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The long overdue National Obesity Strategy has been released to a wave of criticism from experts saying it lacks clear direction and offers only unfunded piecemeal approaches that will not bring about meaningful changes in obesity levels.
After four years of delays and postponements the National Obesity Strategy 2022–2032 was released on 4 March by the federal government.
The document claims to offer “an ambitious 10-year framework for action to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity in Australia,” through guidance aimed at state governments and other stakeholders.
But obesity researchers say the strategy seems to be based on providing information to persuade individuals to take personal responsibility for reducing obesity and it has no clear program to tackle key issues such as food industry advertising or the socioeconomic determinants of obesity.
Professor Bruce Neal, Executive Director of The George Institute Australia said the strategy offered little new and had a long way to go in terms of putting its suggested approaches into practice.
“A ‘business as usual’ approach will see ‘obesity as usual’ in 2032. The Strategy sets out great ambitions but urgently needs an implementation plan to match,” he said.
“Current policy approaches are still focussed on how the individual needs to change – not how to improve the places where people live and make the easy choice the healthy choice. We will not succeed in addressing obesity until government tackles the commercial entities pushing unhealthy products into our communities.”
“We need to see a real change in focus when it comes to implementation for the Strategy to be effective. Education, information and voluntary industry programs are not going to cut it and will be a waste of everyone’s time and money. For real impact government will have to bite the bullet and implement mandatory restrictions on marketing to children, taxes on unhealthy foods like sugary drinks and transparent labelling of the nutritional quality of foods.”
Dr Michelle Jones a social researcher at Flinders University, Adelaide said the National Obesity Strategy lacked many key features of successful anti-obesity programs such as OPAL (Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle).
“With OPAL, there was an existing model the Australian government could have implemented and made a commitment to funding to ensure its longevity but instead we get a piecemeal approach and no clear understanding of who will coordinate the strategy and who will pay for it,” she said.
Dr Jones also highlighted the Strategy’s over reliance on individual responsibility and a lack of legislation that would help bridge the advertising divide between big fast food manufacturers and local food suppliers.
“Obesity prevention is not as simple as telling people to lose weight or get out and exercise. This ignores the socio-economic factors that underpin people’s health and underestimates the impact of the advertising industry and its ability to influence people’s choices,” she said.
“We currently have big food companies, especially fast food, able to advertise at any time of day and target children and at the same time representatives of fruit and vegetable growers can’t match this advertising buying power; this imbalance could be changed through legislation, rather than hopeful thinking.
Dr Sandro Demaio, CEO of VicHealth said the national strategy was a promising step forward, but it put too much responsibility on individuals and not enough on the food industry that spends more than $550 million in advertising.
“Pushing the onus back onto everyday Australians and relying on behaviour change is simply not going to move the needle,” he said.
“Most of us try to eat healthy foods as much as possible, but being surrounded by unhealthy food products and marketing undermines people’s efforts to maintain a healthy diet. Unhealthy food is easy to find, eat and buy and we’re bombarded by advertising every day.”


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Nike has released a special edition of its Air Force 1 with a red broken Swoosh to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
February 14th is known for a lot of things, but not sneakers. Yet this year, Valentine’s Day will be marked by a beautiful special edition of the Air Force 1 Sage Low.
The sneaker boasts a black leather upper, mesh toe box, and a beautiful broken red Swoosh. It also comes with a silver heart-shaped locket attached to each pair.
The Valentine’s Day Air Force 1 is available now and retails for $110 on Nike.com.
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Days after Intel and Advanced Micro Devices launched new high-end x86 chips that drive the architecture higher up the server chain, Microsoft officials announced they are ending support for Intel’s Itanium chip in their server software.
In an April 2 post on the Windows Server blog, Dan Reger, a Microsoft senior technical product manager, said the capabilities Intel and AMD put into their latest high-end server chips-and OEM interest in putting these processors in four- and eight-socket servers-essentially have made the Itanium architecture superfluous.
“Why the change? The natural evolution of the x86 64-bit (‘x64’) architecture has led to the creation of processors and servers which deliver the scalability and reliability needed for today’s ‘mission-critical’ workloads,'” Reger wrote. “Just this week, both Intel and AMD have released new high core-count processors, and servers with eight or more x64 processors have now been announced by a full dozen server manufacturers. Such servers contain 64 to 96 processor cores, with more on the horizon.”
Reger said Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the last version of Windows Server to support Itanium, and likewise SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010 will be the last versions of those products to support Intel’s EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing) architecture chips.
The transition will take eight years, he said. Each of the current products supports the latest iteration of Itanium, the 9300 series, formerly code-named Tukwila, released in February following several delays.
Microsoft, in accordance with its Support Lifecycle Policy, will end support for Itanium-based systems and R2 on July 9, 2013, though extended support will continue until July 10, 2018.
“That’s eight more years of support,” Reger said. “Microsoft will continue to focus on the x64 architecture and its new business-critical role, while we continue to support Itanium customers for the next eight years as this transition is completed.”
Intel’s Itanium architecture has been under the microscope since the chip maker and Hewlett-Packard began working on it in the late 1990s. Delays and performance issues dogged it in its early years, and more recently the rise in the scalability and capabilities of x86 offerings from both Intel and AMD have had analysts questioning Itanium’s future.
Intel officials have laid out a road map for Itanium looking several generations down the road. However, at the March 30 launch event for the eight-core Xeon 7500 series “Nehalem EX” processors, even company officials sounded a bit skeptical about Itanium’s long-term viability. Kirk Skaugen, vice president of the Intel architecture group and general manager of its data center unit, was asked directly about the Xeon 7500 series’ impact on Itanium.
“These are two distinctly different architectures,” Skaugen said. “There is room for them at this time. That said, 90 percent of our Itanium business is mainframe and HP-UX-based. Intel expects to migrate a lot of those machines to Xeon over time, but for now, it [Itanium] is still a very good business for us.”
Intel officials in 2009 said they were taking aim at the high-end server market with Nehalem EX-made for systems with four or more sockets-targeting workloads traditionally reserved for RISC systems and mainframes. Those also are the workloads that run on Itanium.
The Xeon 7500 launch didn’t disappoint. The processors offer three times the performance of previous Xeons, can run in servers that scale from two to 256 sockets, and have a memory capacity of up to a terabyte. Intel also added 20 new reliability features that until now were only found in RISC and mainframe systems, including Machine Check Architecture Recovery, which works with the operating system and virtual machine manager to recover from what otherwise would be fatal system errors.
The new Xeon chips also were designed with virtualization and consolidation in mind. Businesses can take the workloads from 20 four-socket systems running single-core Xeon MP chips and put them onto one four-socket Xeon 7500-based system.
Intel officials are now focusing on mission-critical systems, and “targeted workloads include virtualization, database [and] business apps including workloads migrating from Unix/RISC to Linux or Windows on x86,” IDC analyst Matt Eastwood said in an e-mail to eWEEK right after the launch.
Intel listed almost a dozen OEMs planning to launch eight-socket servers powered by Nehalem EX chips.
The day before the Xeon 7500 launch, AMD rolled out its Opteron 6000 “Magny-Cours” chips, with eight to 12 cores. While AMD officials said they are aiming the new Opterons at the more mainstream computing space, the new Opterons give the chip maker’s server products a scalability that they hadn’t seen before. They also should make it easier and less expensive for businesses running two-socket servers to make the move up to four-socket systems.


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COVID-19 trashed the recycling dream while oil and gas industry hope for more plastic
Rush for plastic
But there is another consequence. The pandemic has intensified a price war between recycled and new plastic, made by the oil industry. It's a war recyclers worldwide are losing, price data and interviews with more than two dozen businesses across five continents show.
Losing the recycling war
Most is hard to recycle, and many recyclers have long depended on government support. New plastic, known to the industry as "virgin" material, can be half the price of the most common recycled plastic.
The European Union plans to ban many single-use plastic items from 2021. The U.S. Senate is considering a ban on single-use plastic and may introduce legal recycling targets.
Fuelling climate change
The United States burns six times more plastic than it recycles, according to research in April 2019 by Jan Dell, a chemical engineer and former vice chair of the U.S. Federal climate committee.
Creating new, and more plastic
This is because, as a growing fleet of electric vehicles and improved engine efficiency reduce fuel demand, the industry hopes rising demand for new plastic can assure future growth in demand for oil and gas. It is counting on soaring use of plastic-based consumer goods by millions of new middle-class consumers in Asia and elsewhere.


