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THE profits of hundreds of Jersey-based companies are likely to be taxed at 15% from 2025 as part of an international deal, according to the government.
It is not known by how much the move will boost public coffers, but it is understood that the number of businesses in Jersey which are affected is in the high hundreds.
These companies are part of multinationals whose global turnover exceeds 750 million euros a year and therefore fall within the scope of a worldwide initiative, overseen by the OECD, to which 130 countries signed up in 2021.
The move is an effort to stop global multinationals from shifting their profits around the world to avoid paying tax.
Jersey, along with the other Crown Dependencies, yesterday announced how it planned to implement this global standard.
As part of the effort, the OECD has given jurisdictions a number of options. Principally, multinationals will pay a minimum effective rate of 15% corporate tax in every country in which they operate.
That could mean a company such as Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle, pooling all the profits of its worldwide operations which currently reside in places which have a below-15% corporate tax rate and paying the balance to the United States Treasury.
However, signatories to the standard have the option to introduce their own minimum 15% corporate tax rate, ensuring that multinational subsidiaries pay the 15% wherever they happen to be based.
The Crown Dependencies have chosen to take this route, arguing that it would be far simpler for subsidiaries to pay their tax locally rather than go through the complexity of wiring profits back to their parent company to be taxed there.
Currently, firms in Jersey pay no tax on their profits, unless they are a regulated financial services business, in which case they pay corporation tax of 10%, or are utilities, which pay 20%.
Jersey is home to a small number of large multinationals which have their headquarters in the Island. Legislation will also be introduced to allow these companies to pool their global profits locally if they wish and pay the 15% ‘top-up tax’ to Revenue Jersey.
The UK and European Union have committed to implement the new regime – called the OECD Pillar Two Framework – next year. However, the Crown Dependencies have said they will introduce it together from 2025, while reserving the right to delay the decision depending on how other jurisdictions respond.
Jersey is keen to stress that for the vast majority of companies in the Island, there will be no change, as the move only affects large businesses with significant global sales.
The government has also said that businesses ‘in scope’ have already been briefed, so are aware of the proposed changes. It is also confident that, because of the global deal, there will be no flight of business out of the Island.
Treasury Minister Ian Gorst said: ‘The government is monitoring international developments on Pillar Two very closely.
‘Jersey is very well positioned to adapt to these changes. We already have a well-developed corporate tax system and we have a seat at the table as a member of the OECD Inclusive Framework Steering Group, which is at the heart of decision-making for this agenda.
‘Jersey will continue to make the right tax choices for the Island’s long-term success as a global business and professional services centre.
‘I am determined, through careful engagement with industry at home and around the world, to ensure that Jersey maintains its international reputation for competitiveness and for providing businesses with administrative certainty and simplicity into the future.’


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From their most recent editorial I gather than somebody on the Washington Post staff went to the CVS to buy some Advil and were astonished to find the shelves bare. Here’s a snippet:
Shoppers visiting the CVS Pharmacy at 14th and Irving streets NW in Washington recently must think they traveled back in time to the Soviet Union. The store’s shelves are bare. The refrigerator cases are devoid of food or beverages. When we visited, only sunscreen and greeting cards were on display. But the bizarre scene is not a result of a failed planned economy; rampant theft is the cause. Shoplifters ransacked this CVS over two days early last month, and it hasn’t been restocked since. Weeks later, there’s still hardly anything to buy — or steal.
The CVS at 14th and Irving symbolizes extreme retail theft and the harms it can engender. Distressing and inconvenient to ordinary people, threatening to businesses and livelihoods, and repellent to tourists, unchecked shoplifting can corrode a community’s spirit.
It’s happening in the nation’s capital. The D.C. police department does not track shoplifting specifically but reports that theft in general is up 22 percent over last year. It is harder and harder to find a grocery or pharmacy in the District that doesn’t lock up laundry detergent, toilet paper and deodorant. A Giant in Southeast no longer even stocks certain name-brand health and beauty products that thieves target. A liquor store downtown is closing because of constant shoplifting. The H Street Walmart shuttered earlier this year. (The company said the store “hasn’t performed as well as we hoped.”)
I was reminded of John Adams’s remarks:
But should the People of America, once become capable of that deep <, Start deletion,[. . .], End,> simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Iniquity and Extravagance; and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candour frankness & sincerity while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by <, Start deletion,[. . .], End,> morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition <, Start deletion,and, End,> Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other
There are several known ways of controlling theft. The first and best is for people not to steal because stealing is wrong. The second is to ensure that would-be thieves are deterred by the likelihood of being apprehended and punished. The third is to maintain a police force large and empowered enough to apprehend criminals, DAs to prosecute criminals, and judges to punish them. The last is to authorize and empower shopkeepers to protect their stores against theft.
When none of those are the case, you have more theft.

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JPMorgan Chase launched a business Wednesday that will help marketers target customers based on their spending habits.
Chase Media Solutions, billed as the only bank-led platform of its kind, connects Chase’s 80 million customers to retail deals tailored to their spending directly through their bank app.
Rich Muhlstock, president of Chase Media Solutions, said Wednesday that its understanding of consumer spending has driven the firm to “reimagine what retail media networks can offer.”
“Like retailers, we have first-party data and a dedicated audience. But what sets us apart is the unrivaled scale and insights from our customers — having long-served as a trusted guide for their financial decisions,” he said. “Chase reaches across brands, merchants and shopping verticals, providing a comprehensive view of purchase behavior; this strengthens the degree of personalization, helping brands deliver offers that stoke consumer interests.”
The bank is not sharing Chase customer data with retailers. Rather, it is working alongside brands and merchants to develop targeted offers for customers.
Brands have long wasted digital ad spend on dead ends. With Chase Media Solutions, brands share what their motivations are — acquiring new customers or building basket size, for instance — and then the bank targets customers with specialized deals through its app’s Chase Offers section.
When a customer activates the deal within the app and makes a subsequent purchase, in-store or online, a statement credit then appears for the customer.
Chase will only charge retailers when a customer follows through with a purchase. Therefore, the retailers will be able to trace back their sales directly to their Chase partnership,
“We will be part of larger campaigns, because there are other things that are obviously always going to be important to building brands and awareness and things like that,” Muhlstock told Wall Street Journal. “But this fits in nicely with something that can truly drive sales.”
Chase Offers already presented customers with less targeted ads. Moving forward, it will be populated by offers developed within the bank’s new marketing arm.
During 30-day pilot launches for airline Air Canada, coffee chain Blue Bottle and fast food restaurant Whataburger, participating brands saw sale and customer growth, the bank said.
“The Chase team succeeded in creating a thoughtful, targeted offer that exceeded our expectations. Two distinct offer constructs drove incremental revenue and awareness for Air Canada amongst Chase’s cardmember base,” said Scott O’Leary, vice president of loyalty and product for Air Canada, in a prepared statement. “These tests clearly demonstrated the potential of the Chase Media Solutions channel, and we look forward to working together more in the future.”
The launch follows the integration of Figg, a card-linked marketing platform acquired by the bank in 2022. The bank said it is part of its vision to bring dual value to business clients and banking customers.


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An Irmo automotive shop is still operating after a vehicle drove through its waiting area.
An Irmo automotive shop is still operating after a truck drove through its waiting area.
On the night of Dec. 12, a driver sped through Minnie’s Auto Repair, a female-owned shop at 6220 St Andrews Rd., leaving several walls damaged before exiting on the other side of the building. The shop is still in business but currently has no waiting area for guests while their vehicles are being serviced.
“First you're kind of angry because it's so much damage,” said owner Claudia Donnelley. “Then you kind of get sad because we built all of this kind of ourselves and when we did the whole renovation, set it all up nicely and then this.”
Donnelley told the Chronicle that they don’t know when they’ll be able to repair the waiting room, but they were happy to find out that they were still able to operate.
“People don't necessarily realize how a small business like this runs,” Donnelley said. “If [we] don't have customers, we don't make money. It's not like we're just a big corporate thing where it doesn't matter how many people call. It matters.”
On the shop’s Facebook page, members of the community have come together to brainstorm ideas for how the business can accommodate customers without a waiting room. Suggestions included partnering with coffee shops or restaurants and using a mobile office trailer or a tent with heaters.
Donnelley said sometimes she can feel invisible, but the support following the accident has shown her how much the people around her care.
According to Sloane Valentino, assistant chief of operations for the Irmo Fire District, the building was not shored on the night of the incident since hazards were unable to be seen. On Dec. 13, a structural engineer was on the scene and helped the department find the best possible option to stabilize the building, including putting a post in place.
“We take protecting the community pretty seriously and it's not just lives, it's also assets, and even if it’s not lives, it's livelihoods,” Valentino said.
The operations chief told the chronicle that the district has a very well-rounded team with some members trained in building construction and swift water rescue, among other expertises. He said that each training takes around 40-80 hours, with the structure typically being one day in a classroom setting and then four days of hands-on training.
“We're the ones out there that are going to be in the position to do something immediately,” Valentino said. “There really aren't any other companies out there that can respond as quickly and effectively as we can.”
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Wotif has reported a record pre-tax profit of $81.3 million, a rise of 13.6% on the previous year, with its flights business the “standout" performer.
The online retailer said the result to June 30 beat profit guidance issued in May.
Revenue climbed 5% to $145.3m with after tax profit up 13.8% to $58m.
Wotif managing director Robbie Cooke said the result is “a return to form” for the company.
The “standout” performer was its flights operation with a 30% increase in sales to $110m. Flights now contribute 9% of Wotif’s transactions by value, Cooke said.
Total room nights sold climbed from 6.97m to 7.04m.
“The year saw us continue to sell around one in ten of all hotel beds in Australia,” Cooke said. “This was a very credible performance given the continuing appetite of leisure travellers for offshore travel, fuelled by the strength of the dollar.
“It also highlights that there is still substantial distribution in Australia that we have not yet captured.”
Mobile was another key driver during the year, Cooke said, with its mobile site and recently launched app accounting for 14% of total site visits and 9% of room nights sold.
Cooke said the outlook for 2012 remained the same – with the high dollar putting a strain on domestic travel.
“Against that backdrop we think it is reasonable to assume that our international flights business will continue to be a beneficiary of the cycle and accommodation bookings for business on Wotif.com, which tends not to be impacted by currency, will remain robust,” he said.
But Cooke warned that leisure sales will remain "unremarkable".
"With key leisure markets experiencing softness there will be great opportunities for consumers to score exceptional deals," he said.
Email the Travel Weekly team at firstname.lastname@example.org
Global tour operator Collette has announced a series of special offers on selected dates across a range of tours in the peak northern hemisphere 2024 summer season. Greece The offers include ‘Greece & Its Islands’ features classics such as the Parthenon as well as the picturesque islands of Mykonos and Santorini. A saving of $700 […]
Air India and All Nippon Airways have signed a codeshare agreement connecting their networks. The new commercial partnership will provide more travel opportunities for customers of both India’s leading global airline and the largest Japan’s largest carrier. Effective from 23rd May, the Air India and All Nippon Airways agreement will see passengers fly to their […]
A&K Travel Group will now provide a minimum of 18 weeks paid parental leave for both care-givers, setting a new standard for the travel industry. By providing 18 weeks of paid time off for all new parents, regardless of gender, A&K Travel Group is not only enabling parents to spend valuable time with their newborns […]
Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]
Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]


