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Do you have a million bucks to drop on an automobile? No one here at MSN Autos does, either. But there are those who do. Hate them or love them, the filthy rich drive some of the most enviable rides on the road today. You might be surprised to hear, however, that they aren't necessarily the sexiest. According to a recent survey by the Luxury Institute, a New York-based research and consulting firm, the wealthy elite are drawn more to conservative offerings from Bentley, Maybach and Rolls-Royce than flashy models from Ferrari and Lamborghini. As an exercise in masochism for those of us without the wherewithal to purchase an ultraextravagant machine, we researched the brands that are most respected by the rich and shameless. Here's what we found. Rolls-Royce
If you're filthy rich and want the respect of your peers, drive a Rolls-Royce. The classic British blue-blood brand, now owned by German automaker BMW, was rated highest in brand clout among respondents to the Luxury Institute survey, based on quality, exclusivity, social status and "self-enhancement," which means how special it made the respondent feel. The model that many are clamoring for is the Ghost. This stunning sedan is large by normal standards but looks rather moderate in size when seen next to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the land barge preferred by music moguls and oil tycoons who wish to lord their wealth over passers-by.
Bentley is the second-best brand as ranked by the people with enough money to buy a car of its caliber. The company says owners of its Continental line, which starts at $185,395, typically have between $5 million and $15 million in net worth. Real high-rollers — those worth between $15 million and $20 million — go for the Mulsanne. This replacement to the long-running Arnage sedan is the ultimate modern Bentley, re-engineered from the ground up. Its interior is covered in 17 cowhides and ringed in wood that takes up to two weeks to veneer.
Mercedes-Benz's ultraluxury brand ties Bentley for second-best in the hearts and minds of the wealthy. On style alone, the Maybach wouldn't get very far compared with its rivals. But the automaker conceived of every extravagance imaginable to appeal to the well-heeled. Take, for instance, the electro-transparent panoramic roof. It changes from clear to frosted to opaque at the touch of a button. But why not forgo that $15,300 option available on the $368,750 Maybach 57 or the $459,250 Maybach 62 S, and spring for the $1.38 million Laundaulet, which has a retractable top over the rear cabin.
To enthusiasts with posters of sports cars hanging on their walls, it doesn't get much better than a Bugatti Veyron, with its 16-cylinder 1,001-horsepower engine. But to those who can actually afford this $1.3 million beast, the Bugatti brand takes a back seat to Rolls, Bentley and Maybach for status. Maybe that's what compelled the company to develop the Super Sport model, which recently set a Guinness World Record for top speed in a production car, with an average speed of 267.8 mph. Only 300 Veyron coupes will be built, 30 of which will be Super Sports.
Like Bugatti, Aston Martin builds sexy cars that possess a certain understated class not always evident in models from its Italian competitors. The automaker's One-77, which was unveiled back in 2008 and will be shipped this year, has a carbon-fiber chassis and an aluminum body — both of which illustrate that no expense was spared in creating this $1.5 million car. Virtually every aspect of this machine can be customized for the buyer, down to the feel of the paddle shifters that control the 6-speed transmission. Its beauty is more than skin deep, too; every part on the car was designed for optimal performance.
Ferrari is one of three companies that wealthy consumers rate about average in overall brand status, but above average in uniqueness and exclusivity, according to the Luxury Institute survey. The other two are Aston Martin and Lamborghini. The model that has been stealing the spotlight lately is the 458 Italia. It reinvigorates the brand with that hot-blooded Italian X-factor that seemed to have dried up a bit in recent years. Just look at it — the car is pure sex on wheels.
There are no tame, meek or mild Lamborghinis. People who seek this brand do so to stand out — pure and simple. And there's one Lamborghini at the moment that stands out above all the rest: the $455,400 Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce. Arguably, it even outdoes the company's $1.25 million super-rare Reventon. The SuperVeloce — "superfast" in Italian — puts out 10 horsepower more than the Reventon, for a total of 670 horses, yet it's 220 pounds lighter than a run-of-the-mill $360,400 Murcielago LP 640 Coupe. That translates into a zero-to-60 mph time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 212.5 mph.
The Luxury Institute survey affirms a longstanding informal hierarchy that places Maserati in third billing against fellow Italian sports car companies Ferrari and Lamborghini. What seems to make Maseratis less desirable among the boy-racer crowd is that they're more civilized — softened a bit, rather than being engineered for all-out performance. It's those traits that make a Maserati more appealing to wealthy buyers who might otherwise consider a Mercedes SL or Jaguar XK. Heck, the Maserati GranCabrio convertible even competes against the pricier Bentley Continental GTC, offering a bit more sex appeal and a sportier demeanor for about $50,000 less.
Nothing affirms the value of strong brand heritage like the status of Lotus among the rich. The small British company builds cars that cost far less than its competitors — the Elise starts at $47,250 — and doesn't compromise on performance in order to do so. Its philosophy is simple: Build uncomplicated cars that are exceedingly light and fast. After nearly a decade of building the 2-seat Elise and Exige and nothing else, Lotus has finally created a new model, the Evora. It takes the brand a bit further upmarket, yet still shames the competition by offering stellar performance.
Where status is concerned, Porsche has long been stuck in no-man's land. While its cars are considered more exclusive than other German luxury brands, they are a bit commonplace when compared with more exotic British and Italian offerings. For filthy rich folks looking to make a statement, that sort of middle ground is frowned upon. Yet if those who disregard a $48,550 Porsche Boxster or $78,750 911 as being "too common" would actually drive one, they'd understand why the company continues to inspire such loyalty among driving enthusiasts. One of the latest models to uphold that tradition is the Porsche Panamera, Porsche's first 4-door, 4-seat car, which promises to inspire envy among BMW and Mercedes drivers.


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Loyalty programmes: How can UK energy providers get their power back?
7.7 million energy customers in the UK switched suppliers last year -that’s a 28% increase from the previous year and a six-year high. Today’s consumers are much less loyal than they used to be. Utility providers need to get moving if they have any hope of holding onto their customers.
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Philips Semiconductors and Shell Nederland have introduced Easypay, a contactless payment system for gasoline stations.
Easypay, which operates in a manner similar to Mobil Speedpass in the United States, is being introduced at 100 Shell stations in the Netherlands and is likely to be expanded later into all 650, the companies said.
The program, built on Philips' MIFARE technology and said to be the first large-scale implementation of this kind in Europe, includes a loyalty-point system.
Later this year it will also permit purchases in convenience stores using the Easypay key fob.
Royal Philips Electronics executive vice president Roel Pieper said the effort can become part of a smart-card-based payment system with multiple applications and contact/contactless options.
The technology supports "application standards developed by major banking institutes," he said.
"It will open up amazing opportunities for different providers to jointly offer their services on one card or key ring."
Pat O'Driscoll, president of Shell Retail International, said, "The launch of Easypay marks the start of a Shell-Philips partnership with global potential."


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Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp. (???) said Friday that it will invest an additional US$100 million in its Vive X accelerator program, which aims to fund virtual reality start-ups around the world.
The new US$100 million investment represents the second stage of the Vive X program initiated by HTC, which has developed a VR headset -- the HTC Vive -- to tap into the growing business.
HTC launched the Vive X program in August with it first US$100 million in investment.
HTC backed more than 30 VR startups, including Action Bunker VR, LumiereVR, Directive Games, EdSenses, Shortfuse, CleVR and SurrealVR and Teemew, in the first phase of the Vive X program and helped them come up with various applications for VR technology.
The company will take applications for the second phase of the program from Friday to Dec. 1, and successful applicants will receive more than just financial assistance, HTC said.
Qualified startups will have the opportunity to work at Vive X accelerator locations around the world and gain access to advanced VR technology and mentorship, networking and even hands-on coaching from leading global VR experts, HTC said.
The Vive X program kicked off in Taipei, San Francisco, Beijing and Shenzhen in August. HTC said the program is expected to grow globally, with additional locations expected to be added in Europe soon.
The HTC Vive is one of HTC's gambits to diversify away from its core smartphone market, which is saturated and intensely competitive, in the hope of creating an additional revenue source and turning around its business.
The VR headset, jointly developed by HTC and U.S. video game supplier Valve, went on sale globally in April. It is equipped with tracked controllers that allow wearers to inspect objects from every angle and interact with their surroundings.
Meanwhile, tech website GSMArena.com reported earlier this week that Google has partnered with HTC's 1,000 distributors in India to sell the latest Google Pixel smartphone models.
HTC manufactures Google's Pixel and Pixel XL models, which are seen as Google's attempt to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
The report said that in addition to distributing the phones, HTC will provide maintenance services for Pixel buyers in India.
The Pixel and Pixel XL models, which were unveiled in early October, have gone on sale in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom and received a positive response from consumers.
HTC's contract manufacturing services to Google bolstered its consolidated sales in September to NT$9.33 billion, up 41.8 percent from the previous month. The September figure was also up 31.35 percent year-on-year
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel


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Dubit, the video games studio and developer of digital worlds for twenty years, has raised USD $8M to launch the world’s first dwell esports league within the metaverse, beginning in Roblox. Dubit works with corporations equivalent to Disney, Facebook and Lego, and is already taking manufacturers into Roblox.
The funding spherical was led by Metaventures and French investor Jean-Charles Capelli, valuing Dubit at USD $55 million. The firm will now develop its current metaverse exercise, introducing Metaverse Gaming League (MGL) to pioneer branded gaming occasions and esports tournaments. Metaventures and Dubit are additionally creating client life-style experiences equivalent to live shows and style reveals for the metaverse.
Currently in beta, Metaverse Gaming League hosts common live-streamed occasions in Roblox, the gaming and social platform with over 200 million month-to-month customers. Events happen in common video games, and in contrast to skilled esports occasions MGL presents everybody the possibility to take part and win prizes, not simply the elite gamers. Following its launch on Roblox, it’s going to develop to different main metaverse gaming platforms, equivalent to Minecraft and Core.
Announcing the increase, Dubit Co-Founder, Matthew Warneford, commented:
“We’re delighted to be working with Jean-Charles Capelli to pioneer new methods wherein manufacturers can enter the metaverse, equivalent to by our Metaverse Gaming League. The funding can even permit us to create massively interactive dwell occasions in music and style that manufacturers can associate with. It’s an thrilling time for Dubit, placing all of our expertise and experience to work within the metaverse.”
Metaventures’ Jean-Charles Capelli added:
“Dubit is within the excellent place to benefit from the brand new alternatives within the metaverse. No different firm has 20 years expertise in creating and launching digital worlds, mixed with an ideal community of manufacturers and organisations that it really works with all over the world. As an entrepreneur and musician, I’m proud to spend money on Dubit, and I’m excited to assist scale up the unbelievable experiences it creates for customers of Roblox and different metaverses.”
Dubit was based in 1999 by a gaggle of youngsters who created the primary Flash digital world for younger folks. Now a worldwide workforce of over 100 folks, Dubit creates video games and experiences for manufacturers all over the world, and has constructed a world class Roblox workforce, expertise in constructing video games with billions of performs.
As properly as creating video games for manufacturers, Dubit additionally companions with most of the high current Roblox video games to introduce branded content material for their thousands and thousands of month-to-month gamers. Dubit’s community of associate video games already has a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of month-to-month gamers. In 2022, Dubit will additional develop its US presence by opening a studio in New York City.


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The government is considering raising the purchase limit at departure duty-free shops from the current $3,600 and the tax exemption limit from the current $600, officials said Tuesday.
“In consideration of increased national income and inflation, (the government) is reviewing the need and means to raise the limit of purchase and tax exemption at duty-free shops,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a release.
The decision will be confirmed later this month, when the ministry announces economic policies for the latter half of the year.
Currently, customers are allowed to purchase products worth up to $3,000 at departure duty-free shops and $600 at on-arrival duty-free shops. They can also separately buy a bottle of alcoholic drinks within the $400 limit and a 60-milliliter bottle of perfume.
The purchase limit at departure duty-free stores was last raised in 2006 from $2,000.
The $600 limit at on-arrival duty-free shops could also be raised, officials added.
“The decision will be made after pilot operations of arrival duty-free shops,” the ministry said.
The country’s first on-arrival duty-free shops opened Friday at Incheon Airport, with two stores located in Terminal 1 and another in Terminal 2.
By Bae Hyun-jung (email@example.com)


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PAYMENT transactions contracted by a massive 46 per cent in value in April over the previous month as the nationwide lockdown affected economic activity across the board.
Latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows that transactions and payments through various banking channels — cheque payments, ATM withdrawal, NEFT and RTGS, fell between 26 per cent and 71 per cent in April over March, depending upon the mode of transaction.
The sole exception was direct benefit transfer (DBT) payments by the government using the Aadhar-enabled platforms, which recorded a 138 per cent jump.
Transactions through issuance of cheques – a paper instrument – saw the sharpest contraction of 71 per cent in April to Rs 1.63 lakh crore from Rs 5.65 lakh crore in March.
The RBI-operated Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, the largest mode for online high value transactions, recorded a contraction of 46.5 per cent in value to Rs 64.43 lakh crore in April from Rs 120.47 lakh crore in March.
Among the other highly used online payment mode, the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) recorded a fall of 42.7 per cent in transaction value to Rs 13.06 lakh crore in April, down from Rs 22.83 lakh crore in March.
Together, RTGS and NEFT account for a little over 90 per cent of total payments in the country. Transactions under RTGS are processed continuously on real time basis, whereas NEFT transactions are processed in half-hourly intervals.
With a lockdown in force, ATM withdrawals through debit cards slumped to Rs 1.27 lakh crore from Rs 2.49 lakh crore — a contraction of 49 per cent. Peoples’ need for cash dropped since it was used mostly for buying essential items or meeting health needs. This also suggests people hardly spent on discretionary items.
The data show that other digital modes of payment also witnessed sharp fall in value transacted during the month.
Transactions through IMPS — or immediate payment service — also fell by 40 per cent to Rs 1.21 lakh crore in April from Rs 2.01 lakh crore in March. Unique payment interface or UPI transactions fell 26.8 per cent during the same period.
Point-of-sale (POS) machines or POS-based credit card transactions value contracted by 69.7 per cent to Rs 26,656 crore in April from Rs 8,052 crore in March.
The exception was APBS (Aadhaar Payment Bridge System), which is used by the government to transfer funds/subsidies under various heads directly into Aadhaar-enabled accounts of beneficiaries. Value transacted under APBS jumped by 138 per cent to Rs 18,996 crore from Rs 7,951 crore. The RBI started capturing the APBS data separately from November 2019.
This could be because of government transferring funds to beneficiaries’ accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana that was announced on March 26 to provide income support to the poor during the lockdown period.
As part of the Rs 1.7 lakh crore of relief package, the government had announced that 2.40 crore women Jan Dhan account holders will be given Rs 500 per month for three months. First instalment of Rs 2000 due to farmers in 2020-21 was also paid in April, among other measures.
The RBI’s payments data for April mirrors the industrial production data released by the government for the same month last week, which showed that factory output contracted by a record 55.5 per cent in April. Industrial activity had contracted 16.7 per cent in March.
These data sets point out that the Gross Domestic Product for April-June quarter will be severely impacted.


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A Michigan cannabis testing lab filed a lawsuit against state regulators over an immense product recall that the lab claims was “unjustified, prejudiced and retaliatory.”
According to The Detroit News, Viridis Laboratories alleged in a civil complaint that the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MMRA) chose to launch a product recall earlier this month based on flawed science and didn’t give the lab an opportunity to rectify the situation or prove its results were reliable.
The recall involved $229 million worth of cannabis products and 403 retailers across the state.
One state senator estimated the recall included roughly 65,000 pounds of MJ products, the newspaper reported.
The recall was prompted by concerns that Viridis’ methods were inaccurate or unreliable, the MMRA said in a statement announcing the recall.
The regulator also suggested that the marijuana products in question could be harmful to residents with compromised immune systems.
The MMRA declined to comment to the News, but Viridis’ lawyers said the agency acted too rashly.
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“There is no public health or safety risk justifying the recall at all, and we respectfully request the Court to provide relief to Viridis and bring accountability and oversight to an agency that has far exceeded its authority,” attorney Kevin Blair said.
The lawsuit alleges the MMRA questioned Viridis’ testing because the agency was using the lab’s competitors to check Viridis’ results for the products that were ultimately recalled.
The suit also alleges that regulators “moved the goalposts” when Viridis tried to remedy the situation.


