text:
News & Events
The Wall Street Journal
By LAURA BIRD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
It's 12 noon. Do you know what your child's lunch is?
If they attend public school, there's a good chance the answer is pizza -- or chicken nuggets, or a cheeseburger. In a nation of foodies, school lunch generally remains a bastion of processed, full-fat meat and cheese. On some days, school lunch is no healthier than what is sold at a fast-food chain -- and in some cases, that's exactly what it is.
A WEIGHTY ISSUE
Should schools serve McDonald's, Pizza Hut and other fast food as part of their lunch programs? Participate in the Question of the Day .
The school lunchroom has long been a battleground for food activists and parents concerned about the nutritional quality of their children's midday meal. Now, with rising unease over the fast-growing rates of obesity, criticism is escalating from legislators, researchers and consumer groups who say fast-food, vending machines and the troubled economics of school cafeterias are culprits in the alarming growth of children's waistlines. Some 14% of teenagers were overweight in 1999, almost triple the rate of the late 1970s, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among children ages six to 11, 13% were overweight, almost double the rate two decades ago.
Most public schools offer students a government-subsidized lunch that is supposed to adhere to certain fat, caloric and nutritional standards. But 20% of schools also sell branded fast foods such as Pizza Hut and Little Caesars pizza or McDonald's burgers and fries, according to a 2000 study of school health policies and programs by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vending machines are present in 43% of elementary schools, 74% of middle schools and nearly all of high schools. The machines aren't supposed to operate in lunchrooms during lunch hours, but in practice they often do. The CDC study found beverage vending machines operated during lunch in 68% of schools that had them.
Calling obesity a public-health crisis as urgent as smoking, legislators are preparing to take a hard look at fast food, vending machines and the school-lunch program when it comes up for reauthorization in Congress next year. In many districts, parents are one step ahead and have organized to try and kick brands out.
"I don't want my kids to see a Pepsi sign at school. It encourages them to eat junk food," says Saralyn Myers, a founder of the Healthy Lunch Committee in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., who is opposing a proposal to let a Pepsi bottling company install and manage vending machines in schools. "We are so careful to make our kids good human beings, and then we are so lackadaisical about how we feed them."
Kelly Brownell, professor of psychology at Yale University and director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, is also calling for stricter oversight of schools to remove fast food and unregulated snacks. "It's pretty clear when kids are offered hamburgers, french fries and pizza, they will eat those foods whether or not healthy foods are available," he says. "When you take a school with soft-drink machines, and fast-food franchises in the cafeteria, it's starting to look like a 7-Eleven with books."
But there's compelling reason school districts keep cafeterias stocked with brand name fast-foods and other tempting snack fare -- money. Most schools at best break even on the federally subsidized hot lunches they serve. Yet on premium-priced a la carte foods such as chicken fingers or a ham sandwich, they can earn profit margins of 50% or more, says Mitch Johns, president of Food Service Solutions Inc., an Altoona, Pa., software company.
Schools generally aim for a two-to-one mark-up when selling single-serve packaged foods such as potato chips and soft drinks. As for branded foods, Mr. Johns says he isn't privy to the terms a vendor such as Pizza Hut or McDonald's makes with its school customers -- but such items are certainly more profitable than federally reimbursed fare.
Congress created the National School Lunch Program in 1946 to fight childhood malnutrition by providing low-cost and free lunches to U.S. school children. The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the program, subsidizing participating schools with cash reimbursements and free food commodities and overseeing the nutritional content of meals. U.S. schools serve more than 27 million lunches each day under the federal program.
Yet serving up a healthy, low-fat lunch -- even with the free food from USDA -- is no easy task given the paltry reimbursements. The federal meal subsidies -- $2.09 for meals served free to qualifying students, $1.69 for reduced-price meals and 20 cents for the ones sold at full price -- "aren't a lot of money to create a whole meal for a teenage boy, if you think about the price of apples or grapes," says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington.
A 1999 Agriculture Department survey found only 20% of the lunches served in schools stayed within the required limits on fat set by the USDA, and only 15% stayed within saturated-fat limits. by the USDA and only 15% met the saturated-fat standard. Lean meat, low-fat cheese and fresh produce all often cost more than full-fat and processed foods.
Given the economic realities for schools and kids' preferences, vending-machine snacks and fast food eventually "will kill the lunch program" if they aren't reined in, says Agnes Molnar director of the child-nutrition unit at the Community Food Resource Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in New York. "That is the way it is heading: The more these foods are there, the more children purchase, and the fatter they get."
It all comes down to basic supply and demand. As long as McDonald's and Pizza Hut are available in schools, school food-service managers say they have no choice but to offer cheeseburgers, french fries and pizza themselves.
"Adults would like to believe if you just had a wonderful fresh fettucine dish, the kids would flood to the cafeteria," says Judi Jaquez, division head for student nutrition for Santa Fe public schools and a registered dietitian. Although so far, she has been able to hold the line on fast-food brands, her program served 170,000 servings of frozen pizza to elementary school students last year.
"Get real," she says. "The kids will eat pizza, even pizza that is frozen, day in and day out."
News & Events for School Nutrition Program is currently under construction. Please come back later.


text:
Some 156,737 new cars were registered in the UK last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. That represents an eight-fold increase from May 2020 when retailers were closed, but remains down compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Total registrations over the year to date remain down 29.1 per cent on the average between 2010 and 2019 – and plug-in vehicles have taken a 13.8 per cent share of this year's new car market, up from 7.2 per cent at this point in 2020.
Overall, the VW Golf was the most-bought new model last month, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa in second place. The Golf extended its 2021 lead at the top of sales charts ahead of the long-standing bestseller and closest rival, the Ford Fiesta. Superminis remained Britain’s most popular car choice, with a 31.1 per cent share.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "With dealerships back open and a brighter, sunnier economic outlook, May's registrations are as good as could reasonably be expected.
"Increased business confidence is driving the recovery, something that needs to be maintained and translated in private consumer demand as the economy emerges from pandemic support measures.
"Demand for electrified vehicles is helping encourage people into showrooms, but for these technologies to surpass their fossil-fuelled equivalents, a long-term strategy for market transition and infrastructure investment is required."
Jim Holder of What Car? said: "With talk of potentially delaying further easing of restrictions, it remains crucial the industry can remain open to buyers."

domain: news


text:
Bangalore: SAP SE with industry body ASSOCHAM today announced the launch of a knowledge sharing resource centre that will educate and empower organizations to manage changes in their business processes and information systems from the impending GST roll-out
The resource centre will be a one-stop portal for businesses looking at adopting or migrating to technology that will make them future ready for GST. SimpleGST portal will impart information on key areas like taxcomputation, master data management and business process localization.
“GST has opened up opportunities for businesses in over 160 countries and helped them move beyond the physical constraints to expand exponentially by harnessing digital prowess. We are certain that this knowledge sharing portal by SAP will enable and equip Indian businesses with the technology know-how for a seamless transition to a GST environment,” said D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM.
With the roll-out of this new tax regime, over 51 million SMEs in India will need to consider reinvesting or redefining their business processes. Automation and encapsulation of the compliance measures into the IT systems of these organizations is imperative and early preparation and planning is the key to a successful GST implementation.
Company said it is committed to businesses in their journey, starting from being GST compliant, to realizing the full potential of benefits accruing from digital transformation in the post-GST India.
“It is estimated that over three to five billion invoices will be uploaded on GSTN every month and over 40% of these transactions will be processed through an SAP system.” said Neeraj Athalye, Head of SAP S/4HANA, SAP Indian Subcontinent.
“SAP sees a huge responsibility to get India Inc. compliant with the upcoming law and is thus working in close collaboration with customers across industries, the overall ecosystem (including GSTN) to provide solutions for a smooth transition to GST,” said Arun Subramanian, Vice President, Globalization Services, SAP India.
The tool is keeping a regular pulse on individual employee sentiment and has helped Genpact immediately identify unhappy employees, jump into action to fix the problem, and even predict rockstar performers with 74 percent accuracy.


text:
WICHITA, Kan. — January 25, 2017 — INVISTA’s CORDURA® brand 50th anniversary road show makes its European debut with its space-themed X.Venture Collexion at MUNICH FABRIC START (MFS) – KEYHOUSE, January 31-February 1. This blast-from-the-past inspired collection designed by Struktur Studio is a cooperative collaboration between Cordura brand and Artistic Milliners, featuring TENCEL® from Lenzing, and coatings by Schoeller® Technologies AG.
The X.Venture Collexion, located in the innovation KEYHOUSE display hall at MFS (#39), is an interpretation of how some of the most innovative performance textile technologies can combine with the art of design to impact the future of technical denims. The garment concepts take influence from retro astronaut gear — a nod to the 60s heritage of the Cordura brand — combined with modern, space-age popular culture. Struktur Studio’s retro-futuristic garments in the X.Venture Collexion specifically highlight the cutting-edge denims created by this collaboration.
“To us, the future of innovation is collaboration – whether that’s with a designer or with our community of textile innovators – like Artistic Milliners, Tencel, and Schoeller Technologies AG,” said Cindy McNaull, global Cordura brand and marketing director. “Orchestrating these industry powerhouses together is a gateway to forward-thinking design and the fusion of performance technologies in the apparel of today.”
The X.Venture Collexion was first initiated by Cordura brand as part of its 50th anniversary year-long celebration, with one of the leading denim mills in the world — an Invista authorized mill — Artistic Milliners.
“We were proud to be approached by our long standing partners at the Cordura brand to work on providing next generation denim for their upcoming 50th anniversary celebration,” said Neil Bell, Artistic Milliners’ global manager & director. “We designed and crafted a range of futuristic Cordura Denim fabrics with the aim of creating denim that reflects innovation and heritage while encapsulating next generation durability, strength and added performance. In addition, we also collaborated with Schoeller finishing technologies to add their latest generation coating technologies to these outstanding conceptual CORDURA® Denim fabrics.”
The X.Venture Collexion is comprised of a men’s jacket and pant, and a women’s jumpsuit, featuring multiple cutting-edge fiber, fabric and coating technologies and includes the following:
- Men’s Neo Jean Jacket – Made with 20D Cordura UltraLite fabric and Cordura Denim combined with Schoeller PCMTM technology, this jacket has temperature regulation at its core and is built to last.
- Men’s Neo Work Pant – Made with Cordura Denim with Schoeller c_change technology, these pants are designed for life’s extremes.
- Women’s Neo Jumpsuit – The Women’s Neo Jumpsuit is built with Cordura Denim with Tencel, Cordura Combat Wool™ Denim and Cordura Denim combined with Schoeller ceraspace™ technology to fuse the best of fashion and function.
“While we are reflecting back to the past in the design of this collaboration, on the performance textiles spectrum, we remained focused on the future evolution of denim and how performance materials play a role in creating denims that are long-lasting and durable, as well as comfortable and soft,” said Tricia Carey, director of global business development at Lenzing Fibers Inc. “By joining forces with industry peers like Cordura brand, Artistic Milliners and Schoeller Technologies AG, we are driving that evolution faster to deliver performance textiles of tomorrow, today.”
To see the fabrics and the X.Venture Collexion firsthand, visit the innovation display at MFS – Keyhouse stand #39, January 31 – February 1 featuring Cordura brand, Artistic Milliners, Tencel fiber and Schoeller Technologies AG. Join us for a special coffee and cake event on January 31st from 3-4 p.m. to celebrate the collaboration and the 50th anniversary of the Cordura brand.
Posted January 25, 2017
Source: INVISTA’s CORDURA®


