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Last June, Alphabet’s autonomous unit worked with JB Hunt, a transportation and logistics company, to test its Waymo Via technology in Texas. On Friday, the two announced that they are forming a strategic partnership with hopes of deploying a fully autonomous trucking operation within the state sometime in the next few years. In the immediate future, Waymo and JB Hunt say they plan to run multiple pilots involving Waymo Via. This is the Waymo Driver-powered unit that subsidiary Alphabet has developed for Class 8 trucks. They also plan to complete additional market studies.
The expanded partnership follows a in which Waymo and JB Hunt said they moved 862,179 pounds of cargo without their test trucks speeding up or ending up in accidents. The conclusion they drew at the time was that Waymo Driver was ready to deliver the cargo on time and safely. Waymo is just one of the few companies working on self-driving truck technology. Just months before the company completed its June pilot with JB Hunt, Aurora, the startup that acquired Uber, announced it was working with Volvo to build fully autonomous semi-trucks that would transport cargo across North America.
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Japan is on "maximum alert" after a record number of daily coronavirus infections. To support the economy, Tokyo wants to increase free trade in the region. The APEC Summit offers an opportunity to get out the message.
The Chinese president boasted about the role China will play in solving major global crises while preaching the benefits of free trade. He was talking in the aftermath of the signing of the world's biggest trade deal.
Ten ASEAN nations, plus five other Asia-Pacific countries, have signed the world's biggest trade deal in terms of GDP. The pact is expected to drive economic growth in a region hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Trump has kept Asian economies on the edge, brazenly slapping or threatening tariffs even on closest US allies. Biden promises more stability but is unlikely to drastically alter Trump's hawkish trade policy.
China has scored a major multilateral trade deal with traditional US allies such as Japan and South Korea. The pact will raise the stakes of Washington's protectionist turn on Trump's watch, DW's Ashutosh Pandey writes.
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The Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) announces that Vest-Fiber—a supplier of fiberglass products and services primarily to the wind turbine industry headquartered in Denmark—has chosen Moberly to be the location of a new manufacturing facility. The company’s capital investment of $2 million will create 50 new local jobs.
“The decision by an international company like Vest-Fiber to invest $2 million and create 50 new jobs is excellent news for the economy of Moberly and Randolph County,” says Governor Jay Nixon. “From day one as governor my administration has been focused on creating jobs and moving our economy forward, and I am pleased that we were able to provide the economic tools to help make this project possible. This significant investment by a European company is more clear evidence that Missouri’s economy is on the move.”
The state of Missouri’s incentive package consisted of $128,318 in Missouri Quality Jobs program incentives, which provides tax credits to companies that create a predetermined number of jobs, among other qualifications, as well as recruitment and referral assistance.
“Having Vest-Fiber select Moberly as the site for its newest fiberglass manufacturing facility is exciting news for the state,” says David Kerr, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. “This project that involves bringing a company from overseas to north-central Missouri further demonstrates Missouri’s commitment to being one of the top states in the nation in which to do business.”
Founded in 2000, Vest-Fiber produces fiberglass and materials to the composite industry mainly to applications as wind turbine blades. The company specializes in cutting and kitting multi-axial reinforcement fabrics in glass and carbon fiber; structural foams/core material used in sandwich constructions; non-woven, plastic materials and vacuum bagging consumables; and “ready-to-use” resin infusion net-set kits. The company operates state-of-the art cutting units that process more than 7,000 tons of fabrics and convert more than 600,000 square meters of core material on a yearly basis.
“In our search for the ideal location, we found Missouri to be the strategic center of all wind-related production facilities in the United States,” says Hans Leerskov Hansen, business development manager of Vest-Fiber, adding that the company plans to have the new facility operational by February 2011. “We were also pleased to find the right skills and work ethic available.”
Since 2007, the nonprofit The Missouri Partnership has worked in concert with state, regional, and local economic development groups, as well as private industry, to attract new companies to Missouri by marketing the state’s business advantages. Through effective branding, advertising, earned media, trade show attendance, and targeted relationship-building, the partnership’s team of seasoned economic development and marketing professionals seek to promote Missouri as a top destination for new capital investment and job creation. For more information visit www.missouripartnership.com.


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Isis Mobile Wallet Launches Nationwide Today
Isis, the mobile payment venture backed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, launched across the country today. Isis allows smartphone owners to make tap-and-go payments at select retailers thanks to near-field communications (NFC). Isis is first available to modern Android smartphones that have NFC already on board. Isis plans to support the iPhone with an NFC-equipped sleeve that will be available in the coming months. Consumers can make contactless payments at 1.3 million retail locations around the country, including those operated by 24 of the top 100 merchants. Android device owners will need to download the Isis application (specific to their carrier) and bank with either American Express or Chase. The app will also support customer loyalty programs, but only those run by merchants who've joined Isis. The system uses a pin code for payments, and Isis says that customer banking data is safe. The service can be disabled if the device is lost or stolen. Isis also requires a special, secure SIM card that must be purchased from AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless. Isis has been in development for years and underwent extensive trials in Austin and Salt Lake City.
T-Mobile to Buy Layer3 TV and Launch TV Service Next Year
T-Mobile has set its sights on the cable TV industry and hopes to disrupt that market beginning next year. The company today announced plans to acquire Layer3 TV, which already delivers internet-based television service in five markets around the country.
T-Mobile Says 5G Network On Deck for 2020
T-Mobile today said it will deploy 5G across much of the country within a few years using its low-band 600 MHz spectrum. “We’re committed to drive a 5G rollout by 2020 across the nation,” said T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray during an investor conference.
Huawei's Honor 7X Available for Pre-Order Today for $199
Huawei said its Honor 7X handset will be available to U.S. consumers beginning today.
Blu Life One X3 Adopts Metal-and-Glass Design and Packs 5,000mAh Battery
Blu Products today announced the Life One X3, a mid-range handset from the unlocked phone maker. The One X3 has a curved-edge glass screen and an aluminum frame painted in matte black.
Microsoft Wallet Gains Tap-to-Pay Functionality
Microsoft today updated its Microsoft Wallet app and gave Lumia smartphone owners the ability to make mobile payments at supporting retailers. Windows Mobile has long included a Wallet app, but until today it was reserved for loyalty cards and other retail programs.


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Mobile banking apps: Data from the UK market
A new report investigates how often UK consumers digitally interact with mobile banking apps relative to more traditional channels like online banking, ATM, bank branch and telephone banking.
For the purposes of this study, we define a “mobile banking app” as an app that allows customers of a payment provider to conduct a number of financial transactions — viewing account balances and transactions, moving money between accounts, making payments to new and existing payees, choosing how to receive account statements, etc. — through a mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet.
According to the consultancy firm CACI, the number of branch visits in the UK is set to decrease over the next four years as people turn to mobile banking. Surprisingly, they also predict online banking usage to drop.
While the TSYS study did not show a decline in online banking, the findings suggest that consumers are moving away from traditional banking channels such as bank branch and telephone banking. Instead, customers are seeking out self-service channels such as “Online Banking,” “ATM,” and “Mobile Banking App.”
While non-traditional channels are gaining ground with consumers, insights from the study
confirm that consumers increasingly expect consistent service across all channels. Engaging
customers with an omni-channel approach can guarantee a seamless and consistent banking experience. Furthermore, this is crucial for banks in order to optimise their strategy toward more
When compared to the previous year’s study, consumers’ usage of “ATMs” and “Online Banking”
remained steady, while “Mobile Banking” experienced a significant increase of 9%.
In 2015, we noticed the “Marmite effect” with m-banking apps whereby people use them a
lot or not at all.
During the course of the past year, mobile banking app usage has rendered
this effect obsolete. Rather, 2016 just might be the year of the mobile banking app, reflecting
consumers’ increased understanding of the benefits offered by m-banking apps.
Data from our study dispels the popular belief that m-banking apps are the exclusive domain
of millennials, those often characterised as digital natives. (See Graph 2.) Across our three
segments, including Digital Immigrants — those aged A-B, the usage level of banking apps is over
71% of respondents aged 35-44 reported using an m-banking app. Only those aged 55 and older showed a usage below 50%. In comparison to last year’s study, all age groups have increased their m-banking app usage. What used to be exclusively the domain of digital natives is now embraced by a wider audience.
Among respondents who downloaded the m-banking app, we identified the most popular actions undertaken in the last six months. Consistent with 2015 findings, the top reason for using a banking app is to “Verify balance” (82%), which confirms its high popularity for more passive activities.
Surprisingly, “Transferred money between accounts” (72%) has outpaced one of the most popular actions of 2015, “Verify recent transactions” (69%), with an 8% increase over 2015.
Our findings suggest UK respondents hold increased confidence levels with conducting financial transactions via mobile devices, confirming the growing trend of mobile banking and payment management functionalities.
The popularity of activities such as “Verify balance” and “Verify recent transactions” suggests an opportunity exists to proactively engage cardholders with alerts. According to the TSYS 2016 U.K. Payment Study , cardholders value deciding when and how they receive alerts, whether that is when their balance falls below a predetermined threshold or after each card-not-present transaction. (See Graph 3.)