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To be able to continue to offer live entertainment despite the officially imposed closures, the Portland-based strip club Lucky Devil has come up with a creative drive-in concept. The dancers perform in a drive-through tent, where the club’s food and drinks can be taken out. So the performers and staff are kept in pay and satisfied customers enjoy adult entertainment and good food.
What began as a joke on Twitter became a worldwide headline. After Shon Boulden, the operator of the Lucky Devil, a strip club in Portland, Oregon, had to close his club on March 16th due to an order by Governor Kate Brown, Boulden tried to take refuge in humor and wrote on Twitter that his performers could deliver food from now on. The unexpected viral success of his post led Boulden to put his idea into action.
As well as in other countries, restaurants were allowed to continue selling their To-Go and delivery services, the apparent focus on a delivery service or drive-in restaurant offered the opportunity to keep the club running. The special twist? The strippers perform while people are waiting in their cars for their food or at the customers’ doorstep.
Under the catchy slogans »Food 2 Go-Go« and »Boobers Delivery«, the club’s team now offers curious customers the club’s full range of services, of course with breathing protection and keeping a safe distance.
At first Boulden offered only a delivery service. For this purpose he converted the kitchen in his club and sent his dancers to deliver the food.
A short time later, the Lucky Devil erected a tent in front of the club, through which the customers slowly drive their cars while enjoying adult live shows left and right. Even music by a DJ is provided. The former bouncers now take care that the necessary safety distances are maintained.
Sending extra money to the strippers is also possible in the To-Go-Go model. However, the customers have to hold up the money, while the performers take the cash with a plastic gripper from a safe distance.
The menu is unchanged, and the performance costs 30 dollars extra. According to Boulden, the offer has also been well received because of the international press coverage. The customers accept up to 300 kilometres of travel for this special experience.
In an interview with the news agency Reuters, a customer named Dani Valdes says: »It’s a safe way to have a little fun.« Although he hopes to find similar offers in the immediate vicinity of his home, for the time being the Lucky Devil is the only adult live oasis in the USA, which has been particularly hard hit by Corona.
Boulden is optimistic and pleased about the success of his concept. However, he is still worried. At present, he only earns a sixth of his usual turnover and can only pay his employees a minimum wage.
So many of his dancers are dependent on finding other income in addition to their work for the Lucky Devil. One of them is Elle Stranger, who has been in the business for eleven years and now has to earn additional income as a webcam girl.
She says: »I miss the athletic element and also the opportunity to earn tips.« The hope that the Lucky Devil will soon be able to reopen for regular business drives everyone and bonds the team together. For the time being, however, everyone is happy that some form of normality can be sustained.
Here is the website of the Lucky Devil.


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Though you may have conquered every foul foe in The Lands Between, your quest isn’t over in Elden Ring. That’s because a fresh (and highly-anticipated) chapter for the acclaimed FromSoftware title is looming for PS5 and Xbox players. It now seems that publisher Bandai Namco is preparing to unveil something on its YouTube channel, and we reckon it is the debut trailer for Elden Ring’s long overdue Shadow of The Erdtree DLC.
As was spotted by Elden Ring YouTuber ‘Ziostorm’, Bandai Namco is refreshing its YouTube channels the world over, as playlist updates indicate changes as early as January 4, 2024. Presently, whatever Bandai Namco is uploading remains unlisted. While the publisher could just be updating the content found on its YouTube channels, no identifiable edits or changes to existing content are visible. And unless FromSoftware wants to make all of our dreams come true with a Bloodborne remaster or a Sekiro sequel, all signs are pointing toward an official trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree.
We’ve been keeping our detective hats on when it comes to Elden Ring, tracking the journey of its first DLC. Speculation as to the DLC’s release date began with the simple fact that Elden Ring’s second anniversary is just around the corner on February 25, 2024, making it a noteworthy date for the expansion to be released around. But the plot thickened recently when a merchandise company teased that it would be releasing a limited-edition collectible based on the game.
When is it coming out? February 2024. If said collectible was related to content in the base game, we doubt there would be so much secrecy around it, which makes us think it will be Shadow of the Erdtree-adjacent and will launch alongside the DLC. Recently, an update to Elden Ring’s DLC section on Steam also pointed towards the release of new content being very soon.
As you can see, the evidence (and the excitement) is building for a February release of Shadow of the Erdtree. Oh, and it won’t be long before your Starfield Xbox controller starts to gather dust, as leaks reveal that custom Elden Ring controllers are coming to players in collaboration with Thrustmaster – they’ll likely arrive around the same time as the DLC too.
The wait for Shadow of the Erdtree already marks a considerable gap for FromSoftware DLC wise. Dark Souls 3’s first DLC, Ashes of Ariandel, released in October 2016 – just a few months after its initial release in March of the same year.
Sekiro didn’t get any major expansions, whereas Bloodborne fared much better, with The Old Hunters DLC. Elden Ring is regarded as one of the best RPG games ever made, but will Shadow of the Erdtree be worth the wait? We hope so.


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Most industries, especially manufacturing, have seen increased cleaning protocols. Hygiene expert explains how pandemic has changed approach
Workplace hygiene and sanitization have been of the utmost importance during the pandemic, with effective cleaning protocols ensuring that workers are kept as safe as possible from catching COVID-19. Most industries have been affected, especially manufacturing.
Nevertheless, implementing such protocols has certainly been a difficult task.
“The onset of the pandemic caused mass global disruption to the ways we work and live," says Trevor Kelley, senior product manager - wipers, Tork. "Lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders kept people at home, forcing enterprises into remote work where possible. Manufacturing, however, remained an essential function. With factories kept open, business leaders had to find a way to maintain productivity without compromising employee safety. It’s a delicate balance, with serious consequences for any business that fails to do so."
Manufacturing sites learned quickly that cleaning everywhere, all the time, was not feasible, says Kelley.
“Instead they had to learn to prioritize efforts for maximum impact such as hand washing and disinfecting and cleaning high-touch surfaces. During a time of uncertainty, finding a partner with the correct expertise and portfolio to recommend and supply the appropriate hygiene solutions for the industry was also difficult,” he says.
Effective cleaning protocols
So how can manufacturers safely and effectively implement proper COVID cleaning protocols amid the pandemic?
For manufacturers, says Kelley, the pandemic has emphasized a critical part of facility management and safety: facility cleanliness.
Indeed, government regulatory agencies strongly recommended businesses enforce two of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of disease: handwashing and surface cleaning.
“[The pandemic] forced decision-makers to rethink their cleaning protocols, including how to implement these policies safely and effectively,” says Kelley.
“One example is strategically placing messaging to remind plant workers when and where they are required to sanitize and wash their hands. Since hands may become dry from more frequent handwashing, consider adding lotion to wash stations throughout your site.”
In addition to handwashing, disinfecting surfaces is key.
“Prioritize high-touch surfaces like door handles, light switches, computers and shared tools. Another tactic is to observe operators during shifts to assess touchpoints and develop a checklist of surfaces that need to be cleaned between shifts,” says Kelley.
He also says that to keep both hands and surfaces clean, businesses should place hand sanitizer stations near these high-touch areas and other common areas.
“Products should always be close at hand to encourage compliance and efficiency. Thinking strategically about the hygienic needs of each workforce will guarantee manufacturers have the proper protocols in place,” Kelley says.
A number of surveys in recent months have highlighted that workers are at least somewhat concerned about cleaning and sanitizing when returning to work.
As such, says Kelley, “it’s important to not only clean, but communicate the procedures taking place. Examples include steps taken to provide proper ventilation, the frequency of which the area is being cleaned, as well as social distancing requirements, if applicable.”
Lastly, hand and surface hygiene, again, is extremely important to maintaining a clean workplace.
Says Kelley: “Bathrooms and common areas should be stocked with soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, wipers and other cleaning supplies to instill confidence in the workforce and demonstrate management is taking all the necessary precautions to keep them safe.”