text:
Citibank and Sony are the latest high-profile institutions whose customers' data has been stolen by hackers.
It's a reminder that identity theft remains a serious problem.
Over the past six years and in 2011 through June 22, financial firms alone have disclosed 290 breaches involving 83.4 million customer accounts, says the Identity Theft Resource Center.
Don't let your guard down. Thieves don't steal identities just by hacking databases of big financial firms. They still grab paperwork from individual's garbage cans and mailboxes.
Here are some steps to take to avoid ID heists:
Shred paperwork. One solution is to buy a paper shredder. Once a week take 30 minutes to destroy junk mail like credit card offers and any other forms that have you and your family members' names, address and account numbers.
Don't blab. ID crooks also attack via the phone and Internet.
A common ruse is to phone a victim, claiming to represent his bank, brokerage, insurer, retailer or some other financial institution. Before proceeding with the call, the scam artist asks the victim to confirm some aspect of his account, such as its number.
"Those businesses never ask for that information by phone," said John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCard.com, a credit monitoring website. "So never provide that data to a caller."
If you aren't sure a call is on the up and up, ask the caller to mail a written request.
Avoid infection. It's essential to guard yourself from con men trying to plant bugs to gain access to your computer. Don't open email attachments or download files from a source you can't trust 100%.
"Clicking on links in attachments or files can expose you to viruses," Ulzheimer said.
Don't even open those jokes that friends circulate. "You don't know where your friend got it," Ulzheimer said. Get and run antivirus and antispying programs. Update and run them regularly.
Look and learn. Another way to make sure someone isn't amassing debt in your name is to check your credit reports regularly.
Each of the three major credit bureaus must provide you one free report a year at your request. In some states, more than that.
Making requests at intervals, say every four months, lets you watch for unauthorized activity.
Go to AnnualCreditReport.com or call 877-322-8228 to order a report.
You should also watch your credit- and debit-card accounts for bogus buys. You can do that online, daily if you like.
You can make monitoring easier at sites like Mint.com. You can aggregate information from various accounts — savings, checking, credit cards, loans. But don't let your guard down. Aggregator security is no greater than individual financial firms'.
Sound the alarm. If you think someone is trying to set up a fake account with your name, place a fraud alert with the three major credit bureaus. It's free. And if you tell one, it must notify the other bureaus, which also must act.
An alert warns any lender that an application in your name may be phony. The lender must confirm authenticity of any credit request.
An alert lasts 90 days. You can get a seven-year alert by providing certain documentation of ID theft.
A credit freeze can be done before a problem occurs. It bars anyone from seeing your report for the purpose of opening a new account. And companies all agree to tell credit bureaus the reason for any inquiry. That should stymie an ID crook.
There's no time limit on a freeze. It costs $10 to create and another $10 to thaw with each credit bureau. It's free in most states if you're already an ID theft victim.


text:
Pretty Lights Confirmed to Headline New Multi-Genre Camping Festival, Cascade Equinox
Produced by the organizers of Gem & Jam and 4 Peaks, the inaugural Cascade Equinox Festival will take place in Oregon's high desert in late September 2023.
Fans rejoiced this week when Pretty Lights announced his return to music after a five-year hiatus, revealing his "Soundship Spacesystem Tour" and two festival gigs: Suwannee Hulaween and Cascade Equinox.
If you’ve never heard of Cascade Equinox before, you’re not alone. This brand new camping festival is in its very first year, but with the oversight of the seasoned organizers of Gem & Jam and 4 Peaks, the multi-genre event in Oregon is sure to be one for the books.
We're told the forthcoming lineup will feature electronic, jam, funk, soul and bluegrass acts. Popular jam band Goose were revealed as an additional headliner in the wake of Pretty Lights' announcement, and many more artists are yet to be announced.
Cascade Equinox Festival is scheduled for September 22-24 at Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon. The sprawling venue comprises 340 acres of land in the high desert and offers stunning views of its surrounding snow-capped mountains.[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=itfw516FI-k[/embed]
Fans can look forward to interactive art installations, yoga, beer and wine tastings and even carnival rides onsite. They'll also be able to participate in wellness workshops and spend time in a "healing sanctuary."
A variety of camping options are available, including a glamping experience complete with access to a shaded lounge space, private bar, fire pit, phone charging stations, daily happy hour and meditation sessions, among other amenities.
You can purchase tickets and camping passes to the inaugural Cascade Equinox Festival here.
FOLLOW CASCADE EQUINOX FESTIVAL:


text:
MARYSVILLE, Ohio – December 20, 2019 – Honda of America Mfg. associates celebrated the holiday season by helping others in the community. Through Honda’s Holiday Wish List program and the generosity of Honda associates, 700 west Central Ohio families will receive toys, clothing and gift cards just in time for the holidays. These individuals and countless others will benefit from multiple collections and drives held by Honda associates at the East Liberty Auto Plant (Logan County), Anna Engine Plant (Shelby County) and the Marysville Auto Plant and Performance Manufacturing Center (Union County).
Associates began collecting items in early November, and this week gathered and distributed all the items to local charities in Logan, Union and Shelby counties. Aside from the 700 Honda Holiday Wish List recipients, all the plants participated in Honda’s ‘Hat, Coat and Mittens Drive’ and collected 1600 items for local residents.
“Our goal as a company has always been to be a good neighbor and to support communities around us,” said Tom Shoupe, Honda of America Executive Vice President. “Our associates are passionate about supporting Honda’s local communities.”
Since 1979, when Honda of America Mfg., Inc. established its Ohio operations, the company has donated more than $100 million in philanthropic contributions, and Honda associates have volunteered more than 100,000 hours of service.
40 Years of Honda Manufacturing in America
Honda marked its 40th anniversary of manufacturing products in America in Sept. 2019. Honda was the first Japanese automaker to produce products in America, beginning with motorcycles in 1979, followed by the start of automobile production in Marysville, Ohio, on Nov. 1, 1982.
Over the course of four decades, Honda has steadily grown its manufacturing capabilities in the region. Honda now employs more than 25,000 associates at 12 plants in America with the capacity to produce more than one million automobiles, three million engines, 400,000 power equipment products and 330,000 powersports products each year, using domestic and globally sourced parts. In 2018, nearly two-thirds of all Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were made in America.
Honda also manufactures the HondaJet advanced light jet and GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines in America. Cumulatively, Honda has invested more than $20.2 billion in its American manufacturing capabilities, including more than $5.9 billion over the past five years. The company also works with more than 600 original equipment suppliers in America with cumulative parts purchases of nearly $400 billion over 35 years.


text:
Gujarat Titans announced that they have signed 26 partners ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
Building up on the success of 2022, when the lifted the trophy, as many as 11 partners from 2022 have continued their association with Gujarat Titans and 15 more have signed up this year.
Gujarat Titans have retained the same partners on the playing jersey for two years running. Ather, the electric scooter manufacturer, are the Principal Partners as a part of a multi-year deal. BKT Tires and Capri Global have maintain their presence on the torso of the jersey as Associate Partners.
The other Associate Partners include Jio, pipe manufacturers Astral and Simpolo Ceramics - taking their respective spots on the shoulders of the jersey.
Acko have continued their association with Gujarat Titans and their logo will be visible on the headgear alongside Equitas - the small finance bank.
Timex, a legacy brand for watches, will feature on the trousers of the Gujarat Titans kit along with solar panels manufacturer Rayzon Solar.
Dream11 and boAt have continued as Official Partners. Ahead of the 2023 season, Gujarat Titans have welcomed as many as six new Official Partners.
Bisleri has signed up as the Beverage Partner. Havmor as the Ice Cream Partner. Croma has joined hands as the Electronics Partner. Jio Cinema will present the viewers an insider account of Gujarat Titans’ campaign in 2023. Nestle Munch are the Chocolate Partners while Rario have come on board as an NFT Partner.
Gujarat Titans have four Merchandise Partners this year. EM and Fancode continue their association for another season. Gujarat Titans have signed up HRX to present the fans an athleisure collection. In addition, Cybeart will present fans with options for gaming chairs.
Radio One, Radio City and Top FM have signed as the Radio Partners. HCG are the Medical Partners for the Gujarat Titans.
“Gujarat Titans’ innovative approach to signing partnerships reflects our values on and off the field. We are grateful to the 11 partners who have continued their association and support. It is a matter of great pride for us that the jersey remains unchanged from last year. We also welcome 15 new partners on board and look forward to a long and fruitful association with each one of our partners,” said Arvinder Singh, COO Gujarat Titans.


