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In 2009, the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers published figures indicating that the UK had become the first major economy where advertisers spent more on internet advertising than on television advertising. The statistics underpinning the report, as is often the case, are somewhat open to interpretation, but they did show that TV’s place as the dominant advertising sector, held for over 50 years, was being significantly eroded by the rise of online advertising in just a decade.
The timing of this report was significant. While online ad spend had been charging upward, the economic downturn let to a drought in TV ads. Since then, TV has begun to stumble back onto its feet, but so far it seems there’s no abating online’s growth.
What does this mean for television as a medium? What are broadcasters and media buyers doing to defend their revenue? And how will this affect us viewers?
Broadcast television has had an uneasy relationship with the internet. From the issue of piracy, and what to do with their own online presence, to falling audience ratings and advertising spend. But at the same time, the internet has offered broadcasters a new distribution and syndication infrastructure, additional functionality such as timeshifting and on-demand, the opportunity to distribute content complimenting broadcasts and also new revenue streams.
But paramount in many broadcast owners’ minds is the time people spend in front of the television, and how more and more of it has been lost to the internet. Also, as a practical point, the fact that anyone can now broadcast globally without the huge cost of television infrastructure must have been a bitter pill for many TV executives. Perhaps these two observations are more connected than first they appear.
Broadcast media used to operate simple terms of engagement. There were broadcasters, viewers and, later, advertisers. Everyone knew their place, and the relationships between all three were clear and transparent to all. There was also not much television from which to choose, because of the high cost of broadcast infrastructure, and other technological constraints. But with the arrival of the internet, two things changed: the broadcast infrastructure was devalued; and also the roles of those involved in broadcast media, most notably the viewers, changed too. The traditional model of “we show, you watch” was disrupted, since anyone could now broadcast more-or-less anything. Not only did the internet offer many new sources of information and entertainment to rival TV content, it also encouraged consumers to become creators. In short, the internet offered people a means of participation to an extent that TV never could.
Much has already been said about the impact of the internet on TV, not to mention the radio, movie and music industries too, but this is not the only change in the ecosystem. The broadcast media industry was already evolving way before the internet was commonplace, in a way that had a significant impact on how we watch TV.
The traditional ménage à trois of broadcaster, viewer and advertiser did not remain so simple for long. The advertisers quickly organised themselves into brands and advertising agencies. Those agencies diverged further, in various directions, such as the conceiving of advertising, production, strategy and also media buying. Media-specific agencies were formed just to buy airtime from broadcasters in bulk, and then sell it on to brands. While all this made it easier for broadcasters to secure revenue, and for campaigns to get exposure, the relationship between viewer and advertiser had become much more opaque.
Then, the technical and financial constraints of broadcasting declined, more and more broadcasters and channels appeared. This led to a fragmentation of the audience: roughly the same number of people spread over a lot more content. This proved a headache for brands and the strategists working on their behalf, as they had to buy an ever-increasing quantity and diversity of airtime to reach the same target audience. Superficially this proved good news for the broadcasters as a whole, as ad spend climbed ever higher, although any one broadcaster is likely to have seen a decline in revenue as a result of increasing competition.
All the while, another key shift was occurring. Our relationship with television was changing. For some, TV played an increasingly significant role in their lives, whereas for others, less so. This has meant that some audiences, and indeed some individuals within audiences, have become harder for advertisers to reach. Some have found themselves trying to tackle the change in frequency distribution by buying more and more airtime, but this is a blunt approach: much of their money is effectively wasted, or worse, by showing the same messaging over and over again to only a small slice of their intended audience.
Put simply, even before the internet, TV didn’t keep pace with its viewers’ habits. Little has changed in the way TV advertising has been planned, bought and measured for decades. Yes, the internet compounds the issue by fragmenting the audience still further, but the internet brings as many opportunities as risks.
So, in the five years following that report suggesting UK online advertising had overtaken TV, what has the broadcast industry done to protect itself from losing further ground? Many broadcasters have now fully embraced the internet as an additional channel, offering on-demand services to numerous devices. Some have also turned up the volume on content—-a battleground in which they have the advantage of experience over their relatively immature online competitors. This is a smart move: while this is the era in which anyone can produce as well as consume, it remains difficult to scale this up to the level at which big broadcasters can afford to operate. At the beginning of this month, BSkyB, the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the UK and Ireland, launched a YouTube channel of whole episodes of their shows. It’s both a brave and smart move by a broadcaster determined to hammer home that they have quality content on offer, especially when competing against other strong content-driven propositions such as those from Netflix and the BBC (whether the public-service BBC is a “competitor” is debated, but typically commercial broadcasters view them as such).
The challenge of TV advertising being a blunter implement than online is also being tackled. Five years after first announced as a work-in-progress, BSkyB has now rolled out its tailored advertising offering: AdSmart. This new style of broadcasting advertising allows Sky to play out different ads to different households, based on customer profiling. With the prospect of allowing advertisers to target specific audiences or regions—-and to have their ads played only when people are watching—-this targetted approach could make TV ads viable to new advertisers, and feels heavily influenced by online advertising.
Meanwhile, the media agency world, and indeed the whole advertising industry, has also evolved at pace. Adland was quicker than the broadcasters to embrace the internet, but not quick enough to stifle the monumental growth of two new advertising giants: Google and Facebook. Google’s dominance of the search and online video markets has afforded it more than half the market share in UK online advertising, and Facebook’s dwell time is high enough to rival some broadcaster’s viewing figures. The handful of holding companies that own most of the advertising world have also found themselves under attack from the technology industry outside of advertising, from the likes of Salesforce and Adobe.
Several things are changing. WPP, currently the largest advertising holding company, is about to be knocked into the second spot by the merger of two others: Publicis and Omnicom. This merger will leave POG and WPP a long way ahead of their sector rivals in terms of revenue. How the two big players from Adland will fare against the two big players from the internet remains to be seen, but the merger (not to mention WPP’s own digital growth by aquisition) does suggest that the boardrooms right at the top of the advertising industry are taking the threat from Silicon Valley seriously.
A third of the world’s media-buying market is controlled by GroupM—-a WPP-owned parent company to all their various media-buying agencies. Some in the broadcasting industry have voiced discomfort about GroupM’s market dominance, particularly as it negotiates on behalf of all its agencies. Richard Desmond, owner of UK commercial public service broadcaster Channel 5, went so far as to suggest GroupM was using this dominance to pressurise broadcasters into making the production companies they use to develop TV programmes work with Group M’s entertainment division, which bankrolls programming opportunities. This claim was disputed by Sir Martin Sorrell, chief of WPP, but it did cast light on the media-buying industry’s move towards funding TV shows.
That’s right, the media buyers went into content. The challenge for smaller broadcasters, such as Channel 5, is that the cost of content production is high. If the broadcaster doesn’t have the budget to commission a show from an independent production company, few options exist. Enter GroupM Entertainment or GME, who will invest in return for a stake in the format—-sometimes as much as 50% of the global rights to the show (production houses typically get much more favourable deals from broadcasters directly, providing they can afford the commission at all). While GroupM is quick to stress that GME uses its own money to fund shows (and not that of GroupM’s clients—-the advertisers) , many broadcasters are concerned that GroupM’s dominance over ads and increasing investment in programmes leaves them with little power over their own output, and perhaps even their editorial freedom.
The online giants have up until now not produced any content, preferring instead to allow their users to do both the creating and the consuming. But even with content-focussed propositions, both broadcasters and media buyers are under considerable threat from technology-driven offerings, either with business models that don’t rely on advertising (Netflix, Apple, etc.), or formidable powers of diversification (Google, Amazon, etc.). The fight for our attention may lead to further financial innovation from all players, perhaps even some that don’t yet exist, but also risks further fragmentation of the audience.
So what does all this mean for us, the viewers? Clearly, we can expect to see considerable investment in content from both the broadcasters and Adland, but it’s hard to see where the balance of quality and quantity will fall. Regulatory bodies will no-doubt be kept busy on the thorny issue of editorial bias, but we are left with a highly complex relationship with both broadcasters and advertisers. If the well-established separation of advertising and programme-making becomes blurred, we may find ourselves losing confidence in the media industries as a whole… assuming, of course, we notice it happening.


