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WASAGA BEACH – Artist and textile designer Melissa Christie’s zombie bedding takes the mystery out of the old childhood fear of what’s hiding under the bed.
Her design, dubbed Never Sleep Alone, depicts zombies’ arms and blood splatters along the edge of the duvet cover and when draped over a bed looks like brain-crazed zombies emerging from the earth, going for their slumbering victim. The blood-splattered pillowcases meet to form what looks like the debris left in the aftermath of someone getting their brains bashed out.
In the past year, Christie has sold more than 1,000 duvet covers and pillowcases online, working from her Wasaga Beach home with the help of a small staff to fill each order for one-of-a-kind bedding.
Christie, 23, said the design came to her during a sleepless night while in her final year of college in 2011, as she conjured images of monsters under the bed and zombie hordes.
A graduate of the three-year craft and design program at Sheridan College, Christie initially designed the bedding for an assignment but it was after she posted images of her work online and got up to 50,000 views that she realized the true marketing potential of the product.
When she first started selling the bedding online, Christie said the demand was overwhelming and she hired three people to help.
“I couldn’t keep up with the orders. I sold about 200 in the first day,” said Christie.
She said the initial interest did surprise her because she wasn’t trying to cater to any particular market or fad, she was simply creating something that appealed to her personally.
After graduation, Christie said she decided to work toward becoming a hair stylist, figuring it was unlikely she’d get a job in textile design, but the zombie bedding has since turned into a full-time endeavour.
“I’m just a small town girl,” said Christie, who grew up in Wasaga Beach. “I never thought this would ever happen but I’m glad it did.”
Christie said she’s always had a “weird dark twist” and it is incorporated into her artwork and textile designs.
Her zombie bedding just happens to come at a time when that fascination with the darker side of fantasy has seeped into mainstream culture with the popularity of The Walking Dead, an AMC television series based on the comic books by Robert Kirkman, the Minecraft video game and events like Zombie Walk attracting thousands of worshippers of the undead.
She said her customers are a very diverse group ranging from 12-year-olds to older adults.
Christie currently employs one assistant and together they make six sets of bedding each day. A hand drawn image is silk screened onto the fabric and then the outline and details is added, using a second silk screen, before watered down red fabric paint is used to create the blood splatter, each one done free hand, making each one unique.
Christie said she has plans to expand her product line and is ramping up production in preparation for an upcoming appearance at ComiCon at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto on March 9-10 where she will be selling her designs. She has also started advertising in a horror-genre publication.
The zombie motif is available in green or grey and is also available on T-shirts, cloth bags and aprons.
Christie now sells her products exclusively on her own website at www.itsalivedesigns.com.
Never Sleep Alone bedding comes in king, queen and twin. Prices range from $40 for standard pillowcases to $150 for a duvet set. Tote bags begin at $23 and placemats cost $25 for a set of two.
The bedding is printed using professional quality ink and washes well, said Christie. She advises people turn the bedding inside out and wash in a gentle cycle.


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|By PR Newswire||
|February 12, 2014 01:00 PM EST||
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Electronics USA is expanding its Ultra HD large-screen commercial-grade monitor line-up for 2014 by unveiling LG's all-new 105-inch class display – its largest commercial screen to date. Introduced at Digital Signage Expo 2014 (Booth 500), LG's new edge-lit LED LCD Ultra HD Display features impressive 105-inch class screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 5120 x 2160 (5K) resolution for visually stunning picture clarity.
"Our newest Ultra HD digital signage displays are going to turn a lot of heads at this year's show," said Dan Smith, director of digital signage, LG Electronics USA. "Our new 105- and 98-inch class products are the doorway to the future, and they literally are larger than doorways. When combining this scale and this incredible resolution with expanded color standards and the benefits of LG IPS technology, what was only a concept a short time ago is now a reality. It must be seen to be comprehended."
Large Scale Ultra HD Viewing
Ideal for retail settings, LG's 105-inch Ultra HD 21:9 commercial display can render stunning, life-size images of people and products. LG's newest model has five times the resolution of a Full HD display*, for crisp pictures with an incredible level of detail. The 21:9 aspect ratio screen is perfect for displaying all types of content, giving customers the freedom of a broad canvas on which to communicate their brand. LG's 105-inch ULTRA HD display also offers the installation flexibility customers desire ― it can be oriented vertically in portrait mode or horizontally in landscape.
Joining the 105-inch class Ultra HD commercial display at the show is another notable display from LG's ULTRA HD digital signage lineup, the 98-inch class 98LS95A. This Ultra HD digital signage display delivers 3840 x 2160 resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The 98-inch Ultra HD display has a bezel width of just 14.6mm and may be mounted in portrait or landscape mode for optimal use in a wide range of commercial applications.
Both the 105-inch and 98-inch displays are equipped with a proprietary chip that optimizes image quality. This sophisticated upscaling function takes SD, HD or Full HD content and renders it in sharp detail on the Ultra HD screen . Both displays can decode H.264 and HEVC H.265 at 30p or 60p. What's more, the TV seamlessly displays Ultra HD content from nearly any input source, including HDMI 2.0, USB and LAN.
Boasting an image with 8 million pixels and enhanced by LG's renowned IPS (In Plane Switching) panel technology, the Ultra HD displays provide the sharpest picture available on a large-screen display and the most immersive viewing experience in the industry. LG's IPS panel technology ensures optimal color saturation and contrast for off-angle viewing (both horizontal and vertical). IPS technology also provides a screen surface temperature tolerance of up to 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110 degrees Celsius), which helps alleviate a common problem with screens overheating and, as a result, suffering from permanent picture quality damage.
Information through Interaction
Also demonstrated at DSE 2014 is a highly responsive touch display from LG's Ultra HD lineup: The 84-inch class84WT70MS(PS) (84.0 inch diagonal) is an ideal solution for numerous interactive touch applications - wayfinding in public spaces, an educational platform in schools and museums, or as an advanced sales tool in retail stores. The 84WT70MS(PS) is one of the world's largest Ultra HD-based touch screen displays that can be mounted in landscape or portrait.
LG's IR-Spread touch technology on the 84WT70MS(PS) provides smooth and accurate 10-point multi-touch interaction and gestures for a broad range of precise interactive needs and a more intuitive and predictable interactive touch experience. The image quality and integrity is protected with a specialized coating, which minimizes the visibility of fingerprints and smudges to keep the touch surface and on-screen images looking crystal-clear.
About LG Electronics USA
The LG Electronics USA Home Electronics Business-to-Business division serves customers in the U.S. digital signage, systems integration, lodging and hospitality, healthcare, education, government and industrial markets. Based in Lincolnshire, Ill., with its dedicated engineering and customer support team, LG Electronics USA Home Electronics Business-to-Business delivers business-to-business technology solutions tailored to the particular needs of business environments. LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $52 billion global force in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. For more information, please visit www.LGSolutions.com.
Designs, features and specifications subject to change without notice.
*4K/UHD content delivery standards still being developed.
SOURCE LG Electronics USA, Inc.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Loom Systems will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Founded in 2015, Loom Systems delivers an advanced AI solution to predict and prevent problems in the digital business. Loom stands alone in the industry as an AI analysis platform requiring no prior math knowledge from operators, leveraging the existing staff to succeed in the digital era. With offices in S...
Mar. 26, 2017 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,244
What if you could build a web application that could support true web-scale traffic without having to ever provision or manage a single server? Sounds magical, and it is! In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Chris Munns, Senior Developer Advocate for Serverless Applications at Amazon Web Services, will show how to build a serverless website that scales automatically using services like AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon S3. We will review several frameworks that can help you build serverle...
Mar. 26, 2017 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,878
SYS-CON Events announced today that Interoute, owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 12 data centers, 14 virtual data centers and 31 colocation centers, with connections to 195 add...
Mar. 26, 2017 12:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,080
SYS-CON Events announced today that T-Mobile will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc., is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company's advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 67.4 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on ...
Mar. 26, 2017 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,172
Have you ever noticed how some IT people seem to lead successful, rewarding, and satisfying lives and careers, while others struggle? IT author and speaker Don Crawley uncovered the five principles that successful IT people use to build satisfying lives and careers and he shares them in this fast-paced, thought-provoking webinar. You'll learn the importance of striking a balance with technical skills and people skills, challenge your pre-existing ideas about IT customer service, and gain new in...
Mar. 26, 2017 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,574
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Eric Lachapelle, CEO of the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB), will provide an overview of various initiatives to certifiy the security of connected devices and future trends in ensuring public trust of IoT. Eric Lachapelle is the Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board (PECB), an international certification body. His role is to help companies and individuals to achieve professional, accredited and worldw...
Mar. 26, 2017 10:45 AM EDT Reads: 604
SYS-CON Events announced today that Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. The company co-innovates with customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure network...
Mar. 26, 2017 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,291
SYS-CON Events announced today that Infranics will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Since 2000, Infranics has developed SysMaster Suite, which is required for the stable and efficient management of ICT infrastructure. The ICT management solution developed and provided by Infranics continues to add intelligence to the ICT infrastructure through the IMC (Infra Management Cycle) based on mathemat...
Mar. 26, 2017 10:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,997
SYS-CON Events announced today that SD Times | BZ Media has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6–8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. BZ Media LLC is a high-tech media company that produces technical conferences and expositions, and publishes a magazine, newsletters and websites in the software development, SharePoint, mobile development and commercial UAV markets.
Mar. 26, 2017 09:30 AM EDT Reads: 4,286
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cloudistics, an on-premises cloud computing company, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Cloudistics delivers a complete public cloud experience with composable on-premises infrastructures to medium and large enterprises. Its software-defined technology natively converges network, storage, compute, virtualization, and management into a ...
Mar. 26, 2017 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,949
Now that the world has connected “things,” we need to build these devices as truly intelligent in order to create instantaneous and precise results. This means you have to do as much of the processing at the point of entry as you can: at the edge. The killer use cases for IoT are becoming manifest through AI engines on edge devices. An autonomous car has this dual edge/cloud analytics model, producing precise, real-time results. In his session at @ThingsExpo, John Crupi, Vice President and Eng...
Mar. 26, 2017 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 3,870
SYS-CON Events announced today that HTBase will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. HTBase (Gartner 2016 Cool Vendor) delivers a Composable IT infrastructure solution architected for agility and increased efficiency. It turns compute, storage, and fabric into fluid pools of resources that are easily composed and re-composed to meet each application’s needs. With HTBase, companies can quickly prov...
Mar. 26, 2017 08:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,884
There are 66 million network cameras capturing terabytes of data. How did factories in Japan improve physical security at the facilities and improve employee productivity? Edge Computing reduces possible kilobytes of data collected per second to only a few kilobytes of data transmitted to the public cloud every day. Data is aggregated and analyzed close to sensors so only intelligent results need to be transmitted to the cloud. Non-essential data is recycled to optimize storage.
Mar. 26, 2017 08:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,986
Historically, some banking activities such as trading have been relying heavily on analytics and cutting edge algorithmic tools. The coming of age of powerful data analytics solutions combined with the development of intelligent algorithms have created new opportunities for financial institutions. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Sebastien Meunier, Head of Digital for North America at Chappuis Halder & Co., will discuss how these tools can be leveraged to develop a lasting competitive advanta...
Mar. 26, 2017 08:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,691
"I think that everyone recognizes that for IoT to really realize its full potential and value that it is about creating ecosystems and marketplaces and that no single vendor is able to support what is required," explained Esmeralda Swartz, VP, Marketing Enterprise and Cloud at Ericsson, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Mar. 26, 2017 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 4,165

