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With the 2013 model year just getting underway you might not think car makers would offer big discounts and other incentives to lure buyers. But good deals are out there, even on some new and redesigned models like the Buick Verano and Nissan Altima.
According to a recent survey from auto industry research and forecasting company TrueCar.com, vehicle shoppers can save up to 15% off the suggested retail price on the cash purchases of some models. There are also significant lease and finance deals available.
DETROIT—General Motors Co. and French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroën are progressing in their efforts to identify specific areas of the auto business where they can join forces and deepen their existing alliance, people familiar with talks between the companies said.
GM’s Opel unit is exploring ways the two companies can work together to reduce risk, cut costs and pursue growth opportunities that would be more difficult to seek alone, these people said. One focus is collaborating in small-car technologies, including possibly engine research and vehicle development, these people said.
Stigmas associated with subprime-debt investing are fading fast. Nowhere is that more true than in the “deep subprime” segment of U.S. auto loans, where companies like used-car dealer J.D. Byrider have pounced on opportunities for growth.
The franchiser of “buy here, pay here” dealers in May closed on $145 million in its first issue of asset-backed securities as one of several newcomers to the market that finances one-fifth of all car loans.
Many of the company’s borrowers live “very much on the edge” and may have no credit history but place a high priority on their transportation, said Bill Brunner, chief financial officer of the Carmel, Ind.-based firm.
Driver’s Seat is a blog featuring news, views, and advice about cars, auto safety, driving, and transportation. Driver’s Seat is written by Jonathan Welsh with contributions from auto critic Dan Neil, columnist Joe White and Wall Street Journal staffers and others.


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What was once a common lifestyle before food was readily available on every block, nomadism is starting to rise once again. This lifestyle that demands constant travel is becoming the perfect solution for those who find themselves restless in a constant environment.
Many who have taken to the digital nomad lifestyle have noted how the constant change of scenery, people, and culture is stimulating their brains and allowing them to work at the top of their games. As studies are performed on this group of digital nomads, one obvious attribute has cropped up.
Neurodivergence is a common thread among nomads working the digital lifestyle. For those who are unfamiliar, this term refers to those whose brain works differently than what is considered “typical” of society. Neurodivergence encompasses those with ADHD and ASD.
Those who are diagnosed with ADHD are known to be forgetful, have difficulty concentrating, and are highly impulsive. Digital nomadism has become a form of self-medication for many individuals who are living with ADHD. They are exposed to a new environment, new people, new adventures, and there’s something constantly happening in their lives.
Psychologist Sonia Jaeger weighed in on the subject, stating that a large portion of the digital nomad community is comprised of neurodivergent individuals. This lifestyle is considered a positive way for those with neurodivergence to soothe their need for constant change and live a mentally fulfilling lifestyle.
Over the recent pandemic years, digital nomadism has skyrocketed as more employment opportunities are going remote. Most who undergo this lifestyle work in the software development, website design and development, writing, and graphic design industries.

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ONLINE GROCER EVERLI ATTRACTS $100M TO AID EUROPEAN GROWTH
Online grocery platform Everli has received a $100 million in Series C funding, as it looks to expand its operations.
Led by Brussels-based private investment group, Verlinvest, the cash injection will help Everli – formerly known as Supermercato24 – launch its web-based grocery shopping services in new markets.
Verlinvest was advised in its investment in the Series C financing by the law firm White & Case, the latter said in a statement. According to reports, this round of funding also involved Luxor, DN Capital, C4 Ventures, and Convivialité Ventures.
Since it was founded in Italy in 2014, Everli has forged partnerships with major European grocery brands, among them Carrefour, Lidl and Kaufland.
The company offers shoppers in 70 cities in the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Poland a choice of more than 300,000 products, with orders being made through the company’s website or mobile app.
As the company expanded and online grocery sales soared last year, in part because of the pandemic, Everli, saw its sales reach €110.8 million, which is almost four times the figure of 2019.
In a statement Everli CEO, Federico Sagenti, said: “The shift to online delivery is not reversing, and expectations on all sides are only increasing.
“We have built a model which we believe offers unparalleled value to consumers, through wide access to the retailers and products they love, even in less urban areas, and to retailers, who are now able to affordably compete online and reach a whole new consumer base.”
Echoing this, Verlinvest’s executive director, Simone Sallustio, said in a statement that a “consumer revolution” was underway, with grocery shoppers “massively and durably shifting online”.
“We are proud to be rewriting the rules of the grocery industry together with Everli,” he added. “Everli combines its tech and data excellence with the grocery retail experience of its partners, and this combination provides it with the perfect position to cement itself as the European eGrocery market leader.”
Everli allows customers to order from local supermarkets and have the products picked and delivered the same day, with customers paying a fee for the delivery.
The company said that the way that it uses the existing infrastructure of supermarkets allows it to cover a much wider geographical area. This, according to Everli, offers advantages over other online grocery retail models, such as the use of “dark store” warehouses that are exclusively for online delivery.
Under its former name of Supermercato24, Everli expanded into Poland in October 2019 when it bought the Polish grocery delivery service Szopi. The latter’s platform was merged into that of Everli the following year.
Online sales boosted by pandemic
The recent increases in turnover enjoyed by Everli reflect the wider growth in online retail driven both by the pandemic and technological change.
Reports indicate that the UK online grocery retailer Ocado, for example, enjoyed a 40% jump in sales over the Christmas and new year periods.
Similarly, a report recently released by Adobe suggested that online spending of all kinds in the United States is set to increase significantly in the coming two years after having jumped 43% last year.
The US has seen a 34% increase in all online spending in the first two months of this year compared to the same period in 2020.
Adobe expects total web sales in the US to be between $850 and $930 million for the whole of 2021, and to reach $1 trillion in 2022.


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Fans of Rod Stewart are forking out up to £300 for a ticket to his first Brighton gig in almost 18 years – despite official tickets still being available for a fraction of the price.
The tickets for the gig at the American Express Community Stadium are being sold at almost six times the £55 price tag of official sellers.
Promoters are urging music fans to buy tickets from official sources but warned that it was “virtually impossible” to stamp out people selling on their tickets online.
Tickets for the gig, which will see Stewart become only the second act to play a major gig on the Amex pitch on Friday June 13, are being sold on eBay and Gumtree for up to £300.
One Gumtree seller is looking for £600 for two tickets to the gig which will see the veteran Scottish rocker play in Brighton for the first time since November 1996.
Peter Taylor, director of promoters Cuffe & Taylor, said: “Tickets are currently on sale and we would urge fans to buy their tickets from the official sources as soon as possible.
“As with any major concert like this, tickets sometimes appear on secondary sites.
“We do all we can to prevent secondary ticketing, such as random ID checks, but it is virtually impossible to stamp it out completely.
“Tickets have sold very well over the Christmas period and they continue to sell well so we are advising people to buy their tickets now.”
Hove MP Mike Weatherley, who worked in the music business before moving into politics, is campaigning for an honest and transparent ticket purchasing process.
He has joined other MPs in founding the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse.
He said: “With such high prices, my concern is that the real fans miss out. That’s why I am campaigning in Parliament for musicians’ wishes to be respected when it comes to ticketing, similar to what happened at the Olympics.
“If an artist wants to sell at a certain price so that, for example, their younger fans can afford to come then ticket resale should be capped at that level.”
To buy tickets from the official site visit www.ticketline.co.uk/Rod2014 or call Ticketline on 0844 888 9991.


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The 17th edition of UBS Global Wealth Management’s annual prices & earnings report has revealed that average London rents and the cost of an average London shopping basket have declined.
In 2015, London had the highest average rent of all the European capitals on the list. At US$2,850.67, a flat in London was more expensive than in Paris ($2,444.63), and significantly pricier than in Madrid ($1,049.31) or Berlin ($894.01). Today, the average London rent has declined to $2,547.79.
The report which compares 128 prices of various goods and services as well as average earnings of 15 professions representing the average working population also looked at the cost for goods typically associated with millennials with London proving second priciest for purchasing avocados, at an average cost of $7.33. Also to afford an iPhone X in London the average time needed to work is 11.3 days compared with 6.7 days in New York.
The report also found that overall purchasing power is higher. In 2015, if purchasing power in New York was 100, it was 80.40 in London, almost the same as in Paris (80.20), lower than in Berlin (97.60) and higher than in Madrid (71.4). This year, purchasing power in other European capitals has fallen, while in London it has climbed three points to 83.38.
The cost for an average shopping basket in London has also declined since 2015 and is no longer the most expensive on the list. It dropped from $567.9 in 2015 to $521.21 today, while in other European capitals the cost rose across the board.
In terms of wages, a secretary in London in 2015 was likely earning around $28,605.92 a year – a few hundred more than secretaries in Berlin and several thousand more than those in Paris and Madrid. Since then, salaries have climbed everywhere but the gap between London and other European capitals has closed.
London topped the table in 2015, but salaries have since risen significantly in Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Today they outpace London, where average salaries have declined and are now the lowest of the four European cities. Salaries in other capitals have risen over the years, while it is mixed in London.
Furthermore, Zurich retains its position as the most expensive city in the world, followed by Geneva and Oslo.
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The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture have participated in the introductory pavilion in the International Dates Conference organized by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in cooperation with the National Center for Palm Trees and Dates that seeks to create an international platform for developing the dates sector and supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as diversify the economy and maximize the investment abilities of the dates industry through regional and international integration as well as supporting trade and cognitive exchange between participants.
The sector of palm trees cultivation and date production has received great attention from the fund. Since its establishment, until the end of the past fiscal year 1438/1439AH / 2017, the fund has provided 76 loans to date factories, with a total funding value over SAR 417 million. The fund also gave great attention to funding supporting services of the sector, including cooling warehouses for storing agricultural products, including dates. The ADF funded them with a total value of over SAR 295 million.
Within its seven initiatives, the fund launched an initiative for developing the sector of palm trees, dates and manufacturing industries. Several recommendations to help the advancement of the sector were launched, starting from the production phase till the marketing phase, in addition to training local resources and seeking to open marketing channels for Saudi date products.
Over the upcoming phase, the fund seeks to expand supporting manufacturing industries of dates as a result of the large produced amounts of over 1,100,000 tons.