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McDonald’s in Middleton has undergone a new, exciting transformation following local franchisee Gerald Thompson’s investment in improving the experience for local customers.
These major developments will provide the foundations for current and future changes to the McDonald’s menu and service experience.
This significant investment demonstrates the ongoing commitment from all McDonald’s franchisees’ to towns across the UK as part of an extensive restaurant evolution programme.
Digital innovation is at the heart of the transformation. The big changes focus on providing customers with more choice as to how they order and pay, adapting how the food is prepared and served and offering new technological features to create an environment that is even more welcoming and enjoyable.
State of the art, self-order kiosks will give customers the option of a brand new experience when choosing and ordering their food at McDonald’s. They will be able to browse the entire menu and check out the nutritional information of each meal at the same time.
Once customers have completed their order, they pay swiftly by card or contactless, and then go straight to a designated area of the counter to pick up their order. In the kitchens, new lay-outs and increased technology means McDonald’s iconic products will be made specially to order for customers, with every burger and wrap being freshly prepared.
To complete the digital transformation, free to use tablets have been installed at some tables for customers who want to check their newsfeed and emails or play the latest games. The restaurant redesigns will also include a striking new décor to create an enjoyable space for everyone to enjoy.
McDonald’s franchisee Gerald Thompson, who runs eight restaurants across Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and Manchester, said: “We’re thrilled to now be offering our customers a more personalised experience. The introduction of self-order kiosks means our customers have more food options and the interactive menu on the kiosks means they have more food options.
"They can also choose exactly how they want to order their meals so whether they prefer to place their order at the counter or use the new self-order kiosks, there’s an option to suit everyone.
“The new technology has also given crew members the chance to broaden their skill-set - adding more variety to their job role.”
As McDonald’s constantly strives to bring more innovation to customers in the UK; the future could see even more exciting features introduced if current trials prove successful. These include the option to customise the classic burgers that customers know and love, ordering and paying by smartphone.
A number of restaurants are also currently offering ‘table service’, with the option to have food delivered direct to where people are sitting and McDonald’s recently announced plans to roll this out to over 300 restaurants this year. In addition, customer in some restaurants are also be able to enjoy interactive table-tops games whilst they share a meal and even charge their smartphones using wireless charging devices.


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Nigeria's foremost stockists of quality doors and kitchen cabinets have been making Nigerians happy with its promo.
The company which is run by enterprising businessman, Mr. Solomon E. Nwadiogbu, had kicked off the promo a few weeks ago where five people will win N20,000 daily for four weeks for simply coming up with a creative video or a write up on the importance of having a good and secure door in your home.
In announcing the second edition of the #MyDoorStory competition which started last year, Nwadiogbu said while the maiden edition focused on creative writing only the second edition will also involve creative storytelling through videos.
To make the competition more inclusive, the winners and the daily prize money were also increased from 10 participants winning N10,000 daily to five winning N20,000 daily for a whopping 30 days.
The Emilinks #MyDoorStory competition which was launched on May 22, 2017, will run for until June 20, 2017.
'The rules of the #MyDoorStory competition is very simple and goes as follows:
Make a one-minute unique video story or creative writing on the importance of having a good quality door.
Tag your friends whom you feel deserves to win.
Add your full name and location.
Videos will be judged on presentation, creativity, and most likes.
To stand a chance of winning, participants must follow Emilinks on:
Facebook: @EmilinksNG and
The following Hashtags must be used to upload your videos: #emliinks. #solomonnwadiogbu. #mydoorstory.
Winners will be announced daily by 10:00 am.'
The has already produced early winners as they have started smiling to the bank with their money.
One of such delighted winners, Chisomaga Eziugo, was full of happiness when an alert of N20,000 his her GTB account and she proudly displayed the confirmation of the payment for all to see and know that the promo is real.
Emilinks, according to Nwadiogbu, is about one of the few stockists of originals doors, wardrobes, and kitchen cabinets with the cheapest prices in the country today taking into account the economic hardship Nigerians go through.
See testimonies from other winners in the promo.


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BT rivals demand Ofcom action
Wholesale package not 'fit for purpose'
Five rival telco providers have written to Ofcom complaining that BT is not offering a wholesale line rental package which is "fit for purpose".
Carphone Warehouse, Centrica (One.Tel), Phones 4 U, Telco and Vartec say that they cannot properly compete because BT does not offer good enough service for a mass market product. Rival operators claim they pay more to lease or reconnect lines than BT Retail pays BT Wholesale.
Mike Holliday-Williams, marketing director at One.Tel, told The Register: "The devil is in the detail. It's lots of little issues like getting timely and accurate customer information - we can't access customer details on a Saturday. It should be a smooth service but it's not something we could offer to the mass market yet - there's too many small issues to sort out first."
Holliday-Williams said: "On the commercial side we want the same as BT Retail get. We pay 85p for 1571 services but BT Retail get it free."
A spokesman for BT said: "We've done everything that we were asked to do on this. There was an detailed and open consultative process between ourselves, the regulator and other operators, the specification was agreed and that's what we provided." The spokesman added that One.Tel were a central part of that trial and had an opportunity to complain then that the process was unfair.
Wholesale services have been on offer since March last year but there has been very little take-up. One reason for this is the problem of two bills - one for the BT line and one for calls made.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: "We have received the letter and it raises a series of issues which we are aware of and working hard to resolve. We're working with operators on issues around the scalability of BT's systems and the speed with which they can respond to service requests. This is something we take seriously and would hope to see some improvements by the end of the year." ®


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Rovio will preview its upcoming “Angry Birds Stella” mobile game exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3.
“With the recent launch of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, we highlighted our commitment to bringing the very best content and experiences to our customers," says Jonathan Shar, vice president and general manager of emerging digital content, Nook. "One way we are delivering on this is by inviting Angry Birds fans to Barnes & Noble stores to exclusively experience the upcoming 'Angry Birds Stella' game on the fantastic new Nook. Rovio has always been a strong partner with Barnes & Noble/Nook, and we are thrilled that we could work together to bring this exciting new game to our stores for fans to experience on our best-in-class new Samsung Nook.”
The partnership, developed with B&N subsidiary Nook Media, will allow fans to play the new game before anyone else on Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook in-store demo devices at B&N stores across the U.S.
“We’re super-excited about the upcoming launch of ‘Angry Birds Stella’ and can’t imagine a better partner than Barnes & Noble to help us build excitement for the launch with an early preview on the brand new Samsung Nook devices in their stores,” says Peter Vesterbacka, brand ambassador, Rovio.
The "Angry Birds Stella" game will launch on Sept. 4 across all major platforms.


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A few days ago, we announced thatApple changed the way he calculated taxes for developers, in accordance with a new European directive. The Cupertino company now attaches VAT to countries. In other words, each country has its own percentage, which can sometimes harm developers.
This is little positive news that is coming today to publishers. Indeed, Apple increased prices for its iOS and Mac developer accounts. To publish an application on theApp store, the creator will have to pay € 99, compared to € 79 previously. The same goes for the Mac App Store.
As a reminder, the developer accounts allow access to the Apple development kits, as well as to the different beta of iOS and OS X. For the moment, Apple has given no reason to justify this sudden increase in 25 %. We can assume, however, that it is still a matter of taxes.


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Aldi is today opening a new store in Douglas in Co Cork as it continues its nationwide expansion.
The new Douglas store will see the creation of 27 permanent jobs.
Located on the old cinema site on the Douglas Road, the new store will be Aldi's 24th store to open in County Cork.
Aldi now operates 146 supermarkets across the country, in addition to its Mitchelstown distribution centre, which services Aldi's stores in Munster and Connacht.
Aldi has made a capital investment of over €220m in Co Cork and the supermarket group employs 1,000 full time staff across the county, spending €30m on wages annually.
It said that planning applications have been submitted for new stores in the country. Its new Clonakilty store is due to open in late 2022, and the Skehard Road, Blackrock store is planned to open in 2024.
These new stores will create 50 new permanent jobs when open and an additional 130 jobs will be created during their construction phases.


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Tech giant Baidu making China a leader In Augmented Reality.
While Pokémon Go did much to introduce augmented reality (AR) to the general public, Chinese technology company Baidu believes gaming is by no means the only way to popularize this futuristic medium. The search engine operator, often dubbed the Google of China, started to work on AR two years ago. Currently, the company is working with global brands including L’Oreal, KFC and Lancôme to make AR-based advertisements, which allow consumers to interact with computer-generated virtual products through their smartphones.
Emirates launches blankets made 100% from plastic bottles.
Emirates has introduced new sustainable blankets made from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles. The soft and warm blankets are made using ecoTHREAD patented technology and are now available in Economy Class on all long-haul Emirates flights. Each Emirates ecoTHREAD blanket is made from 28 recycled plastic bottles. The environmentally-friendly blankets are designed in partnership with Buzz, an inflight product specialist, and are part of Emirates' continued commitment to product innovation and sustainability
Gloo.ng raises funds from angel investor, plans to launch four new products in 2017.
Gloo.ng, a Nigerian online supermarket, which describes itself as the biggest in Africa, has raised an undisclosed amount of funds from an angel investor. CEO and Chief Glootian, Olumide Olusanya made this announcement in a series of tweets yesterday. The fresh funds will be used to launch four new products/service this year, namely Butchery, GlooTrack, Farm-to-Table concept, and Enterprise Consumables Management Software.


