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Samsung Galaxy S10 Release & Rumors; iOS 12.1 Out Tuesday with eSim Launch; IBM Red Hat Buy-Red Saves Big Blue; Gab Down Over Synagogue ShooterPosted: October 29, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, eSIM, Gab, Galaxy S10, IBM, iOS 12.1, iPad, Red Hat, Samsung Leave a comment
It’s looking more and more like the Samsung Galaxy S10 will be s pretty significant update. According to businessinsider.com, there will be 3 models (like a certain company out of Cupertino), ranging from 5.8 to 6.1 to 6.4 inch display sizes. One will be a less expensive model without the curved edges Samsung has favored of late. One model may support 5G networking. A big rumor has a front facing fingerprint scanner under the display, and the phones may have something like Face ID…at least on the two higher end models. A big leapfrogging over Apple….3 rear cams may come on at least two models, and two front facing cams. The 3rd back lens will be a 16MP ultra wide angle lens. Expect the S10’s in March…no pricing leak so far.
The two top phones will have ‘almost no bezel, and the front cam may be hidden under the display…no notch? Here’s an innovation if it pans out…no earpiece. The audio will be transmitted to your ear with vibrations emanating from the display!
Tomorrow…Tuesday…we are expecting freshened iPads and a replacement to the MacBook Air from Apple. Stealing from Ron Popeil of Ronco fame—’but wait…there’s more!’ We will probably see iOS 12.1 released after the show, and it will include the eSim launch for the iPhone Xs, Xs Max, and XR. 9to5mac.com reports that you will be able to add a 2nd phone line to your existing iPhone for calls and texts, and even can use different data plans on each number. The handset will answer calls from both numbers automatically. The service should be available from carriers in the US, Europe, and India. You should be able to sign up through Apple stores or some carrier apps.
That’s just for the latest iPhone users…how about everyone else in the iPhone world? There are 70 new emoji coming, too! Also in 12.1…the ability to adjust the bokeh blur in Portrait mode before shooting the pic.
IBM…Big Blue…has not had the best time of it the last few years. Now, with the acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion, they may have bought themselves a lifeline. Techcrunch.com notes that IBM is saying that the addition will be a game changer, as it will make IBM the number one hybrid cloud provider, since Red Hat is the top supplier of Linux open source software. Linux has been successful in running big data workloads and AI workloads, which will assist IBM in expanding its healthcare software business particularly.
The site that billed itself as a ‘free speech’ alternative to Twitter used by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, Gab, is offline. Arstechnica.com says it has been dropped by a number of tech platforms including PayPal, Joyent, Medium, and GoDaddy. The site has been around a couple years, and says they have 800,000 users. Although Gab had banned explicit violence calls, they had been a hotbed of hate speech, and particularly favored by alt-right
types like Richard Spencer and KKK’s David Duke.
Microsoft Plans Cheaper iPad Rival; Apple Vein Face Scan; New Whole Foods Discount for Prime MembersPosted: May 16, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Biometrics, Deep discounts, Face ID, Infrared, iPad, Microsoft, Prime, Surface, Surface Pro, Vein scan, Whole Foods Leave a comment
Microsoft is gearing up to release a line of lower cost Surface tablets by later this year that would compete with the hot selling cheaper iPad. Bloomberg.com reports that the last (somewhat) cheaper Surface kind of bombed at $499 back in 2012, but the pricey Pro has sold well. Of course the cheaper iPad is just over $300, so that may be a sweet spot. The cheaper Surface would have a 10 inch screen…just above the 9.7 inch size of the iPad. It is expected to sell for $400, will have USB-C, and be lighter than present Surface tablets. That comes at the cost of battery life…only 4 hours! The Surface Pro can make 13.5 hours on a charge. Again look for these the 2nd half of the year.
As if Apple’s Face ID and the fact that Ticketmaster is testing out facial recognition for concert admission wasn’t enough, now Apple may be going deeper…literally. According to appleinsider.com, Apple is are looking at taking biometrics to the next level…scanning the veins in a user’s face! In a patent just published called ‘Vein imaging using detection of pulsed radiation,’ Apple can scan the blood vessel patterns below the skin in your face. They claim it can even tell identical twins apart. By the way, ‘radiation’ is relative…you won’t glow in the dark…it’s from infrared light, not radioactive material! As with all Apple patents, this may or may not make it into a phone.
In an effort to build business, Amazon has dangled two new discounts for Prime members at Whole Foods. Arstechnica.com says one is an additional 10% off sale items, and another is ‘deep discounts’ on select best-selling items (or what grocers have called ‘loss leaders’ for decades.’) The deep discounts at Whole Foods will include meat and fish, however. The first deep discount items include organic strawberries, wild-caught halibut, cold brew coffee, and granola.
Apple Cheaper iPad Freshen; Apple Watch Rumors, Foxconn Buys BelkinPosted: March 27, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Pencil, Apple Watch, Belkin, Education, Foxconn, iPad, Lynksys Leave a comment
Apple rolled out the expected updated cheaper iPad at their educational event in Chicago today, as they look to regain ground in the education market they once owned. The updated 9.7 inch tablet has Apple Pencil support, TouchID, and weighs a pound. Apple also announced new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote that support the Pencil, noting that with Pages, a report could be written collaboratively…and later, teachers will be able to grade and mark them up right in the Pages document. Theverge.com notes that the iPad is priced at $329 for consumers, $299 for schools and is available today, shipping this week. In something of a preemptive strike, Google showed the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 yesterday. That tablet runs the Chrome OS natively and sells for…wait for it…$329!
With all the attention on the freshened up iPad, a new rumor has slipped out…this from KGI Securities about the Series 4 Apple Watch. 9to5mac.com reports the upcoming Watch will have a larger display, enhanced health monitoring, and longer battery life. According to Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI, the new Watch will have a 15% larger display. Up to now, all Apple watches have either been 38 or 42mm. So far, we don’t know if this will increase the size of the watch, or just make the display larger by reducing the bezels. The increase in battery capacity points to the actual Watch growing in size. This will be the first major re-design since the 1st Apple Watch came out.
Foxconn, which produces the bulk of Apple’s iPhones, in addition to numerous other electronic devices for Apple and for other brands, is buying peripheral maker Belkin for $866 million. You have probably bought Belkin accessories like chargers, cables, and screen protectors, and perhaps a Lynksys modem, which they also sell. This gives Foxconn more than a toehold…more like a large footprint…in the peripheral market. Chet Pipkin, founder and CEO of Belkin since starting it 35 years ago, will remain and run Belkin as a wholly owned subsidiary, and may join the Foxconn management team as well.
Upcoming iPad & iPad Pros; Twitch Extensions Now on Mobile; Send Money Via Google Assistant; Microsoft Cuts Biggest Corporate Solar DealPosted: March 22, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Assistant, Extensions, Game Developers Conference, Google, iPad, Microsoft, Send cash, Solar energy, Twitch Leave a comment
Apple has an event coming up March 27th, and a lot of people expect a new or freshened iPad to drop. Since the Pro hasn’t been out a year yet, the refresh to it may not show up, but other iPads have been rumored to get something akin to a new coat of paint…including a rumor of a price cut on the entry level 9.7 inch model. A more robust upgrade to the Mini may be part of it, and there’s also a rumor of Apple Pencil being added to the feature set. The Pros may be updated at WWDC this summer…it’s widely expected they will get FaceID like the iPhone X.
The Game Developers Conference is going on in San Francisco, and Twitch has announced that extensions have been made available on Mobile. Techcrunch.com reports that the tools that allow streamers to customize pages with leaderboards, polls, schedules, and the like have been widely sought on mobile by streamers…and now, they’re here. Extensions have been available on the desktop since last year.
Google is bowing the ability to send peer to peer payments with Google Assistant in the US. According to theverge.com, you will be able to use it on either Android or iOS and just tell it to send whatever friend on your contacts list the cash, and it will transmit it via Google Pay. If you are wondering what a hassle it is to set up, if you have used the little $ button in Gmail, your are already set! I’ll be waiting on my cash, LOL!
In an effort to power its global data centers with renewable energy, Microsoft has announced the biggest corporate buy of solar energy ever in the US….315 megawatts. Geekwire.com says the panels, etc., will go into two new solar projects in Virginia, and will cover 2,000 acres. When installed, they will give Microsoft 1.2 gigawatts of renewable power worldwide…which they say would light 100 million LED bulbs!
iPad Refresh Imminent; New Air Pods; Whole Foods Break for Amazon Prime Shoppers; 5G Coming to Intel LaptopsPosted: February 22, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 5% back, 5G, AirPods, Amazon, Apple, Intel, iPad, Laptops, Prime, Siri, Whole Foods Leave a comment
A reliable tip-off that Apple is about to release new devices has popped up. Macrumors.com says Cupertino has registered new tablets with the Eurasian Economic Commission. This points to new iPads in just weeks. Most prognosticators are looking for a refresh of the current lower cost 9.7 inch iPad, and then either a cheaper yet version of it, or possibly an iPad Mini, which hasn’t gotten updated in a while. It’s thought that the updated iPad Pro with FaceID will bow at WWDC in June. Apple has dropped either an iPad or other new piece of hardware in March every year for the last 4 years.
While we’re in the Apple orchard, plucking rumors from the trees, there’s also one from Bloomberg that Apple is working on new models of AirPods. Apple is apparently developing a new wireless chip that helps better manage Bluetooth connections. An expected feature is a touch less Siri model…the present ones require a press in order to activate the Apple assistant, but a new model may allow for a voice only command of ‘Hey Siri’ to give total hands free use to people wanting to access the feature. A water resistant design is also thought to be in the works for at least one model of new Air Pods.
Amazon has added another perk for Amazon Prime. According to bgr.com, Prime members with an Amazon Rewards Visa card will now get 5% back on Whole Foods purchases, in addition to the 5% back on amazon.com purchases. Most such programs don’t offer as high as 5%, and almost all others restrict purchases, so having it available on all of Amazon and Whole Foods could really add up fast.
We just covered the 1st 3 cities that AT&T will wire for 5G service later this year. Now, word comes from reuters.com that Intel’s upcoming XMM 8000 modem chips will power laptops with 5G connectivity starting in the 2nd half of 2019. Blazing fast, always-connected internet could be a killer feature to push a lot more people into trading for a new laptop!
Apple Talking to Goldman About Financing Your iStuff; Mercedes Building an E-Sprinter Van; UK Government Looks to Bolster Gig Workers’ RightsPosted: February 7, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Apple Watch, Consumer finance, e-Sprinter, Fringe benefits, Gig economy, Goldman Sachs, iPad, iPhone Upgrade Program, iPhones, Mercedes, Sprinter, UK Leave a comment
Apple is in talks with Goldman Sachs to offer consumer financing for people buying iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads, etc. 9to5mac.com reports that it is a type of loan or finance deal, not a credit card. It would allow people buying an iPhone X for a grand to finance it with Goldman instead of charging to a high interest credit card. It’s possible that any deal Apple makes with Goldman would also roll up the iPhone Upgrade Program. There are no further details, and it’s not a done deal…stay tuned.
You see Mercedes Sprinter delivery vans on the freeways and streets all the time…even more so in Europe. Now, according to engadget.com, Mercedes is planning an -Sprinter version. It looks like it would be geared at city deliveries, where short hauls wouldn’t need a huge range and the accompanying huge battery packs. Mercedes says the costs are on par with running diesel vans, but without the smog issues. The e-version will be much more connected…allowing fleet managers to schedule maintenance and order parts, and consumers…with a camper van, for example…to be able to turn the heat on in the van while returning from a hike. The e-Sprinter should debut in 2019.
The ‘gig’ economy is a two edged sword…it allows work flexibility, albeit without the benefits of a regular job. Now, the government in the UK is looking at a plan to get and improve benefits for gig workers like sick pay, holiday pay, and stable contracts. Cnet.com says such regulations will provide a much more stable workforce without continued fights, as with Uber, over whether the workers are employees or not.
1st Phone With Diamond Screen Coming; Intel Smart Non-Glasshole Glasses; Galaxy S9 to Get Price Jump; iPad Crushed Competing Tablets Last YearPosted: February 5, 2018 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Akhan, Amazon, Apple, Diamond Screens, Galaxy S9, Glassholes, Gorilla Glass, Intel, iPad, Samsung, Smart glasses, Smartphones, Tablets, Vaunt Leave a comment
Cracked screens are a constant worry…even if low level…for everyone who carries a smartphone. Now, cnet.com says something better than either Gorilla Glass or sapphire crystal is on the way. It’s Akhan Semiconductor’s Mirage Diamond Glass. It can be layered on top of screens, much like Gorilla Glass, but is of course, stronger…being made from lab grown diamonds. Akhan will initially work with just one smartphone maker in each category. They are still working on minimizing glare, and pricing, but again…if all works out, we would have the much less breakable screens on phones by next year.
Two of the bigger complaints of GoogleGlass were the way they looked and the fact that ‘Glassholes’ could have the video on at any given time, which was way creepy. Now, theverge.com reports that Intel has a prototype called the Vaunt that may be what we all would have liked in smart glasses in the first place. They use a very low power laser to project the images right into your eyes…it looks like what’s on a screen, but the plus is, the glasses look just like regular…albeit….nerdy…black glasses. According to a Verge reporter who tried them out, they are comfortable enough to wear all day, and Intel says they will come in several styles and work with prescriptions. The electronics and batteries are built into the stems and frames of the glasses. Basically, they are more simple than GoogleGlass. They just display a small heads up display with simple messages or notifications, transmitted by Bluetooth from and Android or iPhone…a lot like how the Apple Watch works. Intel will launch an ‘early access’ program this year. No details yet on getting in that or cost yet.
Another rumor about the imminent Samsung Galaxy S9, and this one is about pricing. According to a leak in Britain, it will sell for £100 more than the S8. The S9 will be £789 in the UK, while the S8 was £689. converting currency, that’s $1114 in the US, with the S8 at $973. Of course, checking actual pricing in the US, the retail is $750, so expect the S9 to be set at more like $850 in the US. Still, a $100 (or £100) bump is not insignificant. It will bet interesting to watch and see how preorders are affected by this increase.
Apple’s decision to release a lower cost but upgraded iPad last year apparently hit the public’s sweet spot. Macrumors.com says Apple’s tablet sold more than Samsung and Amazon’s offerings combined in 2017! Apple pumped out 43.8 million iPads, while Samsung sold 24.9 million and Amazon 16.7 million…even put together, that’s 2.2 million less than Apple’s iPads. Apple grabbed 26.8% of the tablet market last year.
Apple Plans Cheaper 9.7 Inch iPad; Samsung Patents Palm-Reading Phone; Google Home Bug; Facebook ‘Messenger Kids’ LaunchesPosted: December 4, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, Bugs, Cheaper iPad, Enterprise, Facebook, Google, Home Mini, iPad, Messenger, Messenger Kids, Palm reader, Samsung Leave a comment
This Spring, Apple rolled out a $329 9.7 inch iPad, and got a nice bump in sales. Now, it looks like they are working on hitting a lower price point yet…around $260. 9to5mac.com says it’s not clear if it will replace the $329 tablet or be an additional model, and what, if any, downgrade to performance there might be. The low line model would be aimed at industrial enterprise users and ‘price-sensitive’ consumers, i.e. cheapskates.
Samsung has been working on a foldable smartphone for some time, and Apple has copied them for once, patenting such a phone. Both companies may have them out in a couple years. Now, engadget.com reports that Samsung has patented a phone that reads your palm. No, it’s not going to be called ‘the Medium’ as far as we know…and this kind of palm reader would be for biometric security! The function is primarily one that uses the lines in your hand and provides hints based on them for passwords…although it could be an additional biometric sign in should Samsung decide to go that route.
Last week was terrible for Apple security, with a couple major bugs…one of which they patched within a day, since it enabled someone with physical access to get root control of your computer. Google has had bug issues too, particularly with the new Pixel 2 series. Add to that a new bug in the Google Home Mini. According to bgr.com, a reviewer found one during testing that made the Home record virtually everything he said, and another that made the thing reboot when you turn the volume up too loud! It might be a great idea for these big firms to hit pause, and bulk up their quality control a bit, even if it means not getting software updates out quite so quickly!!
Facebook has dropped ‘Messenger Kids,’ and app available on iOS that lets kids under 13 chat with safety in mind. Techcrunch.com says parents can download the app onto the kid’s tablet or phone and create a profile for them, then approve friends and family they can text and video chat with using the app and the main Messenger App. Tweens don’t get a Facebook account and don’t have to provide a phone number. Facebook says it’s been working closely with the FTC on the app, and it has detection filters to block sharing nudity, sexual content, and violence. Paso, they have put in a dedicated support team for the youth app. The app has plenty of stickers and reality masks to keep them engaged. An Android version will be released soon, according to Facebook.
Some Highlights From Apple’s WWDC KeynotePosted: June 5, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Apple, AR, High Sierra, HomePod, iMac, iOS 11, iPad, VR, WWDC Leave a comment
The Apple home speaker got a sneak preview. It does look a lot like a mini-Mac Pro tower, and is called HomePod. There is no screen, it is powered by Siri. HomePod is 7 inches tall, and has 7 tweeters with a 4 inch upwards firing woofer, it runs an Apple A8 chip. With 6 mics, Apple claims it can hear you from across the room and respond even with loud music playing. They are touting acoustic modeling, echo cancelation, and spatial awareness. In other words, it will detect the room, and fire the speakers to give you the best sound for that area. If you run two, they are smart enough to sync up. Besides for music, it will use Siri in the usual way to get information, and also control your HomeKit devices. It will run $349. Comes in White & Space Grey, and ships in December.
Another tease was the iMac Pro. It will have an 8 core Xeon processor for base, and up to 18 core available. It runs Radeon Vega graphics with 16 gigs of vRAM. It can roll with 128 gigs of memory and 4TB of SSD storage. The iMac Pro ships in December, and will start at $4999. All the iMacs and MacBooks get Kaby Lake Intel processors and faster SSD drives. The freshened iMacs and MacBooks are shipping today.
As expected, the new iPad was shown off extensively. It has the 10.5 inch screen in the same size as the 9.7 inch model, and still weighs just a pound. It starts at 64 gigs, and $649. Preorders open now, and they ship next week.
A number of other reveals revolve around the software systems and content. For content, Amazon Prime Video is coming to Apple TV later this year. Also, the new iOS 11 will have a pretty amazing AR developers kit. A couple of demos put AR right on a desktop at the stage, with the audience right in the shot! Another had a developer standing in the middle of a Star Wars world she was manipulating on the fly…watch out for Darth Vader swinging that light saber! Steam is bringing their VR to the Mac later this year! Apple will probably post the VR Star Wars video and AR demo later today, and you should watch them!
In the new Mac OS…High Sierra, Apple File System will be brought over from iOS, modernizing Apple’s ancient file system. For Safari, we get autoplay blocking!! Now you can read an article without the annoying autoplay audio blasting away. They also touted intelligent tracking prevention using machine learning. New, better compression for video and pictures.
iOS 11 gets some major features on the iPad…the App Tray can be brought up in apps, it will save configurations of screen splits for you to return to, and now, there is a files function and DRAG and DROP! You can send money or receive it in iMessage using Touch ID, and there’s a translation feature that works on the fly with Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Other languages follow later this year.
The App Store gets a total makeover. It starts with a Today screen, and separates out Games from other apps.


