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When you read a research report featuring survey responses from your peers, the ideal scenario is to see data that helps point towards a new strategy or an action you need to take. When Canadian CMOs look at the recent findings from the 2016 CMO Survey, however, I suspect the most common reaction will be a simple “Phew!”
Conducted in partnership with Deloitte, the American Marketing Association and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the CMO Survey of several hundred marketing leaders indicates spending in the function will go up more than 6.9% over the next year, mostly as you would expect, with a 3.2% decrease in traditional advertising and a 13.2% increase in digital spending. When you break that down further, however, it gets a lot more interesting.
Social media, for example, currently makes up 10.6% of marketing budgets today, higher than 5.9% for mobile tools and 6.7% for marketing analytics. Yet social media also ranked proportionally lower in terms of how CMOs feel it contributes to the company performance, at 3.1 out of seven, where seven would indicate strong performance.
In presenting the recent findings, Deloitte quoted its own CMO, Diana O’Brien, to put it in context:
The findings show that while social, mobile and analytics spending is on the rise, they’re falling short when it comes to boosting the bottom line. It’s clear that more data doesn’t always equate to more insight, and new technology has no intrinsic value to marketers unless it helps a company better understand its customers and enhances the customer experience.
I can actually think of a couple reasons why social has yet to pay off for a lot of marketing departments. First, social media services in general have yet to perfect the features they offer advertisers. This was reflected in LinkedIn’s recent decision to shut down its ad network, but you also need to take into account that Facebook Canvas and Twitter First View are still in their infancy. Despite years of hype and speculation about the benefits of social media for brands, this is far from a mature space.
The other problem is marketing departments, in many cases, haven’t figured out how to use social media in organic (read: non-paid), authentic ways to tell their stories. Some are optimizing it as a customer service channel, which might be great if it takes some of the workload off call centres, but that’s not the same thing as having meaningful conversations with your customers. In that sense, the relationship between brands and their audience on social media is still the equivalent of a first date — somewhat interested, somewhat awkward, and still a long way from relaxed and trusting.
And finally, of course, there’s the difficulty of attribution and integration of social as a channel within everything else on the marketing department spends on. This is not unique to social media, of course. In fact, only 3.5% of execs told the CMO Survey they felt they were effective at putting together customer information across purchasing, social and other forms of communication. You can’t really get to this in social media, however, unless you’ve already dealt with the first two challenges I’ve described above.
The real focus for CMOs, however, shouldn’t simply be justifying the cost and value of social media to what the marketing department does. The focus should be on what the overall business objectives are and optimizing social media efforts to reach those objectives faster. If you haven’t figured that out yet, this research should at least make you feel a little less alone — sort of like the power of social media.


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The great pumpkin state: When it comes to pumpkins, Illinois is No. 1
Illinoisans can't brag much about sports this fall (search "Chicago Bears abysmal,' "Cubs wild-card desperation," and let's not even talk about the White Sox.)
But we can chant, "We're No. 1!" with pride, as the pumpkin provider to the nation.
And despite a rough start to the season, Illinois is poised to retain the title, according to Raghela Scavuzzo, associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau.
"We actually had a good year," Scavuzzo said, despite the drought of May and June that affected germination. "Chicago will not have a shortage."
She anticipates this year's crop will weigh at least 650 million pounds. In 2021, 652 million pounds of the gourd were gathered, according to the Agriculture Department's Census of Agriculture, more than the next five states combined.
Nationally, Americans have consumed more than 5 pounds of pumpkin per person per year for about two decades, according to the agriculture census.
Illinois has 15,900 acres devoted to pumpkins, more than twice that of any of the other top six pumpkin-raising states, according to the USDA.
There are two types of pumpkin businesses in Illinois; Those that make money off jack-o'-lanterns, and those that make pumpkin pie possible. Illinois really rules the latter -- about 80% of the acreage is devoted to pumpkins for processing.
We have "one of the best soils to grow in," Scavuzzo said. Pumpkins like a well-drained soil, a little on the dry side, she noted.
Downstate Morton -- home to the Libby's pumpkin processing plant -- proclaims itself the pumpkin capital of the world. The plant was built in 1925 and has been devoted exclusively to pumpkins since 1970, Scavuzzo said.
Another large processor, Seneca Foods, is about 25 miles away, in Princeville.
There are thousands of pumpkin possibilities, but Libby's has a proprietary seed. It produces pumpkins with a thicker rind and creamier flesh than the kind you carve up. Processing pumpkins are usually meatier and sweeter.
For the decor
The other pumpkin industry? Those that produce what you put on your porch for Halloween.
"We are seeing a change in what people are buying," Scavuzzo said.
Lloyd Goebbert, 60, and Jacob Goebbert, 36, co-owners of Goebbert's Farm in Pingree Grove, confirm that. Besides your traditional orange, Goebbert's has white pumpkins, warty pumpkins, and some small pie pumpkins -- "the oddballs," Lloyd Goebbert calls them. But mainly, it is the Adonis and Olympus orange fruits that provide Halloween decor.
Lloyd Goebbert's father, Jim, started with a vegetable farm near the former Arlington Park racetrack in Arlington Heights in the 1950s. The operation moved to South Barrington in 1972, and his children started selling pumpkins from a roadside stand.
Pumpkin sales got so busy that they started the "Fall Festival," and Jim Goebbert had the legendary "Happy Jack" 18-by-15-foot jack-o'-lantern decoration installed atop a silo in South Barrington.
"That turned into a genius thought," Lloyd Goebbert said.
Goebbert's maintains a garden center in South Barrington but moved the growing to Pingree Grove in 1985.
The Goebberts now grow pumpkins on 85 acres. They also grow about 80 acres of field and sweet corn, and 50 acres of other vegetables, including beets, tomatoes, peppers and melons.
They added an apple orchard in 2017, and the Fall Festival now features a variety of family-oriented amusements.
Goebbert's sells prepicked pumpkins in its stores in South Barrington and Pingree Grove, and pick-your-own at Pingree Grove. They don't sell much wholesale -- although another of Lloyd's children, James, has his own nearby farm for that.
Lloyd Goebbert said production is down because of the dry weather -- pumpkins are about 90% water -- and yield also was reduced by a virus. Normally, they aim for 15 tons of pumpkins per acre, but this year he thinks it will be 10 to 12 tons.
But, "the quality is very good," he added.

domain: news


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OnePlus 8T and 8T Pro may enter the market soon. Recently, a new phone from OnePlus has been spotted on the sellmarking website Geekbench. It is being considered as OnePlus 8T or 8T Pro. If we look at the trend of the company, it usually launches the 'T' variant of the original model after 6 months. In such a situation, the hope of launching this phone this year has increased significantly.
Snapdragon 865 processor will be found in the phone
The model number of the smartphone seen in the Geekbench listing is OnePlus KB2001. This listing, uploaded on July 29, pointed to the phone's processor, RAM and Android version. This phone of OnePlus can come with the Octa-core Snapdragon 865 processor. The phone will work on Android 11 and will get 8 GB of RAM.
Good marks in core testing
In single core test, this phone got 912 marks. At the same time, the score of the phone in the multi-core test was 3,288. Two special things are understood about the phone in the listing. The first is why the company is offering Snapdragon 865 processor in the phone when Snapdragon 865+ is coming in smartphones. The absence of Snapdragon 865+ processor is being speculated that it will be the OnePlus 8T.
Can be launched by the end of the year
The second point of the listing that caught everyone's attention is that Android 11 OS will be given in the phone. Everyone knows that Google has not yet released its stable version. This new OS of Google is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year. At the same time, in the case of OnePlus, the company has been launching smartphones with 'T' variant in October or November. According to this, the entry of this new phone of OnePlus can be done by the end of this year.


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Home > Lifestyle > Women > Fashion
Wednesday February 5, 2014 MYT 1:35:00 PM
Wednesday February 5, 2014 MYT 1:43:59 PM
Selena Gomez for Adidas NEO Label.
Find videos and win prizes.
AMERICAN singer and actress Selena Gomez is due to launch her Spring/Summer 2014 line with Adidas NEO on Feb 12. In the meantime, the brand has revealed, she will offer up sneak peeks of the collection through a series of self-shot films to be posted online over the coming week.
Called #NEOsneakpeek, the campaign will see a new film released daily beginning on Feb 5, with each offering a preview of pieces from the collection and giving insight into Gomez’s inspirations as guest designer for the label.
Fans will be able to find the videos – each of which will be live for just 24 hours – using clues posted at twitter.com/selenagomez and http://www.twitter.com/adidasneolabel twitter.com/adidasneolabel.
Those who uncover the videos will have the chance of winning items from the range, and when the campaign ends on Feb 12 with the launch of the full range, a Twitter contest will give one fan the chance to meet Gomez.
Selena Gomez, now 21, was announced as the face of the youth-oriented NEO label in 2012, and in July she launched her first collection with the label, including 53 pieces all designed for teenage girls.
Claire Midwood, Vice President of the Adidas NEO Label, calls the latest line “a rebellious collection”.
The line will be available on adidas.com, in NEO stores and in other retailer locations around the world. – AFP Relaxnews
Tags / Keywords:
Lifestyle, Selena Gomez, Adidas, NEO label
Talented pair win footie event to mark launch of new football boots
Adidas to consider sale of struggling golf brands
From top star to bad boy: Is Justin Bieber a changed person?
What did Justin Bieber do to earn his bad boy reputation?
Adidas unveils new innovation for runners
More in store for MFW 2015
Best, fresh mee udang in Penang
Jobless woman happy to own a house
Glamping weekend getaway a success with participants wanting to go again
Plenty of colour – besides yellow – at Bersih 4
Five unusual ways to build endurance for a marathon
Chua: Treasury to look into the matter following appeals
Seamers put India in control of deciding test in Colombo
Bersih 4: Dr Mahathir’s presence at rally disappointing, says Salleh
Copyright © 1995-2015 Star Media Group Berhad (ROC 10894D)(Formerly known as Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad)


text: Bill Weiss took to Instagram yesterday to announce that Yuto Horigome is no longer on the Blind team. Horigome won three out of four SLS contests in 2018, and will undoubtedly skate on Japan’s Olympic team when the country hosts the 2020 Games next year. He boasts a repertoire that includes extremely tech ledge tricks, 30-stair handrails, and casual padless 540s on vert. In short, Horigome is one of the hottest commodities in skateboarding currently, and has likely been fielding offers left and right. Your guess is as good as ours on where he will go next. We’re looking squarely in the direction of Shane O’Neills soon-to-be-unveiled brand. We’re sure that more information will come to light soon. For now, view Weiss’s announcement below.


