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Plain packaging in Singapore starting tomorrow. Cigar smokers in Singapore will see plain packaged cigars when they visit their favorite tobacconists tomorrow. From tomorrow, all tobacco products, including pipe tobacco and cigars have to be compliant with the new Singaporean legislation.
The new rules
Singapore is the next country to follow the plain packaging movement started by Australia on December 1st, 2012. It didn’t help much, on the contrary. For years, Australia had seen a decline in the number of smokers, which stopped right after the introduction of plain packaging. Counterfeiting and smuggling rose to a level that forced the Australian government to form a tobacco task force. Even with that knowledge, a handful of countries are following Australia and that number is growing. Singapore is the last eat addition.
But Singapore takes it a step further. Australian cigar smokers are allowed to order cigars for personal consumption from abroad. Taxes have to be paid, yet no plain packaging is required for those orders. Singapore is not making exemptions for personal consumption. From tomorrow, every single tobacco product, including cigars, has to be plain packaged. This effectively means that ordering cigars from overseas is impossible. There is no vendor in the world that will plain package the cigars before shipping. And even if they are willing to do so, it’s close to impossible to get the Singaporean warning labels. Those labels have prints in four different languages. One webshop which is popular amongst Singaporean cigar aficionados announced they won’t ship to Singapore anymore.
One importer, who’s also a tobacconist, said that he will display the cigars without boxes. The cigars will be repacked, with an olive green label over the original ring. But it’s not worth the trouble to adjust the boxes. Since the prices of cigars in Singapore are sky-high, most transactions are in loose cigars anyway. Tobacco tax in Singapore is almost €275/$310 USD per kilo before sales tax. Add in the cost of the high rental, and other costs to run a retail shop, and it’s clear that smoking cigars in Singapore is an expensive hobby.
Another retailer shared his views and said that he expects prices to come down. Not to the level of self-import via online sources, but nonetheless. If all cigars have to be bought within Singapore, the volume of sales goes up. The costs of running a business and retail shop will be spread over more cigars. And that will bring the cost per cigar down.
Davidoff of Geneva didn’t wait for the new rules. The Swiss brand closed down its retail operations earlier this month. The Davidoff shop was located in the ION Orchard mall in the Orchard area of Singapore. According to Forbes, the ION Orchard mall is one of the most prestigious malls in Southeast Asia.
In that light, the strict new legislation will create a more level playing field for importers and tobacconists in Singapore. But the cigar lovers are the victims. Singapore is a small market, only a limited number of cigar brands have a presence. The more adventurous cigar Singaporean cigar smoker can’t try the new blends and brands anymore. Unless a local distributor can be found.


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September beef export totals were well below year-ago levels, though the value of beef exports through the third quarter of 2012 remains ahead of last year’s record-setting pace.
“We are definitely in a challenging economic environment, which is making it difficult to match last year’s export volumes,” said Philip Seng, US Meat Export Federation president and CEO. “But our products continue to command an excellent price in the international markets and provide substantial returns to U.S. producers, which is critically important at a time when they face extremely high production costs.”
With fewer production days this year, September beef production declined 9 percent and exports fell 17 percent in volume to 90,538 metric tons. September export value dropped 4 percent to $442.8 million but was significantly higher on a per-head-of-fed-slaughter basis — increasing 7 percent to $227.65.
Despite January-September beef export volume being down 12 percent to 850,439 metric tons, export value totaled $4.1 billion. That was 2 percent above last year’s record pace and already exceeded the 2010 full calendar year total of $4.08 billion. Exports equated to 9.8 percent of muscle-cut production and 12.7 percent when including both muscle cuts and variety meat, compared to last year’s ratios of 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Export value averaged $213.63 per head of fed slaughter, up about 6 percent compared to the same period in 2011.
September beef exports to Japan were just 2 percent higher than last year in volume (12,487 metric tons) but surged nearly 25 percent in value to $86.6 million. This was consistent with the January-September performance in which exports were steady in volume (121,207 metric tons) but 23 percent higher in value ($806.1 million).
Japan now ranks second in export value to Canada, where January-September exports were down 13 percent in volume (125,625 metric tons) but still achieved a 5 percent increase in value ($829.7 million).
Mexico remains the leading volume market for U.S. beef, but exports to Mexico have struggled in 2012 — reflecting a weak peso and sluggish economy. Through September, exports to Mexico were 21 percent lower than a year ago in volume (151,767 metric tons) and 12 percent lower in value ($642.6 million).
With an expanded tariff-rate quota helping boost demand, beef exports to Russia are on pace for another record year. January-September exports were up 8 percent in volume (61,923 metric tons) and 24 percent in value ($242 million).

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BENTONVILLE, Ark. Committed to helping Americans save on out-of-pocket healthcare costs, Walmart announced Thursday it has sharply reduced what customers pay for both contact lenses and youth eyewear.
In an effort to further drive down health care costs, Walmart and 1-800 CONTACTS are working together to help more Americans save as much as 12% to 50% on the costs of a yearly supply of contact lenses.
Walmart's program with 1-800 CONTACTS offers the convenience of high quality care provided by some of the nation's finest independent eye doctors, combined with customer support offered by 1-800 CONTACTS' 24-hour online and telephone customer service representatives to all Walmart customers. Walmart and 1-800 CONTACTS estimate that customers have already saved more than $25 million since the program began rolling nationwide in January 2010.
"At a time when every penny counts, contact lens wearers want to save money and get brand name contact lenses conveniently," said Jonathan Coon, CEO 1-800 CONTACTS. "We are proud to be working with Walmart. Together, we have eliminated the hassle of mail-in rebates and replaced them with instant savings at the register. Our alliance improves access and lowers costs - enabling contact lens wearers to replace their lenses more frequently and live healthier lives."
To help families during tough economic times, Walmart has also lowered prices on quality eyewear for children 18 years old and younger. Year-round, parents and caregivers will find youth frames and lenses for as low as $39. Walmart will also provide a one year guaranteed free replacement if the glasses are damaged.
Walmart Vision Center customers will find 18 different youth frame styles and colors for only $10. Additionally, customers have three youth lens options, ranging from $29 to $79.


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“ This price reduction provides a certain amount of relief on brewers’ costs… but a beer retail price cut is not to be expected.”
– German beverage industry analyst Reiner Klinz
Europe’s big barley crop has caused a sharp fall in prices for brewing malt, but while breweries may benefit, beer drinkers will have little to cheer, analysts said Oct. 29.
The European Union harvest of spring barley – used to make malt – shot up by two million tonnes this summer after poor weather cut the 2007 crop.
Malting barley prices have tumbled, cutting costs for beer makers. In Germany, malting barley is currently quoted around 160 euros (C$253) a tonne compared to around 300 euros before this summer’s harvest.
“This price reduction provides a certain amount of relief on brewers’ costs and could be positive for earnings but a beer retail price cut is not to be expected,” said Reiner Klinz, a German beverage industry specialist at consultants KPMG.
Brewers have faced price rises of raw materials, energy, glass and logistics which could not be passed on to consumers in recent times, he said, and the commodity price reduction will reduce the pressure on the sector.
Brewing giant SABMiller in October warned of an uncertain year ahead despite the group raising prices to offset higher commodity and other input costs.
Although prices for barley, aluminum and glass had fallen, due to the company’s forward hedging policy, it would not see a big impact in the current year to March 2009, it said.
Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, spokesman for the German beer brewers’ association, said producers had been hit by a huge rise in costs. “Unfortunately, a fall in retail prices is not likely.”
But better times are coming for Europe’s beer industry after this year’s larger barley crop, with higher quality and cheaper malting barley supplies likely in coming months, traders said.
The 2007 crop was cut by poor weather, raising prices and forcing brewers in some countries to accept lower-quality malt made from feed-quality barley.
Malting barley prices in France have fallen sharply since summer under pressure from a record barley crop.
“There is the weight of this crop which has tended towards a surplus in malting barley,” a French agribusiness analyst said.
Malting barley prices in France have dropped by about 45 per cent from 246 euros a tonne in mid-July to 136 euros.
Prices have been depressed partly by this year’s record French barley crop of 12 million tonnes, up 27 per cent on 2007 including a 31 per cent jump in spring barley, used for malting.
But French malting companies and brewers may be reluctant to lower their prices after absorbing higher input costs last year.
Gerard Laloi, president of the association of French brewers, said French producers were only able to pass on a quarter of higher malt costs to retail customers last year, when malt’s contribution to the total cost price of beer doubled from seven per cent to 14 per cent.
Britain’s Farm Ministry estimates U. K. barley production rose 23 per cent this year. “Initial industry results show… that the quality of the barley crop has been generally excellent, with plenty of quality malting grains available,” the ministry said.
The outlook in Germany is also good and the association of German malt producers estimates this year’s German spring barley crop at 1.5 million tonnes, up from 1.1 million tonnes in 2007.
“The malt market is now returning to normal levels after the tightness following the poor crop in 2007,” said association president Michael Lerch. “Overall we are satisfied with the harvest and the picture is looking considerably better…”
He estimated German brewers buy between 20 and 50 per cent of malt on long-term contracts, so substantial numbers would not be able to benefit from the current price fall.
In Spain, the picture is positive, with a malting barley crop this year of about 750,000 tonnes, more than enough to cover domestic demand of about 650,000, the Farm Ministry said.
“We have a small surplus, but I doubt we will be exporting this year as quality is good in northern Europe, so there has been nothing to arrest the fall in malting barley along with other grains,” a Spanish trader said.
– Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz and Valerie Parent in Paris, Nigel Hunt in London and Martin Roberts in Madrid


