Jeddah of Saudi Arabia to have the world's tallest tower

Prototype model of the tower Skyscrapers are considered symbols of a city's money, power and, to some extent, hubris. The first building widely considered a modern skyscraper was the Wainwright Building in St. Louis. Opened in 1891 and designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan, it is ten stories tall. But with advancing technology and growing creativity, the ceaseless climb of the world's epic skyscrapers has resulted in the race to touch the sky. The world's current tallest building is Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It measures 2,717 feet (828 meters), or 160 stories. This record will be shattered when Kingdom Tower, a giant skyscraper planned for the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, is completed by 2016. Designed by Chicago...

Read more »

Domino's India $2000 promise

Domino's Pizza India's promise to home deliver hot pizzas within 30 minutes has cost it dearly with a road mishap tribunal ordering it to pay a teenager injured by one of its motorcycle delivery drivers. According to the Times of India, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) Judge Dinesh Bhatt ordered Domino's Pizza India to pay the compensation to a boy, saying that he was hit by the delivery driver, Ravi Mishra, driving in a rash and negligent manner on Oct. 29, 2010. Mishra's motorcycle struck the teenager who was riding his bicycle on Delhi University's north campus. The teenager received several injuries including fractures on his thigh, eyebrows and other head and body injuries. The court ordered Domino's to pay a total of Rs 1,14,682...

Read more »

Indian Hotel adds 8 more brands to its vast portfolio

Indian Hotels Co Ltd plans to add eight hotels across various geographies between 2011 and 14, Managing Director Raymond Bickson said on Friday. The hotel operator runs the Taj brand in the luxury five-star segment, the Vivanta brand in the four-star segment, Gateway Hotels in the three star-segment and Ginger in the budget space. Here are the view of few of the world famous hotel brands owned by the Indian hotel co. Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces is an international hospitality group with strong roots in India. For over 100 years, they have built their reputation on legendary properties, unparalleled facilities and impeccable service. Vivanta by Taj Vivanta By Taj (Coral leaf) Maldives Gateway Hote...

Read more »

HTC acquires Dashwire for $18.5 million

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC this morning announced that it has agreed to acquire, through its HTC America Holding unit, 100% of Seattle-based mobile-web connected services company Dashwire for a maximum purchase price of $18.5 million to boost its HTCSense.com mobile cloud services offering. Dashwire offers a range of consumer, social and device management software services for mobile operators, device makers and retailers. The company’s platform is available for Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BlackBerry. On its website, Dashwire says it is backed by investors who ‘built the wireless and technology industries’ at McCaw Cellular, Western Wireless, Voicestream, Nextel, China Unicom, and Microsoft. Another investor is Best...

Read more »

AOL reinventing its Brands

AOL, the one-time Internet star seeking to reinvent itself as a major media player, is joining the craze for personalized news readers for tablet computers. The Internet and media firm, which purchased The Huffington Post in February for $315 million to serve as the flagship of its media fleet, launched a free daily news magazine for Apple's hot-selling iPad this week called Editions. Like other iPad news aggregators such as Flipboard, Pulse, Taptu and Zite, Editions uses algorithms to take a reader's interests into account in serving up their pages. Editions users customize their experience by indicating their interest in topics such as Top News, Entertainment, Sports, Design, Tech, Business, Family, Health and Fitness, Sports or Travel. Readers...

Read more »

Nokia's New World record

What's better than filming one of the worlds smallest stop motion animated videos on your Nokia N8 — and setting a Guinness World Record? Setting a news World Record for the BIGGEST stop animation film on your Nokia N8. Posted yesterday, and already attracting more than 100,000 views in its first 24 hours, is the record breaking largest stop animation movie to date — all filmed with just a Nokia N8 smartphone. The video, above, was shot on location at Pendine Beach in South Wales. Boasting a 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics, the N8 sets the record of "the largest stop-motion animation set" with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet. "Gulp," the film's title, was animated by Sumo Science at Aardman, the same animators...

