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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ambassador Cards here and Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., put a new spin on co-marketing this month, combining for a "Summer Savings" cross-promotion at the 122-unit ShopKo mass merchandising chain.
The account-specific program, which ends Aug. 31, is the latest of a handful of co-marketing tests Ambassador has run jointly with manufacturers at several retailers since February, Jim McDowell, vice president of marketing for the greeting card company, told Brand Marketing.
"Several of these programs are history," he said. "Lots more are going to happen in the next few months."
Ambassador's programs read like cases for the co-marketing textbook. They incorporate account-specific promotion, store-specific execution and incremental outpost display space, and layer on tie-in cooperation with other noncompeting manufacturers.
The greeting card company kicked off its co-marketing activities with a Valentine's Day promotion at Smith's Food & Drug Centers, the 132-unit supermarket chain based in Salt Lake City. Tying in with Hershey's Candies, Hershey, Pa., the promotion was titled, "Hugs, kisses and Valentine wishes."
A freestanding display unit in each store carried greeting cards and wraps and offered a $1 discount on 13- and 14-ounce bags of Hershey's Hugs and Kisses candies with the purchase of any three Ambassador cards.
The Summer Savings promotion at ShopKo centers on a giveaway of three Hawaiian vacations. Brochures distributed to shoppers contained an entry blank for the drawing as well as several ShopKo-specific coupon offers: $1 off on any three Ambassador Cards, a buy-one-get-one-free on Touch-Screen greetings, $1.50 off any Kodak Funsaver disposable camera and $1.50 off on Kodak 3-pack film.
Participating chains so far have been receptive to the events, which provide in-store excitement and sales with minimal effort from the retailer.
"Ambassador is handling the whole thing," said ShopKo spokeswoman Sherry Olsen. "They take all the burden of executing the promotion." ShopKo is based in Green Bay, Wis.
Ambassador's objective with programs like these, said McDowell, is to obtain well-located outpost display space and to leverage its strong in-store service presence against logical seasonal promotion opportunities with manufacturers of noncompeting brands.
Its in-line card departments, he said, normally capture 15% to 20% of a store's total traffic. "Once we get them in the aisle, we have an 85% conversion rate. That is extremely high. So it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that our primary objective is to capture more of that total traffic."
He continued, "To capture them we have to go where they live. That is not a greeting card need, but in most cases a food need. That means either outpost our products or link up with other parts of the store. Bakery, floral, photo finishing, candy and seasonal -- all have some affinity for greeting cards."
Ambassador likes to partner with brand marketers in other high-margin, high-impulse purchase categories, McDowell said. At first the company had a predeliction toward the leading brand. It quickly learned it is better to talk to the retailer first.
"We never do this in a vacuum," said McDowell. "First we ask the retailer, 'What other categories are important to you?' We would never want to link up with one that retailer does not consider important."
He noted that in some categories there is clearly a ubiquitous supplier that everybody does business with. Hershey, M&M Mars of Hackettstown, N.J., and Kodak are all examples. But Ambassador may tie-in with a brand that is not the No. 1 brand because it may have a strong presence in seasonal packaging and promotion.
Results from the Valentine's Day program at Smith's were positive enough to induce Hershey to participate in a second event that is timed for this coming Halloween, said Brad Wentz, regional manager for the candy maker.
"Halloween is not traditionally a time to sell a lot of cards. Here is an opportunity for Ambassador to leverage off the strength of Halloween candy sales," he said. The promotional plan calls for a tie-in with Hershey's snack size candies and Ambassador cards and holiday decorations.
Said McDowell, "With Hershey we both have a seasonal orientation. They have a strong name franchise with the consumer for their products. We can leverage this to their benefit. They also have a desire to promote.
"We provide strong store-by-store service and seasonal theming, both of which are very attractive to them. We measure results at the end, through point-of-sale at store level."


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The International Herald Tribune announced Yahoo! China will develop into a search engine for the business vertical.
CEO Jack Ma of Alibaba Group - owners of Yahoo! China (though Yahoo! owns 40 percent of Alibaba Group).
This is an interesting move on the part of the second largest search engine in China. Is Yahoo! test driving a future move globally?
Early Bird Rates have been extended!
June 12-14, 2013: Join industry experts at SES Toronto for a crash course in the latest strategies in Online Marketing and Advertising.
Save $300 when you register by Thursday, May 23.

domain: news


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Microgaming, which previously worked only with US-based Lotus PR, wants to bring its comms function closer to its Isle of Man base.
Its software is used for 160 casino and poker sites, including River Belle and 32 Red.
'The online gaming business is a rapidly growing market and we'll look to establish Microgaming in new markets,' said Chameleon head of consumer Stuart Hehir. 'We'll also broaden awareness to a wider audience, such as national business writers.'
Chameleon will co-ordinate a network of agencies to run the account, including Lotus in the US and Fulford PR in Singapore.
Chameleon also works with Lotus on its account with eCOGRA, the online gaming industry's standards authority.
Hehir reports to Microgaming marketing director Gavin Bisdee.


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The Future of Transportation Will be Televised: Talking to Heavy D of the “Diesel Brothers”
Education and Careers As one-half of the “Diesel Brothers,” Dave Sparks can’t hide his enthusiasm for the futures of transportation and engineering.
When Dave Sparks — also known as Heavy D, one-half of the Discovery Channel’s “Diesel Brothers” — was nine years old, he saved his money and bought a motorcycle. This started a passion for vehicles and engineering that quickly became a lifelong obsession.
“Most people keep their one high school vehicle and they have that same vehicle all through their four years of high school, but not me,” Sparks says. “I was buying a new truck or new Jeep every three or four months. I was just so excited to try something new.”
Sparks, a Utah native, never lost that love for every aspect of transportation: the vehicles, the engineering, the fabrication and mechanics of it. “I have the ‛I want to try it all’ mentality,” he says. “I want to see everything, I want to drive everything, I want to operate every piece of equipment. And the only way I could do that was to make a business out of it.”
That business started as a small sideline to construction work buying and selling tractors and other used vehicles. “The appeal to us was always in finding the best deal possible,” he says. “We would find a tractor three or four states away, drive all night to get it, get it back to the shop and clean it up. And then we would use it, but at the same time we would have it for sale. That allowed us to basically kind of keep a rolling inventory of different, bizarre, unique vehicles.”
After studying auto mechanics and fabrication in high school, Sparks attended Weber State University in Utah, but left after a year. “I don’t regret the decision,” he says. “I wasn’t cut out for college. I would never turn anybody away from getting an education — in fact I would highly recommend some form of higher education, whether it’s hands-on trade schools or traditional college. But I emphasize, learn what you want to learn. Just do what excites you.”
The future is going to be a culmination of everything we've learned in the past.
When asked what his advice would be for anyone who wants to get into the transportation industry or engineering as a career, Sparks’ enthusiasm is obvious. “You have to set short-term goals and long-term goals,” he advises. “For me, a goal is something that I can see myself enjoying—what do I want to be doing six months from now? What is going to excite me to get out of bed? When I talk to these kids, I say ‘Just go figure out what excites you.’”
Sparks and the “Diesel Brothers” see a bright future for the transportation industry and people like themselves who love to get their hands dirty.
“I think as the future of transportation continues to evolve the biggest mistake we make is to assume this one direction is the future,” Sparks says. “You know, self-driving cars or electric cars or hybrid cars or whatever it is. I don't think that's the case. The future is going to be a culmination of everything we've learned in the past. With our business I think what you’ll probably see is more modern technologies like electric motors or turbine motors being used in ways they’ve never been used before. I love anything with an engine, I love anything with a motor, I love anything you can drive. I don’t care if it’s gas powered, diesel powered, turbine powered or electric powered. You can create insanely cool and capable vehicles with all those different technologies. One goal that I have is to develop vehicles that are more capable for the military and for EMS and firefighting.”
Sparks hasn’t lost his desire to drive everything, either. “You might even see flying machines at some point,” he says. “That’s definitely on my radar.”


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In a strange sequence of event, a Canton (Ohio, USA) man bought a stolen Saab from a local Police car lot. How that’s possible?
And that’s not all, new Saab “owner” said he can’t drive the car he just bought from a police auction because it was reported stolen and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles refused to title it.
Ryan Rider said he purchased a 2002 Saab 9-3 convertible from the Canton Police impound auction earlier this summer for $450. At the time, police handed him the title, which shows the Canton Police Department as the vehicle owner.
When he went to have it titled in his name, they refused, he said, telling him it was reported stolen in Broward County, Florida. That’s despite the fact that the car had already apparently been re-titled to Canton Police.
“It’s kind of crazy because I bought this car from the police,” Rider said. “If you sold this car and you didn’t know it was stolen, you’d be in jail for receiving stolen property. However, they’re selling me a stolen car and it’s sitting here in the driveway for two months not being driven.”
Below, you can check the local media report:


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iPhone exports in India reached a record level of Rs 10,000 crore.
80% of India’s smartphone exports are iPhones, with the remaining 20% being
smartphones and a few indigenous brands.
The Cupertino, California-based corporation is working hard to make India it’s second home for iPhone manufacture.
iPhone became the first brand to accomplish this achievement in FY23, with exports from India totaling $5 billion.


