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General Motors has filed a trademark application to register the phrase Moving Humanity Forward with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), GM Authority has discovered.
Filed on November 2nd, 2017, the filing is assigned serial number 87668951 and states that the term will be used in conjunction with “Promoting public interest and awareness of universal mobility, connectivity and technology solutions.”
The GM Authority Take
From the sound of it, it would appear that The General is looking to launch an awareness or marketing program of some kind to publicize “universal mobility, connectivity and technology solutions”. We’re not aware of what such a campaign would entail, but have a fleeting suspicion that it will be related to the automaker’s Maven car sharing/mobile service.


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Albion Online Labourers Highlight Video
Learn more about Albion Online labourers, one of the new systems appearing in closed beta.
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domain: news


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November 10, 2005 (HOSTSEARCH.COM) For the second consecutive year, Raleigh-based web hosting company, Hosted Solutions, has been ranked among the fastest growing businesses in the Carolina's. The company was recognized by the 2005 Triangle Business Journal's Fast 50, ranking sixth among the IT service providers recognized on the list. The Triangle Fast 50 list distinguishes companies in operation for at least three fiscal years who reported revenues of at least $2 million in 2004. The companies are ranked based on criteria that accounts for both dollar growth and percentage rate of growth over a three-year period.
Rich Lee, chief executive officer of Hosted Solutions, said of the award, "The success of Hosted Solutions is a direct result of great execution, as we delivered strong growth in revenues, cash flows, and profitability. Weve seen the momentum that earned us our first recognition in 2004 continue throughout 2005, a record breaking year for sales and growth. We are poised to capitalize on the growing demand for data center services with our proven service offerings and unparalleled local support."
Hosted Solutions offers a full suite of services including Collocation, Fully-Managed Servers, Dedicated Servers, Business Continuity Services, Enterprise Backup, Managed Firewall and Intrusion Detection Security Protection. The company has enjoyed third quarter sales totaling $8.6 million and sign ups of high profile customers including ChannelAdvisor, Skanska USA Building, Summus Inc., Strategic Technologies, and Golden Corral and Speedway Motorsports.


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Bacon-scented shaving cream hits market
Updated On: Nov 29 2012 12:21:47 PM EST
Ever wish your face could smell like bacon all day? You're in luck, with the recent release of a bacon-scented shaving cream.
Made in Seattle, J&D's Bacon Shaving Cream is touted on its website as the "highest quality meat-scented shaving cream on the market today… It is best used after a hot shower or before an important date with someone you may want to spend the rest of your life with."
J&D's is also known for its bacon lip-balm, bacon popcorn, bacon roses and other pork-related products.
The company says it only produced 2,500 of the "pork-scented lather of the gods" and began selling it Wednesday.
A jar goes for $14.99 online.
Fire kills parents and infant, other children escape
Death toll rises to 5 in apartment complex fire
SCDNR: Clemson DUI attorney arrested on boating while intoxicated charge
Car believed to be involved in fatal hit-and-run identified, police say
Teacher facing child porn charges released on bond


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New tracks that DJs should know about.
Pioneer DJ’s CDJ-2000NXS has been the industry standard player since it debuted in 2012. Now, four years later, they’ve released its successor, the CDJ-2000NXS2, along with the DJM-900NXS2 mixer. For the first of two reviews, Mojaxx looks at the CDJ’s new features and determines if they’re worth the hefty price tag.
Related: 4 Pro Tips for CDJs and Rekordbox


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The viability and coming popularity of the burgeoning mobile wallet payment industry has been discussed heavily by experts in a number of fields, but because the number of entrants is expected to be so diverse, it’s likely that no clear winner will emerge any time soon, if at all.
The number of companies now developing or collaborating on mobile wallet technology is large and wide-ranging, according to a report from the Huffington Post. While companies that could have been expected to participate – such as tech firms and credit card payment processors – are currently rolling out or testing their entries into the field, other companies that seem less obvious contributors are also jumping into the game.
These include the nation’s three largest mobile phone service providers, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, as well as major retailers like Walmart, the report said. In addition, both Apple and Microsoft are expected to provide mobile wallet support with their next generation of smartphones, creating their own programs to handle these transactions. Currently, however, the only system actually available to the public is Google Wallet, part of a partnership with Sprint, which also provides the only widely-available smartphone enabled with near-field communications technology.
The problem with predicting the winners and losers in the mobile wallet competition is two-fold, the report said. One issue is that there’s no way to know which direction the technology, and demand for it, will move over the next few years ahead of mobile adoption. And because there’s very little barrier to companies with the will to participate in the developing industry from doing so, it’s also difficult to guess at what types of innovations or entrants might come along.
Therefore, it is very likely that there will be no “winner” to speak of; no dominant force that the vast majority of consumers use for their mobile transactions, and no one way that they use it, the report said. Many companies developing mobile wallet systems are doing so in such a way that their entries will work across multiple platforms.
[Credit Cards: Research and compare credit cards at Credit.com.]
Currently, experts say that consumer reluctance to adopt these systems over fear of their security is the largest hurdle for developers to clear. However, it’s believed that by the end of 2015, mobile wallet technology will have gained widespread acceptance.
Image: Horia Varlan, via Flickr


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Two months have passed since OnePlus unveiled the OnePlus 7 series globally. For the first time, OnePlus unveiled two versions of the same model positioned at different price categories. The regular OnePlus 7 is simply an updated OnePlus 6T with the current generation technologies whereas the OnePlus 7 Pro is a completely new phone built from the scratch to make OnePlus' presence in the premium smartphone segment. And so far, critics, as well as consumers, have shown a positive response to the phone.
With the OnePlus 7 Pro not out on the shelves, fans, as well as critics, wonder what could be next step for the brand. OnePlus usually unveils an upgraded 'T' version of its models in November of every year and as per the norm, we expect a OnePlus 7T and a OnePlus 7T Pro. The OnePlus 7T has some room for improvement and it would be easy to guess what's coming. However, the OnePlus 7 Pro is already one of the most modern flagships you can buy now and it is difficult to guess what could the OnePlus 7T Pro bring to the table. With no leaks about this phone so far, here are some of the changes we could see on the OnePlus 7T Pro.
OnePlus 7T Pro: What upgrades could we expect this November
A new chipset
Two months ago when the OnePlus 7 Pro was launched, it was given the most powerful chipset available in the market - the Snapdragon 855. This chip gives the phone lots of computing power to help with its 'smooth and fast' user experience. A few days ago, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 855 Plus and positioned it as a more powerful iteration of the Snapdragon 855 tuned for gaming phones. This is a new chip could make it to the OnePlus 7T Pro. OnePlus already claims superior gaming performance with the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Snapdragon 855 Plus could help OnePlus challenge the upcoming gaming phones using this new chip. The Snapdragon 855 Plus promises 15 per cent gain in graphics performance and four per cent gain in CPU performance.
Bigger battery to complement the new chip
The Snapdragon 855 Plus is promising more computing power on paper and in the real world, the new chip could also result in higher battery consumption. The OnePlus 7 Pro already had a reasonably big 4000mAh battery and to compensate for the extra power of the Snapdragon 855 Plus, OnePlus could stuff in a bigger battery. How big? We could probably expect to see a 4500mAh battery or an even higher 5000mAh battery on this OnePlus flagship.
Improved camera performance with better zoom
The OnePlus 7 Pro has received numerous software updates over the last two months and the one aspect that has improved drastically is the camera performance. The triple camera setup on the OnePlus 7 Pro offers unmatched versatility - the primary 48-megapixel camera is the default sensor for taking the best quality images whereas the 8-megapixel telephoto camera offers 3x optical zoom and the third camera takes of wide-angle photos.
The camera performance on the OnePlus 7 Pro is comparable to what you get from an iPhone XS or a Samsung Galaxy S10. However, with the OnePlus 7T Pro, we could expect better optical zooming capabilities. OnePlus could borrow the 10X optical zoom from the Oppo Reno 10X Zoom edition, thereby offering more versatility than before.
Fullscreen display with in-display camera
A few weeks ago, Oppo unveiled a concept device with an in-display selfie camera at MWC Shanghai. While the technology was shown in a concept stage, OnePlus could debut this technology on the OnePlus 7T Pro. This might not offer the best camera performance but OnePlus could get rid of the pop-up motorised camera mechanism and improve durability as well as waterproofing. Speaking of waterproofing,
Official IP rating
OnePlus has always evaded IP certification in favour of saving costs. The OnePlus 7 Pro is water-resistant but nobody knows how much can it withstand. With the OnePlus 7T Pro, we can probably expect official IP rating as expected from all modern flagship phones. However, that could increase the cost drastically.
More compact dimensions
There's no denying that the OnePlus 7 Pro is a big phablet. The massive 6.5-inch display, despite having curved edges, makes for a massive and heavy phone. With the in-display selfie camera eliminating the motorised camera mechanism, the OnePlus 7T Pro could be lighter and the dimensions could be more compact. However, the size possibly won't become smaller considering consumers prefer larger screens.
New (and probably higher) price tag
With all the new components, OnePlus is expected to bump up the price with the OnePlus 7T Pro. The base variant could start above Rs 50,000 this time and whereas the top-end variant could reach upwards of Rs 60,000. The price hike has always been happening with every generation of the flagship model and this time, we don't expect any change either.


