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Welcome to Publishing Pulse, your weekly source for industry updates in online publishing. Stay informed about the latest trends and breakthroughs in the ad ecosystem, content creation, SEO, AI technology, and monetization.
If you prefer to listen to industry news, you can tune in to The Publisher Lab podcast. New episodes are released weekly on Thursday.
Microsoft Bing’s Incremental Rise Against Google Dominance
Over the past year, Microsoft Bing has slightly increased its search market share both in the U.S. and globally, although Google remains the dominant player in the search engine market. Despite introducing the new Bing, powered by ChatGPT for Search, there hasn’t been a significant shift in the search market landscape, prompting questions about the impact of generative AI on search engine competition.
According to StatCounter data comparing February 2023 to January 2024, Microsoft Bing’s U.S. search market share rose from 6.35% to 7.87%, and globally, it increased from 2.81% to 3.43%. Conversely, Google’s U.S. search market share declined from 88.96% to 87.46%; worldwide, it decreased from 93.37% to 91.47%.
The data indicates a marginal exchange of market share between Bing and Google in the U.S., with Google losing 1.5 percentage points while Bing gained less than a percentage point. Globally, Google lost nearly 2 percentage points, but Bing only gained a fraction of that. Despite Microsoft’s optimism about potential revenue gains from increased market share, Google has responded to the new Bing with its Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Gemini model, signaling ongoing innovation in search technology.
On The Publisher Lab, Tyler and Manny discuss how publishers can interpret shifts in market share between Bing and TikTok. Tyler notes that Bing’s market share, which he recalls being around 4.3% some years ago, has nearly doubled over the past 5 or 6 years.
Listen to the full podcast episode here.
OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 to Introduce Watermarking for Image Provenance and Authenticity
OpenAI’s image generator DALL-E 3 is set to integrate watermarks into image metadata, aligning with standards advocated by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). These watermarks, visible in images generated through the ChatGPT website and the DALL-E 3 API, will feature both invisible metadata and a visible CR symbol, slated to be implemented for mobile users by February 12th.
The initiative aims to bolster the traceability and authenticity of AI-generated content, allowing users to verify image provenance through platforms like Content Credentials Verify. However, the watermarking solution is limited to still images, excluding videos or text. While OpenAI assures minimal impact on latency and image quality, the move underscores broader efforts within the industry to address the challenges of misinformation and establish trust in digital content.
Microsoft Copilot Unveils New Features for Enhanced User Experience and Accessibility
Microsoft Copilot has unveiled a series of enhancements aimed at streamlining user experience and expanding its capabilities. Among the updates is a revamped homepage design, which offers a more intuitive navigation experience by showcasing a carousel of suggested prompts to highlight the platform’s functionalities. One notable addition is the integration of inline editing for AI-generated images directly within Copilot, eliminating the need for external design programs. This feature grants users convenient one-click access to design tools, enabling them to customize images effortlessly by adjusting colors, blurring backgrounds, and applying filter effects. Additionally, Copilot now boasts AI-generated video highlights with timestamps, facilitating easy navigation to specific segments within videos, and is compatible with popular platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
These updates represent Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to enhance Copilot’s accessibility and usability, catering to users in various English-speaking regions, including the U.S., UK, Australia, India, and New Zealand. Despite the advancements, Copilot remains free to use and supports multiple web browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Moreover, users can conveniently access Copilot’s features on mobile devices by downloading the corresponding app from the iOS or Android platforms, further extending its accessibility and utility across different devices and operating systems.
OpenAI Introduces Memory Feature for ChatGPT
OpenAI is introducing a memory feature for ChatGPT, enhancing the chatbot’s ability to remember user preferences and personalize responses. This significant update allows ChatGPT to store information about individual users’ preferences and tailor its interactions accordingly, leading to a more engaging and customized user experience.
Initially available to a limited number of free and paid ChatGPT Plus subscribers, the memory feature enables users to give custom instructions, view stored memories, and control the storage and deletion of personal data. OpenAI emphasizes user privacy and safety, allowing users to opt in or out of the memory feature and providing control over the use of their feedback for model training. This update reflects OpenAI’s commitment to improving user satisfaction and addressing privacy concerns in AI-driven interactions.
The Clash Between Big AI and Small AI in Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence
The future of AI development is being shaped by contrasting paradigms known as “Big AI” and “small AI,” each presenting distinct visions for the evolution of artificial intelligence. “Big AI” aims to create expansive digital minds, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Conversely, proponents of “small AI” advocate for deploying specialized AI models tailored for specific tasks or domains, foreseeing more efficient outcomes than pursuing AGI. This divide reflects broader trends in the tech industry, where there’s a tension between scaling up to reach larger audiences and the movement towards miniaturization and personalization, as evidenced by the widespread use of powerful smartphones today.
The ongoing debate among experts revolves around the effectiveness and potential risks associated with these differing approaches, with regulatory decisions from Washington poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of AI development. While looser regulations may favor the proliferation of small AI, tighter regulations could bolster the development of big AI. Ultimately, the resolution of this conflict will hinge not only on technological advancements but also on the regulatory frameworks governing AI development and deployment, with significant implications for industry dynamics and societal impacts.
Google Faces Jury Trial Over Alleged Digital Advertising Dominance Abuse
Google is gearing up for a jury trial on September 9, facing accusations of abusing its dominance in digital advertising technology, as brought forward by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states. Denying the allegations, Google warns that a successful lawsuit could stifle innovation, increase advertising costs, and hinder the growth of small businesses and publishers. The trial’s outcome could potentially lead to significant changes in Google’s operations, impacting publishers, advertisers, and users. However, the exact repercussions remain uncertain, with Google pledging to vigorously defend its services, emphasizing their benefits to the digital ecosystem. Despite logistical challenges postponing the trial from July to September, the Justice Department remains committed to challenging Google’s market power abuse, highlighting its alleged detrimental effects on the open internet and advertising costs. This trial is part of a broader legal landscape for Google, including upcoming proceedings in Texas and ongoing cases in Washington, D.C., regarding its dominance in web search.
TikTok Promotes Search Feature with Home Screen Shortcut Prompt
TikTok has launched a new interstitial prompt urging users to add a shortcut to the platform’s search page on their device home screens, as part of its ongoing efforts to highlight the significance of its search feature, especially among Gen Z users. With TikTok increasingly becoming a go-to platform for information discovery, the initiative aims to underscore that TikTok serves as an entertainment hub and a valuable tool for finding information, products, and services.
Image Source: Search Engine Land
As TikTok’s user base continues to grow, boasting 170 million active users in the U.S. and nearly 2 billion globally, enhancing the search functionality is strategically crucial for better serving its diverse audience. In China, where TikTok is known as “Douyin,” the robust search feature enables users to locate local businesses and restaurants and even order food directly from the app, showcasing the potential for expanded search capabilities worldwide on TikTok.
Meta Introduces Labels for AI-Generated Images on Facebook and Instagram
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced plans to label images created by AI on its platforms. This decision comes in response to the increasing popularity of AI image-generation tools and the need to distinguish between human-made and AI-created content. Meta’s strategy involves implementing visible markers, invisible watermarks, and embedded metadata to differentiate AI-generated images.
Image Source: Search Engine Journal
Users will be required to disclose when media is generated by AI, aligning with recommendations from the Partnership on AI. Over the next year, Meta will analyze user engagement with labeled AI content to shape its long-term approach and leverage detection tools to label AI content from other providers. This move underscores the importance of authenticity and transparency in AI image creation for businesses and social media marketers, emphasizing the need to understand audience preferences, monitor user sentiment, and stay informed about synthetic media detection tools and standards.


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EBIC hails the expected agreement on the regulation as a substantial step forward on the path to a well-functioning innovative regulatory framework for bringing novel, bio-based, and sustainable products such as biostimulants to market.
On 12 November 2018, the European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) elected a new President Luca Bonini, CEO and owner of Italpollina, a founding member of EBIC.
Decision makers must provide fertile ground for EU's continued leadership in the biostimulant industry by adopting regulation according to the current state of negotiations and building in an iterative revision process to continue improving and refining the regulation.
Yara International recently joined EBIC, raising EBIC’s membership to 57.
EBIC joined the voices commenting on the draft FAO Code of Conduct for the Use and Management of Fertilizers. FAO is the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
In its new policy paper, “The crucial role of the bioeconomy in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals”, the European Bioeconomy Alliance (EBA) describes the crucial role the bioeconomy plays across the three pillars of sustainable development: environmental, societal and…
Speakers from the US Biological Products Industry Alliance (BPIA), the Standardization Administration of the P.R. China (SAC), and industry, all agreed today that Europe has been a pioneer in developing biostimulants. F
The European Biostimulants Industry Council welcomed AlgaEnergy as a new member of its dynamic and rapidly growing community of companies active in Europe.
“I cannot remember a moment when science was so damaged by an emotional approach and where facts don’t count anymore,” emphasized COCERAL Secretary General Teresa Babuscio, speaking to a room of over 60 biostimulant experts.
The European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) welcomes todays adoption of the report of the EU Fertilizing product regulation by the plenary of the European Parliament.

domain: news


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Go get it right now!
It’s the first week of September and you know what that means right? 2K Sports has finally released the prelude demo for their upcoming basketball title, NBA 2K18. The demo is currently out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as gamers get a brief glimpse of the action before it arrives in full next Friday. Fans of the series can choose between three modes: Begin MyCARER, 2KU and MyPLAYER.
While a traditional 5-minute quarter arena game isn’t available; the 2KU section allows players to play in a gym-set exhibition game as the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the game due out on September 15th, we’re sure many gamers will find hidden gems of new gameplay features added this season, as well as figuring out how to work this new damn shot meter.
Let us know which system you’re playing it on, and if it’s big leap in comparison to last season.