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Waikato's Top Shop winners
Waikato retailers took out a number of gongs at the central North Island Top Shop awards.
The Girl on a Swing went home with the best food and beverage award, after winning the people's choice award last year. The health and beauty category winner was Indulgence Beauty & Day spa from Matamata.
Matamata made it three when its local Spark store walked away with the first place trophy for technology and electronics, as well as the regional runner-up award. Best retail professional was taken out by Liquor King Horsham's Ashley Brunel for the second year in a row.
The Multi-Store OmniChannel retailer was taken out by Warehouse Stationary at The Base, after a win in the same category last year.


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Total Wines fights to expand into New York
US retailer Total Wines & More will fight to expand its footprint in New York through the state’s Supreme Court next month, after the New York State Liquor Authority refused to allow it to open a second site, in Westchester.
The retailer was hoping to open a large store of around 21,000 square foot warehouse store in Hartsdale, White Plains, but was refused permission in a hearing last December, apparently due to “unprecedented” opposition from an organised lobby of local wine stores and public officials, worried that Total Wines’ aggressive pricing would make it impossible for independent wine retailers in the area to compete, the Westchester Journal News reported.
It is the second time the retailer has been refused permission to expand in the New York area, after its application to open a store in Stony Brook was rejected by the state liquor board.
Total Wines will now take the case in the New York State Supreme Court in a hearing next month (10 May), according to newsite All Industry News.
Total Wines argue that the decision is anti-competitve, arguing that there is no evidence to suggest any competitor has gone out of business following the opening of one of their stores.
Total Wines & More was established iby brother Robert and David Trone, and operates around 200 stores in 25 states, including a warehouse in Westbury on Long Island, which it opened in 2017.


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Britain's Newest Princess Dances Into the Cannabis Industry
Meghan Markle’s nephew has launched a "Markle Sparkle" cannabis strain in tribute to this months’ royal wedding.
Tyler Dooley, 25, a grower in Oregon, launched the blend to honor the Royal Wedding. Tyler, son of Meghan’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr, said: “It’s a secret blend and the high is amazing. It’s very potent and smells of blueberries. It is unique and classy like my aunt. She and Prince Harry are welcome to a free sample any time.”
Tyler and mom Tracey Dooley, launched the firm Royally Grown together.
She said: “Everything will be of the highest quality. We plan to build a global empire like the Kardashians.”
They also aim enter Markle Sparkle into the High Times mag Cannabis Cup in June.


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Gualini has created for Esserbella the shop front with an innovative format.
About GualiniThis author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Gualini has created 11 blog entries.
Immobiliare Percassi and Polifin establish Costim Srl, a new holding and synergy that becomes a new opportunity for Gualini Spa
New agreement, just ended and officialised by Gualini for the execution of the facades as part of “Edifici Garibaldi Executive”
Gualini comes with a brand new website, suitable for any device and coherent with the new look.
Gualini, an innovative society in curtain walls and building envelope, had no option but to innovate itself starting with its main symbol: the brand.


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With eight of New York State’s ten regions officially in Phase Four of a Four-Phase reopening process today, entertainment, retail and food businesses at Palisades Center continue to be left behind despite having just 0.9% of all COVID-19 tests returning positive in the Hudson Valley. Tenants continue to call for equal treatment and be permitted to open at the same time as other businesses in the local market and in neighboring states.
Julene Finley of Color Me Mine publicly urged New York State, “Let us open. We are ready. We have thoroughly prepared to reopen our businesses under the State’s safety guidelines, and the mall’s management has done its part as well.” She continued, “It has now been four weeks since we were blindsided by removal from the phased reopening process. We really need to re-start our businesses and provide jobs to our workers immediately. We are being treated unfairly and there is no logical reason to force us to remain closed.”
Nearly all of Palisades Center’s tenants remain in limbo waiting for the State to allow them to reopen. The property needs to fully open sooner rather than later in order for tenants to have a fair shot at salvaging their businesses and keeping people employed in the local communities that they serve. The impact on local sales and property taxes are substantial. In the meantime, New York residents are flowing across state borders to shop at malls in neighboring states, with no adverse health consequences documented.
This comes as Palisades Center’s tenants have taken extensive measures to ensure the safety of shoppers and workers, which include but are not limited to:
• Enhanced cleaning and sanitizing
• Proactive touchless disinfecting
• Face masks required to worn by all guests
• Social distancing prompts & signage
• Directional prompts & signage for foot traffic patterns
• Hand sanitizer stations
• Ongoing curbside pick-up options
• Increased air circulation, air filtration and the amount of fresh air pumped into the center
• A “Safety First” PSA awareness campaign; and
• Covid-19 guidance for visitors and store employees.
In addition, on-site security teams will have been tasked to enforce all of the state guidelines.
About Palisades Center
Palisades Center is a four-level shopping center offering over 225 brands, 16 sit-down restaurants, a bowling alley, ice rink, the world’s tallest indoor ropes course, comedy club, and more. With its unique and diverse merchant mix, Palisades Center is the go-to place for local shoppers and tourists alike. To learn more, visit www.palisadescenter.com, www.facebook.com/palisadescenter, www.twitter.com/palisadescntr, or www.instagram.com/palisadescntr.
About Pyramid Management Group, LLC:
Pyramid Management Group is one of the largest, most innovative, privately-held real estate developers in the northeast. Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, Pyramid’s portfolio of dynamic shopping, dining and entertainment destinations and expanding hospitality presence dominate the northeast with 14 properties located throughout New York and Massachusetts. For 50 years, Pyramid has built its reputation on being first, fast, ahead of the curve and always what’s next, leading the industry in combining the best elements of traditional retail with world-class dining and entertainment, all under one roof. For more information, visit www.pyramidmg.com


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In recent years, money has been reborn in different ways, with crypto and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) being some of the reincarnates. Crypto made its way into the financial system in 2012. Gradually, it spread and is now used globally despite some governments’ efforts to ban the coins. CBDC has also dominated the financial plans of many world economic superpowers due to growing digitization trends and governments hope this would overthrow cryptocurrencies or operate side by side with it. A digital currency holds many promises including ease in transaction and monitoring of financial activities. This increased government monitoring will also serve to reduce financial crimes and the burden placed on regulatory technologies. Many believe that it will make the government regulate how capital is distributed.More than 40 world governments have begun work on developing their CBDC. China, the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom are some of the economic giants in a race to launch their digital currencies with the Bahamas being the first to officially roll out the Sand dollar, which is the digital version of the Bahamian dollar. Last week, the Nigerian Central Bank through its governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced that it would be launching the digital naira, following its ban of the cryptocurrency blockchain earlier this year. The announcement came during a Monetary Policy Meeting which was held in Abuja.
While it is important for governments and financial firms to prepare for a shift in the use of money, it is also imperative to make the leap in good preparation. Which leaves one asking: Is Nigeria ready for a digital naira?
Challenges Confronting Digital Nigeria Project
A digital naira in the most populous African country and the largest market in the continent is a bold move but not the best move given the nation’s current predicament, which began since the present administration. Insecurity, and the deteriorating state of infrastructures caused by terrorist groups and insurgents, and neglect on the part of the government have become the greatest nightmare of the country making Nigeria an economically unsafe haven.
As is expected, no economic activity can thrive when there is a breakdown in law and order. International investors have been driven away, economic activities within the country have been disrupted, inflation is reigning high and the country’s GDP has fallen drastically. Nigeria is experiencing not just capital inflation due to capital flow reversal but also stagflation, an economic situation that arises due to high inflation, lack of economic growth, high unemployment rate, and contracting GDP all at the same time.
What Do We Know About Digital Naira
Details of the proposed digital naira remain unknown at large except for the promise made by the CBN Emefiele that Nigeria too will have a digital currency. The announcement was made in response to the plunge in the crypto prices and the earlier decision of the CBN to ban crypto transitions in Nigerian banks. Mr. Emefiele again restated the government’s stance against the blockchain and the insecurity of the transactions while adding that “no responsible central bank will support crypto.”
He said: “I have heard about digital currency. We are working on it. We have set up a committee in CBN and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria.”
Left for the public to speculate are other details of the project like when it all began, the current state of the project, the timeline for the trial, and rollout of the digital currency, the institutions involved in the project and how the fiat and digital naira would inter-operate. Would everyone need to have a direct CBN wallet in order to access the digital naira? What would become of people in the rural regions with no mobile access or connectivity and how will the CBN hope to train the illiterate communities on the use of the digital naira? These are issues and questions that only time will address.
What Initial Steps Should the CBN Take?
As is to be expected, a CBDC is unavoidable but the Nigerian government must ensure an economic ecosystem that will allow it to thrive. The first step to remedy the Nigerian economy would be taking decisive action towards insecurity in the country and combating insurgent groups.
Devaluing the dollar in favor of naira is also necessary. The government should aim to boost consumption, increase investment, and diversify the base of the Nigerian economy through foreign exchange restrictions for the importation of foreign products that have locally produced alternatives.
The African Union (AU) can also work together to develop a unified digital currency that would be strong enough internationally to be pegged against the dollar or euro. This will reduce the cost of Nigeria using loans from foreign countries to develop digital naira which would only serve to pile up the country’s debt status. Instead of using the exorbitant amount of money to develop a digital currency, Nigeria can use the funds to build an industrial system that will create employment and reduce dependency on foreign aids.
A digital currency is inevitable given the continual shift in global digitization but Nigeria needs to put some factors in place before embarking on that project. Except these factors are set right, a digital currency project in Nigeria will only amount to chasing the winds.


