Coach who is suspicious of absurdly fast Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen has his personal details posted on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, by the former head of Google China. Is this Guy Adams II?

Ye Shiwen. Yay, she wins.

These Olympics have been so exciting that it has almost made me want to watch tape-delays, rather than merely read and write about them.

Even in the last 24 hours, NBC has shown a bare female breast, not shown the downfall of a great Russian gymnast, and generally suggested that, like the color of Bob Costas' hair, all may not be quite what it seems.

However, now I bring you a controversy that surpasses even that of Twitter and NBC huddling together to have Independent correspondent Guy Adams suspended from the site.

For a U.S Swimming official has had his personal details exposed on China's equivalent of Twitter -- Sina Weibo -- by the former head of Google China, Kaifu Lee.

The BBC tells me that John Leonard, the executive director of the American Swim Coaches Association, had uttered suspicious whispers about the performance of Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen.

He felt it somewhat odd that Ye had swum faster than America's Ryan Lochte, given that Lochte is male and Ye is not.

Oh, ye of little faith, lamented Lee.

So he used the power of his 15 million followers to give Leonard something of what is now known as the Zenkel Treatment -- named after the NBC executive who had his work e-mail address exposed by the aforementioned Adams.

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U.S. swim coach's personal info crawls onto China's Twitter

FORT MILL, S.C., Aug. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Honeywell (HON) today unveiled its first enterprise digital assistant with an Android operating system (OS), offering mobile workers a device with the same platform that many use in their personal lives. The Dolphin 7800 Android is a rugged handheld computer with fast and accurate data capture and navigation capabilities, making it ideal for a delivery driver or sales representative whose work day involves multiple customer stops. Honeywell Scanning & Mobility and Microsoft Corp. also signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for Honeywell's products running on the Android or Chrome OS platforms. Although specific terms of the agreement are confidential, Microsoft will receive royalties from Honeywell under the agreement.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120802/NY50799)

"Our core business strategy is to offer solutions to meet the needs of the software development community," said John Waldron, president of Honeywell Scanning & Mobility. "To provide our customers with the best range of tools for success, we signed a license agreement with Microsoft that will allow Honeywell to offer the Android-based Dolphin 7800 to our network of partners around the world."

"We are pleased to have reached a patent agreement with Honeywell covering its Android devices under Microsoft's worldwide patent portfolio," said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. "Through this agreement Honeywell joins Microsoft's Android patent licensing program and demonstrates its responsible approach to the management of intellectual property."

What sets the Dolphin 7800 Android apart from other products are security features to give businesses peace of mind. Companies who issue the device to their employees have the ability to remotely secure a lost device. With Honeywell's Remote MasterMind 3.0 device management software, businesses also can enroll and configure devices, track company assets and enforce strong password protection.

"Many of our customers want to enjoy using their work devices as much as their personal mobile phones and tablets," said Taylor Smith, director of product management, Honeywell Scanning & Mobility. "With the Android-based Dolphin 7800 we are able to offer that same user experience with the enterprise security that our customers expect from Honeywell."

To support the software community, Honeywell launched a Developer Program for Android OS compatible devices, giving independent software vendors (ISVs) and end-users a voice in the development of Honeywell products that will use the Android OS. Program participants had the opportunity to develop and test Android-specific applications on Honeywell's newest mobile device, prior to launch.

"We see demand for enterprise level, integrated GPS software solutions, like our CoPilot Live Professional, based on the Android platform. The Dolphin 7800 puts Honeywell in a strong position to capitalize on Android deployments within the enterprise," said Dan Popkin, vice president of business development of enterprise solutions at ALK Technologies.

"Our retail customers are closely aligned with the trends in the consumer device market, and at the same time, need performance and durability. These factors were drivers for us to participate in the Honeywell Developer Program for Android," said Gene Cornell, president, Cornell-Mayo Associates.

"Our ServiceACE application supports the Dolphin 7800 Android, with our TransportACE and RouteACE apps soon to follow, providing service, transportation, and consumer goods companies with a solution for streamlining their mobile operations," said Don Grust, CEO of Apacheta.