text:
BERLIN/FRANKFURT, March 12 (Reuters) - The following are some of the factors that may move German stocks on Tuesday:
British Prime Minister Theresa May won legally binding Brexit assurances from the EU in a last ditch attempt to sway rebellious British lawmakers who have threatened to vote down her divorce deal again.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz confirmed that the country’s two largest publicly listed banks were exploring a possible merger.
Separately, the New York attorney general's office issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for records relating to the financing of four major Trump Organization. nyti.ms/2F5ikDK
The kidney dialysis company said it would buy back up to 330 million euros of its own shares.
Volkswagen said it will launch 70 new electric models by 2028, accelerating its rollout of zero-emission cars as earnings revealed the operating margin at its core brand had taken a hit from new emissions tests.
Additionally, annual news conference due at 0800 GMT. Livestream: bit.ly/2nXQBh9
Separately, Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car division, Waymo, has been seeking financing from Volkswagen AG, a technology website reported on Monday, adding that Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar could also be among potential investors.
Q4 results due. Adj EBITDA seen at 645 million euros. Poll:
German chemicals association VCI due to release 2018 results
Germany’s oil and gas producers’ association BVEG due to issue 2018 domestic production data
2018 results & analysts’ conference due
The steel trader said it expects higher sales and core earnings this year, lifted by an increase in prices and an uptick in demand it forecast for its key markets Europe and the United States.
The construction equipment company said it will propose a dividend of 60 cents per share and a special payout of 50 cents per share.
Dow Jones +0.8 pct, S&P 500 +1.5 pct, Nasdaq +2.0 pct at close.
Nikkei +1.9 pct, Shanghai stocks +1.2 pct.
Time: 6:08 GMT.
No major economic data scheduled
REUTERS TOP NEWS (Reporting by Berlin Speed Desk and Frankfurt Newsroom)


text:
Pause Festival 2017 looks to ignite conversations across creative, tech and businesses industries and has divided the three-day event into each theme. While each day is focused on a specific theme, Pause is all about sharing and cross-pollinating ideas and showing its attendees how industries come together and push one another to innovate.
Yesterday Australia’s leading drone startup, Flirtey conducted the world’s first ever delivery of Domino’s Pizza’s to the doorsteps of its customers in New Zealand.
Entrepreneurs and friends Aaron Rocca and James Collins believed the new burger addiction needed a directory and so they created an app called Burgerhead, which they’re dubbing the ‘Tinder for Burgers.’
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reveals next stage of Australia’s investment into artificial intelligence
During an official first visit to Australia, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed the next stage of Australia’s investment into artificial intelligence [AI].
Slingshot has launched Australia’s first ever Indigenous startup accelerator program called Barayamal to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs build successful business ideas into world class products.
Sydney human resource [HR] startup Employment Hero has announced the addition of AirTree Ventures to its list of VCs and has also extended its over-subscribed $3 million capital raise by 50 percent.
Australia’s agritech innovation hub SproutX has today announced a partnership with MLA Donor Company [MDC], a subsidiary of Meat and Livestock Australia [MLA].
Australia’s largest ecommerce companies eWAY and Ezidebit have today announced the launch of a new fintech platform for retailers called eWAY Accelerator.
Over the weekend the NSW Government launched the first release of digital licences, making them available for recreational fishers and people working within the hospitality industry.
FinTech Australia receives $200,000 in funding from Federal Treasury to promote Australian fintech ecosystem
Australia’s peak fintech body, FinTech Australia has received a $200,000 funding grant from the Federal Treasury to promote Australia as a world leading fintech destination.
The international social startup competition the Hult Prize is already underway at the University of Sydney to find young entrepreneurs with a passion to solve a single global problem. This years focus is around the world refugee crisis and students from over 150 countries will participate for the chance to win US$1 million in prizes.
University of Melbourne innovation expert, Dr Charles Day has been appointed as the CEO of Innovation and Science Australia [ISA], the government’s primary innovation body.
This week ASX and ASIC have launched a new cyber health check for Australia’s top 100 listed companies. The voluntary survey, an initiative promised in the government’s $230 million cyber security strategy, aims to improve the cyber security defences of Australia’s largest companies.
After renaming from ATP Innovations to Cicada Innovations, the Sydney tech incubator has opened up applications for medtech startups to apply for its NSW Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program [MDCTP].
The gap that stands between millennials and the property market is where new Melbourne startup CoHome has decided to fill. Still in concept stage, CoHome is looking to help millennials co-own a home with their friends, enabling everyone to pitch in and invest.


text:
Media business purchasing picked up after a slow first quarter, but year-over-year activity was down slightly in the first half of 2013, according to a report from the Jordan, Edmiston Group (JEGI).
Overall media, marketing and information industry M&A fell 19 percent to $27.8 billion in aggregate value, while volume stayed relatively flat with 708 deals, a 2 percent dip from last year’s first half sales.
While lower than 2012, those totals still represent a significant gain over recent historical activity. First half deal value hadn’t topped $25 billion since 2007 ($65.8 billion); the number of deals had never even hit 500 until last year.
Marketing & Interactive Services was the biggest mover of the 10 sectors measured by JEGI. Its activity accounted for close to a third of the total deals announced (224) and about a quarter the transaction value ($6.7 billion).
Mixed Media Results
Results were mixed for media in particular.
The void left from last year’s $7.1 billion Alibaba-Yahoo deal made for a considerable decline in b-to-b online media and technology activity (34 deals; $272 million), while traditional b-to-b media saw 15 deals for $188 million-a substantial uptick in value, but flat volume.
For consumer businesses, online media and technology dropped 10 percent in volume (119 deals) and stayed flat value ($4 billion); consumer magazines had a similar decline in volume (24 deals), but saw dollar amounts jump 130 percent ($281 million) on the strength of several large Q1 sales.
See Also: First Quarter M&A Dips
Mobile media and technology had a 14 percent increase in volume (82 deals) and rose 6 percent in value ($2.7 billion).
Among the notable media deals were Google’s $1.3 billion Waze purchase, Yahoo’s $1.1 billion Tumblr pick up, LinkedIn’s $90 million Pulse buy, Lonely Planet Publication’s sale to NC2 Media for $75 million and this week’s $94 million Demand Media acquisition of ecommerce marketplace Society6.


text:
Charleston, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia's Public Service Commission has rejected a request to reconsider the sale of Verizon's phone lines in the state to Frontier Communications.
The commission issued an order Monday denying the request filed by the agency's consumer advocate division. The PSC says the consumer advocate didn't present any new evidence justifying reconsideration.
Verizon and Frontier had asked the commission to reject the request. The consumer advocate sought an independent audit of the deal and other safeguards.
The West Virginia transaction is part of a broader agreement Verizon has to sell 4.8 million landlines in 14 states to Frontier for $8.6 billion.
(Copyright 2010 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)


text:
Oculus Rift co-founder Palmer Luckey didn’t just support Donald Trump by backing Nimble America , an organization that made anti-Hillary Clinton “shitposts.” He also donated $100,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee under a shell company named after an element in his favorite Super Nintendo game, reports Mother Jones.
Mother Jones found that a limited liability company called Wings of Time with a Los Angeles address made a $100,000 donation on January 4. Another address for Wings of Time in California business records, 6301 E Seaside Walk in Long Beach, matches one used by Luckey for other projects, including companies called Luckey Arms LLC and Fiendlord’s Keep.
Wings of Time and Fiendlord’s Keep are both names of elements in Chrono Trigger, which Luckey has said was one of his favorite SNES games as a teenager.
Peter Thiel, the tech investor who was named to Trump’s transition team, also donated $100,000, while big tech firms, including Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Intel, Amazon, Verizon and Qualcomm, gave various amounts. Companies often donate money for the inaugurations of incoming presidents from both sides of the political aisle, but in this case the contributions were notable because of Trump’s conflicts with the tech industry, especially over immigration issues.
We’ve emailed Oculus Rift and Luckey for comment.
Featured Image: Sportsfile/Getty Images


text:
Rumors of a Kepler GPU based on the GK104 core were already circulating the web, The GeForce GTX670Ti which is the successor to the GF-114 based GeForce GTX560Ti would be a performance tier arsenal from Nvidia against the AMD's recently released HD7000 Series cards with performance levels better than Geforce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 7950.
A few specifications of the GK104 were also leaked earlier which show that the chip would feature 1536 Cuda Cores, 128 TMU, 32 ROPs and 2 GB 256-bit memory GDDR5, Core clock would be maintained around 950Mhz-1050Mhz. TDP ranges around 225W while retail price is expected around $299. Another GK104 product codenamed GTX680 was unveiled a while back which is expected to be faster than the HD7970 GPU, Details here.
On the other hand, GK110 which is the flagship chip and replaces the GF-110 based GTX580 would arrive in Q3/Q4 2012, Lower end models based on the GK107 chip are also expected in March - April 2012. You can get further details on Nvidia Kepler GPU's below:


text:
Prediksi gede Keluaran SGP 2020 – 2021. Cashback terbaru yang lain tersedia diamati secara terencana through informasi yg kami sisipkan pada laman itu, serta juga siap ditanyakan kepada petugas LiveChat pendukung kita yg siaga 24 jam On the web guna meladeni seluruh keperluan para visitor. Yuk segera join, dan menangkan promo Buntut & Reside On line casino On-line terbaik yang ada di laman kami.
It is been a lot less than a thirty day period since AvePoint (NASDAQ: AVPT) closed its merger with distinctive purpose acquisition organization (SPAC) Apex Technological innovation Acquisition Enterprise, and the organization software program specialist is now getting a bullish initiation from Wall Road.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has started AvePoint off with a invest in ranking alongside a price tag focus on of $17, which signifies a whopping 68% upside from Tuesday’s closing selling price.
As of 12:15 p.m. EDT, AvePoint shares were being up 13%. Here’s why Goldman Sachs likes AvePoint.
Driving Microsoft’s coattails
AvePoint is a program-as-a-support (SaaS) organization that specializes in knowledge management solutions for organization companies that leverage Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) 365. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the price at which businesses are undertaking digital transformations, which represents an chance for AvePoint (and Microsoft).
“AvePoint is an business facts migration chief, facilitating seamless and safe migration of knowledge from legacy on-premise programs to cloud ecosystems, with a most important emphasis on Microsoft Cloud,” Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Essex wrote in a investigation notice to investors. “AvePoint’s solutions also allow facts governance and secure collaboration between enterprise users.”
Though numerous SPAC targets are speculative pre-revenue startups, AvePoint is rather much less risky as it generated $151.5 million in earnings in 2020, Essex notes. Once-a-year recurring profits (ARR) also grew by 33% in the to start with quarter, which AvePoint claimed in advance of closing the de-SPAC transaction.
The organization is forecasting earnings of $257 million in 2022, with expansion driven by increasing the customer foundation when aggressively targeting tiny- and medium-sized firms (SMB) and catering to certain industries.
AvePoint estimates that just 3% of Microsoft’s cloud customer foundation use AvePoint, suggesting that it has a great deal of upside as there are 250 million Microsoft shoppers to go after.
SPAC sentiment continues to be delicate
Adhering to an unparalleled SPAC boom in 2020, investor sentiment to blank check out companies has cooled noticeably in 2021 thanks to worries about valuation as perfectly as heightened regulatory scrutiny.
A latest SEC motion in opposition to Steady Road Acquisition (NASDAQ: SRAC) regarding inadequate due diligence in excess of its focus on Momentus has also contributed to broader trader skepticism about SPACs as an asset group.
SPAC stocks applied to jump as soon as definitive agreements (DAs) were announced, but today many SPAC share charges remain shut to the $10 internet asset worth (NAV). Even just after closing its merger, AvePoint experienced shut at just $10.12 on Tuesday.
Essex thinks the market place is not totally appreciating AvePoint’s likely, suggesting that the company has “remained comparatively undiscovered” subsequent the de-SPAC. The analyst suggests that AvePoint’s valuation is realistic when thinking of its expansion likely. Goldman Sachs is modeling for a compound yearly progress amount (CAGR) of about 30% via 2023.
“We feel the tempo of digital transformation, accelerated by COVID-19, coupled with rising Office environment 365 adoption will continue to serve as secular tailwinds for AvePoint,” Essex adds.
Decide on Like A Pro
Where by to spend $500 correct now
Before you buy Amazon, or Netflix, or Apple, consider this…
The team at Motley Fool 1st recommended each of people stocks much more than a dozen years back!
- They identified Netflix for $1.85 for every share, back again in the days of DVDs by mail.
- And suggested Amazon at $15.31 in 2002, just before most folks ended up cozy making use of credit rating playing cards on the web.
- And even hit Apple at $4.97 per share, about a thirty day period in advance of the release of the extremely initial Iphone.
Examine out where by all those stocks are right now. The base line: a $500 expenditure in all three of these stocks would be worth far more than $200,000 currently!
And here’s why that’s crucial: The Motley Fool’s flagship investing support Inventory Advisor just announced their top rated 10 “best buys now” across the overall stock industry. Whether you’re starting with $100, $500, or much more, you are going to want to get the total details!
Click on in this article to understand additional


text:
ClassicCars Journal: FIVA launches online source for parts for vintage vehicles. “According to the…website, it lists more than 6 million parts for more than 17,000 historic vehicles with information and prices for original equipment and aftermarket parts and qualified experts. The website offers free access through January 31, 2020 if you visit a special… website.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
Neowin: ProtonMail launches public beta of its fully encrypted calendar. “ProtonMail has announced that it has launched the public beta of ProtonCalendar, the firm’s fully encrypted calendar solution. Unlike alternative products, ProtonCalendar encrypts event titles, descriptions, locations, and participants; this makes it ‘impossible’ for others – including ProtonMail – to see your event details.”
Good E-Reader: KKR is turning into a library juggernaut. “KKR purchased Overdrive on Christmas Eve and now own the largest digital distributor for public libraries all over the world. They also own RB Digital, which is otherwise known as Recorded Books, a purchase they made in 2018. It looks like in 2020, KKR is dominating the library space and there are few competitors left.” If you want more details on KKR, Investopedia can help you out.
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
BBC: ‘We can give a lot of the power back to the fans’. “The BBC’s weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to Allen Lau, co-founder and chief executive of global storytelling website and app Wattpad.”
Ars Technica: Why the 2010s were the Facebook Decade. “Love it or hate it, then, Facebook is in arguably a major facet of life not just in the United States but worldwide as we head into the next roaring ’20s. But how on Earth did one social network, out of the many that launched and faded in the 2000s, end up taking over the world?”
The Verge: The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the decade in tech. “The world never changes quite the way you expect. But at The Verge, we’ve had a front-row seat while technology has permeated every aspect of our lives over the past decade. Some of the resulting moments — and gadgets — arguably defined the decade and the world we live in now. But others we ate up with popcorn in hand, marveling at just how incredibly hard they flopped.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
Economic Times: Indian Navy bans smartphones, social media on bases, ships. “After the recent arrest of seven navy personnel for allegedly leaking sensitive information to an espionage racket with links to Pakistan, the Indian Navy has issued direction to ban the use of all smartphones and social networking platforms onboard ships and naval bases.”
TechCrunch: Wikimedia Foundation expresses deep concerns about India’s proposed intermediary liability rules. “Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group that operates Wikipedia and a number of other projects, has urged the Indian government to rethink the proposed changes to the nation’s intermediary liability rules that would affect swathes of companies and the way more than half a billion people access information online.”
RESEARCH & OPINION
Mashable: Here’s why you should finally #DeleteFacebook in 2020. “Yes, other major tech players — Google, Apple, Twitter, and Amazon — all have issues, but it seems Facebook is intrinsically linked to its flaws in a way those companies are not. YouTube is still a place to follow your favorite video creators despite problems with its recommendation algorithm; and Twitter is still the place to get your news, even though it gives Trump’s terms-breaking rhetoric a pass. Unlike Facebook, however, the utility these companies offer users outweighs most any shortcomings and public foibles.”
MIT Technology Review: Baidu has a new trick for teaching AI the meaning of language. “Earlier this month, a Chinese tech giant quietly dethroned Microsoft and Google in an ongoing competition in AI. The company was Baidu, China’s closest equivalent to Google, and the competition was the General Language Understanding Evaluation, otherwise known as GLUE.” Good evening, Internet…
Do you like ResearchBuzz? Does it help you out? Please consider supporting it on Patreon. Not interested in commitment? Perhaps you’d buy me an iced tea. I love your comments, I love your site suggestions, and I love you. Feel free to comment on the blog, or @ResearchBuzz on Twitter. Thanks!


text:
By Ellie Schuckman Opinions Editor
Just last week, big name artists in the music industry launched Tidal, a new, online music streaming service designed for them to have personal control over their creations. While many view this as simply another way for the rich to get richer, some have questioned its viability with a rise in free music streaming.
In recent years, there has been much debate over streaming music online and how much profits actually go to the artists. Tidal, which was just bought out by a company controlled by rapper Jay-Z, aims to give artists the say in how their music is played, with more of the profits from subscriptions going to them — not to their labels.
It is important that artists are paid for the work that they do. However, fans are the ones supporting them in the first place. Without a loyal support system, all of those top-name artists would have nothing.
Even while making millions of dollars through proper album sales and viable music streaming sites, such as Spotify — which forces customers to pay for certain subscriptions — they still want more.
Not every fan can afford to spend hundreds of dollars to listen to the music they like. Artists must be understanding that sometimes a free venue is needed for their music.
For some musicians, Tidal is viewed as the new way of ensuring they are properly compensated. Just a few of those teaming up with Jay-Z are Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Coldplay, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj.
The buyout comes after a few months of artists complaining about just how their work is seen to the public.
“People are not respecting the music, and (are) devaluing it and devaluing what it really means,” Jay-Z said in an interview with Billboard. “People really feel like music is free but will pay $6 for water.”
Famously, Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify and all non-licensed Youtube channels after the company refused to remove her tracks from its “free tier,” according to theguardian.com. Though she faced severe backlash from many, pulling her songs forced fans to buy her album through the proper channels.
While artists naturally should have the right to get properly compensated for their music, certain venues must be available for the public to still play, and enjoy their songs.


text:
SANFORD — A new grocery store won't be built on a popular vacant lot across from Sanford Middle School and residents say they will try to buy the land and create a public park.
City commissioners followed the planning and zoning board's April recommendation and unanimously voted to deny Don Huber's request to rezone the 10-acre parcel from residential to commercial.
This week's vote came after several residents spoke against the proposal. Commissioner John Mercer asked if there were any residents who favored the project. No one spoke.
The lot, owned by the Seminole County School Board, is on the east side of U.S. Highway 17-92, directly across from the school.
The change would have allowed Huber, owner of an Orlando construction company, to build a shopping center with a large Winn Dixie market -- a proposal homeowners in that area vehemently fought.
Huber said he would have paid $600,000 for the property if it had been rezoned, but now he doesn't know whether he and unnamed partners will pursue the purchase.
Benny Arnold, school board assistant superintendent for facilities and transportation, said Tuesday he hadn't spoken with Huber about his plans but added that Huber still has a contract on the property. Until Huber says otherwise, Arnold said he has to assume Huber wants to use the property.
The land is appraised at $530,000, Arnold said.
Speaking for about 50 residents who attended the meeting, Sylvia Smith, 425 W. 18th St., said the lot has been used for years by children and adults for recreation.
She predicted that a new shopping area would attract traffic, vandalism and trash and would endanger the lives of children walking to and from school. Smith showed slides of unkempt Sanford alleys between stores and homes along with pictures of people scrounging through trash dumping bins behind shopping centers.
Huber's attorney, William Hutchison, said the ''quality'' project would curb a ''southerly exodus'' of retail merchants leaving newly renovated downtown Sanford. Huber's plans included installing traffic lights and landscaping the area so it would be ac ceptable to the community, Hutchison said.
Smith said the city cannot support another shopping center and showed slides of vacant stores in several small shopping centers along U.S. 17-92.
She said residents already have talked to city staffers about working together to determine how they could buy the land and convert it into a park. She said she also has discussed the issue with state park and environmental experts. Fund-raising campaigns to finance the purchase will be planned, she said.
In other business, commissioners voted to repair the public boat ramps at the Sanford Marina. The project will be bid. The ramps were closed several weeks ago when the city filed a lawsuit for damages against the Star of Sanford entertainment cruise ship.
Sanford claims that the ship damaged the ramps. Attorneys for the Star admit the allegation but note that the city knew the ship probably would hurt the area and that their lease requires the marina operator, not the tenant, to be responsible for repairs.
City attorney William Colbert said a circuit court judge could hold Sanford responsible for the damages, which then would prevent the city from recovering the repair costs. Commissioner Dave Farr suggested the city repair the ramps so the public can use them again.


