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The new Vine video service on Twitter takes the site's approach to microblogging and applies it to video form. By minimizing clips to 6 seconds, without them needing to be a singular recording, Vine allows users to create succinct forms of work which often come across as little non-sequiturs. The arbitrary video length makes it hard to convey something deep and meaningful, made harder still by the real-time nature of video recording. Still, the potential for art in Vine videos is plausible and possible, even if unintentional. In addition, the marketing potential remains untapped, though edgy companies such as Urban Outfitters and Marc Jacobs have taken forays into the new format.
Enter Honda. The Japanese car company sees the potential of Vine, and is willing to take it towards the ridiculous. The company announced this morning through its Youtube channel if followers used a specific hashtag, #wantnewcar, and write a reason why they want a new Honda, the company will post Vine videos in response to the tweets. Twitter followers quickly responded, and Honda has started posting videos of car sales agents doing various acts of silliness to placate their whims. The intent of these videos is to attract car owners to replace their old vehicles for new Hondas as part of the company's nationwide summer clearance sale.
The company could use the boost: Like most of the auto industry, Honda has taken a big hit from the lack of ownership from driving-age Millennials, of whom are increasingly eschewing the supposed rite of maturity and turning to alternative methods of transportation (bus, train, bike, rideshares etc.) to get around. While retirees have kept a stable cushion against this loss, a sharp downturn is expected in the coming years as they likely give up their keys and/or die off. Honda, like many others in the industry, think the issue has much to do with image and the cost of gas, and have been working hard to deal with that problem through new cars, especially hybrid electric models such as the CR-Z and Insight. They also hope that, through social media outlets such as Vine, and the ridiculous acts they can create through that, they gain a footing with these car-reluctant youths. Inadvertently, they may create some works of art.
While ideal a vision this may be, it does not get into the core of the problem that Millennials have with car ownership: The cost of ownership itself. To wit, the price of a new Honda Fit, which is the lowest end model of the Honda lineup, is over $15000, not including any additional fees required to purchase the vehicle (title, registration, taxes). In addition, there is the matter of the cost of insurance, which unlike health insurance (until next year), is mandatory. Drivers under 25 are arbitrarily given higher insurance rates due to the inherent risk they pose on the road. Repairs are also an issue. Even if one were to lease a Fit or an Insight, the cost of owning that car from month to month can be a ridiculous burden on our underemployed youth. It makes the one time purchase of a bike and helmet for at most $500, or a monthly pass for public transit in the low triple-digits if that, far more appealing. Honda, for all its clever marketing, does not have a solution to that problem.


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Figures don’t look as bad as empty shops
CONCERNS that Lismore CBD tenancy rates are falling are unfounded according to Lismore City Centre manager Renee Moehead.
Ms Moehead said several recent high-profile shop vacancies could give such an impression but the figures don't back it up.
"Retail tenancies are basically steady based on the information I've received from the past couple of years," she said.
"There's been no real increase or decrease, but shops are always moving.
"You need to have about 5% of shops empty so businesses have the freedom to move around."
Ms Moehead added that the Star Court Arcade was currently full, which hadn't always been the case.
Current figures from the City Centre manager and Cr Isaac Smith show an approximate vacancy rate of 6% in the Lismore CBD, which is 23 shops.
Comparable rates for July last year indicate 21 shops were vacant, with 23 in January 2012.
The figures also indicate an average running percentage of vacancies of between 4% to 7% over five separate counts, from March 2012 to March 2013.
Art in the Heart co-ordinator Stephen Nelson said criticisms of council's business promotion programs in the CBD were unfounded.
"Southern Cross University's review of the council's business promotion program received the highest recognition for its brand (Come to the Heart), the Art in the Heart project, and the Back Alley Gallery project, so I take issue with anyone saying events like that are of no importance," he said.
"The underlying philosophy or thrust behind the success of business promotion program plans and marketing strategies is to have year-round activities, events, promotions, festivals etc happening in the CBD to continually attract people into Lismore."

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The holidays are an awesome time of year. If you are lucky, you are healthy and enjoying family, great food, and some relaxation. Audiophiles however don’t appear to be as chipper as the rest of us.
