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News of HTC’s downfall is grossly exaggerated, at least, according to chief executive and chairwoman Cher Wang. Speaking to the press on Thursday, Wang said that her company’s brand “will never disappear” and that she has “faith that the market still has potential for future development.”
The comments came after an opinion piece by Digital Trends detailing HTC’s stumbles and ultimate collapse, and a similar article by Reuters Breakingviews columnist Robyn Mak predicting that HTC and Sony will face extinction next year, as mobile sales slow down.
In Mak’s view, Apple and Samsung will control the bulk of upgrade sales, while Xiaomi and Huawei manage new sales in the Middle East and Africa. This leaves little room for smaller manufacturers like HTC, who cannot compete with Huawei’s scale or Apple’s premium quality.
Huawei and Xiaomi showed the most growth this year, as the two Chinese mobile manufacturers entered into new regions. Apple claimed the vast majority of mobile profit, at 94 percent, with Samsung the only other profitable mobile company in the business.
Wang does not share this pessimistic view, claiming HTC has low-end smartphones prepared for next year alongside a new flagship. It has already launched the One X9, a midrange phone, to kickstart into 2016. The company also has a fitness partnership with Under Armour and VR partnership with Valve, which might keep it on the straight and narrow.
HTC has been on a downward spiral since 2012, losing market share every year since it adopted the One series. It now controls a measly 1 percent of the smartphone market, according to Mak, pushing it below the top 10 largest mobile manufacturers.
The Taiwanese-based company still has $1.3 billion in cash reserves, but that won’t last much longer if things don’t improve.
- Stakes are high for Samsung, as it promises new phones will meet expectations
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- In 2018, smartphone sales stopped growing annually for the first time
- The best bezel-less phones cut all the right corners without losing space
- When is your phone getting Android 9.0 Pie? We asked every major manufacturer


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He's a dab hand with the hairdryer, so it’s no surprise stylist-to-the-stars Jamil Fatani counts some of the Premier League’s top names among his clients.
Jamil, 42, offers a round-the-clock call out service for the likes of Robin Van Persie, Kolo Toure, Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
The hairdresser travels to their plush homes, sometimes in the middle of the night, to prepare them for nights out and last minute fashion shoots.
He’s even been known to fly over to Madrid and Valencia to work on a player’s image.
Jamil, who lives in Bramhall, got his big break when he was introduced to Manchester City’s Kolo Toure through a friend.
The defender then told his fellow Blues about the stylist, and many others in the Premiership have also signed him up.
“A lot of the time it’s last minute, because they’ve found out they have a fashion shoot in the morning,” Jamil said.
“The latest I’ve been out is about midnight.”
“For a lot of the players, they are not just footballers, they are celebrities and there’s an image side to it.They have brands to support.”
But it’s not just the players who use Jamil.
“The wives and girlfriends tend to jump on board too,” he said. “It’s not just the guys. I might do a cut, but I do a colour for the girls.”
Among them was Sergio Aguero’s wife Giannina Maradona, daughter of the Argentine legend Diego.
Jamil grew up in London, but moved to Manchester in his teens. He learned his trade at Manchester College then trained with hairdressers and barbershops around Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter.
Jamil, who now divides his time between Manchester, London and Paris, said: “I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in.
“I understand that if it wasn’t for a good friend of mine who introduced me to (Kolo Toure) then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to live my dream and do what I’m doing.
“I feel really grateful for that.”

domain: news


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According to reports, industrial enzyme maker Novozymes and bio-fuel developer Praj Industries will jointly set up a ‘demonstration facility’ to develop fuels from biomass.
A demonstration facility is a small-scale plant that makes enzymes or chemicals, and is a transition between labs and a commercial manufacturing unit.
Novozymes will supply enzymes that will help in converting biomass (such as wheat straw, rice straw, corn cobs ands bagasse) into bio-fuels such as ethanol, said Mr G.S. Krishnan, Managing Director, Novozymes South Asia.
Pune-based Praj will be setting up the unit in two months, he added.
Novozymes South Asia, a subsidiary of Danish company Novozymes, makes enzymes used for industrial applications in industries such as food and beverages, textiles, detergents or animal feed, and has recently started work in the bio-fuels segment.
The company is increasing its focus on developing enzymes to create bio-fuels. It has, for instance, also tied up with Bangalore-based biotech start-up – Sea6 Energy to jointly develop a process for the production of bio-fuels from seaweed.
The companies will use enzymes to convert seaweed-based carbohydrates to sugar, which can then be fermented to produce ethanol for fuel, chemicals, proteins for food, and fertilisers for plants.
“We are open to partnerships with similar companies to support our work with biofuels,” Mr Krishnan said.
According to a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, India has enough agricultural residues to substitute more than 40 per cent of its gasoline usage in 2020.
Bio-fuels apart, Novozymes is also focusing on developing products to suit Indian requirements, Mr Krishnan said.
The company’s 60-member strong R&D team in India is developing enzymes for local requirements for the food, textile and detergent industries, he said.
It will develop enzymes that can be used to increase shelf life of food items like roti or naan, or enzymes for detergents to remove stains from curries, Mr Krishnan said.
Novozymes, which is currently 450-people strong, will also increase headcount in India, Mr Krishnan said.
The company’s India centre supports its global operations in administration to management and R&D.


text: U.S. stocks pulled back early Wednesday amid worries about Apple (AAPL) - Get Report . Apple's latest quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's forecasts by two cents and revenue matched estimates, but iPhone revenue fell 13% to $28.16 billion. The company sold 45.5 million iPhones during the quarter, a 5% decline year over year. In other news, Chipotle (CMG) - Get Report shares sunk after reporting a 21.9% drop in third quarter comparable store sales, while analysts were expecting a drop of 18.7%. The restaurant chain is still reeling from its 2015 E.coli outbreak. Southwest Airlines (LUV) - Get Report posted earnings of $0.62 a share for its most recent quarter, down from $0.88 a share in the same quarter a year ago. The results were affected by a technology glitch over the summer that resulted in flight cancellations and delays. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from Wall street.


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Before Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8, some reports predicted that the device will come with display embedded fingerprint scanner, but much to the chagrin of Galaxy fans, the technology was not ready for at the time. No specs for the device are provided, so we're still left to wonder exactly what the Galaxy X will bring to the table.
The page was just found by our good friends at Mobiel Kopen. This one is named the Samsung Galaxy X for now, and it looks like the Korean giant is serious about the device, as the support page for the phone has been found online.
India Wins International Court of Justice Seat After Hard Fight with UK
A majority in both the general assembly and security council was required to win a place on the ICJ bench. She wrote, "Vande Mataram - India wins election to the International Court of Justice ".
Further, the biggest proof of the page actually belonging to the Galaxy X is that the model no. SM-G888 has been associated in the past with the foldable phone. This possibly means that the Galaxy X may also come at the same time - which is sometime around the end of February. Ironically, after making fun of Apple fans willing to wait in front of stores for a new iPhone, Samsung now wants to let them try the Galaxy Note 8 or Galaxy S8 for a month before they buy it.
The Galaxy X, Samsung's first foldable smartphone, received Wi-Fi and Bluetooth certification several weeks ago, giving an impression that the smartphone was inching ever closer to primetime. But what we know is that - the foldable device is going to be a high-end phone and may come with nearly all the top-notch features that are seen on the latest flagship phones by Samsung. In simple terms, the flip phone can be bend only on one side and will be using a multi-joint hinge.


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Image source: AB InBev.
The SABMiller (NASDAQOTH: SBMRY) merger with Budweiser maker AB InBev (NYSE: BUD) isn't just about beer. Cigarette giant Altria (NYSE: MO) owns a large stake in SABMiller and stands to receive a sizable sum of cash and a large equity stake in the new business now that the merger has been approved.
What Altria will get
Shareholders recently gave the OK for SABMiller to merge into the global AB InBev conglomerate. Regulators have also given their go-ahead, and SABMiller will begin trading under its new parent company starting on Oct. 11.
Altria has a 27% ownership and voting stake in SABMiller. Upon completion of the deal, that 27% interest gets converted into a 10.5% interest in the new company, two seats on the new board of directors, and approximately $3 billion in pre-tax cash.
The megamerger will result in the new AB InBev controlling about 46% of global beer profits and 27% of the world's beer production. The transaction's advantage for AB InBev is that it reduces reliance on the company's biggest U.S. and Brazilian beer markets. Africa, which in the beginning of the new company's existence will account for about 9% of revenue, will become a key focus of growth.
Altria's business strategy
Altria derives the lion's share of its business from cigarette and other tobacco product sales. The company is best known for its flagship brand Marlboro.
However, in recent years Altria and other tobacco companies have been dealing with declining sales of cigarettes. While those declines have been more than offset by price increases, Altria has gone the extra distance to diversify business. While tobacco is still its bread and butter, electronic-cigarette and wine sales have been on the rise for Altria.
During the last reported quarter, Altria's wine revenues increased 6.2% over the previous year, primarily due to higher sales volume. Wine revenue as a percentage of total company revenue was at 2.6%, up from 2.4% of total revenue in the year-ago quarter. The SABMiller interest contributed $0.06 per share of the reported $1.53 earnings per share through the first six months of 2016.
While wine, e-cigs, and beer make up a very small percentage of Altria's total business, the company continues to look for ways to grow its non-tobacco sales and profit. This will become increasingly important if cigarette and tobacco use in the U.S. continue to decline and come under increasing pressure from regulators and the general public.
What should investors do?
The news of the SABMiller deal with AB InBev has generated buzz and excitement for shareholders in those two companies. Altria investors are also no doubt excited and non-shareholders may be tempted to jump on the Altria train at the announcement that the deal is going through. However, caution is in order.
The deal has been public knowledge for quite some time, along with what Altria stands to gain. During Altria's last report at the end of July, the final details from Altria's perspective were announced. At this point, the merger benefit is already baked in to current share prices, so investors should avoid buying Altria solely on the news that the merger has the necessary final OKs.
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There's a report today that millions of LinkedIn passwords have been leak online.
A Russian forum user claims he has hacked LinkedIn, uploading 6,458,020 encrypted passwords (without usernames) as proof.
Here's more from Mashable .
"Nothing has changed; the vulnerability still exists," says David Stites, a master's computer science student at UCCS.
In January, Stites showed News 5 a security lapse he found on the iPhone mobile app for Southwest Airlines. He was able to pull login and password information out of the air...