text:
POP MART is a fashionable toy retailer.
POP MART, established in 2010, is a trendy toy retailer in China. Founded by Wang Ning, the company went public in December 2020 in Hong Kong.
ResearchHealthcare, Technology, Consumer Staples
WIA2020 | Rising Tech Stars 2020: Global & China's 100
Japanese Beauty Retailer Yoshitsu Lists on Nasdaq under 'TKLF'
Jan 19, 2022 12:40 AM
Futu Releases Q2 2021 Financial Report
As a global technology-based securities firm, Futu Holdings Limited (Futu:NASDAQ) is committed to driving innovation with science and technology to provide more convenient and ultimate financial science and technology services for major markets around the world.
Sep 01, 2021 05:30 PM


text:
Earlier this month, a security vulnerability in Adobe Flash compelled Google and Mozilla to temporarily block the plug-in from their browsers. Now, Facebook says the problems with Flash could hurt its bottom line.
Lackluster demand for its flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone and higher marketing costs led Samsung Electronics to another quarter of falling sales and profits in the April to June period.
Facebook has posted strong sales results for the second quarter, showing continued success in its advertising business, though its costs also rose sharply.
Japanese gaming icon Nintendo posted a profit for the April-June quarter on Wednesday thanks in part to surging sales of a game in which players can squirt ink all over the place and transform into squids.
Twitter reported a higher than expected increase in revenue on Tuesday, suggesting progress in the company's efforts to grow its ad sales.
SAP's strategy event for the investment community on Tuesday offered few major surprises to anyone who's been closely monitoring the software vendor lately, but did serve to cement the company's future direction for product development, growth and cu...
Oracle is gearing up to report its second-quarter earnings Wednesday and given the restrained expectations CFO Sandra Katz earlier set for key areas such as software revenue, Oracle's results are sure to come under even more scrutiny than the tech be...
Politics collided with the world of technology this year as stories about U.S. government spying stirred angst both among the country's citizens and foreign governments, and the flawed HeathCare.gov site got American health-care reform off to a rocky...
Despite the frothy headlines stirred by Twitter's initial public offering, tech is not in a bubble of the sort that arose before the 2000 dot-com crash.
Oracle's annual OpenWorld conference is less than a week away, and as usual the vendor is expected to make a slew of new product and strategy announcements.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Kogan Agora 4G Pro review: the final word on Kogan's best smartphone
- 2 Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (LTE) review: The tablet of choice for anyone on Android
- 3 Bose SoundLink Mini II Bluetooth speaker review
- 4 Apple MacBook Air 2015 review: Only better with time
- 5 Lenovo ThinkPad T550 laptop
Join the PC World newsletter!
Deals on PC World
- Networking, Wireless & VoIP
Deals on PC World
Latest News Articles
- Plantronics BackBeat Sense Bluetooth headphones
- OneDrive finally lets you sync shared folders
- Condé Nast parent company jumps into big data market with 1010data purchase
- US counterterrorism expert says it's time to give companies offensive cybercapabilities
- IBM applies some engineering rigor to the Internet of Things
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
- CCLead Generator - Software SolutionsNSW
- FTDevOps Consultant - Microsoft Experience - Digital ConsultancyVIC
- FTField EngineerNSW
- FTSenior Network EngineerNSW
- CCAccount Strategist | Sales Executive | Global Search EngineNSW
- FTBusiness Development Manager & Account ManagerVIC
- CCMarketing Coordinator - World's largest search engine!NSW
- FTDesktop Engineering ManagerNSW


text:
Did you know there is only one FDA approved CBD on the market?
“The US Food and Drug Administration sent a warning to 15 companies that have illegally sold cannabidiol products, better known as CBD, by adding it to food or marketing it as a dietary supplement.” – CNN
“In addition to safety risks and unproven claims, the quality of many CBD products may also be in question. The FDA is also concerned that a lack of appropriate processing controls and practices can put consumers at additional risks. For example, the agency has tested the chemical content of cannabinoid compounds in some of the products, and many were found to not contain the levels of CBD they claimed. We are also investigating reports of CBD potentially containing unsafe levels of contaminants (e.g., pesticides, heavy metals, THC).” – FDA
In addition to contaminants in the CBD there can also be traces of THC causing a positive urine test for THC. A recent Forbes article highlights this issue.
“It is due to the inconsistencies associated with the manufacturing of CBD products that makes it impossible for the consumer to know what they are getting their hands on. Since none of the CBD products sold over the counter have been approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is relatively easy for pseudo cannabis companies to skimp on testing and other important quality controls. In some cases, these products are not CBD at all. ” – Forbes
For more information on the articles visit the links below


text:
Time Inc. goes all in on tablet editions: publisher says all 21 of its titles will have tablet editions by year end
Time Inc. stated today that it will “launch tablet editions for its entire portfolio of 21 titles by year’s end.” Magazines that will soon have their own tablet editions include InStyle, Real Simple and Entertainment Weekly.
“Having our entire portfolio available on tablets will create a significant new digital reach for our advertisers,” said Maurice Edelson, EVP at Time Inc.
Starting in January of 2012 Time Inc. will begin reporting its digital sales and subscriber information to the Audit Bureau of Circulations for inclusion in its audit reports.
Time Inc. brought out Sports Illustrated early in the tablet era and has releasing tablet apps for many of its publications ever since. Currently Time Inc. has iPad editions for Life, People, Fortune, Time Magazine, as well as Sports Illustrated. It has has a few special interest iPad apps such as the SI Swimsuit Edition and Cooking Light recipes.
“Now is the time for us to make this bold commitment. In the coming year, there will clearly be many more consumers using tablets, accelerating demand for content and driving advertiser interest. We are putting ourselves in a great position to take advantage of these opportunities,” Edelson said.
Time Inc. has been using WoodWing’s digital publishing solutions and I would assume they would continue down this road. The company has announced today that it would begin selling digital subscriptions and single copy sales through Barnes & Noble for reading on the company’s NOOK eReader by year’s end.


text:
Professional builders accounted for about 45% of total sales, or $42.57 billion, in 2016 for The Home Depot Inc., a spokesman says, and the home improvement company expects that side of the business to grow as it incorporates Interline Brands and its network of e-commerce sites.
Home Depot acquired Interline, a national distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products in 2015 for $1.63 billion. The business accounted for about 2% of Home Depot’s total 2016 sales, or about $1.89 billion of $94.6 billion, chief financial officer Carol Tomé told stock analysts this week. Efforts are under way to connect Interline’s business-to-business websites with Home Depot’s base of professional contractor customers.
“We saw a healthy balance of growth among both our Pro and DIY (do-it-yourself) categories with Pro sales outpacing DIY sales in the quarter,” CEO Craig Menear told analysts on the company’s year-end earnings call. “A portion of our overall Pro strategy is focused on the integration of the Interline business, which continues to progress.”
Menear said rollout of Interline’s product catalog continues across all U.S. Home Depot stores. “The next phase of the integration is focused on enabling Interline’s customers to use their Interline accounts for purchases in Home Depot stores or on HomeDepot.com,” he told analysts. “We are excited about the opportunity Interline provides us to expand our share of wallet with Pro customers.”
Home Depot does not break out online sales to its Pro customers, but overall Pro sales for the year outpaced the comparable-store sales growth rate, Ted Decker, executive vice president, merchandising, told analysts on the earnings call. Comparable-store sales increased 5.6% for the year. Interline sales include catalog and online; a spokesman declined to provide a breakdown between the two.
Interline operates eight specialized B2B websites including SupplyWorks.com, a supplier of facility maintenance products; Wilmar.com and e-Musa.com, serving multi-family housing facilities; and e-Barnett.com and e-HardwareExpress.com, for contractors serving residential customers.
Home Depot reported a 19% year-over-year increase in online sales for fiscal 2016. The retailer said e-commerce now represents 5.9% of its total sales. While it didn’t report exact dollar figures, this would mean it drove roughly $5.58 billion in online sales last year, up from $4.67 billion in 2015, when the web represented 5.2% of total sales.
Q4 sales also got a boost from the web and Pro shoppers. “We had a strong fourth quarter as sales exceeded our expectations,” Decker told analysts. “We saw strength across the store led by our Pro customer, and our online business continued its double-digit growth with sales growth of approximately 19% in the fourth quarter,” he said.
Pro customers make up only 4% of Home Depot’s customer base, a spokesman said.
In its fiscal fourth quarter, Home Depot finished the rollout of what it calls Buy Online Deliver From Store (BODFS) capabilities, which lets Home Depot fill online orders from stores. This helps speed delivery to online shoppers, Home Depot said, as its stores are often closer to customers than are its e-commerce fulfillment centers.
For fiscal Q4 ended Jan. 29, Home Depot, No. 87 in the B2B E-Commerce 300, reported:
- Total sales of $22.21 billion, a 5.9% increase compared with $20.98 billion in the fourth quarter of the prior year.
- Net earnings of $1.744 billion, up 18.6% from $1.471 billion.
For the full fiscal year ended Jan. 29, Home Depot also reported:
- Total sales of $94.60 billion, up 6.9% from $88.52 billion in the previous year.
- Net earnings of $7.957 billion, up 13.5% from $7.009 billion.
Sign up for a free subscription to B2BecNews, a twice-weekly newsletter that covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B e-commerce industry. B2BecNews is published by Vertical Web Media LLC, which also publishes the monthly business magazine Internet Retailer. Follow Bill Briggs, senior editor, on Twitter @BBriggsB2B.
Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new B2BecNews content is published.Favorite


