My Viral Web: The New Social Network? | TechSling Weblog

Social websites and networks have evolved to offline communities as a young Vancouver tech firm reaches their market in a whole new way. After just launching in January, My Viral Web has been creating a memorable impact on their city and online communities. They are achieving this by helping their community and networks reach out and build relevant and beneficial connections in their area.

My Viral Web noticed a gap between small to medium sized business and successful online marketing strategy. They realized that the gap existed because people are often uninformed, misled, or simply nervous about diving into the realm of online marketing. Because a lot of established businesses still hesitate before they decide to implement social media marketing or email campaigns in their own strategy, the young tech firm then decided to form Vancouver?s Online Marketing Specialists on Meetup.com to properly educate and direct those interested.

By creating offline connections from utilizing the reach of online communities My Viral Web is able to provide educational direction for interested entrepreneurs. While hosting guest speakers who are experts in their own industries they create a diverse and knowledgeable network in their own city. Working with other successful entrepreneurs in the city or with acknowledged professionals they attract groups of 40 or 50 to their events. These guest speakers share their stories of success including the hardships, the lessons they learned and of course, their tips and tricks.

My Viral Web believes that Vancouver is rich with entrepreneurial spirit and they simply want to provide them with the right tools for achieving their goals. The idea has received a very warm welcome from their local community as they plan to continue with the traditional approach of building that genuine word of mouth momentum. Affiliating themselves with those close to them they intend on winning over their city by offering a fun, engaging and educational experience for their audience.

Vancouver?s Online Marketing Specialist?s next Expert Series event will feature the co-founder of Vancity Buzz, Kharm Samul. Vancity Buzz is an inside source of local happenings that was formed in 2008 and has experienced tremendous growth since then. The event is scheduled for March 21^st at 6:00pm at My Viral Web?s new office: Penthouse Suite ? 1199 West Hastings.

If you?re in the tech industry, keep your eye on Vancouver.

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Source: http://www.techsling.com/2013/02/my-viral-web-the-new-social-network/

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Ikea's Swedish meatballs latest victim of horsemeat scandal

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish furniture giant Ikea was drawn into Europe's widening food labeling scandal Monday as authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries across the continent.

The Czech State Veterinary Administration said that horse meat was found in one-kilogram packs of frozen meatballs made in Sweden and shipped to the Czech Republic for sale in Ikea stores there. A total of 760 kilograms (1,675 pounds) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves.

Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said meatballs from the same batch had gone out to Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland. Magnusson said meatballs from that batch were taken off the shelves in Ikea stores in all those countries. Other shipments of meatballs were not affected, she added.

However, the company's Swedish branch announced on its Facebook page that it won't sell or serve any meatballs at its stores in Sweden out of concern for "potential worries among our customers."

Magnusson said Ikea saw no reason to extend that guidance globally. She said Ikea was conducting its own tests of the affected batch. She also said that two weeks ago Ikea tested a range of frozen food products, including meatballs, and found no traces of horse meat.

Ikea's stores feature restaurants and also sell typical Swedish food, including the so-called Kottbullar meatballs.

European Union officials were meeting Monday to discuss tougher food labeling rules after the discovery of horse meat in a range of frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and lasagna that were supposed to contain beef or pork.

The Czech authority also announced Monday that it found horse meat in beef burgers imported from Poland during random tests of food products.

Spanish authorities, meanwhile, announced that traces of horse meat were found in a beef cannelloni product by one of the brands of Nestle, a Switzerland-based food giant. The Agriculture Ministry said it was a case of fraudulent labeling but represented no health threat.

In a statement on its website, Nestle Spain said that after carrying out tests on meat supplied to its factories in Spain it was withdrawing six "La Cocinera" products and one "Buitoni" product from store shelves.

It said it was taking the action after the traces of horse meat were found in beef bought from a supplier in central Spain. Nestle said it was taking legal action against the company, adding that the products would be replaced by ones with 100 percent beef.

Some EU member states are pressing for tougher labeling rules to regain consumer confidence.

The 27-nation bloc must agree on binding origin disclosures for food product ingredients, starting with a better labeling of meat products, German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner said.

"Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," she insisted.

