text:
A Lehi company, Four Foods Group, which includes the brands R&R BBQ, Mo’Bettahs Hawaiian, and Swig, along with local investors, has committed $1 million to keep the restaurants’ doors open, keep 1,400 employees working, and provide food to the community.
According to a press release, “The Savory Fund restaurant portfolio is adapting well and is confident we will survive this unforeseen challenge and emerge even stronger. Unfortunately, modified operations would normally lead to reduced hours for our employees or outright layoffs. Many of our colleagues in the restaurant industry have already taken drastic steps to reduce costs by letting go far too many dedicated and hard-working employees.”
The FFG has committed $750,000 to the fund. Greg Warnock and Andrew K. Smith, managing directors of the Savory Fund, have committed a matching $250,000 for a total of $1,000,000.
“These funds are earmarked toward current Savory portfolio team members to extend the runway and provide security during these difficult times,” stated Warnock. Andrew added, “We commit to keeping our employees engaged whether serving customers, serving each other, or serving the community that has been so good to us. We need to keep working! We can do this while still being socially conscious and by taking extreme safety measures for our employees and guests. We want our employees to continue to have purpose and direction, and this provides some relief during this very uncertain time.”
Shauna Smith, president and co-founder of FFG, said, “We will keep our team working and delivering meals to those in need. We will be here for the heroes that are working hard in hospitals and other medical facilities, not to mention the employees of essential businesses like Costco, Walmart, and Smith’s. They are all sacrificing to support this fight.”
“Savory and its portfolio of brands are committed to seeing this through and hiring more individuals once this crisis passes to fuel new economic growth. We are all in this together,” states the press release. “Join us in our commitment to keep everyone working and emerge even stronger having weathered this storm.”
The $1 million has been allocated, funded and is currently being deployed.
Dinner Relief Packs Offered at a big discount
FFG’s Mo’Bettahs Hawaiian and R&R BBQ along with Costa Vida restaurants announced on March 23 they will offer dinners that feed up to eight people (six people generously) for only $25. “We want to re-emphasize that the coronavirus cannot be transmitted through food,” said Costa Vida CEO Dave Butler.
The dinner relief pack program is available to business owners, church congregations, those working in essential retail businesses, those taking care of others, including the elderly and the sick, and those working in the medical field. “We want to keep Utah working, to stay healthy, eat well and stay home,” said Andrew Smith, of the Savory Fund and co-founder at FFG. “These dinner packs are offered at a huge discount,” he added. “We don’t want anyone to go hungry. We are also going to post creative ways you can use the leftovers for additional meals during the week.”
According to the website, “We exist because of You! You have taken care of us all of these years. Now it is our turn to take care of you. These packs were designed to provide a warm, delicious meal to families at minimal cost. This is not to profit our businesses. But it does give our employees purpose, work and hope. Let’s keep Utah working, and you safe and eating well.”
For more details or to register for the program go to www.FourFoodsGroup.com and sign up for the dinner relief program.


text:
On October 16th we remembered one of the pioneers of microcomputing. Steve Jobs had a heavy impact on technology and the way we interact with technology today. To honour Steve, everyone at mobco came to work in Steve’s typical outfit: turtleneck, jeans and a pair of sneakers.
Former California governor Jerry Brown announced October 16th as “Steve Jobs Day” shortly after Apple’s co-founder and CEO passed away in 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Although it may have been a one-off holiday, this day will always be a perfect opportunity to reflect upon Steve Jobs’s legacy.

domain: news


text:
Story originally appeared on FoodCary.
Cary, NC – Downtown Cary has been growing fast in the last few years, but one thing downtown’s renovation hasn’t brought in is a grocery store. A new initiative is looking to change that, not with a recognizable supermarket chain but with a resident-owned food co-op.
Community Owned Grocer
A food co-op is a grocery store owned and run by its members instead of a traditional business structure. Or as Karen Dumers, who is spearheading the Cary co-op idea, described it, a co-op is a community grocery store.
“Members would pay a fee to go toward maintaining the store. In return, they also agree to volunteer and help facilitate the store,” Dumers said. “We are able to procure the food at a discount and can extend the savings to members.”
With a food co-op, non-members can still shop but do not get the same discounts as members.
Dumers, who also owns the NC Soap Opera Company in Downtown Cary, said as suburban supermarkets came in, grocery stores left downtown. You can still see the remnants of the area’s grocery stores in the Sorrell’s building that now holds La Farm Bakery. While Dumers does not yet have a specific location in mind, she said the goal is to be downtown to give the area the grocery store she said is missing.
“We’re at the beginning stage now and the beginning is exciting. But what we need now is to be able to get money. Someone to put in the elbow grease to get grants. Someone to help with the funding,” Dumers said.
At one of three open meetings about local interest in a food co-op, Dumers said she had a grant writer interested in the co-op program but they are still in the very starting stages. In February 2018, Dumers will bring together several people as a starting advisory board to establish by-laws and make decisions on how to go forward.
“If you have something to bring forward to join the board, be upfront about your time commitment because this will be a lot of work,” Dumers said.
To read the full story, go to FoodCary.com
Story by Michael Papich. Photos by Hal Goodtree. Coverage on CaryCitizen is sponsored in part by Thai Spices & Sushi.


text:
Mark your calendars for September 9, Apple lovers.
That’s apparently the day the company will hold its fall event, according to Buzzfeed, citing “sources familiar” with the situation.
And while Apple hasn’t commented on what to expect, Buzzfeed and other outlets have made a number of predictions, mostly centered around Apple’s next iPhone.
Buzzfeed’s John Paczkowksi writes:
“Like Apple fall events past, this one too will focus on the company’s next-generation iPhones, which are expected to arrive at market with a pressure-sensitive Force Touch display, an improved camera system, and a significantly faster and power-efficient wireless chip. Sources say Apple executives are likely to show off the company’s latest iPads as well, though that 12.9-inch iPad Pro seems to be a wildcard, still.”
According to a report from The Verge, the event is likely to feature the iPhone 6S, “a phone physically identical to last year’s iPhone 6, but with some radical hardware changes — the new phone is rumored to include the force touch technology included on the Apple Watch and the company’s new MacBook and MacBook Pros.”
9 to 5 Mac reports that the new phone is likely to feature a new processor, leading to faster download speeds — as much as 225Mbps, depending on the network, and a longer battery life. The website says there’s no indication that the new iPhone 6 will be any slimmer than the current models.
Small Business Deals
According to Computerworld, the new iPhone will feature a 12 megapixel camera that can take DSLR quality pictures.
The site predicts Apple will also try to push back against the tide of rival tablet makers.
Computerworld suggests that Apple may be trying to get customers into purchasing an iPad when they previously may have pushed the Apple Watch. However, the company is not keen on giving up on the tablet market, giving in to Google Android’s current dominance. The new iPad will likely look to slice that market share a little more evenly toward Apple.
Buzzfeed also writes that this event could feature the next generation of Apple TV, which was originally supposed to be unveiled in June. The new version is expected to include “a refreshed and slimmer chassis and new innards, Apple’s A8 system on chip, an increase in on-board storage, and an improved operating system that will support Siri voice control.”
Apple Store Photo via Shutterstock


text:
Facebook’s annual developer conference, F8 kickstarted a couple of days back in the US. Over 5,000 developers, creators and entrepreneurs from around the world came together for F8. Mark Zuckerberg opened the two-day event with a keynote on they’re building a more privacy-focused social platform and also he announced several new features that are coming for Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and AR/VR platforms.
Up first, the messenger, in coming days, will be fast and reliable as Facebook is re-building the architecture of Messenger from the ground up to be faster and lighter than ever before. This completely re-engineered Messenger will begin to roll out later this year. Messenger will now let you discover and watch videos from Facebook together in real time. You’ll be able to seamlessly share a video from the Facebook app on Messenger and invite others to watch together while messaging or on a video chat.
Facebook also announced a Desktop App for Messenger, a user can download the app on desktop — both Windows and MacOS — and have group video calls, collaborate on projects or multi-task while chatting in Messenger. Currently, this is in the testing phase and will roll it out globally later this year. Further, in Messenger, they are introducing a dedicated space where you can discover Stories and messages with your closest friends and family. You’ll also be able to share snippets from your own day and can choose exactly who sees what you post. This will roll out later this year. Facebook is also making it easier for businesses to connect with potential customers by adding lead generation templates to Ads Manager. And to make it easier to book an appointment with businesses like car dealerships, stylists or cleaning services, Facebook created an appointment experience so people can book appointments within a Messenger conversation.
WhatsApp will get getting Business Catalog as people and businesses are finding WhatsApp a great way to connect. In the months ahead people will be able to see a business catalog right within WhatsApp when chatting with a business. With catalogs, businesses can showcase their goods so people can easily discover them.
Facebook is getting all-new fresh Design with FB5 which is simpler, faster, more immersive. Users will start seeing some of these updates in the Facebook app right away, and the new desktop site will come in the next few months. Facebook is putting Groups First with the new design, making it easy for people to go from public spaces to more private ones. Today, more than 400 million people on Facebook belong to a group that they find meaningful
- Redesigned Groups tab to make discovery easier, the tab now shows a personalized feed of activity across all your groups.
- There are a few features for different types of groups – through new Health Support groups, members can post questions and share information without their name appearing on a post. Job groups will have a new template for employers to post openings and easier ways for job seekers to message the employer and apply directly through Facebook. Gaming groups will get a new chat feature so members can create threads for different topics within the group.
- Facebook also announced a new feature which can help in Connecting with your Secret crush on Facebook Dating – you can opt-in to discover potential matches within your own Facebook communities: events, groups, friends of friends and more. It’s currently available in Colombia, Thailand, Canada, Argentina, and Mexico — and they are expanding to 14 new countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, and Suriname.
- A new feature called Secret Crush allows up to nine of your Facebook friends who you want to express interest in. If your crush has opted into Facebook Dating, they will get a notification saying that someone has a crush on them. If your crush adds you to their Secret Crush list, it’s a match! If your crush isn’t on Dating, doesn’t create a Secret Crush list, or doesn’t put you on their list, no one will know that you’ve entered a friend’s name.
The Ability to Shop from Creators – Starting next week, you can shop inspiring looks from the creators, instead of taking a screenshot or asking for product details in comments or Direct, you can simply tap to see exactly what your favorite creators are wearing and buy it on the spot. Anyone in the global community will be able to shop from creators.
A Way to Fundraise for Causes – One can raise money for a nonprofit you care about directly on Instagram. Through a donation sticker in Stories, you can create a fundraiser and mobilize your community around a cause you care about — with 100% of the money raised on Instagram going to the nonprofit you’re supporting. This will be available in the US now.
A New and Improved Camera – One of the much-awaited announcement is the new camera design including Create Mode, which gives you an easy way to share without a photo or video. This new camera will make it easier to use popular creative tools like effects and interactive stickers so you can express yourself more freely.
Facebook is building technology around how we naturally interact with people and they shared more on their recent work to bring AR experiences to more people and platforms and opened pre-orders for Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S. Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S will start shipping May 21. Oculus Quest, first all-in-one VR gaming system, lets you pick up and play almost anywhere without being tethered to a PC. For those with a gaming PC, Rift S gets you into the most immersive content that VR has to offer. Both start at $399 USD and you can pre-order now at oculus.com. They also launched the new Oculus for Business that will come later this year. The company is also adding Oculus Quest to the program and will provide a suite of tools designed to help companies reshape the way they do business through VR.
Follow us on Twitter for more news and updates.


