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At the recent Formnext exhibition in Frankfurt, DNV and Berenschot announced upcoming guidelines on reporting of CO2 footprint for additive manufacturing (AM), the industrial equivalent of 3D printing. The ongoing AM ProGRAM JIP phase 3, hosted by DNV and Berenschot, will conclude in 2024 and include a guideline for reporting of CO2 footprint in DNV’s industry standard for AM, DNV-ST-B203.
Investing in a sustainable value chain is a key opportunity for energy companies transitioning to a lower-carbon system. Additive manufacturing, a forefront in sustainable manufacturing, addresses challenges posed by traditional methods. Reports reveal inconsistencies in sustainability reporting among energy and oil and gas companies, compounded by a lack of supply chain indicators in reporting guidelines, hindering objective assessments.
“The ProGRAM JIP is an arena where the whole industry can come together and align on matters related to additive manufacturing. In phase 3, the aim has been to create tools that enable AM as a sustainable manufacturing method. One of the things needed to achieve this is a transparent and unified framework for quantifying the sustainability of AM parts,” explains Dr Sastry Yagnanna Kandukuri, Global Practice Lead for Additive Manufacturing in DNV.
The guideline takes an approach based on life-cycle analysis (LCA) to quantify the most important CO2 footprint from manufacturing for an individual part. By isolating the footprint on a part level, parts from different manufacturers can be compared without being influenced by differences in company size etc. However, the overall CO2 footprint from operating an AM factory will also be addressed in the guideline.
“By quantifying the CO2 footprint of manufacturing, it will be possible to also quantify the environmental benefits of additive manufacturing, compared to conventional manufacturing methods. We believe this will help end users understand what value they can get from transitioning to more digital manufacturing methods. This will help them adopt additive manufacturing in cases where both the environment and the industry can benefit,” says Mathijs van Poll, Berenschot Consultant.
The ProGRAM JIP phase 3 aims to establish tools for allowing AM parts to be used in relevant design applications in the energy and maritime industry, with a focus on reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing. The project started in 2022 and will conclude in Q1 2024, with a consortium consisting of 24 companies representing end-users, system and part OEMs, AM hardware providers, AM feedstock providers, and providers laboratory testing monitoring systems.
In addition to releasing guidelines, DNV will provide industry support through qualification services to facilitate the adoption of this standardized CO2 footprint approach. This will ensure that end users can place trust in the reporting coming from the additive manufacturing supply chain.


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Amazon parcels were stolen when a thief took a driver's van as they made a delivery in Bilston.
The vehicle, which was full of packages, was taken in Bunker's Hill Lane on Wednesday, April 7.
PCSO Julie Pressdee said: "If you are a delivery driver for any company, then please do not leave your vehicle insecure or still running even if only for a matter of seconds. That, unfortunately is all it takes and there have been many incidents of opportunists taking advantage of this."
She continued: "Bilston officers speak to delivery drivers virtually everyday who they have seen leaving vehicles insecure, keys in the ignition etc."
Anyone with information about the incident can contact West Midlands Police via Live Chat at www.west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight.
Alternatively, call 101 at anytime or contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

domain: news


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Results showed children control their emotions after playing this game.
If you are not able to help children who have problems with anger emotions through psychotherapy alone, try video games. But not indiscriminate video game. But RAGE Control, a video [...]
The Samsung has confirmed that they will continue cooperation with Apple.
After emergence page report quoted the Korea Times on Monday, (10/22), about the possibility of termination of their partnership with the Apple.
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Computers are often problematic certainly very disturbing your busy day with work or just play using the computer.
Problems that occur on a computer is often assumed to be a problem we can not solve yourself, so you often bring the problematic computer [...]
Researchers from IBM managed to break the record by making the world’s smallest movie.
The film uses atoms as an actor in a movie called “A Boy And His Atomic” lasted 1 minute 35 seconds.
The film is made using stop-motion technique, [...]
Galaxy Grand has a screen size of 5 inches with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.
Last week, some observers have expressed the tablet Samsung is preparing release tablet product named Galaxy Grand in December.
This is revealed in the report file Samsung [...]
Jakarta – Plastic may be a major culprit in the garbage problem in some countries. However, Japan had already found a solution for reducing plastic waste. A Non-Government Organization (NGO) from Japan named Ecoparty come to Indonesia to introduce [...]
Inspired by the MacBook Air.
Google seems to be more serious about growing its business into hardware, not only playing in mobile platforms, search engines, and internet advertising. The proof is in cooperation with Samsung, Google launched its Chromebook [...]
Will spend 140 days in the mission.
A Russian rocket carrying two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut blasted off into space on Tuesday (10/23). The three astronauts will be on duty on the International Space Station (ISS).
Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin [...]
You are one of the fans of the game Plants Vs Zombies? If yes, then this time there is interesting info for you.
Quoted from Ubergizmo, Wednesday (8/5), the latest version, Plants Vs Zombies 2: It’s About Time, is reportedly ready to slide in July [...]
Toshiba Singapore Digital Products and Service Group (DS) today introduced the Canvio Portable Hard Drive Slim, with a capacity of 500GB.
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The name is usually known as a popular browser, Firefox, is now present as the operating system of a smartphone made by Alcatel.
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GM CEO and chairman Mary Barra speaks during an “EV Day” on March 4, 2020 at the company’s tech and design campus in Warren, Mich., a suburb of Detroit
DETROIT – Wall Street is expecting a lot from General Motors’ two-day investor event that starts Wednesday afternoon – from specific revenue and earnings targets to new details about its electric and autonomous vehicle operations.
But what GM investors really want is a roadmap for sustainable shareholder growth. It’s something the automaker has flirted with under CEO Mary Barra but never been able to retain.
The stock has swung wildly under Barra’s reign, from a 60% surge in share price to an almost as big drop since she took the helm in January 2014, according to FactSet. Before this year, shares of GM were largely down since Barra took the reins. They’re now up by 36%, with almost all of that growth coming this year alone.
That type of growth is what analysts believe could continue if GM can swiftly deliver on its plans to transform the company — at least in investor eyes — into more of a technology company than a traditional automaker.
“With the core objective of GM’s investor day centered on demonstrating the growth opportunities ahead for GM, we expect a case to be made for GM multiple expansion … which we believe it merits,” Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy said in an investor note Friday. “We believe a clear case can be made for GM stock north of $100.”
Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner said the event “could serve as a positive catalyst for the stock” if GM meets investor expectations, specifically regarding its plans for electric and autonomous vehicles.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas noted several key growth areas and business opportunities for GM, while questioning whether the event will “simply reinforce what many already believe about GM or can it catalyze a more significant change in strategic path?”
Like investors, Barra and her executive leadership team are hoping for the latter. Here are five ways GM is going to try and make that happen.
Investors should expect an unprecedented amount of details during the event, including specific targets regarding revenue, profit margins and the outlook on total market size for early expansion businesses like self-driving taxis.
It’s one of two things Jonas believes will be important for GM to accomplish: “Provide the transparency and disclosure to help the analyst and investment community to both model and value the company’s critical tech-oriented business units,” he said in an investor note last week.
GM’s revenue last year was nearly $122.5 billion, down 10.8% compared with 2019 thanks largely to factory shutdowns at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. It still made $6.4 billion in net income for the year while its adjusted operating profit was $9.7 billion, or $4.90 a share, in 2020.
The other important thing for GM is leaving the “investment community with the sense of urgency that the company is taking the necessary steps to attract the necessary capital and talent to allow GM’s capabilities to be successful,” Jonas said.
Barra and other GM executives such as President Mark Reuss and CFO Paul Jacobson are expected to discuss how the automaker is investing as fast as possible in electric and autonomous vehicles to bring the technologies to market more quickly.
GM earlier this year said it would invest $35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles by 2025, up 30% from plans announced late last year.
Under that investment, GM has said it would offer 30 new EVs by 2025. The company is expected to better detail its transition from an automaker heavily reliant on vehicles with internal combustion engines to exclusively offering electric cars and trucks by 2035.
“We continue to believe GM offers a compelling EV strategy, with one of the most holistic and ambitious EV strategies of legacy OEMs, underlying our positive outlook on GM. That said, it’s now time for execution, as we await data points indicating GM can maintain market share and profitability in an EV world,” Levy said.
The investor event overall is expected to provide a “clear strategy” in an effort to increase the company’s valuation to be more like a technology company, much like Tesla is at more than $740 billion. GM’s market cap is about $79 billion.
Dan Ammann, CEO of GM’s majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise, will tell investors that it sees a path for its ride-hailing business to reach $50 billion in revenue as it ramps up operations.
He won’t detail a specific timeline to hit such a milestone, but he’s expected to explain how they plan to build it up fast, if not faster, than other transformative businesses, according to a person who is familiar with the plans, which were reported earlier by Bloomberg.
GM also is expected to discuss additional details about its hands-free Super Cruise driving system, which it has promised to offer on 22 models by 2023.
GM wants to increase recurring revenue and customer loyalty through a new internally developed software system for vehicles that it’s calling “Ultifi.”
“That’s a goal. The more we integrate our product into their lives and the better we make … certainly that’s what we want to achieve. It’s not a guarantee,” Scott Miller, GM vice president of software-defined vehicle, told reporters last week during a call.
The automaker aims to integrate the software platform into customers’ digital lives through software features, apps and personalized services that will be regularly updated remotely. That could include paying for new services such as its hands-free highway driving system and other technologies.
– CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.


