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Celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 by buying or drinking a woman-made spirit, such as these global brands that have women master blenders, distillers and more.
Though countless women contribute to the vibrant local, national and international distilling industry, for International Women’s Day each year we give a nod to some of the trailblazers in top production, management and ownership positions at distilleries.
For a fresh perspective on the hidden history of women in spirits and cocktail, we highly recommend the recently released book Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O’Meara.
At The Alchemist, we’ve watched the humanitarian crisis unfold in Ukraine with heartbreak and horror, and like many of you, have felt the urge to help in any way we can. As it turns out, some of our favourite distillers and bartenders are way ahead of us.
Odd Society Spirits
Odd Society Spirits is donating 20 per cent of its East Van Vodka proceeds to World Central Kitchen to help their humanitarian efforts for Ukraine.
World Central Kitchen is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. They build resilient food systems with locally led solutions and are currently serving thousands of fresh meals to Ukrainian families fleeing home as well as those who remain in the country.
The team at Odd Society Spirits has seen an uptick in sales of their vodka since the BCLDB pulled all Russian products from BC liquor stores, and they want to use those funds to support refugees fleeing Ukraine.
A B.C. spirit comes out on top for the fifth consecutive year in the Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition: cheers to DEVINE Distillery’s Ancient Grains, also the Best in Class Young Whisky.
The grains may be ancient, but a globally unique, made-in-B.C. whisky is making modern history: Ancient Grains from DEVINE Distillery in Saanich is the Canadian Artisan Spirit of the Year 2022.
The top-scoring spirit across every category of the national competition, Ancient Grains is also the Best in Class Young Whisky for the third time (so classified because it matures for less than three years, which is the minimum requirement for labelling as “Canadian Whisky”). The whisky was originally created by master distiller Ken Winchester in 2017, using B.C.-grown heritage barley, einkorn, emmer, spelt and kamut, and matured in smaller quarter-casks.
An on-trend bar crawl during World’s 50 Best Bars week recaps some top watering holes of the year, and what leading bartenders are mixing up for the coming year.
Pandemic be damned, I went to London for the World’s 50 Best Bars event in December 2021. Here’s a curated crawl of award winners, bars to watch and insider hangouts that hints at what the bar world might deliver in 2022.
In a holiday season with some international supply-chain blips, shop local—and shop soon!—for B.C. small-batch spirts holiday gifts. Limited-edition and seasonal items sell out fast, so if you happen to miss out this season, get on e-newsletter lists or follow distilleries on social media to watch for the next drop, and be very nice (not naughty) until next year. Many items from last holiday season are bound to be available again, so check out last year’s guide, too.
Here at The Alchemist, we think it’s time to look forward rather than back; to be hopeful rather than anxious; to raise a glass to the good rather than drink to forget the bad. So the Fall/Winter 2021 issue is all about our bright, sunny future.
Let’s start with an announcement: The Alchemist magazine is thrilled to present Vancouver Cocktail Week from March 6 to 10, 2022. Expect parties, seminars, our Cinq à Sept series and much more. We can’t wait to see you there!
Six decades of exceptional whisky captured in The Decades collections
When The Dalmore puts its once-in-a-lifetime selection of six exceptional single malt whiskies on the auction block this October, the Highland distillery is offering more than prestige and fancy spirits. It is sharing a taste of history, captured in amber spirit.
The Dalmore Highland Single Malt is offering The Decades No. 6 Collection as a single-lot auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 8. Partial proceeds from the auction will be donated to V&A Dundee as part of a four-year partnership with the art museum.
Gin + Vermouth + Campari = A beloved Italian drink you can sip at local restaurants and bars (and support great causes, too)
It’s time to raise your glass in celebration of one of the world’s most beloved cocktails, as bars and restaurants mix things up for a good cause for the return of Negroni Week.
The elegant aperitif is traditionally made with one part gin, one part vermouth rosso, and one part Campari, and is garnished with orange peel.
However, for Negroni Week, participating venues offer up their own renditions, available to customers with proceeds going to a charity of choice. This year, Negroni Week will be celebrated from Sept. 13 through 19.
Vancouver’s Gastown creates a safe, social outdoor oasis for the return of cocktail culture this summer. It makes perfect sense for the neighbourhood founded on the bar that helped build a city.
Under some welcome umbrella shade on the Jules Bistro patio, live music wafts over from a nearby performer, the all-day-happy-hour Chambord kiss of French Martinis flow for $14, while cocktailians sip under vintage lamposts festooned with lush flower baskets. It almost feels like the “before times.”
As life slowly returns to normal this summer, Vancouver’s Gastown—the neighbourhood where the city started, and where our most famous bar ever was started by its namesake, nicknamed Gassy Jack (aka John Deighton) more than 150 years ago—has embraced pandemic conditions to enhance its reputation as patio central.
For the second time in only four years, a Canadian bartender has taken home the title of World Class Bartender of the Year.
After a gruelling four-day virtual final, Edmonton’s James Grant triumphed over his colleagues from 50 countries to win the world’s biggest and most prestigious cocktail competition, Diageo World Class.


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SAN ANTONIO-- Luxury brand Louis Vuitton is suing a popular northeast side flea market, claiming the owners and manager have allowed vendors to sell counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise.(from WOAI-TV)
The company claims vendors inside the Eisenhauer Market have sold counterfeit goods for more than a year. Shoppers say the market is a popular spot for knock-off handbags that cost hundreds less than the real thing.
And San Antonio is in good company (or bad, if you like), according to a statement from the purse-maker.
Louis Vuitton’s Intellectual Property Department is managing over 11,500 intellectual property rights including trademarks, designs and copyrights with the support of 250 agents around the world. Thanks to this fully-dedicated team of lawyers and former law enforcement professionals based in Paris with regional offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Milan, Dubai, New York and Buenos Aires, thousands of anti-counterfeiting raids are performed each year. In 2009, Louis Vuitton initiated 9,489 raids (39 per day) and 26,843 anti-counterfeiting procedures worldwide, resulting in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit products and the break- up of criminal networks, easing the plight of workers working for illegal organisations.They initiated 39 raids per day in 2009. Looking at that statistic, I guess it was just a matter of time until they got around to the Eisenhauer Market.

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MANILA -- Philippines' San Miguel Brewery and Spain's Mahou San Miguel have forged an alliance to expand the beer brand's global footprint.
According to a joint statement released Wednesday, the two companies "have signed a cooperation agreement to promote their international business and jointly position San Miguel as an iconic brand worldwide." It was not clear how both parties will achieve this goal, but they said they have defined "a framework for collaboration that will allow them to reach more consumers and markets with the San Miguel brand."
The partnership is a reunion of sorts for the two San Miguel beer producers, whose relationship reaches back to 1953, when San Miguel Brewery granted San Miguel Spain the "branding rights" for Europe and Mediterranean Africa.
That agreement paved way for a Spanish brewery later named San Miguel Fabricas de Cerveza y Malta, where San Miguel Brewery held a 20% equity share via San Miguel Brewery Hong Kong, the Philippine brewer's first offshore brewery.
Both parties, since then, have independently developed the San Miguel beer brand.
"In 2000, however, San Miguel Spain was bought by Mahou, giving rise to the 100% Spanish Mahou San Miguel group, which today continues to extend the profile of the brand with great success not only in Spain but in key European markets like UK, Italy, Nordic countries and Germany," according to the statement.
Officials from both parties expressed optimism over the newly formed cooperation agreement.
"MSM (Mahou San Miguel) and SMB (San Miguel Brewery) share a long and storied history," San Miguel Brewery Chairman Ramon S. Ang said. "Leveraging on the strength and depth of our category as well as presence in our respective markets can do a lot for ramping up San Miguel as a global flagship brand."
Javier Lopez del Hierro, chairman of Mahou San Miguel, said the "alliance is much more than a business partnership."
"It has been an emotional journey to the origins of San Miguel, and is a unique opportunity to release the brand's enormous potential, promoting a common positioning across the globe," he added.
San Miguel Brewery has production plants in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as Hong Kong. It also exports products to Angola, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Qatar and the United States.
San Miguel Brewery's net income attributable to equity holders fell 16.09% to 12.05 billion pesos ($276 million) last year, and sales dropped 0.70% to 75.05 billion pesos.
According to the statement, combined international sales of the San Miguel Brewery and Mahou San Miguel outside of the core and original Philippine market, today make San Miguel one of the top 10 global premium beer brands.


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If you’re traveling for Memorial Day, you’ll be joining record numbers of people, the most in about 12 years of holiday vacationing, with the same idea – these are the best and worst times to travel for the holiday from major cities throughout the U.S.
This year, about 41.5 million people will be taking trips for Memorial Day, which is a record amount – the most travelers in about 12 years, according to a AAA study reported by Smarter Travel. It’s a five percent increase over last year, as well. Interestingly, the increase is a bit surprising due to gas prices, which are the highest they’ve been in four years. Even since last year, the price has increased about 33 cents, averaging $2.72 per gallon in April. AAA’s senior Vice President said in a statement that he thinks it’s thanks to increased consumer confidence and a stronger economy in recent months.
About 36.6 million people will be taking road trips for the holiday. Based on that, INRIX, a company focusing on travel analytics, compiled the worst day and time to travel from ten major US cities. If you’re in Atlanta, Houston, Boston, or DC, avoid leaving Thursday night. San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Seattle should leave Friday morning, because Friday afternoon will be the worst.
On the bright side, if you’re flying instead of driving, hotel costs, airfare, and car rental fees have decreased this year, ranging from seven to 14 percent lower than last year’s rates.