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Small Business Acquisitions Up 4.7% in 2022, Sale Prices Dip 3% Amid Inflation and Rate Hikes
- Small business values impacted by inflation, rate hikes
- High cost of capital gives buyers leverage in price negotiations
- Demand continues to favor the service business, and restaurant acquisitions jump
Financial performance was rocky over the course of 2022. Median revenue dropped 11% in Q3 from Q2 and rose 3% in Q4, finishing 2022 down 2% year-over-year. Median cash flow dropped 3% in Q3 from Q2 and remained flat in Q4, finishing 2022 down 1% year-over-year. Similarly, the average revenue multiple dropped from .67 to .65 and the average cash flow multiples dropped from 2.55 to 2.53.
According to business brokers surveyed, the 2022 market showed increased activity compared to 2021. About a third (33%) closed slightly more deals, while 22% closed significantly more deals. Most brokers (47%) attribute the increase to higher buyer demand for thriving businesses, while 41% believed it was due to an increased number of buyers entering the market.
Sale Prices Dip as Rate Hikes and Inflation Put Pressure on Business Values
Median revenue of businesses sold in 2022 declined 2% to $650,000 compared to $665,107 the previous year, and median cash flow declined 1% to $148,765, compared to $150,000, respectively. Similarly, the average revenue multiple dropped slightly to .65 vs .67 in 2021, and the average cash flow multiple dropped to 2.52 vs 2.55 in 2021.
“Cost of capital became an issue by Q2. The result is decreasing multiples. Sellers are just beginning to comprehend the discounts due to capital costs,” said Terry Gunn of Gunn Business Brokerage in Nashville, TN.
“Rate increases have increased cap rates and are putting downward pressure on valuations. Cost of capital is affecting PE groups while loan rate increases are affecting debt service coverages for main street buyers,” said a broker who chose to be anonymous.
While many owners are raising prices to make up the additional costs, others are more worried about losing customers and sales declining. In fact, 74% of owners surveyed say inflation is not easing.
Interest rate hikes are further compounding operations for owners, many who rely on lines of credit to operate are facing rising SBA loan rates. Over 53% of owners said rate hikes are negatively impacting their business.
One owner commented, “The cost of all of my lines of credit (including SBA) are rising significantly. With supply chain issues causing parts/equipment to have longer delivery cycles, I am often caught with things on my line of credit longer while we wait to get and install them.”
In addition to these financial pressures, over 26% of business owners who took out COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans say they are struggling to repay them.
Rate Hikes May Be Shifting the Market in Favor of Buyers
Given the inflation-induced economic headwinds associated, those looking to buy a business may have the upper hand at the bargaining table. Forty-seven percent (47%) of surveyed brokers feel today’s market has shifted in favor of buyers, while only 17% feel it still favors sellers. The main reason attributed to rate increases.
“Economic uncertainty and changes in financing capacity do seem to be allowing buyers more leverage in approaching transactions,” said an anonymous business broker. While pressures mount on both business values and the rising cost to obtain capital, dealmaking is becoming a challenge for both buyers and sellers. Yet, the burden of flexibility is more likely to fall on the seller. In fact, 59% of buyers surveyed say they believe businesses are overpriced.
“Debt service will be more difficult. Which will drive down the amount buyers are able to pay for businesses. Therefore, I think most business owners will have to either wait to sell or sell for a lower price,” said Mark Kincannon of Resolution Equity Partners in Forth Smith, AR.
Seller Financing is Becoming More Important in Today’s Market
As more sellers come to terms with current market conditions, seller financing is given increased consideration. Of buyers surveyed, 90% feel it is important for owners to offer seller financing. An overwhelming majority of brokers (95%) say it is important in today’s market.
While it may lead to a sale, there are risks involved with seller financing. A seller may find a buyer that is well-suited with industry experience, but short on cash reserves. However, if the business fails, the seller is forced to foreclose.
Demand for Service Businesses Remains Strong, Restaurant Deals Jump 20%
Service businesses accounted for 39% of all acquisitions, with transactions up 7% over the previous year, exceeding 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. The service sector, which includes healthcare, financial, and other essential services, is often considered a low-risk option and highly desirable during economic uncertainty.
Buyers also paid more for service businesses in 2022. The median sale price rose 4% over the previous year to $300,000, which is 33% higher than 2019’s pre-pandemic sale price of $225,000. Prices were backed up by stronger financials, with service businesses showing median revenue up 3% year-over-year and median cash flow up 3.4%, respectively.
Restaurant acquisitions jumped 20% in 2022 following a 6.5% gain in 2021 – after plummeting 38% in 2020. Yet, this uptick is still 21% below 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. Restaurants also sold faster, with median days on the market moving from 176 to 169.
Restaurants showed stronger financials and sold at higher prices. Closed restaurant transactions showed median revenue up 7% and median cash flow up 13% over the previous year. Furthermore, the median sale price rose 14% to $249,000 compared to $220,000 the previous year.
This activity may suggest pent-up demand for restaurant ownership. After nearly two years of struggling to draw in customers, dining out and gathering with friends is becoming popular again.
2023 Business for Sale Market Outlook
The business-for-sale market has been growing over the past year, however, it has also been weighed down by inflation and high-interest rates, neither of which are expected to go away anytime soon. Prices are still accelerating, and more rate hikes are expected.
For buyers, this leaves little incentive to wait it out on the sidelines. As higher rates become more of a reality, many buyers will adjust their strategy and continue seeking out great opportunities, with most anticipating better rates in 2024 and the ability to refinance.
While current economic conditions are worth considering, buyers should continue being on the lookout for good opportunities. Moreover, the possibility of a recession may drive more sellers, including older Baby Boomers, to the marketplace.
Currently, 45% of owners say they are selling to retire. Furthermore, over 42% say we are already in a recession (vs 48% of buyers), while 33% of both owners and buyers believe we’ll enter one in 2023.
“Many more Baby Boomer Sellers are available to exit businesses and sell. At least 50% of my current Sellers are family-operated businesses where the owner, a Baby Boomer, is looking to retire or exit,” said Mark Mueller of CRE Resources, LLC in New Jersey.
For sellers, businesses with strong financials are expected to continue being in high demand. This may be especially true for service businesses, fast-food restaurants, and other ‘recession-proof’ businesses. Yet, higher rates may force some sellers to adjust prices and consider seller financing.
It’s also important to remember that a typical sale can take 6 months to 1 year to complete. Those with a transition on the not-so-immediate horizon should still take care to begin preparing for their exit now, so they are ready to strike when the iron is hot. With that said, just 53% of surveyed owners said they had an exit plan, and a slightly higher 58% knew what their business is worth. That leaves nearly one out of every two owners unprepared should disaster strike instead.
While retirement is the top reason business owners intend to sell, the “ Dismal D’s” are unfortunately very common reasons pushing owners, or their families, to market. It only takes a few minutes to call a local business broker now and save months to years of stress later. Many brokers offer free consultations, valuations, and other services to empower business owners with the tools for a future, profitable exit.


