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Quantum computing holds immense promise, both for consumers and the technology sector as a whole. It also is likely to be coming to secretive government facilities all around the world, both allied and adversarial in the very near future.
The unfortunate downside of this technological progress is that quantum computing will likely end legacy cybersecurity as we know it, due to the ability of quantum computers to break every level of encryption in existence today.
In this article, I would like to discuss Arqit Quantum (NASDAQ:ARQQ) and the reasons why the company may have a highly profitable solution to the quantum hacking nightmare security experts are predicting.
Quantum computing in the near future will usher in huge advances in technology and perhaps transform how we go about our daily lives for the better. The unfortunate part of our quantum future is that when quantum computing arrives, current encryption methods keeping all of our information safe, will fail. This is not a question of if, it is of when.
The Global Risk Institute released a report titled "Quantum Threat Timeline" in 2019 which polled 22 leading data scientists on the forecasted timetable for a quantum computer to break current encryption standards. The consensus at the time was around 15 years, or 2034.
Since that report was released, the quantum computing market has experienced a massive surge of investment with incredibly fast progress reported from companies around the globe, several, such as Google (GOOGL) (GOOG), IBM (IBM), Rigetti Computing and Honeywell (HON) already have broken past 100 qubits, with a rapid doubling of capability shown.
For reference, a recent article from Cornell University shows that PKI encryption (the current industry standard) may require as little as 2,000 logical qubits to break, making the timeline for current encryptions' obsolescence disturbingly close, likely in the 2025-2030 time frame, with governments such as the USA, UK, China and Russia likely well ahead of that date.
A troubling trend noted recently by nation-state actors is to "harvest now, decrypt later" which is the term for stealing encrypted data from hardened sources today and then store the data to decrypt when the technology is available. It has even been theorized that the entire blockchain that Bitcoin (BTC-USD), Ethereum (ETH-USD) and others depend on may be at risk of total hijack or collapse once quantum computers reach maturity.
This trend makes it critically important for nations to migrate away from PKI encryption as soon as possible to symmetric encryption keys. The biggest problem currently with symmetric key encryption is that you need to have a way to get the key to the other party with whom you are sharing the data.
Arqit believes that it has a solution for this critical problem that is completely computationally secure, which means it cannot be broken by any current or future machine, along with a delivery system that cannot be intercepted via the quantum cloud.
The key to this entire technology's eventual adoption is that the algorithm used is already the global standard (AES), meaning that it is operable with current systems, giving users no logical reason to not adopt the technology.
The technology Arqit invented is covered by over 1,400 patent claims making this company and its technology potentially protected from copycats looking to set up similar business models for some time to come.
The commercial strategy also appears to be very well thought out, with the software downloaded by customers and used automatically. Billing events are created by usage via commercial customers with key creation events being metered.
The brilliance of this strategy is the incredibly low capex Arqit has to expend once the core infrastructure is in place, as the software needed is basically zero touch. With current systems operating on a compatible format, ultimately every connected device is a potential customer of Arqit without the need of the company building any further infrastructure as the 2 planned and paid for satellites used are able to generate two quadrillion unique keys per year.
To get an idea of the explosive potential of this company, please keep in mind that the below pipeline and business development was accomplished all in 2021, with only 2 dedicated salespeople, one being the CEO himself.
To land executed, recurring and framework contracts with the likes of the British Government, British Telecom (OTCPK:BTGOF), Sumitomo Corporation (OTCPK:SSUMF) ESA and Dentons in addition to an "unnamed" major payment network, Northrop Grumman (NOC), Iridium (IRDM), Verizon (VZ) and BP (BP) accomplished pre hard rollout is unbelievably impressive and gives credibility to the massive potential ahead for the company.
During recent analyst conferences before the de-SPAC event, the CEO has reported massively increased interest in the product well before any ramp up in sales and marketing efforts by the company.
Generally I do not like to discuss financial projections generated from the SPAC process as many companies simply throw hopes and dreams into a blender to come up with these. However, given the solid and proven pipeline of customers Arqit has signed already and the fact that the service is already live give me enough confidence to share the company's 2025 projections.
As you can see from the above slide, Arqit expects to be EBITDA positive as soon as 2022 and free cash flow positive in 2023. The projections really hammer home that the company truly expects to be very capex light and plans on generating impressive gross margins of 90+% as soon as 2023.
With Arqit, I really have to control my enthusiasm a bit, not only does the company appear to have a scalable solution to a massive problem affecting nearly every sector around the globe, but the company also has a way of doing it that is low capex and very high margin.
In addition, the company having expended basically zero sales effort to date, has secured $130 million in guaranteed revenues from A list customers with a high probability of closing a $1.1 billion backlog pipeline already.
The CEO indicated in the recent investor day that in his 30 years of sales experience, he has never had any product like Arqit's and that his closing percentage is nearly 100%.
If Arqit even comes close to the financial projections they have presented, which the CEO notes is a very conservative projection, then the company could be worth many multiples of the current $2.1 billion market cap.
It also would appear, counter to many of the recent SPAC IPOs, that dilution should not be an issue going forward. In the SPAC transaction, the company has received $376 million in cash to the balance sheet, to which the CEO recently commented that the deal brought it "twice the money that we need to fully fund our business" and that "We don't need to raise any more money, ever," he told CNBC.
In late August I purchased a moderately sized speculative position in the SPAC. My only hesitancy in purchasing more is that generally, when a company seems to have a no-brainer, hugely profitable solution to a massive problem, red flags tend to appear.
So far, I have not found any true red flags with Arqit, but as I am not a cybersecurity expert, I will be keeping my position moderately sized until at least a few quarters have run off and I gain a greater comfortability with the progress of the technology and management.
I am very excited to see how this company develops as it would appear they may have solved a truly massive problem that nearly all NATO countries have been losing sleep over for years, before it actually existed. If they are successful in the product roll out, shareholders are likely to be rewarded handsomely.
I look forward to your comments and views of the company, thank you for reading and good luck!
This article was written by
Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ARQQ, GOOGL, HON, BTC-USD, ETH-USD either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Additional disclosure: "I am not a licensed financial advisor. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell a specific security nor is it to be construed as investment advice, please contact your licensed financial and tax advisor for advice to your specific situation.
This article is an opinion piece only and should not be construed as fact or be represented as such, please perform your own due diligence prior to investing in this or any equity.”


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Intel has announced that "limited quantities
" of an experimental processor featuring 48 physical processing cores will be shipping to researchers by the middle of the year.
As reported over on ITworld
, the Intel Labs evangelist Sean Hoehl announced the company's plans to provide academic researchers with early versions of its massively multi-core processors as part of the company's Tera-scale research programme - almost certainly a variant on its Single Chip Cloud Computer
Whilst hard details as to the precise specifications of the processor weren't made available, engineer Christopher Anderson hinted that each physical core on the chip would clock in at around the same speed as an Atom processor - so we're looking at anything between 1.2GHz and 1.8GHz per core. While that might not sound like much, remember that Intel is building forty-eight
of these on a single processor
- and there'll be nothing to stop dual- and even quad-processor motherboards being manufactured to accept these new chips.
Interestingly, one fact that did come out during the announcement was the power draw of the new chip: depending on workload, the 48-core processor is expected to draw between 25 and 125 Watts - with the massive difference due to the chip's ability to shut down groups of processing cores if they're not actively being used.
The prototype chip is based around the same mesh technology behind the more impressive 80 core version that the Tera-scale research team developed back in 2007
, but unlike previous efforts this latest version is a fully working processor - albeit in prototype form.
Sadly, Intel hasn't offered any hints on precisely when processors with this many cores will become a commercial reality - but at least this will give researchers time to develop the tools and skills required to take advantage of such a massively parallel processing platform.
Are you impressed that Intel has made it to a viable 48-core processor already, or are you only going to take notice when the triple-figure chips hit shop shelves? Is the future truly in many low-powered cores, or should the company be concentrating on fewer, higher-speed cores in its processors? Share your thoughts over in the forums

domain: news


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Cambashi has released the latest version of its BIM Design Observatory. The observatory covers the key building design tasks, including Architectural, Civil, MEP and Structural design, as well as Civil and Structural analysis. The large Architectural design packages make up the largest segment, with nearly a fifth of the total user spend. Total market spend is about $4.4bn in 2017.
The observatory also details the market at country level for almost 60 countries. Established countries like US, Japan, Germany and UK between them account for over half of the spend on this software. However, when you look at country-level growths, there are some interesting results.
Looking at constant dollars to avoid exchange rate effects, the top five countries for growth were:
The first point to mention is the dip in 2016. This was primarily caused by Autodesk, who are the largest provider in the BIM Design Software market, moving from a licence-based revenue model to a subscription one, mostly affecting 2016. Countries in which Autodesk has a higher market share, such as Vietnam, show a more pronounced dip.
It’s not too much of a surprise to see China in the top five – some of the world’s biggest construction companies are Chinese and there are lots of new construction projects in the country. In fact, China will have built 5,000km of new roads in 2018 alone.
Ukraine and Turkey both went through political problems that may have affected BIM software spend in 2016, leading to high bounce-back growth in 2017 from a low base in 2016. However, for both of these countries high growth is forecast to continue, in local currency terms, through to 2022.
Estonia and Vietnam both have very small markets, so relatively modest increases in absolute expenditure will equate to significant percentage growth. Both countries have also experienced a large growth in their construction industries of around 20% in 2017.
Just as enlightening is the list of top-growing countries forecast for 2017-2022. This time, China doesn’t make the top ten. The top five are:
Again, the effect of Autodesk’s switch to subscription licensing is evident. Those countries with higher uptake of Autodesk software will have more significant ‘bounce-back’ growth, as the effect of subscriptions evens out. China has some significant local software companies, as well as significant market share for Bentley Systems, which will dampen the ‘Autodesk’ effect.
Ukraine and Vietnam make the list again. As quite large countries with small current markets, there is plenty of scope for significant growth. It is also worth pointing out that piracy rates have dropped in both of these countries over the last few years, so switching to legitimate software licences might account for at least some of the extraordinary growth.
Qatar may be influenced by the preparations for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, as well as having a construction boom anyway.
UAE has undergone a period of relatively modest, or even negative growth over the last few years, but is expected to return to its status as a construction hotspot.
Argentina may come as a surprise at the very top of the growth list. However, although our constant dollars measure negates currency fluctuations, it does not eliminate inflation. Argentina’s high inflation is likely to be behind much of its stellar growth forecasts.