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Honeywell Introduces First Android-based Enterprise Digital Assistant

HOUSTON, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. (KRA), a leading global producer of styrenic block copolymers, announces financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

2012 SECOND QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

"Despite record first quarter 2012 sales volume and revenue, our sales volume in the second quarter was impacted by a number of factors including a late start to the North American paving season, wet weather in Europe, which had an adverse effect on roofing activity, continued volatility in raw material prices, which was reflected in purchase and inventory management activity by our customers, and slowing global demand across many regions and markets we serve. Nevertheless, our sales volume for the first half of 2012 was up 2% compared to the first half of 2011," said Kevin M. Fogarty, Kraton's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Of note in the second quarter were very robust sales in our Cariflex end use, serving medical applications, and volume increases in lubricant additive and oil gels applications within our Adhesive, Sealant, and Coatings end use. Innovation results continued to demonstrate we have the right strategy to combat general market headwinds. Specifically, our Vitality Index reflected that innovation-based sales were 13% of revenue for the trailing twelve month period ended June 30, 2012, as compared to 14% for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011. The consistency with which we apply this key operating metric dictates that we roll sales out of the calculation after five years. However, if we were to include the sales that rolled off during the TTM period, which still carry a margin premium, the Vitality Index would have been 17% for the twelve months ending June 2012," Fogarty added. "Lastly, although our second quarter 2012 unit margins benefited from price increases, announced in the first quarter, monomer prices continued to rise significantly through April, declined modestly in May, and then dropped significantly in June, resulting in average pricing for key monomers being higher in the second quarter 2012 than in the first quarter, and this served to limit margin expansion," said Fogarty. "More recently, following another sharp monomer price decline in July 2012, and based upon existing demand fundamentals, we believe that pricing for key monomers such as butadiene will remain relatively stable through the third quarter 2012, which in turn should return confidence to customers who had been focused on minimizing inventory levels in declining monomer environments."

Three Months Ended

June 30,

Six Months Ended

June 30,

(US $ in thousands, except per share amounts)

2012

2011

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Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Results

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire -08/01/12)- An elite group of senior marketers from across the Asia-Pacific region are meeting this week to discuss the findings of a new study by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council on how companies can engage with customers in a more personal, relevant, and valued way by being more adept at big data analytics.

The CMO Council, which represents more than 6,000 senior marketers in more than 110 countries, teamed with analytics software leader SAS to assess the state of customer intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region. It conducted in-depth interviews with more than 30 senior marketers at leading banks, insurance carriers, communications service providers, utilities, travel and hospitality companies, as well as media and publishing groups across Southeast Asia, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Also included were regional market questions from its annual "State of Marketing" audit, involving hundreds of online survey respondents worldwide.

The CMO Council's 45-page strategic brief, dubbed "Improve Every Marketing Move," can be sourced from the CMO Council website at (http://cmocouncil.org/improve-every-move).

Not surprisingly, marketers report being overwhelmed by growing volumes of customer data emanating from research, retail, Internet, social media, financial, company help desks/call centers, and internal line of business sources. This veritable treasure trove of customer insight is now offering them new ways to improve the customer experience, increase satisfaction, engender loyalty, and be more responsive to the needs and requirements of their different customer segments. Most, however, are still playing catch-up with new sources of customer intelligence in an Internet-connected, social media-driven and mobile device-dependent Asia-Pacific market.

Asia's population of nearly 4 billion people in 35 countries accounts for 56 percent of the world's population and nearly 45 percent of the world's Internet user base, a total of 1,016,799,076 people (Internet World Stats). Top Internet access countries in Asia include China (513 million), India (100 million), Japan (99 million), Indonesia (39 million), and South Korea (39 million). In terms of penetration, Australia is one of the leaders (just behind South Korea) in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 17 million users, or 80.1 percent of the population.

An estimated 2.6 billion mobile phones are activated in the Asia-Pacific region (Enotes), representing a penetration of more than 65 percent. Some 400 million Asians have access to the mobile Internet, notes the Asia Digital Marketing Yearbook, and there are well over 200 million Facebook members in Asia representing some 25 percent of the social media leader's 900 million users worldwide.

When it comes to improving the customer experience through better market listening, responsiveness, and leveraging of data and actionable insights, most of the region's senior marketers felt they were not there yet, but working toward it. It is definitely considered a key area of focus and priority, but the ability to execute internally against the end goal is still in question.

