Latest news with #petshop
South China Morning Post
03-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong pet shop owner arrested for alleged theft of 35 cats to repay loan
A Hong Kong pet shop owner has been arrested for the alleged theft of 35 of his customers' cats which he used to repay debts to a loan company, with the felines estimated to be valued at more than HK$623,000 (US$79,870), the Post has learned. The owner, surnamed Chan, 44, had a shop in Hung Hom, which also offered consignment and pet-sitting services, a source said on Thursday. The source said Chan took out a loan of HK$210,000 from a company in August last year. The firm demanded repayment on Monday but Chan, who could not pay, proposed offering the cats from two customers to cover part of the debt, the source said. The proposal was accepted by the company staff, who later took away the cats. Three Bengal cats, valued at HK$150,000, and 32 British Shorthairs and Ragdolls, valued at HK$473,300, were given away. The Bengal cats were owned by a woman, 57, who requested a pet-sitting service at the shop. The other cats belonged to a man, 54, who asked for a consignment service.
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Democratization Of Graph Data For Business Users
Business 3d tablet virtual growth arrow financial graph on digital technology strategy background ... More with finance data marketing chart analysis report or success investment diagram economy screen profit. Graphs are complicated, in a good way. When we're at school (unless you happen to be a mathematics whizz), the first time students are driven to start 'graphing out' correlations and trends, that lesson is always one of the steeper learning curve experiences in our primary education experience. So it is with graph databases i.e they're more complicated, in a good way, because they offer us a chance to trace relationships between multiple points and create a more enriched data entity, product or service at the end of the day. As explained before here, graph database theory combines 'nodes' in the form of people, places, products or things along with 'edges', the representative relationship values that describe what or how one thing is related to another… and also 'properties', which allow us to add additional contextual information to either an edge or a node. If Teresa (a node) went to a pet shop (node) in Maryland (property) and paid for (edge, action) a puppy (node), then we might want to know that the puppy is six weeks old (property) and cost $200 (property) when she bought it at noon on Tuesday (property) and so on. How graph databases help us express relationships with connected & related entities & values. Because graph databases allow us to do more and know more, they enable us to build knowledge graphs that can organize information that might otherwise be too complex and convoluted for a traditional database to handle competently. They're also used extensively in financial trading scenarios, recommendation engines and in fraud detection to help uncover hidden relationships in transactional data. Graph Database Vendor Marketplace Among the most vocal vendors in this marketplace are Neo4j, ArangoDB and OrientDB. Also of note is JanusGraph, a distributed graph database built to handle billions of vertices and edges, Dgraph, which bids to serve high-performance jobs, Stardog with its semantic reasoning abilities and NebulaGraph, also open source and also high performance. Among the tech behemoths, there's Amazon Neptune, Google with its simply named Knowledge Graph service and Salesforce has Einstein Knowledge Graph and MuleSoft, GraphQL a data query language, that allows users to connect with application programming interfaces for graph-like data services. Similarly, Microsoft Graph is not a graph database in and of itself; it offers API connections to graph-type data intelligence in other Microsoft services. Contextual exposition done then, in this age of AI, are graph databases getting any easier to use? Andreas Kollegger, lead for generative AI innovation at Neo4j says yes. He's rational about the progression though and explains that some still perceive graph as a domain for specialists; this is because they regard it as a technology for developers who can write Cypher queries (a declarative query language specifically designed for querying and updating graph databases) and for those who can manage extract, transform and load pipelines and piece together disparate datasets to create something meaningful. Developers Have Been Gatekeepers 'Historically, this perceived lack of 'accessibility' wasn't just about query languages. Even Cypher, which is designed to be more readable than SQL, requires understanding nodes, relationships and pattern matching,' said Kollegger. 