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Mobile advertising is set to become part of the mainstream marketing mix over the next two years, according to new research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Clients and agencies believe that the medium will become a mainstay of UK marketing plans despite a current disconnect between usage and understanding of the medium.
The research reveals that 50 per cent of agencies have already used mobile advertising as part of a campaign.
While mobile advertising accounts for a small proportion of overall digital spend, 62 per cent predict that the figure will grow to become a standard part of budgets in 2010.
Mobile provides a robust and reliable mobile audience metrics such as measurement and campaign evaluation that is critical to success in marketing, according to the IAB.
Media owners are attempting to move the medium forward with 36 per cent of respondents saying they are very or slightly active. Only 10 per cent of traditional ad agencies are currently using mobile marketing in the advertising mix.
The survey asked whether mobile will be the primary medium for communicating with 12 to 24 age groups more than 59 per cent agreed. Almost three quarters (70 per cent) believe that location based ads are effective today.
Orange, said, “Orange was the first UK operator to embark on mobile advertising back in August 2006, and so far we have found there is a real consumer appetite for it. We believe that this momentum is set to continue and is well on its way to becoming mainstream. As an industry we need to create standards and to maintain trust, by delivering content that is creative and relevant while enabling people to be in control. If we continue to do this, users will be able to see the direct benefits of mobile advertising.
“However, there is certainly a need for education and to increase consumer understanding. This is something Orange is focusing on. In fact, in March 2008 Continental Research found that 60% of those who had increased knowledge levels of mobile advertising believed their knowledge had improved because of Orange."
The operator added it conducted conducted some consumer research last November, which revealed that the brands people would most like to see advertised on their mobiles included entertainment, gadget, games and sports brands.
The IAB found that the entertainment category was most suited to mobile advertising according to 91 per cent, followed by leisure and travel (57 per cent), telecoms (52 per cent), retail (52 per cent) and FMCG marketing (40 per cent).
Jim Cook, chair of the IAB Mobile Council, said, “Expectations for mobile advertising are high but actual understanding is low. The industry needs to address measurement, effectiveness and benchmarks if mobile advertising is going to reach a tipping point by 2010.
“The IAB intends to tackle each of these areas through quality research, events and collaboration with other mobile trade bodies like the GSMA and the MMA.”
Neil Andrews, head of portal advertising at 3 UK, argues that mobile advertising is already mainstream.
He said, “We have brands like Peperami, Fiat, Renault, Pot Noodle - how much more mainstream can you get?"
Marketing via mobile phones has to find a way of not interfering or being “annoying” for users, according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan.
The firm said that mobile marketing faces the problem of unsolicited content - something that text-marketing has not managed.
3UK’s Andrew said, “Where is the evidence that suggests annoyance factor? 3 does not send SMS marketing messages to our base from 3rd parties and we get very positive feedback on video advertising and very few complaints about display."
An report earlier this year by analyst group Forrester found that 65 per cent of mobile users were annoyed when an ad appeared while a web page was loading on their handset.
A further 57 per cent said that ads appearing alongside maps were annoying, 56 per cent were annoyed at banner ads and 48 per cent found paid search ads annoying.
Mobile provides a massive platform for advertisers and has huge potential as an advertising medium. Unlike traditional media, mobile advertising has the ability to also deliver services and personalised content to consumers.
However, with the medium of mobile advertising taking off, operators will still have to adhere to a hosts of rules and regulations - just as they would have to in the print and broadcast mediums.
The IAB recently widened its remit to serve the mobile advertising industry with the five UK networks, 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone UK, forming a Mobile Steering Group (MSG) to oversee and advise on the trade body’s strategy to educate the advertisers and agencies about the benefits of the medium.
Check out 12ahead, our brand new platform
covering the latest in cutting-edge digital marketing and creative technology from around the globe.
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business 12 months ahead of the competition. Sign up for a free trial today.


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While many Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners continue to await the arrival of the December Android security patch, another non-Pixel phone is being updated with it. This time, OnePlus has started rolling out the patch to owners of the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.
In the update, which carries a version number of 22.214.171.124, doesn’t have much else to offer other than the security patch. However, there are a few other bug fixes that OnePlus has implemented in the update. Here’s the full changelog as published on the OnePlus Forums post:
- Optimized the UI display of Settings interface
- Fixed the issue that Google Assistant and Gpay doesn’t display as expected in the Setup Wizard
- Fixed the low probability issue of WhatsApp crash
- Updated Android security patch to 2021.12
It seems that some OnePlus 8 owners have been unable to reliably use WhatsApp, but it’s because of the previous OxygenOS release, and not the app itself. OnePlus is also providing a fix related to how Google Pay and Google Assistant appear when going through the setup process.
As expected, OnePlus is rolling out this latest update incrementally, meaning that it’s arriving for a small subset of users before being made available for everyone. OnePlus is expected to have this update arrive on all phones within the next few weeks, provided that no other bugs appear to pause the rollout. If you haven’t received the update yet, you can manually check to see if it’s available by heading into the Settings app, going into System, and checking the System Updates section.


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We have seen the green tint display issue of Galaxy S20 Ultra firstly, now OnePlus 8 Pro has some similar issue. This year OnePlus bragged about their display quality and the A+ rating they got from DisplayMate. Unfortunately some green tint issue has shown up in the OP8 Pro’s display. There is no doubt that we have never seen any major display issue in OnePlus devices, but this year is different.
You can see from the above picture the screen turns into greenish hue when the brightness level is low. This issue persists whether user is using it in 120Hz or 60Hz refresh rate. OnePlus is very much aware of this issue and assured that fix via software update will hit its devices very soon. Here is the message from one of the member of the OnePlus company.
OnePlus values user feedback and is committed to delivering the best smartphone experience. Our team is currently investigating these reports to identify the best solutions for our users, and we will issue updates as soon as they are ready. Regarding the green tint, we are working to resolve this in our next OTA.
When the users have turned on DC dimming feature which is hidden under OnePlus Laboratory settings, it seems to resolve green tint issue and then crushes the blacks like LCD panels and the main characteristic of OLED panels is the deep blacks and OLED tech don’t crushes the deep blacks in a darker image. It is obvious that OnePlus will fix this issue asap as it has launched the most expensive phone yet.


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Caracol officially launches US operations with the opening of its North American Headquarter in Austin (TX).
After years of developing the market and working with local clients and partners, Caracol has officially kicked off its operations in the region with the opening of its local headquarter in Austin, Texas.
With this strategic investment, the company will be able to produce and assemble its integrated hardware and software Large Format Additive Manufacturing platforms, Heron AM, directly in the USA. This will allow to better guarantee local quality and certification standards, faster delivery times, dedicated and timely service, and application development support to all North American customers and partners.
This is just the latest of Caracol’s investments in North America, where the company has already brought together a dedicated local team, has joined forces with top-tier partners for distribution and parts manufacturing, and plans to triple its operations in the region over the next two years.
“Today marks an important milestone for our company’s journey and international expansion. The North American market is quickly growing in the adoption of Large Format Additive Manufacturing, and Caracol is proud to play a key role here,” says Francesco De Stefano, Co-founder and CEO of Caracol. “Thanks to our new US headquarters and local operations, we’ll be able to push further the limits of this industry by delivering to our North American customers a top quality and locally manufactured technology”.
Caracol has partnered with TyRex Group – leading manufacturing and innovative group of companies in Austin (TX) – to open its facility in the region. Austin and Texas were chosen, as the city and the state have been attracting many leading additive manufacturing companies, being the perfect place at the intersection between technological development and the strong presence of advanced manufacturing capabilities.
This new facility is the tangible result of the internationalization project that is being carried out by the company with the support of its strategic, legal, and financial advisors Growth Capital, FieldFisher, and ICP Americas that coordinated the development of the new governance structure.
The opening ceremony of the new headquarters was held during Formnext Forum show taking place in Austin with an exclusive event on August 28th. Here the company opened the doors of the new facility to its partners and customers, organized showcasing live its technology, and a panel of experts to debate the future of Large Format Additive Manufacturing.
Who We Are
Build beyond possible
Born from the idea of pushing the limits of 3d printing beyond what was possible, Caracol offers Large Format Additive Manufacturing solutions for advanced industries.Meet Caracol


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Worn by Pierce Brosnan OMEGA James Bond competition winner receives special Seamaster
World famous Swiss watch manufacturer OMEGA organized a special presentation ceremony to award the winner of its James Bond competition with the coveted first prize in his home town: Dr Mark Rawlings, from Helsinki, will be the envy of many as the owner of the OMEGA Seamaster Professional watch that was actually worn by Pierce Brosnan during the filming of "Die Another Day".
The OMEGA James Bond competition, a two-round internet quiz in which entrants had to prove their knowledge of Bond trivia by answering questions spanning all of the films, recorded an outstanding 60 000 entries. Yet there could be only one first-prize winner and Dr Rawlings was the lucky name drawn by OMEGA President Stephen Urquhart at the company's head office in Bienne on 28 April.
The OMEGA brand manager for Finland, Esa Mertanen, presented Dr Rawlings with his prize at OMEGA retailer Laatukoru Oy, in Helsinki. Dr Rawlings, an avid Bond fan who proudly wore his 007 cufflinks for the presentation, was delighted to receive the Seamaster Divers' watch which has numerous special features, including water-resistance to 300m, a unidirectional turning bezel, helium escape valve and official chronometer certification. The fact that it was also worn by OMEGA star ambassador Pierce Brosnan, eponymous hero of recent Bond movies during the filming of "Die Another Day", only adds to the unique and valuable nature of the prize.


