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- Russian SMS Trojan for Android hits US, dozens of other countries
- Report: Attackers have their sights set on the cloud
- Data breaches can be traced back to nine attack 'patterns', says Verizon report
- SMS spam rises in UK as 'accident compensation' scammers get busy
- Verizon breach report makes case for behavioral analytics
- USB Type-C: Simpler, faster and more powerful
- Data retention: Just like diamonds, metadata is forever
- Should Australians prepare for rubber-hose cryptanalysis?
- Connected vehicle tech trial to start trucking on in NSW
- UPDATED: 4G in Australia: The state of the nation
Sales of Sony's PlayStation 4 platform have surpassed 7 million units worldwide but supply problems are continuing, the electronics giant said.
More then 5.3 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold worldwide as of Feb. 8, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) said Tuesday, solidifying its lead over Microsoft's Xbox One.
Desktop computer users in the U.S. spent 10 percent more during the holiday shopping season in 2013 than they did in 2012, but spending fell short of expectations from digital analytics firm comScore.
The PlayStation 4 will have a "supercharged PC architecture" and new features that will make it easier to stream games and share content over social networks.
Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are due for release next month, but chip supplier Advanced Micro Devices is already teasing chip upgrades that could make the game consoles faster and more power-efficient.
The IT industry has been abuzz promoting the idea of virtual desktop infrastructure. But despite its advantages, adoption has been slow, and many organizations have abandoned their VDI initiatives. This paper explores how a new flash-based approach can overcome the key VDI pitfalls, and deliver a solution that both end-users and IT administrators will love.
Why do we continue to pay the earth for global roaming? With Telstra increasing global roaming charges by 100-500% in over 180 countries, bill shock can only get worse. This paper investigates why, what and how your company can address the need for global coverage.
- Google will push mobile app installs in search and YouTube
- Salesforce at 15: Industry disruptor wards off midlife crisis
- Branded comments and shares a growing part of the social engagement mix for marketers
- 8 things we learnt about big data analytics from the Adobe Summit
- AdRoll secures US$70 million to ramp up retargeting platform development


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iAgency will deploy a public relations campaign to educate consumers and the interactive entertainment industry about Entertainment Boulevard’s online entertainment network strategy. Billings were not disclosed.
“Working with Entertainment Boulevard is a strong strategic fit for iAgency, based on our depth of experience promoting several online entertainment companies over the past four years,” said iAgency president Tony Winders.
“We’re counting on iAgency’s experience, media contacts and strong understanding of Internet entertainment to guide our communications strategy into the new millennium,” said Entertainment Boulevard CEO Stephen Brown. The campaign will target consumers, the interactive entertainment trade and the investment community.
Los Angeles-based Entertainment Boulevard is a provider of streaming entertainment-related media on the Internet. It operates Vidnet , an interactive music video channel, as well as sports and comedy channels.
Despite the fact that it faces growing competition from Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, Google-owned YouTube is still one of the most popular ... read more
Amazon prides itself on being the most “customer-centric” company in the world, but according to investigative journalism non-profit ProPublica, Amazon’s algorithms are often anything but ... read more

domain: news


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HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. - A 28-year-old security company here known for its unorthodox marketing techniques has struck a deal to bring Spiderman, Captain America, The Hulk and other superheroes to Chicago as part of a new marketing campaign.
AMSTERDAM - Philips Semiconductor is among a host of technology heavyweights involved in the development of a new low-cost wireless networking protocol that is intended to become the industry standard for networking automation devices in the home.
Branded Zigbee, the protocol is a low data rate, low power consumption wireless technology that eventually could be used in everything from wireless home security systems, remote lighting and thermostat controls, call buttons for the elderly and disabled and wireless smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
TORONTO - Security manufacturer and installer Alarm Force has posted another successful quarter with its aggressive mass marketing model, recording an increase in revenues of 23 percent and net income growth of 25 percent.
With 30 offices and 100 employees across Canada, Alarm Force has been able to grow to a base of more than 33,000 accounts through organic growth, and without generating much debt, said Joel Matlin, Alarm Force president and chief executive officer.
STAFFORD, Texas - Venture capital firm Sweetwater Ventures is making inroads in the security industry, recently buying North American Security Alarm, a Dallas company that focuses on high-end residential accounts.
Company officials plan to use the acquisition as a platform for Sweetwater to build a national security company.


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TEMPUR-PEDIC INTERNATIONAL grew to be a leader in specialty foam mattresses partly on the success of its television infomercials, which featured a wine glass on a mattress that did not topple over even as people bounced up and down on the bed.
And for years the company, founded in 1992, staked its fortunes on such infomercials, using them as its primary form of advertising.
But now that memory-foam beds are no longer such a novelty, Tempur-Pedic has opted for a new message delivered in broader formats. In May, the company began a national print and television campaign promoting Tempur-Pedic not as a bed, but as a wellness brand.
“Sleep for years was short-shrifted,” explained Dan Setlak, vice president for marketing at Tempur-Pedic North America and director of sales. “Now consumers recognize the role sleep has in overall wellness.”
The commercials, created by the Acme Idea Company of Norwalk, Conn., show beautiful scenes of beaches or rainforests with Zen-like music and a soft voice-over recommending Tempur-Pedic as “nighttime therapy for body and mind.” Each bed model is depicted against its own spa-like setting.Continue reading the main story
“Historically we had more of a rational message,” Mr. Setlak said. “Here, we are trying to elevate the emotional component of well-being, which is an emotional issue and need for the consumer.”
The idea of a marketing campaign that attempts to forge an emotional connection with potential customers is something that Rick Anderson, president of Tempur-Pedic North America since July 2006, has used before. When he worked at Duracell, he introduced the battery’s successful “Trust It Everywhere” campaign, which was also created by Acme.
For Tempur-Pedic, Acme talked to hundreds of central consumers — middle to upper-middle income women, ages 35 to 65 — and discovered that they were open to finding new and natural ways to get more sleep. Over and over, the consumers said they saw sleep as “a refuge” from everyday life, Mr. Anderson said.
“The topic of sleep is one that has gotten a lot of attention over the last several years, whether it’s pharmaceutical advertising for sleep aids or mounting evidence from the medical community” about the importance of sleep, Mr. Anderson said.
“But what really solidified it for me is when we began doing research and found that consumers report that their sleep is suboptimal,” he added. “America is a country of sleep problems,” with 75 percent of people reporting some difficulty sleeping from time to time, he said.
Tempur-Pedic took an integrated approach to its new marketing effort. On top of the wellness-oriented advertisements, the company has embarked on a public relations campaign to promote its new wellness advisory board, a panel of people whom Tempur-Pedic describes as “nationally recognized sleep, medical and wellness experts.” Their role is to help the company educate the public about “the importance of a balanced life and the role quality sleep plays in that equation.”
Accordingly, the company’s Web site emphasizes a wellness message, along with its familiar image of a handprint in a memory-foam mattress. “Your bed should make stress go away,” says a slogan on the home page, which also advertises a free kit that includes a swatch of the foam material and a pamphlet and DVD about its benefits.
“Everyone has known for a lot of years that if we could make sleep more important, we could have a better business,” said Mr. Anderson. And, he added, “The promise of better sleep is a very compelling message.”
Scott Kulok, a principal at Acme, said that the agency’s idea in creating the campaign was to position Tempur-Pedic as “the antidote to the stress and pressure of the way we live our lives.”
“We’re not always going to throw away the BlackBerry, and we might not get that eight or nine or 10 hours of sleep a night that we need.” Mr. Kulok said. “ But what people figured out is, ‘If I can get a quality six or seven or eight hours...”While Tempur-Pedic created the so-called memory-foam mattress market and has its own secret design, there are many competitors using a wide variety of materials. Tempur-Pedic uses a proprietary formula made of viscoelastic material, which is based on a substance developed by NASA. The idea is that the material relieves pressure, producing a float-like feel.
Nonspring mattresses like Tempur-Pedic’s represent the fastest growing segment of the mattress market, up 12 percent in wholesale sales last year to about $1.2 billion, according to the International Sleep Products Association, a trade group. (In comparison, sales of traditional spring mattresses grew 6 percent, to about $4 billion, in wholesale sales.)
“This is huge, and it’s changing the business,” said Jim Swartzburg, president of Relief-Mart, which has been selling viscoelastic foam beds for seven years, mostly on the Internet. “We are looking at the next two or three years when spring mattresses will be a dinosaur — even Sealy and Simmons are moving into memory foam.”
Although viscoelastic material has been around for some time, the market has lacked product variety until recently, Mr. Swartzburg said. Relief-Mart now has 19 products, including a new one called Temperflow. Tempur-Pedic has doubled its product line to eight.
Advertising has also been limited, Mr. Swartzburg said. He credited Tempur-Pedic with educating the public with its infomercials and now its broader campaign, and he predicted that the Big 3 — Sealy, Serta and Simmons — would follow.
“They’ll have to if they want to cut into their business,” he said, referring to Tempur-Pedic.Continue reading the main story


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NBA Live 14 to feature realistic ball physics for the first time
EA Sports has detailed their main focus in developing NBA Live 14 for the series return.
The main feature will be BounceTek, the new ball physics engine that allows for the first time in the series the ball to move realistically, untying the ball from players hands.
They also revealed that the stats and specs would no longer be undated weekly or daily. Now it will be hourly so the game will be a different experience every time players pick up the controller.
NBA Live 14 is in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
- Ultra Street Fighter IV coming to PS4 at the end of May
- Ubisoft to publish Homeworld Remastered Collection at retail next month
- Journey, Flower and FlOw heading to the PS4 in a retail package
- Phil Harrison's departure from Microsoft has been confirmed
- Here's the first look at Star Wars: Battlefront
- Project CARS will feature 110 courses across over 30 iconic locations
- Gratuitous Space Battles 2 arrives today
- First Star Wars: Battlefront details arrive including a release date
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's release date is now set in stone


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Cuba is bringing in new rules limiting personal imports of foreign goods into the country, where locally-made items are scarce and expensive.
Some $2bn (£1.2bn) in goods have been flown into Cuba in travellers’ baggage each year since air travel restrictions were lifted in 2009.
Many ordinary Cubans say the new rules will throttle one of their few sources of high-quality consumer goods. The government says the new measures are aimed at professional “mules”. Read more here.


