Delivery of these cells, referred to as A0 samples, was the company’s key public milestone for the year, and achieving this goal represents an important step toward the commercialization of this technology.
With 24 layers, each comprising a solid-state separator, a cathode, and an in-situ-formed lithium-metal anode, these prototype cells have capacities in the multi-amp-hour range, a range the company believes is relevant for a variety of applications, including automotive and consumer electronics.
With these cells, the OEMs can start the testing process at their facilities and provide feedback on the performance of the cells. The company still has substantial work ahead to bring this technology to market, including improvements to the quality, consistency, and throughput of its production processes, and additional enhancements on the product side, such as increased cathode capacity loading and improved packaging efficiency. The company expects to deliver improvements on these fronts in subsequent generations of A, B, and C samples over the coming years.
“I’m proud of our team for all the effort and determination that went into achieving this milestone, especially in light of the challenges we encountered this year,” said Jagdeep Singh, CEO and co-founder of QuantumScape. “While this milestone brings us closer to our ultimate goal, there’s still a lot to do before this technology becomes a commercial product, and we now turn our attention to this important work.”
The A0 cells were built in QuantumScape’s new cell format, which was another important goal for the year. This new architecture is a hybrid between prismatic and pouch cells designed to support the uniaxial expansion and contraction of the lithium metal during charge and discharge. The company plans to host a virtual event in the new year to share more about this innovative new cell format. Details will be posted on QuantumScape’s website and social media accounts.


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Capital pours into wine sector
The huge growth potential and high profit margins in China's wine market have lured more and more capital investment into the industry.
Earlier this month, Macro-Link Holdings Ltd paid 154 million yuan (US$18.6 million) for 40.7 million shares in the well-known wine producer, Tonghua Grape Wine Co Ltd.
After the acquisition, Macro-Link will have a 29 per cent controlling stake in the Shanghai-listed company, paving the way for its future development in the wine industry.
Macro-Link engaged in indus- tries diversified as manufacturing, trade, financial investment and real estate development entered the wine market by acquiring the Yunnan Shangrila Winery three years ago.
It has invested 200 million yuan (US$24 million) in building a vineyard in Penglai, in East China's Shandong Province.
Macro-Link's acquisition of Tonghua is just part of the capital investment at present in the domestic wine market.
Hong Kong-listed Tianjin Development Holdings announced this month that it plans to spin off its winery subsidiary Dynasty Winery Ltd and list it on the main board of Hong Kong.
In May, CITIC Guoan Group increased its investment of up to 500 million yuan (US$60 million) in Sun Time International Winery, expanding its shares in the winery to 49 per cent.
Sun Time has also invested 30 million yuan (US$36 million) for a new vineyard in Shandong Province.
"Increasing investment in the industry is mainly due to the huge growth potential in China's wine market," said Geng Zhaolin, director of the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association.
Statistics show per capita wine consumption in China is only 0.5 litres a year, while the annual world average figure is 7.5 litres.
However, wine consumption in China has grown rapidly in recent years. From 1994 to 2000, global wine output grew by only 6.5 per cent, but during the same period China's wine consumption increased 61.8 per cent.
Market demand for wine products in the country will continue to grow by an average of 8 to 10 per cent a year, a market survey carried out by leading domestic wine producer Changyu shows.
Because of the huge market potential and China's tariff cuts on wine imports, foreign wine makers are also developing a growing interest in the market.
France's largest wine and spirit producer and retailer, Les Grand Chais de France, announced in September it is going to launch its J. P. Chenet range of products, the best selling wine brand around the world, in China.


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Wi-Fi PS Vita takes the lion's share of sales
So far it seems that the Wi-Fi version of the PlayStation Vita is the version of choice for most early adopters.
The early figures from UK's sales monitors Chart-Track indicate that 79 percent of the PS Vita's sold since the launch on Wednesday have been the Wi-Fi verison.
This shows that most gamers are a bit dubious about the value of the additional 3G connectivity with the 3G version accounting for just 21 percent of sales.
The PS Vita launched last week with a choice of 23 launch titles which is one of the largest launch line-up's yet trumping the 3DS's 16 titles at launch.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 after all
- Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third gets a release date
- Adr1ft is coming to PC and consoles at the end of the summer
- EA gives the new Mirror's Edge a name – Mirror's Edge Catalyst
- ZombiU PS4 and Xbox One port reportedly in the works
- Mike Bithell's Volume to be released this August
- Gearbox's new shooter Battleborn gets a pre-E3 trailer
- Steam Controller launches in October, Steam Machines arrive in November
- Gears Of War devs Black Tusk change their name to The Coalition ahead of E3


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After two years of being stuck indoors due to COVID-19, many people are sick of apartment dwelling. Although there’s far less maintenance and work required of you in apartments or home, there’s also barely any freedom of space or sound.
If you’re curious about buying a home, and you’re not sure if it’s the right time: here’s what you need to know before you take the next step.
If you’re asking yourself, ‘Should I rent or buy a house,’ you may think you’ve found your answer when you see how much houses are selling for right now. In California, home prices went up by 8% in the last year, making it far too expensive for some home buying hopefuls. If you’re on a tight budget and you’re trying to make your way into homeownership, it might be a good idea to wait a little longer.
Although prices are rising: there’s nowhere for them to deflate to. There aren’t enough properties on the market right now, which means there’s no reason for housing to drop in value. If another recession hits, or hundreds of thousands of homes suddenly become available, there may be a shift in this, but the likelihood of that happening within the next couple of years isn’t very high. This means that if you buy a home now, within the next ten to twenty years, you’re going to see a huge increase in its value.
Mortgage rates are at a low that hasn’t been seen in the last decade. This low means that more people can afford homes because they’re paying less on top of the house’s value. Although it doesn’t stop the homes themselves from being expensive, people can forgive these high prices because they know that they’re paying for the house itself.
Construction materials and labor are at an intense high right now. There was a construction boom at the beginning of 2020, and the supply hasn’t been able to catch up yet. This means that all construction supplies are far more expensive than before, and the cost of hiring contractors and other professionals is also at an all-time high. Unfortunately, this means it’s unlikely most homeowners will build their own houses. So this is another nudge towards buying one instead.
Many who realize they can’t afford to buy a home locally, yet are working remotely and aren’t tethered to a zip code, are moving out of state to buy homes instead. This means you can purchase homes in far less expensive areas, where properties of similar size and age are selling for a quarter of the price they would sell for in states like California. Just ensure that if you decide to do this, you choose your city carefully and look for one that has everything you need instead of just seeking out the lowest prices possible.


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SHANGHAI -- Online video company Leshi Internet Information & Technology had 470 million yuan ($68.7 million) in liabilities in excess of assets as of the end of June, and the prospect of continuing losses has raised fears that its shares will be delisted.
The Chinese company reported a net loss of 1.1 billion yuan in January-June results released Wednesday, worsening from a loss of about 600 million yen in the first half of 2017.
Sales plunged 82% on the year over the same period to about 1 billion yuan, as income from memberships and from advertising both dropped roughly 70%. Leshi has failed to stanch an outflow of streaming service users that began around autumn 2016, when rumors of operating troubles at the company emerged on the web and elsewhere.
Leshi, a unit of Chinese technology group LeEco, warned in earnings materials that it is at risk of further losses for the July-December half. If the company were to have liabilities in excess of assets for the full year, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange could remove its shares from its up-and-coming companies section.
Founded in 2004, Leshi made a name for itself as a video services company, and earnings began to grow when it hit on a method of selling content packaged with devices like TVs and smartphones. Thereafter, it started branching into new fields like electric vehicles, as well as expanding overseas and seeking acquisitions.
But Leshi's rapid expansion left it pinched for funding. Moreover, founder Jia Yueting, who last year stepped down as CEO, plunged the company further into chaos by moving to and remaining in the U.S., citing a desire to focus on electric car development, despite demands from Chinese authorities that he return home. The company hoped a rescue by real estate firm Sunac China Holdings would solve its problems, but no earnings recovery is yet in sight.