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Farmers markets adopt new technologies, and the result is healthier sales
This story is from BostonGlobe.com, the only place for complete digital access to the Globe.
At the Dewey Square farmers market in Boston, leafy greens spill out of boxes next to stacks of ruby red cherries. Bundles of deep orange carrots spread across tables. Customers inspect produce, load vegetables into shopping baskets — and whip out smartphones to track the origin of the food they are about to buy.
Technology has come to farmers markets, and it is transforming a cash-only business model that has remained relatively unchanged for centuries. Across the state, these modern-day bazaars are adopting wireless technologies, smartphone apps, and other advances to process electronic payments, promote their wares, and establish virtual markets where customers can buy from dozens of Massachusetts farms over the Internet.
As a result, farmers and other vendors are increasing sales as technology allows customers across the income scale to buy more local foods. In particular, the ability to accept credit, debit, and other electronic payments has opened the markets to low-income families who receive food stamps, known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Since the early 1990s, when the state stopped issuing paper vouchers, food stamp recipients have used electronic benefit transfer cards, similar to prepaid credit cards. But without card-scanning equipment, most farmers markets were unable to accept them.
Yet as new technologies emerge and costs decline, farmers markets are purchasing card readers and systems to process food stamp benefits. Today, more than a third of the state’s 247 seasonal farmers markets accept the benefits, and sales to food stamp recipients soared to more than $220,000 last year from less than $5,000 in 2007, according to state figures.
Advocates, meanwhile, say lower-income families — many who live in so-called food deserts, or areas without supermarkets — have easier access to fruit, vegetables, and better nutrition.
“It really improves accessibility for people at all income levels to fresh, local produce,” said Mimi Hall, operations manager for the Boston Public Market Association, which runs markets at Dewey Square and City Hall Plaza.
These Boston markets have accepted electronic food stamp payments since 2010. Cards are swiped at a central location, where shoppers charge a certain amount and receive tokens or laminated “market bucks” they can spend with vendors. Sellers are later reimbursed from the market’s central account.
It costs an average of $1,255 to buy equipment and run the system for a six-month season, although many markets have won state and federal grants to cover some costs, according to the US Department of Agriculture. In many locations, card readers that process food stamp benefits are also used to accept debit and credit cards, employing the same token system.
This system can be awkward, admitted Jeff Cole, executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, a trade group in Waltham. But efforts are underway to simplify it. His group is developing software that would allow vendors to use smartphones, iPod Touches, or other wireless devices to conduct transactions.
Customers would still swipe cards at a central location, but, instead of getting tokens, they would create an account. Vendors would then use wireless devices to charge those accounts. “It’s a banking system that’s within the market itself,” Cole said.
Some vendors have turned to smartphone accessories such as the Square, developed by San Francisco tech company Square Inc., and the GoPayment system, by Intuit of Mountain View, Calif. In both cases, a small device plugs into a smartphone or laptop to allow vendors to swipe cards. An associated app processes payments and keeps transaction records.
Brian Petrie Jr. of Q’s Nuts, which sells roasted, sweetened nuts at 10 markets in the Boston area, estimates that each market day Square allows him to make 10 sales he would have lost if he accepted only cash.
Vendors are not limiting their use of technology to payment processing. Red’s Best, a Boston seafood company, uses software and mobile apps so customers can learn the source of the fish they buy. The company, which sells at the Dewey Square and City Hall Plaza markets, initially developed the system to ensure an efficient distribution system, tracking the fish from boat to pier to market.
Now it gives customers access to this information through QR codes – those scrambled-looking bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones – linked to each type of fish. Currently, the QR codes are displayed on signs at the market booth, but soon each individual package of fish will be labeled with its own code.Continued...


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Gaithersburg-based biotech Cytomedix Inc. said Friday it has secured $13 million through a registered direct offering and other stock purchase agreements.
Most of the funding will come from two separate agreements with Chicago-based Lincoln Park Capital Fund that total $11.5 million.
Cytomedix (NYSE Amex:GTF), which develops tissue-regeneration technology, will use the financing “to support and accelerate the development of our regenerative therapies and to expand our marketing efforts,” CEO Martin Rosendale said in a statement.
The company sells a range of biologically active therapies centered on wound healing, anti-inflammation and growing new blood vessels.
Part of the proceeds will be used to pay down Cytomedix’s acquisition in April of the Angel Whole Blood Separation System from the Sorin Group.


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The SnoozeFronts: TV Is Dead!!! (Ad Age- Commentary)
Even as the digerati talk about a brave new data-driven world that engages consumers on a one-to-one basis, they’re all turning out more and more product that looks a lot like TV. And it’s not just the business side. Even the content creators themselves seem to want to be in TV.
Facebook is banned in China, so the company can’t sell the Oculus Rift there. The ban also is blocking Samsung from selling its Gear VR headset. And Google has long been absent in China to avoid the country’s censorship requirements. This has led to a kind of vacuum for VR that local players are more than willing to fill.
Ad-supported media does everything possible to entice an audience to consume content, and then makes money by distracting them from it. Surprisingly, this paradox wins few fans. Fed up with the experience of cluttered, slow-loading pages, almost a quarter of a billion people are turning to ad blockers. And they have good reason.
ISOLATED RURAL AMERICA (The Guardian)
In many rural communities in the US, the low population density means that phone and Internet companies simply don’t upgrade their equipment often enough to keep pace with progress. In Navajo, much of the vital infrastructure was never installed to begin with.
PRIVACY AND SECURITY CONCERNS MAY ALTER ONLINE ACTIVITIES (Washington Post)
NTIA’s analysis of recent data shows that Americans are increasingly concerned about online security and privacy at a time when data breaches, cybersecurity incidents, and controversies over the privacy of online services have become more prominent. These concerns are prompting some Americans to limit their online activity.
Here’s a New Model for Independent Media (Huffington Post)
Imagine a world where publications are controlled not by zillionaires or governments, but by readers, journalists, crowdfunders and other shareholders. A world in which news outlets offer a wide range of consistently reliable, informative news, and where content is not determined by the power of money. Sounds utopian?
As more tech firms employ their own editing staffs, they are being viewed as something less than news organizations, but more than simple reflections of their growing audiences.
Buy an e-book on Amazon or an album on Apple’s iTunes and you own it, right? Maybe not as much as you think. It’s all about what the tech industry calls digital rights management, and the bottom line for consumers is that there are significant differences between owning a tangible product and owning its electronic equivalent.
Experts Lay Out Six Steps For OTT Success (TV News Check)
How do you become the next Netflix or Amazon Prime? When thinking OTT, think niche. That was the message from large and small content producers who participated in the 50-plus sessions on OTT business and technology at the Streaming Media East conference in New York last week.
Television its dead—long live television. That could become the unofficial motto, or at least the crawl at the bottom of the screen, to explain the recent flurry of hookups between digital players like BuzzFeed, Vice and Mashable with old-guard media companies such as NBCUniversal, Disney and Turner Broadcasting.
Cable Lobby Asks FCC for More Time to Argue Business Broadband Rules (Inside Sources)
The cable industry — the latest entrant in the Internet provider market for businesses — is arguing for more time to comment on the FCC’s newly proposed rules for business broadband, aimed at boosting competition and bringing cable and telecommunications-based providers under the same regulatory umbrella.
While IoT technologies may be poised to upend how consumers live, even industry leaders are dumfounded by data security and ethics issues that loom large over the Internet of Things. According to prognostications like Gartner’s, the Internet of Things (IoT) market is due to reach more than 26 billion connected devices by 2020.
Why virtual reality won’t transform sports viewing (Washington Post- Commentary)
Virtual reality’s ability to immerse viewers in new worlds has fueled talk of a fundamental change in how consumers experience media. While interest is growing in the emerging technology, and companies are racing to ship, one of the most popular areas of media consumption — sports — is unlikely to see major changes.


