Buffini & Company is launching a new training program for real estate professionals to win business as they face the new rules of real estate. The company stated the new Certified Full-Service Professional (CFSP) designation training program is aimed at helping real estate professionals attract and keep customers, communicate their unique selling proposition and stand…

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Above, Terri Chapman Making your way in real estate is a journey that’s difficult to navigate alone. From becoming an agent to climbing the ladder into leadership, coaching can help guide real estate professionals through every step of their journey, laying the foundation to earn the trust and confidence they need to successfully navigate the…

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As we kick off the fourth quarter of 2024, it’s more critical than ever for real estate professionals not to take their foot off the gas and coast through the remaining weeks of the year. With so much noise in today’s post-settlement world, those prepared and running alongside the change will be the ones ahead…

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Real estate and technology industry veterans Danielle Wilkie and Heather Frick have announced the launch of The Helm—a coaching platform powered by trusted female minds in real estate.  The Helm addresses a need for a more distinct coaching platform tailored to fit the occupational needs of seasoned female professionals within the real estate industry, as…

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India's Textile Minister approved 12 new research projects worth ₹13.3 crore ($0.16 million) under the National Technical Textiles Mission. The projects focus on areas like geotextiles, smart textiles, and composites, led by institutions like IITs and CRRI. Total funding under the Mission now stands at ₹509 crore ($6.11 million). IPR guidelines aim to boost innovation.

Suominen Corporation has reported Q3 2024 net sales of €111.6 million (~$120.53 million), up from €106.4 million YoY. The company suffered a net loss of €3.2 million (~$3.4 million) due to operational challenges. YTD sales reached €343.8 million (~$370.9 million), and the company expects a full-year EBITDA increase. Sustainability efforts earned Suominen a Gold Medal from EcoVadis.

Burberry has introduced its first virtual scarf try-on experience in its ‘Wrapped in Burberry’ holiday campaign. Partnering with AR provider WANNA, the immersive experience lets customers view iconic Burberry scarves in real-time, with over 50 styles and two classic options. Available online and in select stores, customers can share images and directly access product pages for purchases.

Maria visits her local dollar store to find supplies to finish her Halloween DIY witch's costume!

Looking for holiday gift ideas? Maria's easy Ice Resin earring tutorial may be the perfect gift for someone special!

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

Bangladesh’s export earnings in October this year grew by 20.6 per cent YoY, fetching $4.13 billion. From July to October this year, exports grew by 10.8 per cent YoY to reach $15.79 billion. The readymade garments (RMG) sector contributed $12.81 billion to export earnings during the four-month period. In October, the RMG sector generated $3.30 billion in export revenues—a 22.8 per cent YoY increase.

Skirts, spanning casual to formal styles and materials like cotton, denim and silk, are a significant part of women's clothing export market. Notably, skirts saw an 8.47 per cent growth in 2022, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The US and Germany are leading skirt import markets, with the US showing 18 per cent growth. Despite geopolitical and economic challenges in 2024, recovery is expected by 2025.

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.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Detailed information about the adjustments and changes to the over 60 tax provisions impacting taxpayers can be found in Revenue Procedure 2024-40. The adjustments described below generally apply to income tax returns that will be filed in 2026 for tax...

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Guillermo and Brett are joined by Kevin Brooks, CEO of Conception Nurseries. They break down cannabis cultivation, particularly tissue-culture services. Kevin shares his journey from the tech industry to cannabis, emphasizing the importance of tissue culture in providing clean, consistent plant genetics. He discusses the challenges in the cannabis supply chain and the benefits of...

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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...

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Guillermo Rodriguez welcomes Samuel Fisher, Co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing, to discuss effective marketing and SEO strategies for cannabis dispensaries. Samuel emphasizes the importance of building a dispensary’s own digital assets, such as a well-optimized website and strong Google “My Business” profile, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly. He shares...

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Tax Manager Chrysa Cousley, CPA, has been named has been named the 2024 Outstanding Young Professional by the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants (MOCPA). The annual MOCPA Impact Award for Outstanding Young Professional honors one CPA under the age of 35 who serves as an emerging and dynamic leader in the profession. This recognition...

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Small and mid-sized businesses have more IT-related responsibilities than ever, from implementing AI to keeping up with modern cyber threats. It’s become far too much for a small IT team or IT administrators to tackle on their own. Virtual or outsourced CIO services can help a business plot its technology strategy for the future, manage...