Read more »

eBay Fashion : the branded stores from eBay

eBay told analysts in February, it would launch branded outlet stores on eBay.com later this year, and it provided more information about the shops on Thursday. eBay will launch the Outlet Stores on September 19 and will include Neiman Marcus Last Call, William Rast, Spanx, Fila, Timberland, Brooks Brothers, Bluefly and Custo Barcelona. eBay said it is working with designers, brands, and retailers "to bring an incredible selection of authentic merchandise to the world's largest online marketplace at compelling price points typically found in bricks and mortar outlet centers." The eBay Fashion Outlet will be housed in a hub with all of the participating brands and will have its own experience. Shoppers will be able to shop across brands (via...

Read more »

BMW : Top luxury brand for the fourth consecutive month in U.S

BMW has outsold all other luxury brands in the U.S. for four consecutive months, including Mercedes-Benz. The new X3 SUV and 5 Series sedan gave sales a boost, bringing numbers up 12 percent from the previous year as of last month. Mercedes saw an increase in sales, as well, although less than BMW at 9.4 percent as of July. Lexus saw a drop rather than an increase, down 22 percent. July’s sales success for BMW is more than just consecutive success, it also means a bigger lead overall. Lexus still suffers for the year with a 19 percent drop, while Mercedes saw an increase so far of 7.3 percent. BMW still comes out ahead with a 13 percent increase, moving 135,114 units. As for BMW maintaining its lead, Jesse Toprack, TrueCar.com industry analyst,...

Read more »

Asian car brands satisfy most Australian drivers

There are currently an estimated 14.9 million drivers on Australian roads today. Approximately 8.7 million of these drivers are in cars from Asian owned brands, an increase of almost 22% over the last 5 years. With more than half of all cars on Australian roads originating in Asia, Lexus and Honda have the highest portion of satisfied drivers; according to the March Roy Morgan Automotive Currency Report. For the 12 months to March 2011, 94% of Lexus drivers said they were satisfied* with their current vehicle. This is 3% points above the Asian average, leaving Lexus tied with Honda on top of the group. Norman Morris, Industry Communications Director, Roy Morgan Research, says: Lexus Honda “5 years ago Lexus topped the Asian...

Read more »

Strauss buys Russian coffee brand

Ambassador Coffee Brand Israeli food company to pay $8 million for Ambassador brand, which includes instant freeze-dried coffee, roasted coffee and ground coffee, and another $ 2.4 million for non-compete clause on part of seller Strauss is continuing to chip away at the ice encasing its Russia coffee sales: The company announced Sunday the acquisition of the Ambassador coffee brand which sells in Russia, the Ukraine and Moldova, in a deal valued at $10.4 million. Strauss will pay $8 million for the brand which includes instant freeze-dried coffee, roasted coffee and ground coffee, and another $ 2.4 million for a non-compete clause on part of the seller – the Sucafuna group.   Strauss has designs to turn the Russian brand, which...

Read more »

Wikipedia losing its contributors

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit its entries, says it is losing contributors. Founder Jimmy Wales says administrators are scrambling to simplify what he called ``convoluted'' editing templates that may be discouraging people from writing and editing Wikipedia's entries. In another effort to encourage volunteers to stay active, Wales says the site has introduced a new feature called WikiLove that lets users post positive feedback. He was speaking to the Associated Press on Thursday from the website's annual conference, held this year in Haifa, Israel. The nonprofit organization that runs Wikipedia announced it is encouraging professors in India, Brazil and Europe to assign the editing and writing of Wikipedia...

Read more »

Audi to sponsor Emmy awards

Audi may not be the most recognized automotive luxury brand in the U.S., with only about 5.5 percent of American new car buyers considering it, but the automaker is doing its best to get its name out there. The German automaker has announced this week that it will be partnering with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to help sponsor the 63rd annual Emmy awards, which kicks off on September 18 and will be hosted by actress Jane Lynch. Audi will serve as the official automotive partner of the event in a multi-year deal that will also see Audi’s cars at a number of lead-up events to the Emmys. High-end models like the new A6 and A7, along with the A8 flagship sedan, will chauffeur select guests to the show and to additional events...