text:
Payments company PayPal now allows UK customers to buy, store and sell cryptocurrencies.
This is the first expansion of the company’s digital assets service outside the United States, where it has been available since October 2020.
UK PayPal users can transact Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash through their accounts. They will also have access to educational content.
The company provides access to digital assets in association with Paxos.
PayPal announced in March the Checkout with Crypto service, which allows US customers to use cryptos to pay for goods and services.
In April, the company added the ability to buy and sell digital assets to its mobile service Venmo.
In May it became known that PayPal is developing a function to withdraw cryptocurrencies to third-party wallets.


text:
Plant-based foods are growing fast across the globe and especially in Western markets. This boom is associated with a growing flexitarian consumer base. According to Euromonitor’s Health and Nutrition Survey, fielded in 2020, consumers who are restricting certain animal-based products, but not following a strict vegan or vegetarian diet, account for 42% of global consumers, while vegans and vegetarians constitute a much smaller group, accounting for 4% and 6%, respectively.
There is also a clear generational pattern among consumers restricting animal-based products from their diets with 54% of Generation Z avoiding meat or other animal-based products versus 34% of baby boomers.
The transition towards more plant-based claims is underway
How to position plant-based products remains a challenge. While vegetarian and vegan claims are the most popular in the packaged food industry as per Euromonitor’s Product Claims and Positioning research, plant-based as a claim lags behind in all regions. This is interesting as the term “plant-based” can be perceived as a more inclusive and appealing term. It aligns with the societal discourse of following lifestyles that reduce animal-based products but do not necessarily eliminate them completely from the diet.
Moving forward, claims more aligned with flexitarian lifestyles, like plant-based, are expected to flourish and the US is leading that trend, mainly in the meat substitutes category.
A more plant-based future in the food industry
The plant-based food space has a bright future ahead. Now the question is, what are the next categories to succeed in the space? It is expected that a wide range of manufactures and ingredient companies will further focus on smaller categories besides plant-based milk and meat substitutes. Vegan cheese, fish and seafood substitutes will be enhanced, given the recent launches in the space from big food players, such as Fromageries Bel’s vegan cheese spread and Nestlé’s vegan tuna.
Other potential areas include vegan confectionery and baked goods (cakes and pastries). Given the low availability of vegan options in these categories, it is expected that more manufacturers will jump into these spaces in the coming years. The geographic scope will be crucial to succeed, while Finland and Spain show the largest penetration of vegan chocolate confectionery, France leads in vegan cakes.
The plant-based trend has revolutionised the future of the packaged food industry and it should be front and centre in business strategies moving forward.
To learn more, download the free white paper: Going Plant-Based: The Rise of Vegan and Vegetarian Food


text:
Increased competition within the online wealth management, or robo-advice, industry is ongoing. The cutthroat climate has now led another robo-advisor to incorporate human-led services, a move that will be closely observed by other digital challengers says GlobalData Financial Services
Nutmeg, the UK’s largest robo-advisor by AUM, is now piloting a phone-based financial advice service. The company is not the first to dip its toe into the pool of human advice, though: Scalable Capital has already tested the waters, launching phone and face-to-face advice in January 2018.
GlobalData’s 2018 UK Investor Survey shows that 97.9% of the UK investors do not use robo-advisors when arranging new investments. Demand for automated investment services is increasing among young digital natives, but as they currently have small portfolios and are only building up their wealth, robo-advisors could be viewed as being ahead of their time. Big players with diversified revenues, such as UBS, can have the luxury of parking their purely digital services and waiting for demand to materialize. Nutmeg, for which a digital platform is the only source of income, has to find a way to survive.
Hence the launch of human-led advice is Nutmeg’s attempt to appeal to a new large pool of potential consumers. The robo-advisor is looking beyond its initial digitally-savvy target market to boost revenue, as its losses have been increasing year-on-year.
The move makes sense, although it comes with risks. A human-led service requires hiring a human team, going against the efficiencies of a digital service, and leading to a growing cost base. The company is trying to tackle this issue by opening the service to non-Nutmeg consumers and charging a flat £350 fee for advice that is actioned. This is expensive, however. GlobalData found that only a quarter of individuals are willing to pay more than £300 for financial advice – Scalable Capital charges only £200.
As long-term sustainability is on top of all robo-advisors’ minds, adding a human element to their propositions is the only way forward. It is likely that other robos will follow suit for the betterment of longevity – particularly if Nutmeg’s service proves successful, despite the high price tag.


text:
FRANKLIN, TENN. — Parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc., announced Chief Technology Officer Phil Crawford received the Tennessee CIO of the Year ORBIE Award in the corporate category for developing the company’s digital ecosystem. Crawford detailed CKE’s digital roadmap in just over a year, which allows for a cross-functional platform for marketing and IT teams.
CKE said Crawford advocated for digital early in his career with the company. By revitalizing the company’s tech stack, Crawford helped improve guest experience with a standardized point-of-sale, online ordering, delivery integration, the company's first-ever loyalty app and a data platform that enables 1:1 marketing.
“It is an absolute honor to receive this award,” Crawford said. “This award signifies the culmination of a tremendous tech journey at CKE Restaurants where we are revolutionizing our digital ecosystem. It also reinforces for me that I chose the right path when I joined the IT ranks almost 20 years ago.”
“Phil has had an outsized impact reshaping our IT strategy, rebuilding our tech stack and executing a digital transformation,” said Ned Lyerly, CKE chief executive officer. “He has developed deep relationships with our franchise community and worked closely with them to drive technology adoption across the franchise network. We’ve made tremendous progress in IT with Phil at the helm. He’s a positive and uplifting executive who has added tremendous value to our brand experience.”
CKE has nearly 4,000 restaurants that are predominantly franchised in 40 countries. The company said because of its size and scale, it’s important to solicit feedback from franchises, support their needs and develop technology supporting growth.


text:
Amazon.com announced today that it will launch a digital music store later this year offering millions of songs in a DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels (mostly indie). EMI Music’s digital catalog is the latest addition to the store. Every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. Amazon’s DRM-free MP3s will free customers to play their music on virtually any of their personal devices, including Zunes and iPods, and burn songs to CDs for personal use.
This is a big move for the consumer market. Amazon, which is the largest distributor of books, is trying to lead the way in sales of non DRM music. Will this force the big record labels to pay attention to this new market? What do you think?
Via digg story | methodshop
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.


text:
Marqeta reaches $17bn valuation as shares pop on its Nasdaq debut
The latest in a line of fintechs heading for the public market.
Card issuing and payments giant Marqeta saw its share price pop during its first day of trading yesterday, sending the fintech’s valuation from $15bn to as high as $17bn.
The newly-listed firm floated its shares on the Nasdaq at $27, but opened as high as $32.50 although they settled to $30.52 by the close of trading.
In its last private funding round in May 2020 Marqeta raised $150m at a $4.3bn valuation, with backers including Coatue, Vitruvian Partners, Visa, Goldman Sachs and 83North.
The last year has been transformative according to the company, with its annual revenue more than doubling to $290.3m in 2020 as the race to digital finance was super-charged by Covid-19.
Yesterday’s IPO raised $1.2bn for the firm, cash which the firm says will be used predominantly as working capital and to grow the business globally, and potentially for acquisitions.
“We’re building a single global platform to define and power the future of money for the world’s leading innovators. This new capital helps us accelerate our mission to empower builders to bring the most innovative products to market, wherever they are in the world,” Jason Gardner, Marqeta’s founder and CEO, said during the fintech’s 2020 funding round.
Marqeta, founded in 2010, handles card issuing for the likes of Square, Uber, Affirm, Instacart, and DoorDash with operations in Canada, Europe, Australia and the US.
Marqeta is just the latest fintech to reach the public market, with Uruguay’s payments fintech dLocal listing just last week and SoFi,Klarna,Wise and several others planning public market debuts in the coming months.