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Apple Says It Will Sit Out Macworld
Irked by the producer's plans to move the East Coast edition to Boston from New York, Apple says it may exhibit at neither.The producer of Macworld Conference & Expo on Thursday made official its plans to move the summer installment of the show back to its Boston birthplacebut Apple Computer said it wont be along for the ride. IDG World Expo said that starting in July 2004, the annual East Coast event will be held at the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. For July 2003, it will return to New Yorks Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where IDG moved the show in 1998 after 13 years in Boston, reportedly at the behest of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Apple lost no time in lambasting the move, which for months has been the subject of intense negotiations between IDG and the cities of Boston and New York. "Today IDG announced plans to move Macworld New York to Boston in July of 2004. Apple disagrees with this decision, and will not be participating in Macworld Boston," the Cupertino, Calif., company said in a statement.


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Nokia, already a stakeholder in mobile OS maker Symbian, has announced that it will buy the remainder of the company and throw all the assets into a new platform called the Symbian Foundation, which will unite all the flavors of Symbian into a single, common software platform that will go open source in two years. Major mobile players such as Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone have all signed on.
The story is not that this happened but why — and what it means for the mobile industry. You can read my analysis below the fold.
Symbian to me is like a football, constantly being kicked around and forever finding new goal posts.
Its genesis can be traced back to Psion, a company that made handheld computers long before they became fashionable. Now those machines are called converged mobile devices, a market the Symbian Foundation is going to target. Ironic…isn’t it?
What is being sold today as the Symbian Foundation is actually what Symbian used to be, a for-profit company that made an operating system used by a diverse group of handset makers. That was before Nokia and Sony Ericsson got their corporate knickers in a twist and decided that they wanted to build their own version of Symbian (S60, UIQ, etc.).
That divergence might have made sense when the mobile world was less complicated, divvied up amongst a handful of players that worked hand-in-glove with the carriers to make a ton of money. Today anyone can make mobile phones using off-the-shelf components, factories in Asia and instead focusing almost entirely on design, user experience and software.
Here is a quick rundown of the realities of today’s mobile business:
- Handset makers need to accelerate the release of their phones much faster than the current 12-to-18 month production cycles or run the risk of getting RAZR-d into oblivion, like Motorola.
- Phones are now a fashion business in that you’re only as good as your last model. Phone makers need to release new models as quickly (if not faster) as Parisian couture makers if they want to remain hot and gain sizable share of the handset market.
- They subsequently can’t afford to muck around with proprietary software platforms that can take months to be approved by the mobile carriers.
- Carriers want standardization because they want to deploy applications quickly, without having to test them on different handsets — a slow and laborious process.
- Users want high-end, smartphone-like features on low-end phones.
Mobile makers can easily adapt to — and thrive in — these new realities by taking a platform approach to their software stack. Over the past year or so we’ve seen the emergence of many platforms. Here is a list of some (not all) of the platforms vying for a dominant position, including my personal odds, based on talks with mobile industry insiders.
The PC industry went through a similar gut-wrenching change in which cheap components, the rise of OS platforms and extreme competition gutted certain players while others earned billions of dollars. The biggest prize went, unsurprisingly, to platform owner Microsoft — which didn’t merely sell an OS, but relentlessly wooed developers to write applications for its platform to make it more useful.
Guess who’s doing exactly that these days? Steve Jobs, of course. Last week, when comparing Samsung’s Instinct with Apple’s iPhone, BusinessWeek columnist Stephen H. Wildstorm summed up his drubbing of Instinct with what is the single most important truism of today’s mobile world: “Yes, good hardware design is critical. But in the end, it’s the software that really makes the difference.”
Indeed, the mobile industry’s old guard is experiencing the business equivalent of heartburn as players like Apple prove that software platforms, and the innovation they foster, are the only way to withstand the whiplash-inducing forces of commoditization.
Apple’s iPhone might be a pipsqueak in terms of market share, but it is an agent of change. It has taken the mobile business by the scruff of its neck, given it a thorough shake and in the process, rearranged its entire business structure. A few months ago, I spoke with senior officials at Symbian, who quite bravely argued that they weren’t worried about Apple or anybody else. They pointed to their big market share, thanks to Nokia’s success with its N-Series and E-Series phones. They talked about getting adoption for their platform in Japan.
But it was false bravado, for Apple, LiMo and Google are forcing them to change their game — not the other way around. Symbian’s even going open source in order to compete with mobile Linux. (Read OStatic’s take on Symbian Going Open Source.)
In this platform game, the winner is going to be the one that can attract the most developers. Symbian has a lot of developers but as the chart shows, those developers also have options. (As an aside, does anyone else think that Palm blew an opportunity to leverage their developer network and apps into a bigger position in the market?)
Looking for outside help is a good thing, but I’m not counting on the Symbian Foundation’s ability to achieve its lofty goals. In terms of market share, Symbian has long been propped up by Nokia. The problem is, Nokia is backing a confusing array of platforms, including Linux. Same goes for the foundation’s other members.
And that makes me wonder how long their loyalty to this platform is going to last. Will they change their commitments once they’re faced with the needs of their own, individual businesses? Will this be enough to get developers to commit to the platform? Those are just some of the many questions facing Nokia and Symbian — the answers to which are not what these guys want to hear.


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April 15, 2022
The Honest Kitchen, TellTail, Wagr
🐶 Industry News
– The US pet industry grew 14% to $123 billion in 2021, according to market research firm Packaged Facts. This is well above the 10% gain we saw in 2020. Food and treats, the largest segment of pet spending, hit $51 billion last year.
– Elanco, the world’s second largest animal health company, is launching a new business called BiomEdit, that will create therapeutics for pets based on microbiome science (the bacteria and other microbes that live inside all humans and animals).
– A judge threw out a lawsuit from IBM against Chewy that claimed the online pet retailer’s website and mobile app violated several IBM patents. Chewy had previously rejected a $36 million licensing offer
💰 Financing & Deals
• The Honest Kitchen, a San Diego maker of human-grade pet food, landed a $150 million investment from Monarch Alternative Capital. Founded in 2002, the 75-employee company saw sales increase by 40% last year. The company sells its dog and cat food online and in over 6,000 retail locations.
• TellTail, a Los Angles startup creating a platform for pet breeders, closed a $3.4 million Seed round. The company was founded last year by a pair of MIT grad students.
• Wagr, an Indian company that offers pet telehealth services has secured a $550,000 round to create the first GPS tracker for the country.


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New Microsoft products exciting, vibrant and ambitious, says CEO Steve Ballmer
It must be hard being the chief executive of a company like Microsoft, Apple or Google. These firms are under so much pressure to deliver the best, forward-thinking, innovative technology there is.
People want to be presented with products and services that they never even thought were possible. Every one of these companies is constantly trying to outdo their competitors and release options that will set them apart from the others.
If they get it right, they will reap the rewards. However if they get it wrong customers are likely to move on to the next firm that will provide them with exactly what they need.
So a lot of pressure rides on getting it right, and being able to deliver a product that is exceptional.
The chief executive of Microsoft Steve Ballmer sounds pretty confident that his company's next suite of services is right, if not perfect.
The much anticipated Windows 8 is set to be released in October 2012, and apparently the next version of Microsoft Office is going to be the best yet.
Yesterday (July 16), the multinational company unveiled a customer preview of the new Office, which looks to make the most of the latest global trends – cloud computing and smartphone and tablet technology.
Mr Ballmer spoke about the latest service in a news conference and was confident that users would benefit from the new and improved version.
"This is the most ambitious release of Microsoft Office that we've ever done," he said, as reported by Reuters.
"We have the most exciting, vibrant version of Windows in years," he added.
With the new Office, people will be able to access their original content freely and easily, with cloud services, touch screen capabilities and a myriad of other exciting features.
Platforms that Microsoft has acquired such as Yammer and Skype also have a part to play.
The preview is available for download on the company's website.
Posted by Jess O'Connor


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The private jet operator said U.S. flight hours jumped 39% last year driven by its flexible, global version of a jet card program
VistaJet reported 2017 flight revenue rose by 22% driven by the continued popularity of its subscription business model, VistaJet’s version of a jet card. The company also reported its EBITDA jumped by 28% driven by its “scalable infrastructure and technological advantage.” The company has posted year-over-year organic compounded revenue growth of over 18% between 2008 and 2017, it said.
The Airstream Jets Distance Card program uses a mileage-based formula, instead of hours
Florida-based Airstream Jets is offering discounts and upgrades for buyers of its jet card program, but the offer is very short term, ending April 17, 2018. The Distance Card uses a mileage-based formula to calculate trip costs eschewing the standard hourly formula used by programs that offer fixed one-way pricing.
Surf Air is announcing 10 new routes next week, including flights to Milan, Munich, Luxembourg, Brussels, Vienna, Geneva, Nice, Basel and Brussels
After nine months of seemingly being stuck in neutral, it turns out Surf Air Europe is going to significantly expand its flying there. In terms of keeping track of what’s happening, it has been a winding road for us. A few weeks ago we heard that Surf Air had laid off some of their sales, marketing and support team. Operations, which are contracted out to Flexjet Ltd., were apparently not impacted, however, it did cause us to take a step back and wonder what was going on.
Surf Air’s growth in Europe has been tepid so far, however, it and others continue to pursue a by the seat private aviation model against a backdrop of mixed results
Seat sharing, where travelers buy single seats on private aircraft, either via memberships or on individual flights, is considered a growth area for business aviation getting plenty of play in consumer media. The major benefit is saving time at airports by using private aviation facilities while paying prices at or near what the commercial airlines charge. For short hops, it can cut total travel time significantly. However, the model may be in trouble once again. Two sources tell Private Jet Card Comparisons that upstart Surf Air Europe has recently pared back its marketing and sales team there.
Privilegd LLC Concierge Services plans to combine concierge and travel agency services with private aviation into a single Jet Card
If you were thinking does the world really need another Jet Card seller, it doesn’t matter, you’re getting one. Former XOJET and Blue Star Jets sales executive Ben Parker is behind Privilegd LLC Concierge Services. Recently, Private Jet Card Comparisons caught up with the New York-based founder to find out what he’s doing and how his offering will be different from the more than 250 programs currently in the market.