Most marketers said they had corporate cultures that were more product-centric and operationally driven. As a result, the use of business intelligence data was being applied in these areas rather than meeting the needs of the customer. However, the desire and intention is growing, and marketers are optimistic that they can make big improvements in shaping and influencing the customer experience through better actionable insights and analytics.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which has nearly 11 million customers, is looking to improve marketing and maximize response by delivering loan offers and financial service products to the right customer, at the right place, and at the right time, notes its head of analytics Geoffrey Kerry. Similarly, Kittisak Eh Chuei, Director of Loyalty Marketing at the Pan Pacific Hotels Group in Singapore, is using analytics to identify trends between different sets of customers across diverse regions and countries, so the hospitality leader can understand and anticipate booking behavior, handle any negative feedback in a more timely way, and provide more personal and attentive service.

"The Asia-Pacific region is doing business on a massive scale, and our marketing members see real value in using high-performance data analytics to be more targeted, personal, and timely in their communications so they can not only more efficiently acquire, but also grow, customer relationships," notes Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council, whose members control more than $300 billion in annual aggregated marketing spend.

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Asia-Pacific Companies Using Advanced Analytics to Be More Customer-Centric

Looking at the data, U.S. consumer spending was unchanged for July, while consumer confidence rose unexpectedly. To add another layer of complexity, personal income ticked higher in July.

So, Americans didnt spend the extra money they earned even as they grew more confident about the state of economy.

But whatever consumers say or do, investors are betting on the consumer sector. It has outperformed broad U.S. equities year-to-date, and flows to ETFs canvassing the sector have exceeded $600 million for 2012.

But picking the right ETF is anything but easy, as well see.

Just look at the year-to-date performance spread of the top four funds by assets.

The top-performing fund shown in dark blue, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Index Fund (IYC) has outpaced the laggard shown in light blue, the First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDex Fund (FXD) by more than 10 percentage points in just seven months.

Also note the performance of these four funds relative to the S'P 500, shown in red, as represented by the SPDR S'P 500 (SPY). Three of the four have beaten SPY so far this year quite handily, while FXD lagged.

This means that choosing among the top ETFs in the space is just as critical as the decision to overweight or underweight the sector in the first place.

Performance Drivers

Read the rest here:
Consumer ETFs: Buyer Beware

Basic Earnings per Share of $1.54, or $1.60 excluding second quarter tax adjustments Return on Equity of 25.1% Second Quarter Net Income Increases 10.4%, or 14.5% excluding second quarter tax adjustments, over 2011 Net Income

TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Home Capital Group (HCG.TO) today reported another quarter of strong results for the three months ended June 30, 2012.

The Company's Second Quarter Report, including Management's Discussion and Analysis, is available on http://www.homecapital.com and on the Canadian Securities Administrators' website at http://www.sedar.com.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

1 See definition of Adjusted Net Income under Non-GAAP Measures of the unaudited interim consolidated financial report and reconciliation to net income in Table 2 of the Management's Discussion and Analysis. 2 See definition of Taxable Equivalent Basis (TEB) under Non-GAAP Measures of the unaudited interim consolidated financial report.The net interest margin non-securitized assets for March 31, 2012 was amended from the previously disclosed amount of 3.00%. 3 Total loans include loans held for sale. 4 These figures relate to the Company's operating subsidiary, Home Trust Company.

SECOND QUARTER 2012 HIGHLIGHTS

Key results for the second quarter of 2012 included:

Consistent with the first quarter of 2012, the Company is delivering solid performance despite the persistent international economic instability and muted economic improvement in Canada. The Company's performance reflects the strength, and the successful execution, of the Company's core strategy.

As discussed in the first quarter of 2012, the Company continues to see resilient and relatively stable real estate markets across most of Canada, with a few areas of continuing concern, where the Company has already scaled back.The Company expects real estate demand to remain relatively stable in 2012 with potentially modest declines in some of the larger markets. This is expected to result in relatively balanced real estate market conditions and lead to continued healthy demand for the Company's products, consistent with the first half of the year. The Company has not seen evidence of a "real-estate bubble" in Canada. Low interest rates and stable employment have maintained housing affordability. The Company expects interest rates to remain at current levels or experience very modest increases into 2013 and that Canadian employment levels will remain relatively stable in 2012. The Company maintains a solid capital position and prudent liquidity and expects that it is well positioned to deal with the impact of uncertainty that may affect the Canadian economy.