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In fact, these garage-busters are not cars at all. What is drawing buyers to the showrooms in droves are so-called sport utility vehicles that ride high above the road. They have beefy engines, intimidating front-grill fenders and that other feature that is so vital in suburbia, four-wheel drive.
Their conquest of the US roadway - the big American manufacturers like Ford and General Motors simply cannot keep up with demand - is sounding alarm bells among safety groups. In accidents between these Goliaths and flimsy saloons, guess which gets crushed?
Ford apparently sees no limits to the trend. Yesterday came news that it is developing what should be the biggest utility yet - an eight-passenger titan to be called a crew wagon. It will be 19 feet long - compared with slightly under 15 feet for the Jeep Cherokee - and boast a V-10 engine under the bonnet.
The crew wagon will be bigger even than the current bully among bullies, the Chevrolet Suburban. In this correspondent's neighbourhood the Suburbans rule everywhere except in one street. Here there is a resident with the biggest status-symbol-on-wheels available anywhere - the Hummer, a derivative of military vehicle that might have been designed to cross the Himalayas.
At Universal Ford, a sprawling dealership just across the East River from Manhattan in Queens, Frank Thomas confirms the passion for size. "The bigger they are and the larger the engine-size, the more I sell," he said yesterday. "I love it." For every five large-saloon Taurus models he sells, he will shift 30 of the four-wheel-drive Ford Explorers.
"It's totally about ego," Mr Thomas says of his customers. "I look at their backgrounds and their credit histories and it's obvious that there is absolutely no practical point in them buying these vehicles.
"They think that they are going out on safari or something when in fact the largest obstacle they are likely to meet around here is a runaway shopping trolley".
An additional, somewhat ironic, attraction of these brutes is that their size means that they can no longer be described as small cars by the government. They thus escape both luxury taxes and federal regulations on fuel consumption.
There will be no limits on how much these vehicles can drink - which is a good thing. Most can manage only 14 miles a gallon.
The safety disadvantage that the rest of us find ourselves in on the road was highlighted by a study released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
It noted that in fatal accidents involving a car and a light truck, which includes pick-ups and sport utilities, 80 per cent of those who died were riding in the cars.
That is a statistic, however, that may only quicken the stampede for the utilities. Have one of these parked outside your house and not only are you the meanest SOB on the block, your kids are likely to be the safest, too.
And who worries about fuel efficiency when you are living in a country where a gallon of petrol sells for less money than a gallon of designer mineral water?Reuse content


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It's been a year since Uber drivers finally got something they really wanted: tips in its ride-hailing app.
In the year since tips were added, drivers have earned more than $600 million in gratuities on the Uber app. In the past three months tips have gone up 30 percent, to which Uber credits improvements such as pre-set tip amounts based on the ride (longer, pricier rides suggest higher tips) and mid-trip tipping options.
Two months in and tips were at $50 million. Then after six months drivers hit $200 million in tips.
In-app tipping was a long time coming, with drivers urging the company for years to give passengers a way to give something extra. Finally last June a few cities started rolling out tips and all cities joined in on the gratuity option by the end of July.
Lyft is always quick to point out it has included tipping since the start. Earlier this year Lyft -- the smaller competitor to Uber -- celebrated its own tipping milestone: $500 million in tips since the app launched in 2012. Yes, Uber has surpassed Lyft in tips in just one year.
After a year, Uber looked at its tipping data and found that the most popular tipping times are weekend nights and Thursday right after dinnertime. Riders are more likely to tip on the way to the airport and for night and weekend rides.
The biggest tippers in the U.S. hail from Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri; New Orleans; and Nashville.


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Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
"Labels matter." That's what the California Supreme Court said when reinstituting a class action lawsuit regarding the accuracy of organic labels on food products. The court also said: "Misrepresentations in labeling undermine this signifying function, preventing consumers from correctly identifying the goods and services that carry the attributes they desire while also hampering honest producers' attempts to differentiate their merchandise from the competition."
The ruling allows consumers to bring unfair competition lawsuits in state court if manufacturers or sellers misuse the "organic" designation on food or produce. You can read the full decision below.
Michelle Quesada sued Herb Thyme Farms Inc., claiming that the company mixed organic and non-organic herbs and labeled the product "100 % organic." According to the California Department of Public Health, the term "organic" means the food was produced using sustainable practices and without synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, or genetic engineering, and products labeled "100% organic" must consist of only organic ingredients.
Two lower courts had thrown out Quesada's lawsuit, on the grounds that organic labeling was the purview of state and federal officials, and consumer lawsuits were barred in state court. Herb Thyme Farms argued that "If a lone consumer can second-guess the USDA's certification, and a grower cannot rely on its federal authorization to use the term, the already high cost of production of such products will skyrocket, or more likely, there will be no organic products to enjoy."
The California Supreme Court disagreed, however, stating that such lawsuits would further congressional goals regarding label accuracy. As Associate Justice Kathryn Werdegar wrote, "state lawsuits alleging intentional organic mislabeling promote, rather than hinder, Congress's purposes and objectives" of curtailing fraud and ensuring consumers can rely on organic labels.
Now that her lawsuit has been reinstated, it will be interesting to see how many other consumers join the class action, and to see if her claim will succeed on the merits. You can read the entire California Supreme Court ruling below:
Meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your rights. Visit our attorney directory to find a lawyer near you who can help.


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A Swedish payments start-up, iZettle announced today that it has raised $47 million in funding as a means to boost its own growth.
The relatively small business commerce platform was founded in 2011 as a mobile payments business. Since then, the company has managed to evolve into a respectable business, which counts New York stock exchange listed “Square” as its competitor.
Just last year, iZettle introduced its own small business lending service titled Advance. The company currently operates in 12 markets across Europe and Latin America.
The funding was led by an early stage venture capital investor called Dawn. Dawn was joined by the Swedish government agency, The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, in addition to backing from existing investors.
With the extra capital iZettle has managed to raise almost $314.8 million. Speaking of iZettle’s future iZettle’s co-founder and CEO, Jacob de Geer stated that “anything can happen” over the course of the next year.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, he elaborated on his statement. He said, “There have been a lot of discussions and rumors related to an IPO for iZettle. I think we remain very true to what we have said all along, which is that we are preparing the company for potentially going public sometime during 2018”.
He added that while the company does hope to achieve this milestone within the upcoming year, it would have to respect the market conditions.
He admitted that only “time will tell” if iZettle will succeed in its ambitions.
Although iZettle is a relatively young company, it has already begun to play in the big leagues.
The company has even managed to overtake Dorsey’s firm, Square in the UK market.


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Orders are no longer standardized, retailers demand more value-added services, and customers expect to receive products faster than ever. Now is the time to examine how e-commerce will continue to shape material handling trends in 2015.
Survey publisher BDO USA says many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have fewer...
DXP reported healthy sales increases across the board, but a large impairment charge in Q4 gave...
Though February's manufacturing index still indicated expansion, it was the fourth straight drop...
Exxon Mobil gas production has been reduced after an explosion at one refinery and labor unrest at another, resulting in a 25 cent-per-gallon increase in less than a week.
Reliance's succession plan includes a new CEO, CFO, and executive vice president.
The rebound is a key indicator that business investment plans showed an increase.
Interline's sales increased across all segments both quarterly and yearly, but increased SG&A costs related to expansion initiatives and litigation charges hurt its bottom line.
The company's fourth quarter profit fell year-over-year, but a net increase of 80 stores helped boost sales and profit throughout the year.
The company nearly hit double-digit percent sales growth year-over-year, which included a 35 percent increase in engineered components.
As countries around the world take efforts to weaken their currencies the strength of the U.S. dollar is rising. While, this may seem positive at face value a strong U.S. dollar can have some unfortunate consequences.
The acquisition of Scepter boosted Q4 and full year 2014 sales, while weaker demand in the company's material handling segment hurt profits.
Increasing electricity generation by independent power producers and nonutility generators will require heavy investment by firms to protect sensitive industrial machinery, and connect new facilities to the grid.
A gain on the sale of a portion of the company’s ownership in HD Supply helped boost Home Depot's sales and profit for Q4 and fiscal 2014, while 2015 currency exchange rates could hamper gains in 2015.
Kaman's distribution segment had year-over-year double-digit growth both quarterly and for the full year.
A large increase in administrative expenses hampered Q4 profit, while Q4 and full year sales and profit also had considerable drops.
The rise follows months of crashing prices and is still $1.08 per gallon less than a year ago.
Gibraltar's fourth quarter and 2014 increased sales, though the company took a sizeable profit loss in both segments.
Costs for two acquisitions and a new distribution center in Q4 hampered profits, while sales had a healthy increase.
The New York-based Conference Board said Thursday its index of leading indicators had its weakest gain since a 0.1 percent rise in August.
Despite MRC's Q4 sales and income both having significant gains, and a company-record revenue in 2014, CEO Andrew Lane expects 2014 to be a challenging year for the company.
Reliance's Q4 sales were up nearly 12 percent year-over-year, and profits jumped nearly 50 percent, thanks to the December acquisition of Fox Metals and Alloys.
Growth in Lawson's strategic accounts and Kent Automotive division boosted sales, while increased operating expenses hampered profits.
Factory output ticked up last month after a flat reading in December, suggesting manufacturing is still supporting economic growth, though weaker than last year.
The Labor Department said that the decline in its producer price index last month was the biggest drop in the data series that goes back to November 2009.
Unfavorable foreign currency translation, primarily in Venezuala, heavily hampered Lincoln's quarterly and yearly profits, which showed a double-digit decreases.
The drop in import prices was 47 percent bigger in January than December, while the price index for U.S. exports has not recorded a monthly advance since July.
Motion's Q4 and full year sales reported healthy growth, while operating profits showed a big jump over both periods.
Acquisitions of MEDCO and CPO drove organic growth in Q4 and throughout 2014, while the company announced new investments to maximize future operating results.
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Exports are us – we're the export experts
Does your business need more than simply international freight forwarding?
We can also help with:
* Flexible UK Warehousing
* Stock Control systems
* Order Processing/chasing
* Pick and Pack facilities
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In short, we are a shipping company that can become part of your team, available to help your business with all kinds of logistics issues related to import and export.
Plant and flower exports from Holland to the UK have fallen by 2% to the end of September 2018; this may be because of the fall in the value of sterling. Holland's top ten export customer countries showed a decline ...Read More
Tags: exports, Netherlands, Poland
In 2018, 105 tons of saffron were exported from Iran, representing a 40 percent increase compared with last year. The chairman of the National Saffron Council of Iran said that saffron will be harvested until December. Exports are expected to ...Read More
Last week China reported that exports and imports for the month of October exceeded forecasts. China recorded a trade surplus of $31.78 billion with the U.S. in October. The country's cumulative trade surplus with the U.S. in the first 10 ...Read More
Tags: China, exports, imports
The Norwegian Seafood Council revealed that Nigeria imported more than 9,000 metric tonnes of stockfish from Norway in 2017, making it the largest importer of Norwegian stockfish. The trade relationship dates back to 1890; pelagic fish, herring, mackerel, Tusk and ...Read More
Tags: China, exports, imports, Norway