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Amid crisis and disruption, supply networks designed for low-cost and minimal inventory pose a major risk.
By Olaf Schatteman, Drew Woodhouse and Joe Terino
It happened faster than anyone could imagine. As China sent workers home and shuttered businesses in January to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the steady flow of vital parts to global supply chains slowed or stopped. The unexpected disruption sent shock waves through boardrooms around the world, just as the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread.
Confronted with an unprecedented public health crisis, companies everywhere have rightly concentrated first on ensuring employee safety and supporting their local communities. Manufacturers in critical industries scrambled to find alternative suppliers to keep factories running. Now, as some regions move past the most acute phase of the pandemic and start to plan for recovery, leadership teams are taking a hard look at supply chain reliability and risk.


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Charleston has its port deepening. Panama has its canal expansion.
Two big maritime projects, both with major economic consequences.
Drawing parallels to the planned Charleston Harbor deepening, a top Panama Canal official said an expansion of the Central American waterway was a do-or-die decision for his country.
“There was a trend of the deployment of bigger ships that would not fit through the Panama Canal,” Manuel Benitez, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, said Tuesday.
“So we had to make a decision — either we were going to invest in our future and expand the Panama Canal and continue to be a world player in the maritime industry, or stay with the existing canal and slowly lose our position as a maritime commerce leader,” he said during the S.C. International Trade Conference on the Isle of Palms. “So we decided to bet on the future and expand the Panama Canal.”
That expansion, a $5.25 billion project expected to be finished by the spring, will lead to an increase in bigger containerships carrying up to 13,000 20-foot cargo boxes traversing the canal and visiting East Coast ports. The Port of Charleston and many of its competitors are deepening harbors to accommodate those ships, with Charleston expecting ships mainly in the 9,500-container range.
While the canal expansion is expected to exponentially boost East Coast cargo traffic, it also has been a boon to Panama, where a national referendum was held in 2006 to authorize the expansion.
At the time, Panama’s gross domestic product was $15 billion and the expansion accounted for more than one-third of that annual amount. Today, the country’s gross domestic product has increased to roughly $50 billion while unemployment is 4 percent and inflation is dropping below 2.6 percent.
“We were successful in convincing the Panamanian people that we had to make this investment in this infrastructure to stay in business,” Benitez said. “That has paid off.”
Currently, the largest ship that can pass through the canal carries about 5,100 cargo boxes. After expansion, ships carrying up to 13,200 cargo boxes will be able to make the passage. That is expected to further the trend of Asian shippers diverting cargo from the West Coast to East Coast ports because it will be cheaper to travel to Southeast markets by water than by rail.
While there have been several delays — the canal was supposed to be expanded in time for its 100 birthday last year — Benitez said he is confident it will be operational by April. The latest construction problem involves a crack that developed on one of the Pacific Ocean-side locks. Contractors are working on a plan to repair the crack.
“We were assured by the contractor that this is repairable,” Benitez said. “The good news is that we discovered this during the testing of the locks procedure.”
While there is room for another expansion that would accommodate the biggest ships made today — carrying roughly 20,000 cargo boxes — Benitez said it is not economically feasible to move ahead until many more of those mega-ships are in use. It is estimated that by 2018, just 3.2 percent of the world’s containership fleet will be too large to traverse the canal.
“In terms of numbers, it doesn’t make sense to build a canal that will have the capacity to handle the world’s fleet,” he said.
A China-funded initiative to build a canal in Nicaragua to handle such massive ships isn’t yet seen as competition, Benitez said, because there are doubts it will ever be built.
“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it doesn’t make economic sense,” he said
Benitez estimated that the proposed Nicaraguan canal would be more than three times longer than the Panama Canal, 10 times more expensive and require dredging and excavation of nearly 10 times more dirt than the Panama project that was started more than 130 years ago.
“We are keeping a close look at that project, though, because if it ever gets built that’s when it will be competition,” he said.
As the State Ports Authority embarks on its Charleston Harbor deepening project — the Army Corps of Engineers gave its final regulatory approval Monday — Jim Newsome, the SPA’s chief executive, sought advice from Benitez on getting buy-in on such large civil works projects from the public.
Benitez said the canal expansion obtained 77 percent approval during that country’s recent referendum, but only after an intensive education campaign.
“We had to talk to the people and explain to them what it meant for them,” Benitez said. “We made a road show covering the entire provinces of Panama in small towns for (residents) to be able to understand that this was a project for the people that allowed Panama to continue to serve world commerce. But most important, it was beneficial to the people.”
Reach David Wren at 937-5550 or on Twitter at @David_Wren_


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As North America waits for its Galaxy S III, and Android fans around the world count the days until Google IO, it's been another relatively busy week in international Android news. We've had phone launches, phone announcements, and a few pricing announcements and special deals along the way.
Sony brought two new entry-level devices into the world, in the form the Xperia Miro and Xperia Tipo, following a Facebook promotion campaign that lasted a few days. And we learned that the UK market will be graced by a slew of new Android phones next month, including the LG Optimus 4X HD, Sony Xperia Go and Samsung Galaxy Beam. We also saw new European roaming deals from UK carriers Vodafone and Three.
And in sporting developments, we learned that Galaxy S III owners will be able to watch the summer Olympics for free thanks to a deal between Samsung and Eurosport. The BBC also debuted its mobile sports streaming site, in time for the knockout stages of Euro 2012 tournament.
Check out the rest of the week's international highlights below. If you've got international news, be sure to tip us at the usual address.
- Carphone Warehouse offering free Galaxy Note on £21 contract for next seven days
- Telcel holding an exclusive night sale for the Samsung Galaxy S III on June 22
- Galaxy S III owners get free Eurosport Player for the Olympics
- BBC launches sports streaming over mobile networks
- Peter Chou: HTC won't 'destroy brand image' by releasing super-low-end phones
- Huawei's Ascend P1 gets priced in Europe
- Entry-level Sony Xperia Tipo announced
- Three UK launch new EU data roaming deal
- Sony announces the Xperia Miro
- Sony Xperia Go and Samsung Galaxy Beam headed to the UK in July
- Pick up a refurbished Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini for just £50
- Vodafone UK announces EuroTraveller roaming service
- Europe getting Amazon Appstore this summer?
- Ford SYNC and AppLink for Android set to expand globally
- LG Optimus 4X HD launches today in Germany, UK in 'July'
- Sony trades Facebook likes for early Xperia announcement
- Optimus 4X HD international launch details