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What’s Causing the Global Supply Crunch?
As the global economy gradually recovers from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide supply crunch is intensifying, spreading not only from one country to another, but also from one industry to another.
A year ago, when the pandemic continued to spread, economies around the world were severely hit and there was panic buying among consumers. Today, it is companies that are trying to go on a stockpiling, buying more raw materials than they need to keep up with rapidly recovering demand. The panic buying is fuelling more shortages of raw materials, including copper, iron ore, steel, corn, coffee, wheat, soybeans, wood, semiconductors, plastics, cardboard, etc. As a result, inventories of seemingly every raw material around the world are running low. “You name it, and we have a shortage on it,” Tom Linebarger, chairman and chief executive of engine and generator manufacturer Cummins Inc., said earlier, and he noted that his clients are “trying to get everything they can because they see high demand”.
Supply shortages have driven prices up significantly, with the impact of rising prices for some key raw materials being significant. The prices of various industrial raw materials such as crude oil, plastics, and chemicals are rising. Some of the impacts of higher raw material prices have already begun to be reflected in consumer goods. Reynolds Consumer Products Inc., the maker of the namesake aluminium foil and Hefty trash bags, is planning another round of price hike, and this will be the third for the increase this year alone. Food prices are also climbing. The price of palm oil, the world's most consumed edible oil, has risen more than 135% over the past year to record levels; soybeans have topped USD 16 a bushel for the first time since 2012; corn futures prices have touched an eight-year high, and wheat futures prices have risen to the highest level since 2013.
Changes in factory orders due to the impact of the pandemic have also tightened supply in some markets and pushed up prices for raw materials. Some knitting enterprises in Dongguan, Guangdong, said that affected by the pandemic, about 40% of the orders have come back to China from countries such as India and Southeast Asian countries, while the factory utilisation rate has increased by about 30% to 40%, and now it has reached 100%. In Jiangyin, Jiangsu, a bedsheet enterprise adjusted its production capacity to accommodate a USD 20 million order from Southeast Asia. Increased demand from the textile industry has led to tight supplies of raw materials. In Wujiang, Jiangsu, where polyester filament yarn is the most in demand, the shortage of raw materials this year has been unexpected, especially in the current off-season, when there is not much stock. In Suzhou, also in Jiangsu, the export of polyester filament yarn increased by nearly 60% from January to April, while the price increased by 40% to 60%. Compared with the same period last year, the price of filament yarn increased by RMB 2000-3000/ton.
Remarkably, this hoarding frenzy is pushing global supply chains to the brink of collapse. Inventory shortages, transportation bottlenecks, and price increases are nearing critical levels, raising concerns that strong global growth could fuel inflation. The supply disruptions in the past are simply incomparable compared to the severe inventory crunch of 2021. Industry insiders predict that both large and small enterprises will be affected by this supply shortage.
Why are current supply shortages so acute?
Researchers at ANBOUND believe that instead of having one single factor, there are multiple reasons for the emergence of complex systemic problems.
First of all, there is the recovery in demand as the pandemic is brought under control. This year, as vaccination rollout efforts have brought the pandemic significantly under control in the United States and some European countries, the economy has begun to show significant momentum for recovery. This trend prompted a near-simultaneous recovery in most markets around the world. The collective recovery of global markets has led to a near-simultaneous increase in demand, exacerbating the mismatch between supply and demand. In the case of commodity futures, the capital was collectively bullish on commodities under such expectations, significantly driving up the prices of commodities (mostly upstream commodities) and spreading to midstream and downstream commodities. It should be noted in particular that the surge in demand for certain specific commodities under the pandemic has also exacerbated the supply-demand mismatch in some industrial chains. For example, the increase in the need of remote, online working and studying has increased the demand for all kinds of electronic products, leading to a surge in global demand for semiconductor chips, which affects several chip-requiring industries.
Another reason is that the pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain system, causing distortions in supply and demand in certain industries, which are transmitted along the supply chain, causing a wider supply crunch. As ANBOUND previously pointed out, the spread of the pandemic has dealt multiple blows to global supply chains. During the pandemic, China, as the "world's factory", was affected by the pandemic and its production side was disrupted. Then, the demand side of developed countries was suppressed by the impact of the pandemic. This is followed by the fact that the malfunctioning of the global supply chain system has exacerbated global supply distortions. To cite an example, the severe shortage of containers due to disruption of the supply chain has exacerbated the global supply distortions.
In addition, enterprises began to collectively increase their inventories, leading to the increase of inventories in the industrial chain and supply chain, amplifying the demand for all kinds of raw materials, intermediate products, and supporting products. In the past, in order to save costs and improve efficiency, many enterprises advocated zero-inventory production and tried to reduce the inventory in the production link, thereby reducing the capital occupation. However, the smooth operation of zero inventory production depends on the efficient global supply chain system. Once a problem occurs in the global supply chain system, it can lead to chaos in the whole supply chain system. The 2011 earthquake in Tōhoku, Japan has caused the shutdown of some key auto parts plants, which once led to the global auto supply chain being affected. Likewise, the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since last year has damaged, distorted, and even disrupted global supply chains.
Finally, geopolitical factors have also contributed to the tight supply of global commodities, resulting in the artificial disruption of part of the industrial chain and supply chain. For example, the U.S.-driven crackdown on chip supply to Chinese enterprises and related sanctions have seriously disrupted the global semiconductor industry chain.
How long will the supply crunch last?
Overall, the global supply crunch is due to a variety of reasons, including increased demand from the post-pandemic economic recovery, distortions in global supply chains caused by the pandemic, collective stockpiling by enterprises around the world, and geopolitical disruptions. However, this does not represent a significant expansion of aggregate global demand, but rather a distortion of the existing system as it is disrupted and broken. Judging from the current situation, this tight supply situation will last for a long time, leading to the price rise of raw materials and components. Therefore, both enterprises and governments need to be prepared for this scenario in the medium- and long-term.
Mr. He Jun is Partner, Director of China Macro-Economic Research Team and Senior Researcher. His research field covers China’s macro-economy, energy industry and public policy.
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We learned two years ago that Apple was setting up an R&D center in Cambridge, England, to tap academic research expertise. Business Insider thinks it knows the focus of the work the team there is performing.
Those working inside are aiming to make Siri talk more naturally, according to a source that knows a number of Apple’s Cambridge employees […]
Apple’s Cambridge office is home to less than 30 people, including many of the employees from VocalIQ — a voice recognition startup that was spun out from the university and acquired by Apple in 2015.
VocalIQ is a tool specifically geared to allowing truly conversational queries …
With a British team, perhaps Siri will be honing its skills in speaking the Queen’s English, where we walk on the pavement and wear our pants inside our trousers …
The team may be a relatively small one, but BI’s source says that there is plenty of room for expansion within the center.
Apple has a number of satellite R&D centers around the world, including another one focused on Siri across the Atlantic in Boston. That, too, was likely aimed at attracting academic expertise, from MIT.
There’s of course intense competition in the field of intelligent assistants. Google upped the ante considerably with the launch of Google Assistant on the Pixel, though Siri does seem to hold its own in head-to-head tests.
Much of the original team responsible for the development of Siri have left Apple to work on their own next-generation IA, Viv. Its creators recently gave an impressive demonstration of Viv’s capabilities, since acquired by Samsung – which adds to the pressure on Apple to improve Siri.
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Brits and Europeans have got a chance to save £20 on their Apple TV set-top box.
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Retailers offering Nintendo Wii U Premium for just £179.99
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Xbox One gets its first price cut in the UK
Online retailer Zavvi has introduced UK’s first price cut for the Xbox One by listing the gaming console...


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A soft industry backdrop has been hampering the performance of most restaurant chains and BJ's Restaurants, Inc.BJRI is no exception.
In fact, the company, the company continues to believe that the sales headwinds in the industry call for greater focus on traffic and sales building initiatives. Consequently, though BJ's Restaurants' has slowed down on its unit growth plan for 2017 and 2018, it has not completely refrained from it.
Recently, the company announced the opening of its latest restaurant in Bowie, MD, on Nov 20. This 7,500 square feet restaurant is located on a free standing pad in front of Bowie Town Center and can accommodate nearly 230 guests.
The outlet features BJ's Restaurants' extensive menu including its signature deep-dish pizza, award-winning hand-crafted beer and the famous Pizookie dessert. In addition, BJ's unique contemporary décor creates an ideal environment for dining.
In fact, this new outlet marks the brand's fifth restaurant in the state of Maryland. Currently, the company operates 196 casual dining restaurants across 25 states in the United States, under its brand names - BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Pizza & Grill and BJ's Grill.
The company has opened nine new restaurants year to date and is slated to open one more outlet this year, in line with its plans. The next opening in Taylor, MI, in mid-December, will mark the brand's entry in the state. Also, it plans to open just four to six restaurants in fiscal 2018.
Thus, the slowdown in company's development plan may somewhat dent sales growth. Also, continued weakening consumer spending in the restaurant space, might hamper the company's traffic and sales.
Furthermore, we note that while several other restaurant chains including Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM , McDonalds Corporation MCD and Papa John's International, Inc. PZZA are capitalizing on the emerging market potential, BJ's Restaurants loses out in terms of international presence.
Additionally, BJ's Restaurants shares have declined 26.2% over the last six months, as against the industry 's growth of 0.6%.
Nevertheless, the four strategic sales-building initiatives undertaken by the company are expected to boost the top line. Also, a deep pipeline of new menu items, loyalty program enhancements and other productivity and digital initiatives are likely to improve performance.
Additionally, BJ's Restaurants' decision to slow down new openings for some time and instead focus even more of its enterprise resources on building sales might turn out to be favorable as it would provide some margin momentum and boost free cash flow. When combined with the company's conservative balance sheet, these measures are likely to provide more flexibility for sales building capital and share repurchases, going forward.
BJ's Restaurants carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .
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“The next stage in wearables’ development may be led by business users. It is still early days. “Everything I am seeing is trials,” says Arnie Lund, a senior engineer at General Electric. Yet wearable devices would be useful in the workplace in all sorts of ways. … Consumers may benefit in the end, but the buyers of the wearable devices will be businesses.For companies the cost of kitting out their staff with smartwear is less of a problem than building the computer systems needed to support such devices and process their data. This can cost $500,000 or more for each application, says Dave Miller of Covisint, a technology firm.”
Two interesting points around the wearable: First, the article suggests, rightly, that the biggest growth in wearables will come from the enterprise (“business users”). We’ve seen this in so many segments, including mobile. The buzz, the news coverage and the startups tend to focus around consumer applications. So while those applications are interesting and worthwhile, opportunity lies in the enterprise.
Second, check out the bold section of the quote above: it’s the computer systems that will cost more — and take more time — than the actual distribution and maintenance of devices. As more devices and sensors infiltrate the enterprise, the software development needs will increase dramatically. As we alluded to in this recent Quick Take, the devices and sensors are only the most visible part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Software and data — mostly cloud-based — are just as essential.
And that’s the key takeaway: the visible “wearable” is only the tip of the iceberg. The business users are just beginning, and, in turn, developers will fill huge software needs for those uses. The business opportunity for those providing developers with services and products is similar in potential. How can your offering serve this nascent need?