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RAFU STAFF REPORT.
When Starbucks opened in Little Tokyo in 2002, it quickly became one of the busiest coffee shops in the country. On Monday, the employees at 138 S. Central Ave. made history by becoming the first Starbucks in Southern California to unionize and the fifth in the state.
“We are not anti-Starbucks. We are Starbucks!” said a spokesperson for Starbucks Workers United.
“We are organizing because we know that Starbucks partners have the ability to improve this company, transform this industry, and form a collaborative, creative, forward-thinking, justice-seeking, independent organization that will allow us to advocate for ourselves.”
The Central Avenue store is one of three in Little Tokyo.
The call to unionize is part of a nationwide effort that began at five locations in Buffalo, N.Y. A total of 64 locations have taken the first steps toward unionization. There are 13,000 Starbucks stores across the U.S.
“The company recently has started to improve our benefits package and hourly rates, possibly to eliminate the need for a union,” stated a longtime Starbucks employee, who preferred to remain anonymous.


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Just as an update to our previous article talking about Valve's new VR headset the Valve Index, I contacted Valve to get some bits cleared up.
As we saw from the accidental store pages going live for Valve's new VR kit, there was a "SteamOS + Linux" system requirements section. After speaking to Valve's PR person Doug Lombardi, they simply said "Yes on Linux support." which is pretty exciting to know we will see same-day Linux support!
Additionally, Lombardi told me they will be targetting May 1st for pre-orders and a full announcement, along with the "Knuckles" controllers which are now just being called "Valve Index Controllers".
The one thing that isn't final is the shipping date, the leaked store page mentioned June 15th but Lombardi said to me they're still "finalizing the targeted day in June to begin shipping units to customers".


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US, Japan reach deal on critical EV battery minerals
The United States and Japan have reached an agreement on trade in minerals that are key to electric vehicle batteries, US trade officials said late Monday (27 March), a move to reinforce supply chains in a sector dominated by China.
Rare earth elements and minerals such as lithium are becoming increasingly important in clean energy technologies, but the United States is set to face gaps in such critical mineral supplies when it comes to meeting expected demand for EVs.
The latest US-Japan deal includes commitments not to impose export duties on critical minerals shipped to the other country, said statement released by the US Trade Representative (USTR).
“The United States and Japan share a common interest in strengthening supply chains between like-minded partners and increasing resilience against threats such as economic coercion,” the USTR added.
Ambassador Katherine Tai said the agreement marks “a welcome moment” as Washington continues to work with allies and partners to boost supply chains, including through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
That law stipulates that 40% of critical minerals in an eligible EV battery needs to be extracted from, or processed in, countries that have free-trade agreements with America.
This figure is set to rise to 80% in 2027 and the rule would have excluded the European Union and Japan – drawing concern from both parties.
EU unveils Critical Raw Materials Act, aiming to lessen dependence on China
The European Commission unveiled the new regulation on Thursday (16 March), setting targets for the production, refining and recycling of key raw materials needed for the green and digital transitions.
But the latest deal opens the doors for critical minerals processed in Japan to qualify for some US subsidies under the act.
The Treasury Department will issue a notice by the end of this month with proposed guidance on the IRA’s critical minerals and battery components requirements.
Boosting the critical minerals supply chain “advances economic security and stability by ensuring the United States and allies and partners are not reliant on other countries for critical minerals,” said a senior US administration official on condition of anonymity.
The pact covers five critical minerals most needed for EV batteries, and will be reviewed every two years, the official added.
According to the USTR, the US-Japan agreement also involves commitment to confer on “best practices regarding review of investments within their territories in the critical minerals sector by foreign entities.”
This month, US President Joe Biden and top EU official Ursula von der Leyen announced the start of negotiations on a critical minerals agreement to enable the relevant resources extracted or processed in the European Union to qualify for IRA subsidies.
The IRA includes $370 billion going towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with some investments in the form of tax cuts for companies that invest in clean energy, along with subsidies for electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy projects – if they are US-made.
US, EU to launch talks on free-trade-like agreement
US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to agree on Friday to begin negotiations on ensuring free-trade agreement-like status for the European Union, two sources familiar with the plans said on Wednesday (8 March).


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LG has announced the global rollout of its curved smartphone, the G Flex, starting in Singapore and Hong Kong in December. More precisely, customers in Singapore will be able to preorder the device starting on Dec. 8, while those in Hong Kong will be able to buy it from "major carriers" and "leading electronic retailers" on Dec. 13, according to LG.
LG Electronics (Korean: LG전자, KRX: 066570, LSE: LGLD) is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea and the flagship subsidiary of the LG Group. The company operates its business through five divisions: Mobile Communications, Home Entertainment, Home Appliances, Air Conditioning, and Energy Solutions. It is the world's second-largest television manufacturer (after Samsung) and the world's fifth-largest mobile phone maker by unit sales in the second quarter of 2012.
The company was originally established in 1958 as GoldStar, producing radios, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners. The LG Group was formed through the merger of two Korean companies, Lucky and GoldStar, from which the abbreviation of LG was derived. The current "Life's Good" slogan is a backronym. Before the corporate name change to LG, household products were sold under the brand name of Lucky, while electronic products were sold under the brand...


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- Hacker-built drone can hunt, hijack other drones
- Seven technology predictions for 2014
- Fake-police ransomware reaches Australia
- Conventional insurance may not cover cyber security breaches: Centre for Internet Safety
- High CISO employment rates means shortage for security industry
Google in pictures
Google has revoked trust for a digital certificate for several of its domains that was apparently mistakenly signed by a French Government intermediate certificate authority (CA) as part of a security program for France’s Ministry of Treasury.
Eight of the largest U.S. Internet companies are formally urging the White House and Congress to rein in surveillance by the National Security Agency, a move at least one privacy advocate says will add pressure on Congress to further restrict NSA activity.
Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera Software today joined Google in revoking rogue digital certificates that had been issued by a subordinate certificate authority (CA) of France's cybersecurity agency.
An intermediate certificate authority (CA) registered to the French Ministry of Finance issued rogue certificates for several Google domains without authorization.
If you're an Android user -- or want to be -- you've likely heard about all the security risks of Google's mobile operating system. But how real are these threats, and how much damage can they do? Despite the fears, are Android devices actually a safe bet for an enterprise mobility strategy?
Anyone who's paid attention to computer security over the past few years will probably tell you that your password isn't enough. Passwords are often awkward and hard to remember--leading people to use the same password for multiple sites--and if someone gets a hold of your login credentials, they can wreak havoc with your personal information. Not good.
We lead rich virtual lives on social networking sites like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. So what happens when real life catches up, and our flesh-and-blood bodies succumb to mortality? For our virtual selves, at least, some concrete answers are available--ways to settle our digital affairs after death, while minimizing hassle and heartache for loved ones.
Earlier in September, an update to the Google Settings app for Android tipped off that a remote device lock and password reset feature was on its way to the Android Device Manager. This week, the service finally went live for most users through the ADM Website.
There's no such thing as a free email service, at least not when it comes to Google, according to industry analysts.
A day after The Washington Post and Guardianpublished bombshell revelations that America's biggest tech companies are allowing the U.S. government to constantly monitor highly personal data contained in their servers, the facts remain fuzzy and somewhat fluid--and the statements of the parties involved don't add up.
China's remarkable success in infiltrating U.S. government, military and corporate networks in recent years shouldn't be seen as a sign that the country is gaining on the U.S. lead in cybertechnology, security experts say. They're just very persistent and very good at remaining undetected for long periods of time.
Confession time: I'm an inveterate social media junkie. From Facebook to Instagram to Diaspora, whenever a new communication platform rolls around--or comes back around--I'm ready to leap aboard.
Sign up now »
Proactive web security that blocks threats in the cloud before they reach users’ machines, or enter customers’ networks.
Incident handling is a vast topic, but here are a few tips for you to consider in your incident response. I hope you never have to use them, but the odds are at some point you will and I hope being ready saves you pain (or your job!).
- Have an incident response plan.
- Pre-define your incident response team
- Define your approach: watch and learn or contain and recover.
- Pre-distribute call cards.
- Forensic and incident response data capture.
- Get your users on-side.
- Know how to report crimes and engage law enforcement.
- Practice makes perfect.
I’m dating myself, but I remember when holiday shopping involved pouring through ads in the Sunday paper, placing actual phone calls from tethered land lines to research product stock and availability, and actually driving places to pick things up. Now, holiday shoppers can do all of that from a smartphone or tablet in a few seconds, but there are some security pitfalls to be aware of.


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Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, is leaving the airline after six years in the role.
Jacobs joined the Irish budget carrier in January 2014. He was previously chief marketing officer at price-comparison website Moneysupermarket.
Jacobs spearheaded Ryanair’s “Always Getting Better” campaign, which set out to improve the airline’s reputation for customer service.
In an emailed statement, Jacobs says he will “enjoy a summer off with my family and then look for my next challenge”.
Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary states: “Kenny Jacobs has decided to step down as CMO of Ryanair after six successful years, during which Ryanair’s website and digital presence has been transformed.
“Kenny was the author of the successful ‘Always Getting Better’ brand six years ago when he first joined, and he has championed many of the successful customer service improvements we have launched in recent years, which has underpinned our successful growth and evolution.”