text:
Attorneys General Express Concern Over Contact Tracing Apps
- The National Association of Attorneys General (“NAAG”) sent a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 39 AGs to Apple, Inc. and Google, LLC, seeking assurances that all COVID-19-related contact tracing and exposure notification applications (“apps”) on the companies’ respective platforms will adequately protect consumers’ private data.
- The letter acknowledges the public health value of digital contact tracing and exposure notification apps, but requests that the companies verify that each such app is affiliated with a public health authority, remove any app for which such an affiliation cannot be verified, and pledge to remove all such apps once the COVID-19 national emergency ends.
- New York AG Letitia James also sent letters to Apple and Google relating to contact tracing and exposure notification apps, raising concerns about the accuracy of the notifications and requesting that the companies protect consumer privacy by barring app developers from using collected data for targeted advertising or including in-app sales, requiring the deletion of data on a rolling 14-day basis, and requiring that apps include clear and prominent disclosures about the exposure protocol used, the data collected, and the risks of false positives and false negative results.
Attorneys General Help Constituents Through the COVID-19-Related Economic Crisis
- Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, along with consumer advocacy groups and the Illinois Commerce Commission, reached an agreement with major utility companies to help consumers facing utility disconnections due to bill nonpayment once the moratorium on disconnections due to COVID-19 has lifted.
- Under the terms of the agreement, utility companies will send notices to consumers 30 days prior to disconnection; allow consumers 18 to 24 months to repay any accrued balances; and report disconnection, credit, and collections data for several months, among other things.
- California AG Xavier Becerra provided information and resources to consumers about the wave of COVID-19-related bankruptcies of national and California-based companies, including consumers’ right to submit a proof of claim for deposits or other money owed to them by bankrupt businesses, and consumers’ rights under California law to demand that a business honor gift certificates even if it files bankruptcy, among other things.
FTC Halts Anticompetitive Agreement Between Body-Worn Camera Manufacturers
- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) approved a final settlement with military and law enforcement equipment manufacturer Safariland, LLC to resolve allegations that it entered into anticompetitive agreements in violation of the FTC Act.
- The FTC’s complaint alleged that Safariland and Axon Enterprise Inc. (“Axon”) reduced competition in the market for body-worn camera systems (“BWCS”) when Safariland sold its BWCS division, VieVu, to Axon, thereby eliminating Axon’s most significant competition; agreed not to compete with Axon on all of Axon’s products; and agreed to limit customer and employee solicitations.
- Under the terms of the final order, Safariland will rescind its anticompetitive agreements with Axon, not enter into similar agreements with Axon in the future, have an antitrust compliance program to ensure compliance with the order, and cooperate with the FTC with its ongoing litigation against Axon.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Charges Fracking Companies with Environmental Crimes
- Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro announced that fracking company Range Resources Corporation (“Range Resources”) pleaded no contest to charges of negligent oversight of well sites as part of a two-year grand jury investigation into alleged environmental crimes by fracking companies.
- According to the AG’s office, the grand jury’s investigation found that Range Resources knowingly covered up wastewater storage and disposal problems in violation of the Solid Waste Management Act and the Prohibition Against Discharge of Industrial Wastes.
- As part of its plea deal, Range Resources agreed to pay a $47,000 fine to the Solid Waste Abatement Fund, $3,000 to the Clean Water Fund, and a $102,000 charitable contribution to the Washington County Watershed Alliance.
- AG Shapiro also announced that, as a result of the same grand jury investigation, his office formally charged fracking company Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation (“Cabot”) with seven counts of Prohibition Against Discharge of Industrial Wastes, seven counts of Prohibition Against Other Pollutions, and one count of Unlawful Conduct under the Clean Streams Law relating to Cabot’s alleged contamination of well water and local water supply with methane.
States to FERC: Hands Off Our Net Metering Authority
- 17 Democratic AGs, led by Massachusetts AG Maura Healey, filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) opposing the New England Ratepayers Association’s (“NERA”) petition to end state net metering programs, which allow consumers to lower their retail electricity bills by offsetting their electricity usage with renewable electricity production such as rooftop solar panels.
- The AGs’ protest argues that approval of NERA’s petition would overturn decades-old precedent recognizing state authority to implement net metering programs, undermine states’ clean energy programs and emission reduction goals, result in higher energy costs for consumers, and put thousands of jobs at risk.
- In addition, a bipartisan group of 31 AGs, also led by AG Healey, sent a letter to FERC urging the commission to deny NERA’s petition and to reaffirm states’ authority to regulate net metering, arguing, among other things, that NERA’s petition is procedurally flawed because it seeks a decision on an issue for which there is no live controversy or uncertainty, and that NERA presents no credible support for its position that FERC should overturn state jurisdiction of net metering programs.
A Tad Usurious: Online Lender Allegedly Charges Up to 251% in Interest
- District of Columbia AG Karl Racine sued online lender Elevate Credit, Inc. (“Elevate”) for allegedly providing illegal loans to DC residents, using deceptive marketing practices, and charging excessive interest rates on its loans in violation of the Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
- The complaint alleges that Elevate provided loans without the required money lending license, charged annual percentage rates (“APRs”) ranging from 99% to 251%—far exceeding the statutory 24% and 6% caps on interest—and misleadingly marketed its high interest rate loan products as solutions to the cycle of debt and without disclosing exact APRs, among other things.
- The complaint seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, restitution, damages, civil penalties, and attorneys’ fees and costs.


text:
(Update: Adding video, comments by La Pine's city manager, Chamber of Commerce)
LA PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The city of La Pine is a fast-growing part of Central Oregon, and now it could get even bigger, in terms of some very familiar shopping options.
"It just means potentially new opportunities for people to to shop in, shall we say, companies or businesses that are at this time not currently present in the community," City Manager Geoff Wullschlager said Thursday.
He said the city was contacted earlier this summer by Dickerhoof Properties. The group expressed interest in potentially developing some new commercial properties -- it could include a Starbucks, AutoZone and Walgreens.
In just the last year, six new businesses have come to the growing town.
"The intended location for the Starbucks where the existing Chamber of Commerce building is, which is shared with a florist," Wullschlager said. "The florist has already moved out, and the Chamber of Commerce is moving to a location across Highway 97. And again, it's my understanding that the interest is to put the AutoZone there. Those are both on the west side of highway 97,"
And the possible Walgreens would be situated where Coach's used to be.
La Pine's Chamber of Commerce's Executive Director Ann Gawith said the downside to moving is potentially losing a historical building.
They're set to leave their old location by the end of September.
"The fact that more corporate-style businesses are coming in is probably not ideal, but we don't want to discourage business, either," Gawith said.
Wullschlager said the city has spoken briefly with Dickerhoof Properties and a representative from Rhine-Cross Group, an engineering and surveying company.
"I don't want us to be perceived as anti-business," Gawith said. "You know, we -- that's why we exist, and we love representing the businesses in our town -- all of them, large and small."
The groups would need to complete the site plan applications in order to move forward with their request.


text:
Technology Review covers the intensifying struggle between gamers and publishers over intrusive DRM methods. From the article:
"Ultimately, Schober says, companies are moving toward a model where hackers wouldn't just have to break through protections on a game, they'd also have to crack company servers. The unfortunate consequence, he says, is that it's getting more difficult for legitimate gamers to use and keep the products they buy. But there are alternatives to DRM in the works as well. The IEEE Standards Association, which develops industry standards for a variety of technologies, is working to define 'digital personal property.' The goal, says Paul Sweazey, who heads the organization's working group, is to restore some of the qualities of physical property — making it possible to lend or resell digital property."


text:
Mordor Intelligence, a global market research and consulting firm, has announced the release of its reports on the global seed markets. These reports analyze the market dynamics along with country/region-specific insights into the study market. The reports contain extensively researched competitive landscape of the import/export companies across the globe and government regulations pertaining to the production and consumption in different regions.
The popularity of ancient grains such as chia, flax, and quinoa have increased substantially over the last decade. These seeds are gluten-free in nature and rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fibers. Being a functional food ingredient, experiencing massive demand from industries like food & beverages, makes it imperative to study the business landscape of these markets.
As per the 2015 figures, the global market values of chia, flax, and quinoa seeds were USD 194.22 million, USD 561.97 million, and USD 248.54 million, respectively. During the forecast period 2015-2020, the market for all three grains is projected to witness a CAGR of more than 20%. Among the three, chia seeds are anticipated to witness the fastest growth at a CAGR of 46.26%.
The report identifies the increasing health-consciousness among consumers and the huge demand from food & beverages as the major factors driving the market growth. The price sensitivity among consumers, their preference towards foods containing omega- 3 fatty acids of animal origin over plant origin, and fragmented supply chain are the factors that impede the market growth.
North America is the leading market globally, followed by Asia-Pacific and Europe. The huge market in this region is attributed to the improved consumer awareness about the health benefits offered by foods with chia, flax, and quinoa ingredients. North America witnessed the launch of a large selection of food & beverages (with chia, flax, and quinoa ingredients) in 2014.
North America accounts for the largest consumption of certified organic flaxseeds globally; the demand in the region has surpassed the local production. The current premium for golden flaxseeds in comparison to conventional brown flaxseeds is over 300%.