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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
State Street — The financial firm’s shares rose 2.6% after beating on the top and bottom line of its quarterly results. State Street reported earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $3.03 billion, while analysts expected earnings of $1.79 per share on revenue of $2.94 billion, according to Refinitiv.
Moderna – Shares of Moderna soared more than 8% on news that the pharmaceutical company would join the S&P 500 on Wednesday, July 21. Moderna will replace Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which is being acquired by AstraZeneca.
Charles Schwab — Shares of the online broker ticked about 2% lower after reporting its quarterly results. Schwab earned 70 cents per share, missing estimates by 1 cent, according to Refinitiv. The company made $4.53 billion in revenue, topping estimates of $4.46 billion. Schwab also showed a slowdown in new clients, which totaled 1.7 million in the second quarter after a record 3.2 million in the first quarter.
The Honest Company — The maker of environmentally sustainable lifestyle products saw its stock jump 3% after Loop upgraded it to a buy from a hold after a recent pullback in shares. Retail demand is strong, Loop said, and any second quarter destocking-related weakness should be made up in the second half.
iHeartMedia — The media company’s stock climbed 3% higher after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage as a buy. Goldman also said iHeartMedia is well positioned to make the transition from legacy radio broadcasting to digital-first audio media.
Dow — The chemical stock dipped 2.7% after Bank of America downgraded Dow to underperform from neutral. The firm said in a note to clients that there was downside risk to the price of polyethylene in the U.S., which could take a bite out of the company’s stock price.
Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Lines — Cruise lines dropped on Friday, with Carnival declining about 2.5% and Norwegian dropping more than 3%. The companies’ shares fell despite positive news that Canada will allow cruise ships to resume operations in its waters starting Nov. 1, sooner than planned. Previously, the Canadian government extended its cruise ban until the end of February 2022. Norwegian and Carnival shares are both down double digits this month.
Tencent Music Entertainment — Shares of the Chinese music streaming service dropped more than 5% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to equal-weight from overweight. The Wall Street firm said rising regulatory issues in China will keep Tencent Music Entertainment from bouncing back after its rough first half of the year. The stock has fallen nearly 40% this year.
Uber — The ride sharing company saw its stock rise nearly 1% after MKM named it a top pick, saying Uber finally has a “line-of-sight” for profitability and that it expects an upward re-rating on the stock.
— CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald, Hannah Miao, Yun Li, Jesse Powell and Michael Bloom contributed reporting
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Israeli Formula Increases Tomato Yields, Even During Droughts
An Israeli agtech company has developed a way to grow tomatoes even in times of drought.
It boosts the growth of the tomato root system and improves nutrient absorption from the soil, improving yield and extending the shelf life of agricultural produce, even as droughts continue to strengthen.
Grace Breeding, the Rehovot-based startup behind the innovation, says its Wide Defense System (WDS) only needs to be applied once per season.
Over 90 per cent of US tomatoes are grown in California, which has suffered its worst drought since the year 800. This has forced more than a third of local farmers to kill their crops due to water deficiency, causing a rise in prices.
The WDS formula helps industrial, or commercially-grown tomatoes, grow in different plots in various climate stress conditions.
The startup recently carried out an industrial tomato trial in Israel using the formula. It was tested on tomatoes in a semi-arid climate similar to that of California, which included harsh weather conditions like drought and record heating.
It says its formula boosts industrial tomato yield by 17 per cent while improving nutrient absorption from the soil.
“Grace Breeding understands the stress that a drought can bring on farmers and consumers alike,” said CEO Assaf Dotan.
“Our aim with our proprietary WDS formula is to provide farmers with a higher yield of industrial tomatoes to help maximize their production cycles and mitigate distribution challenges resulting from drought conditions.
“The use of our WDS helps farmers boost growth for industrial tomatoes in different plots amid various climate stress conditions. The product has a simple and efficient once-per-season application via the irrigation system that adds an additional economic benefit.”


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Reports show that Instagram could be amping up efforts to launch Reels in India, following the ban of TikTok last week.
Instagram seems quick to react as the company is now pushing hard to launch Reels, its TikTok clone, in India where the actual TikTok was banned last week as part of a massive move to stop Chinese apps from being available in the country.
According to reports from Business Insider, Facebook has already started testing Instagram’s Reels among a few select users in India.
Reels is Instagram’s answer to TikTok: a video editing tool designed to let people create 15-second videos that can be shared on their Instagram Stories, sent via DM, or posted to a new section of the Explore tab called Top Reels.
Last week, Instagram announced it was launching an updated version of Reels to France and Germany after a successful test in Brazil last year.
“We’re planning to start testing an updated version of Reels in more countries,” a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider, “Reels is a fun, creative way for people to both express themselves and be entertained. We’re excited to bring this new version to more of our global community. No further plans to share on launch date or countries for now.”
Reels is getting a strong push from Facebook. The company sees its potential as TikTok is starting to flutter amidst accusations of spying for the Chinese government. Last week, Facebook also announced it was shutting down its own standalone TikTok-style video app, Lasso, likely to focus on growing Instagram’s Reels instead.
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(Scroll down for video) An elderly owner of a multi million dollar supermarket chain did not do what was expected. Instead of leaving his family business to his children he gave it all away to his employees, according to video uploaded to the internet.
Retiring Minnesota supermarket chain owner Joe Lueken, did the unusual. He gave his business to his 400 employees. The story received wide attention as comforting and was praised as a Wonderful act of charity.
This decision however, is not that unusual, according to press reports. In fact, Bob Moore, owner of Oregon-based cereal producer Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, did exactly the same thing two years ago.
Their actions reflect the under the radar, but the growing trend of worker ownership in the United States. The shocking truth is that there are thousands of successful worker-owned businesses in the United States.
We're not just talking about the little hippie cooperatives. In fact, the largest majority employee-owned business is based in Florida. Publix Super Markets, a company worth $27 billion, employes 152,000 people. Moreover, Publix has more workers than Costco and Whole Foods combined.
At a time of high unemployment, rising corporate profits and declining job quality, employee ownership offers a viable and attractive alternative to corporate capitalism. It's a way for workers to own the means of production without overthrowing the capitalist system.
Far from the communist ideal, employee ownership is a third form of business ownership that both the left and the right can embrace. Advocates applaud this as workers are more involved in the structure of the business model.
Workers directly reap the fruits of their labor instead of working hard for investors. In turn, the employees are more motivated, productive and creative. According to a study by researchers at Rutgers and the University of Harvard, firms with substantial employee participation often exceed those without, due to lower staff turnover and stronger relationships of trust at work.


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Samsung wins Olympic sponsorship gold, Nike upstages Adidas again
Samsung has taken gold for results from its London 2012 Olympics sponsorship, as the sponsor that did best out of the Games in terms of website visits, while Adidas has again been upstaged by non-sponsor rival Nike.
Despite experiencing a strong uplift in site visitation, Adidas failed to convert sponsorship dollars into the same level of social media buzz as non-sponsor Nike. Data from Socialbakers shows Nike, which released an emotive campaign flouting Olympic advertising rules by using towns named London, won the battle for sporting social media engagement on Facebook and Twitter.
During the course of the Games, Nike’s Facebook fan base grew by more than double that of Adidas’, the former netting 166,718 new fans compared to just 80,761 for the official sponsor.
Nike also took gold on Twitter with over 16,020 tweets linked to the brand, 6725 more than Adidas, which was mentioned in just 9295 Olympic-themed tweets.
Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers says the data points to social media having levelled the playing field, marketing blog The Wall reports.
“There was a time when primetime slots around major sporting events were essential for maintaining position as a household name; but social media has levelled the playing field. Through its savvy social strategy, Nike demonstrated that you no longer need prime time to create brand buzz.”
In the site visitation stakes, Samsung experienced a 111% uplift in visitation during the course of the games, trouncing non-sponsor rival Sony which dropped by 7%. The data from Hitwise also showed Adidas and Cadbury coming out on top of rivals in terms of official website traffic.
Olympic sponsors with highest website traffic uplift
1. Samsung – 111%
2. Adidas – 44%
3. Cadbury’s – 41%
Nike received a 10% boost in traffic as a result of its guerrilla campaign and general association with sporting events.


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Giving more nurses throughout the country the ability to prescribe the contraceptive pill would give more people access than allowing pharmacies to sell it, Family Planning says.
The Ministry of Health has announced women on repeat prescriptions given to them by a medical practitioner will be able to get up to six months' supply at a time from their local pharmacy.
But Family Planning executive director Jackie Edmond said allowing more nurses to prescribe contraception would be cheaper and give more access than selling it over pharmacy counters.
"We see that that's the biggest impact, because we have so many nurses out and about through family planning clinics, through community providers."
Ms Edmond said she would be interested to see how many women choose to take up the option of buying the pill over the counter.
But at $45 for a three-month prescription, she said she thought a lot of women would stick to what they had been doing.
"Particularly younger women because [at] Family Planning it's free to come to an appointment and all you have is a prescription charge.
"I guess the good thing is that this offers another option for women and for some women that's going to be really convenient for them," she said.
"But probably lots of women will continue to go to GPs or Family Planning or their youth health service."
Royal New Zealand College of GPs president Tim Malloy said the pill at the pharmacy was still quite expensive for many people.
"The college holds a fear that we are potentially increasing the inequity of healthcare between those people who can afford it and those people who can't."
Mr Malloy said the college cared most about the safety of women using the pill.
"We're hoping that the suggestions that have been put forward into the scheme to ensure that safety issue is maintained are sufficient.
"We will wait and see how that pans out in terms of its evaluation."
Pharmacy retail group Green Cross Health was one of the companies pushing for its stores to be able to offer the pill over the counter.
It said between 140,000 and 200,000 women in New Zealand take the pill.
The company's group manager, Alison Van Wyk, said the decision meant pharmacists would be able to work more closely with medical practitioners on the matter.
But she said greater availability of the pill wasn't supposed to turn women away from where they had previously got it.
"We stand alongside nurses who prescribe, Family Planning and general practice around that convenient access.
"Now what we have is women have an additional choice as to where they choose to access their oral contraception."
Green Cross Health said it expected to have several brands of the contraceptive pill available after its pharmacists were trained in about three to four months.