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ChannelAdvisor, an ecommerce solutions vendor, reported on Tuesday that Green Monday sales increased 19 percent over the same day in 2010. Green Monday was officially dubbed as such by eBay in 2007; it marks the final day of ecommerce shopping where regular shipping schedules will guarantee arrival before the Christmas holiday.
The company analyzed data from major web retailers and found that some experienced as much as 45 percent Green Monday sales growth over last year. While the average revenue gain was 19 percent, overall holiday shopping sales have increased 22 percent based on ChannelAdvisor’s figures. (The company measures the holiday shopping season as Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve.)
Businesses using paid search campaigns saw their sales increase 23 percent over a year ago.
The company expects holiday shopping sales in-store and online to continue their growth in the final days of the season. Moreover, Free Shipping Day, this Friday, will likely generate more sales for businesses trying to appeal to last-minute shoppers.
While ChannelAdvisor noted the effectiveness of PPC campaigns, it’s likely that SEO campaigns can be equally beneficial for B2C companies looking to improve sales during the holiday. Brafton reported recently that consumers check an average of 10.4 sources online before finalizing any purchase decisions. Content marketing campaigns can help businesses appeal to shoppers with informative, keyword-rich content.


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Melissa Galeria in SoHo Showcases First Installation From British Artist Natalia Stuyk
5 monthes ago - By WWD
PICTURE THIS: The intentionally Instagrammable installation by Natalia Stuyk at the Melissa Galeria in SoHo isn't just for the masses, it's also a career first for the artist.
In keeping with its practice of tapping little-known talent and giving them maximum exposure, the retailer had the video artist also imagine something more concrete. As part of “Paraiso,” the British-based Stuyk also designed the digital art that is splashed on the big screens near the entrance to the lower-Broadway store. There are also thousands of starlike translucent pieces that are suspended from the ceiling and...
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A total of 2,333 cartons of counterfeit Zhonghua brand cigarettes were destroyed by burning in Zhenjiang, East China"s Jiangsu province, on Wednesday, generating about 600 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity.
The counterfeit cigarettes, valued at more than 1 million yuan ($155,642), were seized by the police during a winter operation in Zhenjiang, and some were seized by the Zhenjiang Tobacco Monopoly Bureau in two raids.
Li Dongyun, deputy director of the Monopoly Office of the Zhenjiang Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, said this batch of counterfeit cigarettes is divided into two types: hard pack and soft pack, including 464 cartons soft packs and 1,869 cartons of hard packs.
All 2,333 cartons were thrown into huge garbage storage pits and were put into an incinerator by environmental workers.
"All of the fake cigarettes were incinerated in a refuse incinerator to generate electricity. After burning, these fake cigarettes can be converted into about 600 kWh of electricity, which can be used by a family for about a year," said Ma Jun, head of safety and environmental protection at Zhenjiang branch of China Everbright Environmental Energy Limited.uv bracelet band wristbands custom silicone bracelets hen do wristbands cool wristbands


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Sunday Snapshots: Photographs of Tesco's first Northern Nevada Fresh & Easy grocery market in Reno: Since the title of this piece is "Sunday Snapshots," we thought it only appropriate to start off with a few photographs.
On May 22 we reported Tesco plans to open its first Fresh & Easy groecry store in northern Nevada in a now vacant retail building beign remodeled in a shopping center in the Reno/Sparks Metropolitan region. You can read that report here.
The building became vacant as a result of a remodeling of the Dollar Tree discount store next door, which was moved farther to the left as part of its construction. You also can read this July 1 item we wrote about a bit of confusion going on among the construction project manager and a local newspaper as to what actually is going in the building being remodeled in the shopping center. Hint: it is a Fresh & Easy grocery store.
Fresh & Easy Buzz roving correspondent Reno Tom, who makes Reno his home when he isn't traveling throughout the U.S., particularly the Western U.S., on various business persuits, made a trip over to the shopping center where the building is being turned into a Fresh & Easy while home over the July 4 holiday weekend.
The photograph above shows construction workers working on the building between a Dollar Tree store (left) and a Radio Shack store (right) that will be the future home of the Fresh & Easy grocery store in the shopping center.
The photograph below offers a closer look at the building being turned into the first Northern Nevada small-format Fresh & Easy grocery store.
The Dollar Tree discount store was moved farther to the left (it originally took up the space where the Fresh & Easy store will be) as part of the overall remodeling project in order to make room for the Fresh & Easy store, which will be about 10,000 -to- 13,000 square feet, as well as do expand and remodel the Dollar Tree.
The photograph below shows the brand new Dollar Tree store, including the new entrance. The facade that says "Dollar Tree" next to were the construction workers are tearing off materials for the Fresh & Easy store in photos one and two, also will come off. The Fresh & Easy store will take all that space since the Dollar Tree is now relocated farther to the left, as pictured below.
Food Deserts and Fresh & Easy: Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on and writing alot about the "food desert" issue in the United States, especially as it pertains to the Western USA states of California, Nevada and Arizona ,where Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market has its current 62 small-format, combination grocery and fresh foods stores.
As we've written about often, Tesco's Fresh & Easy has as one of its key strategies the opening of Fresh & Easy grocery stores in urban, inner city neighborhoods, which are neighborhoods undeserved by food stores that offer a selection of basic groceries and fresh foods at afforable prices.
Thus far, Tesco has opened two of its 62 Fresh & Easy markets (both in Los Angeles) in such neighborhoods, with current plans to open a third store in a low-income South Central Los Angeles "food desert" neighborhood, along with a fourth store in a San Francisco "food desert" neighborhood, and a fifth store in an underserved neighborhood in Sacramento.
Unlike Fresh & Easy Buzz, the mainstream press hasn't been reporting much on the food desert issue of late, especially in its coverage of Tesco's Fresh & Easy. Therefore, we were pleased to see a story in yesterday's edition of USA Today on the issue. Here is the USA Today piece: Urban, rural communities lack supply of affordable produce.
New Store Openings: Phoenix, Arizona: The next new Arizona Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market grocery store to open will be in central Phoenix, opening on July 30, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned. the new Phoenix Fresh & Easy grocery market will be at 635 West Indian School Road. It will be Tesco's sixth Fresh & Easy small-format combination basic grocery and fresh foods store in the city of Phoenix. There currently are 19 Fresh & Easy stores in Arizona, all located in the Phoenix Metropolitan/East and West Valley region. Tesco currently has 62 of its 10,000 -to- 13,000 square foot Fresh & Easy grocery stores in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, and plans to open at least 30 new stores in the next 90 days.
Snapshots: Tesco PLC News
UK planning scheme to favor small shops over mega-stores: Although Tesco operates lots of its small-format Tesco Express banner convenience-style grocery stores at home in the United Kingdom, and continues to open new ones, it's building far more new, larger format stores like it's combination grocery and general merchandise Tesco superstores and hypermarts (a similar but smaller version in the UK of a Walmart Supercenter in the U.S.) than the more petite Express versions currently. These are mega-stores for the UK at 50,000 -to- nearly 80,000 square feet, even though they are less than half the size of a U.S. Wal-mart Supercenter or SuperTarget store, which average about 180,000 square feet.
However, new powers for local municipalities in the UK are being introduced which would make it more difficult for retailers like Tesco, Wal-mart-owned Asda, Sainsbury's and others to build these larger stores. The new city planning powers being drafted are said to target directly what are called "Tesco Towns" in the UK, named after the fact the nation's leading retailer has or soon will have a Tesco store--and in most instances multiple Tesco stores--in every city and town in the UK.
The new planning tools will allow municipalities to favor smaller format stores over larger ones, and are designed to provide an advantage to local small shops over the out of town mega stores. Read about the new planning scheme being developed in the UK here
Two of Tesco's key competitors for higher-end, premium food and grocery segment sales in the UK are the venerable Marks & Spencer (M&S) and the ultra chich Waitrose. Marks & Spencer has long been Britain's top retailer market share-wise for the higher-end food dollar. However, under the leadership of managing director Mark Price, Waitrose, which is owned by the John Lewis Partnership which also operates department stores, Waitrose has ben making significant inroads on M&S. Meanwhile, even though Tesco is a discount supermarket, it's offerings include substantial selections of specialty, premium, natural and organic food and grocery products across all categories. Tesco also is a leading specialty and premium wine retailer in the UK.
This week, M&S issued a profit warning. In the 13 weeks to June 28, sales at its British stores (open more than a year) fell 5.3 per cent. At the same time it announced the departure of Steven Esom, head of its food business. Marks & Spencer chairman and CEO Sir Richard Rose also is coming under heated pressure from all stakeholders to turn food and grocery sales around fast.
Click here to read more. Read the UK Daily Telegraph's take on M&S, which once was the UK's biggest and most profitable retailer before the rise of Tesco, in this thoughtful, lively and informative opinion piece.
Meanwhile, Tesco is looking to M&S's misfortune to increase its slaes in the premium, high-end retailing segment despite the souring UK economy. M&S is famous for its store brand specialty and premium food products. However, both Tesco and Waitrose are making strong moves to rest sales away from M&S and its priovate label brand, with there own higher-end store brands. If the current M&S numbers are any indication, it looks likes it working, although numerous other factors are a at play, including a big shift by shoppers to small-format, no frills German disount grocerys Adi and Lidl's UK stores.
Booth's; England's last remaining independent supermarket chain fights on: Not since the civil war has Preston been such a seedbed of rebellion and defiance. The Lancashire town is home to Booths, England's last remaining independent supermarket chain, which is bravely holding back the march of the multiples from some of the north's most sought-after locations. The 160-year-old chain is battling on with just 26 stores compared with Tesco's 3,751 and a turnover that is a tiny fraction of Britain's biggest supermarket. Read this full article by Sarah Butler in the UK guardian.co.uk (The Gaurdian newspaper) here
Today, just four supermarket chains control 75% of the total food and grocery dollar spent at retail in the United Kingdom. Those chains are: Tesco, Wal-Mart-owned Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. California alone, which with 38,000 residents is nearly as populated as the UK, has thousands of supermarkets and natural foods stores operated by reginal independent chains, as well as by independent grocers who own one or more stores.
In contrast, regional supermarket chains--ranging from those that do billions of dollars a year in sales and have hundreds of stores to much smaller ones, along with multi and single-store independents--are thriving in America.
We read with a certain sadness of the near demise of the independent chain and grocer in the UK. After all, it has always been the independents that are the innovators, the risk takers. Without them the industry is sure to stagnate.
In fact, a good mega-supermarket chain CEO will tell you he or she prefers a vibrant independent grocer segment, as it is where they pick up new ideas and innovations for their chain. We wish Booths much continued success--and independence. Not only do we think having an independent chain like Booths is good overall for UK consumers, we also think its good for the nation's food retailing industry as a whole.
Speaking of competiton: As mentioned above, Wal-Mart-owned Asda and Sainsbury's are Tesco's top two competitors in the UK. Sainsbury's, a venerable British retailer as is the family, including Lord Sainsbury, who founded the chain, was almost taken over last year by the United Arab Emirant Kingdom of Qatar's soveriegn fund. The fund was established decades ago by the middle eastern oil-rich country as a way to invest its oil revenues, which have been soaring even more in the last few years, in various corporations and enterprises throughout the world.
Last year, the Qarari's bought up a huge chunk of Sainsbury's stock, which led to talks between the retailer's board and the fund's managers about a takeover. Most UK analysts thought it was a done deal. However, early this year the qatari's pulled out of the deal to acquire majority ownership in Sainsbury's.
Now, the oil-rich fund is back at it. Over the last month or so the Qatari's have bought up stock equalling about 26% of Sainsbury ownership, leading UK analysts to once again speculate a takeover move is in play. We aren't so sure.
The fact is, the oil-rich monarchy has so much cash on hand from sales of near $150 a barrel oil, that its literally having a hard time finding corporations and enterprises to invest all its money in. Have the Qatari's decided this time to take over Sainsbury's? Or is the fund just buying up a huge chunk of the retailer's stock once again in order to drive the share price up, cash out, and make a couple billion dollars more like it did last time around? Read what the UK Times newpaper has to say in this report: Qatari's make fresh swoop on Sainsbury's shares.
Speaking of Tesco competitor Sainsbury's: It appears a store checkout clerk is so in love with her job at the Sainsbury's branch, she decided to hold her wedding in store. Jane Clark, a 42 year old Sainsbury's store worker, and 32-year old Kenneth Sutherland, have tied the knot at the store where Ms. Clark works. Read all about the in-store nuptuals in this report, "Couple say supermarket 'Aisle do,'" from BBC news UK. No word if Ms. Clark had her wedding day off, or if she merely had the ceremony during her lunch break and then went back to checking customer grocery orders.
More Snapshots: Tesco PLC News Linkage:
You can't beat Tesco's meat says industry: Tesco is SuperMeat Retailer of the Year.Yes we have bananas, but they will cost you more today: Tesco passes on costs as it hikes the price of biggest selling product. Jack Sprat, he has some fat; but no rage: Jack Sprat: supermarket rage is pointless. Chef Hugh's (Fearnly -Whittingstall) chicken welfare campaign to go store-level with battery farming demonstration at West Reading, England Tesco store: Chicken welfare demo to take place at Tesco store. A British free-range egg farmer has lost his battle to force Tesco to remove his picture from the retailer's free-range egg cartons. However, cageless egg farmer Ian Chisholm isnt' giving up his fight just yet. Read what he is up to in this piece from London's Metro paper and website: Tesco won’t beat me says egg farmer. More here: Farmer loses Tesco egg box battle.
More Tesco linkage: Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and both houses of Parliament have strongly condemed the recent rigged election and despotic rule of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe. In fact, Britain has spoken with the loudest voice of all democratic nations thus far in terms of calling for Mugabe to step down. As part of that protest, the UK governemnt has called for corporations to stop doing business with the nation as a form of boycott. Tesco, which has done business with the African country under Mugabe's depotic rule by sourcing certain goods and products from Zimbabwe, has announced it will no longer do so until the country's political crisis is solved. Read about it here: Tesco suspends Zimbabwe trade. And here: Tesco stops trade with Zimbabwe.
Food retailing and geopolitics: Tesco, along with UK supermarket chains Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Sommerfield, have admited sourcing food from Israeli-owned settlement farms located on Palestinian territory in the contintious Israel-Palestian region of the Middle East. Doing so is a non-no in the UK. Read this report from the guardian.co.uk: 'Illicit' settler food sold in UK stores.
Regulation UK-style: The United Kingdom's "Competition Commission," which regulates retail competition in the nation, recently passed a new "competition test" designed to prohibit any one retailer from opening an "excessive" number of stores in a given British city or town. Since Tesco has the most stores of any retailer in the nation, and the most multiple stores throughout the country, the regulation is aimed primarily at the retailer, as well as to a lessor degree at the other three UK "big four" retailers: Asda, Sanisbury's and Morrisons. Tesco has decided to appeal the commission's ruling. Read a report about the UK regulatory commission's new "competition test" and Tesco's appeal of it in a recent story from the Times Online: Tesco launches legal challenge to competition test.