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Earlier in the week, SIE President and CEO Jim Ryan took to the PlayStation Blog to announce Sony’s plan of slowing download speeds in Europe. Such an effort aims to mitigate the blow many countries are facing in the wake of increased internet traffic, which is due to coronavirus-related lockdowns. Now Sony is extending those same efforts to the United States starting today, working with internet providers to better manage download traffic.
Ryan shared the news in a PlayStation Blog update, telling fans the following,
Beginning today, we will take similar measures in the United States, and we will continue to take appropriate action to do our part to help ensure internet stability as this unprecedented situation continues to evolve. We are grateful for the role we play in helping deliver a sense of community and entertainment in these very trying times. Thank you again for your support, your patience, and for being part of the PlayStation community. Please stay home and stay safe.
Essentially, this means players are bound to experience slower or delayed downloads speeds across PlayStation platforms. It’s important to note that this shouldn’t extend to gameplay at all, so your online and multiplayer game experiences should remain unaffected, at least on Sony’s end. Internet congestion, in general, could potentially impact the quality of online games, but Sony’s focus remains on large downloads of game and update files. Whether or not this will eventually extend to countries outside of US and European borders currently remains unknown. However, it would not be too surprising if further measures were taken in the weeks ahead.
Sony counts as just one of many companies putting these types of restrictions into action for users. Similarly, the likes of Netflix, YouTube, and Disney+ have all put forth measures to mitigate stress on internet services in various countries.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
Help Prevent the Spread of the Coronavirus
PlayStation LifeStyle recommends all readers comply with CDC guidelines and remain as isolated as possible during this urgent time. Visit the Centers for Disease Control at CDC.gov or the World Health Organization at WHO.int for the latest information on the Coronavirus and learn what you can do to stop the spread.


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Coronavirus Pandemic Takes Toll on Mental Health
Interrupted treatments, heightened anxiety and enforced isolation could cause lasting damage, especially to those with existing conditions
The battle to stop the coronavirus pandemic, fought with social distancing and enforced isolation, is taking a psychological toll that some officials warn could prompt another crisis, a mental-health one.
Billions of people from the U.S. to Italy have been ordered to stay at home. Germany, Australia and the U.K. have determined that two people are a crowd and millions are cut off from family members, lovers and friends.
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Drake‘s love for art is almost as well-known as his penchant for appearing in memes making fun of his emo tendencies. Recently, though, he took that hobby to a whole new level. Instead of buying a new piece to prominently display in one of his many mansions dotted around the globe, he’s invested in an entire art amusement park, according to a feature in New York Times.
Housed in a 50,000-square-foot warehouse, Luna Luna, conceived by the Viennese artist André Heller in 1987, contained works from the likes of contemporary art greats like Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Salvador Dalí, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, but closed down shortly after its opening in 1990. While the project was greeted with enthusiasm by art connoisseurs in West Germany, it didn’t make much money, and plans to sell it to the city of Vienna and tour Europe with it fell through.
And so, for the past 30 years, was consigned to the realm of the historical footnote, gathering dust in Texas for around 15 years. However, when Michael Goldberg, the creative director at American Eagle, found out about Luna Luna online, he became obsessed with the idea of resurrecting it. It was Goldberg who reached out to Drake, who said in a statement: “When I first heard about Luna Luna I was blown away. It’s such a unique and special way to experience art. This is a big idea and opportunity that centers around what we love most: bringing people together.”
With Drake onboard, a sale was finalized pretty quickly. The works comprising Luna Luna have been restored and a worldwide tour has been planned for the relaunch, akin to similar traveling exhibits like the ones that you always see being advertised on Instagram. And with Drake’s name attached, this time, the hope is that it’ll turn out to be as profitable as everything else his brand has produced.
You can read the fascinating full story here.


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This may come to you as a surprise but despite what the latest stock market news may say about Kroger store’s decrease in the stock market, it just may be a good time to invest in it. Though the Kroger stock market does not give you revenue of millions or trillions it is a stable market.
Stock Market and Kroger
On September 23, 2019, the stock market NYSE: KR was 25.78 with a volume of 18 710 264. Since then to today, September 21, 2020, this exact stock market has gone upwards to NYSE: KR 33.49 with a volume of 32 338 056. The stock market has shown quite a large number of increases in its change of price, which would be 30.11% in its price.
Berkshire Hathaway and Kroger Stock
In February 2020, Warren Buffett, owner of Berkshire Hathaway (owner of more than 60 other companies including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen and many more), invested in Kroger stock market by buying about 19 million shares. These 19 million shares are nearly worth around $549 million. Thereafter, many companies followed in Buffett’s footsteps and ran to invest in Kroger Co. This little push pushed the Kroger stocks 5% upwards.
Covid-19 Pandemic and Kroger stocks
As the times worsened for the investors during this rising pandemic, all investors ran to put their stocks in a safe market. Many stock markets fell and had to pay revenue to investors in millions. As the Kroger store is a grocery store that sells essentials and daily routine products, they instantly became a safe-haven for these investors. According to the latest stock market news, Kroger may not be a huge growth stock market but it also cannot be deemed as a dead stock market. As of 2020 September, Kroger can also be known as a target stock. The target market for Kroger seems to be virtual and not physical.
Growth Rate of Kroger stocks
We have already established that Kroger stocks are a safe-haven for investors and a stable market. Due to the pandemic, many businesses worldwide turned towards digitalization. a whole lot of businesses including shops and bakeries became virtual. Due to this turnover, many companies and industries fell behind. As the Kroger market was already an online market, hence, it grew a lot more. It had shown about a 22% growth in sales by the start of the coronavirus. Therefore, it happened to steal the stock market with a rapid increase.
Kroger Related Posts:
- Kroger.com Employee Login Check Kroger Eschedule
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- Kroger Express HR or Employee Hiring
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Even with this rapid increase in the stock market, there’s still a lot at stake. Kroger may have stolen the market but it still does not give enough revenue. This market may be able to double your investments but tripling or quadrupling seems quite peculiar.
Increase or Decrease in Annual revenue 2019 vs. 2020
|Net Income||$3.11B||$0.819B||175.76% increase|
|Gross Profit||$26.749B||$6.938B||12.61% increase|
|Shares Outstanding||0.818B||0.786B||2.36% decline|
As this table clearly shows, there has been an increase in the revenue by 8.24% since 2019. The net income of Kroger Company showed an increase to 175.76%. According to this table, Kroger company showed intense growth during the pandemic. The question that still arises is will this market still be stable once the pandemic ends?
Will this market still be stable once the pandemic ends?
The Kroger market showed a huge increase but the question still arises about Kroger Company’s future. Many people have adopted this lifestyle of technology and online shopping. Once the coronavirus ends, we may see more people out on roads than on devices. As a buyer, after shopping online for 6 months, we have gotten very used to it but on the other hand also very suffocated. Life after Covid-19 may change a lot of habits of many people. For those who are busy in everyday life may find this market a useful place. If in case this market does fall in the coming times, it will have to pay revenue to investors in millions or billions. Hence, this stock market does not seem to be a long-term market. You may see a downfall of about 10 to 20% in the stock exchange of Kroger Company post-COVID-19.
Will buyers continue online shopping?
Buyers who are too busy to shop physically may be very pleased with this technology. If all we do became virtual during COVID-19, we have a hope that soon in the future things really might turnover and we may see an increase in technological and virtual advancements. Buyers have been spending there time very dividedly. They spend time working and also shopping on the side. This may just become a future worldwide. If people do start to get all businesses online then I do not think that investing in Kroger stocks may be a bad option for a stable future, not the present.
Companies to invest in 2020 with the best stock markets
The companies to invest in 2020 with the best stock markets, by Sean Williams, have been said to be:
- Intuitive Surgical
- NextEra Energy
- SSR Mining
- Innovative Industrial Properties
- Livongo Health
These companies seem to be increasing quite rapidly and also give more revenue than Kroger stock market. If you want an instant increase then these companies deem to be best for investment.
Should you or shouldn’t invest in Kroger markets?
An investor looks for nothing but a better future in the stock market. If we talk about the recent future, that’s 3 or 4 months from now, Kroger seems to be a very good investment option. Though on the other hand if we look at a few years from now when all things and life turn back to a normal routine again, Kroger stocks may not be the target market. On the other hand, if we go a few more years further, we do have a future in advanced technology.
- 0.1 Stock Market and Kroger
- 0.2 Berkshire Hathaway and Kroger Stock
- 0.3 Covid-19 Pandemic and Kroger stocks
- 0.4 Growth Rate of Kroger stocks
- 0.5 Increase or Decrease in Annual revenue 2019 vs. 2020
- 0.6 Will this market still be stable once the pandemic ends?
- 0.7 Will buyers continue online shopping?
- 0.8 Companies to invest in 2020 with the best stock markets
- 0.9 Should you or shouldn’t invest in Kroger markets?
- 1 References