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Gunnar Optiks, a manufacturer of digital performance eyewear, has partnered with Carl Zeiss Vision to co-develop, co-market and co-brand the next iteration of i-AMP prescription lens technology. The technology platform, developed by Gunnar for those that live a digital lifestyle, will enhance the human visual system when viewing digital devices.
As per the agreement, Gunnar’s website, marketing literature and product branding will carry Zeiss logo and an explanation of Zeiss’ role in co-developing, designing and manufacturing i-AMP enabled prescription lenses.
Joe Croft, co-founder and EVP of research and development at Gunnar, said: “We’re passionate about what we do, and we’ll never stop perfecting our product. To date, we’ve developed the best lens concept in the world for this application. Now we need the talents of the best lens maker in the world to take our ophthalmic technology to the next level.
“The partnership allows Gunnar to concentrate on the future of digital optics while Zeiss provides the engineering behind new digital performance optics innovations. “Gunnar is committed to every aspect of a digital lifestyle. Gunnar has already begun research efforts and produced prototypes in 3D technology, augmented reality eyewear, visually activated pointing devices and heads-up displays. With the help of Zeiss to make these concepts a reality, we’re poised to make the future of digital vision a reality.”
Fred Howard, president of Carl Zeiss Vision, Americas, said: “Carl Zeiss Vision will immediately begin adding their expertise to the partnership. We see it as a natural fit and a logical alignment. Gunnar has an understanding of the visual demands of a digital lifestyle, which has made the company a force in this industry almost overnight.”