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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 18, 2017
KUALA LUMPUR: Warisan TC Holdings Bhd’s travel and car rental businesses, which are parked under the Mayflower Group, have jumped on the e-commerce bandwagon to convince its corporate customers to go online for their travel booking for both work and leisure trips.
In a recent interview with The Edge Financial Daily, Mayflower chief executive officer Chin Ten Hoy said the company’s existing corporate clientele gives it an edge in competing with start-ups that have been very aggressive in expanding their market share.
“The good thing is that we have been in the [tourism] business for the past 55 years, and we are not a small player in Malaysia when it comes to corporate travels. So we want to [leverage on] our existing customer base. Imagine a client with 3,000 employees — we want to approach their staff to use our services when it comes to leisure travel as well,” he said.
In June, Mayflower Holidays Sdn Bhd set up a joint venture (JV) — Mayflower Online Sdn Bhd — to spearhead a digital initiative that allows customers to make online booking for a variety of travel-related products like flight tickets, accommodation, theme park tickets, car rental, and other tour activities, via an integrated platform.
The JV entity is 80% owned by Mayflower Holidays, while the balance is held by Agile Quick Services Sdn Bhd, a company run by the JV’s chief technology officer, Cheah Kwan Cheong.
“We have been in the tour service business for many years. No doubt the business is still giving us the numbers, but online booking is gaining traction. Many of the younger generation actually find it more convenient to book online without visiting the outlet,” Chin said.
“While we have online booking originally, it was not really a full-fledged online booking portal, so we thought it is timely for us to adapt [to rising online demand],” he added.
The new venture came at a time when the travel industry is seeing tremendous digital disruptions, with the entrance of new players, some with pretty substantial financial [ammunition], all thirsting for a share of the market.
Less than two months ago, Indonesian online travel company Traveloka raised US$500 million (RM2.09 billion) from bigger players like Expedia in the US and JD.com in China.
In comparison, the planned investment for Mayflower Online — at RM10 million over the next five years — seemed like a drop in the bucket. But Chin believes the business has its own niche in the industry as it offers unique value proposition by bundling up various products and services.
“We are different from other players in the sense that our bundled products have more value as compared to buying them individually. So consumers can get more value when they buy everything together and they only have to deal with Mayflower Online for peace of mind on their whole trip — that is our goal,” he said.
“We are not looking to just be a [pure] marketplace where we have to rely on agents to come in and contribute the products. We offer our own products and we take ownership of them to take care of the customers. We’re not just a platform where we are not sure who the suppliers are or how their services are like,” he added.
Booking for flight tickets and accommodation is now available on Mayflower Online which was just launched in June.
“Throughout the remaining quarters of this year, we are going to roll out travel insurance, car rental, entrance tickets, transportation like airport transfer, cruises, or train services like JR Rail in Japan, plus tour activities,” said Chin.
Among Mayflower Group’s own products that will be hawked on the online portal will come from Mayflower Holidays (Borneo) Sdn Bhd, Mayflower Corporate Travel Services Sdn Bhd and Mayflower Car Rental Sdn Bhd — all under Chin’s purview and wholly owned by Warisan TC.
Chin, who is also a member of Warisan TC’s board of directors, said 70% of Mayflower’s travel business comes from corporate clients, while the balance is made up of leisure travel bookings.
Moving forward, Chin said he hopes revenue from the leisure booking segment would rise to contribute equally with its corporate segment to Mayflower’s overall top line by FY20.
The travel and car rental businesses are the second-largest business within the Warisan TC Group. They accounted for 43.54% of the group’s total revenue of RM446.12 million for financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16), slightly below the group’s machinery business, which contributed 46.56% of the total turnover.
For 2QFY17, Warisan TC recorded a net profit of RM839,000, versus a net loss of RM2.18 million a year ago, as revenue strengthened 10% to RM134.27 million. It was the second straight quarter in the black for the group after posting losses in the four consecutive quarters that made up its FY16.
Last Friday, Warisan TC shares closed unchanged at RM1.98, giving it a market capitalisation of RM128.9 million. Year to date, the stock has appreciated some 15%.

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SECL Merit List 2019 Out! SECR has now rolled out the list of selected candidates through SECR Trade Apprentice Merit List 2019. You can download the merit list for SECL 2019 recruitment through the link shared below. Also, with the release of the merit list, the recruitment has been concluded for this year.
SECL Merit List 2019, Download Here!
Earlier, the South Eastern Coalfields Limited has released the SECL apprentice recruitment 2019 notification for total 5500 vacancies of Trade Apprentice. The candidates were requested to apply online for the SECL Apprenticeship 2019 at the official site. The last date to apply online for the Trade Apprentice posts was 26th June 2019.
Read further to know the vacancy details, apply online, eligibility, selection process, pattern, syllabus, admit card and result regarding SECR Trade Apprentice Merit List.
SECL Recruitment 2019 Notification, Download Link


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Growth stocks caught a break recently. The Federal Reserve has held the target range for interest rates between 5.25%-5.50%.
It also signaled that Americans should expect an additional rate hike this year. Meanwhile, the Fed has also signaled that 2024 rates are going to be kept higher for longer.
For investors, one of the more useful assertions is that growth stocks are becoming more attractive.
Rising interest rates tend to de-incentivize growth firms because they require borrowing to fund growth-seeking behavior. Rates are potentially as high as they will go. Thus, it’s reasonable to expect that growth firms will improve.
Arcos Dorados (ARCO)
Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) is a holding company that franchises McDonald’s restaurants throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The stock is similar to MCD shares in many ways. Both derive their strength McDonald’s franchises while paying dividends at similar levels.
However, Arcos Dorados is growing much faster than its American counterpart. Arcos Dorados’ system-wide comparable sales grew at 31.5% in Q2 whereas McDonald’s reached 11.7%. It wouldn’t be fair to list MCD among growth stocks, but the moniker very much fits Arcos Dorados’ case.
System-wide comparable sales includes both franchised and company-operated restaurants. Total revenues increased by 17.2% during the second quarter which suggests that Arcos Dorados franchisees are doing particularly well.
Arcos Dorados is doing especially well in regard to overall operations. Its EBITDA increased by 0.3% to 10.6% in Q2.
That led to a doubling of income for the firm. Meanwhile, the company expects that all the openings it scheduled earlier in the year will come on line suggesting that no unexpected shocks will present themselves.
Planet Fitness (PLNT)
In the world of gyms, Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) doesn’t have the greatest reputation.
Hard core athletes don’t go there because it lacks the equipment they demand. However, for the average gym-goer seeking inexpensive memberships as low as $10 per month, it makes sense.
I think that offering is only going to become more appealing over the next year. Let’s face it, the economy is caught in an uneasy status quo: Interest rates and inflation are going to remain elevated and there’s no realistic chance of that changing drastically without something breaking.
That implies that consumers will continue to seek value overall which will spur Planet Fitness on.
The firm grew by nearly 9% in the second quarter and expects 12% expansion in 2023 overall. It’s a strong but not an exceptional number.
However, where Planet Fitness shines is its EPS should grow by 34% this year. The company has enacted repurchases that will benefit investors who hold PLNT shares throughout. It is one of the growth stocks to buy while you can.
Investing in Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) at this point is straightforward. The markets are undertaking something of a tech selloff at the moment that is affecting Nvidia negatively.
Rates are expected to stay higher for longer and that implies that the tech sector, led by Nvidia and its AI prowess, will be beset by continued turbulence.
I don’t buy it. There’s very little chance that Nvidia slips back much further from here. It’s already trading below the low target price on Wall Street and remains more than $200 below the average target price.
If you buy now there’s a strong chance that it increases by 45% or more in the next year and a half.
The market is upset that rates will remain at current rates. That’s fine and understandable. However, Nvidia has done nothing wrong. Q2 revenues of $13.5 billion were better than anyone could have reasonably expected.
Further, the company continues to have a stranglehold on AI chips. AI isn’t going anywhere. Sure, the company is facing competition, but there are no clear signs that any other chip makers can erode its dominance soon. This is one of those growth stocks you can depend on.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has had an incredible run in 2023 as one of the most important stocks overall.
However, it too, is suffering as the markets digest the latest news regarding rate hikes. That said, positions established now will not lose value if held for the next year.
The firm’s growth trajectory suggests it will grow by 22.45% this year and by 23.9% in 2024. It’s going to be difficult for bearish investors to gain much traction because of that simple fact.
Combine that with the idea that rates could decline in 2024 and Tesla’s prospects only improve. Further, also consider that Tesla is pushing hard to sell more of its vehicles by lowering prices in order to gain market share. It has competition but those manufacturers are much younger and more inexperienced. Thus, build quality is likely to be lower giving Tesla an advantage.
Tesla also has an emerging opportunity to boost relations with Saudi Arabia and may bring a factory to the nation in the future. That could be a huge boon to the manufacturer given how eager Saudi Arabia is to diversify its revenue streams overall.
Beyond that, it’s a clear winner in the ongoing UAW strikes affecting the Big Three automakers in Detroit. Among EV growth stocks, it’s hard to do better.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) stock is probably going to move a bit lower on the rate hike news. That is your opportunity to buy shares because it won’t stay down for very long.
Overall, investors are upset that the economy isn’t improving as rapidly as they hoped. They’re angry that inflation is proving very stubborn. And that truth is doing what it always does to tech firms.
However, Salesforce is a behemoth in the customer relationship management space and its recent performance was strong. Thus, its scale and results means that CRM shares will head up from here.
The company controls roughly 30% of its market. Its competition is a fractured group of much smaller firms which speaks to the idea that Salesforce isn’t likely to cede much ground.
More importantly, Salesforce is performing well as earnings and revenues for Q2 and expectations for Q3 came in better than expected.
Management points to AI as one of the primary reasons to anticipate its continued strength. I don’t see why not. It has the resources to invest and that leads me to believe that AI can propel it to a greater market share in CRM overall.
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) stock sits at the confluence of several megatrends and shouldn’t be overlooked by investors.
The Ecommerce giant serving Latin America benefits from growth forecasts in that sector and from growth expectations in fintech, where it is also rapidly improving.
Let’s start with the fintech argument. The overall numbers are very clear: The fintech market should grow at 20% annually through 2030. Meanwhile, the Ecommerce market may grow at rates in the lower double digits. Add in the emergence of Latin America and it all suggests that MercadoLibre is in a great position.
Revenues grew by more than 57% during the second quarter. As impressive as that figure is, it’s MercadoLibre’s payments progress that is really worth considering. Total payment volume nearly doubled during the same period reaching $42.2 billion.
The company is a huge player in the payments space. It is connecting a region that has traditionally remained underserved. That is setting it up for strong continued growth overall.
There are currently more than 2,000 Wingstop (NASDAQ:WING) locations globally, 1,750 of which are in the U.S.
The growth of its locations has been rapid which is an indication of the stock’s overall strength.
One of the strongest pieces of evidence in favor of that is store growth this year. Domestic same store sales growth increased by 16.8% in Q2 ‘23. It fell by 3.3% a year earlier. The economy weakened between Q2 ‘21 and Q2 ‘22 as the effects of quantitative easing became clear.
Rate hikes began in March of 2022 which halted growth across the economy. Rates have been more stable and predictable over the last year and that clarity has resulted in growth at Wingstop.
Revenue and income figures are well above 20% and the franchise is catching on in a way that isn’t dissimilar to what Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) did in the recent past.
On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


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Walmart mainstreamed CFL lightbulbs with their big push a few years ago. Now Ikea is doing the same with LED bulbs.
The company just announced that it will sell only LED bulbs by the year 2016, and it’s given LED bulbs away to all of its 130,000 employees worldwide.
This is welcome, and brilliant. CFLs, it is now clear, were a transitional product. LEDs are the future beceuse they contain no mercury and have the same quality of light as incandescents yet use one-tenth the power.
If everyone in the US switched to LEDs, our power crisis would probably go away.