text:
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Coming To The Evo 4G LTE In February
Unfortunately, HTC was unable to meet its initial goal of updating the Evo 4G LTE by the end of 2013, leaving many of us disappointed. But, today, Jason Mackenzie, President of HTC America, officially revealed on Twitter that the update will be pushed to Sprint for review in “mid-January” and is expected to reach our devices by way of an over-the-air (OTA) update sometime in February.
@DecaturBoi_Lon @HTCUSA still on track for mid-Jan lab entry with sprint. & February release. not excited about this result. team is pushing
— Jason Mackenzie (@JasonMacHTC) December 30, 2013
The EVO 4G LTE was released back in May, 2012, and packs a 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 225 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (upgradable up to 32GB via microSD), an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,000 mAh non-removable Li-Ion battery.
The full changelog for the upcoming Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update can be seen below:
- Android 4.3 Jelly Bean & HTC Sense 5.0
- Autocomplete – just start touching numbers or letters and the dial pad will suggest phone numbers or names. To turn on this feature, open your phone app settings and enable “Dial pad autocomplete.”
- OpenGL ES 3.0 – Android now supports the latest version of the industry standard for high performance graphics.
- Additional language support – Android is now translated in Africaans, Amharic (አማርኛ), Hindi (हिंदी), Swahili (Kiswahili), and Zulu (IsiZulu).
- Hebrew, Arabic, and other RTL (right-to-left) – now supported in the home screen, settings, and Phone, People, and Keep apps.
- Easier text input – an improved algorithm for tap-typing recognition makes text input easier.
- Lower latency input for gamepad buttons and joysticks.
- Location detection through Wi-Fi – use Wi-Fi to detect location without turning on Wi-Fi all the time.
- Bluetooth Smart support.
- Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 support – display song names on a car stereo.
- Disabled apps tab – check which apps are disabled in Settings > Apps.
- Restricted profiles – put your tablet into a mode with limited access to apps and content.
- Setup wizard simplification – getting started on Android is easier thanks to the ability to correct previous input, and because of streamlined user agreements.
- Faster user switching – switching users from the lock screen is now faster.
- Enhanced photo daydream – navigate through interesting albums.


text:
YOU can still have your say on the future of Suffolk football.
Suffolk FA have just held four roadshow events around the county to help shape their 2024-2028 strategy.
An online survey is now available to complete for those who were not able to attend.
Suffolk FA Football Development Manager Matt Stebbings said: “After the success of our recent strategy consultation roadshows across Suffolk, with over 80 people registered over the four events, we are now opening up an online survey to those who couldn’t attend, to capture more of Suffolk footballs thoughts, opinions and ideas to help support and shape Suffolk FA’s 2024-2028 strategy.
“The survey will pose questions that will in particular discuss behaviours in the game, youth, adult and inclusive football opportunities, facilities, volunteers and volunteering.
“We would like you to be a driving force in shaping the game you love. Your opinions will help steer the strategy and interventions that Suffolk FA will implement to enhance grassroots football in our community.”
To take part in the online survey, which is open until February 25th, click the button below.


text:
Trisha Medhi ( )
YourStory recently started Starting Up with Shradha Sharma—a live show on LinkedIn—hosted by Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory. The show provides a first-of-its-kind opportunity for early- and mid-stage startups to showcase their products and ideas without the luxury of a retake or a chance to tweak their pitch.
In this weekly show, Shradha talks to founders of four to five early- and mid-stage startups. Last week’s episode had Dr Vibha Tripathi, Founder of Boon; Ria Rustagi, Co-Founder and CEO of Pankh Technologies; Roli Gupta, Founder of babblebots.ai; and Vamsi Udayagiri, Founder and CEO of Hesa, sharing their journey.
Let us see how these startups are solving grassroots problems for the country.
Watertech startup Boon
Founded by Dr Vibha Tripathi and Advait Kumar in 2011, Boon (formerly known as) is enabling access to clean water to people across the socioeconomic spectrum.
The Gurugram-based startup offers drinking water solutions to communities, rural areas, hospitality players, corporate firms, and others. Its deployments include India’s largest direct solar-powered water purification system in Faridpur (Haryana) and AI-enabled dedicated glass water bottling facilities for premium water for luxury hotels such as JW Marriott. Boon has also deployed its products across railway stations, airport lounges, hospitals, and multinational companies.
Boon’s in-house research team has developed and patented the IoT platform Clairvoyant. Clairvoyant, Boon says, is an advanced and dedicated platform for online streaming data on the quality of drinking water. The startup says it has enabled several eminent hotel chains and offices to do away with plastic bottles from their premises through its innovative technology.
During the interaction with Shradha, Dr Vibha said the startup is planning to expand outside India this year.
The watertech startup raised a pre-Series A round of $1.6 million in 2021 from Rajasthan Asset Management Company through RVCF III, India Growth Fund, and a group of investors.
Hesa, a platform for rural commerce
With an aim to create an Amazon for rural India, Vamsi Udayagiri launchedin April 2020. Udayagiri describes Hesa as a “go-to” company for all rural commerce needs. It empowers farmers to buy and sell online through its agritech vertical and also enables financial services for rural consumers—from withdrawals and deposits to insurance cover and utility bill payments—through its fintech vertical.
The app is integrated with multiple APIs and works like an integrated agri buy-and-sell marketplace, an e-commerce marketplace, and a financial services marketplace.
The startup has built a superapp with all the facilities for the rural consumer, who is assisted by a village level entrepreneur/influencer called the ‘Hesaathi’. The influencer primarily uses the app on behalf of the end consumer.
“Let’s say I’m an influencer in a village and I know 200 families, and I help them with whatever needs they have with the superapp,” explained Udayagiri, during the show.
Udayagiri said rural consumers can also use the app, but their adoption is less than 10%. However, he believes that, over the next five to six years, this will go up. End consumers will start using the app on their own and the role of the influencer will shift from demand aggregation to demand fulfillment, he said.
He also shared that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, around 600 influencers reverse migrated to the villages and they are still remaining there.
Currently, there are over 40,000 influencers in five states, with a reach across one lakh villages.
Hesa has raised $5 million so far, across pre-seed and seed rounds, and it is in talks to raise a Series A round.
Braintech and mental health firm Pankh Tech
After losing her younger sister to a rare brain infection, Ria Rastogi, along with her husband Bhavya Madan, built a braintech product ‘’, which brings the benefits of neurofeedback to the comfort of one’s home with the help of a wearable EEG headband and a mobile app.
Founded in 2019 and named after Ria’s sister, Pankh Technologies, which has developed Neuphony, focuses on braintech and mental health.
The startup claims to have built Asia Pacific’s ‘first smartwatch for the brain’ in the form of a wearable headband. It monitors your stress, focus and attention, resilience, memory, and mood levels and then recommends solutions based on your data points—meditation, music, breathing techniques, etc.
The Neuphony headband is available on ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and its own website. It is priced at Rs 49, 000.
Pankh Technologies has also launched brain gyms across India in partnership with wellness and performance centres. At the brain gyms, psychotherapists and meditation professionals use the Neuphony device to provide neurofeedback-based brain assessment, training, and wellness programmes to end users.
The brain gyms are present in 15 cities.
Babblebots.ai, a talent acquisition platform
Founded in 2022 by Roli Gupta,is a recruitment and talent acquisition platform that uses voice technology, conversational intelligence, and proprietary AI algorithms to interview and assess candidates for both technical and non-technical roles—through ‘AI-Recruiters’. The platform is powered by neural network GPT-3 (the technology behind the ChatGPT chatbot) and speech AI.
Babblebots has 15 clients, including large enterprises, SMEs and startups across sectors.
AI-Recruiters is a fully conversational voice bot designed to have a near real-life conversation with job candidates, answer their questions, and assess them for communication and technical and analytical skills.
In February this year, the startup had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Rakesh Mathur (Gupshup, Junglee which was acquired by Amazon, Fizz Social App) and Rishi Deshpande (Chalo, acquired by Booking Group, and Whiterabbit.ai). Roli said it is about to raise Rs 10 crore and is in talks with quite a few venture capitalists.
Here’s the link to register and share your story with Shradha Sharma – https://lnkd.in/gUtkeCWK


text:
Chandrakant 'CK' Isi
17:45 05th Aug, 2015
Images Of The Next Microsoft Lumia Flagship Emerge | TechTree.com
Images Of The Next Microsoft Lumia Flagship Emerge
The handset could feature QHD screen and Snapdragon 810 chipset.
Microsoft has been focusing on the budget smartphone segment to increase its marketshare. While the strategy sounds sound, it seems to have completely forgotten about the premium segment. It has been a long time since we came across any flagship handset from Microsoft's devices division (earlier known as Nokia). Soon, this is going to change though, as a next Windows Phone flagship has been caught on camera. Going by the current naming scheme, the device in question should be the Lumia 940 XL. However, now that the company prefers to jump numbers (yes, spare a thought for Windows 9) rumour has it that this could be the Lumia 950 XL.
If true, this could be one of the two top-end handsets Microsoft plans to release every year. For those not in the know, under Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft will only launch six devices in a year.
Considering that Windows 10 is expect to land on mobile phones by October, we expect this handset to go official in the same period. There's a case on the device, so can't discuss the design much. However, it does look flatter compared to most Lumias so far.
For more images, head over to this link.
Bases on the screenshots coming from the same source, GSMArena.com speculates that the phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 810 chipset with 3 GB RAM. Display is said to be Quad HD with 2560x1440 pixels. It will also be the first Windows Phone to sport a Type-c port.
- DRIFE Begins Operations in Namma Bengaluru
- Sevenaire launches ‘NEPTUNE’ – 24W Portable Speaker with RGB LED Lights
- Inbase launches ‘Urban Q1 Pro’ TWS Earbuds with Smart Touch control in India
- Airtel announces Rs 6000 cashback on purchase of smartphones from leading brands
- 78% of Indians are saving to spend during the festive season and 72% will splurge on gadgets & electronics
- 5 Tips For Buying A TV This Festive Season
- Facebook launches its largest creator education program in India
- 5 educational tech toys for young and aspiring engineers
- Mid-range smartphones emerge as customer favourites this festive season, reveals Amazon survey
- COLORFUL Launches Onebot M24A1 AIO PC for Professionals