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Toyota to ramp up pickup production at Mexican plant
Toyota Motor is likely to ramp up production to 100,000 vehicles at its Guanajuato, Mexico facility by 2021, subsequent to a shift of production of mid-size Tacoma pickup from the US to Mexico, according to the local media.
The annual Mexican production of trucks will be at 266,000 when in full operation.
Toyota has invested $700mn in Mexican plant and commenced operations last December.
Kia’s $1.1bn plant will stay put in AP
Kia Motors and Andhra Pradesh (AP) government have both denied the news of Kia motors planning to shift its manufacturing unit out of the state as per reported by a global news agency on Feb 6. Kia also said that the reports of shifting its plant were unfounded and untrue and asserted that they will stay put in Andhra Pradesh where the plant is performing well.
The Andhra plant in Anantapur commenced Dec 2019. The plant has an annual capacity of 300,000 units.
New tube line for Sandvik’s Indian steel mill
Sweden-based Sandvik added a new cold finishing tube line at its Mehsana mill located in Gujarat, inaugurated on Jan 30.
With the addition of new tube line, company aims to double the cold-working capacity, improve its high-quality seamless stainless tube availability and flexibility for introducing new grades and strengthen regional service and enable become an all-inclusive store with rapid delivery across the Asia Pacific region.


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Snap announced on Tuesday that advertisers can now buy multiple ad format types within a single ad set or ad group with the same budget allocations, bid type, targeting and schedule.
Previously, a Snap ad set could only contain one format type within a single ad set.
With the multi-format delivery, which has been tested for the past few months, the company will optimize delivery based on the most effective placement for each ad within an ad group tied to a specific campaign goal.
According to AdExchanger, for starters, the multi-format delivery will include all Snap’s video formats, including Snap Ads, Collection Ads, Story Ads, and First Commercial ads. Snap plans to introduce self-service augmented reality formats for multi-format delivery by the 2nd quarter of 2022.
“Easily the biggest trend I see today is that everyone is looking for measurable results,” said Peter Naylor, Snap VP of sales for the Americas. “That’s in the zeitgeist and so it makes sense for us to go this way.”
“When we allow machine learning to do its thing, we’re opening the aperture of possible inventory where an ad can run. It might be somewhere a brand hadn’t even conceived of before,” Naylor added.
A Snap Inc investor sued the social media company last Thursday, alleging that it downplayed how Apple’s ATT threatened its ad revenue.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court comes three weeks after Snap shares fell 25% on news that Apple’s privacy changes had hurt Snap’s ability to target and measure digital advertising.
The Santa Monica, California-based social media company said revenue was $1.07 billion, up 57% for the three months ending Sept. 30, slightly below analysts’ expectations and its own guidance.


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Shares of video-streaming leader Netflix (NFLX -0.04%) have been trending lower ever since it reported its first U.S. subscriber loss in nearly a decade as investor fears around competition continue to mount. Disney is preparing to launch a discounted bundle that will include Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu for $12.99 per month -- the exact same price as Netflix's most popular plan. There is no shortage of other competing services in the pipeline, either.
Here's one bullish signal that should give investors a little bit more confidence in Netflix.
The best kind of insider buy
Last week, Netflix director and Microsoft exec Brad Smith scooped up roughly 6,500 shares of Netflix, according to a Form 4 filing on Friday. The total cost of the transaction was a hair over $2 million. The trades were made as part of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which allows corporate insiders to buy and sell securities without violating insider trading laws.
Importantly, this is the first open market purchase by an insider in seven years. It was not related to any options exercise or other type of equity grant, although Smith does hold plenty of options. Netflix's corporate bylaws do not require directors to hold any position in the company, either. Smith joined Netflix's board back in March 2015, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings had previously served on Microsoft's board of directors until stepping down in 2012.
Open market purchases are widely considered the most meaningful of insider transactions, since the insider is voluntarily opening their wallet to invest more in the company as opposed to receiving equity-based compensation. In no uncertain terms, Smith's purchase is a vote of confidence in Netflix's ability to wage the streaming wars in the years ahead.
However, Smith's $2 million investment is relatively small in the grand scheme of his net worth. The Microsoft general counsel sold $25 million worth of Microsoft shares earlier this year and took home nearly $12.6 million in total compensation (mostly stock) last fiscal year alone, according to regulatory filings.
Still, investors that may be rattled by recent volatility might find comfort knowing that a director chose to make a meaningful personal investment at a time when Netflix faces considerable uncertainty as competition intensifies. The company is becoming increasingly cost-conscious following a series of expensive high-profile flops like Triple Frontier, which starred Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac.
The cost of content is going up
That newfound frugality may weigh on Netflix's original content portfolio. For example, Bojack Horseman production designer Lisa Hanawalt recently attributed the cancellation of Tuca & Bertie, one of her other projects, to Netflix's algorithm.
None of this makes a difference to an algorithm, but it's important to me and the way I want to continue making art in this world. 🐦🐤🐍🐢🐧🐵❤🤠— Lisa Hanawalt (@lisadraws) July 24, 2019
Original content is king in 2019, and the price of that content is going up as companies large and small bid up TV shows and movies for their own subscription services.


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April 6, 2018
Kanye West and Eric Liedtke, chief marketing officer, Adidas
Kanye West and Adidas have joined forces to launch Adidas + Kanye West, a Yeezy-branded entity that will create footwear, apparel and accessories for all genders.
The partnership builds on West’s previous collaboration with adidas Originals for footwear.
The Adidas + Kanye West collections will introduce performance designs and options for both sportswear and streetwear and could soon include retail stores that will serve as hubs for additional Yeezy products.
“Kanye is a true creator who has the ability to see things others don’t. We are excited and honored to build on this partnership, and eagerly look forward to defining the future together,” says Eric Liedtke, chief marketing officer, Adidas. “With Adidas + Kanye West we are exploring new territories by opening up the sports world to Kanye’s creativity. This is what Adidas has always been about, empowering creators to create the new.”
In collaboration with West, a dedicated Adidas team will lead the development and creation of all Yeezy productions.
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FTSE 100 higher as Royal Mail shares rise
(Close): Shares in London closed higher, helped by well-received results from Royal Mail and Johnson Matthey.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day up 50.96 points, or 0.8%, at 6,329.93.
Royal Mail rose 5% to 476.70p after its fall in half-year underlying operating profits was less than expected, and it said costs were set to fall.
Johnson Matthey shares jumped 9.7% after its said it would pay out £305m in a special dividend to shareholders.
UK shares were boosted by a strong session in the US on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated that the US economy was strengthening.
The comments, in the minutes from the Fed's October meeting, backed the view that US rates will rise in December.
In the FTSE 250, shares in Poundland dived 19.2% after the budget retailer reported a fall in half-year sales and profits, and added that trading in the third quarter had been "highly volatile".


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Image: Amit Verma Deepanjali Dalmia | 26
Founder, Heyday Care
Before she spontaneously decided to quit her job, Deepanjali Dalmia was living the quintessential Indian dream with a high-paying job as a financial consultant at Ernst & Young in Manhattan. “I realised there was a fire in me that needed to be channeled in the right direction,” she says, explaining her turn to entrepreneurship.
Dalmia returned to India in 2015 and spent three months researching on her area of work, before finalising on personal hygiene. She learnt that nearly 87 percent of women in India do not use sanitary pads, and even among those who do, many do not have any idea about its constituents. “They are synthetic and plastic, which causes cervical cancer,” she says.
Dalmia then put together a team that developed a prototype of a sanitary pad using bamboo fibre, which has high absorbance levels, and corn, for its soft texture. Much of the funds came from her own savings, with some support from her family. “We wanted a product that was completely organic and natural and wouldn’t cause rashes or allergies,” says Dalmia.Click here to view the full Forbes India 30 Under 30 list
Two years later, in September last year, her company Heyday Care began selling its sanitary napkins in New Delhi and Mumbai, with plans to sell online.
“The product is doing very well since its launch,” says Kunaal Kumar, the managing director of New Delhi-based retail chain, Modern Bazaar. “But it has a strong potential to do even better with improved awareness. She is doing something remarkably different.”
The company manufactures the products in China and Finland, and packages them in India. “Our plants can produce over 448 million units a year,” Dalmia says. “We are now getting a lot of interest from Bangladesh, Africa and Russia. So we are looking to ramp up our sales across India and globally.”Click here to view the full Forbes India 30 Under 30 list
(This story appears in the 16 February, 2018 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)


