The A5 planner world has a new player for 2016 with the introduction of the completely customizable Simple Stories Carpe Diem planner.

Here is an easy DIY charm tutorial! I'll show you how to make charms yourself and how to change out charms for your Midori Traveler's Notebook and other traveler's notebooks. This easy how-to project just requires a few supplies and tools to make a personalized planner charm.

It's not too late to decorate your porch for Halloween...this quick and easy Halloween pumpkin diorama will make a great weekend project!

Tariff policy under the new government will indeed be a challenge and will trigger new inflationary cycles if campaign proposals are fully enacted, making apparel expensive for Americans, trade body AAFA recently said. AAFA will continue to push Congress and the Administration to renew expired and expiring programmes like the AGOA, the GSP and the Haiti HELP/HOPE preference programme.

Turkiye’s apparel exports to Germany fell by 8.73 per cent to $1.92 billion in January–August compared to the same period in 2023. Despite this decline, Germany remained Turkiye's top apparel export market, accounting for 17.43 per cent of total exports. Trousers and shorts were leading export items, valued at $415.2 million. Turkiye’s overall apparel exports for Jan-Aug totalled $10.99 billion.

In October, the US consumer price index for garments rose by 1.1 per cent month-over-month, reversing prior declines in 2023. Current clothing prices are 7.6 per cent higher than 2019 averages. Import prices for cotton-heavy apparel stabilised at $3.70/SME, still above pre-pandemic levels. Consumer confidence rose to its highest since January 2024, with spending on apparel up 1.7 per cent YoY.

Page Industries Limited has reported revenue of ₹12,463 million (~$147.7 million) in Q2 FY24, a YoY increase of 11 per cent, with sales volume rising 6.7 per cent to 55.2 million pieces. EBITDA grew 22 per cent YoY to ₹2,815 million (~$33.4 million), with a margin of 22.6 per cent. PAT was ₹1,953 million, up 29.9 per cent. For H1 FY24, revenue was ₹25,238 million, growing 7.3 per cent YoY.

The Philippines’ apparel exports are projected to reach $1 billion next year, backed by an expected boost from the FTA with South Korea expected to be effective in Q1, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines said. It believes the FTA will attract South Korean players to set up units in its economic zones and domestic manufacturers can penetrate the zero-tariff Korean apparel market.

Chic Wings (BD) Lingerie Co Limited, a Singapore-China joint venture, will invest $18 million to set up a garment manufacturing plant in BEPZA Economic Zone, Chattogram. The company plans to produce 30 million garments annually and create 3,000 jobs. The agreement was signed on November 12, with BEPZA. BEPZA EZ hosts 36 companies with a total investment of $868.5 million.

Managing new entity and payer enrollment with payers can be a complex, time-consuming process for health care organizations. Whether launching a new practice, merging with another entity or expanding into new markets, the administrative burden of enrolling with insurance payers and Medicare/Medicaid is significant. From navigating payer-specific requirements to meeting tight deadlines, it’s easy for...

The post Why it’s Simpler for Health Care Organizations to Outsource Payer and Entity Enrollment appeared first on Anders CPA.

Wednesday, December 11 at 11:00 am CT Remain in compliance with both Section 1071 and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act with an efficient application process. While financial institutions are correctly concerned about how Section 1071 implementation will impact their processes, don’t miss this HMDA refresher to help prepare for the March 1st reporting deadline. As...

The post WEBINAR | Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Refresher – Including What Reporters Must Know Prior to Section 1071 Implementation  appeared first on Anders CPA.

To me, the gaming market is a lot like the EDC market: It's fascinating to see what developmental lengths people will go to, to push the UX of some object with highly specific functions. A case in point is this Elitech Protean Space Quick Control Swap Gaming System.

The idea behind it, is that gamers have multiple task-dependent UI's on their desks: A keyboard for typing, a joystick and throttle for playing flight simulators, a steering wheel and a shifter for driving games. For gaming accuracy these need to be mounted, and juggling the mounts is apparently a hassle. So what this design does is, provide a modular platform on which to securely attach different controllers.

The heart of the system is this keyboard base, with two wings.

The keyboard base slides rearwards, revealing aluminum channels.

The wing pieces can be slid towards each other along these channels, adjusted to your preferred width.

The "X" in the top of the wings is stainless steel. This allows you to attach magnetic controllers.

Furthermore, there are clamping attachments that allow you to attach a steering wheel and shifter.

Thus the gamer can quickly achieve the set-up that they want:

This isn't yet in production; the developer is planning a crowdfunding campaign.

A French mobility company called Mobilize has designed a new type of vehicle from scratch. Two, actually: The Duo, an enclosed two-seater electric quadricycle, and its sibling the Bento, which ditches the back seat for a large storage box.