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When a food chain makes a health-conscious change – especially if that chain is of the fast food variety – they usually can’t wait to make it public. Giving the impression of responsible, accountable brand makes for great P.R., and potentially great sales.
Burger King is the unheralded hero of fast food in this case, choosing to quietly remove sugary soft drinks from their kids’ menus. They’re joining the slowly growing number of fast-food restaurants that’re axing unnecessary, unhealthy food choices.
But the manner in which they did it proves it’s more than a publicity stunt.
In an interview with USA Today, the fast-food mogul said the reason they got rid of fountain drinks minus the fanfare was, “a part of our ongoing effort to offer our guests options that match lifestyle needs.” That effort has resulted in Coca-Cola and Sprite vanishing from the menus, taken over by milk and apple juice options for young patrons.
Carbonated and sugary drinks can still be had of course; they just aren’t advertised on the listed menu.
McDonald’s and Wendy’s have been pushing healthier agendas recently, too. Last week, McDonald’s said they would no longer serve chicken containing human antibiotics.
This might be in part due to social conscious, as well as the pressure from advocacy groups who believe fast-food chains should do their part in combatting childhood obesity. According to the CDC, over a third of American children and adolescents were considered obese in 2012. And there’s no doubt fast-food chains, and the number of sugary drinks available, was a prime contributor to those extra pounds.


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Wildfire provides software that links to Facebook Inc , Twitter, LinkedIn Corp and other social networks, allowing customers to manage their online brand and presence. Clients include Sony Corp and Amazon.com Inc .
Google and Wildfire did not disclose a purchase price. All Things D reported that Google paid about $250 million for the business.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012


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40 to launch at DEMO Africa this week
INNOVATIONS| Oct. 22, 2012, 9:32 a.m.
40 finalists have been selected from over 500 applications to launch at DEMO Africa this week.
DEMO Africa is the flagship initiative of the Liberating Innovation in Opportunity Nations in Africa (LIONS@frica) partnership and includes DEMO, Microsoft, InfoDEV, Nokia and US Department of State.
The first ever Pan African technology launch pad will be hosted by African eDevelopment Resource Centre and CIO East Africa under the auspices of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, 24 to 26 October.
The event is expected to attract venture capitalists, angel Investors, investment fund managers, tech buyers, entrepreneurs, innovation supporters & media.
A total of 500 applications were processed ahead of this event, these were then short listed to 150 ventures two weeks ago and now the final 40. “It’s been a great pleasure working with the different entrepreneurs. We congratulate the selected entrepreneurs and trust they will put their best foot forward in Nairobi. Now is the time to celebrate innovators from across the continent,” said Ben White, Founder, VC4Africa.
“Many entrepreneurs did not make the final cut despite having excellent ventures. We wish we could launch all of them at DEMO Africa, but that’s practically not possible,” said Hare. “We will however engage all of them and see how to assist them through the partnerships we have created to move their businesses to the next level,” he continued.
The 40 cover five categories – Social Media, Cloud Services, Mobile, Consumer and Enterprise Technologies. South Africa and Kenya take a big chunk of the final 40 with Ghana and Nigeria coming in a close second. Other countries represented included Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
MORE INNOVATIONS NEWS
Ghanaian startup Beam heads for Seedstars World FinalSeedstars World, the most exclusive startup competition for emerging markets and fast growing startups, is bringing Ghana-based startup Beam to Geneva for its Final Event on February 4. Read More
Minister tours Botswana Innovation Hub projectsBotswana’s Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Hon. Nonofo Molefhi, took time for a tour of some of the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) projects on a familiarisation mission. Read More
Safaricom launches ideas portalSafaricom has launched an interactive portal dubbed Zindua Café through which external innovators and developers will be able to share their ideas, applications and prototypes with Safaricom. Read More
UCC launches 2015 ACIA awardsUganda has launched the fifth Annual Communications and Innovation Awards, which celebrate and foster ICT innovation and achievement. Read More
Innovation takes centre stage at 2015 International CESThe 2015 International CES, now underway in Las Vegas, Nevada, is poised to be a record-breaking show with more than 3,600 exhibitors across the largest show floor in history. Read More
Medical lab brings innovative health technology to BotswanaDiagnofirm Medical Laboratories (DML) is on the verge of releasing its mobile application for Clinical Reports, which is a first for Botswana. Read More
Thermal imaging cameras can bolster anti-poaching initiativesUsing thermal imaging cameras with advanced detection capability can offer a proactive solution to stopping poachers in their tracks, says Graphic Image Technologies. Read More
Seven startups built on AMPION Venture Bus TunisiaTunisia is set to welcome seven freshly baked startups emerging from the Ampion Venture Bus Tunisia 2014. Read More
Innovation Institute urged to cultivate competitivenessThe Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) which was born out of the merger between the Rural Industries Promotion Company (Botswana) (RIPCO-B) and Botswana Technology Centre (BOTEC) has been urged to build entrepreneurship. Read More
FEATURED STORYUCC launches 2015 ACIA awards
Uganda has launched the fifth Annual Communications and Innovation Awards, which celebrate and foster ICT innovation and achievement.
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The University at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government (CTG) has announced its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation to deliver executive level training to government leaders in Africa ...VMware reports fourth quarter and full year 2014 results
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New research out of Dalhousie University reveals the surprising differences between salmon species, helping consumers decide which ones to put on their plate.
Stefanie Colombo is an assistant professor of Aquaculture at Dalhousie University’s Agriculture Campus. She hopes her research published recently in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, will dispel some misunderstandings about farmed salmon.
"We all know salmon is really good for you, but I hear from a lot of people who only eat wild salmon and not farmed salmon because they believe it's not as good for you," she tells News 95.7's the Rick Howe Show. "I decided to investigate this."
The study involved farmed Atlantic, farmed organic Atlantic, farmed organic Chinook, wild Chinook, wild Pacific pink and wild Sockeye, which are commonly available to Canadians. Colombo compared the nutritional value of each type, focussing specifically on omega-3 and mercury levels.
"Consumers can't look to nutritional labels to help them decide, because fresh seafood doesn't require them in Canada and the U.S.," she says.
Colombo says the main finding in terms of nutritional quality was that it depends on the species of salmon, and not whether it is wild caught or farm raised.
"It really isn't about wild versus farmed, because even within the wild category, there were big differences," she says. "It's more about the species."
Colombo says the study revealed for frequent consumption, farmed Atlantic is the best option because it has the lowest mercury content, a high nutrient density, and is more affordable and available on both of Canada's coasts.
"One of the main reasons for their low mercury is because of what farmed atlantic salmon are eating in their diet, and nowadays their diet is more plant-based and plants don't accumulate mercury," she says. "Wild salmon are eating fish and that is how the mercury is getting stored."
The study was funded by a Discovery Grant awarded to Colombo from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