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Uber Expands Partnership With Israel’s Moovit
CTech – Ride-sharing company Uber is set to expand its collaboration — first announced in February — with Israel-based public transit app developer Moovit App Global, the latter said Wednesday. The original partnership saw Uber leverage Moovit’s application programming interface to provide users in London and four other cities with public transportation information, so that riders can access real-time transit data and route planning in the Uber app. As part of the expanded partnership, Uber is set to expand its service to 15 additional cities globally, including Paris and San Francisco.
Moovit also announced that ride-sharing company Lyft is set to implement a similar service in New York.
Founded in 2012 and based in central Israel, Moovit develops and offers a free mobile navigation app providing real-time public transit information in 3,000 cities and 92 countries. Its app has over 500 million users, adding to the company’s database of over 7,000 public transportation operators, according to the company’s statement.


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Another two Gold medals: Barrister strengthens its positions on the Chinese market
16 September 2021
September has started with new awards for Barrister Blue Gin and Barrister Russian Gin at the China Wine & Spirits Awards 2021 - the biggest and most prestigious wine & spirits competition in Hong Kong and China. Top buyers, importers, distributors, retailers and sommeliers chose winners among spirits from 55 countries during the blind tasting. Once again Barrister Gin confirmed its highest quality and received Gold medals as a deserved recognition.
The list of previous awards that Barrister has won is also quite impressive: The GIN Masters 2017-2018-2021, Beverage Tasting Institute 2018, World Gin Awards 2019, Frankfurt International Trophy 2020, International Wine & Spirit Competition 2021, New Zealand Spirits Awards 2021.
Being launched in 2016, Barrister is exporting to 20+ countries around the world, including supplies in China which started in 2018.


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Steve Jobs held Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in high esteem, in part because he admired Zuckerberg’s vision and determination to make Facebook the best company it could be, and more importantly, because Faceboko wasn’t looking to sell out for a large payday. This, of course, stands in contrast to some startups whose ultimate goal is seemingly to get big enough to warrant a lucrative buy-out from a larger corporation – a type of business plan Jobs didn’t entirely care for.
So while Apple and Facebook may have mildly butted head in the past, Jobs liked the fact that Zuckerberg was intent on building a long-lasting a company, a much more challenging feat that simply guiding a company to a point where it’s sufficiently deserving of an acquisition.
Recently, Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson appeared on stage with Washington Post CEO and Facebook board member Don Graham.
When the topic turned to Jobs and Zuckerberg, Graham recounted:
Jobs meant an enormous amount to the education of Mark. Mark will talk about that until the cows come home.
What’s more, Graham recalled that he once asked Jobs who he admired most in Silicon Valley and that Zuckerberg was the first person Jobs mentioned.
Jobs admired Zuckerberg for his “intuitive feel” for what Facebook needed next, for his passion and willingness to “do stuff that allows him to be on shifting sands—his willing to cannibalize old things. He felt an odd kinship to Mark.”
Jobs, it seems, also admired Facebook for its complete dominance in the social media space. Indeed, Jobs once scoffed at the idea that there was any competition in the space, pointing out that it’s effectively owned by Facebook.
Apple, of course, hasn’t really jumped on the “social” bandwagon, and its effort with Ping was underwhelming to say the least. Interestingly, Isaacson asked Jobs why the company didn’t give social another go.
Maybe because Mark did it so well. There’s not a need for a whole lot of social networks and Facebook has got it licked.
And as you might expect, the level of admiration between the two CEOs was mutual.
Following the passing of Jobs, Zuckerberg said in a statement:
Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.
One month later, Zuckerberg appeared in an interview with Charlie Rose where he explained in more detail the connection he felt with Jobs.
Mark Zuckerberg: Oh, I don’t know. I mean, he — he’s amazing. He was amazing. I mean, he — I had a lot of questions for him on –
Charlie Rose: Like what?
Mark Zuckerberg: How to build a team around you, right, that’s focused on building as high quality and good things as you are. How to keep an organization focused, right, when I think the tendency for larger companies is to try to fray and go into all these different areas. Yeah, I mean a lot just on the aesthetics and kind of mission orientation of companies. I mean, Apple is a company that is so focused on just building products that — for their customers and their users. And — and that’s like — it’s such a deep part of their mission is build these beautiful products for their users. And I think we connected a lot on this level of, okay, Facebook has this mission that’s really more than just trying to build a company, right, that has a market cap or a value. It’s like we’re trying to do this thing in the world. And I don’t know, a lot of it I just think we connected on that level.
Lastly, Zuckerberg, like Jobs before him, has a $1 salary as CEO.


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Shops Close Downtown in Acorn Alley
Arctic Squirrel, Dog Squad close their doors
Two of downtown Kent's newest eateries have closed their doors.
Business management for both shops, which are operated by the same management, made the announcement on the eateries' Facebook pages.
Danielle Urban, an owner in both businesses, said that slow winter months at Arctic Squirrel made it difficult to stay current on rent for the space.
"We will all miss the place we knew as our second home," Urban wrote on the ice cream shop's Facebook page. "The smiles The Arctic Squirrel put on the faces of children, families, and friends will be forever in my memory."
The closures marks the third recent turn over of space in Acorn Alley following Dr. Greenbee's closing earlier this year.
The Arctic Squirrel had been open since the start of Acorn Alley as one of the development's first tenants. Ownership at the ice cream store had changed recently.
The Dog Squad was a fairly new addition to downtown, as the eatery opened in July 2012.
"As most know, being a small business owner is no easy job," management for the Dog Squad wrote on the store's Facebook page. "We made many sacrifices to keep the place open as long as we could. I want to thank everyone who came in to support us."


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The Trump Soho is Ready for Summer, Even If The Weather Outside is Not
After a long winter in NYC, it may seem like the warm weather will never come. But ladies visiting The Trump Soho can at least pretend it's summer vacation, by purchasing the hotel's new spa bag, filled with poolside accessories.
Called the ViX Valise, the canvas tote designed by the swimsuit brand, ViX Paula Hermanny, includes a caftan, flip-flops, a towel and a Bia bikini which is adorned 24k gold-plated hardware. The valise costs a pretty penny at $468 but it does save you from the hassle of hunting for a bathing suit during your stay. Most importantly, it has a cover-up too so you don't have to re-purpose your sweaty gym shirt and shorts when visiting the Trump's outdoor pool on the 7th floor.
Room rates at The Trump start around around $560 a night on the weekends. But can go much higher when the warm weather (hopefully) arrives.
[Photo via Trump Hotels]


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Norwegian telecom multinational Telenor is looking for total control in its Indian venture as the company has applied to Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India for raising its stake to 100% in Uninor.
Uninor, the Indian venture of Telenor is now currently owned by Telenor and Lakshadweep Investments (owned by Sun Pharmaceutical’s Executive Director Sudhir Valia) in 74:26 proposition. Telenor will invest Rs 780 crore to acquire 26% owned by Lakshadweep Investments, based upon the shareholders agreement between Telenor and Valia. Telenor earlier this year has announced about its plans to invest Rs 500 cr for network expansion and upgradation across its circles.
Telenor entered in India in 2009 with Unitech Group, which obtained 2G spectrum in 2008. Their JV, Uninor faced cancellation of license in 2012 following Supreme Court's order and after a bitter battle with Unitech, Telenor took the control of the venture with a new partner Lakshadweep Investments forming a new entity - Telewings Communications in October 2012.
In two auctions Telenor acquired minimum of 5 MHz spectrum in 1800 MHz band in 7 circles. Presently it is present in 6 circles of India and will launch services in Assam in this year. Without 3G or mobile broadband Uninor's approach is to offer basic telephony, messaging and 2G internet to its customers at cheapest price.
After taking total takeover Uninor may have seen brand makeover and a possible LTE roll out strategy from parent company, Telenor. As another 2G auction is coming soon, Telenor may look into further expansion - tapping more circles under its hood.
Among India's neighbor countries Telenor has wholly owned operations in Pakistan and Myanmar. In Bangladesh Telenor owns 55.8% of Grameenphone, country's largest mobile operator.
After Indian government allows 100% foreign direct investment in telecom many companies look forward to run their Indian ventures under complete control. Vodafone India is now 100% owned by parent company. SingTel Global got the nod to increase stake to 100% in January this year. MTS and AT&T are also applied for the same in Sistema Shyam Teleservices and AT&T Global Networks Services India (26% owned by Mahindra Tech) respectively.