I am a self-admitted home audio fan, and as a lover of music and home audio, I try to keep tabs on the home audio market by reading what may be the bible of home audio: Stereophile.
So, I am reading the December 2022 issue and I come across a column on page 156 entitled, Ch-ch-ch-changes in the hi-fi Industry. Summing up the tone of the column the author Julie Mullins interviews a few people in the home audio industry about how the market has developed some creative ways to distribute and market audiophile products in the U.S.
One of the people interviewed for the column was Anthony Chiarella, the owner and operator of Specialty Sound & Vision. Chiarella tells the author that audiophile brands are in need of more dealers. Well, that seems obvious. If you can’t market like the way that large brands such as Sony, Sonos, LG and Samsung do to get in front of the public, the best way would naturally be to use dealers as conduits to reach end users.
Chiarella notes that some manufacturers have partnered with automobile companies to develop sound systems for luxury vehicles. Some of these companies Mullins cites include Burmester and McIntosh, which has enabled these audio companies to get their name in front of the much-coveted luxury market.
He then goes on to say surprisingly that many of these audio companies are producing solutions for the custom installation market to stay relevant in today’s diverse home audio market. Chiarella however has a problem with the installation market because it works with architects, builders and interior designers in some cases, rather than directly with homeowners to hide audio components to meet a range of homeowner objectives.
“CI has killed audio retail,” he tells Mullins in the column.
“ … It’s as if audio has been banished.”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news to audiophiles that actually agree with that statement, but it wasn’t installers that have negatively impacted the audiophile market, it’s the lack of evolution that’s occurred throughout the audiophile market that has put audiophiles on the back of milk cartons.
Audiophiles Stuck in the Past
Let me say that Chiarella is correct in that some traditional audiophile brands have adapted to the evolving consumer market. Some of those manufacturers include Mark Levinson and Revel from Harman Luxury Audio, Bowers & Wilkins, Meridian, McIntosh, KEF and of course some other manufacturers. These companies have partnered with automobile manufacturers to get their name in front of the luxury consumer market, and in the case of the Harman Luxury Audio brands, as well as Meridian and Bowers & Wilkins, they’ve made significant investments into their respective custom installation product lines.
The benefit of these companies’ custom lines is that they are serving that valuable luxury consumer market and potentially beginning that long process of developing consumer and professional loyalty through their integrator.
Consumer awareness and loyalty is really what the audiophile market has been missing now decades. Back in the 1990s when audiophile manufacturers should have been developing their marketing plans towards Gen X (about 65 million Americans), they were too busy patting themselves on the back for making great sounding, uber-expensive gear for the Baby Boomer generation and they completely ignored an entire generation.
Now with Gen X in their late 40s to mid-50s that ship has sailed, and now they are staring at the Millennials and Gen Z generations—if they even recognize the consumer landscape. Millennials (late 20s to early 40s) now make up the largest consumer demographic in the U.S. (approximately 72 million) and the vast majority of them likely do not even know the audiophile market exists. Moreover, Gen Z, the demographic right behind Millennials which totals roughly 68 million, is a generation that has primarily grown up on streaming content and headphones, which means they are probably even further out from the audiophile galaxy.
Underscoring these numbers, I did a brief Google search for the age of Stereophile readers and found an item from a 2009 Stereophile post that stated the median age of the magazine’s readers was 41. Another item in my searches was a 2006 post from the magazine that stated the median age was 48. Both posts also indicated the majority of its readers were Baby Boomers. Just to put that into perspective, at 54 I am firmly in the Gen X demographic and likely the oldest person by several years at my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) school. Do you think the magazine’s readers have gotten any younger over the past 13 years … it’s unlikely.
Now facing a declining market—let’s be realistic, boomers are no longer prioritizing audio purchases—they are looking at retirement, the state of their 401Ks, their IRAs and what the future of healthcare holds, so finally alarm sirens may be finally sounding for audiophile manufacturers.
A Role Model to Emulate: The Musical Instrument (MI) Industry
The solution for audiophile manufacturers is honestly easier said than done, but it starts with targeting younger Millennials and Gen Z as potential consumers. O.K., so how can audio manufacturers take on this daunting task? Let’s look at the M.I. (musical instrument) market for inspiration.