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It may sound perverse, but releasing WinJS as open-source software that works on rival browsers could help Microsoft get more apps on Windows.
The refresh of Internet Explorer stays in sync from laptop to tablet to phone, and features an enterprise mode for desktop as well as reading and data-saving modes for mobile.
Data from web tracker Net Applications shows that Chrome has just overtaken Firefox on the desktop, but IE is still the big dog.
Google’s browser outpaced its Mozilla rival last month by fraction of a percentage point, according to Web tracker Net Applications.
Aunt Jill Schlesinger's back on the show for her annual tax advice episode! We'll chat with her about how to pick the right CPA, why you shouldn't ever cancel a credit card, and why WhatsApp really is worth 19 billion.
One of the critical flaws addressed allows IE 10 to be exploited by attack code placed on compromised Web sites.
Samsung's not giving up on Windows Phone, with a new mobile boasting Full HD resolution showing up in a Bluetooth certification document.
Never before has there been such a vast assortment of exceptional headphones available in every price class. Here are some of the year's standouts.
These tips will bring you right up to speed with what's new and updated in Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8.1.
Microsoft Singapore personifies its browser for the OS-tan universe, Marvel characters get their own shows on Netflix, and Sony reveals the apps launching on PlayStation 4.
Welcome tweaks and new features in this free OS update, but not a game-changer
Need a digital detox?
Not everything has to be shared on the Internet. Our experts at The Fix help you take control of what you share online.


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Bored Apes in Singapore: Yacht, Video, and Zuckerberg
By Lesia Dubenko 158 18 Sept 2023
The apes are in fine fettle. Yuga Labs CEO proves that. During his stay in Singapore that held the Token2049 event, he said and showed many interesting things.
The Token2049 event in Singapore has now come to a close, but its atmosphere is still very much alive and kicking. The CEO of Yuga Labs Daniel Alegre’s X (Twitter) proves that.
In one of his tweets from Singapore, he showed what the BAYC-yacht devoted to the event looked like. And it’s everything you’d expect it to be, with three apes dressed in bespoke outfits. All three of them are looking at the box full of bananas – the ultimate currency in the world of apes. One of them is also smoking a cigar.
His other tweet includes a short video with lines that read “An NFT isn’t a JPEG, it’s the future”. The tweet received both positive and negative feedback from X users. Some agreed with Alegre while others were more skeptical. One of them wrote, “Agree but not all of them… some are already history.”
Alegre also expressed excitement about the “many community members” he met “who are creating unique businesses with their Apes”, adding that “now we can highlight and showcase what they have built. MBA!”
During the event, he also made several big statements. Among them is that Zuckerberg’s Meta gave “the metaverse a bad name” thanks to its extremely subpar vision communicated to the people.
He added that the problem with the metaverse is that Meta “ruined the term because it claimed to offer something new” even though other metaverse platforms had been around already at the time.
“I was at Activision Blizzard, we had World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft is a metaverse, Fortnite is a metaverse — so the metaverse is evolving, I think, in very, very positive ways,” he said, adding that “[Users] go in and say ‘Hey, Mark, so cool to see you…So now what?’ It just flopped, there's a huge echo in the room.”
In spite of Alegre’s enthusiasm, the BAYC’s NFTs collection continues to lose its value. According to the OpenSea data, the BAYC’s floor price is currently 24.125 ETH ($34289.26). To compare: In June, it stood at 44.1 ETH. This equals $72911.76 at the time of writing.
Previously, Gagarin News shed light on how much celebrities lost on NFTs.


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Target (TGT) posted fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates, signaling that it's regaining customer loyalty after a data breach affected tens of millions of shoppers at the peak of the holiday season. Net income fell 46% to $520 million, or 81 cents a share, from $961 million, or $1.47, a year earlier, the Minneapolis-based company said today in a statement. Analysts had projected ...
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NEW YORK — Karl Lagerfeld is offering a spring teaser of his new contemporary line.
A limited-edition spring capsule group from Karl Lagerfeld, which makes its official debut next fall, will be sold exclusively at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman beginning March 17. It consists of about 28 women's and 23 men's styles, with denim as a key component. Colors range from black and midnight blue to gray, slate and nude.
Ann Acierno, president of Karl Lagerfeld, said the early launch will help generate excitement and keep the momentum going until the fall line hits stores. That collection will be shown to editors and buyers on the runway during New York Fashion Week in February.
"We thought of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman because they are terrific partners," she said. "Their customers exemplify the spirit of the brand."
The collection is inspired by the vitality of New York, where the studio is based and where Lagerfeld recently bought an apartment. The capsule collection includes five-pocket, low-rise, screen-print and laser-cut jeans, as well as denim jackets and vests. There also will be classic white woven shirts, retro-print T-shirts, tanks and silk georgette dresses.
Acierno wouldn't disclose wholesale price points, but suggested retail prices for women will range from $250 to $450 for jeans, $115 to $175 for T-shirts, $395 to $450 for jackets and $425 and $475 for dresses.
Neiman's will offer both women's and men's wear, while Bergdorf's will focus on women's.
The launch will coincide with Neiman Marcus' The HIP Event, a biannual initiative the upscale retailer uses to spotlight contemporary collections through special activities.
"We collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld because we were so excited about the opportunity to be able to launch a collection with the scope of Karl's talent and offer it at more accessible price points," said Ann Stordahl, executive vice president and general merchandise manager at Neiman Marcus, which will carry the line in all its stores, as well as through Neiman Marcus Direct. By mid-March, Neiman's will have 36 stores nationwide.
"I think that, with Karl's design talent and creativity, we will take the contemporary category to a whole new level, and we are so excited about the creativity he is bringing to the denim business," Stordahl said.At Bergdorf's, the collection will be sold on the fifth floor with lines such as Catherine Malandrino, Tracy Reese, Elie Tahari and Diane von Furstenberg.
"It's a very modern, clean and quintessentially Karl collection," said Bergdorf's Robert Burke, senior vice president of fashion and public relations. "It's more him than the houses he designs for, and it just looked very appealing."
Bergdorf's, which already sells Chanel, also picked up Fendi's ready-to-wear for spring. "Karl Lagerfeld is doing some of the best work he has ever done," Burke said.
Lagerfeld recently shot exclusive images of the line in his New York studio, which will be featured in Neiman's women's and men's books, Bergdorf Goodman's magazine and the stores' Web sites. The images also will appear in April issues of select national and regional magazines.
Etro’s show, titled “The Tree of Life,” was a celebration of the house’s 50th anniversary. “My father founded the company in 1968, which was the year of counterculture and psychedelia. It’s really a show that celebrates that and the paisley design of India and its origin,” said Veronica Etro. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18 (📷: @delphineachard)
For @msgm’s spring 2018 show, creative director @massimogiorgetti said “Words, sounds, colors. Synthesis and therapy of a collection,” were the inspirations behind the collection, showing today. Read the rest of Milan spring 2018 inspirations on WWD.com. #mfw #wwdfashion #ss18
For her first solo album in over 10 years, Fergie tapped Carine Roitfeld, Mert and Marcus, Giovanni Bianco and more to create a fashion-focused video approach for the record, Double Dutchess. "Giovanni really helped me get back in touch with my tomboy side, my hardside," said the singer. #wwdeye #wwdfashion ( : @slovekinpics)
“Volumes and Graphic Art of the Nineties are the main inspirations of the new Aquilano.Rimondi SS 2018 collection,” said cocreative directors Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18


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IFA 2016 showed us how far wearables have come
The industry is tracking backwards toward traditional watch design.
IFA 2016 day zero: Selfie-phones and barista robots
Berlin's warming up with cyborg assistants.
Sony's run out of ideas for its smartphones
The company needs to do something radical, because nothing else is working.
Sony's gold-plated Walkman needs deep, strong pockets
We've come a long way since the $99 auto-reverse tape days.
A closer look at Sony's Xperia Ear voice assistant
The tiny wireless device is set to hit stores in November.
Sony's new e-paper watch actually looks like a timepiece
The company wants your money to make its FES Watch U.
Sony sold me on Xperia Agent in one cup of coffee
Caffeine and robots? That's the future.
Sony's mid-range Xperia X gets a smaller spin-off
This compact phone might be more exciting than the original.
The Xperia XZ is the 2016 flagship phone Sony should've made first
But is it too little, too late?


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One of Europe’s biggest fixed-network operators is following the lead of its wireless counterparts in demanding a greater say in the design and service features of cordless phones and other wireless devices used in the home.
Phones, smart phones, videophones and a range of wireless devices, including wireless LAN-enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs), will be “absolutely crucial to the success of our services and will help drive our growth moving ahead,” said Riccardo Ruggiero, chief executive officer (CEO) of Telecom Italia SpA, speaking Tuesday at the Broadband World Forum in Venice. “We are developing an entirely new family of products that will be fascinating to use.”
With its Live multimedia service launched nearly two years ago, Vodafone Group PLC sent a signal to handset suppliers that the U.K. mobile phone company intended to have more say in the look and feel of new handsets, including the ability to slap its brand on both the hardware and software. Since then, other European mobile operators, including Orange SA and T-Mobile International AG, have also tweaked their relationships with handset vendors, which have traditionally controlled the brand and dictated the services.
The move in Europe to have more say in the technical features of phones mirrors the model in Japan where operators, such as NTT DoCoMo Inc., have been telling vendors for sometime what they want to see in handsets.
Telecom Italia’s new phones will have many functions similar to those of mobile handsets, such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), e-mail, incoming caller identification, phone book and colour display, according to Ruggiero.
In addition to phones, the Italian operator aims to supply other products to home and small-office users, such as gateway systems to connect home wire-based or wireless LANs, entertainment systems and more, according to Ruggiero. In the fourth quarter of this year, the company plans to launch a range of new products and services targeting the digital home market, he said.
The keen interest in devices, especially in the home gateway, makes sense, according Anton Schaaf, a member of the group board at the information and communication network division of Siemens AG. “If operators only deliver the pipe into the home, they’re not in control of any of the TV and PC services at the other end,” he said. “To deliver services they can control and later bill for, they really need to have home gateway systems in their product portfolios.”