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As part of its "release early, release often" philosophy, Google has now opened a Beta channel to allow it to release early versions of Chrome for Android. The new Android channel will allow keen users to try out new features before the official "stable" release.
Ford OpenXC makes it possible for Android apps to access car sensor data
Not all of us have the passion or motivation to keep on track when it comes to working out. This is why some of us turn to fitness apps. Looking for something a bit different though? Check out Fitocracy.
Google starts allowing more developers to respond to Google Play reviews and comments
Back in June of 2012, Google started allowing developers with a “Top Developer Badge” to respond to Google Play app reviews, both the good and bad. Now it seems that Google is opening up the comments system to all developers.


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Panasonic Corporation of North America has launched an advertising campaign to highlight Panasonic's growing leadership in green business innovation looking toward 2018, the 100th anniversary of the founding of its parent company, Panasonic Corporation.
The campaign is part of a larger global communications effort which launched in the United States on June 10, and features ads in major news and business magazines, including Newsweek and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, as well as television commercials on the National Geographic Channel and Bloomberg TV. The ads will emphasize the importance of pursuing a sustainable future and will highlight some of Panasonic's own eco initiatives.
Panasonic's commitment to further reduce CO2 emissions, increase resource recycling, save and reuse water and raise environmental consciousness is the subject of a series of 30 and 60-second commercials airing during the National Geographic Channel's series "The World Heritage Special" -- a monthly program which explores the world's natural and cultural wonders including the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Yellowstone National Park and Stonehenge.
Further advertising will appear on Bloomberg TV, together with supporting print ads running in Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine.
The ad campaign also incorporates a series of print ads that will run monthly in Newsweek magazine which will profile the daily eco-activities of individual Panasonic employees from around the world and spotlight the company's eco-focused products and programs, including Panasonic's environmental education initiative, solar panels, batteries and recycling programs.


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Since 2020, the Snyder ISD Evergreen Research and Retail Greenhouse has offered space in its greenhouse for overwintering plants otherwise vulnerable to West Texas winters. For a low fee, the plants are cared for and maintained until the coming of spring.
"The neatest thing about it is that the students will care for the plants and see some of them go to seed," said Brianne Perry, the greenhouse director. "We'll get to plant some of those, experiment, and do some different labs to see how well they grow."
The two greenhouses are near the corner of 35th Street and College Avenue. They're a little tricky to get to, located on the site of a former nursery behind an auto parts store and a drug store.
As a student-based enterprise, the greenhouse program in the spring offers plants that have been raised by students learning horticulture at Snyder High School, some of whom also work in the greenhouse as interns. The overwintering program also exposes the students to unusual plants they might not otherwise encounter.
Read the complete article at www.eu.reporternews.com.


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In interviews, omalayitsha said business was brisk as more Zimbabweans based in South Africa were transporting their valuables into the country in anticipation of renewed attacks.
Omalayitsha charge 300 rand for travellers with passports and R1,000 for those without. For household items such as fridges they charge as much as R1,000.
We are getting more and more people offering to have their goods and children taken to Zimbabwe following reports of a new wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, said Innocent Tshuma, a cross-border transporter, who plies the
Another umalayitsha added: There has been an increase in cross-border business,
particularly from Zimbabweans sending home their valuables. I make about R15,000 per week and the number of trips has also increased.
One border official said he had seen a malayitsha escorting five children all under 12 to Bulawayo.
He told me that the parents were in Johannesburg and had decided to send their children first as they continued to monitor the situation that side.
Immigration officers at the border post said the number of travellers entering the country had gone up. More than 43,000 travellers entered the country last week, most of them Zimbabweans.Post published in: News


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Marks & Spencer has reported better than expected Christmas food sales but said clothing profit margins had been dented by promotions.
Like-for-like food sales at the retailer rose by 3% as Britons bought 6m packs of party food and desserts including bestsellers such as pork and mustard mini sausages and salted caramel profiteroles. Analysts said its general merchandise sales in the 13 weeks to 31 December were "disappointing" with clothing sales edging up 1.1% but homewares tumbling 13.3%, a sharp decline blamed on the decision to pull out of consumer electricals. Together, general merchandise like-for-like sales were down 1.8%.
M&S, Britain's biggest clothing retailer, faced stiff competition from rival firms such as Debenhams, which ran seemingly non-stop promotions in the run-up to Christmas Eve, forcing Britain's biggest clothing retailer to offer competing discounts. Last week fashion giant Next blamed the weaker than expected sales at its high street stores on the widespread discounting. M&S still expects annual profits to be in line with market expectations of around £700m but said retaliatory clothing promotions have resulted in "lower gross margin" than previously indicated with the profit shortfall to be made up by cutting costs.
The aggressive promotions paid off at Debenhams which said like-for-like sales jumped 6.5% in the five weeks to 31 December, although the figure included VAT. Over the 18 weeks to 7 January like-for-like sales, excluding VAT, were level with last year.
M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said the company had performed well in a "challenging" trading environment: "Our food business performed very strongly as customers enjoyed our new and traditional Christmas products." Customers had saved money elsewhere so they could treat their families to a "special Christmas at home", he said with 600 new products key to pulling in shoppers but seasonal fare such as 33m mince pies and champagne also selling well.
Retail analyst Nick Bubb described the M&S figures as a "mixed bag". He said: "As M&S is very skilled at the dark art of expectations management we were expecting the news on clothing sales to be not too bad but like-for-like sales of down 1.8% for the Christmas quarter is disappointing, particularly as stock clearance has hurt gross margins. On the other hand, the food like-for-like of 3.0% is very good and the finance director has pulled some more cost-cuts out of his hat to hold full-year profit forecasts."
Economic uncertainty means the retailer expects trading conditions to remain tough this year. "We continue to be cautious about the outlook for the year ahead," said Bolland, adding he was a "glass half full man" with the Olympics and Diamond jubilee celebrations expected to boost sales.


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Fall Out Boy drummer Andrew Hurley has teamed up with fellow vegans for a new hardcore band comprised of all plant-based eaters. The new group, called Sect, also includes guitarists James Chang and Scott Crouse, bassist Ian Edwards (Earth Crisis), and Chris Colohan on vocals. Colohan owns food company Vegan Magic—the makers of coconut oil-based Magic Vegan Bacon Grease and new dairy-free cheese product “Parmageddon.” The band formed around the idea that there “is more reason than ever to keep lashing out at a world more suicidal bent on its own destruction and the exploitation of people, species and the ecosystem itself, than perhaps ever before in history.” Sect pre-released three songs—“Scourge of Empire,” “Death Dealer,” and “Sinking”—and will debut its full self-titled album in North America on August 5.
Wedding bells! You’re going to fall in love with VeganWeddings.com — a new website from the editors of VegNews.


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As the financial media continue to speculate about the possibility of deflation in the OECD countries, one interesting feature is emerging.
The country already in the throes of deflation is of course Japan, where consumer prices have dropped 7 per cent since 1995, or roughly 1 per cent per annum.
The next candidate for a general price fall seems to be Germany where inflation is at 0.7 per cent and is likely to fall further. The economy least likely among the big three to experience deflation, by common consent, seems to be the United States.
It is interesting that Japan and Germany, in that order, are famously frugal and their savings get reflected in their traditional surpluses on the current account; in contrast, the US is notoriously spendthrift with a deficit on current account fairly close to 5 per cent of GDP in the current year.
Clearly, spenders have an edge over savers in avoiding deflation! In a way, deflation is