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Medical is a solutions provider for advanced equipment and materials used to manufacture medical devices.
It will also contain a wide range of interviews with leading political, economic and business representatives, including the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdul Latif Al Zayani; Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry Lim Hng
Kiang; and the Director General of the Dubai Land Department Sultan Bin Mejren.
This speeds procurement time, reduces cost of developing new products from scratch and negates the initial need to train HNG
personnel in new product development.
The contract will introduce centralized trading and clearing of a physically-delivered gold contract in Singapore," said Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng
Singapore has been very proud to work closely with Pratt & Whitney for many years," said Singapore's Minister for Trade & Industry Lim Hng
is proposed in  as a reversible full adder.
Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng
Kiang, welcomed attendees back to Singapore and highlighted how key financial centres have continued to facilitate the development of Islamic finance within their jurisdictions.
They include Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sang-jick Yoon and Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng
Kiang, Thai Minister of Commerce Piramol Charoenpao, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi, Chile's Vice Minister of Trade Alvaro Jana, China's Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.
The neo-Nazi prison network also has connections with another far-right group known as the HNG
, an aid organization that specifically provided financial support to imprisoned neo-Nazis and their families.
11 January 2013 a[euro]" Indian container glass producer Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Ltd (HNGIL) and other promoters of domestic float glass maker HNG
Float Glass Ltd have inked a joint venture accord with Trakya Cam Sanayii AS, pursuant to which the Turkish sector player will buy into HNG
Float Glass, according to a filing with the Bombay stock exchange.
The trade commissioner and Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry Lim Hng
Kiang led the final round of negotiations, launched in March 2010, paving the way for a signing ceremony in spring 2013.
Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng
Kiang said, "Singapore is confident that the EUSFTA will further enhance our bilateral economic relations, and pave the way for a region-to-region trade deal between the EU and ASEAN.


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According to Microsoft’s official “By the Numbers” section on its website, the Windows Phone Store now houses over 300,000 app and games, with “hundreds more added every day.” The total increased by 30,000 since July 14th when Microsoft stated during its Worldwide Partner Conference that the Store reached 270,000. Users have downloaded over 4 billion apps and games since the Store went live.
Several high profile developers recently released Windows Phone app, including Fitbit, Kobo, 500px, and BBM.
Comparing to competing app stores on the market, Apple has an estimated 1.2 million available apps with app downloads topping 75 billion. According to App Brain, there are over 1.3 million available apps on Google Play.


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Canadian-based SmarTire Systems has announced a third quarter (ended 30th April) loss of CAN$ 2.1 million. This represents a net loss per share of $0.14 compared to a net income of CAN$9.6 million and a gain of $0.64 per share for the same period in 2000. SmarTire explain that the gain in 2000 was due to a CAN$12.2 million sale of investments, and that revenue for the 2001 third quarter stood 14% higher than in 2000, at CAN$265,463.
Michelin and IBM have announced that the tyre manufacturer has installed for all Europe a new Web-based system – based on a Web-enabled IBM eServer zSeries mainframe – that improves service to its network of 50,000 European distributors by allowing them to place orders for Michelin products directly over the Web any time of the day or night. The system is initially being deployed for use by Michelin’s large European distributors in the United Kingdom, Germany and France and will be made available to the most of the company’s European network tyre distributors. Full deployment will be by 2004.
Despite the difficult environment which is not likely to lead to improvements in the coming half year Deutsche Bank is recommending Michelin shares as a “Buy”. The analysts believe that the focus on high performance tyres will pay off and they believe also that, due to the anticipated sale of the Pirelli truck division, competition will be lower in the future for Michelin, which is very strong in that market.
Engineers at the University of Purdue (Indiana/USA) have developed a new technique for analysing tyre vibrations that identifies which features produce the most noise, a step toward designing quieter tyres and reducing highway noise. A mathematical model is used to identify which parts of a tyre produce the most noise. The vibrations are characterised on a graph, a visual representation that’s like a fingerprint of each tyre’s vibration pattern.
There are reports in the press that the recent deal whereby Pirelli acquired control of Telecom Italia, could result in some sort of merger, perhaps even a three-way alliance between Pirelli, Olivetti and TI. Pirelli Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera says that “the structure above Telecom Italia needs to be simplified” but he could say no more until all options had been studied and evaluated.
Ford is said to be preparing to list the company on the London Stock Market in order to attract investors. The cost of the tyre recall has decimated profits in the USA, plus the market there is slowing down with the “Big Three” losing share. Ford is currently quoted on the New York Stock Exchange and a London listing would also emphasise the global status of the group.
In a difficult environment Bridgestone/Firestone was able to sell in the first half of 2001 more units than in the first half of the year 2000. Managing Director Günter Unterhauser confirmed that, in the first half of this year, his company sold 4 per cent more passenger car tyres and 6 per cent more truck tyres while the market in general fell by 2 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. The increases in motor cycle tyres (plus 29 per cent) and agricultural tyres (plus 29 per cent) were significantly higher. In the EM-Segment Bridgestone sold as many tyres as in the first half of 2000 while the market shrank by 10 per cent. Due to several good test results the management is very confident for the winter season and is convinced that turnover for the year as a whole will be at least 10 per cent higher than the previous year. Operating results are in line with expectations and the management said that it is quite satisfied.
Trelleborg, the Swedish industrial conglomerate has reported a stronger pre-tax profit than expected for the first half. Although only returning a figure of 439 million Kroner, a fall from the 789 million Kroner reported for the same period in the previous year, the profit exceeded the expected 431 million Kroner. Sales rose from 6.59 billion Kroner to 9.62 billion Kroner over the same period, and operating profit, excluding once only items, stood at 619 million Kroner, 100 million above the same period for the previous year.
Changing climatic conditions are leading Goodyear engineers to develop tyres with greater levels of grip on wet surfaces. Precipitation levels in North America have risen dramatically in recent years, with figures climbing by as much as 15% in the US/Canadian border states. Elsewhere, storm levels have increased and seven hurricanes are expected this year. Goodyear’s chief engineer, Bill Egan says, “Greater levels of grip on rain-slick roads can be engineered on the computer for real world conditions. Improving a tyre’s wet-traction capabilities is vital in these times of changing weather patterns.”
Nokian Tyres has reported its Q2 results, which proved better than analysts expected. While sales were as forecast (up 11.7 per cent to 95 million Euro), operating income was much higher than predicted at 8.5 million Euro, with an operating margin of 8.9 per cent (last year, 3.5 per cent). Results were helped by the 1.9 million Euro operating profit recorded by the Vianor retail chain. Analysts are cautious about the outlook for the second half of the year, with much depending on winter tyre sales.
The rapid expansion of the Chinese automotive industry has created a demand for rubber components. This has developed an import market for specialised rubber products and is producing a boost to the rubber products sector, with special interest in acrylate rubber, ternary ethylene propylene rubber, thermoplastic rubber, flourine rubber, nitrile hydride rubber and chlorine alcohol rubber.
The agency charged with developing the proposals for mandatory fitting of tyre pressure monitoring has admitted it has insufficient scientific evidence to support its task. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have no files which point directly to flat tyres as a cause for crashes, nor does it have information on how often under-inflated tyres contribute to crashes. It is estimated that flat tyres cause less than half of a percent of all crashes. There is a danger that the feeling that there is a need to “do something”, may result in expensive regulations which mask real safety threats.
Hayes Lemmerz Int. appointed Curtis J. Clawson as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. In connection with Clawson’s appointment, Ranko “Ron” Cucuz, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will remain as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Most recently, Clawson was President and Chief Operating Officer of American National Can Group, a $2.5 billion NYSE traded manufacturing company, which was acquired by Rexam PLC.
Continental Teves plans a joint venture with the Shanghai Automotive Brake Company (SABC) – subject to the approval of the Chinese authorities. The aim is to provide the market with a complete brake systems package from one source. SABC already manufactures Continental Teves brake components under license, and produces components for both Volkswagen and General Motors.