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Dollar's gain, Big Tech's pain
Big technology companies are reaping the whirlwind of a strong dollar, as the sector becomes an unlikely victim of foreign exchange volatility.
Why it matters: In normal times, car companies and other multinationals that sell physical goods are the most sensitive to dollar fluctuations. Needless to say, with interest rates soaring alongside inflation expectations – even as growth falters – these are hardly normal times.
- The Federal Reserve’s offensive against spiking inflation is pushing up rates. That's boosting the greenback’s value in major markets like Europe, where a strong greenback has railroaded the common currency to a 20-year low.
- Particularly against the euro and yen, the U.S. currency is creating what the Financial Times referred to last week as a “currency shock [that’s] muddled an earnings period that was being closely studied for signs of a weakening global economy.”
It’s unusual to see big tech (certainly not this many companies at the same time) cite currency volatility as an issue. Most of them sell software-based services, rather than physical goods like cars or makeup.
What they’re saying: Still, foreign exchange volatility is “a headwind for Big Tech with 35% to 40% of sales in Europe, and strong dollar a 400 [basis point] top-line headwind,” veteran tech analyst Dan Ives tells Axios in an email.
- “As they sell in local currency this will be a negative theme over the coming year with a strong greenback,” he added.
Yes, but: Traditionally, big companies employ sophisticated hedging strategies to guard against FX risk.
- U.S. manufacturers and big auto companies, where pleas for government intervention to soften the dollar during cyclical bull markets have often fallen on deaf ears, know this firsthand.
What we’re watching: The Fed’s next policy moves. If the current economic angst gives way to a deep recession, the central bank may reverse course. That would narrow the interest rate differential boosting the greenback.


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Era of the Entrepreneur: Why workers are becoming their own bosses
6 minute read
If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s your time to shine. Startups are on the rise and small businesses are garnering support like never before from local communities and the government. In Singapore alone, 63,480 new enterprises were registered in the past year. But businesses are not just surviving–they are thriving.
The pandemic has reshaped the consumer landscape, and there is extensive space for new businesses to lead the way by finding solutions to problems new and old. Do you have what it takes to join the throng of new entrepreneurs? It’s clear that now is the right time to start a business, and this is why.
Current state of affairs
There has been a steady incline of workers leaving their jobs, a phenomenon that’s been well-documented and labelled as the Great Resignation. The “why” is simple: the pandemic led to an economic downturn and stagnant wages. The workforce were unhappy, especially when coupled with big businesses’ uninspiring response to Covid-19.
Many who were not let go or furloughed were still pushed to resign due to long hours, inability to work remotely, health concerns, and inflexible arrangements. During the global lockdown they were compelled to think creatively about how to jump ship to a new company or somehow make supplementary income, all while the cost of living continued to rise.
By the time the Great Resignation was in full swing, there were already dozens of side hustles, startups, and small businesses cropping up in response. You may be wondering if there’s still time to get in on the action with your own ideas. Read on to find out.
Is it a good time to start a business?
Without a doubt, yes.
The “when” is now. The shift to working from home has made digital communication a necessity. Those people who are now reliant on their phones and laptops for work are also consuming more online media than ever before.
You can take advantage of the influx of online users by harnessing digital marketing, eCommerce, and social commerce. We’re in an age where you can reach more customers than previously possible, and from anywhere in the world. This is one of many key business trends you’re going to see in 2022 and beyond.
On top of that, the economic slump can work in your favor – the businesses that have closed are leaving customers wanting, with their needs unmet. All you’ve got to do is find a need and fill it with your solution. This can span from telecommunications tech, to logistics solutions, to new media, to that restaurant you finally have time to start.
Southeast Asia: the startup haven
This brings us to the “where”. Southeast Asia has proven to be a lucrative region for startups and innovation in the past few years, which isn’t changing anytime soon. It’s here that you will find the intersection between developing nations and foundational entrepreneurial support.
Julien Labruyere, CEO and co-founder of Sleek, even went as far as saying, “Southeast Asia was a hotbed of innovation even before the pandemic. The circumstances are simply accelerating its inevitable rise to prominence in the business world.”
It also helps that there are ample sources of funding, including a sophisticated venture capital ecosystem, accelerators and incubators, and government business grants for pandemic relief. These encompass many industries, so it’s not difficult to find support for your specific needs.
While some developing parts of the region are leapfrogging straight into the digital world, others are solidifying themselves as key tech hubs, resulting in fertile ground for innovation and economy building throughout.
Knowing this, it’s no surprise that Southeast Asia’s digital economy is poised to hit $363 billion by 2023, according to Bloomberg, far exceeding the initial prediction reported by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company.
Pros and cons of being your own boss
Before you jump in, it’s important to understand the big picture of life as an entrepreneur. Running your own business comes with undeniable perks like creating your own hours and dictating the direction of your work, but there are also some drawbacks to keep in mind.
Almost every aspect of running your own business is either a benefit or a hindrance, depending on your perspective. Here is a list of pros and cons that can help you decide for yourself whether entrepreneurship is right for you.
How to get started
Should you take the leap? There is substantial room to create fresh ideas for products and services that help your community, especially if you’re planning to establish your business in Southeast Asia. With plenty of funding, resources, and consumer willingness, the golden age of entrepreneurship is here.
It can be exciting to think about what comes next in your own entrepreneurial journey. Whether you’re looking to start a new business or enhance your current company to run even more efficiently, there are solutions that will take your business far and beyond expectations. If you’re more of a big picture thinker, let Sleek take the hassle out of your back office admin so you can dream big and focus on your booming business.


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Tag Archives: Monster Hunter Frontier G
Thu, Sep 19, 2013 | 06:14 BST
Online action RPG Monster Hunter Frontier G is making the jump to Vita, Capcom announced at the Tokyo Game Show.
Thu, Aug 01, 2013 | 14:00 BST
Monster Hunter Frontier G has a new video showing of the MMO. The enhanced version of Monster Hunter Frontier Online, Monster Hunter Frontier G will launch in Japan on PS3 on November 20 and Wii U on December 11. The two new versions will be the same as the existing PC and Xbox 360 releases, but won’t share servers. A western release has not been announced. Video courtesy of GamesHQMedia.
Wed, Jul 31, 2013 | 05:44 BST
Monster Hunter Frontier, the only MMO the RPG series has produced to date, is coming to two new consoles.
Tue, Jul 23, 2013 | 12:50 BST
Capcom Online Games has announced it will reveal 13 new social, mobile and online titles as part of a Japanese conference on August 1. The session will also be live-streamed.
Mon, Sep 03, 2012 | 11:46 BST
MMO add-on Monster Hunter Frontier G has been announced for an April 2013 in Japan. According to Andriasang (via Joystiq), the add-on’s to feature 10 new monsters, more than 300 G-class weapons and armor sets, new skills and four new elementals. Further expansions also planned for autumn 2013 and spring 2014. The original Monster Hunter Frontier was released for 360 and PC in 2007.


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APR 7, 2022
MAY 25, 2022
About a third (30%) of France’s adult population claims to understand the metaverse, according to February 2022 research by YouGov, and less than a fifth (19%) of online adults in Germany know what the term “metaverse” implies, based on March 2022 research by YouGov and Statista.
AUG 5, 2021
Statista. STL Partners. Surgical Solutions. SurveyMonkey. Tagnos. Verizon Business. World Wide Technology (WWT).
SEP 8, 2021
According to a 2020 Statista survey of more than 1,000 shoppers, 49% of shoppers were more interested in online shopping than they were in 2019, and that percentage will likely increase this year. As an ecommerce retailer, it’s important to make sure that your website is easy to find across search engines, easy to navigate, and has all the payment options your customers are already using. 2.
OCT 6, 2021
SEP 9, 2021
Ebook readers and low-cost tablets get people to buy ebooks, which in 2020 accounted for a third of book sales in the US, according to Statista. Disruption, Integration, and Leverage. Amazon is not selling the Kindle and Fire tablet with the primary goal of making money per unit.
SEP 22, 2021
The average selling price of new smartphones from 2016 to 2021 was $317, per Statista. Even used 4G-LTE-capable handsets are priced well beyond the budget of lower-income households—not to mention costly mobile voice and data plans. Possible solutions outlined within The State of Broadband Report include a commitment from Vodafone to embark on a pilot project on “device affordability.”.
NOV 10, 2020
JUL 2, 2021
In 2020, 242 million people were registered in the US’ National Do Not Call Registry, per Statista. While there has been a downward trend in spam calls, they are still yielding considerable financial losses: US residents lost $29.8 billion to phone scams in the past year, according to a new report from Truecaller and The Harris Poll.
AUG 31, 2021
Consumers spent $72.3 billion in the Apple App Store and $38.6 billion in the Google Play Store in 2020, per Statista.
SEP 29, 2021
MAY 3, 2021
In fact, 51% of respondents said they prefer to hear from brands by email, according to a Statista study. eMarketer was pleased to moderate a Tech-Talk Webinar featuring Litmus' Cynthia Price, vice president of marketing, along with Epsilon’s Nicole Eaton, vice president, group accounts, and Proactiv’s Dave Sims, head of customer experience.
MAR 23, 2021
According to Statista, global digital transformation spending will nearly double between 2020 and 2023. Is there a way to know which approaches are most worth the investment? Here are three steps to follow so you can strategically reprioritize your efforts and improve the customer experience overall:. 1. Listen—by whatever means possible—to what your customers are telling you.