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High-fashion brands Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermès, Prada, and Burberry all announced they are temporarily discontinuing business in Russia.
Prada shared the announcement yesterday on its LinkedIn. “From today, the Prada Group suspends its retail operations in Russia. Our primary concern is for all colleagues and their families affected by the tragedy in Ukraine, and we will continue to support them,” the statement read.
Chanel also said on LinkedIn that it is closing its boutiques in Russia for now and has already stopped deliveries to the country and suspended e-commerce.
Hermès wrote in a statement on LinkedIn, “Deeply concerned by the situation in Europe at this time, it’s with regret that we have taken the decision to temporarily close our stores in Russia and pause all our commercial activities from March the 4th evening. We will continue to stand by our local teams.”
Kering, which owns Gucci, said it is temporarily closing its stores in Russia “for its Houses that the Group operates directly in the country.” Gucci has 13 stores in Russia, according to its website.
A spokesperson for Burberry told Bloomberg that the brand has stopped making shipments to Russia until further notice due to “operational challenges.” Its two stores and one concession in the country have not been closed.
LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, said that it would close its more than 120 stores in Russia starting yesterday, a spokesperson told The New York Times, adding that it will continue to pay its 3,500 employees in the country.
Richemont also announced that it suspended commercial activities in Russia and temporarily stopped operations in Ukraine due to safety. The company owns luxury brands Azzedine Alaïa, Cartier, Chloé, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, and Van Cleef & Arpels, among others. On LinkedIn, Richemont said it gave a significant donation to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to help provide emergency response activities, basic aid items, medical supplies, and support to the people of Ukraine.
Luxury online retailers Net-a-Porter and Farfetch have also suspended deliveries in Russia, according to WSJ. The news comes after Bloomberg‘s report last week that wealthy Russians were buying designer jewelry and watches in an effort to preserve the value of their money amid the decline of the ruble due to Western sanctions.
Sportswear giants Adidas, Nike, and Puma have also taken action. Adidas suspended its partnership with the Russian Football Union, Nike stopped online sales in Russia and closed its stores in the country, and Puma stopped all deliveries to Russia, Reuters reported. The news came after FIFA and UEFA announced that they suspended Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions “until further notice.”
Under Armour also stopped all shipments to Russia, and went a step further by voicing support for Ukraine in a statement posted on Instagram on March 3.
“Like the rest of the world, we are shocked and saddened by Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. At Under Armour, one of our values is Stand for Equality. We believe in the power of democracy, the ultimate team sport,” the brand said. “We are partnering with humanitarian groups to provide what is needed for those displaced and have also stopped all shipments into our sales channels in Russia. We are proud to stand with Ukraine against Russia’s attack on their democracy and will do what we can as a global company where standing for equality matters.”
H&M Group also condemned Russia’s attack, saying it is “deeply concerned about the tragic developments in Ukraine and stand with all the people who are suffering.” The company temporarily closed its stores in Ukraine for the safety of customers and colleagues, and announced on March 2 that it would temporarily pause all sales in Russia. The decision is important, as Russia is the company’s sixth-largest market, according to the BBC.
Retailers ASOS and Boohoo have also suspended sales in Russia, per Reuters. “Against the backdrop of the continuing war, ASOS has decided that it is neither practical nor right to continue to trade in Russia,” an ASOS spokesperson told the outlet.
This article originally appeared in Harper’s BAZAAR US


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Canvass Analytics, a Toronto, Canada-based industrial AI company, closed US$6.5m Series A funding round.
The round, which brought the total investment to date to US$13m, was led by Yamaha Motor Ventures and Laboratory Silicon Valley, Inc., the strategic business development and investment arm of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, with participation from existing investors Real Ventures, BDC, EDC, and Viaduct Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its go-to-market efforts, accelerate product development, and support its customer base of large global enterprises in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific markets.
Founded in 2016 and led by Humera Malik, CEO, Canvass Analytics is a provider of AI industrial software. Its patent-pending technology enables intelligent industrial operations by putting AI directly in the hands of plant operators, empowering them with data-driven insights to improve production processes and optimize assets. Developed specifically for the industrial sector, large global manufacturing and oil and gas enterprises – including many Fortune 500 companies – use Canvass AI to optimize production processes, generate new revenue streams, and reduce energy and operating costs.
The company’s solution is used in the food and beverage, chemicals, metals and mining, and oil and gas industries. Canvass AI also offers its product through partnerships with Microsoft and OSIsoft.


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As part of an expansion of its global aftermarket distribution and service network, SAF-Holland has opened a new parts distribution center in Queretaro, Mexico.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony, held on July 10, included SAF-Holland executives Detlef Borghardt, CEO; Alexander Geis, president, Aftermarket Business Unit; and Ken Hurst, executive vice president, Powered Vehicle Business Unit.
The facility, which is more than 12,000 sq. ft., will serve the Mexican market. Rodolfo Sanchez, director of sales and marketing, heads up the new Parts Distribution Center in Queretaro.
“Our customers appreciate our strong global network of service stations and product distribution centers. We thereby ensure the global supply of spare parts for them at all times”, said Geis.


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Vivo is the new entry in Pakistani mobile phone market, and with this, it has joined the league of several other Chinese smartphone manufacturers who are already making the industry full of choices for the consumers.
The global giant, which claims that it comes at number five position in terms of mobile shipments, had its mega launch last night in Lahore that seemingly looked way too different than what we have witnessed in case of other Chinese brands over the years. Unlike Oppo, Tecno and Xiaomi, it more sounded like getting the inspiration from the old launch events of Huawei when they were in full swing.
Despite some glitches, which of course occurred due to late entry of audience, there appeared more mingling of Chinese and Pakistanis, and the respect of each other’s culture was quite palpable. We are not sure yet that how good the strategy of appointing local CEOs for every city would turn out to be, but the mobile phone dealers looked more connected and involved with their Chinese partners.
There were music and dance performances from both sides later in the event and then a dedicated effort from Chinese to explain everything in Urdu throughout the event in front of Pakistani audience was more engaging and appreciative for local people.
For the first time Chinese dance in Pakistan on stage from a mobile companycc: Vivo Pakistan#VivoPakistan #VivoV7Plus #MoreNews
Posted by More News on Thursday, 5 October 2017
Future Roadmap of Vivo
And quite contrary to the leading brands in Pakistan, Vivo explained their future strategy for the country with much clarity. While describing the roadmap, the CEO for Pakistan Eric Kong told the audience that;
- Vivo will make $ 30 million initial investment to boost online and offline trade platforms.
- They will make use of all the medium for advertising including TV, Social Media, Print and Outdoor
- Since celebrities have a significant role to play for a brand to get registered in people’s mind, Vivo will also work with leading celebrities in Pakistan. But, for now, they will hang on with Ranvir Singh for V7+ phone before they start developing local acquaintances.
- Vivo plans to open some 2000 experience stores and exclusive shops in the coming two years.
- They are currently operating their customer service centers in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala. However, it is much in the plans to expand the network in other cities as well.
- They plan to create a front-line market force of around 10,000 people with 99% of Pakistan human resource in it.
Kong’s concluding remarks were, “we want to make strong roots in Pakistan” and he further went on to say, “Love Pakistan, Love Vivo.”


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In the 2016 patent race in the United States, Samsung Electronics placed second.
According to U.S.-based IFI Claims Patent Services on Tuesday, Samsung won over 55-hundred patents in the U.S. last year, a near nine-percent increase from 2015.
The Korean tech giant's position can be attributed in part to its spending on research and development.
Samsung spent over 14 billion U.S. dollars on research and development in 2015, making it second only to Volkswagen, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, and it applied for patents related to smartphones, smart TVs and memory chip products.
U.S. tech giant IBM ranked number one.
IBM saw the number of patents it earned increase nearly 10 percent from the previous year.
It secured over 8-thousand patents in 2016, or close to 22 patents a day.
Over 27-hundred of the company's patents were in the fields of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
The other companies that made the top ten in 2016 included Cannon, Qualcomm, Google and LG Electronics, which ranked seventh.
Apple was edged out of the top ten and placed 11th.
According to IFI Claims, 2016 saw the most patents granted in a single year, with over 30-thousand utility patents granted.
"More IT companies are filing patent applications as a form of defense, to prevent other firms from filing lawsuits, which could cost an astronomical amount in damages."
Given the growing number of patent applications last year, IFI Claims Patent Services CEO Mike Baycroft said Korea, China and Taiwan are likely to capture an even larger share of the U.S. patent market next year.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.