Both vehicles were meant to be strong urban design statements, and to not draw on outdated references. "The Duo's greatest strength is its unique design," says Jean-Philippe Salar, Mobilize's Design Director. "What we wanted for this vehicle was to avoid imitating a car. It's in effect a little spaceship, a little lunar capsule on 4 wheels."

Not being a car, the diminutive Duo can be driven by folks as young as 14 in France.

The tandem seating arrangement, rather than side-by-side, is to make the vehicle as narrow as possible, the better to slip through traffic.

The gullwing doors allow ingress and egress even in tight spaces.

The charging cable sits in a dedicated compartment in the vehicle's nose. And, surprisingly, the vehicle features an airbag for safety.

The company refers to the single-seater Bento as a micro utility vehicle; it boasts a cargo box on the back that can swallow nearly a cubic meter.

The Bento requires a proper driver's license, as its more powerful electric motor can top out at 80 km/h (50 mph). It's targeted at last-mile delivery services and tradespeople who travel with tools.

Intriguingly, the dashboard of both vehicle was inspired by an icon of 1980s urban culture: The boombox. "The design of Duo et Bento, both on the outside and inside – with its dashboard that refers to boomboxes – deliberately goes against the grain of classic automotive language," says Salar. The designers also decided not to include a screen, reckoning that most people are already carrying one these days.

Both vehicles require half the space to park as a car.

The construction of the vehicles is decidedly un-car-like: "It's based on a metal birdcage structure to which we simply glue plastic panels," says Benoit Abadie, Mobilize's Director of Engineering. "We have around 300 parts in Duo, that's 5 times less than in a normal car, which has around 1,500."

Mobilize is a subsidiary of Renault, and both vehicles are manufactured at Renault's factory in Tangiers. "It's an ISO 14001 plant that's working towards carbon neutrality," says Wafa Boujguenna, the company's Industrial Project Manager. "Duo and Bento are eco-designed vehicles, made from 40% recycled materials, battery included, and are 95% recyclable, including the battery."

The vehicles will be sold in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. No word on if these will come to the U.S.

There's a great interview with the design team below, explaining what they were going for:

Here's what we looked at this week:

Why do humanoid robots move like humans? For efficiency's sake, oughtn't they have their own movement style?

In Amsterdam, a hotel room with an airplane inside of it.

KraussMaffei's ColorForm production method: Injection molding and painting in one production process.

When bad UX is the point: A no-handle coffee mug for rock climbers.

Trusscore: This user-friendly DIY sheetrock alternative requires no heavy lifting, taping, mudding, priming and painting.

This Jetlaser strips finishes in seconds. No chemicals, no mess.

Registration is open for Buildner's Architect's Chair Design Competition.

Industrial design case study: Minimal's solution to combat single-use package design.

Kazuya Shibata's Smartphone Face Shield provides in-bed emergency protection for when you drop your phone on your face.

CycloTech's form evolution of a new type of flying vehicle, designed around six enclosed "CycloRotors."

No one agrees on what a true flying car should look like. But if the folding-wing crowd wins out, these will be complicated to maintain.

The Elitech Protean is a gamer's desktop platform designed for swappable user interfaces.

The Onion's magical election touchscreen provides unique insights.

Two striking urban vehicles: The Duo and the Bento, by Mobilize.

Olight's Baton 4 is a tiny LED flashlight with its own charging case.

Airback: Backpacks and luggage that can shrink their contents with a vacuum.

Kia's funky PV5 WKNDR, an EV camper van concept.

Industrial design case study: An infant car seat by DesignThink.

I have no idea who the target market for these is. Chinese tool manufacturer Arrowmax sells these Black Golden Honeycomb tools: Drivers, Allen wrenches and reamers.

They're sold individually or in sets.

On the company's website, there are literally no product descriptions for any of the tools—no explanation of the handle design, nor even what any of the tools are made out of. The only thing I was able to learn about the tools, was in the company's thin bio: Apparently these were featured, somewhere in the background, in the Marvel movie "Ant Man & the Wasp." Of course they were.

German company Brabus provides aftermarket upgrades to Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Porsche and Rolls-Royce vehicles. They also produce their own limited-edition rides, and this is their largest: The Brabus Big Boy 1200, a luxury motorhome.

At nearly 40' long, 8.2' wide, and 13.1' tall, it's shocking you don' t need a CDL to drive the thing. (To make it a little easier to pilot, there is a 360-degree camera monitoring system.)

It offers 320 square feet of living space. Once you park the vehicle, it self-levels. You can then deploy the slide-outs, extending the width of the bedroom and living room to 14.8'.