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We recommend that every transportation company strive to have a 10-30% cash reserve. Why? Keep reading to find out.   First let’s cover what a cash reserve is. A cash reserve is a portion of your revenue set aside to navigate obstacles in your path to profitability or seize unforeseen opportunities. Maybe you will need to...

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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.

When it comes to a true flying car—I don't mean just a VTOL vehicle, I mean something that can both drive and fly—we've seen a lot of wild forms over the years.

The AeroMobil 4.0

The Xpeng AeroHT

The Alef Model A

The LuftCar

The GAC Gove

Notably, one that actually flew was the KleinVision Aircar, which had folding wings:

Another vehicle that successfully flew last year was the Samson Sky Switchblade.

However, Samson Sky reckons that in order to make the design production-ready, both the wings and the massive rear stabilizer, which contains the propellers, must be folded into the body for driving mode. So their latest design envisions this arrangement:

I hate to be skeptical, but gosh that looks like a lot of moving parts! I wonder what the maintenance will look like.

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:

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.

DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP

A Cold January Day in 2017

The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.

Our Role as the Innovation Incubator

We partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production.

The Problem at Hand

By removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!!

We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat.

Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)

DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;

Define that for which we will solve

Express possible solutions as quick thumbnail stories

Explain the "what – why – wow" related to user needs

Prototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea

How the Project Unfolded

A series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.

Established Design Targets

Led by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.

DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.

Inutitive Carry

Enhanced Confidence

Improved Transitions

Development of Design Targets

Role-Play is the Best Way

To truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.

Handle-Carry:

Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle

Cradle-Carry:

Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position

Cross-Body Strap:

Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent

Iterative User Evaluation Cycle

Our early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.

DesignThink presents the refined design direction.

A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby.

Our Results

User-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining Solutions

Having developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.

Defining the Direction

As mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category.

The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP.

It takes a Village to Design a Car Seat

Snapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product

You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

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.

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.

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.

TESTEX has launched the TESTEX MICROPLASTIC label, setting a new standard for reducing textile microplastic emissions. Using advanced LDIR technology, the label certifies textiles tested for particle emissions per ISO standards. As a member of The Microfibre Consortium, TESTEX collaborates on reducing fibre fragmentation, sharing data to support sustainability goals by 2030.

October US container imports were 2,494,635 TEUs, marking the fourth month in a row of volumes exceeding 2.4 million TEUs, a threshold that has historically strained US maritime logistics, the November Global Shipping Report by Descartes Systems Group noted. For the first ten months of 2024, volumes grew by 13.1 per cent YoY. At seven of the top 10 US ports, transit time delays rose in October.

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.

APTEXPO 2024 has opened at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, gathering over 300 international delegates and exhibitors to discuss industry resilience and sustainability. The event spans three days, featuring keynote speakers, panels, and over 200 exhibitors. Focused sessions address global market trends, digitalisation, and cooperation to build a stronger Asia-Pacific textile network.

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...

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The 33rd annual Hoops for Hope tournament attracted 681 colleagues, clients and friends of the firm to support the 2021 Anders Charity of Choice, The Child Center. Heather Kemper of The Child Center joined Anders for a celebration lunch where a check for $11,500 was presented. “With the pandemic especially, it’s amazing the amount of...

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Anders was approached and selected by the producers of the television show “World’s Greatest!…” to be featured on a segment for the accounting industry. Anders is honored to be recognized on the World’s Greatest! TV Show, an award-winning National Television Series airing on the ION Network. The segment gives a glimpse into the collaborative and...

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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...

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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...

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Anders received a Marketing Achievement Award for best new website at the 2021 Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM) Summit. Anders won in the Website category which included website projects with budgets under and over $34,999. The nomination highlighted the firm’s newly redesigned website that launched in May of 2020. Anders worked with St. Louis web design...

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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...

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Perhaps you’ve noticed how cottagecore has recently become one of the most popular interior design styles. Cottagecore is a design aesthetic that idealizes rural life. It includes homes decorated in earthy colors, nostalgic patterns, and wood tones, it’s a style that’s a nod to the English countryside. Cottagecore is also a lifestyle focused on simple…

This release describes how e-cigarette affect middle and high school students

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.

This release explains the latest campaign for TIPS from Former Smokers in it's 5th year.

More than 1.8 million smokers attempted to quit smoking and an estimated 104,000 Americans quit smoking for good because of the nine-week-long 2014 Tips From Former Smokers ( Tips ) campaign.

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.

Report on the latest statistical data regarding adults and e-cigarette use.

Report on the latest statistical data regarding risky behavior among youth.

Report on the latest smoke-free laws that are affecting public places.