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General Motors plans to officially unveil plans Thursday for a $380 million investment and expansion at its Wentzville plant.
The expansion includes a second shift to produce full-size vans, as well as new production of a midsize pickup truck, creating 1,850 new jobs.
Gov. Jay Nixon, Wentzville Mayor Paul Lambi and several GM executives and union leaders, including Cathy Clegg, GM’s vice president for manufacturing and labor; Jim Glynn, GM’s manufacturing manager; and Joe Ashton, UAW vice president, plan to attend the announcement, which is scheduled for 11:05 a.m.
In January, about 400 laid-off GM workers from around the country, including 20 from Wentzville and more from Spring Hill, Tenn., are expected to start work at Wentzville.
Then more than 1,000 new hires will be trained to work on the plant’s new product. GM has not officially announced what the new product will be but several media reports say it will be the Chevrolet Colorado mid-size pickup truck.
The Wentzville plant is currently the only GM factory to build Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans, the large commercial and passenger vans.
Wentzville has approved exempting GM from paying most property taxes for 10 years on the expansion.


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A new poll found that almost 100% of Americans say they are taking steps to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus.
However, one nurse is warning Americans that taking steps, such as wearing gloves in public, is not a guaranteed way to protect oneself from the virus. In a video shared on social media, the nurse used paint to show just how easily gloves can give people a false sense of security if they are not careful.
“I’m seeing a lot of people out in public wearing gloves right now,” she said, adding, “That’s great if you want to wear gloves that’s all fine and well. You absolutely can.”
“But, I want to remind you of this little thing called cross-contamination,” she added as she began her simulation of a shopper wearing gloves.
She provided an example of someone picking up a package of toilet paper and dipped her fingers in the paint to simulate bacteria spreading from the packaging to the gloves.
“And now, if you can see, I have all these germs on my hands from my toilet paper, but it’s in my cart. But, it’s on my gloves. That’s fine, right? It’s on my gloves. But, now I’m walking along, and my phone rings. So, I’ve now touched my hands together a couple times. And I reach for my phone, and I have a text message from my husband.”
After scratching her noise and bringing the phone up to her ear, she notes how the bacteria has spread from the products in the store, to the gloves, and then to her face.
“Look, this is called cross-contamination. There’s no point in wearing gloves if you’re not going to wash your hands every time after you touch something. There’s no point, friends,” she said.
Watch the video below:
Nurse uses paint to show how easily germs can spread
A nurse in Michigan simulated a trip to the grocery store and used paint to show how easily germs spread through phones and doors even while wearing gloves, after she became frustrated by seeing shoppers improperly use gloves for protection. https://abcn.ws/2UYhvDePosted by ABC News on Monday, April 6, 2020
Finally, she said, “So, do whatever makes you feel safe, but remember there is some science here, and all this fear is just manifesting people into being crazy and not acting very smart.”
“Go ahead, wear your gloves, but you need to clean your hands all the time. Don’t touch your face. Don’t touch your dirty phone,” she added.
Her video comes as the latest data as of Monday morning shows there were over 338,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the U.S.Published in


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Salesforce.com’s (NYSE: CRM) posted very strong Q3 results with revenue up 26% year on year. Operating Cash flow was also up 14% YOY. The company has also revised its earnings to $1.07 from $1.06 due to the strong results and expected strong Q4. The company recorded a revenue growth across geographies with EMEA growing the most with a 31% YOY increase in revenue, followed by APAC which grew at 26% YOY, and Americas at 25% YOY. As per the IDC forecast Salesforce.com is expected to touch 20.3% in Market Share of CRM applications, which is nearly 3 times that of the next company, i.e. Oracle at 7.3%
We have broken down overall revenue of the company into 3 major segments and projected expected revenue for the fiscal year 2018 (ended January 2019) at $13.13 billion. We have created an interactive dashboard What Are Salesforce.com’s Key Growth Drivers? including the drivers of the revenue. You can modify our assumptions to see the impact your changes have on the overall expected revenue of the firm.
Salesforce.com is expected to continue its strong growth and the company expects, as it announced during the Q3 results, to become the fastest enterprise software company in history to reach $16 billion in revenue by fiscal year 2019 (ended January 2020). The CRM segment of the company contributes the most to the revenue growth and is expected to record approximately $9.61 billion, which is approximately 73% of total expected revenue of the company. The Public Cloud software and services division, while expected to grow strongly at about 35% YOY and posting about $2.6 billion in revenues, is contributing approximately 20% to the Total revenue of the company, while Consulting Services will contribute about $0.92 billion in revenues.
In the near-term, the CRM segment is expected to continue to take Salesforce.com to new heights, while the other two divisions continue to grow at a good pace.


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Wall St: Tuesday mid-session
STOCKS fell in early trading as investors found little new encouragement in broadly positive data on consumer confidence, sales of new homes and durable goods.
'Everything's been priced into the market,' said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at S.G. Cowen. 'We ran out of steam last Friday - all the good news is out.'
Last week, the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq composite index rose to levels not seen for more than a year. On Monday, investors booked some gains from the rally, and the latest set of economic data was not enough to boost stocks.
The Conference Board said consumer confidence registered a reading of 81.3 in its latest survey. That is up from a revised 77 last month, and slightly higher than expected.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell slightly but still beat the market's forecast. Earlier, the government released figures showing demand for durable goods is growing in line with the market's expectations.
The Dow Jones fell 78 points, or 0.83% to 9,240 and the Nasdaq lost 22 points, or 1.3% to 1,742.
Among the most heavily traded stocks, Xerox rose 6.4% or 61 cents to $10.15, and consumer finance firm AmeriCredit rose 12.8% or $1.11 to $9.76, after broker upgrades.
Shares of chip giant Intel fell 1.8% or 49 cents to $26.75, after it warned that the third-quarter sales rebound that has excited investors might be temporary, and not a sure sign the sector had emerged from its three-year slump.
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When Microsoft announced its used game policy for the Xbox One it felt like the end result of some sort of retailer/publisher tug of war — a compromise. Microsoft needs retail to get the box in stores, but publishers must also be on board if the console is to ultimately succeed. But EA has already denied it had any part in pushing an anti-used games agenda to Microsoft and JB Hi-Fi? It doesn't expect the restrictions around used games to have any impact on its business.
EB Games declined to comment on the Xbox One's used game policy but after getting in contact with JB Hi-Fi locally, Marketing Manager Scott Browning claimed he expected great things from the Xbox One.
"The latest gen console release from Microsoft is very impressive and we are very excited by the impending launch," he said. "We anticipate sales of the Xbox One to be bigger than Xbox 360 and given the continuation of Xbox 360 as well, we see the potential of both ecosystems in the market. We do not perceive any impact to the existing prevalence of the preowned market."
Some speculated that the Xbox One's used game policy might push retailers into some sort of silent boycott. Consoles themselves are typically a zero margin product and retailers are usually reluctant to sell products they can't see some sort of return on in the future. The used games market, by far, has the highest margins in the retail space and Microsoft's policy has the potential to harm this market. Retailers still have bargaining power in this department. The only question is: will they exercise it?
No, says Scott Browning.
"Licensing rules are a matter for the copyright owners themselves," he said, "however if they choose to restrict the reuse of the product that would not affect any purchasing behaviour by us."
It's an interesting position. When Sony released the PSP-Go — a download only handheld with zero potential for future revenue through game sales — retailers responded negatively. It seems that JB Hi-Fi still has belief in the potential of the Xbox One despite its intention to limit a major part of its retail business.


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Sigatoka resort to close for renovationYatule Beach Resort along the Coral Coast will be closed from next week for renovations as its management seeks to increase the resort's profitability.
2800+ athletes confirmed for GamesMore than 2800 athletes will be part of this year's Coca Cola Games which by far is the biggest in the history of the secondary schools athletics finals.
'Green'-tinted SUVs at Seoul Motor ShowGas-guzzling SUVs, eco-friendly electric cars and the odd brave attempt to marry the selling points of both are taking centre stage at the biennial Seoul Motor Show.
Samsung Galaxy S5 now in FijiThe Samsung Galaxy S5 is now in Fiji.
Iggy Azalea’s debut album out April 25Australian rap siren Iggy Azalea’s debut album, The New Classic, featuring Change Your Life, Work and new top 10 single Fancy as well as collaborations with Charli XCX, Rita Ora and TI, is out on April 25.
Clean-up day to curb dengue outbreakFiji's Ministry of Health has declared a clean-up day next Thursday for residents in the central division as it ups the tempo against a dengue fever outbreak currently experienced in the country.