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Target is set to unveil the remodel of its Minneapolis flagship. The $10 million update is among the most extensive of the planned 600 location redesigns to take place over the next three years.
Most refreshed stores will require about $5 million in investment and the focus will be on customizing the design to the needs of shoppers in those areas. The cookie-cutter store model is gone, Target COO John Mulligan told the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Once it’s all said and done, Target expects a 2 percent to 4 percent increase in sales in each store.
As with all retailers these days, the Bull’s Eye is focused on delivering positive experiences, a mindset that led the remodels. In the past, experience accounted for about 5 percent of the store design. Today, it accounts for 20 percent of the overall plan, according to Joe Perdew, VP of store planning and design. For instance, instead of filling every available square foot with shelves of products, some upcoming stores will feature product vignettes where shoppers can see a head-to-toe outfit or a total room concept.
The store features more lifelike mannequins, a beauty department with video displays, and grocery and prepared meals in the front of the store.
[Read more about Target’s Q2 performance: Foot Traffic Propels Target’s Q2 Sales]
The new locations are also aiming to keep shoppers inside longer with a flow that places apparel at the center of the store with other departments wrapped around it. The chain also hopes the new lighting and wood treatments are more welcoming. Upbeat music is also designed to set the tone.
Target’s store focus is part of the company’s attempt to turn around foot traffic, which has been flagging. The retailer is also overhauling its private label collections in apparel and home products, edging out stale labels for more contemporary styles.
Target is hoping the store updates will put it one step ahead of rival Walmart, which is also slated to update 400 locations.
Walmart is taking a page from Apple Stores, with a more interactive selling environment. In electronics, this means consumers will be able to try out computers and gadgets before they commit. A similar tactic will be undertaken for products like baby strollers and tools. The updates will also include a boost to cosmetics as well as new signage, lighting and space in the produce aisles.
Walmart is also making a big omnichannel push by adding a variety of ways for consumers to click and collect. The mass merchant is moving pickup locations to the front of the stores, adding lounge areas where shoppers can wait for their items and providing curbside grocery pickup and pickup towers in select locations.
At the upcoming edition of Sourcing at MAGIC, attendees will be able to witness the factory of the future right on the show floor.Read more
RIS is recognizing several retail software vendors for their ability to transform industry member’s businesses with technology.Read more
The wool market has battled dwindling demand from the infiltration of high-tech fabrics in the outerwear market for many years and lost supply in its home market of Australia, where growers have increasingly opted for more profitable use of their land.Read more
The U.S. Commerce Department issued affirmative final determinations in the countervailing duty investigations of fine denier polyester staple fiber from the China and India.Read more
The cost of enjoying free shipping on Amazon is going up.Read more
GFG named two new co-CEOs, Walmart International named Judith McKenna as its new CEO and a Louis Vuitton veteran announced his exit.Read more
Portugese mill Tintex is switching from the use of conventional cotton and has launched a new fabric range called Naturally Advanced Cotton by Tintex using four different premium and responsibly grown cottons.Read more


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DoorDash has launched a delivery pilot with Wing in Christiansburg, Virginia, that will enable Wendy’s restaurant customers to order menu items and have them delivered by drone.
Customers with eligible addresses will be able to select drone delivery at checkout and will have their order within 30 minutes.
The US pilot follows a DoorDash/Wing drone delivery program launched in Australia in 2022, which has since expanded to three locations in Queensland with over 60 participating merchants.
“We are excited to expand our partnership with Wing in the US to integrate drone delivery into DoorDash’s ecosystem,” said Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs. “At DoorDash, we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-modal delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace. We’re optimistic about the value drone delivery will bring to our platform as we work to offer more efficient, sustainable and convenient delivery options for consumers.”
Sustainable last-mile delivery option
The new drone delivery offering provides a quick and sustainable delivery option for small, short-distanced orders while creating the potential for incremental order growth across the platform. The pilot will initially be available in Christiansburg with plans to explore other cities in the US later this year.
“Expanding our partnership with DoorDash and launching in the US is a direct result of the success we’ve seen from our initial collaboration in Australia, where Wing has served tens of thousands of customers via the DoorDash app for over a year now,” added Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Wing.
“Wing has now made over 350,000 deliveries across three countries and looking ahead we are focused on providing a fast, affordable and safe service to our partners so they can better serve their customers. This moment continues our meaningful expansion of this service in the US and advances our shared goal to better the last-mile delivery ecosystem.”
To discover more about drone deliveries in the logistics industry and whether they are a viable alternative to traditional last-mile delivery methods, read our exclusive feature Where do aerial drone deliveries really make sense?


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The Music People Featured in The Hartford Courant
The Music People was recently featured in The Hartford Courant newspaper. Touching on the company’s history, rise, and continued growth, the article offers an inside look at one of Connecticut’s best. Read the entire article below, or click here for the original posting at courant.com.
Music Equipment Middleman Grows In Tough Times
(Will Parson, Hartford Courant )
By MARA LEE [email protected], The Hartford Courant
BERLIN — When Jim Hennessey founded The Music People! in 1979, keyboard stands and guitar stands weren't branded. You bought a $5 stand, and that was it.
Hennessey, now 78, started his career as an apprentice at Pratt & Whitney, and eventually did advertising and sales promotion at Ovation, the guitar-manufacturing business started by helicopter pioneer Charles Kaman. Hennessey proposed adding an accessories program there but was turned down.
He and another Ovation employee struck out on their own, with funding from a New York man who could use a loss for a few years for tax purposes.
Hennessey said it wasn't feasible to make guitar or keyboard stands in America because of high manufacturing costs, so he designed products and had them manufactured in Japan, or tweaked others' designs. Manufacturing later moved to Taiwan, then to 40 factories in China. And now, Jim said, "Sharon wants me to go to Vietnam." Sharon Hennessey, 47, his daughter, joined the company soon after graduating from college.
Until 1979, accessories, under the On-Stage Stands or Hotwires brand, were all The Music People! did. But in 1985, they began distributing microphones and other audio equipment, and that now accounts for 45 percent of TMP's $40 million in annual revenue.
Shure, a giant manufacturer of microphones and headphones, has used TMP as a distributor for more than 15 years, according to Jim Schanz, Shure's director of sales for Eastern U.S. and Canada.
"They have access to small to midsized companies that we may not have a direct relationship with," Schanz said, and "they're able to inventory our products and ship them in a very timely manner."
John Hennessey, 44, the youngest of Hennessey's four children, joined the company in 1991. He said retailers also get TMP's deep knowledge. "We are audio engineers who understand the product," he said. "Sometimes distributors are known as box movers. We are not that."
Jim Hennessey agreed, and said some of the salesmen are musicians. "They still play out," he said.
The Music People! has 61 employees, with nine working in warehouses in Kentucky and California and five in China. The company started selling in China in 2011, because it's going to be the world's largest consumer market, and hundreds of millions of people in China already have disposable income.
"There is a market for American engineering, American-branded products [in China] and they're willing to pay a premium for it," John Hennessey said. About 10 percent of TMP's sales are outside the United States.
In addition to selling accessories that Jim Hennessey designed or tweaked, TMP manages contract manufacturing for some bigger companies.
Sharon Hennessey said TMP makes it profitable by doing extremely high volume, and by pushing out their competitors at large chains like Guitar Center.
The company has quadrupled its sales in the last 11 years, and more than doubled sales from 2009 to 2012.
"When people have job insecurity they fall back on what makes them feel good," John Hennessey said, so if they play music, that's something they'll spend on. Since it's a lot more affordable to buy a new guitar strap, drum sticks or stand, TMP benefits.
With the growth came the need for more people. The Music People! moved to a larger warehouse in Cheshire in 2012 and opened the Kentucky warehouse in 2011. In 2012, TMP added nine jobs, and received $90,000 in a grant from the state's Small Business Express program.
The company's growth comes in bursts after it integrates new staff, and 2013 is expected to be pretty flat.
"Our biggest hurdle is finding people," said Sharon Hennessey. The company is looking for a project manager, a product manager and a salesperson.
"We really do rely on people to self-manage themselves," John Hennessey said. "Not everybody has that."
In 2012, TMP decided to stem a race to the bottom in prices through online retailers by enforcing a minimum advertised price for brands it owns and distributes.
"There wasn't a lot of faith we were going to pull this off," Sharon Hennessey said, because stands are low-priced, commodity items. "We walked away from some business," she said, even cutting off one retailer that had moved $250,000 worth of their products in a year. But, she said, the bottom feeders aren't the people that you can count on to buy some products when you're overstocked or forecast demand for products three months out.
Schanz said TMP's initiative was greatly appreciated, as those retailers undercut Shure's dealers and often don't support warranties.
Jim Hennessey works from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and said he has no plans to retire. He excitedly shows off an iPad holder that he designed, which attaches to a microphone stand; the product will be launched soon. In addition to the performance market, he thinks it also could snap onto a grocery cart, a baby stroller, a wheelchair or a hospital bed.
"I wasn't the first guy out there with an iPad holder," he said. "We did what we always do — we made it cheaper."
Read the entire article on Courant.com