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Scandal-hit Volkswagen suffers 19% profit downturn in first quarter of 2016
Volkswagen has revealed slump in profits for the first quarter of the year as the German carmaker continues to pay the price for its global emissions-test cheating scandal.
Revenues declined 3 per cent, and the group's pre-tax profits of €3.2 billion (£2.4 billion) for January to March this year was 19 per cent down on the same period in 2015 which preceded the scandal.
It was last autumn when VW was found to have fitted defeat devices to its cars to pass emissions regulations in the US and Europe.
The manufacturer's chief executive, Matthias Mueller, was adamant in insisting the decline was a 'respectable' result, with operating profits edging 3.4 per cent higher to €3.4 billion (£2.6 billion).
Emission-cheating effect: Volkswagen is feeling the effects of last year's emissions-test cheating revelations, posting a 19 per cent decline in pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2016
Speaking in an official VW Group statement, Mueller - who took over the reigns following Martin Winterkorn's resignation in September 2015 just days after news of the scandal emerged - said: 'In light of the wide range of challenges we are currently facing, we are satisfied overall with the start we have made to what will undoubtedly be a demanding fiscal year 2016.
'We once again managed to limit the economic effects of the diesel issue and achieve respectable results under difficult conditions.'
And the difficult conditions Meuller speaks of are expected to get expensive for the market-dominating car giant.
Volkswagen faces heavy costs for recalls and fixes to cars with engine-control software that evaded emissions tests with the company already earmarking £12.7 billion to cover repairs and other costs for 11 million cars sold with the software globally.
Despite this, the group's operating profits rose thanks in part to €300 million (£229 million) of currency gains on provisions put by to pay for its diesel emissions scandal.
The confirmation of first-quarter results also revealed plummeting sales, most notably in Russia and Brazil due to economic woes, with revenues down 35 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
Earnings slipped for its Audi brand too, dropping to €1.3 billion (£99 million) from €1.4 billion (£1.1 billion) a year earlier,
Shares in the VW Group fell 1.7 per cent on Tuesday morning in response to the financial statement released by the carmaker
But according to investment experts, the profit drop was not as severe as first predicted.
Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'Despite the negative headlines Volkswagen have delivered a surprisingly positive start to the year, posting operating profit significantly ahead of analyst expectations and slightly ahead of last year.
'However, with VW shares down 1.7 per cent this morning, positive financials may not be enough to keep investors happy at the moment.
'That’s not entirely unsurprising since the company has not emerged unscathed from the emissions scandal. Investors will be disappointed by the performance of Volkswagen branded passenger cars which, after delivering €514m in operating profits last year, managed just €73m this time round.'
Not feeling the affect quite so much was Porsche.
The luxury car brand owned by the VW Group delivered a 14 per cent rise in underlying operating profits to €895 million (£683 million).
'The strong performance from Porsche will be a welcome relief though and the positive returns from Skoda and Sest in particular suggests that the group’s other brands may have escaped the emissions contagion,' Hyett added.
The VW Group, based in Wolfsburg, confirmed previous guidance for the full year, with the company expecting sales to drop by up to five per cent this year.
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Sustainability celebrated with new business awards
Published on 26 October 2023
The best of the best from Kingston’s business community were celebrated at the inaugural Kingston Sustainable Business Awards gala event last night.
Five outstanding businesses across six categories took home trophies. In total, 24 businesses of varied sizes were finalists for the awards, showcasing the vast dedication and commitment of the Kingston business community to sustainable practices.
Mayor Hadi Saab said we have a remarkably innovative and diverse business community in Kingston and it’s important we recognise and applaud those businesses and individuals making the world a better place.
“It was a terrific celebration and acknowledgement of those leading the way in environmental and ethical practices and a great chance to hear about the innovation and leadership all our winners are bringing to their work,” Cr Saab said.
"Their achievements are certainly paving the way for a more innovative and sustainable Kingston while also boosting the local economy.
“We hoped these awards would encourage networking, the sharing of information on good environmental and ethical practices and more of our businesses integrating sustainable practices into their operations moving forward – and we feel they have done just that!”
Winners of the Kingston Sustainable Business Awards 2023
Waste Reduction and Circular Economy - Reluv Clothing
Located in Moorabbin and applauded for their innovative online marketplace for preloved clothing, promoting waste reduction.
The judges praised their unique business model, use of technology, payment incentives for users, and support for garment workers, recognising its contribution to the circular economy in Kingston.
Ethical Sourcing and Procurement – EcoSouLife
EcoSouLife, located in Dingley Village, offer environmentally friendly tableware alternatives to harmful plastics, foams, and metals. Their products naturally degrade when buried.
The judges were impressed with EcoSouLife's rigorous supplier vetting, third-party verifications, and their recognition as a supplier by Woolworths. Their investment in a significant procurement team underscores their commitment to understanding and managing supply chain risks.
Diversity and Inclusion - Brainwave Bikes
Located in Dingley Village, they retail second-hand bicycles to reduce landfill waste and have processed over 2,000 bicycles, many of which are donated to needy communities. They also provide work opportunities for youth with disabilities.
The judges highlighted their employment of individuals in transition programs, partnerships with local businesses, and effective volunteer management.
Sustainable Leadership – EcoSouLife
Eco SouLife takes out a second award for their profound social and environmental influence. This has been demonstrated with the way they have positively impacted Indonesian communities by utilising leaves, once considered waste, to make biodegradable bowls sold in Australia. This has significantly uplifted the local economy, enabling children to attend school.
Innovation is central to their approach, focusing on creating reusable products rather than single-use items. The judges applauded EcoSouLife's commitment to ethical sourcing and their innovative business model.
Sustainable Leadership (Individual) - Darren Whittaker (Azolla Certified)
Darren won for founding Azolla Certified, located in Mordialloc, an accreditation agency recognising sustainable and ethical business practices.
The judges were impressed by Darren's commitment to broadening the accessibility of third-party certification for SMEs. His services are priced competitively, making it easier for smaller businesses to get certified.
His focus on positive impacts for both people and the environment, as well as his active stance against corruption in auditing, stood out.
Young Changemakers and Innovators - e2environments engineered
The judges highlighted the innovative "Click In system", a quick-to-install window and door system that ensures watertight, airtight, insulated, and enhanced acoustic performance.
Founded by David Morehouse, who identified a gap in the window industry, the company aims to address energy wastage and related health concerns.
David adapted a Swedish design over several years to create a universally accepted product that's user-friendly, recyclable and minimises the use of high-emission aluminium.
Special Commendation - 2 Brothers Brewery
For their exceptional accomplishments in the Net Zero 2030 category.
The respected geoscientist, sustainable business strategist, and TV weather presenter Rob Gell AM hosted the night, blending recognition, celebration, networking, and inspiring conversation.
Supported by Community Bank Parkdale, the event demonstrated Kingston's commitment to sustainability across all sectors.
Every aspect of the evening exemplified sustainability, from the use of eco-friendly materials, to reduced carbon footprint, taking a digital approach, to local sourcing.


