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USA: Amazon has a bra plan
A plan by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to sell its own line of bras and intimate apparel off its website will be closely watched by the retail sector to see if one of the last of the e-commerce holdout categories finally succumbs. The Wall Street Journal broke the news on Friday and tips that the Amazon line could be introduced within a few weeks.
Read Also: Kellogg To Use New Model For Snacks Business
Some industry insiders think Amazon will have a hard time selling to first-time customers who want to feel and touch their lingerie products, while others warn that the sub-$10 pricing from the Seattle company could rattle the bra market as Generation Z factors in.
Calvin Klein (NYSE:PVH), Victoria’s Secret (NYSE:LB), Target (NYSE:TGT), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) are a few of the companies that could be impacted by the new Amazon apparel push.
I wouldn't say I'm addicted, but I'm definitely not a casual online shopper. Thanks to years
Amazon is gaining ground in the battle over clothing, according to new research by Morgan
“3, 2, 1… GO!” ¡Y a correr por la sección de cereales buscando estrellas de
En el último tiempo la moda nos ha presentado piezas extrañas que nos han sorprendido.
Wrriten by Laura Davis-Taylor Walmart has continued to surprise the industry with its aggressive innovation efforts


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Guimaras to hold Manggahan Festival minus ‘eat-all-you-can’ event
ILOILO CITY — The Guimaras provincial government has decided to push through with this year’s two-day celebration of its famed Manggahan Festival, which was canceled last year due to strict restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, starting on May 20.
There will, however, be no mango-eat-all-you-can feast in this year’s festival, which will be held together with the celebration of the province’s 29th founding anniversary.
Activities and events of the festival will mostly be held outdoors and through online portals in line with health protocols to stop the spread of the virus, the provincial government announced on social media.
An agricultural trade fair will be held to showcase mango and other products of the island. It will be streamed on the province’s social media pages, which will also feature a virtual tour of the island’s beaches and other tourist destinations.
Tourism and the export of its famous sweet mangoes are among the top revenue earners of the island.
The festival will still include a province-wide bike fun ride and a mango-eating contest at the beach. E-games will also be held.
From 6M to 1M visitors
The island province of Guimaras, the smallest among six provinces comprising Western Visayas, was a subprovince of Iloilo until it became a separate province on May 22, 1992.
Its festival is among the biggest in Western Visayas that have been canceled or toned down due to the pandemic.
Travel and quarantine restrictions have battered the tourism industry of Western Visayas, one of the region’s main economic drivers.
From around 6 million tourists who visited the region in 2019, who mostly went to Boracay Island in Aklan province, tourist arrivals plummeted to around 1 million in 2020.
Tourism revenues also dropped from P131.1 billion in 2019 to P22.8 billion in 2020.
—NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.
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Recent statistics seem to show more people are willing to pay for downloads of music.
Swedish export of music is doing better and better, according to new statistics. Swedish musicians have pulled in over half a billion SEK ($71.3 million) in the form of copyright export proceeds—music that’s being played abroad on the radio, in clubs, in publicity and on television. That is in total an increase of 9 percent since last year.
The biggest change is the one that has taken place in the online sales of music, especially from music services like Spotify and iTunes. Moneywise, however, it may not seem like much: 17 million SEK ($2.4 million) compared to 11 million SEK ($1.5 million) last year. The online sales of music make up for a bit over 3 percent of the total proceeds.
The organization Musiksverige views this development as positive, interpreting it as people are willing—more now than before—to pay to download music. A huge part of the music proceeds never reaches Sweden, as many artists and composers are connected to foreign copyright agencies. Swedish House Mafia, Robyn, Anne Sofie von Otter, Roxette and Avicii are some of the artists among those who pulled in most of last year’s export proceeds.
More information on the mentioned artists Swedish House Mafia on Myspace
, Anne Sofie von Otter
, Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii


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Huawei Honor 6
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Asus Zenfone 6
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HTC One (M8)
How to shop smarter online to get best prices, discounts
Xiaomi Redmi 1S tested after OTA update
iPhone 6 Plus vs Galaxy Note 4 vs Nexus 6: Specs Comparison
SignEasy lets you sign documents digitally on your phone or tablet
All you need to know about the Asus Nexus Player
How tech is taking football to the next level
Classic FPS games are a dying breed
Slowly gathering steam...
The obsession within
Carmick Shift: Can John Carmack and Oculus Rift change the world?
Audi creates history with driverless car that can reach racing speeds
Man claims iPhone 6 bent, caught fire in pocket
Blackberry Passport sold out on Amazon India
Map reveals countries where Internet goes to 'sleep' at night
Microsoft's new cloud computing tool will help fight Ebola
Moto G 2nd gen launched, available from midnight at Rs. 12,999
Xiaomi goes for the kill, prices Redmi 1S at Rs. 5,999 in India
Xiaomi lists Mi3 cases and power-banks on Flipkart, offers 10,400 mAh powerbank for Rs. 999
Moto G2 expected to be announced on 10 September
Motorola Moto X (Gen 2) smartphone, Moto 360 smartwatch announced for India
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10.1 Windows
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 10.1 Android
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 8.0
VIdeocon Infinium Graphite
Overview: Implementing fast real-time GPU-based image blur algorithms
How to use Intel Perceptual Computing SDK for human-robot interface
How to use touch gestures to Influence Physics Parameters using TouchScript
Case Study: How to adapt multiple input methods on Intel based hybrid devices
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Digit News Update [20 OCT 2014]
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Rumours of a Facebook phone have once again surfaced online. This time rumours suggest HTC is working on a device for the social networking and unlike the current Facebook-enabled phones such as HTC ChaCha and Salsa, the new Facebook phone will “have a platform exclusive to Facebook”. Moreover, it will have all the functionality present on the desktop version of the social networking site. The rumoured device is likely to launch in the third quarter of 2012.
“Since Samsung has become the top vendor of Android smartphones, Google will continue to have Samsung develop its next-generation Nexus models, leveraging Samsung's innovation ability with regard to the Android platform, and its ability to control the supply of key components,” says a Digitimes report citing unnamed sources privy to the matter.
The report further said that Facebook is likely to expand its investments and sources of income after becoming a public company, and the launch of self-brand smartphones will be part of its development strategy.
This is not the first time we've heard of a Facebook phone. There have been a number of rumors that Facebook wishes to get into the mobile phone business, but nothing concrete happened.
Last November, rumours said an Android-based “Facebook phone” under a code name of Buffy was in the works. The Facebook phone was then rumoured to be manufactured by HTC and launched within 12-18 months. Read our previous coverage here.


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The list of the world’s ultimate 1 percent has grown: Forbes magazine said its tally of billionaires around the globe climbed 16 percent from last year.
Topping the list is Carlos Slim, a telecommunications mogul from Mexico with a reported net worth of $73 billion. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates came in second place, again, with a net worth of $67 billion.
Also making the list were fellow Seattle-area billionaires Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (19); Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (51) and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (52).
Other notables saw their places drop as their bank accounts were squeezed in the last year. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg fell 31 spots as his net worth dropped by $4.2 billion.
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Warren Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, dropped to the No. 4 slot after more than a decade in the top 3; his spot was taken over by Amancio Ortega, a Spaniard who holds a huge stake in the retail conglomerate that owns fast fashion brand Zara.
All told, 1,426 uber-wealthy individuals made Forbes’ 2013 list, a record-setting number. And their bank accounts fattened too — average net worth jumped to $3.8 billion, a 3 percent increase from the year before.
Liliane Bettencourt, whose family owns more than 30 percent of cosmetics giant L’Oreal — is the world’s wealthiest woman at $30 billion. The total number of women grew to 138, up from 104 the year before.
More than 30 percent of the billionaires — or 442 to be exact, call the United States home, the most of any nation in the world.


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WASHINGTON, D.C.(HubCityRadio)- On Thursday, Senator John Thune went on the floor of the U.S. Senate to address President Biden’s administration dealing with world trade.
Senator Thune explains how this has been a low priority so far under the President’s administration.
Thune talks about the importance of trade for small businesses across the country.
Thune discuss how expanding trade could help supply chain issues in the U.S.
Thune compare the number of trade partners the U.S. has compared to the European Union.
Thune talks about the importance of establishing a trade agreement with the United Kingdom.


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There are two opposing camps this season in fashion. One sees women post-lockdown refusing to sacrifice comfort for future; the other, led by Dolce & Gabbana, insists women are desperate for a night on the dancefloor.
The resurgence of Covid-19 in Europe is increasing the uncertainty surrounding September fashion events. Trade show and fashion week organisers are trying to cope, amidst postponements, cancellations and online options.
Trade show organisers have been forced to cancel the events planned for June, and are reviewing their plans. Among the options, postponements and ramped-up virtual solutions, as the end of lock-down remains uncertain.
Fashion labels are coming up with new strategies to deal with a menswear season that has been hugely compromised by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the cancellation of the June trade shows and fashion weeks.
After the serial cancellations of the June men's Fashion Weeks, the benchmark menswear show has announced the postponement of its next summer edition, which is now scheduled to be held in Florence on September 2-4.
Paris Fashion Week opened on Monday 23 September, and the Première Classe, Woman, Tranoï and Splash trade shows will follow suit at the end of the week, attracting buyers who came to the French capital for the event.