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* Q2 EPS $1.33 excluding items; analyst view $1.33
* Sales $4.27 bln vs analyst view $4.25 bln
* Maintains 2012 forecast, forex likely to pressure EPS
July 26 (Reuters) - Colgate-Palmolive Co posted a
higher quarterly profit on Thursday as the toothpaste maker
increased advertising and cut costs to mitigate the impact of
having the bulk of its business overseas in a difficult economic
Colgate said it still expected double-digit growth in
earnings per share this year on a currency-neutral basis, though
at current rates foreign exchange would eat into those gains.
Second-quarter profit rose to $627 million, or $1.30 per
share, from $622 million, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Colgate earned $1.33 per share.
Analysts, on average, expected Colgate to earn $1.33 per
share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Sales rose 2 percent to $4.27 billion, ahead of the
analysts' forecast of $4.25 billion.
Organic sales, which strip out the impact of foreign
exchange, acquisitions and divestitures, rose 8 percent, the
strongest gain Colgate has seen in eight quarters. The volume of
goods sold rose 5 percent, and pricing increased 3.5 percent.
New York-based Colgate gets most of its revenue from outside
the United States. Growth in Latin America, its largest market,
along with a range of emerging markets has helped offset weaker
economies in North America and Europe.
Organic sales grew 13 percent in emerging markets and just
2.5 percent in developed markets, Chief Executive Ian Cook said
in a statement.
In Latin America, which accounts for 29 percent of sales,
the volume of goods sold rose 6.5 percent, or 9.5 percent
excluding a divested detergent business.
In North America, which makes up 18 percent of sales, the
volume of goods sold slid 0.5 percent.
Colgate continues to be hurt by foreign exchange rates. If
average exchange rates were to remain at current spot rates for
the rest of the year, currency translation would cut its 2012
earnings per share growth by about 6 percent to 7 percent, Cook
Advertising spending rose 4 percent to $457 million. The
level of spending should be even higher during the second half
of the year, when Colgate promotes new products, Cook said.


text:
September 30, 2021
Manufacturers have long embraced the latest technology to have their factories, or plants operate more efficiently. Designing the perfect assembly line, for example, is an ongoing challenge that has kept engineers busy for more than a century.
An extreme number of manufacturers are reshoring their factories, giving them new opportunities to embrace new technologies. In today’s world, as we embark upon the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0), one the new technology that manufacturers are embracing is Augmented Reality (AR).
It’s applications are in the process of revolutionizing manufacturing with its incredible ability to simplify data for users, and be used for so many applications.
The amount of use cases for augmented reality in manufacturing are proof that the technology shows no bounds, and further understanding of it’s uses and nearly boundless parameters will lead to a revolution in efficiency.
AR is not Virtual Reality (VR), and it’s also not actual reality, but it does lie somewhere in-between.
Whereas VR is a digitally fabricated world that the user encounters, augmented reality is a superimposition of something virtual on actual reality.
The applications for AR are enormous!
At the kickoff of the 2021 NFL season, the Carolina Panthers premiered their augmented reality Panther that treated fans as it trounced around Bank of America Stadium like it was a real, giant cat. Of course, gamers have long been aware of this technology, as they were the first to embrace its potential for fun.
And what’s amazing about gaming is that the technological advances that were made in the name of fun are the same advances that are responsible for a revolution in manufacturing.
Given that augmented reality only slightly messes with actual reality, one might surmise that it’s simpler to create AR than VR. Well, that’s not necessarily the case, as the problem for augmented reality is that it needs some mechanism that reads the real world and fits that data with the augmented construct.
That construct is the result of many data gathering mechanisms, such as video, radar and infrared sensors. Gaming headsets employ such mechanisms to measure depth and perspective to superimpose images on the real world.
It’s gotten so popular in fact, that sales of AR and VR headsets are poised to reach 26 million units sold annually.
Now, imagine that the same technology is available to manufacturers, and you may be asking how is it applicable?
Well, think about your equipment, such as motion control robotics for example. Now imagine you want to install a new servo motor, but you need to train your technician prior to assembly. With augmented reality the tech could look at a computer screen of the exact robot in question, and AR components can be manipulated by the user.
While gaming companies rely on complex sensors such as radar to render an augmented reality imposition, technology already exists that enables manufacturer’s CAD data to be uploaded to produce similar results.
Manufacturers are very excited about this development, as Siemens created an augmented reality model that can generate a 3D image out of CAD data.
The technology is growing too, as engineers sometimes have to reduce the information read by the augmented reality authoring software, such as leaving out a section, or small, irrelevant screws. But the technology is becoming increasingly automated, and renderings of manufacturer’s equipment are becoming commonplace.
Not only are industries in the process of innovating toward industry 4.0, but a recent Thomasnet study found that 83% of manufacturers plan to reshore their production. This massive migration will provide new opportunities for manufacturers to implement AR technology into their factory’s processes.
The amount of industrial applications for augmented reality are many, but they mainly have to do with enabling workers to interact with 3D models of equipment. This in and of itself produces a number of applications that save time and money while increasing safety and efficiency.
Lockheed Martin, for example, used AR glasses to create digital overlays that enabled workers to more easily put together components of the F-35 aircraft.
By using augmented reality in this fashion, Lockheed says they made their assembly times 30 percent, while increasing worker accuracy by 96 percent.
Of course a certain amount of training is required when you onboard a new hire, but manufacturers and engineers know that training is an ongoing necessity.
Workflows are constantly changing, and by uploading CAD data into augmented reality software, workers can practice methods of assembly and maintenance.
A very promising piece of augmented reality technology was created by Plantweb Optics augmented reality, which uses IIoT data for asset identification. A worker can point a tablet at a machine with thousands of parts, and the tablet provides a digital overlay of what they’re seeing, and identifies exactly where the asset is. It also is able to give the worker performance metrics in case maintenance is required.
That’s an unparalleled savings of time, much like if there was a giant arrow pointing out Waldo in a “Where’s Waldo” book. It also reduces equipment downtime while increasing worker safety.
Many manufacturers, and especially distributors, like to develop relationships with their customers so they keep coming back. Typically, this comes with onsite training and maintenance as a service.
With augmented reality, these trained technicians and engineers can now interact with each other without having to actually be in the factory. From the seat at their desk they use AR to guide workers through digital replications of processes.
Augmented reality software can enable engineers to observe their equipment like no other. For years now, running simulations to figure out sequences, thresholds and efficiencies has been possible.
augmented reality enables the same simulations to take place, except an engineer could stand a few feet away from an augmented reality imposition of the equipment. By immersing themselves within the cell, armed with the ability to see all that is happening without any safety concern whatsoever.
There are many measurable benefits for manufacturers who adopt augmented reality, such as savings of time and money, and increasing safety and efficiency. But what does that look like? Use cases provide the best examples of just how factory managers are implementing augmented reality.
Manufacturers are able to use augmented reality to managing daily floor activities better, access data easier, and
Data is the king of manufacturing in industry 4.0, and whereas before it was a difficult process to obtain, thanks to augmented reality, it’s much more accessible to workers.
In a typical scenario when machine efficiency is under question, the process of communication between engineer and operations workers would take some time. But with augmented reality, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are available on the spot in real time.
This enables factory teams to not only diagnose problems faster, but also limit machine downtime by using data to figure out what’s wrong.
Today, machines and robots, and sensors and software are typically integrated and connected by the Internet of Things (IoT).
One of the reasons that KPIs and other data is so easily accessible to floor workers, and thus higher level engineers, is because augmented reality technology is integrated with IoT technology.
QR codes are everywhere, from restaurants to retail stores, and of course, their own factory machines and robots as well. By using an AR-enabled mobile app, workers can scan QR codes with the app, and tap into live video feeds, data and other information gathering mechanisms to determine if maintenance needs to be done.
Are your engineers still piecing together robotics and equipment using a PDF? Are they programming your robots and machines based on instructions printed on paper? Assembling products for assembly lines presents massive logistical challenges that require constant attention to detail.
With an AR headset, workers are directed in a step-by-steph fashion to the nuances of assembly.
From the tiniest screw to high power motors, augmented reality technology will not only tell engineers which part to focus on, but also give finer details of assembly, such as how much torque to apply to a specific screw.
Knowledge transfer is a big bonus of augmented reality technology, and that’s a big part of providing instant support. Instant support through augmented reality technology cuts down on time and cost by keeping service technicians from having to travel to your factory.
In a recent study by a market insights company called Deloitte emphasized the knowledge gap that manufacturers are facing when hiring new workers. They found that not only will 77% of manufacturers have trouble finding and retaining the right workers in 2021, but also, finding the right talent is 36% harder than it was in 2018.
Augmented reality is an answer to this problem, as it gives less skilled workers access to more data, highly trained technicians that are off site, and offers a cool new technology for younger generations of factory workers to get excited about.
Manufacturers have historically been heavily dependent on their sales teams, and are just now realizing the great potential in digital marketing for lead generation. But there’s another technology that shows a lot of promise in enabling manufacturers to better collaborate with their clients: augmented reality!
Imagine if your clients could test or use your products because you provided them with an augmented reality experience. As industrial clients become more like retail clients, it can’t be ignored that nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer to buy products from companies that provide an augmented reality experience.
As you can see, augmented reality has nearly unlimited potential in its use cases and the benefits that it serves up for manufacturers. Global trends tend to circle every industry at different times, and while augmented reality started as a fun, gaming technology, it is being embraced by manufacturers and beyond.
With the challenges that manufacturers are facing with staffing, and reshoring, this is a great time for them to embrace this latest technology. Manufacturers have never been ones to stay married to one technology for a long time, as innovation sparks one revolution after another.
As industry 4.0 becomes commonplace, AR is one of the technologies that should become a common part of your factory floor. This creates a better process that will save you money, and train a workforce that is poised to lead to the way to the future when industry 5.0 comes around.