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A special committee of independent board members has completed a CenturyLink cramming investigation without revealing evidence to conclude that any member of the company’s management team engaged in fraud or wrongdoing with regard to consumer sales, service and billing procedures and practices. The investigation stems from accusations by a former CenturyLink employee of widespread ‘cramming’ fraud by the carrier.
Over the past six months, the special committee, together with independent counsel from O’Melveny & Myers LLP and forensic data analysts, collected and searched more than 9.7 million documents as well as 4.3 terabytes of billing data consisting of over 32 billion billing records; they also interviewed more than 200 current and former company employees.
CenturyLink Cramming Investigation
According to CenturyLink, the investigation also found that company management did not condone or encourage cramming, and the evidence did not show that cramming was common.
In a press release, CenturyLink said that it maintains specific policies and procedures that prohibit and are designed to prevent and deter cramming. When instances of cramming were found to have occurred, the company took reasonable actions to discipline employees. However, the company’s investment in consumer sales monitoring was not sufficiently effective in proactively detecting and quantifying potential cramming.
“The company accepts the special committee’s findings and conclusions,” said CenturyLink CEO Glen Post in a prepared statement. “The investigation confirmed my long-held belief that there was no fraud or wrongdoing at the company and that cramming was neither widespread nor condoned. However, we know there have been times when we haven’t provided our customers the experience they deserve. We have identified a number of areas where we can improve the customer experience and have already made significant progress in addressing those areas.”


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I'm a Business News Editor, and Even I Fell Victim to an Online Scam That Cost Me $300 I just wanted to sell my pants.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
That's right. I, an editor at a business publication that often warns our readers about the dangers of online scams, fell victim to an online scam.
The saga began at a sample sale, where New Yorkers like me go to purchase goods at a massive discount — if we're willing to sort through the endless racks of designs that went unsold at luxury retailers.
And if you've ever experienced a sample sale, you know it's pretty cutthroat. Not only are you fighting to find what you want in your size, but these sales also don't typically have fitting rooms, leaving customers with no choice but to buy the product they want and hope it zips up once they get home.
Sadly, one pair of pink high-rise pants that cost me around $150 at one of my sample sale adventures did not rise to the occasion, literally. The pants sat in my closet for months mocking me, and with the holiday season approaching, I figured it was time to find them a new home and me some extra cash.
So I turned to Facebook Marketplace, something I've done numerous times before. The majority of my furniture was sourced from the platform, and I've even sold and traded a couple of pieces myself.
I listed the pants on Facebook Marketplace for $150. Two days later, I got an inquiry from what appeared to be a nice older woman named "Nancy Andrews."
She wanted the pants and said her cousin would pick them up from my apartment the next day. She said she'd send me the payment over Zelle. Everything seemed standard at this point.
I received a very legitimate-looking email from what I thought was Zelle stating that the buyer must send me $300 to upgrade my account to a business account. The buyer allegedly received the same email and said she had no problem doing so as long as I agreed to send her the overbalance back. I of course agreed.
I then received another email from the same legitimate-looking Zelle address asking me to send $300 to the buyer to confirm me as a business account. After doing so, I would receive a $300 refund and $150 for the pants.
At this point, I was very hesitant. However, the woman was being very kind to me and said this had happened to her before. I asked her to switch to Venmo, and she said she trusted Zelle more as she had been scammed in the past.
After going back and forth, I gave in. I just wanted to get rid of these pants and continue with my day. I sent the Zelle to an email account provided by the buyer. But then I received another email asking for more money. At that point, I knew I screwed up.
I told the woman I refused to send any more money, and she then sent me several angry messages begging me to continue the process. She even sent me a screenshot of her bank account to prove she sent the additional funds to upgrade my account.
She also called me several times, and her tone was not pleasant.
I immediately called my bank and explained what had happened. Other than filing a report, they told me there wasn't much to be done and these scams are common and are similar to a stolen car. If you recoup the funds that's great, but it's unlikely.
I was also instructed to file a report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center and to report the Facebook account I was corresponding with. However, Facebook quickly got back to me stating that it didn't deem the account a threat and would allow it to remain active.
Shocked by how easily I was deceived, I began investigating the series of emails I received from Zelle Services. As I was initially viewing the emails on my phone, I never took note of the email address the messages came from. To my surprise, the address was "firstname.lastname@example.org." Now, I'd imagine an official Zelle contact wouldn't use a Gmail account or spell "service" with two Is.
Despite clearly being deceived using Zelle's name, the company states it is "unable to assist with getting your money back," however, " it is important to us that users have the ability to report this experience."
Although I was kicking myself for falling victim to a scam, by no means was I alone.
Data provider Been Verified analyzed 165,000 scam complaints over the past three years and found that Facebook Marketplace scams grew 184.8% in the past year. This makes them the fastest-growing scam of 2022, with sellers and buyers both reporting illegitimate transactions.
In one instance, a Michigan woman lost her $15,000 life savings in a Facebook Marketplace car scam.
Additionally, Zelle scams were listed as the second fastest-growing scams by Been Verified, with Zelle scams up 86% this year, many of which were tied to Facebook Marketplace listings.
The payment platform's transactions are encrypted, which makes it hard for hackers to reroute an ongoing payment. But as a peer-to-peer payment provider, it makes it nearly impossible for people to recover cash they were deceived out of.
To combat this dilemma, banks JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and more are in talks to devise a standard plan to compensate customers who were bamboozled using Zelle.
The banks would share liability within Zelle's systems, and in the event of a scam, the funds would be returned to the victim's bank account, according to the Wall Street Journal. Other financial institutions — Zelle currently works with more than 1,800 — would have to agree to the new policy or risk being cut from its network. The policy could go into effect early next year.
Zelle operator Early Warning Services LLC claims scams only make up 0.1% of the payments made on the platform, which totaled $490 billion in 2021.
Facebook Marketplace and Zelle aside, scams have become increasingly prevalent across the country. In 2021, non-payment and non-delivery scams cost people $337 million, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Report.
At the same time, scammers have gotten more sophisticated.
"Technologies have made it easier to do a better job of impersonating," AJ Nash, vice president of intelligence at ZeroFox, told Entrepreneur. "It costs very little to buy a domain that looks very close to the real one. It's a misspelling, or they use a lowercase 'L' to replace a capital 'I.' There's a lot of different ways to set that up."
From phony websites to email addresses, it doesn't take much to make something appear legitimate.
"The longer you go down those paths, if adversaries link things together and layer them, the more trust it creates," Nash says. "If you believed the first thing, then everything else is going to reinforce that as a potential victim."
How to avoid online scams
It's important to keep your eyes wide open during any online transactions.
Look for discrepancies in spelling and grammar, and view your transaction on a larger screen to make sure you don't miss anything. Nash also suggests copying and pasting addresses and URLs into a document so errors are easier to spot.
He recommends having a separate credit card for online transactions to prevent attackers from moving "laterally" through your other accounts and using different usernames and passwords for all of your accounts.
"If they trick you into the website and you give away your information, [for a] lot of folks, that means you give away everything," Nash says. "It turns out that's the only password and username used for everything. This is the time of year to remember to randomize passwords and use password management and two-factor authentication."
Most importantly, pay attention to detail and take a breath. If I wasn't in such a tizzy trying to make the transaction work, I might have saved $300.
Long story short, my pants are still for sale.