Favourable market opportunities have supported the Company's strategy of renewed focus on the traditional mortgage portfolio with record levels of originations in this product category. While the Company has increased lending in this product category it has been able to do so with improving credit quality. The average credit score for traditional mortgage originations for the first half of 2012 is up from the same period of 2011 while loan to value ratios are down. The Company remains proactive and prudent in its lending practices, taking into account local economic and market conditions.The credit quality of the loan portfolio remains strong, reflecting the Company's focus on diligent underwriting combined with strong collection standards and loan resolution strategies.

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Home Capital Reports Strong Performance for the Second Quarter

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Premier healthcare alliance today announced new agreements for personal care kits and components have been awarded to Cardinal Health of McGaw Park, Ill.; Care Line Inc. of Greenbrier, Tenn.; and Medline Industries Inc. of Mundelein, Ill.

Effective August 1, 2012, the agreements are available to acute care and continuum of care members of Premier.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals and 84,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Continue reading here:
Hospitals, Healthcare Providers to Benefit from New Premier Agreements for Personal Care Kits and Components

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Global consumer packing company Rexam posted a three per cent like-for-like rise in sales during the first half of the year, pushed higher by a six per cent increase in the total number of beverage cans volumes.

Revenue for the year came in at 2,165m, compared to 2,095m the same half the previous year, with underlying pre-tax profit at 207m (H1 2011: 204m) and underlying earnings per share up from 16.7p to 17.1p.

The group recently announced its intention to sell its loss-making Personal Care division; with this division included, underlying profit before tax was 225m.

However, it was by no means all good news as statutory pre-tax profit fell from 192m to 166m and the firm turned in a post-tax loss for the period at 52m, compared to a profit of 132m the previous year, as its Personal Care division put a 171m dent in the bottom line. Total basic losses for the period were 6p compared to earnings of 15.1p the same period in 2011.

Underlying operating profit from continuing operations improved 2.0%, in spite of a number of headwinds including higher aluminium conversion and labour costs.

As at June 30th, net debt was 1.35bn, compared to 1.3bn at the end of 2011.

In Europe, utilisation improved as a result of higher volumes and in North America it increased as the firm started to recover volumes lost in 2011. There was also better utilisation in South America as market growth resumed and it started to recover some of the market share lost to additional competitor capacity last year.

The firm said: "Beverage Cans traded well with the global growth of speciality cans and the performance of the North American business overcoming cost headwinds. As indicated previously, we had some specific challenges in Healthcare.

"In an increasingly uncertain macroeconomic environment, we will continue to focus on generating cash, managing costs and return on capital employed for the rest of 2012. Our progress to date gives us confidence of achieving our 15% return on capital employed target by the end of 2013."

Half year sales for Beverage Cans rose 1,871m to 1,946m year-on-year, with underlying operating profit up from 212m to 226m, driven by good volume growth in speciality cans, better than predicted volume recovery in North America, and continued delivery of efficiencies related to down-gauging and light-weighting. The return on sales increased from 11.3% to 11.6% and the return on net assets increased from 29% to 32%.

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Personal Care unit dents Rexam

SANDPOINT, Idaho, and LUGANO, Switzerland, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Thorne Research, Inc., a leader in developing and manufacturing pure, high quality nutritional supplements and personal care products marketed through medical professionals, and Helsinn, a rapidly growing pharmaceutical group based in Lugano, Switzerland, today announced the launch of the OncoQOL product line a portfolio of 13 nutritional supplements intended to support the unique nutritional needs of patients undergoing cancer treatment. The OncoQOL portfolio also includes the DermaQOL product line, with nine personal care products specially formulated to support the skin-care and hair-care needs of patients undergoing cancer treatment. DermaQOL products are manufactured using only high-quality, certified organic ingredients. OncoQOL products, including the DermaQOL product line, are available only through oncologists and other medical professionals in the United States and Canada.

Treatment for cancer often results in nutritionally related undesirable effects, such as weight loss, fatigue, diarrhea, and highly sensitive nerves and skin. The OncoQOL product line is designed to help patients address these and other similar conditions which can deteriorate their quality of life and adversely affect compliance in fully completing their course of treatment.