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The OnePlus 6 is a hotly anticipated phone, despite some controversial features such as the inclusion of an iPhone X-esque notch, but new information regarding its storage technology has fans of the line especially excited.
While there’s a lot to like about the OnePlus 6 in terms of features, one of the most impressive specifications might be the hardware itself. While the phone may not seem as premium as a high-end flagship like the Galaxy S9 or iPhone X, it definitely has the chops to compete with the best – at least in terms of the storage. The capacity isn’t necessarily something to write home about, but according to MyDrivers, the Dual-Channel UFS 2.1 storage will be able to achieve speeds of 1.5GB/s – nearly four times as fast as the eMMC standard.
To put it in simpler terms, there are two storage standards equipped in smartphones. eMMC, or embedded Multi-Media Controller, is capable of a bandwidth of 400MB/s. THE UFS 2.1 storage included on phones like the OnePlus 6 can achieve 1.5GB/s of bandwidth which is going to result in faster speeds overall for the upcoming device.
Qualivian Investment Partners performance update for the month ended July 31, 2022. Q2 2022 hedge fund letters, conferences and more Dear Friends of the Fund, Please find our July 2022 performance report below for your review. Qualivian reached its four year track record in December 2021. We are actively weighing investment proposals. Starting in November Read More
With such ultra-fast storage in the OnePlus 6, the phone should be incredibly snappy and responsive. The phone doesn’t have the same premium aesthetic that we’ve come to expect from more established brands, but for those who care more about performance than they do looks, this handset is definitely a viable alternative to the mainstream devices that we’ve seen from more well-known companies like Apple and Samsung. Combined with a UI that’s easy to use and won’t bog the operating system down, the OnePlus 6 should shape up to be a phone that provides a seamless experience – even if it doesn’t look quite as fancy as its competitors.
The UFS 2.1 storage on the OnePlus 6 doesn’t necessarily confirm that the phone will be able to handle 4K video at 60 fps, but it will certainly play a large part in giving the phone that capability. With the massive amounts of data that a phone has to process when accomplishing a task as impressive as streaming the ultimate in video quality, having excellent bandwidth on the included storage is a top priority to ensure your streaming goes off without a hitch.
As far as other information we have on the OnePlus 6, the most notable is the inclusion of a notch that is quite similar to the one we saw included on the iPhone X. After the massive success Apple saw with their device, a number of Android companies have taken to emulating the feature in hopes of capturing some of the same success. Fans of the OnePlus line generally weren’t huge fans of this announcement, with the public backlash being rather extreme after OnePlus executive Carl Pei took to Twitter to ask fans to “learn to love the notch.” Pei has since backtracked with a statement that users will be able to hide the notch if they so choose. Considering that the notch is a hardware choice, it’s likely that it will just be hidden by a black bar at the top of the phone – subtracting from the screen real estate and making it a less-than-optimal choice for those who would like to avoid the notch.
A Chinese retailer has recently leaked the date of the OnePlus 6 launch, and it appears that the phone will be coming on May 5th. How reliable this leak is remains to be seen, but if that’s true it won’t be too long until we have our hands on the device and can begin to experience the top speeds we’ll see with the OnePlus 6 storage. It will be interesting to see how OnePlus can use the excellent speeds of their hardware to deliver a complete experience that competes with more established brands. If the company can build a reputation for speedy phones without any complicated bloatware, it’s certainly a possibility that we could see OnePlus listed among some of the smartphone greats. Only time will tell, and we don’t have much more time to wait.


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Planet Lighting was pleased to host lighting specialist partners and distributors JSB Lighting last Friday to give them hands on time with the new Planet Lighting LED Puck Snap range.
JSB team members, including CEO Justin Penhall, gathered from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to take part in a special 6 hour training event at our Bellingen headquarters.
The day kicked off with a factory tour guided by one of Planet’s lead industrial designers, Sinclair Park – who was responsible for the original design of the LED Puck handrail lighting system in 2006. Participants got a glimpse into Planet’s other lighting divisions in aquaculture and medical lighting as well as a window into the 100 year history of the company and its ethos. They also met some of Planet’s longest serving staff members of 40+ years.
An overview on LED puck production and testing followed and it wasn’t long before the JSB team themselves donned the safety goggles and rolled up their sleeves.
That’s right. Every single team member opted for a go at installation, drilling the new LED Pucks into handrail with the new purpose-built Snap Drill Jig. And in the Bellingen hot summer sun at that!
After lunch, Commercial manager of Architectural at Planet Lighting, Mia Iggulden – who leads LED Puck division – delivered a sneak peak of some exciting new products and industry partnerships.
Planet Lighting enjoys an excellent partnership with JSB. We were delighted to share some quality face to face time and thank the team at JSB Lighting for what was a enjoyable, insightful day.


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Toyota Motor Corporation’s (NYSE:TM) strong performance in May led by the U.S. and China markets confirmed that the company’s recovery is on track. The sales had shrunk last year due to the tragic Japanese tsunami and earthquake which impacted production. Toyota forecasts its profit for fiscal 2013 (i.e. from April’12- March’13) to be around 760 billion Yen (or $9.6 billion USD). The company regained its position as the world’s largest automaker after its first quarter sales beat that of General Motors.
We currently have a $93 price estimate for Toyota’s stock, which is about 20% above the current market price.
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Toyota Shines in North America and China
Toyota sales in the U.S. rose 87% in May 2012 compared to the same period last year. The company sold 202,973 vehicles in the U.S., which is 14% above its April’s total. Total U.S. car sales grew 20% in May on a y-o-y basis. Toyota sales were boosted by strong performance by Prius hybrid. The new Prius C is off to a strong start as well. Strong Prius sales in the first three months of the year in the U.S. and Japan ensured that the vehicle was the world’s third best selling car.  Similarly, Toyota’s Canadian sales jumped almost 65% to 19,810 units for the month.
In China, Toyota sales doubled to almost 79,000 for May. The company’s total vehicle sales for the first five months of the year in China have jumped 26% to 372,000 vehicles.
Threat From GM Volt
General Motors has been able to increase the efficiency of its 2013 model of Chevrolet Volt plug-in-hybrid. The car will now be able to travel 38 miles on a single battery charge, compared to 35 miles for its current version. Besides improved efficiency, the car also features a ‘hold’ mode which allows the users to switch to gasoline before they use the electric battery. Sales for Volt have more than tripled to 7,057 in 2012 so far, topping 3,638 plug-in Priuses.  Although the total sales for electric cars are only a minuscule of their total sales, the segment holds the key for car makers, as these cars are eligible for tax credits and consumer interest in electric cars has grown significantly due to rising gas prices.Notes:
- Toyota Motor overtakes General Motors, regains number one spot, theeconomictimes.com, May 22, 2012 [↩]
- Toyota, Chrysler lead strong May auto sales, cbsnews.com, June 1, 2012 [↩]
- Canadian auto sales spike over 2011 levels, winnipegfreepress.com, June 2, 2012 [↩]
- Toyota China sales double in May from a year earlier, straitstimes.com, June 1, 2012 [↩]
- GM Volt Beats Plug-In Prius, Leaf in U.S. Rechargeable-Car Sales, businessweek.com, June 1, 2012 [↩]


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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has finally granted Apple a patent to own the idea of a transparent electronic device. After unstable revenue in 2013 and 2014, the company is determined to position itself at the top of the market again by enhancing its line of products with new, improved, and the most advanced technology known today.
Their CEO Tim Cook said that Apple is working on devices and technologies that “haven’t been rumored about yet.”
The copy of the official patent request (US Patent No. 8,890,771 – Transparent Electronic Device) describes the technology as an opaque display made of several screens to render 3D images while overlaying real-world view. To keep the experience seamless, they also reveal the usage of a “black mask” that conceals all the hardware components behind the display.
Apple Insider, one of the first to break the news on the patent approval, said that this futuristic handset could be the first see-through smartphone or tablet on the market.
Two years ago, the company announced the possibility of releasing a transparent iPhone that would come with a glass display on both sides. Reports said that it would potentially be the iPhone 6. But, the handset came out late last year with the usual Retina display, only with a bigger and brighter screen. As featured by O2, the iPhone 6 comes with a 4.7-inch high definition screen that is said to be the thinnest and most advanced multi-touch display released by the company. Should we expect the iPhone 7 to come with a see-through display instead?
Although revolutionary and innovative, Apple weren’t the first to come out with this technology. Way back in 2009, Samsung revealed at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) their transparent OLED display. It showcases a small, thin display that can present high definition images via a see-through screen. Click here to view the video presentation at the CES 2009.
In terms of Augmented Reality (AR), Apple had recently bought augmented reality company Metaio on the same day that they acquired the patent. The AR firm also had a previously acquired patent to produce a new type of flexible display with tiny holes that allows the user to see or hear through the screen. Since the successful acquisition, the rest of Metaio’s owned patents will now be surrendered to Apple. The aforementioned flexible display can give the mobile tech giant more resource to build a thin, responsive, and see-through display that can augment items seamlessly.
So far, Apple has been very active acquiring various patented ideas over the years, yet only some of them have become a reality, while the majority never sees the light of day. We hope that Apple will finally be able to come up with another revolutionary technology before their Android competitors get to leverage the technologies. What do you think of a transparent smartphone that has an augmented reality feature? Cool or not? Share your thoughts with us below.


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|Home page Economy|
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy Mammad Ahmadzade has met the country's Minister of Economic Development Federica Quidi to discuss prospects for economic cooperation.
Recalling her trip to Azerbaijan, Federica Quidi stressed the importance of reciprocal visits in expanding the bilateral ties.
The sides applauded the current level of bilateral relations in the economic field, exchanged views on the steps to be taken for further development of ties between the two countries.
2016.03.05 / 12:37


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West Marine today reported sales of US$121.5m for its first quarter ended March 31, 2012, a 6.7 per cent gain over the same quarter a year ago. Its net loss narrowed to US$6.2m compared to a loss of US$12.3m a year ago.
The company said in a statement that same-store sales rose 4.3 per cent, while revenues in its “Stores” segment grew 7.9 per cent to US$7.9m. West Marine reported higher sales in all “core categories” in the first quarter.
The company also said it was debt-free by the end of the quarter, compared to US$21.1m outstanding under its credit facility a year ago.
"2012 is off to a strong start for West Marine and we are encouraged by these results,” said Geoff Eisenberg, CEO, in the statement. “The success of our growth strategies, combined with a relatively warm and dry spring, puts us in a great position as we enter our key boating season.”
Its Port Supply segment, which sells to wholesale customers through distribution centers, reported a drop of US$0.2m, or 3.6 per cent, in sales compared to the same period last year. “Our ongoing execution of real estate optimization, including adding hubs in our store locations that target and cater to Port Supply customers, continues to shift revenue from the Port Supply segment to the Stores segment,” said Eisenberg.
The mass retailer's catalogue and internet business also dropped by US$0.1m for the quarter, or 0.7 per cent. The company said lower sales to international customers caused the decline, while domestic sales demonstrated solid growth.
Total inventory at the end of the first quarter was US$240.9m, a US$6.8m (or 2.7 per cent) decrease versus the first quarter of last year, and a 4.3 per cent decrease on an inventory per square foot basis. Inventory turns for 2012 were up slightly versus the first quarter of last year.