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General Motors India plans to beef up its product portfolio with two new models next year. One of the models to be launched is the Chevy Cruze which we posted about earlier and the other other is the Spark with the Matiz engine.
“The small car may be in the same category like Spark or even cheaper. The other model will be in the Honda Civic segment. For the first time in the history of the company, we have excess capacity. This we will leverage,” GM India president and managing director Karl Slym said.
The 800cc spark will get the 795cc, 6valve unit from the Matiz which pumps out 50bhp of power @ 6000RPM and 69NM of torque @ 4600RPM. The 800c Spark will be positioned against the Maruti Alto and 800.


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WASHINGTON, DC - Food prices are up from last year though they did fall in the fourth quarter.
The latest American Farm Bureau Federation "Marketbasket Survey" found that it costs just over $50 to buy the 16 items it uses as a cost estimate to prepare one or more meals.
That price is actually down $1.36 from the survey released last fall but up 3% from last year.
Prices fell for Russett potatoes, bagged salads, deli ham, apples, and sirloin tip roast.
Prices rose for whole milk, orange juice, white bread, ground chuck, and shredded cheddar cheese.
The Farm Bureau says as retail grocery prices have increased gradually over time, the share of the average food dollar that America`s farm and ranch families receive has dropped.
As for the coming year, the Farm Bureau says food prices could rise by three to four percent.
According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, Americans spend just under 10 percent of their disposable annual income on food, the lowest average of any country in the world.
The Farm Bureau says the farmer`s share of this quarter`s $50.54 Marketbasket would be just over eight dollars.


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Adding a supermarket to the neighborhood may not be enough to improve access to healthy foods.
In recent years, growing public and private efforts have emerged to end the phenomenon of “food deserts,” places with limited access to restaurants and grocery stores with fresh food options. Research has shown that across the nation low-income people and people of color often have to travel farther to access supermarkets. But distance is not the whole story when it comes to connecting people with healthy food.
In a recent Mother Jones article, “The Depressing Truth About Hipster Food Towns”, Stephen Tucker Paulsen shares the story of native Brooklynite that lives in a “food mirage,” a term being used more frequently to describe the phenomenon of living in an area dominated by food options that one cannot afford.
Pauslen writes, “Deborah Gilfillan lives between Brooklyn’s first Trader Joe’s and its flagship Whole Foods. She’s also walking distance from Union Market, a local grocery chain where flank steak sells for $15.99 per pound. But these stores are too expensive and don’t have the right ingredients for the 62-year-old contract administrator, a native Brooklynite who lives in a brownstone she bought for a song back in the 1960s.”
While food deserts have not disappeared in the New York region, so-called food mirages are becoming more and more common, especially amidst rapid neighborhood change. Many of the region’s urban areas with the highest density of supermarkets also have high shares of households receiving food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). What’s more, about 60% of the households receiving SNAP benefits are living in areas facing displacement pressures, which means that they are likely facing rising unaffordability.
The map above shows the census tracts in the New York region with rising unaffordability and risk of housing displacement, and the places where that risk is coupled with a high share (30% or more) households receiving SNAP benefits.
Areas of the region experiencing gentrification are also seeing the displacement of diverse and affordable food options. Paulsen details how assistance is not necessarily a sufficient solution, since SNAP benefits ignore the price of local foods and are instead based on nationwide average costs.
To learn more about the housing displacement and unaffordability that is growing in our region, and how to protect vulnerable residents moving forward, read the RPA’s recently published Report “Pushed Out”. Be sure to look for our regional recommendations for food access in the fourth regional plan, “A Region Transformed”, to be released this fall.


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Limited Run Games announces physical version of Thimbleweed Park as first Switch release, out March 30
Thimbleweed Park joined the Switch eShop last September. Now thanks to Limited Run Games, a physical version is in the works.
Thimbleweed Park will actually be Limited Run’s first release on Switch. It’s slated for March 30, with pre-orders opening for a limited amount of time soon.
Limited Run will also have a collector’s edition thanks to a partnership with Fangamer.


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Tim Solso '69 Re-Elected to Ashland Inc. Board
January 30, 2010
January 30, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — Theodore M. "Tim" Solso, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Cummins Inc. and 1969 graduate of DePauw University, has been re-elected to the board of directors of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH). Based in Covington, Kentucky, Ashland is a global specialty chemicals company.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports, "Solso also serves as chairman of Ashland's personnel and compensation committee and is a member of the firm's finance, governance and nominating committees." His term on the board runs through 2013.
Access the story at the newspaper's Web site.
Tim Solso has been honored with the Anti-Defamation League's "Man of Achievement Award," as well as the 2007 International Executive of the Year award from the Academy of International Business (AIB), the 2007 Six Sigma CEO of the Year Award, and the American Business Award for "Best Chairman."Back


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The environment right now is very conducive to investing. Three stocks should be on investors’ radars as they are well positioned to skyrocket in 2021.
Improving financial strength
Corus Entertainment (TSX:CJR.B) is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The $1.19 billion media and content company could give Netflix and other streaming services in Canada a run for their money. Currently, the stock’s year-to-date gain is 36.56%, but it has the potential to climb even more.
The firmly established partnerships in the U.S. are starting to pay off in 2021. Daniel Eves, senior vice president of Networks, Corus Entertainment, said, “Corus is positioned to deliver one of the most sought-after TV lineups this year with our biggest slate of specialty series ever.” He added that the biggest names in Hollywood, whether in front of or behind the camera, support Corus.
In the first half of fiscal 2021 (six months ended February 28, 2021), revenue and net income growth is 6% and 16% versus Q2 fiscal 2020. The free cash flow of $152.1 million is 29% higher than in the same period last year. Corus’s expansion onto new platforms should improve financial position and liquidity further.
Newcomer to watch
The federal legalization of marijuana in the U.S. still hangs in the air, although investors can already consider taking a position in Village Farms International (TSX:VFF)(NASDAQ:VFF). The weed stock’s trailing one-year price return is 89.05%, and analysts have set a 12-month average target of $20.10, a 55% jump from $12.95.
Village Farms is a relative newcomer in the cannabis space, although its three decades of experience as a greenhouse grower in North America is a plus factor. The $1.05 billion company has operations in B.C. and Texas. Management will leverage the vast experience to become the lowest-cost marijuana greenhouse producer in Canada.
Pure Sunfarms, a top-selling brand of dried flower products at the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Village Farms. The company is preparing to eventually capture a significant market share in the hemp-derived CBD market in the United States. It has two joint ventures for outdoor hemp cultivation and CBD extraction.
TSX’s next tech darling
Newly listed Thinkific Labs (TSX:THNC) has the potential to be TSX’s next tech darling. The $1.37 billion online course-creation company went public on April 23, 2021. It was able to raise $184 million in gross proceeds from its successful IPO.
Before its stock market debut, Thinkific raised $25 million in growth financing to accelerate its product innovation. The current share price of $17.94% is now 38% higher than the IPO price.
Investors’ interest could rise further following the solid financial results in the most recent quarter. In Q1 2021 (quarter ended March 31, 2021), business growth is short of spectacular. While Thinkific’s net loss widened during the quarter, revenue and annual recurring revenue increased by 152% and 134% versus Q1 2020.
Likewise, the number of paying customers soared 115% to 27,500. The material acceleration of the business performance was evident over the last two years. Entrepreneurs and businesses can launch, grow, and diversify their businesses through Thinkific’s cloud-based software. The platform creates and sells online courses and other learning products.
Great reopening plays
Corus Entertainment, Village Farms, and debutant Thinkific Labs are great reopening plays. The share prices of all three could potentially soar through the roof.


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Many corporations around the globe are preparing for May 2018, when Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcement kicks in. The regulation encompasses a wide range of nuanced privacy requirements that can be challenging to operationalize. In particular, requirements around the rights of European data subjects — which include the right to be forgotten and rights to access, rectification and objection to processing — will be some of the most difficult to address.
*May exclude premium content
By Jared Coseglia
A deep dive into the pre and post pandemic e-discovery job market landscape and what data privacy professionals can learn from ESI employment trends.
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
By Tariq Hafeez
For the automotive industry already facing cost constraints as a result of the pandemic, the predicted increase in litigation activity accentuates the need to invest in innovative service and delivery models to cut litigation costs.
By Rebecca Perry
America and the EU Continue Altering Data Privacy Frameworks for Businesses
A close look at a couple of privacy-related issuances from California, along with the European Court of Justice ruling invalidating the EU-U.S. privacy shield.
By Christopher Zegers
Our forced experiment in change and technology adoption caused increasing technology investments. We’re never going back the way we were — and this will be to the benefit of firms, profitability, clients and lawyers if we make the right technology investments. Here are some specific ways firms can capture these benefits.