Read more »

Kim's new limited edition wedding perfume range

Earlier we told you how brand Kardashian (CLICK HERE, if you haven't read that post) is laughing straight to the bank, courtesy marketing techniques and endorsement. Now they are back again in news and this time the patriarch of the brand 'Kim' is holding the centre stage. If Justin Beiber can make a record sale with his perfume brand than how come the brand Kardashian be far behind. Kim Kardashian is releasing a limited-edition of her perfume to coincide with her wedding. The reality TV star is set to wed basketball star Kris Humphries later this month so has decided to create Love by Kim Kardashian to celebrate the upcoming nuptials. Only 1,000 bottles have been produced and Kim has already taken one so she can wear it on her big day...

Read more »

Death due to 'Nutella', Israel plans to reform food label

The Italian chocolate maker Ferrero Rocher's major bread spread brand "Nutella" had never earlier been in the limelight for the mishappening as it is facing these days in Israel. Headlines about a 26-year-old woman with a nut allergy recently dying from eating Nutella at a Tel Aviv restaurant have been a popular topic of conversation over the past couple of weeks in Israel. Chen Efrat’s death has been a stark reminder to Israelis of the gravity — and sometimes, fatal nature — of food allergies. Health authorities have begun to raise awarenessof the prevalence of food allergies and to try to get people to take the issue more seriously. Efrat had reportedly asked the restaurant’s waitress repeatedly to check whether the chocolate spread in the...

Read more »

Magic 105.4 : London's top radio station

Bauer Radio’s flagship Magic 105.4 station has reclaimed its crown as London’s number one music radio station, ahead of Radio 1, Radio 2 and commercial rivals Capital and Heart. The Bauer station saw its audience grow 11.7 year-on-year (14.4% quarter on quarter) to 2.29 million, fractionally ahead of Radio 2, which had 2.28 million listeners in London, according to Rajar figures for the second quarter of 2011. Global Radio’s Capital London station, which last quarter regained its crown as London’s biggest commercial radio station, lost ground. Its audience was down 4.7% in the quarter to 2.08 million, although breakfast duo Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon remain London’s favourite commercial breakfast show, with 1.14 million listeners every...

Read more »

Equinox new acquisition

Equinox and The Sports Club Company, each a brand leader in the fitness and healthy lifestyle categories, have announced that Equinox plans to acquire the assets of The Sports Club Company and its four trophy The Sports Club/LA properties located in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County and New York's Rockefeller Center. The Sports Club/LA clubs in Boston, Miami, San Francisco, New York on the Upper East Side and Washington D.C., as well as Reebok Sports Club/NY are not affected by this acquisition and continue to be owned and operated by Millennium Partners Sports Club Management as they have since 2006.  With the addition of these four prestigious The Sports Club/LA properties, Equinox will operate 56 clubs in the top eight US markets. Equinox...

Read more »

Nestlé celebrates 125 years of its Maggi brand liquid seasoning

Nestlé celebrates 125 years of its Maggi brand liquid seasoning in Germany by transforming a historic castle tower into the world’s biggest ‘bottle’ of the product. The Company unveiled a giant poster of the iconic condiment at Kronberg Castle, near Frankfurt – which is on display from now until September – as the first in a series of special anniversary events. The poster, wrapped around the castle’s tower, has the first ever Maggi Würze bottle design from 1886 printed on one side and the current bottle design on the other. The image is a reference to the local tradition of describing the structure as the ‘Maggi bottle’, due to its apparent similarity in shape. Ingo Schaefer, Marketing and Communications Manager for Maggi in Germany,...

Read more »

Italian Shoe brand ' Rene Caovilla' to debut in China

Targeting well-to-do consumers in Taiwan and free independent travelers from China, Rene Caovilla, an Italian luxury shoe brand, will set up its first foothold at the upscale Bellavita mall in ritzy eastern Taipei this September. Rene Caovilla will open a flagship store on the second floor of Bellavita, with insiders saying the Italian brand is well-known in the luxury footwear market and its chief designer once created high-heel shoes for the late Princess Diana. The top-end shoes generally retail for NT$20,000-100,000 (US$666-3,333) and some 50,000 pairs were sold globally last year to generate NT$2.5 billion (US$83.33 million) in sales. Other upscale footwear brands as Bally, Dior, Hermes and Louis Vuitton are reportedly planning expansions...