"For many cancer patients the side effects of treatment have a significant impact on their health and quality of life, often making it difficult for them to continue with their therapy. Our products are designed to meet the unique needs of these patients and are manufactured with the essential levels of purity and consistency that are so important for this population," said Sreenivas Rao, MD, president, OncoQOL.

OncoQOL nutritional supplement products are manufactured using pure, hypoallergenic, highly-absorbable nutrients. All products undergo extensive quality control testing during every phase of the manufacturing process. Although some of their active ingredients have been clinically shown to provide important benefits to cancer patients, OncoQOL products are not intended to treat specific diseases and should not be considered as adjuncts to disease treatment.

Three of the nutritional supplements in the OncoQOL portfolio are: DaxibeQOL, a blend of branched-chain and other essential amino acids known to possibly promote anabolism, weight gain, lean muscle mass, and muscle strength; NutraQOL, a wheat germ extract that may reduce fatigue and helps improve social, physical, and emotional wellbeing; and MucosaQOL, which contains L-glutamine, an amino acid helpful to support healthy mucous membranes of the mouth and GI tract.

"In our practice we see firsthand the challenges that patients face in managing the side effects of chemotherapy and trying to optimize their overall health and diet during treatment. A high fraction of patients take nutritional supplements during therapy, but many commercially available supplements are not designed for people with cancer. Selecting products and managing combinations of supplements is very confusing to patients, and many interact negatively and unpredictably with their cancer treatment. OncoQOL has prepared pure, high quality products designed with our patients' specific needs in mind which reduces the confusion and apprehension of using supportive care products as part of the treatment program,"said Lawrence Piro, MD, president and chief operating officer of The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute in Santa Monica, California.

DermaQOL personal care products are manufactured without the use of plasticizers, foaming agents, and preservatives found in many personal care product brands. Three of the products in the DermaQOL portfolio are: DermaQOL Lotion, a silicone-free and sulfate-free blend of unscented organic emollients to hydrate dry, rough skin; DermaQOL Shower Gel, an all-body wash and shampoo specially formulated for sensitive skin; and DermaQOL Cooling Aloe Spray, a moisturizer that provides cooling relief for irritated skin.

"Living with cancer creates many challenges, and treatment can now extend over years. In order to avoid negative interactions, cancer patients should choose products formulated with their needs in mind," said Mary Hardy, MD, medical director, Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology.

Patients can access the full range of OncoQOL nutritional supplements and DermaQOL personal care products directly from their physician. Thus far, more than 100 cancer specialists and other health-care providers have signed up to provide these products to their patients.

"OncoQOL represents a huge step forward in helping patients undergoing cancer treatment and their families obtain reliable access to products and information that empowers them to become more proactive in their health challenge. By providing targeted dietary supplements that the consumer and the physician can rely on, OncoQOL is filling a huge void in the cancer supportive care marketplace," said James B. LaValle, RPh, chief executive officer of Integrative Health Resources, LLC, and chair of OncoQOL's Science Advisory Board.

See original here:
Thorne Research, Inc., And Helsinn Healthcare SA Announce OncoQOL™ - A Joint Effort To Provide Nutritional Supplements ...

Looking at the data, U.S. consumer spending was unchanged for July, while consumer confidence rose unexpectedly. To add another layer of complexity, personal income ticked higher in July.

So, Americans didnt spend the extra money they earned even as they grew more confident about the state of economy.

But whatever consumers say or do, investors are betting on the consumer sector. It has outperformed broad U.S. equities year-to-date, and flows to ETFs canvassing the sector have exceeded $600 million for 2012.

But picking the right ETF is anything but easy, as well see.

Just look at the year-to-date performance spread of the top four funds by assets.

The top-performing fund shown in dark blue, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Index Fund (IYC) has outpaced the laggard shown in light blue, the First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDex Fund (FXD) by more than 10 percentage points in just seven months.

Also note the performance of these four funds relative to the S'P 500, shown in red, as represented by the SPDR S'P 500 (SPY). Three of the four have beaten SPY so far this year quite handily, while FXD lagged.

This means that choosing among the top ETFs in the space is just as critical as the decision to overweight or underweight the sector in the first place.

Performance Drivers

More:
Consumer Sector ETFs: Buyer Beware