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Forbidden Kiss–Cara Delevingne lands another YSL Beauty advertisement with the brand’s Baby Doll Kiss and Blush campaign. The British model is joined by Ondria Hardin for a duo of steamy ads where the subtext is not so subtle. This follows up Cara’s ads for the Baby Doll Mascara and Touche Eclat line where she posed alongside Jourdan Dunn. And who could forget her Twitter rant earlier this week where she blasted the paparazzi?
Image: Cara Delevingne & Stella McCartney. Courtesy of Instagram
Model of the moment, Cara Delevingne, is not taking too kindly to all the paparazzi attention she has been getting lately and revealed so on Twitter.” I really think that it’s disgusting that Paris is the only place where it is illegal for paps to follow you around,” the British model writes. She then continues, “It actually took someone losing there life! Diana, an inspirational woman and then it changed but they still won’t change it in London!…It’s horrible!! How many people have to get hurt or even killed to [realize] that it’s not right?” the face of Mulberry inquired to her nearly 1.6 million followers.
She then goes on to compare the paparazzi to assaisains. “It scares me because they act like they’re assassins with [their] telescope lenses, hiding in bushes or whatever they can find.” Cara ends her rant by saying, “[I] needed to get that off my chest for a while! Also, I have never once seen a woman pap! Can someone explain that!?”
Cara Delevingne + Kate Moss behind the scenes at Burberry shoot / Courtesy of Instagram
Kate and Cara Together at Last–Two of modeling’s hottest names–Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne–are set to star in a fragrance campaign together for British brand Burberry’s yet to revealed scent. The pair were photographed by Mario Testino, and the advertisement is set to be released this fall. In an image teased by the brand on its Instagram, Kate and Cara are seen smiling together wearing trench coats. It’s an interesting choice, considering Karl Lagerfeld recently compared Delevingne to the iconic supermodel in an interview.
Cara Delevingne + Karl Lagerfeld backstage at Fendi’s fall show / Courtesy of Instagram
If it was not apparent by now, Karl Lagerfeld is a big fan of Cara Delevingne. The German fashion superstar captured the British model for Chanel and Fendi campaigns, and also tapped the blonde to open the labels’ respective fall 2014 shows which Lagerfeld serves as creative director for. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times UK, he compared the model to the legendary Charlie Chaplin. “She’s a character. She’s the Charlie Chaplin of the fashion world,” says Lagerfeld. “She is kind of genius, like a character out of a silent movie. I would see her better in a silent movie than a talkie because she over-accents the movement. Girls admire her like they used to Kate Moss. They all want to be as free as her.”
Cara’s Mulberry Bag–Before London Fashion Week, Mulberry announced that it had a secret project that it was working on, and the news has now been revealed. They’re teaming up with Cara Delevingne for a new bag collection. The bag (which is made in England) is a three-in-one carry-all and features a heart shaped patch based off of Cara’s tattoo. The British model currently stars in the brand’s spring-summer 2014 advertisements photographed by Tim Walker. The blonde showed off the accessories at a presentation held at Claridge’s in London earlier today where she posed barefoot in a woodsy setting. See more photos from the Mulberry Cara Delevingne presentation and product shots below.
Cara in Rio–British model Cara Delevingne continues her meteoric career rise with the February cover story from Vogue Brazil. Photographed by Jacques Dequeker, the blonde beauty gets colorful in street wear inspired looks while posing in the vibrant roads of Rio de Janeiro’s Morro Dona Marta wearing pieces styled by Pedro Sales. Max Weber worked on beauty for the shoot, creating Cara’s glam curls and coral lips for the spread. / Post production by Lukas Strociak Retouching.
Cara Glitters for Vogue–Continuing a great start to 2014, Cara Delevingne graces the February cover of Vogue Brazil looking stunning in blue. The British model wears a dress from Brazilian brand BO.BO which she stars in the fall 2014 campaign for. Jacques Dequeker captures Cara for the new issue which hits stores in Brazil at the end of the month.
Cara Shines for BO.BÔ–Earlier this week, we shared some behind the scenes images of Cara Delevingne shooting the BO.BÔ fall-winter 2014 campaign. Now, the Brazilian fashion brand has revealed an initial preview of the new advertisements lensed by Ellen von Unwerth. Shot with bright lights, Cara wears a fringed royal blue top and sequined skirt in the photos.
Cara for BO.BÔ–British model Cara Delevingne continues her collaboration with Brazilian label BO.BÔ for its upcoming fall-winter 2014 campaign. The brand and Cara posted some behind the scenes images of the shoot on Instagram this past week, including the campaign’s photographer Ellen von Unwerth. Cara has previously worked with Saint Laurent, DKNY and La Perla.
Cara & Jourdan for YSL – Real life friends, Jourdan Dunn and Cara Delevingne, team up for the new Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat beauty campaign. The complexion highlighter pen is known for making instant radiance. The top models also pose in a video as well where they show off their striking features. Make sure to see Cara’s previous spring campaign for YSL beauty too.


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Tuskys Greenspan mall was shut down yesterday over Sh30 million unpaid rent
The auctioneers carted away good of unknown value from the branch and another batch of goods from another branch, the Juja City mall branch days earlier.
Tuskys woes have deepened and now attracting auctioneers.
Stock at the Greenspan Mall branch is set to be auctioned next week on Tuesday, Sannext Auctioneers said.
“They owe the landlord over Sh30 million in rent arrears. The money has been pending for a long duration,” said a representative from Sannex Auctioneers in an interview yesterday.
In August, auctioneers closed down United Mall branch in Kisumu over Sh26 million rent arrears but the store managed to pay half of that sum and was reopened.
Tuskys owes supplies over Sh6 billion shillings, in July, following an order by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK), the supermarket cleared Sh2 billion loan owed to suppliers.
An Audit firm has already sounded a death-knell on the retail chain.
Syndicate Agencies Ltd, a loss control and risk management company, filed a petition claiming that Tuskys has failed to settle a Sh30.8 million debt that has accumulated over three years.
In early September, Syndicate Agencies invited creditors to join the petition, a move that will enable the High Court t0 decide whether to let Tuskys operate or appoint a liquidator to sell its assets and settle its mounting debts.
The Supermarket has also closed down five of its branches in Uganda thereby inviting a court battle fronted by staff over unlawfull layoffs.
Electronic appliances distributor, Hotpoint Limited filed a petition to wind up the retail chain after Tuskys paid a paltry Sh11.7 million in response to a statutory demand last May when the unpaid supplies bill stood at Sh259.9 million.
Its Kenyan employees are also working without salaries after successfully obtaining a High Court order stopping the retailer from slashing their pay.
In a race to prevent collapse, Tuskys is seeking to sell majority stake to a consortium made up of a private equity firm and an undisclosed foreign retailer.
It is seeking to raise Sh2 billion short-term debt from an unnamed private equity firm based in Mauritius, with the funds aimed at stabilising operations.
Kenyan Business Feed is the top Kenyan Business Blog. We share news from Kenya and across the region. To contact us with any alert, please email us to [email protected]


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“We like Enfield. We’ve moved here,” said Charles Miller, who’d been in the construction business.
The Millers hired back all 120 people who once worked for Shaw’s along with 120 additional workers. About 40 of them are full time, Charles Miller said.
He said the 67,000-square-foot store has been renovated and updated.
Other family members involved include Charles Miller’s sister, Mary Beth Duffy, and his mother, Marion Miller.
The family is considering expanding north, adding stores in Massachusetts, but they have no specific plans.
ShopRite had a strong presence with a number of Pioneer Valley stores in the 1980s. The last local stores closed in the early 1990s.
Wakefern owns and operates PriceRite, a chain of discount supermarkets with stores in Springfield, Chicopee, West Springfield and Westfield.
Charles Miller said that, as a cooperative with stores throughout the Northeast, ShopRite is in a good position to compete with established local chains like Springfield-based Big Y Foods Inc. and Stop & Shop. There are 200 ShopRite supermarkets located throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland.
“It’s that buying power,” he said. “We can make money on volume, not margin.”
Enfield already has both a Stop & Shop and a Big Y, as well as a Costco, the warehouse store that sells food, said Lawrence P. Tracey, executive director of the North Central Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. But the towns of Enfield, Somers, Suffield and East Windsor have a total population of 82,000, he said. That doesn’t count shoppers And there are numerous residents of Massachusetts border towns like Hampden, Longmeadow and Agawam, who shop in Enfield.


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The housing slump is leaving its mark on South Florida seaports.
Both Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach reported a drop in bulk cargo for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, with imports down sharply of building materials such as steel and cement.
Cement tonnage at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale fell almost 42 percent to 1.4 million tons, the Broward port said Monday.
The seaports are trying to make up for the decline with other business, especially containerized freight and even imports of biofuels, cleaner alternatives to oil made from crops.
The ports also are working to boost revenues through cruise ship activities and leases on their properties, executives said.
Finances at Port Everglades easily weathered a 2.6 percent decline in waterborne commerce to 26.4 million tons last fiscal year. Gains in containerized freight, cruise and property-related business pushed revenue up 4.6 percent to $112.5 million and profits up by half to $14 million for the fiscal year, authorities said.
The Broward port handled a record amount of containerized freight during the year - 6.1 million tons, up 6.5 percent. That's equal to almost 950,000 trailers each 20 feet long. And plans call for handling more than 1 million-plus of those trailer units this fiscal year - more than the Port of Miami, once the area leader.
Port Everglades also saw a 5.3 percent rise to 3.4 million cruise passengers embarking and disembarking during the year, officials said.
At the Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, total cargo volumes were roughly flat last fiscal year at about 4 million tons, Port Director Lori Baer said.
Containerized cargo rose slightly to about one-quarter million 20-foot trailer units, helping offset such bulk cargo losses as an 80 percent drop in steel tonnage, she said.
South Florida seaports are bullish on new activity in biofuels, such as corn-based ethanol from the U.S. Midwest and palm oil-based biodiesel from Central America.
Last fiscal year, Port Everglades already handled more than 486,000 barrels of biofuel received from both domestic and foreign markets, Port Director Phil Allen said. The port seeks to create storage tanks for biofuels to complement tanks for oil.


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Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies went into free fall late Tuesday afternoon. Bitcoin had previously been recognized as an official means of payment in El Salvador. Then the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency slipped to its lowest level since the beginning of August. The minus has now reached double-digit proportions.
On the day Bitcoin was introduced as the official currency in El Salvodor, the digital currency fell below $ 45,000. In the afternoon, the price of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency on the market fell to $ 44,444. This is the lowest price since the beginning of August. That is a good 14 percent less than the day before. This interrupts the most recent upward movement. Bitcoin had risen significantly since mid-July. At that time it had fallen to around $ 30,000.
The price of the second most important cryptocurrency, Ether, fell even more sharply on Tuesday. It temporarily fell by almost 20 percent to $ 3,194.
The noticeable decline comes on a historic day for Bitcoin. The digital currency Bitcoin has become legal tender in El Salvador. When a corresponding law came into force, the Central American state was the first country in the world to take this step. The law stipulates that every trader who is technically capable of doing so must accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.
“Investors imagined the debut in El Salvador very differently,” said analyst Timo Emden from Late Research, explaining the losses. In addition to technical difficulties, there are growing concerns about misuse of the cryptocurrency, such as money laundering, which are unsettling investors. According to Emden, there were reports of problems with the download of the “Chivo” wallet in El Salvador. In addition, authorities around the world could start regulating Bitcoin more closely.
You can find an assessment of the SHAREHOLDER here: Bitcoin & Co: Severe setback – these brands are what count now
With material from dpa-AFX
Note on conflict of interests:
The chairman of the board and majority owner of the publisher Börsenmedien AG, Mr. Bernd Förtsch, has taken direct and indirect positions on the following financial instruments referred to in the publication or related derivatives that benefit from any price development resulting from the publication: Bitcoin, Ethereum.
Shares or derivatives that are discussed / mentioned in this article are in the “SHAREHOLDER Depot” of THE SHAREHOLDER.