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The Government’s Policy to Distribute Rice Aid to Control Inflation is Correct
Providing rice assistance by the government through the Food Supply and Price Stabilization Program (SPHP) is one of the steps taken to control inflation due to rice prices in Indonesia which are predicted to continue to experience price increases until the end of 2023.
There was a slowdown in rice production during the long dry season, the effect of the super El Nino phenomenon had an impact resulting in reduced rice supplies from farmers. Dry rice fields due to the long dry season occurred in seven provinces including Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau Islands, NTT, NTB and Papua. Meanwhile, other provinces are experiencing low levels of drought.
The increase in the price of rice, which reached around 5-6 percent of the normal price in the last few months, has prompted the government to distribute food aid to poor people. Fluctuations in rice prices have an impact on the inflation rate.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that the distribution of rice food aid would be carried out from early September to 3 months and ordered government officials to distribute 10 kilograms of rice aid to 21.3 million beneficiary families (KPM).
Rice assistance can help relieve pressure on rice prices which have an impact on the consumer price index, increase food reserves to maintain stock stability, reduce rice prices in the market and help control inflation in the regions until it declines gradually.
In the rice aid program, the government distributes around 210 thousand tonnes of rice aid every month with a quarterly stock allocation of 640 tonnes of rice from the Bulog warehouse. Currently, SPHP rice from Bulog has begun to be distributed to markets in each region.
The Cimahi government is collaborating with Perum Bulog Bandung Branch to hold a cheap rice market operation in 3 sub-districts in the Cimahi city area on September 10 2023.
To review the distribution, the Acting (PJ) Mayor of Cimahi City, H. Dikdik, said that the rice assistance helped ease the burden on the community in meeting basic needs and was a form of government attention to the community.
The cheap rice operation was carried out by the government to reduce inflation which has an impact on rice prices and is an intervention step that needs to be taken so that rice prices can return to stability.
Distribution of rice aid must be distributed on target where the recipients of the aid are beneficiary families (KPM), the distribution process needs to be appropriate and minimize errors in the field.
Head of the National Food Agency (NFA) Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the data on recipients of rice food assistance should be truly cross checked , so that it can remain targeted. In particular, distribution to 3TP (Disadvantaged, Outermost, Frontier and Border) areas requires effective delivery by sending aid packages for two or three months at once, in order to accelerate delivery so that it is delivered quickly.
The distribution of rice food aid to the community can provide great benefits and have a positive impact on economic stability and national food security and can reduce the price of rice on the market so that people do not need to worry and panic buy.
Muhammad Rudi was represented by the Regional Secretary of Batam City, Jefridin, M.Pd. said the regional government was asked to immediately distribute 21,353 tons of CPP rice to all regions from January to December and Batam City had started distributing Phase 2 of the Government’s Food Reserve Rice Assistance which was intended for 32,533 Beneficiary Families (KPM). The Batam Branch of the Logistics Affairs Agency (Bulog) stated that in stage 2, Batam City received an allocation of 3.25 tons of CPP rice 332 kg.
The hope is that the distribution of Phase 2 CPP rice can reduce the price of rice on the market so that it can reduce the inflation rate in Batam City. In this coordination meeting, the Regional Government was also asked to support data collection on MSMEs
In the rice statistics released by the Central Statistics Agency on September 1 2023, it was recorded that in February 2023 the rice inflation rate (month to month) was 2.63%. Then it decreased to 0.03% in July, but increased again to 1.43% in August 2023. Related to this, the share of rice inflation (month to month) of 0.08% in February also fell and increased again in August to reach 0 .05%.
PT Pos Indonesia (Persero) Financial Services Business Director Haris said that of the targeted 3.5 million KPM data, approximately 3.4 million families had been distributed nationally. Even though the distribution of basic food assistance and the PKH program is being carried out well, Pos Indonesia is determined to maintain and even improve the quality of services to distribute similar assistance in the future. This rice food aid is considered capable of reducing the rate of increase in rice prices from April to July 2023, thus having an impact on maintaining the general inflation rate.
A number of improvements, innovations and better changes have been carried out gradually to maintain credibility as a distributor of aid, especially in front of the government so that rice prices can fall back to normal and reduce inflation.


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What a nightmare! Last month, Samsung’s Note 7 phones started exploding, leading to an unprecedented global recall that cost the company billions of dollar and a dent in the brand image that will take years to repair. But Samsung reacted swiftly by replacing the culprit – the battery from a particular supplier – and shipping “safe” Note 7s that came with a black square on the box and a green battery icon. Kudos!
And it would have been worthy of a pat on the back – pulling off a global recall of 2.5 million phones is no mean feat, after all – except for one problem.
Yes, the “safe” Note 7s have also started catching fire. There have been multiple reports, including the scary one of a replaced Note 7 catching fire inside an airplane, forcing all passengers to be evacuated. Elsewhere in the US, a Note 7 started smoking in a bedroom, sending its owner to the hospital. One more melted, burning a girl’s hand, while in Taiwan another exploded inside a woman’s pocket. Two more caught fire in South Korea. And you can count on it that over the next few days, you will see more report trickle in, some real, some fake.
At a time like this, you would not want to be in Samsung’s shoes. CNN Money reports that two major carriers in the USA – AT&T and T-Mobile – have announced they will stop offering replacement Note 7s pending further investigations. Samsung’s stock promptly took a dive, dropping 4.6 per cent in Seoul on Monday. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal brings news that Samsung has temporarily halted production of the Note 7.
So where does Samsung go from here? The company has promised to “move quickly” to investigate these cases and share findings as soon as possible. But it might be too late for the beleaguered Note 7. If these reports turn out to be true — which they most likely are – Samsung will be forced into a second recall. This means all new Note 7 replaced or sold – from the US to the UAE – will need to be rounded up yet again. Deja vu!
More importantly, will consumers trust Samsung enough to buy the replacement of the replacement of the Note 7? Especially when there are so many worthy alternatives such as the iPhone 7, LG V20 and Google Pixel? And what if the problem turns out to be with the phone itself? That might mean the charging circuitry – or more likely the entire motherboard – will have to be replaced. This will take much longer – and cost a lot more for Samsung – than simply popping open the back, replacing the battery and shipping back the phones.
This brings us to more dramatic alternatives: scrap the Note 7 entirely, refund buyers or offer the highly-rated S7 Edge as an alternative. This decision, of course, would have huge ramifications on the company’s bottom line and share price. But it might also be the cleaner way out of the Note 7 mess. Perhaps millions of Note 7s will end up in a landfill or be salvaged for parts. Those parts might even end up in the Note 8. We have already heard rumours that the company might prepone the launch of its other flagship phone – the S8 – by a month or two to divert attention away from the Note 7 fiasco. So it is likely they might do the same with the Note 8.
Though this would also mean the company will have to rush through the design, manufacturing and QC processes, which is precisely what got them in this mess! According to Bloomberg, the problems with the Note 7 can be traced back to Samsung’s overwhelming desire to beat Apple by launching the phone earlier than its arch nemesis, the iPhone 7. However, on the flip side, we can expect a smarter – but poorer – Samsung to not repeat the same mistakes again. One nightmare should be enough to last a few years, at least.


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on and even a halt to cryptocurrencies. Belarusian Taxes on Bitcoin Under the Ordinance, Belarus has waived all taxes on cryptocurrency transactions and income for five years (so until January of 2023). The CEO and founder of Binance signed a memorandum of understanding with Bermudas Minister of Finance in April of 2018. The central bank of Hong Kong, known as the Monetary Authority, said that the rejection rate for new business accounts is only. The countrys has a highly developed market economy, with historic roots as a trading port. In addition to turning thousands of middle-income people into professional tax evaders, bitcoin could theoretically allow wealthy speculators to complete complicated commercial transactions, such as tax-exempt stock and gold-swapping trades that involve buying agents acting as " straw men " by using local currencies. While accepting it as a valid currency, the government still seeks to impose further regulations on cryptocurrency, advancing this as a topic geld verdienen einfach und schnell for discussion at the G20 summit held in early 2018. Government Stance on Bitcoin Businesses The President of Belarus has put his name to a decree which fully legalizes blockchain technology within the country. Major international exchange, Bitstamp, was founded in Slovenia in 2011. However, when it comes to accepting Bitcoin as payment for your business, or being able to report it as your income to the tax authorities, things might get a little complicated.
Slovenian crypto businesses are cooperating with each other and regulators under the Blockchain Alliance CEE. The countrys economy is mostly manufacturing-based and uses Byelorussian rubles (BYR) as currency. It has a small population.3 million people. Moon Banking reports that Bayrische Landesbank, Commerzbank, Fidor, GLS Bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, N26, Norddeutsche Landesbank, and Sparkasse are all crypto-friendly banks. The government has a welcoming stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. ICOs will be regarded as securities within Switzerland, according to regulatory guidelines passed by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in February 2018. Capital gains taxes of 19 may be levied on profits. Combined with the nations positive attitude towards cryptocurrency, this makes it a great point of entry into the European market. Luckily, not all countries are anti-Bitcoin, with some being friendly and even welcoming towards Bitcoin business opportunities.
Portfel bitcoin, Is bitcoin in forex, Free bitcoin faucet list,