Austria backs the German initiative; but others like Ireland say existing rules are sufficient although Europe-wide controls must be strengthened to address the problem of fraudulent labeling.

The scandal has created a split between nations like Britain who see further rules as a protectionist hindrance of free trade under the bloc's single market, and those calling for tougher regulation.

Processed food products ? a business segment with traditionally low margins that often leads producers to hunt for the cheapest suppliers ? often contain ingredients from multiple suppliers in different countries, who themselves at time subcontract production to others, making it hard to monitor every link in the production chain.

Standardized DNA checks with meat suppliers and more stringent labeling rules will add costs that producers will most likely hand down to consumers, making food more expensive.

The scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country's announced the results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by British supermarket kingpin Tesco was more than a quarter horse.

Such discoveries have spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and have been forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves.

More than a dozen nations have detected horse flesh in processed products such as factory-made burger patties, lasagnas, meat pies and meat-filled pastas. The investigations have been complicated by elaborate supply chains involving multiple cross-border middlemen.

___

Associated Press writers Juergen Baetz in Brussels, Karel Janicek in Prague and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/horse-meat-found-ikeas-swedish-meatballs-112154426--finance.html

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Volvo warns of difficult Q1 as truck profits slump

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish truck maker Volvo warned of a rough start to 2013 after weak demand in its main markets left factories running at half speed and pushed it into a heavier than expected quarterly earnings fall.

Volvo, which only weeks ago laid claim to have dethroned Germany's Daimler as the world's biggest manufacturer of heavy trucks on the back of a joint venture in China, said that weak orders at the end of 2012 meant the first quarter would be difficult.

"Profitability will be affected by low capacity utilisation, high spend levels in research and development and costs associated with the launch of new products," Chief Executive Olof Persson said in a statement.

"However, we expect market conditions to gradually improve during the course of 2013 when economic growth across the world gains momentum."

Heavy-duty truck makers have run into tougher times in recent quarters as the deep economic downturn in Europe and sluggish activity in North America have weighed heavily on the highly cyclical demand for commercial vehicles.

Volvo's fourth-quarter operating earnings tumbled to 1.12 billion Swedish crowns ($176.52 million) from the previous year's 6.96 billion, well below a mean forecast for 2.19 billion seen in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Earnings were hit by weak use of capacity at many of its plants and restructuring charges totalling 990 million crowns, against the 565 million crown hit expected by analysts, one of whom said that the market might still take some solace from the results.

Volvo, which makes trucks under the Renault, Mack, UD Trucks and Eicher brands as well as its own name, has been cutting shifts and inventories because of weaker demand but stood by a forecast for flat 2013 markets in Europe and North America.

It also raised its forecast for the Brazilian market, where government incentives have boosted demand, by 10,000 trucks to about 105,000 this year.

ORDERS SLIDE SLOWS

Truck orders at the Gothenburg-based company fell 10 percent year on year in the final quarter of last year, compared with a 13 percent fall forecast by analysts and a 25 percent plunge in the preceding quarter.

"The important thing here is that order intake is better than expected and that they maintain the outlook for Europe and North America, which is positive," Handelsbanken Capital Markets analyst Hampus Engellau said.

Last week, Volvo's smaller rival Scania unveiled a surprisingly strong rise in order bookings for the final months of last year, but only thanks to the surge in demand from Brazil.

Daimler and MAN SE , which like Scania is controlled by Volkswagen , both release their reports later this week.

Amid the market doldrums, truck makers, have been emulating the car industry's increasing efforts to forge tie-ups that can help them to cope with the growing costs of developing new vehicles, not least to meet tougher environmental rules.

One such deal is Volvo's joint venture with China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co. , announced last month. The deal, if approved by Chinese authorities, would allow the group finally to secure a strong position in China, where it had a failed attempt to link up with another domestic player a decade ago.

The past year has been a pivotal one for Volvo which, besides its move into China, saw the exit of its main owner French car maker Renault and the launch of the new Volvo-branded FH-series truck, the group's biggest ever investment.

($1 = 6.3449 Swedish crowns)

(Additional reporting Johannes Hellstrom; Editing by Patrick Lannin and David Goodman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/volvo-warns-difficult-q1-profits-slump-070815646--finance.html

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