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Shanghai — Mainland China's first Quiksilver Boardriders Club sits between an Adidas store and a Starbucks coffee shop on Huaihai Middle Road. The street is the Champs-Elysees of Shanghai, a city where shopping is the No. 1 sport and half the population is under 30.
For Quiksilver Inc., the Huntington Beach company that helped popularize the surf-wear craze in the United States and made millions exporting it around the globe, cosmopolitan Shanghai was the obvious place to introduce board shorts to a country of more than 1 billion consumers.
Riding a tidal wave might have been easier.
The Quiksilver brand's cachet is linked to its close ties to surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders. But most kids here have never seen a snowboard or ridden a skateboard. And surfing?
"I know it goes up and it goes down," says a teenager shooting hoops at Shanghai Stadium. Might he and his friends like to give it a try? "I'm afraid to die," one of his buddies replies.
In the year since it announced a mainland joint venture with Glorious Sun Enterprises Ltd., a Hong Kong retailer, Quiksilver has learned that the surf, snowboard and skateboard culture that helped it make money selling clothes and sports gear in other parts of the world doesn't translate so easily here.
Quiksilver initially announced plans for as many as 10 Boardriders Club stores in Shanghai by early this year. The one on Huaihai Middle Road opened in February; Quiksilver now says it's set to open one more store in Shanghai in 2004 and one in Beijing in 2005.
"We're just realizing this is going to take ages," says Quiksilver Greater China co-managing director Nicolas Giannoli. "Just ages."
When the company moves into a new market, it usually advertises in magazines that target surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders. There are no such publications in China, so the joint venture has plastered surfing and skateboarding scenes on two city buses and sent text messages offering discounts on caps and T-shirts to cellphones, which many Shanghai teenagers wear as pendants.
But there was no way for Quiksilver to get marketing mileage from its relationship to such star athletes as surfer Kelly Slater, skateboarder Tony Hawk or snowboarder Danny Kass, names that typically draw blank stares here.
"Who is he?" says Ma Bin when asked about Hawk.
Basketball, Ma knows.
"Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neal," the 26-year-old hotel baggage supervisor says, knocking his fists together to illustrate the head-butting between the rival centers from the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers. "Kobe," he adds, with an exuberant thumbs up.
For all that, Quiksilver figures it's equal to the challenge of China. With an economy exploding at an annual rate of 9.1%, the country is hard for a growing company to resist.
"There are more teenagers in China than there are people in the United States," Chief Executive Robert B. McKnight Jr. told shareholders at their recent annual meeting. "That, to me, is a clear example of where we can take our company."
Early on, Quiksilver zeroed in on a spot to stage surf contests: Sanya, a resort town on Hainan, a tropical island in the South China Sea with blond beaches that is beguiling enough to have snared the nickname "Chinese Hawaii."
There's one pesky problem: "No big waves," says a taxi driver, zipping along a two-lane road that cuts through Hainan's rice paddies. "You might want to try a different sport."
Although surfers can occasionally be spotted on the island, local motorboat instructor Wu Yuning says Sanya's waves are generally wimpy unless there's a typhoon. And he says the problem is bigger than Hainan.
"I'm very familiar with China's beaches," he says. "From my point of view, I don't think there are any beaches in China suitable for surfing."
In 1987, Surfer magazine sent a group of surfers to China, in conjunction with the Chinese Olympic Committee. The committee wondered whether it could "churn out surfing champions," and the U.S. team wondered whether there were any big waves, Sam George, the magazine's editor, recalls.
"They really didn't find much surf," George says.
The naysaying doesn't deter Giannoli, 39, a French-born non-surfer who managed Quiksilver's European operations before taking on China.
"In Hong Kong when there's a typhoon day, everybody's in the water to surf," he says. "So maybe someday that will happen in Hainan."
In It for the Long Haul
Giannoli, like Quiksilver, takes the long view.
The company envisions itself sketching a blueprint for success in Shanghai, a port city where the sea mingles with mud instead of sandy beaches. It's working now to create a skateboarding park and hopes to start a snowboarding school soon. Eventually, the company says, it imagines sending Chinese youth to Australia to teach them how to surf.


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Apple Inc.’s prime software program engineer criticized the safety of his personal Mac working system in a bid to clarify why the corporate shouldn’t be compelled by a decide to loosen its maintain over iPhone and iPad app distribution, as Epic Video games Inc. is demanding.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vp of software program engineering, testified Wednesday at a trial in federal courtroom in Oakland, California, that his expertise with imported malware on the macOS system exhibits how safety could be eroded if the corporate allowed iPhone and iPad customers to put in software program from the net or different shops, because it does on the Mac.
“Right this moment now we have a degree of malware on the Mac that we don’t discover acceptable,” primarily as a result of the system permits customers to put in software program that isn’t vetted by Apple, Federighi stated. That makes it much less safe than iOS and iPadOS, the working programs that energy the iPhone and iPad, he stated.
Permitting apps from different shops or locations on the iPhone would create a “very, very unhealthy scenario for our clients,” together with “an enormous lower of their security,” Federighi stated. He additionally stated iPhones and iPads have safety protections, together with the App Retailer overview course of, to maintain the merchandise free from malware.
Later in his testimony, Federighi stated that regardless of its malware issues, the Mac is the most secure selection amongst private computer systems and is safer than these operating Microsoft Corp.’s Home windows working system.
How Apple’s App Retailer Sparked an Epic Trial: QuickTake
Federighi stated that the rival Android working system, which permits third-party shops, faces comparable safety challenges. “It’s properly understood within the safety neighborhood that Android has a malware drawback.” Apple’s iOS, then again, has succeeded in blocking malware, he stated.
Responding to a hypothetical scenario by which third-party app obtain shops could be allowed, Federighi stated that Apple’s “safety stack” is constructed end-to-end in a approach that it might be difficult to let third events in to handle consumer safety and privateness. He would have “grave considerations” if Apple needed to hand off management over safety to 3rd events, he stated.
Earlier within the trial, Epic tried to make the purpose that if putting in software program from third-party shops on the Mac is condoned by Apple, it must be allowed on the iPhone and iPad as properly. Epic’s lawyer tried to poke holes in Apple’s retort Wednesday, asking Federighi if Apple tells customers they need to purchase iPads as an alternative of Macs if they’re in search of safety.
Apple’s safety and privateness safeguards draw customers to iOS gadgets, Federighi stated. “When customers purchase an Apple system, they’re doing it as a result of they’ve chosen an intuitive, constant consumer expertise that’s protected, that they will belief.”
Federighi stated the overall Mac consumer base is lower than one-tenth of the dimensions of the iPhone and iPad inhabitants, which is estimated to be greater than a billion lively gadgets.
(Updates with Federighi saying Macs are a protected PC selection.)


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Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), which sells electric scooters under the brand Ionex, yesterday said its first made-in-Thailand electric scooters would be available in Bangkok in the first half of next year.
The company also established a joint venture, Aionex Co, with PTT Public Co to create a scooter ecosystem in Thailand, it said.
“In Taiwan, Kwang Yang produces electric scooters, and deploys and operates a battery swapping system by its own,” Kwang Yang chairman Allen Ko (柯勝峯) told reporters. “But beyond Taiwan, it is not feasible to do it all by yourself as every part of the supply chain will require huge investments.”
Photo: Amy Yang, Taipei Times
In Thailand, the company is considering building its own electric scooter production line, or outsourcing the production to local partners, Ko said.
The Thai investment is part of the company’s three-to-five-year goal to expand its footprint in the Southeast Asian market, and Ko said Kwang Yang is looking to Vietnam and Indonesia for future expansions.
The company has received numerous inquiries for potential collaborations from Northeast Asia, India and the US, following the announcement of its partnerships with PTT, he said.
“As compared with India, we believe the Southeast Asian market will be easier to begin with. India is a much more complicated market than most people thought,” Ko said.
The Kaohsiung-based company hopes to see initial results of its overseas expansion within the next three to five years, he said.
Despite rising competition from existing fuel-powered scooter brands from Japan, the company said it is ahead of its rivals by three to five years in terms of technology.
On its home turf, Kwang Yang targets to recoup its top position in the fuel-powered scooter segment next year. The company, which sells its fuel-powered scooters under the KYMCO brand, lost the No. 1 spot last year for the first time in 22 years.
The company, which last month slashed the price of a popular model, GP125, to NT$39,800 from NT$57,000, yesterday announced the extension of the special offer to Sept. 20 as the strategy turned out to be very successful. The company has received 40,000 orders in just a month, which has never been seen in the history of Taiwan’s scooter industry, Ko said.
The company said it was unable to fully satisfy consumer demand as the orders received have greatly surpassed its capacity of 10,000 PG 125 scooters a month.
“We expect the backlog orders to be fully digested in October or November,” Ko said.
The promotion campaign helped boost Kwang Yang’s fuel-powered scooter sales last month to 26,014 units, up 60 percent from a year ago, and lifted the company’s market share to top 30.6 percent, the best since April last year, according to market researcher U-Car’s statistics.
Sanyang Motor Co Ltd (三陽工業) safeguarded its No. 1 position last month with sales of 33,443 units, capturing 39.3 percent in market share, according to U-Car.
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
AI TREND: TSMC has been rapidly expanding capacity to meet a spike in demand for advanced packaging services, but still expects supplies to be tight for 18 months Arizona is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) about advanced chip packaging, state Governor Katie Hobbs said yesterday, which is crucial for the manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips. TSMC, which is building a US$40 billion chip factory in the US state, has not announced plans to build facilities for advanced chip packaging in the US. Advanced packaging processes stitch multiple chips together into a single device, lowering the added cost of more powerful computing. “Part of our efforts at building the semiconductor ecosystem is focusing on advanced packaging, so we have several things in the works around that
The European Commission’s digital chief yesterday said that murky Chinese laws were fueling concerns among foreign firms in the country, following discussions with Beijing officials about critical areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data governance. Vera Jourova, who is also the commission’s vice president, made the comments after meeting on Monday with Chinese counterparts including Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing (張國清) in the second “High-level Digital Dialogue” between the two sides. Among the concerns Jourova said she had heard about from European businesses in China was the “unpredictability of the decisions and interpretation of the laws by the regulators.” Beijing has recently implemented
EVADING US CONTROLS? ‘These surveillance chips are relatively easy to manufacture compared to smartphone processors,’ a source said about HiSilicon’s components A Huawei Technologies Co (華為) unit is shipping new Chinese-made chips for surveillance cameras in a fresh sign that the Chinese tech giant is finding ways around four years of US export controls, two sources briefed on the unit’s efforts said. The shipments to surveillance camera manufacturers from the company’s chip design unit, HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體), started this year, said one of the sources and a third source familiar with the industry supply chain. One of the sources briefed on the unit said that at least some of the customers were Chinese. Huawei unveiled new smartphones in the past few weeks that