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Static code analysis is usually thought of in terms of preventing vulnerabilities from existing in code. And, it’s thought of in terms of things like memory leaks and tainted data.
But as businesses become more reliant than ever on software to drive their revenues, it is important to think about the damage these vulnerabilities can do to the bottom line.
So here, we present “5 Ways Static Code Analysis Can Save Your Business From Ruin,” as detailed by Walter Capitani, director of product management at Rogue Wave Software.
Think of the amount of money companies spend to establish their brand, by meeting criteria the public establishes for reliability and security, along with ease of use, emotional connection and more. Back in the day, before iPhones came to dominate that market, it was known that if you bought a BlackBerry, it was the most secure device on the market.
Yet Apple offered emotional bonds and a delightful user experience – and a camera – and has come to just about own that market. And since then, it has become a target for hackers. In 2016, a security flaw in Apple’s iMessage system enabled users to spoof addresses to gain access to data and have users believe they were interacting with trusted addresses when they weren’t.
“Static code analysis might have been able to tell Apple, ‘these inputs could have prevented a crash.’ Tainted data could cause the crash, but they were not scanning for tainted data in messaging,” Capitani said. “The number of times you have to update and fix software affects your reputation.”
While Apple might have enough goodwill built to avoid irreparable harm to its reputation, a steady stream of breaches and fixes will do damage. And a smaller company, without the history of providing thrilling experiences, will be damaged much more.
#2: Lost inventory
Capitani told of a breakdown of the point-of-sale system at Starbucks in 2015 that prevented them from making sales in all of the company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada. Starbucks said it was due to a failure during a daily system refresh. Food has an expiration date, and if those kinds of breakdowns – caused by software bugs – last too long, the company has to trash its food inventory and suffer the losses.
“If the supply chain is interrupted by software, there’s a ripple effect that costs you money down the line,” he said.
#3. Lost sales
When Boeing was rolling out its 787 Dreamliner fleet of airplanes, it incurred a battery problem that grounded the fleet until the root cause of the problem could be determined. “Salespeople were in final negotiations for sales,” Capitani said, “and they might have had to make price concessions or lose the business altogether. Problems like that affect the sales cycle.”
#4. Legal issues
Earlier this year, Equifax lost a tremendous amount of data as the result of a software vulnerability discovered in their application. Since then, they’ve been sued for damaged by innocent third parties affected by the data loss. “This is significantly distracting to companies, who now are worrying about legal issues instead of doing their day job.” And that affects the bottom line.
#5. Reputation part 11: Unhappy customers
In late 2015, the NEST smart home company had problems with their thermostats not turning the heat on in winter. Aside from pipes freezing, people away on vacation might have left pets home that could succumb to the cold if it went on tool long. “In today’s world, one unhappy customer can create a huge amount of negative publicity,” Capitani explained. NEST has a range of products, and if a potential customer were to read about the thermostat, he might think twice about buying a security camera from the company.
All of the above examples involved software that was not secure, or implementing newer technologies without thoroughly testing it. “Why would a company add static code analysis to what they’re doing?” Capitani asked. “Think about the impact of software quality on these factors. We’re not talking about quality for quality’s sake.” Actually, the business is at stake.


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“With just 10 percent of IT allocated to generating new business value, incumbents are not battle ready when it comes to contending with nimble tech players. As any investor would tell you, place your resource bets where you believe there is value.”
Three-quarters of the organizations surveyed by Gartner increased customer experience (CX) technology investments in 2018. Customer analytics continues to be one of the biggest investments, with 52 percent intending to increase funding in 2019, focusing on customer journey analysis, customer needs analysis, voice of the customer (VoC) and digital marketing.
“Bain research has found that only 12% of all corporate transformations achieve their targets, and, while we are in the early days with many stories still being written, digital transformations appear even harder.”
via Bain & Company
The top agility inhibitors in IT and other business services functions is mediocrity. One reason is that IT is almost exclusively trying to improve by reducing complexity; it’s doing next to nothing to change its culture.
“Our research at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research has found that companies cannot scale new digital business models if they have not digitized. In other words, they need core systems, processes, and data that provide operational excellence.”
via Sloan Review
IDC estimates that the lack of available IT skills will result in over $90 billion in lost revenue annually in Europe by 2020. Across the globe, there is a huge demand to attract the right emerging skillsets needed to excel in digital transformation.
via IDC UKI


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Eastlink Launches Mobile Service in Miramichi
As part of a $26 million mobile network expansion in the region, Eastlink has officially launched its mobile service in Miramichi, New Brunswick, for greater coverage and more choice for customers in the province.
Eastlink has invested nearly half a billion dollars since its launch in 2013 to grow its mobile service into more Canadian communities including Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Shediac, and Sussex in New Brunswick.
Eastlink services in NB include Rollover Data, the ability to change the cellular plan anytime, 5G-ready service, contract buyout enabling ease of switching, and $0 down on any phone.
“We’re thrilled to bring our mobile service and new store to the people of Miramichi,” said Jeff Gillham, CEO.
“Our teams have been working hard for the better part of the year getting our network sites built and our store ready to reflect the interactive, personalized experience we want our customers to have when they walk through the door.”
“The family is very proud to expand on our larger investments in the province, which also include our blueberry field development and processing facility in Bois Gagnon, and our hospitality division with Rodd Hotels,” said Eastlink Vice Chair Lee Bragg.
“We are so pleased with the completion of Eastlink’s mobile network expansion here in Miramichi,” said Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon. “Bringing strong, competitive mobile options to the community only strengthens our ability to retain and attract people who want to live and work here.”
Eastlink has invested over $40 million in bringing its mobile service to NB. Mobile expansion in the province continues as the company advances its plans to launch in Bathurst next in the coming year followed by the Acadian Peninsula.


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A new report by mnAI found that over the last 12 months, 56,006 companies were founded by under 24-year-olds, representing 47% of all companies founded by that age group. This is compared to 320,887 new companies launched by 24-38 year olds over the same period.
The innovative team at mnAI focused their research on the number of businesses founded by such a young generation and how this has grown.
The average number of directors for founding a business across all other age groups is usually one sole director. However, Gen Z seems to prefer the partnership approach, with the data showing that the average number of founding directors was with two people.
The report found that the split between male and female Gen Z officers is significant, with females representing 30.43% of all officers, and males making up the remaining 69.57%. Of the over 56,000 companies founded, 10,669 companies were founded by women over the last 12 months.
Maddyness UK says:
The findings of the report further emphasises how Gen Z is approaching their career path in a completely new way to those from previous generations. The utilisation of platforms targeted at Gen Z – with TikTok of notable mention – creates a free way to gain a following, brand awareness and build a community. This fast, dynamic and fearless to approach to building and launching a new business wasn’t available for past generations and paves the way for an abundance of exciting new businesses to excel in the future.


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A top Amazon.com official told lawmakers on Wednesday that federal regulators should act "expeditiously" to develop rules regulating the e-retailer's proposed drone delivery service.
Although the large-scale delivery of parcel packages via drone likely remains years away, Amazon Vice President of Global Public Policy Paul Misener told the House Oversight Committee that the company "will have it by the time the regulations are ready.”
"Not only do we think our customers will love this service, we believe it will benefit society more broadly," Misener said.
Seattle-based Amazon unveiled its Prime Air project in late 2013. The program aims to deliver packages of up to five pounds to customers' doorsteps in 30 minutes or less.
The program, however, ran into a series of regulatory hurdles its development progressed. The company waited six months for Federal Aviation Administration approval of a test drone, only to see that particular prototype become obsolete. In response, the company began testing just across the U.S.-Canada border in British Columbia.
The FAA subsequently issued new guidelines for unmanned aircraft and an expedited process for new FAA waivers.Those rules, in part, required drones to be flown during daylight and at elevations of 400 feet or less, and said that the crafts must remain within the operator's line of vision.
Misener told committee members that those types of categorical restrictions "make no sense and must be avoided." He said the vehicles would be highly automated and that an operator should be able to control multiple drones at the same time.
In addition, Misener said that because the drone program would involve many jurisdictions, the federal regulations must create uniform standards that pre-empt state and local governments. He added that safety was the company's "top priority" and stressed that Prime Air would strictly be "a future delivery service, not a surveillance operation."
FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker told the House panel that although more research is needed before the agency authorizes the widespread use of commercial drones, its regulations should be finalized within a year.
Committee members from both parties, meanwhile, lauded the potential impact of drone technology while expressing wariness about its impact on aerospace safety and consumer privacy.
“There will be an incident. There will be a crash. There will be probably fatalities because you have so many of these things flying,” Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, said. “I hope it doesn’t take down a big commercial aircraft. I hope it doesn’t have a lot of fatalities but I think it’s inevitable.”