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Neo Solar Power has started construction on what the company says will be the world’s largest solar cell production plant, according to published reports. The facility, located in Tainan, southern Taiwan, will be the company’s third cell processing factory and have a capacity of 3.4GW once it’s fully ramped.
The company said it plans to increase production capacity from 620MW to 800MW by the end of 2010.
Bloomberg put the cost of the new plant at NY$30 billion (US$937 million) and said that the initial 400MW phase of the factory would be finished by the first half of 2011, according to company sources.
Digitimes reports that Neo Solar chairman Quincy Lin said that he expects cell prices to remain stable for the time being. He also was quoted as saying that 25-30% of the company’s material supplies prices are set by previous contract agreements and that NeoSolar is buying polysilicon on the spot market for about US$50-$55/kg.


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TASMANIAN households should expect no relief from power prices when full retail contestability is introduced -- because mainland retailers will be scared of the local market, an energy expert has warned.
Managing director of Frontier Economics, Danny Price, said yesterday there were too many risks for retailers to enter into the Tasmanian market.
Full retail contestability is scheduled for January 2014 when Aurora customers will be sold to the open market to energy retailers.
In similar circumstances, in other states, the sale of these customers has generated about $1000 to $1500 per customer.
Aurora has about 240,000 household customers and 20,000 business customers.
At interstate rates, the purchase of these customers could deliver the State Government a war chest of between $260 million and $390 million three months from the expected March 2014 state election.
But, Mr Price, an energy adviser for 20 years and a former principal economist at the New South Wales Electricity Commission, said Aurora would be lucky to get $300 a customer
"I have advised clients not to go to Tasmania," he said.
He said a combination of market monopoly in the wholesale sector and concerns about the credit ratings of Aurora customers could scare off energy retailers.
"There is a risk that no one will go into the Tasmanian market," he said.
Premier Lara Giddings said yesterday introducing retail competition was never aimed at being a silver bullet for power prices but about providing customer choice.
"We remain confident that interstate electricity retailers will enter the Tasmanian market, providing all customers with the power to choose," she said.
A Victorian company has been awarded a $500,000 contract to develop the strategy to sell Tasmanian power users to the retail market.


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Toronto: After the US, Canada has now moved to ban Chinese language telecommunication giants Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks with a view to make sure the “long run security of our telecommunications infrastructure”.
Following the steps of its companions — together with the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand — Canada determined to ban the 2 Chinese language tech corporations by the beginning of 2028.
The 5 nations make up an intelligence-sharing association named ‘5 Eyes’.
“The federal government of Canada is making certain the long run security of our telecommunications infrastructure. As a part of that, the federal government intends to ban the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE services and products in Canada’s telecommunications techniques,” Minister of Innovation, Science and Trade Francois-Philippe Champagne stated in a press release late on Thursday.
The transfer will enhance Canada’s cellular Web companies and “defend the protection and safety of Canadians”.
Telecommunications corporations that function in Canada would now not be permitted to utilize designated gear or companies supplied by Huawei and ZTE.
“As nicely, corporations that already use this gear put in of their networks can be required to stop its use and take away it,” stated the minister.
Beijing reacted to the Canadian transfer, saying the safety considerations raised by Canada are a “pretext for political manipulation”, accusing Canada of working with the US to suppress Chinese language corporations.
US President Joe Biden in November signed the legislation to ban Huawei and ZTE from getting approval for community gear licences within the nation.
Earlier, the US Federal Communications Fee (FCC) designated Huawei and ZTE as nationwide safety threats to communications networks — making it more durable for the US corporations to purchase gear from them.
Beneath the brand new legislation, the FCC is required to now not assessment or approve any authorisation utility for gear posing a transparent danger to nationwide safety.


text: According to the Swedish paper Dagens Industri (DI), Tesla Motors has sold a car in Sweden. In today’s edition of DI online, DI.se, the car has also been test driven. Tesla Motors was founded by Martin Eberhard, a Silicon Valley engineer who created a digital book called Rocket eBook, then sold the company and all of a sudden was left with a whole lot of money. You can find the article here. Although Tesla has been very successful, a lot of people are taking an interest in the rival; Fisker. Fisker Automotive, founded by a former staffer at Tesla, recently introduced Fisker Karma. It is a sport sedan with the capacity of going from 0-100km/h in 6 seconds. For inspiring reading, visit the homepage of Fisker.


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A new application has just arrived for users across the globe. Zagat has recently proclaimed the release of Zagat To Go 3.0 for iPhone users. The new application integrates the latest in mobile application technology, including augmented reality.
The most recently unveiled version comes equipped with ‘Augmented reality’, offering users an interactive view of restaurants through their iPhone 3GS camera. Off-line sync update lets users access Zagat’s content anywhere – on the subway, in an airplane and even internationally – regardless of internet or mobile reception. On the other, the app’s ‘writing Zagat reviews’ allows users to write and publish reviews directly to Zagat.com from their mobile device.
Additionally, the app embraces ‘Zagat Recommends’ feature that acts as a digital concierge to filter restaurants choices based on users’ preferences. Other features include instant restaurant reservation capabilities and the ability to search establishments around the world using GPS (where available) or by choosing from hundreds of cities worldwide.
iPhone and iPod Touch users can now download the Zagat To Go app from the Apple App Store for $9.99.


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Law enforcement authorities are looking for a man they say robbed a Phillips 66 gas station located at 6th and Wyandotte.
Police say just before midnight, a man entered the store wearing a black carheartt style jacket and rubber gloves. He pulled out a handgun in front of a store employee and demanded money from the register.
He then made the employee go to the back of the store where the suspect tried to access the store safe.
The suspect escaped out the front door after making the employee go stand in the bathroom located in the back of the store.
Police say the man is approximately 5-feet, 8 inches in height and appears to be in his 40s and wears a reddish overgrown goatee.
If you have information concerning this case, please call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.


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Albania, Last Place in Europe for ISO Certification
Albanian Daily News
Published July 17, 2017
Albania ranks at the last place in European level for the number of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificates. The latest data released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show a not-so positive situation for a country aspiring to include in its economic model the production growth and exports increase.
"The number of registered ISO certificates is a measure that indicates the global chain of value and investments elasticity. The certificates operate as a special product, service or system that complies with the requests and standards. Serbia has the highest number of ISO certificates in the Balkans while Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro rank in the last places," stated the OECD report.
The Albanian businesses continue to experience difficulties for their products merchandising due to the absence of these certificates that guarantee the standards. The situation gets even worst for these businesses willing to export their products, a sector where there's an even stronger competition.


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Clouds are beginning to hover over food and beverage outlets at the $73 million Yagan Square precinct after the recent closure of businesses, while more face declining revenue and an uncertain future barely 12 months after a much-heralded opening.
The one-hectare public space between the arms of the Horseshoe Bridge is a jewel of the state government's Perth City Link project, but many of the 17 retail dining outlets – some encouraged to move to the precinct by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority – are struggling for relevance.
The retail dining problems echo the financial states of several other food and beverage-focused precincts near the city like On The Point, which lost rock star tenant Ku De Ta to poor revenue despite a prime fit-out and location on the Swan River, the Leederville cafe strip and Mount Lawley's once-eclectic Beaufort Street, the latest casualty food and wine focused venue Five Bar.
Tenants at Yagan Square were expecting to leverage the precinct's thousands of daily pedestrians from twin transport hubs, the CBD and Northbridge but WAtoday understands foot traffic from the CBD, Northbridge, Perth Busport and Perth Underground is about half what the MRA predicted.
Regular business comes naturally to three exterior venues – dumpling and microbrewery mecca Shy John's, top-level fine dining restaurant Ficus and ground-level grab 'n' go Street Eats – but the remaining precinct's 14 tenants housed inside Yagan Square's primary dining footprint Market Hall are barely ticking over.
Some tenants and observers believe the precinct's design is more to blame than pedestrian numbers for revenue woes.
Market Hall tenant Big El’s X The Wknd closed after its founder was reportedly approached to move the first iteration of his Northbridge business to Yagan Square ahead of its March opening.
Another business, believed to be Primal Pantry, also closed in recent weeks but another outlet in Brookfield Place is still trading.
Sources at Market Hall said on Tuesday they were concerned more businesses in the food court would follow suit and close.
One manager said tenants were told by authorities that pedestrian traffic alone would help businesses thrive but, one year on, there had been no improvement.
"We were told there would be heaps of foot traffic coming through but it's just not happening regularly, it's more seasonal," they said.
"You should come here on the weekends, it's empty ... people are reluctant to come here."
The tenant said Yagan's close proximity to the Perth Busport and Perth Underground station was hindering business, not helping.
Another business owner not housed in Market Hall said it was obvious tenants inside the food court were not being noticed by pedestrians outside, while irregular visitors and tourists were also not largely aware an internal food court existed at Yagan.
While the entire precinct – including Market Hall – was a "great building", little was being done by the MRA to help struggling tenants inside with marketing their businesses, an owner said.
One regular pedestrian through Yagan Square said the Market Hall tenants were disconnected from their surrounds.
"It's easy to pass by without knowing food outlets are inside. You shouldn't need marketing to attract people into the building – the design of the building should do that by itself," she said.
"Food courts are popular for a reason; they're usually dirt cheap to eat at. Yagan Square is not."
An MRA spokesperson said despite the two recent closures, it had sourced new tenants and were in final negotiations for them to take over the vacant spaces.
"We’re working hard with the tenants to ensure Yagan Square remains a popular destination with locals and visitors alike," a spokesperson said.
More than 200 events had been held at the square, with more expected, while tenants were urged to carry out "their own promotion and attend City of Perth small business marketing workshops".
"The campaign to promote Yagan Square as a food and beverage precinct is in the early stages of development," they said.
The MRA and state government trumpeted in January 2018 prior to opening that Market Hall tenants were "carefully hand-picked to service thousands of daily visitors" to Yagan Square and "reflected the best of West Australian culture and celebrate local capabilities in the hospitality sector".
"The Market Hall will be a buzzing hub for commuters, tourists and locals and will be a very exciting place for morning coffee, lunch, fresh supplies or an evening meal or drinks with friends," Tourism Minister Paul Papalia said at the time in a statement.
"Yagan Square is now set to be a drawcard for families, tourists and locals alike, with options to suit all tastes," Planning Minister Rita Saffioti also said in the same statement.
Yagan Square has been praised for its architecture and was the recipient of several design awards in its first 12 months.