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IT’S the biggest debate going on for internet users right now but Netflix almost seems a little confused about where it stands.
The issue of net neutrality — also referred to as an open internet — has reached boiling point in the US and streaming giant Netflix appears to have made an about-face by once again throwing its full support behind the cause.
Simply put, net neutrality ensures a completely even playing field for all content creators and services offered over the internet. A net neutrality mandate means internet service providers (ISPs) can’t give special treatment to a certain company such as Google or Netflix to prioritise their traffic over others.
For example, it prevents a situation where an ISP takes a bunch of money from one company to give it special access to premium pipelines, or effectively slow traffic of a competitor.
Before Netflix was the tech stalwart it is today, the company understood the importance of an even playing field to its success and was a champion of net neutrality.
But once it became the dominant player in the emerging internet-based video on demand market Netflix’s position on the issue appeared to soften, leading to accusations it had changed its tune on net neutrality.
In March, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told The Verge that he was “not too worried” about what will become of net neutrality in the US because it didn’t pose a big risk to his company. And then just a couple weeks ago he told an audience at Code Conference that it wasn’t the company’s “primary battle at this point”.
“It’s not narrowly important to us because we’re big enough to get the deals we want,” he said.
But on Friday, the company appeared to dramatically change course and joined other internet companies to fight for an open internet against new changes proposed by regulators.
To be fair, Netflix has never officially deviated from its position of support for net neutrality but the mixed messaged have left many people a little confused.
@netflix with confusing messages. Sends twitter post supporting net neutrality, but ur CEO says you are too big to care. So confused I quit.— Andrew S. (@mmsood99) June 16, 2017
The company has previously done deals with Australian internet service providers such as Optus and iiNet to provide customers with unmetered access to its content — something the company reportedly regrets.
Technically, such deals contradict the notion of net neutrality but the issue isn’t really as salient in Australia compared to the US.
The landscape of the telco industry in America is quite different to Australia. There is much more cross ownership in the US with various companies owning their own network as well as content provision services.
For example, major telco company AT & T is in bed with media conglomerate Time Warner. Because of this high level of “vertical integration” there’s a lot more scepticism in the US that companies will be compelled to engage in anti competitive and “non mutual” practices, Frontier Economics industry economist Warwick Davis told news.com.au last month.
The battle in the US dates back to 2010 before the Obama administration succeeded in legislating net neutrality in 2015. At the time Mr Davis gave a presentation on the topic at an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission regulatory conference. In the talk he pointed out that Australia was somewhat of an “outlier” as both the US and Europe have pursued net neutrality.
“I do think it’s possible” that Australia seeks to mandate net neutrality in the future, but “it depends a little bit on the way the market develops,” he told news.com.au.
In the case of Australia, while there will be a fixed-line network monopoly with the completion of the NBN, there is lots of competition among ISPs which for the most part don’t have the incentive to degrade certain internet traffic in favour of other traffic.


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Last spring, Business Finland and Creative Finland co-hosted the first ever Shine! networking event at the Team Finland House in Helsinki. The event attracted a full house with 200 participants who were treated to several panel discussions regarding licensing, internationalization and new technology.
In creative industries, licensable content is one of the most interesting areas providing significant growth potential. Cross-sector cooperation is another promising growth avenue. The purpose of the event was to create more opportunities for co-productions and for using IP in various ways and across multiple industries.
Finland is already creating world class content, but, by joining forces, we can multiply growth and find new ways to enter the international arena.
Six months later, the auditorium at the Team Finland House was packed to the rafters, brimming with faith in a brighter future. To kick the event off, Petra Tarjanne from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Kaisa Rönkkö from Music x Media brought the audience up to speed on the most recent development of the Growth Deal for creative industries. After some panel discussions with well-known industry talents, came the most interesting part of the programme: 20 preselected companies pitched their business ideas to other companies. After the pitching sessions, companies and talents started networking.
“It was fantastic to see how everything just clicked! People immediately began to build new partnerships, and we can now move on to building a new, cross-sector community,” said Salli Raeste from Creative Finland.
The event was aimed at companies and professionals in the audio visual, game, XR, literature and music industries who are interested in tapping into the skills available in other sectors to create successful productions and in learning more about the growth opportunities available through licensing. Information on services and financial instruments that support cooperation, such as RRF funding, was also available. Companies that approached content licensing from five different directions were immediately able to build connections and identify genuine business potential.
It is a well-known fact that the difficulties in talent recruitment represent a great challenge and a major bottleneck to business growth and upscaling, which is why the Shine! networking event specifically sought to bring together talent from different industries. The need for talent was also expressed in the pitches: a production company was looking for writers and other content producers, an author who holds exclusive rights to their own book series was looking for a game studio to come up with an idea for a game, and a company launching a financial management system for the music industry was looking for business clients.
Business Finland and Creative Finland announced that the goal of the event was to support growth and internationalization. During the day, it became clear that to set the wheels in motion, all you need to do is get people from different companies talking. While it is not possible to patent a formula for success, it is possible to organise events and create favourable conditions for making it a little easier for everyone to discover their recipe for success.
The fashion sector may look completely digital in 50 years. What opportunities does this open up for the fashion industry and who will be the winner in this huge shift affecting the €700 billion global market?
The Fabricant is a digital fashion house leading the fashion industry towards a new sector of digital-only clothing. It collaborates with global brands and retailers helping them to deep dive into the unlimited possibilities of digital fashion. We talked to the Finland-native founder, Kerry Murphy on what happens in the future of fashion and how it affects the business.
Five Promising Food Tech Startups from Finland
Finland has a vibrant food tech scene that boasts dozens of innovative companies pursuing a systemic change in how our planet produces and consumes foodstuffs. Thanks to these innovations, dishes like pasta, cakes and meat-like protein can be made out of air, agricultural industry side streams and mycelium of funghi.


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The FINANCIAL -- U.S. consumers expect to spend more money on holiday shopping this year than last year, with millennials likely to be the biggest spenders according to results of the 12th Annual Holiday Shopping Survey from Accenture.
The online survey of 1,500 U.S. consumers found that Americans will spend $658 on holiday shopping this year, on average, compared with $632 in the 2017 survey. Nine in 10 respondents said they plan to spend as much or more than they did last year – 53 percent and 36 percent, respectively – with only 11 percent planning to spend less. Older millennials will spend $779, on average, while nearly four times as many younger millennials compared to baby boomers (49 percent versus 13 percent) said they plan to spend more this holiday season.
The research also found that retailers’ inclusion and diversity practices – with regards to age, gender, ethnicity and disability etc. – are playing a role in millennial shoppers’ purchasing decisions. The findings suggest that if a retailer is not authentically committed to prioritizing inclusion and diversity, millennials are likely to take their money to a competitor who is inclusive:
54 percent of younger millennials surveyed believe that retailers have a responsibility and duty toward addressing wider social and political issues with regards to diversity.
51 percent of younger millennials are more likely to shop at a retailer that demonstrates awareness of such issues.
Millennials are more likely to choose one brand over another if that brand demonstrates inclusion and diversity in terms of its promotions and offers (cited by 70 percent of younger millennial respondents and 69 percent of older millennials), their in-store experience (66 percent of younger and 72 percent of older millennials), their product range (68 percent of younger and 70 percent of older millennials), and their environmental awareness (61 percent of younger and 57 percent of older millennials).
31 percent of younger millennials see diversity in the workplace – with regards to staffing, as an important attribute when it comes to deciding where to shop.
Some other key findings from the survey:
With growing consumer confidence, shoppers are less price-sensitive. Consumers appear less concerned with the economy and their overall financial situation than they were last year – with one-third less likely (15 percent, versus 23 percent last year) to cite “a concern about the economy” as a factor negatively affecting their holiday shopping this year. They were also less likely to cite “healthcare costs,” “mortgage payments,” “the prospect of higher taxes,” and “a recent job loss or the fear of losing their job.” This could be one reason why fewer shoppers plan to take advantage of retailers’ cost-savings programs or benefits – such as loyalty programs, on-the-spot competitor price-matching, special e-mail offers, Amazon Prime Day, and deal sites such as Groupon or Living Social. In addition, the number of respondents who said they would buy all their gifts in one place even if it meant paying more increased 7 points, to 32 percent this year, according to Accenture.
Service and/or “experience” gift-buying is on the rise. The research identified a growing trend away from product gifts such as toys, clothes and household appliances and toward “experience” gifts such as travel, dining out, concerts and the theatre, as well as toward “services” gifts such as lawncare, home cleaning and spa treatments. In fact, the number of shoppers who said they plan to buy physical products as gifts this year dropped 11 percentage points from last year, to 73 percent, and the number who said they planned to buy experience or service gifts increased 5 percentage points, to 49 percent.
Social media is growing as a shopping platform. The use of social media platforms for holiday shopping is growing rapidly. The percentage of respondents planning to use social-media sites for their holiday shopping this year nearly doubled, to 15 percent from 8 percent last year. In addition, the percentage who said they check Instagram before looking or buying elsewhere online more than doubled, to 14 percent from just 6 percent last year.


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CAR, CYCLE SHOWS
Sunday – The 12th Royals’ Garage Car Show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville.
Sunday – CT Classic Chevy and Hamden Police Memorial Day Weekend Car Show at noon at Quinnipiac University’s York Hill Campus, 305 Sherman Ave in Hamden.
Friday – The Torrington Lions Club Car Show from 5 to 9 p.m. in downtown Torrington.
June 3 – The 21st annual American Classic Cruise Night from 4 to 8 p.m. at Apple Rehab Watertown, 35 Bunker Hill Road in Watertown.
June 4 – The Woodbury Lions Club Car Show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hollow Park in Woodbury.
June 4 – CASA Car Show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wolcott High School, 457 Bound Line Road in Wolcott.