text:
The Use of Gift Cards as a Scam Payment Method Has Increased Dramatically, FTC Data Shows
The Agency Says that in the First Nine Months of 2021, Americans Lost $148 M in Gift Card Scams, More than All of 2020.
Last updated on December 13, 2021
According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), customers across the country reported losing $148 million in scams where gift cards were used as a payment method. This amount is more than what was reported for the entire year of 2020.
Almost 40,000 Americans said they paid a scammer with a gift card during that time frame, with the majority of them indicating they paid scammers mimicking big organizations or government entities.
This type of scam payment has increased every year during the last three years, now reaching staggering numbers both in the number of reports and the total amount of losses.
Since 2018, both the numbers of consumers filing reports in which gift cards were the form of payment to scammers and the amount they have reported lost have increased steadily.
The FTC has resources for consumers, including information on how to contact gift card companies to try to stop payments to scammers at ftc.gov/giftcards.
As a Senior Content Writer and Video Content Creator specializing in cybersecurity, I leverage digital media to unravel and clarify complex cybersecurity concepts and emerging trends. With my extensive knowledge in the field, I create content that engages a diverse audience, from cybersecurity novices to experienced experts. My approach is to create a nexus of understanding, taking technical security topics and transforming them into accessible, relatable knowledge for anyone interested in strengthening their security posture.


text:
The advertising industry's woes, long evident in all of Panama's
mass communications media, are now being played out in the daily newspapers
via full-page attack ads by which MECOM, the corporation that owns two of
Panama's three major commercial television networks and the Cable Onda cable
system, is trying to lure advertisers away from the rival TVN television network.
The ads, which appeared on September 24, proclaimed that "in this race,
third is the last," and claimed that MEDCOM's Telemetro network had an
average 46 percent audience share between July 30 and September 2, while its
RPC network had a 32 percent share, leaving TVN with 22 percent. The ads claim
that the data were from a survey conducted by Ibope Time, a company that's
not well known.
The percentages add up to 100, which implies that nobody at
all watches the cable networks or programming on the DirecTV satellite service,
and there is no audience for the Catholic channel 5 or the University of Panama's
channel 11 educational stations, and that likewise there are no viewers of
the religious and news programming on channels 29 and 21. Coming after several
days when CNN's Spanish-language coverage dominated the attention of Panama's
cable and satellite TV viewers and MEDCOM's reduced news departments compelled
the RPC network to run a September 20 "news" show that used a crude
photo montage to allege that a UFO was involved in the World Trade Center
attacks, the new ad campaign looks like a desperate struggle in a severely
shrunken advertising market.
The true state of affairs can be generally seen in the Panamanian
networks' programming moves, in how thick the daily newspapers are, and in
the amounts and types of video advertising that is now sold here. It is not
so precisely discerned as in the US market, where generally recognized and
impartial companies like Nielsen in television and Arbitron in radio measure
broadcast audiences and it's a crime for print media to inflate their circulation
figures to sell ads.
TVN long boasted that it was the leader in Panamanian sports
programming, but that's clearly not the case anymore. The network used to
broadcast almost all of the New York Yankees' games, but during this regular
baseball season it couldn't sell the advertising needed to pay Major League
Baseball for the rights, so there was very little baseball on Panamanian television.
TVN also laid off much of its sports reporting team and scrapped most of its
local sports programs. Now RPC, on the strength of Juan Carlos Tapia's "Lo
Mejor del Boxeo," is probably Panama's leading sports broadcaster.
Meanwhile, RPC and the other Panamanian networks are looking for the cheapest
imports that they can buy. During the purported Ibope Time survey period,
RPC announced some new programming with more fanfare that one would expect
under the circumstances --- they are now showing "Leave it to Beaver"
reruns. Latin American soap operas have pushed a number of North American
shows out of Panama's broadcast schedules, and we are seeing more inexpensive
locally produced soaps. Both MEDCOM and TVN have cut their broadcast hours,
and though they split the rights to the US military's SCN channels between
them at auctions earlier this year, neither appears ready to launch their
new commercial channels in the current depressed market.
The daily newspapers are all thinner as a result of fewer ad
sales. There are also many other tell-tale signs of cost-cutting, like the
inclusion of more wire service material and larger graphics to fill space
and compensate for fewer journalists on their staffs.
Meanwhile, the cheap morning "classified" television
ads that used to be a mainstay of small business publicity are disappearing
fast. Cable Onda advertising was rarely bought by paying customers in the
best of times --- ad agencies that steered clients toward MEDCOM and received
spots to promote themselves always dominated in that medium --- but now it
appears that there are even fewer full-price clients.
Large corporate accounts plugging relatively low-priced goods and services
(cell phones, consumer banking, beer, cigarettes, soft drinks, fast food and
the like) seem to be the remaining pool of choice advertisers in the Panamanian
market. MEDCOM's ad offensive against TVN is best seen as a move to strip
such business away from the competition, because there aren't many other choice
advertising accounts out there to be attracted.


text:
Cybercrime attacks on UK businesses have soared by 65% figures crime figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal.
There was a fall in fraud driven mainly by decreases in consumer and retail fraud, such as offences related to online shopping or fraudulent computer service calls, the ONS report said, while a drop in computer misuse was mainly due to a 26% fall in reported incidents of computer malware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
However, the report also reveals that 56% of fraud incidents were cyber related, 23% of computer misuse incidents (410,000) involved loss of money or goods relating to computer malware and DDoS attacks, and computer misuse crime referred to the NFIB by Action Fraud increased by 63%.
This rise in business-related computer misuse to 21,745 offences, the report said, is largely accounted for by a 145% rise in computer malware and DDoS attacks the past year to 8,292 offences.
The full ONS report can be read here.
Kaspersky Highlights Information Security In Loss Figures
To budget for information security, companies need to consider factors such as average potential losses, preferably by incident type, as well as other businesses’ average, outlays on security, Says the latest security report from Kaspersky.read more
Half Of Global Organisations Not Prepared For Cyberattacks
It is believed that more than 4,000 cyberattacks occur daily worldwide, but half of organisations across the globe admit they are not prepared for such events.read more
Secure Your Physical Business Against Data Theft
Data theft does not just happen in cyberspace, but in the physical business environment, too. Lax physical security can allow criminals to access your computers, filing cabinets, documents left on desktops, etc. Here are some tips for you to ensure your everyday working environment is safe and secure.read more
UK Launches Third NCSC Annual Review
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Oliver Dowden MP has launched the UK's National Cyber Security Centre's third Annual Review. In his presentation speech, he said: "Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. Cybersecurity is genuinely a massive priority for the government and it gives me great pleasure to launch the National Cyber Security Centre’s third Annual Review.read more


text:
The Food and Drug Administration has been investigating the use of Aqua, a synthetic herbicide, to help reduce the consumption of fish.
The company’s use of a patented process has been approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use on a range of crops, including corn and soybeans.
The EPA has said the herbicide is used on cotton and cotton-producing cattle, to reduce the use by the animals of an herbicide used on livestock, and to control weeds in the fields.
The herbicide can also be applied on grain crops.
Aqua is an insecticide.
The FDA said it was assessing the safety and effectiveness of Aqua in protecting fish.
Aqua can also kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and insects.
The agency has said Aqua has no toxicological or reproductive effects.
Aqua has not yet been approved for use on crops.
However, the company says it is testing the efficacy of Aqua on maize.
Aqua will be used in maize fields in the US and Canada, with commercial quantities expected to start in 2018.
Aquablogger is an agrochemicals company that specialises in developing products to tackle the problem of nutrient loss.
Aquabeggger is developing an Aqua-based technology that could help with the problem.
Aqua could help farmers reduce their reliance on fertilisers and other chemicals to keep the crops growing, according to Aqua.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently evaluating Aquabogger’s Aqua technology.
Aqua was approved for the use in 2008.
Aquagro is a company that uses a patented herbicide technology to control a range, including crops, weeds and pests.
It has applications in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, the US, Canada, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, South Africa and China.
The firm is currently testing Aqua on soybeans in Argentina.
Aquaflogger’s product has been licensed for use in corn and cotton.
Aqua, which was developed by Aquabagro and Aqua, is now being tested on cotton.
It was previously tested on corn and corn-producing animals in Brazil, Italy and the US.
Aquasaflogging is a subsidiary of Aquaburg.
The new company was founded in 2011 and was awarded a patent in 2013 for a process to reduce nitrate in maize and other crops.
The Aqua technology is similar to a process used to grow food for fish.
Aquambogger was founded by an Italian engineer, who is also a patent holder, in 2014.
Aqua currently has no products in the market.
The patent is still active and Aquafogger is currently considering applications for a range.
The project was funded by the Italian government.
The product was first shown in 2015, when it was shown to work on a variety of crops.
In March, the government granted Aquafigger the permission to test its technology in two different crops, on soybean and maize, and a range in other countries.
Aqua’s product is currently being tested in Argentina and Argentina is planning to start testing it on cotton in 2018 or 2019.
Aqua says it can reduce nitrates and nitrates are a major contributor to fish kills, which it says are the most serious risk to the world’s fish stocks.
Aqua’s product can also reduce the size of fish and other aquatic organisms in a field.
Aquamigger was started in 2012 by an engineer and former member of the US Army.
Aqua aims to reduce water pollution, increase biodiversity, and improve the quality of food by reducing nitrate and other contaminants in the environment.


text:
“Our target date is July 15,” store manager Kitty Reynolds said. “We’re hoping to be a little sooner.
“I’m very excited,” she added. “I was an assistant manager in Clear Lake (Galveston County location), Texas, and they offered me this position as store manager — a brand new manager and a brand new store in a brand new state.
“This is our first Cavenders in Tennessee. There’re no words to describe how excited I am about it. They put a lot of faith in me.”
About the move to Tennessee, Reynolds replied, “They are always looking for a location … They thought this would be the best fit for Cavenders.
“The community, the high volume and there’s nothing like us in this area,” she added.
“Cavenders isn’t just the name of our store; it’s also the name of our family,” district manager Erik Garza said.
“We’re a family-owned and operated retail chain … we carry hardworking Western wear known for high-quality and authentic style because that’s the standard in everything we do.
“We believe in the legacy of the American West and we live it every day,” he added. “We carry all your favorite Western brands.”
Based in Tyler, Texas, Cavenders has been in business since 1965. Started by the late James Cavender and carried on by his sons, Mike, Clay and Joe, the company owns almost 100 stores — all over Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
“We do have our own brand of boots,” Reynolds said. “There’s the Cavender brand made by Old Gringo, which is a very high-end brand that they do for us, and then we have our new line, JRC & Sons.
“James Cavender wanted to make his own line of boots,” she added. “He started almost four years ago, passed away almost three years ago and his sons picked up where he left off. (JRC & Sons) is really a great boot.”
The store also carries boots by Ariat, Justin, Black Jack, Tony Lama, Anderson Bean and more. It also carries jeans and other apparel and accessories for men, women and children.
“We have the Rafter C, which is the men’s and boys’ collection, and the Rockin’ C, which is the women’s and girls’ collection,” Reynolds said.
While the styles are mostly Western, she pointed out the ladies’ brand “looks more like a boutique look.” In the men’s lines, “we also carry collars and button-ups and fishing shirts, things like that.”
For workwear, “we also do house accounts, where companies can come in and set up a charge account so their employees can come in and buy the things they need for work,” Reynolds said.
Once open, store hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday; from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday; and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Merchandise may be ordered online at cavenders.com.