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As this magazine went to press, hundreds of angry Canadians were bombarding the Prime Minister’s Office with e-mail messages demanding that the government keep its greedy, good-for-nothing, cotton-pickin’ hands off the Internet.
“Your government is planning an absolutely outrageous action!,” wrote one such citizen, John Gile of Victoria, who graciously forwarded a copy of his Ottawa-bound missive to Maclean’s. “I can assure you it will cost the liberals millions of votes.”
The object of this fury was a report, widely circulated on the Internet, that the feds are quietly pushing through legislation to slap a five-cent tax on every e-mail message delivered within Canada. The money, so the report claims, will be used to subsidize Canada Post, which has suffered a decline in revenue because of the fading popularity of “snail mail.”
The idea is just nutty enough to be true, but e-mail addicts can calm down.
It’s really a hoax, perpetrated by an anonymous prankster whose scorn for the tax man makes him a suitable candidate for the job of National Post editorial writer.
The surprising thing isn’t that so many people fell for the ruse. It’s that somebody went to the trouble of dreaming it up in the first place. After all, the Internet is filled with nutty ideas, and most of them aren’t hoaxes. They’re so real that high-powered investors have seen fit to wager big money on them.
The most obvious example of Internet nuttiness is the stock market mania for companies that, by dint of their founders’ skill and superior intellect, have perfected the art of losing money hand over fist. Amazon.com, the steepedin-red-ink purveyor of books, music and assorted gifts, boasts a market capitalization of $45 billion despite having never generated a nickel of earnings. (The Seattle-based company was profitable during a brief period in 1995, but its CEO, Jeff Bezos, says that was an unfortunate “mistake.”) Two of the other hot Internet stocks, Yahoo! and America Online, do report earnings, but in neither case do the profits come close to justifying their sky-high valuations—$55 billion and $225 billion, respectively.
For what it’s worth, the millions of investors who own stock in these companies don’t think they’re nutty at all. Driven by greed, they’ve talked themselves into believing the prevailing theory about Internet companies, which is that, in these early days of e-commerce, profits count for far less than revenues and growth.
After mulling this over for a while, a U.S. venture capital lender last year came up with the idea for the ultimate Web business: a
company that sold dollars for 85 cents. The firm’s balance sheet would be a mess, but its shares would be in the stratosphere thanks to the volume of traffic on its Web site.
Sounds crazy, but don’t tell that to Scott Blum. He’s the 35-year-old chairman of Buy.com, an online retailer in Aliso Viejo, Cafif. With an estimated market cap of $4 billion—the company hopes to go public later this year—Buy.com is perhaps the ultimate expression of e-commerce logic. In theory, companies such as Amazon.com should be able to make money some day by selling massive quantities of books and other goods at a small markup, à la Wal-Mart. To Blum’s way
of thinking, however, that’s a cop out. Forget about the margins, he says. Buy.com is firmly committed to breaking even or losing money on every sale, and not just now but for as long as the company remains in business. The goods, you see, are just a come-on, a means of attracting eyeballs. The real point of the exercise is to turn Buy.com into file Web’s leading e-commerce portal, after which Blum hopes to cash in by selling ad space to companies that want access to those eyeballs.
Buy.com’s slogan, “The lowest prices on Earth,” pretty well sums it up. Every day, the company’s software automatically searches rival Web sites to compare prices on thousands of popular items, including computers, movies, video games and office equipment. Whatever the lowest price happens to be, Buy.com undercuts it. The strategy is ruthless but effective: in 1998, the company had $185 million in revenues, topping Compaq’s first-year record to become the fastestgrowing start-up in U.S. history. Blum, who owns 65 per cent of the company, has set his sights on $15 billion in revenues by the year 2003. To get there, he’s purchased the rights to more than 4,000 Web addresses, including Buyinsurance.com, Buycars.com and Buystuff.com. For good measure— and just because he knows it will drive them crazy—he’s also reserved Tenpercentoffwalmart.com and Tenpercentoffamazon.com.
Such gestures aside, Blum is deadly serious, as befits an individual who stands to reap billions if his scheme unfolds as he plans. How does one compete with a man who not only doesn’t mind losing money on each sale, but has actually made that an integral part of his business model? Will somebody else come along and promise to lose even more money on each transaction, and thereby steal some of Blum’s precious eyeballs?
Then again, a clever marketer could just forget the whole idea of selling products and simply pay people to view ads while they browse the Web. A company that did that would « attract all sorts of eyeballs, and it wouldn’t have to worry about mundane details like taking orders and shipping goods to customers.
Nutty? Perhaps, but that isn’t about to stop Jim Jorgensen from giving it a try. His Silicon Valley company, Alladvantage.com, is now signing up Internet users for an expected launch some time in May. Surfers will be paid 50 cents (U.S) an hour for the time they spend online, plus bonuses for referrals. In exchange for the money, they’ll see a narrow bar of advertisements scrolling across the bottom of their screens whenever they are connected to the Internet. More than a quarter-million people signed up for the service in the first 10 days after it was announced.
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Now that Apple has introduced support for wireless charging, manufacturers are clamoring to create new chargers. I couldn’t cover all of the wireless chargers that made their debut out in Las Vegas during CES, but here are my favorites that will be shipping soon.
LG debuted three new Thunderbolt 3 UltraFine monitors last week at CES and we got to go hands-on and check them out. The three models include an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio monitor, 4K monitors capable of being daisy chained, and a 5K monitor.
The UK smart home company Hive recently announced their latest product, a stylish home security camera known as the Hive View. We got to go hands-on with a wall of them over at CES and here are our initial impressions…….
CES 2018 has brought many new goodies for Apple fans, but one of the most prolific categories has been HomeKit. We saw more than a dozen new HomeKit products debut here, and we rounded them all up into one place…….
The updated version of Abode’s Iota is baking in lots of smarts. We went hands-on with the smart camera that includes support for HomeKit, Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Abode RF…. Read the rest of this post here “We got a closer…


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Sony Corp. unveiled a range of high-end digital electronics products Tuesday in a bid to empower its brand and differentiate itself from its cheaper Asian rivals.
The electronics and entertainment giant will begin selling the Qualia product line in Japan this month, including a 380,000 yen digital camera the size of a disposable lighter and a 2.4 million yen home-theater projector.
It will launch the line in the United States and Europe soon, but the dates have yet to be set, the company said.
Sony’s electronics sector has been badly battered by price competition, especially from Chinese manufacturers with cheap labor, and even prized brands such as the Vaio are starting to lose their luster.
Chief Executive Nobuyuki Idei said Sony isn’t aiming to sell the Qualia products in bulk, but is instead focusing on quality.
“These products show the dedication and talent of our engineers,” Idei told reporters at a Tokyo showroom where the products were demonstrated. “As long as we stay true to this humble attitude of creation, Sony will thrive.”
The name Qualia comes from a scientific concept of what happens in the brain to enable human feelings and perceptions, Idei said, an idea he ran across in a book by Kenichiro Mogi, a researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories.
Sony is studying about 70 Qualia proposals in various sectors and is developing 13 other products, although the company refused to give details.
Among the Qualia products shown Tuesday was a 1.3 million yen color TV offering top-grade visual quality and an audio console costing 1.5 million yen that automatically centers the compact disc so the user need only carelessly place it in the player — a convenience Sony Executive Deputy President Shizuo Takashino compared to an elegant Japanese tea ceremony.
“We have too often been sidetracked by the meaningless competition of pricing and market share,” Takashino said. “If we continue with this kind of competition, we’re all doomed.”
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


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Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is courting families with a new page meant to promote its family-friendly content to existing and prospective subscribers.
"We've used our proprietary algorithm to create lists with think families will love," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, told Bloomberg.
"Netflix Families" is a hub that features testimonials from parents of young children who use the site as well as collections of family-oriented programming broken down into categories such as "Family Movie Night," "Quiet Time" and "Catch-Up TV for Busy Parents."
"We're trying to appeal to those people who are still using DVDs and haven't gotten into streaming yet," Jenny McCabe, director of public relations for Netflix, told ABC News.
The move comes as Netflix bolsters its children's programming library. This week, it agreed to license about 300 hours of original programming from DreamWorks Animation.
Netflix gets rights to new DreamWorks Animation shows
Amazon's online video service licenses Viacom shows


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SQUARE ENIX is excited to announce that THE AWESOME ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN SPIRIT, an all-new..
Over the weekend, DC Comics announced an exclusive deal with retail giant Walmart to produce..
Today, both Crunchyroll and Funimation laid out their Summer line-up of SimulCasts and SimulDubs. So..
Despite being a long-time PVE player, I wasn’t exactly excited for my behind closed door..
Funny, how, coming off a bad case of pneumonia among other internal not-so-fun disasters, I..