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Bankers have always bristled at the notion of nonbank encroachments, especially in the payments space. Not so with Apple Pay, the computing giant's new mobile wallet. So what gives? More than likely it's just too big and too important a move to ignore. "Just as no issuer could afford not to participate in Apple Pay, acquirers have to support it," said Eric Grover of Intrepid Ventures, a Minden, Nev.-based consultancy. "If Apple's mobile wallet gets traction, not supporting it would put acquirers at a decided disadvantage."
Top 10 acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. saw the writing on the wall. Within a day of the official announcement of Apple Pay, Heartland's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert O. Carr issued a statement of support, adding that Heartland, which acquires transactions for concessions at AT&T Park in San Francisco, was accepting Apple Pay during the World Series games played at the San Francisco Giant's stadium.
"Apple was thinking of the big picture with the timing of Apple Pay," Carr said. "Heartland supports Apple Pay because it aligns with our mission – to provide a secure method for transaction acceptance."
Transaction security is a major consideration for merchants, their card-paying customers and the entire card ecosystem. That's why Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide are insisting on merchant and processor compliance with Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) by October 2015. EMV is a global standard for the interoperability of chip cards that use cryptography and other security measures to erect a multilayered defense against card fraud.
EMV has been used for a decade or more in other developed countries, like the United Kingdom. The standard has been enhanced over time and now incorporates standards for near field communication (NFC) contactless payments. With Apple Pay, the NFC chips embedded in the handset communicate with NFC-enabled POS devices.
Bruce Dragt, Senior Vice President for Global eCommerce at First Data Corp., described Apple's decision to include NFC chips and tokenization with the latest line of iPhones as a game changer for banks and other payment companies. "Apple is using a commercially approved standard that leverages all the existing rails," he said, adding that any past efforts by nonbanks to get into the payments space didn't leverage those existing rails. "Apple is approaching this in a very friendly way," he noted.
Scott Calliham, Principal at First Annapolis Consulting, concurred. "What Apple has actually done is endorse the existing Visa-MasterCard rails, which does not pose a competitive threat to acquirers," he said.
Dragt pointed out that Apple brings "hundreds of millions of consumers" to NFC and tokenization. No other nonbank payment alternative has ever introduced a product with that large a pool of potential users. "It's a great jump-start," Dragt said. He is optimistic that in a relatively short span of time another 100 million consumers will gravitate in that direction, too. "We fully expect others [providers] to come along and recognize the opportunities and provide similar types of products that ride the rails of tokenization," he said.
Rick Oglesby, Senior Analyst/Consultant at Double Diamond Consulting LLC, also pointed to Apple's consumer popularity as a strong indication of adoption. "Once Apple Pay becomes second nature to consumers for in-app payments, that behavior could extend to in-person purchases," he said.
Apple Pay is the long-awaited mobile wallet from Apple that works only on the latest models of iPhones and iPads. It employs tokenization – no actual account numbers get exchanged; instead they generate unique tokens for each authorization request – and a fingerprint ID to start the transaction. Online stores can also accept Apple Pay and save customers the hassle of typing in card numbers, billing addresses and other information every time they make purchases.
Apple Pay, at present, works with American Express Co. cards and MasterCard and Visa cards only – and only cards issued by participating banks. These are among the largest – Bank of America Corp., Capital One Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. – but far from the entire universe of credit and debit card issuers. Apple, however, has said it has commitments from at least 500 additional card issuers.
Meanwhile, although big-name brands like Macy's, Target Corp. and McDonald's Corp. have thrown public support behind Apple Pay, several equally large merchants (notably the pharmacy chains CVS and Rite Aid) have disabled NFC readers they already had so as not to accept transactions from Apple Pay. Both pharmacy chains are members of a competing mobile wallet initiative, CurrentC, which is led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other big-box retailers.
The Merchant Customer Exchange, the group pushing CurrentC, was formed to build a lower-cost alternative to Visa and MasterCard payments (Discover Financial Services Inc. and AmEx, too). CurrentC is designed to process payments through the automated clearing house (ACH) system instead of the card networks. It also shuns NFC, which the card brands support and Apple Pay employs to initiate transactions. Instead the CurrentC app works with quick response (QR) codes generated by customers' mobile devices, which can be scanned using existing POS devices.
Thiago Olson, CEO of alternative payment startup Stratos Inc., said the reaction of retailers like CVS is shortsighted. "What we see happening today with Apple Pay is a real déjà vu moment," he said. "In 2012, when Google Wallet rolled out, two of the largest mobile carriers proactively blocked Google Wallet on their devices in order to support their own mobile wallet scheme," Softcard (formerly Isis).
The Electronic Transactions Association expressed outrage over the news that CurrentC members were blocking Apple Pay access, labeling it "anti-consumer and anti-competitive." With more than 300 million smart, mobile devices and over 1 billion credit and debit cards in the hands of American consumers "the future ubiquity of mobile payments is certain," the ETA wrote in an Oct. 27 statement. The group urged the two pharmacy chains "to reconsider their misguided attempt to block this innovation." And it urged consumers "to vote with their wallets – mobile or actual – and shop at retailers that aren't restricting consumer choice."
To put this dispute into perspective, consider that as of 2013, 17 percent of smartphone users had made at least one POS purchase using their mobile devices, according to the Federal Reserve. Among those consumers, 39 percent said they did so by scanning a QR code generated by those devices. Presumably, many of those consumers are customers of Starbucks Coffee Co., which has a popular mobile payment app that scans QR codes (and works with iPhones). The Fed's data shows that just 14 percent of consumers made mobile payments in 2013 using NFC-enabled smartphones.
Data and projections on mobile payments are difficult to pin down. Strategy Analytics, a research firm, estimated mobile payments in North America totaled about $900 million in 2013. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, during a recent earnings call, put the figure at $1.3 billion in mobile payments last year in the United States alone. And he boasted that nearly all those payments were made at Starbucks.
"[W]e had a 90 percent share of mobile payments in 2013," Schultz said. The company claims close to 7 million payments per week (roughly 16 percent of all transactions at Starbucks stores) are made using customer mobile devices. And all of those were initiated using QR codes.
A recent report from Juniper Research Ltd., a U.K.-based researcher, predicted NFC phone ownership is skyrocketing and will continue to dominate for the foreseeable future. The firm predicted 516 million mobile users of NFC contactless payment services worldwide by the end of 2019, up from 101 million in 2014, driven primarily by Apple's implementation of the technology.
That may not count for much if results of a recent survey of 1,000 small businesses by Newtek Business Services Inc. is indicative of the broader market. Among the businesses polled, 82 percent said they were not equipped to accept NFC payments; 93 percent said they had no plans to upgrade to accept NFC-based mobile payments, like Apple Pay.
Dragt said First Data is confident more merchants will get on board with NFC now that Apple has joined the fray. He explained how First Data has been bundling EMV, NFC and tokenization into the devices and POS operating systems it places with merchants. "From the smallest retailers to the largest, we've made it easy for Apple Pay to work on top of the existing model," he said.
On Oct. 20, the day Apple officially unveiled Apple Pay, First Data stated, with much fanfare, that it was ready to work with merchants and mobile app developers to support Apple Pay acceptance. Two of its largest acquiring partners – Wells Fargo and Bank of America Merchant Services – were also ready to support Apple Pay right out of the gate, and several First Data merchants were accepting contactless payments initiated with iPhones, First Data said.
"Today Apple Pay ushers in a new era of digital payments, and First Data is there to process secure and easy transactions for our clients," stated Frank Bisignano, First Data's Chairman and CEO, in a press release.
First Data said it had rolled out an e-commerce solution called Payeezy that lets merchants and their app developers build iOS apps for accepting Apple Pay for purchases of physical goods and services. The acquiring giant also recently introduced a small business POS solution dubbed Clover Station. The Clover Station gives an entirely new look and feel to the physical POS. Plus it includes features for tracking inventory, employee management, customer loyalty and rewards programs, as well as payments.
First Data introduced a mobile enhancement to Clover on Nov. 4. The unit is called Clover Mobile and is designed to enable merchants to take the functionality of Clover to the store floor. When launching Clover Mobile, First Data boasted the Clover Station had become "one of the fastest growing POS systems in U.S. history with 26,000 units distributed to date." Clover Mobile is in pilot now and will be widely available in 2015, First Data said.
CurrentC (which works with Android phones) incorporates merchant-oriented value-adds, such as advanced marketing tools and support for loyalty programs. It is also designed to track customers' purchases and to store that as encrypted information. Apple Pay, on the other hand, doesn't let merchants track or store any customer-identifiable information – a security feature highly touted by Apple.
Apple also has Visa and MasterCard in its court. And the Cupertino, Calif., firm has reportedly cut some interesting deals with its card company and bank partners. According to a Nov. 3 report in Venture Beat News, Apple has agreements in place to collect 15 basis points per credit card transaction, as well as a half-penny for each debit card transaction from card issuers.
Apple is also requiring participating banks to commit at least 95 percent of MasterCard and Visa cards in their portfolios to participate in Apple Pay, Venture Beat wrote, quoting a brief by a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst who claims to have seen a document detailing the terms.
Industry consultant Paul Martaus conjectured that Apple will use the money it collects to sweeten the pot and increase merchant acceptance. "They need merchants for this to work," Martaus said, adding that they can use the money to pay for merchants' contactless terminals. NFC has been slow to take hold with merchants, but Martaus said, "Apple gives its imprimatur to the technology."
Apple is also rumored to have negotiated with issuers for lower interchange in part because security is considered more robust.
So what do acquirers and their partners expect going forward? "The vast majority of acquirers we have spoken with are not sure if Apple Pay will really take off or not, but there are at least some short-term aspects they can use as marketing and product bundling to help win new business," Calliham said. Overall, the attitude of most seems to be if Apple can drive more card transactions through the system it's good for business, he added.
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A police officer’s daughter in a small Western Cape town has gloated on Facebook that she was involved in looting foreign-owned shops.
Last Saturday night, Hopefield erupted after a 20-year-old resident, Elmore Gurah, was stabbed and died in a foreign-owned shop.
An angry crowd of locals gathered, tore down the shop and then moved across the normally quiet town plundering other shops owned by foreigners.
The attacks started at around midnight and as they were unfolding, Charney Maarman (22) posted a series of photographs on social networking site Facebook that showed groceries stacked on her bed. She also photographed her cousin posing with the pile of soft drinks, tins of food, tea bags and matches.
She commented in Afrikaans, which is translated as follows: “Out shopping with the Nigerians last night. It’s raining nicely in Hopefield! Lol!”
Her father, Klaas Maarman, is a warrant officer at the Hopefield Police Station. He refused to comment and said his daughter would not comment either…
South Africa Today – South Africa News