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The Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro will be released in a few days, more precisely next Tuesday 05 November. It will hit the market as the first smartphone in the world with a commercially available 108MP camera, which will enter the international market under the name Mi Note 10.
The Chinese company Xiaomi continues to share information on the productive smartphone Mi CC9 Pro. In recent weeks, Xiaomi has been confirming some features of the handset, such as 5260mAh battery with 30W fast charging and dedicated macro shooting sensor, which has proven very competent in some recently released images.
Now, the Chinese manufacturer has also confirmed the rumors by a teaser image that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor will become the “heart” of the device. This 8-nanometer chip combines eight Kryo 470 processing cores with a clock frequency of up to 2.2 GHz and an Adreno 618 graphics accelerator. It should be emphasized that the GPU block in this chip has a 15% higher performance compared to the standard version of Snapdragon 730.
The other day, Xiaomi also revealed details about the five-component camera Mi CC9 Pro. Its main element will be a sensor with 108MP. In addition, the system will receive sensors for 5MP, 20MP, 12MP, and 2MP. The picture will be supplemented by two dual-LED flash modules.
Recently, Xiaomi has confirmed that the Mi CC9 Pro will have a 32MP front-facing camera, which is hardly surprising as a certification had previously revealed this information. It has been said that the sensor will deliver a large field of view, portrait mode and 12 filters to customize the photos.
According to TENAA, the Mi CC9 Pro features a 6.47 “OLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, 19.5: 9 aspect ratio and a built-in digital reader. Xiaomi should market this device with 6GB, 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 64GB, 128GB or 256GB of internal storage. In software, the Android Pie- based MIUI 11 interface will be factory installed.
The official presentation of Mi CC9 Pro will take place on November 5th. There is no information yet on which markets it will be sold. At the same time, Xiaomi Mi Watch smartwatches and Xiaomi Mi TV 5 family televisions will be presented.
Do not forget to follow us on our Facebook Group and Page to keep you always aware of the latest advances, News, Updates, review, and giveaway on smartphones, tablets, gadgets and more from the technology world of the future.


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In this article, we take a closer look at the 15 largest PC companies in the world. You can skip our detailed analysis and head straight to our list of 5 largest PC companies in the world.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released preliminary results indicating that during the first quarter of 2023 (1Q23), traditional PC shipments dropped by 29.0% compared to the same period in 2022. Canalys reports an even steeper drop of 33%, indicating a worrying trend for the industry.
The drop was due to low demand, excess inventory, and an unstable global economy. In the first quarter of 2023, global shipments amounted to 56.9 million, which indicates a decline as during the first quarter of 2022, the global shipments were 80.2 million.
IDC highlights that due to the current slowdown in growth and demand, factories are now considering producing PCs outside of China. The pause in demand has also given PC makers time to reorganize their plans for 2023, as they are currently placing orders for Chromebooks before licensing costs increase later. Although there may be a temporary decrease in PC shipments, the industry is expected to recover towards the end of 2023.
The largest PC companies worldwide were also not immune to this contraction. During Q1 2023, the top five PC giants with the most significant market share experienced double-digit shipment declines. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) performed the worst with a 40.5% difference compared to Q1 2022.
Lenovo maintained its position as the global leader in total shipments with 12.7 million units and a market share of 22.4% despite facing a hard time in the US market. Although the company experienced the sharpest decline in annual shipments in its corporate history over two quarters, it saw modest growth in Japan due to end-of-fiscal-year PC purchases in 2022.
HP Inc (NASDAQ:HPQ) ranked second in the global PC market with 12 million shipments and a 21.1% market share. However, the company experienced its seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit shipment decline. While HP shipments in the EMEA region dropped by 37% compared to the same period last year, the decline in the US market was less severe.
Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:Dell) held the third position with 9.5 million shipments, representing 16.7% of the market share. The company recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of decline, and its Asia Pacific market was severely affected, with an over 40% decline. The weak PC market was the primary factor contributing to Dell's decline.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) held the fourth position in the market with 4.1 million shipments, representing a 7.2% market share. Asus followed in fifth place with 3.9 million shipments, accounting for 6.8% of the market.
Quantum Computing in Development
Tech giants are currently investing in the development of quantum computing technology. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has set a goal of building a quantum computer by 2029, while International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) plans to have a 1,000-qubit quantum computer in place by 2023. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is offering access to quantum technology through its Azure Quantum platform, and there is also interest from financial-services companies such as JPMorgan Chase and Visa.
According to Medium, Quantum computers, such as Google's Sycamore, are significantly faster than classical computers or supercomputers. For example, Sycamore could calculate a narrow-range problem in 200 seconds that would take IBM's Summit supercomputer 10,000 years to solve.
Quantum computing can disrupt the traditional computing industry by providing much faster and more powerful computing capabilities. However, quantum computing is limited to a very narrow range of applications. For these kinds of applications, the demand could shift from traditional PCs to quantum computing services offered by companies such as Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
The Emerging Edge Computing
Gartner predicts that 80% of enterprises will shut down their traditional data centers by 2025 due to the latency issues of traditional cloud computing, which relies on servers in one central location. As a result, many companies are shifting towards edge-computing service providers that bring computation, data storage, and analytics closer to the end-user location, resulting in improved response times. Content Delivery Networks like Cloudflare are making edge computing accessible and are expected to power the web in the future.
For the largest PC companies, this could involve developing more powerful and efficient processors and integrating edge computing capabilities into their products. Additionally, PC companies may need to collaborate with edge computing service providers like Cloudflare to ensure compatibility and optimal performance. Finally, as more businesses adopt edge computing, there may be increased demand for PC products with enhanced security features to protect sensitive data being processed at the edge.
Zero Trust: The Future of Data Protection
The Zero Trust model, a modern security architecture, provides security against ransomware and cybersecurity threats by assigning the least required access needed to perform specific tasks.
Large companies like Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) invest heavily in developing Zero Trust solutions, quickly becoming the best practice in any industry. It explains why International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) reports that the data breaches cost companies $4.35 million on average, globally.
Adopting zero-trust security models has multiple implications for the largest PC companies in the world. It will require them to invest in sophisticated security tools, ensure compatibility with the framework, and offer devices with built-in security features such as biometric authentication, encryption, and secure boot processes.
The methodology used to rank the largest PC companies in the world is based on the annual revenue generated by the companies in 2022. The data is sourced from reputable sources such as Macro Trends, Forbes, Companies Market Cap, and the companies' official websites. This approach will ensure the rankings are based on reliable and accurate information. The list is in ascending order.
15. Corsair Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:CRSR)
Annual Revenue: $1.4 billion
Corsair Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:CRSR) is an American company that produces various computer hardware and peripherals. Its product line includes gaming keyboards, mice, headsets, PC cases, cooling systems, and power supplies.
Corsair Gaming, Inc (NASDAQ:CRSR) is well-known for its high-quality gaming products and has a loyal following among gamers and PC enthusiasts. The company has a strong presence in the gaming industry and sponsors various gaming events and esports teams.
14. Acer Inc
Annual Revenue: $9.09 billion
Acer is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation that manufactures and sells various computer hardware, software, and related products. The company has a strong presence in the gaming market with its Predator line of gaming laptops, desktops, and monitors. In 2021, the company made a revenue of $11.42 billion, an increase over the 2020 revenue of $9.57 Billion.
13. Micro-Star International Co (NYSE:MSI)
Annual Revenue: $9.112 billion
Micro-Star International Co (NYSE:MSI) is a Taiwanese multinational technology corporation that designs, develops, and provides computer hardware, peripherals, and related services. MSI's product line includes laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, all-in-one PCs, servers, and gaming peripherals.
The company is known for producing high-quality gaming laptops like the GE76 Raider, often with impressive specifications and features such as high-end graphics cards, fast processors, and high refresh rate displays. In 2022, its annual revenue increased by 11.52% from 2021.
Annual Revenue: $19.2 billion
ASUS is a Taiwanese multinational company that produces a range of computer hardware and electronics. In addition to the hardware, ASUS also produces a range of software products, including its proprietary AI-powered ZenUI operating system for mobile devices. The company is also known for its ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) line of gaming computers designed specifically for gamers and e-sports enthusiasts.
11. NEC Corporation
Annual Revenue: $27.7 billion
NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics company specializing in manufacturing and distributing various products, including computers, laptops, servers, telecommunications equipment, and electronic parts. NEC Versa P9210-2500DR is one of the best-performing NEC laptops.
10. Fujitsu Limited
Annual Revenue: $31.92 billion
Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational technology company that offers a wide range of ICT products and services. Its products include computers, servers, storage devices, and related accessories, and the company is known for its advanced computing technology and supercomputers.
9. HP Inc. (NASDAQ: HPQ)
Annual Revenue: $63 billion
HP Inc (NASDAQ: HPQ) is an American multinational technology company known for producing various hardware and software products, including personal computers, printers, servers, and storage devices. HP is a significant global tech industry player known for producing reliable, high-quality products. It offers various laptop lines designed for specific segments, such as the EliteBook and ProBook for professionals, the Omen series for gamers, and Chromebooks for students and working professionals.
8. Panasonic Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:PCRFY)
Annual Revenue: $65.76 billion
Panasonic Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:PCRFY) has a product line that includes laptops and tablets for personal and business use. These devices are known for their durability and long battery life, and they come with features such as touchscreens, detachable keyboards, and rugged designs that can withstand harsh environments. For instance, Panasonic Toughbook offers various heavy-duty, military-grade notebooks in fully rugged and semi-rugged variants.
7. LG Corporation
Annual Revenue: $68.3 billion
LG is a South Korean multinational conglomerate that produces various electronics, home appliances, and chemicals. The company is one of the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturers, and its product line includes televisions, smartphones, laptops, and home appliances. LG's Gram series is a famous line of laptops known for their lightweight design and long battery life.
6. Lenovo Group
Annual Revenue: $71.62 billion
Lenovo is a Chinese tech company that produces and sells a variety of electronics, including PCs, smartphones, tablets, servers, and storage devices. It's known for high-quality products and innovation and has the most significant share of PC companies' global market. Thus, this had to be a no-brainer in our list of the largest PC companies worldwide.
Lenovo has recently launched a new high-end series in its consumer lineup, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, featuring powerful components like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 and miniLED screens. Lenovo Group's annual revenue for 2021 was $60.742 billion, representing a 19.77% increase from the previous year. In 2022, the company saw an increase of 17.9% in revenue compared to the previous year.
Disclosure: None. 15 largest PC companies in the world is originally published on the Insider Monkey.