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For most of my career, food stocks have been thought of as a defensive play. After all, no matter what else happens in the world people still have to eat, and many of these food companies also have the benefit of being nice dividend stocks.
The food companies that make and sell products may not be wildly profitable, but as long as the economy got a little better and there were more people this year than last, these dividend stocks do well.
Buy food and sleep well at night has pretty much been the mantra as long as I have been around.
That’s been even more so in the past few years as investors have looked for safe dividend stocks that could help them meet their income needs. No matter what happened in Greece of how many countries Vladimir Putin invaded, kids would still clamor for macaroni and cheese and their parents would drink their Maxwell House to jump start the day.
Kraft Foods Group Inc (NASDAQ:KRFT) paid a pretty good dividend. People would always want their Cheerios and Frosted Flakes, so Kellogg Company (NYSE:K) was a pretty safe bet with a good dividend as well.
That approach has worked pretty well for several years now but the food party maybe drawing to a close.
There is too high a price for everything, including food companies. The industry has seen a lot of consolidation and everyone is betting on who buys who next.
The tailwinds for the industry are well known. Energy prices are down, which should help the bottom line. The price of many commodities — including grains, pork, orange juice, coffee, rice and sugar — are down substantially over the past year.
There has been a lot of merger and acquisition activity and most analysts expect more. That’s a pretty cheerful outlook and as Warren Buffett once told us, a cheery consensus is expensive on Wall Street.
If you measure food stocks on traditional metrics, they are very expensive right now.
Kellogg trades with a price-to-earnings ratio of 51, 9 times book value and has an enterprise-value-to-EBITDA ratio of 18. For General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) the numbers are 24, 6 and 14, respectively. Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE:HRL) has a line of 24, 4 and 13.
The simple truth is that even though people have to eat — no matter what is going on in the Middle East or what the unemployment rate is — food company stocks are just too high to merit purchase at current levels.
The only cheap food stock I was able to find is Seneca Foods Corp (NASDAQ:SENEA). While the stock is not attractive on a P/E or EV/EBITDA levels, it does trade at just 80% of book value right now.
Seneca makes canned, frozen, and bottled produce and snack chips under a wide range of brand names, including Seneca, Libby’s, Aunt Nellie’s, READ and Seneca Farms. It also packs canned and frozen foods for the Green Giant and le Suer labels owned by General Mills.
Seneca just announced it will take advantage of the current low valuation by expanding its share repurchase program. It still has 580,000 shares under the current buyback plan and it extended that to a total of 2.5 million common shares. There are only 11.8 million shares outstanding and 7.5 million in the float of the Class A shares and 2.2 million of the B Class, so that’s big buyback plan relative to capitalization.
Long-term patient buyers should do very well with this food company.
Most food company stocks are just too expensive to make sense for long-term investors right now. Seneca is the lone exception I can find.
As of this writing, Tim Melvin does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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Hot off the heels of their wildly-successful A820 and its follow-up, the A830, Lenovo just announced their latest Android smartphone a few months ago. Since then, we’ve been following the news and rumours and checking our mailroom every day for signs of the brand-new A850.
However, the A850 looked to be really taking things to the next level. The screen size has been bumped up to a humongous 5.5″ diagonal and the new MT6582M chipset boasts a quad-core 1.3Ghz CPU. But we wouldn’t know much about the actual device until we got our hands on it.
Luckily, a mysterious looking parcel from China recently turned up at MNC HQ and we quickly made the following unboxing video of the stunning Lenovo A850. Check it out now for all the details and full specs of this phone:
Stay tuned for much more including a full benchmark test of the phone as well as our official review and, if you’re very lucky, some simple-to-follow ROM installation tutorials…


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In 2018, Apple became the world’s first trillion-dollar company, and although the title didn’t last long, the boom of big business globally no doubt means that others will soon follow.
To discover what companies are dominating around the world, RS Components has analyzed 2019 market capitalization data across hundreds of companies to reveal the biggest business in every country — and some of the results may surprise you. You can view the piece here.
America’s most lucrative company is the multinational tech company Apple, with a market cap of $961 billion, the sixth highest-grossing company in the world. Other countries with the tech industry taking the lead include South Korea, whose biggest company is Samsung; Luxembourg, whose biggest company is Spotify; and Finland, where Nokia takes the crown as the biggest company.
Within Europe, the Oil and Gas sector is leading the way as the highest-grossing industry with companies such as Enel (Italy), OMV Group (Austria) and EDP-Energias (Portugal) taking the lead.
The United Kingdom’s most lucrative company is HSBC Holdings with a market cap of $175 billion.
73% of the world’s highest-grossing companies are within the banking and finance sector
Countries including Albania, Bahrain, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, and many more all have banking companies as the biggest in their countries.
Other big brands you might recognize but not know the country they are most dominant in include, L’Oréal which is most dominant in France, Alibaba in China, Nestlé in Switzerland and Shell in the Netherlands.
What is the biggest company in your country?


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On-demand streaming services have increased throughout 2022, and it appears that the situation will remain unchanged at the start of 2023. In fact, DAZN has just announced that it will raise the price of its subscription, making it more expensive to watch football, MotoGP, and Formula 1.
This increase is unsurprising given the general trend of streaming services, but it is still bad news for users. And, as a result, absolutely all services are increasing, forcing decisions to be made about whether it is worthwhile to maintain one platform or gamble on another.
In the case of DAZN, the increases have been consistent and are framed within a very characteristic pattern: the share grows progressively as greater access to content, such as football matches or leagues of any kind, is made available. Its most recent ascent takes us to the summer of 2022, but it has now reached January 2023.
We will dissect the rise that DAZN has experienced and will continue to experience until the next quota calculation. Of course, it’s time to look back a few months for perspective, because the price increases in all plans can be prohibitively expensive for some users who already have other platforms.
DAZN raises its prices: this is how the plans retain their updated prices.
First and foremost, the new DAZN Victoria plan is priced at 9.99 euros and focuses on women’s football. It is the cheapest of DAZN’s plans because the next two include LaLiga, Formula 1 World Cups, MotoGP, Premier League, and basketball matches, among other things.
The next plan up the price ladder is DAZN Essential, which costs between 12.99 and 18.99 euros per month. In addition to what has already been seen: Formula 1 and MotoGP world championships, Premier League, Euroleague basketball, F League and UWCL, a 6 euro increase is not a tasty dish for those who have subscribed to this plan.
DAZN Total is the most comprehensive plan; it includes LaLiga Santander, allowing you to watch 5 games per day for 35 of the 38 days of the Santander League. It also includes the Formula One world championships, MotoGP, the Premier League, basketball, and the remaining content from the previous two plans.
Being DAZN Total, the most comprehensive plan, has also seen a price increase that makes it difficult to justify: it has risen from 24.99 euros to 29.99 euros. DAZN Total and DAZN Essential can both be paid in a single payment or in installments with permanence, with a single payment of 299.99 euros and 149.99 euros respectively.


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Google’s A.I. Experiments Makes Sense Of Your Silly Doodles
Google has unveiled a new website called A.I. Experiments that features some of its most out-there research on artificial intelligence. Google says it wants to make machine learning technology more accessible so every experiment is available as free, open-sourced code. The site offers a number of demos including a camera that captures images, identifies them and sets them to music. There’s also a game called “Quick, Draw!” that recognizes things you doodle and the “Infinite Drum Machine” which used machine learning to organize a massive catalog of everyday sounds.