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Lately, magazines have been slimming down - but the December issue of InStyle bucks the trend with their totally out-of-this-world 3D adventure Taylor Swift cover and "augmented reality" interior ad pages.
Miss Swift has certainly been on fire these days, having swept last night's CMAs and now, starring in InStyle's December cover. The days of flimsy plastic 3D glasses are over. Rather, readers can prop up Swift's mug on the cover to their web cam and (somehow) they'll see a 45-second video in which Swift comes to life to frolic with snowflakes and sign her autograph across the screen. Like, whoa.
Once inside, the magazine is taking a concept called "gifting in 3D" for a test drive. Ad pages at a 3.6% increase welcome newcomers YSL Beauté, Intel, Michael Kors, Nordstrom and Armani to participate in a click-to-buy e-commerce feature. Each of the advertisers get their own customized 30-second video that pops out of a gift box.
Sounds groovy and, at the very least, a step in the right direction to revving up the publishing world.


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HARRISONBURG — In the span of a year, it is estimated that Bluestone Elementary School will use 39,000 milk cartons.
But that is changing. The school has installed milk dispensers in the cafeteria, allowing students to fill up their own reusable cups with as little or as much chocolate or regular milk as they want.
Bluestone Elementary School already has a strong focus on sustainability, so when Principal Anne Lintner approached Andrea Early, executive director of school nutrition, about adding milk dispensers this year, it seemed like the perfect fit.
There are a number of benefits to the new dispensers, Early said. The milk itself is colder and tastes better; it encourages mindfulness by allowing students to take what they’re actually going to drink; and of course, there are no cardboard cartons piling up in the trash can.
Waste reduction is the major goal of the milk dispensers, Early said. Harrisonburg City Public Schools measured milk waste for one week in January and found that, on average, students took 220 cartons of milk at lunch each day.
This amounts to nearly 39,000 cartons each school year ending up in the trash, as they are not recyclable in the area. As far as liquid milk waste, students consumed about 70 percent of all milk cartons and wasted 30 percent, equating to approximately four gallons of milk waste each day.
Other school districts across the country that have implemented milk dispensers report benefits of decreased container and packaging waste, as well as increased milk consumption related to students preferring the taste and chilled temperature of the milk from the dispensers.
“It’s always about the students and doing what’s best for them,” Early said. “If this encourages them to drink more milk, that’s great.”
Bluestone is one of the first schools in Virginia to move away from milk cartons.
Students were trained on how to use the dispenser. There have been some spills, but students got the hang of it pretty quickly, Early said.
The dispensers cost $3,000 for the two. The savings on milk isn’t much, about a cent per 8-ounce serving, but with a tight budget every little bit helps, Early said.
Students are enjoying the new milk delivery system.
“It’s better than the old milk flavor,” said fourth-grader Declan Young.


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If the restaurant sported a different name, it’d be a non-event. What’s one more farmer addressing one more batch of consumers about what he grew for their local restaurant?
But because the place is Wendy’s, you have to marvel. Whether you label it local, seasonal or farm-fresh, food with a story is going mainstream. Independent restaurants have been the instigators. But now chains like Dave’s brainchild are clearly striving to catch up. Instead of farm to fork, it’s farm to fast-food.
In Wendy’s case, the concession to true food is the chain’s new Berry Almond Salad, made with fresh strawberries and blueberries. If you doubt it, Wendy’s has an expert witness ready to testify. Just press the Play button on a YouTube video to hear Jim Carter talk about how his Eclipse Farm in Oxnard, Calif., produces the strawberries.
Just as a farmer might tell a white-tablecloth crowd about the heirloom beets or heritage pork they’ll be savoring that night, Carter explains what makes a strawberry perfect and how his farm adjusts its processes accordingly.
He also stresses the freshness of what’s provided to Wendy’s. “From the picker’s hands, the fruit is in the cooler within an hour,” he says.
The video isn’t the first time a major fast-food chain has touted the fresh-from-the-farm aspect of its ingredients. Domino’s famously ran a commercial where a focus group watches the walls around it collapse to reveal they’re in a farm like the one that suppies the pizza chain.
McDonald’s drew heat with an ad campaign in the Pacific Northwest that stressed how many menu ingredients were taken right from that area.
Wendy’s, interestingly, didn’t blare the claims about its strawberries via broadcast media. Instead, it showcased the video on its Facebook page. You have to hunt a bit to find it on YouTube.
Even that modest approach seems to be in keeping with the food-with-a-story movement, where too much gloating is quick to be tagged as greenmailing.
Cynics are still going to slam Wendy’s, basically arguing that a fast-food chain can’t fit the movement. But I don’t see how they could deny that this is a major step in the right direction.


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Matteson, IL (PRWEB) October 21, 2010
Three weeks ago, Avon Products Inc. welcomed its newest members to the family by adding Hassan and Ashley Rashid as two of their newest independent sales representatives. Hassan and Ashley reside in the south suburbs of Chicago and are excited and ready to get the ball rolling on profits and all other future Avon endeavors. They have aspirations of taking their business nationwide which is something only a small number of Avon representatives have been able to do. Recently, their website, http://www.youravon.com/hrashid, has just launched and they both have been working tirelessly to promote their website and get their name out to the masses.
Incidentally, they could not have picked a better time because in the midst of their new beginning, Avon is also beginning its 23rd campaign of the 2010 year. Avon is kicking off this campaign with their line of new age skin care products. The most highly publicized of all the products is the Anew Platinum Serum and Night Cream which has Jacqueline Bisset as its spokesperson.
The inspiration comes from skin cells aging and collapsing resulting in a loss of youthful contours. Avon scientists discovered the power of Paxillin. This key protein helps retain the full expanded shape of youthful skin cells and is found in lesser amounts of aging cells. Avon's first-ever patented Paxillin technology is formulated to boost the production of Paxillin by 60%! Platinum recaptures the look of youthful contours. Avon says after two weeks the neck and jawline can look more defined and sculpted and wrinkles appear dramatically reduced. They also say after four weeks the cheek area will look lifted and reshaped and the appearance of sagging skin will be dramatically reduced.
Hassan and Ashley want it to be known that you can go to http://www.youravon.com/hrashid and retroactively buy products from previous campaigns and this campaign's skin care line is broken down to 30+, 40+, 50+, 60+, and all ages. There are hundreds of other products on the website such as clothing, jewelry, accessories, and fragrances. They also can personally give hands-on information about special offers and discounts.
So check out Avon's new campaign and Hassan and Ashley's new website at http://www.youravon.com/hrashid or call them at (708)774-9720 between the hours of 3p.m-8p.m. Monday-Friday
# # #


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The company is launching a new system that will enable customers and retailers to check the authenticity of a product using a smartphone or computer.
In future, Sennheiser packaging and products will be protected with special labels, called PrioSpots.
These labels contain a QR code that can be scanned by a smartphone or computer in order to confirm the product’s authenticity.
The global market for counterfeit electronic products is estimated to be worth 74 billion euros per year.
Not only do companies such as Sennheiser lose out on sale but customers are left with sub-standard goods, in this case, in the form of build and sound quality.
The system has been used across Europe already but is now set to be deployed worldwide.
Last October, Sennheiser filed a series of lawsuits against more than 100 pirates it claimed to have identified operating in the US.
This was followed by Amazon limiting the sale of Sennheiser and Monster headphones in the UK by third-party sellers.
Worried about buying fake headphones? Read our in-depth guide on 'How to avoid buying fake headphones'.


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It looks like soon it will no longer be a matter of choosing between the visual qualities of the Arri Alexa or those of 4K resolution. A recent statement seems to suggest that it might soon be possible to have your cake and eat it
A new, fairly expensive ENG-style camera that's only HD resolution? But it has the same sensor as the most sought-after camera in Hollywood (according to the Oscar nominations)!
As we saw in my previous article on sensor technology, we can now build sensors with enormous numbers attached to them - if not trivially, at least reliably. Given that current 4K sensors are more than adequate to replace 35mm film in terms of sheer resolution, we need to be careful about turning this into a numbers game.
A clever little anamorphic adaptor opens up new possibilities for the ARRI Alexa


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The Japanese car market has bottomed and should avoid further declines next year according to a Volkswagen Japan exec.
Volkswagen Group Japan Chief Executive Gerry Dorizas told reporters in Tokyo that he believes the market next year won’t be any worse than this year and that the Japanese car market’s weakness had little to do with the international financial crisis.
He did, however, say that the first four months of the year will be difficult.
Reuters said that Japan’s market for foreign cars has shrunk 12% this year, compared with a 2.8% fall in the overall market.
Analysts say the domestic makers have pulled out the stops to hang on to sales and share this year, a situation that normally puts lower volume importers at a disadvantage in a soft market.


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CRU Group, and Yagro are delighted to announce a new partnership for cooperation in the Brazilian fertilizer market, utilising Yagro’s online fertilizer trading platform and CRU’s international fertilizer analysis.
Yagro’s Brazil fertilizer platform, which opened to the market in April, allows buyers and sellers of fertilizer inside Brazil to trade all major types of products in an efficient and safe online environment. The platform allows participants to stay up to date with all the latest market trends via live notifications on bids and offers active in the market.
Users of Yagro Brazil, including farmers, re-sellers and importers in Brazil, will benefit from CRU’s industry leading analysis on the international fertilizer market, along with access to historical price indices. CRU has access to data generated from the platform to improve its analysis on the Brazilian market.
The Yagro and CRU partnership is an exciting and positive step to improving the liquidity and transparency to all Brazilian fertilizer market participants.
Chris Lawson Head of Fertilizers, CRU
The combination of efficient, dynamic and safe online platforms, alongside robust market analysis will unlock even more potential in Brazil’s rapidly expanding fertilizer market.
Gareth Davis CEO, Yagro


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You won't have to be a paid Dropbox user to store your passwords with Dropbox Passwords anymore.
The plan includes 2TB of shared storage, all of the perks of Dropbox Plus, and a dedicated "Family Room" folder for sharing files.
Dropbox rolled out several new extensions today, bringing closer integrations with Outlook, Microsoft Teams,Gmail, and many other services.
Well-known Windows developer has moved on from Dropbox to focus on UWP, .NET, and WinUI. Huyn is one of the most recognized developers in the UWP community.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.