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Ad buyers want more flexibility and stats for Facebook Watch ads
Many media buyers have tested mid-roll placements on Facebook Watch, but few truly understand if those ads work well because Facebook doesn’t provide enough stats or work with third-party vendors to quantify performance. In spite of Watch advertising’s existing limitations like lack of direct buys and transparency, advertisers said they would like to spend more on Watch, as Facebook is fixing those problems and buying more sports content.
For starters, buying ads on Watch lacks flexibility at the moment. Watch ads, mid-roll videos that are less than 15 seconds, are only available through audience-based buys instead of direct buys from publishers, according to media agency executives.
For instance, if a brand wants to reach 30- to 50-year-old business professionals in an ad campaign, it can’t specifically buy ads on, say, Entrepreneur’s “Elevator Pitch” episodes on Watch. Instead, the brand can only enter its targeting parameters and select “in-stream video” on its Facebook dashboard, and Facebook will then automatically place ads for the brand wherever it makes sense (which may include Watch) based on the brand’s targeted audience, according Michael Dobson, group director of social media for media agency Crossmedia.
“Hopefully in the near future, Facebook will have sponsorship-type buys available, allowing brands to drive relevant connections to Watch ads that are running,” said Dobson. “Snapchat and Twitter actively allow you to do [sponsorships] currently, so it only makes sense that Facebook would soon allow this type of buy.”
Meanwhile, reporting on Watch ads lacks transparency. There are two different “in-stream” placement options for advertisers, one for ads on Facebook that includes Watch, and the other for ads on Audience Network that includes other apps and websites outside of Facebook. Both ad options are purchased and delivered in an automated way. While advertisers can get performance reports on in-stream ads from Facebook for both options, it’s unclear how much Watch ads have contributed to the overall in-stream performance on Facebook, according to media buyers. (It also allows Facebook to obscure how many videos — a lot — don’t reach the mid-roll break.)
“Facebook’s own reports show that people tend to stay longer in the Watch environment, but advertisers can’t verify that with a third party today,” said Kieley Taylor, managing director and global head of social for GroupM. “Facebook is in the process to add DoubleVerify or Integral Ad Science to validate brand safety, and third-party viewability via Moat and IAS is on the road map for in-stream video.”
Ben Hovaness, executive director and digital activation for Hearts & Science, agreed that advertisers can’t isolate ad performance on Watch, but he thinks that will change if Facebook’s plan is to mimic YouTube and scale pre-roll ads on Watch this year. “Watch will have its own placement with the rollout of pre-roll,” he said. “YouTube provides us with ad performance against each video. If Facebook is looking to mirror an ad product that has YouTube attributes, it should offer advertisers the same level of transparency.”
There are also some highly political shows like The Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” on Watch, which may be seen as too controversial for some brands during a time when advertisers are pulling ads from mainstream hard-news sites. While advertisers can exclude certain content categories on Watch, it doesn’t have enough granularity, according to Hovaness and Taylor.
Despite these limitations, media buyers believe ad dollars will still flow into Watch, as Facebook is working to address the drawbacks. And for brands that prioritize ad prices over anything else, Watch could be cost-efficient because the more types of ad placements an advertiser puts into its media deal with Facebook, the cheaper the ad price will be, according to Hovaness. “Dynamic pricing plays a role here,” he said.
Facebook is also increasingly focused on live sports, which may make Watch more enticing for advertisers, said Taylor. Carly Carson, social account supervisor for agency PMG, agreed that content relevancy will be key in making Watch the right fit for advertisers. For instance, Facebook is putting a concerted effort into driving users to engage with relevant content leading up to the Super Bowl with a documentary series “Tom vs. Time,” which features NFL quarterback Tom Brady, according to Carson.
“Timely content series like this will hopefully build frequency and user adoption for Facebook Watch, making this a more high-profile and relevant ad placement for advertisers who can’t opt in to large events like the Super Bowl,” said Carson.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated that Watch was included as part of Audience Network video performance. It has been changed to reflect that Watch is included as part of Facebook in-stream results. Digiday regrets the error.
How Salesforce is gathering its own customer data through its new streaming video play
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‘We’re all figuring out what our new reality is’: How DTC underwear brand Thinx is diversifying its media mix with more OOH
As a cookieless future and Apple's data privacy updates loom over advertisers, at least one DTC brand is diversifying its ad spend by doubling down on OOH efforts.
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On-demand pay could be just the ticket for industries like the restaurant business struggling to find and keep workers in key roles.
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Suchi Sastri, managing director and partner, Boston Consulting Group As the holiday season approaches and the pandemic continues to evolve, retailers want to know what to expect. Will e-commerce continue to grow at the rate it did last year? How big of a role will in-store shopping play in holiday shopping? While it’s still early, […]
Misfits Gaming partners with The E.W. Scripps Company in a bid to bring esports content to Floridian television viewers
Misfits’ is the most prominent Florida-based esports organization. Both its Call of Duty League team and its Overwatch League squad are based in the Sunshine State.
‘It’s really just like a catalog’: Overheard at the Digiday Media Marketplace Strategies Forum
Top concerns expressed included navigating selling on a multitude of new marketplaces and maintaining brand equity in the face of third-party sellers


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An evangelical pastor and his sister have been arrested by police in Bolivia after they purportedly killed a sibling during a bathtub exorcism, officials said Monday.
The suspects, Carlos Uriona and Adelaida Marca, were arrested after they allegedly drowned their sister during the ritual, police spokesman Juan Carlos Corrales said.
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“The suspects confessed that their 18-year-old sister was possessed by the demon and they wanted to purify her and christen her in a bathtub, but it went too far,” said Corrales, speaking during a telephone interview.
He said the young woman drowned.
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Can you imagine a world without packages, boxes or bags – not even one for your toothbrush! But there might just come a day when we can live in such an environmentally friendly way as this could become reality.
Europe is readying a revision of its packaging and waste directive. The European Commission has commissioned research that highlights the positives, negatives & benefits as well as the ‘grey areas’ for each type of packaging format available on today’s market. From paper to plastics & even glass bottles. The goal is to make the new law more sustainable for the future while still allowing consumers some control over what they buy by choosing whether it’s recyclable when it comes to return or upcylce time.
The European Commission has found that regulation is necessary to both stop unnecessary packaging and make sure that the packaging which does exist can be recycled. A staggering 174.1kgs of waste was generated in Europe last year, per inhabitant. According to the EC there are a few ways they plan on reducing this amount by 2030 including “revisions” (or updates) regarding their current plastic packaging laws as well as stricter recycling standards for all sorts or products made out of paper such as cups & straws etc.
Stakeholders had their say in a public consultation and one of the most discussed topics was whether or not to prioritize certain types of packaging over others. They were asked what they thought should happen with respect to recycling, greenhouse gas emissions reduction (GHGEs), as well as circularity–how the public per
The need for change has been palpable as the relianance on oil and it’s packaging derivatives is still far to great. It’s clear there’s still much more work to be on these issues before we call ourselves fully sustainble.
Read the full article at: www.euractiv.com


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- Human Defense Platform
- New York City
- Washington DC
- Tel Aviv
This leading food delivery service was experiencing unusually huge spikes of unidentified traffic that overloaded its system. These spikes were ten times their normal peak traffic, which drew the attention of both the security and operations teams. Investigation of the traffic showed that many of the spikes were bot attacks originating from countries outside of the company’s service areas.
The bot attacks caused performance issues for its customers and restaurant partners, triggering service escalations and complaints. This affected the company’s brand reputation, customer loyalty and, ultimately, revenue.
To address the challenge, the security team started building a homegrown bot management system that relied on IP-based rules. The do-it-yourself approach consumed hundreds of hours and took resources away from other key infrastructure projects. Despite this effort, sophisticated bot attacks kept coming. This increased risk to the company’s revenue and reduced operational efficiency.