M.I. manufacturers that include Fender, Paul Reed Smith (PRS), Friedman Amplification and more recently Gibson have done a great job at what I’ll call gorilla or grassroots marketing using platforms such as FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram to invest very little money into direct interaction with consumers and potential users. Additionally, companies like PRS, Fender and now Gibson have used traditional media channels to reinforce their respective messages.
As a result, looking at PRS, a company that was formed in the 1980s now rivals benchmark brands of Gibson and Fender with a user roster filled with A-listers such as Carlos Santana, Mark Tremonti, Myles Kennedy, John Mayer, and session ace Tim Pierce.
Looking at PRS as the gold standard of how to market products people don’t really need but passionately desire, the company’s founder Paul Reed Smith is a guitar genius and one of the M.I. market’s biggest personalities who also happens to be a very good interview. Smith, his personality and of course his products translate well on sites like YouTube and the company has grown exponentially over the past 20 years. Gibson has positioned itself as a go-to, aspirational luxury guitar company with instruments that cost as much as $50,000 (limited edition “Greenie” Les Paul) through the company’s work with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett who currently owns the original Greenie. Gibson is also aided by its history with icons such as Jimmy Page, Slash, Angus Young and Randy Rhoads all playing the company’s products.
What shouldn’t be overlooked in the success of Fender, Gibson, PRS, and Friedman for example, is that these companies offer diverse product lines. Friedman, whose users include people like Chris Shiflett from The Foo Fighters, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, and Richie Sambora, offers amplifiers from $250 all the way up to $4,300 for a Steve Stevens signature model amp.
Fender does the same thing with products from its Squire line checking in for less than $200 to expensive Custom Shop models that can cost thousands of dollars.
Again, the important thing to stress here is these manufacturers attract young consumers to the entry level of their respective product lines and as those consumers build loyalty to these brands, they move vertically up the respective product lines to purchase more expensive products such as an R9 1959 reissue Gibson Les Paul or a Private Stock PRS that serve as expensive aspirational purchases.
How many audiophile manufacturers employ gorilla/grassroots marketing techniques, partner with media companies with proven track records and/or offer diverse product lines to attract new consumers? I know Bowers & Wilkins, Meridian, and Harman luxury Audio all employ these tactics and it’s no wonder why they have successfully carried their brands into today’s new era of home technology, which is underscored by the complexity of the market.
What’s the bottom line as we head into 2023 for audiophile manufacturers: The market is more competitive than ever with audiophile manufacturers competing against the gaming industry, as well as streaming media, the Internet, professional sports, and of course traditional hobbies to gain the attention of American consumers. Put more simply: It is time to stop complaining about the state of consumer audio, stop blaming integrators because installers got it a long time ago—they are actually growing luxury and audiophile audio sales—and do something immediately to help your niche category grow by developing diverse products that range from entry level to custom; market aggressively on social media, and partner with the right media companies to find new consumers and reinforce your social media before you go the way of the Dodo bird.
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Sunday 20th of June 2010, there was a real buzz in downtown Baghdad. Iraqi businessmen queued for hours to get through the security checks for the chance to discover American or British companies that could supply goods or services of quality.
The Baghdad Catalogue Show was an event that really demonstrated the strong desire and real will of reputable Iraqi businesses to trade with their US and UK partners. Over 100 people attended the half day event. Many had to be turned away due to the events limited capacity and advance registration process.
Many of the Iraqi businesses men in attendance of the event expressed their hope that trade relations with America and the UK would return to previous levels. The perception of superior quality and shared cultural values with the US and UK persists in modern day Iraq.
Part of any international companies’ overseas strategy must start by understanding the local operational environment and any event that can help companies to do that are critically important in assisting US & UK SME’s to successfully engage in the Iraqi market. The Catalogue Show was conceived as a preliminary step, combining the experience and expertise of Upper Quartile and G4S along with the trade support activities of the US Commercial Service. Catalogues are not sufficient to secure a long term business relationship especially in a country where face-to-face contact remain an essential element of business engagement but it has been a starting point for many of the businesses that took part in the Show.
Next year the Show will be bigger and better, with more private sector involvement from all 3 countries!