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CHENGDE, China -- With four floors of merchandise and 200 vendors, the cavernous Chengde Shopping City has it all. There's Snoopy bedding straight from Peanuts -- ''the Woreld-Famous Comic Strip.'' There are Swoosh-festooned duffels straight from the ''Nikey'' factory.
Best of all, for just 55 yuan -- about $7 -- there's the children's jacket featuring those oh-so-familiar golden arches and the burger behemoth they represent: ''EcDlncnd.''
''OK, OK, it's not really McDonald's,'' the jacket's hawker, a woman in an Adidas parka, reluctantly acknowledges in Chinese. Then she grins. ''But it's close, isn't it?''
As China's government welcomes the access to global markets that World Trade Organization membership brings, it is grappling with a torrent of homegrown fake goods -- some well-made, some with major problems, all selling briskly in a nation of appetites whetted for famous brand names on the cheap.
Adidas, Colgate, MGM, North Face: From soap to software, purses to parkas, Chinese cities are endpoints of a vast market of fake goods. The government, cultivating its image as a worthy global trade partner, is working to reduce the flow -- or at least look like it's trying.
''Every time such instances come to my attention, I am filled with a strong sense of indignation and I cannot sleep well,'' Premier Zhu Rongji said last year.
Counterfeiting from China costs Western businesses an estimated $16 billion in sales each year, trade groups say. The problem has so vexed American manufacturers that it almost led to trade sanctions against China in the 1990s. U.S. Assistant Trade Representative Joseph Papovich says it's not getting much better.
But for legions of Chinese who can't afford genuine products, fakes satisfy a hunger to join the international craze for brand names. It's a syndrome especially acute in China, home to the factories where many world-renowned consumer goods are made.
''Famous brands are what everybody wants,'' says a woman surnamed Yu, buying a pinstriped Polo oxford shirt for her brother in Beijing's Silk Alley Market, where name-brand labels sell for prices far below normal. Coveted Kipling bags, $75 in lower Manhattan, can be had here for as low as $10.
''Fake or real, who cares?'' Miss Yu says.
The government frames the anti-counterfeiting effort as a ''struggle'' -- a word invoked by Communist officials to blend patriotism, duty and, now, good economic sense. State TV often airs reports like one in February in which a camera crew stormed a southern Chinese supermarket looking for fake shampoo.
China has just finished a 100-day ''war against fake products'' -- a quality inspection with rewards for whistle-blowers and coordination across the country's labyrinthine bureaucracy. Its results were not announced.
The road to success is difficult, though.
On Beijing's main drags, DVD purveyors still accost passers-by to sell $1.20 copies of new Hollywood movies like Tim Burton's ''Planet of the Apes'' remake ($22.95 on Amazon.com); between customers, they chat with traffic cops who know exactly what they're up to. In Silk Alley, only during sporadic raids do merchants scamper to shove fake products under blankets or into trash bags.
Less than 1 percent of all counterfeiting cases reported in China are prosecuted, says Bill Thompson, senior managing director of Pinkerton China, which investigates product fraud across the country. In Yiwu, a town near Shanghai, experts estimate 90 percent of consumer products like shampoo and soap are fake.
While foreign governments and companies praise Beijing for tougher laws and enforcement training, they say penalties remain insufficient to discourage repeat offenders.
The main thing deterring sterner enforcement by the central government is local protectionism -- the fact that a nationwide crackdown can decimate local economies in places where fakery feeds families.
Says Thompson: ''If you go into a small backwater and walk into a station house and say, 'Raid this pants factory,' and it's the only factory for 30 miles and their wife and daughters are working in there, they may say, 'Come back after lunch.' And that's code for, 'We'll make a few phone calls and it'll be clean as a whistle when you get there.'''
Last year, in the southern Guangxi region, people in the village of Teng surrounded 100 law officers seizing counterfeit cigarettes and equipment. One woman set the tobacco afire; a man vandalized a bridge to impede the authorities and it took them four hours to get out.
Such reactions locally make the problem especially difficult to combat nationally. But Long Yongtu, China's vice minister of foreign trade and chief WTO negotiator, says stamping out counterfeit goods is critical to China's economy.
''We need to establish an orderly market environment, so we must adopt international practices,'' he says. ''But that's not enough. We need the surveillance of the general public. We need people watching.''
The government's vigilance has led to some high-profile busts, which state media duly showcase.
The list is long: Pharmaceutical giant Glaxo SmithKline asking authorities to investigate a hospital suspected of selling medicines falsely labeled as Glaxo products; reports of fake Viagra in Shanghai sex shops; thousands of fake boxes of Kodak film seized in the north; phony brand-name rice and soy sauce confiscated in the south.
Companies are fighting back. Pinkerton helps dozens of multinationals enforce trademarks here, and in December, a new trademark law strengthened corporations' legal recourse. Two anti-counterfeiting coalitions launched in recent years -- with such big-time members as Gillette, Unilever and Microsoft -- now represent nearly 100 companies.
Such progress may attack the supply in places, but it doesn't stem the appetite for logos in a consumer landscape that, until recent years, was a drab place filled with citizens who wore communist-era uniforms and bought state-made products from, say, the Shijiazhuang 10th Cotton Textile Mill.
''It's more intense in China because of the absence for so long of competitive brand names,'' says Daniel C.K. Chow, an Ohio State University law professor and former secretary of the China Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.
''The obsession is really with the brand name and the prestige more than it is with the product,'' he says. ''And with counterfeits, you get the same brand name.''
And while trademark protection is crucial to keeping foreign investment on the rise, some wonder if the sheer volume of China's economy -- genuines and fakes alike -- is creating a model never before seen in commercial history.
''It's possible that we're seeing the emergence of a new type of economy,'' Chow says. ''There's always been this axiom that you can't reach high levels of development without strong protections for intellectual property. China may defy history. We've never seen anything like this -- an economy this size with this level of counterfeiting that's growing like it's growing.''
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Indian education technology firm Byju's (officially known as Think and Learn Private Ltd) has announced it has acquired education gaming and app startup Osmo for $120 million.
TechCrunch reports that this acquisition follows a $540 million funding round for Byju's, which the company said at the time was specifically to chase international opportunities as the service globalizes outside of India and expands its English categories. Byju's is reportedly now worth nearly $4 billion.
Osmo, originally known as Tangible Play, is a startup that combines educational apps and games for iPad, iPhone, and Amazon Fire tablets with touchable educational toys, games, and other objects that work on tandem with the games for a unified experience.
With Osmo, Byju's plans to immediately up the brand's content offerings and lower the price of the hardware to make it more accessible to a wider audience.
"For us to grow, we need to invest in content," said Osmo CEO Pramod Sharma to TechCrunch. "We have a lot of ideas [and] have proven a set of interactions, [but] a lot can be expanded with more content and levels. We've proven this is a compelling platform for learning, and we are nowhere close to scaling it...our goal is to get it to every child."


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Container Store (TCS) – Get Report on Tuesday lifted its third-quarter-earnings forecast and claimed Satish Malhotra in February would be successful Melissa Reiff as president and main government.
Shares of the Dallas retailer at final check have been 12% better at $11.20.
Container Store, which commenced up in 1978, retails storage, group merchandise, and options made to assistance shoppers make the most of their house spaces.
Fiscal Q3 results “are monitoring perfectly forward of the anticipations” the business had for the duration of its next-quarter earnings phone in October, the company explained in a assertion.
Altered earnings per share ought to array 35 cents to 40 cents when compared with a nickel a share in the yr-previously interval. Profits should really rise in the higher-teens percent.
Reiff will retire as president and CEO and carry on as chairwoman via the yearly assembly in late summer season.
The changeover will come, Reiff explained, amid Container Store’s “multiyear profits and earnings revitalization endeavours that have driven, and are expected to go on to generate, our functionality.”
Malhotra most not too long ago was Sephora’s LVMUY main retail and operating officer. He joined the enterprise 21 a long time ago and was one of the cosmetics retailer’s initial executives.
“I have long admired” Container Retail outlet, its “management posture in the storage and business market, as perfectly as their quest for custom made closet domination that I imagine is effectively underway,” Malhotra claimed.


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DCP has no control over neither the prices charged by other cement manufacturers nor the prices charged by retailers in the markets.
The management of Dangote Cement Plc has clarified that the price of a bag of cement from its factories and plants across Nigeria (as of 12th April 2021) is N2,450 in Obajana and Gboko and N2,510 in Ibese, inclusive of VAT.
The clarification was made because of recent reports that the company sells cement in Nigeria at significantly higher prices relative to other countries, particularly Ghana and Zambia.
SaharaReporters had reported that Dangote Cement Group sells its product in Southern African country, Zambia, for at most 110 Kwacha which equals to about N1, 800 in Nigeria, while the same product sells for not less than N3, 500 in Nigeria.
Dangote Cement Group has offered explanations on the difference in prices in both countries, saying it cannot control the prices of its product when it gets to the market.
Dangote’s Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development & Capital Projects, Devakumar Edwin, revealed that, while a bag of Cement sells for an equivalent of $5.1, including VAT in Nigeria, it sells for $7.2 in Ghana and $5.95 in Zambia ex-factory, inclusive of all taxes.
He said though the company has direct control over its ex-factory prices, it cannot control cement’s ultimate price when it gets to the market. He advised that it is essential to distinguish Dangote’s ex-factory prices from prices at which retailers sell cement in the market, DailyNigerian reports.[story_link align="left"]92721[/story_link]
He, therefore, frowned on misinformation that Dangote sells its cement at higher prices in Nigeria relative to other African countries at the expense of Nigerians.
He described the allegation as false, misleading, and unfounded while giving the media persons present at the press conference copies of invoices from Nigeria and some other African countries (Cameroun, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia) and urging them to conduct independent investigations on the price of cement across the West African coast.
Edwin further explained that while Dangote cement has 60% share of the market, other companies have the remaining 40%. DCP has no control over neither the prices charged by other cement manufacturers nor the prices charged by retailers in the markets.
He said, “Demand for cement has risen globally as a fallout of the COVID crisis. Nigeria is no exception, as a combination of monetary policy changes and low returns from the capital market has resulted in a significant increase in construction activity.
“To ensure that we meet local demand, we decided to suspend exports from our recently commissioned export terminals, thereby foregoing dollar earnings. We also had to reactivate our 4.5m ton capacity Gboko Plant which was closed four years ago, and run it at a higher cost, all in a bid to guarantee that we meet demand and keep the price of Cement within control in the country.”[story_link align="left"]92536[/story_link]
“Over the past 15 months, our production costs have gone up significantly. About 50% of our expenses are linked to USD, so the cost of critical components like gas, gypsum, bags, and spare parts; has increased significantly due to the devaluation of the Naira and VAT increase. Despite this, DCP has not increased ex-factory prices since December 2019 till date while prices of most other building materials have gone up significantly. We have only adjusted our transport rates to account for higher diesel costs, spare parts, tyres, and truck replacement.
“Still, we charge our customers only N300 – 350 per bag for deliveries within a 1,200km radius. We have been responsible enough not to even attempt to cash in on the recent rise in demand to increase prices so far,” he said