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PARIS (October 27, 2016) – “The supply chain industry is very important to France,” explained Claude Morel, chief of staff for the secretary of state for transport in France, at a luncheon on day two of The International Air Cargo Association’s 2016 Air Cargo Forum in Paris. “It sustains 100,000 industries and creates 2 million jobs,” he went on to explain, adding that cargo was a fundamental element in a balanced business for the aviation industry.
Highlighting the concerns of shippers regarding undue paperwork, Morel went on to say that it is important to simplify the process of goods going through the airport. “We have to streamline customs and procedures” he added.
Expanding on government measures to encourage the industry, Morel explained that the French government had introduced self-certification of VAT and streamlined customs, and that the competitiveness of Charles de Gaulle Airport was due to a concerted effort of all the concerned players. The next stage was to form a consultative body to oversee reforms for the next 20 years.
The theme of the conference is innovation, Morel went on to say, and there could be strengthened procedures covering new distribution models. Transportation of parcels by drones may be in its infancy, but the industry must ensure technical reliability, and the acceptance of the technology by communities they overfly.
“The industry must brace for the coming revolution,” Morel concluded. “And the supply chain will have to adapt to new modes of distribution that are not available today.”
By Darren Barton
Asia Cargo News | Paris


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John Collison, President and co-founder of Stripe, attends the 2018 Viva Tech convention in Paris.
Christophe Morin | IP3 | Getty Photographs
Stripe is not ruling out accepting cryptocurrency as a way of fee sooner or later, in response to co-founder John Collison.
The web funds firm ended assist for bitcoin funds in 2018, citing the digital coin’s notoriety for risky value swings and a scarcity of effectivity in making on a regular basis transactions.
“Crypto clearly means a whole lot of various things to a whole lot of totally different individuals,” Collison stated at a CNBC-moderated panel on the Fintech Abu Dhabi competition on Tuesday.
Collison stated there have been some points to crypto — similar to its use as a speculative funding — which might be “not that related to what we do at Stripe.”
However, he added: “There have been a whole lot of developments of late with an eye fixed to creating cryptocurrencies higher and, particularly, scalable and acceptable value as a fee technique.”
Requested whether or not Stripe would begin accepting crypto as a way of fee once more, Collison stated: “We do not but, however I believe it is not implausible that we’d.”
The corporate just lately shaped a group devoted to exploring crypto and “Web3,” a buzzword in tech that refers to a brand new, decentralized model of the web.
The trouble is being led by Guillaume Poncin, Stripe’s head of engineering. Earlier this month, the corporate appointed Matt Huang, co-founder of crypto-focused enterprise capital agency Paradigm, to its board of administrators.
Collison stated there are a selection of improvements rising in digital property which have potential, together with solana — a competitor to ethereum, the world’s second-biggest digital forex — to “Layer 2” methods like bitcoin’s Lightning Community, which goal to hurry up transactions and course of them at a decrease value.
Based in 2009, Stripe has shortly change into the most important privately-held fintech firm within the U.S. The corporate was final valued at $95 billion and counts the likes of Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as traders.
The corporate, which processes funds for the likes of Google, Amazon and Uber, has expanded into numerous different areas in finance currently, together with loans and tax administration.


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13-Inch MacBook Pro With Scissor Keyboard Expected in First Half of 2020
Following the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple plans to release a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a scissor switch keyboard in the first half of 2020, according to industry sources cited by hit-or-miss Taiwanese publication DigiTimes. A preview of the report was shared with paying subscribers.
16-inch MacBook Pro's new scissor switch keyboard via iFixit
The report claims the display size will remain 13.3 inches, although given the source is DigiTimes
, we would not completely rule out hopes of a larger 14-inch display. Wistron and Global Lighting Technologies are said to be among the suppliers of the keyboards for the smaller notebook.
The new 16-inch MacBook Pro features a redesigned scissor switch keyboard, largely based on the standalone Magic Keyboard for the iMac. Given the tried-and-tested design, the keyboard should prove far more reliable than the troublesome butterfly keyboards used across the MacBook lineup in recent years.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro also features a physical Esc key and an inverted-T arrow key layout. It is unclear if the 13-inch MacBook Pro will follow suit.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously predicted that Apple will transition its entire notebook lineup to scissor switch keyboards in 2020, including all MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models.
It would be hardly surprising if Apple completely moves past its butterfly keyboards, which have suffered from issues with sticky, repeating, or nonfunctional keys since their inception in 2016. Apple continues to offer free repairs to affected customers as part of its worldwide service program.
The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro was last updated in July, while higher-end 13-inch models were refreshed in May.
Apple today launched its annual "Back to School" promotion for college/university students in the United States and Canada. This year's promotion offers a free Apple gift card with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad, rather than free AirPods like last year. Apple is also offering students 20% off AppleCare+ plans during the promotion.
Apple is offering a $150 gift card with the purchase ...
CEO Tim Cook this week did an interview with China Daily, where he once again commented on on the future of augmented reality and hinted at Apple's work on an AR/VR headset. Render via designer Ian Zelbo Cook said that Apple is excited about the opportunities available with augmented reality, which is not too far off from prior comments that he's made, but he went on to say that people should ...
The next-generation AirPods Pro could come with a long list of new features that include heart rate detection, the ability to function as a hearing aid, and a USB-C port according to a report from 52Audio.
The site claims that it has received new information on the AirPods Pro 2, and it has used that information to provide some renders on what the earbuds might look like. Design wise, there...
Apple today seeded the second betas of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 to developers for testing purposes, and the new betas introduce new features and refine some of the changes that Apple made with the first iOS 16 release.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Lock Screen Photo Wallpaper Customization
When customizing a photo on the Lock Screen, there are two new DuoTone and...
The iPad will no longer be able to be used as a home hub following the launch of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and the HomePod 16 software this fall, Apple confirmed today.
As discovered in iOS 16 code by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, Apple says that the iPad will no longer be supported as a home hub. This information will be displayed in the Home app after updating to iOS 16.A home ...
Apple is "likely" to announce its long-rumored mixed-reality headset as soon as January 2023, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reiterated.
Concept render based on purported leaked information by Ian Zelbo In a detailed post on Medium, Kuo explained that Apple's headset will be a "game-changer" for the augmented-reality and virtual-reality market. Describing some of the headset's...