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Most CIOs (Chief Information Officer) are welcoming data analyst experts in their teams to boost the order and growth of the organisation. Here we give you a list of successful CIO who had expertly used the benefits of data analysis and machine learning for the development of the organisation.
We already have seen how tools of data analytics and Big Data can change the outlook of a company. The various machine learning algorithms can not only help in increasing revenue but also reducing costs. This super benefit to excel and outshine in the eyes of their superiors makes it a major look out of the CIOs.
Surveys report that there will be an increase of 12.4 percent in the revenue for Big Data and Data analytics from the last year, amounting to a total of $150.8 billion in 2017. Even tools for this data analysis like hardware’s and softwares are anticipated to cross $210 billion this year.
Success of MERCK at data analytics:
Merck is a massive pharmaceutical company located in America with an annual revenue more than $40 billion. The giant company has also sought the help of business analytics to use the data found in its core systems to gain more information on its business.
Michelle A’lessandro, CIO of Merck said that instead of viewing the data as a valuable property and storing it, the company wanted to initiate a culture where data was used for meaningful business results.
Mereck has successfully launched MANTIS (Manufacturing and Analytics Intelligence) – an advanced data storing system. The system includes in-memory databases and open source tools to process data stored in unstructured and structured systems. MANTIS has helped in not only reducing the time and cost of the company’s IT analytic projects by 45% but also more than 50% reduction in carrying costs.
Improvement in Dr. Pepper Snapple Group:
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is a large American soft-drink company with an annual revenue more than $6 billion. For years, the company’s sales officers had relied on log books and binders to store information and notes on their clients. With the help of machine learning, they are now provided with IPads that help them and guide them in the best suited way.
Tom Farrah, CIO of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, was delighted that their sales executive was becoming intelligent people who had every information and could achieve new heights for the company.
The platform the company uses is called MyDPS which holds the benefits of both machine learning and data analytics. It not only provides guidance but only each worker has a daily scorecard given to them by the application. It analyses their work and provides a “contextual relevance” to improve themselves. The system has already benefitted workers who reported a 50% increase in their selling tasks.
New Business Road for RRD:
RR Donnelley is a major communications company that provides digital marketing, commercial printing and logistic services. However, the best way to deliver the services to their customers was a major concern where conditions like weather, geography, political climate and drivers influenced the shipping procedure. To meet its demand, the company turned to machine learning and data analytics to predict the best shipping rates for the company.
Ken O’Brien, CIO of RRD, said that the business had hired experts in the fields, to analyse thousands of situations over 700 routes to ultimately predict the shipping rates 7 days in advance with more than 99 % precision.
Within a year, the company had seen their business assets and revenue jump from $4 billion to $16 million with heightened business outcomes. However, O’ Brien has acknowledged that these new ventures require more commitment to get long term results at the end.
New Ways at Bechtel:
The biggest and largest civil engineering and construction company of US, Bechtel holds an annual revenue of $32 billion. According to Carol Zierhoffer, CIO of Bechtel, the company has seen only 1% overall efficiency gain in the last 20 years.
Like other organisations, the company also leaned in to data analytics to uncover the hidden knowledge in the incoming data for various sub-parts of the business. With guidance from experts, it built a data excellence centre. This centre system used photo recognition technology to examine and tag photos of sites on behalf of customers. This has not only saved money of around $2 million but also lots of time. Processes which took days to be finalised now are performed in hours.
It seems that though data is useful, it must be improved with time to get sustained results. Zierhoffer claimed that the system had to slightly damage them to get better results.
Growth of Monsanto:
Monsanto is an American multinational company which deals with agriculture, farming and biotechnology. The company uses data science to prescribe the best farming methods, what to farm and even the quality and quantity of seeds to use. With the help of machine learning algorithms, the company has helped in yielding better products, increasing the earnings and reduce land use.
In 2016, the company reported to save $6 million in its revenue and reduce land usage by 4 percent. Adrian Cartier, director of global IT analytics at Monsanto, said that with expertise in agriculture field and the benefit of machine learning using maths and statistics, they were able to deliver healthy outcomes.
Success at Pitt Ohio:
Pitt Ohio is a supply chain company which provides truckload, delivery solutions and ground services in the Mid-US. With increase in electronic commerce sites, the company has reported to increased services of the shipping industry.
Scott Sullivan, CIO of Pitt Ohio, said that the company had to now deliver packages within a day due to the ‘Amazon Impact’ system in practise. He claims that customers only bother on the pickup and delivery dates along with tracking their package.
To meet the demands of the customers, the company has put in use predictive data analytics and machine learning algorithms which helps in rope the various advertise in the shipping industry and finally calculate the time a driver can deliver an item with 99% accuracy. The company now reports an increase in revenue by more $50,000 annually with an equal amount reduction of the risk of losing customers.


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On 7 July 2021, H.E. Mr. Sek Wannamethee, Ambassador of Thailand gave an opening remark at an online seminar on “Keeping up with European Green Deal, what Thai exporters need to know!” EP1: Circular Economy together with Dr. Nilsuwan Leelarasamee, Chairman of Sub-committee on Trade Regulations and Multilateralism, and Mr. Kriengkrai Thiennukul, Chairman of Industrial Promotion Support from The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI). The seminar was organized by Sub-committee on Trade Regulations and Multilateralism and Working group on Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) model.
On this occasion, Ambassador Sek highlighted important issues and measures under the European Green Deal, including measures to reduce carbon emissions on heavy industries as well as to increase the use of renewable energy, and also discussed opportunities to enhance cooperation between Thailand and the European Union in relevant areas and sectors. This was followed by an informative session on the European Green Deal and its impact on Thailand presented by representatives from the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Thai Embassy Brussels, respectively, in order to raise awareness, understanding and implications of the European Green Deal for Thai stakeholders who participated in the seminar.


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Apple's iPhone turns 10
Apple is celebrating a big milestone Thursday, with its iconic iPhone turning 10 years old and evoking memories of a rocky start for the device that ended up doing most to start the smartphone revolution.
Meet the billionaire who stung Apple in China last year
Duan Yongping is the reclusive billionaire who founded Oppo and Vivo, the twin smartphone brands that dealt Apple a stinging defeat in China last year.
Samsung profit tops estimates despite Note 7 recall
Samsung's operating profit topped analysts’ projections as demand for its high-margin memory chips and displays limited the impact of a global recall of its marquee Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
Samsung recalls 1 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones
Samsung Electronics recalls Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to serious fire and burn hazards.
How much will Samsung's recall hurt the brand?
Samsung's recall of millions of big-screen smartphones isn’t going to be cheap. The South Korean company may spend as much as $1 billion, after deciding to replace all of the 2.5 million Note 7 phones that were shipped.
Blind athlete runs desert marathon unassisted using smartphone app
Blind athlete Simon Wheatcroft teamed up with IBM to develop eAscot; a smartphone app that's helping him run ultra-marathons unassisted around the world.
High-tech luxury smartphone to sell for N6.9m
A new smartphone with advanced technology and security is launched by British-Israeli start-up Sirin Labs; with a price tag close to $20,000. Start-up Sirin Labs launches high-tech US$20,000 luxury smartphone


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Alibaba is set to invest US$4.6bn into the Chinese electronics retailer Suning, giving Alibaba a 19.99% stake in the company. The deal will provide Alibaba with a bricks-and-mortar network of distribution centers and delivery stations to add to its Cainiao logistics branch.
Suning will open an online flagship store on the Alibaba platform and has also committed to buying a 1.1% stake in the online retailer for around $2.3B, according toThe Wall Street Journal.
Alibaba has already invested around $692 million into Intime Retail, a Chinese luxury brand department store operator. The deal occurred last March as Alibaba began to extend its offline presence with the help of physical stores and the Alipay wallet technology.
Last week, Alibaba’s online competitor JD.com (JD – Get Report) bought a 10% stake in Chinese supermarket chain Yonghui Superstores for around $700 million. Alibaba shares have dropped around 24% this year despite its increasingly expanding revenues. The online retailer will report first quarter earnings on Wednesday.