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Foldable telephones had been intended to be the long term and 2019 used to be going to be all about them. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold wowed everybody sooner than^( and stole the Korean corporate’s thunder. The Galaxy Fold used to be on the verge of being introduced sooner than ^( with its design. And now, Huawei is doing one thing equivalent.
The corporate has introduced that it now intends to release the Mate X in September. The telephone used to be intended to release in June however that has now been not on time as it’s accomplishing further checks.
Huawei has taken a extra wary way with the Mate X after the Galaxy Fold incident and it’s now accomplishing further checks with cell carriers and builders round the international to make sure that the tool and apps paintings accurately on it.
“We don’t need to release a product to spoil our popularity,” the spokesperson instructed CNBC.
Whenever it does release although, Huawei will first focal point on markets the place 5G is to be had as the Mate X has 5G connectivity.
It is unclear if the^( could also be at play right here for the Mate X not on time release. The corporate’s spokesperson that regardless of the ban, it’s “assured” of launching the tool to customers. Plus, it is going to nonetheless run on Android when it launches because it used to be introduced sooner than the U.S. govt put Huawei on the Entity record.
Nonetheless, the further months of extend in launching the Mate X on Huawei’s section display that it does now not appear to be that assured about its design. Huawei had the alternative to capitalize on the Galaxy Fold extend by means of launching the Mate X and get customers speaking about it. The extend has all however squandered that chance.
It now stays to be observed if Samsung is ready to repair the design reliability problems with the Galaxy Fold forward of the Mate X release or now not.


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Graham is VP of Marketing at Real Intent. He has over 20 years experience in the design automation industry. He has founded startups, brought Nassda to an IPO and previously was Sales and Marketing Director at Internet Business Systems, a web portal company. Graham has a Bachelor of Computer … More »
Google Designing Its Own Next-Generation Smartphone SoCs?
November 5th, 2015 by Graham Bell
Google is starting to push to have more say in the design and architecture of the chips that run the Android system in smart phones. They are also apparently making major investments into virtual reality, where some of the chip design effort is expected. And hiring staff from major SoC companies.
Ron Amadeo from the tech publication Ars Technica has published the following online report: According to a pair of reports from The Information (subscription required), Google has big ambitions for the inside of Android phones. The report says the search giant has sent a long list of requests to chip manufacturers for future SoC designs and that Google is even planning to build its own processors.
The report says that during discussions that happened this fall, “Google representatives put forward designs of chips it was interested in co-developing, including a phone’s main processor.” The new chips are reportedly needed for future Android features that Google hopes to release “in the next few years.” By designing its own chips, Google can make sure the right amount of horsepower gets assigned to all the right places and remove bottlenecks that would slow down these new features.
The report specifically calls out “virtual and augmented reality” as use cases for the new chips. Publicly, only Google Cardboard has surfaced from Google’s VR initiative, but internally, it seems like the company is gearing up for a huge VR push. Some of Google’s biggest names have left their posts on flagship products to go work on the virtual reality team: Jon Wiley, the lead designer of Google Search, and Alex Faaborg, the former lead designer for Firefox, Google Now, and Android Wear. An earlier report from The Wall Street Journal claimed Google was building a version of Android that would become a virtual reality operating system.
Read the rest of Ron Amadeo’s article here and learn who Google is hiring.


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Accenture, the Dublin-based global IT consulting giant, is looking to return to South Korea, six years after leaving the country, but this time in partnership with Korean IT services leader LG CNS to greater synergy in digital transformation and digital marketing.
According to a source familiar with Accenture’s affairs on Wednesday, Accenture is in final talks with LG CNS to sign a contract to forge a business partnership in Korea. “The business synergy of their partnership would be great,” the source added.
An anonymous LG CNS official confirmed that the two companies were still “in talks”, but declined to give further details.
The global IT consulting giant left Korea in 2016 after selling its trading rights to Metanet. After taking over Accenture’s Korean subsidiary, Korean IT services provider Metanet has leveraged Accenture’s manpower and knowledge for domestic businesses in Korea. Contract details such as the duration were not disclosed at the time.
If Accenture succeeds in returning to Korea, it is expected to provide more than general IT consulting services.
Accenture is an IT services giant with revenue of $50.5 billion and its market value is one of the top 50 in the world, with a market capitalization of nearly $175.6 billion. Over the past two years, Accenture has transformed itself into a digital transformation (DX) company by offering cloud, smart manufacturing, digital customer experience and digital marketing services.
Since Accenture’s newly added technologies and businesses are what LG CNS has promoted as core businesses, the two companies’ partnership is expected to strengthen each other’s businesses in Korea. In particular, they should create great synergy in digital marketing, using advertising data and market trend analysis.
LG CNS recently established a Digital Customer Experience Center (DCX) that analyzes and supports customer experience based on data from Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), customer chatbots, online shopping malls and corporate websites. Accenture Song, Accenture’s world-class service, also seeks to improve the digital customer experience.
By Woo Soo-min and Susan Lee
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]


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The great commerce acceleration should not be feared. Instead it offers great opportunities for those retailers brave enough to overcome its challenges, explains Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell.
Why retailers must overcome their fear and invest for the future
The main areas of investment for Linnworks in the coming months
How a Total Commerce approach will drive growth
The three people that have inspired Callum this year
Capturing every growth opportunity.
Tennis star Emma Raducanu, Olympic skateboarding medal winner Sky Brown and Tesla boss Elon Musk are three individuals who have captured the thoughts and hearts of many in the last year or so and show what can be achieved with dedication to overcome challenges, according to Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell.
In his opening speech at Linn Academy 2021 Virtual, Campbell said: “I love the triumph. They are the type of stories that energise and inspire me and cause me to dream of all the things that could be possible.”
But he pointed out that they had succeeded by overcoming challenges, something that retailers need to embrace. “Our industry is going through a massive amount of change. It’s in a watershed moment and moments like these can be unsettling,” he said.
But this makes it all the more exciting, he said. “Where change occurs opportunities emerge.” Campbell said we are living in the era of the great commerce acceleration, embodied in the rise of the effortless economy. As a result, enterprises have to change to stay connected in this new world with a greater deeper investment in digital channels. “We have seen an irreversible shift in the centre of gravity in our organisations to ecommerce,” he said.
He sees brands and retailers investing in three areas, brand building, multi-channel distribution and establishing total commerce control through operations as they seek to connect commerce channels seamlessly and simultaneously and connect commerce operations too. “The transaction is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much complexity that can exist below the surface,” he said.
Campbell outlined the key areas in which Linnworks will be investing to further enhance the Linnworks offer over the coming months, including product, the partner ecosystem and service.
“The great commerce acceleration has set in and the decisions that our businesses choose to make in the next 12 months, given this is such a transitional moment, will determine much of our success for the next decade,” he said. “The greatest stories of the 2020s will belong to those businesses who are courageous and don’t give in to fear.”
2022 & Beyond: An interview with Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell & Tamebay's Chris Dawson
In a fireside chat, Tamebay Editor Chris Dawson spoke with Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell about the great commerce acceleration into 2022 and beyond, as well as outlining what decisions online retailers should be making now to maintain growth and mitigate issues.
Retailers broadly need to focus on two things moving into 2022, Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell explained to Tamebay editor Chris Dawson in a fireside chat at Linn Academy 2021 Virtual. “It’s how do you understand your customers and then how do you set up in the back end,” he said.
Campbell urged retailers to thoroughly map their customer journey, from discovery to purchase, through to delivery and returns, to understand where any friction might be. At the back end he said it was about setting up the organization with the technology that allows retailers to scale effectively and quickly.
The duo agreed that marketplaces will continue to grow. “The marketplace proposition is very compelling to the end consumer,” said Campbell. “You have so much choice and you are empowered by things like price. For the marketplaces the business model is compounding – the more buyers the more sellers.”
Campbell said marketplaces will be key in 2022 and all brands and retailers need to have an approach and understand how to work effectively with marketplaces.
Dawson and Campbell also discussed future trends, highlighting BNPL, click and collect and sustainability as key issues where retailers will witness future growth next year.