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NTT Communications of the NTT Group has acquired a Virtual Network Operator – International Long Distance (VNO-ILD) license in India
'100 crore individuals on an average spend less than Rs 100 on telecom services. One has to figure out how to deliver Rs 25 a month data'
As many as 70 firms expressed interest in VNO permits at the local level, while 10 companies applied for national licences under the VNO policy.
The VNE platform will facilitate firms interested in working as VNO to provide service without much investment on equipment to connect with BSNL network.
The DoT wants the proposed amendment to the consumer protection law to clarify that consumer courts can settle disputes between telecom operators and their customers.
Sources told TOI that 70 companies have expressed interest in procuring MVNO licence at the district-level as they plan to offer localised services, while 10 have applied for national-level licence.
As VNOAI has been established as a member driven, not for profit entity, the association will be overseen by a governing council comprising of core members from the VNO industry.
Virtual Network Operators (VNO), or telecom service resellers, are better placed to enable telecom service providers utilize network capacity and share active as well as passive infrastructure in the new $4 billion market opportunity, telecom secretary JS Deepak said.
A VNO can lease bandwidth from operators to sell voice and data services to customers, like a retailer, under its own brand name. VNOs are allowed to provide own billing plans.
VNOs are retailers of telecom services who buy bulk minutes from telecom operators and sell them under a different brand. VNOs don’t own any network. The government late Friday came out with guidelines for VNOs to set up shop in India.
Oxigen is in talks with state-run BSNL and other operators to start offering telecom services as a Virtual Network Operator (VNO) by the end of this year.
For obtaining UL VNO, interested companies will need to pay a one-time non-refundable entry fee for authorisation of each service they want to provide and for each service area where they wish to operate in, DoT said.
Videocon’s decision comes a day after the Modi government approved a new category of unified licence for VNOs, which gives smaller telcos more options to monetise unutilised spectrum, besides trading and sharing.
Having such a policy will open the doors of the sector to new players and offer more choices to consumers.
The Department of Telecom had sought Trai's recommendations for delinking of licences for networks from delivery of services by way of VNOs.


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Not content with designing a collection for PPQ due out this summer (Peaches), taking the modelling world by storm (Daisy) and frequently DJ-ing at the hippest parties in town (both of them) the dynamic duo will now have their own show on Fiver - the newly relaunched digital channel that used to be called Five Life.
The show 'The Best Dressed List 2008', will begin next month and in the five episodes Peaches and Daisy will take a look back at the celebrity fashion highs and lows of the last year - as well as interview stars who have made it to the best dress list.
We hope the new job will leave Daisy (who already commutes between London and New York for work) time to spend with her new boyfriend, apparently the 18-year old has just started secretly dating uber producer Marc Ronson. The couple are yet to confirm they are going out...watch this space.
By Laurelle Gilbert
Posted: 17 April 2008More


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Video: Bring more conviction to radio advertising - Shavon Barua
Creative agencies, clients and media agencies need to give more of a push when it comes to radio advertising, says the President (West & South India), Havas Worldwide & jury member of Golden Mikes 2014
Radio has always been a key part of any campaign, says Shavon Barura, President (West and South India), Havas Worldwide, before suggesting that creative agencies, clients and media agencies need to give more of a push when it comes to radio advertising.
As part of exchange4media’s Golden Mikes Awards 2014 jury, Barua shared her thoughts on the entries and the responsibility of the advertising ecosystem in making the best use of the medium.
The jury for the Golden Mikes 2014 is chaired by Bharat Patel, Former Chairman of P&G Hygiene and Health and Former Chairman of ISA. It includes Rajul Kulshreshtha, MD, Xposure; Amitabh Srivastava, Regional Head (South Asia), Association of International Broadcasters; Shavon Barua, President (West and South India), Havas Worldwide; Amit Tiwari, Director, Country Head (Media), Philips India; Monica Tata, MD, HBO India (South Asia); Pradeep Dwivedi, Chief Corporate Sales & Marketing Officer, Dainik Bhaskar Group; Rameet Arora, Senior Director (Marketing, Menu Management & Communications), Hardcastle Restaurants (McDonald’s West and South operations); Amit Ghatak, GM (Marketing), CavinKare; Gautam Kiyawat, CEO (Madison Media Group) at Madison Communications; Anisha Motwani, Director & Chief Marketing Officer, Max Life Insurance; Roshan Abbas, MD, Encompass Events; Mayank Shah, Assistant Marketing Manager, Parle Products; and Sandip Tarkas, President (Customer Strategy), Future Group and CEO (Future Media & T24).
The awards ceremony will be held at the ITC Grand Central on January 31, 2014.
To know more, watch the video below…
Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)For more updates, be socially connected with us on
Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Youtube


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BEIJING—China’s trade surplus with the United States widened to a record in August, even as the country’s export growth slowed slightly, an outcome that could push U.S. President Donald Trump to turn up the heat on Beijing in their trade dispute.
The politically sensitive surplus hit $31.05 billion in August, up from $28.09 billion in July, customs data revealed on Sept. 8, surpassing the previous record set in June.
Over the first eight months of the year, China’s surplus with its largest export market has risen nearly 15 percent, adding to tensions in the trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
China’s annual export growth in August moderated slightly to 9.8 percent, the data showed, the weakest rate since March.
The number missed analysts’ forecasts that shipments from the world’s largest exporter would rise 10.1 percent, slowing only slightly from 12.2 percent in July.
Even with U.S. tariffs targeting $50 billion of Chinese exports in effect for their first full month in August, China’s exports to the United States still accelerated, growing 13.2 percent from a year earlier from 11.2 percent in July.
“There is still an impact from front-loading of exports, but the main reason [for still-solid export growth] is strong growth in the U.S. economy,” said Zhang Yi, an economist at Zhonghai Shengrong Capital Management.
China’s imports from the United States grew only 2.7 percent in August, a slowdown from 11.1 percent in July.
But China’s economic outlook is being clouded by the rapidly escalating U.S. trade dispute and cooling domestic demand.
Trump upped the ante on Sept. 7, warning that he was ready to slap tariffs on nearly all Chinese imports to the United States. He threatened duties on another $267 billion of goods on top of $200 billion in imports primed for levies in coming days.
Washington has long criticized China’s huge trade surplus with the United States and has demanded Beijing reduce it. But disagreements between the two major economic powers run deeper than just the trade balance and tensions remain over limits on U.S. firms’ access to Chinese markets, intellectual property protection, technology transfers, and investment.
The surplus with the United States was larger than China’s net surplus for the month, indicating that China would be running a deficit if trade with the world’s largest economy was excluded.
Official and private manufacturing surveys for China show global demand for Chinese goods is clearly on the wane, with export orders shrinking for months in a row.
“Risks have increased due to the negative impacts of China–U.S. trade friction. The impact on exports may gradually start to show up, with future export growth possibly declining,” said Liu Xuezhi, an analyst with Bank of Communications.
By Elias Glenn, Lusha Zhang, & Xu Jing


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BMC: 2Q Earnings Snapshot
ATLANTA (AP) _ BMC Stock Holdings Inc. (BMCH) on Monday reported second-quarter net income of $40.4 million.
The Atlanta-based company said it had profit of 60 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 64 cents per share.
The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 46 cents per share.
The building materials company posted revenue of $998.5 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $978.9 million.
BMC shares have fallen 20 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has declined 8 percent in the last 12 months.


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SyncerSoft Bass Landscapes
SyncerSoft has announced the release of Bass Landscapes for Mac OS X in VST and AU plug-in formats.
Bass Landscapes is a bass boost plug-in designed to create new harmonics. With help of low-mid boost you can properly sit your bass or kick-drum in the mix, the company says.
Viewers of this article also read...
- Maag Audio EQ4 Plug-in The Plugin Alliance presents the Maag Audio EQ4 plugin.
- Arturia Oberheim SEM V 1.1 Arturia announces the release of the 1.1 update for the Oberheim SEM V, their software emulation of the Oberheim Synthesizer Expander Module.
- Soundiron Tuned Artillery Soundiron has released Tuned Artillery, a new metallic tuned percussion library for Kontakt.