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By Hélène Bigras-Dutrisac
Great news for Londoners with a sweet tooth: a new vegan dessert shop is coming your way!
Barsha Bhola, owner of the London Cinnaholic franchise, said the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to delay opening for months.
But after months of waiting, the gourmet cinnamon roll bakery of her dreams is finally becoming a reality starting March 26th at 11 a.m.
“We’re very thankful for everyone who has worked with us along the way,” she said. “We faced a lot of challenges that we never expected, but the landlords have been great.”
Cinnaholic was founded by Shannon and Florian Radke, and the first Cinnaholic bakery opened in Berkley, Calif. in 2010. According to VegNews, there are 70 new locations in the works in Canada alone.
According to Bhola, the London location will be the third Cinnaholic franchise to open in Ontario.
Bhola described Cinnaholic as a “vegan gourmet cinnamon roll bakery,” but says they’ll be selling lots of other baked goods and seasonal treats.
In addition to their signature cinnamon rolls, their current menu includes cookie dough, brownies and peanut butter cups.
“It’s important to provide options to the vegan community and the community as a whole,” Bhola said. “It’s good whether you’re vegan or not.”
Cinnaholic London is located at 114 Dundas Street. See their website for more information: https://www.cinnaholicdundaslondon.ca/


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While the new Apple TV looks just like the old Apple TV, the new version supports 1080p and has a new interface.
According to sources, Apple said the new iteration of the Apple TV device features an updated user interface that makes it easier to access purchased movies, TV shows and music with iTunes Match from iCloud.
“People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple worldwide senior VP of marketing. “Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud.”
The new Apple TV unveiled yesterday will be available on March 16 at $99 suggested retail.Tags: Apple


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Shares of the following companies made notable moves in the stock market Wednesday:
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. ANPI rose 22% to finish at $1.89 after the company said it agreed to provide Haemacure Corp. HAE, +1.07% with a senior secured bridge financing facility in the amount of $2.5 million. "Our new collaboration with Haemacure provides Angiotech with access to critically important technology for certain of our surgical product candidates currently in preclinical development," said Dr. William Hunter, president and chief executive of Angiotech.
Applied Signal Technology Inc. APSG climbed 14%. The company announced after the close Tuesday that fiscal second-quarter profit doubled to $4.1 million, or 31 cents a share, from $2 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $53.5 million from $45.3 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research estimated profit of 19 cents a share on revenue of $49.1 million.
Atlas Pipeline Partners LP APL, +13.79% rose 13%. On Tuesday the natural gas provider announced that it activated its joint venture with Williams Cos. WMB, +0.63% another energy company, to form Laurel Mountain Midstream, LLC. As part of the deal, Atlas will receive about $90 million in cash, a preferred equity right to proceeds under a $25.5 million obligation from Williams, and a 49% equity stake in Laurel Mountain.
Dynavax Technologies Corp. DVAX, +2.31% rose 32% to $1.86. The Berkeley, Calif.-based firm said it presented additional Phase III clinical data for its hepatitis B vaccine, Heplisav, at the Digestive Disease Week medical conference in Chicago. The results showed the vaccine provided more rapid and increased seroprotection against hepatitis B viral infection and with fewer doses than the licensed vaccine, the company said.
La-Z-Boy Inc. LZB, +3.54% increased 39% to close at $3.03. Raymond James upgraded the furniture maker to strong buy from market perform. The broker said the company is well positioned to benefit from improved industry conditions, once they materialize, and issued 12-month price target of $4.50 a share.
TiVo Inc. TIVO, +3.00% soared 53%. The company said Tuesday that a federal court rejected a patent workaround by Echostar Corp. SATS, +3.48% The judge found EchoStar in contempt and ordering the enforcement of a permanent injunction, TiVo said. TiVo also said the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas awarded an additional $103 million to TiVo. Dish Network Corp. DISH, +1.39% and EchoStar said they were disappointed about the decision and said that Dish will file an appeal.
Arrow Electronics Inc., ARW, +1.96% decreased 6.5%. The Melville, N.Y., provider of products and services for users of electronic parts and enterprise-computing solutions estimated that fiscal second-quarter earnings would come in at 26 cents to 31 cents a share on revenue of $3.05 billion to $3.65 billion. For the quarter ending July 4, a survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced a consensus estimate of 34 cents of profit on $3.49 billion of revenue. Arrow's previous estimate was 26 cents to 38 cents of profit on $3.15 billion to $3.75 billion of revenue.
Barclays PLC's U.S. shares BCS, +0.34% (BARC) fell 7.3%. On Tuesday, analysts at Societe Generale said that they believe a long-term investor divesting a large part of its potential holding seven months after buying into the firm wasn't a positive sign about its health. "We continue to be concerned about the robustness of Barclay's balance sheet," the analysts said in a note. Barclays shares fell sharply Tuesday as Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co. offloaded around 1.3 billion shares of the bank.
Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. HOV, +1.34% fell 6.6% to $2.82. Its second-quarter loss narrowed to $118.6 million, or $1.50 a share, from $340.7 million, or $5.29 a share, in the year-ago period, the home builder said. Revenue fell to $398 million from $776.4 million last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research estimated a quarterly loss of $1.31 a share on revenue of $334.6 million.
JetBlue Airways JBLU, +2.25% lost 15%. The airline operator said May traffic declined from a year ago and that it will launch an offering to raise capital. May traffic fell 3.3% to 2.1 billion revenue passenger miles from 2.17 billion last year. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, in May fell to 77.4% from 79.2%. Separately, JetBlue said it will launch a secondary offering of 20 million shares and $150 million in convertible debentures.
Steel Dynamics Inc. STLD, -1.10% decreased 10%. The company said it plans to make a secondary offering of 27 million shares and $150 million in convertible senior notes due in 2014. Underwriters will have options on an additional 15% of both issues if demand for the offerings is sufficient.
Tesoro Corp. TSO, +0.00% traded down 13%. The company announced Tuesday the pricing of its $300 million 9.75% senior notes due 2019. The company intends to use the proceeds to repay other debts, and satisfy capital expenditures.
Williams-Sonoma Inc., WSM, +1.73% fell 8%. The San Francisco housewares retailer swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss from a year-earlier profit on 22% lower revenue and 21% lower comparable-store sales. Williams-Sonoma affirmed its estimates for the year, saying that while the first-quarter performance was better than expected, the economy remains volatile and promotions may be required as the industry reduces inventory.


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Many Netflix subscribers settling in to watch (or avoid watching) holiday movies on Monday evening received an unpleasant surprise in the form of an error message saying that the service couldn't be accessed.
Nintendo said it will launch its TVii service on Thursday, which will allow cable and satellite TV subscribers who buy its Wii U gaming console to navigate programming from Comcast, Netflix and other video providers.
Hulu announced it will close 2012 with more than 3 million paying Hulu Plus subscribers, a huge coup for the company that also offers a version of the same service, albeit with less content, for free. In a Hulu blog, Jason Kilar, CEO of the company, also announced the company would finish the year with $695 million in revenue, a more than 65 percent increase over 2011.
Avail-TVN said it struck deals to supply subscription video-on-demand programming to Verizon's FiOS TV and Redbox Instant, the streaming video service that Verizon and Coinstar plan to launch next year.
Verizon's FiOS Internet, Comcast and Charter Communications are the fastest national broadband providers when it comes to delivering Netflix video streams to subscribers, the online video provider said Tuesday.
Netflix, which lives and dies by broadband speeds, is living it up with Google Fiber in Kansas City, where it says it got "actual" average user speeds of 2.55 Mbps in November.
Republican FCC commissioner Ajit Pai warned Thursday that the FCC could attempt to regulate the pricing of usage-based broadband packages next year if its net neutrality rules are upheld by an appellate court.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wanted the world to know that members were watching "nearly a billion hours per month" so he posted an item on Facebook in early July saying just that.
The game-changing exclusive deal between Netflix and the Walt Disney Co. is only the start of things to come--at least if Netflix execs have their way--as studios start to look at how consumers watch television and re-evaluate the old pay TV model.
Video analytics purveyor Skytide has high hopes for over-the-top (OTT) video in 2013, predicting, among other things, that next year "may be the year when a commercially viable OTT model emerges that is equitable and sustainable for both content owners and ISPs and allows service providers to actually profit from their infrastructure investments."