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Hidden behind a pair of innocuous double doors in plain sight on a well-travelled concourse at Toronto's Rogers Centre, Ticketmaster's Canadian operations occupy a space once built for a long-forgotten nightclub within the stadium. The concrete-and-steel construction offers a certain intercontinental ballistic-missile-silo ambience to the place. Come to think of it, the design might also make a nice lair for a white-cat-stroking Bond villain.
The industrial-cum-bomb-shelter headquarters fits well with the public perception of Ticketmaster, which has long been regarded as the omniscient, faceless, all-powerful seller of tickets to concerts, sports, theatre and other live events. The company has migrated almost entirely to a virtual plane, having phased out pretty much all its bricks-and-mortar box offices. And, with a corner on at least of 80 per cent of the ticket-selling marketplace, it's difficult to avoid using Ticketmaster if you want to get into that show.
Now, though, having silently endured criticism and epithets for years, the company would like to soften its image as well as clear up the myths and misconceptions about, well, its facelessness and lack of empathy for customers.
Patti-Anne Tarlton, chief operating officer of Ticketmaster Canada, is the niece of Donald Tarlton, the man behind the famed Canadian concert promotions company Donald K. Donald Productions. "Our goal is to get tickets into the hands of fans the most convenient and secure way possible," she says. "But there are so many misconceptions of how we do things. We're trying hard to set the record straight. There's an ambition to bring clarity to the process."
Why now? In a word: bots – and the aggravations they bring.
Concert-ticket-buying robots – software programs that can snap up hundreds, even thousands, of tickets faster than any human being – are a massive headache for fans, artists and Ticketmaster.
"It's an ongoing arms race. We continue to fight and invest millions," Tarlton says. "Last year alone, we combatted five-billion bots in North America. There's continued investment – data science, machine learning – so we can, in real time, not have the bots circumvent the system, and make those tickets available to real fans."
Ticketmaster is often blamed for instant sellouts, those occasions on which all the tickets to hot shows disappear in a matter of a minute or two. This issue burned so hot last year for the Tragically Hip's Man Machine Poem tour that Kingston MPP Sophie Kiwala introduced a private member's bill that aims to stop ticket bots.
Along with Britain, Australia and other jurisdictions, the Ontario government continues to study the situation, conducting an online survey that attracted nearly 35,000 responses, and fan roundtables held in Toronto and Kingston.
"Our government will be introducing new rules for buying and selling tickets online to give fans a fair shot at getting tickets to see their favourite team, musical act or theatrical performance," Ontario Attorney-General Yasir Naqvi said. "These new rules will build on the bill introduced by MPP Kiwala, aimed at banning scalper-bots. We have heard how frustrating it can be for fans to see tickets sell out right away only to see them pop up on a resale site at double the price."
Not being able to get a ticket to a big gig is, of course, as old as the entertainment business itself. Quick sellouts are a simple case of demand outstripping the supply of tickets. What is new, though, is the speed at which tickets can be sold.
In days of yore, when 30,000 tickets went on sale for a stadium show, there would be 30,000 people in line. But now, Ticketmaster has the technology to conduct thousands of e-commerce transactions a second. There's no need for anyone to physically go anywhere to wait for someone to sell them a ticket. The flip side to this convenience is that you're jostling with many thousands of would-be online buyers.
"There's so much of a story to be told on the technical front," Tarlton says, "because so much attention is being given to the speed of sales and the nefarious activity of bot operators."
Lack of transparency is also a problem. If an arena holds 15,000 people, how many of those tickets actually go on sale to the general public? The answer is more complicated than you might think.
"As an industry, we've somehow come up with the labels 'presale' versus 'public' sale. Fans are buying tickets in a presale window [that period of time before tickets go on sale to the general public] through fan clubs, an Amex opportunity or through some sponsor, some radio station."
This means that when the general on-sale date is reached, all that remains are tickets left behind after all the presales. How many is that? Each show is different, but an industry average of 46 per cent has been cited. As for a breakdown for tickets reserved for presales, fan clubs, industry use and for use by the act, that's a mystery.
"For those presale opportunities, the barriers to entry are very low – even zero," Tarlton says. "In some cases, all you need to have is an e-mail address. The idea that the tickets that are available to one group over another isn't correct. Pro-activity is the key."
Fans often wonder how tickets for hot shows end up being advertised for sale on the secondary market before any on-sale date.
"Those are speculative postings," Tarlton says. "Those posting are based on the thought or the promise or understanding or the hope and dream that that ticket may become available and thus for sale.
"Or it's bad operators out to dupe someone. And that's where government can play a role in complement with what the industry is already doing. If there is a bot legislation on the books and we see that tickets have gone to bots, then we can cancel those tickets at the direction of the artist without fear that there might be some bad operators out there who say, 'Hey, you didn't have any legal right to do that!'"
Ticketmaster must be given credit for trying to make it tougher for scalpers – both carbon- and silicon-based – from getting their hands on tickets, thanks to the recent Verified Fan option.
"It's a registration process," Tarlton says. "Artists set up a registration page. Fans come in and register. We can vet that information with our data-science teams who can say, 'This looks like a real fan' and, 'This looks like a bot.' The real fan will get a code. The bot does not. It's an ongoing investment to refine these technologies."
So far, it seems to be working. A report on Salon.com says the Verified Fan program has cut down on scalping by the secondary market by around 90 per cent.
The secondary ticket market is both a boon and a headache for Ticketmaster. Like StubHub and others, the company operates in this space, too. Ticketmaster owns TicketsNow, an "integrated resale platform" that allows fans to resell tickets through Ticketmaster's facilities. Like StubHub, the price of the ticket being resold is set by the fan – whose identity must be verified to Ticketmaster's satisfaction – and Ticketmaster charges fees associated with the resale ("That's typical in the secondary markets," Tarlton says), which is a double-dip, to be sure. Fans make deals with other fans, with Ticketmaster acting as a secure transaction agent. The Ticketmaster website displays seat maps that distinguish between primary and secondary sales.
Some find this a bit dodgy, but Ticketmaster maintains it's better than defaulting over to, say, StubHub. Given that the secondary market is worth a reported $8-billion (U.S.) in the United States alone – it's estimated that up to 20 per cent of tickets sold appear on secondary-seller sites within 24 hours of going on sale – you can see why Ticketmaster wants to play this game. The Salon report says that StubHub sold 1.3 tickets a second on its site during the fourth quarter of 2016, on its way to $4.3-billion in revenue.
Ticketmaster has other public-relations problems it would like cleared up, including the myriad fees beyond the face value of a ticket that quickly add up. There's sales tax, of course – nothing can be done about that – but what about those ambiguous service charges and venue fees?
"We don't control the [face value] price of a ticket," Tarlton says. "[Service charges and venue fees] are revenue-generating tools that we use to sell and execute an event. They are above and beyond what the artist is charging for a ticket. It covers our costs. In our case, it's the technology that's used to distribute those tickets. In the case of the venue fee, it's the venue-itself charges to cover its fixed costs."
What about the argument that Ticketmaster is too big and too dominant? Tarlton says "it's the scale that helps us fight the bad operators. If you were to try to keep pace with the expectations of the fans, which is, 'I wanna buy a ticket when I feel like buying a ticket,' then you need scale for the technology to keep advancing.
"It's an ongoing investment. We have all the back-end technologies. But equally important is the consumer, the fan. We have as much investment in the consumer experience as we do in the back-end tools."


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Columbus artist Jenny Fine says her camera has become a tool for facilitating intimacy between herself and her family, and nowhere is that more evident than in her “Flat Granny” series, soon to be on view at the Dublin Arts Council. The artist photographed her grandmother during the last ten years of her life.
Gov. John Kasich has vetoed a piece of Ohio’s two-year budget that would bar the state’s Medicaid program from covering the additional low-income residents allowed under the Affordable Care Act.
Congress is considering a bill that would require all web-based retailers collect sales taxes on purchases. What do you think? Should web shoppers pay sales taxes?


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Toys R Us has improved security on its web site Toys R Us has relaunched its web site with added features intended to take advantage of the increasing popularity of web shopping. New features include...
Remote-access features of electric car chargers can be exploited by attackers to damage the vehicles, claims Kaspersky
'Alliance with Atos, Curzon and Cognizant has delivered a four-fold increase in RoI', says Anglian Water
Anglian Water speaks to Computing after winning the digital project of the year award at the UK IT Industry Awards 2018
BT & Thoughtspot discuss winning the Enterprise Data / Analytics Project of the Year at the UK IT Industry Awards 2018
ICO: 'Generic third-party consent is not enough and companies will be fined if they break the law'


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Why is my Furniture Taking so Long to Arrive?
We know that you may be thinking, "I just ordered my new furniture over a month ago, and it still isn't here." You're not alone. So, why is furniture taking so long to ship? There are many national factors and global factors contributing to the delays:
- Nationwide Truck Driver Shortage - A lack of truck drivers means there are less trucks on the road, which lengthens delivery times. The pandemic and a variety of additional factors have caused the shortage of LTL transportation personnel.
- Texas Deep Freeze of 2021: As the COVID-19 freeze on the furniture industry finally began to thaw, February's numerous severe winter weather events in the South and Northeast disrupted transportation. This halted production of foam, a core component of mattress and upholstery. As a result, manufacturers are now facing additional supply disruptions due to shipping delays caused by the disruption in foam production.
- Surge in Demand - As the amount of time many people were at home increased, so did the demand for home decor and furniture both in-person and online. In 2020, more people ordered furniture than ever before and many factories continue to struggle to keep up with demand. This is especially the case with handmade furniture, as extra care is taken to create every piece, causing a longer production process.
- COVID-19 Pandemic - The surge in Coronavirus cases at several furniture exportation companies have resulted in sudden closures and shutdowns at the manufacturing level. For example, the number of coronavirus infections in Vietnam rose in one month from 371 to 9,765 cases, as reported to the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Logistical Bottlenecks. Whether it be the 6-day long blockage of the Suez Canal or COVID-related closures and delays in ports across the world, global supply chain issues continue to plague the furniture industry.
- Global Lumber Shortage. Industry experts say several events led to the lumber shortage: COVID-19 lockdowns and closures, new safety protocols for lumber mills, a spike in home remodeling, and numerous wildfires in different parts of the world. All in all, less lumber produced means less product that furniture factories can create.
How We are Shortening Shipping Wait Times
Although these issues are affecting companies across the entire industry, we've taken steps to mitigate the impact. By increasing our purchase orders from our manufacturers early on, we're able to keep many of our collections in-stock. And, with each passing week, more and more shipments are arriving at our Austin, TX warehouse--ready to ship out to your home.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
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Harman International has launched the JBL Boombox portable Bluetooth speaker in India for Rs. 34,990. It is available with immediate effect on the company’s own official webstore, where you can buy it for just Rs. 30,499 right now. It is currently available only on harmanaudio.in, but will eventually also be sold through various other online and offline retailers, including at 350 Samsung brand stores across the country. Harman International, which recently appointed ‘Quantico’ star Priyanka Chopra as its global brand ambassador, is owned by Samsung Electronics.
In a press statement, Sumit Chauhan, the Vice President of Lifestyle Audio Division at Harman India, said that, “JBL Boombox provides long-playing sound, setting the standard for power in all future portables in the industry. We are excited to give consumers in India yet another way to have a powerful audio experience, now in a portable package”.
While Harman is promoting the device as a ‘portable speaker’, it weighs a massive 5.25 kg and is nearly 20 inches long, which means moving it around from one place to another is certainly going to take some doing. The company admits the Boombox’s heft, and is describing it as “the biggest portable speaker available”. Thankfully, though, it is powered by a massive 20,000mAh Li-ion battery that the company claims will provide 24-hours of continuous playtime.
As for the hardware, the JBL Boombox comes with four active transducers that allows it to hit high volumes without distortion, while the two bass radiators help it play deep and powerful bass notes. It’s also rated IPX7 that denotes full waterproofing, which means you should be able to attend open-air pool parties or rain dances without having to worry about the consequences of liquid damage.
The speaker also comes with wireless Bluetooth streaming, which allows users to connect up to two smartphones or tablets to stream music from their favorite streaming services. There’s also JBL Connect+ that allows users to wirelessly connect more than 100 speakers as part of a large Bluetooth mesh network. The device is currently only available in Black, with no word on whether it will be offered in additional colors going forward.