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LinkedIn “was bought on domination of a sector, good revenue, and good margins,” said Mike Vorhaus, head of Vorhaus Advisors. “TikTok is going to be valued based on its incredible user growth and mobile advertising revenue opportunities.”
The deeper and deeper we get into the economic and societal impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the more clear it is that the advertising industry, and the many different types of companies that advertise, are being hit hard.
Zenith, a respected media planning firm, released a new report today regarding the future of advertising expenditures worldwide. They project that total global advertising expenditures will decline just over 9% for all of 2020. In the U.S. they see the 2020 decline as being down 7%. In comparison they reported that the U.S. “great recession” impact on U.S. advertising was a negative 9.5% in 2009.
Zenith is forecasting a 5.8% gain in global advertising spend in 2021 partly because of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo which have been moved to 2021.
Earlier in the pandemic I wrote about the future for advertising expenditures, including coverage of a study of U.S. advertising executives. As I quoted Rob Norman, long-time digital advertising executive, using a long-standing sailors’ analogy, “It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good.”
Digital advertising continues to be a somewhat, though dim, bright spot, in the advertising eco-system currently. The growth of digital advertising is being affected by the pandemic, but overall digital advertising continues its march forward. Zenith said in their release of the report “that digital advertising will account for 51.0% of global ad spend this year.”
This is the first time that digital ad spend has been a majority of total ad spend worldwide. And it is going to continue to grow. “The coronavirus forced brands to embrace digital advertising even faster than expected and made digital transformation of businesses more urgent than ever,” said Jonathan Barnard, Zenith’s head of forecasting.
Zenith pointed out that the traditional media outlets like TV and radio have suffered less than other traditional advertising platforms like print and magazine advertising, both of which are predicted to be down 20% or more this year.
“In past downturns, ad revenue is quick to fall and slow to recover relative to GDP. And since in this case, the economy follows the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic, no one has good visibility into the timing and depth of this recession. What is clear from the past is that brands that maintain or increase their share of voice during the tough times earn lasting market share gains in the recovery – gains that often persist for 5 years or more beyond the crisis,” said Scott McDonald, President and CEO of the Advertising Research Foundation based in New York, and a well-known research expert who has worked at a number of prominent media companies over the years.
Another well-known advertising expert and long-time advertising technology executive, Dave Morgan, CEO of Simulmedia, looked into his crystal ball and saw a continued decline in traditional U.S. television advertising in the years ahead, with growth coming from the Connected TV space, “I think that U.S. TV ad spend this year will be down in the 15% range from last year. I think that 2021 will be down just slightly to 2019, and then decline 5% per year over the subsequent couple of years. Advanced TV ad spend – data driven linear, addressable and CTV – will grow 30% this year and 30-50% per year after that for the next five years,” Morgan concluded.
Verizon VZ+0.3% announced earlier today in their Q. 2 earnings call with analysts and shareholders, that second-quarter revenue fell 5 percent to $30.4 billion. According to Verizon, this was largely because of “declines in wireless equipment revenue in the consumer and business segments, primarily due to limited in-store engagement and the impact of COVID-19 on customer behavior.” Earnings were up in Q.2 from $3.9 billion last year to $4.7 billion for Q. 2 this year.
Verizon said that they had net cancellations of 81,000 pay TV subscribers in the second quarter, which was an accelerating loss in comparison to the same quarter a year ago. In the first quarter of this year Verizon reported a loss of 84,000 pay TV consumers, almost exactly the same amount as this current quarter. Verizon, like other cable and satellite TV providers, have experienced cord-cutting substantially over the last few years and the cord-cutting behavior is still growing.
I conducted a national online study on cord-cutting in June of this year and the data shows even more households intending to cut their pay TV offerings. Many of the cord-cutters have, or will soon buy, Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) services, like Netflix NFLX+0.6% and Disney Plus, but the traditional full-package cable and satellite providers are suffering from continuing consumer cancellations. Most recently, I saw 8% of pay TV subscribers indicate that they were “very likely” to cut the cord in the U.S. in the next 12 months. In the coveted demographic of 18 to 34 year old consumers, 17% percent said they were very likely to cut the cord which is twice the rate of the U.S. general population. It is not surprising that the 55 and older population are the least likely to say they will cut the cord.
Verizon, and their competitors in the cable and satellite content delivery service business, have suffered for many quarters with consumer cancellations and reductions in their pay TV service. Much of this has been driven by the attractive offerings from the SVOD services, as well as the Free Advertising-supported VOD services, like Pluto and Tubi.
According to a recent report from Goldman Sachs’ lead media analyst Brett Feldman, “Cord-cutting is not new, but it is materially accelerating.At an industry level, pay-TV subscribers have declined on a year over year basis every quarter for the last eight years from a peak of 101 million in 1Q12 to 89 million in 1Q20. This represents an aggregate decline of 11% in household penetration (from 88% to 75%) during this period. While this implies modest annual subscriber declines of only 1-2%, we note that over 50% of these subscriber losses have occurred during the last 12 months, with 1Q20 being the worst-ever quarter of cord-cutting. We believe these pressures on the overall pay-TV market are intensifying.”
Verizon reported that 10,000 new net customers were acquired for their internet access service in Q. 2, which was a smaller growth rate than the 59,000 new internet subscribers signed-up in Q. 1. To a large extent the future success of cable/satellite providers rests with their internet access offerings and related services, as well as “skinny bundles,” which are a smaller selection of channels than the traditional pay TV packages.
Podcasts have been another source of fun, information, and something to do during our extensive time at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent data from a national online survey I conducted in June reported that 20% of American adults were listening to podcasts at least once a week or more, including those who listened every day (7%).
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the leading organization for promoting digital advertising, and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), the international consulting firm, recently released their annual study, U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study, for 2020. The study predicts that podcast advertising revenue will increase by almost 15%, “nearing $1 billion in 2020,” according to the IAB and PwC.
In many cases advertising has been hard hit by the economic impacts of the pandemic and stay-at-home orders. For many industries—such as travel, hospitality, retail and others—the result of the current economic upheaval has been huge. The recent study on podcast advertising revenue documents an example of where advertising has been more robust. In general, digital advertising is being less negatively impacted than other forms of advertising during the pandemic.
The same partners in this study issued a similar study in 2019 and past years. In 2019 they estimated that podcast-related advertising revenue was $708 million and that in 2018 it was $479 million. The rates of increase are coming down as the total advertising revenue scales up. Nonetheless, it is clear that podcasts have become an important platform for advertising.
It is often said in the media world that advertising revenue follows eyeballs. In this case it is more that the advertising dollars are following the ears of consumers.
Some of the advertising categories that were strong on podcasting, according to the PwC and IAB report, include consumer brands, financial services, health, wellness, and home appliances. The top type of content on podcasts was news at 22%, comedy at 17%, and society/culture at 13%. It is interesting to note the breadth of podcast content on the top grossing podcasts, such as sports content and commentary from The Joe Rogan Experience or the Bill Simmons Podcast, to true crime podcasts like My Favorite Murder.
There are also other revenue streams growing in the podcasting world, including content licensing and consumer payments. Hernan Lopez, founder and CEO of Wondery, a major podcast company, said looking at the future, “Podcast ad revenues will grow faster than pretty much any other form of media in 2020; and ad revenue is only part of the story. For Wondery, licensing and consumer revenue will represent well over 20% of the total this year.”
In fact, 72% of podcast consumers over the age of 55+ believe in the mixed-business model of paid podcasts and free podcasts supported by advertising. Only 56% of podcast consumers in the 18-to-34 range believed in the mixed model, and 34% of the younger age group felt all podcasts should be free.
The podcast world is growing with major acquisitions, expanded marketing efforts, more distribution outlets, and a number of venture backed companies competing alongside huge companies like Apple and Spotify. For a thoughtful analysis of the larger ecosystem around podcasting I recommendthis article from fellow Forbes.com contributor Jay Kapoor. And if you are trying to find something new in the podcasting realm to listen to, Spotify has launched a series of charts in various countries showing the most popular podcasts, as well as the rising, up-and-coming podcasts.
Despite the massive economic and safety challenges for movie makers and for film attenders, Screen Engine/ASI, a growing movie, TV, digital and entertainment research and strategy company based in Los Angeles, has announced the launch of a new digital, Internet-based product providing a promotional marketing tool for film, TV and video production companies in the era of a stay-at-home society.
Traditionally, movie companies have used “test” screenings and “buzz” screenings to assure the quality of the movies and to create excitement around the upcoming launch of the movies, particularly in key markets. Now, of course, the studios have lost their access to the movie theatres where traditionally hundreds of thousands of consumers have gathered annually to watch movies free for testing or marketing purposes.
Screen Engine/ASI has released the “Virtual Screening Room” so movie and TV studios can still host “word-of-mouth screenings” and create buzz for upcoming movies, but safely and remotely in movie fans’ homes.
Running these promotional screenings online, vs. inside the confines of a theatre, however, raises worries about security, particularly the pirating or copying of films before they are released. The Virtual Screening Room has been designed to provide security safeguards against such problems, according to Screen Engine/ASI.
Andrew Ly, founder of ticktBox, which was bought by Screen Engine/ASI last year said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “We’ve built a one of a kind cross promotional and marketing platform for studios to run their promotional screenings all within one suite in response to the social changes resulting from the virus outbreak, while eliminating the health concerns of attendees being physically present.” Ly said the new product from Screen Engine/ASI will be used by a number of studios to aid their film marketing, including a premium video-on-demand title coming out later this summer.
TicktBox’s parent company Screen Engine, is one of Hollywood’s leading research and data firms, and is backed by the prominent NYC-based private equity firm, The Wicks Group. Screen Engine has been hiring numerous big names from the TV and movie industries to drive their expansion, including the hiring of Bruce Friend, as Chief Product and Innovation Officerlast year, who has lead numerous research companies, as well as being the executive in charge of research at a number of big studios. Screen Engine also quietly hired the former head of TV station research and consulting at Magid Associates, Steve Ridge, to expand Screen Engine’s work with TV stations. A source who asked to remain anonymous, said that the appointment will be formally announced in the weeks ahead, along with key new clients.
Kevin Goetz, Founder and CEO, Screen Engine/ASI, in an exclusive interview with me, said that he has been building a firm “with the best minds and connections in the industry.” He went to say. “I am thrilled to lead the launch of our groundbreaking virtual, word-of-mouth geographic targeting for entertainment marketing. Our goal is to work with clients and their agencies to optimize their marketing spend by ensuring they are targeting and reaching audiences that are most likely to drive positive word-of-mouth, and in turn, realize full market potential for entertainment IP. In the next few months, our new market targeting solution will expand to allow clients to build customized targets for specific genres and franchises.”
William Shatner, one of the great icon pop culture figures of our time, from Star Trek to pitching Internet company, Priceline, once said, “I love to go to a movie, get a Diet Coke and a barrel of popcorn.” We will be waiting to see if the movie industry can send us all popcorn (buttered or not as you please) alongside our digital content.
As the second half of the calendar year begins, many on Wall Street and Madison Avenue are wondering where advertising revenues will net out for the first half of the year and what the second half of 2020 will be like for the advertising market.
EMarketer recently predicted that in 2020 Google’s US advertising revenue will decline by just over 5% by end of the year. This is the first time, according to eMarketer, since 2008, that Google’s US digital ad revenue will decline. EMarketer had estimated that US ad revenues would grow about 13% before the Covid advertising recession hit. Google’s US market share for search advertising is projected to go down from 61.3% to 58.5% in 2020. Google makes up a huge portion of the total revenue of Alphabet, its parent company. Emarketer predicts that total advertising revenue in the US for 2020 will be $134.7 billion – an increase just under 2%.
These Covid-related headwinds for Google come along at the same time as Facebook is dealing with a boycott of Facebook advertising by numerous companies. Nonetheless, eMarketer still forecasts a small increase for Facebook’s advertising revenue in 2020. Amazon, who has been on a tear in selling advertising, is projected to have in 2020, an increase of 23.5% over their US advertising revenue last year, despite the Covid pandemic.
All of these media companies will have to deal with the constant shifting of the sands in the Internet
advertising landscape. Will Snapchat become a bigger player in the advertising arena? Will TikTok’s US advertising revenue grow at scale enough so that they too
become a bigger player in the advertising marketplace? Will the AVOD (Advertiser-supported, free, video on demand) digital video services eat into TV advertising marketing dollars? Who knows what the next “new thing” will be that will attract consumers’ and their eyeballs? Overtime, it is clear that ad dollars follow consumers’ eyeballs. We will know the actual revenue results for Alphabet and Google when Alphabet reports its second quarter earnings on July 23.
As Mike Kelly, former CEO of The Weather Channel and a long-time executive in the advertising and media world, said to me in an interview, “It is almost inevitable, that as competition increases from all comers, that Google will revert back to something closer to their ‘fair share’ of the ad market. After all these years, search is still their dominant product. As consumer intent and discovery (and attention) shifts to other platforms, so will the advertising dollars.”
On the other hand, another major business model of the Internet – ecommerce – is likely to have a very strong year of growth. Ecommerce is poised to grow 18.0% following a 14.9% gain in 2019 according to eMarketer.
Tencent, the huge Chinese-based, worldwide gaming (Riot, Supercell) and messenger/social media (WeChat) digital company has undertaken new initiatives in the important, growing area of digital video.
Tencent recently announced their purchase of a Malaysian video streaming platform, iflix’s content, technology, and resources. It was also revealed very recently by Bloomberg that Tencent has launched trovo.live in the U.S. the beta “testing” stage, which is very common with digital products. When you checkout trovo it is very similar to Twitch, the livestreaming video, esports and multiplayer games-oriented, video streaming service bought by Amazon in 2014 for reportedly just short of $1 billion.
Tencent also recently paid $263M for a controlling stake in Huya, the Twitch of China. Further demonstrating Tencent’s commitment to digital video, Tencent owns a video subscription service, Tencent Video, with over 110 million subscribers in China.
In regard to the Malaysian video streaming acquisition, James Mitchell, the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Tencent said in an email interview with me, “Tencent has purchased iflix’s content, technology and resources. This is in line with our strategy to expand our international streaming platform, WeTV, across Southeast Asia and to provide our users with international, local and original high-quality content in a wide range of genres and languages.”
Mitchell went on to say, “We are committed to invest in the growth of the OTT industry in the
Southeast Asia region. The growing adoption of mobile devices has resulted in increased internet users and their access to OTT content. SEA’s OTT market shows a robust trend where the region is experiencing an explosion of viewership. The purchase comprises a strong local network across emerging markets in Southeast Asia (not only Malaysia) with a wide and compelling selection of video content such as TV shows, movies and local originals, to stream or download, on any Internet-connected device. Through the purchase, WeTV, will further extend our presence in the video streaming industry across Southeast Asia, to reach a broader audience base within the region and to better serve our users with better viewing experience.”
It should be noted that both China’s huge video streaming service, iQIYI IQ-2.1%and Netflix operate in Southeast Asia. Even more interesting are the rumors that Tencent was very recently looking to buy a large piece of iQIYI, which was originally spun out of Baidu BIDU-2.4% (the giant search engine of China) Baidu still owns a majority of iQIYI’s stock.
Malaysia is an important country, particularly in Southeast Asia. Malaysia is the 45th largest country in the world and has the 25th highest GDP. Overall population across Southeast Asia exceeds 650 million people. The countries in Southeast Asia are growing in Internet and smartphone penetration rapidly which is providing many business opportunities in the media and technology areas in that region.
Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, the original Disney theme park, opened in 1955. It has been closed four times in its lifetime, – after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, in 1994 Disneyland closed because of the big Northridge quake, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and most recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disneyland initially closed the park in Southern California on March 14 and had indicated that it would stay closed indefinitely at that time. Later Disney announced that the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim would reopen July 17.
Today The Walt Disney Company released a statement saying that it would delay announcing its reopening until sometime after July 4. The Disney statement said, in part, “The State of California has now indicated that it will not issue theme park reopening guidelines until sometime after July 4. Given the time required for us to bring thousands of cast members back to work and restart our business, we have no choice but to delay the reopening of our theme parks and resort hotels until we receive approval from government officials. Once we have a clearer understanding of when guidelines will be released, we expect to be able to communicate a reopening date.”
The Disneyland Resort theme parks will be the last Disney theme parks worldwide to reopen during this crisis, if Disney’s plans continue as stated. Tokyo Disney has announced its reopening for July 1, then the Walt Disney World DIS-1.9%‘s theme parks will open on July 11 and July 15. The Disneyland Paris parks are scheduled to reopen on July 15. The Shanghai Disney park reopened on May 11 to limited attendance.
The other Southern California theme parks – Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Legoland California and SeaWorld San Diego – had requested to reopen at the beginning of July. Now everyone in the theme park industry, and the consumers who might be eager to see Mickey Mouse again, will have to wait for guidance to be issued by the relevant local and State governments.
Disney sought to assure future visitors to the Disney parks that they have, “developed enhanced health and safety protocolsfor both cast and guests at Shanghai Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort that have been approved, allowing us to reopen in a responsible manner and bring our cast members back to work.”
Disney must complete negotiations with the various unions that represent Disney’s workers to reopen. As Disney said, “In order to reopen our theme parks we need to negotiate agreements with our unions to return employees to work. We have had positive discussions and are very pleased to have signed agreements from 20 union affiliates, including the Master Services Council, which represents more than 11,000 of our cast members. The signed agreement details plans that include enhanced safety protocols that will allow us to responsibly reopen, and get thousands of our cast members back to work.”
In these days of pandemic, protests, economic recession and angst among the world’s population a recently issued report shows that consumers continue to shift away from traditional media sources for their news and are moving more towards social media and messaging services to find the news.
Long gone are the days of people getting most of their news from a local TV station, their local newspaper or the national newscast from one of the networks. Over 15 years ago, we already saw the substantial decay of Americans using traditional news sources and instead the Internet becoming a major source of news, particularly for the 18 to 34 year old demographic. This data comes from a study done for Carnegie Corporation in 2005. A research group I led at the time was responsible for the study. Carnegie Corporation is a major U.S. charitable foundation with a significant interest in journalism and news.
One of the very notable facts coming out from the study is the heavy use of Instagram for news which could soon possibly overtake Twitter. Instagram news consumers were 11% of the social media population. Twitter was statistically tied at 12%. Just as we found in 2005 for Carnegie Corporation, the shift away from traditional news media sources is being led by the younger generation, in this case people under 25 years old. Two-thirds of that age cohort said they use Instagram for gathering news information. The same age group reported that they were two times more likely to look at news on social media apps.
Facebook leads with 36% of social media consumers using the social media giant for consuming news. YouTube had 21% of social media users looking at news on the popular video site. WhatsApp had 16% of consumers in that group and 12% used Twitter. Facebook owns both Instagram and WhatsApp.
In this time of political and social upheavals, it is interesting to note that the Reuters study (conducted by YouGov, a research agency) only found 14% of people in the US trusted news on social media compared to 22% in regard to news gathered from search engines. Also, as further evidence of the power of social media in driving news to consumers, social media as a news source, saw ongoing growth with news consumers, unlike platforms such as all online sources combined, TV, and print.
When thinking about what we know about the news and where we get our news, I reflect back on Will Rogers’ famous quote: “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.”
As soon as people were ordered to stay home in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers have had a number of ways to spend their added time at home—including play games. As the chart below shows, the increases in gaming revenue has been huge, month to month, since March. In March of this year, gaming, over March of 2019, is up 34% in spending. In April of this year, gaming was up 73% over last year, same month. And this past month, May, was up 53% over May of 2019.
“Video game engagement and revenue across all platforms, including console, PC, mobile, and VR, grew globally during the Covid-19 lockdown. Video gaming is considered an affordable and accessible form of entertainment, and existing and new gamers across all demographic groups found emotional and social support in these virtual worlds. The digital transition that began a decade ago through digital downloads, games-as-services, and mobile app stores has paid off for the industry,” said Michael Cai, president of Interpret, a global video game insights agency.
Stan Kwon, CEO of Beta Hat, a market and consumer insights agency specializing in gaming, media, and emerging technologies, confirmed the rise in gaming over the last few months. “Based on a recent survey we conducted among adult gamers in the U.S., almost 60% say that they’re spending more time playing games now than they were prior to stay-at-home orders going into effect.” Kwon also reported that he sees Americans “choosing to play a wider variety of games rather than sticking to the same games they were playing before” the stay-at-home order.
Further evidence of the rise in consumer engagement with gaming during this pandemic is that Unity Technologies, the real-time 3D software development platform company, has reported that mobile game ad revenue grew 59% during April 2020 compared to April the year earlier. Unity has also reported that in-app purchases in games rose 24% in March and April of this year.
There are many different types of games available to consumers on consoles, computers, and their smartphones. About 70% of the U.S. population at least occasionally plays some sort of video or mobile game. The breadth of games available to consumers are shown in this chart that looks at the most popular game titles over the years.
Rob Dyer, chief operating officer of Capcom in the U.S., spoke to the increase in gaming seen worldwide. “While we believe there has been an increase in the frequency of people playing games given the current restrictions on going outdoors, it is possible that less leisure time will be available in the future due to factors such as reduced summer vacation time.” Dyer went on to say, “We hope our games will continue to be a source of enjoyment for people everywhere facing these challenging times.”
While it is clear that consumer engagement with gaming has increased as people have had more time at home, but what will happen when the world goes “back to normal” and time at home goes down? Michael Pachter, research analyst at Wedbush Securities and a well-known expert in the field of gaming, points out, “It’s incumbent on the gaming companies to retain the new and lapsed players” down the road.