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|By Business Wire||
|November 13, 2012 04:00 PM EST||
Fidelity Investments® today announced the release of new, redesigned brokerage apps for iPhone, iPod touch and AndroidTM smartphones, available for free from the App Store and Google Play, respectively. Both apps’ new features include industry-first customizable tile-based home screen options for key market data, top gainers and losers, personalized watch lists, accounts and more. Quotes can turn into interactive, advanced charts with technical indicators when rotated into landscape view, and customers can stay connected to breaking market and company news with film-strip style headlines and streaming market videos updated four times daily.
Fidelity’s mobile enhancements come at a time when nearly half (45 percent) of all adults own a smartphone1, and 41 percent more active investors report they are using a mobile device to manage their investments than did last year2. Also in the last year, mobile trading via Fidelity’s mobile apps increased 66 percent3.
“Investors simply cannot be untied from the market when it’s on the move,” said Richard Blunck, executive vice president, digital distribution at Fidelity. “The demand for sophisticated mobile solutions is increasing and Fidelity is answering that challenge with our Next Generation mobile apps that give investors real-time analysis, research and trading tools in the palm of their hand.”
Next Generation Functionality for iPhone, iPod touch and Android Smartphones
The Next Generation brokerage apps for iPhone, iPod touch and Android smartphones feature the following new functionality, in addition to the apps’ leading trading and portfolio management tools:
- Customizable Home Screens: Nine customizable home screen options give customers easy access to the information that’s most important to them. Select tile-based screens include a customer’s watch list in heat map view, U.S. Markets, World Markets and Market Movers.
- Advanced Charting: From a quote screen, rotate to landscape mode to access a fully interactive advanced chart. Customers can layer technical indicators onto the chart (e.g. moving average, exponential moving average) or compare the performance of two securities.
- News & Video: An all new news experience, complete with market update videos scheduled four times daily, and film-strip style news articles containing relevant companies.
- Alerts: A message center for streaming alerts4 where customers can view and manage price triggers and receive trade notifications.
- Cash Management: Banking enhancements, including access to credit card details such as balances, payments and rewards, and a cash management overview page that includes current balance, interest earned, and ATM fee rebates.
Additionally, stock plan participants can now accept grants on Fidelity’s Next Generation app on iPhone.
New Visualization Tools For iPad
Fidelity also recently updated its Fidelity Investments for iPad® app with new interactive visualization tools. Research functionality via Trefis® shows in a single snapshot what drives the value in a company's business. With Trefis5, customers can run their own scenarios to change business drivers and see the impact on a company’s value. And with Fidelity's Watch List Visualization (powered by Fidelity Labs), customers can see the historical performance of their watch lists using a time-based control. Watch List Visualization also allows for comparisons of selected securities with industry standard data points such as P/E ratio, 90-day average volume, market cap, and earnings per share (when applicable).
“We believe the introduction of these new mobile apps will strengthen our position as the highest-rated online broker6,” said Blunck.
For more information about Fidelity’s mobile brokerage solutions, please visit www.fidelity.com/mobile, or for specific information on Fidelity’s Next Generation brokerage apps for iPhone, iPod touch and Android smartphones, visit www.fidelity.com/iphone and www.fidelity.com/android.
About Fidelity Investments
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1 As of Sept. 2012, 45% of all U.S. adults aged 18+ own a smartphone, up from up from 35% in May 2011 (Pew Research Center’s “Pew Internet & American Life Report”, Sept. 11, 2012)
2 Fidelity Active Investor Poll: Do you use your mobile device to help manage your investments? (31% answered “Yes” on 9/27/2012 vs. 22% on 10/28/2011).
3 Year over year Fidelity internal business data as of Sept. 30, 2012.
4 Streaming alerts are available on iPhone and iPod touch only.
5 Trefis and Fidelity Investments are independent entities and are not legally affiliated.
6 Best Overall Broker, SmartMoney 2012 Annual Broker Survey, June 2012; Best of the Web Gold Award Winner: 2011 Best of the Web Compuware Web & Mobile Performance Awards, Feb. 2012; Best for Long-Term Investing, Best for In-Person Service, Best for Novice Investors, Barron’s, Cut the Cord, March 12, 2012.
Amazon has gradually rolled out parts of its IoT offerings in the last year, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to optimizing their back-end AWS offerings, Amazon is laying the ground work to be a major force in IoT – especially in the connected home and office. Amazon is extending its reach by building on its dominant Cloud IoT platform, its Dash Button strategy, recently announced Replenishment Services, the Echo/Alexa voice recognition control platform, the 6-7 strategic...
Apr. 25, 2017 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 4,958
@GonzalezCarmen has been ranked the Number One Influencer and @ThingsExpo has been named the Number One Brand in the “M2M 2016: Top 100 Influencers and Brands” by Analytic. Onalytica analyzed tweets over the last 6 months mentioning the keywords M2M OR “Machine to Machine.” They then identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter.
Apr. 25, 2017 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 741
With billions of sensors deployed worldwide, the amount of machine-generated data will soon exceed what our networks can handle. But consumers and businesses will expect seamless experiences and real-time responsiveness. What does this mean for IoT devices and the infrastructure that supports them? More of the data will need to be handled at - or closer to - the devices themselves.
Apr. 25, 2017 03:45 AM EDT
New competitors, disruptive technologies, and growing expectations are pushing every business to both adopt and deliver new digital services. This ‘Digital Transformation’ demands rapid delivery and continuous iteration of new competitive services via multiple channels, which in turn demands new service delivery techniques – including DevOps. In this power panel at @DevOpsSummit 20th Cloud Expo, moderated by DevOps Conference Co-Chair Andi Mann, panelists will examine how DevOps helps to meet th...
Apr. 25, 2017 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 870
Judith Hurwitz is president and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates, a Needham, Mass., research and consulting firm focused on emerging technology, including big data, cognitive computing and governance. She is co-author of the book Cognitive Computing and Big Data Analytics, published in 2015. Her Cloud Expo session, "What Is the Business Imperative for Cognitive Computing?" is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, at 8:40 a.m. In it, she puts cognitive computing into perspective with its value to the busin...
Apr. 25, 2017 03:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,548
Five years ago development was seen as a dead-end career, now it’s anything but – with an explosion in mobile and IoT initiatives increasing the demand for skilled engineers. But apart from having a ready supply of great coders, what constitutes true ‘DevOps Royalty’? It’ll be the ability to craft resilient architectures, supportability, security everywhere across the software lifecycle. In his keynote at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Jeffrey Scheaffer, GM and SVP, Continuous Delivery Busine...
Apr. 25, 2017 03:15 AM EDT Reads: 484
In his general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Manish Dixit, VP of Product and Engineering at Dice, discussed how Dice leverages data insights and tools to help both tech professionals and recruiters better understand how skills relate to each other and which skills are in high demand using interactive visualizations and salary indicator tools to maximize earning potential. Manish Dixit is VP of Product and Engineering at Dice. As the leader of the Product, Engineering and Data Sciences team at D...
Apr. 25, 2017 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 5,807
SYS-CON Events announced today that Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. The company co-innovates with customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure network...
Apr. 25, 2017 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 863
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Apr. 25, 2017 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 9,003
The explosion of new web/cloud/IoT-based applications and the data they generate are transforming our world right before our eyes. In this rush to adopt these new technologies, organizations are often ignoring fundamental questions concerning who owns the data and failing to ask for permission to conduct invasive surveillance of their customers. Organizations that are not transparent about how their systems gather data telemetry without offering shared data ownership risk product rejection, regu...
Apr. 25, 2017 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,298
Grape Up is a software company, specialized in cloud native application development and professional services related to Cloud Foundry PaaS. With five expert teams that operate in various sectors of the market across the USA and Europe, we work with a variety of customers from emerging startups to Fortune 1000 companies.
Apr. 24, 2017 11:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,159
Financial Technology has become a topic of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York, June 6-8, 2017, will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech.
Apr. 24, 2017 11:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,277
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.
Apr. 24, 2017 11:00 PM EDT Reads: 837
SYS-CON Events announced today that Hitachi, the leading provider the Internet of Things and Digital Transformation, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., offers an integrated portfolio of services and solutions that enable digital transformation through enhanced data management, governance, mobility and analytics. We help globa...
Apr. 24, 2017 10:45 PM EDT Reads: 727
SYS-CON Events announced today that Interoute, owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 12 data centers, 14 virtual data centers and 31 colocation centers, with connections to 195 add...
Apr. 24, 2017 10:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,746
The age of Digital Disruption is evolving into the next era – Digital Cohesion, an age in which applications securely self-assemble and deliver predictive services that continuously adapt to user behavior. Information from devices, sensors and applications around us will drive services seamlessly across mobile and fixed devices/infrastructure. This evolution is happening now in software defined services and secure networking. Four key drivers – Performance, Economics, Interoperability and Trust ...
Apr. 24, 2017 09:45 PM EDT Reads: 3,621
Multiple data types are pouring into IoT deployments. Data is coming in small packages as well as enormous files and data streams of many sizes. Widespread use of mobile devices adds to the total. In this power panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists will look at the tools and environments that are being put to use in IoT deployments, as well as the team skills a modern enterprise IT shop needs to keep things running, get a handle on all this data, and deli...
Apr. 24, 2017 07:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,165
The 20th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. Cloud Expo, to be held June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, brings together Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps, Containers, Microservices and WebRTC to one location. With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding business opportunity. Submit your speaking proposal ...
Apr. 24, 2017 06:45 PM EDT Reads: 745
The Internet of Things is clearly many things: data collection and analytics, wearables, Smart Grids and Smart Cities, the Industrial Internet, and more. Cool platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Intel's Galileo and Edison, and a diverse world of sensors are making the IoT a great toy box for developers in all these areas. In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists discussed what things are the most important, which will have the most profound e...
Apr. 24, 2017 04:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,099
SYS-CON Events announced today that T-Mobile will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc., is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company's advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 67.4 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on ...
Apr. 24, 2017 03:45 PM EDT Reads: 660


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[alert type=yellow ]Every week, Tradestreaming highlights startups in the news, making things happen. The following is just part of this week’s news roundup. You can get these updates delivered direct to your inbox by signing up for the Tradestreaming newsletter.[/alert]
Protect your downside and follow these 20 top insurance startups in 2016 (Tradestreaming)
Our list of the top insurance technology, or insurtech, startups to keep an eye on this year.
2015 Automated Platform Performance Review: Betterment vs. Wealthfront (Meb Faber)
Meb Faber with some good analysis on how Betterment performed this year vs. Wealthfront (and where Schwab and Vanguard come in)
San Francisco-based Credit Karma acquires mobile notification startup Snowball (BizJournals)
Snowball acts as a universal inbox for all incoming chats. “We’re seeing a huge movement of consumers toward mobile, particularly in younger demographics. Android is a key platform for us,” Credit Karma Chief Technology Officer Ryan Graciano told TechCrunch. “And these guys have really amazing experience on Android, in particular.”
Startups raising/Investors investing
Digital financial advice firm NextCapital raises $16M in funding (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago-based NextCapital, which helps financial institutions offer automated financial advice for investors, said Thursday it had raised $16 million in Series B financing.
AXA Strategic Ventures invests in four startups (PEHub)
AXA Strategic Ventures said it made four new investments during the second half of 2015. They include Bee, a mobile-first, in-person bank; Price Method, a predictive analytics company; GoldBean, which provides advice, education and low-cost trading for financial beginners; and CoPromote, a programmatic influencer marketing platform.
Ayannah raises $3M (Deal Street Asia)
The firm announced last October that it intends to offer the full stack of digital payment platform from payments, commerce, analytics, to spur financial inclusion in emerging markets like the Philippines.