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Buzzwords to learn today:
- “Online to offline marketing”, meaning direct tracking of a consumer who sees an ad online then goes to the advertiser’s store
- “Omnichannel marketing”, tracking a consumer who sees ads on different platforms, and finally carries a mobile phone into a retail location where a targeted ad pops up.
Many players are trying to solve this whole offline/online/omnichannel thing (see Tracking Online Ads to Store Visits: The Final Step for more background) and it’s tough one. But any efforts that Facebook and Google make are like the elephants entering the room, and worth noting:
Google added “location extensions” to its Display Ad Network. The extensions (already available on search ads) display local store information. Adding them to display ads mean a consumer who is not actively searching on Google, but looking at any website on a mobile device, could be targeted by a Google ad from a nearby store. Google says a test with Home Depot generated 8 times the return on investment, aiming display ads at shoppers in Home Depot stores. Google also has a pretty massive effort to map millions of stores so it knows when consumers enter a store, based on their cellphone signals.
Facebook, a bit of a laggard in this field, announced some new measurement tools to capture store visits and “dynamic ads for retail” that will showcase products from nearby stores to Facebook users. Google already has well-established local product inventory ads. But any moves that Facebook makes are a big deal given its world-beating capabilities to target audiences.


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Today, news leaked that Meizu will once again adjust its organizational structure: The original Meizu and Charm Blue independent divisions will be merged again. After this structural adjustment, Yang Wei, senior vice president of Meizu, will continue to be responsible for marketing. Li Nan, senior vice president of Meizu Technology and president of Charm Blue Division, will be responsible for sales. In response, Meizu responded: The news is true.
The most important part of this organizational structure adjustment The news is undoubtedly a new organizational structure. Meizu's chairman and CEO Huang Zhang will return and directly participate in the company's operations. Huang Zhang stated on Weibo in February 2017 that he will devote all his energy to Meizu's high-end brand, R&D in his mind more perfect machine, that is, he is showing the dream machine.
This is the Meizu community that has frequently adjusted its organizational structure in recent years and adjusted its organizational structure again. It is only a half year or more before the biggest adjustment of the organizational structure in the history of Meizu. Immediately after the yellow chapter announced its return and announced the creation of a dream machine, in December 2017, Meizu ushered in the largest organizational restructuring in history. Based on the original Meizu, Charm Blue, and Flyme business units, Meizu newly upgraded two business divisions: Overseas Business Unit and Accessories Business Unit, and renamed the original PQCS Center as the QCS Center.
As early as May 9, 2017, Meizu announced the reform of Meizu's organizational structure and established Meizu, Charm Blue and Flyme. This is in part consistent with the previous rumors: Charm Blue is indeed independent, but it is not the establishment of subsidiaries, but the establishment of Charm Blue Division, Li Nan was promoted to Meizu Technology Senior Vice President and President of Charm Blue Division.
Charm Blue is the low end line of Meizu in recent years The reputation earned for the Meizu is far higher than that of the Meizu, and the sales volume is also good. This is mainly because Charm Blue re-embraced Qualcomm chips and gave up MediaTek chips, which have been greeted by savvy users.
In addition, the low-end market environment is relatively loose compared with the fierce competition of high-end lines of major mobile phone brands. Prior to the Meizu and charm blue is nothing more than to think of multi-line parallel, low-end and high-end Qi force. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, after the separation of services, the two major businessesThe Department's parallel development strategy is not optimistic, so the merger may be a better practice, which will help Meizu integrate resources to focus on business.
The latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that in the first quarter of 2018, domestic shipments of 81.87 million smart phones fell by 27%, setting a record for the largest decline in history. Domestic smart phone brands also usher in a severe test. According to the report, the overall mobile phone shipments in the domestic mobile phone market continued to decline. In April 2018, the domestic mobile phone market shipments reached 34.451 million, a year-on-year decrease of 16.7%, and the decrease rate was narrower than the 11.2 percentage points in March; In July, the domestic mobile phone market shipped 122 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 23.7%.
It is worth noting that in April 2018, China's mobile phone shipments in the domestic mobile phone market were 31,641,000, a year-on-year decrease of 17.7%, accounting for 92.4% of domestic mobile phone shipments in the same period; 2018 From January to April, domestic shipments of branded mobile phones totaled 108 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 21.5%, accounting for 88.4% of domestic mobile phone shipments during the same period. All indications indicate that the pace of development of the smart phone industry has slowed, domestic smart phone brands may enter a more intense stage of competition, weak market demand, lack of innovation and other factors have spawned the "cold wave" of the smart phone industry, prompting the industry to reshuffle.
After a lapse of six months, it seems that the Meizu has gone back to its original point, and Meizu has also made significant layoffs for the third consecutive year. Some netizens said that the internal structure has undergone major adjustments. It seems that the Meizu may have a new beginning. It is only possible to turn the tide down and save Meizu in dilemma. The result is not yet known.


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ROME (Reuters) - Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have appeared to weigh in to an impassioned debate about gay people's rights in their home country with cosy designs showing same-sex couples with children.
Last year, Dolce angered many when he used the common derogatory term "womb rental" for surrogacy, which is banned in Italy. His comments were thought unlikely to harm sales, but drew threats of boycott from the likes of British singer Elton John. [L6N0WH0RM]
New social media posts suggested they had relaxed their views. Avid Instagram user Gabbana posted photos of handbags and t-shirts adorned with childlike drawings of family groups of two men or two women with children of various ages.
Feverish opposition to a bill currently before parliament to offer limited rights to same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples is mainly focused on a provision that would allow gay people to adopt their partner's biological children.
Opponents fear this would open the way to surrogacy, which is banned in Italy. The term "wombs for rent" was a rallying cry at a mass demonstration against the bill in Rome on Saturday. [L8N15E0MO]
Another user commented "Volta&Gabbana" on the picture of the handbags, a pun on the Italian for "turncoat", or someone who switches allegiance between two causes. Gabbana replied "Yesss".
The pair, who remained business partners after their romantic relationship ended, have put pregnant models on the catwalk and are selling a t-shirt showing a cartoonish image of themselves with their dogs and cats, with #dgfamily on the back.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)


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But is Mercedes really crazy enough to stick 800 horsepower under the hood of a sedan?
After the release of the 680 horsepower Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, a car that seems to be the most action packed Jack-of-all-trades in the industry given its capacity to be a comfortable executive class limousine, Nurburgring monster, and polite fuel sipper, it's a bit odd to treat the prospect of a hybrid Mercedes-AMG GT sedan with such shock and awe. As competition heats up and emissions restrictions get more strict, the four-door hybrid supercar will become the new high class norm.
That's why nobody was too shocked when Mercedes took the wraps off of the AMG GT Concept at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, though awe was definitely included in the list of reactions given the car's show-stopping looks, a boon to any Panamera customer holding out for something with a more pleasant rear end. However, AMG boss Tobias Moers' latest comments to Automotive News seem to confirm that the Merc won't rely on looks alone to go after Porsche. That's because Moers has taken the next step and confirmed production of a hybrid version of the AMG GT Concept, a car that is already slated for a dealership appearance by 2019. When asked about the possibility of the hybrid, Moers replied with enthusiasm.
He said, "Yeah, why not? Because we are not able to change the future. We have to adapt to these new requirements and regulations, and we have to move forward and find new innovative solutions." Weeks ago Moers went on record to say that Mercedes-AMG would do its part to preserve the twin-turbo V8 engine by using hybrid technology, allowing drivers the pleasure of a sonorous exhaust note, eight-pot bragging rights, and compliance with fuel economy regulations when using the AMG as a commuter. Given that the four-door AMG GT will share bones with the E-Class Mercedes, it's not too far-fetched to expect the same 600 horsepower engine from the AMG E63 S to reside under the fastest AMG GT sedan variant.
With electric motors juiced up using plug-in hybrid hardware, power could skyrocket as high as the 800 horse mark, far outstripping Porsche's equivalent. The interior will get a few E-Class bits and bobs as well but Mercedes will task its interior decorators with adding a bit of performance flair to the four-door supercar. For now, let's save any fighting words for the track.