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Digital TV News: Carlos Lucas
NexPlayer integrates with Verimatrix Streamkeeper and Watermarking
Sep 9, 2022 – Verimatrix (Paris:VMX) has announced that NexPlayer has integrated its NexPlayer multi-screen player SDK with the Verimatrix Streamkeeper Multi-DRM platform as well as its accompanying Verimatrix Watermarking tools.
News categories: Verimatrix, NexPlayer, Sebastian Braun, Carlos Lucas, Digital TV, DRM, Media Player, Watermarking, Worldwide
NexPlayer joins AWS for Media & Entertainment initiative
Jun 22, 2021 – NexStreaming has announced support for the AWS for Media & Entertainment initiative. NexPlayer is compatible with AWS outputs on devices including Android, iOS, HTML5, Tizen, WebOS, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
News categories: NexStreaming, Amazon Web Services, Carlos Lucas, Digital TV, Media Player, Worldwide
NexStreaming releases NexPlayer for Nintendo Switch
Jun 14, 2021 – NexStreaming has announced the latest addition to their Player SDK family, the Nintendo Switch SDK, becoming the first player to enable video streaming for the popular video game devices.
News categories: NexStreaming, Nintendo, Carlos Lucas, Digital TV, Media Player, Streaming, Worldwide
Verimatrix multi-DRM solution integrates NexPlayer SDK
Jun 2, 2021 – Verimatrix (Paris: VMX) has announced a partnership with NexStreaming. Verimatrix has integrated the company's NexPlayer multi-screen player SDK into its Verimatrix Multi-DRM Core solution.
News categories: Verimatrix, NexStreaming, Asaf Ashkenazi, Carlos Lucas, Content Protection, Digital TV, Media Player, Worldwide
NexPlayer SDK released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X
Nov 3, 2020 – NexStreaming has announced the release of its NexPlayer SDK for the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X gaming consoles. The NexPlayer SDK for PlayStation supports features not available in the default PS5 video player.
News categories: NexStreaming, Carlos Lucas, Advertising, Digital TV, Gaming, Media Player, Streaming, Worldwide
TenTime uses NexPlayer to launch Arabic SVOD service
Oct 27, 2020 – NexPlayer (KOSDAQ:139670) has announced that TenTime is using its media player to launch an Arabic VOD streaming service. TenTime uses the NexPlayer SDK to offer playback experiences on mobile phones, tablets and Smart TVs.
News categories: NexPlayer, TenTime, Carlos Lucas, Digital TV, Media Player, Middle-East, Mobile, Smart TV, Streaming
NexPlayer and Videon workflow supports low latency and synchronized video arrival time
Apr 3, 2019 – NexPlayer and Videon have announced support for the synchronization of OTT video arrival times for all end users, featuring interoperability between NexPlayer's Android and iOS player SDKs, AWS Elemental MediaStore and Amazon CloudFront, and Videon's edge compute encoders.
News categories: Videon, NexPlayer, Todd Erdley, Carlos Lucas, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Media Player, NABShow, Worldwide
NexPlayer and WeTek develop E2E OTT solution supporting Widevine DRM
Mar 15, 2019 – WeTek and NexPlayer have partnered to create an end-to-end OTT platform supporting Widevine DRM with both HLS and DASH. The solution can be deployed on Android, iOS, Android TVs, Android STBs, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, and HTML5.
News categories: WeTek, NexPlayer, Hugo Condesa, Carlos Lucas, Apps, Content Distribution, Digital TV, DRM, Streaming, Worldwide
NexPlayer now supporting Android TV, Samsung TV and LG TV
Sep 4, 2018 – NexPlayer has developed a state-of-the-art video player for Smart TVs. NexPlayer allows its customers to manage one player for all Smart TV devices, enabling advanced functionalities and making life easier for media organizations everywhere.
News categories: NexPlayer, Carlos Lucas, Digital TV, IBC2022, Media Player, Middleware, Smart TV, Streaming, Worldwide
- Synamedia delivers low latency World Cup streaming for Cellcom
- NEXTGEN TV broadcasting begins in Boston
- SkyShowtime announces line-up ahead of launches in Central & Eastern Europe
- Global online video subscriptions to reach 1.7bn in 2023
- BARB launches API giving clients direct access to viewing data
- Roku makes deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for The Roku Channel
- Trinidad and Tobago selects ATSC 3.0 for DTT
- Faurecia-Aptoide and Catappult launch app distribution hub for cars
- 24i supports launch of Philips Hue Sync TV App
- J:COM deploys Qwilt Open Caching solution
- Breezeline Stream TV comes to Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio
- Sale of Millicom to Apollo Global Management and Claure Group in discussion
- Comcast cable video subscribers down 2.034 million in 2022
- Disney strikes streaming measurement deal with EDO
- ITV increases investment in InfoSum
- German study shows high losses from TV piracy
- European Audiovisual Observatory publishes report on media ownership in Europe
- NBA games to be available in VR through Meta Horizon Worlds
- Simply.TV signs metadata deal with YouSee
- Verizon FIOS consumer video subscribers down 80,000 in 4Q 2022


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Machine builders have been busy meeting increased demand amid a pandemic that poses unprecedented challenges but has brought many new opportunities.
Shipments of primary plastics machinery from reporting companies to U.S. injection molders and extruders reached a value of $306.7 million in the third quarter, which is 4.6 percent higher than the the same period in 2019, according to Plastics Industry Association's committee on equipment statistics.
Compared to the second quarter of 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 brought much of the world to a halt, the shipments value of primary machinery jumped 15.8 percent.
For single- and twin-screw extruders, the value of shipments grew 27.4 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, in the third quarter vs. the second quarter. Shipments of injection molding equipment were up 15 percent sequentially and 7.9 percent above the third quarter last year.
Perc Pineda, chief economist for the Washington-based trade association, said the quarterly 2020 numbers reflect more than the machine builders' rapid response to soaring demand from consumer products that protect health.
"The double-digit increases in the third quarter are in sync with the quicker-than-expected turnaround in other plastics end-markets in addition to health care and consumer essentials," Pineda said in a news release. "Most likely, shipments of machinery will also increase in the final quarter of 2020 as the economy continues to recover."
The committee also surveys plastics machinery suppliers every quarter about present market conditions and expectations. In the coming quarter, 76 percent of respondents expect conditions to either improve or hold steady compared to a year ago. That's a sharp rise from the second quarter, when only 36 percent of respondents felt similarly.
As for the next 12 months, 89.8 percent expect market conditions to be steady-to-better, which is significantly above the 48 percent in the previous quarter's survey.
"It appears that the second quarter was the trough of the business cycle, as the economy slowed due to the pandemic," Pineda said. "Recent data points to an industry that's moving toward the pre-COVID-19 level of activity. The industrial production index on plastics products manufacturing rose for five consecutive months through September."
The plastics industry is essential and businesses stayed open to ensure uninterrupted supply for products in the health care sector, Pineda added.
"The pace of economic recovery, however, is not without risks, and its path will depend to a great extent on the containment of the coronavirus," he said. "Nevertheless, the overall outlook for plastics machinery and the industry has turned more favorable in recent months."


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The Railway-News Industry Insider week 31: Alstom supply 10 additonal Coradia trains to various French regions, launch the Citadis and more.
Siemens has received an order for 45 new S70 light rail vehicles (LRVs) from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The new vehicles will...
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As the dust has settled on the food tech space in India, there’s little to separate the companies that are still left standing. Zomato, Swiggy and Foodpanda are now slowly becoming indistinguishable — they offer similar selections, similar prices, and even employ similar social media marketing strategies. But Zomato thinks it’s found a way to break the through the clutter — free dessert.
Zomato is running a loyalty program where it throws in a free dessert each time they order from selected restaurants. Called Zomato Treats, it is live in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, and Ahmedabad. Customers who opt in need to pay an annual fee of Rs. 299, and they’re then entitled to free dessert when they order from a selection of 2,500 restaurants.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like much. Food tech companies regularly throw in discounts and freebies, but Zomato Treats is different — it asks users to pay in money upfront before they can start enjoying the program’s benefits. It’s a tack that’s been used successfully in the past. Amazon Prime, for instance, asks users to pay an annual fee that entitles them to faster shipping. But Amazon doesn’t really care about the upfront fee — Prime is designed to make users order more and more off Amazon, and choose it over its competitors. Amazon had famously run no statistical models when it had launched Prime for the first time, and didn’t know how to price it. Jeff Bezos had settled on a price of $79, based purely on the fact that it felt high enough as to convey that the program was valuable, yet low enough for people to afford.
Zomato’s annual Rs. 299 fee feels much like the same. It’s unlikely the company will make money off it — consumers should be able to recover their upfront cost in a few orders. But what the fee will do is incentivize members to order on Zomato instead of its competitors. If Swiggy and Foodpanda offer similar prices and delivery times, but Zomato’s order throws in a free dessert, choosing Zomato would be a no-brainer. Also, there’s this very human need to extract value from an offer that you’ve already paid for — Zomato Treats might actually incentivize users to order more food than before.
And the company says it’s managed to draw interest. Within a couple of months of a soft launch, Zomato says it has 10,000 paying customers on Zomato Treats, and has served 80,000 helpings of dessert. That’s already 10,000 people who’re exponentially more likely to order off Zomato over the next year. And as Zomato brings its program to more cities, this number can only grow. Zomato is uniquely positioned to do this — it’s been in the food tech space for a decade now, and is using the relationships it’s built with restaurants to pull off this scheme.
With other food tech companies spending millions on Google ads, Facebook ads and discounts, Zomato’s loyalty program might just be the best marketing trick of all.


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I spoke at e-consultancy’s London conference on new media last month, and gave the pros and cons of corporate blogging. A lot of what I said seemed to be news to the marketers in the audience, and it does seem that the United States is ahead of Europe in adopting corporate blogging. Today, Chris Lake at econsultancy has a post about The 12 reasons why UK businesses don’t blog, and my favorite is:
4 – Your PR agency thinks blogging is a bad move.
Ok, first you need to book a lunch appointment. Then, you can play a game with them. Ask them to explain how Google works. Ask them about RSS. Ask them about anchor text. Ask them to give you some tips on online copywriting. Ask them why blogging would be a bad move, with all the above in mind…
The fact is that most PR agencies are not even vaguely qualified to advise you on blogging, or even about online PR. You might realise this over a long lunch.”