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When Google alien the Google Pixel 8 Pro earlier this year, the aggregation fabricated it bright that it was added of an AI phone than aloof a approved Android flagship. Now, Google is leaning added into that AI future with a brace of new appearance based on the centralized Gemini Nano model.
In adjustment to accompany Gemini Nano to the Pixel 8 Pro, Google built a new arrangement alleged Android AI Core in Android 14. It’s the best bunched and able AI archetypal from Google, operating on Tensor adaptable silicon natively. On-device operation agency all processes appear locally, which ensures there’s little accident of acute advice abrogation your phone.
Most importantly, you charge not be affiliated to the internet – or Google’s billow – for these AI appearance to work. Talking about features, Gemini Nano offers tricks such as beat argument summarization, context-aware acute responses, and adult proofreading and grammar-correction tools.
The aboriginal Gemini Nano-based affection on the Pixel 8 Pro is a new summarizer arrangement in the Recorder app for Pixel phones. The app, which already excels at transcription, will now present a arbitrary of the audio recording in the anatomy of quick-to-absorb ammo points. GPT-based accoutrement and apps such as Shortwave additionally action their own booty on summarization, but they can’t do so after an internet connection.
For now, however, the AI summarizer arrangement in Recorder is bound to the English language. Unfortunately, we don’t apperceive whether abutment for added languages – and earlier accessories – will be added bottomward the road. Interestingly, the app is now able to transcribe audio in 28 languages.
Next, we accept a new acute acknowledgment arrangement in the Gboard app. The affection is already alive globally in WhatsApp, but added apps will add abutment for this predictive argument acknowledgment affection in Google’s keyboard app soon. Conversational acquaintance is the ambush here, and back all processing happens natively, the suggestions are quick and aloofness is not jeopardized.
Interestingly, Google is not locking the AI Core to its own silicon. The aggregation says it can booty advantage of the apparatus acquirements engines complete on silicon offered by Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung.
That makes a lot of sense, as both MediaTek and Qualcomm now action top-end, as able-bodied as mid-tier processors that support AI models worth billions of parameters. Moreover, the inherent architectonics leaves the doors accessible for developers to fine-tune it for their own apps and advance custom AI-powered appearance of their own.
In accession to AI appearance complete aloft the Gemini Nano model, Google is additionally convalescent the Photo Unblur feature to bigger admit pets like bodies and dogs. Taking a APGE out of the Magic Eraser book, the Pixel phones get a new Clean affection that can abolish smudges and band arresting in scanned documents.
The Google Pixel Fold gets a new Dual Screen Preview approach that lets you arrange the alien awning as a viewfinder. The ability to use the Pixel buzz as a hi-res webcam is additionally rolling out broadly for users.
Following in the footsteps of Samsung, Google is additionally bringing a Repair Mode to Pixels that locks all the user abstracts in a defended ambiance while the accessory is actuality fixed. the Pixel 6, and all phones launched afterwards it, will additionally now appearance contextual quick replies back the Google Assistant is screening calls, alms users a quick way to acknowledgment calls with a argument after anytime acrimonious it up.
Thanks to Call Screen, Google is additionally bringing contextual admission alarm alerts to the Pixel Watch. Just like the iPhone-Apple Watch camaraderie, the Pixel Watch can be acclimated to alleviate Pixel phones. The first-generation Pixel Watch, afterward the December affection drop, is now able to accompany Do Not Disturb and Bedtime Modes with your Pixel smartphone.
- I was absolutely amiss about the Google Pixel Watch 2
- Your Android buzz is accepting lots of fun new appearance this month
- There’s alone one acumen I’m still application an iPhone in 2023
- How to save your abstracts from Google’s abolition of abeyant accounts
- Why the Apple Watch’s newest affection is bedevilled to fail
Nadeem is a tech announcer who started account about air-conditioned smartphone tech out of concern and anon started writing…
Does the Google Pixel Watch assignment with an iPhone?
Google threw its hat into the smartwatch arena aftermost year back it alien the Google Pixel Watch, and now it's aback for a much-needed acclamation with the Pixel Watch 2 — an adapted adaptation that proves how acceptable an abstraction it is to delay for the additional bearing of a new tech product.
The Pixel Watch 2 improves aloft its antecedent in about every way, with bigger array life, a added adequate design, and far smoother performance. It's abundant for Google to accomplish a mark amid Wear OS smartwatches and accord Samsung’s Galaxy Watch calendar a run for its money in a way that added challengers like the Moto 360 and Oppo Watch never could.
Google is assuredly acclimation an annoying affair with its Pixel phones
When Android 7.0 Nougat accustomed in 2016, Google alien a new seamless amend arrangement that accustomed users to accumulate application their accessories while the amend was installed in the background. Down the road, Google fabricated it binding for all smartphone makers, and it's best accustomed on Google's own Pixel smartphones. But the arrangement was not after its accountability — alike on the latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro devices.
Now, it seems like the latest Android 14 QPR amend has appreciably sped things up and anchored problems afflictive the accomplished amend pipeline. What are seamless updates, though? It involves an A/B deejay allotment strategy, which ensures that you can accumulate application your buzz while an amend is installed in the background. The alone time you'll apprehension something's up is back it reboots to about-face to the adapted version. After an update, rebooting your accessory is aloof as fast as a accustomed restart after abundant added waiting.
I did a Pixel 8 and OnePlus 11 camera test. Picking a champ wasn’t easy
OnePlus 11 (left) and Google Pixel 8 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
At the alpha of the year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus 11 with its Hasselblad-tuned camera. It afflicted us at the time, but how does it analyze to the casting new Google Pixel 8, appear about nine months later? The two amount $700, so affairs are, if you’re attractive at one, the added has popped up in your searches too.


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Merchants Claim Win On Interchange
WASHINGTON-In a move more symbolic than practical, the credit union lobby pulled its support from the bank reform bill last week after congressional leaders agreed to leave in it the interchange amendment that will allow the Federal Reserve to set fees on debit card transactions.
CUNA President Dan Mica, who had marshaled a massive fly-in of credit union executives the previous week, called on executives and volunteers to contact their members of Congress and urge a "no" vote on the final bill. Mica also notified lawmakers of the opposition of the credit union movement to the final bank bill, which is headed towards final passage with or without their support.
"The debit interchange provision would not only adversely affect how credit unions provide access to members' accounts, but also it would almost certainly increase costs to credit union members," he wrote in a letter to all members of the House and Senate last week.
The agreement on the interchange amendment came after its chief sponsor, Sen. Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, agreed to an additional carve-out from the price-setting provisions for government benefits programs, most of which are converting their payments to debit cards from checks or other payment methods.
The latest carve-out came in addition to one for credit unions and banks under $10 billion, which Sen. Durbin had offered especially to please the credit union and banking lobby. But the credit unions and banks, working together this time, insist that the carve-out will be meaningless because any fee rate set by the Fed for large banks will become the de facto rate for all debit transactions, or else those card issuers under $10 billion will be left at a competitive disadvantage because their rates will be higher than the Fed-directed rates for big banks.
"In its current form, this legislation would still put credit unions at a severe disadvantage compared to large credit card issuers," said Fred Becker, president of NAFCU, which also pulled its support form the bank bill.
Still, credit union lobbyists were working last week even after the participants in the House-Senate conference reconciling the two different versions of the massive bill-now almost 2,000 pages-agreed to the interchange amendment, in an effort to minimize the impact.
The lobbyists were hoping to include language in the bill that would allow the Fed to consider a broad array of costs in setting the pricing for interchange, like fraud. They were also hoping to toughen anti-discrimination language in the amendment that would prevent retailers from discriminating against credit union and bank cards that have higher interchange fees.
The congressional action in favor of the interchange amendment came despite the biggest lobbying effort waged by credit unions since the 1998 Campaign for Consumer choice, which culminated in passage of HR 1151, the CU Membership Access Act, and provides somewhat of a book-end for Mica's CUNA career, which began with the earlier campaign and is scheduled to end in the coming months.
It also makes for strange bedfellows, with the bankers, who fought against HR 1151, partnered with the credit unions against the interchange amendment.
But those two traditional enemies are up against a foe at least as powerful, the nation's retailers, who want more competition and transparency introduced into the $62 billion-a-year market for card interchange that is currently dominated by Visa and MasterCard. The two card companies, which ostensibly serve thousands of credit unions and banks, are dominated by a handful of the largest banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Citigroup and Bank of America.
A Strange Hue
The interchange fight, however, took on a strange hue, with the credit unions and small banks taking the public stance and the largest banks, those that will be most affected, using the specter of damage to small institutions to carry the debate. The retailers sued the same tactic, portraying the fight as mom-and-pop convenience stores against the big banks, even though big retailers, such as Wal-Mart, which is projected to save hundreds of millions of dollars a year on interchange fees, having backed the legislation.
Congressional leaders were working last week to hammer out final details on other provisions of the bank bill, including creation of a consumer financial protection agency, regulation of financial derivatives and new standards for Wall Street rating agencies. Once they do, the bill will be passed back to the full House and Senate, which are expected to vote final passage as soon as this week.