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FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- As Volkswagen Group's first dividend cut in six years looms in the wake of the diesel-emissions scandal, the automaker must balance the interests of labor, government and family power brokers against those of investors who have felt short-changed for years.
VW's two largest shareholders, the Porsche and Piech families and the German state of Lower Saxony, have said they want to protect jobs. That interest aligns with labor leader Bernd Osterloh, who also sits on Volkswagen’s supervisory board.
Holders of non-voting shares, meanwhile, have complained for years that Volkswagen’s dividend fell short of its German peers. Last year the company distributed 21 percent of profit to shareholders, less than half the average of companies on the benchmark DAX Index.
One unidentified supervisory board member said it’s unlikely the carmaker will pay a dividend at all, German newswire DPA reported on Tuesday. Investors are expecting something, however. The carmaker may slash the dividend by more than half, to 2.37 euros per share, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would equal about 14 percent of the 17.80-euro average estimate for adjusted earnings per share.
"They can definitely afford a payout to shareholders," said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank, though it would be "reduced substantially due to costs booked toward the end of last year."
Paying a dividend might cost Volkswagen about 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion), Gommel said, a manageable sum especially in light of the 2.2 billion-euro gain the company will book this year from the sale of its stake in fleet-management company LeasePlan Corp.
Volkswagen paid out 2.3 billion euros in 2014 dividends, amounting to 4.86 euros per preferred share, which don’t have voting rights, and 4.80 euros per common stock. The Porsche and Piech families control 52 percent of the voting stock, while Lower Saxony holds 20 percent and the emirate of Qatar 17 percent. Outside shareholders, who are largely restricted to owning the preferred stock, have little say. The company said it won’t comment on the next investor payouts before it publishes 2015 earnings on April 28.
Europe’s largest automaker is facing a decisive month. It must hammer out a settlement with U.S. authorities before a court hearing scheduled a week before its earnings release. It also plans to present findings by the end of April from internal and external investigations into how it came to install software designed to cheat emissions tests in some 11 million cars worldwide.
VW has yet to specify how it plans to digest what will be billions of euros in costs to recall the cars and pay for fines and hundreds of lawsuits. It set aside 6.7 billion euros in the third quarter last year but has already acknowledged this won’t be enough. The total cost will remain difficult to quantify until there’s a U.S. settlement.
VW’s net liquidity stood at 28 billion euros at the end of September. The company has said in the past that it needs about 10 billion euros to fund day-to-day operations and that it has no plans to sell or spin off some of its dozen brands.
Until the diesel crisis, Volkswagen said it would lift its dividend payout ratio to 30 percent of profit in the medium term. Its inchworm progress toward that goal has been one of the few points of criticism at shareholder meetings this decade, as the manufacturer kept raking in record profits.
Investors argued that Volkswagen had shortchanged them even as it spent lavishly on acquisitions, including motorcycle maker Ducati, and sold new shares to finance the complete takeover of truckmaker Scania.
Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said on Feb. 29 at the Geneva auto show that Volkswagen is aware that dividend policy is “an important topic,” without elaborating on the possible effects from the emissions manipulation. Shareholders have also taken a financial hit from the drop in Volkswagen stock since the crisis broke. The company has lost 15.7 billion euros in market value since Sept. 18.
Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil said in an interview in January that he’s not primarily focused on reaping dividends and instead views the German state’s stock ownership as a long-term, strategic investment to support the regional economy. VW has its headquarters in Lower Saxony.
A dividend cut wouldn’t have a direct impact on existing public projects as financing has been set aside in previous budgets, a spokesman for Lower Saxony’s finance ministry said in an e-mailed statement.
A decision on a possible dividend hasn’t been made yet, so any comment on forgoing a payout is “pure speculation” at this point, said Albrecht Bamler, a spokesman for Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the holding company for the Porsche and Piech families’ stake. A London-based spokesman for Qatar Investment Authority also declined to comment.


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Google which not-so-long-ago announced that it will be a subsidiary under Alphabet Inc, has today launched a new logo to mark the new change. The basic concept of Google in its word format remains the same however Google has swapped its old, down to business look to a more soft, modern and fun version using a sans-serif typeface and softer colors.
The logo looks very similar to that of Alphabet Inc which also employs the same modern look. This emphasis a better integration of the service into the Alphabet umbrella. Google claims that the logo has been on a continuous evolution since its inception in 1998. But this is by far the biggest update since its 1999 modification where it decided to stick with its current scheme of colors.
Another part that Google has modified is its ‘g’ logo which is now a capital ‘G’ and composes of its 4 core color scheme right in the letter. Google has already begun rolling out the changes on its primary site: Google.com with a neat little animation and will continue to update its complete product lineup soon.
Google decided to change the logo to emphasize that it was no more just a simple website that users visited on an old PC. It was rather a collection of applications, websites and services that can be used on a multitude of devices as long as it has a web browser. “These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day. You expect Google to help you whenever and wherever you need it, whether it’s on your mobile phone, TV, watch, the dashboard in your car, and yes, even a desktop” says Google.
Google also indicates that a major factor behind the change was the appearance of its logo on smaller screens. Google wants this new change to reflect across its services. Even the microphone icon has now been modified to reflect the 4 color scheme just like the ‘G’.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve changed our look and it probably won’t be the last, but we think today’s update is a great reflection of all the ways Google works for you across Search, Maps, Gmail, Chrome and many others.” Google wrote on a blog post announcing the new change,”We think we’ve taken the best of Google (simple, uncluttered, colorful, friendly), and recast it not just for the Google of today, but for the Google of the future.”


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Spend even a few days in the boomtowns of Shanghai and Beijing, and it's hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm that has long dominated the Chinese automotive market. From a decade of personal experience, I have watched China rapidly evolve from a country of bicycles and motor scooters to one of the world's largest car markets, where owning a vehicle is a must for the increasingly affluent middle class, as well as business and government leaders.
Only a few months back, during my last visit behind the old Bamboo Curtain, many analysts were breathlessly forecasting that China, which has now surpassed all but the U.S. and Japanese national markets, would become the single largest car-buying nation by 2025. Or will it? Maybe not, suggests a story in the Financial Times.
The paper notes that for the first six months of this year, Chinese car sales rose a solid 14 percent. Considering the huge slump in the U.S. market, that seems pretty substantial, but not when you consider recent trends. Over the last decade, China has seen annual growth rates that, at times, have nudged triple digits. But in 2006, that slowed to a still-impressive 34 percent. And last year, the increase was just 24 percent.
While some analysts are still predicting 20 percent growth for all of 2008, others, says the FT, fear it will dip to 15 percent and "might be at a turning point."
As in the U.S., the paper suggests there is a "perfect storm of negative factors" affecting the Chinese market, including rising prices for steel and other raw materials. It didn't help when the government approved an unanticipated increase in gasoline prices last month. At worst, some observers thought that might happen after the upcoming Olympics.
There could be a significant "pause," warns John Bonnell, director of Asia Pacific forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates, who told the paper, "It's impossible to predict the impact of the global slowdown on China or on (its) auto industry."
While rising fuel prices are a hard pill to swallow for Chinese consumers - impacting them far more, in terms of overall income, than their American counterparts - that's offset by the steady decline in vehicle prices, reflecting rising competition and the increased capacity of manufacturers operating in China.


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Cheshire, United Kingdom (29 July 2010) – Searchengineoptimization.co.uk, a leading search engine optimization services company, commented on the news that Bing has launched a massive revamp of their webmaster tools.
Searchengineoptimization.co.uk believe that Microsoft seems to have essentially rebuilt its webmaster tools from scratch, giving more comprehensive and accessible feedback for user behavior on their websites. They cite that the new update essentially focuses on three key areas: crawling, indexing, and traffic. Charts are now accessible for users containing six months of data covering these three key areas – however, users must download and install Microsoft’s Silverlight to be able to view these new features.
Once installed users will be able to see the number of pages that have been crawled, how many crawl errors have accumulated, which pages have been indexed, impressions and clicks. Searchengineoptimization.co.uk feel that alongside Google’s webmaster tools and analytics data, Microsoft’s alternative can also be incredibly beneficial for those embarking on a search engine optimization campaign, although they feel that Silverlight may be a potential stumbling block.
“Not being able to download all your SEO data from Bing webmaster tools and only being able to access it fully with Silverlight may prove to be irritating and a turn-off for those who want to access their data in a seamless fashion, especially if their current internet browser of choice isn’t Silverlight compatible,” comments a spokesperson for Searchengineoptimization.co.uk. “However there’s no doubt that it’ll be incredibly useful to many people wanting to track their SEO progress, especially as it’s offering many comparable features to some of Google’s services. With Bing soon to be powering Yahoo! search, it’ll be interesting to see whether this move helps Microsoft to claim a bigger portion of the search marketing tracking pie.”
To discover more about SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk and to view their range of search engine optimization services, visit http://www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk/ or telephone 08459 736 736 during office hours.
SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk are a specialist SEO company offering three packages – Gold, Platinum, and Diamond SEO. SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk achieve proven rankings and results through impressive and technologically-advanced SEO practices. A leading SEO optimization company in the UK today, SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk can offer clients their own dedicated account manager, free SEO tools, a unique and transparent online reporting system, and creative online marketing campaigns.
Search Engine Optimization,
Oaklands Office Park,
Tel: 08459 736 736


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Ford tortures new 2014 Fiesta with extreme abuse
An automobile doesn’t become a global car by just looking stylish. Unless it’s undergone some severe testing it can’t handle the world’s extremes. Ford subjected the new 2014 Fiesta in Europe to the most extreme testing over harsh terrain, extreme temperatures, and a lifetime of simulated use. The new Ford Fiesta testing took the compact car through extremes from tortuous durability trials to exhaustive ‘real-world’ challenges.
Tests done in extreme conditions
The tests extended over more than a half million miles on test tracks and in laboratory conditions ranging from -40 to 180 degrees and engineers evaluated the Fiesta’s performance over 745,000 miles on public roads. A global car needs to be prepared for the most extreme use and global conditions to ensure it excels in day-to-day performance over the life of the vehicle.
“A combination of high-tech laboratory simulations, demanding test-track trials and real-world evaluations helps us deliver a durable Ford Fiesta that owners can be confident will survive the worst they can throw at it throughout its lifetime,” said Glen Goold, new Fiesta global chief program engineer, Ford of Europe.
Tests done around the globe
Ford engineers subjected the new compact car to extreme tests at Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium, France and the U.S. They also have an exact recreation of a potholed stretch of road near the Ford Dunton Technical Centre, England. The grueling tests simulated the worst-case conditions that customers could encounter and included a variety of artificially constructed obstacles designed to place controlled loads on components to simulated a lifetime of abuse in just months or even weeks.
The new 2014 Fiesta was developed in North America and introduced to Europe in 2010. The 2013 Fiesta has been one of the top selling cars in Europe and the new model will be even better. Ford recruited 100 drivers of all ages and sizes to conduct the tests in 115 new Fiestas. The driver’s tested everything from the seats to the accuracy of the “distance to empty” indicator by running the car out of gas.
Ford leaves no stone unturned, and makes sure the car is ready to handle the global challenges it will face. “By paying this level of detailed attention to every aspect of the car we can make a real difference to the overall driving and ownership experience of new Fiesta.” said Thomas Schlimbach, senior engineer, Voice of Customer Fleet program, Ford of Europe.
Look for the all-new 2014 Ford Fiesta to launch next year. It sounds like the global car is just about ready for the world’s most extreme conditions and consumers.