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"If cobalt falls into the hands of the Chinese, yeah you won't see electric vehicles (EV) being produced in Europe, etc. They are waking up too late.
I think it's because the car industry has never had a supply chain problem before".
During the 2018 FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, the biggest cobalt-mining company shared with Reuters his vision of a future in which “[China is] not going to sell batteries to the world, more than likely they’ll produce batteries in China and sell electric vehicles to the world”. Much anxiety spreads over the development of this commodity’s market because cobalt is a key chemical element of the new generation of batteries powering consumer electronics and EVs, for which is the most expensive component.
To avoid the risk of a monopoly, companies acknowledge the need for a shift from cobalt. Decreasing the industry reliance on it has also other important benefits, such as reducing exploitative extractive practices in the developing world and helping tackle climate change faster and more effectively.
But is there any viable alternative for these Western batteries and EVs manufacturers that are – in the words of Ivan Glasenberg – “waking up too late”?
First, why is this question so important? Nowadays, the price of an EV battery averages the $200 per Kw/h, making it still too expensive compared to the benefits it can provide in the eyes of the average consumer. Despite a price drop of 70% in just six years, it is increasingly difficult to further reduce costs while improving battery efficiency. Analysts say that EVs will be comparable to those of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars price when the Kw/h cost falls to $100, and they forecast this will happen around 2030.
Most of the global cobalt reserves come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and about 80% of the chemical mined is refined in China. Other resources shipped especially in Finland, are still owned by China Molybdenum, the second-largest mining company after Glencore, and partially owned by the government.
Many experts are worried about the potential Chinese monopoly over global cobalt resources. In fact, not only China owns the bulk of the global cobalt chemical production (), but GEM, a Chinese battery recycler, also signed an agreement with Glencore itself for a third of its cobalt production over the next three years.
An expected surge in EVs popularity could push the cobalt demand from last year’s 9,000 tonnes up ten times in less than 10 years. This would eventually sharply increase prices as well. Fairly stable in 2016, varying from $22,000 per tonne to $29,000, 2017 has seen a continued growth that peaked just on March 1st, 2018 at over $93,000 per tonne.
A research by Xianlai Zeng and Jinhui Li of Tsinghua University in Beijing, published in November 2015, claims that due to its scarcity and the increasing demand for consumer electronics and electric vehicles in China, cobalt reserves would sustain the market only until 2021, even if all the end-of-life products were recycled. To extend the supply potential up to at least 2035 an effective recycle loop of cobalt-containing waste is also needed.
The scarce nature of cobalt, the increasing prices, and the fear for a monopoly over this crucial market are bound to push forward alternative and more efficient technologies. There is also the very relevant ethical problem of cobalt mining that often involves children labour. Different companies are researching and none other than Panasonic might already be onto something.
The battery manufacturer, Tesla’s partner since 2010 and sole batteries supplier, has already substantially cut down the use of cobalt in its own batteries says Kenji Tamura, the head of Panasonic’s EV batteries business. In fact, Tesla’s recent Model 3, achieved the highest energy density in a battery while reducing the cobalt use and a Kw/h price below the industry average at $190.
Forecasting a cobalt shortage in the not-so-distant future, Panasonic is actively developing a new technology to eliminate the dependency on the rare chemical. While in initial models cobalt accounted for a quarter of the active metals in a battery, the proportion has already been brought down to around 5% with the aim to reduce it to 0.
Panasonic is not the only one researching for a breakthrough in lithium-ion battery technology. In Ithaca, in the state of New York, a start-up called Conamix founded in 2014 has also raised several million for its project of a cobalt-free electrode.
This single new technology development is extremely interesting to follow as it will have a notable ripple effect on many aspects of society’s life, from human rights to climate change control, to the balance of countries’ economic power.
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Nandini YadavJul 15, 2020 09:09:53 IST
Earlier this month, the Indian government announced ban on 59 Chinese apps, which included TikTok, Shein, ShareIt, Mi Community, among others.
With the ban of these apps, various unpopular-till-now apps have started to gain popularity. According to a report by analytics platform Sensor Tower, between 29 June and 8 July, apps like ShareChat and Roposo, both of which are India-grown video sharing apps, saw a rise in the number of downloads since the ban of the Chinese apps.
One of the apps benefiting from the ban is Ding Dong, which suddenly shot to one of the top trends of the day (14 July).
So, we started to dig into the app and we found that the Ding Dong app is being promoted by Indian film and television actress Ena Saha, and is developed by Jarek Entertainment.
— Ved | وید پرکاش (@AAPVed) July 12, 2020
The app has currently only been spotted on Google Play Store, where it has a handful of reviews. Interestingly though, the reviews are only from 5 July onwards, and either the review ratings are a straight five stars or it's zero. At the time of writing the story, the Play Store page showed 1,000+ installs of the app and had a 4.2 overall review rating.
As can be seen from the screenshots uploaded on the Play Store, the UI of the app mimics TikTok.
The app description reads: "DingDong is not your ordinary destination for short-form mobile video. It's raw, real, and without boundaries — whether you're brushing your teeth at 8.15 am, or, you're making breakfast at 8.39 pm. It's from the gut, 'come as you are' storytelling told in 15 seconds. With DingDong life's more fun when you live in the moment and go beyond to explore."
Since earlier today, we also spotted some cookie-cutter tweets promoting the Ding Dong app.
Wow what an enormous app.. It’s fun and shows that ultimate creativity has no limits when it comes to DingDong. Entertainment WithDingDong.. Download it today pic.twitter.com/e9TTntDGn9
— Avinash Shahi (@HydraAvi) July 14, 2020
Wow what an enormous app.. It’s fun and shows that ultimate creativity has no limits when it comes to DingDong. Entertainment WithDingDong.. Download it today pic.twitter.com/5Br15cEVOb
— Shruti Chauhan (@ShrutiChauhaan) July 14, 2020
And this is where comes the murkiest bit:
We also looked into the developer, Jarek Entertainment's Twitter profile, which was created in June 2020, and it currently only follows eight people, which includes a production house, actors like Ena Saha, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat and Yash Dasgupta, writer-director Anshuman Pratyush, and two publications including The Telegraph, and Ei Samay. Barring the publications, the mentioned actors and the director are working together on a new movie called SOS Kolkata.
Could it be part of a promotional campaign? Only time will tell. However, we are currently not sure how secure the app is. And its promotions on Twitter could be misleading as well.
With the shutdown of apps like TikTok, users have been looking for alternatives, and the Ding Dong app could be taking advantage of that vulnerability.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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Another exciting NFT project is happening in women’s sports — this time in the world of golf. The United States Golf Association (USGA) has partnered with Pebble Beach Company for a dynamic set of ‘ArtBall‘ non-fungible tokens for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open.
The ‘U.S. Women’s Open ArtBall‘ NFT collection consists of 3,010 digital assets linked to real-time stroke data. Each NFT is tied to a specific plot on the renowned 17th hole of the Pebble Beach course, and throughout the tournament, live data is transformed into unique art. The NFT‘s metadata will update according to ‘Landing Points,‘ ‘Longest Hole Out,‘ and ‘Closest to the Hole‘ during all four rounds of the championship.
ArtBall, a product of NFT Tech studio, merges digital technology with real-life sports to make the fan experience more immersive and engaging. Its first successful project in 2022 was with the Australia Open.
The Ethereum-based NFTs will be available to mint for free on Rarible marketplace starting July 6th. Current ArtBall members and owners of ‘AO Art Balls‘ will have access to 500 whitelist spots, and there will be additional benefits that the team is finalizing now and will update via its Twitter and Discord channels.
This is the first time the USGA has appeared at the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links course on California’s Monterey Peninsula since 1948, and the tournament is highly anticipated among golf fans. Pebble Beach Golf Links was founded in 1919 and is one of the most iconic golf courses in the world.
The USGA wrote on its site that golf has a history of using nascent technologies to enrich the player and fan experience, and that Web3 would “give fans a new and exciting way to engage with the U.S. Women’s Open Championship like never before.” This is first official NFT collection from the USGA and Pebble Beach.
What Were the Australian Open Art Ball NFTs?
In 2021, the Australian Open (AO) tennis tournament was closed to fans because of the Covid pandemic. As a non-profit organization that suddenly had no income from ticket sales, the AO needed to find a way to reconnect with fans.
Introducing the ‘AO ArtBall‘ from NFT Tech studio. The AO ArtBall was the first dynamic NFT art collection that leveraged real-time Hawkeye line calling data used to officiate matches. Here’s how it worked.
6,776 “Art Balls” were linked to a specific section, or plot, of the Australian Open tennis court. When winning shots fell on a plot that corresponded to a digital asset, the NFT holder received benefits like exclusive video footage, Australian Open merchandise, and digital wearables from Decentraland.
Furthermore, the owner of the ArtBall linked to the tournament’s winning point received the IRL game ball in a crafted case. The NFTs could also be traded on secondary marketplaces, and fans had the chance to watch the tournament via a 3D replica in the metaverse.
This innovative move from the Australian Open and NFT Tech garnered media attention around the world. But perhaps more importantly, it helped the AO recover some of the excitement it had lost from the previous year’s lack of live fans.
Many people believe that the meshing of NFT collectible metadata with real-life data — the blending of the digital and physical — could be the future of sports. At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the U.S. Women’s Open ArtBall NFT collection to see if it’s as popular as the Australian Open ArtBall in 2022. If it is, we expect it won’t be the last dynamic NFT sports collections we see this year.
In case you missed it:


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Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders and funders. The Ground Floor is Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
A former professional poker player is getting ready for a new gamble: launching a Kickstarter to help fund his new smartphone “wearable” company, OnYou.
James Rogers and Scott Bauer co-founded the company this February, and have been refining the designs of their high-tech cases and associated magnets, which keep phones attached to the user’s body without a strap or a clip.
Rogers designed the case when he ordered industrial-strength magnets, took apart his own iPhone case and reconstructed it as a wearable. The cases he plans to bring to market will use “the absolute newest materials” available, including, he said, new carbon filaments “just invented last month.”
The magnetic cases are secure and comfortable, Rogers said.
“Everyone has smartphones and everyone loves to exercise,” he said. “Everyone’s been using armbands, and in talking to people, the vast majority of people are dissatisfied with them. We designed something that’s very comfortable and it’s about as secure as you can get.”
The magnets use 12-pounds of force, and Rogers put them through a series of tests, including kicking a field goal with the phone attached to his shin with one of OnYou’s compression sleeves. The phone didn’t budge, he said, and even if it did, it would still be protected by the carbon case. Rogers said for those worried about having their phones stolen, the cases will come with a safety strap.
To this point, Rogers and Bauer have developed prototypes using 3-D printers, including the one at Crystal City’s TechShop, where Rodgers is a member. The Kickstarter, which will launch Oct. 1, will aim to raise $20,000 and largely pay for an injection mold to mass produce the cases, since it will take about an hour for each to be printed. The funds will also be used to expedite OnYou’s patents and, if the goal is reached and exceeded, to develop specifications for more devices. At first, OnYou will only make cases to fit the iPhone 5, 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The cases will be sold for $49.99, Rogers said, and they will be just as durable and protective as the highest-end cases on the market for as much as $90. The cases can be pre-ordered on OnYou’s website now for $39.99, and include arm and calf compression sleeves. Rogers said he anticipates selling iPhone cases this winter, followed by models for other phones.
The magnets are safe around phones — magnets don’t affect the flash memory storage — and largely safe near credit cards, but those with pacemakers shouldn’t have the magnets on their bodies.
“Doing research and talking to women, so many of them brought up sticking the magnet near the top of their purse so they never have to dig for their phones,” Rogers said.
“We thought it would be fun for people to show us that while it’s great for exercise, what about this?” Rogers continued. “We want to develop an online community to contribute more and more OnUses.”
Rogers was a paralegal when he began playing online poker. He quickly realized he made more money playing poker than he did at his day job, so he quit and started playing professionally, including by attending the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. When Congress passed laws restricting online gambling, Rogers got a job as a software engineer.
He realized he wanted to be an entrepreneur, and now he and Bauer, a graduate student at George Mason University, have brought their company to GMU’s Innovation Lab. They’re in discussions now for an initial funding round.
Arlington and much of the D.C. area is under both a Tornado Watch and a Flood Watch today. Strong storms with damaging wind, large hail and torrential downpours are possible…
Restorative Justice Coming to Schools — “Restorative Arlington has partnered with Arlington Public Schools (APS) to support Restorative Justice in Education. Restorative Arlington has allocated over $140,000 to provide direct…
Just Listed features a 4 BD/2.5 BA home with a gas fireplace, patio and family room with an exposed brick accent wall.
A Northern Virginia woman likely has monkeypox, the Virginia Dept. of Health announced today. In a press release Thursday afternoon, VDH said the woman was isolating at home and not…