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Harvest Records is celebrating their tenth anniversary this summer by throwing the Transfigurations II festival in Marshall, NC from Aug. 28-30. The independent record store threw Transfigurations I in 2009.
Among many, the line-up includes Mudhoney, Angel Olsen, Lee Fields & the Expressions, Reigning Sound, and Axxa/Abraxas.
TRANSFIGURATIONS II LINEUP:
*Lee Fields & The Expressions*
*Sonny & The Sunsets*
*Hiss Golden Messenger*
*Sir Richard Bishop*
*Fountainsun (Daniel Higgs + Fumie Ishii)*
*EDJ (Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats)*
*Dylan Golden Aycock*
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The virtual reality (VR) market in China is expected to reach $860M in 2016 and accelerate to $8.5B by 2020. In the last six months alone, the Chinese VR market has seen a flurry of investments, partnerships and new ventures involving both local and international players. With capabilities in low cost, mass scale manufacturing, a hot investment climate and international support, China can become the epicenter of the global VR market's growth.
While the country has been seen as a copier of Western technology, VR is a new medium that could foster innovation and drive China's future market. The limited number of U.S. head-mounted device (HMD) players and the lack of their presence in China have created a vacuum that is quickly being filled by growing entrepreneurial communities, many of which are heavily focused on mobile and standalone HMDs. E-commerce behemoths Alibaba and Taobao have reported total sales of over 300K units a month from over 100 HMD makers (this number excludes offline sales), with most of these HMDs on the lower end, comparable to Google Cardboard. Early leading HMD manufacturers include 3Glasses, Deepoon and Baofeng Mojing.
During the first quarter of 2016, Baofeng sold 1M units of its $30 headset through its network of 20,000 brick-and-mortar stores and is targeting 10M headsets by the end of the year. To put this into perspective, Google Cardboard announced shipping 5M Cardboard headsets in its first 19 months. Many Chinese device makers have gone with a first-to-market strategy. With this kind of a head start, they are more quickly iterating based on market feedback and have the potential to leapfrog the U.S. in mobile VR. Baofeng, for example, is now working on its 5th generation HMD. In the last six months, major brands ZTE, LeTV and Huawei have each entered the competitive space with their own VR headsets.
With the hardware market booming, what China needs the most is compelling content. While none of China's biggest tech companies—Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent—have released a HMD yet, they each have ambitious plans for VR. Taking almost a "wait and see" approach, they have opened their platforms and are providing seed funding for China's VR startup space, especially for content creators. Subsidiary video services of all three are working with content partners and investing in VR film, TV and game content. International efforts are also fueling the content market. 500 startups will be investing in 20 early stage companies in China. Shanghai Media Group partnered with U.S.-based Jaunt to formed Jaunt China and has plans to develop 500 VR productions in the next 2 years.
Another area of growth in VR, and one that offers immediate monetization opportunities, is out-of-home and location-based entertainment. "VR stores," such as an in-mall roller coaster VR experience priced at $6, have existed across the country since last year. Because the high-end, PC-based VR experiences are not accessible to most of China, out-of-home experiences provide the average consumer with curated, high quality VR content, accessible through internet cafés, malls, other commercial venues and theme parks. China's Suning Commerce Group plans to open 300 VR experiences within the next three months across its chain stores. LA-based SPACES and Songcheng Performance Development Co, one of the world's largest theme park operators, have recently formed a joint venture to bring VR to its theme parks and also develop standalone parks in China.
These are just two of many ventures and partnerships contributing to the burgeoning VR out-of-home market and promoting overall consumer awareness. With both the proliferation of VR platforms and out-of-home experiences, there has never been a better time for great content creators to dive in.