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Eight years after Zuckerberg launched Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, his social network connects almost 1 billion people and has made him one of the richest people on the planet. He's selling off around 30 million shares in Facebook's IPO, raising $1.1 billion, but he won't be hanging on to most of the cash: Facebook say he'll use it to pay off a massive tax bill on a stock-options exercise.
Facebook's IPO will raise $16 billion, making it the third-largest IPO in U.S. history.
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|China is cutting off cash to Venezuela|


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In recent years, traditional high-end retailer Coach (NYSE:TPR) has been hurt by increasing competition from newer and more popular fashion companies like Michael Kors (NYSE:CPRI). With declining market share in valuable product segments like handbags and accessories and rapidly decelerating top- and bottom-line growth, Coach has struggled mightily.
With the company's stock down over 12% in 2014 alone, many investors have seemingly left Coach for dead. However, management at Coach has recently initiated a turnaround plan that, if viable, could return value and growth to shareholders.
The main problem for Coach is quite simply Michael Kors. As Coach has been steadily losing valuable market share, Michael Kors has been gaining it. For instance, from 2011-2012 Coach's portion of the handbag market fell from 19% to 17.5%. In the same two-year time period, Michael Kors increased its portion of the handbag market from 4.5% to 7%.
The story remains the same with regard to overall growth as well. In its most recently reported quarter, which ended on Dec. 28, Coach's total revenue declined approximately 6% on a year-over-year basis. Even worse, the company's earnings per diluted share declined approximately 14% in the quarter.
Meanwhile, Michael Kors delivered nothing short of staggering growth in its most recently reported quarter. The company grew total revenue 59% on a year-over-year basis in the quarter which ended on Dec. 28. However, the company reported an even more impressive earnings per diluted share performance as this figure grew 73% in the quarter.
The reason behind the terrible results for Coach and the great results for Michael Kors comes down to brand popularity. Quite simply, consumers currently view Coach as a stale brand, while they view Michael Kors as a brand in extremely high demand.
The social media test I typically like to perform on retailers confirms as much. For instance, on Facebook, Coach has only 5 million fans while Michael Kors has 12.4 million. Twitter shows largely the same results, as Coach has 536,000 followers versus Michael Kors' 1.8 million.
Although Coach currently faces a very serious brand image problem, I have to give credit to management for trying inventive ways to turn the company around. Instead of simply trying to shape a new image for itself in the minds of target consumers, which management is trying to do via the addition of new high-priced products, the company has also focused on entirely new areas of growth.
The new areas of growth primarily include men's product lines and the international segment, which makes up approximately one-third of Coach's total revenue.
The Men's product line stood out for Coach, even in the company's struggling North American markets. Particular strengths in the quarter were Coach's accessories lines and bag lines for men. By continuing to open new stores that cater specifically to men and by allocating more space in existing stores to men's product lines, Coach appears set to continue capitalizing on this new-found trend.
Chief executive officer Victor Luis explained, "Looking ahead, we remain bullish about the prospects for our men's global business, where we're continuing to target about $700 million in sales in FY14, up about 20% from last year, and $1 billion in sales in three years."
Meanwhile, the company's international sales increased 2% in the most recent quarter, which came in stark contrast to the company's 9% sales decline in North America. The standout area of growth was China, where revenue grew an impressive 25%.
In the quarter, management opened 10 net new locations in China, which now has a total store count of 142. More importantly, same-store sales grew in the double-digits in the region, which indicates that demand remains strong for the Coach brand in the huge China market.
Coach has struggled in recent years with increasing competition from peers like Michael Kors and waning brand power. However, management has started to shift the focus of the company to areas of strength, which should help offset some of the company's growth challenges in its signature markets.
If growth does return to Coach's large North American market, the company as a whole should emerge as a much more diverse entity. Accordingly, investors willing to wait it out may find a viable turnaround story at work in Coach.


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There are many companies that aspire to be successful in sectors of all kinds, but very few attain the coveted unicorn status, in which they obtain a valuation of over $1 billion. While there are many successful blockchain and cryptocurrency startups, it appears as though the Japanese crypto trading platform Liquid has officially hit unicorn status.
The parent company of Liquid is Quoine, a fintech company that is actually licensed by the country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA). For those who follow cryptocurrency news regularly, they might recognize the name of the company from its involvement in a court case against electronic market liquidity provider B2C2 over 3,000 Bitcoin Core (BTC).
The valuation is the result of the company’s Series C funding. One company that has participated in the funding is IDG Capital, which has also invested in some of the most well-known companies in the cryptocurrency space, such as Coinbase and Ripple. Chinese crypto miner manufacturer Bitmain also participated. The amount of money raised was not significant compared to the company’s valuation, as it is reported that only $9 million was raised so far.
The platform had previously raised $20 million from venture capital. This included money from notable Japanese firms such as JAFCO, SBI, and Mistletoe. Liquid raised an impressive $100 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) that was approved by the FSA.
Proceeds from the latest funding round “will be used to fuel global expansion, product development of the core trading exchange business and entering into the security token market,” according to the company.
In a statement, Liquid CEO Mike Kayamori said the startup hopes “to make financial services accessible to all,” and the recent funding round puts Liquid “in an incredibly strong position to make a global impact in 2019.”
He noted, “As we enter into a new age of digital disruption in financial services, consumers are increasingly placing a higher value on digital assets and technologies they can trust and use with greater ease. Our vision is to make financial services accessible to all, which means bringing more people into the digital asset space so that anyone can be a part of it.”
Another unicorn in the Japanese tech startup space is the artificial intelligence firm Preferred Networks, which is backed by well-known companies such as Toyota, Hitachi, and more. Many cryptocurrency proponents are familiar with the first cryptocurrency-related unicorn—Coinbase.
New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek’s Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin—as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto—and blockchain.


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If you’ve lived in your home for a few years, you’ve been building equity into your mortgage. When it comes time to sell, you’ll be glad for all the money you put into it. It’ll give you a nice amount for a down payment on a future house. However, many home sellers cringe when they realize they have to pay up to 6% to their selling agent.
As a result, many sellers are looking for ways to avoid paying the agent commission.
“Homeowners across the United States are figuring out that they do not need to pay what agents demand and they may not need an agent at all,” says Damon Darlin of the NY Times. “At the same time, technology is giving consumers tools to nearly circumvent the agent.”
You too can take advantage of these savings if you know where to look.
Historically, consumers have relied on agents to help determine a fair market value for their property and help market their home to buyers. But today, homeowners have virtually the same access to property data as agents. So, most consumers can already determine an accurate selling price. And marketing occurs automatically via MLS distribution on the internet. As a result, the main thing that savvy sellers need help with is the contract.
Online brokers like SimpleShowing charge a fixed fee of $5,000 to list the home on the MLS, which includes professional photos and help with things like negotiation. Say goodbye to the 6% commission!
As digital real estate apps and data become more prevalent, home sellers seem to be less and less reluctant to opt for agent alternatives. Tech-enabled brokerages have begun to emerge to meet the needs of these consumers that no longer need the hand-holding…


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• Doodhwala app is Bengaluru’s largest subscription-based e-grocer
Doodhwala, a subscription-based early morning delivery platform for fresh milk and other perishable groceries, announces the appointment of Mohammed Aehthesham as its Chief Technology Officer.
Aehthesham comes with extensive technical, strategic and enterprise software knowledge. He previously served at SAP Ariba as the Chief Architect for cloud platform. Prior to that, he was a Principal Engineer at Yahoo, playing a key role in merging technical leadership with the product.
“Doodhwala has pioneered technology-based solutions to the subscription-based milk distribution industry. With Mohammed onboard, our customer experience and operational efficiency is set to quadruple,” says Aakash Agrawal, Doodhwala’s Co-founder.
“Mohammed is merging technology with Doodhwala’s overall business strategy. On the operational front, we are improving our productivity by employing effective technology to the supply chain of fresh produce. On the customer front, the user will have an enriched intuitive shopping experience.”
“Fresh food supply chain is an unsolved problem. To provide all participants in the supply chain a value proposition and to boost customer satisfaction with better quality of food and service using technology is an exciting opportunity,” says Mohammed Aehthesham, CTO, Doodhwala.
“Doodhwala has reached quite an interesting stage, where it has scaled impressively with an impressive growth rate, yet there is a lot of opportunity ahead and building to do.”
Doodhwala, present in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, has reached four million orders till date. Its one of the first subscription-based e-grocers built on a unique one-tap-add concept, wherein users can add multiple items – bread, eggs, fruits, etc. to their upcoming delivery without the hassle of payment checkout.
“Doodhwala is scaling up to 500,000 deliveries daily. Our last mile cost per order is Rs. 2, one of the lowest in the industry due to increased optimization,” says Ebrahim Akbari, Co-founder, Doodhwala. “We deliver 7,000 orders per hour in Bangalore alone. This is probably the most efficient last mile blueprint in the country.”
In February, Doodhwala received 2.2 million in funding from Omnivore, a venture capitalist firm, in its Pre Series A round. Previously, in 2017, the company received its first round of funding from Thomas Varkey, a partner at Stonehill Capital, USA.