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30 Oct 2019
Blockchain Solutions Spending Increases by 81% in 2019, According to Latest IDC Report
SINGAPORE, October 31st, 2019 – Asia/Pacific* spending on blockchain solutions will reach USD 522.7 million in 2019 – recording an increase of 81% when compared to 2018 – according to the latest IDC Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide. IDC expects blockchain spending in Asia/Pacific* to grow rapidly with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59.8% that will amount to a total of USD 3 billion over the 2018-23 forecast period.
“Asia/Pacific* Blockchain technology investments are estimated to be more than 3 Billon USD by 2023,” said Ashutosh Bisht Senior Research Manager at IDC Asia/Pacific. “The financial services sector will dominate the blockchain spending for the overall forecast period, with major investments towards Tracking, tracing, and managing cross-border/international payments and settlements, Providing a record of transactions in payments between parties involved in the transaction is another focus area for the financial enterprises in the region,” Bisht added.
At the end of 2019, IDC projects the following in terms of spending in blockchain solutions: banking, securities & investment services, and insurance industries to invest a combined total of USD 296.3 million; driven by the discrete and process manufacturing industries, the manufacturing and resources sector are predicted to invest USD 91.7 million; the distribution and services sector led by the retail and professional services industries are estimated to spend USD 89.4 million; and the infrastructure sector will see the fastest growth (CAGR 81.2%), followed by the public sector (CAGR 73.6%) over the 2018-23 forecast period.
The blockchain use cases that will have significant investment over the forecast period are trade finance & post-trade/transaction settlements, cross-border payments & settlements, and regulatory compliance. Combined, the three use cases will make up of more than 40.3% of the total blockchain spending. All the use cases identified by IDC will see significant spending growth over the 2018-23 forecast period, among them with the fastest spending growth (CAGR) are energy settlements, and property ownership management.
IT services and business services combined will represent 60% of blockchain spending in 2019, with IT services slightly receiving more investment. Blockchain platform under software will be the second largest technology category, accounting for 27.3% of the total spending in 2019.
Asia/Pacific* contributes around 19.3% of the overall worldwide spending on blockchain, topped by US and Western Europe in 2019. Over the 2018-23 forecast period, China will contribute about 68% of all blockchain spending in Asia/Pacific*, it will see a significant spending growth (CAGR 65.7%), while Asia/Pacific records 50.3% CAGR.
"The adoption rate of Blockchain technology has been growing at a steady pace. Use cases leveraging on Blockchain are maturing as well, filtering out the overhyped or solutions overselling the technology from the implementations where blockchain brings value to the ecosystems. The technology is here to stay, organizations need to assess the benefits that blockchain can bring to the business like the way it assesses other emerging technology. Identifying realistic areas of implementation where the technology can reduce cost and increase efficiency. With proper analysis, leveraging the adoption of blockchain, can assist organizations to enhance their digital transformation journey," says Jeff Xie, Senior Market Analyst at IDC Asia/Pacific.
The Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide quantifies the emerging blockchain market by providing spending data for ten technologies across 19 industries and 17 use cases in nine geographic regions. IDC defines blockchain as a digital, distributed ledger of transactions or records. The ledger, which stores the information or data, exists across multiple participants in a peer-to-peer network. There is no single, central repository that stores the ledger. Distributed ledgers technology (DLT) allows new transactions to be added to an existing chain of transactions using a secure, digital or cryptographic signature. Spending associated with various cryptocurrencies that utilize blockchain and distributed ledgers technology, such as Bitcoin, is not included in the spending guide. Unlike any other research in the industry, the comprehensive spending guide was designed to help IT decision makers to clearly understand the industry-specific scope and direction of blockchain spending today and over the next five years.
About IDC Spending Guides
IDC's Spending Guides provide a granular view of key technology markets from a regional, vertical industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool, allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each market by viewing data trends and relationships.
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company that activates and engages the most influential technology buyers. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn.
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Packaging gets friendly for Environment Day
Pulmuone Waters, an affiliate of Pulmuone, said Friday it used labels that are easy to peel off on Pulmuone Waters by Nature bottles to make recycling easier.
Transparent PET bottles can be recycled into high quality products, said Pulmuone in a statement, a process known as "upcycling." Clothes and bags are made using fibers made from the plastics.
Starting in July, the Ministry of the Environment will require transparent PET bottles to be thrown away separately from colored or other kinds of plastics by households living in apartments nationwide.
Pulmuone Waters said it has continuously lowered the weight of water bottles. In 2009, a 500-milliliter (18-ounce) water bottle weighed 15 grams (0.53 ounces). As of 2018, the same bottle weighs 11.1 grams.
“We hope Pulmuone Waters’ 'easy peel' label maximizes consumers’ recycling practices,” said Pulmuone in a statement.
Lotte Chilsung Beverage took a different path and announced it will expand the application of recyclable labels on its PET bottles.
The eco-friendly label is made from the same PET material and is applied with a special ink that doesn’t require it to be peeled off before recycling, which is more convenient for consumers, according to Lotte in a statement.
So far the label has been used on six drinks since April, including Trevi Lemon, Milkis and Del Monte Juice.
For the eco-friendly policy, Lotte partnered with chemical company SKC. They have been working on commercializing various materials that can be recycled.
“[We] plan to expand our effort to promote plastic recycling in Korea through eco-friendly labels in collaboration with SKC for a clean environment and sustainable growth,” said a spokesperson for Lotte.
Hyundai Department Store is collecting plastics and giving away so-called eco bags to those who take part in the campaign.
Through June 11, the retailer will collect PET containers at 15 branches nationwide. The collected PET will be upcycled, according to Hyundai Department Store.
People who recycle more than five plastics containers are given an eco bag made from Tyvek, known to be an eco-friendly material.
BY JIN MIN-JI [firstname.lastname@example.org]


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New mobile payments services comes to the Asian market thanks to PayPal
PayPal has launched a new mobile payments service in order to embolden its presence in the Asian market. Asia has proven quite attractive in terms of mobile commerce due to the growing degree of smartphone and tablet penetration and the increasing number of retailers entering into e-commerce. In order to tap into this promising market, PayPal has launched mo.bi.pay, which stands for “mobile built-in payments.” This new service is designed to appeal to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Asian market shows a great deal of promise when it comes to mobile commerce
Merchants throughout Asia are becoming quite interested in mobile commerce. They have found that consumers enjoy shopping from their mobile devices and those that do so tend to spend more money than those that do not. E-commerce has already won the favor of many consumers throughout Asia, particularly those in China, and this popularity has not gone unnoticed by retailers. Large retail organizations like Alibaba have made a name for themselves in the world of online shopping and are now beginning to focus on mobile commerce.
Services for small and medium-sized enterprises are currently lacking
There are many mobile commerce services that are available for large retailers, but few of these services cater to the needs of smaller groups. PayPal intends to capitalize on this by giving small and medium-sized enterprises something they can use to engage mobile consumers more effectively. Mobile point-of-sale payments are expected to reach $5.4 billion by 2018 and PayPal is keen to ensure that it has positioned itself to take advantage of this aggressive growth in mobile payments.
PayPal works to fend off its competition in the mobile space
PayPal now accounts for 42% of eBay’s total revenue. The company has been purchasing firms that specialize in mobile commerce and technology recently, with its most prolific acquisition being that of Braintree for $800 million. PayPal is working to establish an even stronger presence in the mobile payments space so that it can fend off competition from companies like Google and Square. While Square has focused primarily on the North American market, the company has recently expanded into Japan.