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Over two years since its launch on PS4 (and more than five years since the original’s launch), Persona 5 Royal is now available on other platforms. You can play it on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, which marks the series debut on Xbox, along with Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5. It’s also available on Game Pass for consoles, PC, and cloud.
As an enhanced version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal features the same incredible visuals, story-telling, and combat that made the original great. It adds tons of quality-of-life features, from new Showtime attacks and reloading weapons after each encounter to more time for the evenings and additional bonuses to unlock. There’s also new content in the form of a third semester, a new playable character, a new massive area to explore, and much more.
There are also more than 40 previous DLC items included for free. For more details on Persona 5 Royal – and why it’s so good – check out our review of the Switch version here. You can also learn more about the current-gen release here.
Thou hast acquired a new vow…
Persona 5 Royal is now available! pic.twitter.com/ox7s80fdXv
— Official ATLUS West (@Atlus_West) October 21, 2022


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Luxury German carmakers have seen profits tumble for the second consecutive year in 2018, as sales in China took a hit.
Unprecedented growth has allowed the established manufacturers to outperform much smaller European rivals – but fear for the future looms large.
The continent’s big four manufacturers – BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi – have seen global sales of luxury cars rise 7% last year to 2.9 million vehicles, but have been losing market share in China.
BMW Group says its China business, the world’s biggest, is weakening, and European sources said it has gone so far as to cut 1,200 jobs in its home market.
Source: BMW Group
The Chinese car market was down 2.9% in the last quarter of 2018, partly down to lingering effects of the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington – but also because of growing popular demand for SUVs.
BMW and Volkswagen, the VW Group’s premium division, say SUV demand was particularly strong in China, and Audi announced plans to expand production capacity in the country.
However, both European companies have lost market share as sales have tumbled.
Volkswagen, while the world’s largest premium carmaker, saw sales of the top-selling Audi, VW and Seat brands drop 1.6%, 4.5% and 3.7% respectively in China, compared with the same period in 2017.
Audi dropped more than 4% in sales in the first nine months of 2018, compared with the same period in 2017.
BMW, which produces three of the world’s largest luxury car brands, lost 0.6 percentage points of market share, despite its own brand showing a 5.6% sales rise in China.
The fall puts China now second only to the US as Europe’s largest luxury car market.
Nissan / Renault, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Fiat Chrysler all saw slight sales falls in China, but the companies have far fewer direct operations there than the luxury automakers, so that does not significantly impact their figures.
Valeo, the Italy-based luxury company behind Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Maserati, said its global sales rose 4.5% in 2018, though Europe – though still a growing market – was seeing growth slow.
A Volkswagen dealer in Shanghai, Kao Wuding, says the slowdown in China has taken the major European companies by surprise.
“For us, the whole big company, the biggest company in China, they are selling (fewer) cars than they did last year – but nobody expects that.
“They say that, sure there’s a trade war but if it is open, there is big potential in China, it’s a very good market,” he says.


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CNET brings you the best deals on tech, gadgets, appliances and lifestyle products every day. For great offers and exclusive deals on smartphones, tablets, cameras, appliances and more, find your discount here.
Ford doesn't see the SUV sales party ending any time soon. On the contrary -- it's adding four new nameplates globally over the next four years.
Tesla is readying the first glimpse of its first affordable vehicle, the Model 3. The reveal is set for March 31, and it can't come soon enough, as the automaker is facing increasingly tough questions about its future.
Commentary: I've hatched a crazy plan to save BlackBerry.
The latest Surface tablet is on sale for $100 off the regular price, while Microsoft's second-generation Band fitness tracker is now $50 less.
Vaio has slashed the cost of its Z Canvas tablet by more than half.
Though it's popular with an in crowd of entertainers, politicos and hipsters, the microblogging service is having a hard time getting regular people to join. That's a problem, a big problem.
From the Cheapskate: Get ready for two extremely sweet deals on old-school analog audio gear. Plus a free year of RoboForm Everywhere!
Target has announced the deals it will make available on Black Friday -- Take a look.
Leaked images reveal some great deals that might be in store from Sam's Club this Black Friday.
Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption, Mortal Kombat X, and many more see hefty discounts.


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European Commission spokesman John Clancy confirmed that all the PV products imported from China should register, reported Bloomberg. Some diplomatic officers releasedanonymous to the media.
Some of the EU members had signed an agreement to make China PV product into watch list. If those products are sold in Europe with below-cost price, they might be collected extra tariff. This is the latest new in anti-dumping investigation.


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With a population contributing to 20% that of the world, the sheer numbers of the Chinese market is a big plus for any business operating in China that relies on the head count. Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) is one such company that has tapped into the power of numbers to emerge as one of the most obvious success stories as far as overseas technology stocks listed on the NASDAQ are concerned. Baidu recently reported 4th quarter profits of $3.535billion, it’s most successful quarterly result to date. For this 11 year old company with its business centered, as the figures suggest, on a very successful Internet Search model, this is surely the beginning of better things to come.
Baidu has a number of things really going for it. Firstly, most of its revenues are generated from within China. Secondly, Baidu has a controlling share in the internet search business in China, outsmarting other competitors such as Google (GOOG), Bing (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO). The exit by Google from mainland China in 2010 left the market wide open for Baidu to dominate, propelled by the fact that Baidu is compliant with the Chinese government’s internet search censorship regime. Whilst Yahoo and Bing are considered competitors, neither have the penetration that Baidu have and both are reluctant to be seen as in cahoots with the regime. This regime has created a notable divide between the large Western companies who do not want to be seen as endorsing censored or manipulated search results back home. Baidu has gladly taken on this role, focusing its services on the Chinese market. As a popular search engine operating in the most populous country in the world it is presently and unsurprisingly ranked number 5 on Alexa’s most visited website rankings. Everything has been working in Baidu’s favor for domination of this hugely lucrative market.
So what is the way forward for Baidu in terms of its share price? Baidu’s stock has increased near to 45% in 3 months, and it is currently trading at around $145 a share. This is close to its previous all-time high of around $165. As such, we will likely see some short-term selling with traders taking profits, but this will quickly give way to a sustained bullish run and this is why I think this will be the case:
Less than 40% of China’s 1.5billion people are online. There is room for expansion and an increase in number of Chinese residents using Baidu as a search engine will lead to an increase in advertising revenue for Baidu. More money, more investor interest and higher share prices. This is perhaps the most basic driver of Baidu’s future success. The company is based on the catchphrase of simple and reliable which will be attractive to many new web users if we take the Google’s strategy into account. This also assumes that they maintain their position as the market leader in China but, with Google moving out of mainland China they have a very high chance of attracting a huge base of relatively new internet users.
A large section of the Chinese population is leaving the country to take control of Chinese economic interests in the Developing World. These migrants will take their customs and cultural norms with them, and will surely prefer to use Baidu (offered in Mandarin) over other search engine services. This number could be in the region of 400million people over the next few years. Although this will assume that Baidu will be able to out battle the large, Western search engines, if they can create enough impact in spreading their brand across emerging markets then they will build a solid growth model not only amongst the Chinese community. Having signed a large deal with Microsoft to bring their search facility in English the expansion potential of Baidu also becomes far more possible in non-mandarin speaking countries.
Apple (AAPL) is currently in talks with Baidu to make it the default search engine for all iPhones sold in China. Given the enormous popularity of the iPhone, this can only mean better business for both companies. The recent demand for Apple technology amongst the Chinese suggests that the brand is going to be incredibly popular in China. With the mobile internet market very much in its infancy in China, the increased revenues that Baidu can exploit from this will drive the share price of the company even higher. However, given their influence, if the talks with Apple break down and it decides to back any of Baidu’s major competitors in China it could quickly turn from friend to foe for Baidu.
There isn’t much difference between the advertising-based revenue model of Google and Baidu. Given that Baidu is operating in a market that is equal to several markets combined that Google operates in, we see very clearly that Baidu is very well positioned to generate profits in very much the same way that Google has done over the years. However, it is worth looking at the other industries that Baidu has moved in to including the online recruitment sector in China. Although ideally positioned to exploit the huge potential in China, Baidu faces competition from 51Job (NASDAQ:JOBS) in providing these services and failure to capitalize early on its web domination in China may cost them dearly.
Having said this, the outlook for Baidu is very positive indeed. The recommendation for this stock is a strong BUY once the market has experienced the profit-taking pullback which is being anticipated by some analysts. Despite this advice, with the company being compared to an early Google, and the pace that technology is being embraced in China, it will be far more beneficial to get involved in this stock at an early stage rather than late.


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The ongoing battle between Facebook and Ireland's Data Protection Commission was back before the courts on Friday with the social media giant coming off worst in its latest efforts to stop the regulator blocking transfer of data to the United States.
Mr Justice David Barniville dismissed Facebook's attempt to stop the DPC inquiring into or suspending the transfers over concerns that the data would lose the protection it enjoys in Europe under GDPR once it gets to the US.
But a stay on the regulator’s draft decision to suspend the transfers remains in place while the two sides consider the ruling.
Data to US
Facebook maintains the suspension, if it goes ahead, could be damaging not only to the social media company but also to its users and to other businesses.
And that's true. Because the rules in place governing such transfers affect not only Facebook but also any business that is storing or moving customer data out of the EU, and specifically those moving such data to the US.
At issue is Privacy Shield, the sticking plaster put in place in a hurry when the European Court of Justice found the previous regime covering such customer data, Safe Harbor, did not comply with European data protection rules.
If Privacy Shield is also found to be incompatible with the EU rules – which is where the current investigation appears to be heading – international business will be thrown into turmoil.
The ubiquitous nature of such data transfers is evident in the fact that both the American Chamber of Commerce and domestic business lobby group Ibec were quick to call for international talks to resolve the issue.
“The larger issue of how data can move around the world remains of significant importance to thousands of European and American businesses,” a Facebook spokesperson stated after the ruling.
That being so, would it not be better for governments on both sides of the Atlantic to put in place rules that actually protect the privacy of such data instead of contorting themselves to accommodate the existing business practices?