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The market yet again looked to the government for its cue on Wednesday, and what it saw was enough to end the Dow Jones Industrial Average's five-day winning streak. After trading in positive territory for almost the entire day, the index quickly fell more than 100 points in just a few hours in reaction to the Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed announced that it will continue its "Operation Twist," in addition to purchasing $45 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries per month starting in January, but it expressed fears over the impact of the fiscal cliff. The Dow closed down about 3 points, or 0.02%, finishing at 13,245.
Hewlett-Packard was the Dow's biggest winner today, adding 1.9% on news that it won a bid to provide 1.5 million computers to students in India. As the worst year-to-date performer in the 30 stock index, HP can use all the good news it can get.
Wal-Mart Stores , on the other hand, was the Dow's biggest loser of the day, backtracking 2.75%. One (downward) catalyst for its stock in the past few days has also come out of India, where allegations of bribery have arisen. On top of that, the fiscal cliff is rearing its ugly head in a direct way, as its CEO publicly expressed worries that the company expected lower consumer spending as a result of family budgeting this holiday season.
Another factor causing some stir in the markets today came in a more routine form: analyst upgrades and downgrades. Shares of disk-drive maker Seagate Technology and the streaming service Netflix both saw volatility on news of updated analyst opinions. Seagate fell more than 3% as JPMorgan Chase cut its rating on the stock to underweight from neutral amid fears of slower growth.
Netflix shares, in the meantime, popped 5.4% on a higher price target estimate from Morgan Stanley , which raised its target for the stock to $105 per share from $80. Netflix's stock currently trades for just over $90.
The precipitous drop in Netflix shares since the summer of 2011 has caused many shareholders to lose hope. While the company's first-mover status is often viewed as a competitive advantage, the opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their piece of a growing pie. Can Netflix fend off this burgeoning competition, and will its international growth aspirations really pay off? These are must-know issues for investors, which is why we've released a brand-new premium report on Netflix. Inside, you'll learn about the key opportunities and risks facing the company, as well as reasons to buy or sell the stock. We're also offering a full year of updates as key news hits, so make sure to click here and claim a copy today.
The article Why the Dow Broke Its Winning Streak Today originally appeared on Fool.com.
John Divine has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. You can follow him on Twitter, @divinebizkid, and on Motley Fool CAPS, @TMFDivine.The Motley Fool owns shares of JPMorgan Chase and Netflix. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Sony has pulled “Cyberpunk 2077,” one of the most anticipated games in recent years, from its PlayStation Store after a flood of complaints and ridicule over compatibility issues and bugs from customers.
The gaming giant said it is offering full refunds to any customer who purchased CD Projekt Red’s title from the PlayStation Store — though customers need to ask for it. Last week, CD Projekt Red announced that “Cyberpunk 2077” had been pre-ordered more than 8 million times. A day later (Friday), the company said its revenue from digital pre-order sales alone exceeded all of Cyberpunk 2077’s production, marketing and promotional costs.
Updated at 18:25 GMT on Friday, December 18: Microsoft has also acknowledged that some players on “older consoles” are not happy with the gaming experience of “Cyberpunk 2077” and says it is offering refunds to anyone who has purchased the game from Xbox Store — and asks for it. As of the time of the update, “Cyberpunk 2077” was still listed on Xbox Store, so it appears that Microsoft is not delisting the game from its store.
Updated at 19:25 GMT: CD Projekt Red says it intends to offer a refund to customers who bought a physical copy or a digital copy of “Cyberpunk 2077” at retail. “We will do this out of our own pocket if necessary,” it said in a tweet. BestBuy is offering a refund to customers, too. Our original story follows.
Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, said the delisting of a much-anticipated title is unprecedented in the gaming industry. “I don’t think we’ve ever really seen something like this in the industry before. The only thing that comes close is when Warner Bros. delisted ‘Batman Arkham Knight’ from PC due to technical issues, but that was from the publisher themselves. This is the platform holder delisting the game.”
He said CD Projekt Red could have delayed the release of “Cyberpunk 2077” by another year and avoided the situation it has landed itself in. “ ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ was expected to become a 30 million+ seller prior to launch. But the state of the game and CDPR’s handling of the situation post launch has led to this.”
CD Projekt Red released “Cyberpunk 2077,” a game that was first unveiled seven years ago, on December 10 following multiple delays. Shares of CD Projekt Red were down more than 13% at the time of publishing.
Sony Interactive Entertainment “strives to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, and we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store and want a refund,” the company said Friday. “Cyberpunk 2077” title is also plagued by bugs and other glitches on other platforms.
Earlier this week, CD Projekt Red acknowledged that more attention should have been paid to make the game “play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.” The company also said it would offer refunds to unsatisfied customers, but many users said they had not received their money back.
“It’s not like people didn’t see this coming for a few months now,” said Niko Partners’ Ahmad. “From the many delays of the game prior, to developers and QA pointing out issues, to last gen footage of the game being deliberately hidden / taken down (as admitted by CDPR) and more. There are multiple lessons to learn from this.”
“An important one being that management / production processes need to improve. It turns out crunching non stop for months doesn’t make a game good. It negatively impacts not just the health of developers, but of the game, too. There will also be wider impacts on the industry when it comes to guidelines for marketing, certification and refunds from a publisher and platform holder level. Anyway, will be interesting to see how CDPR respond and how they can salvage the lost goodwill they built up over years,” he added.
The headline and story were updated to reflect newer developments.


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July a hot one for Douglas merchants
The fiscal year opened with a bang in July with Douglas County merchants raking in $74.4 million in taxable sales, up 8.2 percent over the same month in 2017.
By far the largest category in July was accommodations, which brought in $30.39 million from 10 locations. The same category brought in only $74,650 from two locations last year.
Typically, the county’s largest category, food services and drinking places, was subject to an $11 million correction.
Miscellaneous retailers were at $8.9 million, essentially flat compared to last year.
Building materials and garden equipment and supplies were at $4.89 million, up 30.5 percent. Food and beverage stores were up to $4.3 million, up 5.2 percent.
Merchant wholesalers of durable goods were up 18.6 percent to $4.2 million.
The county doesn’t generate sufficient sales tax to support itself and is subsidized by other Nevada counties like Clark and Washoe.
August saw an increase in unemployment to 4.3 percent in Douglas County, with 995 people on the jobless rolls.
According to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, the county’s workforce was at 23,371, down 316 from July.
Unemployment numbers don’t reflect those who’ve stopped looking for work or whose benefits have expired.
Stateline casinos posted a good August, up 4.74 percent over the same month a year ago.
The chief source of Douglas County’s gaming revenue brought in $26.7 million during the month.
Casinos in the East Fork Township and Carson City brought in $9.65 million, up 2.77 percent from August 2017.
Carson Valley’s building boomlet didn’t translate into stronger home sales during the third quarter of 2018.
According to the Douglas County Assessor’s Office, 671 homes were sold in the Valley in year’s first nine months. During the same time period of 2017, 738 homes were sold.
Countywide, 1,094 homes were sold in 2017, up from 1,061 in 2016. The highest number of homes in the county were sold in 2004 with 1,504. The lowest number was 569 in 2008 at the front of the Great Recession.


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Linz (Austria) hold surprising gems, this month I found out SMEC is hosting a conference there dedicated to ppc automation and, god damn, it delivered. I thought I’d share the most memorable know-hows and inspirations from a “Great day for PPC automation”.
All attention worthy PPC articles this month from the web in one place!


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For the past year, Seattle software engineer Philip Beber has routinely jumped on to AmazonFresh to order beers for his company’s office. But Beber, who works at video conferencing company Fuze, started noticing something a little quirky last week.
Many of the favorite India Pale Ales that he routinely ordered for the staff were no longer in stock. Then, on Wednesday, Beber noticed that the entire beer and wine selection sold through Amazon’s online grocery delivery service was mysteriously gone.
Curious, Beber emailed customer support at AmazonFresh: “We are running low at the office and this could cause serious problems,” Beber wrote.
That message was greeted with this response from AmazonFresh customer support:
I’m truly sorry that the beer and wine selections have been removed. Unfortunately we really are not sure if or when the item will become available at this time. I completely understand how inconvenient and frustrating this can be. I will forward this feedback and comments to our business team.
Beber is not alone. At least one other GeekWire reader in Seattle noticed the lack of alcohol on AmazonFresh over the past day.
When I perused AmazonFresh on Thursday morning, the only beer I could find was of the root beer variety. No results were returned when I searched for wine.
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Beber, for one, is annoyed that Amazon.com did not do a better job of communicating with its customers. And he’s considering switching to Drizly, a new online alcohol delivery service in Seattle, despite the fact that Beber said prices appear to be higher than AmazonFresh.
“It’s super annoying that Amazon has done this — removing beer without any announcement or setting any expectation as to when it might be returned,” he said. “It erodes my trust in them as a company. I wish they would communicate more around these things.”
AmazonFresh is not the only online grocery delivery service that has stopped selling booze.
Instacart halted sales of wine and beer last December, with the company saying that it “wanted to be proactive about compliance.” Instacart said it hoped to begin selling alcohol very soon, but as of Thursday no beer or wine was listed for a sale through the site at stores we searched in Seattle.