'It's more intuitive than raw JOINs, but not exactly self-service for the average business user. A simple pattern like MATCH (customer)-[:BOUGHT]->(product) can still be a barrier if you don't think in graphs. This has meant that developers became the interpreters. Queries were crafted, tweaked and explained to business analysts, but despite good intentions, that dynamic left software engineers in a familiar role: gatekeepers.' It's not unreasonable to say that progress has been gradual. Even with the rise of visual query builders and dashboard integrations, developing an understanding of graphs (let alone building them) still often meant learning the underlying model behind them or relying on someone who had. That's starting to change and not just incrementally. Welcome To Democratized Graph 'We're entering a phase where the democratization of graph technology is becoming tangible. Advances in tooling mean users can work with relationships in their data without needing to write a single line of Cypher (or even know what Cypher is) now,' said Kollegger, speaking to press and analysts this month in London. 'Ready-to-run algorithms, visual outputs and drag-and-drop workflows are replacing command lines and syntax trees. The ability to project subgraphs from familiar formats like spreadsheets or Pandas data frames without ETL gymnastics removes another long-standing barrier, one that frees up developers and opens the door to faster, more inclusive analysis.' NOTE: A Pandas DataFrame is a 2-dimensional, tabular data structure in the Python Pandas library, designed for working with structured data, much like a spreadsheet or a SQL table. Crucially, the shift that Kollegger talks about doesn't dumb down the technology. It alleviates the complexity and only shows users what's useful for the task at hand. If a businessperson wants to understand customer churn risk, they can run a community detection algorithm without having to write a query. If they need to uncover supply chain bottlenecks, the user can follow the relationships visually and apply similarity metrics with a click. Kollegger says the shift from using SQL query language to this kind of business-level semantics (asking a graph database for an insight, without having to learn code) is not just a shift in language; it's a forward shift in thinking. Where traditional data models assume structure, graphs assume relationships. Similarly, says Kollegger, semantics emerges from context, rather than content… but that context has historically lived in code, not conversation. Thanks to AI, that's changing i.e. natural language reasoning maps smoothly to graphs and agentic memory itself often works the same way, with key ideas linking to related ones. It's not just about retrieving memories but rebuilding them, like our own minds do, based on association. Graphs Are How Humans Think 'Thinking in graphs may seem like a new way of working, until we realise it's how we already think,' enthused Kollegger. 'Of course, democratization doesn't need to mean chaos. With greater accessibility comes a greater need for governance and here again, graphs offer an edge. Their structure encodes metadata and lineage in a way that helps enforce policy without getting in the way of exploration. Access controls can be fine-grained and context-aware because the context isn't bolted on. It's native.' He further states that the role of the developer isn't disappearing, but it is shifting. Kollegger assures us that developers are no longer the only ones who can build out graph structures, they're increasingly part of a broader ecosystem where analysts, product teams and business users can run graph-powered workflows themselves, gaining faster answers to complex questions without waiting on technical support. 'As tooling becomes more intuitive and data more accessible, the promise of graphs is no longer bound by syntax or specialism. It's embedded in how we approach connected thinking across teams, tools and decisions,' he concluded. The moves afoot here aren't just about speed of operations (in the business team, or the developer team, or elsewhere) if they are embraced the right way. The Neo4j team say that this is 'a fundamental shift in the culture of the developer organization' in real terms. This is because when more people can ask better questions of connected data faster (and get meaningful, visual, intuitive answers), the organization starts to think in graphs and that means they can identify more connections between different corners of the business.