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NEWS ROUNDUP | A newly leaked beta of Win 7, new drivers from NVIDIA that offer more grunt under 7, and the 2,000 bugs that Microsoft reckons it has squashed thanks to beta testers
NeoWin has a gallery of leaked screenshots for Beta version 7048
that show new icons for some of the accessories, including Notes, Paint and the
Calculator. Of more use is a new 64-bit version leaked to Bittorrent sites, allowing those
with more powerful processors to give Windows 7 a whirl.
If you've read some of the arguments about
Windows 7 being rushed out the door for an early release and were worried, take
heart in the news from Steve Sinofsky who blogged on his Microsoft Developer Network page that over 2,000 bugs have already been squashed, with some
impressive statistics about the number of reports and installs.
For game players, if you have already installed one of the beta versions and want to try the latest games, and get the best performance, Nvidia
has launched a new set of beta drivers in 32- and 64-bit flavours for Windows 7.
Some news that Microsoft has released is details of Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, business users will be impressed by the levels of
virtualization that will have four possible configurations:
- Presentation virtualization
(video, audio, keyboard & mouse)
- Desktop virtualization
(Hyper-V & Virtual PC)
- Profile virtualization
(user states and configuration)
- Application virtualization
(to allow application sandboxing - Execution of applications on external
servers in a seamless fashion as though the application is running on the
Finally, news that Windows 7 has been seen out and about comes from Demo09 where 'sobees', a utility that puts all your social sites in one place is running on Windows 7 at the show proving that at least some developers have confidence in the OS.


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Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW)
Please enter a search term.
by: Michael Gross, Collin Davies
Posted: Sep 23, 2023 / 12:26 AM CDT
Updated: Sep 23, 2023 / 12:26 AM CDT
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Don’t miss out on our weekly coverage of high school football in the Tri-State.
More and more Americans are reaching tipping fatigue. How does this affect holiday tipping? And how does it affect office gifting?
Exercise equipment, gym accessories, workout tech and more — we rounded up the best fitness gifts for treating someone who loves staying active.
Looking for the perfect gift for a gaming enthusiast? We curated a collection of the best gifts for gamers.


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Sales of coconut water continue to soar. According to a recent report from Mintel, the U.S. market for coconut water was around $350 million in 2011, representing 2% of the total fruit juice and drinks sales.
Unilever is taking what it considers to be a breakthrough approach to hair care — by focusing on the scalp, rather than the ends — with its Clear Scalp and Hair Therapy line that hit North America in May.
Earlier this year, Prestige Brands closed the deal on its acquisition of the analgesic Goody’s Powder. And while Goody’s may be characterized as a legacy brand, it is in no way a tired brand — for the 52 weeks ended April 15, sales of Goody’s Powder were up 1.2% to $15.8 million.
Bic Consumer Products USA’s new FlameDisk offers consumers a convenient, portable alternative to charcoal. FlameDisk, which uses ethanol as its main fuel ingredient, heats up quickly and is cleaner than charcoal.
Appropriately promoting niche brands within the intimacy health space can be a little trickier than the average consumer packaged goods product. And social media isn’t necessarily the ideal platform — an adult may not be as comfortable “liking” an intimacy enhancement product on Facebook to show their brand affinity, for example.


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Social media is ideal platform to launch mobile money marketing
Tweet. Social media is ideal platform to launch mobile money marketing. Social media is the best tool for spreading awareness and driving adoption of mobile money services in new markets, according to Vytas Paukstys, chief executive officer at Eskimi.
Read more on HumanIPO
Why Video Has Become a Must for Social Media Marketers
All told, the latest industry data reveals that 93% of marketers have now used some form of video. And that usage is growing more prevalent in social media marketing. “Digital video viewing is mainstream, and eMarketer estimates that 182.5 million …
Read more on Mobile Marketing Watch


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The iceman is our action man of 2012
There was only ever one real contender for our Man of the Year 2012. After all, who else could boast they had seen off fierce competition to buy back their own company, delivered blistering sales figures AND trekked through the most remote wilderness on the earth?
Iceland founder Malcolm Walker did all that and more in just 12 short months. Not that all went exactly to plan. The 66-year-old was airlifted out of the Antarctica in December after his latest adventure took a turn for the worse… although he only admitted the game was up once he started vomiting blood.
Walker flew to the South Pole in November to raise money for Alzheimer’s and Walking for Wounded, following similar expeditions to the North Pole, Mount Everest and an abseil down the Shard.
Admirable stuff, but it’s not just his appetite for adventure that makes him The Grocer’s Man of the Year. It’s his appetite for retail and more specifically the retailer he founded with just £30 in 1970. In March, Walker bought back Iceland Foods for £1.45bn, simply because he couldn’t imagine life without retail. Even though he paid more than he expected, by £500m, it’s typical of the exuberant Walker to describe it as “the best deal in the world.”
It certainly didn’t look too bad in June, when Walker led Iceland to its seventh consecutive set of record results since his return in 2005, with pre-tax profits up 18.5% and like-for-like sales up 6%.
That’s not all. In September, Walker sold off his Cooltrader chain for an undisclosed sum (though it’s safe to assume he made a cool profit, given Cooltrader’s recent performance) in order to focus on Iceland.
And it seems Walker can party just as hard as he works. Over the years, he’s flown hundreds of colleagues out to Florida and Dublin to be told jokes by Peter Kay and be entertained by Girls Aloud on Iceland’s legendary staff parties - sorry, retail conferences. No wonder Iceland staff were recently voted the happiest in the UK in The Sunday Times.
Walker wins for all these reasons and he’ll be a tough act to follow for his successful property developer son, Richard, 31, who is currently stacking shelves for a year at an Iceland store near you to learn the business from the bottom up.
That said, if he does take over, it’s unlikely to be any time soon. Walker senior says he’s having too much fun to retire from his position as chairman and CEO just yet. “I’ll do this as long as I’m able,” he says, firmly. “And the way things are, I’ve got the best job in the world.”
Crumbs! Breakfast biscuit bandwagon on Belvita’s trail
Biscuit category directors must be glad to see the back of 2012. Every time they think they’ve got the category sussed out, up pops another breakfast biscuit range - and it’s time to redraw the planogram again.
Forget popcorn. It was the breakfast biscuit that proved the most popular inspiration for food and drink NPD in 2012. The goal? To emulate the success of Belvita, which pretty much created the market three years ago, having spotted growing demand for convenient items to munch on-the-go for breakfast and the continuing decline in traditional breakfast cereals.
Last year saw the rest of the market finally begin to catch up, with launches from Nutri-Grain, McVitie’s, Hovis and, of course, the retailers themselves through own-label lines. And with hunger for on-the-go breakfast products showing no sign of abating, there’s probably a lot more to come in 2013.
‘Vital’: PM marks 150 years of The Grocer magazine
The Grocer kicked off its 150th anniversary year with a bang, publishing a 220-page special issue - the biggest in our history - packed with stories about the industry’s evolution and insights from big hitters such as Costcutter founder Colin Graves, Lord Sainsbury and Patrick Galvani, founder of the UK’s first supermarket.
We also received well wishes from PM David Cameron, who said: “The Grocer remains vital reading for many other media organisations which so often follow where The Grocer has led.” We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
Jody Scheckter froths at Portman beer label ban
It will sound like lunacy to many. An organic ale that sells for £1.95 per 500ml (or £1.35 for a 330ml lager) is likely to appeal to underage drinkers… because its label features a child’s drawing. But so said the Portman Group in October about Laverstoke Park Farm’s beers (stocked by Sainsbury’s and Waitrose). Its ultimatum was stark: change the label or we’ll order its removal from shelves.
Portman picked on the wrong farmer, however. Laverstoke is owned by outspoken former F1 champ Jody Scheckter and the image, which adorns the entire Laverstoke range, was drawn by his young son more than a decade ago. Scheckter’s reaction is summed up in the artist’s impression, left.
Last month, Scheckter’s lawyers challenged the ruling and Portman temporarily suspended action, but the High Court then threw out Scheckter’s challenge as “contrary to common sense”. This row ain’t over yet.