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MOSCOW, October 4 – PRIME. The restrictive measures against cryptocurrencies that have been introduced in China have made Bitcoin stronger. RBC writes about this with reference to the comment of the former CIA officer Edward Snowden, which he published in his Twitter…
The latter recalled his publication dated March 13, 2020, in which he announced that for the first time he wanted to buy the first cryptocurrency.
“Since then, bitcoin has risen in price almost 10 times, despite a coordinated global campaign of governments to undermine public understanding and support for cryptocurrency,” said Snowden. He added that China has introduced restrictive measures against cryptocurrencies, but this has only strengthened this asset.
In March 2020, the cost of bitcoin dropped to a local minimum below $ 4,000. Since then, the price of the asset has increased by 1225%. Today, October 4, Bitcoin is trading at $ 47.7 thousand.
The material is taken from open sources. The opinions of the experts mentioned in it may not coincide with the position of the editorial board. “Prime” does not provide investment advice, the material is published for informational purposes only. Cryptocurrency is a risky asset, investments in it can lead to losses.


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Rickie Fowler is auctioning off those sweet shoes he wore at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
Rickie Fowler didn't walk away from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with the coveted red cardigan, but he walked around Bay Hill wearing the week's second-most-talked-about piece of wardrobe. How about these flashy shoes that also payed tribute to The King?
Well, now a signed pair can be all yours. You just have to hurry. And be willing to spend a LOT of money.
On Tuesday, Fowler announced he's auctioning off the high-tops. And the bidding escalated quickly.
So get those bids in quick (Bidding ends at 6:02 p.m. ET)! Hey, it's all for charity.
UPDATE: They sold for a LOT more than $15Gs.
Nicely done, Rickie.


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Processed meat and seafood is set to record a more dynamic performance in 2020 compared to the previous year, with a particularly notable upturn in demand for shelf stable and frozen varieties, being driven by a certain level of panic-buying period at the beginning of the lockdown in New Zealand, as consumers rushed to stockpile for their pantries. Foodservice closures, lockdown restrictions, home seclusion and social distancing were therefore all instrumental in significantly changing consumer lifestyles during this period.
While remaining a small category in overall processed meat and seafood, meat substitutes is set to continue to experience strong retail volume growth in 2020 and beyond the pandemic as local consumers are increasingly opting for plant-based products as they switch to flexitarian lifestyles and plant-based diets in line with growing health trends and interest in a more sustainable future. Manufacturers and retailers are therefore responding to the rising consumer demand for clean eating and the reduction of frequent meat consumption with a wide array of plant-based options.
Heller Tasty Ltd is set to maintain its overall leadership of processed meat and seafood in 2020 due to its dominance of the largest value category of chilled processed meat, with a widescale presence across chilled processed red meat and chilled processed poultry. However, with increasing pressure from dominant meat substitutes player Life Health Foods and its Vegie Delights and Bean Supreme brands, which continued to gain share towards the end of the review period, Heller Tasty has attempted to respond to the growing plant-based wellness movement in New Zealand by initially releasing its Flexitari-Yum range in early 2019 with a healthier option for consumers.
Processed meat and seafood experienced significant increases in demand early in 2020 as local consumers stockpiled due to panic-induced buying. However, as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, consumers have stopped stockpiling as availability and accessibility are no longer an issue.
Consumers in New Zealand are growing increasingly supportive of local businesses and products, placing a stronger emphasis on locally-produced and manufactured goods, and thereby reducing their ecological footprint. Consumer demand for provenance continues to rise as information behind sourcing and manufacturing is becoming increasingly important in their quest to gain greater information about what they consume, be it meat or plant-based alternatives.
New Zealand has experienced a significant change in lifestyles as local consumers chose to shop online during strict lockdown restrictions over safety concerns as they practiced social distancing. This supported e-commerce’s further penetration of the distribution landscape, with this trend likely to gain further traction in New Zealand post- pandemic as it provides time-poor consumers with a convenient solution by placing online orders from the comfort of their homes.
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An government previously engaged on Apple’s funds merchandise has joined Banco Santander.
Trish Burgess joins the Spain-based multinational as the brand new international head of Peer-to-Peer Funds and can direct its enlargement of digital funds providers globally, in response to an announcement Thursday.
Burgess labored at Apple for 4.5 years, her LinkedIn profile signifies, the place she helped lead the launches of each Apple Card and Apple Pay.
The information marks Burgess’ return to Santander, having held a job in securities on the financial institution from 2007 to 2010. Since then, she’s held senior roles at BNP Paribas and Visa. Her schooling noticed her examine finance and advertising and marketing and electronics with a deal with telecoms.
At Santander, Burgess will report back to Chirag Patel, international head of Santander Digital Funds, and can goal improved person experiences and rising the adoption of P2P funds “to foster a global fee community,” the banks says.
“Trish’s appointment as head of P2P highlights our dedication to delivering best-in-class funds options
for our clients.” stated Patel. “We all know that innovation is powered by probably the most gifted individuals, and we welcome Trish’s wealth of fee expertise.”
Santander final yr devoted €20 billion to put money into digital and expertise over 4 years.
In 2018, the financial institution launched a blockchain-based cellular app for fee-free cross-border overseas change that used Ripple’s xCurrent tech. One Pay FX was initially rolled out for Santander’s clients in Spain, the U.Ok., and the U.S., however later expanded to Latin America.
Disclosure Learn Extra
The chief in blockchain information, Fintech Zoom is a media outlet that strives for the very best journalistic requirements and abides by a strict set of editorial insurance policies. Fintech Zoom is an unbiased working subsidiary of Digital Foreign money Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.


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New Delhi, India, Feb. 14, 2019 (UPI) — The first garment manufacturing plant in India is in operation and the first factory to be equipped with the COVID defense against the coronavirus, according to the United Nations.
The UN agency announced Friday the certification of a factory in the southern city of Ahmedabad that is making garment for a medical device company, while a second plant is in the northern city of Lucknow that produces clothing for Indian soldiers.
The certification will enable the factory to manufacture the next generation of protective clothing and is expected to be completed in 2020, the UN said in a statement.
The Ahmedabad factory has produced about 50,000 garments since March 2016, according the UN.
COVID-18 is a rapidly spreading disease that can cause severe respiratory illness, pneumonia and brain damage in susceptible people.
The virus has been detected in more than 140 countries and is transmitted by direct contact with an infected person or through bodily fluids contaminated by a person with the virus.
In April, the world’s largest medical device maker, Infosys Ltd., announced it was launching a new manufacturing plant to help develop vaccines and other technologies to fight the virus, with more than 30,000 jobs expected to return to India as part of the plant.
India is expected by 2020 to produce at least 1.2 million garments, or approximately 70 percent of its annual demand, according an October report from the Indian Statistical Institute.
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Emami Q4 profit falls 27% at Rs60.86 crore on higher ad spending
Emami Ltd’s revenue for the March quarter was at Rs617 crore, 12% higher than the previous year, but operating profit fell 3% year-on-year to Rs173.3 crore
Kolkata: Consumer goods maker Emami Ltd on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs60.86 crore in the March quarter, down 26.9% from Rs83.3 crore in the same period last year, as the company stepped up spending on advertising and had to write off a minimum alternate tax credit of Rs14 crore.
The company’s revenue for the quarter was at Rs617 crore, 12% higher than the previous year, but operating profit fell 3% year-on-year to Rs173.3 crore as spending on advertising jumped over three times to Rs19.6 crore, Emami said in a statement.
On Thursday, Emami announced it would issue bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 subject to approval by shareholders. The company will be paying a dividend of Rs7 per share, distributing around 31% of its cash profit inclusive of dividend distribution tax.
For the full year, the company reported a net revenue of Rs2,540.83 crore, compared with Rs2,527.74 crore in 2016-17, and a net profit of Rs307.14 crore, down 9.7% from the previous year.
With the new goods and services tax (GST) regime stabilising and a normal monsoon expected, consumer goods business is “poised for good growth”, a company statement, quoting director Harsha V. Agarwal, said.
The company’s shares fell 2.05% to Rs1,085.50 each on BSE on Thursday, while the Sensex lost 73.28 points or 0.21% to close at 35,103.14 points.
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- RBI will take steps to help sustain growth: Shaktikanta Das
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Following the Movement Control Order imposed recently by the Malaysian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation, Perodua will suspend all its operations nationwide during this period.
This includes all operations at their head office, manufacturing facilities, sales and service centres as well as Body & Paint outlets nationwide.
New vehicle deliveries, servicing and Body & Paint services are expected to resume only after the Movement Control Order.
This comes as PROTON also announced that they will be complying with the government’s directive. The company’s business activities will be guided by the guidelines as laid out Tuesday (17 March).
Therefore, as of yesterday (18 March), all customers facing activities such as sales and after sales will cease as all PROTON outlets will be temporarily shut.
Concurrent production activities at PROTON’s Tanjung Malim and Shah Alam plants will cease in unison as they systematically shut down all their operations in an effort to help with the control of the spread of the coronavirus.
All operations at PROTON will resume as soon as clearance is given by the government of Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) will temporarily close all Volkswagen dealerships and service centres from the 18th to 31st of March.
Volkswagen Roadside Assistance service will remain operational for owners, and owners can reach them at 1-800-88-2389 in the event of an emergency. Volkswagen also advised that if your service appointment happens to fall within the Movement Control Order period, Volkswagen will honour the warranty.
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat


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Many businesses which form the backbone of the US economy are worried about the Trump tax reform plan and the possible negative effects it could have on the economy.
Sectors of the US economy such as construction, wind power, and electric cars might experience job shrinkage and harm done if the Republican tax plan is enacted as it is now.
The effects of the tax plan, although only in its earliest stages and nowhere near law, have already been felt in the marketplace. Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s largest manufacture of turbines used in wind power, saw its stock tumble by 9 percent. Tesla, the leading electric car maker had a stock downturn as well, closing lower by 6.8 percent. The Trump plan includes cutting the $7,500 tax break for the purchase of an electric car.
Homebuilders are also up in arms over the tax reform. The National Association of Home Builders are taking aim at the Republican’s proposal to remove the tax credit for mortgage payments. The chairman of the association, Granger MacDonald, said that congress was “ignoring the needs of America’s working-class families and small businesses.”
“The bill eviscerates existing housing tax benefits by drastically reducing the number of homeowners who can take advantage of mortgage interest and property tax incentives,” he said.
Some stocks of homebuilders’ companies lost ground. Toll Brothers fell almost 6%, among the worst casualties.
Others are happy with the plan. The US Chamber of Commerce endorsed the plan cautiously, saying the plan was “exactly what our nation needs to get our economy growing faster”, but “a lot of work remains to be done to get the exact policy mix right.”
In the Los Angeles design studio of Tesla Motors, a crowd of local owners of one of the top electric cars around today, Tesla’s Model S, is ready to see a unique demonstration of the powers of their car.
Onto the stage outfitted with wheel guides and a pit like the kind you see in a Jiffy Lube shop rolled the Tesla electric car. At precisely the same moment a live video feed of an Audi pulling into a traditional gas station appeared on a big screen next to the Tesla Model S. On screen a timer starts counting off the seconds while the Audi’s driver begins to pump gas into his car and robot arms under the stage begins to change the Model S’s batter pack.
By the time the counter gets to 93 seconds the Model S is done, rolls off the stage, and another Model S pulls over the pit and begins to have his batter changed as well. Meanwhile the Audi is still pumping gas. Another 91 seconds pass and the second Model S finishes having its battery changed just as the Audi’s gas tank reaches its capacity 20 gallons.
This demonstration, which shows just one of the ways how electric cars work, is convincing evidence of the electric car’s worthiness. At the end of the demonstration CEO Elon Musk commented:
“There are people that take a lot of convincing. Hopefully, this is what will finally convince people that electric cars are the future.”


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Fashion “it” girls Chloë Sevigny and Delfina Delettrez hosted an intimate cocktail event during the New York Fashion Week. It was organised by luxury fashion e-commerce site Matchesfashion.com, and saw a stellar turnout, including founders Ruth and Tom Chapman, Leonetta Luciano Fendi, Miles Garber and Carolina Issa and more.
New York’s posh fashion pack checked out Delettrez’s quirky yet intricate jewellery collections at the exclusive cocktail. Delettrez, a scion of the Fendi family, has been creating jewellery since 2007.
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Sanctions dampen business
The effects of the Ukraine war on the car companies in Russia
The major Russian attack on Ukraine has far-reaching consequences for the economy. VW, Mercedes and BMW, among others, produce vehicles in Russia, and many medium-sized automotive suppliers are based in the Ukraine. What effects does the war have on the car companies?
Ukraine is under attack from Russia. On Friday, the Russian military advanced as far as the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Meanwhile, the US and the EU have imposed tough sanctions on Russia. These also affect the car companies in the country.
German automakers like VW, Mercedes and BMW operate factories in Russia. Of all German car manufacturers, VW has the largest factory in Russia: around 4,000 people work at the plant in Kaluga, southwest of Moscow. 118,000 models from VW and its subsidiary Skoda rolled off the assembly line there last year. At the plant in Nizhny Novgorod there were more than 52,000 vehicles. Volkswagen thus has a share of almost twelve percent in the Russian market and is in third place. The German car manufacturer sells almost 200,000 vehicles in Russia every year.
Skoda writes larger sales figures in the country. Every tenth vehicle of the VW subsidiary is produced in Russia. A company spokesman was correspondingly concerned about the escalating situation on Wednesday. It is constantly being reviewed what impact this has on employee safety and business, he said.
BMW recently extended its expiring partnership with the Russian car manufacturer Avtotor until 2028. The plant in Kaliningrad is to be expanded for the equivalent of 350 million euros. The Munich-based company has a market share of around three percent in Russia. Avtotor assembles the BMW vehicles, and in the future they will even be completely built there. Most recently, BMW produced around 10,000 cars a year at its Russian location.
Mercedes also has a market share of around three percent. According to the company, Russia is an important European market and production location. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” quotes Mercedes boss Ola Källenius: “Our thoughts are with the people in Ukraine. Business is secondary.”
Largest automaker in Russia is preparing for a chip shortage
Nicolas Maure, top manager of the Russian car manufacturer Avtovaz, had already prepared his employees for a possible war and subsequent sanctions in the past few days. He had instructed his employees to look for alternative sources of supply for electronic chips and other parts. Avtovaz belongs to the Renault group and is the largest carmaker in Russia.
The company records around 90 percent of its sales (a total of around 2.8 billion euros) in Russia and contributes around six percent to the total sales of the parent company Renault. Although the Avtovaz business fell slightly last year, the car manufacturer was still able to increase its sales in Russia by a good ten percent.
Increasing delivery bottlenecks expected
In addition to US sanctions against Russian banks and transactions by Russian financial institutions, the government in Washington is banning the export of high-tech products to Russia. These include semiconductors, the main component of chips, computers, as well as telecommunications and encryption technology. This should also apply in part to products that are manufactured abroad but contain US technology. US President Joe Biden said: “This will cause serious costs to the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”
A Japanese chip industry source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the situation was less dramatic: “Chipmakers are not feeling the direct impact, but the companies that supply them with materials used in semiconductor manufacturing are buying gases, including neon and palladium, from Russia and Ukraine.” The availability of these materials is already scarce, so any further pressure on supplies could drive up prices. “That in turn could translate into higher chip prices.”
“We understand that reports of potential supply disruptions for minerals and noble gases due to ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine are worrying for the semiconductor industry,” said memory chip maker Micron Technology. However, he added that he had “diversified” his sourcing. This is apparently also the case with other chip manufacturers. They had already changed their supply chains due to the trade dispute between the USA and China, the corona pandemic and the diplomatic dispute between Japan and South Korea. Some companies had already initiated these measures after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Professor Stefan Bratzel, Director of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach, predicted: “Russia will not be an important sales market and production location for the automotive industry for a long time. (…) The automotive industry will not make any relevant investments in Russia for many years. However, significant indirect consequences for the automotive industry in Germany and Europe are also to be expected. In the next few years, for example, the costs of automobile production and car use will rise, not least due to the rise in energy and mineral oil prices.”
Productions in Ukraine are at a standstill
In the Ukraine, all productions are now completely at a standstill. According to the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, there are around 2,000 companies there with German participation. A large part is based in the west of the country, 700 kilometers away from the main conflict site. The automotive supplier Leoni has stopped production at its two Ukrainian plants and sent the workers home. One follows the escalation of the situation with “bewilderment”. Many medium-sized automotive suppliers are based in the Ukraine.
According to the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, before the situation escalated, there were more and more investment requests from German companies. Peter Adrian, President of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), is concerned: “The economic consequences of this invasion are not yet foreseeable, but they are certainly serious.”


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Stedelijk Museum shows Gijs+Emmy exhibition of Futuristic jewellery
Jewellery that resembles stove pipes is among body adornments by Dutch fashion design duo Gijs+Emmy to go on show at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum later this month (+ slideshow).
The Gijs+Emmy Spectacle revisits a sensational collaborative exhibition of work by husband and wife team Gijs Bakker and Emmy van Leersum that was at the Stedelijk Museum in 1967.
"In the late 1960s, Bakker and Van Leersum, both trained jewellery designers, created a furore with their avant-garde jewelry and clothing that fused fashion, design and art," said a statement from the museum.
The pair's duct pipe bracelets and curved aluminium collars caused a stir when first exhibited, displayed on live models who moved to electronic music under futuristic lighting.
For this new retrospective, the original exhibition will be recreated with the help of first-hand accounts and consultation from Bakker.
Sculptural jewellery and fashion designs created by the duo between 1967 and 1972 from the museum's collection and other sources will go on show.
Iconic designs such as Bakker's purple Stovepipe Necklace and matching bracelet are among the pieces to be exhibited.
Hinged metal collars that curve downwards over the shoulders and upwards around the sides of the face will also feature, alongside gold bangles with sinuous shapes and oversized earrings.
In these images the designs are worn by 1960s model Sonja Bakker, who isn't related to the designers.
Bakker and Van Leersum met while studying at the Institute of Applied Art in Amsterdam during the 1950s. Bakker went on to found Droog, the avant-garde conceptual Dutch design collective in 1993.
The exhibition opens on 22 February and will continue until 24 August.
The Stedelijk Museum is currently hosting a retrospective of work by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.
An extension to the museum, which looks a bit like the underside of a kitchen sink, was completed in September 2012 by Benthem Crouwel Architects.