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For residents of East Africa, like much of the world, this is the first Christmas they are celebrating with fully opened economies after the two agonising years of Covid-19 lockdowns.
Traditionally, in Uganda, shoppers throng downtown Kampala at the start of every December for all kinds of goods for the festive season. It’s boom time for businesses, a scene replicated across major towns in East Africa: Travel to the countryside, crowded shopping malls, and overbooked hotels are the hallmarks of the festive season.
But 2022 is proving different for Kampala. With inflation and precautions around Covid-19 and Ebola, the heavy foot traffic characteristic of downtown Kampala is conspicuously missing – keeping many businesses, especially those in the leisure sector, pessimistic about this year’s festive season.
Even though a string of music concerts have been heavily advertised in Kampala, event organisers admit they don’t expect much turn out due to the knock-on effects of Covid-19, Ebola and rising prices of goods and services.
“We expect less turn up this time because people are generally poor. The economy is in silent recession,” said Balaam Barugahara, a leading Ugandan events organiser.
Party after party
In Kampala, Christmas season celebrations usually involve partying in every nook and cranny of the city, from the exotic hotels to small neighbourhood bars; parties that start on Christmas Eve and end on Boxing Day.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, New Year’s Eve was always the wildest night of the year for Kampalans. Party-goers ensured the streets remained jam-packed and annoyingly chaotic throughout the night as millions of people descended on the city to ring in the New Year.
Churchgoers would throng the main stadiums – Nambole and Nakivubo, while others would go to the Kololo ceremonial grounds to usher in the New Year, with the presence of President Yoweri Museveni at some of these celebrations.
Many would also travel to the countryside to feast with long-lost relatives and friends.
But the current high cost of fuel and other goods means few Kampalans can embark on the long journeys home. For example, a journey that used to take $50 worth of fuel now takes over $80.
Barugahara told The EastAfrican that the situation is made worse by the fact that movement in some areas, including Mubende and Kassanda districts, is currently restricted, with bars, churches and entertainment centres closed, transport frozen and night curfews starting at 7pm due to the Ebola outbreak.
However, the well-off are still faring well financially, bolstering high-end resorts and keeping hospitality businesses optimistic.
In the luxury holiday destination of the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria – which has traditionally been most Kampalans’ favourite festive season destination – many plush resorts are fully-booked until the end of the festive season.
At the Victoria Forest Resort, which is arguably Ssese Islands’ most luxurious hotel, all the 50 rooms that go for between $150 and $280 sold out weeks ago for the remaining days of December.
“All our rooms have been booked for the rest of December as is always the case around this time of the year,” said Emmanuel Mugisha, the manager.
Closed shop for good
Many businesses closed shop for good during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, leaving many Ugandans with little or no incomes.
And even those that survived the Covid blues have not fared well in 2022 due to the rising prices that have cut down consumer spending power.
Still, the lingering effects of Covid-19 can be felt in the economies as can the adverse impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and climate change that has resulted in drought, and low crop yields and animal productivity.
Prices have gone up by 10.6 percent in November, far faster than the 2.8 percent pace in 2020 and and 2.2 percent in 2021.
The situation is grim in areas outside Kampala where the majority of the people depend on subsistence farming, a sector that has been hard hit by prolonged drought, resulting in reduced crop yields that have left many hungry and poor.
“During the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, people had money to spend. My business didn’t struggle at all,” said Jovia Kabasindi, whose bar targets low-income consumers in Hoima City, about 200km northwest of Kampala.
This year, however, Kabasindi says the festive season doesn’t promise any merry as her clients are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.
“My sales have reduced by more than 50 percent because of the high prices of almost everything. Many people cannot afford to buy alcohol anymore because it’s now more expensive. I don’t expect my sales to increase even during the festive season,” she said.
In Tanzania, soaring prices of commodities, especially food, threaten cheerful Christmas celebrations.
“Going to the market yesterday, I found myself singing that Bongo Flava song ‘Sauti ya Watu’ by Nay Wa Mitego. Truth be told, food prices have shot up greatly and they keep on increasing day by day. I bought a kilo of meat last month at Tsh8,000 ($3.42), today they are telling me it’s Tsh10,000 ($4.27) per kilo,” said Happy Mjema, Kilimanjaro resident.
Despite the fact that Tanzania has the lowest inflation rate in the region, prices for food and non-food products increase day by day.
Mjema isn’t the only person shocked by the increase in prices for food products. Edister Mbimbi, a resident of Kibaha which is 40km from Dar es Salaam, said a kilo of sugar is now Tsh3,000 ($1.28) from about Tsh1,500 ($0.64) a year ago, while a kilo of meat is currently sold at between Tsh9,000 ($3.84) and Tsh10,000 ($4.27) from Tsh3,000 a few months back.
“If you go to the market with last month’s prices in mind you will be disappointed. Foods such as rice, sugar, beans, beef and fruits keep increasing in prices day by day. I even wonder how we are going to survive this Christmas and New Year celebrations,” said Mbimbi.
Cannot afford to travel
When asked about her plans for Christmas, Lilian Jacob shared that she will be staying in the city since she cannot afford to travel.
“Christmas used to be memorable and all cheerful a year or two back. Now life has changed; everything costs more than it used to a year ago,” she said.
Latest data from Tanzania’s National Bureau of Statistics shows the annual inflation rate rose for the seventh straight month to 4.9 percent in October from 4.8 percent the previous month.
This was the highest rate since October 2017, and was mainly caused by soaring prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport and furnishings and household equipment.
Beatrice Materu and Gilbert Mwijuke


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EU regulators will reportedly seek more information about the two companies, their potential 50/50 partnership, and the music business in general to determine whether the deal violates EU rules. If approved, a Sony-BMG merger would cut the music industry's "Big Five" major labels to four. EU regulators previously blocked a similar proposal that would have combined EMI Group PLC and Warner Music Group, Inc.
London-based EMI Group PLC on April 8 denied reports that it had inflated sales figures. As part of California State Senator Kevin Murray's investigation of the recording industry, Gene Rumsey, a former executive vice president at EMI Music Distribution, had told California legislators that EMI often hired independent consultants to distort figures reported to Nielsen SoundScan.
Rumsey testified that EMI's independent marketing consultants gave free copies of albums to retailers who then scanned the records more times than they actually sold it to boost sales figures, according to Dow Jones Newswires. An EMI official said the testimony was "a red herring attempt by Avatar Records to divert from a lawsuit EMI has filed to recover more than $1 million Avatar owes EMI from a former distribution deal." The case is still pending.
Rosy sales reports may have lead to a run-up in EMI stock, according to April 1 reports. Stock value of EMI Group PLC more than tripled over the past year, and has continued to gain as the company twice announced that it was shedding "underperforming artists" and cutting back its workforce. EMI is the corporate umbrella for the Beatles, Coldplay, Lenny Kravitz, and Norah Jones, among many others. "EMI's recorded-music sales for the just-ended fiscal year are going to be 'close' to the previous year's level," read one financial report, quoting a company statement. EMI is the only publicly traded company in the music industry.
Apple vs Apple: On April 7, High Court Judge Martin Mann ruled that London would be the venue for a renewed trademark battle between Apple Computer, Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd, the Beatles' record company. Mann rejected a proposal from Cupertino, CA–based Apple Computer that the case be tried in California. Formed in 1977, Apple Computer was reportedly named after the Beatles' label by founder Steve Jobs, a fan of the Fab Four.
The two companies reached agreements in 1981 and 1991 limiting Apple Computer to use of the name for computer products only. The record label claims that the computer company's new iTunes music download service violates that agreement. Judge Mann said he based his venue ruling on the fact that the prior agreements were signed under English law. He also confessed to owning an iPod player.