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Officials consider plan for convention center hotel
Published 7:31 pm, Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A proposal to bring a new convention center hotel with at least 1,000 rooms to downtown is back on the drawing board.
Houston First, which runs the George R. Brown Convention Center, Hilton Americas-Houston and other city-owned buildings, has hired a consulting firm to help craft a formal request to developers who could assemble a team and deploy the financial resources to build the hotel. The developer would be responsible for buying land, designing, building and operating the property.
The hotel would be part of a larger mixed-use development that could include commercial, residential and retail space, all within walking distance of the convention center.
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Some of the project's details are outlined in a document that Houston First used to hire a consulting firm. Georgia-based Strategic Advisory Group was recently chosen as that firm.
The hotel would contain at least 120,000 square feet of meeting space and parking. The design would have to contain a skywalk or a tunnel that connects the hotel to the convention center.
While the developer would have sole responsibility for financing all aspects of the hotel project, Houston First would help it obtain hotel occupancy and sales tax rebates from the city and state, according to the document.
"We intend it to be a primarily private development," said Dawn Ullrich, president and CEO of Houston First, which would have final say on the design and development schedule of the hotel.
The project would be built on several parcels of land within 1,000 feet of the convention center.
Those parcels were not identified, but the hotel could be built on a parcel that mirrors the Hilton Americas, across Discovery Green park.
In 2008, city officials first began discussing a second convention center hotel on that site. The addition of some 1,000 new rooms, they said, would help the city attract larger conventions.
That year, the city put its 1,200-room Hilton Americas on the market, hoping that the sale of the property could pave the way for a new hotel to be built on the site across the park.
That plan, however, was ultimately derailed by the soon-to-follow economic crisis.
Despite the officials' enthusiasm to boost downtown meeting business, hotel consultant Bruce Walker is not convinced another large convention center hotel can be built in downtown Houston.
In downtown's 77002 ZIP code, he said, occupancy and room revenues are too low to justify such the development of such a large property.
And the cost to build a full-service hotel, which he estimates to be around $400,000 a room, is too high for the proposed project to be profitable.
"Those numbers don't even come close to working," he said.
In the year ending Sept. 30, hotel occupancy downtown was 61.7 percent, according to Walker, president of San Antonio-based Source Strategies, which did not bid on the consulting job.


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The transformation of Carphone Warehouse from retailer of mobile phones into one of Britain's biggest telecoms brands continues apace. No wonder the shares leapt so much yesterday, brushing aside news that the cost of this year's assault on the broadband market would be £20m more than forecast.
This faintly negative announcement was upstaged by news that Carphone has won the auction for AOL's internet access business in the UK, paying some £370m. This works out at around £186 per subscriber, which is relatively cheap compared with the price that AOL has sold its continental assets for. However, there is a good reason for that. Britain is a much more competitive market, which with local loop unbundling is going through a considerable upheaval.
All the same, this looks a pretty good deal for Carphone. The effect will be to transform the company from an also-ran in broadband access - albeit one which even before the AOL deal had big ambitions in this space - to the number three in the market behind NTL and BT. Such is the momentum that the company could easily find itself occupying the number-one slot within a couple of years.
The industrial logic of what Carphone's founder and chief executive, Charles Dunstone, is doing is one thing, yet amazingly the financials also seem to work to his advantage too, making this deal a rare coincidence of strategic ambition and profitable opportunity.
The synergies Carphone gets by crunching together AOL's broadband business with its own will add £10m toprofits this year and £30m-£40m the year after. The deal is thereby immediately and powerfully earnings enhancing. What's more, the best is yet to come.
As things stand, both Carphone and AOL are forced expensively to use BT Wholesale to service many of their customers - AOL exclusively so. By May next year, Carphone should have achieved its target of "unbundling" 1,000 BT exchanges. By using its own equipment, rather than BT's, Carphone significantly reduces its costs and increases the profit that can be made out of customers.
Notwithstanding yesterday's 8 per cent rise in the share price, markets may not yet fully have factored in the potential upside. To date, Carphone's Talk Talk has been largely just that. The amount of publicity it gets is out of all proportion to the size of the business. After the AOL deal, Mr Dunstone can at last credibly claim to be one of the most powerful telecom brands in the country.
Yesterday's deal is equally significant, perhaps more so, for what it says about AOL as the boost it gives to Carphone. Hard to believe with the benefit of hindsight, but AOL was valued at an astonishing $163.4bn when it was bought by Time Warner at the height of the dot.com boom in January 2000. Bought is perhaps the wrong word, for AOL shareholders ended up with 55 per cent of the combined media goliath.
Rarely if ever has there been such a massive giveaway of value, with the sturdy old media assets of Time Warner's market-leading magazines, TV channels, movie studios and cable operations folded into the candy floss of AOL, an internet access operation whose business model was even then already dying on its feet. Heady days, which should serve as a powerful warning to apostles of the second dot.com goldrush now being acted out.
Virtually the whole of AOL's internet access business has now been flogged off, and, compared to what was paid for it, pretty thin gruel did these disposals generate too. The deal with Carphone is one of the last bits of the original operation to go. Instead, AOL is trying to reinvent itself as an advertising-funded internet portal in the Google and Yahoo! mould.
This made the company more inclined to deal with Carphone than some of the others involved in the auction. Carphone doesn't compete on content, allowing AOL to continue to have access to the customer base after it has been sold off. BT has a similar arrangement with Yahoo! for one of its broadband offerings.
AOL has been careful to frame the disposal of its access businesses on the Continent in similar terms. Carphone was prepared to do the type of deal AOL wanted; rivals, notably Sky and Orange, wanted to use the subscriber base to market their own content. Indeed, this is a potentially quite big downside of the deal to Carphone. Undisclosed revenue-sharing arrangements on content have been signed with AOL, but the content opportunity of broadband has largely been left with the original owners. Long-term, this is something Mr Dunstone might regret.
Nor would the acquisition have worked for Sky in any case. For BSkyB, broadband is being pursued much more as a way of driving and defending Sky TV subscriptions than as a separate business in its own right. Broadband comes free with certain Sky packages, so buying AOL may have ended up costing revenues rather than adding to them. Rival bidders for the business may not have been as serious as they seemed. It's not clear there was any competition at all to Carphone by the end. As a result, Mr Dunstone could perhaps have got away with paying less. Still, on balance a good deal for Carphone.
Matalan: Hargreaves comes up with dosh
A happy ending, of sorts, to the travails of Matalan. The stock market doubted that John Hargreaves, the founder, would ever be able to come up with the promised 200p a share to take the company private, but at the eleventh hour, and with a little help from Icelandic backers, he eventually managed it. In such circumstances, we'll put the threat to cut the dividend if shareholders spurned him down to a rush of blood to the head. I'm sure he never really meant it.
Rising tax burdens: a global phenomenon
Warnings from the CBI and others that the UK's rising tax burden could transform the trickle of companies leaving the country into a flood look a trifle alarmist to judge by data published yesterday by the OECD. True enough, the tax burden has been rising, but it has also been rising almost everywhere else.
Figures collated by the OECD show that tax burdens as a proportion of GDP rose last year in 17 out of 24 countries. True enough, the increase in the UK - up 1.2 points to 37.2 per cent - was one of the biggest of the 17, but, perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't as big as the United States. Among serious competitors to the UK, only in Germany is the tax burden both lower and if anything falling. I'm not sure staff at HSBC, one of the loudest complainants on this issue, would relish being relocated to Frankfurt, but hey, if it's tax that counts, that's where HSBC ought to be heading.
The common factor is that the tax burden has been rising most strongly in countries which are also experiencing the greater rates of economic growth. This suggests that the main reason for at least the most recent rises in the tax burden is fiscal drag - the phenomenon by which the threshold for tax is not increased by as much as inflation in earnings and profits. The result is that ever more income is brought into the tax net.
In Britain, fiscal drag has in fact been responsible for a much greater proportion of the increase in the tax burden than the various stealth taxes much complained about by business. Much the same phenomenon has been behind the rising tax burden in the US.
In one sense, then, both economies are victims of their own success. None the less, the greater rate of increase occurring in the US scarcely begins to close the gulf that still separates the tax burden in these two economies. Our 37.2 per cent tax burden for last year compares with just 26.8 per cent for the United States.
Now you're talking. HSBC staff might not much fancy relocating to Frankfurt, but New York would be an altogether more alluring proposition. Then again, America does have Sarbanes-Oxley, together with a foreign and homeland security policy which would make many HSBC clients desert in droves. Perhaps best just to stay put.Reuse content


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Home Tags Boxing and Weightlifting
Tag: Boxing and Weightlifting
LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Legacy Launch Pad Publishing is releasing "Ketogenic Bodybuilding: A Natural Athlete's Guide to Competitive Savagery" (ISBN: 978-1956955071), the first book by Robert Sikes. The book is the result of Sikes' experiences as a professional bodybuilder and fitness coach.
TULSA, Okla., Aug. 11, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Judy Stetson, widow, teacher, bodybuilder, and contestant for Ms. Health and Fitness 2020 suits up in a bikini to ride the wave of pandemic changes throughout the Fall school season. The teacher battled memories of 911 emergency calls and widespread stress syndrome from the COVID crisis that took the life of her adult former student.
CHICAGO, Ill., Sept. 19, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- FOBA's Building Champions Benefit will showcase its programs within the historically sophisticated, and classically new vibe of Row Twenty Four. Celebrating its kick-off benefit in 2019, the Row Twenty Four event venue exudes the warmth of contemporary design and modern accents, blended with a rich history, makes you feel part of Chicago at the height of the 1920's.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 31, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- A new smartphone sports and fitness app, 1 Workout 4 Life, launched by Fitness Spark Plug, is designed to get people in shape and keep them in shape - not just for the short-term, but long-term too. This flagship program is free to download on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Evolve Physical Therapy proudly partners with Rock Steady Boxing to help knock out Parkinson’s disease throughout NYC
BROOKLYN, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2018 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Evolve Physical Therapy proudly partners with Rock Steady Boxing to help knock out Parkinson's disease throughout NYC, offers new exercise program specifically aimed at improving the quality of life for people living with Parkinson's Disease, garners NBC Nightly News attention.
ASHLAND, Ohio, March 13, 2018 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Hedstrom Fitness is pleased to announce the launch of their newest product in the Hydro-Interia(R) Training line, the Surge(R) Riptide. This specialized training tool utilizes water to create an unstable and unpredictable resistance, allowing the muscles to be challenged no matter what the exercise.
LOS ANGELES, Calif., Dec. 12, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- On January 3-5, 2018, MostFit will come together with strength and conditioning coaches from across the nation at the NSCA Coaches Conference in Charlotte, N.C.. Founder Andrew Gavigan and his team of trainers will be demonstrating exercises and movements with the Core Hammer and SYN Rings focused on increasing performance and movement among athletes
MostFit will Feature Product Demos, Discounts and More at the 2017 IDEA World Convention in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, Nev., July 7, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- On July 20 - 23, MostFit will join more than 330 fitness brands and 10,000 fitness professionals in Las Vegas for four days of cutting edge education and networking at the biggest fitness industry event of the year.
LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 14, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- On March 9 and 10, 2017, MostFit will join more than 350 fitness equipment and technology exhibitors from around the world to network and meet with thousands of health club operators at the IHRSA Annual International Trade Show and Convention in Los Angeles.