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MADISON, Wis. – The Nikkei, Japan’s economic journal, reported Friday (Aug. 17) that Foxconn owner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. is now asking to double its planned stake in Sharp Corp. to about 20 percent from the originally agreed 9.9 percent.
Neither Hon Hai nor Sharp is commenting at this point.
Announced this past March, the deal between the world’s largest contract manufacturer and Japan’s leading LCD manufacturer has turned out badly for Sharp.
If Hon Hai has its way to increase its stake in Sharp over 10 percent, the Taiwan giant will get the right to ask a court to dissolve Sharp, thus allowing Hon Hai to increase its voice in controlling the ultimate destiny of one of the oldest Japanese companies. Hon Hai’s new proposal, if true, is the worst case scenario for Sharp, who has been resisting at all cost to changing the terms of the original agreement.
Financially stricken Sharp may be left with little choice at this point as Japanese banks are breathing down their neck to close the capital infusion deal with Hon Hai.
The Taiwanese manufacturer is also asking Sharp to lower the price of the shares it will buy from the initially agreed 550 yen a share, because Sharp's stock price has sharply dropped below that level recently.
The Nikkei reported that Hon Hai apparently has requested cutting the price to about 200 yen per share, close to the current market price.
The Japanese newspaper also reported that Hon Hai may also ask to send in board members, in line with its request for a greater stake.
Under the basic agreement the companies reached on March 27, Hon Hai will take a leading 9.9% stake in Sharp by March 2013, buying the Japanese firm's stock at 550 yen per share. Under those terms, the Taiwanese company would spend approximately 67 billion yen on the deal.
so, going further in this scenario i can not think how closing down Sharp will profit Apple or foxconn, both are not players in LCD business. Wouldn't it be better to acquire it for a supply of patents and probable for a dedicated LCD manufacturer.
What Sharp's best interests are will depend upon whom you ask.
Sharp itself will want to remain independent, but it's not clear it *can*. It may require this deal to continue as a going concern. It needs a healthy injection of capital, and where will it get it? The banks are unlikely to throw good money after bad, and Hon Hai is the only outside investor that has expressed interest.
One question is whether the Japanese banks will call the loans and force it into bankruptcy.
Another is the attitude of the Japanese government, and whether it will feel compelled to intervene on Sharp's behalf as a matter of national pride.
My bet is that Sharp will grit its teeth and take the deal because the alternative is going belly up.
This is absolutely no surprise, and about what I expected might happen.
Hon Hai still wants to do the deal, but at far more favorable terms. It shouldn't be hard to come up with similar examples that have happened elsewhere in the electronics industry when someone's fundamentals changed and their partner wanted to renegotiate the deal.
Whether Hon Hai will in fact ask the court to dissolve Sharp is an interesting question. That gets into political areas, as a Taiwanese company will be asking a Japanese court to do it, and I could see the Japanese government being unenthusiastic about the idea.
But a 20% stake and seats on Sharp's board *are* reasonable assumptions, and Hon Hai would have a greater say on Sharp's future direction.
The more interesting question, if Hon Hai succeeds in this, is whether thy might gradually increase the ownership and have Sharp become a wholly owned subsidiary.
If selling a large stake of itself to Hon Hai (at a discount) is not in the best interests of Sharp, why would it do it? It seems to me that Hon Hai cannot compel Sharp to sell a larger stake of itself for a discounted rate.
January 2016 Cartoon Caption ContestBob's punishment for missing his deadline was to be tied to his chair tantalizingly close to a disconnected cable, with one hand superglued to his desk and another to his chin, while the pages from his wall calendar were slowly torn away.122 comments


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Video: A book is a very simple thing, right? It's just a bunch of paper with some scribbles. But if you wanted to make a book from scratch, it's basically an impossible task. Watch as Andy George from How to Make Everything chops wood, strips papyrus, makes glue from hide, carves out a pencil from a stick and makes a brush from horse hair. It's a really intensive process to get paper from natural materials.
Making Every Part Of A Book From Scratch Is So Much More Work Than I Thought
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As a city dweller relying on public transport, online shopping has changed my life. I haven't set foot inside a supermarket (outside of emergencies) for almost three years. But that's not the norm - in fact it's far from it - with new research revealing just three per cent of Australians do their grocery shopping online.
On February 10 2017, audiences around the world will be sitting down in cinemas to watch the much anticipated LEGO. Batman movie. 48 days later, Australians can do the same. Village Roadshow is repeating history, making the same mistake it made with The LEGO Movie. A five million dollar mistake. A mistake co-CEO Graham Burke said the distributor would not be making again. Everything is not awesome.


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The holiday season is fast approaching and the Southlake Police Department is providing a few simple safety tips to help ensure that you and your family have a safe and happy shopping experience.
It’s no surprise that the Christmas shopping season is one of the peak times for criminal activity, and vehicle break-ins top the list. Police Officers have already responded to several reports of broken vehicle windows and stolen items near shopping areas and parking centers indicating that thieves are once again on the prowl.
As the Southlake Police Department prepares to kick off its Holidays Safety Initiative there are things that you can do to help avoid becoming a victim of crime. Number one – is to never leave valuables inside of your car. Remember to follow the Hide, Lock, Take guidelines. Hide your things, Lock your car and Take your keys.
Shoppers will notice a stepped up police presence at shopping centers throughout the City of Southlake. The Holiday Safety Initiative will also include a combined use of: police motorcycles, patrol officers, bike and foot patrols, Southlake Police Citizens on Patrol (COP’s), who serve us well as extra eyes and ears in watching for potential criminal activity. In addition, the mobile Sky Watch Tower will be placed in strategic locations throughout the City to discourage criminals. Police Chief James Brandon says, “Our goal is to provide a safe environment for our citizens and Holiday shoppers and to be as proactive as possible in reducing crime. Shoppers can assist us in our crime reduction efforts by being safety conscious and by following a few basic safety tips like Hide, Lock, Take. This one simple act can be a huge deterrent for thieves.”
Moms and dad will be glad to know that as part of our annual Holiday Safety Initiative “The Grinch” will again be making scheduled appearances during the shopping season. (*Watch for those times to be posted on www.facebook.com/SouthlakePublicSafety.) “The Grinch” will be decked out in full costume greeting shoppers at Southlake Town Square and handing out public safety reminders. Not only do kids love getting their picture taken with “The Grinch” but he also serves as a great reminder to “not let a Grinch steal your Christmas!”
Additionally, the Southlake Police Department wants to remind everyone to report any suspicious activity to the Southlake Police Department. You can call the non-emergency number at 817-743-4522 or 911.
Lastly, traffic will be heavy during the holiday season so be prepared by allowing yourself plenty of time to park and remember to drive courteously. Don’t forget to look for the Hide, Lock, Take signs posted at shopping centers to help serve as a safety reminder and prevent a thief from robbing you of your Holiday spirit. For updates and information follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/SouthlakePublicSafety and Twitter at http://twitter.com/SouthlakeDPS