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Need to know
- More than one in 10 Australians have used a BNPL service in recent months to cover a cash shortfall until payday
- The findings fly in the face of of the BNPL sector’s claim that the platforms are for discretionary purchases
- The Consumer Action Law Centre says many people are using BNPL to make ends meet
Being able to lend people money without having to undertake the same affordability checks that banks are required to gives the new breed of buy now, pay later (BNPL) lenders a big advantage over old-school lenders.
Afterpay and Zip are two prominent BNPL players that come to mind, and these businesses are certainly also on the minds of the traditional banking sector, which remains bound by responsible lending laws.
The regulatory loophole allows BNPL newcomers to avoid complying with these consumer protections because they don't charge interest, but they do hit you with fees if you don't pay on time. (In 2019, market leader Afterpay collected $46.1 million in late fees, 18.7% of its income.)
The regulatory loophole allows BNPL providers to avoid complying with consumer protections
In recent months, both Commonwealth Bank and NAB launched their own no-interest credit cards and attempted to one-up the BNPL sector: these products don't charge late fees, though they do charge monthly fees.
And like BNPL, the target audience is millennials. (Whether or not the traditional banks will be able to gain ground on the BNPL fintechs – financial technology apps – with their own products remains to be seen.)
Government gives BNPL the thumbs up
When the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology released its interim report in September, executives in BNPL boardrooms across the land might well have jumped for joy.
The report praises the sector's innovative spirit above all and gives short shrift to the consumer harm that BNPL services have caused.
"Just putting a credit product on an app doesn't make it innovative or good for people's financial wellbeing," Consumer Action's director of policy and campaigns, Katherine Temple, said at the time.
The senate is looking into whether the BNPL sector should be regulated like the banks. Judging by the interim report, the consensus among the current crop of policymakers would appear to be no.
Regulation, it seems, stymies innovation. But the question remains: who's really benefiting – the customers or the innovators?
Most innovation in the financial services sector to date has been focused on exploiting loopholes in existing laws or simply having a savvy marketing strategy that makes a product look new or differentKatherine Temple, Consumer Action Law Centre
The banking royal commission's final report in 2019 cast doubts on the merits of self-regulation, citing the lack of compliance, monitoring, and regulatory self-enforcement.
The BNPL sector is in the process of developing its own code of conduct, but a draft code released in June has been criticised by ASIC for falling well short of providing the kinds of protections outlined in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.
"Most innovation in the financial services sector to date has been focused on exploiting loopholes in existing laws or simply having a savvy marketing strategy that makes a product look new or different. Buy now, pay later is one example, but there are many others," Temple said about the senate report, adding that "we want innovative companies in Australia that are willing to comply with consumer protection laws and enhance people's financial wellbeing".
One in 10 Australians using BNPL to just get by
Afterpay would have you believe its products are designed and used "to help Australians budget for life's little extras", not for making ends meet.
The service, the company says, "is geared around financially healthy customers with responsible spending patterns".
Buy now, pay later services such as Afterpay and Zip are used by many people to pay for essentials, not just extras.
A nationally representative survey by CHOICE conducted in September 2020 suggests otherwise.
It turns out that a little over one in 10 Australians (12% of respondents) have used a BNPL service in recent months to cover a cash shortfall until payday – more than the number of Australians who've used a credit card (9%) to bridge the gap.
And the survey results reveal a significant age and gender preference: twice as many females (16% overall) have used a BNPL app than males (8%); and one in five people aged between 18 and 34 have used a BNPL service, compared with less than one in 10 in that age range who've used a credit card.
In the midst of a global pandemic, we need safe lending, not industries relying on loopholes to escape legal obligationsPatrick Veyret, CHOICE banking policy adviser
We contacted Afterpay and asked whether it was aware that consumers are using its product to make ends meet, but we didn't get a response.
"It is worrying that so many households across Australia are forced to turn to buy now, pay later providers to make ends meet," says CHOICE banking policy adviser Patrick Veyret.
"It is also concerning that buy now, pay later providers, such as Latitude Financial, have announced plans to offer loans up to $30,000," he says.
"These providers should not be allowed to continue operating outside the bounds of existing laws. In the midst of a global pandemic, we need safe lending, not industries relying on loopholes to escape legal obligations. It's high time the loophole is closed."
Research has shown that people spend more with buy now, pay later services than they otherwise would.
Worrying, but not surprising
When we contacted Consumer Action's Katherine Temple for comment on our survey findings, she told us BNPL schemes were just one of the many credit products that are getting Australians in financial trouble these days, especially in the COVID-19 economy.
"These BNPL products do not exist in a vacuum," Temple says. "Many people who are struggling will have a number of credit products like personal loans, credit cards and payday loans, with BNPL debts piled on top.
We have seen an explosion of new BNPL players… too many seem more interested in flashy ASX announcements than customer wellbeingKatherine Temple
"In our casework we regularly hear from people who are struggling to make ends meet who are using BNPL products and from people in financial stress who have BNPL debts. We have been extremely concerned about the lack of safeguards in the BNPL sector for many years.
"We have seen an explosion of new BNPL players entering the market, and too many seem more interested in flashy ASX announcements than customer wellbeing.
"Unfortunately, these statistics are not surprising, but they are very worrying. These statistics should be a wake-up call for government and regulators, particularly as we try to recover from the COVID recession."
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.


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Persona 5 R is… something, related to Persona 5, that was announced at the end of last year, with basically no information whatsoever. Atlus billed it as “a collection of Persona 5 related projects”, and confirmed it will be on PlayStation 4 (though the widely rumored Switch port of Persona 5 is expected to be part of this umbrella as well), but we don’t actually know what it is. An enhanced re-release? A fighting game spin-off? A racing game spin-off? …A clothing line?
Well, we should know more about it tomorrow, because Atlus confirmed on its official Twitter account that it will be sharing more information regarding Persona 5 R tomorrow, after the airing of the Stars and Ours anime special, as had been previously promised.
Now, it’s important to note here that the exact nature of information isn’t specified or promised—it could just be another tease for the Sega Fes event already announced for the end of the month, or it could be a tease for the Persona Super Live concert announced for next month. Atlus is known for torturing fans with teases and long-drawn announcements—so prepare yourselves.
— モルガナ_ペルソナ広報 (@p_kouhou) March 22, 2019


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In the last years when in the tech world, the word car was used, two things came to our minds. It was either the self-driving car that Google is currently developing, which we might be able to see in the next five years, or Tesla and the billion dollar company that Elon Musk is building. The big tech giants have been looking at the mobile market and at smart technologies and they completely forgot about a sector, the automative industry.
Even cars can be smart, there is no need to make them self-driving to be able to define them as “smart”. That’s what Apple understood by making a shy and relevant step into the cars industry. When we heard rumours that Apple was discussing with Tesla, we all thought of a possible acquisition, but probably they were talking about CarPlay, the new product released by the tech giant.
As the company reports on its website:
Available on select new cars in 2014, CarPlay is a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car. CarPlay takes the things you want to do with your iPhone while driving and puts them right on your car’s built-in display. You can get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and listen to music, all in a way that allows you to stay focused on the road. Just plug in your iPhone and go.
Instead of building a self-driving car or acquiring Tesla, Apple has built an extension to the iPhone, in a car. CarPlay is a display that supports a set of features that the iPhone already has by enabling you to use them in your car. With a simple display, Apple can make your car smarter and destroy automotive navigation systems that won’t build hardware anymore and automative radio manufactures that will be replaced by a smarter system.
The question is why? This is probably a first step for Apple that is definitely looking at this market in the same way Google has done it for the past years. CarPlay doesn’t just mean providing an extension to the iPhone users, but it means building a platform that can be extended in different ways. In a world where everything is getting smarter, cars can’t be stupid and Tim Cook is aware of that.
CarPlay will bring the innovations that Apple has been building in the last years on top of the iPhone, including Siri and Touch. It also introduces another platform, in terms of apps, that the developers are going to attack with apps dedicated just to your car. If Apple is willing to open CarPlay to developers, the rush to conquer this market will be ruthless. At the moment, the company is listing its core apps (Messages, Music, Phone) and five other apps, including Spotify and iHeartRadio.
In the case Carplay becomes a platform for developers, one of the biggest winners would be Google, who has recently acquired Waze for $1B and runs the most used Maps in the world. Although Apple has tried to introduce its own Maps, the market penetration that Google has, by being the first website in the world, can’t be even challenged.
What makes this product more relevant is the fact that it’s not going to be available just on a single car, but on all of them. Apple made sure to partner with every single car manufacturer, including brands such as Ferrari, that will release CarPlay in 2014, and Chevrolet. Instead of wondering what car, iPhone users have, Apple decided to get on all of them. This is another detail which underlines the fact that behind CarPlay there is platform that will be expanded in the next years.
I think Apple has to open this platform to developers by creating even a different Apple store dedicated to your car. Further in the next years, the iPad will have to be supported by CarPlay and also what it might be the next iWatch. Apple is not looking at smart cars, they firstly want to get there by building an ecosystem of apps that consumers can play with. In the same way, we still don’t know what Apple was discussing with Tesla, but if a smart, electric car partners or gets acquired by Apple, the game might be over, even for Google.
This week a company has innovated with a new product, now it’s time to see how the other players will reply.


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Located in Abu Dhabi’s Rawdhat area, the new showroom will represent the third facility for German luxury carmaker Porsche in the country’s capital. Construction works began this week on the new 2.200 sqm Porsche showroom in Abu Dhabi, the total investment being estimated at US$ 36 million. This will be one of Porsche’s largest showrooms worldwide, spread over 2 floors with display space for 18 cars, lounges and underground parking. The project which is developed by the official distributor of Porsche in the U.A.E. Ali & Sons Motors Co, is scheduled for completion in summer 2015.
Porsche delivered a total of 1,056 vehicles last year in Abu Dhabi. First quarter results indicate another strong year for the brand with sales mainly driven by the Cayenne and Panamera models. Porsche Centre Abu Dhabi currently operates out of two showrooms, located in the city centre on Salaam Street and in Mussafah.


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Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill is opening its first redesigned restaurant in Orange County — a prototype that is expected to showcase the chain’s modern fresh-Mex menu.
The Anaheim Hills restaurant is the chain’s fourth store to open under the new look — which features digital menu boards, contemporary fixtures and lighter colors. Earlier this week, chain founder Ralph Rubio gave me a tour of the new restaurant, which opens at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 13.
View our slide show to learn more about Rubio’s upscale makeover.
A second Rubio’s prototype restaurant will open later this year in Santa Ana. It will replace Mesa Grill on 17th Street, which was once a Baja Fresh. It will be the 34th Rubio’s in Orange County.
- Rubio’s rival, Baja Fresh, unveils its “restaurant of the future” in Irvine.
Contact the writer: email@example.com or 714-796-6756. Checkout my fast food blog at ocregister.com/fastfood


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High Heat 2004 ships for the PC
3DO announces that the latest PC game in its baseball series is shipping to stores.
3DO has announced that High Heat Baseball 2004 is now available for the PC. The PC version features a new graphics engine, 27 different pitches, and new motion-captured animations.
"Since its debut on the PC in 1998, High Heat Baseball has garnered critical acclaim and an enthusiastic fan base," said Trip Hawkins, chief executive officer of The 3DO Company. "By re-creating the foundation of High Heat for the PC, we intend to reward those fans by continuing to take the game to new heights."
For more details, check out our previous coverage of High Heat games.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.