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People with loved ones living in long-term care homes in B.C. could be allowed to visit at some point in the next few weeks, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in her daily briefing on.
20 Sep 2019.
Lee is the founder and CEO of Toss, a South Korean money transfer app.
But eventually, in 2015, they agreed to ease the law on money apps and.
processed over $48 billion in payments, according to the company.
In April 2019, the start-up launched a Toss Card for online and offline use, adding to.
Bitcoin Support Number The so-called crack-up boom is pushing all markets nominally higher. Bitcoin is consolidating within a bullishly ascending. Contact Us. If you have any questions or need help, email us at [email protected] eu or complete the form below. We typically respond within one business day. River Financial Inc., a startup Bitcoin financial services firm, said its
In this info-packed guide, we review the best VPN services for 2020. We look at all the key metrics and analyze the top VPNs.
20 Sep 2017.
A list of the top 10 most popular mobile transfer apps and remittance services in Asia.
users in Eurozone countries to instantly send and receive money using just.
Once the company receives the payment, the money will arrive at the.
Toss, a service of South Korea's Viva Republica, is a popular mobile.
18 Jun 2018.
The South Korean fintech firm behind P2P money transfer app Toss.
Earlier this year, Korean giant Kakao launched an electric bill payment service on its chat app.
Square Cash adds Bitcoin transactions for most users.
5 days ago.
The South Korean startup industry has been flourishing due to the innovative ideas,
a small multi-ecard that allows the users to select and pay for every payment of 30.
It has expanded into the cryptocurrency industry by creating FuzeW,
An app-based platform for financial services, Toss offers multiple.
Bitcoin Miner Comparison 27 Feb 2020. The China-based mining rig manufacturer Bitmain announced the launch of. only one terahash less performance-wise than Canaan's top miner. 10X the Hashrate per Unit Than the ASIC Miners Produced Four Years Ago. Miners Europe has been reliable and visible partner for the crypto mining hardware. The miners of Miners.eu have particularly good
10 Mar 2017.
Startups · 5G networks · Cryptocurrencies · DealStreetAsia · 36Kr/KrASIA.
The deal marks the U.S. payment company's first fintech investment in the East.
payments app Toss claims 6 million users in South Korea and $3 billion in.
login, password authentication and the installation of various add-ons.


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Donnelly Group revs up expansion with £6m Jaguar showroom plan
Northern Ireland's biggest family-owned car dealer, Donnelly Group, is set to build a new £6m Jaguar Land Rover showroom.
The showroom will be based next to the firm's flagship site in Dungannon, Co Tyrone. Donnelly Group has been selling Land Rover vehicles since 1981, but is acquiring a Jaguar franchise for the first time.
It will be the 19th car brand to be sold by the firm, which recently appointed a new managing director, Dave Sheeran.
The company has eight sites around Northern Ireland.
Terence and Raymond Donnelly run the business, which was founded by their father, Peter.
The brothers said: "It is especially fitting that work on this exciting new Jaguar Land Rover showroom will commence this year as we celebrate our 70th anniversary."
In accounts for last year, group company Donnelly Bros Garages (Dungannon) reported a 12% increase in turnover to £277m and pre-tax profits of £1.9m.
The business sells around 15,000 vehicles every year.


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The video game industry's 2006 E3 Expo trade show in Los Angeles is getting a make-over -- banned are the swarms of sexy, semi-clad "booth babes" that in years past took the unveiling of new games and technology to titillating new levels.
Rules prohibiting the use of scantily clad young women to peddle video games are nothing new, but the handbook for this year's show in May outlines tough new penalties, including a $5,000 fine on the spot for the booth owner if the "booth babe" is semi-clad.
"What's new in 2006 is an update and clarification of the enforcement policies; as we do from time to time, we have taken steps to ensure that exhibitors are familiar with the policy and how it will be enforced," Mary Dolaher, E3 Expo show director, said in an e-mail.
She did not comment on the reasons for the change.
The video game industry has come under fire from federal and local politicians, who want to limit sales of violent and sexually explicit games to minors.
The handbook from the Entertainment Software Association, the show's promoter, says: "Material, including live models, conduct that is sexually explicit and/or sexually provocative, including but not limited to nudity, partial nudity and bathing suit bottoms, are prohibited on the show floor, all common areas, and at any access points to the show."
Exhibitors would receive one verbal warning when a violation occurs. Upon a second violation, the ESA said it would impose a $5,000 penalty, payable immediately on the site. It would also require that models comply with the dress code before returning to the floor.
ESA said it has sole discretion to determine what is acceptable.


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“[The winner] will work with engineers at both at the McLaren Technology Centre and at grand prix circuits across the world to develop and improve the machinery driven in the real world by the team’s drivers, Fernando Alonso, and Stoffel Vandoorne,” Logitech said.
According to McLaren, virtual racers on PC, console, and even mobile will battle each other in the McLaren Technology Centre this summer. Gaming experts will select six of the best, and then add four more to the roster stemming from online events that will take place this summer as well. These ten individuals will then proceed to “the toughest job interview of their lives” over a five-day track.
Ultimately, the chosen individual will receive the “World’s Fastest Gamer” title and land the one-year contract with McLaren. As for what happens after that one-year contract expires, that’s unknown, but the player will walk away knowing he/she had a part in improving the Formula 1 in the real world.
“Not only will they race against each other across a variety of different gaming titles on different platforms, they will also need to demonstrate their engineering know-how, ability to work as part of a team, and display the mental and physical strengths required for such a unique position,” Logitech added.
Logitech G is the gaming arm of peripheral-maker Logitech. Its racing-themed products include the $400 G29 racing wheel (PS4/PS3), the $400 G920 racing wheel (Xbox One, PC), and the $60 Driving Force Shifter for the G29 and G920 wheels. Logitech G is also heavily into eSports, which sponsors a number of teams and individual players such as Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Nicolaj “Incarnation” Jensen.
In addition to Logitech G and McLaren, the upcoming competition will also be sponsored by Ideas+Cars chief maverick officer and founder Darren Cox, who previously served at Nissan and Renault U.K. Also on board is the online sports media platform Givemesport, and racing equipment supplier Sparco USA. That latter company now offers a line of products for gaming such as the $259 Respawn seat.
Logitech G didn’t say when the competition will begin, but we will likely find out more once the E3 2017 gaming convention is behind us this June. The company also didn’t provide any specifics about the job such as its remuneration or payment of expenses.


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Hannibal Industries, Inc., manufacturer of pallet rack, announced it is breaking ground on a 42,000-square-foot addition to its Hannibal South manufacturing center on 10.5 acres in Houston’s booming industrial area. The employee-owned company headquartered in Los Angeles announced expanding its manufacturing and distribution operations to Houston earlier this year. Construction is now underway to enlarge the existing 110,000-square-foot facility at 6501 Bingle Road to house a new state-of-the-art powder-coating production line, an environmental room and additional office space.
According to Steve Rogers, Hannibal’s vice president, “Hannibal Industries’ customer base in the South East has grown, and the company has been shipping more and more racking from Los Angeles to the region. The company’s management team felt it was time to expand in an effort to provide our customers with a National presence that will meet their growing needs.”
The Hannibal South


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Although we often think of food labels as a tool for ensuring that a product contains only safe ingredients that consumers are comfortable ingesting, the truth of the matter is far more complicated. Labels can be designed to promote a variety of ideas and classifications, in-cluding country of origin. Although it may seem that today’s globalized economy has ren-dered “point-of-origin” matters nearly obsolete, many are deliberately choosing to avoid products that do not come from domestic manufacturers in an effort to show their support and solidarity for those on their home turf who have remained competitive in the 21st century economic climate.
The UK dairy industry is one such industry in which the desire for country of origin food la-bels far outweighs critiques of such a proposition. Recently, the UK agricultural secretary, Liz Truss, spoke out about recent trends in dairy manufacturing, stating that it is highly likely that British producers will find themselves at an economic disadvantage in coming years due to the influx of lower-priced goods from foreign markets. Additionally, Truss believes that many consumers mistakenly believe that they are already purchasing British goods, when the facts do not support these claims.
According to Truss, “It is wrong that when you go into a British supermarket, you can look at a product on the shelves and think it’s British, when in fact the milk in it has been produced abroad.” This isn’t necessarily an instance of faulty labelling, but rather an oversight that, if adjusted, may result in increased profits for dairy producers who have been forced to grow accustomed to declining income.
Truss continued on with her discussion, asserting that a relabelling of dairy products and food labels in general would provide an element of long-term sustainability and security for UK’s dairy workers that had been lost in recent years. “We will continue to face a difficult global market…”, Truss said, “[…] We want to make sure that the hard-working farmers in this industry are able to withstand as far as possible the immediate effects and also to have the resilience to handle volatility in the longer term.”
Hopefully, the UK’s dairy industry will receive the financial lift they need following this opti-mistic message of support regarding domestic food labels.


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HTC will return to the land of the dual-camera smartphones in 2018
The confirmation came from HTCpresident Chialin Chang, who was expectedly coy regarding further details about the smartphone. The executive did insinuate that HTCwill find a way to make the dual camera system stand out from the crowd:
We’ll definitely be releasing a dual-camera phone next year, but we’ll need to figure out how to make this feature stand out.
HTC fans will remember that the company first dabbled in the world of dual-camera smartphones with 2011’s Evo 3D. The phone tried, and failed in many regards, to capture the 3D craze at the time with a dual-camera system that took 3D pictures. The Evo 3D’s display was designed in a way that allowed images to be displayed in 3D, but the phone was not much of a success.
It would be another three years until we would see the One M8, which also featured a dual-camera system but one that eschewed gimmicky 3D features for a focus on bokeh effects. 2015’s One M9 Plus also featured HTC’s Duo Camera system, but the company decided to focus on just one main camera in following smartphones.
Things have changed drastically since then, however, with dual-camera systems becoming more commonplace on flagship and budget smartphones alike. The iPhone 7 Plus certainly helped popularize the trend, with the G6, V30, Galaxy Note 8, and many more having also featured their own twists on how a dual-camera system should behave.
As such, it is too early to determine what dual-camera setup HTC’s mystery smartphone will feature, though the company will likely pull some software tricks to augment the hardware.