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Southern Classic Chicken, a family-founded fried chicken franchise is announcing its partnership with Franchise Marketing Systems to meet the needs of their rapid expansion. The brand already has 17 locations open and is looking to open new locations across Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas within the upcoming years.
Southern Classic Chicken’s limited-item menu has proved successful for their existing franchisees, offering the benefits of simplified operations and brand recognition. Operating with a drive-thru and walk-up model, the restaurant chain has remained resilient even throughout the pandemic. With a 20 percent increase in system wide sales in 2020, Southern Classic Chicken’s model is poised for growth as off-premise dining remains increasingly important for restaurants nationwide. With that in mind, Southern Classic Chicken has developed a partnership that will not only benefit the brand, but, more importantly, the franchisees.
“Southern Classic Chicken’s drive-thru and walk-up models have contributed greatly to our success, and we believe these models are attractive to those looking to get into the restaurant franchise space during this time,” says Nick Binnings, Director of Brand Development for Southern Classic Chicken. “We wanted to find an organization that could benefit the brand, our current franchisees and our future franchisees.”
With a successful model, Southern Classic Chicken has been positioned to grow exponentially, leading them to outsource assistance in their franchise development and marketing. The brand found that, as the country re-opens, creating early traction and developing a partnership to meet their expansion needs was critical. Seeking a company with a long track record of success with a proven model, Southern Classic Chicken recently partnered with Franchise Marketing Systems.
Franchise Marketing Systems is a full-service franchise development company, specializing in both developing and selling franchise brands. The company, founded in 2009, is the only full-service franchise consulting agency that offers marketing and sales support to its clients. They have provided their clients with an entrepreneurial approach using a relationship-based model to create the intimate feeling of a partnership.
“The chicken market is experiencing massive growth. Southern Classic Chicken has a fantastic product, reputable brand and simple operating model, all the components to create a favorable national footprint. Our focus is to keep assist their regional growth in the southern United States,” says Chris Conner, President of Franchise Marketing Systems. “A combination of our resources from the franchise development and marketing stand point in tandem with Southern Classic Chicken’s successful brand provides us the tools to generate exponential growth.”
This new partnership will benefit Southern Classic Chicken through developing a team solely focused and held accountable on their franchise development. Franchise Marketing Systems will structurally assist Southern Classic Chicken with operational support and organized structure through providing training manuals, educating franchisees and developing marketing collateral. Additionally, they’ll help develop a full-time sales team in order to attract new franchisees.
“We’re excited to provide interested buyers with depth, resources, and a team that’s focused on franchise sales side,” says Tom O’Keefe, Managing Director of Southern Classic Chicken. “We want to provide our current and future franchisees the support they need to be as successful as possible, and we believe that Franchise Marketing Systems will allow us to do that.”


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With increasing bilateral tensions between the United States and China, the biggest tech companies from China are expanding their operations in Singapore.
It has been reported that their presence in the city state is being increased by Tencent and Alibaba while billions of dollars are reportedly being invested there by TikTok’s owner ByteDance.
Singapore has good ties to both the US and China as it is considered a neutral territory.
Relations between Washington and Beijing are growing increasingly hostile, particularly over technology.
Earlier this week, Tencent announced that it was “expanding its business presence in Singapore to support our growing business in South East Asia and beyond”. The company describes the new regional office as a “strategic addition” to its current offices in South East Asia.
Under the Trump administration’s clampdown on Chinese apps and tech firms, Tencent’s WeChat messaging app, along with TikTok, is facing a potential ban by this month.
“Given the US-China tensions in tech and the heightening risk of decoupling, it makes sense for Chinese tech companies to separate operations in China and outside of China,” said Tommy Wu at Oxford Economics. “Singapore would be an ideal location given the city state’s comparative advantage in tech, its geographic proximity to China and as an innovation hub in South East Asia.”
The advanced financial and legal system of Singapore has for long been considered as a regional base for Western companies. Many companies have been seeking a more stable business environment within Asia after the political turmoil in Hong Kong and with Beijing imposing the controversial and sweeping national security law.
But according to Nick Redfearn, deputy chief executive at UK-based consultancy Rouse, there is another factor that makes Singapore so attractive for Chinese companies. He said that the second reason could be one of the primary ones that has made the city state such an attractive destination for so much foreign direct investment (FDI) compared to the other South East Asia countries.
“This is usually because regional headquarters, operating on behalf of parent companies, act as the foreign investor in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and elsewhere.
“This can help Chinese companies avoid the appearance of Chinese investment,” he said.
According to Redfearn, in 2020, largest regional trading partner was South East Asia overtaking the EU.
“You’ve seen Western companies (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and many more) make it their Asia Pacific headquarters for a while now, so it’s natural Chinese companies also consider it for the same reasons. I think the recent US-China geopolitical tensions only make it even more attractive, but that’s not the only or primary reason,” Rui Ma, a Chinese tech expert and investor, added.
Another driving force is globalization, she says. “If Western companies can be global, why can’t we? Chinese companies are very much willing to invest for the long term and are not going to be content to be left behind when it comes to future opportunities.”
(Adapted from BBC.com)


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POCO just announced the POCO X3 GT, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the X3 series in Malaysia, as it had promised. This is a rebranded Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G smartphone that was introduced in China in May. It packs a 6.6-inch Full HD+ LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Adaptive sync variable refresh rate to switch between 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, 50Hz, 48Hz and 24Hz depending on the content, supports DCI-P3 color gamut and has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Continue reading “POCO X3 GT with 6.6-inch FHD+ 120Hz display, Dimensity 1100, 8GB RAM, 5000mAh battery, 67W fast charging announced”
Fresh rumours have surfaced that provide information about Apple’s upcoming iPad models, specifically the next generation iPad Air and next generation iPad Mini models. The 5th generation iPad Air is expected to get an ultra-wide rear, while the 6th gen iPad Mini is expected to get a new design with smaller bezels and no home button.
Continue reading “Apple’s upcoming 5th gen iPad Air to feature dual rear cameras, iPad Mini 6th gen will feature 8.3-inch display: Reports”
OPPO India has announced that it has conducted 5G standalone network trial for Reno6 Series under the 5G SA network environment provided by Jio at its 5G Lab. The trial yielded highly positive results, said the company. “The encouraging outcomes of the trial ratify the capabilities of both the devices in the Reno6 Series as true 5G devices, bringing a high-quality 5G experience closer to reality,” said OPPO. Continue reading “OPPO India conducts Reno6 Series 5G SA network trial with Jio”
Airtel has discontinued its Rs 49 entry level Prepaid recharge. The company said that its prepaid packs will now start from the Rs 79 Smart Recharge, and it says that offer up to four times more outgoing minutes of usage to customers along with double data. This comes after the company revised its postpaid plans last week. Continue reading “Airtel pre-paid recharge packs now start at Rs. 79, entry-level Rs. 49 pack discontinued”
While Instagram is a great platform for young people to share photos, videos and moments from their life, it can sometimes invite unwanted DMs or comments from strangers, especially if their accounts are public. To improve their experience, Instagram has introduced a number of updates that will protect young users on the platform.
Continue reading “Instagram will now set young people accounts as private by default”
This week, realme said that it will introduce realme Flash smartphone, the first Android phone with magnetic wireless charging in India soon. Today the company has scheduled ‘Mag for future, realme Magnetic Innovation event on August 3rd to unveil 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐭, the first magnetic wireless charging for Android. Continue reading “realme MagDart next-generation Android wireless charging technology to be announced on August 3”
After nearly a year since it launched for the PC, Microsoft has announced the console launch of Microsoft Fight Simulator for the Xbox Series X and Series S. With this release, console gamers can now experience Microsoft Flight Simulator with incredible realism, accuracy, and authenticity.
Continue reading “Microsoft Flight Simulator now available on Xbox Series X and Series S”
OnePlus 8T was launched in September last year as a successor of the OnePlus 8 with monitor upgrades, but we didn’t see the OnePlus 8T Pro version. A sketchy rumour from earlier this month said that OnePlus 9T will launch in Q3 2021 with a 108MP rear camera tuned by Hasselblad and a quad camera setup, same as the OnePlus 9 series. Continue reading “OnePlus not expected to launch OnePlus 9T this year”
Apple has reported quarterly revenue of $81.4 billion, an increase of 36% from a year ago. It posted a net profit of $21.7 billion, up 92.8% YoY and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.30 for the financial year Q3 2021 that ended June 26, 2020. Continue reading “Apple reports $21.7 billion profit on $81.4 billion revenue in FY Q3 2021; iPhone revenue up 50% YoY despite demand”
Star & Disney India launched Disney+ Hotstar in India back in April last year with two plans, Rs. 399 VIP plan for movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in local languages, access to live sporting events, movies, shows, and Hotstar originals and a separate Diney+ Hotstar Premium at Rs. 1,499 for Disney+ Originals and movies in English. Continue reading “Disney+ Hotstar removes Rs. 399 VIP Plan, launches new all-content plans starting from Rs. 499”
POCO launched the POCO F3 GT handset last week in India. The POCO F3 GT is the second POCO F-series handset to launch in India. The handset is a rebranded Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition that launched a few months back in China. The handset boots the company’s proprietary MIUI 12.5 on top of Android 11.
Continue reading “POCO F3 GT MIUI Software Update Tracker [Update: MIUI 220.127.116.11 with July Android security patch]”
MediaTek today announced a new SoC designed for tablets, 2-in-1, laptops – Kompanio 1300T. It comes with support for 5G, HDR10+, 4K HDR video recording technology, and more. Continue reading “MediaTek Kompanio 1300T 6nm 5G SoC with support for tablets, 2-in-1s, laptops announced”
Suunto, a premium sports watch company based in Finland, has announced their entry into the Indian market with the launch of three new products namely the Suunto 9, Suunto 5 and Suunto 7. They feature advanced GPS capabilities, premium design and builds, long battery lives, multi-sport tracking capabilities and more.
Continue reading “Suunto 9, Suunto 5 and Suunto 7 adventure and performance sports watches launched in India”
OPPO recently launched the Reno6 5G and Reno6 Pro 5G with up to Dimensity 900 and Dimensity 1200 SoCs in India. Following that now, the company has announced the 4G version in Indonesia – OPPO Reno6 4G. Continue reading “OPPO Reno6 4G with 6.4-inch FHD+ 90Hz AMOLED display, 44MP front camera announced”
London-based consumer tech company Nothing has launched the ear (1), the company’s most-expected true wireless earbuds. It has a transparent design to expose the engineering, including microphones, magnets and circuit board, features an 11.6 mm driver, has Bluetooth 5.2 and comes with Active Noise Cancellation. Continue reading “Nothing ear (1) with Bluetooth 5.2, Active Noise Cancellation, transparent design launched in India for Rs. 5999”


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Petroleum Marketers Association of America yesterday announced that it signed an exclusive endorsement agreement with Oilspot.com in an attempt to unite the established offline association with the Internet-based marketplace.
The PMAA agreed to promote, endorse and market Oilspot as its exclusive online petroleum marketplace.
Oilspot will pay an endorsement royalty and will work with PMAA and its 42-state and regional marketer associations to deliver e-commerce solutions through the Internet-based marketplace.
Oilspot allows marketers to participate in an independent online community, conduct transactions and receive real-time pricing, communication and industry information. It also provides suppliers, manufacturers and refiners with the ability to use the independent Internet-based marketplace to increase sales channels, reduce transaction costs and manage their supply chains more efficiently.