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The enterprise smart glasses market is no longer an obscure, futuristic idea. Its impact is real and tangible for many businesses. We surveyed 1,036 senior IT decision makers, in medium and large organisations in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Benelux (Netherlands and Belgium) and found that 82% of enterprises predict that smart glasses will be used within their business in the next three years. But what is the driving force behind this uptake? Which industry is taking on this technology? And what are the key benefits?
Factors vary across Europe on the driving force behind smart glasses. Our research shows the arrival of 5G is the biggest driving force (40%) followed by advancements in AR (37%) and the need for a more efficient workforce (35%). Whilst not in the top three, the arrival of more Windows 10-based smart glasses solutions (28%) is a notable factor in driving uptake across European businesses.
Engineering is leading the way for smart glasses adoption with 25% already deploying smart glasses and a further 47% planning to do so in the next 12 months. Government / public sector will see the lowest level of implementation in the short to medium term with only 28% likely to implement smart glasses in the next 12 months and 25% in the next 1-2 years. Spain has seen the biggest rate of adoption with 26% already deploying smart glasses whilst France (22%) and Germany (21%) round out the top three. UK (18%) and Benelux (15%) is only seeing low level deployment although the UK sees 38% of those surveyed looking to deploy smart glasses in the next 12 months.
Smart glasses are designed to provide next-level business efficiency. Our research showed 59% of those working in the manufacturing industry stated hands-free functionality as a potential benefit of smart glasses, compared to just 42% of those working in the Transport/ Logistics industry. Manufacturing businesses are more likely to reference the need for a more efficient (44%) and productive (43%) workforce whereas improved on-site capabilities was considered a benefit of smart glasses by 55% of those working in engineering. Improved information capture / data processing (40%) also featured highly on the best benefits of smart glasses.
For more information on IT priorities and challenges for the year ahead, read our Research Report here: Maximising mobility: Navigating the future IT landscape
Find out more about Toshiba laptops, 2-in-1’s and solutions with Intel® Core™ Processors
Intel, the Intel Logo, Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.


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Executive departures from Yahoo! include Hilary Schneider, executive vice president for the Americas; David Ko, senior vice president for audience, mobile and local; and Jimmy Pitaro, vice president of media.
Electronic Arts, during an Advertising Week session, launched a tool to allow marketers to track their in-game ads on mobile, social, Web and console platforms. The "digital dashboard" is meant to simplify the analysis of a campaign's performance, effect on branding, social impact and ROI.
Syfy and Dodge are teaming up on a multiplatform marketing campaign that is tied to the Halloween season. The deal includes sponsorship of the network's "31 Days of Halloween" movie stunt as well as product placement and online branding as part of the Syfy's six-hour "Ghost Hunters Halloween Live" special on Oct. 31.
The Magazine Publishers of America is looking to revitalize itself and its mission with a new campaign and a new name. The group is now known as MPA -- the Association of Magazine Media. The new moniker takes into account how readers get magazine content -- whether in print, on a computer or via smartphones and portable tablet devices.
Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo!, has given herself the additional role of ad sales chief. The company conducted a three-month search to fill the role, but reportedly could not land an ideal candidate.
Although Yahoo! is placing a renewed emphasis on original video programming, the portal sees the shows as an enhancement to its other content, rather than a focus of the site, according to this article. "Video is driving a lot of engagement at our site and across the Internet," said Jimmy Pitaro, vice president of Yahoo! Media.


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Apple is finally cracking down on apps making use of Unique Digital IDs. This development will completely disrupt the current way of operating in the much-evolving mobile ad industry.
Every iOS device has a unique alpha-numeric code that identifies the device. This allows publishers, advertisers and third parties to recognize a user across apps and websites. Primarily, UDIDs are used to enhance the effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns.
One of the most popular uses is impression capping, which lets an advertiser set a maximum number of times it wants any one person to see its ad across apps, websites and ad networks. Another widely used UDID practice is for behavioral targeting. With this strategy, an advertiser stitches together users’ browsing histories to understand what they like. From this information, the advertiser can then better target users with ads. Another big use is for download tracking, which allows ad networks to tie an impression served to a download of an app. Without access to UDID, many of the current practices in mobile marketing are no longer possible.
Apple has long been fearful of the advances in digital marketing because of the privacy issues surrounding it. This is why it implemented a private browsing feature in Safari and disallowed marketers from using cookies on iOS. So it is no wonder that Apple has taken a very strong stance against the UDID.
While Apple telegraphed that it was going to phase out UDIDs, many in the industry still did not see it coming and built their businesses on the backs of the UDID. For the most part, there seemed to be a delusion that it is too important to the industry for Apple to really take it away. Well, the UDID is gone now, and many are left with their pants down because their entire businesses were built around the UDID being easily accessible. So I expect many of the “ultra-cool” companies in mobile ad tech to spend the next few months retooling their business and coming up with new ideas, and rightfully so. There are over 100 million smartphones in the US. The estimates are that consumers are spending 60-90 minutes consuming media on them, and both of those numbers are expected to grow substantially in the next 18 months.
While the UDID might be gone, this is actually great news for the mobile industry. For too long we have relied on UDID as a privacy-unfriendly way to re-create the marketing initiatives that worked on the Web. Now that it is gone, we will be forced to recognize and build on the truly unique elements of mobile that can move the industry forward.
Location is a prime example of this. Mobile devices are portable, used on the go, and have built in GPS technology to make their location capabilities precise. While there are certainly privacy concerns about how location should be used in ad targeting, I firmly believe that there are privacy-friendly ways to do this that are also very effective for advertisers. However, hyper-local mobile marketing is a tiny fraction of the total mobile ad market.
So while the shock waves are rattling the industry, let’s use this time to reflect on what makes mobile a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the rules of marketing. Let’s look for the true innovations in the space and remind ourselves that the UDID was a short-term solution that really should not be a part of the longer-term and privacy-friendly mobile eco-system.
Eli Portnoy is the CEO/co-founder of ThinkNear, a hyper-local mobile ad solution.
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THE entry made by CEO Carl Cowie on Mornington Peninsula Shire’s gifts register is by far the most valuable yet recorded.
Mr Cowie’s estimated value of a Mediterranean cruise undertaken by he and his wife at the invitation of businessman Lindsay Fox is recorded as being $8400.
The next highest is $1202 for return airfares to Sydney, dinner and accommodation for the shire’s chief information officer to attend a Dell EMC forum in August 2017.
The lowest amount recorded on 10 pages of the register from 4 September 2015 to 19 December 2017 is $2, for a cloth glasses case and $2 for a necklace given by the Friends of Los Palos to the mayor and council support officer (“Airfares, AFL, wine and chocolates on gifts list” The News 27.3.18).
Mr Cowie’s July 2016 cruise was not added to the register until last week (“CEO cruise makes gifts list” The News 24/4/18).
The $8400 cruise is equally apportioned between Mr Cowie and his wife.
Mr Cowie has previously made it clear he did not think the trip – known as Mr Fox’s “conception cruise” – should be on the register as it was “a matter … between the CEO and the inviter. It was paid for fully by the CEO, the shire incurred no expense and therefore it was not required to be placed on the gift register”.
Mr Fox is generally regarded as one of the peninsula’s most high profile property owners as were several others of his guests.
The shire’s Gifts, Benefits and Hospitality policy states: “Gifts, benefits and hospitality received must not create a real or perceived sense of obligation that may lead to a perception of preference or conflict.”
The mayor and former CEO at several municipalities, Cr Bryan Payne, has previously said he thought the cruise should be declared on the gifts register.
He has also said that as a CEO he would not have accepted such an invitation.
The Seabourn Odyssey cruise ship chartered by Mr Fox can carry 450 passengers (guests, according to the shipping line’s advertising) in 225 luxury suites (“creating the highest space-per-guest ratio in the industry”).
Bookings for a seven-day Athens, Greece, to Venice, Italy, cruise on the ship in July this year are being available at between $5798 and $12,998, depending on which cabin or suite is required.
The ship can be privately chartered for about $200,000 a day.
The gifts registers are publicly available by contacting the shire’s governance team on 1300 850 600 to arrange an appointment for inspection.