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CaptionPlus: the app for brands to turn pictures into stories
CaptionPlus app - one of the winners of AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge
It is said, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. But sometimes, a picture remains incomplete without the words. According to international social media marketing firm Socialbakers, posts with explanatory text overlay generated 41 percent more interactions on average over the course of 2017. This was one of the underlying rationale behind— one of the winners of the government's AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge.
Worldwide, storytellers, content creators, and influencers have been brainstorming to produce quirky, engaging, and connecting captions to images. India is no different. With more than 500 million smartphone users, 281 million Facebook users, and 100 million Instagram users, the country is gradually becoming a hub of social media influencers.
In 2018, three Delhi University students, Rahul Maurya, Anurag Kumar, and Jitendra Yadav found this an opportunity to help content creators. The trio launched CaptionPlus in beta in August 2018 with zero monetary investment after initial market research and studying profiles of thousands of people.
“We intend to build a super app and not just an application that can bridge all the gaps between multiple stages of content creation. Since we are all technology students, we started with design, technology, and the Android app part ourselves,” says Maurya.
In two years since the beta launch as a simple repository of captions and hashtags, the app has now integrated an AI engine, which can show users contextual captions and hashtags to the images. This is similar to the tags or emoji options one can get while doing the SEO optimisation or drafting any social media message.
The humble beginnings
The three co-founders met each other by chance during their internship at Design Innovation Center (DIC). The trio was doing multiple projects providing client assistance, software support, and campaigns as part of the company TLine Infotech.
“While doing these projects, we realised the importance of captions in gaining engagement across social media platforms for the images we were posting both from the personal or promotion aspects,” says Maurya.
So they hired an intern, asked her to write some captions and uploaded a simple beta version on the app store. The response received was phenomenal. Within two-three months, they received more than one and a half lakh of downloads. The turning point came when the founders saw sprinter Hima Das using their app for putting hashtags on her social media images.
“By August 2019, we had launched a structured application with AI engine and monetisation model in place,” he adds. A new beta version of CaptionPlus, is a full-fledged app that not only helps in finding captions or hashtags but also lets the user design stories, posts, add stylish fonts to the posts, and much more.
CaptionPlus founders: Rahul Maurya, Anurag Kumar, and Jitendra Yadav
Now targeting influencers
The startup is at present monetising through personalised advertisements from Google. The founders have multiple companies that sponsor the different categories on the app like travel and shopping, among others. CaptionPlus provides a huge opportunity for brands to be visible to a young userbase and engage with them. Users can contribute their own captions in the app and increase their popularity.
The startup is now focusing on building the nano-influencer community along with the brands. With the vernacular gaining hype amid the Indian app community, the founders are also exploring to add more languages apart from Hindi and English.
“But what is empowering is that we are receiving thousands of requests from Indonesia, Philippines, and Spain to add their language into the app.We are working on a system where we can implement more languages,” adds Maurya.
The future plans for CaptionPlus include nurturing its writer community and running paid and prized caption writing contests.


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Apple CEO Tim Cook challenges FBI demands to bypass security on iPhone linked to San Bernardino
Apple CEO Tim Cook Wednesday released an open letter to customers signifying his intent to challenge a court order for the company to bypass security on an iPhone linked to the December attacks in San Bernardino.
The order could start a legal battle in a long-simmering showdown between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. over the use of encryption.
Cook in his letter decried the "dangerous precedent" the FBI was asking Apple to set by creating a special operating system to install on the iPhone 5C the agency found during its investigation of the attacks.
Currently, the phone in question is protected by certain password protections built into iOS. Passwords must be input by hand and every incorrect guess adds a delay before you can try again. Further, there is a feature on iPhones that, if enabled, could delete all information stored on the device after 10 incorrect guesses.
The Tuesday order from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said that Apple must help the FBI bypass each of those features, meaning the agency wants to input password guesses digitally without the threat of data deletion. The court order suggests that the software used to execute such a circumvention of the security features could be developed to only work on the iPhone in the investigation, though Cook disagreed.
"The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor," Cook said. "And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control."
Cook wrote that such a tool would be a "master key" for all Apple devices, including business and personal accounts. He further pointed out that the FBI's proposal to extend its authority under the All Writs Act of 1789, rather than looking to Congress for a clear legislative directive, could open any device developed by any company to the agency.
It's not yet clear what Apple plans to do to oppose the ruling, though the order offered a five-day period for the company to apply for relief if it found the order "unreasonably burdensome." It's similarly unclear what actions the government could take against Apple if it doesn't comply.
- read the open letter from Tim Cook
- read the court order to Apple
Tech's future at stake in 2016 presidential election, experts say
For Apple in the enterprise, it's all about partnerships, Cook said
Senior federal officials set to discuss terrorism countermeasures with tech CEOs


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Sports-minded look for relief.
NEW YORK -- Sports-related injuries can occur during any season, a fact that is driving an increasing number of active people into stores year round in search of remedies for strains, sprains and sore muscles.
The latest data from Information Resources Inc. bear this out. Consumers spent $276.5 million on muscle and body support devices--an increase of 6.2%--in drug stores, supermarkets and discount stores, excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for the 52 weeks ended August 13. Sports braces have become top-sellers in drug stores, which have accounted for the lion's share of sales. The top performers in the category are BD Consumer's Ace brand and Futuro supports and braces, supplied by Beiersdorf Inc. Among the top 10 brands 3M Co.'s Nexcare saw the biggest gains, which more than tripled in dollar sales.
Makers of muscle and body supports have promoted their products heavily and emphasized innovation. Nexcare athletic supports, for example, have a Breath-O-Prene stretchable fabric lining that breathes and wicks away body moisture.
Okamoto USA Inc. has recently added a knee wrap to its Bodi Heat line of air activated heat pads. The stretchable product allows patients free movement while delivering soothing heat to an injury. Okamoto has promoted its Bodi Heat line with national magazine advertisements.
|Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback|
|Title Annotation:||Okamoto U.S.A. Inc. introduced heating pads; sports wear|
|Article Type:||Brief article|
|Date:||Oct 2, 2006|
|Previous Article:||Hot, cold therapy gets a lot easier.|
|Next Article:||Scar management answers a real need.|


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Rooibos Preserves Wine Naturally Without the Use of Synthetic Chemicals
Sulphur dioxide and other synthetic materials are traditionally added to wine to act as preservatives that lengthen the shelf life of the alcoholic beverage. This plant-based preservation method eliminates the need for artificial additives.
"I see it being drunk all over the world,” Audaicia owner Trevor Strydom told Reuters. “We registered the patent in 83 jurisdictions worldwide, we are already exporting the wine to China."
Strydom first tried rooibos in the form of tea—rooibos tea has grown in popularity in the past decade as health-minded tea drinkers have discovered its rich, earthy taste that is 100 percent caffeine-free. He began experimenting with the preservation process by putting tea bags in wine, which led to the formation of his rooibos wood preserved Merlot. He now uses rooibos wood chips in the wine making process.
"It's going to have definite effects on the global market because the market looks at competitors and especially not having to add sulphur, there's a huge advantage to the process and that changes the brand, it gives you a new brand that the health conscious world looks at so I'm pretty certain on the back of the rooibos brand that's already around the world you will definitely see traction, but then even as a standalone product because its new its innovative it's got a marketing edge and obviously if they do it cleverly they will get market share quite quickly," Alan Winde, minister of economic opportunities for the Western Cape government, told Reuters.
Rooibos is a healthier alternative to black tea, according to health guru Dr. Weil. But he doesn't tout rooibos as an herbal supplement with notable health benefits.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
"Rooibos is being heavily hyped by producers and distributors as a new health beverage," Dr Weil wrote on his website. "Unlike true tea, it is caffeine-free and low in tannins. It contains minimal amounts of calcium, potassium, iron, zinc, magnesium and much less fluoride than found in real teas. Studies have shown that rooibos does contain antioxidants and therefore might have some of the health benefits of green tea, but very little research has confirmed this. I found only 17 scientific studies of rooibos compared to more than 1,000 on green tea. So far, none suggest that rooibos is the health equivalent of green tea."
In the last decade, a handful of winemakers have been using various methods for producing wine without the use of chemicals. Look for “no added preservatives” on wine labels and check with organic wine sellers for brands without sulfur dioxide.
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Jean-Marc Neveu and Olivier Civil never expected to find themselves battling against disposable mask pollution.
When they founded their recycling start-up Plaxtil in 2017, it was textile waste they set their sights on. The project developed a process that turned fabrics into a new recyclable material they describe as "ecological plastic."
Mounting Piles of Waste
It is not only the streets of Chatellerault where pandemic pollution is piling-up, but also the world's beaches and oceans. Once there, they can take up to 450 years to degrade and disappear.

Esther Röling, co-organizer of the annual Adventure Clean Up Challenge held on Hong Kong Island, has seen this waste firsthand. In October the sports challenge pitted teams against one another in a competition to remove trash from 13 hard-to-reach coastal areas around the city.

They find tons of both disposable and reusable masks, said Röling. "You wonder how it ended up there. Was it just thrown on the ground? Or was it in a garbage bag that broke open?"

Almost 10,000 kilometers away in Antibes on the sunny French Riviera, it's a similar picture. For the past few months, divers and clean-up volunteers working with an ocean clean-up non-profit called Operation Mer Propre have been collecting an increasing number of masks found on land and in the sea.

"Since the beginning of the lockdown when we started to count, we've reached 800, 900, [and now in total] 1000 masks," said co-founder Joko Peltier.

According to UN estimates, up to 75% of all coronavirus-related plastic could end up as waste in oceans and landfills.

The Limits of Recycling
Yet not all are convinced the recycling of this waste is possible on a global scale.

"What those citizen groups are doing is really beneficial but once they collect it, it should just go to a landfill or an incinerator. They shouldn't necessarily expect it to get recycled," said Jonathan Krones, an industrial ecologist and visiting assistant professor of environmental studies at Boston College.

That's because mask recycling programs like Plaxtil are few and far between and most don't have the benefit of a readily adaptable production process.

Even in countries with solid recycling infrastructure, he says, the system is designed to separate out specific types of waste like bottles or cardboard.

"I imagine that it would be technically feasible to develop a separation process to filter out masks, but there simply aren't enough of them to make that economical," he said.

Collection is a big hurdle, he adds. Since each mask only weighs a fraction of a gram and they're scattered on roads or mixed with other trash, it is difficult and costly.