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An organic grocer that plans an ambitious expansion across the Midwest has inked deals for two more Chicago-area stores as it prepares to move its headquarters to Downers Grove from Phoenix.
Fresh Thyme Farmers Market signed a 15-year lease for its first store in the city, at 2500 N. Elston Ave., a busy retail corridor between Bucktown and Lincoln Park, company President CEO Chris Sherrell confirmed. The firm also is opening a store in a former Dominick's in Crystal Lake, he said.
As its expansion ramps up, the grocer will shift its headquarters this spring to southwest suburban Downers Grove, bringing about 100 corporate and management jobs, Sherrell said. Fresh Thyme leased 30,000 square feet in the Corridors III building at 2650 Warrenville Road for the new office.
The headquarters move will allow the firm to stay close to Midwestern markets, where it hopes to open 100 stores over the next six years, including 18 in Chicago and the suburbs, Sherrell said. A spokesman for Atlanta-based Columbia Property Trust, which owns the 222,000-square-foot office building, confirmed the lease but declined to comment further.
CHANGING FOOD LANDSCAPE
Backed by executives at Michigan retail behemoth Meijer, Fresh Thyme is part of a new wave of companies transforming the local grocery landscape.
Along with Plum Market and Mrs. Green's Natural Market, Fresh Thyme caters to health-minded shoppers by offering big selections of natural and organic food. Whole Foods Market and Mariano's, meanwhile, are aggressively moving to protect and boost their market share, and Trader Joe's has opened stores as well.
“I think there will be some strong and stiff competition with, let's say, the Whole Foods of the world, but I think the real siphoning is going to be from the remaining players in the middle market,” including Jewel-Osco and independent grocers, said Mari Gallagher, principal at Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group, a Chicago-based food consulting firm.
WILL COMPETE ON PRICE
Sherrell, who once operated a Phoenix-based natural food chain called Sunflower Farmers Market, said his firm will differentiate itself by competing on price.
“We're a natural, organic specialty store and we've got a unique mix,” he said, noting Fresh Thyme carries conventional food in addition to organic items. “We bring that to the public as a value.”
He expects the Elston store, which will comprise 28,000 square feet, to open by October 2015 or else in the first quarter of next year. The firm likes the location because of its density: “One main thing we looked at is just the rooftops, and population-wise this is probably our highest density (location) of all the stores we've signed to date.”
“It's a good, in-fill spot,” said Allen Joffe, principal at Chicago-based Baum Realty Group, who isn't involved in the deal.
Steven Schwartz, president and CEO of Chicago-based Midtown Athletic Clubs and the owner of the empty Elston Avenue store where Fresh Thyme will open, said the space was last occupied by electronics retailer TigerDirect, which closed a couple of years ago. The building spans 33,000 square feet, meaning Midtown has another 5,000 square feet to lease.
'A STORE WORKS IN THIS AREA'
Midtown operates its namesake tennis and health club at the northwest corner of Fullerton and Elston avenues, just south of the forthcoming grocery.
“We know a store works in this area,” Schwartz added, noting that years ago Fresh Fields operated a shop in the Elston Avenue building before Whole Foods acquired that chain. “It's good for us because we're health-conscious and our customer is a health-conscious person. It's also convenient for them to go to the club and then do their shopping.”
Midtown is trying to find a tenant for a vacant 22,000-square-foot former Staples store adjacent to the future Fresh Thyme.
Fresh Thyme operates a store in Deerfield and one in Mount Prospect. It has signed leases for seven more in places like Downers Grove, Naperville and Joliet.
The firm plans to open an approximately 29,000-square-foot store in the former Dominick's at 5340 U.S. 14 in northwest suburban Crystal Lake, according to Mark Lee, director of real estate at Berengaria Development, a Milwaukee-based company that has a contract to buy the former Dominick's and has a lease with Fresh Thyme.
Lee declined to comment on how much the venture his firm is part of will pay for the 66,000-square-foot Crystal Lake property, which is owned by an affiliate of Farmer's Best Market, an independent grocery chain in Northlake. The Farmer's Best affiliate bought the building from Dominick's parent Safeway last summer for $3.2 million, according to a report in the Northwest Herald.
Farmer's Best executive Nick Merikas said he decided to sell the property after deciding he wouldn't open one of his stores in the former Dominick's building.


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Category Public Relations
Date 19 Jul 2018
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) is taking overseas promotion of the destination to new heights today. In a world’s first, RAKTDA is using augmented reality to give zipliners flying the world’s longest, fastest city-centre zip in the heart of London a taste of the breathtaking experience of Jebel Jais Flight: The World’s Longest Zipline on the UAE’s highest mountain.
The “Jebel Jais Flight London” was created in partnership between RAKTDA and ZipNow London to give adventure seekers a completely unique way to experience the World’s Longest Zipline in Ras Al Khaimah without leaving the country. By combining the fantastic ride of ZipNow London and the latest 360 video and Augmented Reality technologies, visitors will get the physical thrill of riding the world’s longest and fastest urban zipline, near London’s dynamic Southbank, whilst enjoying the views from the Guinness World Record setting Jebel Jais Flight.
Haitham Mattar, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority said: “One of our key areas of focus is growing our global reputation as the adventure tourism hub of the Middle East and we wanted to do something innovative to showcase the world’s longest zipline to thrillseekers in London. Jebel Jais Flight London, gives flyers a taste of Ras Al Khaimah flying high above our breathtaking mountain scenery and I hope it will inspire them to come and try the real thing for themselves. The UK is an important and growing market for us and we have significantly increased our marketing and promotional efforts to support our aim of increasing visitors from the UK to Ras Al Khaimah by 20% in 2018.”
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Betfair is returning to its roots with a new campaign that puts its peer-to-peer betting exchange front-and-centre in a bid to appeal to early adopters and novices alike.
Taking creative inspiration from Oscar-winning film The Big Short and the way its characters use simple analogies to explain complex concepts, Betfair has enlisted the help of actor Clive Owen to demystify the process of peer-to-peer betting.
The campaign, devised by Leo Burnett London, features 40 individually scripted ads using real-life scenarios and analogies to simplify the betting process. Running online and across TV, radio and social, the campaign covers everything from the benefits of using the exchange to how to set your own odds.
The advertising has been designed “with a digital lens”, explains brand director Stephen Mault, who is convinced the old school method of editing down a 30-second TV ad for online is dead.
In fact, Betfair plans to spend less money on advertising around live sport and has moved more media spend over to digital as the whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertising comes into force for the 2019/2020 football season, starting with the Championship this weekend.
Mault believes the whistle-to-whistle ban is a big opportunity for brands that want to be progressive and have a desire to innovate.
“It’s a real opportunity for us to take the lead and not just rely on 30-second TV ads during live Premier League football,” he tells Marketing Week.
“We will look to reach our audience on other channels and other times, communicating the message through digital, which allows us to take them on more of a journey, as opposed to relying on 30-second TV ads to do the trick.”
As well as bringing the campaign to life online, Betfair wants to break down barriers to understanding peer-to-peer betting with the introduction of an education hub featuring bite-size tips on how to use the exchange.
Betfair knows the education piece is crucial if it wants to stand out in a highly competitive gambling market and reach bettors looking for a different experience.
On the Betfair Exchange, which makes more trades than the London Stock Market, the price is set by individuals, not the bookmaker. Bettors set the odds at the level they think is right; the volume of bets coming in and out will show if the market thinks it is fair. Players can suggest odds, ‘back’ a bet or place a ‘lay’ bet, which is betting on an outcome not to happen.
If a player decides to take the bet and puts money into the market the pot grows. The overall pot of money people can bet against is known as the liquidity.
Players on the Betfair Exchanges can bet on everything from Premier League football to when the UK will leave the EU.
Politics is one of the hottest topics on the exchange, with the 2016 US presidential election becoming Betfair’s biggest ever traded market on the exchange. The staggering £199m pot dwarfs any other event in the brand’s history, including World Cup finals.
“We’ve found the prices on political bets have been much more accurate on the exchange than traditional bookmakers, because it’s what people actually think,” Mault explains.
“Parties spend an awful lot of money on polling to get an understanding of what people think, whereas on the exchange there’s no better place if you believe something to put some money on it. More often than not the exchange is a really good and true reflection of what a nation thinks.”
Gaining brand cut through
The level of flexibility, combined with the fact you are not betting against a faceless bookie, has made the exchange popular with punters since it set out to disrupt the market in 2000.
Mault compares it to the Netflix or Uber of its day, democratising the market at a time when everyone was used to betting with a traditional bookmaker on the high street.
“Betfair created a new way of doing it, taking the bookmaker out of it, charging a commission on winning bets and allowing customers to set the price,” says Mault.
“It allowed people to bet on the price they thought was fair because it was made up by themselves and other punters, as opposed to a bookmaker putting a price down and saying do you want it or not?”
Hoping to tap into this heritage of thinking differently to the rest of the market, Betfair also wants to build on the ‘guts meets smarts’ messaging of its 2018 campaign, which represented an attempt to elevate the brand in a crowded market.
The whistle-to-whistle ad ban is a real opportunity for us to take the lead and not just rely on 30-second TV ads during live Premier League football.
Stephen Mault, Betfair
Betfair is, therefore, pitching itself as the destination for considered bettors who want to get as much insight as possible before placing a bet. Mault describes the Betfair customer as someone who uses their intelligence to think through a bet before placing it. This is why, he believes, Clive Owen is a great fit for the new campaign as his persona evokes a sense of sophistication that will keep the audience engaged.
Across the gambling landscape, brands are fighting to stand out. That can be through the highly stylised feel of William Hill’s new black and white advert with its brand ambassador, the boxer Anthony Joshua, or Paddy Power’s play to become the football fan’s champion with its ‘Save Our Shirt’ campaign.
“As a category we haven’t delivered the most engaging and emotional advertising over the years. Everything can be quite rational in the betting sphere, just talking about price and offers and really lacking in emotion and brand-led pieces,” Mault notes.
“Now, more brands are starting to understand we need to be more emotional and appeal to customers in a slightly different way and grow brand affinity, rather than being quite so direct response, which is why the category is changing slightly. But I would still say there are an awful lot of brands stuck in their ways, being very direct-response focused and shouting at customers.”