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Five best looking concept cars at the India Auto Expo1 min read . Updated: 08 Feb 2014, 07:08 AM IST The future of motoring is on display at the India Auto Expo in Greater Noida: concept cars years ahead in design and features. Here are the top five concept cars from the expo! Five best looking bikes at the Auto Expo
The future of motoring is on display at the India Auto Expo in Greater Noida: concept cars years ahead in design and features. Here are the top five concept cars from the expo.
German auto major BMW brought to Indian soil what it sees as the vision for future: the i8 concept supercar. Apart from the space-age looks that features a stretched-out bonnet with an elaborate arrangement of curving panel, a pronounced grille accentuated by LED lighting and the gull wing-like doors, the i8 packs quite a marvel under the hood with powerful electric and petrol engines.
Hyundai unveiled its HND-9 Sports Coupe Concept, which is part of the evolution of the international fluidic design. The front-engine car has a 3.3-liter turbocharged engine. The car was built to give a new design direction to the Korean automaker.
Renault KWID CONCEPT
Renault India unveiled its flamboyant concept car, KWID CONCEPT, at the Auto Expo. Beyond the playful and imaginative styling, the car comes equipped with a host of technology-driven features, led by its Flying Companion.
Jaguar Project 7
Jaguar showcased the Project 7 F-Type at the Auto Expo. The Project 7 was developed by Jaguar design chief Ian Callum as a study project for the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Honda Vision XS-1
Honda introduced the Vision XS-1 concept at the 12th Auto Expo. Despite compact dimensions, it has a spacious interior which can host up to seven people. It comes with sliding doors with large openings on both sides. The XS-1 doesn't have sharp contours, but relies on round edges for its styling.


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The cat’s out of the bag. Even though there’s been no official press release, CableLabs leaked and then confirmed that the Motorola MTR700 was one of two tuning adapters to be awarded certification in the recent Cert Wave 60. Quick recap: the tuning resolver is what will allow one-way cable devices to continue to access all cable channels even when some channels are moved to a switched digital network. Current plans are for the MTR700 to ship in the fourth quarter.
Interestingly, Comcast has been as enthusiastic about migrating to all-digital broadcasts recently as deploying switched digital video to save bandwidth. Another type of Motorola adapter, the DTA100, is on order from Comcast and will convert digital signals to analog for subscriber hold-outs still clinging to basic cable service.
Meanwhile, SDV work does continue to move forward. Cable Digital News recently reported that Comcast has added two more trial markets in Minnesota. Motorola has commitments in hand to pass more than 24 million households with SDV service.


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So you followed along on Twitter or on Apple's live-stream, or perhaps even here at Stuff. You know that there are upgrades coming to Apple's iDevices with the pending launch of iOS 13 and the tablet-specific iPadOS. But unless you've got the right devices, you might be in for a little heartache.
At WWDC 2019, Apple showed off a bunch of the features coming to iOS 13. Everything from standard upgrades to more intricate features were showed off at Apple's event, with a whole lot of demoing going on. Let's take a look at some of those.
This year at WWDC we’ll likely see Apple announce its latest software, iOS 13 for its mobile lineup. Here’s what we know so far.


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British fashion retailer New Look plans to close 60 stores as part of a rescue deal to help it avoid going into administration.
About 980 staff face redundancy - from a 15,300-strong UK workforce - and rents at about 400 stores will be slashed.
The rescue plan still needs approval from creditors. New Look said it faced "a difficult trading environment".
Chairman Alistair McGeorge said the cuts were "tough but necessary".
The retailer - which has 593 stores in total - hopes to redeploy employees within the business where possible.
The firm said it had been struggling with its rental costs and had asked landlords for leeway so it could "restore profitably".
It has also faced an "extremely challenging" retail market, driven by weaker consumer confidence, the implications of Brexit and competition from online channels," said Deloitte, which is handling the firm's Company Voluntary Agreement - a type of compromise deal that allows a firm to avoid going into administration.
"New Look is an iconic brand on the High Street and the Company Voluntary Agreement will provide a stable platform upon which management's turnaround plan can be delivered," said Daniel Butters, a partner at Deloitte.
"It is important to stress that no stores will close on day one, and employees, suppliers and business rates will continue to be paid on time and in full."
High Street slowdown
A glut of UK retailers have made closures or gone bust in recent months amid a slowdown on the High Street.
Last week toy store chain Toys r Us fell into administration, along with electronics retailer Maplin, leaving thousands of jobs at risk.
Restaurant chains Byron and Prezzo have also announced closures, while House of Fraser is seeking to shore up its finances.
Analysis: Emma Simpson, business correspondent
New Look has badly lost its way. Sales have fallen off a cliff. Even online sales were down by 15% in December.
In recent years it focussed on younger shoppers, but failed to keep up with the likes of Asos, Boohoo and Primark.
New Look is also saddled with way too many stores. It has nearly 600 fashion outlets, an extraordinary number given the rise of online shopping.
And then there's the debt. New Look is drowning in it. It currently stands at £1.2bn. In today's challenging retail environment that's a pretty toxic mix. It needs to cut costs - and fast.
New Look has got its work cut out.
On top of weaker consumer confidence, experts say retailers are battling a "perfect storm" of pressures including the rise of online shopping and rising overheads such as the National Living Wage.
Many firms also over-expanded during the good years, leaving them dangerously indebted.
New Look will learn if creditors have approved its rescue plan on 21 March. The British Property Federation said it would be up to individual landlords whether they accepted the proposal.
It comes on the day the government launched its first industry-led Retail Sector Council to discuss the sector's challenges.
It will include major retailers such as Boots and Amazon and meet regularly with government to discuss "the changing demands of consumers", retail minister Andrew Griffiths said.
New Look could close the following stores:
- Aberdeen - Bon Accord
- Bolton Mens
- Burton Mens
- Cameron Toll
- Cardiff - Queen Arcade
- Doncaster Mens
- Dundee - Wellgate
- Exeter Mens
- Gateshead - Team Valley
- Glasgow - Buchanan Street Mens
- Hanley Mens - Intu Potteries
- Hounslow Mens
- Hull - Whitefriargate
- Leeds - The Core Shopping Centre
- Leicester - Haymarket
- London - Marble Arch
- London - Moorgate/ London Wall
- London - Oxford Circus
- Maidstone Mens
- Merry Hill Mens
- Metro Centre - Mens - Gateshead
- Newport Mens
- Newton Mearns
- North Shields
- Nottingham Mens
- Ocean Terminal - Edinburgh
- Peterbrough Bridge Street
- Reading - Broad Street
- Reading Oracle Mens
- Romford Mens
- Shrewsbury Mens
- Stockport - Merseyway
- Stratford Upon Avon -Bridge Street
- Torquay - Union Street
- Weston Favell
- Wigan Mens


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A “significant” growth in online sales helped drive a stellar Christmas trading performance for Fortnum & Mason. At the end of a year in which the upmarket department store retailer posted a 31% rise in annual profits, Fortnum’s like-for-like sales over the five weeks up to 3 January showed a 15% increase on 2014.
Fortnum‘s said this growth was underpinned by online sales, which were up 38% 2014. The revamped website, which was designed with a more responsive sensibility, proved popular and helped the British retailer achieve a 26% rise in sales of its renowned hampers.
Another retail highlight was 15 December, Fortnum‘s best trading day in its 309-year history when products were dispatched to a record number of countries around the world in the run-up to Christmas.
The company‘s flagship store in Piccadilly delivered the highest sales figures, but the biggest percentage increase came from the T5 store at Heathrow where sales were up 63% on the same period a year ago.
“This has been a very significant year for the company, and our excellent Christmas results are a reflection on the work the team here has done throughout the year making our brand more relevant and contemporary,” commented Ewan Venters, Fortnum & Mason, CEO.
“I am particularly pleased with the rise in online sales, which is the reward for our investment in the new website. As ever, we believe that our success is based on great products and on impeccable service. At a challenging time for all retailers, we have shown that a quality offering, both online and in store, is still highly attractive to customers around the world.”