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Applications & OS News
Microsoft Touts Cloud Revenue Growth, Looks Ahead To LinkedIn Opportunities
Microsoft reported significant sales growth across its Azure, Dynamics 365 and Office 365 cloud services in its fiscal second quarter, while company executives said the recently completed $26.2 billion acquisition of professional networking site LinkedIn holds the promise of additional growth in the second half of fiscal 2017 and beyond.
"The LinkedIn business solutions: hire, market, sell and learn; represent an expanded market opportunity for Microsoft, and we plan to diligently execute on this opportunity, keeping the member-first ethos in focus," CEO Satya Nadella said on an earnings call with financial analysts on Thursday.
For the second fiscal 2017 quarter ended Dec. 31, Microsoft reported revenue of $24.09 billion, up 1.2 percent from just under $23.80 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Net income for the quarter was $5.20 billion, up 3.6 percent from $5.02 billion one year earlier. Earnings per share were $0.66.
Some of the most robust growth during the quarter came from Microsoft's Productivity and Business Processes segment, which recorded revenue of $7.38 billion, up 10.3 percent from $6.69 billion in the same quarter one year ago.
That segment included financials from LinkedIn, the company's largest acquisition ever, which was completed Dec. 8. LinkedIn contributed $228 million to Microsoft's total revenue but subtracted $201 million from the vendor's operating income and $100 million from its net income.
"Our top priority is to ensure we innovate and drive value for LinkedIn members and grow their daily engagement," Nadella said of Microsoft's plans for LinkedIn.
Microsoft intends to integrate the data LinkedIn has on its 433 million members with its Dynamics CRM and other applications to create new business services and opportunities.
"The combination of LinkedIn business solutions and Dynamics 365 gives us a more comprehensive portfolio of business SaaS [software-as-a-service] solutions and strengthens our position in this growing and competitive market," Nadella said.
Also included within the Productivity and Business segment is Office commercial products and cloud services, which saw revenue increase 5 percent, fueled by a 47 percent increase in Office 365 commercial revenue. Nadella said installed Office 365 commercial seats increased 37 percent in the quarter.
"We're changing the nature of work with Office as the universal toolkit to help people and teams accomplish more together," Nadella said on the earnings call.
Revenue from Office consumer products and cloud services grew 22 percent with the number of Office 365 consumer subscribers reaching 24.9 million. Revenue from Dynamics products and cloud services revenue, including the Dynamics 365 cloud application set launched last year, increased 7 percent in the quarter.
Revenue from Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud segment grew 8.2 percent year-over-year to $6.86 billion in the most recent quarter from $6.34 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. That included a whopping 93 percent increase in Azure revenue and 12 percent growth in sales of server products and cloud services.
"Our commercial cloud annualized revenue run rate now exceeds $14 billion, and we're on track to achieve our $20 billion [goal] in fiscal 2018," Nadella said. "Across industries, we continue to see strong customer demand for our differentiated cloud solutions."
The CEO said customers had deployed more than 1 million instances of Windows Server 2016. But enterprise services revenue, also part of the Intelligent Cloud segment, dropped 4 percent due to declines in revenue from custom support agreements.
Revenue from Microsoft's Personal Computing segment, the vendor's largest, dropped 5.2 percent year-over-year to $11.82 billion from $12.47 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. The company blamed lower phone revenue for the decline – Microsoft completed the sale of its feature phone business in November – as well as a 3 percent decline in gaming revenue.
Microsoft reported that Windows OEM revenue was up 5 percent in the quarter, as was revenue from Windows commercial products and cloud services. Nadella cited "rapid adoption" of Windows 10 commercial PCs and a 52 percent increase in enterprise and education deployments. "The consumer PC market is also stabilizing," the CEO said.


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Published on November 30, 2017
The number of teens smoking little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs) is growing at an alarming rate, particularly among African-Americans―a group with higher cancer incidence and death rates than other ethnicities. LCCs are tobacco products that are inhaled like cigarettes and are similar in size, shape and filtering. LCCs also have the same health risks as cigarettes and can cause several types of cancer.
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is funding a study lead by Kymberle Sterling, Dr.PH., M.P.H, at Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc. in Atlanta, to understand how factors in environment, like exposure to advertising, influence susceptibility and intention to use LCCs.
Dr. Sterling’s team will examine how LCC advertisements and other environmental factors affect young people’s susceptibility and intention to use LCCs. African-American communities that are socioeconomically disadvantaged have higher availability of flavored LCCs, greater outdoor LCC advertising and lower product pricing.
“We hope that findings from this study will help us develop a youth-centered advocacy campaign that brings awareness to the consequences of LCC use and environmental factors that promote its use among African-Americans,” said Dr. Sterling.
Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began regulating LCCs and other tobacco products in May 2016, it has not implemented the same strict regulations as it has on cigarettes. Companies producing LCCs have fewer advertising and marketing restrictions and there are no minimum pack size requirements. LCCs are also available in kid-friendly flavors like vanilla and grape, attracting younger consumers.
“I learned about the marketing tactics that the tobacco industry used to target and attract certain groups―like young people, people of color, individuals who did not have a lot of money―to use their products. I began to realize that tobacco use was more than just a ‘bad habit’ that smokers needed to break. Rather, tobacco use is an important social justice issue that needed to be addressed,” said Dr. Sterling.
This realization led to her passion for preventing young people from using tobacco, particularly in communities of color.
We look forward to hearing updates from Dr. Sterling as her team works to understand how to prevent African-American youth from smoking LCCs. Learn more about the research projects the Foundation is currently funding.


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One Halloween, my husband persuaded our kids to give away most of the candy they’d just collected while trick-or-treating. They were preschoolers and the house we were renting then had previously drawn teens with haunted tours.
We’d run out of candy when a stream of teens showed up at our underwhelmingly spooky doorstep, shaking badly decorated pillow cases and looking disappointed.
Recycling the kids’ Halloween booty worked in that pinch. But candy consumption is sure to spike at my house this year, courtesy of the generosity the neighbors will show our pint-sized ghoul and devil. It probably will at yours too.
Americans down about 4 percent of their annual candy intake on Halloween — more than 14 times as much as on a typical day.
My husband and I curb what the kids can eat while they trick-or-treat, and then we quarantine the rest. They get nightly dessert rations for a while, and we throw out part of their haul.
It’s pretty common for little ghosts and witches to amass more lollipops and petite chocolate bars in one night of trick-or-treating than they can or should eat. We aren’t the only parents, mindful of the growing scourge of childhood obesity and the damage sticky sweets can do to a child’s teeth, who chuck piles of Halloween candy in the trash.
Others give it away. Some people sell surplus treats to dentists, who ship them by the pound to to the troops.
At the risk of sounding like some kind of elitist Halloween monster, I think that one reason we waste so much chocolate every time this holiday comes around is that it’s too cheap. A market correction is long overdue.
What if U.S. consumers kept spending $20 billion a year on chocolate and bought a smaller quantity of higher quality? We might hand out smaller morsels too good to throw away.
Here’s the best reason for higher prices: child labor.
Despite years of activist pressure on Hershey’s, Nestlé, and other chocolate heavyweights, thousands of kids under 14 are still doing the tough work of harvesting cocoa beans. Most of the raw material required for chocolate comes from West Africa, the problem’s epicenter.
The cost of cocoa beans spiked this year, driven partly by the Ebola outbreak, even though the disease hasn’t crossed the Liberian border into top producer Côte d’Ivoire. Yet prices for the commodity remain around the same levels seen back in 1980.
Corrected for inflation, cocoa bean prices have fallen sharply since the time when the parents of today’s trick-or-treaters were disguised as Princess Leia or Luke Skywalker. Meanwhile, only 6 percent of what you spend on chocolate goes back to cocoa growers, down from 16 percent 35 years ago.
Those meager returns for growers give them an incentive to cut costs by any means possible — even making kids slice open cocoa pods with machetes when they should be learning or playing.
Actually, many Americans already do pay more for chocolate. Premium sales are growing three times faster than the overall market, spurred partly by growing belief that the dark kind is good for your health.
“There’s an upgrading underway,” Lindt Chairman and Chief Executive Ernst Tanner declared in July after his European company purchased the quaint Russell-Stover brand to get a stronger U.S. foothold.
It’s such a booming business that The Hershey Company acquired the fancy Scharffen Berger label several years ago. Responding to consumer outrage, the gourmet line became certified “sustainable” in 2013. Among other things, that designation means the cocoa beans aren’t tainted by child labor.
Hershey has promised to get all its chocolate up to this standard by 2020. That means fewer kids will be harvesting cocoa beans in the fields so mine can collect packets of Reese’s Pieces from our neighbors.
Scharffen Berger’s precious little individually wrapped squares can clock in at more than 50 cents apiece. I doubt any of them will land in my kids’ plastic pumpkin baskets this Halloween. But I won’t complain if they do.


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A new Call of Duty game reveal? Already? It's OK. I'm as shocked/speechless/breathless as you are.
Activision has updated Call of Duty's official site with a new splash page saying that, on May 1, there'll be a "World Reveal". Given the increasing buzz/chatter flying around it's probably for either Black Ops 2 or, as was rumoured over the weekend, Call of Duty: Eclipse. And that's it! Tease over.
Well, almost. Logo fetishists may notice that the series has a new logo, going for a more "military stencil" look than has been previously been used and marking the first time in the franchise's history they've made more than a very minor change to it. Lending the "it's not Black Ops 2" argument a little more weight.
We were sent marketing material last week hinting a new CoD game's reveal was imminent. With what's presumably pre-order dates stamped on the front of the box. A date that's the day after May 1.
Call of Duty [Official Site]


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- Based on LF-NX Concept
- Lexus Expands Luxury Utility Vehicle Line-up
BEIJING – April 4, 2014 – The all-new Lexus NX luxury compact crossover will debut at the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. The unveiling of the NX, based on the LF-NX concept, marks Lexus’ entry into the fast growing luxury compact crossover segment. With its striking design, advanced technologies and Lexus’ signature spindle grill, the NX will set new standards for future models in the line-up.
In addition, the new Lexus RC F performance coupe will make its China debut at the Beijing show.
The Lexus press conference will take place on April 20 at the W3 Hall of the China International Exhibition Center.
For detailed information, please visit www.lexus-int.com
Lexus launched in 1989 with two luxury sedans and a commitment to pursue perfection. Since that time, Lexus has expanded its line-up to meet the needs of global luxury customers. Lexus is now going beyond its reputation for high quality vehicles with the integration of innovative technology, emotional exterior and interior designs, and engaging driving dynamics and performance. With five models incorporating Lexus Hybrid Drive, Lexus is the luxury hybrid leader. Lexus also offers six F SPORT models and two F models, including the LFA supercar, for top-of-the-line performance. In the United States, Lexus vehicles are sold through 233 dealers who are committed to exemplary customer service.