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Investment bankers and buy-side analysts confirmed that MTN Nigeria’s much awaited listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange will happen this Thursday, two days from now.
They say offers have been flying in from investors looking to take position in the stock of what would be the largest listed company in Nigeria by revenue.
“We are getting many requests from investors asking to be kept informed of opportunities for retail clients to partake in the listing by introduction arises,” a buy-side analyst at a Lagos-based investment bank told BusinessDay.
“We assured that we will guide them accordingly before and after the process is completed Thursday,” the person who was not authorised to speak said.
MTN Nigeria will be doing a listing by introduction which unlike an Initial Public Offer (IPO) means the company has already raised capital prior to the listing.
This means the chances of retail participation will depend on if there are any existing shareholders that are willing to sell.


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While booking travel on mobile devices is steadily on the rise across all demographics, Millennials seem to be the driving force behind the increase in mobile travel research. While desktop travel research is still the research tool of choice (even for Millennials) mobile devices are steadily on the rise.
In a recent survey performed by Yahoo any highlighted by eMarketer, travelers from 19 to 34 years of age say they research travel multiple ways. For example:
- 90% use desktop or laptops
- 74% use smartphone and tablets
- 62% use smartphones
- 59% consult with friends and family
- 46% use tablets
- 28% use magazines or newspapers
- 23% use TV or radio
- 22% use travel books
- 16% use a travel agent
Posted in Announcements, Marketing Strategy, News, Platforms, Technology
Could Google outsell Amazon and eBay? That’s the headline on a Wall Street Journal story this week about the search giant’s plan to add buy buttons to mobile search hits soon.
“The buttons will accompany sponsored—or paid—search results, often displayed under a ‘Shop on Google’ heading at the top of the page,” notes the story by Alistair Barr and Rolfe Winkler. “Buttons won’t appear with the nonsponsored results that are driven by Google’s basic search algorithm.”
Reportedly, shoppers who click a buy button will be taken to another Google product page where they can finalize a purchase.
Posted in Announcements, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Commerce, News, Platforms, Technology
In a move that illustrates the accelerating interest in mobile-first and mobile-friendly initiatives, Opera Mediaworks has launched a new Short Form Video Fund.
It’s a program addressing the “digital advertising industry’s need for a mobile-first approach to video creative.”
Supported by a consortium of top global brands and agencies, the fund will provide financial backing for the production and placement of mobile video campaigns in premium, in-app native video environments powered by Opera’s trademark AdColony Instant-Play HD video technology.
Posted in Announcements, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Advertising, News, Platforms, Technology
It sounds like the set up to a punch line. But there’s no joke here. In fact, it’s a new partnership with some very serious and exciting potential consequences for the digital advertising space.
This week, the team at Marin Software — provider of a cross-channel performance advertising cloud — shared with MMW details of its new product integration that allows the more than 15,000 companies using HubSpot‘s platform to “align their inbound marketing activities and paid online advertising.”
Posted in Marketing Strategy, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Devices, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Partners, Mobile Software, News, Platforms
The new “Q1 Device & Demo’s” report from Fluent is out and the data points to some fascinating findings in today’s mobile ecosystem.
Based on the discoveries, drawn from millions of interactions across the Fluent network during the first three months of the year, here’s what Fluent can tell us:
Posted in Announcements, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Devices, News, Platforms, Technology
On Monday, BusinessCreator, Inc. — a provider of all things marketing in the digital world — officially announced the launch of SEO Score Report.
The new report is billed as being a service created to audit one’s landing page for an SEO Score.
All told, it’s valuable information.
Posted in Marketing Strategy, Technology
Are consumers giving out their phone numbers in exchange for free popcorn or soda coupons — and then forgetting they did so? Or are companies abusing SMS capabilities and pestering people?
The answers to those questions may prove critical when Minnesota jurists consider a lawsuit in Minnesota lobbed at the AMC theater chain.
Andria Addison has alleged in a complaint just filed that AMC violated a federal text spam law. Addison is seeking class action status on the case.
Posted in Best Practices, Legal, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Spam, SMS / Text


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Issued on 26 Nov 20
Fearing that Covid-19 strains may enter China through frozen food imports, China strictly inspects imported frozen food and it caused a heavily delays in refrigerated ports.
According to China health officials & media information, on Wednesday (18 Nov) that two cold chain warehouse workers in the port city of Tianjin had infected Covid-19.
The COVID-19 virus infections that occurred in cities such as Beijing and Dalian in the summer also came from frozen foods.
Some ocean carrier already announced that recently all refrigerated goods destined to Tianjin must be inspected of Covid-19 testing.
Note: Tianjin is main frozen products import port and main cold chain hub in China and a new cold chain infrastructure which is expected to be completed in 2021 Q4.