"You need a lot of raw material of the right quality to make investing in the recycling technology and the recycling system worthwhile," he said.

Hemp, Sugar Cane and Sustainable Alternatives
Some projects are instead addressing the material used to make masks.

French company Geochanvre have created a mask made primarily from hemp, while in Australia, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology are experimenting with a disposable product made from agricultural waste.

Biodegradable options are exciting alternatives to reduce the fossil fuels needed for the creation of plastic-based masks, said Krones, but they don't absolve the wearer from the responsibility of what happens afterwards.

Bio-based masks often need their own composing solutions, he explains, because in landfill they can produce high amounts of the greenhouse gas methane when anaerobic bacteria feeds on the organic material. Methane is known to be significantly more potent than carbon dioxide.

"I think as long as we have in our mind that we want to have disposability, we're going to have to wrestle with a variety of different sorts of environmental tradeoffs," he said, adding that reusable, fabric masks are the best option available to most people.

Precimask is developing a clear face covering with an optional visor made from hard plastic, designed to be long-lasting.

Air enters either side of the cheeks through a technology normally found in pool filters and car exhaust systems, said company spokeswoman Juliette Chambet.

"We wanted to make ceramic-based filters that would be washable and cleanable, which would allow them to be reused as many times as desired without having to buy a new consumable or produce waste," she said.

Ultimately, encouraging mask wearers to think about the entire lifecycle of a mask is key, explains Neveu.

"We want people who put on the masks to realize that they are also responsible for the waste, he said. "It's not inevitable that this [pandemic] will become an environmental catastrophe.

Reposted with permission from Deutsche Welle.

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Ace Blooms wants to grow the flower market for men
If you’ve ever bought flowers online, you’ve flipped through dozens of bouquets trying to decide which one says “You’re a pretty awesome grandma.” But what many buyers don’t realize is that when you send flowers, the order is being fulfilled by a florist near grandma’s house. If that’s in small town Nebraska, they might not have…
If you’ve ever bought flowers online, you’ve flipped through dozens of bouquets trying to decide which one says “You’re a pretty awesome grandma.”
But what many buyers don’t realize is that when you send flowers, the order is being fulfilled by a florist near grandma’s house. If that’s in small town Nebraska, they might not have the same flowers as a shop in Minneapolis or Chicago. Sometimes substitutions have to be made and what grandma ends up getting looks nothing like the stock photo you saw online.
The Des Moines-based startup Ace Blooms is looking to simplify the ordering process and help smaller florists build bouquets with their best flowers, rather than trying to recreate a stock photo out of the stock on hand.
How Ace Blooms works
Co-founders Shawn Harrington, Justin Schoen and Lyndsay Horgan launched Goquets in 2014, taking the company through the Iowa Startup Accelerator in 2015. Goquets still exists, but while going through the accelerator, the trio decided they wanted to target a more specific audience and for the the company to have more of a unique voice.
As a result, they spun off Ace Blooms earlier this year. The company labels itself as “The way men buy flowers online.”
“We wanted to fill the needs of the male market, and it’s something women like too,” Harrington said. “They want something to point their husbands and boyfriends to.”
When Harrington was living in upstate New York, he would visit the local florist for flowers for his mom and grandma. He would tell them how much he wanted to spend, and what occasion the flowers were for. When he would order flowers online, he didn’t get similar options, and was often disappointed in the results.
“It really burned me that one time I spent half an hour picking out bouquets, based on the pictures online. When I saw a picture of what was sent, it was completely different from what I ordered,” Harrington said. “I called to complain and the florist apologized and said they were limited in their stock, but if I told them my budget, they could have taken good care of me.”
When ordering from Ace Blooms, the site starts by asking who the flowers are for, letting you pick “girlfriend,” “wife” and “mother” with a single click. You also mark the occasion (“birthday,” “anniversary” and “congratulations” are all quick pick options), when you would like them delivered and how much you want to spend, ranging from $50-$130.
After placing an order, it is sent to a local florist who builds a personalized bouquet. There’s also an optional preferences field, if you want to specify that aunt Helen loves daises.
Planning for perennial business
Harrington said Ace Blooms might have 15-20 orders on an average day, but that can shoot up to more than 100 per day when a big holiday rolls around. Because Ace Blooms works with florists in all 50 states, there’s no issue scaling up orders when something like Grandparents Day, or the florists Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, rolls around.
Ace Blooms was recently a part of 1 Million Cups 1 in a Million competition, as one of 40 teams submitting an elevator pitch for a $25,000 prize. Ace didn’t move on the next round, but Harrington said there are more plans in the works to expand Ace’s brand.
The company was recently featured on the Men’s Style Lab blog, and Harrington said they plan to partner with more men-focused sites to get guys thinking more about flowers. This month Ace Blooms will also be launching a “Bourbon & Blooms” video series, featuring men talking about flowers while sipping bourbon.
“We’re seeing a lot of buying habits change, with people wanting to buy quicker and from their phones, and florists are trying to adjust to these online customers,” Harrington said. “We want Ace Blooms to be the premiere solution in the florist industry. But we also want the company to compliment other products in the male market.”
Joe Lawler is a freelance reporter based in Des Moines.
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There were major management changes at MediaTek last year, showing the IC deisgner's intention to regain its growth momentum. The changes included the appointment of Joe Chen as MediaTek president late in the year.
In a recent interview by Digitimes, Chen talked about goals of the company, how MediaTek will improve its gross margin and restore its lost share of the smartphone SoC market at a gradual pace. He also shared his opinions on the smartphone market growth drivers in 2018, the ongoing tight supplies at foundries and certain upstream components makers, and competition from super large-scale fabless companies. The following is an exceprt of the interview.
Q: As MediaTek's new president, what's your short-term, mid-term and long-term goals for the company?
A: MediaTek's short-term goal is to get the company back on the growth track in terms of revenues, gross margin and profits. We stay focused on our handset SoC portfolio which will be enhanced further to include solutions for smartphones that come with more new features, and 5G devices.
MediaTek is gearing up for the new generation of mobile technology. We are engaged in the development of 5G solutions, which will be ready for customer roll-outs of new products by 2020. Meanwhile, MediaTek has put increased focus on the quality rather than quantity regarding our solutions for 4G smartphones, which continue to come with innovative built-in features. We believe the efforts will gradually help improve the company's gross margin and restore our lost share of the smartphone SoC market.
In addition, MediaTek has stepped up efforts to diversify its offerings to include those for voice-assistant devices, smart home devices and IoT-related applications. In the mid-term, we want to expand our target markets with key technologies extended from our existing Wi-Fi technology assets.
As for our long-term recovery strategy, MediaTek is exploring new products and market opportunities to drive our business growth five years from now. Automotive electronics will be the next first target of MediaTek with regards to its long-term business growth. Applications including unmanned vehicles and autonomous driving have already drawn our interest.
Besides, MediaTek has in recent years developed its ASIC business which could be another driver of the company's future growth.
Q: Whould you share your opinions on the key drivers of the 2018 smartphone market?
A: The smartphone market situation seems unfavorable in the first quarter of 2018, with issues such as high inventory levels throughout China's handset industry supply chain. Nevertheless, the overall smartphone demand for 2018 should be higher than the level a year earlier. MediaTek expects customer orders and end-market demand to improve at a gradual pace later in 2018.
MediaTek is also optimistic new models with innovative features, such as AI, will stimulate demand in this saturated market. MediaTek has introduced its new solution to bring AI features to smartphones without the high price tag. With the built-in MediaTek NeuroPilot AI technology, the new chip brings premium features like deep-learning facial detection, object and scene identification, fluid gaming experiences, and smart camera functions.
Q: How would you see the competition between smartphone vendors with their in-house developed SoCs and dedicated mobile SoC developers in 2018?
A: For MediaTek, we remain focused on enhancing our offerings and satisfying efficiently our customers' needs. Unlike device vendors that have their own chips, MediaTek's business model won't put the company in a conflict of interest with clients.
In addition, as the world's second-largest handset SoC supplier, MediaTek has economies of scale to provide more competitive products and services.
Q: How does MediaTek address the tight supply of the foundry services, as well as certain component shortages?
A: The supply of 28nm chips is sufficient in the short term, with a guarantee from our 8-inch foundry partners with their vast economies of scale. But for advanced FinFET solutions, the supply is pretty tight.
MediaTek has already partnered with TSMC to develop its 12nm FinFET solutions, and has had our foundry partner's commitment to the chip supply during 2018.
MediaTek has also moved to build up its component inventories in advance to ensure its sufficient supply to customers in the second half of 2018. We don't think component shortages will affect our shipment schedules.
Q: M&A activities have created more super large-scale fabless companies. How do you see the trend?
A: Consolidation among semiconductor companies is inevitable. In fact, M&A activities have been ongoing for so many years. MediaTek is aware of the trend. We want to make sure our technology and work force are competitive so that we are able to plan early and grasp opportunities.
In the process of acquiring MStar Semiconductor, MediaTek already recognized the industry trend. All we have to do is to continue our innovation and to work closely with our customers.
MediaTek president Joe Chen
Photo: Cage Chao, Digitimes, March 2018