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Container volumes at the world’s largest container shipping company, A.P. Moller – Maersk, are expected to drop by anywhere between a fifth to a quarter in the second quarter of 2020.
A.P. Moller – Maersk chief executive Søren Skou said that visibility remained low for April, May and June of 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but there would be a significant contracting of global demand.
In a statement to investors Moller – Maersk said that in its ocean business, there was a marked reduction in demand, especially in East-West trades, but also globally. To manage the situation a number of sailings had been cancelled, and vessels have been idled.
It said that in total, more than 90 sailings, leading to a decline of 3.5% in deployed capacity, were idled in Q1 and for Q2 some 140 blanked sailings are expected.
“We continue to support our customers in keeping their supply chains running, however as global demand continues to be significantly affected, we expect volumes in Q2 to decrease across all businesses, possibly by as much as 20% -25%,” said Skou.
“2020 is a challenging year, but as we proactively respond to lower demands and show progress in our transformation and financial performance, we are strongly positioned to weather the storm.”


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Arvind Mathew, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Reva said the technologically laden e2o is attractively priced at Rs 5.59 lakh (ex-showroom Hyderabad for premium variant) including the Government's FAME Demand Incentive.
The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme envisages providing demand incentives to electric and hybrid vehicles -- from two-wheeler to buses -- in range of Rs 1,800 to Rs 66 lakh.
In addition, the customer has to pay a fixed monthly e2o care protection plan of Rs 2,999 for 5 years which is valid for 50,000 kms, he said.
"It is our humble effort to make electric vehicles more accessible and easy to use for our customers in this city. We will keep our innovation quotient high to create an entire ecosystem to sustain a clean and green environment for a better tomorrow," he said.
Also, the timely intervention of the Central Government through the FAME scheme was a definitive boost to the EV industry in India and has put into motion better affordability for electric vehicles, he said.
Refusing to elaborate on the operational break-even, he said the company is currently selling about 100 units a month.
With a Rs 2,000-crore investment plan in tow, Hyundai landed in Gurugram with great fanfare, setting foot into the millennium city, which is known as much for its corporate buzz and urban culture as also for the Korean company’s archrival Maruti Suzuki, the company that set foot in the
Consequently Suman Mishra , sr VP ,Business transformation , Insight and Analytics , automotive sector will take over as chief executive of MEML and chief executive designate of Last Mile Mobility business with effect from August 14.


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SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apigee® (NASDAQ:APIC), developer of an intelligent API platform for digital business, today announced it has been recognized for the third consecutive year as one of the top 100 fastest growing companies on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America.
“Behind every mobile app, smart device and connected experience sits at least one API,” said Apigee CEO Chet Kapoor. “We are honored every day to work with innovative businesses – including some of the largest companies in the world – to help them address the demands of today’s hyperconnected consumers through digital programs powered by APIs. We are extremely pleased to be recognized as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America for the third year in a row, as we work toward our mission of helping every business become a digital business.”
“Amid a fierce business climate, there seems to be no shortage of new and established companies that are unlocking a seemingly unlimited potential for growth and advancement through technology’s continued disruption and proliferation across industries,” said Sandra Shirai, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader. “It is inspiring to witness the innovative ways that companies are incorporating emerging technologies for business gains, be it cognitive computing, or the Internet of Things. We congratulate all those ranked on this year’s Fast 500 and look forward to seeing their continued growth into 2016.”
“Through the efforts and utilization of new and emerging technologies from these companies, we are witnessing greater business demands from across almost all industries,” added Jim Atwell, national managing partner of the emerging company practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP. “We look forward to the opportunity to serve these companies as they strive to grow to the next level – be it towards introducing new solutions or entering new markets – and with it make important and long lasting impressions on the technology market as a whole.”
About Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500™
Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 provides a ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies – both public and private – in North America. Technology Fast 500 award winners are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2011 to 2014. In order to be eligible for Technology Fast 500 recognition, companies must own proprietary intellectual property or technology that is sold to customers in products that contribute to a majority of the company's operating revenues. Companies must have base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD or CD, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million USD or CD. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of four years and be headquartered within North America.
Apigee® (NASDAQ:APIC) provides an intelligent API platform for digital business. Many of the world's largest organizations select Apigee to enable their digital business, including 23 of the Fortune 100, six of the top 10 Global 2000 retail companies, and five of the top 10 global telecommunications companies. Apigee customers include global enterprises such as Walgreens, Burberry, Morningstar, and First Data. Apigee is headquartered in San Jose, California and has over 400 employees worldwide. For more information on Apigee, visit Apigee’s website.
Connect with Apigee
Apigee is a registered trademark in the U.S. Other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.


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A golden era of robotics adoption: what the robotics industry should prepare?
The golden era of robotics adoption is here. According to the World Robotics 2021 report by the International Federation of Robotics, approximately 3 million industrial robots operate globally, a 10% increase. Meanwhile, global robot sales increased by 0.5% despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This occurred especially in several countries such as China, Japan, the United States, Korea, Germany, and Italy. Not just industrial robots, the service robot industry also continues to thrive, with incumbents and a variety of startups emerging every year.
To enter the golden era of robotics adoption, the robotics industry needs to expect the steps in the next few years to keep the pace or even win the race. But before that, let's see how the robotics ecosystems in various parts of the world and its uniqueness.
Robotic ecosystem all around the world
If we are talking about the robotics industry, Asia needs to be at the forefront. As the world's largest robotics market, China still leads both in the industrial and service robots industry, the second place is followed by Japan. Also in Asia are the three countries with the highest robot density: South Korea, Singapore, and Japan.
Turning to Europe, the ecosystem on this continent is still dominated by well-known brands, including Siemens, Kuka, ABB, and many more. Europe is now also filled with many robotic startups that are growing rapidly and are also very diverse, ranging from startups providing robotic process automation (RPA), e-commerce warehousing processes, smart home appliances, to robots for agriculture needs. Germany is still leading, but other countries are also still growing and striving to enter global competition.
Although still lagging behind the other two continents, America still secures its position in the robotics industry. America is known to be home to the largest supplier of service robots. An article from Automation stated that the North American robotics market experienced its best quarter ever to begin 2022: Companies from the US, Canada and Mexico ordered 11,595 industrial robots–up 28% compared to the first quarter of 2021. There are nearly 40,000 robots installed to join the workforce, used to optimise manufacturing and overcome labour shortages problems.
Global competitiveness like never before
With the post-pandemic situation, the world is opening and the robotics market will bounce even more. This means robot manufacturers in the golden era of robotics must be prepared for global competition like never before: whoever can provide robots with the most sophisticated technology, custom-made according to the industry needs, and at competitive prices, will be sought after.
China will remain a leader in the next few years, given that the country is in the top 5 for the industrial and service robots market. We can learn how China has always succeeded in providing solutions in terms of technology and competitive prices. Furthermore, global markets should also focus on Europe, as the continent is expected to strengthen in the near future. It is not impossible, this robotics startup diversity will be richer and make the continent to become the centre of the future robotics industry.
In addition, there are also some potential countries to become the next key players in the world's robotics industry, such as Singapore, Spain, Portugal, and Denmark. Although not as big as countries in their home continents such as China and Germany, these countries show a more robust robotics ecosystem than a few years ago. Singapore, for instance, has set its sights on being a smart nation and has 605 robotic workers installed per 10,000 human employees. The island-nation has invested in many areas to support the advancement of robotics; research, funding, education, talent scouting, and more.
Developing new solutions for newcomers
Who would have thought that a cup of hot coffee that we bought from a coffee shop would be served by a robot barista? This means that the robotics industry must also be aware of what kind of products should be developed to answer the future needs.
The robotics trend taking place around the world will allow certain businesses to accelerate and start adopting robots. Learn from past experiences; the sudden arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of the problem of labour shortages, as well as the prediction of new problems in the coming years will make the robots adoption considered as an attractive investment that many business owners will make.
Fast, sophisticated and affordable solutions are highly needed
The robotics industry that still wants to compete in the arena must start developing robots that suit the needs of future customers. To date, there are more than 1,000 service robot suppliers worldwide that are currently recognised by the International Robotics Federation. This means that robot manufacturers in the golden era must strive to be the first to provide the solutions that the market needs, as the competition will get tighter in the coming years. In addition, price competition is also something that must be considered wisely. It is not impossible for potential customers to change direction if they find competitors who offer more affordable prices, with the same advanced technology.
In a global competition that demands speed, affordability and sophisticated technology, ready-to-use navigation solutions could be the answer to simplify robot manufacturing processes.
In a global competition that demands speed, affordability and sophisticated technology, ready-to-use navigation solutions could be the answer to simplify robot manufacturing processes. Yes, of course robot manufacturers can choose to do everything themselves. However, we know building the robot itself can take weeks, it takes research, trial and error, and more. Efficiency and productivity must be the favourite keywords to provide the best solution, with less cost, less time.
Seirios by Movel AI is the best ready-to-use navigation solution. Seirios is a powerful robotic navigation solution that allows autonomous robots or mobility platforms to see and act the way humans do. Seirios’ robotic localisation and navigation solutions built with advanced computer vision and sensor fusion technology. This enables robots to move in complex indoor and outdoor environments. Equipped with both 2D and 3D LiDAR-based navigation systems, Seirios enables robots to recognise its surroundings quickly and move around smoothly. Its sensor fusion technology enables robots to detect and recognise both humans and objects (type, size, and shape) and help to reduce sensor costs by around 40-50% simultaneously. So manufacturing a robot that uses a 3D LiDAR based system won't cost a lot of money anymore.
With its versatility, Seirios can be applied to any hardware in any industry; cleaning, logistics, manufacturing, construction, and more. It also takes less than a day to install Seirios and can be done within a few simple steps.
Seirios technology was designed to provide users with a responsive user interface to control robots from any devices; laptop, smartphones and tablets. The simple design allows users even from non tech background to operate all advanced features easily as well.
While letting Seirios by Movel AI take over the robotic navigation solutions, robot manufacturers can use the extra time to focus on studying their end users; find out what else they need and what technology they might need in the future. This makes two things run in one go and allows them to outsmart their competitors.
Click here for a FREE 30-day no-obligation trial to see how your robot deployment can be easier!