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Retail Systems looks back at a hugely eventful and, dare we say it, gamechanging 2015
2015 was dominated by retailers attempting to bring the digital and physical experience together for continuous, seamless shopping. Some made great strides and yet legacy systems and various other issues stopped many others in their tracks. Against this backdrop, we saw a sector in a period of radical transformation with consumers now driving the engagement agenda, which in turn is impacting massively on merchants grappling to generate profits from their increasingly omnichannel operations. That was a key message at this year's World Retail Congress (WRC) where Asda CEO Andy Clarke said that, although online is only a small percentage of sales (less than 10 per cent), it has prompted the company to recognise that it needs a "low cost, efficient format for its store portfolio because whatever forecasts you look at the large format is decreasing [in relevance]".
He added that Asda will continue to see its store proposition change but that omnichannel retailers must not forget about their core traditional businesses when they undertake such changes: "If all you do is look for the new then you'll just have a deteriorating [overall] business. You cannot forget the core."
Retail used to be so simple, well, relatively simple, even up to a few years ago. People travelled to their nearest store, handed over their money and took their goods home. "Back in the 1990s retailers were very much in control. Online has changed everything and put the customer in control," observed Martin Newman, founder and CEO, Praticology, at the 2015 Retail Systems Multi-Channel Conference, which took place in London during September.
"2015 will become known as the year the master shopper came of age," declared John Lewis managing director, Andy Street. "Shoppers are now more enabled and more in control than ever. It's an exciting time in retail history."
Exciting for some, maybe, but daunting for others. Some retailers are responding accordingly, upping technology spend in such areas as websites and mobile apps and improving IT systems and ensuring that different systems talk to eachother. According to Gartner, technologies that help understand customers better, improve engagement through omnichannel experience and facilitate the buying process were high priority areas in 2015. Within stores, creating IT infrastructure to accept various mobile payment systems and digital wallets were at the top of agendas in the second half of the year.
Others, however, have fallen behind. eCommera recently issued research, collated from interviews with 100 top-tier retailers, showing that 70 per cent agree omnichannel is important enough to warrant further investment. However, only 25 per cent could see a strong ROI today. "If you need to be 100 per cent sure, you will be 100 per cent late. If you have to prove a business case for every innovative thing you do, you're probably in the wrong business and you will probably be out of business within five years," argued Practicology's Newman. "I can order from Asda before 12pm and collect at High Barnet tube station after 4pm on the same day. What is the ROI for something like that? You wouldn’t do innovative things if you only worried about ROI.”
In addition to Asda, and the always on the move Amazon (more on them later), 2015 saw the likes of Argos, House of Fraser and John Lewis surge ahead. In fact, it proved to be the year of the omnichannel retailer as pureplays faced slow growth (the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index for October showed that online retail sales recorded their lowest year-on-year growth since the Index launched 15 years ago). Argos became the first British retailer to offer same-day store collection and home delivery, up to 10pm, seven days a week. The service covers 20,000 products; customers choosing free of charge Fast Track collection can collect their products from 800 Argos store locations, at specially marked counters. Those opting for home delivery can choose from four slots: 7am-10am, 10am-1pm, 2pm-6pm and 7pm-10pm. They can order by 6pm to have an item delivered by 10pm the same day, or schedule a time on the next day or future days, for a fee of £3.95. The retailer says that all of this is possible because of behind the scenes improvements it has been making during the past two years to its stocking, distribution and digital systems, such as the hub & spoke stocking model it deployed in stores last year.
House of Fraser's online sales increased by 30.8 per cent for the 26 weeks to 1 August. Online now represents 17.5 per cent of sales (against 2014/15: 14.2 per cent of sales), boosted by an updated version of the retailer's iPhone app to include the ability to scan barcodes in-store, and enhancement of its delivery proposition, including a midnight cut off for Buy & Collect delivery to store by midday the following day.
John Lewis opened its new 250,000 sq ft, £35 million Birmingham store, part of the new Grand Central shopping centre which sits above New Street station. It was the company's largest brick and mortar opening in four years and one of its biggest department stores in the UK. "This sends a clear message that we are firmly committed to the British High Street and that physical shops remain as important to us as they do to our customers," said John Lewis's Street.
It wasn't all plain sailing for the old guard, though. Many struggled with issues which, in some cases, were arguably of their own making but, in others, beyond their control. The growth of digital brings with it many opportunities but also various significant challenges, according to Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis. Speaking at the CBI conference during November, he said that high up on the grocery giant's agenda was, "how to make our online business of tomorrow as profitable as our offline business yesterday." He added that digital operations have no real community footprint; there are far fewer employees and a far lower tax contribution. "That should be a dilemma for the Exchequer. Without rebalancing to reflect digital business models the physical side of retail pays a higher and higher proportion of the total tax bill. Furthermore it will incentivise a swifter shift to infrastructure light, low employment business with little interaction with communities."
As for the physical world, the growth of limited range retailers and a rise in convenience shopping have both affected profitability and growth. And shopper habits have changed during the recession. Basket sizes have reduced. Weekly shops have split into multiple occasions. The convenience channel is therefore growing (up five per cent again this year). "Our big stores are also seeing a high proportion of convenience shopping trips – 76 per cent of Tesco convenience trips take place in our Extras or Superstores," Lewis said. "But I don’t see this as a challenge per se – I see it as a shift in what customers want or need – and it’s our job to respond. What I do see as a challenge is that whilst the customer was heading in one direction the industry was heading in the other…between 2007 and 2014 it added around 35msq ft…The market didn’t grow. Inevitably it couldn’t go on and in January this year we called a halt. It was painful – colleagues and communities were affected as we closed stores and decided to halt construction on others. I suspect, however, that our competitors were relieved because their announcements followed in pretty short order."
"But it isn’t just the Big Four. More independent shops were closed than opened in the first six months of this year," he added. "As the first CEO in Tesco’s history to be criticised for not opening a shop or for closing some existing stores, I can tell you that this trend you are seeing is no longer down to us."
Lewis called for reform of business rates in return for implementing the government’s National Living Wage. "Our own business rates bill has increased by well over 35 per cent in the last five years. It’s the biggest tax we pay and it is now three times OECD average. For every £1 we pay in corporation tax large UK retailers pay £2.31 in rates. It’s unsustainable and needs urgent reform. I believe government needs to be careful and strategic on regulation and taxation. Recognising changing dynamics. Taking account of those new realities. Consulting to iron out unintended consequences. With the ultimate prize: more stable, sustainable growth and a better deal for taxpayers."
Shaking the High Street blues
Amazon caused a stir when its first physical bookstore opened for business in November. Amazon Books at University Village in Seattle (the company's hometown) will stock about 6,000 books, with the selection based on reviews, sales data etc from the e-tailer’s site. Prices will be the same as online. It isn't the only online outfit looking to have a physical footprint. Many others have been testing out the likes of lockers and pop-up shops.
Peter Veash, CEO at The BIO Agency, said: "Most retailers move from physical stores to the online world to extend their reach. It will come as a surprise to some that Amazon has opened a physical store in the US. But it shouldn't be. Our recent YouGov study showed that 22 per cent of Brits had shopped on the High Street within the past day versus 18 per cent that had shopped online. The brand recognition of Amazon is massive and visiting its physical store will attract both book lovers as well as people that are intrigued by the move. It is interesting to see that the company will be using its online store data to choose the books to display and I'm sure as time goes on they will be also utilising technology to enable in-store orders and deliveries enabling a seamless shopping experience marrying the online and offline worlds."
Whilst the growth of digital undoubtedly has raised questions about the future of physical retailing, there has been a shift back to recognising that we are social animals and, as such, shopping remains for many a key leisure activity and a source of enjoyment. Having bought into the 'online is everything' hype, retailers, it would seem, have finally woken up to the fact that, in order to stay relevant, every aspect of their digital experience – site, mobile, app, email – must have an in-store component. Many High Streets and shopping centres are being rebooted with cafes and leisure outlets, parcel collection points and shared work-spaces filling vacant lots. And just as major retailers are now content to be in less locations, new companies and chains are picking up the slack, including the likes of Doddle, which allows customers to send and collect parcels via its network of stores.
Much of the aforementioned Multi-Channel Retail Conference went old school, or more specifically put a new twist on an act that has been going for years. There is no shortage of buzzword brandishing consultants in retail, but ultimately it is still all about getting the basics right, selling a good product at the best price and offering great customer service. Or, as Practicology’s Newman put it, "putting customers at the heart of what we do." At previous gatherings, online enthusiasts had been quick to predict the death of the High Street; clicks beats bricks, farewell old timers, make way for a brave new world etc etc. In their rush to embrace this new world some omnichannel players have perhaps been guilty of neglecting their stores, of using them as glorified online picking warehouses or showrooms. But overall e-commerce has in fact shown itself to be the saviour, rather than the destroyer, of brick and mortar retailers.
2015 was littered with examples of traditional retailers taking the fight to the pureplays. Amazon, for instance, lost market share in non-digital films, video games and music for the first time in four years as the High Street, lead by HMV and GAME, came back to life. The e-tailer continues to be the UK’s biggest seller of CDs, games and DVDs but its share slipped by 1.2 percentage points to 20.4 per cent in the three months to 27 September, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Ever the opportunists, Asda looked to cash in on shifting sands by allowing customers to collect orders from other retailers within its 614 stores. The grocery giant described the initiative, called ToYou, as a game changer. Missguided is the first company to sign up to the new service. According to Asda, if it grows the solution enough it could provide the supermarket with up to 40 million extra visits per year by 2019.