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This past Tuesday at a Sotheby’s auction held in New York, Legendary American astronaut Buzz Aldrin decided to sell off his historic white, Teflon-coated space jacket that he wore during his historic 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon for a sum of roughly $2.8 million.
Aldrin’s Inflight Coverall Jacket was just one of the 69 different lots listed for sale by the astronaut during the auction and quickly became the most valuable American space artifact ever sold at an auction by the fine arts company.
At 92 years old, Aldrin spent the vast majority of his six-day journey wearing this particular part of the spacesuit while making the flight to the moon and back inside the spacecraft Command Module Columbia with Commander Neil Armstrong and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins.
After almost 50 years of keeping the historic American artifact, Aldrin finally decided that he was ready to let it go with a final goodbye to the jacket.
“After deep consideration, the time felt right to share these items with the world, which for many are symbols of a historical moment, but for me have always remained personal mementos of a life dedicated to science and exploration,” Aldrin stated in a release just last week.
Sotheby’s stated that the extremely rare piece of clothing sold in slightly less than ten minutes after bidders went after the item until the buyer, who was bidding remotely via phone, made the highest offer and finalized the sale.
of the issued 19 lots, all but one sold quickly during the auction held on Tuesday.
The unsold lot sported a small broken circuit switch that was the center point of the problem that almost left the mission crew stuck on the moon and a dented aluminum pen which was used by the spaceman himself to rescue the team.
“I used a felt-tip pen and pushed it in, and Houston says, ‘Hooray, we got a live circuit!’” stated Aldrin. “Then we were ready to proceed with the countdown.”
It was reported by The New York Times that the auction officials thought it would sell for roughly $1 million, but the bidding seemingly stalled out at roughly $650,000.
At the Tuesday auction, all of Aldrin’s space memorabilia sold out at approximately $8.2 million.
Other items sold in the auction included gold-colored lifetime passes to Major League Baseball games, an MTV Video Music Awards statuette the music network modeled after Aldrin forced into the moon’s surface, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by President Nixon for his 240,000-mile re-entry to Earth.
One senior specialist at Sotheby’s, Cassandra Hatton, stated to the Times that she thought the various space artifacts that have made the trip to the moon utterly fascinated bidders because of the fact that the items played a massive role in human history.
“It’s a moment that reminds us all what we can do,” she stated. “We can achieve the near impossible, like we can escape our fate of being stuck on this planet. We can do amazing things.”


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Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic Network is now broadcasting via HD Radio.
The company has taken the real-time traffic service it broadcasts via RDS and, in 48 markets, is also broadcasting the data via HD Radio.
Proponents like the bigger data delivery pipe that IBOC offers.
We’ve reported that the broadcaster planned to go in this direction with its traffic service. The announcement is notable because it marks the first commercially available data service over HD Radio.
Clear Channel is working with several manufacturers to make the special receivers available by the end of this year.
The company also said it further expanded its delivery of real-time traffic data over RDS-TMC (Radio Data System Traffic Message Channel) with the addition of 19 markets, bringing to 68 the number of cities that receive traffic via RDS-TMC.


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University College Dublin has axed the sale of sugary drinks in the first move of its kind in Ireland.
High-sugar beverages like Monster and Red Bull will no longer be available at the biggest university campus in Ireland, which hosts over 30,000 students.
The Belfield-based institution cut the sale of the beverages from all 16 of its food and drinks outlets in a bid to promote healthy eating after a brief trial proved to be a hit with students.
The sale of sugar-sweetened beverages was halted in January for a seven-week period in order to give the policy a test run.
After the trial, three-quarters of students reported they didn't notice the change, with a vast majority opting for healthier alternatives instead.
Meanwhile campus shops reported a 7% spike in low- and no-sugar drinks. Furthermore, the majority of students said they were in full support of the ban and would replace their current preferences if the policy was permanently implemented.
The summary of the trial stated: “The results of the trial suggests that changes to the retail environment can go unnoticed, and that consumer behaviour can change without conscious awareness."
The plan was initiated by a university committee, Healthy UCD, which strides to transform the college campus into a healthy environment.
However, while drinks with high sugar content will be banned, their low-calorie alternatives will continue to remain on the shelves.
A statement from the university said: "The policy will not prevent diet sodas, zero-calorie drinks or 100% fruit juices from being sold, as only drinks identified as containing caloric sugar additives that would be subject to the recently introduced sugar tax have been removed from campus outlets and vending machines."
The move came after Ireland became one of the pioneering countries to tax sugary drinks this year, joining France, Mexico and the UK in the run.
It imposes a 30 cent charge on beverages containing more than 8 grams of sugar per 100ml, and saw drinks like 7up and Coke increase by up to 21 cents.


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- New Zealand quarterly CPI at 0.3% vs. 0.4% consensus
- New Zealand dairy auction turns out weaker than expected again
- Chinese GDP up by 7.5% vs. 74.% consensus
- Chinese industrial production showed 9.2% annualized gain
- Chinese retail sales increased by 12.4% year-over-year
- U.K. claimant count change and jobless rate to push pound higher?
- Swiss ZEW economic expectations index up for release
Oh, what a bloodbath! The Kiwi and Aussie were among the biggest losers in the Asian trading session, after New Zealand released a lower than estimated quarterly CPI of 0.3% and reported another weaker than expected dairy auction. Analysts have projected that top dairy companies will have to lower milk prices once again, as the the Global Dairy Trade index chalked up another massive decline.
NZD/USD has fallen from the .8800 levels to a low of .8689 as of this writing while NZD/JPY has also plummeted by more than a hundred pips. AUD/USD is currently testing the .9350 minor psychological level, supported in part by Chinese data coming in line with expectations.
Chinese GDP marked a 7.5% growth reading, slightly stronger than the projected 7.4% figure, while industrial production chalked up an impressive 9.2% annualized gain. Retail sales are up by 12.4% year-over-year, a bit lower compared to the 12.5% consensus.
Other major forex pairs have also weakened in today’s Asian trading hours, with EUR/USD continuing its drop to a low of 1.3556 and GBP/USD returning some of its recent gains after reaching a high of 1.7188 yesterday. Yen pairs also edged lower as risk appetite weakened for most of the session.
In the next few hours, the pound might get a chance to recover as the U.K. claimant count change and jobless rate might show strong improvements in the country’s labor sector. Also lined up for today’s London session is the Swiss ZEW economic expectations report, and a reading below the previous 4.8 figure might lead to more franc weakness.
Bonnie and Clyde, peanut butter and jelly, Justin Bieber and his hair. Some things just go well together.
Head on to Big Pippin’s Daily Chart Art for some pip-locking technical setups!


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Mar 26, 2018
What’s a Trade War?
A trade war is when countries engage in a tit-for-tat over tariffs.
A trade war is when countries start waging an escalating battle over tariffs. In response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and services, China could impose tariffs of its own on U.S. steel, agricultural products, and other exports.
That could increase costs for U.S. consumers, and also reduce demand for U.S. exports, which could dent our economy, according to experts.
Why is this happening?
Over the last 30 years, the U.S. has entered into numerous trade treaties.
Winning trade wars isn’t easy, as history has shown us.
Agreements like this reduced the threat of trade wars, in part by eliminating many tariffs on exported and imported products.
Trump has argued such agreements have flooded the U.S. with cheaper foreign-made goods, which make it difficult for U.S. manufacturers to compete.
In 2017, the U.S. signed a less comprehensive trade treaty with China, but Trump has said recently that products from China–in particular steel–have cost the U.S. 6 million jobs, and have caused 60,000 factories to close. Economists reportedly dispute these figures.
Trade wars: High school history class flashback
Winning trade wars isn’t easy, as history has shown us. Many analysts are digging back into their history books to remember the Smoot-Hawley Act tariffs and the “trade wars” that collided with the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The Act bumped the average U.S. tariffs to 45 percent from 38 percent. Still, other countries were not happy with the U.S. in the early 1930s. Several countries, including Canada, immediately responded with their own tariffs. Soon other countries jumped into the fray and a global trade war broke out in 1931, thus sparking a European financial crisis.
While Smoot-Hawley has been blamed for worsening the Great Depression, most economists say the conditions that drove down the U.S. economy were far more complex than that. The tariff-related Act was introduced before the Great Depression, although its impact was largely felt during those tough subsequent years.
President Richard Nixon temporarily introduced tariffs back in 1971 to fight stagflation. President George W. Bush briefly introduced steel tariffs in 2003 but repealed them several months later after the tariffs were seen to have negatively affected the economy.
What makes this time different?
The move by this administration is unusual because the president is justifying them on the grounds of national security.
Read more about how China is responding to President Trump’s tariffs.
How can a trade war affect U.S. consumers?
There are concerns that a trade war will increase costs to buy goods for U.S. consumers. There are also concerns that tariffs could cost workers their jobs in various manufacturing industries, as expenses increase.
On the import side, numerous industries depend on cheap steel to manufacture products. Tariffs are likely to increase the cost of steel at home, and those increases are likely to be passed along to consumer in the form of higher prices.
On the export side, China is likely to place tariffs on our agricultural products, which will make these products more expensive to sell in China.
Similarly, tariffs could hit tech companies such as Apple, which reported that more than 20% of its global sales in this past quarter came from China and the greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan.