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The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Welcome to BoF's Beauty Newsletter, featuring members-only analysis and the week's top news from the front lines of the global beauty business. Subscribe here.
NEW YORK, United States — A few weeks ago, Jean Baik, chief executive of the beauty brand Miss A, noticed a huge spike in visitors to her company's website. Traffic soared 450 percent, mostly from Google. Sales were up too, more than quadrupling a typical day's tally.
It took about a day to find the source: a viral TikTok video that featured Miss A products. The video, where a shopper showed off her haul of Miss A lashes, foundation, lipsticks, and eyeshadows, had racked up over 3 million views in just 3 days, causing excited teens to flood the brand’s online store.
“I didn’t even have TikTok on my phone, so I had no idea what type of effect it could have,” Baik said. “The girls on my team told me TikTok is mostly about dancing and lip-syncing and so I never thought beauty product content would work on TikTok. But people are really engaging with our product.”
Since that January bump, Miss A products have featured in three other popular videos. The company recently started its own TikTok account, but Baik said the brand is still figuring out the best way to use it.
While many brands have accidentally gone viral on the platform, doing so on purpose is much harder. Brands like Burberry, Poshmark, Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret have launched accounts on TikTok or dabbled in sponsored content. TikTok even sent three creators to New York Fashion Week. But unlike Instagram, ads aren't as ubiquitous on the platform.
The payoff for companies that figure out how to monetise TikTok could be huge. The short-form video platform is challenging Instagram for Gen Z’s attention, and is the source of many of today’s biggest, if fleeting, trends. TikTok had 680 million monthly active users in November and was the second-most downloaded app in 2019 behind Facebook’s WhatsApp.
Back in June, MAV Beauty Brands experienced a 60 percent sales increase for its Marc Anthony True Professional line because its curly hair products were being used in a viral video challenge. Since October, brands like Redken and Clairol have seen their purple shampoo products flying off the shelf thanks to the #PurpleShampooChallenge, where creators are dumping an egregious amount of purple shampoo on their head in the hopes that it will change their hair purple.
I never thought beauty product content would work on TikTok. But people are really engaging with our product.
And while brands can’t always control which products will get swept up in the next viral TikTok challenge, they can increase their odds by creating content strategies that will win credibility with TikTok’s young users.
Put on Your Dancing Shoes
While brands like Miss A experienced a TikTok boost without being on the platform, Vic Drabicky, the founder of digital marketing agency January Digital, said brands typically need to have some presence before their big moment.
Content from YouTube, Twitter and Instagram should not be transferred over to TikTok, Drabicky said. The best videos should be native to the platform. Alice Delahunt, the chief digital officer of Ralph Lauren, which works with TikTok stars like Dixie D'amelio and Andre Swilley told BoF that "Instagram is for beautiful, stylized photos while TikTok is fun, viral content."
Brands can start by building content around whatever challenges are trending on TikTok’s Discover page. And though tutorials and before-and-afters may be popular on YouTube and Instagram, TikTok is all about dancing.
“TikTok is about quick, digestible, dance-based creativity, so you need to get close to that,” Drabicky said. “Each step you take away from that, the less effective you are going to be.”
TikTok is about quick, digestible, dance-based creativity, so you need to get close to that.
Drabicky noted that TikTok isn’t a good fit for anyone; he warned that creating goofy videos could dilute the image of some luxury brands. But he maintained that there is an opportunity within challenges to promote products, citing how Nike seamlessly promotes its sneakers while posting athletic challenges as part of the #MagicBoots challenge.
“People aren’t coming to TikTok to follow makeup brands — they want fun, quirky content,” he said. “But there are spaces to show off makeup, or footwear.”
Feel the Rhythm
Brands that sponsor challenges can hit it big on TikTok — if executed correctly.
In October, e.l.f. Cosmetics hired Movers+Shakers to help with a rebrand. The Brooklyn-based creative agency commissioned artist Holla FyeSixWun and songwriter iLL Wayno to create an original soundtrack for its sponsored challenge, titled #eyeslipsface (the name of the company). The song featured the lyrics, “Do that thing with your eyes, let me see them lips, attitude and gimme face,” and invited users to post selfie-like videos.
Within six days, videos featuring the hashtag had racked up over 1 billion views. The beauty brand had worked with seven TikTok creators to give the challenge some momentum, but Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba, Lizzo and Patrick Starr participated organically, along with over 3 million other users. E.l.f. chief marketing officer Kory Marchisotto credited the soundtrack for the challenge's success.
“The track was specifically developed for TikTok, and it was thought of frame by frame,” said Marchisotto. “The 15-second clip is broken into parts that call for creators to exercise their self-expression and there’s a stopgap each time to let people do something different.”
Eric Jacks, chief strategy officer of Collab, a content studio that works with hundreds of TikTok stars, agreed that nailing the perfect sound for challenges is crucial.
“It needs to have something that has rhythm and beat to it,” Jacks said. “It tends to be more pop and hip-hop stuff, but must be something you can easily dance to.”
If there's a weird or fun track happening, they'd be more likely to embrace it.
Developing a musical hit for an ad makes the challenge more appealing to users, he added: “The TikTok community doesn’t like to feel like they are aggressively being promoted to, but if there’s a weird or fun track happening, they’d be more likely to embrace it.”
Shut up and dance
Reaping the benefits of e.l.f’s #eyeslipsface challenge took longer, said Marchisotto. While the sponsored hashtag was one of TikTok’s most successful campaigns, it didn’t translate to sales — not immediately, anyway. Marchisotto said the goal of the campaign was to execute “full-funnel marketing, where you start with awareness and become top of mind so customers will engage with the company later down the line.”
Over the last few weeks, some of e.l.f’s eyeshadows and lip exfoliators have gone viral on TikTok, which Marchisotto said happened because of the company’s continual presence there.
Drabicky, of January Digital, noted that brands shouldn’t think about their TikTok presence as a way to generate sales.
“Brands that try to associate this with money will be frustrated because there aren’t saw-an-ad-and-bought-it metrics,” he said. “It’s mostly about brand awareness that’s measured off of comments and likes.”
TikTok has experimented with shoppable videos in the past (the beta test has been discontinued) and experts say it’s only a matter of time before the platform rolls out shoppable links from its content.
“When TikTok becomes shoppable, it will become the biggest acquisition play for Gen Z,” said Allegra Salke-Hussey, an associate account director at marketing fim RQ. “The more brands understand how to use it now, the better off they will be getting in front of young consumers in a few years from now.”
Find the Right Dance Partner
Like every other social media platform, the best way for brands to build awareness on TikTok is with influencers.
But the TikTok influencer game is quite different to other social platforms. While it has its fair share of platform-specific celebrities, including Jacob Sartorius, Charli D'Amelio and Lauren Godwin, any video can go viral when it’s placed onto the app’s For You page (content lands there when the hashtag #ForYou is used). It’s for this reason that TikTok marketing experts recommend brands cast their nets far and wide.
You don't need a ton of followers to go viral, and people will quite often go from 20,000 to 1 million quickly.
“There’s a real opportunity to work with small influencers because of the way the algorithm works,” said Mae Karwowski, founder and chief executive of the influencer agency Obviously. “You don’t need a ton of followers to go viral, and people will quite often go from 20,000 to 1 million quickly.”
Jacks said the best strategy for working with TikTok influencers is to not plan too far ahead.
“The trends change so quickly, so the strategy is literally to be executing content the week of,” he said. “You have to just embrace the platform at any given moment.”
Jacks added that the best performing content on TikTok has little brand oversight. Marchisotto, of e.l.f Cosmetics, admitted that working with TikTok influencers without much brand oversight was a “painstaking process that stretched us out of our comfort zone.”
“Tiktok content is unedited, silly, raw one-takes, and that’s the complete opposite of what brands do on Instagram,” he said. “There can’t be lights or fancy cameras, or anything that looks overly-produced. It’s about letting go.”
The future could involve brands developing products for TikTok
Last month, Nick Sylvester, a music producer and co-founder of Godmode, an artist development firm that searches for musical talent on platforms like TikTok, told The New York Times music podcast Popcast that songs are now being developed with TikTok in mind: they “emphasise short, unusual potentially-quirky micro sections.”
There can't be lights or fancy cameras, or anything that looks overly-produced. It's about letting go.
Jacks, of Collab, believes the beauty industry should similarly move towards creating products that are set up to go viral on TikTok. He said companies should be thinking about items that produce exaggerated effects — like lip plumpers and coloured shampoos.
And while much of the industry is focused on sustainability, Jacks believes brands that want to nab huge audiences on TikTok need be focusing on attention-grabbing packaging.
“Basic moisturisers will not get people to stick around and watch videos, let alone create them,” added Karwowski. “It’s the weird, purple shampoo kids like to dump on their heads type of stuff. Products that entertain.”
THIS WEEK IN BEAUTY
What happens after Drunk Elephant's big exit? Shiseido Group plans to turn its new acquisition into a global powerhouse.
Gender-free fragrances are taking over the perfume industry. Beauty brands like Diptyque, Frédéric Malle, and Byredo are eschewing gender stereotypes that have historically been used as a key marketing message to sell niche scents.
Plastic surgery trends continue to be influenced by social media. According to the most recent results from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, minimally invasive procedures like injectables are bigger than ever.
Axe's Body Spray can't escape its prepubescent masculine legacy. Nearly 20 years since the ubiquitous product hit the market, the Unilever-owned men's grooming brand can't shake its association with being the scent for teenage boys.
A Colgate-owned brand launches a CBD line. Just a month after Hello Products was acquired by Colgate, the company has launched a line of CBD products, including mouthwash and lip balms.
Is the Facetune app an empowering friend or a toxic foe? Two creatives debate the pros and cons of beauty apps and discuss its lasting impact on body image.
Olay says it will stop retouching skin in its ads. As part of the Procter & Gamble-owned skincare brand's promise to feature real skin in its advertising by 2021, Olay will debut untouched photos of Busy Philipps, Denise Bidot and Lilly Singh in its latest campaign.
A group of consumers are suing DevaCurl. The class-action lawsuit claims that the curly hair products have been causing women to suffer from scalp irritation and hair loss. The company told NPR they "stand behind the quality and safe use of our DevaCurl products."
The enduring power of MAC's best-selling lipstick. Twenty one years after debuting, Ruby Woo is still one of the best-selling lipsticks in the world.
Beauty routines are providing an escape for chronic illness sufferers. Elaborate skincare routines and expensive beauty products have become a lifeline for people suffering from pain, chronic illness and other disabilities.