Read more »

American Idol to promote coke : study

Is "American Idol" teaching America's children to drink Coke? The beverage company has promised not to market unhealthy foods to children, but a new study suggests it may have found a loophole: product placements on prime-time TV shows like the hit singing competition. The study, from Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, found that the average child saw Coke products during prime-time shows about 200 times over the course of a year — far more than any other brand. And 95 percent of the exposures were during "American Idol." That's despite a pledge that Coca-Cola and other major food and beverage companies made in 2006 to advertise only "better-for-you" foods to children — part of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising...

Read more »

Five new BlackBerry models released by RIM

 In its biggest ever global launch of smart phones, Research In Motion (RIM) on Wednesday unveiled five new BlackBerry models running on its new BlackBerry 7 Operating System (OS). The new smart phones include two new BlackBerry Bold models and three new BlackBerry Torch models. The new BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 will be the thinnest smart phones ever and introduce an all-new, all-touch design featuring the largest display on a BlackBerry smartphone to date. "This is the largest global launch of BlackBerry smart phones in our history," RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said at the RIM headquarters at Waterloo near Toronto. With its aging handsets contributing to massive decline in its market share in North America, RIM said...

Read more »

Lina : soon to be richest woman in sports

Li Na, the French Open tennis champion, is on course to become the richest woman in sports as companies fight to cash in on her enormous popularity in China. Li, 29, has played only four tennis matches and won only about $50,000 in prize money since her victory at Roland Garros in June, but she has signed at least $42 million in sponsorship deals this year with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Rolex and Haagen-Dazs, all of which believe she could be the key to the enormously lucrative Chinese market. Her agent, Max Eisenbud, said Tuesday it was "hard to set a price" for potential sponsors after Li became the first Chinese to win a grand slam tennis tournament. "We had to change it a lot . upwards," he said. At present, Li's earnings are second...

Read more »

Foxconn to replace human with robots

Have we reached the stage where robotic assistance is preferred over human manpower ?? Perhaps its quite early to comment but one thing has been definitely proved by the Taiwanese company, Foxconn that "ROBOTS" are fully geared up to replace humans at least in the manufacturing units as they are cheap, accurate and faster than human. Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, known for assembling Apple's iPhones and iPads in China, plans to use more robots, with one report saying the company would use one million of them in the next three years, to cope with rising labor costs. Foxconn's move highlights an increasing trend toward automation among Chinese companies as labour issues such as high-profile strikes and workers' suicides plague...

Read more »

Danone to buy Wockhardt's nutrition biz for 250 million euros

French dairy and nutrition major Danone will acquire the nutrition business of Wockhardt Group for 250 million euros (about Rs 1,575 crore), paving the way for its entry into the baby and medical nutrition markets in India. Wockhardt, which said that the deal is subject to customary closing conditions and various approvals, owns brands like Farex, Protinex, Dexolac and Nusobee. Danone , in its statement, added that credibility of these brands with healthcare professionals in the country will accelerate Danone's entry into the country's baby nutrition market. Moreover, the nutritional supplement brand Protinex will give Danone a strong foundation for developing its medical nutrition business, the statement said, adding that India...

Read more »

Cadbury on a social mission

Cadbury, the British confectionery company, owned by the FMCG giant Kraft foods is on a social mission and helping the poverty stricken African nations. As part of its social intervention programme, Cadbury Cocoa Partnership has presented 10,000 household solar lanterns worth about $600.00 to about 160 cocoa communities in the Asunafo North, Amansie Central and West among others, at a ceremony in Tema. The Cadbury Cocoa Partnership is a partnership between identified cocoa producing communities, Cadbury Ghana Limited now Kraft Foods, Ghana Cocoa Board, World Vision Ghana, Care International and Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO). Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Mrs Yaa Peprah Amekudzi of the Programme Coordination Unit of Cadbury...