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Daft Punk's Get Lucky passes one million sales in UK
June 29 , 2013
Daft Punk’s "Get Lucky" became the latest single to cross the one million sales mark in UK.
The single spent 4 weeks as number one earlier this year and took just 69 days to pass the one million mark becoming the biggest selling single of 2013 till now.
The producer was "flabbergasted" by the news. He was awestruck that the track sold a million copies in just 69 days.


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LONDON, ENGLAND, Real-time opinion company, today announced a $3.5 million Series A round of funding led by Spark Capital.
Qriously, the real-time opinion company, today announced a $3.5 million Series A round of funding led by Spark Capital and with increased participation from Accel Partners. On top of the $1.6 million raised to date, Qriously will use the funds to expand its U.S. and European footprint and extend the application of its network beyond research with its new product "asQvertising," a mobile advertising approach based around opinion targeting.
asQvertising enables consumers, for the first time, to self-select mobile advertisements by answering basic questions served to them through their smartphones. Qriously uses consumers' opinions to uncover their interests, which is then technologically matched with advertisers' mobile display ads.
asQvertising is built on Qriously's "question network", which serves questions on smartphone apps. The answers to these questions are used to derive real-time, location-based insights and engage more intelligently with consumers.
Through partnerships with mobile ad-exchanges and direct installation via app publishers, Qriously's Question Network now exceeds 300 million unique individuals all over the world and has served over 200 million questions to date.
Qriously CEO Christopher Kahler said, "Everything we develop focuses on unlocking the intrinsic worth of people's opinions. We believe there is a great depth of value behind the question network model because you can focus the collective wisdom of the crowd to gain unparalleled insight and enable efficient ad targeting at scale."
"Qriously's technology combines simplicity with power when it comes to targeted advertising, making mobile measurement and engagement an easier process for marketers and advertising executives," said Santo Politi, co-founder and general partner of Spark Capital. "We are excited to see this great team infiltrate the industry with the unique asQvertising network."
Founded in 2010, Qriously taps the value of opinion by serving questions on smartphone apps. Currently headquartered in New York and London with additional team members in Atlanta & Vienna, its products revolve around unlocking the value of people's voices at scale.
About Spark Capital
Founded in 2005, Spark Capital is a tight-knit group of partners managing approximately $1.5 billion across four funds. Spark invests across a number of key market segments including: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, cloud & infrastructure, social, mobile and content. Spark's portfolio includes companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, AdMeld, OMGPOP, ThePlatform and 5Min. The Spark team has previously backed notable companies such as Akamai Technologies, Qtera, Aether Systems and Novatel Wireless.
About Accel Partners
Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, London, New York City and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel. Accel has invested in over 500 companies, many of which have defined their categories, including Angry Birds (Rovio), Atlassian, Cloudera, ComScore, Dropbox, Facebook, Groupon, Kayak, Playfish, QlikTech, Spotify, and Wonga. For more information, visit the Accel Partners web site at www.accel.com
find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/accel.
(c)2011-2020 by Massinvestor, Inc. For contact info, please check out our about


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Update: Developer Asks To Pull CID Proposal Off City Council Agenda
Photo: Image by KTTS News
It looks like an aging shopping center in Springfield will NOT be getting any upgrades in the foreseeable future.
The City Clerk's office says the developer will ask City Council tonight to pull a CID proposal for the Country Club Center off the agenda.
Enough 'yes' votes would have allowed for an extra sales tax at the strip mall, which is off Glenstone and Bennett. That money would pay for a massive renovation project.
The developer has not yet said why he wants to pull the CID proposal. We may find out at tonight's council meeting.


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KwikFit NL has announced the opening of its first E-Service branch in Amsterdam, setting a benchmark for future services and support for e-mobility.
The press release emphasizes that customers can turn to the “garage of the future” to service both their electric car and e-bike. In addition, the garage functions as a test lab for e-mobility, where a variety of new electric vehicles, including electronic cargo bikes of all shapes and sizes, electronic minivans and LEVs (light electric vehicles), can be sent for maintenance.
This knowledge and experience will form the basis for the further development of the e-service concept, which will eventually be deployed in all KwikFit garages.
In addition, KwikFit is opening several e-bike service points in Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven, where people can ride their e-bikes on a fast service model: quickly make an appointment online and get help within an hour.
Thanks to this, KwikFit supports the transition to electric control, and the company helps to make electric transport accessible to all.
Electronic bicycle service
With a significant percentage of e-bike sales in the Netherlands taking place online, KwikFit’s e-service subsidiary provides a local service point, regardless of seller or brand, as well as fast service for which the company has become known. For example, customers can make an appointment online and count on transparent prices and fast service in one hour. These first service points serve as a springboard for expanding other branches with this service (electronic bike) over time. ”
Peter Bicker, Director of Electronic Mobility at KwikFit Netherlands. “We see that more and more types of electric cars are entering the market, from electronic bicycles to electronic microcars. The way the Dutch move from A to B will change dramatically in the coming years, and we see this as an important role for ourselves. ”
Martin Post, Managing Director of KwikFit NL comments. “For us, this is the first big step towards the e-mobility market and garage of the future. The energy transition is in full swing, and we see this as a role in e-mobility. ” “To contribute to the energy transition, we will ensure that the maintenance and repair of all types of electric vehicles can be carried out easily and quickly. That is why we are expanding from a car garage to an e-mobility service for electric cars. ”
Zero emission zones
The announcement concludes that from 2030, all vehicles in zero-emission zones (in the Netherlands) must travel completely without emissions. This means that there are urban areas, and hence KwikFit garages, which from 2030 can no longer be reached by car with fuel.
Bikker states: “Thanks to the concept of e-services, people who drive electric vehicles can still turn to us for service. In this way, we ensure that even in a world without emissions, we can continue to provide the same quality and services to which people are accustomed. We really see KwikFit’s future in the concept of e-services ”.
Developing e-mobility UK
in the UK, study commissioned by Bike is Bestconducted by researchers at the University of Westminster, found that expanding the use of electronic bicycles will bring many benefits.
Reducing congestion, pollution and urban noise levels all make the environment safer, faster and less cost-effective. At this last point, “the mayor of London has shown that there are traffic jams in the capital costs the economy £ 5.1 billion a year, which is £ 1211 per driver.”
Due to the fact that Active Transport users are moving from cars to a combination of micro-mobility and public transport, it will be extremely interesting to see when e-services garages start entering the UK market.
https://cyclingindustry.news/kwikfit-nl-launches-industry-first-e-bike-and-ev-servicing-and-maintenance-centres/ KwikFit NL launches the industry’s first e-bike and EV service centers


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Audio-visual industries have huge potential to support the economic development of African countries.
The widely-renowned Australian moral philosopher, Peter Singer, shares his views on ethics, technology and the future of humanity.
Find out more about the role that IP rights play in the fashion industry and what are some of the challenges and opportunities ahead for fashion law in the digital age.
Starting a business is a daunting task. It’s not for the faint hearted. Sometimes these businesses achieve great success, sometimes they fail. Here are the most common reasons why.
In accordance with Article 112(1)(b) EPC the President of the European Patent Office has referred a point of law concerning the interpretation of Article 108 EPC to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (case G 1/18).