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Apple and Goldman Sachs are readying a joint credit card, according to the Wall Street Journal. The new credit card will integrate with the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone to offer special features like the ability to set spending goals and track purchase rewards. The card would purportedly offer rewards like 2% cashback, and maybe more when buying Apple gear.
The report says the new card will be tested with employees in the next month or so with a launch later in the year. The Wallet app has undergone a significant design change in the iOS 12.2 beta, so it makes sense that Apple has bigger plans in the offing.


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The information arrives from Alain Crozier, the chief of Microsoft France who, during a current live stream on the company’s French website, said the latest edition of Microsoft’s desktop OS will be publicized on Sept. 30; and a latest information from Reuters says Microsoft will reveal an innovative name of its Windows product on Tuesday, which could be Windows 9, or a totally different brand name.
At this moment Microsoft is focusing on manufacturing its upcoming Windows Threshold more palatable to commerce users who are more likely to depend on mouse and keyboards, and who desire and require to use their Win32 apps and the Softies more conveniently, Microsoft want to show that Threshold will still permit them to be productive with moderately little readjustment time.
Microsoft’s message to these consumers will be that they’ve listened to their requirements this time around before planning and planned to make a latest version of Windows, this is why because Microsoft was condemned by a number of consumers when the corporation released Windows 8 in 2012 for introducing an operating system that they didn’t feel reflected their desires and requirements.
Now Microsoft will be doing so many things in an effort to enhance their new release and moreover bringing back a start menu and allowing consumers to run Metro-Style and Win32 apps in windows on their desktops, the corporation also will be doing more to gather opinion from users throughout the Threshold progress, process and to “flight” latest features on a experimental basis with different functions.
We have no idea if Windows 9 will be free of charge for the users who purchased Microsoft’s Operating System previously, such as Windows 7 or Vista, but a free upgrade for all would make logic, this step would make it easier for Microsoft to attract as many of its customers as possible to upgrade to the newest and tag is as the supreme version of Windows.


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WEST MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD/FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — A West Monroe, Louisiana lady has been arrested and charged with arson immediately after commencing a number of smaller fires when bare within of a grocery retail outlet.
In accordance to the arrest report, 37-year-aged Angela Watson was learned within a Mac’s Contemporary Marketplace as firefighters have been extinguishing the fireplace, wearing only a white butcher’s coat and nothing else.
Signals of compelled entry have been detected and at the very least 13 compact fires were being lit inside of the building. Thinking of the harm brought on by the fires, smoke, and water it is believed to be more than $1 million in damages.
Firefighters on the scene have been permitted entry to surveillance footage supplied by the store supervisor in the course of an interview. The footage demonstrates a bare girl forcefully entering the retail store and she collected numerous bottles of lighter fluid and began soaking a number of items, displays, and a clerk’s stand that held flammable liquid. She was then seen going throughout the retail outlet setting the fires with a lighter.
Watson was arrested and booked into the Ouachita Correctional Middle on one count of easy arson, three counts of straightforward prison injury to home, and one particular rely of very simple theft.


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Continuing the rollout for its latest Authenticity Guarantee initiative, eBay has teamed up with renowned sneaker connoisseurs across the U.K. to discuss its significance. For this episode, the platform has enlisted Morgan Weekes and Sam Morgan to gain a first-hand insight into the worlds of both archival collecting as well as new-age reselling.
Having previously been appointed co-director of one of the largest sneaker independent conventions to now operating as a brand consultant and creative for all-things sneaker-related — Weekes connects the dots between modern-day enthusiasts and OG sneakerheads.
As a seasoned collector with an affinity for throwback gems, in particular the 1989 Nike Air Flow, “It’s a really good example of strong Nike design” — authenticity plays a pivotal part in his buying experience. “Thankfully the Authenticity Guarantee is covering pre-owned shoes. To me, that’s a big deal because I’m buying a lot of old collector pairs. To have that safety that they’re real is awesome.” eBay’s rigorous inspection procedures also keep his mind at ease, “They check the shoe when it comes back to you as well, that is something that’s going to make people feel a lot safer about selling shoes, not just buying.”
From Paul Pogba to Dave, Sam Morgan plugs some of the biggest celebrities with rare fits, which all started with a pair of YEEZY’s. “The first release I really popped off on was the YEEZY BOOST 350 v2 “Breds”. I got 13 or 14 pairs at retail and I flipped all of them at £400.” For him, eBay has always been the go-to platform for sourcing the exclusive pieces to stay ahead of the game, “One thing I always try to do is be one or two steps ahead of other people. eBay’s always there to help when you need something.” Speaking on its competitive 5% seller fees which cover the Authenticity Guarantee process, he continues, “If you’re spending £150 on a pair of trainers, the least you can do is spend £7.50 extra.”
You can watch Morgan Weekes and Sam Morgan’s interview above and for more information on eBay’s latest sneaker Authenticity Guarantee check out its website.


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Go hot pink to raise breast cancer awareness
Empower yourself for emergency situations and support breast cancer awareness.
Singapore start-up TagBio has chosen the Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF) as its preferred charity to support. The company will donate half of the proceeds from the sale of ID-Life, its groundbreaking QR code-based medical identification wristband, in customised pink to BCF during Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) in October 2014. From mid-September till end-October, these pink ID-Life wristbands will be available at 30 bike shops and certain Royal Sporting House outlets in Singapore.
ID-Life is designed to provide first responders access to individuals’ name, blood type, next-of-kin contact information and allergy history in emergency situations through a unique, scannable QR code engraved on the wristband. Accredited paramedics and doctors anywhere in the world can download an application from the iOS App Store or Android’s Google Play to gain access to individuals’ full profiles, which include details such as pre-existing health conditions and medication history.
Anch Ong, COO of TagBio, said, “… By strapping on the pink ID-Life wristband, the public can show their support for BCAM in a very visible way and at the same time empower themselves for emergency situations.”
Other colours of ID-Life are currently being retailed.
** Log on to www.id-life.com to get details on where to pick up a pink wristband.


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Paul Sakuma, File, Associated Press
Our take: Could the 2012 U.S. election be predicted by the sales of partisan books sold on Amazon.com? The world's largest online retailer wondered just that, and came up with the "Amazon Election Heat Map 2012." While Amazon disclaims "book purchases can reflect curiosity as much as commitment," the novel idea is detailed here in an Economist piece:
"Might the mental meanderings of bookworms presage who will be the next American president? Amazon does not presume this may be the case, but the online retailer has nonetheless created a heatmap of the American election based on the partisan nature of books bought by state.
"The company's methodology is simple: it classifies books into "red" (Republican), "blue" (Democrat) and neutral. Then, it looks at the 250 top-selling books in both red and blue categories over the past 30 days (updated daily) and notes the shipping address. The map's color and intensity displays which states are turning over pages of what partisanship."
Read more about Visualizing the American election: Reading the tea leaves on the Economist.
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Southeast Asian online and offline health and beauty partnership
Grab brings beauty products from over 2,200 Watsons stores to customers’ doorsteps
A.S. Watson Group, an international health and beauty retailer, and Grab, Southeast Asia’s super app, announced the largest O+O (online and offline) health and beauty partnership in Southeast Asia, spanning across six Southeast Asian markets and involving over 2,200 Watsons stores.
Grab and A.S. Watson Group will collaborate across multiple services starting with GrabExpress, GrabMart and GrabPay to significantly expand Watsons’ online reach in Southeast Asia. The new partnership means that customers will be able to conveniently access health and beauty products from an extensive network of Watsons stores via Grab in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Social distancing and movement restriction measures have created barriers for the general public to access health products and essential items from drugstores. This partnership will help millions of consumers get what they need online, without having to leave their homes. Watsons’ extensive physical store network penetration plays an important role in the customer journey, coupled with Grab’s large on-demand delivery fleet forms a critical foundation for making express delivery possible.
This partnership will offer a seamless O+O shopping experience as well as faster and more reliable delivery services to customers. It will also drive more sales to health and beauty brands available on Watsons eCommerce channels such as the Watsons mobile apps and its presence on GrabMart. This will enable both companies to capture opportunities arising from a booming health business in the wake of the pandemic.
The Watsons X Grab partnership is rolling out in phases across the region and includes:
- Expedited delivery through GrabExpress: Grab will serve as Watsons’ last-mile express delivery partner in Southeast Asia through GrabExpress integration. Watsons customers will be able to receive their purchases within hours instead of days.
- eCommerce expansion through GrabMart: The partnership will bring up to 2,200 Watsons stores in six Southeast Asian markets onto GrabMart. Customers in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia can now shop the full Watsons’ online catalogue on GrabMart, with other markets to follow.
- Convenient cashless payment through GrabPay: Watsons will soon accept GrabPay cashless payment option in its Southeast Asia stores and integrate the region’s most popular digital wallet into its Watsons mobile app to further improve the shopping experience for customers.