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A targeted approach is needed, and that is why industry road maps are critical to helping enterprises and workers cope with disruptive change
Of late, the outlook for the Singapore economy has not been good. Businesses are bracing themselves for a challenging year ahead and workers may be anxious about their job prospects.
The current slowdown merits more attention as it is both cyclical and structural in nature. Business cycles wax and wane, but structural shifts, if not addressed in time, can become an unfavourable new normal for Singapore, with prolonged periods of low and slow growth.
The latest official data gives reason for both concern and cheer. Singapore’s economy grew 1.8 per cent last year, higher than forecast but still the lowest since 2009 when the global financial crisis hit.
Unemployment remains low, but the Ministry of Manpower’s figures for last month indicate that more jobless residents are taking a longer time to find work.
For businesses, a recent poll by KPMG found that 70 per cent of respondents cite the economic outlook as a major concern. Yet, many businesses are also preparing for the future, with plans to develop new products and services, as they believe the slowdown may be short-lived. Such long-term focus amid short-term pain is the right way to go.
Looking ahead, there are global and regional developments that could disrupt businesses that fail to adapt to the times, but promise gains to those that transform and respond to change effectively.
One such development is the rise of digital manufacturing, which is revolutionising the way products are made through robotics, 3D visualisation and data analytics. Imagine fully automated “smart” factories of the future that boost productivity and profits, while creating new and higher-skilled jobs such as those of data scientists.
Another is infrastructure. There are a handful of massive projects planned for Asia but none is likely to top China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has the potential to not only accelerate growth across the region but also upend the regional order. Armed with a war chest of more than US$1 trillion (S$1.4 trillion), China plans to boost trade by building infrastructure that connects Asia, Europe and Africa along five routes.
Other projects include a mega maritime port under construction along the Strait of Malacca and north of Singapore, and the proposed Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail extending to northern Malaysia – linking up Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and all the way to southern China.
Together with a proposed Kra Canal that would open a shorter shipping route that bypasses Singapore, there is a need to prepare for a future that may see the Lion City lose its treasured sea-hub status.
All these projects and plans will take years to build, but the push to transform Singapore’s industries and companies must start now.
TRANSFORM OR BE TRANSFORMED
This transformation will not be effective with a one-size-fits-all approach, as the impact of change is different for each industry and sector. What is needed is a targeted approach, and that is what the Government aims to do with Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) – a $4.5 billion programme to promote growth and competitiveness in 23 industries.
The industries include construction, healthcare, food services, retail, hotels, logistics, food manufacturing and precision engineering, and they account for about 80 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product.
Each ITM maps out strategies to transform industries in four ways: help companies improve productivity; develop workers’ skills; use research and development to promote innovation and adoption of technology; and help companies expand overseas.
Take the precision engineering (PE) sector, for instance. A backbone of the manufacturing industry, it is made up of some 2,700 companies that design, prototype, produce and supply critical parts for the electronics, aerospace, automotive, marine and other sectors.
When a PE productivity road map was launched in 2011, the sector’s output grew by 68.3 per cent and its value-added by 50.6 per cent from 2009 to 2015. An ITM for this sector will hopefully achieve much more, such as helping PE firms set up digital factories and develop new products.
In food manufacturing, there is the example of Tan Seng Kee Foods, which found a high-tech way to keep its noodles fresh longer and became Singapore’s first to export fresh noodles, all ready to be cooked in its special laksa, curry mee and other sauce mixes.
Tan Seng Kee Foods’ achievement is an example of the innovation that has put Singapore on the global food map. An ITM for this industry could turn what once appeared to be a sunset industry into a thriving business with higher value-add per worker and healthier returns.
WILLINGNESS TO EMBRACE CHANGE
The regional landscape is being reordered on a massive scale. That means that beyond transforming its industries and sectors, Singapore also needs to develop strategies to transform its economy as a whole. Take as an example the impact of the Kra Canal, should it be built. If Singapore were to lose its sea-hub status, can it still survive and succeed?
It is possible, as its status as a top aviation hub will not be changed and could even be enhanced, should the region enjoy a growth spurt in the number of flights to and from it, as many signs point to.
Singapore could then encourage the growth of industries that synergise with the air travel sector. One example is British engine giant Rolls-Royce, which assembles and tests aviation engines.
In fact, it has teamed up with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research to develop digital and data analytics capabilities for various industries here, focusing on digital manufacturing and the Internet of Things.
As for big infrastructure projects such as One Belt, One Road, what Singapore needs to do is figure out how to help local companies prepare to seize the new opportunities they present.
Perhaps construction companies could be encouraged to merge and scale up quickly so as to bid for these huge infrastructure jobs. Financial institutions could also position themselves to capture the wealth flows both into and out of China.
All these efforts to help companies and workers transform will not pay off unless they are prepared to adapt to the new economy. Companies will need to embrace change, and workers will need to be willing to acquire new skills for the new jobs.
The shift in mindset will be the most difficult thing to achieve, but it is necessary for the process to be successful. After all, no one said transforming an economy would be an easy task.
This piece was first published in The Straits Times on 18 January 2017.


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The all-new Honda City is now ready to welcome the Indian car buyer. The brand has started production of the 5th generation City sedan in India which is slated for a market debut in July 2020. The new Honda City will be manufactured at the Greater Noida production plant in Uttar Pradesh. Honda’s plant had resumed production operations from mid-June 2020 following all the safety protocol as per the guidelines to avoid the spread of Coronavirus.
The Honda City has been one of the most trusted sedans in our market since 1998 and the brand has so far managed to attract lakhs of car buyers over these years. All 4 generations of the City sedan have been on sale in India and the 4th generation model onwards, Honda also introduced a diesel engine option. The 4th gen Honda City was introduced in 2014 and now, 6 years later, the 5th generation all-new City sedan is set to rival the likes of Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Yaris, Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Vento, etc. So far, Honda has given a sneak peak at the new Honda City by sharing pictures and the car should reach dealerships in the coming weeks. A quick trip down memory lane, the 1st gen City was launched in January 1998, 2nd gen in November 2003, 3rd generation in September 2008 and 4th generation in January 2014 with total sales more than 8 lakh units so far.
The all-new 5th gen Honda City will come powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC petrol motor and a turbocharged 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine as well. While the petrol block will get an optional CVT automatic, the diesel will only be sold with a manual gearbox. The petrol Honda City will produce 121 PS of power and 145 Nm of torque while the diesel model will produce 100 PS of power and 200 Nm of torque. Both engines obviously will be BS6 compliant from the date of sale.
Honda has also revealed that the body structure of the new City has managed a 5-star crash test rating in the ASEAN NCAP. The new model will come with features such as Alexa remote connectivity, telematics control unit, full LED headlamps, LED tail lamps, full HD colour TFT cluster split with an analogue speedometer, lane watch camera, stability program, multiple airbags, touchscreen music system, sunroof, 16″ rims, etc.


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Mondex International, the global franchising arm of the electronic cash
system, has picked Gerry Hopkinson as its first head of corporate
Hopkinson, a director at Mondex UK’s PR agency, Band and Brown, will
switch to the in-house role at the group’s worldwide headquarters in
The 32-year-old has headed the account for Mondex’s UK operations - a
joint venture between National Westminster Bank, Midland Bank and BT -
He helped launch the UK arm’s electronic cash pilot scheme in Swindon,
targeting local businesses and later running an educational drive to
encourage consumers to adopt the smartcard system.
Hopkinson’s task at Mondex International, a consortium of 17 companies
set up by the National Westminster Bank in July, is to establish a
central PR strategy.
Hopkinson will work with consortia in the US, Australia, New Zealand and
Hong Kong, each of which is aiming to license Mondex’s technology and
brand to businesses in their country.
Robin O’Kelly, a senior consultant at Mondex’s International’s money
corporate consultancy, Shandwick Consultants, has been managing the in-
house PR resource temporarily.
Hopkinson, who will report to Mondex International marketing director
Mark Gordon, is expected to build an in-house team when he arrives
at the company’s London headquarters.
Band and Brown chief executive Nick Band said he would be replaced ‘at
Mondex is designed to be used both by consumers for shopping and by
banks for transferring mopeny via phone systems and ATMs. Customers can
also bank and send their electronic assets to other parties using


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At the time of writing, the digital banking and payments company’s shares are down 6.4% to 43.5 cents.
Based in Australia, LITT is a fintech and social hybrid app that connects people through e-commerce, advertising, and digital payments. Users can earn digital cash by watching ads put out by local businesses on their newsfeed.
Basically, the company shares its advertising revenue with its members instead of social media influencers solely making money through posting content.
What did Novatti announce?
The Novatti share price is falling despite delivering a positive update to the ASX market.
In today’s release, Novatti advised that it has added LITT to its ecosystem, creating additional revenue streams.
The company will provide LITT members with access to digital Visa Prepaid cards and instore and online payments networks. This is expected to push the interaction between social media and daily life transactions.
The collaboration will see Novatti earn revenue from project set up, transactions, and card-issuing services.
While the company did not disclose the revenue amount projected, it reminded investors that it was focusing on achieving growth. This encompasses its recently launched Lifepay and its Visa Prepaid cards which Apple Pay is now supporting.
More on LITT
LITT has more than 18,000 members and 500 local businesses in its growing portfolio.
Just last month, when Facebook banned news content in Australia, the company saw an 83% increase in new member sign-ups. Local business registering on the platform jumped 85%, highlighting a gap in the market.
Words from the managing director
Novatti’s managing director Peter Cook commented:
Novatti’s collaboration with LITT is another example of how we are creating new potential revenue opportunities by leveraging our existing digital banking and payments ecosystem.
This ecosystem has now helped propel several new and innovative businesses, including Novatti’s Digital Payments Accelerator, Lifepay, with its commercial launch last week, and now LITT.
Each of these opportunities has tapped into Novatti’s digital banking and payments ecosystem to bring an innovative new product to market quickly. They also further Novatti’s strategy of connecting to new payment networks to drive overall growth while continuing to increase Novatti’s B2C exposure.
About the Novatti share price
The Novatti share price has accelerated to more than 330% since this time last year. The company’s shares increased sharply from the middle of February after strong investor hype.
Based on the current share price, Novatti has a market capitalisation of around $98 million.