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Porsche builds one-off Facebook 911
German automaker Porsche, has revealed a special edition 911 Carrera 4S in recognition of attaining five million Facebook fans.
Porsche encouraged fans to interact with the definitive performance car brand by giving input on the design of this special edition social media sports car.
The result? A fierce-looking 911 featuring a unique Aquablaumetallic paint, contrasting 20-inch white Carrera S wheels and custom pinstripes.
The cabin features unique backlit sill plates while the dashboard has the words, “Personally Built by 5 Million Porsche Fans” engraved on it. Now who wouldn’t like that?
For now the campaign continues to cruise across the virtual highway as a contest is being held for one lucky fan, to win the chance to drive the car around Silverstone racetrack in the UK.
If luck is not on your aside, don’t despair as the groups are offering nine runners-up 1:43-scale models of the custom built 911. So, dear internet, if you’re feeling lucky and want to enter, click here.
This year Porsche celebrates the 50th anniversary of their well-known coupe and recently set the world-record for the largest 911 parade to lap the Silverstone circuit – ever.
In the past 18 months, Porsche have more than doubled their digital fans bass and are up to 5.8 million Facebook Likes.
- Car Insurance
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A popular restaurant in Avondale is temporarily closing its doors due to the pandemic.
The owners of Fancy’s on Fifth took to Facebook Wednesday and said with very heavy hearts, they announce that New Year’s Eve will be the last day of service for their restaurant. They are temporarily closing their restaurant for three to four months.
Over the past few months, co-owner Paget Pizitz says the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a big financial toll on the popular restaurant. Pizitz says the pandemic got the best of them. Higher food costs and more labor made things very challenging.
“To be very brutally honest. The money was gone. There’s no more loans. There’s no more money to get and it became really real over the last three weeks and we had to make a decision that was incredibly hard for us,” Pizitz said.
Pizitz wants to thank the community for all the support over the years. Pizitz and her co-owner will do everything they can to support the dozens of employees who will be losing their jobs after New Years.


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HOLIDAY Shopping rush getting closer
A traditional rush is nearly upon us: the Black Friday shopping experience. Just like with many other issues across our country, America seems divided on this.
Should stores open Thanksgiving to begin the rush or should they remain closed to allow for families being together for the holiday? Of course, it is not up to the store workers. The consumers make that decision.
If shoppers show up on Thanksgiving, the market is obviously there. If the shoppers don’t show up, stores would be better served to wait.
Americans, however, have spoken. They show up late Thursday evening — and early Friday — for the deals.
If you do head out, however, remember it can get ugly. In previous years, we have seen — and covered — scuffles and punches thrown by overambitious buyers for a product.
That is unfortunately true — and does not keep with what is supposed to be the holiday spirit.


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When you think of the strength of Netflix as a brand, it’s rarely anything to do with the streaming giant’s actual marketing and advertising. It’s the platform’s own content and sheer cultural ubiquity that has helped its “N” logo signify content comfort food among TV and movie junkies. Even the “N” itself is what my colleague Mark Wilson called “a masterpiece of ambiguity.”
Every few months or so, Netflix is able to release a show or film that catches our collective attention in ways many can’t, because our media landscape has become a fragmented mess of a bajillion different things to watch all at once.
For most of the past decade, the company’s marketing and advertising has been used to promote specific shows or films. Witness the sponsor-stravaganza connected to last summer’s season launch of Stranger Things. Even then, Netflix content is in a fight among itself for our attention. In July alone this year, there are 59 new øriginals—films, specials, and TV seasons—hitting the platform.
Last week, the company announced that it had hired Bozoma Saint John as its newest chief marketing officer, marking a new era just more than a year after Jackie Lee-Joe joined from BBC Studios to be CMO. In 2019, Netflix spent upwards of $2.65 billion on marketing, and yet it’s a company that isn’t exactly known for its brand marketing. It feels like I should be awash with ads or promos for things like The Old Guard (starring Charlize Theron and debuting this Friday on the service) or Kissing Booth 2, a sequel to one of its popular rom-com properties coming later this month.
But I’m not.
Netflix has a well-documented foundation of success as a digital marketer, particularly on social media through its primary channels, as well as spin-off feeds such as Strong Black Lead and NX. The company is renowned for how much it spends on content every year, yet it has not been able to build out successful franchise properties at the rate one might expect tens of billions of dollars invested to yield.
In January, there were reported layoffs in the marketing department, which were said to coincide with a general strategy shift towards the overall Netflix brand. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the platform’s desire to market the service as a whole doesn’t necessarily mean less project-specific marketing but more of a focus on making sure those titles reflect and clearly tie into the larger company brand.
Since then, we’ve all been in lockdown amid a global health crisis, with Netflix becoming more essential service than entertainment option, while adding more than 15 million new subscribers in the first three months of 2020.
But we haven’t seen much of that larger company brand sell.
Enter the Boz
Saint John is a larger-than-life executive, one of the few in the business world who’s become a name themselves beyond the company they work for. She first garnered notice in marketing circles for her work as Pepsi’s head of music and entertainment marketing, where she landed a $50 million deal with Beyoncé, sponsoring the artist’s 2012 tour and her legendary 2013 Super Bowl halftime show.
She extended the sugar water’s celebrity endorsement roster to include Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Eminem. For a 2012 Katy Perry show in Hollywood, Pepsi became the first brand to live-stream a concert on its Twitter page, giving fans incentives to get involved. On top of the Super Bowl, she managed brand integrations with other cultural touchstones such as the Grammy Awards, MTV VMAs, and CMA Awards.
It was a natural move then to Beats By Dre, just before it was acquired by Apple. After the deal closed, she became the head of global consumer marketing at Apple Music and iTunes. There, she worked with Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine and head of content Larry Walker to translate Apple’s already strong marketing culture to its new streaming service, creating epic ads like The Weeknd’s 2015 VMA ads and Taylor Swift singing Drake on a treadmill. Plus, she got Kerry Washington, Empire‘s Taraji P. Henson, and Mary J. Blige singing Puff Daddy and air-drumming to Phil Collins together. To cement her celebrity-executive status, she turned heads at Apple’s 2016 WWDC, then appeared in an Apple Music ad herself with James Corden.
What they all have in common is taking something that was largely marketed as an algorithmically driven service (Spotify) and positioning Apple Music as a human-powered passionate alternative. She told Fast Company in 2016 that Washington-Henson-Blige spot largely defied traditional marketing. “You have these three Black women who are mature and who are listening to music much in the same way you do with your friends, and you don’t look anything like them,” she said. “The passion and the emotion of that interaction is universal.”
In 2017, Saint John became the chief brand officer at Uber, as the company was mid-crisis. (“Is this the woman who will save Uber?” asked The New York Times.)
About a year later, she moved on to become CMO at Endeavor, the parent company of super talent agencies WME and IMG, as well as brands like UFC, The Miss Universe Organization, and the Professional Bull Riders. So basically, for the last few years, Saint John has been at companies that either have a high cultural profile for all the wrong reasons (Uber), or for a business more behind the scenes than other major consumer brands (Endeavor).
It’s tough to see the work from Uber at her time there without the caveat of that company’s overall troubles. And at Endeavor, she actually worked on another crisis brand in Papa John’s, which hired the company in 2018 to help it navigate out of its founder-led PR nightmare.
In both cases, whether it’s Uber’s “Moving Forward” spot with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi essentially apologizing for the company’s toxic culture, or Papa John’s using angry customer tweets to say sorry for John Schnatter’s racist missteps, the work was largely overshadowed by each company’s self-inflicted wounds. That said, in both cases, she made an emotional appeal.
Netflix is going to let Saint John do what she does best
By taking the top marketer job at Netflix—a company not currently embroiled in a scandal—we’re finally going to see again what she does best. Given that Netflix is at a point where it is trying to amp up its marketing around the overall brand, when you consider Saint John’s bona fides at Pepsi and Apple, perhaps the timing is perfect.
While Saint John didn’t give any preview of what her approach and strategy at Netflix might be, her work has always been rooted in pop culture, and she’s often talked about the importance of listening to figure out what’s coming next.
At SXSW in 2019 she said, “Put your hand in the air and feel the wind. Start paying attention to what people are talking about—what they’re emotionally reacting to.”
In a 2017 interview with Recode, just as she was starting at Uber, she said she wanted to help people develop brand love for the company, instead of just seeing it as a utility, something it has in common with Netflix. “I do drive from the gut. I really do. You start to make mistakes when you just do the math and start to look at research and say, ‘Okay, well, this demographic says this, and that demographic says that,’ it’s too robotic . . . . For me, I want to think about what is happening at the time. What are people thinking about? What’s driving them? . . . . It’s important for people to understand how you feel (as a brand) . . . . It’s not about the facts and the figures, even though at the end of the day it really is. Point is, you want to tell the story from a point of emotion.”
Netflix loves to tout its viewership numbers, like the 65 million households it says watched Spenser Confidential (thinking face emoji) or the 64 million people who watched Tiger King (more believable). We’ve all long had it in our heads that it knows what we want to watch when we want to watch it, which is why if you watch Peaky Blinders, the app will soon suggest Ripper Street. Magic!
Saint John will likely aim to balance some of that algorithmic wizardry by telling stories of why we like these shows—and why so many see that red N as a beacon in the entertainment wilds. And there’ll be no surprise if she does it with some celebrity style.
Last year, WarnerMedia Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said, “Netflix doesn’t have a brand. It’s just a place you go to get anything—it’s like Encyclopedia Britannica.”
Now it’s Saint John’s opportunity to take Netflix’s encyclopedic library and create some brand emotion to go along with it.


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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Barnes & Noble reports 1Q loss, might acquire Borders; would Amazon take over website too?
This does not seem to be a good time for booksellers. Reuters reports today that Barnes and Noble is reporting a first quarter loss, partly because of an accounting charge. It’s not clear how the financial results split between the plush retail stores and the enormous website, which is very efficient. There is also a report that Barnes and Noble may acquire Borders, which may want to be acquired.
The Reuters story link is here and it was displayed today through the Finance page on Yahoo!. the same day of alarming reports about oil prices.
Increasing gasoline and food prices (call it inflation or stagflation) are affecting discretionary spending for books and DVDs by many families, especially those with children or dependents.
Borders teams with amazon.com for its online store. It was not clear how a merger would affect stores, but obviously some would close. It would also seem possible that amazon would eventually control the entire web operation.
Barnes and Noble has a strategic alliance with iUniverse, which provides “supported self-publishing” (or “cooperative publishing”) through print-on-demand, which eliminates the cost of large inventories. It is not clear from the report how well the self-publishing support business is doing, or how it could be affected in the future if the two major retailers merge.
BooksaMillion, Powells, and other booksellers do not appear to be affected by any of these reports yet.