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Packaged foods manufacturers, especially larger companies, have struggled in recent years as consumers' eating and purchasing trends shift. But several companies and categories have found ways to adapt and sustain growth, and to imitate that success means identifying the trends and strategies that produce results.
The recent report "Taking Stock of CPG Past and Future: Gear Up Now for a Year of Growth" from IRI Worldwide illustrates what those fastest-growing categories are and what growth trends are pushing companies forward in 2016. From the rise of beverages to targeting the new path to purchase, understanding and engaging with these consumer and growth trends enables manufacturers to develop their own strategies to be more agile and adaptable in the coming year.
Positioned for growth
Among the largest CPG categories, bottled water topped the list for highest growth year over year for the 52 weeks ended November 1, 2015. The category's popularity is growing steadily as consumers look for beverage options beyond soda and as bottled water makers introduce new varieties of flavored water and sparkling water.
Beer/ale/alcoholic cider followed, driven in large part by the expansion of craft beer. Salty snacks were escalated by consumers' push for more convenient foods and by fast-growing categories like popcorn. Chocolate candy saw growth in dollar sales but a dip in unit sales, as the cocoa shortage takes hold and chocolate manufacturers push premium chocolate to boost sales and margins.
As for fastest-growing categories, refrigerated lunches was the leader, a category that consumers' desire for more convenient foods similarly boosted. But the industry has also seen the expansion of this category from Kraft Heinz's Lunchables brand to lunches that appeal to consumers across age groups, including health-conscious consumers, according to Susan Viamari, vice president of thought leadership at IRI.
Beverages made up six of the top 10 fastest-growing categories in IRI's report, including refrigerated tea and coffee (10.5%), ready-to-drink tea and coffee (10.3%), spirits (8.3%), energy drinks (8.1%), bottled water (7.1%), and sports drinks (7%). As soda falls out of favor with consumers (though the category did post 1.4% dollar sales growth during the time period, while unit sales fell 0.7%), this drives consumers to other beverage options, and these categories have benefited the most so far. 2015 was the sixth consecutive year that the spirits segment outpaced the beer industry in market share gains, driven by categories like whiskey, cognac, and tequila.
Forging a new path (to purchase)
"How hasn't it changed?" Viamari said regarding consumers' path to purchase for CPG products. These changes range from the ways consumers think about purchases to the actual methods used to close the sale.
During the recession, "Consumers were forced to take a much more measured approach when it came to shopping because budgets and finances were tight, so pre-planning, while it had always been an activity for some, became pervasive for many," Viamari said. And that measured approach hasn't left for many consumers who haven't yet returned — and may never — to the "free-spending" behaviors common before the recession, she continued.
Technology developments in the last decade, such as the explosive growth of e-commerce and social media, have facilitated this new pervasive level of pre-planning that goes into food and beverage purchases. Consumers are more likely to consult online resources before making a purchase, and though traditional word of mouth is also still prevalent, it's happening in new ways thanks to social media, where families and friends interact to share ideas, opinions, and purchase histories.
While food and beverage has been slow on the uptake for e-commerce sales, more companies have embraced this purchase channel in the past year. Mondelez committed to increasing its e-commerce business to $1 billion in 2020, while introducing "buy now" buttons in shoppable ads and debuting promotional products like Oreo Colorfilled for the holidays. Snyder's-Lance launched Snack Shack to more easily sell its products online. A General Mills exec described e-commerce as "mission critical" in an interview with Food Dive last year.
According to IRI's report, online dollar sales' contribution to CPG growth is expected to more than quadruple from about $8 billion in 2013 to an estimated $36 billion in 2018.
Taming the "clutter"
But with these new paths to purchase comes the tendency to inundate consumers with marketing messages, which has created "a lot of clutter" that drowns out food and beverage campaigns, especially online, Viamari said. But marketers today also have tools that can help them rise above the clutter and deliver carefully targeted messages that are more visible and impactful — "Doing More With Less (Media)," as the report called it.
"Now through advanced analytics, we have the ability to marry all kinds of disparate data sets, so that we can understand a much more 360-degree picture of the consumers that are the best consumers," Viamari said.
This better targeted approach could come from slimming down social media channels, as Hershey recently did when it enacted its new masterbrand marketing approach and shut down individual brands' social media profiles in lieu of a single Hershey account. Or it could mean focusing on specific fast-growing channels, such as Periscope, without adopting every new platform that comes to market.
Hispanic market 'top of mind' for marketers
Like the millennial market, the fast-growing Hispanic market is far from homogeneous, and food and beverage manufacturers and marketers who keep that diversity in mind will have the best outcomes from their products and campaigns, Viamari said.
Honing product development and marketing messages are equally important when targeting this market, which is "top of mind" for CPG marketers today, Viamari said. But preferences and tastes are varied, so a key strategy is to identify how these different groups learn and share information about food and beverage products.
"Some pieces of the market may be more inclined to call mom or their sister, whereas others are going be more tech-savvy and look on social media. What are the sites they frequent the most? They're not going to be same because of the different cultures that are melting together," Viamari said.
Granularity from customer analytics plays an important role, but so far marketers have lacked access to much of this data.
"Store-level understanding has been further challenged by difficulty in gaining visibility into specialty markets such as independent stores, called bodegas," according to the report.
With or without access to this data, incorporating cultural traditions and values is crucial for attracting this particular market, while keeping level of acculturation in mind. Certain age groups, such as younger demographics, are more likely to embrace acculturation than older consumers, and those insights play a role in effective targeted marketing.
But Viamari suggested that when it comes to products, finding the right ingredients and flavors are central to these efforts. Food and beverage companies have done a better job of understanding this in recent years, she said.
"Consumers in general are looking for excitement in their food and beverages, such as textures, flavors, or ingredients that are unexpected," Viamari said. "With Hispanics coming from different countries, it's different ingredients that are going to resonate more with one group versus another group, and CPGs really need to understand, what are the ingredients that sing, if you will, to the markets that they’re targeting.”
Other key growth trends for food and beverage
IRI identified several other growth trends prevalent in CPG, including food and beverage:
- Consumers' adoption of healthier-living strategies
- Consumers’ desire for transparency and authenticity
- Increased use of big data to drive "smart" growth
- On-the-go lifestyles contribute to rise of snacks, convenient foods
- Manufacturers' internal consolidation plus strategic acquisitions "to fill white space growth opportunities"
IRI's trends report and the categories and companies succeeding in today's evolving food and beverage environment demonstrate how the industry is flush with opportunities to expand and excel, despite the rapidly-changing atmosphere that manufacturers face today.


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BEIJING, Jan 10, 2019, The Straits Times. Trade discussions between the United States and China spanned a wide range of matters, including “structural issues” that the Americans have long complained about, statements from both sides revealed, reported The Straits Times.
The three-day closed door negotiations ended on Wednesday (Dec 9) on a positive note.
A statement released by China’s Commerce Ministry on Thursday morning said both sides carried out “wide, deep and thorough exchanges” on trade and structural issues of mutual concern.
The talks “enhanced mutual understanding, and established a foundation for solving, each other’s concerns”, said the statement, stressing that both sides agreed to maintain close communication, while providing few other details.
But a statement released earlier by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said the talks were held with “a view to achieving needed structural changes in China with respect to forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial purposes, services, and agriculture”.
In addition to the large trade deficit, the US has long complained about such structural issues.
The talks also focused on “China’s pledge to purchase a substantial amount of agricultural, energy, manufactured goods, and other products and services from the US” according to the USTR.
“The officials also discussed the need for any agreement to provide for complete implementation subject to ongoing verification and effective enforcement,” said the US statement, adding that US officials, who left Beijing on Wednesday, will now report back for further guidance.
The talks – led by US Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish and Chinese Vice-Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen – were initially scheduled to end on Tuesday.
But they extended past their deadline, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry said signified that both sides were “very serious about these negotiations”.
They were the first face-to-face meetings since Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump brokered a 90-day ceasefire in trade hostilities in December.
The trade war has seen both sides impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from each other.
The vice-ministerial level talks are working-level discussions and not meant to yield a final agreement.
But they are a key step before both countries’ top negotiators – US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He – can sit down to thrash out a deal.


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Subway’s press team is vehemently denying reports that the majority of its chicken strips are not composed of chicken. Lab tests funded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation indicated that a sample of Subway’s chicken strips are only 42.8 percent chicken DNA, CBC Marketplace reported last week.
“The accusations made by CBC Marketplace about the content of our chicken are absolutely false and misleading,” Subway spokesman Kevin Kane writes in an email to ConsumerAffairs. “Our chicken is 100% white meat with seasonings, marinated and delivered to our stores as a finished, cooked product.”
Kane adds that Subway wants the report taken down: "We have advised them of our strong objections. We do not know how they produced such unreliable and factually incorrect data, but we are insisting on a full retraction. Producing high quality food for our customers is our highest priority. This report is wrong and it must be corrected.”
His statement is a departure from previous comments the sandwich chain made to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Subway initially suggested that a supplier could be to blame and admitted to using just a small amount of soy in its chicken. "Our recipe calls for one per cent or less of soy protein in our chicken products,” Subway said to CBC last week. "We will look into this again with our supplier to ensure that the chicken is meeting the high standard we set for all of our menu items and ingredients."
A history of questionable additives in fast food
Public health researchers have been concerned for years about the additives that food companies use in meat and other foods to stretch their product, and dollars, as far as possible. Research published in the Annals of Diagnostic Pathology in 2008 found that fast food hamburgers, on average, contained only 12 percent meat, with half of the burger being made of water.
“Unexpected tissue types found in some hamburgers included bone, cartilage, and plant material,” the study added, though “no brain tissue was present.”
McDonald’s then faced unwelcome scrutiny on the composition of its hamburgers and chicken nuggets several years later, when the television program Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution introduced viewers to “pink slime.” Composed of left-over meat parts normally perceived to be unfit for human consumption, the “slime” was then treated with ammonia to kill harmful bacteria.
The resulting gooey, pink product would eventually turn into a a much more appetizing-looking McNugget, Oliver’s report charged. McDonald's denied using "pink slime" in its McNuggets but later announced that it had discontinued using ammonia-treated beef in its burgers.
“This product has been out of our supply chain since August of last year,” McDonald’s said of ammonia-treated beef in 2012. “This decision was a result of our efforts to align our global standards for how we source beef around the world."
Lab tests claim that Subway chicken has more soy than competitors
Noting that chicken is often perceived by consumers to be “the healthy choice,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation hired DNA researchers to test samples of chicken from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, A&W, and Subway.
Subway stood out for the relatively low amount of chicken found in its chicken. While chicken from the other fast food chains averaged at least 84.9 percent chicken, Subway’s chicken strips were comprised of less than 50 percent chicken, at 42.8 percent, and its chicken breast was found to only be 53.6 percent chicken DNA. The remainder of the product, according to the report, is soy.
But none of the results were comforting from a health perspective—overall; the researchers said that fast food chicken contains about a quarter less protein than home-cooked chicken and as much as ten times more sodium.