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Retailer Woolworths has launched a new trial that will see the group use electric panel vans as part of its online delivery fleet in South Africa.
In a post published on social media, the group said it was running the trial in collaboration with renewable vehicle company Everlectric and logistics company DSV. The retailer added that this trial would be the first of its kind in the South African retail space.
“To power the vans, we source electricity from renewable and sustainable sources, including rooftop solar PV installations. Where an onsite generation of renewable energy is not directly available or practical, we offset 100% of the electricity emissions via renewable energy certificates,” it said.
Woolworths has offered an online delivery service for several years but launched its same-day delivery service – Woolies Dash – in December 2020. Woolies Dash acts as a direct competitor to the popular Checkers Sixy60 service and Pick n Pay’s ASAP service, which also offer same-day delivery.
In October 2021, e-hailing company Bolt said it would also be introducing electric vehicle taxis to the South African market, following the successful launch of electric-bike food delivery services earlier this year. Bolt said it would be introducing a ‘green category’ that will allow customers to choose if they wish to hail an electric or hybrid vehicle.
“We are looking to roll out a green taxi category in South Africa in the next few months and plan to roll out green categories in other African markets,” said Paddy Partridge, Bolt’s regional director for Africa and the Middle East.
The company has said it sees a lot of potential in its e-bike delivery service. This eliminates the challenges associated with fluctuating fuel prices and tackles the issue of fuel being the highest operating cost for its couriers, it said.


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Google Pixel 8 Pro: New leak reveals design changes with flat display and possible LiDAR sensor
As Google prepares to unveil its next generation of flagship smartphones, the rumor mill is already churning with leaks and speculation about the impending Pixel 8 Pro. While we don’t yet know for sure what the final product will look like, the latest leaks suggest some interesting design changes that deviate from the current trend of curved display edges.
The most significant change appears to be a switch to a flat display, rather than the current generation’s curved edges. This would be a break from the past few years of smartphone design trends, which have all favored curved displays. Whether this is a sign that Google is ahead of the curve, or simply playing catch-up, remains to be seen.
Another intriguing change is the addition of a possible LiDAR sensor. This type of sensor is typically used in AR/VR applications, and its inclusion on the Pixel 8 Pro could hint at Google’s plans for its next generation of augmented reality products.
Of course, it’s worth taking all of these leaks and rumors with a grain of salt. Until Google officially unveils the Pixel 8 Pro, we won’t know for sure what it will look like. But if the latest leaks are any indication, it looks like we can expect some interesting changes from the current generation of Pixel smartphones.


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- In-N-Out has the "Not-So-Secret Menu" on its website that lists the now-familiar and most-popular Double Meat, 3 x 3, 4 x 4, Grilled Cheese, Protein Style and Animal Style burgers.
- In-N-Out touts its restaurants as a great place to work, starting part-time employees at $10 an hour. In the early 80s, In-N-Out University was set up to help nurture part-timers into career employees who would continue the company's focus on quality, service and cleanliness, according to a BusinessWeek article. "We still wear white uniforms and our commitment to cleanliness has never changed," said Carl Van Fleet, In-N-Out's vice president of planning and development. "Our customers expect a clean restaurant and that extends to the uniforms on every one of our associates."
- Merchandise offered through the company's online store ranges from flip-flops to playing cards, and the company has been shipping items worldwide for years, Van Sleet said. "While T-shirts remain the most popular item, we do ship a wide variety of other items such as hats, red aprons, large apron pins, sandals, etc.," he said.ï¿½
Claim to fame: In-In-Out makes a burger any way the customer wants it, Van Fleet said. The most popular? The Double-Double is the most frequently ordered burger, Van Fleet said. The company operates its own patty-making facilities in Baldwin Park and in Dallas, Texas, a practice that dates back to In-N-Out's founding by Esther and Harry Snyder in 1948. From the start, Harry would stand over butchers' shoulders to make sure he was getting the meat he paid for, according to former BusinessWeek staff writer Stacy Perman, the author of "In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules."
Fun fact: In October 2004, a group of friends ordered a 100 x 100 for just under $100. The restaurant has since put a policy in place that limits burger sizes to a 4 x 4. Still, try the burger mustard-fried, or skip the meat and cheese altogether and request the Wish Burger.
- Laguna Niguel man sentenced to 7 years for beating 91-year-old hospital roommate
- Lakers work OT to beat Timberwolves, snap six-game losing streak on Shaq night
- Stunning comeback doesn't pay off for Villa Park in state title game
- Man gets 7 years in prison for shooting at Santa Ana police officers
- Shaquille O'Neal: 'It means a lot' Kobe Bryant spoke at his statue unveiling


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Most IRS guidance documents make for poor pleasure reading. Then again, most IRS guidance doesn’t effectively impose a retroactive tax on small business owners merely for having a family. IRS Notice 2021-49, issued on August 4, includes a bizarre interpretation of the law that will effectively raise taxes for business owners with close relatives, even if their family members have no involvement in the company.
A core goal of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed early on in the pandemic was to assist businesses in keeping employees on their payroll even as they dealt with the economic effects of lockdowns. Part of the plan was the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), which provides a tax credit against employer payroll tax liabilities. Read More
Facebook is spending $100 million to buy up the outstanding invoices of small businesses owned by women, racial minorities, veterans, disabled people and LGBTQ+ people, the company announced last week.
The Invoice Fast Track Program allows certain “small, midsize and diverse-owned businesses” to submit outstanding invoices to Facebook. The tech giant then buys the invoices, giving the business cash immediately, and the business’ customers pay Facebook instead.
The program is designed to help “diverse-owned” businesses improve their cash flow and hire more employees, according to the program’s description. Read More
As President Joe Biden promotes his several trillion dollars in proposed federal spending, Republicans and small businesses are raising the alarm, arguing the taxes needed to pay for those spending plans are a threat to the economy.
The House Ways and Means Committee met Thursday to discuss infrastructure development and in particular the impact of proposed tax increases to pay for it. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the ranking member on the committee, argued that only 7% of Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill goes to infrastructure and that raising taxes would incentivize employers to take jobs overseas.
“As bad as the wasteful spending is, worse yet, it’s poisoned with crippling tax increases that sabotage America’s jobs recovery, hurts working families and Main Street businesses, and drives U.S. jobs overseas,” Brady said. “We cannot fund infrastructure on the backs of American workers.” Read More
The Biden Administration sent some stock prices tumbling and left small businesses worried after taking sides on a hotly contested labor issue that critics say could threaten the jobs of millions of independent workers and thousands of small businesses.
In his address to the nation Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation that would ban the use of freelance workers in most instances.
A report from the freelance site UpWork found that about 59 million gig workers make up $1.2 trillion of the U.S. economy. Read More
The Golden Horseshoe is a weekly designation from Just the News intended to highlight egregious examples of wasteful taxpayer spending by the government. The award is named for the horseshoe-shaped toilet seats for military airplanes that cost the Pentagon a whopping $640 each back in the 1980s.
This week, our award is going to the United States Small Business Administration and Treasury Department for awarding at least $200 million, but as much as $420 million, to Chinese Communist Party-linked businesses by way of the Paycheck Protection Program, intended to assist U.S. small businesses that were devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, widely believed to have originated in China.
A report from the Horizon Advisory strategic consulting group illustrates how negligible congressional oversight allowed at least 125 Chinese firms to “take advantage of the international disaster” by benefitting “directly from U.S. investment and relief measures.” Read More
Small businesses have been decimated by the pandemic shutdowns. Many have struggled to survive. Many have had to lay off employees. If they haven’t closed their doors yet, the next six to nine months will be a real challenge.
There is some help on the way. The Small Business Administration has released a second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — a forgivable loan program designed to assist small businesses with money to stay afloat. Part two of the PPP opened on Jan. 15. Read More
Applications are now open for Michigan’s small businesses impacted by excess rain from Oct. 1, 2019 through June 2, 2020.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is making Economic Injury Disaster Loans of up to $2 million available to eligible small businesses, agricultural cooperatives, and nonprofits in Clinton, Gratiot, Ionia, Isabella, Midland, Montcalm, Saginaw, and Shiawassee counties. Read More
More than half of American businesses that closed down due to economic lockdowns are permanently shuttered, according to data Yelp published Wednesday.
There’s been a 23% increase in the number of business closures since mid-July, with the number of permanent closures reaching 96,966, representing 60% of closed businesses that will not be reopening, the data show. Read More
More than 20 percent of small business owners said they will have to close permanently if current economic conditions do not improve within the next six months, according to a survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business.
The largest small business association in the U.S., headquartered in Nashville, conducted the survey to assess the financial health of small businesses. Read More
The $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has supported more than 51 million jobs since its launch in April, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration announced Monday as it released information on 4.9 million loans disbursed by the program.
“The PPP is providing much-needed relief to millions of American small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80 percent of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic growth in our country,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement Monday. Read More
The coronavirus pandemic has led to the largest drop in small business ownership in the United States, hurting black business owners the most, according to a June study from an economic research organization.
3.3 million business owners are not actively working, and 22% of the closures came during the February-to-April window of coronavirus restrictions, reported Axios, citing a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. In the whole Great Recession of 2008, small business owners shrank by 730,000 at 5% reduction, the study noted. Read More
The Ohio Department of Health was sued in federal court Thursday for its ban on “non-essential businesses” during the coronavirus pandemic. Read More


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Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Vita launch will miss the 2011 holiday season in the US and Europe, with the new handheld instead arriving “early next year.” According to Sony VP Kazuo Hirai, only Japan will see the Vita arrive in time for Christmas, with the rest of the “phased global rollout” taking place in early 2012. Rather than a delay, Hirai said the scheduling was intended to give Sony time to prepare “solid” game offerings.
Still, the news will come as a disappointment to many, who had hoped the Vita – which has an OLED touchscreen up front, and a clever touchpad controller surface on the rear – would manage to hit the US and Europe in time for holiday sales. Only yesterday, the Vita was spotted passing through the FCC, which led to suggestions that a fall US release could be on the cards.
As for Nintendo’s recent price cut for the 3DS, Hirai denied that the adjustment should have any impact on Sony’s previously announced pricing for the Vita. “We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” the exec suggested. “There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.”
The PS Vita will cost $249 in the US for the WiFi-only model, and $299 for the 3G-equipped version. In Japan it will start from 24,980 yen. More details on the hardware and software of the Vita here.