Ian Stansfield, vice president Asda Logistics Services and Supply Chain, said: “Demand for online shopping is ever increasing, with it grows the appetite from online retailers to have physical footprints their customers can access. Not only are we providing online retailers with a presence on the High Street we’re also bridging a gap for customers who want to collect or return their online orders while carrying out their weekly shop. This is an industry first: complete, real-time, individual parcel tracking – whether collect or return, every step of a parcels journey is tracked and visible to our clients and customers. This truly is game changing.”
Perhaps more than ever, retail is transforming, moving away from the rigid model of High Street stores with digital channels bolted on the side and online stores with no physical presence, towards retailers creating flexible, personable, engaging omnichannel experiences for their customers. Clearly, there is much work to done though. Visa Europe predicted a bumper Black Friday, with Brits spending £1.9 billion. Alas, as was the case last year, many websites couldn't cope when the big day rolled around. Various e-commerce offerings crashed before 9am on the morning of 27 November. The John Lewis and Argos websites also buckled under the pressure, the latter suffering problems throughout the day, with customers reporting slow loading times, pages timing out, and the following message from the retailer when they attempted to checkout: "Sorry for the delay. Demand for this part of the site is really high. The countdown is on. Once the timer runs out you'll be able to continue your Black Friday shopping. If you prefer open a new tab and browse other pages while you wait."
Unfortunately, these sorts of incidents still happen far too regularly. Connected customers, (sort of) connected retailers. With legacy issues and increasingly fickle customers looming large, the race towards omnichannel is proving to be longer and more challenging than many anticipated.
A good year for...
Loyalty programmes. Thought they were dead? Think again. Perhaps the most high profile launch this year came courtesy of Marks and Spencer who rolled out its Sparks members club nationwide on 22 October. During a three month trial, undertaken in the Wales & West region, the retailer recruited over 100,000 members from its customer base across 24 stores, to road test and refine the online and in-store experience. Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, executive cirector at M&S, said: “Customers tell us they want to ‘be part of something special’ and that’s exactly why Sparks is a club. As a member you are more than a customer and you’ll get the most from M&S – with tailor-made offers, priority access and invites to exclusive events. It’s a two way relationship; members tell us what they enjoy, select their own tailored offers and are rewarded for sharing their views.”
ASOS, meanwhile, is set to launch its Rewards loyalty scheme in the near future, following a trial. The programme, initially for UK customers, allows shoppers to build up points on purchases, which become convertible into vouchers for use on its platforms. In addition to this, customers will unlock a wide variety of other rewards such as birthday discounts, free next day deliveries and exclusive content.
Contactless. Who'd have thunk it? Contactless cards, for so long all hype, no substance, are catching on. More and more people, of all generations, are climbing onboard, although as a delegate at our Payments Conference in October pointed out, TfL remains the main driver, having rolled it out across the London transport network. Research by Saga (involving 6,267 people) shows that seven out of ten Brits over 50 now have contactless cards. And 29 per cent use them up to three times a week to buy groceries, food and drink in restaurants or cafes (21 per cent) and coffee and cake in coffee shops (16 per cent). One in ten say they no longer dig around for loose change for the bus or have to rush to buy a ticket before hopping on the tube. And they like not having to carry cash with them (31 per cent) or having to remember their PIN (24 per cent).
Contactless might be coming good at long last but cash remains hugely popular and is still used for more than half of payments by UK consumers. The 'RIP notes and coins' brigade were, however, out in force again this year. The next generation of children born in Britain "will not know what money is", according to Tim Cook. The Apple CEO made the prediction during a November address to students at Trinity College Dublin where he became him an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society. Cook, of course, has a vested interest here. He is placing his bets on the popularity of cash falling as more and more people switch to cards and mobile payment services such as Apple Pay.
Challenger companies. Angela Ahrendts of Apple topped the table of the Retail Insider Top 100 Movers & Shakers in Multi-Channel report for 2015. But the list was not just about big hitters; the leaders of challenger companies Graze, Rapha and Farfetch also featured prominently. And both Simon Mottram, founder of Rapha, and Anthony Fletcher, CEO, Graze, earned places in the top 10.
In-store analytics. Like, so, hot right now as digital natives begin to make their presence felt in the retail sector and look for more than simple footfall monitoring. Dune, for instance, implemented a Walkbase solution based on Wi-Fi analytics and video monitoring. Zoe Owen, retail sales director at Dune Group, said: “The solution provides us with real-time insights into customer conversion, visit patterns and customer journey and loyalty. This enables us to further improve our customer engagement and experience in our stores. A new conversion metric is one of the innovations we’ve already taken into use. As well as of tracking transactions of all visits, we can now use transactions per engaged visits as one of the key performance indicators for our store teams.”
A bad year for...
Black Friday. The National Police Chiefs’ Council urged retailers to have the right levels of security in place for Black Friday, whilst suggesting that they look to run their festive sales over a longer period than just a day. This followed unsavoury scenes from last year when police were called to supermarkets around the country as crowds surged and people started acting like mentalists at the first sniff of a bargain. A man was arrested in Salford after he threatened to smash a staff member’s face in. Shoppers in Stretford decided to have a fight and a woman suffered minor injuries after being hit by a falling TV. Yes, it truly was a delightful affair showcasing everything that is great about this country.
Asda, meanwhile, announced its intention to bypass Black Friday 2015 despite being one of the retailers that bought it here from the US. Whilst a third of major retailers labelled it unprofitable and unsustainable, an LCP Consulting report noted.
In the end, the figures were impressive (total UK online spend for the four-day weekend reached £3.3 billion, according to IMRG and Experia), but it's hard to escape the feeling that Black Friday in its current form is all smoke and mirrors, sucking festive sales from elsewhere and draining November trading margins.
Personalisation. A top buzzword last year, thanks to the advent of digital shopping and Big Data analytics. But in 2015 the deluge of hacks on retailers’ data and misdirected personalisation initiatives had a dramatic effect on consumers’ trust. They are now strongly negative about retailers’ privacy initiatives, according to a Capgemini Consulting report, Privacy Please: Why Retailers Need to Rethink Personalisation, based on a social media sentiment analysis of 220,000-plus conversations over six months and covering 65 large global retailers.
Walmart suffered its worst stock decline in nearly 30 years during October after it revealed that earnings will decrease 6 per cent to 12 per cent in fiscal year 2017. The announcement came as it laid out a three-year strategic framework, intended to strengthen its e-commerce businesses, enhance the in-store experience and boost its supply chain. Investments in e-commerce and digital initiatives are expected to total approximately $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2017.
The Big Four supermarkets have continued to struggle in the face of declining sales, changing shopper habits, reduced basket sizes, and the rise of the discounters. Aldi and Lidl’s combined share of the British grocery market reached 10 per cent for the first time in 2015, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: “If you look back as recently as 2012 Aldi and Lidl only held a five per cent share of the market, and it had previously taken them nine years to double their combined share from 2.5 per cent. In the last 12 weeks the two retailers have attracted another additional million shoppers compared with last year while average spend per trip has increased by four per cent to £18.85, which is 78p ahead of the total retailer average. The discounters show no sign of stopping and with plans to open hundreds of stores between them, they’ll noticeably widen their reach to the British population.”
And to add to the woes of Tesco et al, Amazon now has them in its sights. The e-tailer recently launched Amazon Pantry for its Prime members, offering more than 4,000 everyday essentials, including food and drink, household supplies, baby and child care, pet, and health and beauty products. Customers can fill up as much or as little of an Amazon Pantry box as they wish for one-day delivery with a £2.99 fee for the first box and 99p for each additional one in the same order. Be afraid, be very afraid.
A mixed year for...
During October, AO.com (along with LizEarle.com) emerged as the best online shop, according to a Which? poll involving more than 10,000 people. But a month later AO World saw its shares tumble after reporting an £8.9 million operating loss for the first half of this year, compared to a profit of £900,000 at the same stage in 2014. This was despite the online appliance retailer seeing its UK sales surge 23.7 per cent to £214.8 million, while total group sales increased 22 per cent to £264.3 million. The company attributed its operating loss to "ongoing investment in German operations and startup costs in further Europe territories."
Nick Glynne, managing director at rival BuyItDirect Group, could not hide his glee: "AO's terrible results show that you cannot make profit if you spend all your money on building a brand and driving in revenue. Buying revenue or market share is so easy in the online game - you just need to throw a lot of money at Google or other advertising medium and along comes the revenue. However, making a return is more difficult."
Retail Systems looks back at a hugely eventful and, dare we say it, gamechanging 2015


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Bet365, one of the largest online gambling companies in the world, has provided bettors with the opportunity to bet on thousands of games, even games “In-Play.” Now, the company will be able to live stream sporting events from around Europe after an agreement with sports rights and marketing agency, The Sportsman Media Group GmbH.
The deal will expand Bet365’s existing live streams with additional sporting events. The sports betting company now says they will be able to offer live streaming for nearly every sport, which means bettors will be able to watch all the action unfold from their PC.
The new live streaming service allows bet365 to show a wider array of soccer matches than before. Added to the live streaming service were Serie A games from Italy. Also added were Germany’s Bundesliga 1 and 2 and Spain’s La Liga. The new agreement will allow bet365 to also show selected matches from the following leagues: Segunda Division Spain, Austrian Bundesliga 1 and 2, Columbian League, Korean League, Ecuadorian League, Portuguese Liga Orangina, Lithuanian League, and Ukrainian League. In addition, Confederation of European Volleyball and European Handball Federation games were added to the service.