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Hundreds of brides and grooms-to-be and their friends and families will be in Rochdale this Sunday when the Town Hall stages the latest Rochdale Wedding Show.
Doors open from 11am to 4pm, with the event including a catwalk fashion show at 12:30 and 2.30pm as well as everything you need to organise your perfect wedding with the help of more than 45 of the region’s finest suppliers. There will be local experts specialising in everything from stunning dresses and flowers, to classic cars, photography and of course cake, to name but a few.
Rochdale’s stunning Grade I-listed Town Hall is always a popular wedding venue and its picturesque gardens are the perfect backdrop for wedding photos. Visitors will also get the chance to see the recently refurbished Register Office and ceremony room.
In between wedding planning, visitors can also pop into the new Clock Tower Dining Room for a complimentary glass of bubbly!
Councillor Janet Emsley, cabinet member for culture, health and wellbeing at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “It’s going to be a wonderful day, another fabulous showcase for some great local companies and a great day out for brides and grooms, their friends and families. What’s more, it’s free, so just come along and enjoy the day. It’s also the perfect opportunity to take afternoon tea in our new Clock Tower Dining Room, see our register office and view the ceremony room.”
To find out more about the show, and some exclusive ‘on the day only’ offers visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/events
07 Oct 2016


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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is again bending to the will of the auto industry as the agency is proposing to restrict access to information about consumer complaints, warranty claims and service reports.
NHTSA was ordered by Congress to make information about problems with vehicles public after it withheld information about the blowout problems of using Firestone tires on Ford vehicles. NHTSA is afraid that releasing the information could cause competitive harm in the marketplace, but Public Citizen is challenging the rule in court.
Wow, exposing product defects might discourage people from buying a product, whoda thunk it! Companies that hide the truth from the consumers is why we have regulatory agencies isn't it?
NHTSA already lost this battle in court once, according to the* Detroit News*, but that isn't stopping them from proposing the same rule change.
This case shows that the Bush Administration seems to have two positions on respecting privacy – one when it comes to individuals, and another when it comes to corporations.


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Here’s to hoping it lasts.
iPhone SE 2018 images leaked online by accessories maker. Features iPhone X like display with notch, small form factor.
The latest iOS update is now available. Features improved support for AR, beta iPhone Battery Health, and new Animoji for iPhone X.
The next iOS update will allow users to turn off throttling of processors brought about by aging batteries.
Apple released iOS 11.2.2 a few days back. It is a must download, given the threat of Spectre, but it comes with a price.
Apple posts an apology for slowing down older iPhones. They are offering to replace your batteries at a discount.
Still planning to get an iPhone X? Well then, if you’re not averse to traveling, the iOS device is most affordable in Japan and Hong Kong.


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Behavioral changes in modern commerce, exemplified by millennial generation shoppers, are forcing consumer packaged goods (CPGs) companies to take a more targeted tack in their efforts to build lasting customer relationships. But crafting brand loyalty through personalization is no mean feat for Clorox and other CPGs companies that are struggling to build engagement in an age where ecommerce is spoiling consumers with convenience.
In a move to rise to the challenge, Clorox has created a ninja team of sales, product and IT leaders to experiment with novel approaches to marketing its products, including Brita water pitchers, Hidden Valley dressings and Burt’s Bees lip balm. Made of sales, marketing and IT leaders this Sense and Respond unit leverages social media, software from the world’s leading marketing technology vendors and the internet of things (IoT) to help Clorox burrow more deeply into consumers’ consciousness.
“It’s about giving the right message to the right person at the right time,” says Clorox CMO Eric Reynolds, who works closely with CIO Manjit Singh to support the corporate 2020 Strategy. “That transformation requires an enormous rethinking of data and technology and also in how we approach marketing.”
Minding the consumer gap
“Enormous rethinking” is no overstatement. CPGs companies sell their products to retail powers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.com, which sell them directly to consumers. This business-to-business-to-consumer model means CPGs don’t see content and data created by those shoppers, which challenges their ability to build brand affinity. And in a world where ecommerce companies are zipping personalized recommendations to consumers’ connected devices, traditional TV, radio and print marketing advertising campaigns do little to bridge the gulf between CPGs firms’ dozens of brands and their customers.
Millennials and Generation Y shoppers want to order more products online and they don’t want to wait long for them. CPG companies aren’t built for the instant gratification expected in an age where companies are discussing same-day delivery via drone. “When you’re in an environment that is real-time and on-demand, and you want it to speak to you as an individual, that’s a formula challenge for us because our model was built on mass and scale and now we have to get personalized and real-time,” Reynolds says.
CPG’ challenges are compounded by the mindset of millennials, which Reynolds says tend to seek brands that share their core values and speak to them as individuals. “That is a small statement and a massive change,” Reynolds says. “You can’t count on your credibility as a large national brand as evidence of trust … you have to work harder to tell people it is a product that meets their needs but comes from company or brand that shares your values.”
Clorox’ Sense and Respond team is producing specific content based on consumer online activities and interests. It uses several technologies from leading companies such as Facebook, Google, IBM and Oracle to track breadcrumbs consumers leave as they visit a website, watch a video or purchase a product. Although these tools help inform Clorox social media branding and marketing campaigns they also create a lot of data, which is difficult for any CPG with dozens of brands to churn through.
“We collect vast amounts of data and cutting through noise and finding relevant data us getting more and more difficult,” Singh says. “And the technology to help you sort through that noise is still evolving.” Even so, Clorox views such predictive analytics as essential in helping it glean consumer insights and adapt to them in real time.
Tapping IoT to reach the consumer
While social media can help CPGs cultivate a direct relationship with consumers, Clorox and its competitors must also figure out how to crack the messaging nut, says Charlene Li, founding analyst of the Altimeter Group consultancy. Facebook Messenger, SnapChat, WeChat and other platforms have become increasingly popular among millennials and Generation Y but they remain largely invisible to brands unless a user posts something to social media. “All the more reason why you want to develop a direct relationship with people through social media so they start following you,” Li says.
Independent of the Sense and Respond activities, Clorox offered a glimpse of what may be the future of commerce for CPGs companies last year when it rolled out a smart Brita Infinity water pitcher equipped with sensors that senses how much water passes through its filter and automatically reorders a new filter from Amazon.com as needed. Singh says consumers can expect to see additional IoT services from Clorox.
“The beautiful thing about IoT and sensors like the Brita pitcher is that it just orders it for me,” Li says. She says the data generated from sensors could help Clorox and other CPGs generate powerful insights. For example, she says that smartphone sensors could eventually enable Clorox and other brands to triangulate exactly who is consuming a product by their proximity to it in a household. “If I could detect who is using a product that begins to change things,” Li says.
Reynolds says the company will go wherever it must to serve customers. “The way consumers can find and buy products is going to explode in ways that will be more frictionless,” Reynolds says. “Our challenge is to make sure that as shopping behaviors change that we are there.”


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Ford Motor Co. is moving to slash thousands of jobs in China.
Since last fall, Ford has been promising to put its house in order and analysts have speculated that the restructuring could result in the elimination of 15,000 jobs worldwide.
Now it appears that a large piece of the restructuring will involve cuts to the company’s operations in China where Ford lost as much as $1 billion in 2018, according to the company’s financial statements.
Ford’s joint venture with China Changan Automobile Group is canceling its contract with some agencies supplying it with workers, as carmakers struggle to cope with slumping sales in China, according to Reuters.
(Ford’s future relies on its manufacturing prowess. Click Here for the story.)
The New York Times reported earlier that the Ford-Changan joint venture has “quietly begun” dismissing thousands of its 20,000 workers in the world’s second-largest economy. Ford did not comment on how many of its workers were being supplied by the agencies.
China’s car sales fell 2.8% in 2018, according to China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), marking the first contraction since the 1990s. Slowing economic growth as well as the fallout of trade frictions with the United States have hurt demand.
Ford sales, though, dropped 36.9% last year in China, due to lack of new and significantly redesigned models, especially SUVs, for the market.
(Click Here for more about Ford’s Hackett wanting to double profits.)
The problems in China were exacerbated by the fact Ford had difficulty of finding an executive to run the company’s Chinese ventures and by tariffs that made it difficult to for Ford to sell high-margin, American-made vehicles such as the Ford Raptor and Ford Mustang to customers in China.
Jim Farley, Ford president of global marketing, has said the company has a plan to revamp its business in China by introducing new products and re-orienting its supply chain to make use or more Chinese suppliers.
A company executive told Reuters last year it was unlikely that Ford’s sales will regain momentum in China until later in 2019 when the first new vehicle models arrive in showrooms in large enough numbers.
(Farley says Ford following a different game plan for EVs. Click Here for the story.)
Meanwhile Ford has moved to close a truck plant in Brazil and seems to be waiting out the turmoil around Brexit to finish the restructuring in Europe even as it seems ready to stand pat in North America.