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Never Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.
John Edwards, Technology Journalist & Author
April 1, 2024
5 Min Read
ZF Driving Intelligence for Software-defined Vehicles presented at the IAA Mobility 2021 motor show in Munich, Germany - September 6, 2021VDWI Automotive via Alamy Stock Photo
A software-defined vehicle (SDV) is a car or truck with features and functions primarily enabled through software. Thanks to recent software advancements, all types of road vehicles are rapidly transitioning from primarily hardware-based platforms into software-centric electronic devices on wheels.
The move toward the SDV marks a paradigm shift that OEMs and their suppliers are utilizing to build and support specific features, such as in-vehicle-infotainment, safety displays, internal monitoring capabilities, advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving (AD), says Stefano Marzani, worldwide tech leader of software-defined vehicles at Amazon Web Services, in an email interview.
With SDVs, OEMs and their suppliers can build and deliver customer-centric features via software updates at vehicle launch and throughout the vehicle's lifecycle to match both driver and passenger needs. "SDVs introduce new opportunities for customer loyalty, and OEM revenue," Marzani observes.
In a software-defined vehicle, key functions traditionally handled by dedicated hardware are consolidated and run on a more powerful centralized computing platform, says Jack Weast, vice president and general manager of Intel Automotive, in an email interview. This means that major functions, such as engine control, safety systems, infotainment services, and other operations are virtualized and executed through hardware and software applications. "Centralization allows for more efficient processing and communication between different vehicle systems," he notes.
Another important benefit is the ability to upgrade vehicle features through over-the-air (OTA) updates, similar to how smartphones are updated with new features and become better products over time, Marzani says. "This gives automakers the capability to continue to improve their vehicles over time as needed, such as offering on-demand features and subscription services."
Software updates delivered directly to an SDV can instantly add new features, fix newly discovered issues, and improve efficiency without the need for extensive hardware modifications or recalls. "By establishing one uniform software architecture for the entire vehicle range, management and maintenance of vehicle software will be much more scalable," Weast says.
"SDVs also allow automakers to slash costs by consolidating the number of electronic control units (ECUs) -- embedded systems that control one or more electrical systems or subsystems," Marzani notes.
Opportunities and Challenges
By consolidating the number of ECUs and shifting to a more software-focused approach, automakers hope to reduce development times for new features and functions. "Automakers do this through 'environmental parity', which allows automotive developers to use the cloud and virtualized versions of control units to develop software for hardware that may not yet even exist," Marzani says.
Weast believes that the automotive industry must transition to a software-defined architecture that's designed to consolidate workloads. "Today, every time OEMs want to add a new feature, they must add a new ECU box, and with each box comes more cabling," he explains. "This adds complexity along with legacy design challenges that's unsustainable architecturally and economically."
Next-generation in-vehicle information and entertainment environments are beginning to draw a new generation of vendors into the automotive industry, says Moritz Neukirchner, senior director and strategic manager of software-defined vehicles with automotive software provider Elektrobit, via email. He notes that a growing number of companies in smartphone-related fields, including entertainment and information app vendors, are now targeting the SDV market. That's also good news for cloud vendors, such as AWS and Google, which are now increasingly targeting the in-vehicle experience domain, Neukirchner says.
Mike Pedrick, vice president of cybersecurity consulting with managed security services provider Nuspire, worries that improperly secured access methodologies could give determined attackers direct access to a vehicle's onboard systems. "Once in, the attacker could steal the car or compromise its functionality," he warns in an email interview. "Selectively disabling operational controls could endanger the vehicle's passengers."
Such a scenario is anything but far-fetched, Pedrick says. "It's already been nine years since researchers were able to remotely hijack the steering and braking systems in a 2015 model Jeep," he explains. "Today’s connected vehicles communicate over the same networks, using the same technologies as internet of things (IoT) devices, which are frequently commandeered to collect consumer data and launch distributed denial-of-service attacks against remote systems"
Down the Road
Looking ahead, a growing number of automotive OEMs are embracing generative AI (GenAI) in an effort to develop synthetic data for training autonomous driving systems. Once this goal has been reached, driving will become an entirely new experience, supported by personalized, ever-evolving assistants, guides, and entertainment services powered by GenAI. Such in-vehicle systems will be designed to respond to and learn from users' prompts, requests, and driving styles. Using GenAI, OEMs will also be able to design and build better car safety systems based on vast amounts of safety system data, Marzani says.
About the Author(s)
Technology Journalist & Author
John Edwards is a veteran business technology journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and numerous business and technology publications, including Computerworld, CFO Magazine, IBM Data Management Magazine, RFID Journal, and Electronic Design. He has also written columns for The Economist's Business Intelligence Unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Communications Direct. John has authored several books on business technology topics. His work began appearing online as early as 1983. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he wrote daily news and feature articles for both the CompuServe and Prodigy online services. His "Behind the Screens" commentaries made him the world's first known professional blogger.
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2011 April 4
Things to Discuss: Aerin Lauder's New Lifestyle Brand
PatrickMcMullan.com View Gallery
(NEW YORK) We should have seen this one coming. Today, Page Six reported that Aerin Lauder, 40, is launching her own fashion and lifestyle brand under the tutelage of Anna Wintour and NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker. "Aerin wants to be the next Tory Burch," if not bigger, a source told the paper. The brand is said to include fashion, accessories, housewares, china, and jewelry, which will be inspired by pieces from the private collection of Lauder's grandmother, Estée Lauder. According to sources, this project means that Lauder, the third-largest shareholder at her family's company, will relinquish her title of SVP and creative director, and take a consulting role at the beauty giant.
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IBS Returns to Orlando for 2022
Online registration is now open for the 2022 International Builders’ Show from the National Association of Home Builders. The in-person conference is running from Feb. 8-10, 2022, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
The conference is slated to be co-located with the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s Kitchen & Bath Industry Show for Design & Construction Week. According to reports, the two shows are expected to host more than 1,000 exhibiting brands spanning over 800,000 net square feet of exhibit space.
“We look forward to welcoming our attendees back to Orlando for the housing industry’s premier event,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke, a custom builder from Tampa, Florida. “This show offers all the top products, connections and education opportunities in one place. IBS 2022 gives attendees a front seat to the latest trends, business solutions and industry connections and is an event that you won’t want to miss.”
The NAHB notes that with the return of the in-person IBS, attendees will be greeted with a variety of new show floor destinations, including:
Other attendee favorites returning in 2022 include the High-Performance Building Zone, the IBS Jobsite Safety Zone and the IBS Home Technology Solutions Pavilion in collaboration with CEDIA. Attendees with an All-Access Pass registration will have additional access to 110+ education sessions led by renowned experts on a wide range of industry topics.
Attendees can also tour NAHB’s official IBS show homes, The New American Home and The New American Remodel. The homes are designed to showcase innovative building technologies, emerging design trends and the latest building products.
For a deeper dive into specific industry topics, attendees have the option of participating in Pre-Show Master Workshops, which are reported to be three-hour-long, in-depth intensive programs that will be held the day before the show officially kicks off (Feb. 7, 2022). These workshops are part of pre-show education and will be open to all registered attendees for an additional fee.
The 2022 show plans to officially kick off on the morning of Feb. 8, 2022, with Opening Ceremonies and later that evening, plans to host an Official IBS House Party. Other events throughout the week include the Young Pro Party Wednesday night at Ole Red, followed by the IBS Closing Concert Thursday night.
Throughout the month of September, the NAHB says that IBS registrants can take advantage of several registration discounts, including, but not limited to a free expo pass or a $100 discount on an All-Access Pass.
More information about IBS can be found here.


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by Joyce Schwarz blogging at Hollywood2020.net on the future of media and advertising.
It wasn't enough for Google's Neal Mohan, Vice President of Display Advertising, to just gather industry luminaries together at Doubleclick's Futue of Advertising Insight event today. Instead leave it to Google and Doubleclick (owned by Google) to announce what is being called a revolution in online global advertising with the first mention of what could be called an operating system for buying and selling ads.
WAY BEYONG The announced agenda: which was to exlore such topics as: ***how technogy is reshaping both the business of advertising, and the consumers’ experience with advertising and ***the opportunities advertisers and publishers have to work better together to unlock the full potential of digital.
The invited luminaries to the Doubleclick event included of course could be some of the biggest stakeholders in this next-gen advertising 'revolution:
- Neal Mohan - Vice President, Display Advertising, Google
- Terry Kawaja - Founder and CEO, LUMA Partners
- David Kenny - Chairman & CEO, The Weather Channel
- James Pitaro - Co-President, Disney Interactive Media Group
- Omar Tawokol - Chief Executive Officer, BlueKai
- Greg Stuart - Global CEO of Mobile Marketing Association
- Kurt Unkel - President, VivaKi
- Shishir Mehrota - Vice President of Product Management, YouTube
- Brad Ruffkess - Social Marketing and Connection Strategy, Coca-Cola
- Mike Lowenstern - Managing Director of Digital Advertising, R/GA
- Peter Minnium - Head of Digital Brand Initiatives, IAB
- John Caldwell - Chief Digital Officer, National Geographic Society
TOTAL ADVERTISING DOMINATION AHEAD FOR GOOGLE? NOPE that's not enough for Google to do in one day - -not when they can see opportunity here in this fast-evolving space (see yesterday's blog post about Microsfot SmartGlass etc) so according to dozens of news reports Doubleclick (owned by Google) announced what is being called a REVOLUTION IN GLOBAL ONLINE ADVERTISING
CROSS-PLATFORM DELIVERY standards, optimization and real-time buying -- sure there are lots of concerns about how this would all work but note that IAB and MMA (two of the dominant trade associations for next-gen ads) were speakers at the event conveniently,
Several firms, most notably MIXBO (see yesterday's announcement about their Microsfot Advertising Network affiliation are already employing the newest standards for video advertising and offer cross-platform delivery capabilities.
Note the best of the articles I've scanned is the Forbes post(scroll down) where it's explained that: Google’s display revenues are running at a $5 billion-a-year clip, or 10% of its overall revenues, the company said in January
Newsroom America - 2 hours agoThis represents the biggest overhaul ever of our DoubleClick ad platform, ... We think of this a bit like an old school '90's stereo system, with ...Google revamps its integrated ad platform DM News
Google's DoubleClick Shooting To Unify Its Tools for Advertisers ... Marketing Land
all 14 news articles »
WebProNews - 1 day agoThis means they have to reengineer the whole system of buying and selling ... all the details are available on the DoubleClick Advertising Blog.
Forbes - 1 day agoNew DoubleClick ad system heats up battle to create an operating system for digital marketing It wasn't supposed to be this way. Hundreds of ...Google: Wait For A Pullback To $550 Seeking Alpha
SO WHAT's NEXT -- stay tuned-- and remember as that stat above says-- Google's share fo the overall advertising pie is slim right now -- considering more than $200B is still allocated for TV. But the changes are in the wind now and we're starting to see how the integration of next-gen ads and sponsor-supported content and cross-platform (trans-media) could chart progress in the next 18 months. Google currently has about 15 percent of the online display marketplace and is aiming for 20 percent next year according to today's latest Bloomberg post here
But you gotta remember that of the total ad budget $200B still goes to mainstream TV and the latest Nielsen survey showed that the average TV watcher almost makes a full time job (35 hours a week) on still watching that TUBE!
FOR MORE INFORMATION about Joyce Schwarz and her firm JCOMBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT.com email her at joyceschwarz(at)gmail.com or pick up the phone and call her at 310-822-3119.


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This year’s brutal wave of retail bankruptcies is threatening a new victim in New York.
National Wholesale Liquidators – a chain of 55 discount stores across the Northeast that’s based in West Hempstead, LI – faces a cash crunch as General Electric’s cash-strapped commercial-lending unit has sharply reduced credit for deliveries to its stores.
One source familiar with the matter told The Post that an executive at the 24-year-old retailer was “using the ‘B-word’ ” in recent phone conversations with suppliers, stoking speculation that the company may seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as today.
The threat of bankruptcy surprised some industry insiders, who noted that discount chains like Wal-Mart have thrived in recent months as wallet-conscious shoppers have sought out bargains. National Wholesale Liquidators sells a wide range of clearance items including apparel, home furnishings, electronics and food.
“This is a company that should be doing well in the down economy,” said Bob Carbonell, chief credit officer at Bernard Sands, a retail credit adviser. “But to have a lender do something like this is not something you can plan for.”
GE – which has been yanking commercial loans for months amid the financial crisis – reduced its line of credit to National Wholesale Liquidators by $15 million, widened from a $10 million reduction just a week earlier, sources said.
The cutoff came despite efforts in recent months to renegotiate the credit line, sources said.
“The reason [GE] gave us was the environment outside was so bad that they are trying to protect themselves,” National Wholesale Liquidators told its suppliers in a recent letter.