Read more »

BMW launched new Sports car for U.S

BMW is on a high these days, after posting good financial results this season and enjoying the luxury car demand from China too, it has got something special for U.S too. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), officials announced that in the coming months, Audi AG (NSU) would introduce its top-of-the line sports cars in the US car markets. However, Peter Schwarzenbauer, Sales Chief, while sharing his plans in an exclusive interview, quoted that by 2015 the Company had planned to double the US sales to almost 16,000. In the meantime, Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics, a consulting firm in Birmingham, Michigan, asserted that the Company had adopted a very effective policy, as a result of which, the new the selling would definitely increase...

Read more »

Huawei on cloud too

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No. 2 network equipment maker, launched its cloud computing smartphones on Wednesday, looking to ride a mobile industry boom that drove a 64 percent sales rise in its devices unit in the first half. The company , known for its low-cost cellphones, is betting its new model will help it replicate its telecom gear success in the booming smartphone market and take on the likes of Nokia , Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics . Huawei's Cloud+ platform will allow users to store music, video, pictures, email and some other applications on its remote servers and access them via the Internet through their smartphones. "We are targeting at what we call the young social networkers for this smartphone,"...

Read more »

Facebook's new aquisition

If you thought that Google + would slow down the facebook's expansion, then perhaps you might be wrong.Social networking giant Facebook has bought a digital publishing company Push Pop Press that develops technology to help make interactive books optimised for iPad and other Apple devices. "We're thrilled to confirm that we've acquired Push Pop Press, a startup whose groundbreaking software changes the way people publish and consume digital content," Xinhua quoted Facebook as saying in a statement. Push Pop Press was co-founded by Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris - both former Apple employees. It had also teamed up with former US vice president Al Gore to create a digital version of his book "Our Choice". "Although Facebook isn't planning...

Read more »

After HSBC, now Barclays cut jobs

Is U.K banking sector is in the state of turmoil or is it just the bad phase of this sector. After the astonishing news of HSBC slashing almost 50,000 jobs worlwide now its turn of one more British bank to follow the same footstep. The boss of banking giant Barclays said that staff levels could be cut by around 3,000 this year as job losses in the industry continue to mount. Barclays, which has 56,900 staff in the UK, has reduced its headcount by 1,400 so far this year across the group and this trend will continue and increase, chief executive Bob Diamond said. The warning came as Barclays reported a 33% drop in profits to £2.6bn after it took a £1bn hit to cover compensation for customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance...

Read more »

Demi Moore to endorse Ann Taylor

As a young teenager, before the fame, kids, paparazzi and front-row seats at fashion shows, Demi Moore regularly passed an Ann Taylor store at a local mall, taking note of the clothes. In the years since, she's been a red-carpet rebel, jeans-wearing mom, bikini globetrotter and Versace model. Now her style evolution has come full circle, and Moore is the star of the Ann Taylor fall ad campaign. She is the latest Hollywood connection for a company that previously tapped Katie Holmes and Naomi Watts to court its shoppers. "I feel like I've known Ann Taylor since I was a kid. I've watched the clothes move into support for the working woman," said Moore, 48, during a break at a recent photo shoot in L.A. "It used to be a lot of suiting. I've...

Read more »

Low profit for Dunkin' Brands

 Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., the Canton-based parent company of the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins chains, said its second-quarter net income was $17.2 million compared with $17.3 million for the second quarter of 2010. The company said its current emphasis is on “operational excellence” and expansion. Global system-wide sales for the second quarter rose 6.9 percent from a year ago, the company said in a press release. And same-store sales, an important retail metric that measures sales at stores open at least a year, were up 3.2 percent at the company’s US stores. Second-quarter revenues that went to the parent company were $157 million, up from $150.4 million a year ago, Dunkin’ Brands said. Last week, Dunkin’ Brands sold a piece...

Read more »