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Nick Szabo, the man believed by many to be the creator of digital currency bitcoin, made a public appearance at a conference on Friday morning, discussing.Economics of bitcoin Bitcoin is a digital asset designed by its. the imbalance between the big boys of finance and the disenfranchised little man,.
Coinbase | Where can I spend bitcoin?
Bitcoin is on the verge of splitting in two - The Verge
What Does Bitcoin Scaling Mean for the Common Man?By Valentin Schmid (click to enlarge) A man in a shop displaying a bitcoin sign during the opening of the first bitcoin retail shop in Hong Kong on Feb. 28, 201.
You hear about it all the time in financial and technical circles—but most people really.
Bitcoin Is Dead | The Weekly Standard
Find all you need to know and get started with Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.For security reasons, access to individual wallets have been designed in such a way that only one individual is legally allowed access to specific wallets.Explore bitcoin charts and graphs, including the market price, the number of bitcoins in circulation, mining information and more.
It is a thin line between the adequate security of personal wealth within the crypto world and an eventual inability to.
Which companies accept bitcoin? (list) | protothemanews.comBitInstant, one of the first and most visible at handling bitcoin transactions.Vogel also identifies how difficult it is to retrieve Bitcoins from a deceased relative, noting the possible scenarios that may play out.With more users than any other digital currency, bitcoin is the most common form of cryptocurrency in the world.
14 Interesting Facts About Bitcoin | Dark Web News
What is Bitcoin? - CNNMoneyUncle Sam The early idealists of bitcoin saw it as an anarchy-currency free of the control of national governments.
This Is The Man Who Invented Bitcoin - Esquire
10 Amazing Facts About Bitcoin - unbelievable-facts.com
Standard Exchanges – Bitcoin.comMost (if not all) online bitcoin markets support this method of transferral. Isle of Man: BUY BITCOIN: Bitbargain has a vast range of different payment options.The dispute is now before the courts and, even though Republicans in Congress told the IRS to back off, the tax man usually wins in the end.
Where can I spend bitcoin. and Green Man Gaming have recently started offering games and.
Bitcoin Exchange Was a Nexus of Crime, Indictment SaysBitcoin is the most widespread, cryptographically-secure Internet currency.Why I just sold all my bitcoin It was a painfully analog experience. and an apologetic man named Nick said he would come to the real estate office to give me cash.
what are Bitcoin's most important differentiating
It may not be the biggest or most populous place in Europe,.Right now, the agency is locked in a legal fight with the popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and is demanding information about millions of customer accounts.The Russian man who orchestrated a major money laundering operation involving Bitcoin has been arrested by the United States and Greek authorities.


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European, Brazilian retailers to trial "Shelfie Index" tech
With the help of drones and robots out of store hours and hidden cameras, an Australian-developed technology has the potential to improve supermarket shelf presentation and reduce waste in warehouses and cold storage facilities.
It is understood British supermarket The Co-op has started a pilot program with the "Shelfie" technology this week, while Shelfie CEO Darren Younger says there are more trials in the pipeline.
"We've got a very big retailer in [continental] Europe and we've got a retail network in Brazil also going live in a couple of weeks’ time," Younger tells Fresh Fruit Portal.
Younger cannot reveal the names of the retailers involved, but says "there's one in Central Europe, one in Germany and one in France".
In contrast, supermarkets in Younger's native Australia have been slower on the uptake.
"They’re interested and they’re keen but in the retail industry around Europe and America there's a lot more excitement, a lot more appetite to move faster," he says.
So what does the Shelfie do?
"It's driven by what we call the Shelfie Index, which is a number from 0 to 100 which shows how well-presented the store right now, and what the shelf should look like," Younger replies.
The technology could be likened to a series of 'before and after' shots, or in Younger's words a "game of spot the difference".
"You know exactly what that shelf should look like and you know what it currently looks like, and you see there’s a gap in that product," he says.
"What it also does is it gives store staff a notification. They can see the alerts and can be motivated to fix the shelf to try to fix that number, and get the best result. So it’s about motivating the staff as well."
He clarifies the technology has not reached the stage where it can actually give advice about which products sell best in which place, but in any case it could bring about new possibilities for managing produce departments in particular.
"It’s not so much recommendations about where things can go. We don’t have the insights to know things like that would sell better if it were in that position," he says.
"What we would do is if someone takes out two clamshells of berries and decides they don’t want one and they put one down in front of the oranges, we can let them know there’s something wrong there."
In addition, trials are also taking place in cool rooms to understand stock levels and expiry of stock, which Younger believes could have implications for the level of food waste in retail operations.
With general concerns amongst the public worldwide over privacy issues and surveillance from government agencies and large corporations, Younger says there is no reason for shoppers to be worried about the Shelfie technology.
"The robots are more out of hours. You’ve got a series of cameras that you wouldn’t notice in the store – they’re not taking images of people, they’re only taking images of the shelf, so there are no privacy challenges there at all."
Younger says Shelfie, which is owned by international company Lakeba, is only six months old.
"However the concept had been worked on a lot longer before that before we could commercialize it," he says.


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12 April 2022, LONDON: Turning automotive finance upside down by putting consumers in the driver’s seat, Carmoola [carmoola.co.uk]has grown a recently launched automotive fintech £ 27 million in investments from the Jaguar Land Rover investment fund, InMotion Ventures, Adventure friends, BCI and based in California Businesses of the Clock Tower.
The seed round also included a number of high profile angels who have supported companies such as Revolut, Marshmallow, Clearscore and Monzo, including former Google MD (UK and Ireland), Dan Cobley.
Founded by Britons, Ukrainians and former Movebubble and Zoopla executives: Aidan Rushby, Amy McKechnie, Roman Sumnikov and Igor Gordiichuk; Carmola allows consumers to make budget and financing decisions in sixty seconds, giving them the freedom to purchase a vehicle instantly with a virtual card online at places like Cazoo or at a car dealership.
By eliminating middlemen, saving buyers with better value financing and discounts for choosing eco-friendly cars, Carmola it also breaks the rigidity of traditional contracts, allowing drivers the flexibility to adjust terms and payments simply in-app.
The London-based startup is encouraging consumers to rethink how they pay for a second-hand car, understanding what they can afford first, before starting the search.
The investment will be used to develop the product and start the initial stages of the business.
During the end of summer 2020, Aidan Rushby took the opportunity to take a long break in Mallorca. With the pandemic in full swing, it made sense for her to drive from the UK and take the ferry from mainland Spain to the Balearic island with her sausage dogs.
What should have been a simple second-hand car financing process turned out to be a cumbersome experience for the consumer.
“Like many people, I went there with no clear idea of how much I should have spent or could have afforded.”said Aidan Rushby, CEO of Carmoola.“You find ‘the right one’ and then you have to go through this confusing, paperwork-laden and painfully slow process to see if you will actually be approved for it. “The process is interrupted. Rather than second thoughts, your budget should be the first thing on your list. “There is an incredible fintech revolution underway. Still, car financing seems to have been forgotten. It’s like a complete old banger. “The freedom to go shopping anywhere, knowing what you can spend, without sending reams of forms and pay slips, immediately puts the consumer in control of the car purchase.”
With the loan secured against the value of the vehicle, which is checked for accident history, mileage adjustments and pending finances, the service offers an additional level of guarantee to protect the consumer.
Drivers are given a virtual card. Once they find the car, they can pay instantly, online or at any car dealership with Apple / Google Pay.
“Although the new online car markets have made car buying easier, they are still using traditional car lenders who stay in the dark age and consumers are paying for it.” continues co-founder Amy McKechnie.
“The subscription is made and manually reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The clunky off-the-shelf loan management systems prevent businesses from solving problems and automating processes, which means more manual labor is required for loan maintenance – all of this cost is passed on to the consumer. “Existing lenders also pay 15-20% of the loan amount in brokerage fee. And who do you think pays for it?
In the UK, 7.5 million cars were purchased last year with an average price of £ 13,705, while the UK market is worth £ 120 billion.
Yet only 19% of consumers use the finance for this transaction, and only 2% of these transactions currently take place online, creating huge growth potential.
Rushby could see that the right fintech platform, built on fully proprietary technology, would eliminate middlemen and offer consumers fast, better-value, flexible and transparent car finance.
And he knew exactly who to turn to to bring his vision to life; Amy McKechnie an expert in Ukrainian products and marketing and tech geniuses, Roman Sumnikov And Igor Gordiichukwho all met in their previous business.
Get rid of the wasteful paperwork of the past, Carmola calculates an affordable and approved credit limit in just sixty seconds, using thousands of data points, providing this with fully automated intelligent decision-making technology.
Disruptive automotive fintech also offers additional consumer benefits such as flexible in-app financing; so you can increase, suspend or make one-off payments without incurring penalties or charges, breaking the mold of traditional rigid contracts.
It is the only company to offer green incentives such as lower APRs on electric vehicles to encourage the adoption of clean air cars, carbon footprint calculators, and pass savings from ESG debt financing to consumers.
With the ambition of becoming the financial super app for your car, Carmoola intends to offer insurance and a way to spread the costs of tires, maintenance and service.
Alex Smout, principal of InMotion Ventures, “So far, car financing has been clunky and intimidating, leaving many frustrated and trapped. Carmoola has reinvented how people pay for cars, focusing on transparency and flexibility to give consumers confidence in the process and access to a wider range of vehicles. We look forward to supporting Aidan and his team as they grow their revolutionary approach to purchasing. “
Apostolos Apostolakis, Partner of Venture Friendshe added, “Consumer fintech has been driven by better user experience, but the process of applying for used car financing is opaque and frustrating. Carmoola has turned the process into a user-centric app that we are confident will become the preferred option for consumers to finance their next car. “
With the used car market the largest retail market in Europe, the way to go seems clear for Carmoola to drive revolutionary home car financing.
For more information contact: [email protected]
About CarmoolaYou no longer have to waste time searching for the perfect car, only to find that you can’t afford it, Carmoola offers users an immediate pre-approved budget and a virtual card for immediate purchase. The freedom to shop, knowing what to spend, without sending reams of forms and pay slips, puts the consumer in control of the car purchase.
Founder Aidan Rushby (CEO) has extensive experience in fast-moving and expanding businesses, having founded the Movebubble home rental app.
Co-founded by Amy McKechnie (Director of Product and Marketing), Rushby is also joined by Ukrainian co-founders, Roman Sumnikov, Chief Technology Officer and Igor Gordiichuk, Chief Information Officer.
Rushby has raised over £ 10 million in venture capital funding for his former start-up and is well versed in team development, marketing and product development.
Carmoola is the new way to pay for a car in just three simple steps.
Carmoola offers further advantages for the consumer; better value financing that eliminates middlemen and flexible in-app financing, so you can increase, decrease or suspend payments without incurring penalties or charges.
Carmoola is the only company to offer green incentives such as lower APRs on electric vehicles to encourage the adoption of clean air cars, carbon footprint calculators, and pass savings from ESG debt financing to consumers.
The company was registered in November 2020. Product development began in March 2021. The consumer app was first launched in March 2022. Available on iOS and Android.
Carmoola Secures £ 27m Seed Investment From Investors Including InMotion Ventures – UK Technology Investment News
Source link Carmoola Secures £ 27m Seed Investment From Investors Including InMotion Ventures – UK Technology Investment News