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Bonn Mr Wash is building a car wash on the corner of Bornheimer and Brühler Straße. There will be various services over three floors. Several thousand washes will be possible per day.
The Mr Wash company is building a new car wash with three floors in north Bonn. “This is so far a unique project for us,” says chairman Richard Enning. The preparatory construction work began a few days ago on the around 5800 square metre corner plot on Bornheimer and Brühler Straße. The facility itself should be ready in one and a half years.
“We spent a very long time looking for a suitable site in Bonn; the city is an interesting market for us,” says Enning, who runs 35 Mr Wash facilities throughout Germany. However, the site, not far from the fire station and roundabout, is not really suitable: it is actually too small to build the company’s usual giant car wash facilities. That is why the necessary space had to be stacked upwards.
Customers can clean their own cars in the cellar
On the lowest level, the cellar so to speak, customers can clean their vehicles themselves with vacuum cleaners and water. At ground level, a car wash is being built in which cars will be cleaned on two parallel belts – more than one thousand washes a day are possible. “Then you can either drive down a floor or reach the upper level via a ramp,” explains Enning. There, employees will clean the interior of the vehicles, polish and treat them. The entrance will be on Bornheimer Straße, the exit on Brühler Straße.
Bonn is one of the most expensive and also largest locations for the Essen-based company. “The location is good because we are positioned directly next to the car showrooms here.” The large Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Audi car dealerships are within sight. Mercedes and BMW are only a few hundred metres away. According to Enning, around 60 employees will be hired to take care of operations and car preparation. By comparison, Stuttgart has one of the largest car washes in the world, also operated by Mr Wash. Around a hundred people work there and up to 4000 cars a day can be cleaned. There will be no in-house petrol station in Bonn, as is usual at other facilities.
As a first step, specialists searched the ground for munitions. For many years, the area next to the Federal Procurement Office lay empty and was used as a parking and storage area. The first earthworks are now being done.
The Rheindorfer stream, which runs directly behind the plot from Alfter-Witterschlick to the outlet to the Rhine in Dransdorf, is another challenge according to Enning. “We have to consider the flood protection function during construction.” In addition, no water from the car wash facility may seep into the soil or the stream.
(Original text: Nicolas Ottersbach. Translation: kc)


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With cybercrime becoming a greater threat to companies, a new report finds that it’s just one of the technology challenges facing middle-market businesses.
A new report from Deloitte indicates that nearly four out of 10 executives in middle-market companies (with revenues ranging from $50 million to $1 billion) said that issues concerning data privacy and security risks are holding them back from moving to the cloud and making other key tech investments.
Of the companies that are currently deploying or using cloud-based services, 35 percent see information security as the greatest challenge. Ensuring data integrity and reliability ranks second among their concerns, at 30 percent. Less than two-thirds of the executives polled said their company has an integrated set of policies and procedures for remote access to data and smart phone use, and less than half said they have policies relating to tablets, social media and instant messaging.
Nearly a quarter of the executives reveal that their companies subsidize device purchases made by employees. Nearly a fifth of the companies surveyed by Deloitte have official “bring your own device,” or BYOD, policies, in which the company subsidizes the data and voice charges.
“As we focused on the middle-market companies we had an interest in how they were adopting technology, especially given the explosion in the types and quality of technology that are now available,” said Irwin Goverman, a principal in Deloitte Technology Strategy and Architecture Services at Deloitte Consulting LLP. “We wanted to see if this segment of the marketplace was able to take advantage of technology in the way that our larger clients were. The survey reached out to the C suite—CEOs, CFOs and CIOs—to ascertain whether they were adopting the newer technologies, how they were using them, what barriers there were, and what benefits they might expect.”
Deloitte looked at technologies like mobile and cloud computing and the adoption rate. Goverman noted that the risks of exposure to cyberattack were not a primary concern for the survey respondents.
“The main focus of the report was on the applicability of the newer technologies, and the pull-through, almost the demand for that type of technology coming though the consumerization and availability of data information,” he said. “In this middle-market segment, technology is definitely a catalyst for growth. We found that there was higher than expected adoption of mobile and cloud technology and data analytics. There was a pretty good correlation between using these technologies to reach customers, keep employees happy and make them more productive. We found that the customer-facing technologies were the most important, that is, Web sites, mobile stores and social media. But there were also concerns about using cloud computing and opening up the Web sites, and there were concerns about privacy, confidentiality and exposure of intellectual property.”
He noted that the bar has been raised quite a bit for investment in mobile and cloud technology in the middle market.


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What’s on trend for Loblaws in 2017?
The retailer will bring its five new food-related themes to life under the "Taste the New Next" tagline.
Pictured: Displays related to the Loblaw Food Trends 2017 at the retailer’s Maple Leaf Gardens location.
Loblaw Companies will be rolling out several in-store initiatives in the next year, centred around themes that have emerged from its new food trends initiative.
In celebrating the five-year anniversary of its Maple Leaf Gardens store in Toronto, the retail giant created the Loblaw Food Council, a group of chefs, influencers and a futurist, to help establish five food trends for 2017.
The first is “the new conscious consumer,” an evolution of Canadian consumers’ interest in where their food comes from and how it’s grown. This could mean increased interest in alternative proteins, including plant-based products and insects, along with more interest in “root-to-stem” or “snout-to-tail” cooking to help reduce food waste.
The next is “the new mindful foodie,” or an emphasis on food’s role in improving physical and mental health. This could spell boosted popularity for additive-free and raw products, such as seaweed.
“The new home chef,” also had a place on the list, describing what Loblaw called “a weekend food warrior,” interested in slow cooking, preserving and canning. Meal kits and delivery services will also continue to prove popular, adding personalization – as consumers seek out new ingredients and want to be adventurous – but without the prep. The retailer doesn’t currently have a specific meal kit delivery service, but does offer a click-and-collect program and meal options in-store.
Unsurprisingly, “the new connected shopper” also had a place among the trends, referring to Canadians’ increasing demand for personalization in their shopping experience, from digital hubs with content related to meals and recipes to pre-ordering and same-day delivery options.
Last is “the new Canadian cuisine.” International flavours and products will continue to be important for shoppers, with flavours such as za’atar (a Middle Eastern spice blend) and Japanese spice mixture togarashi making their way onto home shelves. Turmeric, for example, is already proving trendy in restaurants meals and on mixologist menus.
Some of the trends have already come to life in the Maple Leaf Gardens store but they will also continue to be marketed at Loblaws locations across Canada, under the “Taste the New Next” tagline, says Wes Brown, VP, brand marketing, retail.
The retailer will have a 360-degree go-to-market plan including in-store, online and offline, with “rich media and content” around the trends, Brown says. In-store programs will include both merchandising initiatives and experiential activations, such as sampling.
The year will kick off with a focus on “the mindful foodie,” with “the conscious consumer” being incorporated into programs around Earth Day in the spring and “the new Canadian cuisine” coming to life close to Canada’s 150th celebrations in the summer. “The new home chef” will be part of Loblaw’s marketing initiatives in the fall, with events like Thanksgiving at the forefront. Speaking to the desires of “the new connected shopper,” meanwhile, will be a year-round initiative for the retailer, Brown says.
The programs will incorporate Loblaw-owned President’s Choice products, national brand partners and unbranded products (such as produce and deli meats), he says.
“As much as we’re announcing the food trends, we want to have a dialogue all year with Canadians around these trends,” he says. “If and when people are asking for the new kale, we hope we’re going to be there with an answer.”
Loblaw relies on intel from its 12 millions customers but wanted to formalize its attempts to be connected to what shoppers want with the launch of the Food Council and trend report, Brown says. While some trends are already in the zeitgeist among foodies (think cold pressed oils or seaweed), the idea is to bring those things more to the mainstream.
“If you come in with a list, our hope is that we might challenge you.”


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Union Government has banned cosmetic companies from testing on animals. The notification prohibiting testing of cosmetics on animals was issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 27 January 2014.
The rules prohibiting testing of cosmetics on animals will become effective within 45 days of it being made public. The ban implies that no cosmetic which has been tested on animals in the country will be allowed to be sold.
With this decision, India has become the first country in South Asia to ban the testing of cosmetics and its ingredients on animals.
To give effect to the notification, the amendment was made in the Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1945. The amendment provides that any cosmetic product which carries out animal testing will face action as per provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Animal Cruelty Act.
The Union Ministry of Health decided to amend the rules after issues were raised by certain organizations and Members of Parliament, and to follow standards in line with the European Union (EU). EU in 2013 implemented the final phase of the EU law which made the testing of cosmetics on animals completely illegal.
However, the ban will not prevent companies from importing and selling animal-tested cosmetics in the country. Companies are still free to outsource their animal testing to other countries and then import newly animal-tested cosmetics and ingredients back into India.
To prevent this, India must also ban the import and sale of cosmetic products and ingredients that have been newly animal-tested anywhere in the world.
Israel and the 27 countries that make up the European Union have implemented both testing and sales bans to bring an end to cosmetics animal suffering in their respective jurisdictions.