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Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) released its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The grocery chain said that it had $0.48 in earnings per share (EPS) and $28.1 billion in revenue, which compares with consensus estimates of $0.52 in EPS and $28.38 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the specialty retailer said it had EPS of $0.54 on $31.03 billion in revenue.
During the most recent quarter, total sales decreased 9.5% year over year. Excluding fuel, the 53rd week in fiscal 2017, the convenience store business unit divestiture and the merger with Home Chef, total sales increased 1.6% year over year.
One of the main highlights Kroger pointed to this quarter was that it grew digital sales by 58% year over year, achieving over $1 billion in cost savings. The firm also raised its dividend for the 12th consecutive year, an increase of 12%.
Looking ahead to the 2019 full year, the company expects to see identical sales growth, excluding fuel, to range from 2.0% to 2.25%, and for EPS to come in at $2.15 to $2.25. Consensus estimates call for $2.26 in EPS and $123.79 billion in revenue for the year.
Rodney McMullen, board chair and chief executive, commented:
Kroger solidly delivered on what we set out to do in 2018, which was an investment year that laid the groundwork for us to achieve our 2020 Restock Kroger targets including financials. We reached our FIFO operating profit goal and finished the year with sales and business momentum. We have a clear path to achieve $400 million in incremental FIFO operating profit growth and $6.5 billion in cumulative Restock cash flow by the end of 2020.
Shares of Kroger last closed at $28.44, in a 52-week range of $22.85 to $32.74. The consensus price target is $30.57. Following the announcement, the stock was down 10% at $25.56 in early trading indications Thursday.