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Is the 👍 Really Dead? And Other 🔥 Emoji Questions You Have!
If you were 😢 in your ☕ because you heard that the 👍 emoji was “canceled” then you can relax the next time you text or email … but, beware, you just might be showing your age!
“You may have heard the thumbs-up emoji is dead, as in not cool – don’t do it,” said NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe on Weekend Edition Sunday last month. “But hold up. We may be victims of clickbait intended to stir up dissension between young and old, left and right after someone dug up an old Reddit thread and presented it as gospel last week.”
In a curious viral example of how “old news” becomes “hot news” a much shared New York Post Oct. 12, 2022, article (“Gen Z canceled the ‘hostile’ thumbs-up emoji and wants to ban these 9 others”) is based on absolutely nothing new, but on comments from a locked Reddit thread posted 11 months ago.
And those 9 other emoji’s that Gen Z wants “banned”?
It’s a list of 10 emojis “that make you look old” according to April 2021 research from Perspectus Global’s survey of 2,000 UK 16 to 29-year-olds.
😍 Them or 😡 Them: Emojis are Here to Stay
Does the fact that we now have a World Emoji Day (it’s July 17, y’all!) make you 😊 or ☹?
Love them or hate them, emojis are certainly here to stay with Emojipedia (yes, that is a real thing) saying that as of Emoji 15.0 there are now 3,664 emojis approved by Unicode as of September 2022.
“Emojis aren’t just part of our social media lexicon. They’ve gone mainstream,” wrote Brittany Anas for Hack Reactor last year.
Some emoji facts to ponder:
- 900 million emojis are sent on Facebook messenger every day.
- Half of Instagram comments contain emojis.
- 1 in 5 Tweets now contain emojis.
- 21.54 percent of all global tweets sent in December 2021 contained at least one emoji – the highest usage ever.
Emojis are so popular that not even the disastrous “The Emoji Movie” (Rotten Tomatoes score of 6 percent!) could kill their usage. That movie, by the way, was cited as not only one of the worst films of 2017 but one of the worst animated movies ever made.
Yet, 🙂s live on.
Emojis Date back to 1990s Japan but Became Popular Worldwide in the Last Decade
Emojis were born in Japan in the 1990s with SoftBank (then known as J-Phone) releasing the SkyWalker DP-211SW mobile phone on Nov. 1, 1997, with the world’s first known emoji set.
According to the emoji timeline: “The SoftBank emoji designs heavily influenced Apple’s original emojis which were designed to be compatible with this set when launched in Japan, due to the iPhone being a SoftBank-exclusive phone when first released.”
The first emojis were crude by today’s standards but then designer Shigetaka Kurita created a set of 176 emojis for NTT DOCOMO mobile phones and pagers in 1999.
Kurita is called the “father of today’s emojis” and you can find his pixelated designs on display at the Museum of Modern Art.
Emoji, by the way, is the blend of two Japanese words: e (meaning picture) and moji (meaning character) thus “picture character” or emoji.
Emojis then continued their lighthearted march to mainstream popularity:
- 2003: MSN Messenger 6 introduced 30 emoticons, precursors to emojis.
- 2006: Google begins to convert Japanese emoji to Unicode private-use codes.
- 2008: Apple releases emojis in Japan with iOS 2.2 update in the Japanese market.
- 2009: Google ads emojis (still called emoticons then) to Gmail.
- 2010: Emoji use is standardized by Unicode.
- 2011: Apple finally launches emojis worldwide with its iOS 5 release.
- 2013: The word “emoji” is added to the Oxford Dictionary.
- 2014: World Emoji Day is first held on July 17.
- 2015: A range of emoji skin tones are released, and “emoji” is chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries “Word of the Year”.
Emojis Got Even More Popular During the Pandemic
For some, emojis gained even more popularity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the absence of face-to-face interactions, emojis helped lighten the conversations on virtual platforms like Slack, Brad Touesnard, founder of SpinupWP, told Hack Reactor.
“Written messages can come across as cold and abrupt,” Touesnard said. “To counteract this, we encourage the use of emojis to let people express their personality and humor.”
Some companies even develop their custom emojis based on their unique company culture.
“Research backs the idea that emojis can help build camaraderie. If you get a warm feeling when you see a smiley emoticon it could be linked to the fact that our brains process emojis in a similar way that we process human faces, according to research,” writes Anas in Hack Reactor. “Also, eight of 10 people surveyed for Adobe’s 2019 Emoji Trend Report believe that emoji users are more friendly and approachable.”
👌 Boomer! What Your Emojis Might Say About Your Age
Back to the debate over the 👍 emoji.
“I think the battle here is really about the connotations of the emoji, the pragmatic meanings. And those are fluid,” said Indiana University linguistics professor Susan Herring on NPR.
Rascoe agreed: “Emojis are part of modern language, and they can mean many things to many people all at once.”
For some younger folks, especially Gen Z, the 👍 can be construed as a sarcastic reply instead of an earnest “got it”.
This is probably why the 👍 was No. 1 on the list of “Top 10 Emojis That Make You Look Old” from the 2021 survey.
So, you might be a Baby Boomer, if you find yourself using any of the emojis on that list:
- Thumbs up 👍
- Red heart ❤
- OK hand 👌
- Check mark ✔
- Loudly crying face 😭
- Monkey eye cover 🙈
- Clapping hands 👏
- Kiss mark 💋
- Grimacing face 😬
Emoji Proper Etiquette Guide
Most of us, no doubt, will continue to use many of these popular emojis but maybe it is more important to observe the proper use of emojis.
Using emojis for personal texts and social media posts is fair game but care needs to be taken when using them for business purposes.
Muo's “proper emoji etiquette” guide suggests that:
- Semi-formal communication (texts with individuals you do not know personally): Should be used sparingly since it might give the impression that you are not taking the subject discussed seriously.
- Clients and customers: Steer clear of emoji use, especially if you don’t know them personally. A good rule is to wait for the client or customer to use them first and then follow their lead.
- Communicating with Your Boss: Emoji use is ill-advised with your boss or any person of superior rank at your company. An exception is if you have a good relationship with your boss and they send an emoji, then you can respond in kind.
“With over 3,500 to choose from and counting, emojis have come a long way. They help us express feelings or concepts where words fail,” says the Proper Emoji Etiquette article. “But they're not appropriate for every conversation you have.”
Just remember to 🤔 before you send an emoji, and everything will be 👌.
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High-speed internet service, commonly referred to as broadband, has become a requirement of 21st-century American life—a virtual necessity for many people attending school, getting and performing many jobs, receiving medical care and government services, or trying to purchase goods and services that are unavailable locally.
Yet broadband service is too expensive for many Americans to afford.
Consumer Reports (CR) launched the Fight for Fair Internet campaign to encourage policymakers and service providers to make broadband more accessible and affordable. This study was designed to shine a light on an important component of that goal: determining what consumers pay for internet service, and exactly what they get for their money.
To do so, we collected and analyzed more than 22,000 consumer broadband bills. Many of the consumers who shared their bills also took internet speed tests and completed a survey on their satisfaction with and the reliability of their internet service. While this is not a nationally representative study and is not predictive of the broadband market, it is one of the most ambitious efforts of its kind to understand how much consumers are paying at a moment in time.
We believe our findings have important public policy implications.
Median cost of service
Among the 18,359 consumer bills on which an internet price could be identified, the median cost of high-speed internet service was $74.99 per month. Approximately half of the households were paying between $60 and $90 per month.
Bills that are hard to understand make it difficult for consumers to budget and compare prices with alternative service options. The following factors contribute to this billing confusion:
Bundles. Numerous internet service providers (ISPs), including Comcast (Xfinity), the nation’s largest provider, do not always itemize the internet price within their “bundled” TV, phone, and internet packages. This was true of 2,827 of the 22,088 bills we analyzed, and 1,810 were issued by Comcast. This practice makes it impossible for both consumers and CR’s researchers to determine the cost of the service and compare it with other providers.
Discounts. Many ISPs offer discounts on broadband service, including introductory promotional discounts and conditional discounts such as auto-pay discounts. The discounts identified typically ranged from $10 to $50. Discounts generally benefit consumers, but also make it challenging for consumers and researchers to determine the true cost of service and to compare it with other providers’ prices. For example, it is not always clear from bills when discounts will expire and what the price will be afterward. Notably, more than half of the AT&T and Verizon bills we analyzed contained discounts, while none of the Google Fiber bills in our sample included discounts.
Fees. ISPs charge a wide range of fees that, together, can add up to a significant portion of the overall cost of service and contribute to the confusion around internet pricing. Individual fees tied directly to internet service in our sample typically ranged from $2.49 to $9.95 per month. It is often difficult to determine whether these fees are associated with broadband or other elements of a service bundle. Some of these fees, such as the cost of renting a modem or wireless router from the provider, are avoidable, but most are not.
The unavoidable fees are especially problematic because consumers may believe they are government-imposed when, in fact, many are company-imposed and distinguished from the core service price at the provider’s discretion. More than a dozen ISPs were found to charge company-imposed fees—also known as junk fees—under names such as “network enhancement fee,” “internet infrastructure fee,” “deregulated administration fee,” and “technology service fee.” They can surprise consumers when they appear on monthly bills, and can enable providers to raise prices without seeming to violate marketing or contractual price commitments.
Data cap charges. Several providers, including fixed broadband providers Comcast (Xfinity), Cox, Suddenlink, AT&T, and Wave Broadband, impose data caps in at least some areas and charge overage fees for exceeding those caps, or fees for unlimited data. Unlimited data can add as much as $49.99 per month to the base cost of service.
The results of online speed tests can depend on time of day, the quality and speed of a home WiFi network, and other factors unrelated to ISP performance.
That said, some study participants clearly experience severe broadband speed limitations. Download speeds routinely fail to match the advertised “up to” speeds of several ISPs. This was especially true of consumers paying for “premium” plans purporting to offer download speeds of between 940 and 1,200 Mbps, who in fact experienced median speeds of between 360 and 373 Mbps.
In addition, we found that a large number of consumers who participated in our study pay as much or more for a sub-broadband plan (which is generally defined as a download speed of less than 25 Mbps) as other consumers pay for advertised speeds of 300 Mbps or higher.
Lack of competition
CR counted how many ISPs were reflected in bills for each ZIP code where we had participants. We did not independently determine how many ISPs operate in each community, but our findings do point to a lack of choice for many consumers.
CR collected 9,116 bills from ZIP codes where we detected just one ISP. In ZIP codes where bills from two ISPs were present in our sample, that number dipped to 7,273. Three or more competitors were spotted in ZIP codes accounting for only 1,802 bills.
Though not conclusive evidence of a lack of competition, we found it telling that the overwhelming majority of bills came from ZIP codes where all study participants subscribed to the same ISP, or one of just two ISPs.
The data from bills analyzed by CR suggests that competition results in lower broadband prices. Americans in markets where we received bills from at least three broadband competitors reported paying, on average, about $5 per month less for service than those in areas where we received bills from one or two providers, and reported prices were lower still as the number of local competitors increased. This mirrors the findings of previous studies.
Make broadband label easier to find
The Federal Communications Commission’s proposed broadband “nutrition” label, designed to bring greater price transparency and uniformity to the broadband market, should be a) required to appear on all monthly broadband bills and b) machine-readable.
Encourage broadband competition
Two policy changes could spur competition in the broadband industry: permission and support for the creation of municipal broadband networks, and greater regulatory scrutiny of the legal challenges and other efforts by incumbent ISPs to thwart new competition in underserved areas.
Strengthen FCC oversight
The FCC should reassert its regulatory authority over the broadband internet service industry, which would allow the Commission to ensure consumers have non-discriminatory access to broadband, monitor price-gouging, bar anti-consumer business practices, and better address price and fee transparency.