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Budweiser is celebrating the upcoming Independence Day by partnering up with Bill Pullman by launching its July 4th campaign titled, “Go Fourth, America”. For the campaign, Pullman is seen reprising his most iconic role as President Thomas J. Whitmore from the 1996 movie Independence Day. With this campaign, Pullman is reminding Americans that despite their difference in beliefs and lifestyles, everyone is together in the fight against the coronavirus.
What The ‘Go Fourth, America’ Independence Day Campaign Includes
The ad spot for the campaign takes a spin on the memorable climactic presidential address from the Independence Day movie by contextualising it for the current pandemic-oriented climate. The spot shows actor Bill Pullman encouraging Americans to celebrate Independence Day like never before. Through its partnership with the humanitarian organization Direct Relief, Budweiser is releasing this ad and offering free beer to raise vaccine awareness and education.
As part of the campaign, Budweiser is pledging to buy a round of beer for people in the United States, if the White House’s goal of 70% vaccination is met by 4th July. Though this target is extremely unlikely to be met, the American brewer is deciding to give everyone a free Bud anyway. Consumers of legal drinking age can get their free beverage at MyCooler.com/beer starting on Friday.
Looking At The Big Picture
Daniel Blake, group vice-president of marketing for Budweiser and Value at Anheuser-Busch said in a statement, “Over the past year, Budweiser has taken a leadership role in the fight against Covid-19 – from sitting out the Super Bowl in order to redirect funds to vaccine awareness campaigns to sharing a ’reunited with Buds’ film to recognize the safe return to bars post-vaccination,”.“Now, Budweiser is helping consumers commemorate all the progress made so far, with a film that reprises an iconic character played by Bill Pullman in time for the Fourth of July. America has put in the work and now it’s time to celebrate with family and friends with a beer in hand.”
In 2021, Budweiser’s brand mission saw the company invest heavily in vaccine access and awareness efforts. During this year’s Super Bowl, Budweiser sat out the major sporting event for the first time in 37 years. Unlike in the past, the iconic Clydesdales remained in the stable and the funds were instead used to promote vaccines. A ‘Reunited Buds’ spot was released in April featuring a puppy and the horses to bring awareness about vaccines to a broader audience. The company also gave free beer to consumers who provided proof of vaccination.
But for this 4th July campaign, Budweiser is taking its vaccine awareness drive to a whole new level by offering a complimentary beverage to the entire country.


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A top congressional committee investigating technology companies has questioned whether Amazon.com Inc. misled Congress in sworn testimony following an article in The Wall Street Journal detailing the company’s use of third-party seller data to develop its products.
“This report raises deep concerns about Amazon’s apparent lack of candor before the committee regarding an issue that is central to our investigation,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) said in a statement to the Journal on Thursday following the article. “We plan to seek clarification from Amazon in short order.”
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Apple Hires Former Head of BBC Radio 1 and Spotify Executive George Ergatoudis to be Head of Apple Music UK
According to a new report this afternoon, George Ergatoudis, one of the most influential tastemakers in the UK business, is leaving Spotify to join arch rival Apple Music. Ergatoudis joined Spotify as Head of Content Programming for the UK in March 2016, leaving behind his role as Head of Music for BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra.
Ergatoudis has reportedly filled the vacant Head of UK role at Apple Music.
Ergatoudis was named in the 2015 Sunday Times-Debretts list of the 500 most influential people in the U.K.
Prior to being Head of Music at Radio 1, he managed Radio 1Xtra's music policy (2000-2005) and was responsible for championing key U.K. talent such as Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Ms Dynamite alongside major U.S. artists such as Jay Z, Eminem, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.
The widely respected exec is the latest high-profile figure to exit from Spotify, following the recent departures of senior marketing and comms exec Angela Watts, Global Head of Artist & Label Marketing, Dave Rocco and Global Head of Artist & Industry Partnerships Mark Williamson.
Source: Music Business Worldwide
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Amazon: Amazon recently announced that it is cutting hundreds of position in its Alexa division as a part of an effort to the company’s shift towards generative artificial Intelligence. Amazon has invested heavily in the generative AI that can generate a wide range of content on various topics.
The company has cut down various roles and position in its effort to switch towards AI. The recent lay off will impact the employees in the Canada, U.S and India. While Amazon is stated the shift towards Generative AI for the recent lay off, there are many other reasons because of the big tech companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft lay off hundreds of employees from their companies. Check more details below.
Why these Companies Lay Off Hundreds of Employees
One of the major reason of these layoff is that the global economy is on slowdown and facing several issues which includes rising inflations, geopolitical tensions and interest rates eventually leading to slower economic growth world wide.
With the changing patterns of market and economic conditions, companies need to reevaluate their priorities to grow constantly even in the tough times. For this purpose, they need to make workforce adjustments which can also lead to mass lay off in the organizations.
Over Recruitment During the Pandemic Period
Many of the major tech companies and other renowned firms experience rapid growth accounting to their shift towards online operations. This rapid growth led to over hirings in the companies which resulted into a surge in hiring in desire of continued and stable growth that they failed to materialize eventually leading to mass lay offs now.
Many of the companies opt for cost-cutting measures aiming to make more profits and they usually find lay offs a better option to reduce the overall costs.
Analysis of Some Major Companies
Amazon has recently laid off hundreds of employees in its Alexa Division along with making job cuts in its gaming and music wings. The company is facing a relatively slower growth in its e-commerce bussiness and investing a significant amount in advance technology such as Generative AI and Cloud Computing.
Google has been also seen slowing down its hiring process recently. According to a report, it also discussed job cuts. Some of the major reason Google is opting for this because the search giant is facing increased competition from its rivals and low growth in its advertisiing unit.
Microsoft also laid off hundreds of employess in the marketing and sales unit. Some of the major reason of these lay offs is its shift towards AI and cloud computing.
Byju’s, an EdTech major in India recently laid off thousands of employees aiming to scale backs its operations. Some major reason of Byjus opting for lay offs is the company is dealing with several financial scandals and significantly increased competition from its rivals in the EdTech industry in India.
These layoffs throws light on the increased challenges that several industries are facing presently. It is expected that some other tech majors will also opt for lay offs in future as companies are making efforst to mould themselves according to the dynamic and unstable market conditions.


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Google Is Shutting Down Inbox email and Google Plus social media service on April 2
You heard it right! If you had migrated from Gmail to Inbox by Google when it was launched in 2014 then you might be in love with it already. We already that knew that Google was planning to shutdown Inbox soon but a date was not fixed.
As reported by one of the Reddit users /u/jdayellow got a notification yesterday, “Google Inbox officially shutting down in 15 days” which means the reverse countdown has started and on April 2 the Inbox service will completely disappear.
As we can see from the screenshot the notification is prompting users to switch back to Gmail app and claiming that “you can find all your favourite features in Gmail app now” and Google actually brought many Inbox features to Gmail app including snoozing, smart replies, and nudges, which you may have noticed if you were using the main app too.
Not only the Inbox email client but also the Google+ social media platform is also dying for good. It wasn’t having great days with all the obnoxious spamming and un-moderated communities. Google Plus will shutdown on the same day April 2.
Additionally, well popular and loved instant messaging app Google Allo and Google Shortener platform is also getting shut down in this month itself. So we can say that tech giant Google is not only pulling the plug from its failed products but the ones loved by the users too.
In an official statement, Google said, “Four years after launching Inbox in 2014, we’ve learned a lot about how to make email better—and we’ve taken popular Inbox experiences and added them into Gmail to help more than a billion people get more done with their emails every day. As we look to the future, we want to take a more focused approach that will help us bring the best email experience to everyone. As a result, we’re planning to focus solely on Gmail and end support for Inbox by Gmail at the end of March 2019.”
- Several Google Services Including Gmail Went Down For Some Time Today
- Google Pixel 2 Caught Running Android Q On Geekbench
- Samsung Launched Its One Hand Operation+ Gesture App On Google Play Store
- F(x)tec Pro1 Launched Slider Phone With Android 9 and QWERTY Keypad At MWC 2019
- Long Awaited Spotify Has Been Officially Launched In India Today, Plans Start At INR 13 with Free Trial
- Indian Government Is Launching Its Own DNS Fast & Safe Browsing
- Big Security Flaws Found In Top Free VPN Android Apps | Free VPNs Are Not Truly Safe