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In his kickoff speech at the Wharton European Conference in November, Jean-Pierre Rosso, who recently stepped down as chairman and director of CNH Global N.V., talked about the challenges faced by Europe as it develops a unified identity and begins to emerge as a global economic player. The European Union, he said, remains a “work in progress,” with several hurdles to overcome if it wants to become truly competitive. The conference, titled “Raising the Curtain Over a New Europe,” also included a panel on “Transatlantic Business Opportunities.”
In his opening remarks, Rosso noted “the excitement and pride around the creation of a unified European market,” as well as the “significant hype around becoming a larger market than the U.S.” The plan was to promote growth for all countries that became a part of the European Union, and to collectively compete against the economic power of the U.S. “At the same time, there were fears in the U.S. of a ‘fortress Europe,'” Rosso said, a Europe that worked to keep other nations out, whose main purpose was “to erect barriers to trade. This didn’t happen, but it was very interesting to watch the U.S. reaction as the E.U. was being formed.”
Yet despite such high hopes and expectations felt by many within Europe, the E.U. has failed in many ways to deliver on its promises, Rosso said, noting that “economic growth is not what it might have been since the E.U. was formed.” First, there were language and cultural differences to overcome in trying to form the E.U. entity itself. “The nations still held lots of power,” Rosso said, “and that meant Europe-wide agreements were slow to be implemented.”
Second, the purpose and make-up of the new European state “was not well explained to citizens. The politicians were not selling the advantages and benefits of unification — are still not selling those advantages and benefits.” As a result, the E.U. has seen low participation rates in its elections thus far, and according to Rosso, “there is not a lot of enthusiasm in Europe for Europe.”
Finally, “Europeans live well, so there is not much of an incentive to change,” Rosso said. He alluded to his own strong French national identity, pointing out that with each nation maintaining entrenched traditions and each supporting attractive lifestyles, there was very little power behind arguments asking people to embrace a new pan-European identity, either economically or culturally.
As a result, Rosso described the E.U. as “still a work in progress. We find ways to solve problems, but it just takes time.” He identified several large hurdles that the E.U. must overcome if it expects to become a future competitive force. “Look at the rest of the world: The U.S. has growth and productivity advantages. India and China are emerging with large educated populations that will also have growth and productivity advantages. Brazil is actively transforming itself economically. From a global point of view, Europe is losing ground. It must address this imbalance.”
How is it possible to do this? Rosso highlighted Europe’s “tremendous strengths and enormous advantages”: First, a highly educated populace. Second, a large and stable market in which to produce and trade goods. Third, a generally successful common currency in the member states which have adopted it. Rosso pointed to the E.U.’s central bank which is already promoting economic coordination between countries, and noted that the region is self-financing its growth rather than borrowing heavily, as the U.S. is doing. Finally, Rosso cited the potential that Russia and Eastern Europe hold as future growth markets for a unified Europe. “Our greatest strength is our human assets,” he said. “I am always impressed by the caliber of people. They are equal or superior to people anywhere else. But they haven’t yet delivered on their promise.”
What’s Next for Europe
Rosso stepped down as chairman of CNH Global N.V. in April of 2004. He was director and chairman of the board of CNH since the merger of Case and New Holland in November 1999 and was its CEO in the first year following the merger. He was also CEO of Case Corp. from 1994 to 1999. CNH Global N.V. is the number-one manufacturer of agricultural tractors and combines in the world, the third largest maker of construction equipment, and has one of the industry’s largest equipment finance operations.
Rosso identified three areas of key importance for the future development of Europe as an economic force:
- “We must create a truly integrated domestic market,” he said. “The fundamental strength of the U.S. is the integrated, homogenous market that it provides to ground companies in before they go international to compete.” Rosso believes it is similarly important for Europe to provide a large, homogenous breeding ground for European companies to flourish in before they go abroad.
- “We must implement more pro-growth reforms,” Rosso added. He argued in favor of removing “structural impediments” such as labor legislation and taxation that make it prohibitive for businesses to grow and compete globally. Rosso pointed to Sweden and Finland as prime examples of European nations who have managed to “evolve, adapt to new realities and continue growing without reducing the social net that is so important in Europe.”
- Finally, Rosso emphasized that “the future lies in science and technology,” identifying a four-pronged approach to supporting Europe’s scientific future. “We must increase investment in research; improve the relationship between fundamental research, applied research and industrial development; emphasize innovation; and look at our demography and consider its impact on the future direction of the growth of our markets.”
Luxury Brands, Politics and Astroturf
The panel on “Transatlantic Business Opportunities” included John Esposito, CEO of Schieffelin & Co., the fully-owned subsidiary of Moet Hennessy Company that imports and markets Dom Perignon, Hennessy Cognac, and Grand Marnier to the United States; Peter Chase, director of the Office of European Union and Regional Affairs at the U.S. Department of State; Jean-Francois Boittin, minister counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.; and Jean-Pierre Rosso. Each panelist presented a 10-minute talk on the state of transatlantic commercial opportunities as well as what the transatlantic relationship looks like from the vantage point of his organization.
“We are the fourth oldest continuously operating company in the country,” noted Schieffelin CEO John Esposito. “We began as an apothecary — you know, delivering wines and spirits during Prohibition for ‘medicinal purposes.'” The company is wholly owned by LVMH, the largest luxury goods company in the world, and is responsible for importing and marketing high-profile European spirits brands in the United States, including Dom Perignon champagne, Hennessy cognac, and Grand Marnier liqueur. Esposito noted that the Moet Hennessy division is the company’s second most profitable.
As an American running the stateside division of an iconic European company, Esposito has a unique perspective on the transatlantic relationship. “I have always been dealing with products from Europe, and the relationship — along with the company — has always been changing. We have reorganized the company four times in ten years. For us, it’s all about positioning. We have learned to transcend where our products are from to become a brand in people’s minds that goes beyond” national or regional borders.
To illustrate his point, Esposito showed attendees a video showcasing his company’s many products and brands — all of which have European names, but which, he said, have all become brands that are not tied to national identity. As a result, said Esposito, they are able to remain successful in the U.S. market by remaining apart from and above any tensions that arise in the transatlantic relationship, such as recent anti-French sentiment among American consumers following the French-American political divide over U.S. military action in Iraq. “Relationships are strained between France and the U.S. because of the war; there is a lot of anti-French activity as a result. French wine is suffering here in the U.S., but none of our brands are,” Esposito said. “Yes, Dior is French, but nobody cares because the brand is bigger than that — and who wants to throw out Dior? The important thing is we don’t market Schieffelin. Many of you may have never heard of Schieffelin before. It’s all about the individual brands.”
How do Esposito and his team achieve this? “We constantly think about how to make each brand recognizable as a great brand — not a European brand, but a great brand, period,” he said. Esposito also works to maintain the independence of the teams managing each brand, so that they are free to innovate as they see fit. “We have created a number of entrepreneurial companies empowered to operate globally and develop their own brands. They learn to speak the language of luxury, keeping our products aspirational for the consumer.”
Esposito added that a key to his company’s success is recognizing the importance of marketing luxury to a multicultural audience. “Sixty percent of our market here is non-white, so our branding is therefore multicultural in nature.” The company sells two million cases of Hennessy Cognac each year, while its closest competitor in the American market sells just 500,000. “It is an aspirational product for our core consumer, who is African American. Hennessy is the number-one brand mentioned in rap music.” Knowing and embracing its audience helps Schieffelin to constantly influence “what luxury means to our individual consumer. Branding, positioning and luxury is the way to cross all barriers.”
“Esposito’s strategies are good because they attempt to get above politics,” said Peter Chase, director of the State Department’s Office of European Union and Regional Affairs. But they illustrate what a huge impact politics has. “Business does not exist in a vacuum,” Chase noted. “It is buffeted by politics.”
The U.S. relationship with Europe is based on both “strong common values” and a history of transatlantic friendship, according to Chase. “The President wants to improve and strengthen our relationship with NATO and Europe [because] a stronger and more united Europe is in the interest of the United States.” In addition, America’s status as a lone military superpower does not help in addressing multinational threats such as terrorism, environmental deterioration and organized crime.
“There is a lot more to do to ensure the success of Europe,” noted Chase. First, growth in Europe is too slow. Second, unemployment rates remain too high. Third, Europe must “increase research and development, [promote] information and technology penetration, and support an entrepreneurial culture. If these things happen, even if the U.S. does nothing, the relationship will improve as Europe grows.”
Under President Bush’s “New Transatlantic Agenda,” regular summit meetings will be held between American government officials and their European counterparts, Chase said, adding that the President would like to see this support translate into enhanced security efforts being made in Europe as well as an improved European regulatory environment.
“I have a simple message,” stated Jean-Francois Boittin, the French minister delegate in Washington, D.C., for economic and commercial affairs. “There exists a transatlantic marketplace that is running so well, and so efficiently, that very few realize it exists.” Boittin, who has spent more than seven years in the U.S. in his current position, pointed to numerous examples of transatlantic business transactions that are so commonplace that few Americans take notice: “Notre Dame’s stadium is filled with French-made Astroturf,” he said. “The commuter rail in Boston is managed by a French company. California exports more to Europe than it does to Japan.”
Indeed, Boittin said that the economic relationship between the United States and Europe is valued at approximately $1 billion per day as measured by the Congressional Research Service. Broken down into its component parts, “this comes out to about $50 billion per year in trading goods, $20 billion per year in trading balances and $290 billion per year in investments” in dollars that the U.S. invests in Europe. In return, French investments in the U.S. total approximately $535 billion per year, an increase of 700% since 1990.
Boittin did note several problems in the European-American relationship, however. “It is a marketplace in search of a proper political structure. Right now the WTO negotiates and litigates — so far dealing with issues of bananas and beef hormones, but it will be handling disputes over Airbus and Boeing in the next few months. Meanwhile genetically modified food issues are already in progress, and the price of pharmaceuticals in the U.S.” is a discussion that will take place at some point in the future, Boittin said.
“The main obstacle in the transatlantic relationship is regulation,” he added. “It’s gone backwards on security. It’s gone backwards on labeling. It’s gone backwards on financial regulations because of Sarbanes-Oxley. Major firms on the New York Stock Exchange from Germany want out because of the expense of these regulations.” At a conference of CEOs seven years ago, Boittin said he heard one executive declare, ‘Let’s kick the bureaucrats out.’ “But it’s more complicated than that. For example, there won’t be a Congress anytime soon [that is willing] to make a transatlantic agreement of mutual recognition for drugs approved in Europe to be simultaneously approved in the U.S.,” Boittin noted. “Issues like these continue to irk Europeans and European businesses. There is no overarching structure over our economic relationship … which makes things complicated.”
In addition to his keynote address, Jean-Pierre Rosso offered three points of discussion that summarized or added to the issues raised by the other panelists:
- “It is important to find the global nature of a product,” Rosso said, “to ask, ‘Can the same product be sold in two places or not?’ The regulations in Europe make this difficult for the U.S. to do, and vice versa.”
- “It is important to establish yourself as an insider to the market. Whether you are entering by acquisition, organic growth or alliances, the only key to long-term success is for the local market to see you as a local player. This is the same key to success as in China and India. It is easier for the U.S. to do this because it can enter bit by bit, in one country then another. For Europe, it is a much larger commitment to get established in the U.S., and there are lots of high profile failures as a result.”