text:
October 19th and 20th are the most important dates for any esports industry professional, and the place to be is BOXPARK Wembley for ESI London 2023!
Esports Insider’s flagship conference will offer talks and presentations from some of the most notable people in the industry, as well as a large number of panel discussions, aimed to kickstart talks among the visitors, and perhaps change some minds. Tickets are still available if you wish to join the fun!
The second day of the conference will host Checkpoint, Esports Insider’s creator-focused conference track, diving into the topics that concern digital creators around the world. Along with Checkpoint, we will be talking about major new movements in the content creation industry and the effect it has on both esports and the creators themselves.
More than Just a stream: innovating the Esports Experience
Brought to you by Ars Futura
Esports is evolving and expanding fast, and the opportunities (and needs) of fan engagement are getting bigger by the day. In the first talk of the day, Ars Futura’s CO Luka Drezga will discuss the opportunities for expanding esports beyond just streams and statistics.
Incorporating new technologies can improve the overall viewing experience for the fans, and provide extra value for companies that are working on esports events.
- Luka Drezga – Chief Operating Officer – Ars Futura
Checkpoint: Content creators and esports orgs: Where is the value?
Kickstarting Checkpoint is a discussion about content creators and esports organisations, discussing the benefits of collaboration for both parties. We are all familiar that almost every esports organisation has its own roster of content creators, and some of them even go so far as to prioritise creators, and invest less into competitive teams.
A well-known example is Tyler Blevins, known as Ninja, a creator who was recently appointed Chief Innovation Officer at GameSquare, and is behind Ninja Labs, a new hub created by the company.
Organisations like G2 Esports, Misfits and XSET are investing a lot into creators, but the question for a large number of viewers is – why? What value do creators bring to esports organisations, and what can an esports organisation do to help a creator?
This discussion will talk about the overlap between content creation and esports, and the benefits for both sides.
- Freeman Williams – Talent Manager – EXCEL ESPORTS
- Alban Dechelotte – CEO – G2 Esports
- Mitsouko Anderson – COO – DotX Talent
- P Money – Musician & Streamer
Checkpoint: Uniting Brands and Creators: Why Work Together?
Content creators have a unique ability to attract audiences to the most diverse of causes and ideas. Of course, they also need to make a living somehow, so partnerships with not just esports organisations, but with brands and companies, matter a lot.
Dissecting the creator economy, this panel discussion will focus on the collaboration opportunities between content creators and brands that aim to diversify their audiences and improve their reach.
Visitors can learn more about the reasoning behind the choice of a certain creator, why brands work with certain creators more, and what makes a creator more appealing to a large brand. On the creator side, we will learn about what creators can do to secure better partnerships and create more meaningful relationships with brands.
- Morgan Caelum – UK Community and Creator Manager – Logitech G
- Sam Wahab – Global Head of Gaming and XR – Charlotte Tilbury Beauty
- Sebastian Carmichael-Brown – Co-Founder, Hashtag United and Founder of Next Level Talent
- Mark Purdy – Director of Business Development – Disobey
- Representative TBC – The Sidemen & Arcade Media
Checkpoint: Authentic Marketing: Navigating the role of the creator
Creators are sought after in both gaming and esports, but working with just about anybody can bring more harm than good. Being a creator does not mean just being someone who records videos and is active on social media, it means single-handedly being a small team of people with all sorts of skills, from business development to social media and human resources.
So, how to do it? How to navigate the extremely tough and stressful world of content creation without burning out and have fun while doing it? This panel will talk about the challenges facing creators from both sides, and talk about tips and tricks for both brands and publishers working with creators to leverage their audience, as well as creators that seek to walk the fine line of being interesting while still working with brands that pay your bills.
- Imogen Wood – Co-Founder – Socially
- Jesse Adler – Creator Partnerships – Patreon
- Nicola Clarke – Account Director, Gaming – Twitch
- Liam Whitehead – Sales and Partnerships Manager – Method
From champions to legends
Brought to you by IESF
The International Esports Federation is one of the longest standing players on the esports scene, helping support grassroots ecosystems across the world and organising events that focus on nations, instead of teams and organisations.
This talk will focus on IESF’s journey in the last 15 years, and talk about how IESF helps athletes, national federations and esports as a whole.
- Ana Karakolevska – Chief Marketing Officer – International Esports Federation
Bringing esports ecosystems to life
Brought to you by London & Partners
If you ever wondered why esports event X is taking place in city Y, this is a panel for you. Locations are an integral part of esports events, and choosing where and when to organise a high-profile LAN event can make or break the entire experience for both the organisers and the audience.
From a city and country perspective, making yourself interesting to esports event organisers attracts fans that spend money on accommodation and entertainment, which makes esports events an interesting way of marketing a city or a region to a younger audience. Cities like Paris, Copenhagen, Tokyo and London all held large-scale events in the last year.
BLAST has opened bids for host cities earlier this year, and noted more than 20 million Euros of economic impact as a good reason for cities to consider and bid.
If one just thinks of Katowice, a city that has been transformed by esports, it is apparent that competitive gaming can do wonders to a local ecosystem.
This discussion will unpack the details of what it takes to create large tournaments, and what makes locations such an important part of the esports ecosystem.
- Kirsty Endfield, Founder and Director – Swipe Right PR
- James Yang – Director of Global Esports Center – Tencent Games
- Chrystina Martel – Head of Esports Product and Executive Producer – BLAST Rainbow Six
- Christoph Thann – Associate Director, Esports EMEA – Ubisoft
- Alisa Buck – Head of Major Events and City Experience – London & Partners
Gaming, esports, recovery and the Invictus Games
The Invictus Games are an event focusing on wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, which added esports to its ever-growing list of sports in 2022. Competing in games has proved to be a success with players and audiences alike.
Considering the fact that gaming and esports are perhaps the most accessible competitions, this panel discussion will focus on the benefits esports can bring to not just this event, but to all veterans, servicemen and women.
The discussion will also revolve aroud the benefits of esports and gaming for mental health and recovery, as well as what the plans are for esports at the Invictus Games.
- Daniel Bingley – Network Architect – RBL
- Sam Newell – Director of Communications – Invictus Games Foundation
- Dan Penter – Managing Director and Co-Founder – UK Veterans Gaming
Is esports education ready to teach the next generation?
Brought to you by Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies
Esports courses and degrees were nowhere to be found a decade ago, and we can now see an immense increase in the number of collegiate esports courses around the world, notably in the UK and the United States. Still, some of these programmes stand out as better than others, raising the question of what actually makes for a good esports college programme.
It is no longer enough to just offer computers and courses that describe the bare basics of esports to students. Universities need to create studios, content creation opportunities, partnerships with real-world esports organisations and production companies and much more. Are universities in over their heads, do esports experts take themselves too seriously?
This discussion will talk about what makes for a good collegiate programme based on esports, what are universities around the world doing when it comes to esports education, and what are the issues and points of failure students are experiencing.
- Josh Williams – Global Director of UNIVERSITY Esports – GGTech Entertainment
- Clair LaBeaux – Chief Advancement Officer – Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Federations
- Gin Rai – Esports MAnager and Course Leader BSc Esports Production – Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies
- Joshua Ferguson – Lecturer – Staffordshire University
- Bryan Dickens – Chief Commercial Officer – Gameplan


text:
The digital revolution that has been building for the past few decades is continuing, and more and more consumers are adopting the latest technology to find products, services, local businesses and information about companies. As a result, websites and home pages need to adapt to the technology being used to view them.
Small businesses have been quick to embrace social media and mobile technology, but there is a new trend looming on the horizon that will need to be addressed. Market research firm Harris Interactive released the results of a survey conducted earlier this year which estimated that 20 percent of consumers will own a tablet PC by 2014, according to Internet Retailer.
The iPad may have created the template, but there will soon be a flood of tablet products on the market that customers are expected to adopt in large numbers. Small businesses will need to take advantage of this by optimizing their websites for those consumers, which can be accomplished by following some of these tips.
One of the primary features of tablet PCs is that they are meant to replace paper. More sophisticated than e-readers such as the Nook or Kindle, tablet PCs can display landscape or portrait-oriented pages in full color. More importantly, they can be used to quickly leaf through a collection of digital papers in rapid succession. Tablet PCs are poised to replace not only books, but magazines, newspapers and pamphlets. Small business web pages should be designed accordingly, with full color images, plenty of text and individual pages to flip through.
Another impressive feature of tablet PCs is their tactile quality. Videos can be paused simply by touching them, pictures and maps can be zoomed into and audio can be quickly listened to and saved. These computers are meant to give a media-rich experience, so there’s no point in making a boring website that doesn’t pull out all the stops. Marketers should remember that people who use tablet PCs are early adopters who embrace change and innovation before others, so good design and up-to-date features are key.
Because Apple was the first to tackle tablet PCs, they now carry a legacy of downloadable applications. Much like on smartphones, users can find programs that will help them explore businesses, find products and look at maps. Companies need to be sure that if they optimize their websites for tablet PCs, they also work heavily with services such as Yelp, FourSquare and CitySearch to ensure an integrated online approach.