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For example , LinkedIn is actually the liked media for Company to Company (B2B), whereas Facebook is preferable for Business to Consumer (B2C).asics wrestling shoes velcro straps Description: from the cover: Through the years, Gulfport has retained a unique sense of identity and a strong individualism. Time for Virginia to Divest Immediately National Friday News: GOP Becomes the Dick Measuring Contest Party.
If you look around the country these cuts are happening everywhere it has nothing to do with how authorities are run, it is about government cutting back expenditure on key services.asics wrestling shoes velcro straps This has led to tens of thousands of developers producing thousands of plug ins and themes, enhancing the package and the look of blogs in general. ??Video on YouTube therefore can actually help attract even more people to your site, especially if you make use of your website address both in your videos and associated meta data.asics wrestling shoes velcro straps
Writing in the Los Angeles Daily News last week, Caprice Young, who heads the California Charter Schools Association, noted that every charter high school in Los Angeles Unified last year reported a dropout rate significantly lower than not only the school district's average, but the state's as well. In this way the user can read the story inside the paper book and then, using the device, implement it. re still chomping on chocolate Yes, chocolate has health benefits and swapping the high calorie milk variety for dark chocolate is a good idea, however, even the dark stuff has fat and sugar in it and is a high calorie food.asics wrestling shoes velcro straps


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The Arlington County Board yesterday directed County Manager W. Vernon Ford to begin intensive negotiations with owners of Parkington, Northern Virginia's oldest shopping mall, an action regarded as crucial to the planned redevelopment around a recently opened Metro station.
Last fall the St. Louis-based May Department Stores Co., owners of the mall, and the Taubman Corp., a Michigan-based developer, told the county they wanted the county to back their plans to remodel the 27-year-old shopping center.
Officials of the May Co., which owns the 14-acre mall located at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and N. Glebe Road, have called the area "super viable" because of its proximity to Metro. The May Co. also owns Hecht's, one of two major stores in the mall.
When redevelopment plans were unveiled, May officials said they were willing to spend $100 million to transform the unenclosed pea-green mall from its somewhat shabby condition to a two-story structure containing 30 boutiques, but only if the county was willing to contribute about $13 million toward the redevelopment. Preliminary plans call for the demolition of the one-story mall except for the Hecht's building and relocation fo the J.C. Penny store.
Company officials suggested that Arlington's contribution should be construction of a three-level parking garage underneath the two-story mall. The cities of Stamford, Conn., and White Plains, N.Y., have made similar contributions, according to Taubman executives.
Some Arlington officals have balked at such a contribution, which is likely to be a major point in the coming negotiations that are expected to last nine months. Redevelopment is not expected to occur before 1982.
Several residents yesterday also expressed reservations about making any financial contribution to the project. "I don't think this should be an Arlington Chrysler project," said one man, referring to the federal government's bailout of the financially beleaguered auto maker. "If May Company is not that interested inn putting their own money into this, then someone else will."
County Board Chairman Walter L. Frankland Jr. said that hiring an experienced negotiator was vital if the county is to secure the most favorable deal possible for a redevelopment effort that would "significantly improve the county's tax base," and help pay for Metro.


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Appliance, electronics and furniture retailer Hhgregg is getting a makeover. The brand transformation will encompass all customer touchpoints, including its 228 store locations and online presence. The first phase of hhgregg’s brand transformation launches this week.
To celebrate the start of the men’s and women’s college basketball tournament, appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg is kicking off its March into Hhgregg event,”which will award more than $50,000 in prizes from LG Electronics.
Hhgregg cited poor performance in the consumer electronics and wireless categories for preliminary third quarter results which came in below its expectations. Hhgregg now expects its full fiscal year performance to miss previously stated guidance.
A decrease in same-store sales in the consumer electronics and computing and wireless categories at Hhgregg, partially offset by an increase in the appliance and home products categories, resulted in a comparable-store sales decrease of 6.2% for the second quarter ended Sept. 30.
Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics retailer HH Gregg announced plans to hire 500 qualified home appliance and electronics salespeople for its 228 stores in preparation for the holiday shopping season.
Office supplies and clothing retailers are not the only ones vying for foot traffic during back-to-school season. Students need laptops and other consumer electronics, too, and CE retailers HH Gregg is jumping into the fray with its list of sales and specials targeted at the tech-savvy crowd.
Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics retailer HH Gregg is looking to Leo Burnett USA and Spark SMG, a full-service media agency of Starcom MediaVest Group, to help it expand brand awareness for its products.


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China’s new way to support Xinjiang ‘forced labour’ cotton: Blur out Western brand logos
Amid a huge backlash in China against Western fashion brands over Xinjiang cotton row, Chinese TV stations have found a new way to show support for the controversial way to produce cotton - blurring out Western brand logos in their programmes. According to a BBC report, the post-production editors of various shows are now censoring everything from T-shirts to shoes, leading to delay in some broadcasts.
Last month, China launched a PR war on Western brands, including H&M, Nike and Adidas, that were critical of human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region. The controversy kicked off after a due diligence report of H&M, released in October 2020, was recently translated and circulated on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo.
In the report, the Swedish clothing company had referred to the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)’s statement on cotton from Xinjiang. BCI, a non-profit group promoting sustainable cotton production, had announced the suspension of its activities, citing "increasing risks" of forced labour. H&M maintains on its website that it neither works with any garment manufacturing factories located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) nor sources products from the region, one of the world's top cotton-producing areas.
The stance of Western fashion retailers over rights abuses in Xinjiang triggered massive outrage on social media. Chinese celebrities jumped on the bandwagon and severed ties with Western brands to express support for Xinjiang cotton. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing that Chinese people won’t allow “foreigners to eat China's rice while smashing its bowls.”
Blurring out brand logos on television programmes is the latest way to show support for Xinjiang cotton which, according to BBC, has led to “unintentionally funny results.” In episodes of the show ‘Sisters Who Make Waves’, the blurred out shoes of actors and singers give an impression as if they are floating on clouds.
Contestants of a reality show Chuang 2021 had worn clothes with Western logos from head to toe, eventually leaving no option for post-production editors other than blurring out entire bodies.
Several leaked documents from China have revealed Beijing’s brutal and systematic crackdown on Uyghurs in which the officials have termed the action as a “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism”. China has denied all of these allegations, claiming it has just taken these measures to lift Uighurs out of poverty.


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For years, hospitality technology executives have been talking about use cases for artificial intelligence. But answering the phones is a much newer application for this technology. One company that has found a way to harness AI and pair it successfully with customer call-in experience is Slang.ai. The idea for an AI-powered “phone concierge” was born in New York in 2019 when Alex Sambvani and his Slang.ai co-founder Gabriel Duncan were working as data scientists at Spotify.
“We had this awesome opportunity to work at a company that was at the intersection of music and tech, which was really fun. Specifically, we were working on voice AI projects. As we were building with this AI technology, we realized this technology was super powerful and could benefit many businesses outside of Spotify,” explained Sambvani.
Sambvani and his co-founder hypothesized that one day every business would need AI to engage with their customers (i.e. over the phone, via chat, etc.). But their research showed that SMBs in particular would benefit most from this technology when applied to phone calls.
“Phone calls are a huge pain point for business AND customers,” Sambvani explains. “Whether it's an endless phone loop, being stuck on hold forever, a busy signal, or even being sent to voicemail, it’s a bad customer experience. And it’s not that businesses don’t want to answer the phone, they do! But they tend to prioritize guests who are in person.”
This is a real problem for restaurants and hotels where many consumers still like to use the phone to reserve a guest room or a dinner table, order takeout, or place large catering orders.
“When these businesses don’t answer the phone, they’re leaving revenue on the table, upsetting their guests and driving those same guests to do business elsewhere. But artificial intelligence can help solve this problem for hoteliers and restaurateurs.”
What Makes a Virtual Answering Service Great?
For technology to solve the problem of unanswered phone calls, Sambvani knew that it needed to possess two inherent qualities: 1) it had to be incredibly easy to install and 2) it needed to offer the caller an excellent customer experience.
“The world doesn’t need another automation product that frustrates people,” he says. “The world has enough of those already. Instead the technology needs to solve the customer’s problems in a way that feels natural and delightful.”
With this in mind, Slang.ai was born.
“Imagine if you could train Amazon Alexa to answer your business phone calls,” Sambvani says. “That’s what we’ve created. There’s no menu or button pressing. There’s no keyword requests. Customers can say whatever they want, just like they were talking to a human, and it knows how to respond accordingly.”
To help customers be more at ease using the technology, the company has invested quite a bit in digital voice technology and offers approximately 100 different voices for businesses to choose from. Companies can choose a gender, an accent, and can even add background music or other background noises.
“You can even tweak the way the AI speaks to be more casual, more formal or even funny,” he adds.
On average, Slang.ai handles approximately 40-60 percent of a business’s inbound phone calls. But it won’t force a customer to interact with it if that customer really wants to speak with a human.
“It’s not about trapping people in an experience that they don’t want to be in,” he explains. “It’s about getting people the answers to their questions as quickly as possible. So, we focus on answering the simple and direct questions with AI and save the complicated stuff for humans.”
And it’s proving to be successful for those who are using it. Slang recently conducted an analysis for one of its hospitality clients that currently has six restaurants within its portfolio. Monthly, Slang is able to save this group 648 hours of phone time while capturing more reservations and orders.
For now, Slang.ai focuses on use cases such as taking reservations, simple food orders, providing the business’s hours, location, dress code and minor policy, etc. If, however, someone were to call in and complain about food poisoning, or wanted to rent out the restaurant for an evening, Sambvani readily admits that AI is not the best solution. Those calls should be handled by humans.
Coming to a Hotel Near You
Currently, Slang.ai is heavily involved within the restaurant space. But that doesn’t mean Sambvani doesn’t see any potential for the use of this technology in the hotel space. In fact, hotels that are using Slang.ai for their restaurants have been asking the technology company to work on a front desk application as well.
“We haven’t done that yet, but we think it’s a really good use case for this type of technology,” he notes. “And it’s not just about handling inbound calls from guests who might be looking to make a reservation, it would also help with current guests who call the front desk to ask about the pool’s hours, the location of the gym, etc.”