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Jack White Streams Blunderbuss on iTunes, Adds Shows
Jack White’s debut solo album, Blunderbuss, is now available for pre-order on iTunes. To celebrate the pre-order, fans can stream the album starting this evening at 9 p.m. EST through iTunes. White’s website notes that the time the stream is available may vary depending on your location.
White’s New York City Webster Hall performance on April 27 will get a live stream through American Express Unstaged. White’s appearance is set to be directed by Gary Oldman and will be streaming 9 p.m. EST on White’s YouTube page as well as mobile devices, iPads and iPod touches.
In addition, White has also confirmed shows in Paris, New York and Los Angeles bookending the April 24 release of his debut solo album Blunderbuss.
A limited number of pre-sale tickets to the events will be available to Third Man Records Vault members starting tomorrow, April 17 at 9 a.m. EST and to American Express card members at noon.
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- It is claimed that Souvenaid is designed to boost levels of certain nutrients which the makers say are necessary for synapse-building
- It contains omega-3 fatty acids, choline, used to make a nerve signalling chemical and uridine, which is important for metabolism
- Other nutrients in the drink include phospholipids, a component of cell membranes, and B vitamins
From today the drink will be sold in pharmacies throughout England, Scotland and Wales, or through the Souvenaid website.
More top news
Although it may be a dry and bright start for most, thicker cloud and rain will spread in through the day.
US Democrats must heed the warning of the UK's EU referendum vote to avoid a Donald Trump presidency, Kezia Dugdale has said.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated as a fast-moving wildfire has torched its way across 11,000 acres of land near Los Angeles.


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ORLANDO -- Touch, a new ultra-premium vodka hand-crafted by an Orlando investment banker-turned-artisan, is slowly being rolled out in local ritzy clubs -- and women love the packaging.
In fact, bartenders at the downtown Monkey Bar say female customers even offer to buy the hand-crafted bottles when they're empty. The 750 milliliter bottles feature paper roses hand-glued to the outside -- a special touch that adds 50 cents to production costs.
"With every bottle, you get a work of art," says Julio Lima, the Orlando designer who created the award-winning packaging for Touch vodka.
Touch is sold for about $40 a bottle in Orlando and Tampa, primarily in high-end restaurants and clubs such as Hue and Kres, as well as at small liquor stores such as Knightly Spirits.
The vodka is distilled from a mixture of grain and honey. "We tested several different kinds of honey," says Nick Carbone, owner of Tampa-based Fat Dog Spirits LLC, which makes the vodka. "Tupelo Gold (honey) was the best, but we couldn't depend on the consistency of supply. So we use Florida wild flower (honey), which gives it an earthy profile that imparts some complexity."
Vodka by any other name
Carbone is best known in Central Florida as a co-founder of Orlando-based Poole, Carbone, Eckbert, now called PCE Investment Bankers Inc. His Fat Dog Spirits is one of only three federally-licensed producers of spirits in Florida.
Carbone says that while banking is in his blood, creativity is in his heart. "I left the (PCE) guys about a year ago," says Carbone, who ran PCE's Tampa office. "I didn't even keep my CPA license up because I didn't want to have it to fall back on."
When Carbone began his quest to produce handmade vodka in the spring of 2004, he originally planned to call it Dogstar, named after his chocolate Labrador retriever.
But "as we tested the name with people, particularly with women who drink vodka," says Lima, "they told us there was no way they were drinking anything with the name 'dog' in it."
Lima, founder of Say It Loud!, a Orlando-based creative services agency, developed the new name and distinctive packaging for the product, which won a Best of Show award in the local 2005 Addy competition and a regional gold medal.
"We came up with four or five names that we liked," Lima says, "but Touch just stuck. "I told Nick, 'you stick to making vodka and I'll give you stuff to market it.' "
Among his advertising tag lines: "Each batch is made by hand. Better sip slowly."
The product launched in August with about 200 bottles, which sold out by early September. "We'll sell about 80 to 100 (12-bottle cases) in September," says Carbone.
His plans to add more distillation equipment to increase production are already under way. "I want to stay ahead of the curve."
Next up in Carbone's business plan: A key lime-flavored vodka. Still under consideration are red grapefruit, which has a slightly bitter quality, as well as Florida kumquat and a seasonal-only Florida orange varietal, such as the Honeybell. A reserve vodka using Tupelo Gold honey also is being considered.
Meanwhile, Touch vodka seems to be in good company. Consider: Sales of super-premium vodka such as Grey Goose and Hanger One have climbed more than 70 percent in the last seven years, making the category the No. 1 seller in the nation. Much of the key is packaging, such as Danzka's aluminum bottle and the Dutch Toorank vodka, with a label that signals it's ready at the appropriate 7 degrees Celsius.
And consumer reaction to Touch seems to indicate a potential home run.
"I've tasted over 1,000 vodkas," says Jason Rawles, manager and buyer at the MetroWest Knightly Spirits, who keeps a supply of Touch on the counter next to the register. "It's in my top five all-time best. The touch of honey gives it an incredible flavor."
Rawles notes it's also a favorite with his female customers. "I think the bottle is kind of cheesy myself," he says, "but the ladies just flip over it."


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Champion Racing & Performance Products will be on display at the 2015 Heartland Auto Racing Show. The Midwest’s largest auto racing trade show will be on November 20th and 21st at the Iowa Events Center, which is located at 730 Third Street in Des Moines, Iowa. http://www.heartlandautoracingshow.com
Clinton, MO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/10/2015 --The Heartland Auto Racing Show is the premier trade show for the Plains States and Upper Midwest. The show will bring together regional companies from the Heartland and national companies that greatly value the race teams and buyers of the area.
"We are very excited to give the race teams, parts shops, and buyers from the region an event to connect with their suppliers and see new products firsthand," said Jonathan Masters, Director of the Heartland Racing Auto Show. "We are giving companies like Champion oil a great sales platform in the middle of this important area for motorsports. The show will also give regional tracks and sanctioning bodies a chance to touch base with their teams and drivers in the off-season."
"Racing is at the core of our lubricant business", stated Karl Dedolph, Director of Racing and performance Products at Champion. "At the Heartland show this year we will continue to build on our valuable relationships with our WD's, Dealers, Jobbers, and Race Teams". "It's a wildly active market, and this huge show for us is the hub for the performance and racing business."
About Champion Brands, LLC
Champion Brands, LLC, is a globally recognized industry leader in specialty lubricants for over 55 years. Champion also produces and blends over 300 products including fuel, oil, engine additives, and lubricants for the racing, automotive, heavy truck, agricultural, industrial, and specialty markets. For more information contact your nearest Champion Distributor, or call Champion at 800-821-5693. Champion Brands, LLC; 1001 Golden Drive, Clinton, MO, 64735 or go to http://www.championbrands.com


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A rallying call to “sell television” came from advertisers and commercial TV players alike, at Marketing Week’s TV 2002 conference held in Prague last week.
Backing came for a television advertising bureau (TAB) to market the medium to advertisers in the same way that radio is supported by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).
The debate was triggered by Nestlé Rowntree marketing director Andrew Harrison, who warned delegates that the commercial TV industry was facing “considerable structural change”, as advertisers sought more cost-effective ways of reaching consumers.
He called on the TV industry to form a partnership with advertisers saying: “First you’ve got to sell TV again to new generations of people, to marketers like me who are unconvinced by TV’s cost (and excited by multi-media opportunities), to today’s brand managers whose intuitive default is to Web marketing or sponsorship and to tomorrow’s graduates for whom interactivity, PlayStation 2 or texting define their expectations and because this is an industry agenda, you need to sell it as an industry.”
Harrison produced AC Nielsen/ MMS figures for 2001 which showed a 3.7 per cent drop in TV revenues with 59 of the top 100 advertisers cutting their spend on the medium, compared with a ten per cent rise in TV spend in 1999 and 29 advertisers reducing their TV budget.
Harrison warned against “complaining” about a “resurgent” BBC as “competition is a fact of life” and against thinking that the downturn was simply a “cyclical one-off”. A failure to sell TV as an industry, he said, would result in the medium being “diminished”.
To illustrate the effect that TV inflation has had on the market, he referred to the launch of Yorkie in 1978, which was supported by TV – 6,000 ratings in 12 months at a cost of &£1m. Since then he claims the cost of 6,000 ratings has increased six times although the price of a Yorkie bar is only three times more expensive, and despite the fact that each rating today would be 13 per cent as effective. To launch Yorkie in an equivalent way today, Harrison claims, would cost &£36m.
Other factors influencing the long-term structure of the TV industry, he said, include client consolidation and brand rationalisation with fewer brands promoted on TV and the emergence of supermarkets as “the new media”. He called for the industry to address inconsistent and last-minute scheduling; a lack of strong programming; inflexible advanced booking deadlines; lack of detailed data; and the penalisation of advertisers through excessive inflation.
Speaking on a panel debating growth strategies for TV advertising, Angus McIntosh, European media manager for Masterfoods Europe and chair of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ TV Action Group, also called for the industry to promote itself more efficiently – suggesting that it set up a body similar to RAB.
He said: “We want a strong commercial TV and for it to hold the BBC in check, but on the other hand we don’t want to see a return to spiralling inflation.”
Support for a TAB also came from ITV marketing and commercial director Jim Hytner and Mark Howe, managing director of Interactive Digital Sales, agreed that TV generally needed to be “reinvigorated”.
Granada Enterprises chief executive Graham Duff also said that he was “personally” not against the creation of such as body.
All three – Hytner, Howe and Duff – were concerned that key salespeople from Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky had decided not to attend the TV conference to discuss issues facing the industry.
In recent years ITV1 has come under fire from advertisers at the conference over trading issues and its declining share of TV viewing. But Hytner skillfully defused any criticism by admitting that ITV1 as brand leader was under “the most fierce competitive pressure” and needed to reorganise and try harder with viewers, agencies and advertisers alike.
He said the task is to restore “magic” in the brand by taking “ITV1 from a ‘mass bland brand’ to a brand with a set of recognisable values” – including a shared understanding with viewers, more spontaneity and wit. ITV1 is to be relaunched in the autumn with “a cleaner, fresher, more dynamic look” as the “hero brand” overcoming issues of regionality.
Hytner has axed the number of show promotion messages from 27 to ten a week and introduced an on-screen ident to flag up key ITV1 programmes. He also said that he was lobbying ITV shareholders for an increase in the marketing budget, so he could spend more on off-air advertising in order to attract light ITV viewers.
Backing Hytner’s call for more cash, Paul Philpott, Toyota marketing director, says: “He had the confidence and willingness to admit mistakes.”
Previous conferences have contained much hype about interactivity, but little concrete evidence of any benefits or take-up. James Wildman of IDS said: “While interactive advertising is still in its infancy we believe the test phase is over. In the past few months the take-up of interactive advertising has doubled.”
There were 50 interactive advertising campaigns for October 2001 to March 2002, compared with 15 for the period April to September 2001. One interactive advertising campaign designed to distribute 4,000 lipstick samples for Coty Rimmel on Trouble and Living delivered a response rate of 3.2 per cent.
But Gary Austin, senior associate director of BMRB International, said: “Despite early hype, interactive advertising has yet to prove itself.” He said that only 12 per cent of digital viewers have ever interacted with an ad and, of those that did interact, half did so out of pure curiosity.
“There’s a lot of novelty at the moment, people are intrigued to see what you get,” he concluded.
The TV industry, which is facing a number of issues over the next year – a single ITV, the future of ITV Digital, declining TV revenue, more BBC channels, the increase in interactive advertising and the Communications Bill – will have a mountain to climb in satisfying advertisers’ needs.