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Jiuzhaigou’s tourism industry ponders its future after quake
While Sichuan’s renowned World Heritage national park will eventually recover, many local businesses may not be able to afford the wait
The domestic tourism boom has been a godsend for the remote villages of Jiuzhaigou county, but now many local businesses are facing a heartbreaking decision – stay or go.
Tuesday’s earthquake claimed at least 24 lives, injured 493 people and caused widespread damage at Jiuzhaigou National Park, one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, and its surrounds.
It should be the start of peak season at the park – in the week before the quake, it had some 40,000 visitors per day – but instead, many operators are wondering whether to cut their losses and leave, or wait it out for facilities to be rebuilt and start again.
The Unesco World Heritage Site is famous for its otherworldly beauty – waterfalls and iridescent lakes that shimmer against a backdrop of deciduous forests and snow-capped mountains.
Since the magnitude 7 earthquake, photos and videos of the destruction it caused at popular attractions in the park have been widely circulated online.
In places, the landscape has been dramatically altered. Sparkling Lake, one of the park’s most popular locations for taking selfies and holiday snaps, is now significantly smaller.
“The earthquake opened a wide, deep rift at the bottom of the lake and the water has been draining away,” said Chen Degang, a search and rescue team member.
About a dozen police and soldiers were guarding the park’s main entrance yesterday, and only rescue teams – which continue to arrive – were allowed in.
For business owners living in surrounding towns and villages who have staked their futures on the popularity of the park, everything is now up in the air.
The service industry accounts for about two-thirds of the economy in Jiuzhaigou, according to the county’s economic yearbook. Last year, more than 7.2 million people visited the county – with 5 million of them going to the park – generating over 9 billion yuan (HK$10.55 billion) in revenue.
At a grocery shop in the town of Zhangzha, near the epicentre of the quake, the Tibetan woman behind the counter, Liu, is ready to pull down the shutters.
Liu said she did not expect the tourists to return for months, or even years. She moved from her home county of Jinchuan, some 600km away, when the tourist industry started developing in the valley in the early 2000s.
Zhangzha, usually packed with tourists, is now a ghost town, and Liu said she had little hope of making any money for the rest of the year. She has already paid some 70,000 yuan in annual rent for her shop.
On the night of the quake, her shop was inundated by panic-stricken tourists who had fled their hotels and guest houses and needed supplies. A few hours later, she had sold half her stock.
“One tourist who was sheltering in my store was so scared that she vowed never to return to the valley,” Liu said.
Fruit seller Yang Qingxiu and her husband were just as worried about their business “No tourists will come here while the park’s being restored,” she said.
For years, they have sold fresh tropical fruit trucked in from Chengdu, the provincial capital, for visitors unaccustomed to the dry mountain weather. Tens of thousands of tourists were evacuated after the quake, and Yang and her husband have been forced to sell their fruit at below cost to reduce their losses.
Many guest house and hotel operators said that, with their businesses on hold, they would struggle to make loan repayments and cover the cost of repairs – and they were counting on the government to provide financial aid.
But newcomer Lin Li, who moved to the town in June to run the Jiuzhai Sea View Hotel, said she was optimistic that the tourists would come back. “For sure, tourism will slow down for a while,” Lin said. “But we should be confident that Jiuzhaigou National Park will be restored – it’s a World Heritage Site after all.”


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San Francisco, CA, January 25, 2012 — Maxthon , a global software and web services company, announces its exclusive online giveaway of Nabi, the world’s best kid-friendly android tablet. Starting February 1, Maxthon will give away a Nabi tablet a week to the Maxthon fan who provides the most creative and fun blog post or video about what makes Maxthon great.
“Nabi is the perfect tablet for kids and a breakout hit with consumers,” says Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. “Along with Maxthon’s Kids Safe browser, which puts parents in control of what websites their children see when using this tablet, Nabi is the ideal device for people who want to enjoy the web.”
Contestants can also learn more about this $199 kid-friendly Nabi tablet here.
“Demand is high and there’s no wondering why: Nabi is one of those ‘magic devices’ that kids and parents love. Take a few moments and tell us what you think makes Maxthon special. You just might win one.” says Karl Mattson, GM of Maxthon International/Chief of Product Development.
Along with its own app store, Nabi also has an extensive library of creative and educational content, Netflix, games and a host of kid-friendly applications and content.
Headquartered in Beijing, Maxthon Ltd. is an innovative software company and developer of superior web browsers which continue to set new standards for simplicity, speed and security. Each month more than 130,000,000 people use Maxthon’s web browser in 120 countries across the world. Maxthon also brings its best-of-breed browsing to the Android platform for mobile devices and tablet computers. For more information visit Maxthon’s official website.


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Stanford University scientists have created a new carbon material that significantly boosts the performance of energy-storage technologies. "We have developed a 'designer carbon' that is both versatile and controllable," said Zhenan Bao, a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford. "Our study shows that this material has exceptional energy-storage capacity, enabling unprecedented performance in lithium-sulfur batteries and supercapacitors." According to Bao, the new designer carbon represents a dramatic improvement over conventional activated carbon, an inexpensive material widely used in products ranging from water filters and air deodorizers to energy-storage devices.
"A lot of cheap activated carbon is made from coconut shells," Bao said. "To activate the carbon, manufacturers burn the coconut at high temperatures and then chemically treat it." The activation process creates nanosized holes, or pores, that increase the surface area of the carbon, allowing it to catalyze more chemical reactions and store more electrical charges. But activated carbon has serious drawbacks, Bao said. For example, there is little interconnectivity between the pores, which limits their ability to transport electricity. Instead of using coconut shells, Bao and her colleagues developed a new way to synthesize high-quality carbon using inexpensive – and uncontaminated – chemicals and polymers. The process begins with conducting hydrogel, a water-based polymer with a spongy texture similar to soft contact lenses. For the study, the Stanford team used a mild carbonization and activation process to convert the polymer organic frameworks into nanometer-thick sheets of carbon. "The carbon sheets form a 3-D network that has good pore connectivity and high electronic conductivity," said graduate student John To, a co-lead author of the study. "We also added potassium hydroxide to chemically activate the carbon sheets and increase their surface area." The result: designer carbon that can be fine-tuned for a variety of applications.


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Mazda formally confirmed a report that first appeared on TheDetroitBureau.com in March 2017, and reaffirmed by us again in October 2020: the rotary engine is returning as a range extender in a plug-in hybrid version of the MX-30 subcompact crossover sometime in 2023.
The company’s confirmation appeared Friday in Automotive News, a half-decade after our exclusive initial reports.
The arrival of the MX-30 Plug-In Hybrid should happen sometime after the end of Mazda’s current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2023.
A return of a legend
A beloved part of the Mazda engine family for decades, it was phased out with the demise of the RX-8 sports car in 2012. And as we also first reported two years ago, the engine will not directly power the wheels. Instead, the rotary engine will be a range extender, recharging the MX-30’s battery pack that powers the MX-30’s electric motors.
The MX-30, which went on sale in 2020, and arrived in the U.S. in 2021 is designed to employ a variety of drivetrains. Sold as a pure battery-electric vehicle in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. It’s also sold in Japan and Australia as a mild hybrid, where it uses a standard 2.0-liter four-cylinder SkyActiv gas engine mated to a 24-volt hybrid system.
But adding a rotary engine rather than the SkyActiv unit used elsewhere lends the vehicle a sporting cache it would otherwise lack and would reaffirm the vehicle’s Mazda DNA. It would also attract customers who like the $33,470 MX-30, but are put off by the current vehicle’s 100 miles of range. Other EVs boast more range and a lower price, including the Chevrolet Bolt ($31,500 and 259 miles of range), the Mini Cooper SE Electric Hardtop ($29,900/114 miles), and the Nissan Leaf ($28,425/149 miles).
Mazda already knows the vehicle’s range is a problem. Mazda MX-30 owners can use other Mazda vehicles for up to 10 days per year for the first three years of ownership. But the MX-30 EV’s existence isn’t owed to customer needs. It’s an effort to meet California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements to allow the automakers to continue selling cars in California.
Is it enough?
Mazda has seemed almost reluctant to embrace electrification, preferring to stick with ever more efficient variations on its SkyActiv technology, including the the SkyActiv-D diesel engine and its SkyActiv-X Homogenous Charge Compression Engine, which delivers diesel-like efficiency but runs on less expensive gasoline.
But the reality of emissions and mileage mandates have caught up with the company, and it is rushing to make up for lost time as puts that “multi-solution approach” into play to ensure that the MX-30 isn’t DOA.