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As companies work to craft ways to extend their visibility in the social space, they are turning more and more to their own staff. The notion of employees as brand evangelists is not new and of course is not limited to social channels. I wrote about this 2 years ago.
In the marketing profession, companies, like IBM, are investing in retraining staff to engage with customers and prospects in the social space. As Ed Abrams, IBM midmarkets vice president discusses in this post, IBM has been training the marketing team to use social technology to not just fuel demand but to gain insights from dialogues occurring on social channels. “We have changed our marketing and communication team,” Abrams said. “We had to learn how and where to most effectively leverage all this social media capability. For example, we had people who were direct mail specialists but now are specialists in how best to use Twitter. It’s the evolution of marketing.”
Nike too decided it was time to have their own employees run with social campaigns and made headlines last week with its decision to bring social media in-house. It’s expected more companies will follow suit.
It will be interesting to watch how the agency relationship adapts to the increased confidence companies have with social technologies and their desire to own the conversation.


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Jeff Kloster is a soft drink evangelist, a Pied Piper of pop. He also used to be a “pepper.” Kloster and his family own Dublin Bottling Works, Inc., the soft drink company that was known as Dublin Dr Pepper until Jan. 11.
That was the day the Klosters agreed to sell their rights to the Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group, which had filed a lawsuit claiming the small bottler had violated its licensing agreement by selling beyond its distribution territory and using an unauthorized logo. The settlement ended both a 120-year relationship and Dublin’s run as the state’s iconic — and, for several decades, only — bottler of Dr Pepper made with real cane sugar.
The news surprised people. Calls for a Dr Pepper boycott went out over social media. But six months later, the company lives on. On June 9, Dublin Bottling Works began bottling and selling its own line of fountain drinks — including Vintage Cola, Tart and Sweet Lemonade, Retro-Grape and several others, all, of course, sweetened with Imperial Cane Sugar, which Dublin employees still lug off of pallets, one


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While the PlayStation Portal isn’t exactly the Vita/PSP successor that some were hoping for, that hasn’t stopped hardcore enthusiasts from attempting to turn Sony’s streaming companion tablet into a proper handheld. More specifically, a duo of Google employees have managed to get a PSP emulator up and running on the device, allowing games to be run locally from the handheld itself.
Google’s cloud vulnerability researcher Andy Nguyen and security engineer Calle Svensson managed to program a PS Portal to play Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories via emulation. The game was first launched as an exclusive for the PSP nearly twenty years ago, and is now able to run on the Portal after a months’ worth of work.
— Andy Nguyen (@theflow0) February 19, 2024
According to statements made to Kotaku, Svensson notes that other games such as Tekken 6 and Minecraft were able to run on the emulator as well. No release is planned at the moment according to Nguyen, who adds that more work on the project is needed.
Launched last year, the PlayStation Portal serves as a streaming device for the PS5, which means players will need a Wifi connection to be able to access games from their console to the device itself, which somewhat limits its functionality as a portable device.


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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
November 4, 2016
Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Friday, November 4, 2016
If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. - Desmond Tutu
Latest completed racing:
- October 9: Paris-Tours
- October 11: Nationale Sluitingprijs-Putte Kapellen
- October 9 - 16: World Road Cycling Championships
- October 20-23: Abu Dhabi Tour
- October 23: Chrono des Nations
- October 23: Japan Cup
- October 22-30: Tour of Hainan
Team Sky announces clothing partnership with Castelli
The team sent me this update:
Team Sky are delighted to announce a new performance kit partnership with Castelli. The team will be the only WorldTour outfit wearing Castelli clothing and will race and train in the brand's kit from January 2017.
Team Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: “We’re really excited to be able to announce this partnership between Team Sky and Castelli. Castelli will be more than a kit supplier, they will be an innovation partner. Castelli has a long history of breaking new ground when it comes to kit and design. We will continue to push hard to make sure our riders have the best clothing and equipment, and we’re already excited about some of the ideas Castelli are working on with us."
Castelli will supply Team Sky’s race kit, which will feature a brand new design for the 2017 season. The jersey design contains a mix of British and Italian influences, and the graphic celebrates every victory from Team Sky’s first seven seasons.
The classic Breton shirt served as the inspiration but has been reimagined in a data pattern with each stripe on the jersey, short, mitts, socks and cap representing a specific Team Sky victory. The longest lines are the four Tour de France victories, with Chris Froome’s 2016 victory immediately below the Sky logo on the chest.
Chris Froome in the 2017 Sky jersey
Brailsford added: “We spent a lot of time thinking about our new kit and what we wanted it to represent visually. We wanted to find a way of celebrating the success we have had as a team, but also to make sure we keep our mind firmly on the future. As a team we still have an enormous amount of goals we want to achieve and, through the design of our new kit, those will always be at the forefront of our thinking. We’ve maintained the design elements which our kits have become well known for, such as the blue line, but produced something ambitious and unique to Team Sky.
“We’re delighted with the results and we hope our fans will love it as much as the riders do.”
Andrea Peron, Castelli’s race performance director, said that the performance goals of Team Sky are a “natural fit” for Castelli. He said: “Castelli and Team Sky share the same drive for results-driven innovation in everything we do. Team Sky has a structure and the resources to help us continuously give our athletes a performance advantage.
"Whether it’s aerodynamics, foul weather protection or solutions that let the riders train more comfortably, we’re looking at every opportunity for an advantage.”
Steve Smith, Castelli’s brand manager, said: “Team Sky’s relentless pursuit of results means that they expect the maximum from their technical partners. We’re looking forward to being pushed. But the Team Sky internal performance group will be an invaluable resource to help us make sure that every rider has an advantage every time he’s on the bike.”
The short dashes on the jersey represent one day race and stage victories, while the medium length lines represent multi day stage races, with the number of stages determining the length of the line. WorldTour races are blue lines, while non WorldTour races are white. The front of the jersey is made up of victories by 2017 team members with the exception of Sir Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Tour win which has a special place in Team Sky history.
Michel Thétaz looks back on IAM Cycling team
The team posted these reflections by team boss Michel Thétaz:
Editor's Note: 2016 is the team's final year.
The end of the 2016 season has arrived, and the record for the IAM Cycling team is quite extraordinary. They succeeded in capturing stage wins at the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de Suisse, and two stages at the Vuelta a España! Nevertheless, the team did not succeed in finding a co-sponsor. Consequently it will not be continuing in the professional peloton into 2017, which would have been its fifth year. Michel Thétaz, founder of IAM and the eponymous Swiss cycling team, announced that it would disband at the end of the season on May 23rd, which was the second rest day of the Giro d’Italia.
The moment has come for Michel Thétaz to talk about the future, but not without reflecting on his involvement and investment in the world of professional cycling. “First of all, I would like to thank everyone who came from fifteen countries, all of whom worked for the same purpose, with the same vision and enthusiasm, which never wavered even in the final stretch. It was an extraordinary human and sporting adventure, and presented a unique opportunity to spread our brand values at the highest level.” The team was in fact the perfect ambassador for IAM and the range of IAMFUNDS.CH investment funds, which are now known not only in Switzerland, but around the world as well.
IAM Cycling rider Matthias Brändle
IAM Cycling has also offered a new impetus to the youth of Swiss cycling, giving them a leg up in their efforts to prove their talents in the coming years. On the strength of the team’s results in 2016, “the IAM Cycling adventure continues… but in different forms.” In fact, IAM will work along with the IAM Cycling structure to support various cycling events that will include the IAM Champex Challenge. That is an event that has already taken root, and will complement the partnership with “Give it all – Cycling for Children”, which is an initiative established by UNICEF at Crans-Montana, in the heart of the Swiss Alps.
Since the team started in January 2013, the Swiss squad, which earned its place in the WorldTour, did so in a manner that testified to the truth that with the strength of discipline, patience, and vision, one can succeed without cheating or cutting corners.
Credit Suisse expects continued decline of Taiwan bicycle exports
This came from Bike-Eu.com:
TAIPEI, Taiwan – In the first 8 months of 2016 Taiwan’s bicycle and e-bike export dropped by 25.6% compared to the same period in 2015. According to Credit Suisse Group AG export volumes will continue to diminish in 2017; in particular to China. Bicycle shipments from Taiwan to Europe and North America are forecasted to stabilize next year.
According to Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Jeremy Chen, “Taiwan’s bicycle makers might see their shipments decrease by 10% in next quarter.” Credit Suisse kept the rating of the country’s major bicycle manufacturers Giant and Merida at ‘under-performing’. Both reported declines in accumulated sales in the first nine months of the year.
Main reason for the further decline of Taiwan’s export would be the weak global demand for low to mid-end bicycles. But especially the weak Chinese market is a, “Key factor that needs to be monitored closely as inventory levels have remained higher than expected.” The study of Credit Suisse was published by the Taipei Times this week.
You can read the entire story here.