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Microsoft will reportedly host an interactive launch event for Bethesda’s upcoming sci-fi RPG, Starfield. With the anticipated game just a few weeks away from launch, we haven’t seen much marketing surrounding the first single-player game from Bethesda Game Studios since Fallout 4. However, it looks like that might all change soon as a new report claims that some kind of interactive event is being planned for the launch of the game.
The rumour originates from Twitter user Karim Jovian, a digital media producer and interviewer that has some reputable industry followers. According to Jovian, a source told him that Microsoft is planning an interactive launch event for Starfield. His sources were apparently “really excited” when talking to him about it, though he didn’t elaborate any further. Jovian also didn’t provide a date or time for when this will take place, so take it with a grain of salt for now.
The idea of an “interactive” launch event suggests that fans will be able to influence decisions or actions that take place during the show. In Starfield‘s case, it’s possible that Microsoft could host a livestream that features a section of gameplay where players can indirectly influence key decisions based on pop-up commands during the video or filtered through the chat, though that’s just speculation on our part.
Bethesda’s previous RPGs like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout featured multiple dialogue choices that often impacted the story and characters. Last year, Todd Howard stated that Starfield will have “classic Bethesda” dialogue options, meaning it will likely feature decision-based conversations as well.
In related news, Bethesda recently released a series of short animations offering players a glimpse at Starfield‘s universe. While the game is currently slated to launch as an Xbox console exclusive, court documents revealed that Bethesda forecasted Starfield would sell around 10 million copies on PS5 – a reasonable expectation considering that Skyrim has sold 60 million copies across every platform since launch. In fact, Starfield was almost a PS5 console exclusive before Microsoft’s acquisition of the company.
Starfield launches on 6 September 2023 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Read up on these great space exploration games to play while you wait.
Source: Karim Jovian


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In a recent judgment concerning a dispute between Jean Cassegrain S.A.S (Longchamp) and a Belgian reseller of leather handbags, the Court of Appeal of Ghent denied copyright protection to Jean Cassegrain’s handbag “Le Pliage,” serial number 1623, created and commercialized since 1993.
If your company has a Point of Sale (POS) terminal anywhere in its infrastructure, you are no doubt aware from the active media coverage that malware attacks have been plaguing POS systems across the country.
Just within the past week, the New York Times has reported that:
Companies are often slow to disclose breaches, often because of the time involved in immediately-required investigations;
Congress is beginning to make inquiries of data breach victim companies; and
Even those companies who have conducted cybersecurity risk assessments still get attacked, often during the course of implementing new solutions to mitigate potential problems and protect their customers’ payment cards or other personal information.
Former employees can be a source of information to the media about your efforts to investigate and secure your POS systems.
By John Wilks
This year’s conference of Marques, the European brand owners’ association, took place in the European Union’s most troubled and ancient capital, Athens, under the lamentably resonant strapline “Sign of the Times”. Among the many interesting topics shoe-horned under this banner, one theme seemed to keep resurfacing: the challenge of locating internet infringers.
This is by no means a new problem: IP infringers have for obvious reasons always sought to cover their tracks. But the advent and continuing expansion of the internet and social media have dramatically increased the scope for anonymous infringements from cyberspace. The impending arrival of over 1,000 new gTLDs- including many for common generic terms, threatens to further expand the possibility for anonymous infringement.
Guest blog post by Melanie Garcia. Melanie is a Summer Associate in the Washington, D.C. office of DLA Piper LLP. She is a J.D. Candidate at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Unhappy customers have been embracing the Internet for years to vent their frustrations with companies. Lately, several bloggers have capitalized on websites that lampoon popular companies and companies are beginning to fight back.
Recently, Forever 21 threatened to sue fashion blogger Rachel Kane for diluting its brand and trademark with her blog, WTForever21.com. Forever 21, a global retail chain of clothing and accessories for young men and women, reportedly sent cease-and-desist letters to Ms. Kane regarding her blog. On WTForever21.com, Ms. Kane posts and satirizes images of clothing from Forever21.com. For example, on April 14, 2011 Ms. Kane posted a picture of earrings from Forever 21 with the following caption, “Those bead curtains that provide no privacy and serve no other purpose than to get tangled around each other, or in your hair when you walk through them, came back from 1973 and decided to become earrings.” While this is understandably offensive to the company, it seems Forever 21 has chosen not to pursue further action against Ms. Kane.
There are many reasons why Forever 21 may have chosen not to bring a suit against Ms. Kane.
Our group spends a significant amount of time working on issues relating to the transformation of copyright and trademark laws in the 21st century. I am particularly passionate about and interested in how the Internet and other new technologies challenge these dynamic areas of law. For my first blog post, I revisited a few of what I see as the most influential cases of 2010.
Overview: In January, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Michael Davis for the District of Minnesota remitted a 2009 jury award of statutory damages totaling $1.92 million against defendant Jammie Thomas-Rasset by 97% to $54,000. This damages award arose from claims that Thomas-Rasset willfully infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights by downloading 24 songs using the Kazaa peer-to-peer network. Judge Davis held that although Plaintiffs highlight valid reasons that Thomas‐Rasset should pay a statutory damages award, the Judge ruled that these facts simply could not justify a $2 million verdict in this case. He further opined that although this new award was still three times the statutory minimum, this reduced award remains “significant and harsh” and should sufficiently serve both the deterrent and the compensatory purposes of statutory damages.
Overview: The plaintiffs rejected the reduced damage award and, instead, asked for a new trial on damages. On November 4, the jury returned a verdict awarding statutory damages in the amount of $62,500 for each of 24 songs for a total amount of $1.5 million.
Takeaways: P2P file-sharing cases are having a profound impact on the future of copyright as applied to individual users of online platforms. Judges in at least two jurisdictions have changed the jury awards — both citing them unconscionable — potentially leading to not only a split in future appeals but also calls for legislation from all sides.


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(Huntington Beach, CA – March 14, 2011) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Bosch home appliances the 2011 ENERGY STAR® Sustained Excellence Award. The award recognizes Bosch for its continued contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by manufacturing water- and energy-efficient appliances and educating consumers on the benefits of the ENERGY STAR program. Bosch’s accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 2011.
“As a company committed to sustainability, we are constantly challenged to engineer the best in appliance efficiency,” said John Farley, senior brand manager, Bosch home appliances. “Earning the Sustained Excellence Award is a tremendous honor as it recognizes our commitment to efficiency through the ENERGY STAR specification program.”
Bosch’s commitment to appliance efficiency includes being the only U.S. appliance manufacturer with 100 percent of its major appliances ENERGY STAR qualified – that is 48 dishwasher, clothes washer and refrigerator models by Bosch for appliance shoppers to choose from. The ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award also recognizes Bosch engineering accomplishments including:
- Exceeding federal energy standards in dishwashers by an average of 38% and up to 97%;
- Offering the most water-efficient dishwasher in the US – the 800 Plus uses as little as 1.57 gallons of water per cycle;
- Improving the energy use of all its 27” washers. With the launch of Vision, Bosch’s most efficient 27” washer model achieved an energy use of just 120 kWh/year;
- Reducing energy consumption in its manufacturing facilities by 14 percent since 2005.
“Bosch home appliances has earned the EPA’s highest ENERGY STAR award – the 2011 Sustained Excellence Award,” said Elizabeth Craig, Acting Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. “Bosch’s long term leadership and commitment to energy efficiency demonstrates the types of accomplishments that we can all achieve in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting our global environment. We look forward to their continued partnership and leadership.”
About ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants associated with energy use. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 60 kinds of products as well as new homes and buildings. Last year alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $18 billion on their utility bills and prevented greenhouse gas equivalent to those of 34 million cars. Products, homes and buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR prevent emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the EPA. For more information, go to energystar.gov.
Bosch Home Appliances is part of BSH, Bosch and Siemens Home Appliance Group, the third largest appliance manufacturer in the world. Known worldwide for raising standards in appliance efficiency and quietness, Bosch is the only US appliance manufacturer with entire product lines of ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers, washers and refrigeration. With US headquarters in Huntington Beach, CA, the company operates an appliance park in New Bern, North Carolina comprised of state-of-the-art factories for washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, ovens and cooktops.
For more Bosch information, visit www.bosch-home.com/us, like Bosch at Facebook.com/BoschAppliances or connect on Twitter @BoschAppliances.


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Retailer Cost Plus World Market has recalled about 2,600 Girona outdoor dining chairs because the seat base can separate from the chair back, causing it to collapse.
Area rug manufacturer Feizy and technology provider MicroD have announced a partnership to provide a digital merchandising program for dealers to engage and inspire shoppers with an online catalog program.
Paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams has announced its 2018 Color of the Year, Oceanside SW 6496, an intense shade of blue with green jewel tones.
The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has announced seven design industry manufacturers as ASID Supporting Partners.
North Carolina singer-songwriter Anne-Claire has been added as headline entertainment for Monday’s nearly sold-out Pinnacle Awards gala in the International Home Furnishings Center’s Green ballroom.
Art Van Furniture will officially cut the ribbon on its newest store Saturday in the Chicago suburb of Kildeer, Ill.
Mattress producer Simmons, maker of the Beautyrest bedding line, has named Anomaly as its new lead agency, and will work with the agency on strategy and creative development.