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For over a decade we have been working with the leading consumer product goods and fast moving consumer goods companies around the world customers to capitalize on digital transformation and leverage the results.
Our solutions have empowered the organizations across a diverse set of industry segments, functional areas, and markets, supporting more than 30 customers globally. Below are some examples of businesses using our solutions to evolve and grow in a changing world.
What’s happening at Ivy Mobility
Ivy Mobility Recognized as a Fastest Growing Technology Company on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ Asia Pacific 2019
Ivy Mobile Technologies Pte Ltd today announced that it landed a spot on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500™ Asia Pacific 2019, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific. Rankings are based [...]
Join us at Dreamforce understand what the hottest trends are today in cloud solutions for Consumer Goods. We can't wait to see you San Francisco. The event kicks off on Tuesday, November 19th and goes [...]
Ivy Mobility again received Best in Class distinctions and Badge of Excellence by the Promotion Optimization Institute (POI) of Consumer Goods industry professionals for the POI RetX Panorama. Each year the Promotion Optimization Institute evaluates [...]


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Intel would happily make custom chips for Apple and other rivals, its CFO said Thursday, but hinted that the company doesn't believe the Apple iPad and similar tablets will make much of a dent in laptop sales and thus Intel's core processor business.
When I first started using my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet about a month ago, I was impressed that I could get through nearly an entire day of moderate-to-heavy use--non-stop e-mail and messaging, frequent browsing and checking my social networks, alon...
Microsoft may essentially have been first to the market with the modern tablet computer, but Redmond has seen any advantage there erased by a failure on the software side. Windows just isn't meant for the touchscreen world. No doubt the company is ea...
With some users unable to sign into Skype and make voice calls, the soon-to-be-acquired-by-Microsoft company offered users a multi-step fix to get its service running again.
NASA astronauts prepared today for their fourth and final spacewalk during the space shuttle Endeavour's last mission to the International Space Station.
Acer, the world’s second largest PC maker, opened a factory in the Chinese industrial city of Chongqing on Thursday and expects it to produce 30 percent to 40 percent of its laptops by the end of the year, the company said.
Reporting strong growth as it expands into emerging markets, Lenovo said Thursday that for the quarter ending in March its net profit more than tripled, reaching US$42 million, while revenue increased 13 percent to $4.88 billion.
Happy Geek Pride Day! May 25 is here, and while the date coincides with other events such as the 1977 theatrical release of Star Wars: A New Hope, Towel Day, and a celebration of Terry Prachett's Discworld, it's a day to bask in being a geek. But jus...
Sony has introduced a new 16-inch F Series laptop and a thinner and lighter S Series as part of its VAIO lineup. Both laptops are available for preorder now with second-generation Core i7 processors and high-end features for multimedia enthusiasts.
Citrix's annual Synergy conference is opening with a bang this week, with Citrix previewing overhauls to nearly every component of its virtual desktop product lines, reaching from the data center to the iPad.
More than a year after losing communication with the Mars rover Spirit, NASA is making one final attempt today to contact the robotic traveler.
One in eight government IT tenders in the European Union illegally specifies a brand, according to a new report from Openforum Europe (OFE).
North Korea might be an unlikely place to find a PC factory, but the country has started manufacturing three models of computers, according to a recent state TV report.
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) today announced the release of a specification that can be used to test the performance of solid-state drives, regardless of the vendor.
Oracle logged a small milestone in its Sun acquisition during the first quarter, expanding sales of Sun's server hardware for the first time in three-and-a-half years, IDC reported Tuesday.
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Brainstorming, innovation, problem solving, and negotiation have all become much more productive and valuable if people can easily collaborate in real time with minimal friction.
The print quality also does not disappoint, it’s clear, bold, doesn’t smudge and the text is perfectly sized.
The Huddle Board’s built in program; Sharp Touch Viewing software allows us to easily manipulate and edit our documents (jpegs and PDFs) all at the same time on the dashboard.
The biggest perks for me would be that it comes with easy to use and comprehensive programs that make the collaboration process a whole lot more intuitive and organic
I rate the printer as a 5 out of 5 stars as it has been able to fit seamlessly into my busy and mobile lifestyle.
It’s perfect for mobile workers. Just take it out — it’s small enough to sit anywhere — turn it on, load a sheet of paper, and start printing.
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Not so long ago, Fianna Fáil presided over a housing crash. In the coming months and years, Fine Gael will find their contemporary legacy as the party that presided over an office and commercial property crash. Offices will become the new ghost estates, hotels will go on sale at knockdown prices, owners of luxury student accommodation will scramble to find new uses for their buildings, and the closure of chain stores already deemed “the retail apocalypse”, now has a pandemic as an overwhelming catalyst. It’s almost not even worth mentioning the obvious silliness of co-living developments, as they are not the kind of housing people want, need, or will gravitate towards.
The news that Google, one of the biggest players in commercial real estate in Ireland, was walking away from plans to rent another office space in Dublin’s docklands for 2,000 employees will send shockwaves across a city where large
Continue reading this atricle at https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/una-mullally-dublin-offices-will-become-the-new-ghost-estates-1.4351472


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At the Next Horizon event, AMD also took the time to showcase its latest accelerator cards for AI and deep learning workloads. Based on the Vega20 architecture, these will be available on November 18.
Next horizon RSS
At its Next Horizon event, AMD shared a few details about its upcoming Zen 2 7nm process micro architecture. Among others, the firm also announced the availability of EPYC CPUs for Amazon EC2.


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“A penalty or penalties that would result in a material loss are reasonably possible” because of the potential infractions, Coty said in the filing, adding that no reserve to cover those charges has been created. The company said it will incur costs to improve its compliance procedures as well.
Coty also said its UAE unit reshipped some products to Syria and Iran, possibly violating US export laws. Coty said those incidents didn't violate trade sanctions and that it voluntarily reported them to US government authorities. The company also provided the government with the results of an internal investigation into goods sold in a more than four-year period through March 2012. It disclosed the probes in earlier filings.
“These investigations relate to a very small portion of our sales," Catherine Walsh, a Coty spokeswoman, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. ‘‘The investigations are in an early phase and we are cooperating with the authorities in the ordinary course. As noted in our filings, we cannot predict when the investigations will conclude, whether fines will be assessed or the order of magnitude if assessed.’’


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Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert (IGN)
In the world of games, game engines are the ready-made architecture that developers use to design and run their games. So choosing what game engine to use from a list of readily available options from world-renowned firms is often the first step of game development.
Yet, some South Korean game firms are taking a different path, choosing to spend money and resources on building their own game engines.
At the forefront is Pearl Abyss, which scored 488.8 billion won ($432.5 million) and 157.3 billion won in revenue and operating profit last year. It is currently developing its own game engine for their upcoming release Crimson Desert.
There are several key advantages in doing so, the firm explained.
“Pearl Abyss’ next-generation game engine can express realistic textures and natural lighting effects and therefore breathe distinctive characteristics into Crimson Desert,” the official said.
After the firm posted an official trailer in December, Crimson Desert received much attention among global players for its impressive graphics and motions that some users even said, “I’ll only believe it when it comes out.”
Pearl Abyss has made continuous efforts to build expertise in game graphics. In 2019, at the world’s biggest computer graphics conference SIGGRAPH, the company shared ideas and know-how on how it created the effect of natural sunlight under different skies, cloud formations and atmospheres.
Most game companies, including Nexon and NCSoft, use foreign game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity because it’s cost-effective. Using out-of-the-box options can guarantee a certain level of quality at an affordable cost. For mobile games, in particular, where trends change really fast, it could have more advantages, the company official explained.
In developing its own game engine, Pearl Abyss aims to come up with a product that excels that of third-party engines in quality, the official continued.
“Despite the higher costs at early stage, we can offer high game quality, quicken development speed and enhance platform compatibility and customization,” the official said.
“Renowned foreign game firms have also developed or are developing games with their own game engines, exemplified by From Software’s Elden Ring, Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima and Santa Monica Studio’s God of War.”
Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert (IGN)
Set for launch this winter, Crimson Desert is an open world action adventure game and a sequel to Pearl Abyss’ flagship product Black Desert, which reaped more than 2 trillion won in revenue between 2014 and 2020.
Freedom and control
For Smilegate -- a local game developer which breached a 1-trillion-won mark in revenue for the first time last year -- an independent game engine offers freedom and control.
According to Smilegate, developing a new gamed based on a borrowed game engine compromises its ability to respond to errors and bugs should they occur later in the game.
“With our own game engine, if there are minor bugs in the game, we can just fix them right away. However, with a borrowed game engine, we have to wait for the engine to be updated,” a Smilegate official said.
Even in case of a serious error, the game company would have to sit and wait, because it isn’t allowed access to the source codes of a borrowed game engine, the official added.
On top of quick troubleshooting, Smilegate pointed out optimization as another key advantage of using its own game engine.
Smilegate’s mobile game Epic Seven (Smilegate)
“In the development of Smilegate’s hit mobile game Epic Seven, we wanted the game to be operational on Galaxy S2 as a minimum requirement. However, with a commercial engine, it couldn’t be done. So we decided to develop our own game engine for optimization,” the company official said.
According to Smilegate, commercial game engines have limits in maximizing the performance of a smartphone’s processor. However, an independent game engine can optimize settings to bring out the best performance from a multicore processor.
Com2uS, which saw a revenue and operating profit of 508.9 billion won and 112.9 billion won last year, is another game company that benefited from using its own game engine.
Com2uS’ mobile game Summoners War Sky Arena (Com2uS)
After its global release in 2014, their hit mobile game Summoners War Sky Arena became the first homegrown product that breached 1 trillion won in revenue. As of last year, the game has raked in more than $20 billion won in global sales.
Behind the game’s global success, Com2uS said its in-house game engine played a crucial role.
“With its own game engine, Com2uS developed Summoners War as light as possible so that the game can run on low-end smartphones. Thanks to the optimization, Com2uS offers a single version of Summoners War to all players in different parts of the world,” a company official said.
Above all, Com2uS was able to save a tremendous amount of license fees it might have owed if it had used a foreign game engine.
In 2018, Krafton sued Epic Games for charging excessive licensing fees. Krafton, which developed the one-hit-wonder PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds based on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4, was footed with a 50-billion-won bill.
When Krafton signed a contract with Epic Games to borrow Unreal Engine 4, it promised to give 5 percent of profits generated from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in royalties. However, the game achieved an unexpected global success, recording sales of over 1 trillion won in 2019. As a result, the royalties Krafton owed to Epic Games snowballed.
“Though we can’t reveal the details of lawsuit against Krafton, the lawsuit has been resolved,” an Epic Games official said.
By Kim Byung-wook (firstname.lastname@example.org