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In an interesting release Nutrabolics has removed itself from the self-tanning mirror obsessed culture of fitness and partnered up with some International Distributor for a Skin Whitening product. Now, some of you might be thinking, WTF? Well, if you have any Asian members in your family you might already know about the growing trend of lightening skin. Its not just tied to the Asian nations, as the Middle East, Egypt, etc. also are overly into lightening their pigmentation as some sort of social value booster.
This is the first time we see a major sports nutrition producer publicly jump on the trend, which more than likely is now a $100 million plus category overseas.
The Skin Whitening product is basically just 10g of Collagen which is to assist with smoothing skin, reducing wrinkles, and the whole anti-aging vibe. They then add the antioxidant Glutathione, which is considered the master controller of all this prooxidant in the body. Its especially effective in the soft tissue of the body and organs like the liver and lungs.
How this all ties to actual lightening the skin pigments, well who knows, but its been quite a trend on the ol’ twitter that it was worth checking out. Apparently, many Asian countries have the same vanity issue as the Americas and they also suffer from Instagram and Snapchat filter syndromes where they want to actually look like they do on their highly over processed online portfolio.
Skin Whitening wont been a US or UK release an looks to be a Philippines regional release for now. Have no fear as with all things its likely to make it way to the US where all the fair skinned people will want to have the entire light spectrum absorbed into their face and become glowing angels just like their social media filters.


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Wireless speaker company, Sonos and specialty AV juggernaut, Sound United, announced Friday that they've settled their issues regarding patent infringement.
Sonos products are sold in many locations and are popular for their proprietary network connection and easy to use set up process.
More and more of Sound United brands are including wireless features ranging from Denon to Marantz as well as their wireless brand, HEOS.
Read the press release below...
Sound United, parent company to leading audio brands Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, HEOS, Boston Acoustics and Classé Audio, announced today that it has reached a settlement with Sonos, resolving all patent infringement litigation between the two companies including the upcoming case filed against Sonos by Denon. Terms of the agreement are confidential.
"Today's agreement demonstrates our belief in moving the industry forward and removing barriers for both parties to deliver products that delight customers," said Kevin Duffy, CEO of Sound United. "Our direction with HEOS is unchanged, and we'll continue providing amazing-sounding solutions globally while furthering our vision of delivering joy to the world through sound."
• Read Dennis Burger's $899 HEOS Three-channel Soundbar review here. Buy it on Amazon here.
• Read Brian Kahn's review of the HEOS 3 and HEOS 7 wireless table-top speakers here. Buy the HEOS 3 here. Buy the HEOS 7 here.
Read Brian Kahn's Sonos Soundbar review here. Buy it for $1,650 on Amazon.com here.


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Feb 13, 2013, 09.52 AM | Source: PTI
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today reported 32 per cent increase in global sales for last month at 34,877 units.
This reflects the introduction of the all-new Range Rover as well as the 2013 Model Year Jaguar XF and XJ models," JLR Director of Group Sales Operations, Phil Popham said. In January, Land Rover brand sold 29,118 vehicles, up 31 per cent, with increased sales of Freelander - up 57 per cent, Range Rover -- up 52 per cent, including prior model, Range Rover Evoque (32 per cent), Range Rover Sport (17 per cent) and Land Rover Discovery (14 per cent).
Land Rover sales were up in all major markets with record January sales in several geographies, including the UK, USA and Germany, the company said. The Jaguar brand sold 5,759 vehicles in January, up 40 per cent, with increased sales of the XJ - up 70 per cent and the XF - up 37 per cent, the company said, adding that Jaguar sales increased in all major markets.
At Rs 11.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) the seven-se
Motilal Oswal is bullish on Tata Motors has recomm
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Tata Motors today appointed Tata group chief desig
US President-elect Donald Trump’s stance on prom


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Lexus has announced that the 2014 CT 200h will debut at the 2013 Guangzhou Motor Show in China on November 21st — from the press release: This compact luxury hybrid receives a new Lexus “spindle grille,” one of several dynamic and sophisticated exterior styling changes implemented for 2014 model year. Other exterior changes include newly […]
In an interview with Motoring Australia, Lexus International executive vice president Mark Templin makes the case for a higher powered CT hatchback sometime in the future: “I think the CT got a reputation for its handling steering and suspension system. If we had had a second powertrain in that car, I think sure we would […]
The updated 2014 Lexus CT 200h has been spotted once again — Car Advice has the photos: The pure white license plate matches the spy photos seen last month, as does the white exterior and blacked-out roof — Car Advice speculates on when the new CT will debut: The 2014 facelift is tipped to be […]
The 2014 Lexus CT 200h F SPORT has been spotted by Leftlane News during a commercial shoot — here are photos of the front & back: There were no photos of the side profile, but here’s a closer look at the new spindle grille: All in all, it’s a great looking update — the spindle […]
In a recent interview with The Motor Report, Lexus Australia Sean Hanley confirmed that the CT 200h will receive a mid-cycle refresh ahead of an all-new model in 2016: Lexus Australia chief executive Sean Hanley is refusing to admit defeat – or even disappointment – with the CT 200h baby hybrid. “We see the CT […]
Really like this CT 200h commercial from Lexus China: There’s something very authentic about this video and the way it captures the emotion of hybrid technology — job well done.


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Phillips-Medisize has introduced a digital drug delivery device designed to reduce the environmental impact of autoinjectors. The product, the Aria Smart Autoinjector, consists of a reusable drive and disposable cassette that Phillips-Medisize claims can reduce waste by up to 50%.
Autoinjectors simplify self-administration to make it easier for patients to manage their conditions at home. Shifting treatment from healthcare facilities to the home can benefit patients and lower the cost of care. However, while reduced travel to healthcare facilities is a positive for the environment, the single-use nature of autoinjectors is a negative.
Phillips-Medisize, a Molex company, has sought to mitigate the environmental impact by reusing part of the autoinjector. The cassette that houses the 1-ml or 2.25-ml prefilled syringe is disposable but, according to Phillips-Medisize, is smaller and uses less material than single-use autoinjectors.
Users insert the cassette into a reusable device. Reusing part of the Aria autoinjector has enabled Phillips-Medisize to incorporate connectivity without incurring the waste of throwing away electronic components after one use. The reusable component has Bluetooth and optional RFID connections to enable the sharing of time-stamped data and provides feedback on the progress of injections.
“Our goal from the outset has been to develop an injector that patients love, combining the simplicity of current disposable devices with the superior performance, sustainability and connectivity possible through an electronic, reusable device,” Kevin Deane, vice president for innovation at Phillips-Medisize, said in a statement.
The introduction of Aria provides more evidence that autoinjector manufacturers are considering the environmental impact of their products. Last year, Ypsomed introduced what it claimed was the first zero-carbon emission autoinjector.
YpsoMate Zero lacks the reusable or electronic features of Aria. Rather, the focus is on the use of alternative biopolymers and other changes intended to reduce carbon emissions. Ypsomed is using carbon dioxide certificates from third parties and its own activities, such as a reforestation initiative, to offset the greenhouse gas generated during production.


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According to new data revealed by Coutts Bank, it’s been reported the value of classic cars has dropped by 10.4% in the past year. Since 2005, classic cars have steadily risen in value, only for the drop to occur recently.
Co-founder of the Car and Classics website, Phil Warner has said this was because of a skills shortage. “Prices have tumbled and that is in part due to the dire shortage of skilled mechanics. The value of classic cars is dropping for the first time in more than a decade, because there aren’t enough old-fashioned mechanics to fix them.”
Warner went on to highlight the generation gap, feeling that modern mechanics are taught to rely on computer diagnostics. “The old grease-monkey is a dying breed of mechanic. My generation was able to use a manual to strip down a car and put it back together again. I seriously doubt the future of classic cars as we know them. At best we might see a more reliable modern engine powering a classic chassis.”
The models that have been most affected include Aston Martin, Jaguar, Ferrari and Porsche. Prices had risen more than 332% in the last ten years, only for the value to drop. David Mutch, owner of Clydesdale Classic Car Restorations pointed out that it was hard to find mechanics that could keep up with the demand of owners wanting their cars fixed.
“Today’s mechanics are trained to work on cars as fast as possible. We work at a more meticulous pace. My own 1971 MGB Roadster is lying in a corner waiting to be fixed and I don’t know when we will get round to it.”
As the value of classic cars have fallen, the value of rare musical instruments and photography has soared. Brandi Estes, head of photography auctions at Sotheby’s said “it’s the nature of the work; it is the most democratic of art forms and because of the relatively accessible price points; it’s an attractive category for the growing middle market.”
With classic car values dropping, it brings up an interesting conversation on the future of classic vehicles. What do you think will happen?