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Here at Tech In Asia we tend to tilt our coverage towards startups and industry news, as there are plenty of other great blogs around the world that keep tabs on every single component that’s inside every single gadget released by LG or Acer.
At the same time, we still like to keep our eyes on big-picture gadget trends and challenges that the Asian hardware giants face.
So we’ve put together a quick roundup of the the most interesting products that came out at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, compiled from our favorite blogs, with an eye towards capturing the general gist of what the massive Asian gadget makers have in store for 2014.
ASUS PadFone X
- It’s a phone inside a tablet! It runs Android 4.4 and has NFC, but that’s about all we know for know
- Coming to the US for the first time this year, no price yet
ASUS’ PadFone – the phone that fits in a tablet – sparked international curiosity when it first hit Asia about a year ago. The next-gen PadFone X will finally give Americans the chance to check out the two-birds-one-stone device when it hits American shores in 2014. Little is known about the device’s pricing or release date, but it will reportedly be rolled out in cooperation with AT&T.
ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300
- Dual boots Android 4.2.2 and Windows 8.1
- No word yet on availability and pricing.
If Asus were a superhero movie, it would be Transformers, as the company keeps pushing products that are one thing which can turn into the other. In the case of the Asus Transformer Book Duet TD300, users can switch from Windows to Android OS with just the push of a button, and can detach the screen from the keyboard to turn the laptop into a portable tablet. The Micromax Laptab (below) is similar.
- Dual-boots Android 4.2.2 or Windows 8.1
- Goes on sale in February; price unknown
Intel has made it clear that it thinks hybrid laptop-tablets are what consumers want, and a few manufacturers have responded quickly with Intel powered Frakenstein machines. One of these is Micromax’s Laptab, which has a 10.1-inch screen at 1280×800 pixels. It’s touchscreen, of course, and you can choose to run Android 4.2.2 or Microsoft’s Windows 8.1. It’s an interesting move to go global by Micromax.
We guess it’ll be a bit cheaper than the afore-mentioned ASUS Transformer Book Duet TD300.
- New brand from China
- Will run CyanogenMod OS
- To be unveiled in first half of year; no price yet
China has no shortage of homegrown phone-makers, and CES saw the launch of yet another. OnePlus, created by a former executive at Oppo, is a new brand with global ambitions. Details on its first phone – the OnePlus One – are scarce except that it’ll run a version of CyanogenMod, the popular Android ROM beloved of Android geeks.
Oppo will build the hardware for OnePlus (at this early stage at least). Oppo already created the first ever CyanogenMod phone with its Oppo N1.
- Launching first half of this year in China
- E-paper display
Smartwatches are all over the place at CES 2014, even though they’re all very gimmicky, same-y, and not all that smart except for beaming basic smartphone notifications. But that’s not stopping any companies from spewing them out. ZTE (HKG:0763; SHE:000063) jumped in with its own BlueWatch, which looks a lot – perhaps a bit too much – like the Pebble watch, and packs a similar e-paper display. The comparison photo between the two (courtesy of The Verge) shows the similarity.
ZTE Projector Hotspot
- Packs 1080p HD projection
- 4G tethering wi-fi
- No price or date set
Do you need a hotspot and a projector? Most people will say “nope” but that’s not stopping ZTE with this new hybrid gadget. It’s a 1080p projector and an LTE hotspot bundled into one box about the size of a thick novel, but weighing a hefty 400 grams. It has a 4-inch touchscreen and is powered by Android.
ZTE Grand S II, Nubia 5s, and 5s mini
- Grand S II has a 5.5-inch 1080p HD display, Android 4.3, 13MP rear camera
- Nubia 5s has a 5-inch 1080p HD display, Android 4.2, and 13MP rear camera
- Already out in China; no dates or prices set for other markets
ZTE updated its three flagship smartphones at CES, showing how they’ll look for markets outside China. The Grand S II (pictured above) and Nubia 5s run a version of the Snapdragon 800 chip. All three phones will appear in slightly different trim in mainland China.
The 5s mini isn’t really small by an measures, coming with a 4.7-inch display, and propelled along by a Snapdragon 600 chip.
ZTE modular phone concept
- Users could replace the camera, battery, display, RAM, storage, and other modules
- Just a dreamy concept for now
Along with new gadgets hitting stores soon, ZTE also showed off this amazing concept. There’s no plan to launch it, but it’s a nice, theoretical view of easily upgradable phones in the future.
Huawei Ascend Mate 2
- Heading to US on AT&T
- LTE support
- 6.1-inch 720p HD IPS screen
It wasn’t just ZTE that was refreshing its flagships at CES. Huawei heaved out the massive Ascend Mate 2. It has Huawei’s Emotion UI 2.0 running on top of Android 4.3, and features a 13MP camera on the rear.
Lenovo ThinkVision 28
- It’s a TV, tablet, and Android PC rolled into one
- Prices starting at $1,199 in the US
- Sales start in April
Here’s a weird one from Lenovo – a 28-inch 4K monitor wrapped around a (sort of) portable Android computer-cum-tablet. It has a 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, which makes it great for watching 4K HD content. But when you’re poking around Android, it’s actually just scaled up from 1080p resolution. It has a 500GB spinning drive, so it might feel odd without the SSD we’re used to with a mobile OS. But a Tegra 4 processor should keep it snappy.
East West Micro Elite
- Diamonds and gold
- $30,000 for the Elite, $49 and $99 for the 99-percenter versions
Want a smartwatch that harkens back to the good ol’ days when timepieces were indicative of your social status? Well, East West Micro has the perfect pompous solution for you, you rich bastard. The company’s high-fashion piece of health bling comes with 200 diamonds encrusted in 18 carat gold. Oh, and it does all that other typical smartwatch stuff as well. Can’t afford it? For peasants, EWM will also have a few more reasonably priced options to choose from.
Samsung and LG big bendy TVs
- Massive flexible curved screens you will never be able to afford
- Revamped webOS on LG smart TVs
- Availability and prices unavailable
Samsung (KRX:005935) and LG (KRX:066570; LSE:LGLD) must have employed the same group of idea people prior to CES. In addition to a suite of smart home appliances, both have also come out with gigantic televisions with curved screens.
Samsung and LG both had 105-inch UHD 4K TVs with 21:9 aspect ratios on display at CES this year, but both were just conceptual prototypes. They each also showed off slightly smaller but still sizable bendable TVs – Samsung’s 85-inch LCD (pictured above) and LG’s 75-inch OLED – on which you can remotely control the curvature. LG’s will cost a mighty $70,000.
On a more attainable note, LG showed off its revamped webOS, which will come installed on half of LG’s line of TVs this year. The difference between webOS and other smart TV OSes is the seamless transition between apps and inputs. Switching between Netflix, your game console, and satellite TV is as easy as changing the channel.
Samsung’s Chef Collection
- Refrigerator, oven, stove, and dishwasher combo
- Price and release dates unavailable
My mom would love this. For people who want to store and cook their food at optimal temperatures this combo would be hard to beat. The refrigerator has multiple temperature settings per compartment. The oven can cook at two different temperatures simultaneously. And the dishwasher? Well, it just looks slick. Additionally, Samsung unveiled a smart vacuum cleaner and a washer/dryer combo.
- Send text messages to your household appliances!
- Available on Line app in late 2014
LG unveiled a new software service called HomeChat, which at the moment is integrated with Line, the popular messaging app. Want to tell your washing machine to start a load? Just ping it through Line and the motors will start whirring. LG is reportedly working with WhatsApp and KakaoTalk to make HomeChat compatible on those apps as well.
LG’s Lifeband Touch
- It’s got Bluetooth LE and works with both iOS and Android
- Available this spring, no price details yet
Like its peers, LG is hot-to-trot for wearable gadgets that track stuff, and that’s exactly what the Lifeband Touch does. Not only does the device monitor the number of steps you take and distance traveled over the course of the day, it also displays notifications from your smartphone.
Panasonic’s Wearable 4K Camera
- It’s an unnamed prototype, but it’s 4K
- Said to be released later this year.
Panasonic released a wearable camera at last year’s CES, and this one looks to be almost identical, except it’s 4K, so those images will come out even clearer.
Sony’s cloud TV service
- Live television, video on demand, and even DVR in the cloud
As the Playstation 3 turned out to be popular for media and entertainment rather than just gaming, Sony has revealed it is beginning to work on a cloud TV product that serves as an effective alternative to cable and satellite.
Sony’s PlayStation Now
- Stream PlayStation games to the PS3, PS4, PlayStation Vita, televisions, tablets, and smartphones.
- Will roll out in beta early this year and then to mass audiences this summer
Through the power of the cloud, Sony is effectively making a wide range of PlayStation titles accessible on nearly any device. This means that if you’re not a console owner but want to give The Last Of US a spin, you can do so on your smartphone. This is really one to watch for 2014.
Sony’s 4K Ultra Short Throw Projector
- 4K display, 4 HDMI ports, adjustable screen size from 66 inches to 147 inches.
- Said to be released this summer, priced upwards of $30,000
It looks like a bench, but it’s a projector, and it turns any wall into a crisp display for all your entertainment needs.
(Editing by Steven Millward. China and India sections written by Steven Millward; Hong Kong and South Korea sections by Paul Bischoff)