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British media: the scale of foreign R & D investment in China exceeds that of the US pharmaceutical industry
Last Update: 2015-07-24
Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit
Source: according to British media on July 24, 2015, with the rising labor cost in China and the steady flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into China, China's status as a major destination of foreign investment in manufacturing industry began to decline, but China's role in attracting higher value foreign investment projects, such as projects related to research and development, began to decline ——Quite successful China is becoming a research and development center, in line with the efforts of the Chinese government to promote innovation and the actions of Chinese enterprises to catch up with western competitors, the Financial Times website reported on July 23 China has caught up with the US in attracting foreign R & D investment, according to research by FDI markets, a data services unit of the financial times From January 2010 to December 2014, China attracted 88 green R & D projects from foreign companies and 91 from the United States; these projects in China are estimated to involve 5.5 billion US dollars in capital investment, more than twice that of the United States In other words, since 2010, China has attracted the largest amount of foreign investment in green space in the field of R & D in the world, and the number of projects is the second in the world In 2014, FDI markets tracked 11 R & D projects attracted by China, valued at $1.3 billion, compared with 17 projects in the United States, with a total value of $327 million In 2013, China attracted nearly US $1.4 billion in investment in 24 R & D projects In that year, the global green space R & D investment continued the downward trend since 2011 The pharmaceutical industry is China's top R & D investment area, attracting us $1.6 billion in investment in 2014 Business machines and equipment ($817 million) and consumer electronics ($540 million) are ranked second and third, indicating a healthy distribution of research intensive activities across key industries US companies are the most active foreign companies investing in R & D in China - last year, 32 US companies spent $1.6 billion on 36 projects in China, according to FDI markets At present, Chinese domestic enterprises are increasing R & D expenditure and helping to lead the new trend of global R & D expenditure mode and innovation activities According to a study by strategy, a consultancy, North American, European and Japanese companies still dominate global R & D spending, but their respective share is either no longer growing or declining The number of companies headquartered in China on the strategy & Global Innovation 1000 list increased from 8 in 2005 to 114 in 2014; Chinese companies' R & D spending rose 46% last year, compared with a single digit growth rate in North America and Europe In China, R & D projects funded by the government are also increasing, as the Chinese government hopes to rapidly improve the position of its economic activities in the value chain At present, it seems that China is about to complete this "Climbing" stage.
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|By PR Newswire||
|January 28, 2014 02:06 PM EST||
HANOVER, Pa., Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Snyder's of Hanover has launched two new, boldly-flavored gluten-free pretzel varieties, providing tasteful, innovative options for those in search of gluten-free snacks. According to an annual study by NPD Group, nearly one third of Americans are looking to reduce their current gluten intake. Available in a Honey Mustard & Onion or Hot Buffalo Wing variety, Snyder's of Hanover's new Gluten Free Flavored Pretzel Sticks give consumers the flexibility to enjoy great-tasting gluten-free snacks without cutting back on flavor.
View multimedia details at: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/64907-snyders-of-hanover/
Certified by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), Snyder's of Hanover's Gluten Free Pretzels are dairy free, casein free and egg free, but still packed with enough intense bold flavor to satisfy the most serious cravings.
"Consumers seeking gluten-free snacks do not want to give up flavor," said Bob Gould, Marketing Manager for Snyder's of Hanover. "By offering our two most popular pretzel flavors in a gluten-free variety, we're able to provide expanded options for shoppers looking to remove the gluten in their daily diets."
To help shoppers better identify all of their gluten-free pretzel options, Snyder's of Hanover is also introducing a new packaging design. The expanded line of Snyder's of Hanover gluten-free pretzels now includes:
- NEW Gluten Free Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Sticks
- NEW Gluten Free Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Sticks
- Gluten Free Mini Pretzels
- Gluten Free Pretzel Sticks
- 8-pack of Gluten Free 100-Calorie Pretzel Sticks
Snyder's of Hanover's new Gluten Free Flavored Pretzel Sticks are available in 8-oz packages for around $3.69. Visit www.SnydersofHanover.com to learn more or locate a retailer.
About Snyder's of Hanover
For more than 100 years, Americans have enjoyed Snyder's of Hanover pretzels. With their unique sourdough heritage, Snyder's of Hanover pretzels today are available across the country in single-serve sizes as well as larger, 10, 12 and even 16-ounce bags perfect for sharing. Today, America's favorite pretzel is available in a wide variety of flavors, recipes and shapes, including traditional hard pretzels, flavored pretzel bites, sticks, rods, nibblers and even gluten-free options. For more information, visit www.snydersofhanover.com. Or find Snyder's of Hanover on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
Snyder's-Lance, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, NC, manufactures and markets snack foods throughout the United States and internationally. The Company's products include pretzels, sandwich crackers, potato chips, cookies, tortilla chips, restaurant style crackers, nuts and other snacks. Snyder's-Lance has manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts, Florida, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada. Products are sold under the Snyder's of Hanover®, Lance®, Cape Cod®, Pretzel Crisps®, Krunchers!®, Tom's®, Archway®, Jays®, Stella D'oro®, EatSmart Naturals®, O-Ke-Doke® and Grande® brand names along with a number of private label and third party brands. Products are distributed nationally through grocery and mass merchandisers, convenience stores, club stores, food service outlets, and other channels. LNCE-G
SOURCE Snyder's of Hanover
The security devil is always in the details of the attack: the ones you've endured, the ones you prepare yourself to fend off, and the ones that, you fear, will catch you completely unaware and defenseless. The Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing if not an endless proliferation of details. It's the vision of a world in which continuous Internet connectivity and addressability is embedded into a growing range of human artifacts, into the natural world, and even into our smartphones, appliances, a...
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Connected devices and the Internet of Things are getting significant momentum in 2014. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Hunter, Chief Scientist & Technology Evangelist at Greenwave Systems, examined three key elements that together will drive mass adoption of the IoT before the end of 2015. The first element is the recent advent of robust open source protocols (like AllJoyn and WebRTC) that facilitate M2M communication. The second is broad availability of flexible, cost-effective ...
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Scott Jenson leads a project called The Physical Web within the Chrome team at Google. Project members are working to take the scalability and openness of the web and use it to talk to the exponentially exploding range of smart devices. Nearly every company today working on the IoT comes up with the same basic solution: use my server and you'll be fine. But if we really believe there will be trillions of these devices, that just can't scale. We need a system that is open a scalable and by using ...
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"SAP had made a big transition into the cloud as we believe it has significant value for our customers, drives innovation and is easy to consume. When you look at the SAP portfolio, SAP HANA is the underlying platform and it powers all of our platforms and all of our analytics," explained Thorsten Leiduck, VP ISVs & Digital Commerce at SAP, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 15th Cloud Expo, held Nov 4-6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 1,907
The 3rd International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that its Call for Papers is now open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
Dec. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 7,165
SAP is delivering break-through innovation combined with fantastic user experience powered by the market-leading in-memory technology, SAP HANA. In his General Session at 15th Cloud Expo, Thorsten Leiduck, VP ISVs & Digital Commerce, SAP, discussed how SAP and partners provide cloud and hybrid cloud solutions as well as real-time Big Data offerings that help companies of all sizes and industries run better. SAP launched an application challenge to award the most innovative SAP HANA and SAP HANA...
Dec. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 2,094
How do APIs and IoT relate? The answer is not as simple as merely adding an API on top of a dumb device, but rather about understanding the architectural patterns for implementing an IoT fabric. There are typically two or three trends: Exposing the device to a management framework Exposing that management framework to a business centric logic Exposing that business layer and data to end users. This last trend is the IoT stack, which involves a new shift in the separation of what stuff happe...
Dec. 27, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 2,109
DevOps is all about agility. However, you don't want to be on a high-speed bus to nowhere. The right DevOps approach controls velocity with a tight feedback loop that not only consists of operational data but also incorporates business context. With a business context in the decision making, the right business priorities are incorporated, which results in a higher value creation. In his session at DevOps Summit, Todd Rader, Solutions Architect at AppDynamics, discussed key monitoring techniques...
Dec. 27, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 1,827
The 3rd International @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that it is now accepting Keynote Proposals. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most profound change in personal and enterprise IT since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago. All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to th...
Dec. 27, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 2,747
SYS-CON Events announced today that Gridstore™, the leader in hyper-converged infrastructure purpose-built to optimize Microsoft workloads, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Gridstore™ is the leader in hyper-converged infrastructure purpose-built for Microsoft workloads and designed to accelerate applications in virtualized environments. Gridstore’s hyper-converged infrastructure is the ...
Dec. 27, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 1,889
"There is a natural synchronization between the business models, the IoT is there to support ,” explained Brendan O'Brien, Co-founder and Chief Architect of Aria Systems, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at the 15th International Cloud Expo®, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 27, 2014 08:45 AM EST Reads: 2,871
The 4th International DevOps Summit, co-located with16th International Cloud Expo – being held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY – announces that its Call for Papers is now open. Born out of proven success in agile development, cloud computing, and process automation, DevOps is a macro trend you cannot afford to miss. From showcase success stories from early adopters and web-scale businesses, DevOps is expanding to organizations of all sizes, including the world's large...
Dec. 27, 2014 08:00 AM EST Reads: 2,680
Fundamentally, SDN is still mostly about network plumbing. While plumbing may be useful to tinker with, what you can do with your plumbing is far more intriguing. A rigid interpretation of SDN confines it to Layers 2 and 3, and that's reasonable. But SDN opens opportunities for novel constructions in Layers 4 to 7 that solve real operational problems in data centers. "Data center," in fact, might become anachronistic - data is everywhere, constantly on the move, seemingly always overflowing. Net...
Dec. 27, 2014 08:00 AM EST Reads: 2,091
An entirely new security model is needed for the Internet of Things, or is it? Can we save some old and tested controls for this new and different environment? In his session at @ThingsExpo, New York's at the Javits Center, Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, reviewed hands-on lessons with IoT devices and reveal a new risk balance you might not expect. Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, has more than nineteen years' experience managing global security operations and asse...
Dec. 27, 2014 08:00 AM EST Reads: 2,424
SYS-CON Media announced that Centrify, a provider of unified identity management across cloud, mobile and data center environments that delivers single sign-on (SSO) for users and a simplified identity infrastructure for IT, has launched an ad campaign on Cloud Computing Journal. The ads focus on security: how an organization can successfully control privilege for all of the organization’s identities to mitigate identity-related risk without slowing down the business, and how Centrify provides ...
Dec. 27, 2014 07:00 AM EST Reads: 1,837