text:
It is believed that more than one million workers will be affected by the extended Sunday opening hours and the GMB union has spoken out about the potential implications this could have in terms of harassment in the workplace.
The government has invited the GMB to a consultation to discuss pay and working hours over the Olympic period, but the union had planned to snub business minister Mark Prisk’s offer, describing the invite as a “sham” since the government has already made the decision to suspend the Sunday trading laws.
“There is no recognition of the disruption that extending opening hours will have on well over a million shop and distribution workers across the country,” Gary Smith, GMB national secretary for retail, told the Independent.
“We’re concerned that they will be bullied into working and where’s the fairness? Retailers will be making so much money and workers should share in that. We’re not even going to waste our time talking to Prisk.”
Particularly in London, the GMB wants “Olympic premium” pay for those required to work extended hours, and is calling for a system that ensures that longer hours are only worked on a voluntary basis.
Due to come into effect from July 22nd, the suspension of the Sunday trading laws will last over eight weekends to allow large retailers in England and Wales to trade for more than six hours.
A spokeswoman for the business department said: “The GMB has raised some valid concerns about the Sunday trading laws suspension, which is why government is holding discussions with the unions, retailers and employers’ groups before the second reading of the Bill.”


text:
Extreme volatility in the price of oil — which again hit record levels on Thursday — and uncertainty about the July unemployment statistics helped send stocks sharply lower Thursday, with both the Dow and Nasdaq losing more than 1.5 percent.
Oil prices spiked again after Russia officials reversed course and essentially withdrew approval for that country’s dominant oil firm, Yukos, to continue to pump oil for export.
Crude futures in New York reached US$44.50 before settling to close at $44.41, up $1.58 from Wednesday’s close.
Against that backdrop, stocks were lower all day, plunging sharply in the last hours of trading.
The Dow ended the day down 163.48, or 1.6 percent to 9,963.03. The Nasdaq took a 33.43-point hit, losing 1.8 percent, to finish at 1,821.63, while the S&P was off 17.93, or 1.6 percent, to 1,080.70.
Jobs Data Watch
Adding to investor jitters was the impending release of July’s employment figures.
Most economists expect the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 5.6 percent and expect also that the economy added more than 200,000 jobs.
Anxiety over that report is heightened because the June data fell well short of expectations and raised concerns that the economic recovery had stalled out.
Economists are eager to know if the relatively weak June report was an aberration or the start of a downward trend.
Economy Back on Track?
Several economic reports this week seemed to suggest the economy was somewhat back on track, with factory orders higher, for instance, but others, such as lower consumer spending last month, muddied the picture.
On Thursday, retailers released their sales data for July, with several major chains, including Wal-Mart and Target, posting higher same-store sales.
Others, including Sears, said sales at stores open more than a year fell last month.


text:
🇪🇺 🛵 European food delivery apps are (finally) becoming profitable. All three leading companies (Deliveroo, Delivery Hero and Takeawy-Just Eat) are expected to report profits for 2023. As planned, margins tend to increase when the number of consumers and restaurants increases (with shorter delivery times). After a decade of existence, years of doubts and capital consumption, it is pretty satisfying to see this sector stabilising, turning a profit, and appearing attractive to public market investors.
🇺🇸 💥 Uber is shutting down Drizzly, an alcohol delivery app acquired for $1.1B in 2020. Now, the delivery company wants to focus on its Uber Eats food and grocery delivery service to deliver alcohol. I wonder what’s the most impressive here: the amount of money spent on the app, the fact that Drizly was never integrated into Uber (indicating the absence of any kind of strategic foresight behind the acquisition), or simply how different the world is today from what it was in 2021.
🇮🇱 🥩 Aleph Farms became the world’s first startup to receive regulatory approval for cultivated beef in Israel. This is also the first global approval for cultivated beef (others have been for cultivated chicken). While using the same technology as its competitors (cellular agriculture, which enables to create meat out of animal stem cells), Aleph Farms is focused on high-end products such as steaks.
🌍 💉Food companies are already planning their responses to the success of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. It appears that users of these weight-loss drugs are consuming fewer snacks during AND after using them. And beyond, some, such as Nestlé, are planning companion products. More agile startups, such as Daily Harvest (frozen meals delivered to your door), have already launched their range of companion meals. While we don’t know exactly how big this market will be (the predictions for the success of GLP-1 drugs are as wild as those of people betting on Bitcoin), the direction is clear: we are moving toward healthier and more personalised food products (for more, you can read DigitalFoodLab’s last year insight on “food as medicine”).
🇺🇸 🚜 Farm-ng, an American startup, raised $10M for its small farm robots. They help in soil preparation, planting, harvest, and crop care.
🇮🇱 🍅 The Mediterranean Food Lab, an Israeli startup, raised $17M to create natural and fermented flavours for alternative meat and plant-based foods.
🇮🇱 🌳 SeeTree, an Israeli startup, raised $17.5M for its orchard tree intelligence platform. With drones and sensors, it gathers information on the trees to optimise their performance.


text:
Throughout this summer Yeezy Mafia, the most reliable source for all things Yeezy, has been telling us about three more colorways of the Yeezy 350 V2 that are to release by the end of this year. Not to mention another pair that was shown yesterday which has the potential to be released also. With that being said, Yeezy Mafia also told us that Kanye had been wearing a pair of the Semi Frozen Yellow V2s in a secret location. And now, we have proof of that exact statement.
As you can see in the photo below, it seems as if Yeezy Mafia was once again spot on with the mockup we’ve been seeing these past few months. As stated in the post I did a little while back on all three Yeezy 350 V2s to come, this colorway will be the most limited. And after finding out that these glow in the dark earlier this week, I’m sure these will sellout in seconds this December.
All photos via Yeezy Mafia.


text:
Sony Celebrates 'Ghostbusters' 30th Anniversary With Blu-rays and Theatrical Re-release5 Jun, 2014 By: John Latchem
Sony Pictures Entertainment will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters with several special events, highlighted by a limited theatrical engagement starting Aug. 29 on more than 700 screens in the United States and Canada.
The 1984 film has been remastered in 4K and will be re-released on Blu-ray in an anniversary edition Sept. 16.
In addition, the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters II will make its Blu-ray debut Sept. 16 with a 25th anniversary special edition, also remastered in 4K.
Both films will also be available as a special two-disc anniversary digibook, as well as a limited-edition gift set that includes an exclusive collectible Slimer figurine.
The Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II Blu-rays both come loaded with exclusive bonus materials, including revealing conversations with director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd, as well as never-before-seen deleted scenes from Ghostbusters II. The Ghostbusters anniversary edition features the original music video of the Oscar nominated song “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr., while Ghostbusters II includes the original music video for “On Our Own” by Bobby Brown.
In addition, Ghostbusters will contain all previously released bonus content, commentary and an interactive Slimer Mode, offering fans a picture-in-picture graphical viewing experience.
Fans can also access the new website for the latest news about the franchise’s anniversary celebration.


text:
On Friday, Starbucks debuted their annual reusable holiday cups--and promptly ran out of them at several locations. Seeing as coming into possession of these cups gets their proud owners 50 cents off certain holiday drinks until January 7, devotees of the coffee chain were steamed. "I was so excited for the reusable cup," tweeted Laura Fagras. "I was there 10 mins after opening and they were out. Its so not fair. I was so upset." Can anybody say, "First-world problems?"
CLICK HERE for the full story


text:
Lowell McAdam, CEO for Verizon Wireless, spoke at a Barclays Capital conference where he discussed upcoming devices and again confirmed the Palm Pre would be coming to Verizon Wireless.
"You will see devices like the Palm Pre and the Cousin on our network from Palm. You will see a second-generation Storm. You will see a new device we call the Tour from BlackBerry as well. That is an upscale of any other QWERTY-based devices that we have from BlackBerry today. You’ll see Motorola back into our portfolio. We feel very good about the progress that the Motorola team has made. And, yes, you’re going to see Android devices as well.
It looks as though the Palm Pre and its cousin, perhaps the Eos (code name Pixie) will be getting the new Palm handsets sometime in the near future, albiet, that future looks like the first quarter of 2010."


text:
CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN) — Due to its sales growth, German lock maker Abus says it’s hired three people at the company’s Chicago headquarters that begin their new roles this week and next.
Joan Hanscom is the company’s PR and marketing manager and will help promote the brand in the U.S. and Canadian markets. She previously ran, marketed, promoted and owned the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross. She also worked on PR and marketing at companies such as AOL, G4 Productions and Gollin Harris.
Joining Abus as office manager is Joshua Sutton. He previously worked in several bike shops. Sutton studied photo journalism and has a background in writing.
And Colin Brown recently became a part-time sales assistant. Brown, who’s finishing up his college degree, worked retail and is familiar with the brand.
Hanscom can be reached at Joan.Hanscom@abus.com or (312) 479-4928. Sutton can be reached at Joshua.Sutton@abus.com or (312) 731-8608. And Brown can be reached at Colin.Brown@abus.com or (312) 493-4259.