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What does the Coca-Cola 600 have to do with Coca-Cola?
Its not just the name.
Its walking into Charlotte Motor Speedway and seeing the Coca-Cola logo everywhere you turn, including one of the new pit-side hospitality suites.
Its free Coca-Cola hats, Koozies and flags for infield campers, who deck out their campsites in red and white for a Coke-sponsored contest.
Its Danica Patrick, who competes on the Coca-Cola race team, tweeting from an airplane about Coke Zero: @CokeZero still has no cals and ALL the flavor!
Sundays Coca-Cola 600, expected to attract about 140,000, marks the 28th time the beverage giant has put its name on the speedways signature event. Two years ago, Coca-Cola North America and Speedway Motorsports extended the partnership through 2015.
What were trying to do with this event is to try to reinforce an emotional attachment with this brand or ... to create one, said Lauren Steele, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Coca-Cola Consolidated. Coke is pretty well-known No. 1 recognized trademark in the world but you can lose that if you lose sight of that one-on-one relationship with (the customer).
There are now more avenues than ever for Coca-Cola to market itself and the race, from using social media campaigns, to handing out free samples in the infield, to entertaining retail and grocery clients in high-end hospitality suites.
Its all good exposure for Coca-Cola Co., based in Atlanta, which reported a worldwide net profit of more than $2 billion this past quarter, and Charlotte-based Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, a distribution arm that employs about 1,400 people at its headquarters in the South Park area.
Coca-Cola spent $765 million on advertising worldwide last quarter, according to a securities filing. It has a dominant 41.9 percent share of the U.S. consumer soft drink market, according to data from trade publication Beverage Digest. Its next closest competitor, Pepsi Co., has a 28.5 percent market share, and last year Diet Coke surpassed Pepsi as the second most popular soda.
Kirk Wakefield, executive director of the sports sponsorship and sales program at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has done extensive research on the effect of sports sponsorships on brands and said connecting the sport with the brand is key.
We dont typically wear too many shirts and jerseys with Coke and Pepsi on the front of it, he said. We dont get real excited and tailgate at the grocery store but we do (get excited) about our sports, he said.
Neither the speedway nor Coca-Cola disclosed how much the company is spending on this years race. In general, an annual deal for a billboard on Turn 3 costs an average of about $100,000 and a video advertisement on the tracks high-definition video board can cost between $100,000 and $250,000, said speedway spokesman Scott Cooper.
While Coca-Cola has an exclusivity deal and might pay less for individual advertisements, the company has almost literally painted the speedway red with all of its branding.
The company is hosting events for infield campers, who pitch tents and park RVs at the track for up to 11 days in anticipation of the race. This includes a movie night on the big screen and a contest for the best Coca-Cola decorated campsites, with prizes such as gas cards and signed merchandise.
Some fans, like Tony McCall, 42, and Dee Satterfield, 51, of Greenville, S.C., decorate their RV just for fun. They spent $150 on Coke products from eBay on the off chance they might win the contest. Others, like William Slater, 52, of Anderson, S.C., take it a little more seriously.
Slaters trailer is painted red with a white, hand-painted Cola-Cola script across both the front and back. A stuffed Coca-Cola bottle hangs from his door and a table out front is filled with everything from a Coke lamp to a Coke napkin dispenser. He has a Coca-Cola bottle from 1911 that he bought at a yard sale. It still has the original soda inside.
I love Coke, he said. I wont touch Pepsi for no reason. Pepsi is not allowed in my house.
He said his love of Coke comes from being a truck driver, when the soda got him through many a night.
Its nice to associate Coca-Cola with the racing and the camping and the friendships, said Sally Patchin, 60, another infield camper. You see a Coca-Cola sign and you think of the next time youre going to go to a race.
The company also taps into NASCAR passion through its sponsorship of certain drivers, known as the Coca-Cola racing family.
This year those include Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and Patrick, the newest member.
Wakefield said NASCAR sponsorships are valuable because sponsors really do make or break drivers.
What you find among NASCAR fans is theyre extremely passionate about their drivers, and theyre very well aware ... that sponsorship plays a role in the success of the driver, he said.
And because of Coca-Colas financial power and popularity, the sponsorship works especially well because people will remember Coca-Cola better than a smaller-name brand, Wakefield said.
The biggest brands have the best drivers and have the best events, he said. In terms of just how our minds work, it also has the best payoff.
The race is also a venue for Coca-Cola to tout newer products like Coke Zero or Vitamin Water and to associate those products with a lifestyle NASCAR fans connect to, Wakefield said. And, of course, the race brings in lots of people who will buy Coke products.
This is huge for Charlotte, huge for Coca-Cola, Steele said. Lots of employees have been working very hard for months to get ready for this. We will sell lots of our products out at the track ... It will be warm, so people are going to be thirsty.


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Since 2016, when IBM offered the first open access to an online 5-qubit quantum computer, it has been committed to accelerating and scaling the growth of the quantum computing ecosystem. His commitment to the quantum ecosystem continues unabated today. Although it has significant reach and membership, the IBM Quantum Network is only a small part of the supporting fabric of IBM’s total ecosystem.
IBM recently announced LG Electronics joining the IBM Quantum Network. LG Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea, and employing over 80,000 people worldwide. The IBM Quantum network also includes other electronics industry giants such as Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, Hitachi and others.
LG Electronics plans to leverage the IBM Quantum Network to help it explore the application of quantum computing for various applications such as artificial intelligence, connected cars, digital transformation, IoT and robotics applications.
IBM Quantum Global Network membership
The IBM Quantum Network is global in scope and has over 170 members. There are many significant benefits for all companies and research organizations that belong to the network. Benefits include:
- Privileged access via the cloud to IBM’s most advanced quantum computing systems and quantum development tools
- Access to IBM quantum experts for technical assistance, training and collaborative research.
- Use of proprietary Qiskit extensions. Qiskit is an open-source, modular and extensible quantum programming framework.
Experiencing quantum today is key to harnessing the quantum advantage in the future.
IBM’s hardware and software quantum roadmap is useful not only to members of the IBM Quantum Network, but also to the entire quantum ecosystem. The roadmap facilitates planning by forecasting IBM’s planned hardware and software developments through 2026 and beyond. As a member of the network, LG Electronics will be able to take advantage of future advances and breakthroughs and apply them to its business.
When first released in 2020, IBM’s roadmap called for a new 127-qubit quantum processor to be released the following year. On schedule, IBM delivered on its late 2021 forecast with the announcement of its new Eagle processor, the first quantum computer with 127 high-quality qubits, surpassing China’s Jiuzhang superconducting quantum computer by 113 qubits. Technical improvements built into the Eagle will also be part of IBM’s future quantum processors – for the 433-qubit Osprey due next year and the 1121-qubit Condor in 2023. Beyond 2023, IBM plans to launch a quantum computer with one million qubits or Suite. There is still a lot of research to be done by the whole ecosystem before this is possible.
Byoung-Hoon Kim is CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Electronics. According to IBM’s press release, he said, “Based on our open innovation strategy, we plan to use IBM Quantum to build our quantum computing skills. We aim to provide customers with value they have yet to experience by leveraging quantum computing technology. in future ventures.”
Note: Moor Insights & Strategy writers and editors may have contributed to this article.
Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and technology industry analytics companies, provides or has provided paid services to technology companies. These services include research, analysis, consulting, consulting, benchmarking, acquisition matching, or conference sponsorship. The company has had or currently has paid business relationships with 8×8, A10 Networks, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Ambient Scientific, Anuta Networks, Applied Micro, Apstra, Arm, Aruba Networks (now HPE), AT&T, AWS, A – 10 Strategies, Bitfusion, Blaize, Box, Broadcom, Calix, Cisco Systems, Clear Software, Cloudera, Clumio, Cognitive Systems, CompuCom, CyberArk, Dell, Dell EMC, Dell Technologies, Diablo Technologies, Dialogue Group, Digital Optics, Dreamium Labs , Echelon, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Flex, Foxconn, Frame (now VMware), Fujitsu, Gen Z Consortium, Glue Networks, GlobalFoundries, Revolve (now Google), Google Cloud, Graphcore, Groq, Hiregenics, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell, Huawei Technologies, IBM, IonVR, Inseego, Infosys, Infiot, Intel, Interdigital, Jabil Circuit, Konica Minolta, Lattice Semiconductor, Lenovo, Linux Foundation, Luminar, MapBox, Marvell Technology, Mavenir, Marseille Inc, Mayfair Equity, Meraki (Cisco), Me sosphere, Microsoft, Mojo Networks, National Instruments, NetApp, Nightwatch, NOKIA (Alcatel-Lucent), Nortek, Novumind, NVIDIA, Nutanix, Nuvia (now Qualcomm), ON Semiconductor, UNOG, OpenStack Foundation, Oracle, Panasas, Peraso, Pexip, Pixelworks, Plume Design, Poly (formerly Plantronics), Portworx, Pure Storage, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Rambus, Rayvolt E-Bikes, Red Hat, Residio, Samsung Electronics, SAP, SAS, Scale Computing, Schneider Electric, Silver Peak ( now Aruba-HPE), SONY Optical Storage, Springpath (now Cisco), Spirent, Splunk, Sprint (now T-Mobile), Stratus Technologies, Symantec, Synaptics, Syniverse, Synopsys, Tanium, TE Connectivity, TensTorrent, Tobii Technology, T -Mobile, Twitter, Unity Technologies, UiPath, Verizon Communications, Vidyo, VMware, Wave Computing, Wellsmith, Xilinx, Zayo, Zebra, Zeeda, Zoho and Zscaler. Patrick Moorhead, Founder, CEO and Chief Analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy, is a personal investor in technology companies dMY Technology Group Inc. VI and Dreamium Labs.