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Windows 10 the next Big OS from Microsoft, Most of App going work from the cloud. eg: Microsoft Office Packages most of them functioning with cloud, That’s might easier to integrate with OS platform and cloud platform. With this OS Update we hope that Microsoft can reduce the software piracy. At the very beginning Microsoft will launch a Windows Insider Program that will give users who are comfortable with running very early beta software access to Windows 10. This time the Windows Developing team wanted the OS Supporting according to the display size, that mean each and every screen will get a different kind of UI. Windows users will get a better UX experience with Windows 10 OS.
The Look – again the started standard start bar and tiled window system also. One special feature added like multi screens with multi tasking. Windows 10 will still have a Windows 8 like Start Screen for users to touch-enabled machines, for example. Meanwhile, Microsoft might start to work with Next Mobile update also, Microsoft plans to bring one platform in all devices, so seems like Windows 10 also going have mobile rollout. Most of the Windows phone users mentioned that the Windows 8 Mobile OS is light OS to run with mid and high end phones. Microsoft Mentioning the same system (light OS) they can reach some better range of smartphone market.
Source: Engaget and TechCrunch


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ITL Park improves services for enterprises
"With the introduction of '24-hour self-service mailboxes', we no longer have to manually deliver materials between our company and various administrative departments," said Duan Suxia, an administrative worker at a grain and oil trading company in the Xi'an International Trade and Logistics (ITL) Park.
The "24-hour self-service mailbox" is a closed-loop system that combines the park's government affairs network with postal express delivery.
To use the new mailbox system, people just need to complete a pre-trial on the government service website and then place their materials in the mailbox. Government workers will then pick up the materials. Afterwards, a license will be placed inside the mailbox and a notification will be sent when it is received.
The ITL Park has already set up five "24-hour self-service mailboxes", providing services to more than 2,000 enterprises in the park.
In addition, the park has also established an online and offline cash approval payment model that allows enterprises to obtain financial subsidies in a timely manner.
As of right now, 60 percent of the park's government affairs can be handled online through data-sharing and online pre-examinations.


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The British Fashion Council has shortlisted Christopher Raeburn, Christopher Shannon, E Tautz, Lou Dalton and Richard Nicoll for the BFC GQ Designer Menswear Fund 2014, which is supported by luxury mobile phone brand Vertu.
The designers will take part in a mentoring programme developed by the BFC over the next month, in which industry experts will provide guidance on topics including branding, leadership, commercial retail, etail, wholesale and digital innovation.
The fund provides one designer with a mentoring support programme over a twelve-month period, as well as a £150,000 grant to provide necessary infrastructure to take them to the next stage in their business and £50,000 value-in-kind services.
Dylan Jones, editor of British GQ and chairman of London Collections: Men, said the designers are a “testament” to British talent.
He added: “The current generation of British menswear designers might be the best-ever, as they not only have creativity in abundance, but also a keen business sense. Our young designers know that without a solid business background, success can be tough, which is why it is so heartening to see such strong business plans from these shortlisted designers.”


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Payments company Wameja said its HomeSend payments hub joint venture with Mastercard saw higher average transaction volumes in the fourth quarter. Transaction volumes for the three months through December rose 6% compared to the third quarter, while gross value flows rose 1.9%. 'HomeSend continued to show momentum in transaction numbers and gross value flows during the fourth quarter of 2019 and that positive trend has continued into 2020,' Wameja said. At 8:01am: (LON:WJA) share price was +0.2p at 5.2p
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Royal Mail profits fell 30% in the first half of the year as the privatised company was hit by growing competition and the redundancy costs of shedding nearly 3,000 jobs.
The business, which was floated on the stock market two years ago, said its full-year performance would depend on the Christmas period – its busiest time of year.
Revenues slipped to £4.4bn in the six months to 27 September from £4.48bn a year earlier, with falling UK letter revenues largely offset by growth in domestic and European parcels.
Nearly 3,000 staff left, mainly through voluntary redundancy, pushing up Royal Mail’s costs in the short-term. This represented about 2% of the company’s UK workforce, which is 140,000 after the cuts.
This resulted in transformation costs doubling to £94m, and pushed pretax profits down to £116m from £167m. Adjusted operating profits excluding those costs slipped to £342m from £348m, in line with analysts’ forecasts.
The firm has stepped up its cost savings programme and expects operating costs to fall at least 1% over the year as a whole.
Royal Mail shares rose about 5% to close at 476p. The company increased its interim dividend from 6.7p to 7p.
Chief executive Moya Greene said Royal Mail had delivered a “resilient performance”. She added: “We delivered parcel volume and revenue growth in the UK, which continues to be a challenging market … As in previous years, the full-year outcome will be dependent on our important Christmas period, for which we have extensive preparations in place.”
Greene, who joined the group in July 2010, said: “I love what I am doing.
“The IPO was a very, very large deal. It is really wonderful that we turned this beautiful, treasured heritage company into an investable institution.”
She said that the IPO “caused us to sharpen our strategy and to articulate where we were going and to set in place a roadmap so that we had everybody on the same page.”
Letter volumes in the UK fell 4% while parcel volumes rose 4%. The European parcel delivery division GLS did better, delivering 9% volume growth.
Royal Mail faces rising competition from companies such as Amazon which is pushing into the parcel delivery market with its own network.
Other delivery firms are also struggling. UK Mail, which has been dogged by problems at its new automated delivery centre, warned that profits would be lower next year and cut its dividend after reporting a sharp fall in first-half profits on Wednesday.
Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Royal Mail now has a stranglehold over letter (including Christmas card) deliveries since its main competitor Whistl quit the market, but parcels are where the money is. The boom in e-commerce and strong UK consumer confidence has brought about fierce competition between delivery companies. To date, Royal Mail has struggled in the fight for our online orders.”
A review from Britain’s postal regulator Ofcom, following a complaint from Whistl, also looms large. In its initial view, Ofcom said Royal Mail had breached competition law by proposing wholesale prices that are more expensive for any firm looking to run a rival mail delivery service. A final decision is expected next year.
The government sold its remaining 14% stake in Royal Mail a month ago, raising £591m for the Treasury. The firm’s flotation in October 2013 was highly controversial because the government sold 60% of the 500-year-old institution for 330p a share, only to see the price rise sharply to 615p. A committee of MPs said taxpayers lost out on up to £1bn because the shares could have been priced higher.
Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said: “This is the expectedly difficult half of the year for Royal Mail, with these numbers putting even more emphasis than usual on the critical Christmas period ... The spectre of the Ofcom review remains a drag on prospects, whilst the ominous presence of Amazon also injects caution. More positively, the fact that the company is accelerating the transformation should be reflected further down the line in a leaner business.”