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A few of our members were asked by The Province Newspaper’s Gordon McIntyre to do an interview for an article about adult LEGO builders. It will appear in this weekend’s copy. The article is reproduced below from the following Province Newspaper link
Note: There is an error in that Series 10 of the LEGO Collectible Minifigs will NOT be all gold coloured, but I’m guessing you already knew that.
Building with Lego the epitome of geek chic
March 15, 2013
If you’re an adult and you were caught playing with the old wooden blocks you had as a kid, eyebrows would rise.
But there’s something geek chic, if outside the mainstream, about playing with Lego as a grown-up.
Especially when you see what some adult fans of Lego (yes, they call themselves AFOLs) create with those little plastic bricks.
“It’s got a geek or nerd factor and it’s not seen as cool, but everyone who comes to see some of the stuff we build says, ‘Wow!’” said Pierre Chum, a member of the Vancouver Lego Club.
“We know it’s not conventional for adults to play with Lego.
“We like to say we build with Lego, but we really are playing with it.”
Some AFOLs have upwards of a couple million pieces of bricks and accessories. Consider that they’ll shell out $49.99 plus tax for a box of Laval’s Royal Fighter, just to get the set of rubber treads off the armoured attack vehicle inside the box, and you can see how some spend $500 to $1,000 a month on Lego.
That kind of change isn’t kidstuff, even if the hobby is.
Yes, they’re adults who play with toys, geeks and proud of it.
Actor Simon Pegg — Scotty in the two latest Star Trek movies and co-writer of Shaun of the Dead — wrote a book called Nerd Do Well and is someone geeks look up to.
“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection,” Pegg said. “It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something.
“Being a geek is extremely liberating.”
For Chum, that’s AFOLs in a nutshell.
“It sums up nicely what we feel about this,” Chum said. “The thing is, we embrace it.
“It’s our creative outlet.”
Maybe no one is more creative than Paul Hetherington, who picked up a Best in Show award last weekend in Portland, Ore.
The Pacific Northwest seems to have a large share of North America’s AFOLs and that’s not surprising because computer scientists, gamers, engineers and architects are drawn to Lego.
So Seattle and Portland have two of the biggest Lego conventions around.
Portland’s is called Bricks Cascade and more than 5,000 people over two days paid to look at the MOCs (My Own Creation) inside.
Hetherington won with a marvellous tribute to Lady Gaga and the stage castle from her Born This Way tour.
“I was blown away when I saw her show and wondered what it would look like in Lego,” said the North Vancouverite.
Hetherington’s Lego Gaga scale model took him two months to build, has eight different lighting styles and includes 700 Minifigures filling the Lady’s “monster pit” in front of the stage.
The castle opens, dancers dance on its three storeys and, well, with the light show and music, it’s darn impressive.
You can buy the Lego sets. The Hobbit set looks pretty cool, for instance.
But AFOLs get off on making their own creations, not from sets but from various bits and pieces lying around in their stockpiles.
That’s how the February display at the Lego store at Oakridge Mall was made: a cool Lonely Mountain, jewel-encrusted Smaug coming out the open doors, Bilbo holding the Arkenstone, Thorin Oakenshield brandishing Orcrist — all quite incredible to think it sprang from an AFOL’s imagination and not a custom set.
“They’re not interested in sets, but they are interested in pieces and parts from the sets,” said Geoffrey Osbourne, supervisor at the Lego store.
“For instance, this new set — Laval’s Royal Fighter — it comes with these really cool tank treads.
“We get a lot of guys come in and buy it just for that piece, for $50. But you get all those other pieces you can use down the line, too.”
The store has about 20 customers milling around on a Friday at noon, but Osbourne says that’s nothing.
“This is incredibly slow for us,” he said. “You should see it on the weekends, a lineup out the door basically.”
Once a month, the store has free minibuilds for kids that start at 5 o’clock. The lineup starts before 2 p.m., he said.
A big fad is the Minifigures, now on Series 9.
They come in foil baggies so you don’t know the identity prior to buying — except, experienced hands can tell by feel which of 16 Minifigures it is.
“We had a little contest here among the employees,” Osbourne said, “to find all 16 the quickest.
“The winner did it in two minutes and 30 seconds. The prize was they got the whole series.”
The next series, the 10th, will all be gold-coloured. A limited production of 5,000 worldwide will make sure they’ll soar in value.
Which brings us back to cost.
“I try not to think about how much I’ve spent,” said the 42-year-old Hetherington, who works with disabled adults, helping them with community access and life skills. “I’ve got two million pieces, probably.”
His spare bedroom is his workroom, his finished creations he keeps in storage.
Yes, he’s single, but says his Lego filing system is so well-organized it wouldn’t scare off most members of the opposite sex.
“It’s cliché, but it’s a new toy every day,” he said. “You can build anything with it — there’s pretty much nothing you can’t do.
“I’m building all the time. There are still discoveries to be made, new ways to connect the pieces in ways you wouldn’t think possible.”


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DEC 31, 2020 | US
State Privacy Bills, Activity in California Loom Large Over Efforts To Move Federal Legislation in ’21
Inside Cybersecurity, December 31, 2020
By Sara Friedman
Industry groups will be keeping a close eye on legislation moving in several states to establish privacy regimes, while continuing to push for a first-ever federal law setting consistent privacy and data security standards across the country.
“If you are going to have a federal law, it is important for it to be high quality, that people feel is worthy of pre-emption,” BSA’s Albright said, “so you can have one national standard to give businesses confidence on how to develop their policies and consumers can have confidence and greater clarity on what their rights are.”
Albright said, “This is important for consumers and businesses, particularly small businesses. If you have multiple laws being enforced, the businesses that are going to lose out are the small businesses that don’t have the capacity or the resources to comply with multiple laws in different jurisdictions. The most effective system would be to have a high-quality national standard that people are confident is privacy protected and can be enforced in a strong way.”
ACERCA DE BSA
BSA | The Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) es el principal defensor de la industria global del software ante los gobiernos y en el mercado internacional. Sus miembros se encuentran entre las compañías más innovadoras del mundo, creando soluciones de software que impulsan la economía y mejoran la vida moderna.
Con sede central en Washington, DC y operaciones en más de 30 países, BSA es pionera en programas de cumplimiento normativo diseñados para fomentar el uso legal de software, y apoya políticas públicas que incentivan la innovación tecnológica e impulsan el crecimiento de la economía digital.


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Google Cloud has announced a new partnership with Telefónica to advance digital transformation in Spain as well as 5G mobile edge use cases. The agreement will see Google Cloud launching a new cloud region in Spain – although this has yet to be ratified with Google Cloud’s global..
Google Cloud has brokered another partnership in its exploration of blockchain technologies, with the company joining the enterprise program of blockchain-based video delivery network Theta Labs. Google has joined the grandly-named Enterprise Validator Program, alongside Binance,..
As Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft’s war of words continues over the JEDI government cloud contract, Google Cloud has secured a separate deal with the Department of Defense (DoD) for cloud management in what will be seen as a major coup for application platform Anthos. Th..
Analysis Amazon Web Services (AWS) broke the $10 billion quarterly revenue mark for the first time as the highlight of three more strong quarters for the cloud hyperscalers – with industry analyst Synergy Research reiterating that cloud services will do just fine amid Covid-19. T..
Google Cloud’s Anthos platform, where applications can be built which run in multiple cloud environments, now has its first major multi-cloud offering live in the shape of Amazon Web Services (AWS). The original unveiling of the revamped Anthos at Next last year, billed as a key ..
Google Cloud and Cisco have announced a partnership to combine their products and create what the companies are describing as the industry’s first application-centric multi-cloud networking fabric. What this means in practice is that through Google Cloud and Cisco’s SD-WAN Cloud ..