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2015 marks 26 years that Icelanders have been allowed to drink beer
“Our focus has been on breweries from Oregon simply because we like the way people from Oregon think and how the craft beer movement has been developing in that particular state.” – Ólafur Ágústsson, restaurant manager at KEX
Portland, OR – Portland breweries are preparing to embark on an epic voyage to Reykjavik to spread the gospel of Oregon beer at the annual Icelandic Beer Festival, which will take place at KEX Hostel from Feb. 26 through March 1.
Breakside and Hopworks will showcase their beers as part of a contingent organized by Alex Briggs, who is part of a group working with Kurt Huffman of ChefStable to open The Loyal Legion, a new Portland beer hall that will soon offer 99 Oregon brews on tap in the old Portland Police Athletic Association building at Southeast Sixth Avenue and Alder Street.
It’s the fourth year KEX has hosted the Icelandic Beer Festival. While the lineup of U.S. breweries recently expanded to include beers from Connecticut (Two Roads) and Michigan (Founders), Oregon’s craft breweries have always been and will remain a focal point for the 2015 event.
“Our focus has been on breweries from Oregon simply because we like the way people from Oregon think and how the craft beer movement has been developing in that particular state,” said Ólafur Ágústsson, restaurant manager at KEX. “We feel that we can connect to people from Portland and all of Oregon. Reykjavik has a lot in common.”
The Icelandic Beer Festival celebrates March 1, 1989, the end of the prohibition on beer in the country.
“We feel like beer in Iceland needs its own festival so people can come together to celebrate this luxury beverage,” said Ágústsson, noting the festival not only celebrates beer but also offers a glimpse into the Icelandic music scene. “We want people to come and enjoy great beers, meet interesting people, eat good food and listen to music.”
Oregon’s breweries will be featured on Feb. 26 and 27 during the event.
Breakside will bring two beers to the festival: Breakside IPA and Salted Caramel Stout. Breakside IPA, a hoppy American-style IPA, is the company’s flagship beer and won the Gold Medal at last year’s Great American Beer Festival. Salted Caramel Stout is a seasonal brewed in collaboration with Salt & Straw Ice Cream in Portland and was named as one of Draft magazine’s Top 25 Beers of the Year in 2014.
“We think this is a fantastic opportunity to share some of our beers with a new audience, and we are excited to see what is happening in Iceland’s beer scene,” said Ben Edmunds, brewmaster at Breakside Brewery. “There is no doubt that some of the most innovative and fun beer in the world is coming out of Scandinavia right now, and this is a unique opportunity for us to see it firsthand and learn from our Icelandic counterparts.”
Hopworks will bring three beers to the event: Motherland Russian Imperial Stout, Rise Up IPA and Hopworks IPA. All three accentuate the Northwest flavor profile and predilection for hops and represent the company’s aim to champion organics and high-quality beer.
Hopworks’ Thomas Bleigh said he’d be interested to see how the Northwest beers are perceived in Iceland but also to learn more about the local beers in Reykjavik.
“Drinking for me is an extension of community and social interaction,” Bleigh said. “I’m looking forward to expanding the conversation with Iceland.”
Having an opportunity to see the northern lights at this time of year isn’t so bad either, he added: “I can’t wait to experience and see geothermal adventures and unusual landscapes.”
Other breweries participating in the Icelandic Beer Festival include three from Denmark: Mikkeller, To Öl and Evil Twin.
This year’s event comes around the same time Icelandair is scheduled to start offering direct flights from Portland to Reykjavik. Direct service is set to begin as soon as this spring.
Angelo grew up in Maine and is proud to call New England his original home. Cascadia is now his home. He fell in love with great beer in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.
He has been a correspondent for the Portland Tribune's Guest on Tap column, LivePDX.com, and has been featured in publications such as Beer Northwest and PDX Magazine. Angelo also has a great interest in independent music, and has been a booker and organizer for shows around the Portland under the name Pop Tomorrow! Angelo garnered much knowledge regarding beer from his experiences homebrewing, working at Belmont Station, Pyramid Brewing, Upright Brewing, By the Bottle, Beer Revolution, Olde Depot Public House, Falling Sky Brewing, Cascade Brewing, and from many many knowledgeable, passionate, and loving people along the way. It is Angelo's mission to bring "infotainment" and "edumation" to the readers of this website. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute, please contact me at email@example.com


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Very few know that Sai has a huge liking for fancy bikes and according to the latest reports, the talented actor has bought himself a swanky new Harley Davidson bike. Reports also reveal that Sai is currently enjoying the joyful rides on the bike and is also going to his shoots on his new ride.
Meanwhile, Sai’s new film Subramanyam for Sale is creating a lot of buzz and is up for release soon. Harish Shankar is the director.
- Mohan Babu to unveil his guru Dasari’s statue
- Madhavan turns full-time director with a biopic
- Ajith makes a crucial statement about politics
- Mr Majnu completes censor; All set for Jan 25th release
- Gopichand’s spy thriller commences on the Indo-Pak border


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2015 Mahindra XUV 500 Hybrid spied testing; to get automatic transmission
Inspired by the aggressive looks of the ‘Cheetah’, Mahindra XUV 500 has been one of the most popular SUVs in the Indian automobile market. In order to make Mahindra XUV 500 affordable for most of the SUV lovers, Mahindra had launched its W4 and W6 edition besides the existing W8 edition. Needless, to say, they were successful in building up a strong customer base.
Mahindra does not seem to stop here with its plans for XUV 500. The company was recently caught testing the face lifted model of XUV 500 that will be available with automatic transmission and diesel hybrid variant. The XUV 500 Hybrid concept was showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo, 2014. The face lifted Hybrid variant is expected to be launched in mid-2015 and that is why, we see the SUV being tested. It is expected to be available at a price tag ranging between Rs. 15 lakhs to Rs. 16 lakhs.
Going by the spy images, captured by RushLane, the XUV 500 Hybrid is expected to feature revised tailgate and a revised front end with redesigned fog lamp and updated grille, newly designed alloy rims.
The interiors too, is expected to get many additional features along with an updated trim. The facelifted version is expected to include standard features like 2-DIN music system with reversing camera, climate control, leather seats along with the usual set of gadgets and buttons.
The face lifted version of XUV 500 will be powered by the same engine options. Under its hood, the same four cylinder, 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine will continue doing it’s duty and will produce 140 bhp of power at 3750 rpm and a peak torque of 330 Nm within 1600 and 2800 rpm. The XUV 500 facelift will continue to be available with the existing 2WD and 4WD options and will be available with a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The powertrain of the face lifted version is expected to be fine-tuned to offer better fuel economy and enhanced performance. It will be introduced with an automatic gearbox that would be available only with the W8 variant i.e. the top end variant.
With the launch of Mahindra XUV 500 in 2011, Mahindra and Mahindra had offered a newly designed SUV to the Indian automobile market. Mahindra XUV 500 was tested on the roads of Australia, Europe and South Africa.
Currently, XUV 500 is available in four variants- W4, W6 2WD, W8 2WD, W8 4WD.


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A Connecticut middle school teacher who raised $41,000 to help hundreds of his struggling neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic got an unwelcome surprise for his charitable efforts: a form stating he could owe $16,031 in income taxes.
Louis Goffinet, 27, of Mansfield, began picking up groceries for elderly neighbors afraid to go to the store during the early days of the pandemic, often spending his own money. Given the great need, he later organized two fundraisers on Facebook over a year and helped hundreds of families with groceries, rent money and holiday gifts, the Hartford Courant reported, setting a $200 limit.
Goffinet said both financial support for his efforts and demand for assistance ended up becoming higher than he first expected. He tracked 140 grocery trips on a spreadsheet, noting he also provided Friday night dinners to 125 families, holiday gift cards for 20 families so they could buy gifts for their children, 31 Thanksgiving dinners and rental assistance to five families. Some local businesses donated food.
Source: Associated Press


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Smartwatches will soon be “a major pillar in the industry”
With its high-functioning, sporty Connected smart watch, which debuted in November 2015, TAG Heuer is dipping its toe into the wearables market—albeit, somewhat haltingly.
“TAG Heuer is an innovative company, and because you are innovative you have to follow the trends of technology,” said Guy Semon, general director of TAG Heuer, at a bustling party last night in Las Vegas celebrating the debut of new digital dials (from ambassadors Tom Brady, Chris Hemsworth, and others) for the smartwatch at CES 2016.
The Connected watch in its many colors on display at the party.
“It’s the beginning of history, and we don’t know where it’s going,” Semon said, then laughed slightly. “But we had to buy a first-class ticket!”
The first-generation Connected watch was designed and manufactured in partnership with Intel and Google/Android (“We’re a watch company,” notes Semon, “so we’re not about to start producing hardware, and we’re not about to start producing software. We had to merge with the right partners.”)
“Quality is very important,” Semon said. But the company knew the watch’s $1,500 price tag might work against it. After all, hot new technology gets old alarmingly fast. Which is why the brand created a warranty that lets Connected buyers trade in the smartwatch after two years, pay $1,500 more, and walk away with a high-end analog TAG Heuer model (there will be a watch created specifically for the trade-in, said Ben Fox, manager of the Las Vegas TAG Heuer store).
The product is, ultimately, a probe for the brand—sent out into the market to see if male luxury watch buyers would bite on a high-priced fitness tracker and notifier. And they have, said Semon. “We can now say that the market exists—and this we were unsure of before.”
When asked if a smartwatch for women is in the works, he shook his head solemnly. “No, and this is a big issue for us.”
Instead, the company plans to invest in making the Connected watch “better and better,” he said. Because, “in the next few years, [wearables] will be one of the best pillars in our industry. We have to go there.”
TAG Heuer’s packed party at B&B Ristorante
(Photos by Emili Vesilind for JCK)Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
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Jeff Currie, Goldman Sachs’ head of commodities research, said Tuesday cryptocurrencies are not a substitute for gold when looking for an inflation hedge, but for copper.
- Speaking on CNBC’s "Squawk Box Europe", Currie said both gold and crypto have been deemed as hedges against rising prices.
- He noted that while gold is viewed as a haven asset, both bitcoin and copper behave as “risk-on” assets.
- "Digital currencies are not substitutes for gold," Currie said in the interview. "If anything, they would be a substitute for copper. They are pro-risk, risk-on assets. They are substitutes for risk-on inflation hedges, not risk-off inflation hedges."
- Since April gold has risen by almost $200 due to the weak U.S. dollar. Bitcoin has increased more than 25% in 2021, but is down more than 25% over the past three months, CNBC said on its website.
- “You look at the correlation between bitcoin and copper, or a measure of risk appetite and bitcoin, and we’ve got 10 years of trading history on bitcoin, it is definitely a risk-on asset,” Currie said.
CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