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Ford’s MyKey is a new technology that helps parents control some of their teen drivers’ behavior. MyKey allows parents to configure one key for their teen, which encourage teen drivers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, as well as increase seat belt usage. MyKey will only allow the teen driver to go up to 80mph and the audio system will not go on until the front two passengers are buckled up. The MyKey also maxes out the stereo’s volume at half of it’s capacity and provides low-fuel warnings earlier than standard cars. MyKey will become standard on most Ford models, but is now available on Taurus, Focus, Escape SUV and 9 others.
With the staggering statistics about how many teens are involved in car accidents each year, the MyKey program is not just a marketing program, but also a shift in providing people with safer vehicles. Since MyKey will eventually be on every car, parents who don’t need the technology now, will be able to have it when their child is of driving age. It will also allow used-car buyers to take advantage of the technology, without having to shell out the big bucks for a new 16th birthday present.
Does the MyKey program make a difference to you as a buyer? Would you be more inclined to buy a Ford when your teen is of age?
For the full article, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-08-31-ford-mykey-safety_N.htm


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In just a few years, mobile payment has become so ingrained in the lives of Chinese people that they are driving stores in overseas tourist destinations to adopt the technology.
Three-fourths of supermarkets and convenience stores in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand now accept Chinese mobile payment, according to a Nielsen survey released Monday. Some 71 percent of duty-free stores and luxury stores in those countries also take the payment method.
The two dominant operators are Alipay, which is run by Alibaba-affiliate Ant Financial, and WeChat Pay, which is tied to Tencent's ubiquitous Chinese messaging app, WeChat. Alipay co-issued the report, which covers 1,244 merchants and 2,806 Chinese residents surveyed in the fall of 2018.
"Along with the increasingly personalized and sophisticated demand of Chinese tourists, improving the global coverage of mobile payments is a long-term project (for merchants)," Andy Zhao, president of Nielsen China, said in a statement.
Usage rate of mobile payment by Chinese tourists
Thailand is expected to be the most popular overseas travel destination for Chinese tourists during the Chinese New Year holiday in February, according to travel booking site Ctrip. Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. also rank among the top 10 countries for what Ctrip predicts will be 7 million Chinese tourists during the upcoming holiday.
From street peddlers to high-end department stores, mobile pay has taken China by storm. Company promotions, a lack of credit card usage and extensive smartphone penetration helped turn a cash-based society into one in which seemingly everyone scans a QR code with a phone to pay, regardless of age. Transaction volume skyrocketed from around $5 trillion in 2016 to nearly $16 trillion by the first quarter of 2018, according to Analysys data cited in a Hillhouse Capital report.
As Chinese tourists take the mobile pay habit abroad, merchants are adapting quickly. Of those in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand who accept Chinese mobile pay, 88 percent adopted the technology in the last two years, the Nielsen survey found. Of those who accept the payment methods, 40 percent said overall foot traffic increased.
The report also said roughly 60 percent or more of Chinese people surveyed said they used mobile pay during trips last year to the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany or Italy.
Overall, more Chinese tourists used mobile pay than cash while traveling last year, the report said. Bank cards did remain the most common payment method, while shopping, accommodation and dining remained the top three spending categories.
To be clear, increased overseas support for the technology doesn't necessarily mean locals will be using it anytime soon. Alipay, for example, requires a Chinese mobile number and bank account. The payment technology works abroad through partnerships with local merchants and companies, such as First Data in North America.
However, just as luxury stores hired Mandarin-speaking staff to serve Chinese tourists, more tourist destinations may feel the need to accept Alipay and WeChat Pay.
"Looking forward, we will support the efforts of more local merchants to connect with Chinese tourists and boost their business growth," Chen Jiayi, head of business operations for Alipay's cross-border business, said in a statement.
Even as China's economy slows, Ctrip's expectation of 7 million outbound travelers this Chinese New Year is up slightly from last year's prediction of 6.5 million.
In addition, data shows more people from smaller cities are interested in traveling overseas. The country's cities are divided into tiers, with Beijing and Shanghai among the first tier and Nanjing and Chengdu among the second.
The Nielsen survey found more tourists from second-tier cities than first-tier ones visited Europe last year and spent an average of $6,006 on outbound travel, up from $472 in 2017.


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Attorney General Ellison urges court to strengthen Hyundai/Kia private consumer class-action settlement
Leads coalition of 7 AGs in advocating that settlement require Hyundai and Kia to recall and install industry-standard, anti-theft technology in their theft-prone vehicles
August 14, 2023 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that he has led a coalition of seven attorneys general in urging the federal court overseeing a private, consumer class-action settlement involving Hyundai and Kia to strengthen the settlement by requiring the companies to recall or buy back their theft-prone vehicles and equip them with engine-immobilizer technology that the vehicles currently lack. In a letter to the court, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition stress that any measure short of this will not stem the ongoing public-safety crisis of auto thefts, dangerous joyriding and collisions, and violent crime that Hyundai and Kia’s theft-prone vehicles have wrought in Minnesota and across the country.
Among the terms of the private consumer settlement as currently proposed are a requirement that Hyundai and Kia provide a “software upgrade” for only a certain subset of their vehicles that will extend the length of the vehicles’ alarm from 30 seconds to 1 minute and requires the key to be in the ignition to start the vehicle. For vehicles for which this software upgrade is incompatible, the settlement requires Hyundai and Kia to reimburse consumers up to $300 for their purchase of a wheel lock or anti-theft system.
In the letter that Attorney General Ellison led, he and the coalition express grave concerns that these remedies are insufficient to resolve the ongoing rash of Hyundai and Kia thefts that continue to harm public safety. For example, the supposed “software upgrade” is not feasible for approximately 2.3 million theft-prone vehicles, is being slowly rolled out in phases that will take months (or years) to complete, and requires consumers to proactively seek it out. The attorneys general also explain their serious concerns with the effectiveness of the “software upgrade,” as it has already been available for six months or more in the real world and during that time the high rate of Hyundai and Kia thefts has not abated, with ensuing harms to public safety. For example, in July 2023, the number of Hyundai and Kia vehicles stolen (313 vehicles) in Minneapolis alone was still more than 15 times higher than it was in July 2021 (20 vehicles).
“This issue is simple: too many Kia and Hyundai vehicles lack industry-standard anti-theft technology that nearly every other vehicle in America has. Because Kia and Hyundai continue to refuse to voluntarily recall these vehicles and install at their own expense the technology the vehicles should have had in the first place, public safety in Minnesota and across the country is still at risk,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I led this national coalition of attorneys general to make sure the court overseeing the private consumer class action is aware of the remedies we strongly believe are necessary to put an end to this ongoing crisis that Hyundai and Kai caused. No matter how the court ultimately rules, however, our investigation will continue and we will take any and all law-enforcement action necessary to protect public safety.”
The hearing for preliminary approval of the private consumer class-action settlement will be held on Tuesday, August 15 at 3:00 pm Pacific Time before the Honorable James V. Selna of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, California.
Minnesota has experienced a drastic increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts
People who want to steal cars are well aware of the lack of anti-theft technology in many of Kia and Hyundai’s vehicles, which has led to a drastic increase of Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts throughout the nation, including in Minnesota. For example, reported thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles increased by 836% in Minneapolis and 611% in Saint Paul from 2021 to 2022. Some vehicles have even been stolen multiple times in the same year.
These stolen vehicles have been used in violent crimes in Minnesota and have been involved in numerous traffic collisions, some of which have been fatal. For example, in Minneapolis alone, in 2022 Kia and Hyundai vehicle thefts were tied to at least:
- Five homicides;
- 13 shootings;
- 36 robberies; and
- 265 motor vehicle accidents.
These are not just numbers; they are public-safety incidents that have caused substantial and serious harm to our neighbors and communities. As just one example, in December 2022, a 14-year-old boy lost his life in Minneapolis after getting into a single-vehicle crash that involved a stolen Kia.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in today’s letter are the attorneys general of the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
AG Ellison leading fight to make Kia, Hyundai vehicles safer
Attorney General Ellison has been leading the fight to make Kia and Hyundai vehicles safer since early 2023. Today’s letter to the federal court follows Attorney General Ellison’s announcement in March 2023 that he was launching a civil investigation into Hyundai and Kia’s sale of these theft-prone vehicles. Today’s letter also follows an April 2023 letter Attorney General Ellison sent as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general that called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall Hyundai’s and Kia’s theft-prone vehicles, as well as a March 2023 letter he sent with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III to Kia and Hyundai that pressed the companies for an immediate safety recall to stem the rise of thefts of their vehicles.
Attorney General Ellison’s civil investigation is active and ongoing.
Attorney General Ellison urges Minnesota consumers who wish to report concerns about the theft or risk of theft of their Kia or Hyundai vehicles to submit a complaint online or call the Attorney General’s Office at (651) 296-3353 (Metro area), (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota), or (800) 627-3529 (Minnesota Relay).