text:
While Apple’s iPhone is selling well across the globe, China has emerged as its fastest growing market for the device.
In a conference call on Wednesday, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, said that for the first three months of 2011, iPhone sales in “Greater China” grew by almost 250 percent from the same period last year. This brought Apple’s revenues in the first fiscal half to just under US$5 billion for the Greater China market, an increase of almost four times from 2010.
The $5 billion generated represents about 10 percent of Apple’s revenues, Cook added in the conference call. “So we’re extremely happy with how we’re doing in China,” he said. In the U.S., iPhone sales grew by 155 percent.
It’s unclear, however, where in China the device is selling the most. Cook’s reference to Greater China includes the mainland, Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan, said Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu.
But analysts have said that in mainland China, Apple is seeing a major shift with how consumers are viewing the iconic smartphone. When Apple’s iPhone 4 launched there in late September, it was a hit with Chinese consumers, quickly selling out and leading to shortages.
Earlier versions of the iPhone had not met with the same reception, said Mark Natkin, the managing director for Beijing-based research firm Marbridge Consulting.
Apple didn’t officially begin selling the iPhone in mainland China until late 2009, more than two years after it was launched in the U.S. Even then, the iPhone sold in the country was designed without Wi-Fi capability, in order to comply with Chinese technology regulations at the time.
“Eventually Apple was allowed to offer the iPhone with Wi-Fi functionality,” Natkin said. “But by the time they were allowed to do so, the global launch of the iPhone 4 was just some months away. So again many users just waited for the right time.”
The iPhone 4’s appealing features and user interface have made it an attractive smartphone for buyers in China, Natkin said. Furthermore, the device is a status symbol in China, he added.
“If you look at the Apple experience store in Beijing, it’s packed everyday,” he said. “People have a very high regard for the Apple brand and for its ability to innovate.”
But even as Apple’s COO noted the strong sales of the iPhone in China, the device is far from becoming the dominant presence in the country’s smartphone market.
At the end of 2010, Apple had 8.3 percent of China’s smartphone market, an increase from the 5.4 percent it held at the beginning of the year, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Nokia, Samsung and Motorola continue to lead in the market.
“It’s true the iPhone has sold well, but in China, Apple’s share of the market is still small,” said Wang Yan, a senior analyst with research firm Ovum. In the U.S., Apple leads the smartphone market with a 28.6 percent share, according to data collected by The Nielsen Company.
Apple’s iPhones could have been selling better in China, but the company only slowly began realizing its marketing strategy, Wang said. Analysts have pointed to the supply shortages of Apple’s iPhone 4 in China, which lasted for months, along with the company’s smaller distribution network for the device in the country.
“I don’t think Apple has made China an important market. But I think in the future they will do a better job of paying attention to it,” Wang said.
China has more than 850 mobile phone users. Smartphone sales in the country reached an estimated 62 million units in 2010, and are expected to jump to 95 million for this year, according to Analysys International.


text:
Sales at U.S. bars and restaurants in November fell from the previous month as rising cases of COVID-19 spurred tighter dining restrictions and temperatures dropped around the country. Experts see harsh conditions for restaurants to persist for months ahead.
The total number of jobs at food service and drinking places fell in November for the first time in months, casting further doubts that the restaurant industry and its workers will recover anytime soon.
Meanwhile, shares of most of the biggest publicly traded restaurants rose in the month ended Dec. 15.
Cold hard cash
Sales for food services and drinking places in November declined 17.2% from the year-ago period to a seasonally adjusted $53.20 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau advance monthly estimates released Dec. 16.
November's year-over-year food services and drinking sales decline was worse than October's 14.6% year-over-year decline and September's year-over-year decline of 14.3%. On a monthly basis, November's restaurant sales were down 4%, or $2.2 billion, from October, suggesting the restaurant sales recovery has not only stalled but likely fallen into a "double-dip recession," according to the National Restaurant Association.
All retail sales rose 4.1% from the year-ago period in November to $546.50 billion, which was better than the 3.3% growth for all retail sales in November 2019. November's retail sales were down 1.1% from the previous month.
The restaurant industry's year-over-year comparable sales for the week ending Nov. 29 were the worst experienced by the industry since mid-July, according to Dec. 11 Black Box Intelligence report. It marked the third consecutive week where year-over-year sales growth declined compared to the previous week, Black Box said in its report. While most segments of the restaurant industry are battling negative comparable sales growth, quick service and fast-casual restaurants had positive comparable sales growth during the week ending Nov. 29, according to Black Box.
As winter takes hold across the country, more restaurants are experiencing silent nights.
The onset of colder weather in the U.S. is likely one reason for waning sales as fewer restaurants are able to offer outdoor dining, Black Box said. In late November, 52% of full-service restaurant operators said their restaurant offered on-premise outdoor dining in spaces like patios, decks or sidewalks. The figure was down from 74% in early September. Limited-service restaurants are also pulling back on their outdoor dining, going from 60% that offered it in September to 40% in November.
"With cold weather descending on much of the country, an increasing number of outdoor tables are sitting empty," the National Restaurant Association said.
New England, the Western region, New York and New Jersey are among the areas experiencing larger sales declines, while warmer places like the Southeast, Florida, Texas and the Southwest generally had better comparable sales, according to Black Box.
As outdoor dining withers, rising coronavirus cases in the U.S. have pushed localities and state authorities to crack down on indoor dining, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tied to higher positivity rates for COVID-19.
As of Dec. 14, indoor dining had been suspended in 10 states and in a number of populous cities like New York, Baltimore and St. Louis, with nine other states operating with indoor dining curfews, according to a Dec. 15 report by Gordon Haskett analyst Jeff Farmer. Indoor dining suspensions have had a negative impact on traffic to restaurants, Farmer said.
California had one of the biggest sales declines for the week ending Nov. 29, likely due to a spike in coronavirus cases, Black Box said. The majority of California is under orders to stay home that include only allowing restaurants to offer takeout and delivery. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned indoor dining in New York City beginning Dec. 14.
Foot traffic and sales declines are likely to worsen for the rest of 2020 and into early 2021 as the pandemic worsens in the U.S. and the number of indoor dining suspensions or curfews grows, Farmer said. Whether optimism over the vaccine rollout will outweigh the mounting challenges in the near term is hard to say, Farmer said.
READ MORE: Sign up for our weekly coronavirus newsletter here, and read our latest coverage on the crisis here.
The number of seated diners in the U.S. was down 72.4% year over year on Dec. 15, an improvement from the lows of March and April but down from November's worst day on Nov. 30 when the number of seated diners was down 66% from a year ago, the restaurant reservation platform OpenTable reported.
After six months of consecutive monthly job gains, the restaurant industry lost jobs for the first time since April.
Food services and drinking places lost 17,400 jobs in November for a total of 10.19 million jobs, which was 16.4% less than a year ago. Food services and drinking places also had 10.21 million jobs in October. Food services and drinking sales remained 2.1 million jobs behind its pre-pandemic levels, the National Restaurant Association said. Half of restaurant operators expect their staffing levels to fall in the next three months, and just 5% of restaurant operators expect to increase staffing levels during the next three months, according to a National Restaurant Association survey fielded in November.
"There doesn't appear to be a significant catalyst for a resumption of restaurant job growth in the immediate future," the National Restaurant Association said in a Dec. 4 report. "Given the rising restrictions on indoor dining and the likelihood of significantly scaled-back holiday celebrations, business conditions will remain extremely challenging in the coming months."
Stocks heat up
Fourteen of the 15 largest publicly traded U.S. restaurants posted stock gains in the month ended Dec. 15, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. More broadly, the S&P Composite 1500 Restaurants subindex rose 4.6% and the S&P Composite 1500 index jumped 3.6%.
Shares of Chili's Grill & Bar owner Brinker International Inc. rose 16.6% for the month ended Dec. 15, the biggest gain for the period. Chili's comparable sales and comparable traffic have been better than the overall casual dining industry, James Rutherford, a Stephens analyst, said in a Dec. 16 report. Brinker, which also owns Maggiano's Little Italy, on Dec. 16 withdrew its fiscal second-quarter 2021 guidance as its restaurants are impacted by dining room closures and capacity restrictions. Chili's had positive traffic in October, but the restrictions in response to rising cases of COVID-19 will prevent Brinker from carrying out its plans for the quarter, Wyman Roberts, Brinker's CEO, said in a news release.
Brinker reported Dec. 16 comparable sales for company-owned Chili's fell 1% for the month ended Oct. 28. The figure was down 3.9% for the week ended Nov. 4 and has worsened each week since. Comparable sales at company-owned Chili's was down 12.3% for the week ended Dec. 9.
Shares of Domino's Pizza Inc. fell 1.3% for the month ended Dec. 15, the biggest loss for the period. The pizza chain announced Dec. 14 that it would give over $9.6 million in special bonuses in December to hourly employees and drivers across its company-owned stores and supply chain.
The odds that publicly traded restaurant companies would default on their debts within a year was little changed from the previous month.
A Dec. 15 analysis of the one-year probability of default scores identified 15 U.S. public restaurants with scores ranging from 10.4% to 24.1%, and corresponding implied credit scores of "ccc-" to "ccc+," according to Market Intelligence data. By comparison, the same analysis done Nov. 17 also showed a range of 10.4% to 24.1%. The analysis is based on each company's corporate, industry and financial risk and is mainly based on data released through public filings.
Two of the three public restaurant companies estimated most likely to default were the same ones from the previous month's analysis.
Potbelly Corp. again had the highest odds with a 24.1% chance it could default in the next 12 months, the same odds it could do so from the previous month's report. Potbelly did not respond to a request for comment.
Noodles & Co. again had the second-highest odds it could default in the next 12 months at 21.2%, the same figure as the previous month. Noodles did not respond to a request for comment.
S&P Global's Fundamental Probability of Default Model provides a fundamentals-based view of credit risk for corporations by assessing both business risk — including country risk, industry risk, macroeconomic risk, company competitiveness and company management — as well as financial risk, such as liquidity, profitability, efficiency, debt service capacity and leverage. For a more thorough review of the model, see the PD Model Fundamentals - Public Corporates white paper.