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WHERE TO WATCH
FCC Filing for a New Nintendo Switch SNES Controller Found
August 15, 2019
IGN Journalist Adam Bankhurst reveals an FCC filing for a new Nintendo Switch controller that looks similar to an SNES controller.
Former Victoria's Secret Executive Launches MINDD Bra Company
Feb 3, 2020
Nintendo Sells over 52 Million 'Switch' Units Since its Launch
'The Verge' Reporter Bijan Stephen breaks down Nintendo's Switch sales and becoming the third-highest all-time video game console sold.
Jan 30, 2020
Switching Up The Handheld Market
Dell's upcoming handheld gaming system, the Concept UFO, was first unveiled at CES this year. The new machine allows users to play traditional PC games on the go, and Frank Cestone of Dell's Product Communications brought a prototype by the Cheddar Esports studio for us to try it out.
Jun 14, 2018
eSports Expert Goldenboy: Fortnite on the Switch 'Is Amazing'
The game plays "so smoothly" on Nintendo's Switch console, says the eSports commentator and Twitch broadcaster. The Japanese gaming giant made the uber-popular game available on its latest device at E3 this week.


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New low-cost filing platforms with striking similarities to controversial Trademark Terminal target US applicants
- WTR identifies three platforms with strikingly similarities to Trademark Terminal
- In past reporting, some low-cost filers have been accused of fraudulent activity
- One of the new platforms claims to be the ‘US trademark authorities’
Just weeks after controversial low-cost filing agency Trademark Terminal ceased operations, WTR has identified three more platforms that bear striking similarities to it. One of the platforms, ‘US Trademark Solutions’, is advertising aggressively on Google, while another, ‘US Trademark Authorities’, has a name that could be confused by users with a government entity.
Concerns related to low-cost filing company Trademark Terminal and various platforms seemingly linked to it (including Trademark Axis, Trademark Falcon, Trademark Regal, Trademark Nations and Trademark Excel) were first raised at the beginning of the year. They came under criticism for their operations, with unusual activity identified on thousands of trademark applications filed at the USPTO, and a swathe of customer complaints.
These concerns came in the wake of what was described as “the biggest money laundering case in the history of Pakistan”, which saw local authorities arrest a number of individuals from a company called Digitonics Lab who had been charged with allegedly operating over 200 fraudulent websites. This included a number of low-cost trademark filing platforms including ‘Trademark Funnel’ and ‘USPTO Trademarks’.
A few months later, in May 2021, WTR revealed how some of these low cost platforms were attracting clients by spending thousands of dollars a month on (sometimes allegedly misleading) aggressive advertising campaigns on Google.
All of the platforms claimed to be US-based but many had clear links overseas. Various clients claimed that correspondence with Trademark Terminal was “often difficult due to the staff barely speaking understandable English”. WTR later spoke with a small business owner about being scammed out of $150,000 from a logo design company that appeared to share direct ownership with Trademark Terminal - our investigation found both companies appeared to be operated by Pakistan-based IT company Abtach (with a US subsidiary called 360 Digital Marketing).
Last month WTR revealed some of the platforms, including Trademark Terminal and Trademark Falcon, had stopped accepting new clients. One expert suggested the development meant it was “likely” that the USPTO was cracking down on such entities (in August the USPTO asked the US Department of Commerce to file for federal protection of its trademarks, a move that was deemed necessary “in light of the rapid increase in sophistication” of fraudulent activity targeting its users).
However, while Trademark Terminal and related entities remain dormant, WTR has identified at least three websites that bear striking similarities to Trademark Terminal. The trio of platforms are called ‘US Trademark Solutions’, ‘US Trademark Authorities’, and ‘Trademark Profs’, with WHOIS data showing they were all registered in the last three weeks. All offer low-cost trademark services. There are various ways they are similar to Trademark Terminal and its sister platforms, including identical testimonials shared across the platforms (click for screenshots) and near-identical ‘About Us’ pages (screenshots). The pricing structure on two of them (US Trademark Solutions and Trademark Profs) is also identical to Trademark Terminal.
At present, US Trademark Solutions is the only one of the three using Google Ads to attract new business. Data from analytics tool SpyFu reveals that approximately $1,400 has been spent so far on keyword ads on search terms including ‘trademark name’, ‘applying for a trademark’, ‘how to trademark your business name’, and even ‘international trademark association’. As the screenshot below shows, the text used on the Google Ads contains ad-copy that is near-identical to text used on ads previously run by Trademark Terminal platforms (screenshots).
The platform that will be of most concern to the USPTO, however, is ‘US Trademark Authorities’. That term is commonly used to refer to the USPTO (eg, by The Guardian, National Post, and Wall Street Journal) and the platform itself uses a logo that could be confused with a government agency (screenshot). On top of that, it also has a ‘free trademark search’ tool that claims to analyse the ‘USPTO database’ for ‘existing or pending trademarks’. However, it appears to suggest that any brand name is available for registration. Every search term we used (including major brands like ‘Apple’, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Lego’) claimed the name is ‘unregistered’ and urged users to ‘hurry up and get it registered before someone else does’ (screenshot).
On the US Trademark Authorities live chat tool, a representative affirmed when asked that they are the ‘trademark authorities’ – but WTR was subsequently blocked after asking if they were linked to Trademark Terminal or any Pakistan-based entities (an identical blocking tactic was employed by Trademark Terminal earlier in the year). On US Trademark Solutions, two representatives ended the live chat shortly after a similar enquiry (screenshots). A third representative finally claimed “we are not affiliated with any of these companies” before, again, ending the live chat. We were subsequently unable to ask any follow-up questions by live chat, but sent an enquiry by email (with no response at the time of publication).
There is no indication that the platforms are engaged in suspicious filing activity. However, whether directly linked to previous platforms of concern or merely employing similar terminology and marketing tactics, the potential for confusion with the USPTO or users spending money applying for trademarks that are already registered will be of concern to the USPTO and the wider trademark community.