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Three-year-old SnagFilms, which specializes in documentary distribution, has received an investment of $10 million to expand into distribution of narrative features.
SnagFilms also announced that Bingham Ray will join the company to help guide its expansion into distribution of fictional narrative and foreign-produced indie films.
The funding, announced Monday, came from venture capital fund New Enterprise Associates and Comcast Interactive Capital along with participation from existing investors, including SnagFilms’ founder Ted Leonsis and Steve Case.
Ray’s the former president of United Artists, October Films and Kimmel Entertainment and has been involved in distribution of “Hotel Rwanda,” “Bowling for Columbine,” “Secrets and Lies,” “War Room,” “High Art,” “Last Days” and “Breaking the Waves.”
“Bingham has been an advocate for filmmakers throughout his career,” said CEO Rick Allen in a statement. “His record of successful distribution on traditional platforms provides a strategic sense and depth of relationships that will be invaluable as we extend our model into a broader array of films. Bingham will be a key member of our large presence at the Sundance Film Festival this week and beyond.”
The company said the financing will be used to expand its distribution across all digital platforms and devices, and on a global basis.
SnagFilms, the parent company of Indiewire, currently distributes free, ad-supported titles from a library of over 2000 non-fiction films. It launched VOD channels last year on Comcast and Verizon FiOS, distributes through iTunes and debuted an iPad app earlier this month.


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|24th May 2004, 07:12||#1|
Join Date: Mar 2004
AMD Introduces Industry's First Embedded x86 Performance-Power Rating System
AUSTIN, Texas, May 24, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AMD (AMD) today announced a new Performance-Power Rating (PPR) to emphasize the importance of the balance between performance and power for the embedded x86 processor market. AMD is the first company to introduce a performance-power rating for design engineers to better evaluate an x86 embedded processor, and expects this solution to accelerate the embedded x86 processor evaluation process. Using the PPR, AMD has developed a new model number system for AMD Geode(TM) Solutions.
AMD is showing leadership in the embedded market with the introduction of this PPR initiative and its continuing efforts to deliver a full line of x86 products to market. The first metric of its kind for the industry reflects AMD's continued commitment to designers, helping them accelerate the evaluation process by providing an accurate measure for system performance, combined with a simple power metric. The PPR benchmark suite was developed and validated by Synchromesh Computing, a sister company to ECL Labs, located in Austin, Texas.
"For our customers, the design engineers, AMD's new Performance-Power Rating is designed to communicate the total performance package of the AMD Geode Solutions," said Iain Morris, group vice president, AMD Personal Connectivity Solutions Group. "This new performance metric, along with the release of the newest AMD Geode Solutions, demonstrates AMD's commitment to the embedded market and provides a tool for designers to assess power and performance.
The Performance-Power Rating
With the new Performance-Power Rating, AMD is setting out to assist customers to understand the benefits of power consumption in the embedded market. The PPR drives a new, more accurate measure of embedded processor performance for standard applications.
"The ability to offer a balance of significantly lower power consumption along with high performance processing will continue to be the main selection criteria issue for system designers in the embedded market," said Sean Lavey, program manager for market research firm IDC. "We expect the PPR benchmark will be one of the notable ways that AMD Geode showcases their new and improved AMD Geode processor offerings against embedded solutions already in the market."
"The AMD Geode Solutions allow us to deliver higher performance end-user systems that can be centrally managed and controlled to conserve resources and increase productivity," said Mike DeNeffe, senior director of the Winterm business line at Wyse. "The low-power benefits highlighted by AMD's new Performance-Power Rating were key in our selection of AMD Geode Solutions. The performance advantages of AMD's Geode Solutions allow us to offer a complete package of hardware and software solutions designed for optimized performance for our customers."
For a whitepaper and additional information, please visit: http://www.amd.com/connectivitysolutions/geode
Partners Rally Around New Performance Metric
"AMD Geode processors bring advanced capabilities to next-generation thin clients, set-top boxes and other connected clients running Windows(R) embedded operating systems," said Todd Brix, group product manager, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, Microsoft Corp. "AMD's new Performance-Power Rating (PPR) will enable device manufacturers to quickly and easily identify the processor that meets their precise needs, improving time to market and customer satisfaction."
"Advantech welcomes the innovation that AMD brings to the market. Identifying the role that power consumption plays in the decision-making process is critical to our efforts," said Jeff Chen, vice president of Applied Computing at Advantech. "With the new Performance-Power Rating, our customers have a better understanding of the performance and power benefits they'll experience using AMD Geode Solutions. Working together we continue to reduce design time and allow customers to bring products to market faster than ever."
For additional supporting comments from other AMD partners on the initiative, see press release attachment or visit: http://www.amd.com/connectivitysolut...epartnerquotes
Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II
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Woolworths has handed the bulk of its multimillion-dollar sales data sharing and research services to the retailer's 50 per cent-owned analytics firm Quantium, ending a 15-year partnership with market leader IRi.
The retailer launched a request for a proposal in June, inviting its existing data and research partners – IRi (formerly known as Aztec), Nielsen and Quantium – to participate in a tender for its sales data sharing platforms.
The tender excluded customer data from Woolworths Rewards program, which is handled by Quantium.
Quantium was considered by suppliers to be the frontrunner, as it has been 50 per cent-owned by Woolworths since May 2013 and is believed to be considering an initial public offering.
Woolworths confirmed on Thursday it had awarded its data agency and scan interface services to Quantium, which will provide commercial reports and sales data to suppliers through the Woolworths on Web portal. Quantium will also continue to provide suppliers with data from Woolworths Rewards.
Woolworths awarded its market share processing services, which provide sales data and market share reads to suppliers and retailers, to Nielsen, which will also continue to provide Homescan panel services. Nielsen is also the data partner for Coles.
Woolworths thanked IRi, which had been the retailer's data agent and Woolworths on Web provider for more than 15 years.
More granular detail
Woolworths put the services up for tender because it wanted a model that better supported its customer-led ranging strategy.
At the time of the tender, Woolworths said the new arrangements would provide suppliers with access to more granular detail on their own sales, including sales performance by store and cluster, sales split between Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths Metro and Woolworths online channels, and return on space metrics.
This would help suppliers optimise their performance and identify growth opportunities with Woolworths and its BWS liquor business.
Woolworths also wanted to be able to offer suppliers more affordable tiered shopper data reports at lower price points and make the information more accessible to small- and medium-sized manufacturers.
However, Woolworths planned to move away from giving suppliers data on competitors, saying the practice stifled innovation.
In a letter to suppliers in June, Woolworths said the change "will offer suppliers the freedom and confidence to bring new products to market without a competing supplier having visibility of their performance. This will protect supplier IP and innovation at Woolworths, which will help foster greater differentiation in our range."
As first reported in The Australian Financial Review in July, the proposed change upset some suppliers, who feared they would have less visibility over their performance compared with rival brands and Woolworths' private label brands, particularly during range reviews.
Woolworths said on Thursday it would work with Quantium and Nielsen to develop improved tools and systems for suppliers to access sales and performance metrics.
"We're excited about the evolution of our supplier data sharing platforms with both partner agencies," said Woolworths group general manager data and analytics Doug Frank.
"Together we'll be able to build a one-stop shop for our suppliers, which will make it much easier for them to understand how their products are resonating with customers at Woolworths.
"Ultimately we want to deepen partnerships with suppliers during this transition and we'll be working closely with them to ensure the new model helps deliver for our mutual customers."
The new model comes into effect during fiscal 2020.
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