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The iOS 13.5.5 release allegedly includes provision for the bundle in a single subscription.
Rumors surfaced the internet today about Apple’s plan to include bundles on the iOS 13.5.5 release. The bundle is said to include various Apple features in a single subscription.
Sources say that the bundle will include the Apple TV Plus and Apple Music in a single subscription. Reports are pointing out to the iOS 13.5.5 beta code as the basis for the spread of the Apple bundle news.
References prove iOS 13.5.5 could bring bundles
Researchers spotted some new references on the iOS 13.5.5 internal files that do not exist on the previous iOS versions. The said unique references found are the options for bundle offer and bundles subscription.
The references, however, did not have any specific products attached. Yet reports suggest that having such options included in the iOS 13.5.5 internal files means a bundle is rolling out soon.
The bundle offers and bundle subscription references suggest that the iOS 13.5.5 could feature Apple’s core for-pay services. The tech giant currently has four main subscription products.
Apple now runs Apple Music and Apple News Plus on subscription. It also has the Apple TV and Apple Arcade as part of its for-pay services.
Apple is offering bundle choices for its customers. Apple TV and Apple Arcade are bundled and cost customers $4.99 per month of subscription.
The Cupertino based tech giant also has Apple Music and Apple News Plus in a bundled subscription. Apple customers can enjoy the two fields at $9.99 per month.
Meanwhile, Apple Music, News+, and TV Plus would cost the subscribers $30 a month. It comes to a family sharing combination and would cost higher if bought separately.
Apple customers see the iOS 13.5.5 rumor to be an opportunity for them to avail of the tech giant’s digital services at a lower price. Apple, on the other, could take advantage of the bundle to keep its crowd of customers within the Apple ecosystem.
Reports on Apple’s plan for bundled service
Before the iOS 13.5.5 service bundle rumors, reports about Apple’s plan for subscription bundle surfaced the internet several times. Reports say that Apple could use the strategy to boost customer adoption of its slow-moving for-pay service.
In November, news spread that Apple plans to introduce a bundled subscription plan as Netflix and Amazon offer. The report pointed out 2020 as the company’s official launch for the discount combo.
On the other hand, a note rolled out in March, preventing Apple from launching bundles with record labels for the upcoming months. Discussions are still going on, and there is no proof yet if the bundling will push through with the iOS 13.5.5.
Image courtesy of Lee Campbell/Pexels


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News about the Nintendo Switch's sales isn't likely to stop anytime soon. Back in December, it was reported that the Switch outsold the PS4's lifetime sales in Japan. However, this was not including the PS4 Pro. Now, with new sales data being released, it appears the Switch is on its way to surpassing the PS4 and Pro in Japan.
According to the latest Media Create sales data (via the ResetEra forums), the Nintendo Switch has sold 8 million units in Japan. The console trails behind the PS4/PS4 Pro by about 33,000 units now. If the Switch continues to sell well, it should conquer the PS4 family soon.
Since 2019 will be a big year for Nintendo, it's likely the Switch will continue to sell well. This year sees the release of a number of exclusive titles. In June, Super Mario Maker 2 will launch. The original Mario Maker was a fan favorite on Wii U, so the sequel will likely be active for many years to come. Pokémon Sword and Shield will release this year as well, bringing the main series to the home console for the first time. We also have Luigi's Mansion 3, Animal Crossing, and more. Simply put, those who have not yet bought a Switch are likely going to take the plunge now.
Rumors are circulating that Nintendo will release a cheaper version of the Switch. While some may question the necessity of another Switch model, Nintendo has actually done similar things in the past. Nintendo released the Wii Mini in 2012 as a cheaper alternative to the Wii. The company also released the 2DS in 2013. Of course, there was also the Game Boy Micro back in 2005. These consoles lacked features their main versions had, so it's likely a cheaper Switch will remove something - whether it be reducing the size, removing a dock, or something else entirely.
The Switch is a fascinating console to analyze and remains a fan favorite among the general public. The current game library is impressive, from Super Mario Odyssey to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With a number of quality titles on the way, the Switch will continue to stay in the spotlight.


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Lufthansa Technik Boosts Its Americas Spares Logistics Capability
Lufthansa Technik’s inauguration of a new component warehouse near Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport will significantly boost the company’s ability to service its customers throughout North, Central and South America, according to the company.
The new 2,000-square-metre (21,525-square-foot) warehouse is capable of holding approximately 9,000 components, along with more than 10,000 items of consumables and expendables. Operated by Lufthansa Technik Component Services (LTCS), it will support various aircraft types.
Inauguration of the new warehouse represents a significant expansion of LTCS’ existing facilities at the Fort Lauderdale site and will ensure LTCS can provide a stable supply of components and other spares for its customers in the region, according to Lufthansa Technik, which adds that it is seeing business growth in the region.
Lufthansa Technik chose the Fort Lauderdale site as its primary spares storage location for the US market and as a central gateway for its extensive customer-supply network in the region because Fort Lauderdale already serves as a connecting point for North, Central and South America.
According to Lufthansa Technik, LTCS customers in the highly populated US Eastern time zone and in much of the rest of the Americas will benefit both from personal contact provided by LTCS representatives in Fort Lauderdale and from the fact their individual LTCS customer contacts are in the same time zone. The new warehouse will operate on a 24/7/365 basis and will make use of an integrated transport network developed throughout the Americas by Lufthansa Technik.
In operating the new facility, LTCS will use a newly introduced computer-supported logistics order-management system developed by sister company Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services (LTLS). The new system will allow more precise scheduling of internal logistics process steps, according to LTLS.
A 15 December news release announcing the inauguration of the new LTCS Fort Lauderdale warehouse quotes Christoph Corbelin, LTLS project manager for the new logistics order-management system, as saying it “will enable us to manage and efficiently process future customer orders in line with individual customer requirements, even during peak dispatch periods.”
Steve Fondell, CEO of LTCS, is also quoted in the news release about the new Fort Lauderdale spares warehouse: “Further new customers have been acquired in America in recent years. The new warehouse ensures rapid and reliable supply of spare parts.”
LTCS, which is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma (where another Lufthansa Technik subsidiary, VIP and business jet completion centre BizJet International, is also located), is planning to increase its business activities in the USA. The company, which employs about 100 people in the USA and the Americas, has warehouse facilities in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. LTCS is also planning to increase its business-growth efforts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Parent company Lufthansa Technik has a considerable presence in the USA and in the Caribbean. In addition to 315-employee BizJet International and LTCS’ facilities throughout the USA, engine and aircraft component manufacturer HEICO Aerospace – in which Lufthansa Technik has held a 20 per cent stake since 1997 – is located in the Florida city of Hollywood, which is adjacent to Fort Lauderdale.
Another Lufthansa Technik company located in the USA is wholly owned subsidiary Hawker Pacific Aerospace. Located in Sun Valley, California, Hawker Pacific Aerospace specialises in maintenance, repair and overhaul of commercial-aircraft landing gears. It boasts an annual throughput of more than 350 landing-gear leg overhauls and employs some 370 people.
In February 2014 Lufthansa Technik significantly boosted its capabilities in the Americas when it established Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico. A 20,000-square-metre (215,000-square-foot) Airbus A320-family MRO facility located at Rafael Hernández Airport serving the city of Aguadilla on the northwest tip of Puerto Rico, Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico employs approximately 400 maintenance staff.
Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico’s initial customers included JetBlue Airways – which was the facility’s launch customer – and Spirit Airlines and the facility is also targeting the business of other A320-family operators throughout Mexico and North and Central America.


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Earlier this year, Sony sold off its VAIO PC business to Japanese Industrial Partners. The investment firm which bought Sony's ailing PC business may soon launch a smartphone at the annual Consumers Electronics Show (CES) tech show in Las Vegas.
According to a report from Nikkei, the Japanese Industrial Partners group plans to unveil the new devices in partnership with a Japanese mobile network. The alleged report suggests that the investment firm is keen to project the upcoming 5-inch Android-powered handset as a productivity device.
"The device feature an app that can manage email as well as phone and video calls all together," Nikkei said.
As of now, there's hardly any information available about the forthcoming handset to be introduced under the VAIO brand. If true, it'd would a big boost to failing Japanese smartphone makers, which has struggled to compete against the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Nikkei's report doesn't say whether the rumored smartphone under the VAIO brand is coming to the other parts of the world. Then again, users may eventually get the device imported from Japan.
The latest news is that a VAIO branded smartphone is expected to get launched at the CES 2015 in January. GizBot will be live from Las Vegas next week, so stay tuned for all the excitement from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015.
Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates!


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2015.5 Volvo V60 Cross Country Debuts at L.A. Auto Show
Following in the footsteps of the existing XC70, Volvo will revisit the idea of a station wagon that's ready to leave the beaten track with the V60 Cross Country debuting at this year's Los Angeles auto show. Based on the standard V60 station wagon, the new V60 Cross Country adds more rugged looks and mild off-roading ability.
Compared to the standard wagon, the Volvo V60 Cross Country has 2.6 inches more greater clearance, and both all-wheel drive and hill descent control come standard. While nobody expects to see this model tackling the Moab Trail, the Volvo V60 Cross Country also comes with higher-profile tires on 18- or 19-inch wheels, front and rear skid plates, and fender cladding. The treatment is similar to the way Subaru transforms the Impreza into the XV Crosstrek, or Audi turns the A4 Avant into the Allroad.
When the 2015.5 Volvo V60 Cross Country launches early next year in the U.S. and Canada, it will be offered exclusively with a 250-hp, 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. A Volvo spokesperson in the U.S. said that will be the only engine for the V60 Cross Country for the immediate future. We suspect that at some point, however, the Cross Country could add the 2.0-liter turbo-four T5 Drive-E engine and eight-speed automatic that make 240 hp and return 25/37 mpg (city/highway) in the standard V60, as well as possibly the 325-hp 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six from the V60 R Design. It's even possible Polestar will get its hands on the Volvo V60 Cross Country and tune it; the company already gave the regular V60 wagon a 345-hp punch.
Expect more details when the 2015.5 Volvo V60 Cross Country makes its public debut on November 19 at the 2014 Los Angeles auto show. The new model goes on sale in the first quarter of 2015.