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Garment companies turn into mask making companies
As the number of coronavirus cases around the world continues to climb, the World Health Organization is warning of a potential shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
Manufacturers in Italy, France and beyond — including LVMH and Coty — are pivoting their production lines to create in-demand hydroalcoholic gel and masks. A French factory that happens to make an item that is suddenly one of the world’s hottest commodities: the medical face mask.
The factory, in Angers, typically makes around 170 million masks a year, but in the last week orders arrived for a staggering half a billion, flooding the sales department’s inboxes at the rate of one every two minutes. Kolmi Hopen is racing to hire more workers to keep the machines running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The latest updates is that many garment manufacturing units in Italy and other parts of world as well are turning to make masks instead of garments. Fashion designers and manufacturers are rebooting their operations to help with shortages of masks and gowns in the coronavirus pandemic. Time is of the essence, so Italian textiles and manufacturing companies are evaluating options to reconvert their production to meet the needs of the country.
Find out the video of a company that recently converted its production to mask instead of garments
The situation is similar in China as well where as thousands of face masks manufactured in China get stuck at customs for bureaucratic reasons. An additional 200,000 medical face masks produced by Turkish company Comitec, already paid for by the Emilia-Romagna region to supply its hospitals, have been stopped since March 4 at the Ankara port waiting to get a green light form Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Trade.
China now makes 200 million face masks a day — more than twenty times the amount it made at the start of February. The leap has been spurred by the outbreak of a new coronavirus. The masks include the lightweight ones that people like to wear in the hope of protection against coronavirus as well as the heavy-duty N95 masks used by health-care workers. But that’s still not nearly enough to meet local demands as well as global orders. So a scramble is now underway in China.
“Mask factories are “running at 110 percent capacity,” say authorities. And factories that once made shoes, iPhones and cars are being retooled to make masks. Machines that once churned out fibrous materials destined for diapers and sanitary pads are now producing materials for masks.“
Even in US the scenario is same. Los Angeles Apparel is making surgical masks; it will soon begin making hospital gowns as well. Dov Charney, the company’s founder and the former head of American Apparel, hopes his 150,000-square-foot factory can produce 300,000 masks and 50,000 gowns in a week. Christian Siriano, the fashion designer, has reassigned his 10 seamstresses in New York. They are beginning to make masks and hope to produce a few thousand a week.
Hanes clothing company is retrofitting factories to make masks to combat the aggressive spread of novel coronavirus, President Donald Trump announced at a press conference Saturday. The company later confirmed it was pairing with the government to make N95 masks for health careworkers on the front line of fighting the disease.
Why making mask is not easy?
While on one hand the demand is surpassing supply on the other making masks is not as easy as you imagine as it requires special machines, fabrics and technology to be created. “ We have to make the ear loops and the metal strip, the packaging. There is a pretty big system involved,” Guan Xunze, chairman of pharmaceutical group Shengjingtong in northeastern China.
Both the masks made for medical personnel and for consumer purchase require a once-obscure material called melt-blown fabric. It's an extremely fine mesh of synthetic polymer fibers that forms the critical inner filtration layer of a mask, allowing the wearer to breath while reducing the inflow of possible infectious particles.
And there’s now a global shortage of melt-blown fabric due to the increased demand for masks — and the difficulty in producing this material.
Costing upward of 3.8 million euros ($4.23 million) apiece, the machine that creates this fabric melts down plastic material and blows it out in strands, like cotton candy, into flat sheets of melt-blown fabric for face masks and other filtration products. A similar line of machines can create a related kind of fabric, called spun-bond fabric, also used in face masks and in medical protection suits worn by health-care workers.
Technology for masks is not easy
The machines are not easy to make because of the exacting precision required as you need to stretch these fibers by hot air, and [the air] needs to be in perfect condition over the width of the machine. The biggest dilemma is that many of the machines are not producing consistent quality.
Chinese engineering firms say they’re struggling. “We need about six months to make the machines, and it takes another month to assemble them,” said Leo Liu, a sales director at Haigong Machinery, a Chinese company that assembles the machine parts for melt-blown lines imported from the US, Germany and Japan. “Everyone is considering mask manufacturing, but they don’t understand the process. Once they learn the cost of these machines, they give up.
Sakho group is offering technology for seam sealing which is widely used in creation of biohazard suits..


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Several years ago, an advertising campaign for a major credit card company promised that "all you need," from airline tickets to instant cash, could be attained in its piece of plastic.
Now a Mountain View, Calif., company is preparing to take that promise several steps further -- by offering optical disks that can digitally store more than a thousand pages of information -- all on the face of a credit card.
Known as the Lasercard, the new data format can record a person's entire medical history or become a publishing medium for whole books or software programs. It could act as a one-stop shopping card that contains an individual's collection of credit cards, complete with several forms of personal identification to prevent fraudulent use.
Drexler Technology Corp., creator of the card, has recently announced the first significant orders for this storage medium. The product relies on optical recording technology -- the process of reading and writing data with light -- the same technique used to control compact disc players.
For now, Jerome Drexler, the company's founder and chief executive, aims to take the publicly traded company into specific niches of the information storage business, rather than trying to capture the financial services industry.
"We're looking at Laser cards as a new form of floppy disk, with a higher capacity that is more stable and mailed easily," he said. "Our goal is to capture 5 to 10 percent of the floppy industry."
Lasercards hold 4.1 megabytes of storage capacity, or nearly 1,200 document pages, three times more information than high-density computer disks and vastly more room than the 40 characters available on conventional credit card magnetic strips. Information can be written on the card, read repeatedly, but never erased.
As the first commercially available use of optical disk technology in a pocket-size format, Laser cards could one day replace the current supermarket point of sale recorders, security access systems and microfiche or other data storage media.
While the technology was created on-site at Drexler more than a decade ago, the player devices necessary to read Lasercards have only begun to be built in the past couple of years.
"We're in the beginning stages of commercialization," said Johanna Protsik, Drexler's manager of public relations. But with recent orders numbering several hundred thousand cards and major hardware manufactures offering the reader equipment, "we're now poised for takeoff."
Several large Japanese equipment manufacturers, including Omron Corp., the principal maker of automated teller machines, and Olympus Optical Co. have signed up to create peripheral devices such as Lasercard readers, special cameras and fingerprint scanners that operate the cards.
"It's a great idea, but you really have to have the infrastructure to support this," said Patty Chan, an analyst at Dataquest in San Jose. Ms. Chan notes that until the company succeeds in wooing major vendors away from conventional magnetic card or floppy disk technologies, there is little likelihood that the product will become a hit with convenience shoppers.
"It's kind of a chicken and egg situation: I think the chicken should come first and the eggs will follow," she said.