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Chewy takes first step toward initial public offering
Chewy, Inc. has taken the first step in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO), according to Pet Product News. The online retailer, which was acquired by PetSmart in 2017, has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its Class A common stock.
Covetrus announces new partnership with Mars Petcare for GREENIES products
Covetrus announced a new partnership with Mars Petcare that will help U.S.-based veterinarians enhance dental health and medication compliance for their pet owner clients, according to a release. As of May 1, veterinarians can now purchase Mars Petcare’s GREENIES products for their in-clinic and online channels exclusively from Covetrus. The partnership includes the popular and widely-used GREENIES Dental Treats and the simple-to-use GREENIES™ PILL POCKETS™, a proven solution to make medicating pets easier. “With our customer reach, differentiated go-to-market strategy and our industry-leading service organization, Covetrus is uniquely suited to partner with Mars Petcare to drive increased adoption of dental health solutions and medication administration tools for our customers and their clients,” said Matt Leonard, executive vice president, president of North America and global supply chain officer at Covetrus. “This new partnership highlights the opportunity we have at Covetrus to continuously help support veterinarians deliver cost-effective solutions and enhance their client experience.”
Tammy Rice named director of marketing for Dechra
Dechra announced that Tammy Rice has accepted the role of director of marketing, effective May 1, 2019. Rice has achieved success in a number of roles in her 13 years with Dechra including marketing, distributor relations, product manager and top sales representative during her time in outside sales. In her current role, she has effectively managed corporate marketing, distributor relations and product management for the surgical suite portfolios and continues to achieve high level growth. In her new role, Rice will continue to report to Doug Hubert, VP of sales and marketing. She will plan and direct the marketing group activities of Dechra Veterinary Products for sales into the veterinary market and ensure the team is effectively promoting the company and targeting the appropriate audience in their campaigns. Rice will work in conjunction with the VP of sales and marketing, director of sales and the sales teams to support the strategic direction of the company and ensure sales are achieved or exceed sales budgets. She will expand her relationships with key distributors and support corporate accounts with additional marketing tools to support this segment.
Zoetis becomes first Human-Animal Bond Certified company
The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), who jointly founded the Human-Animal Bond Certification program last year, announced that Zoetis has become the first Human-Animal Bond Certified Company. As part of the certification process, more than two dozen Zoetis employees successfully completed the certification program, receiving training on the science behind the human-animal bond and developing a deep understanding of how this science supports the practice of veterinary medicine. Zoetis is committed to ongoing training for additional employees.
BabelBark application provides access to veterinary hotline, emergency response team
BabelBark, Inc. announced the launch of Alpha Pack, the premium upgrade to its free BabelBark application. Alpha Pack provides benefits for pet owners including 24-hour access to a veterinary helpline and a lost and found emergency response team. Alpha Pack is available by subscription for $34.95/yr., giving pet owners dedicated 24/7 access to a veterinary medical hotline to answer medical questions or concerns through whiskerDocs, the leading provider of telehealth support for pet parents, and a dedicated 24/7 call center to report lost or found pets and emergency response team through SmartTag, the leader in pet protection and identification products in North America. Alpha Pack is a paid subscription service available through the BabelBark app. The BabelBark app can be downloaded for free on the app store or on Google Play.
Rubicon Scientific names Dr. Lionel Reilly as president
Rubicon Scientific LLC (Rubicon) announced the appointment of Dr. Lionel Reilly as its president. Effective immediately he will assume the day-to-day leadership of the company, according to a release. Dr. Reilly is a graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University. His resume includes being a U.S. Army veterinarian, veterinary practitioner, technical services veterinarian and animal health pharmaceutical researcher. In his career he built the largest privately owned veterinary products distribution cooperative, the release said. Since retiring, Dr. Reilly has been active in numerous new product development projects.
Petco announces it no longer sells food and treats containing artificial ingredients
Petco announced it has made good on its November 2018 promise to no longer sell food and treats containing artificial colors, flavors and preservatives for dogs and cats. “As of May 1, 2019, Petco is the first and only major retailer of pet food and treats to take a stand against such ingredients by removing dog and cat food products that do not meet its nutrition standards at more than 1,500 retail stores nationwide and online at Petco.com,” the company said in a release. The company worked closely with in-house and external veterinarians, nutritionists, and pet wellness experts to inform its decision and its new standards for pet nutrition. A full list of ingredients Petco has removed to date can be found here.
AAHA, VetBloom to launch exclusive AAHA member learning platform
VetBloom and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) announced the upcoming launch of the AAHA | Learning platform. Provided as an exclusive AAHA member benefit, the new platform will be powered and hosted by VetBloom, a digital learning ecosystem from Ethos Veterinary Health (Ethos). At launch, it will include access to more than 50 hours of non-sponsored RACE-approved technical CE for veterinarians and technicians.
Morris Animal Foundation receives $250K from Petco Foundation and Blue Buffalo Company for pet cancer research
The Petco Foundation and the Blue Buffalo Company are partnering to award a $250,000 grant to Morris Animal Foundation to fuel pet cancer research, specifically directing the gift to fund feline cancer studies. Since 2003, the two organizations have invested more than $7 million in the fight against pet cancer in dogs and cats at Morris Animal Foundation, the largest worldwide nonprofit advancing animal health. In the United States alone, more than 12 million pets are diagnosed with cancer every year. Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs over the age of two and the second leading cause of death in cats.


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Money transfer service provider MoneyGram has partnered with PicomoPay to enable US consumers to send funds to any of MoneyGram’s 336,000 agents around the world from the social payments provider’s Facebook application. “We are giving our consumers innovative options to send money for life’s essentials, however they want, wherever they want, whenever they want,” says MoneyGram’s Alex Hoffmann.
- Visa EMV transactions pass 1bn in the US
- Singapore banks add in-store QR code payments to mobile apps
- US Bank ties credit card points to mobile payments
- Mahindra Comviva explores the evolution of digital payments in India
- Amazon gets approval for digital wallet in India


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Toys “R” Us, the multicolored toy emporium, is seeking $3 billion in bankruptcy financing and is restructuring with over $5 billion in debt.
This is just the latest of 20+ brick-and-mortar retailers to declare Chapter 11 in 2017.
And with $6.6 billion in assets, the toy company is recording the second largest retail bankruptcy ever (behind Kmart, which held $16.3 billion in assets).
How we got here
The signs of an impending Chapter 11 have been lingering since early 2005 when Vornado Trust, Bain Capital, and KKR paid $6.6 billion to take Toys “R” Us private.
Since 1993, Walmart (11% market share of the toy business at the time) had been chipping away at Toys “R” Us’ 21% lead and cost advantage. So by the time the PE trio got their hands on it, Walmart had strengthened its grip further (Walmart—25% & Toys “R” Us—11%).
And while its time in the private market sparked a glimmer of hope with more stores and a stronger top line, the Amazon effect quickly began to take its toll. The retailer has posted five straight years of sales decline. Not to mention losing $36 million in 2016 on $11.5 billion in sales.
Toys “R” Us might look to focus on its best-performing domestic unit, Babies “R” Us, which contributes 35% of domestic revenue. That way it can better withstand the post-Christmas blues (holiday season accounts for 40% of the company’s sales).
Rest assured, you’ll still be able to get your hands on the new Easy-Bake Ultimate (yummy mixing pan included), but Toys “R” Us’ ecosystem of 1,700 stores and nearly 65,000 employees will start to look a little different. For starters, its stores will be reconfigured to be smaller and experience focused.
And with fewer shelves and more play area, maybe Mr. Potato Head still has a fighting chance.


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Booth number N25 at the BEGE show in Sofia, Bulgaria (November 20-21), will feature Crane Payment Innovations, showing together with TransAct Technologies.
CPI will show its cash and cashless portfolio, championing the cashless trends with over 500,000 cashless connections to its credit. Said Anette Jauch, CPI’s sales director of EMEA: “We are committed to anticipating the needs of our customers, embracing new technologies and designing the solutions that will shape the future of payment.
“Our mission is to remain at the forefront of innovation and help transform the industry with solutions and partnerships that deliver greater flexibility and profitability to our global customers. Our portfolio at BEGE will reflect this commitment.”
This year the company will feature the Ticket Purchasing Kiosk with CPI cashless technology, the eChoice card reader and the Alio all-in-one cashless payment device, the SC Advance banknote validator, the SCR Advance banknote recycler and the Easitrax Connect software platform.
The Alio card reader is the newest product, enabling all forms of electronic payment including magnetic swipe, chip reading and NFC as well as Apple Play, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.


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Internet pioneer Yahoo will soon be absorbed by Verizon Communications and known as Altaba, but for many people, the brand remains synonymous with the unique shade of purple in its logo.
While many companies invest plenty of money and time in choosing the right look and feel for their branding, a fireside chat from earlier this year revealed Yahoo’s colour selection was largely by accident.
Speaking with founders Jerry Yang and David Filo at Yahoo’s annual tech conference Tech Pulse, outgoing chief executive Marissa Mayer asked the founders how the Yahoo purple came to be.
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“We were purple before it was cool to be purple, now everybody’s purple,” Yang told listeners at the conference.
“I remember we were trying to paint the office, and we sent Filo out for paint and we told him, grey paint.”
“He came back with something that looked grey on the wall when we painted it, but when it dried it became purple.”
Watch the full clip from Tech Pulse is below.


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German Automakers must invest heavily in EV Technology: Altmaier
In the latest interview with Germany’s widely circulated Bild newspaper, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that it is imperative for the country’s automakers to make substantial investments in electric-vehicle (EV) technology in order to keep pace with their overseas rivals.
Altmaier specifically said that high “two-digit billion amounts” must be invested by German automotive industry in electric car technology; and added that he is unable to understand why the automakers have been hesitating till now to invest in EVs.
Along with highlighting the need for German automakers to invest profoundly in electric cars in order to compete against competitors across the world, Altmaier also stressed on the need for the German automotive industry to develop battery manufacturing plants in Europe.
With regard to the government’s efforts in encouraging German automakers to make EV investments and also venture into autonomous car technology, Altmaier said that the new coalition government in the country plans to ease the burden of tax on EV drivers, support battery cell production in the country, and provide funding for research into self-driving vehicle technology.
Expressing the opinion that German automakers should strive to develop the world’s best information technology platform for self-driving cars, Altmaier said: “The first safe self-driving cars must operate with German technology.”
European authorities are promoting green vehicles and many countries have already announced their plans to phase out diesel engine powered vehicles. German automakers will need to improve their offerings in electric vehicle segment in order to compete with the changing trends in automobile sector.
According to the indications from a recently-leaked image, car manufacturer Vauxhall has confirmed the release date and design of a new electrified version of its popular Corsa hatchback.
According to a recent disclosure by 22Motors, one of the notable high-tech features of the company’s ‘Flow’ electric scooter will be a ‘pothole mapping and warning’ feature, which will enable riders to better avoid road potholes or to altogether a
At BMW’s recently-held annual press conference, company chairman Harald Krüger announced that a “number of pure-electric concept vehicles” will be unveiled by the automaker in 2018.
In a move which will apparently enhance the overall appeal of the small Jaguar E-PACE 2018 SUV, the automaker has recently introduced some notable new updates to the vehicle.
Japanese automaker Nissan has recently released the first photos of a dazzling new standalone streetlight which will be powered by old Leaf battery packs and solar modules.
In a disclosure which highlights BMW’s commitment to bring new ‘green’ vehicles to the market, the automaker has revealed that by the year 2025, it will offer 25 different models of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles across the globe.


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Microsoft has been banging on about how the Xbox 360 is an entertainment centre rather than a dedicated games console over the last few months, and it appears that their gambit is paying off. According to their latest figures, players spend more time watching films or listening to music than playing online multiplayer.
The recently-released statistics state that Xbox Live users spend an average of 84 hours a month using Xbox Live services (a 30% increase on last year) - and over half of that is spent using entertainment apps like Netflix, Zune or on-demand television. Of course, it's worth noting that these numbers don't include singleplayer or local cooperative gaming. [L.A. Times]
Xbox Live recently received the long-awaited BBC iPlayer app after months of painful deliberation (and arguments about whether to charge for it, no doubt).