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Digital Ads Evolve As Online Privacy Increases + 4 more stories for April 8, 2022
**This week on The Download; digital ads evolve as online privacy increases, Substack poaches podcasts from Patreon, and iHeartMedia is buying NFTs to make podcasts about them.**A fair amount of coverage has been written about the so-called death of targeted advertising. Privacy changes implemented by Google and Apple have made some waves, but said waves are having interesting effects on the industry. On Wednesday Brian Chen and Daisuke Wakabayashi published a New York Times piece called *You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet, Just in a Different Way*.
A fair amount of coverage has been written about the so-called death of targeted advertising. Privacy changes implemented by Google and Apple have made some waves, but said waves are having interesting effects on the industry. On Wednesday Brian Chen and Daisuke Wakabayashi published a New York Times piece called *You’re Still Being Tracked on the Internet, Just in a Different Way*.
Throughout the piece Chen and Wakabayashi alternate between birds-eye views of the tech industry and personal anecdotes from small business reflecting the changing landscape of traditional digital ads.
“The rise of this tracking has implications for digital advertising, which has depended on user data to know where to aim promotions. It tilts the playing field toward large digital ecosystems such as Google, Snap, TikTok, Amazon and Pinterest, which have millions of their own users and have amassed information on them. Smaller brands have to turn to those platforms if they want to advertise to find new customers.”
Where in previous years a business would be able to purchase ad space on services like Instagram or Facebook, famous for their tracking providing fine-tuned results, now the pendulum has shifted.
“Shawn Baker, the owner of Baker SoftWash, an exterior cleaning company in Mooresville, N.C., said it previously took about $6 of Facebook ads to identify a new customer. Now it costs $27 because the ads do not find the right people, he said.”
With the devaluing of assumed default channels of advertising, more budgets are being redistributed to new avenues of advertising. Especially options with first-party data. While podcast advertising doesn’t offer that data for users, the contextual nature and growth of podcasting-first data solutions are becoming appealing options for those buyers
Dave Jones (no relation to the undersea legend) posted a blog to Substack Monday with intent to clear the air on Podcasting 2.0. What exactly is Podcasting 2.0? As Jones puts it:
“The Podcasting 2.0 project is simply this: A vision of what podcasting experiences can be in the future, and a set of free, open source standards for how that vision becomes reality.”
Jones goes on to give context for what some of these open-source standards could look like, folding them into a fictional day in the life a podcast super-listener named Joy. Throughout Joy’s typical work day she uses a one-size-fits-all podcatcher app that folds features and functionality from existing first-party services into one place. Whenever a video podcast she likes goes live, Podcast 2.0 framework allows her to join in and listen to just the audio (much like YouTube’s audio-only feature). When she dips into the video portion of the stream she can tip money to the hosts, causing an on-screen notification akin to Superchats on YouTube and donations on Twitch.
Her app displays episode-specific links and data mentioned in podcasts manually placed by the hosts. It automatically switches to lower bitrate versions of audio feeds when traveling into areas with poor signal. In Joy’s Podcast 2.0 world she can check comments and reviews aggregated from other podcasting apps.
“Every bit of the above scenario is perfectly possible using only RSS and open source standards. Much of it is already functioning today in apps and services that are early adopters.”
For those who’ve only heard of Podcasting 2.0 in passing, Jones’ piece aims to explain the passion and potential open-source future the concept could provide.
We move from a story posted on Substack to a story about Substack. On Tuesday Ashley Carman published the Bloomberg piece Substack Poaches Patreon Stars for Expanded Push into Podcasting. Substack now offers two resources popular with monetized podcasts: a newsletter and a private RSS feed for paying subscribers.
Substack’s COO Hamish McKenzie says the company is giving grants to certain podcasters who make the switch from Patreon. Though, like a recent report on YouTube offering grants for podcasters to pivot to video, Substack is keeping quiet as to which specific podcasts got grants. Currently only four are known.
The grants Substack offers serve to soften the blow of abandoning an existing service. Patreon does not offer the ability to take paid subscriptions to a competitor’s platform. Podcasters making the switch will lose patrons, moreso than they normally would to monthly churn.
Marketers have been telling podcasters that newsletters are a successful way to create and own an audience. Substack taking initiative shows they might begin to own and understand the market of podcasts centered around communities. And, by extension, own the revenue derived from said market.
That said, this introduces another hosting solution that does not appear to be following IAB standards. Substack joins Apple’s subscription product, Supercast, and Supporting Cast in that crowd. This isn’t necessarily an issue for the individual user because they provide first party info. Nevertheless, it does show the IAB standard doesn’t have the teeth many hoped it would as this industry continues to grow
****Soon it might be time to break out the picket signs and pro-worker chants at Spotify. On Monday Ashley Carman, making her second appearance this episode, published the Bloomberg article *Spotify Podcast Union is Ready to Strike Over Contract Terms*.
Barring successful negotiations, the Parcast Union is poised to execute the first ever strike at Spotify. The union cites unaddressed issues include basic concerns like pay, but also staff diversity concerns and IP rights.
“The bargaining committee told Bloomberg News that Spotify specifically doesn’t want to commit to a request that half of job candidates who make it past the phone interview stage be people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ+ or people with disabilities. They also added they haven’t agreed on acceptable salary minimums.”
97% of Parcast union members have pledged to join the strike, spanning multiple departments.
“A strike would be a first for Spotify and would come at a particularly fraught time for its podcast ambitions. The company laid off the internal team at its fourth podcast studio, known as Studio 4, in January, and has struggled to get much of its headline-driving content off the ground.”
For more information on that reference to unreleased headline-driving content, we direct you to the March third episode of The Download for coverage of that particular story. Here’s hoping the union walks away from the bargaining table with their goals achieved. People deserve to be paid a fair living wage, and podcasting on the scale Spotify operates at is certainly big enough to handle that.
For our final story of the week, something bizarre.
Non-fungible tokens, a digital collectible known for being rife with pump-and-dump schemes and other classic forms of financial scams, are potentially getting their first big break in podcasting through iHeartMedia’s new scheme.
Sara Fischer, reporting for Axios, broke exclusive news on Tuesday: iHeartMedia is building a podcast network around NFTs they’ve purchased.
“iHeartMedia is currently in talks to make 10–15 investments in prominent NFT collections over the next few days — including CryptoPunks, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and World of Women — per Khalil Tawil, EVP of strategy at iHeartMedia.”
As Tawil describes it, iHeartMedia will purchase NFTs from various internet-popular collections and then craft a slate of podcasts that retroactively create a series of stories and characters around the algorithmically-generated artwork they sort-of own.
Fischer quotes Khalil Tawil as saying there is “no real precedent for this.” While technically true in the context of podcasting, it’s not new in other forms of media. Most notable are the multiple attempts at getting NFT animated series off the ground, as Vice covered in November.
Though, iHeartMedia has the scale needed to truly take advantage of the IP inherent in their purchases. From Hot Pod on Thursday,
“One of the unique features of these character-based NFT series is that they often hand IP rights over to whoever owns them. That means if you buy a Bored Ape, you can print your Bored Ape on a T-shirt, market that shirt online, put it on a billboard, and so on. Folks who believe in the NFT hype want to turn these collections into a sort of decentralized Disney, which, I suspect, will overshoot reality by at least a few orders of magnitude.”
Whether iHeart’s decentralized Disney will profit or not remains to be seen.
The Download is a production of Sounds Profitable. Today's episode was hosted by Shreya Sharma and Manuela Bedoya, and the script was written by Gavin Gaddis.
Bryan Barletta and Evo Terra are the executive producers of The Download from Sounds Profitable.
Special thanks to Ian Powell for his audio prowess, and to our media host, Omny Studio.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


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Danish consumer electronics firm Bang & Olufsen booted out its chief executive and hinted at a new strategic direction on Thursday, but it may be a while before the company recovers from its sliding profitability.
Shares in Bang & Olufsen closed down 9 Danish kronor ($1.79), or 2.8%, to 314 kronor ($62.37), in Copenhagen. The stock fell 28.5% on Wednesday after the electronics manufacturer reported a 61.3% drop in second-quarter profits, down to 49.3 million Danish kronor ($9.8 million), and cut its full-year pre-tax profit guidance to 360-400 million kronor ($71.0-$78.9 million) from 540-570 million kronor ($106.6 million-$112.5 million).
The shares may be trading at an attractive price, but it may be too early to start hunting for a turnaround story. “The fundamental valuation is very attractive at the moment," said Kenneth Winther, analyst with Capinordic, "but you will have bad newsflow in the coming six to eight months, so it’s a bit diverse.”
Winther said the next chief executive of Bang & Olufsen would have to limit the impact of a "difficult" environment for retailers, largely by cutting costs and increased outsourcing. European consumers are struggling to cope with food and energy inflation, and the wider macroeconomic slowdown is also contributing to retail worries. (See "Inflation Up, Growth Down In Europe")
The comments from Bang & Olufsen's Worning also suggest that the company may choose to exit fields such as automotive appliances, which the firm has offered since 1997.
A spokesman for Bang & Olufsen would not specify which parts of the business would change, saying only that a "small part" was taking up too much of the firm's financial resources.
British electronics retailer


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Helping CPGs Reach 2025 Sustainability Goals, Key Part of Fortis Event
Fortis Solutions Group will hold its 2022 Fortis Solutions Summit at the Sheraton Novi Detroit in Michigan on November 17. The event comprises an educational conference program and a mini-trade show featuring innovative solutions, quality controls solutions, sustainability optimizers, and all Fortis packaging products.
The trade show room opens at 9 a.m.; transportation to plant tours start at 9:15 a.m,; conference sessions begin at 10:30 a.m. The first general session in the conference program will be given by Fortis CEO John Wynne, Fortis CCO Steve Powers, and Fortis president of shrink sleeves and flexible packaging Andrew Weitz. Wynne will share an overview of Fortis and explore how Fortis can be a strong partner to the attendees and their companies. Powers will discuss the overall Fortis portfolio and system of support. Weitz will talk about Fortis’ continued commitment to its anchor customers across all of the Fortis organization and new opportunities for customers emerging from Fortis’ expanded capabilities across all sites. Weitz will also share his thoughts on the future of the company’s shrink platform.
After lunch, the conference program will continue at 1 p.m. with an exploration of packaging that supports 2025 retail sustainability goals. Director of business development, sustainability, and innovation Wesley Porter will share insights on 2025 sustainability goals to help further attendees’ understanding of the fundamental purpose of these goals, share an update of the global progress toward meeting these commitments, and identify opportunities to enable you to meet these goals. Fortis director of national accounts Derek Sims will wrap up the session with a discussion of how Fortis can help attendees reach their 2025 retail sustainability goals with materials and packaging solutions to enable reaching their targets with good, better, and best options, all while maintaining packaging performance.
The conversation about sustainability continues with a 4 p.m. session with guest speaker Wesley Porter. As business development director for sustainability and innovation in Berry Global’s engineered materials division, Porter has more than 20 years of experience at Berry in product development and sales in films and flexible packaging. Additionally, Porter is a graduate of Purdue University in chemical engineering. Porter will share insights gained while working with Berry’s customers to provide solutions to meet their sustainability goals from increasing recyclability and recycled content to bringing new circular materials to market. For more information about the Summit and to register, visit www.fortisnow.com/summit