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Published 4 weeks ago.
About a 5 minute read.
Image: Ecoflix subscribers can choose to support wildlife-conservation NGOs such as Chimp Haven. | Chimp Haven
With Ecoflix — a nonprofit streaming platform on a mission to be the ‘Netflix
for nature’ — brands can produce compelling sustainability content that also
helps protect nature and wildlife.
In 2016, filmmaker Mark Downes was in
the South of France for the annual Cannes Lions Festival. As a seasoned
ad-video producer, he had been to the event many times before — but that year,
something happened that changed his life.
“I had my ‘purpose turn,’” he tells Sustainable Brands®. “I happened to be
in the room when Ban Ki-moon came on stage to deliver a keynote about
something called the Sustainable Development
Goals — and my mind was just blown,
Downes’ chance encounter with the South Korean diplomat, who was the UN
Secretary-General at the time, encouraged him to quit his job and pursue a
career dedicated to using brand communications to turn the dial on
sustainability. Since then, he has graduated from the Cambridge Institute for
Sustainability Leadership, conceived an animated
to help teach children about sustainability, and picked up a regular gig
tutoring for AdGreen — helping his peers understand
climate science and what it takes to create commercial films in a
Then, 18 months ago, he joined the team at Ecoflix — a
nonprofit streaming platform on a mission to be the Netflix for nature-,
wildlife- and environment-themed movies and documentaries. Backed by
philanthropist and retired litigator David B.
Casselman, it was borne
out of his frustration at the difficulty in distributing documentaries about
nature — a subject close to his heart; Casselman has dedicated much of his life
to animal-welfare causes, with pro bono legal work to help protect wildlife.
Join us as representatives from BarkleyOKRP lead a thought-provoking discussion with two brands that care deeply about their workers' rights and wellbeing, Tony's Chocolonely and Driscoll's, about how to successfully involve consumers in social-justice issues with authentic storytelling that defies online algorithms — Friday, May 10, at Brand-Led Culture Change.
With Ecoflix, he has created a subscription platform giving people access to
“science-based, positive storytelling to try and inspire people,” as Downes puts
“The main mission is saving animals and the planet,” he explains. “We have
around 70 NGOs on board as our partners. While they are amazing, they’re also
underfunded and understaffed. But they have great access to incredible content.
They’ve got hard drives of great stuff, but they don’t know how to craft a film.
So, we’re using our skillset to help craft their stories.”
On sign-up, subscribers can choose which NGOs or
charities to support: “If you’re crazy about
elephants, you can support Tusk. And we will make sure
they get your subscription money each month.”
The content featured on the self-described “Netflix for nature” is not intended
to be binged as with most streaming services. And the films are not designed to
highlight environmental doom and gloom — there are no shots of animals in
distress, for example. And the filmmakers ask themselves whether a five-year-old
would be frightened if they saw their film: “If the answer is yes, we edit it
But Ecoflix is keen to tell stories beyond its own online platform. It’s new
‘thing’ is Ecoflix Media — a new commercial arm to the organisation that is
designed to make films for brands that will not only realise the benefits of
working with great filmmakers, but also be encouraged knowing their investment
is flowing back into nature and wildlife conservation.
“We want to work with sustainable brands, but we don’t want to sell their
products,” Downes asserts. “We’re not interested in creating adverts; we want to
tell the story about who they are, what they do, their essence, their
positivity, and how they celebrate that internally or externally. Ultimately, we
want to tell inspiring stories. And the brands can choose which NGOs they want
to support. Most already have charities they work with, anyway.”
In the face of threatening
(“we need to be careful we’re not a magnet for people who want to use us to
greenwash their claims, because we’re squeaky clean”), Downes is keen to tell
the stories of not only the leaders, but also the companies who might be at the
very start of their sustainability journey to “turn the ocean liner around.”
“A lot of people are afraid to start talking about
out loud until they’ve figured it all out. They’ve locked in how they’re going
to do it, and then they will shout about it. But, actually, the initial stage of
that journey is really fascinating and inspiring — because nobody’s doing it
perfectly. You’re more likely to inspire other people to start that journey by
watching a film like that, rather than somebody who’s doing it perfectly and
winning awards. You know what I mean?”
Right now, there are more than 16,000 production companies in the UK alone.
It is a crowded market, but Downes — Ecoflix’s Head of Sustainability — is
confident the organisation can stand out. Alongside him is COO Aimée
Anderson (“a powerhouse of
ideas and energy”), Head of Content Peter von
three-time Emmy judge”) and Head of Conservation Ian Redmond
OBE (“an amazing character
who’s currently in Kazakhstan at an animal migratory conference”).
Downes is infinitely inspired to keep things positive in his storytelling
because of his young children. Whenever he takes them to the supermarket, they
always pick up products to check the labels for things such as palm
he says. It’s not something he’s ever mentioned to them; they’ve just picked it
up from school.
“They’re militant. We’re doing this for the right reasons — not for my kids or
their kids. It’s for seven generations down the line.”
It is this ethos that drives the filmmaker’s passion to find new narratives and
cinematic techniques to drive awareness and education.
“That’s the thing that really bugs me about sustainability. If we didn’t have
solutions, we’d be in a right pickle. But the fact that there are solutions,
means it’s just an awareness and education thing. That’s where my positivity
Published Mar 15, 2024 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET
Tom is founder of storytelling strategy firm Narrative Matters — which helps organizations develop content that truly engages audiences around issues of global social, environmental and economic importance. He also provides strategic editorial insight and support to help organisations – from large corporates, to NGOs – build content strategies that focus on editorial that is accessible, shareable, intelligent and conversation-driving.


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Steve Wharton, Manager at MPA Masonry, explores the opportunities to be had for savvy manufacturers, merchants, specifies and developers alike.
The string of seismic global events which have occurred over the past two years, of which the Russia-Ukraine war is just the latest, has exposed the fragility of supply chains we once thought secure.
Indeed, the building products sector was hit by one challenge after another from the Ever Given container ship trapped in the Suez Canal to the various energy and fuel crises of Autumn 2021. That’s before touching on the impact of Brexit and the aftershock of COVID-19.
Of course, these issues have had a knock-on effect, impacting myriads of other sectors, particularly for builders’ merchants facing shortages of many essential materials and components. In turn, this scarcity caused severe delays in the wider construction industry, pushing back start and completion dates resulting in excess costs for developers and contractors, with no return.
A quick look at market intelligence firm Glenigan’s various reports over the last six months shows the extent of this decline, with housebuilding hit particularly hard. Its most recent Index showed output in the vertical had declined 46% in February 2022 compared to 2021. Of course, it’s an unsustainable situation and something’s got to give soon, especially if we want to get back on track.
For me, this requires an immediate and far-reaching audit of the materials we import, and where we can realistically use domestically produced alternatives. Representing a category where around 95% of product in the UK market is locally sourced and produced, I’ve been able to observe the advantage of these small supply chains first-hand.
Equally, there are many other materials available on the home front, whether in raw form or manufactured from recycled materials of which we could be taking more advantage. Of course, there are some limitations; for example, it’s difficult to build a pitched roof without timber.
However, the lack of certain materials could become the catalyst for a new age of innovation, in design and material terms, looking at the very vernacular to accommodate future material shortages.
It will also evolve construction methods as contractors are encouraged to build leaner, but higher quality, assets. In turn, these benefits can be passed onto the occupant.
For builders’ merchants, it could prompt a reappraisal of product ranges and look to more locally sourced materials to mitigate supply chain and potential stock level issues.
Finally, the reduced amount of shipping will benefit all. Locally sourced material means less transport from factory, depot or merchant, resulting in less fuel used in shipping materials to site.
While this is no ideal situation, there are some silver linings, and there are opportunities to be had for savvy manufacturers, merchants, specifies and developers alike.
We need to seize them now. The geopolitical situation will likely intensify and a focus on reaching Net Zero will certainly put pressure on those shipping heavy materials over long distances. Closer to home, there’s a housing crisis growing more acute by the year which we urgently need to resolve.
This much is clear: the age of cheaply imported material is drawing to a close and we must make plans to meet the challenges of both today and tomorrow. Perhaps adopting a more local approach to the building product supply chain can provide part of the answer?