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Weekly Gaming Recap #7 Jan. 9th – Smite, Conan Exiles, Project Ariana & More!
JamesBl0nde returns with the weekly gaming news summary for the week of January 9th, 2017 (Jan 2nd – Jan. 9th).
Videos You May Enjoy
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In a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that artificial intelligence (AI) is a fundamental technology and that Apple is heavily investing in generative AI. Cook’s remarks shed light on Apple’s commitment to incorporating AI into its products and services, emphasizing the growing importance of this technology in shaping the future.
Cook acknowledged the significant role of AI in transforming industries, stating, “AI is, in my view, the most important technology that anybody has ever worked on.” This statement reflects a broader realization within the tech industry that AI has immense potential to revolutionize various sectors, ranging from healthcare to transportation.
Apple has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and Cook’s confirmation of investments in generative AI reaffirms the company’s dedication to staying ahead in the AI race. Generative AI refers to systems that create content, such as images, text, or audio, with the ability to mimic human creativity. By investing in this technology, Apple is seeking to enhance the user experience and deliver even more personalized and engaging products.
It is important to note that Apple has already integrated AI capabilities into its devices through features like Siri, which has become an integral part of the Apple ecosystem. However, Cook’s remarks suggest that the company has much more in store regarding AI integration, and they are determined to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Generative AI has already shown promising results in various fields. For instance, it has been used to create realistic images of non-existing people, enabling the development of fictional characters or even better visual effects in movies. Additionally, generative AI can aid in language translation, enhancing speech recognition accuracy, and even help develop novel drug compounds in the pharmaceutical industry. Apple’s investment in generative AI indicates their ambition to exploit these applications and foster even more groundbreaking innovations.
However, Cook also stressed the importance of privacy when it comes to AI. He highlighted Apple’s commitment to protecting users’ data and ensuring that AI is developed ethically. This emphasis on privacy aligns with the company’s longstanding practice of prioritizing user security and data protection.
As Apple continues to invest in generative AI, users can expect to see AI-driven advancements that will enrich their experiences with Apple products. These developments may include more intuitive and context-aware virtual assistants, enhanced photo and video editing tools, as well as more accurate language translation capabilities.
Tim Cook’s acknowledgment of AI as a fundamental technology and Apple’s investments in generative AI underline the company’s commitment to innovation and staying at the cutting edge of AI development. As AI continues to permeate various industries and aspects of our lives, Apple is determined to leverage this groundbreaking technology to redefine user experiences and shape the future.


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Google providing live customer care, 24/7 support for Pixel phone users
While introducing the new Pixel smartphones at their October 4th event, Google introduced a new customer support tool exclusive to ‘Google phone’ owners – 24/7 customer support.
Sabrina Ellis of the Pixel software team took the stage to tell us about a few new features of the two sizes of Pixel phones, running Android Nougat, talking about auto updates and battery life, live customer care will be exclusive to Pixel owners with, as mentioned, 24/7 customer support right from the phone.
Available as Phone or Chat support, Google took a page out of Amazon’s play book, there is a screen share function as well, allowing the support tech to view your screen to help solve your problems. In addition, we’re waiting on the new website self support pages to pop up, but for all you Nexus users out there, head over to Nexus Help Center to solve some of your more basic how-to questions.
Simple and easy customer support is not new for Google, Project Fi users have enjoyed rapid access to support personnel from within the app on the phone as well. We’re happy to see this level of support rolling out to more Google users.
For those following along the event, the next tool was a built-in transfer tool from iOS – shots fired!
Stay tuned for more Google launch event news, and be sure that we’ll put this feature to good use and let you know how it goes.


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Yahoo announced today [Oct. 13] it has launched a global online yodel search as part of its global $100 million "It's Y!ou" brand campaign that debuted last month. Yahoo EVP and CMO Elisa Steele said, in a statement, "It's essentially a unique form of user generated content that honors the millions of people who visit Yahoo every day."
Yahoo announced on August 24 it has updated its Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger products, and it is testing a new search results page. The new search results page is designed to be consistent with the Yahoo homepage design and also features so-called intelligent search results that take prior searches into account when delivering results.
Company of the Week
Founded in September 2009, Stirista is an integrated marketing agency that specializes in micro-targeting via traditional and digital channels. Our mission is to help companies, non-profits, and universities alike find new prospects and better understand their existing contacts. We are on the preferred vendor list for a handful of Fortune 500 companies with three of the ten largest companies in the world turning to us for marketing insights. To put it simply, we're young (at least at heart), ambitious, and sometimes impulsive-but always hungry for new ideas.
Founded in September 2009, Stirista is an integrated marketing agency that specializes in ...


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The world’s 500 richest people lost a combined $139 billion Monday as markets buckled amid fears that the coronavirus will hammer the global economy.
It’s the biggest wealth drop for the group since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index began tracking that figure in October 2016. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each dropped more than 3% on the day, the most in more than two years, as authorities struggled to contain the virus.
Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury-goods maker LVMH, and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos led the declines, with each losing more than $4.8 billion. Amancio Ortega, chief executive officer of Zara parent Inditex SA, tumbled $4 billion, and the fortunes of everyone else in the top 10 slid by at least $2.3 billion.
China, where the virus originated, makes up 40% of the global market for luxury goods. Paris-based LVMH increased its Asia share excluding Japan to 30% last year from 15% in 2002.
The market declines hit the stocks of cruise-line operators particularly hard, with Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. each dropping about 9%.
Carnival Chairman Micky Arison’s net worth fell $406 million to $10.6 billion. Hundreds of people who were aboard Carnival’s Diamond Princess in Japan tested positive for the virus.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Europe’s first big Covid-19 outbreak roils global markets
—Billionaires are donating to fight China’s coronavirus
—94% of Fortune 1000 are seeing coronavirus supply chain disruptions
—Coronavirus misinformation is fueled by government mistrust
—Coronavirus may be the straw that breaks the back of oil fracking
Subscribe to Fortune’s Brainstorm Health for daily updates on biopharma and health care.


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IOWA CITY — Proponents of clean energy see electric cars as a major piece in the battle against climate change.
For the second year, the Iowa City Farmers Market will offer an opportunity for people to talk to local owners of electric vehicles, during the Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019, market.
Related: Find times and locations of more than 50 Eastern Iowa Farmers Markets
Learn more from the National Drive Electric Week Organizing Committee:
A group of local electric car owners will have a booth at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market on Saturday, September 14 from 7:30 a.m. to noon. During this time, interested people will be able to ask questions, get information and take a look at electric vehicles.
This event is part of National Drive Electric Week, September 14-22, 2019. It is a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today’s widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlights the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars. They are less expensive and more convenient to fuel than gasoline vehicles, are better for the environment, promote local jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and are fun to drive. Are you considering going electric? Come talk to car owners who have successfully done so.
Mike Carberry of Green State Solutions sees electric vehicles as an important part of the solution to our environmental problems. He is the owner of an electric Chevy Volt and says, “to solve the climate crisis we must quickly move to a 100% renewable energy electric economy. Our transportation sector needs to catch up with our efforts in wind and solar power. Electric vehicles (EV’s) need to lead the charge in electrifying our economy.”
Thanks to federal and state rebates and tax credits, decreasing prices in electric vehicle technology and the cheaper price of electricity compared to gasoline, the cost of owning and operating an electric vehicle is notably lower than that of many conventional vehicles. It’s also cleaner. In every region of the country, EV’s are lower in carbon and other dangerous emissions than average conventional cars, even after factoring in the emissions from the electricity they use.
Most new fully electric vehicles can drive 70 to 100 miles, with some current models going 200+ miles, on one charge. This is sufficient for most car trips. If you often drive long-distance, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles run on electricity until their battery runs out of charge, followed by gasoline. Imagine never or rarely going to a gas station again! Most EV’s are charged at home overnight.
Craig Mosher who lives at Prairie Hill, Iowa City’s new cohousing community says, “I love driving my all-electric Nissan LEAF. It is quick, quiet, very responsive and rides quite smoothly too. It’s wonderful to pass by gas stations and have almost no routine maintenance. In two years I haven’t had a single repair or maintenance bill. Our rooftop solar panels power my EV.”
Marc Franke from Ely who was an engineer for General Motors also owns an electric Nissan LEAF. He powers his vehicle from solar panels he installed on his property. “I’ve driven my car for nearly 6 years and the only routine maintenance has been tires and checking the suspension. There are no filters, hoses, belts, pumps, mufflers, emission controls and not even a drop of motor oil.”
Local electric car owners who will be at the booth at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market include:
Mike Carberry-Chevy Volt
Jennifer Jordan-Smart fortwo
Craig Mosher-Nissan LEAF
Marc Franke-Nissan LEAF
Charlene Lange-Chevy Spark
Carrie and Corey Houchins-Witt-Nissan LEAF
Blair Frank and Mary Kirkpatrick-Chevy Volt