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Until Thursday, Sandy Chen and Henry Zhou ran a convenience store on Toronto's Queen Street West. As the neighbourhood around them went from seedy to artsy to trendy, their Queen's Grocery & Variety at the corner of Queen and Lisgar streets remained stubbornly the same.
Year after year, day after day, they stood sentry behind the store counter, cheerfully hawking (as the sign outside proclaimed) "pops, snacks, ice creams, ATM, TTC, Lotto" and other necessities of urban living.
But cities are always evolving and even Queen's Grocery couldn't resist forever. Real estate values have soared on Queen, one of the hottest streets on the continent. Someone bought the building from their old landlord last spring. Faced with a doubling of their rent, the couple, now in their 50s, decided to wind up the business that sustained them for 17 years.
As they prepared to close on Wednesday, a handwritten sign announced "Everything must go!!!" Inside the store, already half empty, Ms. Chen was slashing prices and giving lots of stuff away free. The sound of hammering and drilling came through the wall as renovators encroached. A contractor who looked in said the space would become (what else?) a vegetarian restaurant.
It is a process that is underway on city streets from London to Chicago to Shanghai. Rundown downtown neighbourhoods are reviving. New money and new blood is rushing in. The local hardware becomes a yoga studio, the greasy spoon a coffee bar. This stretch of Queen used to boast two car-wash joints, now priced out and long gone.
It would be easy to paint the demise of Queen's Grocery as a tragedy and Ms. Chen and Mr. Zhou as the latest victims of out-of-control gentrification. It's not that straightforward. Ms. Chen says her feelings are "complicated."
She and her husband will miss their customers, yes, and they wonder just what they will do now that their all-consuming life in the corner store is at an end. But she says her strongest emotion is gratitude. She is grateful to her loyal customers, grateful to the country that took her in, and despite the long hours and hard work, grateful to have had the chance to witness the amazing changes overtaking the city. "I keep on saying, 'We are so lucky.' "
Ms. Chen was a teacher and Mr. Zhou an engineer in their native China. They immigrated here for a better life, arriving with just $5,000 to their name. They tried to make a living selling Chinese handicrafts. They tried working in a clothing factory, booking different shifts so they could take turns caring for their young daughter. Finally, borrowing $45,000 from relatives, they bought the business on Queen, a leap in the dark for two people with no experience running a store.
Like so many immigrant storekeepers, they worked crazy hours. They opened at 10 in the morning and didn't close till 11 at night. They stayed open weekends and shut their doors only on public holidays.
Their daughter often sat on an overturned milk crate as they worked or did her homework at a little desk. She could work the cash register by 7. Mr. Zhou went up to the local discount supermarket to buy bulk merchandise to stock their shelves. In the first five years, Ms. Chen says, "it was really tough."
The neighbourhood began to change when the Drake Hotel opened a block down the street, an early outpost of hipsterdom. Art galleries came in, then high-end restaurants and bars. Condos rose across the street. Mr. Zhou says he went on Google Maps recently and found no fewer than 30 new buildings in the area. People may grouse about rising property values, "but for the neighbourhood," he says, "this is good news."
A few old businesses hang on despite the rush of change. In a cluttered used-appliances store down the street, the proprietor says he's not going anywhere. He has worked at the store since 1970. Two little convenience stores are surviving just around the corner from ultra-cool Ossington Avenue. All those condo dwellers need somewhere to buy their duct tape and potato chips. To serve them, a new, modern convenience store with a latte bar in the front has opened opposite the Drake.
Ms. Chen and Ms. Zhou marvel at the transformation of the neighbourhood. They marvel at all the human variety, too. In China, Ms. Chen says, they had never heard of multiculturalism. When they saw Toronto's mix of cuisines, languages and styles of dress, they thought, "Wow, this is amazing, this is an amazing country."
Before they took over, their store was run by Portuguese, then Koreans, then Vietnamese, then Vietnamese again. "That's why I love Canada," says Ms. Chen, who has bright eyes and a ready smile.
As she speaks, a muscular Cuban who has been carting buckets of renovation debris out of the place next door stops by for a bottle of water. A Portuguese neighbour drops in to say goodbye, remarking that real estate agents keep knocking on her door to offer her a fortune for her beat-up old house.
Ms. Chen tells her to take whatever she wants. She goes away with tomato paste and a can of cat food. "I'm going to miss you guys," she says, folding Ms. Chen in a hug. "I wish you all the best."
Ms. Chen says it will feel odd to stop working in the familiar store. "Every day you come here and then one day you walk out the door." But she and Mr. Zhou had a good run. They bought a house. They raised a daughter and sent her to university – though, Mr. Zhou says with a laugh, she chose the humanities, and "you can't find a job" with that.
Now life is changing, but, then, it has a way of doing that. Things change. Cities change. Life goes on. Ms. Chen is looking forward to cleaning her "garbage site" of a house, neglected through all these years of work. Then she may go back to school and look for a teaching job. Whatever happens, she feels thankful for all her years in that little store on Queen West.


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After a period of silence, QualityWings Simulations has released a brand new update for their Ultimate 787 for FSX and Prepar3D. The new service pack adds all-new features and many tweaks and fixes based on bug reports and feedback. As mentioned on a forum post, the team wanted to bring something new to the EFB with this service pack as the EFB is such a key feature of the aircraft.
The new EFB update adds a route entry system, allowing you to copy and paste coded text routes from various sites and input it directly into the EFB. The EFB will then interpret the coding and create a flightplan which is then uplinked to the FMS of the aircraft.
In addition to the new EFB, the team has made improvements to the autoflight system found in the aircraft. Improvements to the VNAV and LNAV path logic has been vastly improved, along with FLCH speed logic and also the Autothrottle speed controls.
Further to the two primary new features, the changelog also highlights other changes that customers will appreciate. Display and HUD brightness controls have been added, along with improved texture quality in the flight deck. Various other bugs within the CDU have been fixed along with various changes to the flight dynamic behaviour of the aircraft.
This service pack is the result of several months of development work and is provided free of charge for all customers who own the Ulitmate 787 for FSX and Prepar3D. Otherwise, you can pick up the Ultimate 787 Collection for $79.95 USD on Flight1.
In related news, QualityWings Simulations is developing the Ultimate 787 for Microsoft Flight Simulator and they are hoping for a release sometime later this year.


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Manchester-based IT support and consultants, Linten, has been chosen to deliver a new suite of software and migrations for Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports. The award-winning IT support company will work with Ellis Brigham across their 27 retail outlets, warehouse and headquarters located in Salford.
Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports is a leading retailer of quality mountain sports equipment for skiing, snowboarding, mountaineering, hiking and climbing. Established in 1933 Ellis Brigham operates 27 stores nationwide as well as an online store.
Linten will deliver a whole new suite of security services as well as migrating all their email accounts to Office 365, which brings with it a new suite of cloud-based product to help with company communications and file sharing.
Rob Brigham, Managing Director at Ellis Brigham, comments: “We were impressed by Linten’s approach to our initial brief and are looking forward to working with them to help improve our IT systems ahead of a key trading period for the business.”
Chris Bulmer, Sales Director at Linten, comments: “We are pleased to be working with a respected brand such as Ellis Brigham and are excited to get started delivering the improvements to their systems so they can begin to see the benefits for their rapidly growing business.”


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Lucasfilm’s legacy in gaming stretches back decades. And with Lucasfilm and the galaxy far, far away entering a new and unprecedented phase of creativity, so will the world of Lucasfilm Games — developed in collaboration with the finest studios across the industry.
StarWars.com is thrilled to reveal that Lucasfilm Games is now the official identity for all gaming titles from Lucasfilm, a name that encompasses the company’s rich catalog of video games and its eye toward the future. To mark this new era, Lucasfilm Games has launched social channels on Twitter (@LucasfilmGames) and Facebook (@LucasfilmGames), which will deliver breaking news and more directly to fans. You can watch a special sizzle reel celebrating the history of games from Lucasfilm below; the Lucasfilm Games logo, featured above, will appear in all future Lucasfilm Games titles.
Stay tuned to StarWars.com for more on Lucasfilm Games!
"Pleasure’s fun. It’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever; just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe then again, it will come back, and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure: it’s about you. It’s a selfish, self-centered emotion, that is created by a self-centered motive of greed. Joy is compassion. Joy is giving yourself to somebody else, or something else. And it’s a kind of thing that is, in its subtlety and lowness, much more powerful than pleasure. You get hung up on pleasure; you’re doomed. If you pursue joy; you will find everlasting happiness.” - George Lucas


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Government May Increase Duty On Petrol, Diesel Again To Fight Outbreak: Report
The government had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre that would provide it additional revenue to the turn of Rs 45,000 crore.
The government may use the current low oil prices to further increase excise duty on petrol and diesel to raise additional resources required for keep rising deficit under check and meet additional expenditure needs arising from COVID-19 outbreak, a State Bank of India report said on Thursday.
It said that crude at $30/barrel could potentially lower the petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10-12 /litre from their present prices assuming excise had stayed at the previous level. But government may limit fall in retail price of the two petroleum products to increase excise duty on them further.
"... The rise in excise duty of Rs 3 on petrol and diesel prices by the Centre may lead to maximum cut of Rs 4.25 on petrol and Rs 3.75 on diesel from the current level. We thus expect the government may further limit such fall in retail prices and thereby increase the excise more," the SBI Ecowrap report said.
Historical trend in Brent crude oil prices and its relationship with excise duty collection and retail prices, suggests post-GST, excise duty on petro products now contributes 85-90 per cent of overall excise duty collection of Centre. In 2019-20 (April-December), total excise collection on petro products for nine months is close to Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
The SBI Ecowrap report said that if the same run rate (on excise collection) continues for FY20, then there could be shortfall of at least Rs 14,000 crore to the exchequer making case for further increase in the duty.
The report has also highlighted the tough situation government faces in terms of managing fiscal deficit amidst rising demand for fresh expenditure to tackle the novel coronavirus spread.
It said that based on current tax revenue trends, additional expenditure rationalization of Rs 1.2 lakh crores might be required in the current fiscal, if India has to stick to mandated 3.8 per cent fiscal deficit.
"Even COVID-19 will have an impact on GDP through Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication & Services sub-segment and this will have pressures on fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP. In FY21, nominal GDP growth is at 10 per cent and every 10 bps slippage in nominal GDP numbers in FY21 will push up fiscal deficit by roughly one basis point. We are already estimating that the impact of a 5 per cent inoperability shock could be 90 basis point on GDP from Trade, Hotel and Transport and Transport, Storage and Communication segment, that could be spread over FY20 and FY21, with a larger impact in FY21," the report said.
The report, however, said it will be completely foolhardy to stick to any mandated fiscal rules in times of current crisis that is now threatening to rip apart the entire global financial ecosystem.
"Globally, state loans, income subsidies and tax deferrals are the most common fiscal packages being offered."