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Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman has revealed that while media attention on the $99 console may have slowed down, developers are still signing up to create its games. She said 36,000 were now part of the Ouya community, with more than half living outside North America.
"Close to 1,000 developers sign up every month, the breadth and type of content continues to expand," she told Polygon at E3.
"We've seen the average value per game almost double since we launched. The average user is downloading twice as many games as they did initially. Engagement is incredibly strong and continues to grow month over month. As we continue to add more users to the pipe, we're still holding onto them longer. So we're actually pretty thrilled."
The console now boasts around 825 games and soon those games be will accessible not just through the console but other devices like the Mad Catz Mojo and the Nanotech Nuvola NP-1.
In April Uhrman spoke to GamesIndustry International as Amazon revealed its Fire TV hardware, a potential competitor for Ouya.
"Ouya invented a new way to think about console games. But for us, games are not simply an 'added bonus' - they're the whole point. Ouya is solely dedicated to the devs creating games, and the players who play them. Their ideal experience is all we think about."


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|WhiteWave Foods said it plans to remove carrageenan from its Silk and Horizon Organic products.|
BROOMFIELD, COLO. — The WhiteWave Foods Co., citing consumer feedback and not safety concerns, plans to remove carrageenan from its Silk and Horizon Organic products, according to Facebook postings for the two brands. Blogger Vani Hari, also known as “The Food Babe,” applauded the move and urged her readers to avoid all products industrywide that include carrageenan on the ingredient list.
An announcement on carrageenan appeared Aug. 21 on Facebook pages for Silk and Horizon Organic. Soy milk, almond milk and coconut milk are sold under the Silk brand. Organic milk is sold under the Horizon Organic brand. Carrageenan, a purified extract of red seaweed, is used as natural thickener and stabilizer in food products, according to the postings. The Food and Drug Administration allows its use as a direct food additive.
“Even though it is safe, our consumers have told us they want products without it,” the Facebook postings said.
The decision to remove carrageenan from Silk and Horizon Organic products was made months ago, the postings said.
“This change will occur gradually over the next two years, as it takes time to work through the many formulations of our various products,” the postings said.
Ms. Hari heard about the planned carrageenan removal before the Facebook postings and wrote about it in her Aug. 19 blog.
“Let’s help to be part of this sweeping change to remove carrageenan from our food supply by avoiding all products with carrageenan and ask companies who are still using it to drop it,” she wrote.
In a blog in February of this year, Ms. Hari wrote about Subway using azodicarbonamide (ADA), a dough conditioner, in its bread. Subway at the time said it had been planning to remove ADA from its bread. Since then the restaurant chain has done so.
In writing about carrageenan, Ms. Hari cited a March 2013 report from The Cornucopia Institute, Cornucopia, Wis., titled, “Carrageenan, How a ‘Natural’ Food Additive is Making Us Sick.” The Cornucopia report said animal studies have shown food-grade carrageenan causes gastrointestinal inflammation and higher rates of intestinal lesions, ulcerations and even malignant tumors.Carrageenan has been allowed as a natural, non-organic substance in organic processed products since 2003 and is on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To qualify for the “organic” labeling category, at least 95% of a product’s content must be certified organic. The other 5% may be composed of specifically allowed non-organic substances like carrageenan.


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New Delhi- According to reports, Apple intends to manufacture iPhone 14 in India within the next two months. To reduce its dependence on China as the main manufacturer of iPhones worldwide, Apple will collaborate with suppliers to produce its new iPhone in India much sooner than usual. Apple has a few Indian partners, including Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, who make many of the company’s iPhones. It appears that the Tata Group, a large Indian conglomerate, is planning to manufacture the Apple iPhone in India soon.
According to a new Bloomberg report, the Tata Group is in discussions with Taiwanese supplier Wistron, one of Apple’s main suppliers. According to the report, Tata is in discussions with Wistron to set up a joint electronics manufacturing and iPhone assembly plant.
In India, Tata Group is a well known and trusted brand. The company makes salt, cars, electric vehicles, and even software. It also owns Tata Croma’s subsidiary Infiniti Retail, a leading consumer electronics retail chain. If Tata starts manufacturing iPhones in India, the company will establish itself as a new force in technology manufacturing. Tata may also be the first Indian company to manufacture iPhone in India. This will not only benefit the company but India as well, as the country encourages global companies to manufacture in India and export to other countries.
According to the report, the company intends to leverage Wistron’s expertise in product development, supply chain and assembly. The structure and details of the transaction, such as the shares, have not yet been finalized. Tata may buy some shares in Wistron’s India operations. Alternatively, Tata can also set up a new assembly plant. There is also the possibility that the company will be interested in both options. It’s not clear if Apple is aware of the Tata Group’s discussions with Wistron, as the company has strict quality control measures in place for the assembly of its products.
Apple is looking at alternative manufacturing sites to reduce its dependence on China, where manufacturing centers have struggled as a result of repeated shutdowns. According to reports, Apple is working with its Indian suppliers to manufacture iPhone 14 in the country within the next 2-3 months.


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Tesco drops the size of its new Wisbech store by nearly 20 per cent but insists changes are “largely cosmetic”
- Credit: Archant
TESCO has reduced by nearly 20 per cent the size of its proposed new superstore on the outskirts of Wisbech.
It has told Fenland District Council it no longer wants 7,000 sq m of store space for which it has permission but wants to reduce this to 5,741 sq m.
Despite having begun work on the £50m Cromwell Road complex, the company says will put in a fresh application to use the remaining space for what it has termed a “concession area”.
This will, says Tesco, allow them to accommodate “any alternative use, other than as a food store. Prior to this the area will be kept as a void.”
The revised application means numerous other changes to the Tesco scheme including repositioning of the front atrium and an overall reduction in height of 1500mm.
The proposals have knock on affects across the site – including the cinema and three proposed restaurants- but Tesco’s applications show these to be minor amendments.
There will be a reduction in car parking spaces from 870 to 748 “to meet Tesco’s latest standards and reduced floor space” and the eight pump filling station reduced to six.
- 1 Glasses smashed and beer poured on pub floor after alcohol refusal
- 2 Missing woman back home
- 3 Roll up, roll up, for the Fenland Council mini ‘sale of the century’
- 4 Zip-shaped mark on Rikki's body came from his anorak – the one used to strangle him, court told
- 5 Motorists face extra time on journeys due to A141 closure
- 6 Car travelled wrong way down A1 before triple fatal crash, say police
- 7 £14.6m school transformation complete after two-year project
- 8 WATCH: Emotional tribute to honour and remember crash victim
- 9 Pastor in freedom of speech and job fight over Pride tweet
- 10 Suspected poachers caught in farmyard raid as cops crackdown continues
Tesco says the area they plan to leave as a “void” will be subject to later planning applications.
The company says the changes are “largely cosmetic and operational” and resembles the scheme previously approved.


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Etihad Cargo gets Cool Chain Association and Pharma.Aero memberships
January 16, 2020: Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, has announced that it has joined the cross-industry associations Cool Chain Association and Pharma.Aero. The affiliation with the associations, which includes pharma shippers, CEIV certified cargo communities, airport operators and other air cargo industry stakeholders, provide the UAE-based carrier with active […]
January 16, 2020: Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, has announced that it has joined the cross-industry associations Cool Chain Association and Pharma.Aero.
The affiliation with the associations, which includes pharma shippers, CEIV certified cargo communities, airport operators and other air cargo industry stakeholders, provide the UAE-based carrier with active participation in the development of industry standards and processes.
This comes less than a year after Etihad Cargo became the first regional carrier and airport hub in the Middle East to be awarded CEIV certification in Pharmaceutical Logistics, and only the second carrier in the world to obtain the CEIV certification in Perishables Logistics (Fresh) two weeks ago.
Its dedicated TempCheck and FreshForward products provide specially designed, temperature-controlled equipment to transport pharmaceuticals and perishable items in the quickest possible time, adhering to the highest compliance guidelines.
Andre Blech, head, Cargo Operations and Delivery, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “Our memberships of the Cool Chain Association and Pharma.Aero are testament to the progress Etihad Cargo has made over the past 18 months as we continue to drive forward our ambition to provide reliable end-to-end air transportation for perishable and pharmaceutical shippers.”
The Cool Chain Association will provide Etihad Cargo with a strategic conduit for knowledge exchange and technological ideas, in addition to a tailored platform to expand its current government, industry and supply chain partnerships on a global level.
Stavros Evangelakakis, chairman, Cool Chain Association and global product manager, Cargolux, said: “The CCA brings together industry leaders from across the cool chain to network, share insight, and trial new ideas. CCA members are focused on driving genuine change in the pharma and perishables cool chain with a focus on contributing to reducing waste and improving the lives of patients by ensuring transportation meets the requirements of the shipper, and Etihad will bring valuable insight and input from an airline perspective. We look forward to their contribution.”
Etihad Cargo’s Pharma.Aero membership carries active participation at IATA LAPB meetings and regulation updates, ensuring its seat at the centre of industry-wide decision-making processes.
Nathan De Valck, chairman, Pharma.Aero, said: “We welcome Etihad Cargo into the Pharma.Aero membership and look forward to their active contribution in our project groups to further improve pharma handling processes in collaboration with the pharmaceutical manufacturers. As the first Middle East carrier to join Pharma.Aero, Etihad Cargo marks the expansion of our global membership into that region”.