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New Restaurant Opens in Tracy this Weekend
(Tracy, CA) There’s something new smokin’ in town. Dickey’s Barbecue in Tracy will be opening their doors on Thursday, March 13 at 11:00a.m. The first 50 customers will receive a gift card for up to $50. To learn more, go like their Facebook page.
“I am excited to open a Dickey’s Barbecue in Tracy, and see old friends and neighbors,” said local owner Nick Pena. “The city is growing and I think a barbecue restaurant is a great addition.”
Friday, come on in for Dickey’s Barbecue merchandise giveaways. Saturday, radio station Kat Country 103 will be onsite from noon to 2:00p.m and this location will be serving $2 pulled pork barbecue sandwiches. There will also be a lucky winner for chosen for a $500 gift card.
Nick Pena has a background in law enforcement and has owned several businesses in Tracy and Stockton. Nick’s son-in-law, Mike Lowery along with his wife Nicole, will be managing this location. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in Tracy is located at 2610 S. Tracy Blvd., Units C & D in the Raley’s Shopping Center.


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The Travel Network Group is trialling a new concierge service in its Worldchoice stores aiming at help agents through the upcoming ban on card surcharging.
The proposed scheme sees customers pay a “nominal fee” added to the total cost of their holiday and in return given access to extra services such as, the printing out of boarding passes, an online cruise personaliser, no in-house amendment fees and a 24-hour customer support team.
If successful, the service will be rolled out to members before the end of the year.
The consortium said it was hoping to encourage customer loyalty and help mitigate the outlawing of surcharging due to come into force in January.
From customer research carried out in its stores over the past fortnight, the group claimed the “vast majority” of customers surveyed responded positively when asked if they would be prepared to pay for a concierge service – while customers reacted “negatively” when asked about the option of paying a booking fee.
Gary Lewis, chief executive, said: “We have used the principles of our work with the Institute of Customer Service and taken a creative approach to what is a negative situation. Our members are understandably concerned about the new legislation coming into play and we have been looking at ways to help them mitigate the loss of earnings.
"We have approached our business partners about this issue and the reaction has been mixed. Some are saying that they will look to increase commissions for agents, whilst others have said they categorically won’t.
“This concierge service is a way of offering customers an enhanced level of service, whilst at the same time protecting agents’ profitability. The vast majority of consumers that have been asked about whether they would be happy to pay for the service have said they would.”
Lewis said that the group would continue to trial the scheme in its owned stores, with a potential roll-out to members taking place before Christmas.
He added that members would be supported with marketing materials to use online and in-store.


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Ather Energy has started delivering the Ather 450X in select cities this week. The company has launched the electric scooter in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune. In images tweeted by the company’s official handle, customers in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have received their scooters, with the first batch of the Ather 450X Series 1 also handed to early bird customers.
Ather Energy started accepting bookings for its new electric scooters last month where customers in Bengaluru and Chennai could pay the full amount of their new Ather electric scooter. The company plans to manufacture up to 8,000 units per month once it moves into its Hosur factory. For the moment though, it says it plans to deliver vehicles to customers within three weeks from the booking date.
Ather Energy plans to put the Ather 450 Plus and the Ather 450X on sale in a total of eleven cities by Q1 2021. The company is offering Ather 450X test rides in Ahmedabad and Pune and the delivery commencement date for these and many other cities is November 2020.
The featured image shows an Ather 450X final production unit given for a test ride to instagram.com user iamstrell. This is the first time that Ather Energy is offering a product in western India. Until now, it was present in the south (Bengaluru and Chennai). The company has tied-up with Kataria Group in Ahmedabad, BU Bhandari in Pune and Kamal Motors in Mumbai for the dealerships and workshops.
Ather 450X deliveries in Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata would also begin this month. In December this year, Ather Energy will start delivering Ather 450X in Delhi and Mumbai. Coimbatore and Kozhikode, the final cities to receive the new electric scooter under the company’s Phase I expansion, will have to wait until Q1 2021.
The Ather 450X is an improved version of the Ather 450 which has been discontinued. It has a 2.61 kWh battery instead of the old model’s 2.4 kWh unit, along with a new and more efficient battery management system (BMS). The new BMS allows 45% speedier charging rate and brings a significant increase in standby time, meaning that the battery won’t drain as easily. The battery cells are also different, 21700-type Li-ion as against the old model’s 18650-type Li-ion.
Video Source: youtube.com/Ather Energy
The Ather 450X packs several performance upgrades and some new features as well. Its main equipment highlight is a new 7-inch touchscreen dashboard with a colour depth of 16M, a Snapdragon 212 quad-core processor, 4G SIM card, Wi-Fi and BlueTooth. There’s also a cheaper version called Ather 450 Plus, with lower performance parameters and the omission of Bluetooth.
|Parameter||Ather 450 Plus Specs||Ather 450X Specs|
|Usable Battery Capacity||2.4 kWh||2.61 kWh|
|Motor Peak Power||5.4 kW||6 kW|
|Motor Peak Torque||22 Nm||26 Nm|
|Acceleration (0-40 km/h)||3.9 seconds||3.3 seconds|
|Ride Modes||Sport, Ride & Eco||Sport, Ride, Eco & Warp|
|TrueRange||70 km||85 km|
|Normal Charging Speed||TBD||3 hours 35 minutes (0-80%)/5 hours 45 minutes (0-100%)|
|Fast Charging Speed||10 km/10 min||15 km/10 min|
|Price (ex-showroom)||1.49 lakh (Bengaluru)||1.59 lakh (Bengaluru)|
In Bengaluru, Ather Energy’s hometown, the 450X is priced at Rs 1.59 lakh (Incl. GST and FAME II incentive) and the 450 Plus is priced at Rs 1.40 lakh (Incl. GST and FAME II incentive). The latter had received a price cut of INR 9,010 last month.


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By Alex Glenn • 09 August 2021 • 14:36
Food alert and recall in Spain for popular chicken product Credit: Pixabay
Food alert and recall in Spain for popular chicken product as it has traces of milk which have not been declared.
The Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency (Aesan) have issued a warning to say that the ‘La Cocinera’ brand chicken wings have been found to contain undeclared traces of milk.
Milk is considered to be an allergen and when it is included in food products it should be shown clearly on the packaging. This means that people are able to avoid as it can cause serious health problems to people who have an allergy to milk.
Aesan were first alerted to the problem after notification was sent from the health authorities of the Community of Madrid through the Coordinated System for the Rapid Exchange of Information (Sciri).
The product affected is the ‘American style chicken wings. Marinated, cooked, battered, pre-fried and deep-frozen’. The batches which have been affected are L109722A14 and L110322A14 which have an expiry date of July 2022 and a weight of 500 grams. The product is marketed in carton packs.
Findus have been able to verify that traces of milk have been found in the product.
“The decision to recall this product was taken after the company verified that samples belonging to the batches subject to recall contained traces of milk, a food considered an allergen,” said La Cocinera.
“Findus has blocked the distribution and at the same time activated the procedures for the withdrawal from the market of the products belonging to the identified batches.”
As reported El Espanol, “Aesan recommends ‘as a precautionary measure’ that people allergic or intolerant to milk proteins or lactose refrain from consuming the affected batches of this product. ‘The consumption of this product does not pose any risk to the rest of the population’”.
The product has been distributed in all of Spain’s autonomous communities and cities with the exception of Melilla, according to Aesan.
Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.
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Samsung has announced its first F series smartphone, the Galaxy F41, in India. The phone was made in partnership with India’s e-commerce platform Flipkart.
The F41 comes with a 6.4-inch Full HD+ sAMOLED Infinity U display. It has a 64MP camera, an 8MP Ultra-wide lens with a 123-degree field of view, and a 5MP depth lens. The 64MP camera has a Single Take feature that can take seven photos and three videos with one click. The device is capable of 4K recording as well.
Inside is a 6000mAh battery and Exynos 9611 Octa-core processor. Two variants, one with 6GB+64GB, the other with 6GB+128GB, are available.
The phone will run on Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI Core, and features a rear finger print scanner and fast face unlock. It comes with a 15W Type-C fast charger.
Fusion Black, Fusion Blue, and Fusion Green colour options are available.
The 6GB+64GB variant costs INR16,999 (~RM963) while the 6GB+128GB variant costs INR17,999 (~RM1,020). The F41 will launch in India on 16 October.