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Onne customs generates N8.4b revenue in January
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Area II Command, Onne Port, Rivers State, said it generated N8.4 billion revenue and seized nine containers of various items in January this year.
It also disclosed that N94 billion was generated in 2018 and seized 118 containers of tramadol, machetes, rice and vegetable oil, among others.Area Controller, Saidu Galadima, said this yesterday during the International Customs Day 2019, with the theme: Smarter Borders for Seamless Trade, Travel and Transport at Onne.
Galadima said the success was attained by the joint effort of stakeholders and officers, assuring that the achievements in 2019 would surpass the gains of 2018.
“Our current profile in facilitating legitimate trade and checkmating influx of illicit goods shows that we have continued to acquire stronger fame and credibility in boosting the nation’s revenue base,” he added.
Speaking, Assistant Comptroller General of Customs (ACG), Charles Edike (rtd.), charged NCS personnel to be honest and show dedication to duty. “There is no amount of smartness we can display, if we are not honest and dedicated to our duties. Don’t abuse the privilege,” he stated.
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The 2021 Jaguar XF facelift has been unveiled with subtle cosmetic updates, a new diesel engine with mild-hybrid tech and lots of new equipment and new technology on board. It’s not quite the back marker in its competition against its German rivals anymore.
In the luxury sedan segment, the Jaguar XF would usually be the last option on a buyer’s list in the face of competition from the Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5-Series and Audi A6. Jaguar has however, of late, been up on its toes updating its entire product portfolio for international markets, starting with the i-Pace electric SUV that was updated back in June and then the F-Pace in September. The latest to receive a bunch of updates from Jaguar is the XF sedan. Mind you, the current-gen Jaguar XF has been around since 2015 but with this new update, it’s right up there to match up to present times.
This mid-life facelift on the XF brings in some cosmetic updates, a lot of tech and equipment and even a new diesel engine with mild-hybrid tech. Starting with the cosmetic updates, you might take more than a look or two to really figure out the design changes but look closer, and you will see a much more stylish sedan. The quad LED headlights have been slimmed down and the grille now has a new mesh pattern. The bumper at the rear also boasts of a sportier design. Further, if you opt for the Black exterior pack, it gets you some more stealth with sportier black accents on areas like the grille and side vents.
It is on the inside where the changes are really noticeable. There was once a time when Jaguar cars were the most outdated in terms of technology and equipment but we are sure that’s not the case anymore. The dashboard on the XF has been completely redesigned and it looks just as modern and techy as a Mercedes or Audi. The focus of the dashboard is a new floating tablet-like 11.4-inch Pivi Pro infotainment system and it also gets a new 12.3-inch digital driver’s display. The rest of the cabin is pretty minimalistic. An important change is the new conventional stubby gear lever in place of the rotary dial we usually see on Jaguar cars. There’s also active road noise cancellation and the new infotainment system also features connected car tech.
Under the hood, the Jaguar XF continues with its 2.0L four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine but this time it also comes with a 48V mild-hybrid setup. The engine now develops 204PS of power, 24PS more than before. There’s also a 2.0L four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine available in two states of tune – 250PS/365Nm and 300PS/400Nm. All the engines come mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. You can have the new XF in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive configurations.
Here in India, the Jaguar XF is currently sold in a sole Prestige petrol variant which is priced at Rs 55.67 lakh (ex-showroom). We expect this facelifted XF to make it to India sometime in 2021 and Jaguar could even bring back the diesel engine on the XF in India and on other cars as well. Land Rover recently re-introduced their updated diesel engine across their lineup in India, so there’s a possibility that Jaguar could do the same. The Jaguar XF continues to rival the likes of the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the Audi A6.


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Hurricane Sandy forces businesses to sandbag — and 'pray'
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Claudia Towles, who owns aMuse Toys in Fells Point with her husband, said these types of storms are frustrating for small retailers who largely depend on weekend business.
“We’ve had these issues, what, three times? And it gets old,” Towles said.
Tourists and shoppers generate more than half the toy store’s revenue on weekends, she said, and the loss could hit her store even harder if it is forced to close Halloween weekend. Fells Point merchants are giving out candy to children on Sunday — and is a huge draw for the adults on Halloween night.
“Our biggest concern is the loss of revenue for the weekend going into the holiday season,” Towles said. “We don’t lose our locals when a storm happens, but we do lose those people who are coming down.”
Towles reached out to Baltimore City Council members to find out whether they planned on providing sandbags as they did during the last major storm. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake convened city agency heads Friday morning to begin gearing up for the storm. The city is handing out sandbags at the broadway Pier (south of Thames St. in Fells Point) until 9 p.m.
Baltimore Gas and Electric released a statement Wednesday warning residents to expect power outages and flooding. BGE suggested preparing by stocking up on water, batteries, first aid supplies and other necessities.
Sarah covers hospitality/tourism, minority business, marketing and new media
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#TodayDeals: Flipkart-Walmart Deal Done, Thoughtspot Raises $145M in Series D & More
California-based AI startup Avaamo has raised $14.2 mn Series A funding led by Intel Capital
Below is a list of deals that happened in Indian Startup Ecosystem today. Read a brief description about all of them:
1. Palo Alto-based company, Thoughtspot that provides search and AI-driven analytics for enterprises, has raised $145 million in Series D funding at a valuation of over $1 billion. The round saw participation from existing investors Lightspeed Ventures, Future Fund, Khosla Ventures, and General Catalyst and new investors like Sapphire Ventures, and other global investors. With this round, ThoughtSpot has raised a total $306 million since its inception in 2012. The company last raised $60 million funding round in August 2017. The newly raised funding will be used to improve its next-generation analytics platform, grow its R&D centers in Bengaluru, Palo Alto, Seattle and Dallas and strengthen its business expansion plans across the world including EMEA and APAC regions. ThoughtSpot had forayed into India in July last year by opening an engineering center in Bengaluru, its first center in the Asia Pacific region. It has invested $10 million in the region so far.
2. Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures has increased its stake in online insurance aggregator, EasyPolicy to 70%, by investing an additional Rs 45-50 crore in the Noida-based company. Other Indian players who are operating in this segment are CoverFox & PolicyBazaar. In April, CoverFox raised its Series-C round of funding at $22 million led by International Finance Corp (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, and Transamerica. PolicyBazaar has also been in discussions with Japanese technology-to-telecom investor SoftBank, to raise a funding round of $200-$500 million.
3. Amazon India has raised a fresh funding of Rs 2,600 crore from its parent company for its marketplace business. This brings Amazon’s total investment in Amazon Seller Services, its main marketplace business in India, to more than Rs 20,000 crore. Amazon India in January received Rs 1,950 crore from its parent company, and in November, it got its largest capital infusion of Rs 2,900 crore.
4. California-based AI startup Avaamo has raised $14.2 mn Series A funding led by Intel Capital with participation from Ericsson Ventures, Mahindra Partners, Wipro Ventures and WI Harper. Intel Capital’s Director Arun Chettywho led the investment for Intel Capital and he will join Avaamo’s board. Avaamo will use the latest round of funding to expand its sales and marketing channels to meet the demand in the enterprise for conversational AI solutions in the growing global market.
The US-based company, which was founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs and has an office in Bengaluru, has raised a total funding of around $23 mn. Indian startups that offer AI solutions are Niki.ai, Flutura, Uncanny Vision, Netradyne, Innefu Labs, Active.ai, staqu & Formcept.
5. Bengaluru-based Live-video debate app, Wishfie has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round from angel investor Abhishek Singh, CEO of Staffopedia, and Tusker Invests, a New York-based angel network. The raised funding will be used to build vernacular content as well as its online community. Later this year, the company also plans to raise pre-series A round. VC firm 500 Startups is also looking for startups that support vernacular content as well as in Indian brands across categories.
6. Dubai-based investor Relam Investment LLC which launched its India operations on Tuesday, plans to pump in $250 million in real estate and technology including blockchain, app-based and big data startups. “We are going to be a pure play investment firm, picking up minority and substantial minority stakes in the firms we invest. We do not intend to get into the operational side of the businesses at any point of time,” said Sultan Ali Rashed Lootah, chairman and managing director at Relam Investment.
7. Swiggy has received board approval for its first employee stock repurchase programme. Existing employees looking to participate in the buyback offer will be able to tender up to 50% of their vested options by June 1 for a repurchase, reports ET. The share buyback or ESOPs is estimated at over $4 mn (Rs 27 Cr).
8. Walmart has acquired 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 bn, Walmart announced it officially. The remainder of the business will be held by some of Flipkart’s existing shareholders, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Tencent Holdings Limited, Tiger Global Management LLC and Microsoft Corp.
9. Unitus Ventures has led a $1 million (Rs 6.75 crore) in healthcare and life insurance-focused artificial intelligence startup i3systems, with participation from company's existing list of high net-worth backers - Behram Vakil, founding partner of AZB Partners, one of India’s top law firms, and Jerxis Vandrevala, founder of Sanchez Computers. The company will use the raised funding to partner with the country’s top 20 life and health insurance companies, and process 1 million policies through its digital platform.
10. On-demand hyperlocal home services marketplace UrbanClap has been formally launched in Dubai, the startup’s co-founder Abhiraj Bhal announced on social media on Wednesday. The startup plans to begin its Dubai operations with about 100 service people by offering five services: laundry, home cleaning, handymen, packers and movers, and home painting.
11. Pune-based electric bike startup, Tork Motorcycles, has raised Rs 1.25 Cr from the Ola founders and Kapil Shelke, founder of Tork. In April 2016, the startup had raised angel funding from a host of marquee investors including Ola founders Bhavish Agarwal, Ankit Bhati and a group of angels led by Harpreet Grover, the chief executive and co-founder of CoCubes.
Around The World


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Syndicated takes a hit with ad revenue down 13.2%, to $954M, according to Kantar Media data
Local television stations were the strongest broadcast TV performers during the first quarter of 2010, posting a cumulative advertising revenue increase of 20.8 percent over last year to $3.4 billion, according to an analysis of Kantar Media data by the Television Bureau of Advertising.
Broadcast network TV took in $7.2 billion in ad revenue in the first quarter, up 10.9 percent compared to last year.
Syndicated television took a hit though, with first quarter ad revenue down 13.2 percent in the first quarter to $954 million.
The category showing the biggest rebound for local TV stations was automotive, up 75 percent. Next was the financial category, with ad revenues up 25 percent.
Other categories showing double-digit first quarter increases were legal services (up 20 percent), telecommunications (up 18 percent), furniture stores (up 17 percent) and restaurants (up 12 percent).
In the auto category, by company, General Motors' local TV ad spending was up 382 percent, Chrysler was up 108 percent, Toyota was up 83 percent, Ford was up 70 percent and Honda was up 39 percent.