The bed, which is in a transverse orientation, is the European equivalent of a queen-size (63" x 79", versus the 60" x 80" we've got on this side of the pond). The mirrors beyond the bed conceal a large closet.

The bedroom features a desk and a 43" 4K television with an integrated Playstation 5 system and, thanks to satellite internet via Starlink, access to the internet and streaming services.

The living room features leather-upholstered sofas with Alcantara wood accents.

The kitchen boasts an induction stove, oven, coffee machine, dishwasher, and refrigerator with an interior freezer. There's an additional dedicated wine fridge.

The bathroom is done up in actual stone and features a "rainforest shower."

Directly above the driver's cabin is an electrically lowerable bed, also 63" wide. I have no idea why they don't show this in the photos, it sounds pretty cool.

Lastly, it's got a 12.8-liter six-cylinder turbodiesel, and the vehicle tops out at 56 mph. (I'd be terrified to drive this thing at half that speed.)

"Thelma & Louise" alternate ending

The message from Autodesk and the many companies that presented and exhibited at Autodesk University (AU) last month in San Diego was clear: for the product design and manufacturing (D&M), architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO), and media and entertainment (M&E) industries, AI is a driving force behind productivity.

Autodesk University Mainstage

Data, data, data

AI-driven productivity is customized to the specific needs of each industry, with various generative and multimodal AI models providing solutions for tasks like workflow optimization, manufacturing quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and design visualization. However, the value of AI across these sectors—and beyond—is determined by the quantity and quality of data used.

Quantity matters because more data enables AI systems to learn and improve. Quality, however, is more complex. It requires obtaining relevant data, ensuring data accuracy, and verifying that data usage complies with ethical standards.

Dell demonstrated how their workstations can run generative AI 3D content with NVIDIA Edify trained on Shutterstock ethically sourced content.

Customers are key

The importance of AI and data was evident throughout AU, with presentations and product demonstrations highlighting customer-centric solutions. Hardware providers showcased high-performance workstations equipped with powerful processors, optimized to support AI workloads. Meanwhile, data and asset management providers emphasized AI’s capabilities in extracting valuable information, managing metadata, and monitoring workflows in real time.

Lenovo displayed next generation workstations designed with a customer-centric focus. Partnering with Intel®, NVIDIA and Aston Martin, they offer high-end graphics, memory and processing power.

Autodesk’s Design & Manufacturing team showcased how they are addressing their customers' needs by delivering AI-powered efficiencies through Fusion, a cloud-based, unified platform for design and manufacturing. They also introduced Project Bernini, a research initiative focused on a new approach to generative AI. Unlike many generative models that prioritize the appearance of 3D objects, Bernini emphasizes generating structural 3D data from the inside out, which aligns closely with real-world production needs.

Experimental research project Bernini model generates shape and texture separately and does not confuse or meld those variables.

AI provides a wide range of possibilities based on industry-specific needs. For entertainment and gaming, AI can generate lifelike product and character models, while in manufacturing and design, it lays the foundation for real-world production. With tools like Fusion and research projects like Bernini, Autodesk aims to empower creators and makers to leverage AI for both efficiency and innovation.

The Formlabs User Summit, the company's annual 3D printing user conference, starts tomorrow at 9am ET. The company's SLS and SLA printers will be on-show, along with industry folks discussing the impact of 3D printing across a variety of industries.

The event will feature a keynote presentation with Formlabs CEO Maxim Lobovsky and aerospace engineer and renowned YouTube influencer Tom Stanton. Other key speakers will include:

- Nihat Isitman, Senior Materials Engineer at Apple

- Matthais Shulz, Technologist for AM Polymer Series Manufacturing at Brose

- Patrick Marr, Senior Director of Prototype Development at Hasbro

The free event will be livestreamed on YouTube. You can register to watch it here.

Goldman Sachs has lowered its forecast for 2025 eurozone GDP growth to 0.8 per cent from 1.1 per cent. Europe’s economy will be hit by the return of Donald Trump as president, due to the likelihood of new trade tensions with the US, pressure to raise defense spending and a blow to business confidence due to higher geopolitical risks, its experts believe. European companies may also face tariffs.

There have now been four or five years of huge ocean freight rate volatility, according to Drewry, which has cautioned its customers to expect little change in 2025, likely the fifth year in a row of high volatility. Shippers need to be aware that the shipping industry will continue to be disrupted and there are risks and a need for contingency plans and active vendor management, cautions Drewry.

China’s latest fiscal announcements seem aimed at addressing medium-term structural impediments to economic growth from strained local government finances, but are unlikely to immediately boost or offset deflationary risk, Fitch Ratings said. It expects a budget deficit of 7.1 per cent of GDP this year. It believes fiscal stimulus will remain incremental and responsive to downside risks.