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Grand Classica at the Port of Palm Beach
By Ben Souza
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, operator of two cruise ships out of South Florida that sail to the Bahamas, has announced that they will resume cruises on Mother’s Day Weekend.
Grand Celebration will resume operations on Friday, May 8, 2020 – welcoming travelers just in time to celebrate Mother’s Day weekend. The official statement from Oneil Khosa, CEO of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, is as follows:
At Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, the wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always our top priority. While we understand that this news is disappointing for many of our valued guests, we believe that further suspension is necessary to ensure their continued safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are in communication with all guests booked on a canceled sailing, as well as with our travel advisor partners, and we are offering a 125 percent Future Cruise Credit for all guests booked on a canceled sailing. We wish everyone the very best at this time and look forward to providing you a better way to getaway again soon.” Read more >>


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Airbnb is laying off 25% of its workforce as it confronts a steep decline in global travel due to the coronavirus.
In a letter to employees, CEO Brian Chesky said the company is letting 1,900 of its 7,500 workers go and cutting businesses that don’t directly support home-sharing, like its investments in hotels and movie production.
“We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime,” Chesky wrote. He said Airbnb expects its revenue to drop by more than half this year.
Chesky said departing employees will receive at least 14 weeks of their base pay. U.S. employees will continue to receive health care coverage for a year; in other countries, employees will keep their health coverage through the end of this year.
Chesky said travel will eventually return, but will look different. Airbnb expects travelers will want options that are closer to home and more affordable, for example. The company is scaling back its investments in luxury properties as a result.
Airbnb also recently announced a new cleaning protocol that it’s asking hosts to adhere to in order to make travelers feel more secure.


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Hulu, Netflix and Youtube TV subscribers got some nasty news this year as their streaming services of choice all announced significant price increases.
Hulu announced yesterday that their Hulu TV service will increase from $54.99/mo to $64.99/mo on December 18. Last month, Netflix announced its “standard” and “premium” plans would increase by $1/mo and $2/mo respectively. Over the summer, Youtube TV announced a price increase up to $64.99/mo as well.
Netflix’s $1 price hikes are as reliable as the return of the McRib. The cost of its standard plan has crawled up from $8.99/mo on launch to $13.99/mo as of this year. Over the last several years, as multiple streaming services have hiked up prices repeatedly, the long-term business model for streaming has become clear: launch at a low cost to undercut cable and competitors, and ratchet up prices year after year by small enough increments that don’t upset customers, but eventually have them paying twice as much as when they first joined.
Whenever these price increases happen, customers like to raise a stink on social media. It’s not hard to find tweets and Facebook posts complaining about the ever-increasing cost of these services, which were supposed to be the cheaper alternative to cable. But I’m sorry to say that unless you’re unsubscribing, your stink just isn't strong enough.
Price hikes upset customers, but they upset them just enough to keep them from unsubscribing — even if the price increase isn’t justified by new features or content. Our Facebook “Talking About” data shows that the regularity of Netflix’s incremental price hikes have had a dampening effect on customer outrage, as the number of posts about Netflix in the immediate aftermath of a price increase announcement have decreased steadily over time.
Hulu’s recent price increase is anything but incremental, and is likely a byproduct of majority owner Disney’s no good, very bad year which has led them to reorganize the company and focus on its few growing services like Disney+ and Hulu.
Since the beginning of the year, Disney+ and Hulu have seen their Apple App Store ratings increase by 195% and 6.8% respectively thanks to the pandemic, and Disney is looking to boost its numbers after a disappointing quarterly report. But the blow is softened by both Hulu’s comfortable position under the Disney umbrella, which allows it to sell streaming bundles with access to sister services Disney+ and ESPN, and the ongoing pandemic, which is worsening and makes streaming an appealing option with endless hours stuck at home with nothing to do.
But Hulu may have pushed their luck a little too hard with this increase, which comes less than a year after the cost of Hulu TV increased from its original $45 to $55 last December. “Talking About” data shows that the first price increase had little-to-no-effect on customer outrage, as counts went down after the announcement. Yesterday’s announcement, on the other hand, increased “Talking About” counts by 18% and counting.
Disney’s next few quarterly reports will show the real impact of this price hike, but unless users unsubscribe, streaming services will keep slowly turning up the dollar dial and looking back at the crowd to see how far they can crank it before reaching critical mass. Still, Hulu TV and Youtube TV’s prices are now reaching cable levels, and may even continue increasing year-over-year. If that keeps happening, customers are left between a rock and a hard place.
What are your options if Hulu TV becomes more expensive than the cable package it convinced you to leave behind? Unsubscribing in protest leaves you with either more limited streaming options or will have you making the walk of shame back to your old cable provider, cutting off your access to original shows on Netflix and Hulu which have increasingly defined pop culture. Unless a huge number of subscribers choose to cut the stream despite all these obstacles, be prepared to dish out more year-over-year for the content you’re currently consuming.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online, jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings, and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.


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UBM Tech Channel CEO Robert Faletra Monday said solution providers are getting with the marketing program as they move rapidly to a cloud services model.
In fact, Faletra said an increasing number of solution providers are busting the myth that they are "horrible" marketers by adding marketing talent to their payroll.
"The world is changing," said Faletra in an XChange 2013 keynote address titled "Myth Busting: Embrace the New Era of Partner Marketing."
"The data clearly shows the channel is getting its act together from a marketing perspective," he said.
In 2013, 63 percent of solution providers had no marketers on the payroll, said Faletra, citing new UBM Tech Channel market research. Today, only 29 percent of solution providers have no marketing talent on the payroll, Faletra said.
The big change comes as solution providers move aggressively to add new customers to drive sales growth in the cloud services era. Solution providers must double the amount of customers they are serving in order to achieve current sales levels, according to UBM Tech Channel research.
That means investing in marketing talent and resources to drive new customer acquisition, said Faletra. In 2013, the number of new customers needed to achieve current revenue targets jumped from 100 active customers to 124 active customers, said Faletra.
"I am not so sure you can grow a business and be viable and do the kinds of things you'd like to do without doing any marketing," he said. "It is hard to comprehend that."
Faletra also announced a new UBM Tech service, SharedVue Social, a new social media platform for technology vendors and their partners to drive sales leads with content-rich social media posts.
"Marketing today is being more measured on what is traceable -- does it bring revenue in?" said Faletra, discussing the new SharedVue Social platform. "Finding new customers needs to be a piece of marketing. You have to measure what you do and do what you can measure. It all comes down to what we believe is talent, tools and commitment."
Jim Torney, president of Essextec, a Rochelle Park, N.J.-based IBM solution provider partner that is transitioning quickly to the cloud services and security model, for one, has added four new marketing people to his staff. "That is huge," said Torney of the marketing changes at his company. "We are doing social media and generating our own leads. We are adding 30 new accounts a year [from our marketing investment]."
Even with all the changes on the social media landscape, Faletra predicted even greater changes ahead as a new generation of social media-savvy young people enter the workforce. "It is almost unimaginable," he said. "They know how to go at it. They think differently than we do. I encourage people to think about that when they are in the hiring process. That is not to say that seasoned people aren't good. But you need a little bit of both."
PUBLISHED ON AUG. 20, 2013


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- Catherine Murphy bought mozzarella sticks from McDonald’s in Liverpool
- The 24-year-old had paid £1.59 for a three-pack of the limited edition snack
- Left disappointed after McDonald’s appeared to forget the namesake ingredient
A customer has hit out at McDonald’s after workers appeared to forget to add a vital ingredient in her meal.
Catherine Murphy treated herself to a meal from McDonald’s in Liverpool only to find her mozzarella dippers had no cheese inside them.
The 24-year-old paid £1.59 for a three-pack of the limited edition snack, which social media users have been getting excited about ahead of their hotly-anticipated arrival in stores this month.
Catherine Murphy treated herself to a meal from McDonald’s in Liverpool only to find her mozzarella dippers had no cheese inside them
Ms Murphy bought her McDonald’s meal from the Chaloner Street branch in Liverpool.
She said: ‘I was devastated. I was really looking forward to them because they’re my favourites and it was just hollow bread.’
The sticks were almost completed hollow, leaving Miss Murphy disappointed with her lunch.
This isn’t the first time McDonald’s have left customers underwhelmed with their hollow cheese bites.
Back in 2016 more McDonald’s lovers were left confused after buying mozzarella sticks with no filling.
Fans took to Twitter to share their outrage over the missing ingredient.
Where is the cheese: Many a lunchtime has been ruined for customers who have treated themselves to mozzarella dippers – with no filling
Courtney Wright said: ‘When you get mozzarella sticks but there is no cheese in them lunch ruined.’
Francesca Heavens said: ‘McDonald’s what is this?!? My mozzarella stick had no cheese! How is that even possible?? Where is the cheese.’
Amber said: ‘Craving mozzarella sticks. Excited that McDonalds has them! Just to get home to have hollow breading.’
The popular £1.59 sides are meant to be served hot with a side of ‘zesty tomato-based marinara sauce’.
McDonald’s said the Mozzarella Dippers and Salsa Dip have been back on the menu since February 7 but will only be around until March 20.
A spokesman added: ‘We would like to apologise to Ms Murphy for her experience. Every step is taken to avoid errors with our food and the restaurant was not made aware at the time. We would encourage her to contact customer services who will be able to look into this.
‘We are not experiencing widespread issues with our Mozzarella Dippers and believe that other images being shared online do not originate from the UK.’