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After about 6 months of waiting, last night we finally got to watch one of my favourite food trucks, Gorilla Cheese roll into the CBC to take on the dragons of Dragons’ Den to pitch their business in hopes to take them to the next level.
As you would expect, owner Graeme Smith let his famous grilled cheese do the talking to the dragons and ultimately caught the attention and backing of restauranteur, Vikram Vij who himself owns an award winning food truck, Vij’s Railway Express out in Vancouver.
This is a great accomplishment for probably one of the hardest working guys out there who pumps out some of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I’ve ever had the pleasure of digging into. However, in a blog post shared after the show on the Gorilla Cheese website, they explained to fans that although they got the handshake in the room, the investment is far from a done deal and that “more than 80 per cent of the deals on Dragons’ Den do not make it past due-diligence,” so we’ll have to wait a little longer before we see how it all pans out for them.
On the plus side, they also broke the news that they too, like many other food trucks will officially be opening up a storefront location at 131 Ottawa St. N, known by many as where the annual Hamilton food truck festival, Sew Hungry is held each year. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store in the year to come for the Graeme and the Gorilla Cheese team. If you’re interested in checking out their full episode you can watch it here.


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Samsung Galaxy A51 is the newest mid-range device from the Korean company in India. We got a chance to try the device and here is our first impressions.
Samsung has launched the Galaxy A51 in India. The smartphone is the newest mid-range device in the market. It comes with a 6.5-inch Full HD+ display, Exynos 9611 SoC, 4GB or 6GB of RAM and a 48-megapixel main camera. The smartphone runs One UI 2.0 based on Android 10 and packs a 4,000mAh battery. Here is our first look at the smartphone and initial impressions.


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Wacker Neuson eyes 2012 expansion
By Helen Wright06 February 2012
German construction equipment manufacturer Wacker Neuson has set its sights on further expansion this year after reporting a 31% year-on-year increase in revenues for 2011 to €992 million.
Revenue growth was particularly strong in in the US, Scandinavia and Central Europe, while the company said its compact segment line had seen strong growth in demand.
Wacker Neuson reported preliminary profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €163 million for 2011 - more than double the previous year's total. This corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 16.4%, compared to a 2010 margin of 10.3%.
The company - which said 2011 had been the best fiscal year in its history - plans to build on its international growth strategy in 2012. It said it was assessing the viability of launching compact equipment products in Asia, and has also started to expand its medium-price range of light equipment in Asia.
Wacker Neuson CEO Cem Peksaglam said the company would focus its investments on expanding its international sales and distribution network.
"By the middle of the year, we will have started production at our new compact equipment production facility in the Austrian town of Hörsching, near Linz - one of the largest, most modern factories of its kind. This will enable us to triple today's production capacity for excavators, dumpers, and skid steer loaders," he added.


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They say that money can’t buy happiness, buy you can buy Youtube views , likes, subscribers and comments. When you buy YouTube views, you have a tendency of becoming the next superstar on YouTube. From the beginning of social media, users have sought to expand their networks for professional Benefit, Financial gains or even talking about it amongst their friends to make themselves more popular in there group. The major social media companies such as 500views.com have used this perfect timing to increase there revenue sales.
The rise of YouTube has fueled a global race to gobble up as many YouTube views as possible. The appetite to increase YouTube views per someone’s video has spawned a new Blackhat industry as resellers attempt to capitalize on the moneymaking phenomenon that has taken over the Blackhat world of Internet Marketing. These schemes include buying views for YouTube videos, buying likes for the YouTube videos, buying comments for YouTube videos, and buying subscribers for YouTube channels. Celebrities, businesses, and even the US State Department have bought fake YouTube views, likes, comments, and subscribers to increase their social media presence.
On December 2012 YouTube wiped out millions of music videos after auditors found that the views have been generated by fake bots. After an internal audit, there was major speculation of wrongdoing from all the big music companies such as Sony music, Universal music, and many more recording labels. On January 2013, Lady gaga was striped of almost 200,000,000 YouTube views from her VEVO channel and the removal appeared to be part of YouTube’s cleanup of generated views.
A former employee of YouTube who use the alias quotation mark “SPK” was allegedly connected to bot generation on fake views. SPK claim to have an empire of YouTube Bots that increased views on various Popular videos on YouTube. He said his views method using the bots was so successful that Google asked him to use it for VEVO back when the music conglomerate first started putting content on YouTube.
YouTube has refused to comment on the past history of SPK at VEVO. They will only say that SPK made them aware of this internal security issue and in fact he is listed in Google’s Hall of Fame security site.
New evidence of boosting artificial views is making headlines again. Kanye West’s new video heartless Game 33 million YouTube views in one day. SPK claims that he increased the YouTube views using bots on the video.
The buyers of fake YouTube views are common folks not just music musicians or celebrities. Then packed of this trade is impacting independent musicians more than anyone else in the business. After all up-and-coming artists are told that their web presence and projection is the key to their initial marketing efforts.
Websites such as 500views.com we’ll provide your YouTube video with millions of views. These views art YouTube safe, they will get you going viral on the web, and the views we’ll never erase. If you want to buy YouTube views for your YouTube video, make sure you check out 500views.com.


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In a bid to reduce plastic consumption, single-use plastic bottles will not be for sale at Glastonbury Festival for the first time.
Plastic bottles will no longer be on sale at Glastonbury Festival, say organisers.
In an attempt to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint and prevent plastic ending up in oceans, single-use plastic bottles will not be available from any of the bars or food outlets on site, and will no longer be available in any of the festival’s production, catering and backstage areas.
Greenpeace – a proud Glastonbury partner – estimate that approximately 12.7million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans each year. More than one million plastic bottles are sold at Glastonbury each year, so it’s evident that cutting down will have a massive impact.
In a statement, Emily Eavis said: “It’s paramount for our planet that we all reduce our plastic consumption, and I’m thrilled that, together, we’ll be able to prevent over a million single-use plastic bottles from being used at this year’s Festival. I really hope that everyone – from ticket-holder to headliner – will leave Worthy Farm this year knowing that even small, everyday changes can make a real difference. It’s now or never.”
Festival goers will still be able to bring plastic bottles into the festival with them, but attendees are recommended to look for alternative options and/or bring or purchase a reusable steel water bottle or pint cup. Glastonbury Festival says that they will be tripling the number of WaterAid kiosks on site so that people can still refill their bottles for free, while traders who previously sold plastic bottles will now offer cold drinks in cans instead.
Those looking to get ahead of the game can purchase a Counteract branded, eco-friendly reusable stainless steel cup below (pictured). The cups, made in Hockley, Birmingham, are manufactured by the same company that supply Glastonbury with reusable stainless steel cups at their bars on site and there are a very limited number left.
- Foals, Elbow and Two Door Cinema Club to headline Y Not Festival
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- Review: Editors close the inaugural Beyond The Tracks in style
Founding editor of Counteract. Freelance travel and music journalist.


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“There are some investors who think that maybe Pinterest can break the digital advertising duopoly of Google and Facebook,” says Tom Forte, an analyst at D.A. Davidson.
Forte explained that the way Pinterest presents its ads is what makes the company a potentially lucrative investment.
“The ads on Pinterest are very contextual to the extent that they’re visual,” he told Yahoo Finance’s yFI AM. “So I would argue that when you compare Pinterest with Facebook and other social networks, it’s a superior — potentially — platform for advertising because I think it’s contextual and welcomed by the consumer rather than a distraction or not something that’s enjoyable.”
Forte added that advertising on Pinterest is key for companies like Wayfair because it’s meant for consumers that are much earlier in the decision-making process.
So Pinterest’s advertising model, according to Forte, is exactly what could lead to their profitability.
“Unlike Uber, which is heavily dependent on transaction revenue, for both Roku and Pinterest, you’re looking at high margin advertising revenue,” he said. “While today they’re losing money, it’s easy to see them in the future generating cash flow and being profitable because their core business model is advertising.”
But if they want to perform well over time, Forte argued Pinterest is going to need to monetize their international audience seeing as it makes up the majority of the company’s users, but not of their revenue.
Pinterest’s international monthly active users increased from 160 million users in Q1 of 2018 to 206 million in Q1 of 2019 and revenue grew 114% to $15 million.
“The big story and what will determine how the shares perform over time,” Forte said, “is how well they monetize their international audience — which i do think will be challenging.”