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Q: I watched the Super Bowl, and I never saw the Budweiser ad with the foal. I talked to about six people who also watched the game, and they never saw it as well. When did it run?
— Kathy Gestar, Duluth
A: Anheuser-Busch’s commercial showing a horse trainer and a Clydesdale that grows up to join the beer maker’s iconic wagon-pulling team of horses — and their subsequent reunion — ran in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII. It was rated the top commercial of the Super Bowl by USA Today’s Ad Meter, which was comprised of 7,619 panelists. Budweiser conducted an online contest to name the foal, which was born Jan. 16 at the company’s Clydesdale ranch in Missouri. She is now called “Hope.” Budweiser ran a one-minute commercial during the Super Bowl but posted a longer version on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPG7PcI67dE.
Q: I noticed many commercials during the Super Bowl were promos for CBS shows. Is this because they were unable to sell the spots to paying sponsors?
— Michele McRainey, Smyrna
A: CBS sold out of all of the available commercial time by Jan. 7, with advertisers paying an average of $3.7 million to $3.8 million for 30 seconds of time for Super Bowl XLVII. CBS said some advertisers paid more than $4 million. Typically, there are 60-70 half-minute ad slots for every Super Bowl, plus promotional spots for the network carrying that year’s game, according to The New York Times.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email email@example.com (include name, phone and city).


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Fintech report highlights importance of open standards
And access to fintech data… to everybody who needs it.
In 2018 the European Union asked a group of experts to review the application and suitability of the existing EU legal and regulatory framework when applied to fintech (that is “financial (digital) technology”). On December 13th, 2019, the group published a report entitled “30 Recommendations on Regulation, Innovation and Finance”. According to this article, the report recommends action in four areas (emphasis mine):
- Responding to new and changed risks caused by the use of innovative technologies such as AI and distributed ledger technology
- Removing fragmentation across the EU and ensure a level playing field between different participants in the financial services sector as they leverage new technologies
- Reconciling data protection with the opportunities offered by fintech
- Considering the potential impact of fintech on consumers, from the perspective of financial inclusion and the ethical use of data
Below are the main points of the synthesis, alternated with my own comments.
Same old, same old
- “Much of what is called fintech is already covered by EU law, albeit not very consistently. There are only a few entirely new risks to consider, with big tech companies such as Google and Amazon posing the biggest challenges in regulation”.
Ah, OK then. We have nothing to worry.
The European commission should promote the use of fintech “as a means to address financial inclusion and not cause unfair discrimination”.
“It is essential that data subjects are empowered to determine who can access their data and for what purpose”.
It is hard to imagine how the reaction to the general public to this will be different than what it was with GDPR: blindly click through notification screens, until you get what you were looking for.
The experts stressed that the aims and recommendations outlined in the report should be pursued in a way that is technologically neutral, “in the sense that it does not differentiate between the different technologies that can potentially be used to provide a service, offer a product or perform a function, or between different service provides… Cross-sectoral and international cooperation will be “crucial” in setting relevant standards, due to the often borderless nature of fintech”.
This may be the most significant part of the report. Truly open, royalty-free standards, and Free/Open Source reference implementation of each of the main blocks are mandatory to not make an embarrassing mess of all this. We’ll see.
Hey, what about blockchain and cryptocurrencies???
Relax. The group also studied the most fashionable buzzwords of the moment, and concluded that:
- “Distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain are similar to AI, in that the technology itself does not need to be regulated”
This is probably good… if applied with the same spirit of what this other report got right
Last but not least: what is missing?
The same thing that is missing from many other reports and directives, in the European Union and elsewhere: “citizens”. There seem to be only “consumers”, in many places and contexts where it should be imperative to deal with, and care about, citizens.


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Shares of specialty beverage maker, Jones Soda Co. (Nasdaq: JSDA) continued their climb, which started last Thursday after the company announced a distribution deal with retail giant, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT).
Shares were up 22 percent in morning trading on Tuesday,June 1st, 2010
The deal allows Jones to sell its products in Walmart’s approximately 3,800 U.S.-based stores, and increases the beverage maker’s total retail outlet distribution by about almost 10 percent. The Walmart rollout was granted following a successful test of several different-flavored 6-packs that were available in 750 stores.
Walmart officially authorized Jones Soda products on May 3rd and began rolling it out on shelves, with plans to have product in nearly all U.S. stores by the end of last month.
“The Walmart deal allows for another one of America’s premier retailers to offer Jones,” said Jones CEO William Meissner in a statement. “Walmart greatly expands our distribution footprint and truly makes our product accessible to everyone, which is something the Jones Soda brand has always stood for. Now, almost anyone, anywhere in the U.S. can seek out a nearby store or stumble upon our product and purchase it on the spot. We are incredibly energized by the growth potential this Walmart expansion brings.”
The stock has traded between 40 cents to $1.42 per share over the past year.


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2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36
The German car manufacturers are against retrospectively contributing to the cost of the scrapping premium. The Association of the Automotive Industry particularly referred to the losses of medium-sized suppliers, which have not yet been balanced.
The German car manufacturers do not want to contribute retrospectively to the state expenditure for the scrapping bonus. The premium “stabilized domestic demand in the worst year of the crisis in 2009 and thus secured employment,” the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) said on Tuesday. Politicians from the CDU and FDP had taken the carmaker's significantly improved interim balance sheets as an opportunity to demand additional cost sharing in the state premium.
Politicians for participation
In the “Bild” newspaper, the CDU member of the Bundestag and budget politician Alexander Funk called on the federal government to make proposals “how fair participation by the entire industry could look”. "In view of the gushing profits, the auto industry should share in the costs of the scrapping bonus," demanded Funk.
The FDP member of the Bundestag and chairman of the finance committee, Daniel Volk, also spoke out in favor of assuming the costs: "It is time that the industry took over part of it."
Balanced by sales tax revenue
The VDA stated that for the state, the expenditure on the premium was largely offset by higher VAT revenues and lower burdens in the social budget. There is also “worldwide agreement that the federal government reacted appropriately to the financial crisis”. This should “not be talked to in the usual summer theater”.
The VDA emphasized that many companies, especially small and medium-sized suppliers, would not have compensated for the sales and earnings slumps of the previous year. The domestic car market is still in weak shape.
Reithofer does not consider payments to be justified
BMW boss Norbert Reithofer said at the presentation of the half-year figures on this topic: “We all know that the BMW Group has never asked for a scrapping bonus and has not benefited much from it. We therefore consider payments beyond taxes to be justified."
The scrapping premium was decided in early 2009. The then ruling coalition of CDU and SPD had provided a total of five billion euros to promote the purchase of new cars and to support the auto industry during the economic crisis. (dpa)
In a fire letter, the car manufacturers protested against the planned quota for electric cars. A postponement of one to three years is required
Owning a car is no longer the measure of all things for young people. The automakers are reacting to this trend and are increasingly discovering
According to the German government, the EU cartel watchdogs will examine the allegations against the German carmaker. In order to educate the corporations of
The population's understanding of mobility is changing. Accordingly, owning a car is no longer the measure of all things for many customers
Matthias Wissmann shows himself to be combative. The VDA President does not want higher fines against the drivers of vehicles with high emissions


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As we continue our “What’s Working” series this week, Christina Shockley sits down to speak with Linda Jones, the Executive Director of the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council. Over the past decade, the wine industry in Michigan has grown ten to fifteen percent each year, with most of the wine being produced in the southwest and northwest regions of the Lower Peninsula.
With 14,600 acres of vineyards, Michigan ranks fourth amongst all states in grape production. Most of these grapes are used to make juices, but about 2,000 acres of vineyards are devoted solely to wine grape production, making Michigan the eighth largest producer of wine grapes. Ms. Jones says that when we talk about Michigan’s wine industry, we are really talking about the grape industry as well.
“They’re an integrated function. Many of the wineries in Michigan grow their own fruit. And our program is housed in the Michigan Department of Agriculture because wine is really an exemplary industry for value-added agriculture, meaning you take a crop that is grown here in Michigan and you add value to it on the farm property and attract customers to come and visit you, and that translates into a huge economic boom for that area when you can do that.”
In a state that has seen its industries and population decline in the past decade, Michigan’s wine industry has continued to grow steadily. Jones says this is because wine production incorporates two of Michigan’s strongest assets.
“It combines our second and third largest industries: agriculture and tourism. Michigan is a long-standing fruit-producing state, especially on the west side of the state, but increasingly throughout Michigan we are planting wine grapes with new varieties that are being developed.”
But Michigan isn’t just good at growing fruit because we’ve been doing it for centuries. The climate in Michigan is particularly well-suited for growing grapes, says Jones.