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He took Kmart from rock bottom to rock star and now Wesfarmers' department store boss Guy Russo is picking a fight with the globe's biggest apparel players with his revival plan for Target.
High-volume fashion and basics at low prices is the mantra and Mr Russo is confident he has the experience to make it work, even if his blueprint puts him in the boxing ring with fast-fashion juggernauts H&M and Uniqlo.
Wesfarmers' $2 billion writedown and impairment bombshell this week provided an unlikely stage for Mr Russo to sketch out his vision for Target along with expectations its earnings will fall off a cliff in the second half, plunging more than $100 million from the first half to a $50 million loss.
In the 12 months to August last year Uniqlo's Australian sales soared more than 260 per cent, putting it on track to report its first profit this financial year and H&M sales almost tripled over a similar period and gross profit more than doubled.
Return to profit
Mr Russo is confident Target will return to profit by 2017 as he slashes product lines, increases direct sourcing and cuts prices on its important apparel lines.
Mr Russo says brands still have a role to play at Target unlike at Kmart, where he deleted virtually all the branded stock except in key categories such as toys, where the chain needed the pulling power of names like Lego.
"I do see a position for brands inside Target ... fashion and quality at Target has been its heart and soul over the past 30 to 40 years," Mr Russo says.
"But if brands are going to be part of Target they also need to be part of the volume strategy, I don't want to be there handpicking items for consumers. I'd like it to be doing as much volume as H&M and the other amazing fashion brands."
Superstars no more
The future of Target's collaborations with big-name fashion designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Stella McCartney looks decidedly less certain under Mr Russo's rule after he expressed concerns over how sales of these products hurt purchases of the higher margin, core apparel lines.
Sources close to Target fear any move to scale back these limited edition collections could hurt Target's fashion credentials, which is key to differentiating the chain's brand from rival discount department store operations Kmart and the Woolworths-owned Big W.
"Targets' designer brands generate traffic and a decision to remove those is a neat way to remove store traffic and I'm not sure that's what you're trying to do," one Target insider says.
I don't want to be there hand-picking items for consumers.Guy Russo
"It comes down to, do you know your customer, relative to the Kmart customer?"
Private label tussle
The difficulty for Target is that its private label product can't compete with the cache of H&M or Uniqlo, which is virtually all private label product but sold through high-profile, desirable international brands and destination stores.
Target has built its reputation on quality but also on fashion, one retailer said, and that's thanks in no small part to its collaborations with big-name designers.
He said these partnerships, when Target got it right created hype around the chain, brought in new customers and put Target in contention with rivals H&M and Zara.
Analysts claim the latest collaboration with Gaultier missed the mark and misjudged the Target customer, a fatal error in retailing.
"I would never have involved Jean Paul Gaultier in a collection, it's just too high-brow for Target," one insider says.
"These collaborations, when they're done right add an aspirational element to the stores and I believe they're key to the future of the discount department stores."
Mr Russo has already cut 240 roles from Target's head office and Wesfarmers will spend about $30 million moving the business to Melbourne from Geelong. At Big W, former Oroton chief Sally Macdonald put her stamp on the organisation this week, cutting 40 buying staff and restructuring its overseas sourcing office.
The Woolworths-owned chain is also expected to take a dive into the red this half and report its first full-year loss since the 1990s after first-half earnings slumped 39 per cent to $67.3 million.
Its lacklustre performance has earned it the dubious distinction of being part of Australia's "most endangered retail sector", according to consultant Steve Kulmar.
He says in the race to the bottom, the discount chains have evolved into big warehouses, where customers are left to pick the stock and it's why global chains such as Uniqlo and H&M have so successfully picked off their customers.
"There's not a lot of imagery left around the discount department stores and that's why it's the greatest area of interest for the overseas entrants, who can sell their brand story into that space," Mr Kulmar says.
The buying might of the global apparel brands will also be hard for Target to match, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Tom Kierath.
"Uniqlo and H&M are buying 10 times the volume of a Target ... how do you do lower price with less volume and if you're going to do fashion forward that's where it gets tricky to do that and compete," he says.
"Target doesn't have the same brand as those guys so arguably, it (Target) needs to be even more affordable.
"Where as at Kmart it's just cheap and it doesn't need to be that fashionable."
Turning up the volume
Mr Russo's pursuit of a volume-led strategy, which proved a winner at Kmart, has raised questions about how successful this will be at Target and whether it could damage its key brand values, quality and fashion.
"I think the question is whether there's room for a second discount department store to pursue a low price strategy," one analyst said.
"There are risks around the customer segment being pushed further away from Target towards Kmart because if you really want value, Kmart is the destination.
"So it's important that Target is sufficiently differentiated from Kmart but not lost in a zone where it's not seen as good enough quality and not cheap enough on price, this is the problem that has plagued the discount discount department store sector for many, many years."
At the same time discretionary spending is in decline, with Citigroup's research suggesting the share of wallet dedicated to non-essential purchases has slipped from about 17.5 per cent in 1975 to about 10 per cent now.
Citigroup's head of research Craig Woolford said Mr Russo had to be vigilant his volume strategy didn't hurt quality at Target.
"The most dangerous thing for Target would be to depart from the quality position and history it has," Mr Woolford said.


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“Dual branding is the future of our brands,” says Brian Krause, chief development officer at Focus Brands.
Two-and-a-half decades after the juice bar chain Juice It Up! launched, managers concluded that the store design urgently needed a reboot.
Focus Brands opened its first co-branded Auntie Anne’s and Jamba location that features a drive-thru.
Since its acquisition of Jamba Juice last year, FOCUS Brands has been working on a comprehensive brand evolution for the nearly 30-year-old chain.
Jamba, Inc. will push its convenience-driven formats in the Dallas-Fort Worth market with three new openings.
Jamba Juice has opened an “innovation bar” location in Pasadena, Calif., where the operation will create and test new food and


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We're at NAB today - it starts in a few hours, and the first meeting for us is the BMD press conference. It's exciting and with good reason: you can expect some VERY big announcements that will shake the industry to the core
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a new sensor technology based on Graphene, which is 1000 times more light sensitive than existing CMOS or CCD sensors
So, we've seen the announcement from Sony of two new 4K cameras, new codecs, new recording media and a new 30" 4K LCD monitor. Just how significant is this, and is this the 4K Tipping Point, at least for production, if not all the way to the home?
The new Panasonic Lumix GH3 builds on its predecessor's video-friendly credentials, offering better compression and an all-round improved package. RedShark regular contributor Mark McCarthy of Sparky Media Productions bought one, and put it through its paces
I recently encountered a thread on one of my favourite forums in which someone was asking for opinions on a Canon EOS-60D package he'd seen on ebay. This package included the 60D body and extras including three lenses including a battery, charger, flash cards, various filters and diopters, cleaning kit, tripod, and more. All of this was neatly photographed and posted for sale on Ebay by a vendor we'll call, in order to protect the guilty, Pretty Cheap Digital, based in New York


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And that day was yesterday. There is a massive amount of online prognostication (7,500+ articles on Google News last I checked) regarding Apple’s new CEO. USA Today questioned his showmanship, and wondered if he had the vision or genius to succeed. After all, there is a big difference between operating a company, and leading a company.
Meanwhile, the Steve Jobs tributes continue to roll in (see below for show-stopping example). Legions of Apple fanboys have taken the historic moment to bone up on their iMovie skills, scripting voice-overs, and cutting together tear-inducing photo memoirs.
In a poll by PC Magazine, almost 40% said that Jobs’ resignation would hurt Apple. Last I checked there were less than 500 votes. I agree with the early count. I can’t see how the company will move ahead unaffected. As many have suggested, though, the Jobs DNA has had ample time to multiply at Cupertino. Instead of one master showman, perhaps the future will look like the Clone Wars — thousands of bright-eyed, possibly demonic, saviors in training at the Big O.
The New York Times called Jobs the Master of Design: “At Apple, Mr. Jobs has been the ultimate arbiter on products. For example, three iPhone prototypes were completed over the course of a year. The first two failed to meet Mr. Jobs’s exacting standards. The third prototype got his nod, and the iPhone shipped in June 2007.”
As if to demonstrate further what we already know — that Steve Jobs is an enigma, a messiah, and a villain all rolled into one — Jon Friedman called him the “greatest manipulator of popular culture in history.” And that was a compliment by the way. It’s all spot on. We ate out of his hand. Jobs transformed the keynote into grand entertainment. There was the one more thing, the ego parade of impressive app downloads we needed to hear about before each product announcement. Then there were the lines. The iPad proved to be the greatest stunt of all. It was not a computer, nor a mobile device. It was a lifestyle. Only Steve Jobs could pull that off.
Back to Tim Cook.
Wired notes that “he’s tough, but by all accounts, he’s the calm, kind, private counterpart to the moody, mercurial Jobs.”
Okay, yes, yes. But how does he look in a mock turtleneck and jeans?


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Mobile canning comes to Australia
Australia’s first mobile canning business is expected to be available to breweries on the east coast within three to four months.
East Coast Canning has been established by Chris Kelly, an Australian who realised the opportunity while overseas.
He told Australian Brews News that in the US there are now between 30 and 40 mobile canning companies, one of which was founded by a mutual friend in the Pacific Northwest.
“He was running one line two years ago and he’s now running seven lines from Portland to Seattle, seven days a week, and he employs 20 people,” hesaid.
After spending time overseas researching different canning technologies, Kelly settled on an innovative new model from an undisclosed US supplier he says has a strong pedigree in the area.
“The guys who are building the line, one of them’s a former Anheuser-Busch canning tech,” he said.
Kelly’s background is in radiation science, a profession he says engenders very strong discipline around ensuring a quality product.
“I’ve been doing that for an awful long time and what that means is that quality assurance and quality improvement and quality control is kind of what I nerd out on!” he said.
“We’ll have a level of monitoring that’s pretty unusual in the packaging world in general.”
“All set up and tuned well, the line we’ve got coming will do about ten hectolitres in an hour, so we can get through a fair bit of beer pretty quickly,” he said.
“What that essentially translates to is that we don’t need to be on site for that long at an individual job.
“We’ve got a really neat online booking system so that brewers will be able to see in advance when we’re available in their area,” Kelly said.
Under East Coast Canning’s model, brewers are required to purchase their own cans in advance and ensure they are on site when the line arrives.
Kelly estimates an automated canning line with four or more filling heads requires an investment of at least $300,000, which may be out of reach for many brewers.
As such he said he has already experienced many enquiries from brewers who have learnt about the proposed service over the last 12 months.
“It’s kind of gotten around the industry from just that collegial word of mouth,” he said.
For further enquiries contact Chris Kelly firstname.lastname@example.org.