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Lightweight and sustainable: efficientproduction of thermoplastic composite parts Schwertberg/Austria – March 2022 JEC World 2022 from 3 to 5 May in Paris, France, showcases the entire value chain of the composites industry.
Intelligent solutions for enhanced quality and process stability Schwertberg/Austria – February 2022 Precision, flexibility, efficiency – combine these success factors takes more than just reliable machines. Having a competitive edge relies on worry-free cooperation between the injection moulding machine and the process technology, automation and digitalisation. ENGEL, the injection moulding machine manufacturer and system solution […]
In particular, innovative solutions for more sustainability in injection moulding and further digitalisation of production processes met with great interest. The two topics are closely linked. “Digitalisation is an important precursor to the circular economy”, said Steger. “Smart assistance systems and interconnected systems help us to leverage the full potential of injection moulding machines, for […]
At Fakuma 2021, ENGEL demonstrated what the “circular economy” in the plastics industry can look like – By processing label offcuts from the in-mould labelling process. This is turned into a form of regranulate. An ENGEL victory 460/80 injection moulding machine was used to produce tapered closures in an 8-cavity mould.
Schwertberg, Austria – November 2021
Schwertberg, Austria – September 2021 The state of Upper Austria has recognised ENGEL AUSTRIA’s commitment to building up a circular economy for plastics with the Upper Austrian Environmental Award 2021. Awards were given for a total of five sustainable climate ideas, including the skinmelt technology developed by ENGEL for processing recycled plastic waste.
The ENGEL customer magazine “Injection” combines news from the ENGEL world, updates from our subsidiaries, tech articles on the latest product developments and success stories from customers.
Customized automation at all levels: We design and supply complete production systems from a single source.
Circular Economy Green is more than the colour of an ENGEL injection moulding machine. The Circular Economy = Sustainability for tangible forward-looking solutions:
Compact manufacturing cells, precise processing and intelligent control units: ENGEL AUSTRIA, the injection moulding machine manufacturer and system solution provider, is set to pull out the efficiency stops with a medical application for TaipeiPlas 2018, which takes place in Taipei, Taiwan, from August 15th to 19th 2018.


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Vashi Electricals' ever-increasing customer base is a testimonial to their commitment towards the customer and demand for their products.
In India, the size of the cable manufacturing industry is approximately Rs 40,000 crore. The government has earmarked Rs 50,000 crore (US$ 7.53 billion) to develop 100 smart cities across the country. Highway projects worth $93 billion, which include government flagship National Highways Building Project (NHDP) with a total investment of $45 billion over the next three years, have also been announced. The Digital India campaign will require an investment of Rs 450,000 crore.
The Ministry of Power is also looking at an investment of Rs 15,000 lakh crore over the next five years. 'We expect the industry's growth, which is currently at the rate of around 15 per cent, to grow at a CAGR of over 20 per cent over the next five years,' says Vijay Ahuja, Vice President-Sales, Vashi Electricals. He shares more on the industry and the company's offerings.
Power Cables led the revenues from the wires and cables market with more than 60 per cent contribution to the total market in fiscal year 2016. Growth in the wires and cables market can also be attributed to the introduction of latest technologies by manufacturers in India and swift expansion of the automated and innovative cost reducing manufacturing technologies, which have significantly improved the through output of wires and cables products. The wires and cables market in India and abroad is highly fragmented, with the presence of a number of small and medium enterprises. The organised sector manufactures high voltage durable cables, whereas the unorganised sector mainly captures the low voltage market, where products are mainly separated on the basis of price. The intensifying competition in the industry is expected to put increasing pressures on all players to maintain their market shares. Additionally, the low level of exports has also hampered the growth of this industry in India.
Vashi Electricals represent four major brands of wires and cables:
Polycab: Wires and cables
Finolex: Wires and cables
RR KABLE: Instrumentation cables
Universal: EPR and CSP cables.
The year 2017 is critical due to various factors such as the implementation of GST and demonetisation. Moreover, the growth opportunities are also tremendous. Vashi Electricals's ever-increasing customer base is a testimonial to their commitment towards the customer and demand for their products. The company now has more than 15,000 customers pan-India.
Innovation in providing world-class service is the key to the company's success. They make sure that the segments they are operate in get customised service in lines with the current requirement. Vashi Electricals support customers making sure their project is technically and commercially viable. Also, their express delivery ensures that a project is never delayed due to cable supply. The testament of the company's commitment to its customers is that more than 60 per cent of the customers are still associated with Vashi Electricals since the last 35 years.
(Communication by the management of the company)


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After the driver of a Tesla Model X died in a fiery crash on a Bay Area freeway last week, federal and local authorities are investigating what happened.
The crash on Highway 101 near Mountain View, California, last Friday looked gruesome with the front half of the electric SUV destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesperson Christopher O'Neil said in a phone call Thursday that the federal agency was investigating the crash, mostly looking into the fire after the crash and how the vehicle was transported and removed from the scene.
He said the NTSB would be "interested" in knowing if Tesla's autopilot mode was in use leading up to the crash, but its field investigation didn't have any updated information on whether that was the case.
Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new window)
Tesla said this week it was still working(Opens in a new window) on retrieving the vehicle's logs from an internal computer. Severe damage has made it difficult to review what happened in the car and on the road before the fatal accident.
But Tesla, in a post about the accident(Opens in a new window), defended its autopilot feature(Opens in a new window) even though the semi-autonomous driving mode hasn't been confirmed as a factor in the crash. Based on user data, Tesla drivers on the same part of the highway where the crashed occurred have used autopilot mode about 85,000 times since 2015 -- that's 20,000 times since the beginning of this year. Tesla said it doesn't know about any accidents.
Tesla also explained that the investigation is more focused on the highway road barrier. "The reason this crash was so severe is that the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had either been removed or crushed in a prior accident without being replaced," the electric car company wrote.
A fatal Tesla crash investigation in Florida in 2016 cited an "over-reliance(Opens in a new window)" on Tesla's automated feature. A driver in another Tesla crash in Los Angeles earlier this year was also in autopilot mode.


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Saturday, October 27th, 2012 at 8:56 am in Moraga.
In the most recent edition of the American Farmland Trust’s national contest, Moraga’s Farmers’ Market was named the tenth best farmers’ market in the country in the mid-size market category. The Moraga Farmers’ Market was also ranked as the second best market in the state of California of any size.
Patrons and organizers of the Moraga Farmers’ Market celebrated the honor with a few giant cakes at one of the recent markets. The Moraga Farmers’ Market has been happening on Sundays in the Moraga Center Shopping Center since 2004.


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Keep up with all the latest news and progress updates from Bay of Connections.
You can also sign up below to receive an email notification when updates are released.
Geothermal an important part of business sustainability
Tapping into geothermal energy while providing a unique customer experience in a sustainable fashion has Sequal finding a niche in the sawn lumber export market.
The Kawerau-based company source their wood from sustainable forests, and head of sales and marketing Rhys Arrowsmith says knowing the wood is dried in an environmentally friendly manner using direct use geothermal “just completes the picture for customers”.
“One of our philosophies is ‘give more’ – it is about giving more in our partnerships than we take and giving back to our customers. Our vision is of a world class wood processing business that continually strives for excellence, maintained by creating real value for our customers, staff and the community, whilst enhancing the position for our shareholders.”
About 20 per cent of Sequal’s product remains in New Zealand – the rest is exported to 17 different countries. Mr Arrowsmith says they began exporting to Korea and have now spread throughout the world.
Over the past decade the company has experienced significant growth. Mr Arrowsmith says recently the business has grown so fast it is now trying to rein it in a little. He says part of the success is down to doing things differently. While many businesses cut up to about 40 different finished sizes, Sequal cuts lumber to about 400 different sizes set to meet our customers specification.
With about 70 staff, Mr Arrowsmith says it is important to remain competitive in a heavily automated industry, something custom cutting and reducing wastage helps with.
“For some clients the custom cutting is the key, others place a significant importance on the sustainability and environmental elements. A requirement of IKEA for instance, is that the wood needs to be 100 per cent FSC.” Mr Arrowsmith says. Many Asian countries are also developing strong positions around sustainability in forest and timber processing operations.
“Geothermal completes that nicely.”
While Mr Arrowsmith admits the geothermal aspect can be difficult to explain to overseas markets, he believes it makes a difference that will only grow. “As consumers demand more sustainable products, it is a unique selling point.”
Without the geothermal, and the company’s strong relationship with geothermal supplier Ngati Tuwharetoa Geothermal Assets, Mr Arrowsmith says the options would be as a green mill not drying product, or having to use waste residue or fossil fuels for the energy supply for kiln drying.
“While the geothermal came later for our business it was always on the horizon and has natural synergy with our ethos. It has proven to be a great enabler. We are very lucky to have the geothermal asset on our doorstep here at Kawerau.”
According to Bay of Connections geothermal business development lead, Andy Blair, the Kawerau operation is a great example of the benefits of direct use geothermal.
Ms Blair was appointed to the role late last year, with the aim of connecting those with resource to those who can benefit, creating jobs in the process.
Ms Blair’s role has the ambitious target of creating 500 jobs attributed to direct-use geothermal projects by 2025, removing barriers and speeding up investment in the geothermal industry. A Bay of Connections initative, it is funded by Bay of Connections, Industry partners and the Government.
“The direct use happening in Kawerau by businesses such as Sequal show what can be done. We would like to see more business parks created around geothermal, as it suits a wide range of industries such as timber drying, aquaculture, tourism, horticulture and milk drying.”
Wednesday, September 19, 2018