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Publix said on Tuesday that due to weather-related issues preventing government delivery of the allotted COVID-19 vaccines, its stores have to cancel Wednesday's scheduling event.
The grocery store chain was planning to open its COVID-19 vaccine portal again on Wednesday for more residents 65 and older to register for an appointment.
However, that will no longer be happening as winter storms impact much of the United States, delaying the delivery of more vaccines.
"We know how important administering this vaccine is, so we deeply regret the need to cancel Wednesday’s scheduling event. Once additional vaccine is received, we will announce the next opportunity for vaccine appointment scheduling," Publix Director of Communications Maria Brous said.
Gov. DeSantis confirmed later into Tuesday that weather conditions across the United States are impacting the shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to Florida.
Wednesday and Thursday appointments already made are said to not be impacted by the delivery delay.
Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.


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Today’s Daily Briefs: gameplay trailer for This Is The Police 2, but also…
- BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
- Shovel Knight
- Tennis World Tour
- Mercenaries Saga Chronicles
- Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
- Closed Nightmare
- Disgaea Refine
- Etrian Odyssey X
- Yoku’s Island Express
- The Snack World: Trejarers Gold
- My Hero One’s Justice
- Football Manager Touch 2018
This Is The Police 2
Yesterday, THQ Nordic shared a gameplay trailer for This Is The Police 2, alongside some additional details about the game:
Back in the big city, Police Chief Jack Boyd, the protagonist of This Is the Police, was too deeply mired in bureaucracy to pay much attention to field tactics. But in Sharpwood, a cold frontier town where a young woman named Lilly Reed has recently become sheriff, you’ll need to take a new approach: you’ll have to take your cops under direct control during particularly difficult and dangerous missions.
In such situations, the game will switch to a new turn-based combat mode system. Gather a team of your finest police officers (or use your drunk and stupid bums – you don’t always have the luxury of being choosy!). Take up advantageous positions and don’t forget: the police are supposed to arrest suspects, not kill them. You’ll have to carefully study the terrain, constantly adapt your plans, stealthily approach your suspects and use non-lethal weapons and equipment. Unless, of course, you bartered them for a dozen cans of tuna. Sometimes gunfights are almost impossible to avoid, but be careful: This Is the Police 2 doesn’t have hit points. A single bullet can cost a cop their life.
This Is The Police 2 (Switch) comes out later this year in Europe and North America.
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
Earlier this week, Arc System Works announced that BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is also getting a Collector’s Edition in North America. It’s pretty much the same one as in Japan, minus the Season Pass. It costs $99.99, and will be available for purchase from the official Arc System Works Gear store from May 4th.
The Collector’s Edition includes the following:
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle game
- Full color, 52 page art book
- 15 song soundtrack
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle steel game case
- 4 acrylic figures featuring BlazBlue’s Ragna, Persona’s Yu, Under Night In-Birth’s Hyde, and RWBY’s Ruby.
- Collector’s Edition Box
Also, the pre-order bonus has been revealed: players who get the game from Amazon, BestBuy or GameStop will get a mini-soundtrack (featuring 7 tracks).
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (Switch) comes out on May 31st in Japan, June 5th in North America, and this Summer in Europe.
Source: Arc System Works PR
Earlier this week, Yacht Club Games announced that Shovel Knight has sold over 2 million units worldwide (as of the end of February). Nintendo platforms (Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch) account for over 50% of total sales, with the Nintendo Switch already being the 3rd best-selling platform for it with over 370 000 units sold.
You can find the full sales breakdown, and a lot more details about sales, on the official Yacht Club Games website!
Tennis World Tour
Earlier this week, Bigben Interactive opened the official website for Tennis World Tour. Looking for more details about the game? Then click here to check it out for yourself!
Tennis World Tour (Switch) comes out on May 22nd in Europe and North America, and later this year in Japan.
Mercenaries Saga Chronicles
Earlier this week, PM Studios and acttil announced that Mercenaries Saga Chronicles would get a physical release this Summer, in North America. Here’s a trailer:
Mercenaries Saga Chronicles (Switch) comes out at retail this Summer in North America. The Upcoming Games page has been updated!
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Earlier this week, NIS America shared some alternate covers for Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana on Nintendo Switch, that you can download from the official website!
Here’s what they look like:
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch) comes out on June 26th in North America, June 28th in Japan, and June 29th in Europe.
Here’s a teaser trailer for Closed Nightmare, a horror game from Nippon Ichi Software:
Closed Nightmare (Switch) comes out on July 19th in Japan.
Earlier this week, Nippon Ichi Software announced Disgaea Refine, a remake of the very first Disgaea. It will be released on July 26th in Japan, where it will also get a Limited Edition sold 9 200 Yen.
The Upcoming Games page has been updated!
Etrian Odyssey X
Earlier this week, Famitsu announced that Etrian Odyssey X would get a Famitsu DX Pack, including the following:
- a copy of the game
- a B3 tepestry, featuring an artwork by Yuji Himukai
- an Adventurer Guild Ceritificate Postcard Book
- a pouch (canvas, featuring Paladin artwork)
- a mat
Etrian Odyssey X (3DS) comes out on August 2nd in Japan.
Yoku’s Island Express
Here’s another piece of concept-art for Yoku’s Island Express:
And here’s the latest video clip:
Yoku's noise maker isn't just to party hard, it can wake up the residents of Mokumana Island and break through fruit-filled crystals too!
— Yoku's Island Express (@YokuGame) April 12, 2018
Yoku’s Island Express (Switch) comes out later this year in Europe and North America.
Source: Villa Gorilla (Twitter)
The Snack World: Trejarers Gold
Here’s the latest trailer for The Snack World: Trejarers Gold:
My Hero One’s Justice
Here’s the English trailer for My Hero One’s Justice (the official English title of My Hero Academia: One’s Justice):
My Hero One’s Justice (Switch) comes out this year worldwide.
Football Manager Touch 2018
Here’s the latest episode of the FM Show, which just happens to be about Football Manager Touch 2018, released yesterday in Europe:


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One of the UK’s leading winter sports holiday operators has suspended all December departures to Switzerland over concerns over the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant.
Inghams, which offers winter skiing holidays to 76 resorts in seven countries, with flights from 15 UK regional airports, made the decision after the Swiss government announced that all arrivals from the UK were to be quarantined for 10 days.
Managing Director Joe Ponte said: “Following the announcement that Switzerland has imposed a 10-day quarantine on all arrivals to the UK, we have unfortunately suspended all December 2021 departures to Switzerland.
“Customers affected by this news are given the option to move their reservation free of charge or cancel their reservation with a full refund.
“We are extremely disappointed for all of our customers who have been looking forward to a ski vacation in Switzerland next month. Switzerland accounts for around six percent of our winter program vacations, and the number of reservations for the upcoming ski season has been high. “
He added, “While many of our customers remain eager to return to the slopes, we understand that some customers with later departure dates may fear for their vacation as a result of this latest update.
“With this in mind, we continue to offer flexibility through our ‘No charge to change up to 28 days prior to departure’ policy. Allowing our guests the flexibility to move their vacation to a later date or to a different destination . ”
Inghams also organizes winter wonderland trips and Santa Claus holidays in Lapland. It offers a popular Summer Experiences vacation program in many European destinations and Canada, as well as a dedicated program of self-guided and guided tours.
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