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J&J Ventures Acquires Illinois Gaming Systems, LLC
April 27, 2021 – J&J Ventures Gaming, LLC announces its acquisition of Illinois Gaming Systems, LLC. located in Naperville, IL. In the transaction, J&J Ventures Gaming is purchasing all gaming operations of Illinois Gaming Systems, who excels in service, operations, and marketing in the gaming industry. With this purchase, J&J now serves nearly 3,300 locations in gaming and amusements.
“Service and integrity are integral qualities of J&J. The integration of the IGS team allows us to strengthen these aspects and provide more to our partner locations as well as the J&J team. We are honored to welcome all IGS customers and employees and look forward to new relationships,” said J&J Ventures CEO, Bob Willenborg.
“We are extremely excited about integrating with one of the largest and most respected terminal operators in Illinois. This powerful combination will provide additional resources and growth to our IGS family,” stated COO Chris Cunning.
IGS and its affiliates in Oregon and West Virginia have specialized in the operation and development of the highest grossing video gaming retail establishments throughout the United States since 1992. IGS affiliates in Oregon and West Virginia operate and own video gaming establishments, just like IGS clients in Illinois. Wells Fargo and Stone Canyon Capital Advisors served as financial advisors to Illinois Gaming Systems.
The Illinois Video Gaming Act was enacted and approved by Illinois lawmakers in 2009 to help raise funds to repair schools and fix roads. State and municipalities share in the revenue generated through gaming. J&J Gaming was one of the first terminal operators to be licensed in Illinois in January of 2012 and went ‘live’ in October of 2012.
J&J Ventures Gaming and J&J Ventures Amusements are headquartered in Effingham, Illinois, where their predecessor, J&J Ventures, Inc., began route operations in 1929. Today, J&J Ventures Gaming provides unparalleled expertise in gaming management and route operations to the video gaming industry. J&J Ventures Amusements is a leading operator for dart machines, pool tables, jukeboxes, ATM, etc. To learn more about both, visit www.jjventures.com.
For a full list of gaming locations, click below.
Comments are closed.


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And the fact that Rioja continues to be a UK favourite is positive, according to Alex Canneti, business development manager of PLB Wines.
“Rioja drives the category. If Rioja does well, Spanish wine does well,” said Canneti.
PLB, a leading supplier of Spanish wines to UK supermarkets, has been working closely with Spanish producers to get the labelling right for the UK consumer, which Canneti said had required large amounts of initial investment but had been beneficial.
Working to promote the message of variety at the event, Spanish wine critic José Peñín
gave his recommendations of the best brands produced from the 10 main Spanish grape varieties, which include Mencia and Temperanillo grapes.
Key to driving the category in the UK, said Canneti, is the association of wine with food, which is working well for Spain and Italy, but less so for France.
Joanna Haycock, international marketing manager at United Wineries, noted: “The increasing interest in Spanish food means that we can start to push the off-trade, our main focus, through the on-trade.”


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Apple's WWDC Keynote kicks off at 10am PT, 1pm ET.
Apple's press release revealed their talking points: MacOSX 10.7 Lion, iOS5, and iCloud.
Apple has gone out of it's way to make sure people know this is a software focused event, and with the above to discuss, I'd be surprised if it's less than 2 hours. There has been some speculation about a new TimeCapsue, which will integrate with whatever iCloud turns out to be, but this is all base rumour at this stage.
There hasn't been any announcement of a live stream of the keynote, but Apple doesn't typically give much notice. So we may still see it in the next few hours [if at all]. Otherwise, I've typically found the best live-blogs to be:


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Bad news for the prospective buyers of the upcoming 911 GT2 RS, as Porsche has reportedly already sold the entire production run. The new king of the 911 range was always going to be offered in limited numbers, but so far we didn’t know exactly how many of them would hit the roads. Auto Bild reports that the new GT2 RS will be produced in 1,000 examples, all of which are already spoken for.
Porsche traditionally reserved the GT2 RS moniker for the big daddy of each generation of the 911. The recipe is simple enough: take a 911 Turbo, give it more power, an extreme aero agenda and the most hardcore of chassis components and, as a final touch, revert it back to rear-wheel drive to get the adrenaline flowing.
The new 911 GT2 RS has already made an unexpected public debut during the Forza Motosport 7 event, revealing for the first time its final production silhouette. No information was given about what’s hiding underneath its race-car bodywork, but according to the latest reports, Porsche is going to honor the Widowmaker nickname with some serious numbers.
The twin-turbo 3.8-litre flat-six engine will make 700PS (690hp) and 553 lb-ft (750Nm) of peak torque and is mated exclusively to a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission. The 0-62mph (0-100 km/h) sprint will take only 2.9 seconds, with the top speed set at 212mph (340km/h).
The first cars will be delivered this autumn and prices start at around €260,000 in Germany ($289k in current exchange rates).


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By Sean Delaney
Vaughan Tire and Automotive Centre is a family run company that looks forward to becoming a bigger part of the Emery Village business community. Although the reliable and comprehensive servicing site is already a big part of the largest collection of businesses in the GTA.
Aly Jamani, General Manager of Vaughan has been involved in the business for approximately a year after accepting an invite from his father in law.
“The building has been here since 1993, and I came in earlier this year,” he said.
He has taken on co-ownership with his father in law, and said the plan is to continue to provide their quality and reliable service, while growing their community involvement.
“We do all kinds of makes and models, repairs, diagnostics, oil changes, anything you need,” Jamani said. “And we’re looking to be a bigger part of the community.”
They already sponsor some local sports teams but Jamani said he wants to add to the “fun experience” he has enjoyed so far.
“There’s an incredible amount of potential here. We love the community. I deal with everybody and have had a really good experience.”
In Emery, he said, they have a diverse and engaged customer base that brings a new and exciting experience with every job.
Tires bring them in a wealth of business during the winter months, as they get a lot of business on change overs and repairs, Jamani said, but they pride themselves in their automotive ability, as mechanics is their true specialty.
“Obviously the tire aspect takes over when we have weather that’s intermittent but even though very important, it’s a fraction of what we do,” he said. “Everything when the tires come off, like suspension and brakes, that’s our main focus. We make sure people are ready to be on the roads, and safe on those roads.”
Vaughan Tire and Automotive Centre is at 5401 Steeles Ave. W, 416-741-2097.


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On its first birthday, Amazon's MP3 store remains the second-largest online music service behind the iTunes Store. Unfortunately, it's a very distant second: Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster is projecting Amazon will sell just 130 million tracks in 2008, which is nothing compared with the 2.4 billion songs iTunes is expected to ring up this year, as Reuters reports.
"The market share has remained relatively stable throughout the year," NPD Group analyst Russ Crupnick said in the report. "I didn't see anything out there that would be a major game-changer. I'm not all that surprised."
To be sure, the landscape is littered with failed online music services, so Amazon's relative success is still noteworthy. Even stalwarts like Napster and Rhapsody have struggled in the face of the iTunes Store, which is the number one music retailer in the U.S. of any kind, physical or onine—even ahead of Wal-Mart and Best Buy. (Amazon is number four, though that's also counting Amazon's huge CD business; iTunes is digital only.)
Amazon MP3 has several advantages over the iTunes Store: its DRM-free MP3 tracks cost less, sound better (due to their 256 Kbps encoding), and play on any MP3 player, cell phone, or car stereo. As a result, I always check Amazon first to see if they have what I want before heading to the iTunes Store. But while I normally don't mind Amazon's user interface and recommendation engine, I find it clumsy and disorganized when buying music tracks. It also lacks iTunes extensive music discovery options (such as Apple's excellent iTunes Essentials lists).
Next year could prove even better for Amazon MP3, since the company recently signed a broad agreement with MySpace Music. But that might not be enough; currently its online music market share is just eight percent (even at second place), compared with over 70 percent for the iTunes Store.


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Welcome to Technicalconnexion Friends, a big update has come from PUBG that Krafton has announced through its official website that PUBG New State is going to be released in India. PUBG New State Pre Registration has also started in India, although it is not yet known when it will be released in India but will come very soon.
What is PUBG New State Pre Registration
As you know that PUBG Mobile is banned in India, then Krafton has come out with a new battle royale game PUBG: New State which will be released in India as well.
In this too, 100 players like PUBG MOBILE will enter the game and fight each other with different weapons and strategies, until one team is the “last man standing”. PUBG: New State has also told that in this game Ultra-realistic graphics, dynamic gunplay, drones, combat roles, and much more.
PUBG: New State Official Trailer.
How to do PUBG New State Pre Registration in India?
Players who want to do PUBG New State Pre Registration, then this is the process, first of all, they have to go to their Google Play Store or Apple App Store, then they will have to search in the search bar PUBG New State to pre-register in front of you as soon as you search. The option will come for you can do it. After pre-registering, you will get a message as soon as the game is launched. If you want the game to be installed by you as soon as it comes, then it will also have an option, you can turn it on.
PUBG Mobile New State Official Website
This is the official website of PUBG: New State is https://newstate.pubg.com/en, in this you will get all the new news and updates of PUBG: New State, which you can visit if you want.
My self Shravan Kumar the founder and author of technicalconnexion.com. A 19-years old struggling student by Education and part-time Blogger | Affiliate Marketer by passion. So, basically the reason behind choosing this online career is that I don’t have any further Intrest in this traditional education.


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Investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky business, but there are strategies you can use to limit the chance of disaster.
Storj is a decentralized system of distributed object storing, which keeps information encrypted. Storj is based on Bitcoin’s blockchain technology and peer-to-peer protocol in order to provide safe and efficient cloud storage. Besides that, the cloud storage company has issued its own Storj tokens (STORJ) similar to other cryptocurrencies. The main idea of the Storj coin is to allow users to lease unused space on a hard drive as a way to gain profit. The Storj ICO was conducted in 2017 and, before the ICO, the project had been becoming more and more popular, with Storj’s price growing more than 10 percent. The company also offers two types of Storj wallets for cryptocurrency, one of which is based on blockchain and the second option is available at Freewallet. Storj mining happens when space on a hard drive is leased.
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