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With the US tightening the guidelines that regulate on the web gaming operators and services suppliers are wanting at more recent locations which are far more favorable to on-line gaming. On line poker and sports activities betting is finding acceptance in countries these as Argentina and other Latin American countries like Venezuela, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. The one largest rationale why these countries are opening their doors to the on line gaming sector is the profits that it can generate for the Governments. Gaming operators can start their functions in these new places as easing rules will decrease the time that it requires to get approvals from the companies.
Before choosing on a place gaming operators want to do a extensive thanks diligence of the gaming field in that nation. However numerous international locations could have opened their doors to the notion, the infrastructure may possibly not be fantastic ample to start functions. A turnkey casino service service provider can enable with the due diligence and even more products and services required to start an on the internet casino operation. They supply enable to attain gaming licenses, get the regulatory approvals, offshore banking, deposit processors, technical assistance workers, Business office devices and more. The time needed to launch an operation is significantly lowered if a professional assistance company is engaged.
After the US tightened its rules on on the web gaming, operators have been searching for more recent destinations. The LATAM sector opening up to the strategy was a welcome reduction for gaming operators and services companies. Aside from LATAM, nations in Asia are also welcoming online gaming in a large way. Nations around the world like Thailand, Philippines and Hong Kong were being by now encouraging on the internet gaming but in modern time additional conservative societies like India has also opened to the notion. India has not long ago acquired its 1st floating casino in the waters of it very hot tourism vacation spot, Goa. The situation is pretty equivalent in lots of other international locations across Asia.
It is critical for operators to assure that gamers do not facial area any hurdles whilst depositing their funds into the gaming rooms. An outstanding person encounter will assist an on line gaming place to entice extra players promptly and enable to convey in gains. If a participant can make a deposit only utilizing an International debit card then that results in being a constraint.
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All these good reasons and more make internet business people apprehensive of launching an on the internet poker, on line casino or a athletics betting portal. The Governing administration of any state costs a license price for allowing gaming operators function in their nation. In some international locations the rates are very substantial. A place like Antigua expenses as significantly as $a hundred,000 for a a person year license to continue to keep an on the web gaming portal likely. There are other nations which cost a lesser license fee. There are distinct licensing options that turnkey assistance providers can provide to operators. The proper location, productive back-stop functions and a complete fledged advertising technique can assist to set the cash registers ringing within a limited time.


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Velveeta cheese sold in Walmart stores mostly in the Midwest has been recalled by Kraft Foods, Inc. According to the company, the cheese does not have enough sorbic acid (a natural preservative) and could spoil before the expiration date.
The chance for consumers to get food poisoning prompted the company to issue the recall. No one has reported illness yet.
Affected Velveeta carries the product number #021000611614, and was sold in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The packages have the date stamp “17 DEC 2014” with a timeframe from 10:54 to 14:35.
Consumers are urged not to eat the affected Velveeta, and to return it to the store it was purchased from for a refund or exchange. For further information Kraft Foods Consumer Relations can be contacted at 1-800-816-9432 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET.


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Tax holidays can be a welcome allowance for some large multinational U.S.-based companies that store large amounts of cash overseas. Those companies tend to keep some of their cash offshore because they would have to pay a 35 percent tax on that money to bring it into the U.S.
But in 2004, companies got a break from this 35 percent tax. And now many of them are asking for another.
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 allowed companies to funnel their cash back into the U.S. but at a much smaller tax rate—only 5 percent. The purpose of the Act that gave companies this so-called tax holiday is right there in its name—to create jobs.
There was a catch, of course. Companies that took advantage of this tax holiday couldn’t just spend this cash as they pleased. They had to use it specifically on research and development, capital expenditures and pension funding. The law mandated that companies were prohibited from using it for shareholder dividends and share repurchases.
But according to a recent New York Times’ Dealbook post, tax policy experts aren’t so keen on tax holidays—at least, they have their concerns. Some have raised the question that while the stipulations under the 2004 Act are well-intentioned, there’s nothing to stop a company from allocating the funds it brings back into the country toward those purposes even if it would have allocated funds toward those purposes anyway—freeing up legitimate on-shore cash to use toward dividends and stock buybacks.
“If companies merely reshuffle the use of cash without changing behavior, then the tax holiday amounts to a windfall to shareholders, not an effective economic stimulus,” author Victor Fleischer, a University of San Diego law professor, said in his post.
A paper recently published by Northwestern University School of Law Professor Thomas J. Brennan about how companies used the cash they repatriated in 2004, he notes that for the 20 companies that brought back the most cash, they spent 78 cents of every dollar on permissible uses, and just 22 cents on impermissible shareholder payouts.
Brennan expanded that analysis to 341 companies outside the top 20and found that they spent about 40 cents of every dollar on impermissible shareholder payouts, still much lower than an earlier report that estimated 60 cents to 92 cents of every repatriated dollar from 2004 was spent on shareholder payouts.
According to Fleischer, the Brennan study is important because it explains how companies responded to the 2004 tax holiday, however, “it hardly endorses tax holidays as an instrument of international tax policy.”
And he points out further that there is no evidence the 2004 tax holiday created any jobs.


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Dubai gears up for Fashion Fiesta
Dubai, July 20, 2010
The fourth edition of Dubai Fashion Fiesta 2010, an official event and a highlight of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) 2010, will open on July 22.
The event will run until July 24 with a display of collections by established and emerging designers and fashion labels at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
It will see 30 models take the ramp and unveil the latest fashion trends by Amato Couture, Panache Women and Archana Kochhar, among others, including designers from Nigeria Fashion Week.
“Dubai Fashion Fiesta is not just a fashion event but an exclusive gathering that attracts renowned designers, buyers, and fashion enthusiasts from across the Middle East,” said Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (Depe), organisers of DSS, in a statement.
“By including high-profile fashion events such as Dubai Fashion Fiesta in the DSS itinerary, we are contributing to the overall aim of promoting Dubai as a global fashion capital.”
Offering contemporary and classical designs, the designers are set to enthrall the style aficionados with elegant, exclusive ensembles, a statement said.
The event seeks to be one of the region’s most exclusive trade shows in the women’s market, bringing together leading retailers, high profile audiences and international media.
Launched to bring together designers, buyers, and fashion enthusiasts, Dubai Fashion Fiesta or DFF is slated to attract wide media attention due to the inclusion of high profile participants.
The larger aim of the fashion extravaganza is to contribute in promoting Dubai as the fashion hub in the region. – TradeArabia News Service


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Black Ops shipped 20+ million, Cataclysm 6+ million - Analyst
Janco's Mike Hickey lays out estimates for Activision Blizzard earnings, predicts Diablo III, next Starcraft II, Modern Warfare 3 due in 2011.
Activision Blizzard doesn't announce its October-December quarterly earnings until Wednesday, February 9. However, that hasn't stopped the professional prognosticators known as financial analysts from laying out their predictions for the company's holiday quarter. In his latest note to investors, Janco Partners' Mike Hickey predicted net revenues of $2.468 billion for the fourth calendar quarter of 2010, when not adhering to generally accepted accounting principles.
A big reason for the mammoth figure was Call of Duty: Black Ops, which Hickey believes shipped 20.6 million units during the quarter, generating $1.025 billion in sell-in to retailers. Activision confirmed the game had minted as much coin back in December of last year. By comparison, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 didn't sell through 20 million until June 2010, nearly eight months after its release.
Another factor was sales of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which the analyst predicts shipped over 6 million copies for $189 million in sales to stores. Two weeks ago, developer-publisher Blizzard confirmed the game had sold through 4.7 million units in its first month on the market following its December 7 release.
For the full year, Hickey believes Activision Blizzard had $4.722 billion in revenue, down slightly from the $4.775 billion for the year prior. For the fiscal year 2011, he predicts revenue of $4.612 billion. He expects Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3--which is reportedly being codeveloped by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, and Raven Software--to be released during the year but sell less than Black Ops.
Hickey also predicts Diablo III to arrive this year, as well as the first Starcraft II expansion, Heart of the Swarm. A reportedly leaked Blizzard schedule had the latter not arriving until early 2012.