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According tomedia reports, some users who recently installed Windows 10 updates, including KB4549951, reported that they logged in without loading user profiles that contained all the data, customizations, and documents. Conversely, after the update is complete, Windows 10 launches a mysterious temporary user profile vulnerability that may remove the user’s data and even delete them.
Although the issue has been reported for months, it now appears to be present and may affect all users. It’s not clear why Windows 10 loads a brand new user profile or how it loads.
Many users also reported that their data, including documents or pictures, disappeared after windows 10KB4549951, released on April 14.
After the update is applied, Windows renames the normal user profile folder, and then creates and loads temporary user profiles when the PC starts.
When Windows 10 updates are installed and data, including system customization, magically disappears, the original profile is renamed, but the good news is that most users’ profiles or data are not permanently deleted by this vulnerability.
The original profile should still be in C: users, but the data will be in a file that ends with “.ooo” or “.bak”.
Fortunately, users have a way to get them back — restart Windows at least six to eight times, at which point the user’s profile and data should be returned.
It is not clear exactly how many restarts are needed or whether the restarts apply to everyone. Some users still report that their files have completely disappeared and that they cannot find or recover it.
Some users also reported the issue in Windows 10 version 1909 to 1903.
According to multiple Microsoft support staff, users can also solve the problem by setting up a new account and manually transferring data from the temporary account to the new account.
A more appropriate option would be to back up the files stored on the system drive before installing the update.


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|Show’s almost over for TV brands in popularity contest
At a Dien May Xanh store in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, typical of most electronics stores focused on television sets, a batch of products are shown in cases of various types, sizes, and specifications. However, customers would now find it hard to locate any TV set from leading Japanese electronics brands like Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba.
In the Cau Giay store, Tran Son Tung wanted to buy a TV for his new house and shared his memory about his previous Toshiba TV set. “Four years ago I bought a Toshiba fridge, and amazingly I received a 55-inch TV for free after a lucky draw. Today I decided to look for a new Toshiba TV basically as a thank-you but I am failing, as I can’t seem to find any.”
Staff of the Dien May Xanh store said that they had stopped receiving Toshiba sets over the last two years. “We presented them in the showroom to try and sell just like the rest of the TVs that other manufacturers sent,” said one staff member. “But recently, the number we receive is quite low and no-one asks for these brands anymore. So we leave any of the older-model TVs in the warehouse.”
In fact, sales of large-screen TVs remained at two-digit growth (85, 58, and 29 per cent, respectively) in the periods of 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020. According to the German market research institute GfK, in the first three quarters of 2020, Samsung maintained the leading position with 44.7 per cent of market share, rising by 2 per cent on-year. That of Sony reduced by 6.7 per cent on-year to 25.9 per cent, followed by LG with 17.6 per cent of market share (up 3.8 per cent on-year).
“The three largest brands make up 88.2 per cent of the whole market share, while the 11.8 per cent left divides for all small players like TCL and Asanzo, brands that are being neglected such as Sharp, Toshiba, and new names like Casper and Mobell,” said Le Van Tien, an expert working at a leading TV production facility.
“In the 10 per cent of market share, TCL is accounting for 5 per cent, while Asanzo is capturing 3 per cent, focusing on customers in rural areas. Quite simply, the space for Japanese brands which used to be popular is going to get much smaller and shrink away,” added Tien.
In 2015, Toshiba Corporation stopped making and selling TVs in North America, licensing its brand to Taiwanese group Compal after deeming the US market too competitive. This company licensed its TV business in various other markets in an effort to cut costs and launch higher-end televisions, but price competition remains harsh, according to Reuters.
Nguyen Quang Huy, head of sales and marketing at Toshiba Vietnam, said that after decades of Toshiba TVs being manufactured in Vietnam, they were then imported from Indonesia. However, even imports eventually ceased.
Facing the same woes, Panasonic Corporation transferred its unprofitable Sanyo TV unit in the United States to another company, and decided to stop the production of panels for TVs in 2016. The manufacturer blamed the situation on the unprofitable production of TV displays and increased competition from Chinese, Taiwanese, and South Korean counterparts.
In 2019, Panasonic Corporation announced its decision to stop production of LCD panels. This activity is part of the group’s restructuring plan for business operations. All resources of this company such as technology lines and human resources will be optimised to serve other key areas of the Panasonic Group.
In Vietnam, the number of TVs manufactured by Panasonic sharply decreased over the last couple of years, according to distributors. Despite still being showcased in some electronics marts, Dien May Xanh has halted display of the brand altogether.
In 2019, Panasonic Corporation announced its decision to stop the production of LCD panels at Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd. (Himeji city, Japan) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Panasonic Group. This activity is part of the group's restructuring plan for its business operations. All resources of this company such as technology lines and human resources will be optimised to serve other key areas of Panasonic Group, especially the Business to Business (B2B) sector.
By stopping LCD panel production, Panasonic aims to focus resources on B2B production and other business lines with the aim of bringing greater value to consumers and society.
Moving forward, in Vietnam, Panasonic Vietnam announced the transformation from a general consumer electronics company to a total wellness solutions providing company, defining a new strategic vision to develop technology to better serve the needs of people and for a sustainable Vietnamese society, at the end of 2020, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Panasonic’s official presence in the country (1971-1921).
Panasonic's global production and business activities are always pursuing the business philosophy of “Contributing to society” set forth by the group's founders more than 100 years ago. Previously, Panasonic focused on the strength of high-quality entertainment products at affordable prices, then with the awareness of urgent social issues in Vietnam such as air and water pollution, food hygiene, and safety, among others, Panasonic has shifted its focus on total wellness solutions for consumers.
Specifically, Panasonic Vietnam introduced its Strategic vision, pioneering in human-oriented technology with the mission: “Passion for your health & comfort”. With that determination, Panasonic focuses on both business (B2B) and consumer (B2C) businesses, presenting Total Wellness Solutions including three suites of solutions: (1) Total air solutions to improve indoor air quality; (2) Total hygiene solutions to improve hygiene quality of living space; (3) Total healthcare solutions to improve people’s health, bringing a balanced body, beauty, and appearance with kitchen products and beauty care equipment. Panasonic provides total air solutions for office buildings, hotels, clinics, and homes for a clean, healthy atmosphere. At the same time, consumers can also access and enjoy outstanding benefits from Panasonic's total healthcare solutions. (Source: Panasonic press release)
Panasonic Vietnam declared its new business value proposition: changing from consumer electronics to wellness solutions providing company; and officially launched its total wellness solutions with a commitment of bringing a healthy, safe and convenient life for Vietnamese people.
Although Sharp is focusing on its LCD units, after also selling all its TV business and manufacturing facilities in the US in 2015, in Vietnam its TV sets, which used to be imported from Malaysia and Thailand in small quantities, are causing losses.
The disappearance of such formerly-popular TV brands is not a new phenomenon. People saw the death of traditional TVs along with such brands as National, Viettronic, and Hitachi in the 1980s and 1990s in Vietnam. “Success should be attributed to non-stop innovation and improvement,” said Tien.


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OnePlus recently launched their 2020 flagship phones with top of the line specifications. Along with almost all the latest features that are currently available in the market, OnePlus 8 Pro also comes with a feature which the company never talked about during the launch event.
According to GSMArena, the camera sensors on OnePlus 8 Pro can see through certain surfaces. The feature was first spotted by Max Weinbach which clearly shows that the 5MP IR filter is capable of capturing shots which we have not seen on any smartphone in the past.
Wondering how is it possible? Well, all the standard camera sensors have colour filters, however, OnePlus decided to remove the colour filter making a camera much more sensitive to IR light. Since materials absorb light depending on the wavelength, some object appears transparent on the camera if there is an ample amount of light.
This is not limited to objects only, the IR filter can also see through people's clothes which is a major privacy concern for people. It would be interesting to see how the company reacts and if the feature continues on the smartphone.