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CLARK, NJ, Mar 12, 2020 – DesignPoint – a growth advisor for engineers and manufacturers – announced its acquisition of Alpha Additive Manufacturing Technologies, a successful Markforged reseller located in Lowell, MA. The acquisition furthers DesignPoint’s commitment to accelerating the transformation of businesses in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions by providing 3D Printing solutions with maximum impact.
“This acquisition represents an amazing opportunity to continue to expand our presence in New England and further our commitment to our Markforged partnership,” explained DesignPoint’s partner Fran Lairdieson. “Alpha’s devotion to the success of its clients matches our own passion to ensure that More is Possible for our customers, making them the ideal fit for our DesignPoint team.”
“We are proud to join forces with a company that shares our commitment to helping businesses improve the way they bring products to market,” said Alpha AMT president, Jim Mertes. “For over 20 years we’ve believed that making our customers successful was the most important thing. Little did we know that DesignPoint was inspired by that same belief system.”
DesignPoint is passionate about building solutions that help product design, engineering, and manufacturing companies maximize their potential. They provide SOLIDWORKS 3D design products, Markforged 3D printers, BigRep large scale 3D printers, 3D Systems products, training, support, and consulting services needed to streamline product development.
For more information, visit www.design-point.com.


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Newk's Eatery closes in Springfield
Newk's Eatery is no longer open, according to signs posted on its doors.
The eatery at 220 Battlefield Road is "permanently closed," according to the signs.
"Thank you for your patronage Springfield," the sign stated.
According to Sohana Kutub, a spokesperson with Newk's Eatery national office, the restaurant closed due to a business decision by the franchise owner.
"Its last day of operation was April 9, 2019, and all 20 team members were made aware of the closing," Kutub said. "The Newk’s team has enjoyed being a member of the community and hopes to evaluate future opportunities in the market. There are no immediate plans for this location."
Newk's Eatery served salads, sandwiches, soup, pizza and more.
One of Newk's Springfield managers, Jon Siron, said in a 2014 News-Leader interview that the restaurant opened just a couple of years earlier with the idea of bringing a premium sandwich eatery to the Ozarks.
Siron wanted residents to know that Newk's wasn't just another boring sandwich shop.
"It's not just your basic deli sandwich," Siron said.
Siron said the chain's success as a premium sandwich shop was because of its great French bread and freshly made quality ingredients. Everything they served was prepared that morning or even closer to the time a customer orders.
The Vegetarian Club was a special sandwich for vegetarians and meat eaters alike, Siron said.


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Wallets Are Leading The New Trump Resistance
If you were watching the biggest game of the year on Sunday, you may have noticed a collection of ads for American brands got political during the Super Bowl — even if they weren't necessarily explicit about it. Though none went so far as to mention a political party or President Trump himself, there was an inclusive vibe to many spots that seemed to implicitly rebuke the president's anti-immigrant rhetoric and recent policies. These messages reverberated, even as many companies denied their political implications. For example, Budweiser released an ad showing the company's founder, Adolphus Busch, facing xenophobia as he comes to America as a German immigrant, but Budweiser has denied any political connotation or agenda. AirBnB and Google played ads showing a diverse group of people of multiple races and religions enjoying their products together.
These ads are only the latest in a series of signals coming from corporate America, showing that they're not going to go along with President Trump's agenda easily. Dozens of tech companies, including Apple, Google, and Facebook, filed an amicus brief in support of the state of Washington's case against the Trump administration's travel ban. Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, left Trump's business advisory council after public outrage against his company for seeming to be working too closely with Trump.
That kind of outrage is unlikely to abate any time soon. There are activists working their hardest to make sure that it doesn't, and that this outrage is channeled into concrete actions that makes things even more fraught in the relationship between the business community and the President.
Before Trump even won the election, Shannon Coulter started Grab Your Wallet, a campaign of boycotts against products bearing the Trump name (notably, including Ivanka Trump's line) and stores that support them. "I was encountering the Trump name in some of my favorite retail environments," Coulter tells Bustle. "For a lot of women, they just don't want to see the name Trump while they're shopping. They have —many of them — an emotional visceral response to that."
The campaign to get Trump's products out of stores and people's money out of his family's pockets has spread like wildfire. According to Coulter, the site now gets hundreds of thousands of views on a daily basis, and the #GrabYourWallet hashtag has reached over 675 million users. And it appears that it may have had real results.
Just this month, Nordstrom dropped Ivanka Trump's clothing line from its stores. The company has stated the decision was based purely on sales, nothing political. However, Coulter believes it is a sign that the boycott efforts are working if fewer Ivanka Trump products are being purchased. Neiman Marcus dropped her jewelry line. "It feels a little bit like taking the cake away from Marie Antoinette," Coulter says.
"I think the reason it's taken off the way it has is because the Grab Your Wallet boycott is something that's really easy to do and something people can do every day," Coulter tells me. "It's given them back some small measure of control over their lives."
The Grab Your Wallet movement isn't the only one encouraging corporate resistance. The Sleeping Giants online movement has been focused on getting brands to pull advertising from Breitbart News. Acting mostly through tweets, it has convinced nearly a thousand brands to remove their advertisements from being selected through algorithms for the site, according the movement's founders.
In reaction to Trump's immigration executive order, Wall-Of-Us, a website helping motivated activists organize against Trump, has started a campaign to get CEOs of all 18 companies on Trump's business advisory council to make statements against the travel ban.
"Brand damage can be compelling enough," says Amelia Miazad, the founder of Wall-Of-Us. "The brand itself has economic value. It's not like a formal boycott has to occur. It will naturally occur."
When I spoke last week with Erica Chenoweth, an expert on nonviolent resistance movements, how they spread, and how they accomplish their goals, she highlighted the importance of increasing the cost of collaboration. "It's not really about making Trump change his mind about things," she says. "It's about other people — whether they're congresspeople, civil servants, economic elites, or others who are required to cooperate. It's making them not cooperate."
These corporate boycott and public relations movements are an attempt to put this idea into practice — forcing companies to understand that there could be problems for their bottom line if they side with Trump or even if they don't do enough to fight him.
"Companies are comprised of people," says Miazad. "When individuals within the companies have the right values and the companies have the right values, that's one of the best vehicles for change."


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Latest Outlet malls Stories
ORLANDO, Fla., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Tourism Department at Prime Outlets, a portfolio of 21 outlet shopping centers located across the U.S.
NORTON SHORES, Mich., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Horizon Group Properties, Inc. (Pink Sheets: HGPI), announced today that it has sold minority interests in the entities that own five of its outlet centers to Bright Horizons of South Florida, LLC ("Bright Horizons").
LAKEWOOD, N.J., Nov.
- A person or thing gazed at with wonder or curiosity, especially of a scornful kind.


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Trouble has brewed over at Libercell’s, one of Liberia’s telecom companies. The company was shut down due to tax arrears.
Tax Court at the Temple of Justice ordered the company to be closed due to a $1.4-million in tax arrears. The company will also have to pay 6% on the balance of $88, 000 due to Liberian Government.
According to The New Dawn, a Liberian newspaper, the company had committed to pay tax arrears in ten installments from April 30, 2012 to January 31, 2013.
According to reports, the company had defaulted on its appeal to the court that it would have made payment on July 23, 2012 since the 25 percent (or US$612, 469.30) payment was done on February 22, 2012.
Court documents had suggested that after the completion of the payment in 10 instalments in 2013, Libercellwould have paid US$2, 449, and 877.27 to the Liberian government.
Libercell subscribers would have to hold fort till the situation is settled between the company and the Liberian government.


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Think your personal information, including credit card data, can’t be retrieved from your old Xbox 360 video game console? Think again. According to a new report, university researchers were able to access just this kind of information after acquiring a refurbished Xbox 360 system.
The report comes to us from Drexel and Dakota State university researchers, who note that they used a special software tool to dig into the file system of a used Xbox 360. While it was by no means easy, eventually the team was able to acquire credit card data.
Stunningly, it seems the researchers made Microsoft aware of the problem last year, but were rebuffed by the Redmond-based company. Only when the report finally made it online last week did Microsoft offer up the following statement:
“We are conducting a thorough investigation into the researchers’ claims.”
However, the firm remains convinced that there’s nothing to worry about.
“Xbox is not designed to store credit card data locally on the console, and as such seems unlikely credit card data was recovered by the method described,” the representative said, adding that, “when Microsoft refurbishes used consoles we have processes in place to wipe the local hard drives of any other user data. We can assure Xbox owners we take the privacy and security of their personal data very seriously.”
For their part, the researchers insist their report is not flawed and offer this criticism in it:
“Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information, but they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data.”
And so, it remains somewhat unclear as to whether or not this is something Xbox 360 users should be concerned about or not. Regardless, it’s probably smart to follow up on the research team’s suggestion that, in the event one sells their Xbox 360, they use sanitizer software to clean all information from the hard drive.