text:
Martin Hutchinson: Forget about lost decades. Forecasts that we’ll be turning Japanese couldn’t be further from the truth. Here’s why. It’s simple, really. Deflation is not in the interest of anybody in power, so it’s very unlikely to happen.
The U.S. Federal Reserve‘s policy move to target inflation last week just re-emphasizes this point.
That’s not to say deflation is a bad thing for everybody.
For savers and those living on fixed incomes, deflation would be a very good thing indeed.
Their income would gradually increase in real terms, and their savings would become steadily more valuable. Holders of Treasury bonds would also gain mightily from deflation.
However, the very people who would gain from deflation are not in power.
The People’s Bank of China can’t vote in the U.S. (yet!), Ron Paul is not president, and there is not an organized and powerful savers’ political movement. After all, this is not Germany (NYSEArca:EWG) or Japan (NYSEArca:EWJ)!
The Tea Party may have elected a Congress committed to reducing spending, but none of the battles of 2011 actually reduced spending – they just slowed the rate of growth somewhat.
Since much of the debt is borrowed long-term at low interest rates, the best way to reduce its burden on future generations is to encourage inflation.
Savers may lose out on the deal, but to those in Washington, the idea of inflating our way out of debt is irresistible.
Of course, sometimes we can depend on an independent central bank to resist this temptation. But at present, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is committed to near-zero interest rates in his fight against deflation.
Now you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to realize that, if the power structure is committed to at least moderate inflation, inflation is what you are going to get.
In fact, it is already brewing.
Keep Your Eye on The Money Supply
One of the more reliable signs of future inflation, at least in the medium term, is monetary growth.
In the last year, the St. Louis Fed’s Money of Zero Maturity, the nearest counterpart to the old broad-money M3, has risen by 9.5%, while the slightly narrower M2 has risen by 9.8%.
As for the monetary base, which monetary theory tells us is supposed to be the most accurate inflation indicator of them all, that’s up 29.9%. What’s more, there is no sign of M2 and M3 slowing down.
If you don’t believe me, you can discover these facts by clicking here and seeing for yourself from the St Louis Fed’s weekly data.
This 9% to 10% increase in the money supply is compared to a current rise in nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of about 5%. (That’s including some acceleration in 2011’s fourth quarter over earlier in the year.)
Since monetary “velocity” tends to increase continually with modern payment systems, that is far more money growth than you need to currently run the economy.
So the real puzzle is not whether we will get inflation, but why we don’t have it now.
After all, interest rates have been near zero for more than three years now, and the money supply was rising faster than the economy for many years before that.
By all accounts, prices should be higher — but they are not.
Inflation Pressures Begin to Build
Part of the answer is found overseas.
The main factor suppressing inflation since the middle 1990s has been the Internet and modern telecoms. These have made it much easier to source products in low-wage countries.
So today we buy our clothes from China, whereas 20 years ago many of these same items were made in the U.S. The result has been about a 20% decline in apparel prices since their peak in 1993.
With this effect on consumer goods, and Moore’s Law making technology-based goods cheaper and better all the time, even the rise in oil prices from about $10 per barrel in 1998 to about $100 today has been easily absorbed.
However, there are signs that the price-suppressing effect of emerging markets (NYSEArca:EEM) manufacturing is coming to an end.
Chinese wages are rising rapidly, the currency has risen against the dollar (NYSEArca:UUP), and China’s balance of trade surplus has almost disappeared.
In fact, consumer price inflation worldwide began trending up in 2011. Now that commodity prices are rising again – as you would expect with expansionary money policy worldwide -2012 inflation pressures are beginning to build.
And now even Ben Bernanke finally weighed in last week as he tipped the scales even more decisively towards inflation.
By promising to keep interest rates at zero until the end of 2014, Bernanke has insured that interest rates almost certainly will remain below the inflation rate for the next three years.
That alone will cause inflation to rise, so we can expect the upward pressure on prices to continue.
So forget about deflation, since it will be vigorously resisted by the Obama Administration, Congress, and the Bernanke-led Fed. Inflation will keep heading higher from here.
In fact, by Election Day in November, inflation could be at troubling levels.
As for turning Japanese? …. I don’t think so.
Martin is a Contributing Editor to both the Money Map Report and Money Morning. An investment banker with more than 25 years’ experience, Hutchinson has worked on both Wall Street and Fleet Street and is a leading expert on the international financial markets. At Creditanstalt–Bankverein, Hutchinson was a Senior Vice President in charge of the institution’s derivative operations, one of the most challenging units to run. He also served as a director of Gestion Integral de Negocios, a Spanish private-equity firm, and as an advisor to the Korean conglomerate, Sunkyong Corp. In February 2000, as part of the Financial Services Volunteer Corps, Hutchinson became an advisor to the Republic of Macedonia, working directly with Minister of Finance Nikola Gruevski (now that country’s Prime Minister). The nation had been staggered by the breakup of Yugoslavia – in which 800,000 Macedonians lost their life savings – and then the Kosovo War. Under Hutchinson’s guidance, the country issued 12-year bonds, and created a market for the bonds to trade. The bottom line: Macedonians were able to sell their bonds for cash, and many recouped more than three-quarters of what they’d lost – to the tune of about $1 billion. Hutchinson earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Harvard University. He lives near Washington, D.C.
If you don’t have the ability or the buy-in capital for foreign currencies, you may want to consider an investment strategy that can prosper through a crashing dollar. To learn more about one such plan, click here for the latest presentation.


text:
Updated: Nov 9
In 2023, Nike will release the Nike Zoom Vapor 11 in collaboration with John McEnroe's legendary Mac Attack, which was originally released in 1984. Nike has done several collaborations and mashups with the Vapor line, including the Nike Zoom Vapor 9.5 model and the Air Jordan 3, as well as the Nike Zoom Vapor X and the Air Max 95.
The release will come in mid-2023, and is expected to be in limited quantities. A retro of the original Mac Attack is expected to follow.
McEnroe's Nike Mac Attack has been one of Nike's most iconic tennis shoes, and has even been seen worn by the likes of LeBron James and Travis Scott recently.


text:
The Push for Sustainability in LED Technology
As we sail further into the 21st century, the drumbeat for environmental responsibility grows louder. In response, industries including that of LED screen manufacturing have taken a hard look at how they can pivot towards greener practices. LED screens are ubiquitous, found in our pockets on smartphones, in our living rooms as TVs, across cityscapes and stadiums too. They’re integral to modern life, but they also have a substantial environmental impact through their production, operation, and disposal.
Reducing the carbon footprint of LED displays has become a critical concern. Manufacturers are actively exploring the use of recycled materials and eco-friendly manufacturing processes. Beyond production, attention to energy consumption while the screens are in use has led to significant innovations in low-power LEDs and system efficiency improvements.
Advancements in Materials and Lifecycle
A leap in eco-friendly LED technology is the development of sustainable materials. Traditionally, LEDs rely on rare earth elements and metals that require energy-intensive mining operations. However, recent innovations have witnessed the introduction of organic LEDs (OLEDs) and quantum dot LEDs (QLEDs), which promise a reduced environmental footprint due to their more sustainable material profiles and superior energy efficiency.
Moreover, the lifecycle of LED products is extending, with companies investing in durability and repairability to prolong the lifespan of their screens. With this shift, the mantra ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ is making its way into the ethos of LED screen technology, encouraging the adoption of modular designs that can be easily disassembled for repair or recycling, ultimately minimizing waste.
Energy Efficiency Breakthroughs
No discussion about the green progress in LED screens is complete without acknowledging the strides made in energy efficiency. LEDs already use substantially less power than their incandescent counterparts, but scientists and engineers have pushed the boundaries even further. Innovations such as micro-LED technology not only offer enhanced picture quality with their smaller emitters but also consume less power. This results in a double win for the eco-conscious consumer – better performance with a smaller energy bill and carbon footprint.
Perhaps even more impactful is the development of smart LED systems. These systems can dynamically adjust brightness based on ambient light conditions or even switch off individual LEDs when not needed without affecting overall display clarity. Smart technologies like these are set to revolutionize energy consumption norms for large-scale displays used in advertising and public information systems.
Recycling and End-of-Life Solutions
Eventually, all electronics reach their end-of-life, and eco-friendly disposal becomes a critical concern. LED screens are no exception. Industry leaders are now seriously considering the “end game” for their products by setting up recycling programs and designing products for easier breakdown. Furthermore, the push for legislation that mandates recycling standards for electronic waste is gaining traction, helping to ensure that the hazardous components of LED screens do not end up in landfills.
The advent of e-waste recycling facilities that particularly specialize in LEDs is an encouraging trend. These facilities are equipped to recover valuable materials like gold, silver, and palladium from LED components, which can be reused in the manufacturing of new screens. In addition to curbing the extraction of virgin materials, the environmental impact of disposal is significantly mitigated through such focused efforts in recycling.
Consumer Influence and the Market Shift
Ultimately, consumers hold considerable sway in the direction markets move. This principle is evident in the growing demand for greener technology options, including LED screens. Influenced by this consumer shift, electronics manufacturers have embraced eco-friendly innovations not just as a matter of compliance or goodwill but as a competitive edge. Sustainable products increasingly drive market differentiation and appeal to a consumer base that is more environmentally conscious than ever before. Uncover more information on the subject by visiting this thoughtfully curated external source. Learn from this informative article, immerse yourself further in the topic and improve your educational journey.
As the awareness and demand for green technology continue to rise, the industry is responding with products that balance technological advancement with sustainability. Consumer choice, thus, plays a pivotal role in fostering the continued rise of eco-friendly LED screens, pushing brands to consider the ecological implications from design to disposal.
Access the related links below to learn more about the topic discussed:


text:
The music NFT drops with Diplo, Nas, and The Chainsmokers have culminated in Royal’s marketplace going live, and the company is also working on developing a mobile app.
During the past month, the world has witnessed some of the most exciting developments in the music industry. One of these innovations is the introduction of Royal, a marketplace, which will help bring music NFTs to the masses. This is an important step because it will make it easier for people to access music they enjoy. In addition, the marketplace is expected to help the creators of music earn royalties-hence the name, Royal.
While there are many NFT platforms out there, most of them are not designed specifically for music. However, Royal is leveraging the Ethereum sidechain Polygon to create a marketplace that allows users to buy and sell music NFTs. The platform’s marketplace will feature detailed statistics on each asset, including the song’s streaming data and revenue, along with an automatic payment interface.
The Royal market combines streaming data from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and SoundCloud Premium, in addition to a few other services. The site is powered by an Ethereum sidechain, Polygon, and it leverages the Polygon community to allow users to trade tokenized music rights without having to own any of the tokens themselves.
Connecting artists and fans
Among the leading names in the music NFT space is Royal, which has just launched a marketplace for music royalty rights. The platform is designed to enable musicians and fans to connect on a more direct level. It pulls data from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music and offers users a chance to purchase shares in songs from artists.
Royal is a startup founded by EDM DJ and music producer Justin “3LAU” Blau and home-buying startup OpenDoor founder JD Ross. Their goal is to create a marketplace for music NFTs that is easy to use, and a good fit for both musicians and fans.
The platform allows artists to sell fractional shares of their songs to fans, which can be bought for any price. For example, a small artist might be able to generate $10,000 for a single song, while a Taylor Swift could potentially generate…well, you get the idea.
Own a piece
Royal is a marketplace for fractionalized music. It allows artists to sell their music to fans in a fractionalized ownership model, similar to shares of stock. But it’s more than just a platform for music rights.
It’s also a platform for fans to invest in their favorite artists. The platform offers investors a variety of tiers of ownership, from an EP to an album. Those who invest can expect to receive royalties when their favorite song streams.
It’s not the first NFT marketplace, but it’s the first one for music rights. Royal has secured investment from Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, a16z, Stefflon Don, Atomic, and Joyner Lucas.
How it works
Royal allows users to purchase shares of a song, based on its popularity. Users can then earn royalties through platforms like Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music. Users can also earn royalties on-chain or off-chain.
Blau and Ross have created a music rights marketplace that is based on a new infrastructure that helps artists mint limited digital assets. Artists can also sell their royalties to fans through Royal. This allows fans to earn royalties alongside artists and finance future albums. Currently, musicians take home about 12% of the revenue pie. However, more people are streaming music, which means more royalties for artists and more music for fans. A true win win.
The platform’s listings provide streaming data from Apple Music, Prime Music, and Spotify, along with payout estimates. Royal also offers a mobile app to users.
Royal plans to give fans and investors exclusive benefits. Fans who purchase NFTs will get access to exclusive merch and promotions. Royal artists will also be able to earn royalties on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Master recording rights is something that Royal will also offer in the future.
As the contagion and fallout from the FTX disaster spreads it is heartening to see legitimate use cases for blockchain and NFTs. This along with bitcoin and ether showing strength is good news for those who still believe in the technology that underpins the crypto market.
Jay Speakman is a technology writer based in San Francisco, California. He writes on the topics of blockchain, cryptocurrency, DeFi and other disruptive technologies. Clients include Avalanche, Be[in]Crypto, Trust Machines and several blogs devoted to blockchain gaming. He will not rest until fiat currency is defeated.


text:
With a name like MOM’s Organic Market, it might sound like the 10-store independent based in Rockville, Md., takes a down-home approach to its operations.
And it does — if your home happens to be highly energy-efficient, organic and a staunch steward of the environment.
Recognizing the company’s longstanding efforts to reduce waste and minimize its impact on the environment, SN has named MOM’s the winner of 2013 Sustainability Excellence Award in the Independent category.
Scott Nash, founder and owner of MOM’s, said the company launched what it calls its “ER” initiative — for environmental restoration — in 2005.
“At MOM’s we hire not for experience but for values, and one of our values is that we are environmentalists,” Nash told SN. “So many of us are environmentalists that we don’t even have to brainstorm about what we should do — it just comes naturally to us, and we just keep our eyes peeled for ways that we can potentially restore the environment.”
A longtime supporter of renewable energy, MOM’s has been fully wind-powered since 2005 through Maryland-based company Clean Currents, according to Charis Smith, MOM’s environmental director. In 2012, MOM’s received a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Purchaser Award.
Earlier this year, MOM’s partnered with Solar City to install 59.22 kilowatts worth of solar panels on the roof of MOM’s newest store in Waldorf, Md. The system’s expected annual output of 72,000 kWh — which is equivalent to the annual electricity use of nearly eight U.S. homes, Smith said — is expected to offset more than 15% of the store’s energy use each year.
To further support renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions, MOM’s recently has been seeking to offset its customers’ emissions from their shopping trips through a program it has dubbed “Terrapass Your Gas.”
From November 2011 through June 2013, MOM’s said it has offset 14,235 metric tons of carbon dioxide through the program. This is equivalent to eliminating the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 2,966 passenger vehicles or the carbon dioxide emissions from consuming nearly 1.6 million gallons of gasoline, according to information sent to SN by Smith. MOM’s uses ZIP code data from its customers to estimate mileage driven to and from MOM’s stores.
The Terrapass program uses the funds received from MOM’s to sponsor clean energy and efficiency projects such as wind power, dairy farm methane digesters, landfill gas capture and coal mine capture.
In a similar vein, MOM’s seeks to encourage the proliferation of electric vehicles and lessen dependence on petroleum by offering electric car charging stations at six of its store locations.
The company also looks at many other ways to reduce energy consumption, including using energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems. In 2011, the company went to all-LED track lighting.
Staffing the Stores
Nash said having the right workers on staff is important for running such an operation, but he also noted that environmentalism can be taught if people have the right mental approach.
“They don’t have to come in being staunch environmentalists, but they do have to have the right attitude and be willing to learn,” Nash said.
“But if they come in and say global warming is a hoax, they are out,” he noted.
He also said some people are attracted to work at the company because of its strong position on the environment. Employees are offered a “green benefits” package, which includes extensive education on how to lead an environmentally friendly lifestyle, a $3,000 incentive for the purchase of a hybrid vehicle, a 20% subsidy incentive to purchase Energy Star appliances and electric lawnmowers, and a “Green Household” package that includes CFL bulbs, clothesline, programmable thermostats, and an employee discount on all products in the stores.
On its corporate website, MOM’s explains that it believes the destruction of the environment and climate change are the biggest problems facing humankind today.”
“We believe that through leading by example we can have the biggest impact to protect and restore the environment. By instituting best practices to reduce our impact on the environment, and by educating staff and customers, we are influencing customers, employees, and many other businesses.”
Among the actions the company takes to support this position:
• Stocking organic product whenever possible;
• Buying local whenever possible.
• Supporting green business by featuring products by companies who use renewable green power to manufacture their products.
• Offering only sustainable seafood.
• Opting not to sell bottled water.
• Offering a variety of products in bulk to reduce packaging.
• Using green building materials like bamboo and recycled lumber.
MOM’s also seeks to compost or recycle as much of its waste as possible, and each year tries to raise the bar on its recycling rate. To accomplish this, MOM’s uses a range of compostable, recyclable and reusable products in its stores, including compostable utensils, produce bags and reusable shopping bags, sampling cups and spoons, coffee cups, filters, boxes, bags, pallet wrap and reusable wooden pallets and crates.
In 2012, MOM’s stores composted over 2 million pounds of waste, or 59% of its total waste output, according to Smith. Combined with recycling efforts, as a company, MOM’s diverts nearly 90% of its annual waste from the landfill, she said.
As service to its customers, MOM’s offers free daily recycling for items such as corks, shoes, household batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs, cell phones and plastic bags. Last year, MOM’s recycled 22,412 pounds of household batteries for its customers.
Throughout the year, MOM’s also hosts free recycling drives for used denim, incandescent holiday lights and electronic waste. This past June, MOM’s recycled over 45,000 pounds of electronic waste.
Nash told SN that even though some of the company’s practices can be operationally challenging — such as an effort to inflate customers’ tires to help them get better gas mileage — the rewards can be large, and unexpected.
“When we first launched our ER initiative, and we started to advertise it to customers, within 2 months we had a couple of shoplifters confess to us they had been stealing from us for years — both unrelated — because they felt guilty,” Nash recalled. “That is just one of the many, many ways you cannot measure the benefits of being an ethical, socially responsible-run company.
“We get publicity, our customers give us the benefit of the doubt, they like us more, our employee morale has gone up, our retention rates have gone up, it’s easier to recruit. These are very important parts of running a business.
“Companies who think they don’t want to do this because of the short-term costs aren’t connecting the dots and looking to see all the intangible ways and unexpected ways that being a good company benefits them.”
|More from Supermarketnews