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Australian retailers, small to large, are embracing the digital space as quickly as consumers are changing their shopping habits. Traditional brick retailers are moving to digital, digital moving to physical and plenty of innovation is occurring whilst the online marketplace heats up.
Surveys are showing that Australian consumers are continually embracing online as a retail platform, and there’s no sign of this slowing down. According to National Australia Bank’s (NAB) latest Online Retail Sales Index, Australian consumers spent a record $16.6 billion online in the year to January 2015, up 9 per cent year-on-year.
National retailers, such as Dick Smith, who reported a 55% increase in online sales in 2014, to a reported $693 million, are finding competition in pure online retailers, such as The Iconic, with $31 million in 2013 sales, or the Kogan empire, which has cemented itself as a price driven destination.
Whilst this is all taking place, with traditional brick based retailers making a splash into the digital space, the reverse is also true. Online retailers such as Shoes of Prey are moving from clicks to bricks, opening stores in Australia (David Jones Sydney and Westfield Bondi Junction) and 6 stores in the United States, under Nordstrom.
So how do you stand apart from your competitors in the digital space in 2015? Here are five areas that smart retailers are embracing to ensure they grow their customer base.
Retail in the pocket
Mobile based commerce (mCommerce) is soaring in Australia; the proliferation of smart phones means that consumers are reaching into their pockets, not just to price compare whilst in physical shopping centres, but also from their couches or on the bus; tens of millions of dollars are being spent each month by Australians, straight from their pockets.
If your digital storefront isn’t mobile optimised, you will be missing out on sales; add Google’s recent ranking changes to favour mobile websites, and you’ll be crazy not to be working on making the mobile experience as great as possible, and right now.
Whilst retailers are busy gaining an audience in social media, the smartest ones are utilising the advertising platforms within Twitter, Facebook and other social media to reach out to consumers. According to hosted ecommerce provider, Shopify, in 2014 alone, ecommerce orders coming from social media grew a whopping 202%. The advertising platforms are allowing retailers to target consumers by city, state and interests, meaning that it is easier than ever to find consumers in your segment and market directly to them.
Online advertising budgets don’t need to be massive either; some campaigns are literally just in the hundreds of dollars per month, and seeing great results for a small outlay.
Once you have a consumer on your website, how do you convert them into a customer? The rise of conversion optimisation techniques, such as testing small design or content variations, means that it’s not enough to just publish a store; now you need to constantly look at improvements to turn traffic to customers.
We’ve run tests and found that even the smallest of changes, such as button colours or product titles, can have a positive effect, upwards of 10% or more in sales.
Offer fulfilment options
Large supermarkets are finding that customers want an option to collect and not wait for deliveries, which can lead to wasted hours at home. It’s now simple to order your groceries online and then drive past a physical store to pick up their orders, saving the retailer delivery costs and the consumer wasted time.
Couple that with the rise in faster delivery options, with a number of pure digital retailers now setting the pace of delivery, offering same day delivery or next day as the default. Gone are the days of waiting patiently for days for products to arrive.
Look at your current methods of fulfilment; do you have the ability to offer multiple options without negatively impacting current fulfilment strategies?
The power of email
It’s easy to forget that email is still a favoured medium. Smart retailers are using personalisation and segmentation to ensure they send regular emails to their customers, and making them highly effective by being personal and relevant.
Ensure you segment your customers into product lines and buying patterns, and make your emails a joy to read; even receipts and delivery tracking emails can convert to more sales, if done correctly.
Couple these fives strategies above with your current digital retail plans and you’ll be ensuring success in the year ahead. I wish you the best of luck as we move into the second half of the year!
Miles Burke is an accomplished entrepreneur and has been involved in digital marketing since 1995. Miles is Managing Director of award-winning digital agency Bam Creative, a regular speaker at conferences and events, and the founder of tech start-up, 6Q. Previously, Miles was the National Chairperson of the Australian Web Industry Association, and once upon a time worked a decade in retail management.


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Jos. A. Bank Won’t Rule Out Hostile Bid for Men’s WearhouseDavid Welch
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. Chairman Robert Wildrick said he wouldn’t rule out making a hostile bid for Men’s Wearhouse Inc., which turned down his company’s offer last week.
“We want this to happen on a friendly basis,” Wildrick said yesterday in an interview. “But at this point we have not ruled anything out.”
Jos. A. Bank bid $48 a share in an offer disclosed Oct. 9. That proposal, reflecting a 36 percent premium over Men’s Wearhouse’s closing price the previous day, came at a moment of turmoil for the Houston-based company, which cut its profit forecast last month and removed founder George Zimmer as executive chairman over strategy disagreements in June.
Wildrick said he won’t make a new, higher bid without looking at the company’s books. He said he prefers to acquire Men’s Wearhouse with a friendly offer that’s best for the shareholders of both companies.
A hostile bid may not be necessary and Men’s Wearhouse may eventually be open to a bid if an offer meets certain conditions, said a person familiar with the matter who declined to say what the retailer would want.
Ken Dennard, a spokesman for Men’s Wearhouse who works for Dennard-Lascar Associates LLC, didn’t respond to voice-mail and e-mail requests for comment about Wildrick’s remarks.
Other than its Oct. 9 statement turning down the offer, Men’s Wearhouse hasn’t responded to Jos. A. Bank and hasn’t given the Hampstead, Maryland-based company access to its books, Wildrick said.
Men’s Wearhouse said in its statement last week that the $2.3 billion offer undervalues the company and “is not in the best interests of Men’s Wearhouse or its shareholders.”
The company adopted a so-called “poison pill” after the Jos. A. Bank bid that effectively limits any stockholder from acquiring more than 10 percent of the shares.
Combining the companies would create a stronger retailer, as each has strengths that can help the other grow, Wildrick said. The two companies have total annual sales of about $3.5 billion. Macy’s Inc. sells about $5.5 billion a year in menswear, he said.
Shares in both companies rose after Jos. A. Bank announced its offer, indicating shareholder support for a deal, said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor. If major shareholders in Men’s Wearhouse support the deal, Jos. A. Bank could ride that support and wage a proxy battle, Gordon said.
“Jos. A. Bank can launch a proxy fight to remove MW’s directors, get the poison pills redeemed by new, friendly directors, and do the deal,” he said in an e-mail. “If it goes that way, Men’s Wearhouse’s current board loses its ability to influence a deal. If the current board negotiates, it stays in the game.”
Men’s Wearhouse has operations in Canada, where Jos. A. Bank doesn’t do business, Wildrick said, while his company has stronger Internet sales and could help Men’s Wearhouse grow online.
Wildrick said he wouldn’t close any stores. The two brands reach different buyers with Men’s Wearhouse attracting younger customers and Bank targeting older, more upscale shoppers with more classic styles.
“This isn’t about laying people off to get synergies,” he said. “We have tremendous opportunities to learn from each other. The synergies are in sales and marketing and by growing the business.”
Men’s Wearhouse rose 2 percent to $46.24 yesterday in New York. Jos. A. Bank fell less than 1 percent to $48.86.
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Tensions overshadow EU vote on UK trade deal
April 28, 2021 9:50 am
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen oversees trade relations with the UK [Source: EPA]
The European Parliament is expected to ratify the post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal – a key move to ensure that tariff-and quota-free trade continues.
The Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) has been operating provisionally since January. MEPs voted on Tuesday and a result is due on Wednesday.
Brexit tensions remain, including a French threat of “reprisals” against the UK over new fishing restrictions.
Northern Ireland trade is also a thorny issue.
Under a separate protocol, Northern Ireland remains de facto part of the EU’s single market, so goods arriving there from Britain have to undergo EU checks. Since Brexit there has been some disruption to that trade.
The TCA covers EU-UK trade in goods, but not services. The UK economy is dominated by services – sectors such as banking, insurance, advertising and legal advice.


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There were no real surprises as Jaguar officially unveiled its C-X16 concept sports car at the Frankfurt Auto Show today.
Read This Article
In a surprising move with possibly veiled intentions, a Jaguar XF with a 2.2 liter diesel engine left New York City early this afternoon en route to Los Angeles.
Jaguar is pondering a move into the compact luxury sedan segment so it will fall in line with the EU's stringent CO2 emissions standards set to go into effect in 2020.
Jaguar is wasting little time getting the F-Type ready: after announcing it this week at the Paris Motor Show, the configurator is already up.


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Expedia Inc. snapped up Wotif Group last night, the Australian firm behind online travel sites Wotif.com and Travel.com.au, for roughly $658 million (AU $703 million).
The acquisition was sparked by Expedia’s interest in the Asia-Pacific region, although Expedia already offers localized sites in 29 countries, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. This deal follows Expedia’s June purchase of the Auto Escape Group, a European car-rental firm.
According to Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi, Wotif “is well positioned in the Asia-Pacific region with a portfolio of leading travel brands. This acquisition will allow both companies to continue driving growth opportunities by leveraging the unique strengths each brings to the table.”
Wotif has recently experienced a decline in profitability. According to Skift, the firm expects to see a net profit of around $40.2 million in 2014, down from $47.4 million in 2013.
In other Expedia news, the company took a major hit in Google Search traffic in January, causing shares in the company to drop by more than 4 percent at the time. The firm has since recovered from that drop and is slightly down today after news of the Wotif deal emerged.


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