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Kohl's opens nine new stores
Kohl’s Corp. announced the opening of nine stores Wednesday, bringing its store count to 1,155.
The stores opened in Decatur, Ala.; Danville, Ill.; Ames, Iowa; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Minot, N.D.; Sherwood, Ore.; Hermitage, Pa.; Spring Township, Pa.; and Denton, Texas. They are expected to create 950 jobs.
Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a conference call last week that Kohl’s expects to open 12 stores in 2013, down from 20 in 2012 and 40 in 2011. Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is focused on improving comparable-store sales this year after disappointing results in 2012.
Associate Editor Stacy Vogel Davis covers retail and tourism for the Milwaukee Business Journal. She also covers restaurant news through her Table Talk blog on The Business Journal website and column in the weekly edition.
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We’ve got some updates on two highly-anticipated games for the PlayStation 4. Sony has officially released the launch date for Death Stranding, and a rumor suggests The Last of Us 2 has been pushed out to next year.
Death Stranding release date set in November
Sony said Death Stranding will land on the PS4 on Nov. 8. The console and game maker also released a lengthy nine-minute trailer for the game. Death Stranding is from Hideo Kojima, director of Metal Gear Solid. In fact, it’s his first game since Metal Gear Solid 5.
Although the trailer is very long, it doesn’t say much about the game’s story. There’s a lot of action and no explanation for what’s happening. Just about the only thing we can tell from it is that it appears to be set in a dystopian future. Nonetheless, serious gamers may find quite a lot to like about it just based on that premise.
Here’s the trailer Sony posted on its PlayStation YouTube channel:
Pre-orders for Death Stranding are now open on the PlayStation Store. In addition to the game, buyers will also get some bonus goodies, including some Gold “Sam” sunglasses, gold armor plate, gold hat and “gold speed skeleton,” whatever that is.
#DEATHSTRANDING pre-order page is up on PS Store pic.twitter.com/PCcHOhxGv7
— Nibel (@Nibellion) May 29, 2019
The Last of Us 2 delayed to next year
Kotaku editor Jason Schreier also had an update for another highly-anticipated PS4 game. He said sources who know what’s happening at Sony have told him that The Last of Us 2 has been delayed to early 2020, possibly in February. Of course, an official release date for the title was never given, so this isn’t technically a delay. It’s more of a possible update to a rumor.
Speaking of rumors, Sony has been rumored to be planning to release another State of Play live stream about The Last of Us 2 this week, according to Gamesradar. However, that seems unlikely, especially since the official release date for Death Stranding was announced this week.
Schreier also said Ghost of Tsushima is expected in the next few months after that and the PlayStation 5 is expected in the fall of 2020.


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Maldives Getaways, Organizers of Dhiraagu Guesthouses Maldives Conference have revealed that abundance of industry experts are expected to share their insights at the conference which is due to be held at Paradise Island Resort and Spa on the 23rd of September 2017.
Speakers include Mr Asela Dematagoda who is the senior account manager of hotels Maldives at Booking.com where he is set to speak about attracting tourists to the Maldives addressing the issue of growing number of beds in the country. Another notable attendee would be Ms Shaahina Ali, Chairperson for Parley Maldives where they are set to launch the Parley for the Oceans Maldives campaign on responsible disposal of plastics.
Mr Abhay Khanna who is the senior market manager for Maldives at Expedia Inc. is also set to address those in attendance on how guesthouses could use online travel agents to grow tourism in local islands and educating them on how Expedia could be a tool for growth. Mr Vaibhav Garg is also set to speak about guest handling and training for guesthouses who serves as the Cluster Director of Talent and Culture for AccorHotels Maldives. The level of expertise present at the Conference would guide guesthouses to run their properties in a more efficient, responsible and beneficial manner.
The conference will link leading figures in the guesthouse industry with tourism sector stakeholders such as tour operators and hotel suppliers. A total of 200 guesthouse proprietors and managers have confirmed their participation. Representatives of top online travel agents such as Expedia and Booking.com have been lined up as participants for the conference. Apart from industry experts, International and local budget based agents solely focused on the budget industry of Maldives are expected to be in attendance at the conference.
“Guesthouses Conference” is a one-day event held annually with business meetings, education sessions, networking events and interactive evening functions held exclusively for the guesthouse industry. This is an invitation only event with participants carefully selected, personally invited and verified against our strict qualification criteria. By the end of the conference, everyone will walk away feeling satisfied after one day of networking and make new business connections.


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Now that the BlackBerry 10 Alpha Dev device is in the hands of the developers you can expect to see more and more of this kind of stuff. We are on the grou nd at BlackBerry World and just got word from @FortNeyland95 that he now has email working on his BlackBerry 10 Alpha Dev device. When RIM presented the devices to the developers they informed us that email would not work, but you know how developers like to break the rules.
Also some of the phone functions have also been enabled, and while you cannot place calls you most certainly can receive them.
We have confirmed that this is the Android email client that has in fact been enabled, as well as some other Android apps and not the actual BB10 email client. This is all thanks to the Android runtime being enabled. We will continue to bring more news on these developments as they occur.


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Categories Tech News
Qualcomm demos fastest local AI image generation with Stable Diffusion on mobile
February 23, 2023
Qualcomm is showing off its AI chops on mobile, demonstrating what it claims is the fastest-ever deployment of AI image generator Stable Diffusion on a smartphone.
In a demo video, Qualcomm shows version 1.5 of Stable Diffusion generating a 512 x 512 pixel image in under 15 seconds. Although Qualcomm doesn’t say what the phone is, it does say it’s powered by its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset (which launched last November and has an AI-centric Hexagon processor). The company’s engineers also did all sorts of custom optimizations on the software side to get Stable Diffusion running optimally.
Some context: it takes a lot of computing power to run a program like Stable Diffusion (which is a staple in AI image generation), and most…


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TAWAU: The adoption of e-wallet digital payments among Malaysia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can spur the competitiveness of the sector domestically and internationally, according to an academician at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
Three decades of economic success has seen the country being rated higher than all its peers in South-East Asia
ENTREPRENEURS often say that passion and grit are needed to see a venture through. And if there is one thing that the winners of The Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) 2019 have shown, it is that perseverance is indeed often well rewarded.
Demand from China since the middle of last year has driven both smallholders and large companies to take a second look at expanding or acquiring more land bank to cultivate this fruit. New players are also emerging.
IT may have been Google’s most-searched diet term last year, but the keto diet was far from mainstream when Kelantanese Adda Uwais adopted the eating plan in 2010.
HANGZHOU, China: Chinese retailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's sales for its 24-hour Singles' Day shopping blitz hit a record $38.4 billion, more than U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc's haul last quarter from online store sales.
KUALA LUMPUR: Mercury Securities Research has accorded a target price of 30 sen for SDS Group Bhd which is 29% above its initial public offer price of 23 sen.
KUALA LUMPUR: Public Invest Research has accorded a fair value of 25 sen for SDS Group Bhd whose core activities are manufacturing and distributing bakery products as well as operating food and beverage (F&B) outlets.
LONDON Biscuits Bhd seems to be seeking closure over some key issues that are weighing down on the stock, but its woes are far from over.
SECRET Recipe Cakes & Cafe Sdn Bhd is certainly no stranger to the local food and beverage (F&B) scene. The homegrown brand has seen strong progress over the years, consistently reinventing itself with the times to not only remain relevant, but also to pull in a new generation of customers to sustain its growth.