text:
According to the study “Female employment and Covid-19: Diagnosis and proposals of the UC Public Policy Center”, which revealed that the participation rate of women reached 47% in 2020, thus returning to 2010 levels (46.8%).
Aware of this complex scenario, in March the Fundación Luksic launched the first version of Despega Mujer, a program that aims to empower women who already have an excellent entrepreneurial profile, in order to encourage them to move to a higher business segment, through comprehensive support with a gender focus.
On Tuesday, December 14, the 20 women entrepreneurs who won the first edition of the program participated in the closing ceremony, bringing to an end a six-month process during which they participated in classes, received personalized mentoring from Corporación Simón de Cirene, and received financing of $2 million pesos each to invest in their businesses. The entrepreneurs were invited to apply through the Fondo Esperanza organization.
The women participants in the program, from the Antofagasta, Los Lagos and Metropolitan regions, successfully completed this learning period, which enabled them to strengthen their businesses and acquire new management skills. In addition, the financing enabled them to purchase, for example, new machinery, merchandise and remodel their premises.
“During this time, each of you demonstrated that passion, commitment and the desire to move forward with your businesses are much greater than any obstacle. Never doubt your abilities and strength,” said Alvaro Ipinza, general manager of the Fundación Luksic, during the ceremony, which was held virtually.
Karla Díaz from Antofagasta, one of the 20 winners, referred to the opportunity of having been part of the program and said that “during all this time we had the support of several work teams, giving the best of themselves, as a friend would do. Their teachings have had a deep impact on all of us, on our businesses, on our families. They came at the right time, they took us at the precise moment when we needed them to trust us and gave us the knowledge we needed to grow”.
Classes and mentoring
“Women and entrepreneurship” and “Techniques to grow my business” were the first two modules taken by the entrepreneurs to learn about the entrepreneurial ecosystem and how to manage their business more efficiently. They also had electives to learn about different topics, such as digital marketing, formalization, applying for funding and leadership, among others.
In addition, each entrepreneur was accompanied by an expert mentor to support them with their business. “It is much more than mentoring. It is an integral accompaniment, where the most important thing was to listen to them to learn about the vision and dreams they have for their businesses. With this information, we were able to guide the entrepreneurs -all valuable, talented and intelligent women- so that they could best realize their projects. I would also like to emphasize that the gender focus of the program, with both mentors and entrepreneurs being women, allowed for a greater connection between the two,” explained María del Mar Arahuetes, a commercial engineer by profession, who participated as a mentor in this first version of Despega Mujer.
Finally, the program ended with the learning circles run by the Corporación Construyendo Mis Sueños, which consist of spaces for conversation, follow-up and group accompaniment among the selected women.
In order to reach more women in Chile with this comprehensive support, the Luksic Foundation launched the second edition of the program during the second half of the year. Currently, 50 women from the regions of Coquimbo and Biobío are participating, who in this opportunity were invited to participate through Fondo Esperanza and Banigualdad.


text:
Company to dramatically enhance its mobile security and authentication offering
RSA Conference 2012 — San Francisco — February 28, 2012 — Duo Security LLC, an emerging authentication-as-a-service provider, has received a $5 million investment from Google Ventures, True Ventures, and Resonant Venture Partners. This investment, which follows an earlier round from True Ventures and Resonant Venture Partners, allows the company to expand their team, mobile security research, and strong authentication platform development.
As passwords are vulnerable to being stolen by malware or guessed by an attacker, Duo Security leverages users' mobile phones as a second factor of authentication, which significantly reduces the chance of account compromise. In two years, Duo Security has added over 500 customers with users across 80 countries for their two-factor authentication service, which enables organizations to protect their critical user accounts from being compromised. Current customers include online businesses, education institutions, healthcare providers, and enterprises — such as Tumblr, University of Michigan, Central Ohio Primary Care, and Toyota.
Duo Security's founders — Dug Song, CEO and Jon Oberheide, CTO — are accomplished security veterans with a history of identifying and addressing weaknesses in software and networking technology. Dug was previously Chief Security Architect at Arbor Networks, which protects the vast majority of Internet service providers around the world. Jon holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of Michigan and is known throughout the security community for his research and exploits — most specifically in mobile security, cloud security, and malware analysis.
“We are developing solutions to address some of the most daunting challenges in computer security — account takeover and online fraud,” said Dug Song, CEO of Duo Security. “We have already seen traction with our service as companies across a range of industries adopt it to address security threats and maintain a great experience for their users.”
“Proper identity assurance and mobile security are critical for the growth of meaningful online services,” said Karim Faris, Partner, Google Ventures. “Duo Security is committed to democratizing strong authentication and bringing this previously ‘enterprise-only’ level of security to every Internet user.”
Usability is commonly an afterthought in security software. Duo Security has invested a significant effort in making both the end user and integration experience painless. With Duo Security, most customer deployments are fully functional in a day with IT departments receiving close to zero support calls from their users.
“The authentication market is ripe for disruption catalyzed by escalating threats, new modes of application access and new delivery models and form factors. Duo Security has designed its platform with these broader systemic challenges in scope. By coupling authentication with authorization and anti-fraud at an infrastructure level, Duo Security has the foundation in place to meet evolving market requirements as the disruption unfolds,” added Steve Coplan, senior analyst, 451 Research enterprise security practice.
About Duo Security
Duo Security makes two-factor authentication radically easy to deploy, use, and manage. Duo empowers any web, IT, or network administrator to easily protect accounts by leveraging their users' mobile phones for secondary authentication. Every day, over 500 organizations with users across 80 countries rely on Duo to secure their logins and transactions. Learn more and try it for free at duosecurity.com.
About Google Ventures
Google Ventures is the venture capital arm of Google Inc. We seek to discover and help develop great companies, and believe in the power of entrepreneurs to do amazing things. Our investments range from seed to late stage, across a broad range of industries, including consumer Internet, digital media, software, hardware, and biotechnology. We embrace the challenge of helping young companies grow from the proverbial garage to global relevance. For more information, visit www.googleventures.com.
About True Ventures
True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm supporting great people in great markets since 2006. Started by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, the team provides funding, resources, and counsel to early stage, high tech startups and their visionary founders. Their portfolio includes investments in WordPress, BrightRoll, Fitbit, Bandcamp, Milo, Puppet Labs, Urban Airship, and StockTwits, to name a few. www.trueventures.com
About Resonant Venture Partners
Resonant Venture Partners is an emerging venture capital firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 2010, Resonant makes seed stage investments in companies developing cloud infrastructure, software and services. The Resonant team is comprised of founders, engineers, operators and investors. Entrepreneurs in their own right, the managing directors partner with portfolio companies through challenging product, market and operational issues at the earliest phases. For more information, visit www.resonantvc.com.


text:
The writing may have been on the wall for Bend Studio, the makers of 2019’s Days Gone, but it is more or less official now. While the game was met with mixed reviews, its latest migration to the PC arena has been well received, unfortunately, it is too little, too late. Bend Studio will be turning their sights to a new IP, instead of a sequel to Days Gone.
This comes via Hermen Hulst, the head honcho of PlayStation Studios. In an interview shared on the PlayStation Blog, Hulst was able to shed a tiny sliver of light on what was to come for the studio.
The team will be “building on the deep open-world systems that they developed for Days Gone.”
Bend Studio is not entirely abandoning its previous work when it comes to the new IP. This essentially corroborates earlier reports that a pitch for a sequel was shot down by PlayStation leadership back in 2019.
In the same post, Hulst had also confirmed the delay of the next God of War, amongst other interesting tidbits.
At least Bend Studio still has the opportunity to work on a new IP. Other studios may have faced the doom of closure instead. Founded in Oregon almost 30 years ago, the studio has been in the Sony fold since 2000.
The likes of Syphon Filter and Days Gone are the studio’s key offerings. The team has also assisted on other games, such as the Vita adaptations of Uncharted and Resistance.


text:
Aston Martin to cut 500 jobs as business reset continues
Luxury sports car maker Aston Martin has today announced it will cut 500 jobs as the iconic brand continues with its business-wide reset.
The firm said the measures were being taken to bring its cost base in line with expected lower levels of car production.
The cuts, which cover nearly a fifth of Aston Martin’s 2,600 strong workforce, come after it was announced chief executive Andy Palmer would be replaced by Mercedes executive Tobias Moers.
“The measures announced today will right-size the organisational structure and bring the cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, consistent with restoring profitability,” it said.
Aston Martin added that the restructuring is expected to deliver total annual savings of about £38m.
Union Unite urged the car maker to reconsider the number of losses, warning that most of them would fall on Aston Martin’s plant at Gaydon in Warwickshire, which employs about 1,600 people.
Before the Open: Get the jump on the markets with our early morning newsletter
Regional officer Tim Parker described the plan as “repugnant” and blamed it on the company’s “dire financial situation”.
He said: “At the same time as Aston Martin has been making use of the taxpayer-funded job retention scheme to furlough the majority of the workforce, it is now planning to throw a third of the Gaydon workforce onto the scrapheap – we think that is repugnant”.
He also called on the government to provide financial support for the company in order to avoid the lay-offs.
Since going public in October 2018, Aston Martin has seen its share price collapse, prompting Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll to take a 25 per cent stake in the firm earlier this year.
After leading the £536m funding round, Stroll has now become the firm’s executive chairman.
However, in his first set of results since taking charge, Aston Martin fell to a loss of over £100m due to the coronavirus crisis.
Shortly afterwards, finance chief Mark Wilson stepped down as part of a wide-ranging managerial shake-up.