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Tag results for VST
Cubase 7 on the bench!
Arturia’s Spark Creative drum machine could be the bright spark that shines a light over the competition…
Waves’ new V9 plug-in upgrade has made a big splash in the world of digital audio plug-ins.
Steinberg's new range of CMC hardware controllers are a producers delight
Our occasional DJ tech guru Kutski puts Native Instruments’ miniature Maschine Mikro through its paces…
Slate VCC’s mixing plug-in is a must for any producer trying to get that cool analogue sound…
Rane’s new MP25 and MP26 mixers are once again leading the charge when it comes to permanent club installs
Propellerheads just can't stop improving their already popular Reason Production Suite
Avid are not new to the digital DJing arena — but will they be the talk of the town with their Torq 2 digital DJ software upgrade?
Proving that the world of digital production software isnt just a two-horse race, Reaper aims to reinvent the wheel with its trim DAW.


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Apple says that it will invest $60 million to support minority entrepreneurs, a move that comes as part of a “racial equity and justice” project to challenge “systemic racism.”
“There’s a lack of diversity among venture capital and banking funders,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, to Reuters. “We looked for where we thought there was opportunity for our resources to do good things.”
The report added that Apple will invest $10 million in a fund with Harlem Capital, a New York-based early-stage venture firm, and another $25 million in Siebert Williams Shank’s Clear Vision Impact Fund, which provides financing to businesses with an emphasis on minority-owned firms.
Apple is also investing another $25 million into the Propel Center, a facility in Atlanta where historically Black colleges and universities will collaborate on programs in entrepreneurship, and app development.
Apple’s new investments are a part of the company’s $100 million


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Just one in five small businesses have received help and advice from their bank, according to new research by ClearSky’s parent company.
A poll of more than 500 small business owners, contractors and freelancers – conducted for the first Optionis group ‘Get on and Grow’ report – reveals that access to good quality advice was an important way entrepreneurs felt their banks could better support business growth, second only to good online access to accounts and services.
Despite this, just 20% said they had ever received specialist business advice from their bank and only 10% said they regularly received useful information about relevant products and services.
This is evidence of a growing remoteness in the relationship between entrepreneurs and their banks.
Banks need to work harder to find ways to offer support and advice to these customers, particularly on issues such as cash flow that are crucial to businesses surviving the difficult first few months and years.
It seems business customers agree, rating the current service they receive from their bank at an average of 4.6 out of 10.


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Conexion Americas is housed in Casa Azafran Community Center (Photo: Casa Azafran)
Each year, Conexión Américas in Nashville assists more than 9,000 Hispanic entrepreneurs seeking business opportunities, but a $210,000 grant from Bank of America will allow an expansion to the existing program.
Aspiring Hispanic entrepreneurs will now have access to classes, coaching and networking opportunities to build their skills and help their existing businesses grow. Participants will also have the opportunity to market their businesses through an online marketing campaign.
“Latinos have an incredible entrepreneurial spirit but often face hurdles when it comes to starting and growing businesses in Nashville,” said Martha Silva, co-executive director of Conexión Américas, in statement.
Although Hispanic-owned businesses have lower average annual revenues compared to non-Hispanic businesses, according to Biz2credit’s Latino Small Business Credit Study, Hispanic-businesses have opened at a much faster rate than other groups over the last decade.
Eliminating current barriers may be key to economic success, since Hispanic entrepreneurs often have less access to business education, funding and networking opportunities.
“Small businesses create jobs and anchor our communities. At Bank of America in Nashville, we are focused on supporting entrepreneurs so they are set up for success,” said Tyson Moore, Bank of America Nashville market president. “Conexión Américas has decades of experience creating a welcoming community for our immigrant and refugee neighbors and we can’t wait to see what new businesses come from this program.”
Hispanic entrepreneurs and other immigrant-owned businesses will also have an opportunity to show their wares at Conexión Américas annual Holiday Bazaar on December 3.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.


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Farfetch has teamed up with metaverse brand accelerator Outlier Ventures to launch a new system made to really encourage a lot more brands to get associated in net3 improvement.
On Wednesday, the two providers introduced a new software called Aspiration Assembly Foundation Camp. According to Farfetch, the new application is created to provide mentorship, networking, and guidance to luxury fashion and lifestyle startups keen to produce the future of website3 luxurious commerce.
Much more from Footwear News
The remote 12-7 days software will be tailor-made to each startup and will aim on electronic vogue, tokenized loyalty, immersive ordeals, and the creator financial system, Farfetch reported. Collaborating startups will acquire access to Farfetch and Outlier Ventures’ community of mentors from the trend, engineering and net3 industries, as well as traders, to support their foreseeable future fundraising attempts.
“Web3 is an evolving region of growth, but with elementary difficulties to get over to be usable and scalable in the luxurious business,” Carol Hilsum, senior director of product or service innovation at Farfetch, reported in a statement. “We are on a mission to assistance the creation of a exceptional, curated, related conversation to enable generate the potential of this house.”
Des Martin, main marketing officer at Outlier Ventures, included: “Web3 is now at the intersection of fashion, tradition, and artwork. It’s difficult to think of a greater blend than Outlier Ventures and Farfetch to accelerate luxurious manner founders and their assignments. The companies presented to founders assortment from fundraising aid, tokenomics information, group growth, marketing suggestions and anything else necessary to launch the up coming generation of World wide web3 luxury commerce.”
Apps for the Aspiration Assembly Base Camp software open right now and will close on Aug. 19. The 12-7 days method will begin in late September.
This information comes as several metaverse professionals imagine the sky is the restrict for makes activating in the virtual environment.
“Most makes and corporations getting into into world wide web3 are looking at this as the following evolution of the world-wide-web, not as a speculative expenditure,” Jeff Hood, a properly-recognised NFT local community builder and blockchain industry chief, informed FN past 7 days. “So they are laying the foundation for their brands for the long term of what is to come.”
“By all metrics, desire in the metaverse only proceeds to rise,” Brian Trunzo, metaverse direct at world-wide-web3 developer Polygon Studios, advised FN final week. “And this is a extensive-expression match. Even Citi tasks the ‘metaversal economy’ to be everywhere involving $8 and $13 trillion by 2030.”
Very best of Footwear News


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The researchers found that women who were asked to suppress their thoughts about chocolate consumed 50 per cent more when offered it, compared with women who were told to express their feelings about chocolate.
James Erskine, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, believes his findings may help people who are struggling to give up unhealthy foods or smoking.
By contrast, when men were told to express their feelings about chocolate they ate more of it.
Men who took part in the study were less prone to the effect, instead eating more when told to express their feelings about chocolate.
Hey, maybe the act of expressing their feelings about anything makes guys more anxious and this made them eat more chocolate. I'm only half joking about that.
|Share |||Randall Parker, 2007 October 24 10:21 PM Brain Appetite|


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Grab is looking to raise another $2 billion this year to ramp up expansion, its CEO Anthony Tan revealed to Reuters, only weeks after announcing more than $4.5 billion of funding in what has become Southeast Asia’s largest round of private financing. The mega funding comes as Grab rolls out an aggressive strategy to expand its bouquet of services, from transport to food delivery and payments, racing Indonesia’s Go-Jek to become an app-for-everything in Southeast Asia, home to about 650 million people.
Reuters reveals SoftBank-backed Grab seeks another $2 billion funding in expansion drive
08 April 2019, 12:00 am 1 minute
Type: Reuters Best


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Job postings in the cryptocurrency world jumped nearly fivefold in 2021 amid an explosion of interest in digital assets and NFTs. As per a study conducted by popular professional networking platform LinkedIn, postings with titles including terms such as “bitcoin,” “ethereum,” “blockchain,” and “cryptocurrency” grew a whopping 395 percent in the US year on year, outpacing the tech industry which saw a 98 percent increase in the same period. Some of the most common titles included blockchain developers and engineers, LinkedIn said.
The study reveals that the job postings were in software and finance-related positions. But crypto-related job postings were also posted regarding several sectors like accounting and consulting. Hiring demand surged last year amid an influx of funding within the crypto sector in 2021. Investors worldwide poured $30 billion (roughly Rs. 2,23,740.90 crore) into crypto and blockchain startups in 2021, according to PitchBook data.
At the same time, public interest in crypto exploded as high profile evangelists like Elon Musk praised the technology and crypto companies entered the mainstream, as evidenced by the newly-christened Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
This represented almost a five-fold increase compared to 2020, and exceeded almost fourfold the amount recorded in the previous record year of 2018. Moreover, venture capital firms injected more funds into the industry in 2021 than in all the previous years combined, as shown by figures released by PitchBook.
Meanwhile, the crypto business is experiencing both highs and lows in India. Though indigenous crypto-related enterprises are cashing in on the digital currency's tremendous appeal; regulatory uncertainty remains as India has yet to finalise its crypto policy.
Despite these legislative challenges, India ranks second in Bitcoin adoption, trailing only Vietnam; according to the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index. By 2030, the Indian cryptocurrency industry is expected to reach $241 million (roughly Rs. 1,797.55 crore).
Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.