Global cotton markets saw slight declines and stabilisation in recent weeks, with NY/ICE December futures trading between 67–75 cents/lb since June, now at 71 cents/lb. The global A Index dipped from 85 to 83 cents, while China's index dropped from 101 to 97 cents due to a weaker yuan. Indian and Pakistani spot prices also declined, but both rupees remained stable against the dollar.

Many small-to-midsize banks and financial institutions are still running on-premise Microsoft Exchange email servers, whether in their own walls, or in the walls of their technology service provider. Microsoft recently announced that multiple hacking groups were targeting Microsoft Exchange servers in coordinated attacks, which could cause a damaging data breach for these organizations. With all...

The post Data Security for Banks and Financial Institutions: Top 4 Myths About Moving to the Cloud appeared first on Anders CPA.

Anders was named to St. Louis Small Business Monthly’s list of Best Accounting Firms for 2021. The Best Accounting Firms were nominated by St. Louis area businesses and voted to have the top accountants in St. Louis as part of Small Business Monthly’s Best in Business awards. The 2021 Best Accounting Firms will be recognized...

The post Anders Named to Best Accounting Firms List by St. Louis Small Business Monthly appeared first on Anders CPA.

Companies and candidates are continually asking, “what does the current hiring market look like?” And many are shocked by the response. The truth is that the market is incredibly short on good quality candidates right now, and many job postings are open for extended periods while companies search for candidates. So, how did the job...

The post Hiring Challenges Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels – 5 Ways to Recruit the Right Hire appeared first on Anders CPA.

Anders was recognized on Missouri Lawyers Media’s 2021 Reader Rankings list for Forensic Accounting Providers. As one of the top three firms honored on the list, Anders was nominated and selected by the readers of Missouri Lawyers Media in an annual ranking of top businesses and firms in the legal profession. The Anders Forensic and...

The post Anders Named a Top Forensic Accounting Provider in Missouri Lawyers Media 2021 Reader Rankings appeared first on Anders CPA.

For many business owners, obtaining a business valuation could be a new endeavor. Once you have made the determination that your business needs to be valued, it’s time to become more familiar with the business valuation process. As the first blog post in a series about the basics of business valuations, below we discuss the...

The post The Basics of Business Valuations: 5 Steps to Begin the Process appeared first on Anders CPA.

We all know that the past year has driven innovation throughout the economy. As business conditions shifted in early 2020, innovators across the globe were forced to use any means to keep their organization open. The digital transformation we have seen in our society over the past year is not going away anytime soon, so it’s important for leaders and visionaries...

The post 10 Ways to Automate Business Processes Using a Tool You Already Have: Microsoft Power Platform appeared first on Anders CPA.

The latest vital signs report detailing the affects of exposure to electronic cigarette advertisements on middle and high school students in the United States during 2014.

Report on the latest statistical data regarding middle and high school students and tobacco use.

Infographic showing data regarding middle and high school students and tobacco use.

Updated facts and data on youth and tobacco use.

The latest statistical data regarding adult tobacco use in the U.S. during 2013-2014.

The latest data regarding how advertising expenditures have been spent on sporting events in the United States during 1992-2013.

Data regarding smoking, quantity and access to cigarettes by youth in 45 countries during 2013 and 2014.

Data regarding the use of smoking and tobacco use among adults in 2014.

Data regarding the disparities with tobacco-related cancer incidences and death from 2004 until 2013.

Information regarding the current use of combustible and smokeless tobacco in the United States.

US stocks have been on a roll since Donald Trump's victory. A bullish investment chief shared three concerns that investors should keep their eyes on.

Google's new Learn About tool offers an interactive approach to learning about topics, including heady questions like whether money buys happiness.

Protein powders, yogurts, and bars make hitting our protein targets easy, but can contain UPFs. Here's what happened when health reporter Rachel Hosie quit them for a week.

Builders have too many new homes on their hands. But before they slash prices, they have another option: sell to investors in the rental market.

What if you could work on your computer, but your computer was on your face? I'm not convinced this is Apple Vision Pro's killer app.

A Spirit Airlines flight diverted after being shot on approach to Haiti. JetBlue and American flights were also found to have been struck by bullets.

Greg Brockman announced in a memo on Tuesday that he would return to OpenAI and work in a new role.

The Japanese conglomerate was part of an investment round unveiled by OpenAI last month that valued the ChatGPT maker at $157 billion.

These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. Mortgage rates remain elevated thanks to uncertainty around how inflation will trend in the coming years.

Open a new bank account today and earn a top interest rate. Our experts have researched the best rates on checking, savings, and CD accounts to help you maximize your earnings.

Thank you Australia! Public helps NFSA restore Proof

Australia donates rare 1920 film to the IFI Irish Film Archive