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The move follows reports that there are up to £10m worth of HMV gift cards which cannot be spent. And now the trade body which represents the £4bn industry has joined calls for greater consumer protection when retailers go bust – and is even demanding a change in the law.
UK Gift Card & Voucher Association director general Andrew Johnson said: “Administrators are bound by our code to accept vouchers but this is not a legal requirement. We need stronger legal powers to protect consumers and ensure vouchers are still accepted.”
There have even been accusations, made by Conservative backbench MP Sir Tony Baldry, that HMV was committing theft by continuing to sell vouchers when it must have been aware that “there was little prospect of those vouchers or gift cards ever being redeemed”.
Along with HMV’s £100m, Jessops is said to have £800,000 in unspent vouchers, while JJB Sport had £1.4m and Peacocks £750,000.
Some beleaguered retailers have managed to persuade their administrators to accept vouchers – most notably Comet and JJB Sports – but there is no legal precedent. Blockbuster, which also went into administration this week, has said it will continue to accept gift cards.
Johnson claimed that public pressure could force the administrators to reverse their decision and honour the vouchers. The same team of Deloitte administrators started accepting Comet vouchers following publicity about a four-year-old cerebral palsy sufferer unable to buy an iPad with vouchers from the electrical retailer which collapsed before Christmas.
And shadow business secretary Chuka Umanna said: “It is totally unacceptable. HMV, like Comet, needs to strain every sinew to make sure their vouchers are redeemable.”
In the meantime, consumers are being urged to use their credit cards to buy vouchers in the future as they will at least have some recourse should the retailer fall into administration.
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August 3, 2020
Thriving E-Commerce Means Record Shipping Numbers For UPS
It’s difficult to even imagine this current crisis without our e-commerce infrastructure.
Whether you’re shopping for necessities or just looking for ways to alleviate stress levels in the middle of a global pandemic, you’re probably looking online. And for the most part, everything you need is available.
And then, once you submit that order, the real magic begins. Shipping capabilities have progressed exponentially over the course of the past few years, and even decades. That obscure niche product you can’t live without is only a few clicks – and days – away.
With the ability to track orders and with shipping projections, we now have a pretty good sense of when that item (or even a large group of items) will arrive right there, at our doorstep. It’s really quite amazing how far we’ve come.
And now, due to COVID-19, the systems in place for global shipping are, quite literally, delivering the goods.
With record demand and even more dependence than ever before on our shipping systems, major corporations specializing in the delivery of our goods have risen to the occasion. Challenged by our modern circumstances, they’ve been put to the test and have passed.
In particular, let’s take a look at one of the most important pieces of that shipment ecosystem – The United Parcel Service.
UPS recently reported its quarterly earnings and according to their data, the shipping giant’s average daily shipping volume rose 21% in the quarter, faster than the company has ever recorded.
On top of that, they reported a 65% increase in shipments to homes.
The magnitude of the jump was a surprise to UPS, which had been planning for demand to pull back from the high levels in the early days of the pandemic.
“At the beginning of the second quarter, we assumed demand would slow,” Chief Executive Carol Tomé said on Thursday’s earnings call. “Instead, we saw just the opposite.”
The results boosted shares more than 12% in Thursday’s trading to records.
There hasn’t been a slow down, and if anything, we’re seeing a new wave of consumers who are growing much more accustomed to shopping online. This is good news for any brand looking to sell products through the affiliate channel, or any other type of online portal.
The strong likelihood is that even when things “go back to normal” (will they ever?), these shoppers who’ve gotten used to relying on ordering certain products online will continue to do so. They have developed the habit and are unlikely to go back to their old ways.
Not to mention, the safety concern is very real.
UPS and rival FedEx Corp. are being inundated with millions of extra daily packages after many retail stores were temporarily closed, pushing people to shop online for everything from toilet paper to pet food. Even as most stores have reopened, some shoppers remain reluctant to head to stores as coronavirus cases rise in parts of the U.S.
Despite the surge of packages in the U.S., UPS’s operating profit fell slightly in its main domestic segment. UPS’s average revenue per package in the U.S. dropped 4.4% from a year ago, as shipments using one of UPS’s lower-priced services nearly doubled.
So, unfortunately, for retailers, rates may go up slightly to account for this. Then, you have the impending Q4 holiday season. According to Tomé, they’re ready.
“We have capacity to handle the peak volume that we are anticipating this year,” she said.
This doesn’t come without an additional cost, though.
Both UPS and FedEx are trying to offset some of the costs with new surcharges on large packages and on some of their lower-priced shipping services. The two companies have also started to impose higher rates on some of their shippers whose volumes have changed significantly in recent months.
Whether or not these rate changes will affect demand is to be seen, but regardless, those of us in the e-commerce industry know how important it is to have a reliable infrastructure for the shipping and handling of the items we buy and sell online.
There was fear at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic that we wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand, so to be here, six months in, and for UPS to be reporting these numbers and to be predicting Q4 will go smoothly is really quite amazing.
We should all be thankful for the brave men and women on the front lines, making sure we get everything we need and want online. The result is an economy that still functions, and we are grateful for that in a time when a lot of other industries and people are suffering.
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SingTel – BT
SingTel gains more handphone customers
Total of 3.2m – a 46% share of the market – cements its leading position
SINGTEL said its total handphone customers in Singapore grew to 3.2 million by end-December 2009, up 8.1 per cent from a year ago.
According to the company, it added 81,000 new customers in the quarter. This brings its total mobile customer base to 3.2 million, cementing its lead in the market.
SingTel’s estimated market share is 46.2 per cent based on the latest data from regulator Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.
The telco reports its third quarter results today.
SingTel said its iPhone offerings helped drive strong demand and contributed to 36,000 new postpaid customers, up from 30,000 in the previous quarter. It also gained 45,000 prepaid customers with targeted acquisition promotions.
In the region, the group said on an aggregate basis, the combined mobile customer base rose to 285 million as at Dec 31, 2009, an increase of 23 per cent, or 52 million from a year ago.
Besides its wholly owned Australian Optus, SingTel also owns stakes in telcos in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines.
SingTel’s largest associate Bharti added 8.4 million mobile customers for the quarter, up from 8.1 million a quarter ago. Its mobile customer base as at Dec 31, 2009, increased 39 per cent, or 33.2 million from a year ago, to 118.9 million.
Last November, SingTel announced plans to raise its stake in the Indian operator from 30.43 per cent to 31.95 per cent through the purchase of an additional 730,000 shares.
Its Indonesian associate Telkomsel grew its mobile customer base by 25 per cent, or 16.3 million from a year ago, to 81.6 million.
Optus said postpaid customers grew a record 164,000 during the quarter, to more than four million as at Dec 31, 2009.
During the quarter, Optus tightened its churn policy for customers who remained inactive after various recharge campaigns, and deactivated 272,000 prepaid customers. This resulted in a decline of 145,000 Optus prepaid customers for the quarter with total prepaid customers of 4.2 million as at Dec 31, 2009.