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Every year when we start talking about which automaker is the biggest in the world, there always seems to be at least a little bit of controversy. For 2013, Toyota handily took the top spot with 9.98 million sales, but it's the runner up spot between General Motors and Volkswagen that is starting to create a stir.
Toyota is the top-selling automaker in the world. Again. Still. With total reported sales, including those from subsidiaries, of 9.98 million in 2013, Toyota's performance was enough to outpace rival General Motors by around 270,000 vehicles. That's a 2.4-percent gain over 2012, and it makes Toyota the top-seller two years in a row. Still, the gap between the top three is shrinking – Toyota held a 460,000-unit lead in 2012.
Look who's back on top again? Just 30 months since General Motors emerged from bankruptcy, the Detroit-based automaker can once again call itself the world's largest. GM sold just over 9 million vehicles globally in 2011, its highest sales total ever, while chief rival Toyota may slip as far as third place, according to TheDetroitBureau.com, which reports that Volkswagen will pass Toyota to claim the runner-up spot.
For what seemed like an eternity, the title of World's Largest Automaker belonged to General Motors. More recently, Toyota was able to wrestle the mantle away from GM as the Japanese automaker made huge gains in GM's home country and abroad, and Volkswagen has been nipping at the two behemoth's heels. According to Bloomberg, though, the top three are likely to see themselves reshuffled before 2011 officially draws to a close.
Over the last several years, few automotive stories have held as much interest as the global fight between Toyota and General Motors for worldwide sales supremacy. Don't look now, but there's a new combatant hailing from Germany ready to take the reigns: Volkswagen. However, VW's ascendancy has less to do with the German automaker's output -- GM and Toyota are shedding sales at a much faster rate than VW.
- Most and least efficient car companies
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Gaming enthusiasts are surely excited about the next generation consoles by Xbox and PlayStation. It is an open secret that Microsoft and Sony are planning to release the next generation of their respective devices in the next couple of years and is expected to be launched as soon as in 2020. Some of the recent reports have said that the upcoming consoles have been codenamed.
The premium Xbox One X device might soon be replaced by something that is known as Anaconda. The device might be shipped with a solid state hard drive so as to improve the frame rate performance and will be treating the gamers with a boost in graphics and all-round performance. On the other hand the Xbox One successor will get a pump in terms of its processing power to that of the current Xbox One X and is reportedly being called as the Lockhart. It will offer a cheaper alternative to the Anaconda console.
Leading daily Windows Central says that both the models are expected to arrive along the additional Scarlett Cloud Xbox Console and would be launched without a disc-drive and would also be used exclusively for video game streaming with the help of the Xbox Games Pass or an updated equivalent service.
The details of the devices are still not prominent and it is unlikely that all the three consoles would be released simultaneously. It is expected that the less powered Lockhart Xbox might be launched first and after some time the Anaconda can come out with a kind of mid-cycle upgrade, similar to what had happened with the Xbox One X. The upcoming generation of consoles are most certain to be launched with 4K gaming as the market demands higher-fidelity graphics. Moreover, several 4K TVs are now making its way in to the homes and the gamers would surely want a support for the technology to stay updated. The gamers do not want to lag behind in terms of techbology.
Photo Credits: YouTube


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Mobile phone giant Vodafone yesterday reported a one per cent dip in underlying third quarter sales despite a weaker pound helping its full-year prospects.
Accountancy software firm Sage yesterday sought to reassure over the resilience of its UK business – but warned tough trading was hitting all of its US operations.
Andy Beckingham has been appointed the new Southern region chair of the insolvency trade body R3.
“Lazy shoppers” have caused a slump in business which means a toy shop is closing after 10 years.
More than 100 people were seriously hurt as a result of a slip, trip or fall from height in Reading workplaces last year.
Harvey and Thompson has opened a new pawnbrokers shop in Broad Street Mall.
Electronics giant Panasonic is set to cut 15,000 jobs in the next year, it has emerged.
Manufacturers endured their biggest quarterly slump in output for 35 years in the three months to December, according to official figures,
Goring-based company Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance has produced a cash-flow guide to help businesses ensure they are financially fit for 2009.
Reading East MP Rob Wilson is urging businesses to apply for their share of £6 million worth of funding.


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Factor Sales union vote next weekend
A previously postponed unionization vote among employees of an area grocery store chain has been rescheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Employees of San Luis-based Factor Sales, owner of the Del Sol and King Market grocery stores in Yuma County, will decide whether they want to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
The election will be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board and will take place at Factor Sales worksites in Yuma, San Luis, Somerton and Wellton. All but the chain's managers, office employees and security and maintenance workers will be able to vote.
The unionization vote set for December was placed on hold amid union allegations of unfair labor practices by Factor Sales. Meanwhile, several anti-union employees of Factor Sales stepped forward with their own allegations that the UFCW was trying to intimidate workers into voting for the union.
Martin Hernandez, a UFCW organizer, said he is happy the election is on again.
“I believe we all want this decided, for the good of the workers. We hope and we ask that Factor Sales allow the workers to decide (on unionization) freely.”
William Luna, an anti-union Factor Sales worker, said he is also anxious for the matter to be settled.
“We all want this to end and that it be decided. But we want the UFCW to respect the vote of those who are not in favor of a union at Factor Sales, that they don't try to intimidate the workers.”
Factor Sales officials declined to comment.


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Travellers offered new Lonely Planet country guides
Lonely Planet has announced that it will be launching a new series of full-colour country guidebooks this month.
All of the publications have been organised to help travellers focus on a destination's most famous attractions, sights and experiences.
Lonely Planet revealed that it developed the Discover series following "extensive research" with people seeking "inspiring, highlights-based guides".
Last month, the company helped travellers who were stranded following the volcanic eruption in Iceland by making 13 of its European iPhone city guides available free of charge for four days.
More than three million guides were downloaded during April, making them the most popular free travel application available through iTunes.
Tom Hall, Lonely Planet's travel editor, said: "The rate at which the iPhone city guides have been downloaded has been phenomenal."


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Inspired by REI, the Trustees of Reservations is waiving entry fees on Black Friday to popular sites like Crane Beach, World’s End, and more.
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It involved the founder of the band Boston.
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Including finds for under $25.


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Pennsylvania-based Penske Truck Leasing and New Jersey-based transportation logistics expert NFI will be the first companies to utilize Daimler Trucks North America’s eCascadia heavy-duty battery-electric truck for commercial shipping. Both companies are part of the Freightliner Electric Vehicle Council and were among the first to test the new trucks.
The electric trucks, built at a Daimler factory in Portland, Oregon, are the first big rigs to be part of the Freightliner Innovation Fleet and are meant for operation in Southern California where they will arrive in August. Penske has also opened 14 new charging stations in La Mirada, San Diego, Chino, and Anaheim.
“We’re committed to being at the forefront of commercial vehicle electrification,” said Brian Hard, president, and chief executive officer for Penske. “We are investing to ensure our customers have access to the right vehicles, technology, charging infrastructure and information to help shape the future of mobility in our industry.”
The new eCascadia’s sit atop the foundation of Daimler’s Freightliner Cascadia which is the trucking market’s best-selling Class 8 heavy-duty truck. More eCascadias will arrive later in the year. The new vehicle council was devised by Daimler to bring together 38 customers to identify and solve any issues regarding full deployment of commercial battery-electric trucks. Major issues include charging infrastructure—which Penske is already addressing—and potential partnerships in the e-mobility value chain.
In a press release, Daimler CEO Roger Nielsen said, “Our team is incredibly proud to be leading the way for the industry, but prouder still to be working with our customers in a process of co-creation to make real electric trucks for real work in the real world.”


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Hemingway’s: From four-star restaurant to the auction blockJosh O’Gorman / STAFF PHOTO
A sign outside the former Hemingway’s restaurant on Route 4 announces that the building will be up for auction May 17 at 11 a.m.
KILLINGTON — Long considered the Rutland and Killington area’s most upscale restaurant, the former Hemingway’s restaurant on Route 4 is going under the auctioneer’s gavel.
The foreclosure auction is scheduled for May 17 at 11 a.m.
The auctioneer is Thomas Hirchak Company.
“This 1860 farmhouse is situated near resort and golfing area, 3,444 square feet of space on 4.5 acres,” according to the auctioneer’s prospectus. The building also features a “stone-walled wine cellar” and two bedrooms.
After nearly 30 years in business, owners Theodore and Linda Fondulas closed the restaurant two years ago.
In February, People’s United Bank, the mortgage holder, was granted a foreclosure judgment by Rutland civil court. The couple owed two loans and interest totaling $295,746, plus court costs and attorney’s fees.
Back taxes totaling $33,813 are also owed the town of Killington, according to the prospectus. The winning bidder on May 17 is required to make a $15,000 deposit.
Hemingway’s, a four-star restaurant, was known for its New American cuisine, with a French and Italian flair. It was also known for its extensive wine collection.
Following the economic collapse of 2008, business at the restaurant had fallen off to the point where the Fondulases decided the best option was to close the business.
“Things were not well and then Irene hit,” Ted Fondulas said.
Not a drop of water touched the dining room and kitchen but the storm washed away the parking lot and flooded the wine cellar, causing considerable damage. He said the cost to repair was prohibitive.
Looking back at the nearly 30 years Hemingway’s was in business, Fondulas said it was quite a notable run.
“We did what we wanted to accomplish, and that was to try to be one of the finer restaurants in the nation and the region,” he said, “and that was our goal and we basically got there.”
One aspect of the business the Fondulases miss are the customers who frequented the restaurant — named after Ernest Hemingway, who had a reputation for his unquenchable thirst for fine cuisine and drink.
“We think we made some people happy and that’s really part of it; you work hard, you make some people happy, and then you move on,” Fondulas said.
Of the property’s future, he said it’s best suited as a restaurant. “I hope somebody buys it and resurrects it.”
The Fondulases have moved on from the restaurant business and are now involved in the farm-to-table business at Newhall Farm in Reading (newhallfarmvt.com/pages/frontpage). The farm produces and sells natural and organic food products.
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