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Interswitch partners Microsoft to launch blockchain-based financing service
The service will streamline the process of accessing trade finance from three months to three weeks.
Interswitch, a payment processing company, has launched its blockchain-based supply chain service in partnership with Microsoft, an American multinational technology company. The service is also supported by three Nigerian banks, namely Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa and Guaranty Trust Bank, as well as Dangote Group. These institutions used the service during its pilot phase over the past months.
The blockchain service, built and hosted using Microsoft’s Azure blockchain technology, was unveiled on Friday in Lagos.
“The service aims to digitise the process between corporates and banks when providing trade financing to entrepreneurs and business owners in the supply chain sector,” said Akeem Lawal, Divisional CEO of Payment Processing at Interswitch.
He added that the service will streamline the process of accessing finance from three months to three weeks. With more entrepreneurs having access to financing, there will be business expansion, which in turn will create more jobs to drive economic growth in the country.
Don and Alex Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution, define blockchain as an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.
Business benefits that will be provided by the blockchain application, according to Interswitch, include reduced fraud, eliminate intermediaries, grow revenue, create new partnerships, and allow businesses to expand into new markets.
“Blockchain technology is still in its infancy in Nigeria,” said Michael Glaros, Principal Program Manager of Microsoft Azure Blockchain at Microsoft. “We are happy to pioneer its deployment with Interswitch.”
Last month, Flutterwave, an online payment technology solution, also integrated it’s platform to Ripple Blockchain Network. Ripple is a global leader in enterprise blockchain.
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New Reality Show Planning To Put Ads Between the Ads
Published: April 30, 2001
(Page 2 of 2)
But the practice has gained new life as advertisers have grown more concerned about the zapping of commercials. A show on the UPN network in 1999 inserted computer-generated images of Coca-Cola and other products into the content of a show called ''Seven Days.''
The NBC soap opera ''Passions'' built a plot line around a book that was supposedly the diary of one of the characters. The book, ''Hidden Passions,'' published by HarperCollins, became a best seller in real life. ABC's own ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' has included what Mr. Davies called ''the perfect seamless product placement,'' when the host, Regis Philbin, invokes the name of AT&T to make the calls for contestants seeking help from a friend.
But the apotheosis of recent product placement has surely been achieved by the CBS show ''Survivor.'' Contestants have worn Reebok shoes, used towels from Target stores and sated four days of hunger with generous helpings of Doritos. Last week's episode of the series contained perhaps the longest in-program commercial in television history. A contestant, Colby Donaldson, won a Pontiac Aztek automobile in a competition in the Australian Outback, where the show takes place. Overjoyed, Mr. Donaldson gushed for several minutes over what he described as the car's elegant interior and roomy cargo hold. Pontiac Aztek is a sponsor of the show.
Mr. Shaw said, ''Placement has been used effectively on 'Survivor,' though I think bringing out those bags of Doritos when they were starving seemed a bit awkward.'' Advertisers paid roughly $12 million each to sponsor ''Survivor.''
The roster of potential sponsors for ''The Runner,'' Mr. Shaw said, could easily include everyone from McDonald's to Home Depot to The Gap. ''We've already had a number of people approach us,'' Mr. Shaw said. Pepsi was on board early, grabbing an exclusive on the soft-drink sponsorship.
The best opportunities for placement, Mr. Shaw said, are likely to come during the tasks the runner must accomplish to add to his money total. He or she may get as many as 20 assignments over 13 weeks, and several of those would be related to sponsors. McDonald's, for instance, might sign up in hopes of receiving valuable screen time, increased traffic at some locations, positions on the show's accompanying Web site, and mentions in the clues that will be posted both on the Web site and on other ABC shows like ''Good Morning America.''
The potential benefit to such advertisers is unpredictable, and, at the moment, incalculable, Mr. Shaw said. ''I don't know how to monetize this or find the formula for what to charge,'' he said. ''McDonald's could get three minutes and 11 seconds of screen time. You can't do something formulaic like charge a price for each second of screen time.''
Instead, he said, ABC is likely to structure deals so that sponsors of ''The Runner'' increase their entire spending budget with the network.
But he emphasized that he would plan to sell only six or eight of the tasks, saving the others for noncommercial locations like the Bronx Zoo.
He also said clues would not be too specific about where the runner might be on a given day, to avoid the prospect of ''100,000 people turning up at a McDonald's in Cleveland.''
Beyond the sponsored tasks, ABC will be looking to sell other aspects of the runner's on-camera life.
''If he needs a car we could see the front of a Chevy Monte Carlo, and then the back,'' Mr. Shaw said. ''We could be inside the car for some time.''


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Sony playstation data of millions of customers stolen
Huge data theft at the electronics giant Sony: Hacker drew information about the 77 million customers of the Playstation Network as well as the streaming service from Qriocity.
Hackers have captured the data of millions of customers of the online services of the electronics giant Sony. An unknown person had gained access to personal information such as name, address, e-mail or date of birth, warned the company about 77 million users of the Playstation Network as well as video and music services Qriocity. Also, logins and passwords had been spied on present knowledge, may also include a list of purchases.
Although there currently is no evidence that even credit card details were skimmed off, "we can not leave this entirely out of consideration," Sony, in his company blog . Customers should now be particularly vigilant to sit up any fraud, and check their account.
The hacker or were of 17 to 19 April entered the customer databases. Sony was then shut down its online services completely. When they run again, leaving open the Group. In U.S. media, it was said, until then, could still take a week.
About the PlayStation Network, users can play together, chat and watch movies. More and more games for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, the mobile now have online components. Under the name Qriocity the Group distributes music and videos again. Most of the customers of both services is from Germany.
Who is behind the attack remained unclear. A guess is that the attack might have been an act of revenge, after Sony Playstation hackers sued two . The young man who had been hacked Apple's iPhone cracked, the protective mechanism of the console so that you copied to and were able to run self-made games - despite the fact that the Playstation was protected very well. For instructions, he published on the web. According to the lawsuit, the group settled out of court and the hacker. He had to promise not to distribute more of the hacker software and then wrote in a blog that he join a boycott of Sony products.
Anonymous activists of the network at the beginning of April of the dispute hacker attacks on Web sites launched for Sony, denied responsibility for the theft from him. Although it could be that this is one of independent action by Anonymous constitutes, it said in a blog entry . The network itself has nothing to do and do not take any responsibility for any consequences of the hack. Sony called the activists "incompetent".


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boot Düsseldorf 2021 will be held on a new date: from April 17 – 25, 2021 at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Due to the continuing high COVID-19 infection numbers across Europe, the event cannot be held at its original dates January 23 – 31, 2021. Messe Düsseldorf postponed boot after close consultation with its partners and exhibitors who support this decision and have opted in favor of the new dates. By announcing the new dates early, Messe Düsseldorf also gives exhibitors planning security for preparing their trade fair participation and transporting their boats and yachts.
According to Wolfram Diener, president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, the new dates for boot Düsseldorf send a positive signal to the water sports industry.
“At the present moment in time, we cannot reliably determine whether a trade fair can be implemented in January 2021. This is due to current COVID-19 infection rates, ongoing travel restrictions and existing legal stipulations which do not permit trade fairs to be held currently. In consultation with our boot advisory board and the associations we have selected the new dates in April carefully. Statements from numerous experts have led us to believe that it is highly probable the situation will improve in almost all European countries by spring 2021 on account of the measures currently in place,” Diener said. “With CARAVAN SALON in September 2020 we have already demonstrated that trade fairs can also be held successfully in COVID-19 times while offering everyone involved the greatest possible protection. The exhibitors can now focus on the new dates and continue their preparations. We will concentrate from now on to prepare the best possible and successful platform for the boating and water sports business.”
“After many talks with exhibitors, associations and partners we have chosen the new dates very carefully although we know that it is difficult to fulfill everybody’s wish,” boot Project Director Petros Michelidakis added. “Moving boot to April will also accommodate the purchasing and booking behavior of many water sports enthusiasts. Long-term planning of vacations and leisure activities will not be possible in the coming months and we believe that boot Düsseldorf held in April will be welcomed for the planning of the boating and water sports activities for the rest of the year.”
With this move boot follows the request of the industry to postpone boot Düsseldorf and to present an information and order platform for water sports enthusiasts and the business community in spring 2021.
Representing the exhibiting industry, boot President Robert Marx praised Messe Düsseldorf’s decision.
“We as the industry very much support postponing boot to April. After the extension of


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The computer was one of just 200 Apple-1 computers marketed by its founders - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The winner of Saturday's auction was a German engineer who collects old computers.
One of the earliest Apple-1 computers, still in working condition after 40 years, sold for $125,000 (110,000 euros) at an auction in Cologne Saturday.
Despite the extraordinary price, it sold for much less than the expected 180,000-300,000 euros - suggesting that the spike in prices following the death of Apple's co-founder in 2011 is over.
"From our point of view we are back at normal levels. Five years after the death of [Apple co-founder] Steve Jobs the 'hype' has settled back," said Uwe Breker, who oversaw the auction in Cologne.
Breker's auction house specializes in selling technical antiques. It was also involved in a 2013 sale of another Apple-I, which fetched 516,000 euros.
A German engineer
The model auctioned off Saturday, whose original owner was a Californian engineer, still had its receipt, its operating manual and other documents.
"[The Apple 1] was one of the first opportunities for someone to possess a real computer. I'd been working with computers for a while but they were huge," original owner John J. Dryden, who bought the Apple in 1976, said Friday.
Dryden admitted that parting with the machine was wrenching, but said the time had come as he had not used it in a long time.
The computer was one of around 200 Apple-1 units marketed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who developed and built it.
bik/jlw (dpa, AFP)


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Founded by Naina Ruhail, Prateek Ruhail and Sahil Shrestha in September 2018, Vanity Wagon claims to have sold over 1,20,000 products since its launch and has grown 5x since 2019.
Vanity Wagon is building a cohesive market in the clean beauty industry, that is a one stop destination for Clean Beauty enthusiasts. At present their operations extend to over 50,000 pin codes across India with 85 brands, and Vanity Wagon now plans to on–board 70 more brands, 50,000 new users by 2021.
“Being a believer in Clean Beauty, I realised that now its time for India to have its own clean beauty destination. When I spoke with the founders of Vanity Wagon, I realised how good a team they are to implement this and immediately knew this is going to be big. Further embarking on my journey as a mother I wish to use only safe and certified products for my baby and shopping these becomes much easier with Vanity Wagon” said Anita.
The clean beauty industry has been growing steadily at over 50% year on year and with the advent of a host of new brands, the space is looking to jump the growth even further. With a large amount of investments flowing in clean beauty brands, such as mamaearth, moms co, Arata, the future of Clean Beauty in India definitely looks bright.
Anita has been an active investor in startups, with bets on companies such as Natures Tattva and TheBagTalk.
User :- Priyanka Shah