The Independent
23-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Hugo Boss demands Liverpool pet shop changes name
A pet shop owner received a legal letter from fashion giant Hugo Boss due to the name of his company. Ben McDonald, from Bootle in Merseyside, said his 'whole world collapsed' when he received a letter from the global clothing brand over his shop Boss Pets. The business owner, who set up the online pet health supplies store in February, said the letter sent this month demanded he change the name – even though the word 'boss' is widely used in the area to describe something as really good. Mr McDonald claimed he was told by Hugo Boss to take down his website within 10 days after concerns the companies could be seen as linked were raised. Describing himself as 'just a lad from Bootle', he told the BBC he spent 'every spare penny' on his pet-related products website. The fashion house has previously allegedly targeted small companies and charities who use the word 'boss' in their names. A Hugo Boss spokesperson told the broadcaster: 'We are aware that the English word 'boss' is one that is commonly used.' They continued: 'Nevertheless, it's our responsibility to monitor and protect our brand rights globally and address unclear cases where needed.' They added: 'When we became aware of the registration, we have approached the business owner as the intended registration represents an overlap with our trademarks. 'As an international fashion company, we need to – like any other corporation – take measures to protect our existing trademark rights. These measures apply to both of our brands, BOSS and HUGO.' They explained that the firm 'only approaches third parties where an overlap with our existing trademark rights occurs, and as a matter of principle we always seek for a dialogue in favour of an amicable solution for both sides'. Comedian Joe Lycett legally changed his name to Hugo Boss in 2020 after calling out the luxury company for allegedly costing small businesses, including Swansea brewery company Boss Brewing, 'thousands in legal fees and rebranding'. Mr McDonald's own lawyers have argued that his business is operating in a different sector, namely pet health supplies, and that the term is commonly used – therefore, they say there is no chance of confusion between the two firms. Francis McEntegart said his client does not have a case to answer and accused the designer brand of bullying Mr McDonald. He said: 'My client is a small local business that is just starting out selling pet wellness products, it's not going to interfere with the profits of Hugo Boss in any way.'
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Hugo Boss in legal threat to Merseyside pet shop over name
A Merseyside online pet shop has found itself in the sights of a major international fashion retailer over a word in its name. Ben McDonald, from Bootle in Merseyside, set up Boss Pets in February, but this month received a letter from Hugo Boss demanding he stop using the word, which is widely used in the area to suggest something is great. Mr McDonald said his "whole world collapsed" after being told he faced the potential legal battle over concerns people might think the companies were linked. A spokeswoman for Hugo Boss said: "We are aware that the English word 'boss' is one that is commonly used." She added that "nevertheless, it's our responsibility to monitor and protect our brand rights globally and address unclear cases where needed"."When we became aware of the registration, we have approached the business owner as the intended registration represents an overlap with our trademarks."As an international fashion company, we need to – like any other corporation – take measures to protect our existing trademark rights. These measures apply to both of our brands, BOSS and HUGO."She said the firm "only approaches third parties where an overlap with our existing trademark rights occurs, and as a matter of principle we always seek for a dialogue in favour of an amicable solution for both sides". 'Lad from Bootle' Mr McDonald's own lawyers have argued that the firm was operating in an entirely different sector, using a commonly used term, and that there was no likelihood of McDonald, who described himself as "just a lad from Bootle", said he had been given 10 days to take down his website or face legal said he had spent "every spare penny" on his new website for his pet-related lawyer Francis McEntegart said Mr McDonald did not have a case to answer and was accusing the clothes retailer of bullying his client."My client is a small local business that is just starting out selling pet wellness products, it's not going to interfere with the profits of Hugo Boss in anyway." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
South China Morning Post
18-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Man arrested over robbing Hong Kong pet shop with fruit knife
A man has been arrested for allegedly robbing a Hong Kong pet shop at knifepoint, with police tracking down the suspect within less than nine hours of the incident after reviewing footage from cameras installed as part of a citywide surveillance push. Inspector Wong Ka-hung from the Tuen Mun district crime squad said on Sunday that the man was suspected of entering the shop on Tsing Pak Path with a 30cm (11.8-inch) knife at around 3.30pm the day before and intimidating a female employee into handing over money and valuables collectively worth about HK$2,400 (US$307) from the store's cash register and her purse. 'The Tuen Mun police district devoted substantial manpower to the case; mobilising officers from the crime, intelligence and anti-triad sections, as well as task force personnel to review large amounts of surveillance footage captured near the site,' Wong said. The inspector said the suspect had fled the scene after obtaining the valuables, while the shop worker had contacted her supervisor and police. Wong said the suspect was arrested in Tuen Mun at midnight after officers gathered information on the alleged perpetrator's physical appearance and the route he took to leave the scene. Some of the footage in the case came from devices installed as part of a citywide policy to boost the number of surveillance cameras. The force began installing the cameras in April of last year, with 615 cameras already set up by the end of 2024.