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Calling all Corvette owners! Look, we know you have a garage full of Corvette parts you no longer need. Why not sell them and pocket the cash? Mid America Motorworks is holding their Spring Swapfest this Saturday and it’s your chance to buy, sell or trade from private sellers. There is even a car corral for anyone interested in selling or buying vehicles.
The folks at Jalopnik run a regular feature called “Nice Price or Crack Pipe,” which aims to get its viewers’ thoughts on certain, uh, different vehicles.
Recently, the site asked its viewers to rate this, uh, different 1976 Corvette Stingray that to some may represent all that was wrong with that decade of styling excess.
Zip Corvette is back again this year with the 2nd Annual “Cruisin’ in the Fast Lane” customer appreciation cruise-in! Corvette owners will converge on the grounds of Zip’s corporate headquarters this Saturday, May 4 from 10am – 3pm for a day of fun, food and of course, Corvettes!
The opening seminar at the 2013 National Corvette Museum’s Bash Event was the C7 Corvette Chassis Development with Mike Bailey and Jim Mero. Bailey talks about the design and engineering aspects of the new chassis while Mero’s focus was test driving to tune and refine the driving experience.
If you’re fan of original cars like we are, have we got one for you. Check out this unrestored Bloomington Gold Survivor Corvette currently up for sale on eBay. The 31,000 mile C1 is reported to be 1 of only 2 such cars to claim Survivor honors and the seller has a letter from Bloomington Gold to back up that claim.
Great news for Indy 500 Corvette pace car fans. Autoweek is claiming that the 2014 Corvette Stingray will be the pace car for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and they say they have the spy photos to prove it. The photos show a specially-equipped Laguna Blue 2014 Corvette Stingray with safety lights testing at the Milford Proving Grounds.
Last Friday at the National Corvette Museum’s Bash Event, Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter and Product Manager Harlan Charles delivered their 2014 Corvette Stingray seminar to a capacity crowd. With so much information coming out about the new Corvette, the seminar lasted nearly two full hours!
Like previous years, the seminar also gave us the highlights and some final numbers on the current model year (2013) before delving into the new Stingray content. And because pricing for the Stingray was announced just an hour before the event started, we get to hear the Corvette Team’s first official comments on the manufacturers suggested retail pricing of $51,995 for the 1LT Coupe and $56,995 for the 1LT Convertible.
The LT nameplate has a long and storied performance history for Corvette and General Motors.
Looks like a new chapter could well be added by the seventh generation of the ‘Vette.
A 1967 Corvette that has a special place in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been chosen to be the poster art for this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion poster.
That car is the 1967 Corvette No. 9 raced by Corvette legends Dick Guldstrand and Bob Bondurant at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it hit speeds of 170mph-plus down Mulsanne Straight to take a big lead before mechanical woes forced it off the track. Despite that disappointment, the two drivers had already become folk heroes to the locals by driving the car from the airport near Paris to the track.


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AFP – An international group of consumer groups and NGOs denounced Google’s bid for sports smartwatch-maker Fitbit yesterday, saying it would threaten privacy and grant the search giant unfair access to a new market.
Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of the maker of smartwatches and fitness trackers was unveiled in November and rang alarm bells among global regulators over antitrust and privacy worries.
Fitbit is a pioneer in the market for connected watches and other physical activity sensors that measure the number of daily steps taken, calories burned or hours of sleep.
A group of 20 NGOs “have significant concerns” that the takeover “would be a game-changer not only for how people interact with the online world but also for digital and related health markets,” a statement said.
“Regulators around the world… must therefore give it their utmost attention,” they said, calling it a “test case” on facing down big tech firms.
The groups include BEUC, which unites EU consumer advocates, as well as the Consumer Federation of America in the US and digital rights groups in Mexico, Brazil and Australia.
EU antiturst regulators, who are to decide on the transaction by July 20, are especially concerned with Silicon Valley giants buying their way into new areas and then stifling competition.
“Wearable devices could replace smartphones as the main gateway to the internet, just as smartphones replaced personal computers,” the NGOs
said a statement.“Google’s expansion into this market, edging out other competitors would thus be significant,” they added.
A Google spokesman rejected the claims. “Throughout this process we have been clear about our commitment not to use Fitbit health and wellness data for Google ads,” the spokesman said.


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Matt Edwards is his own target demographic: a career-minded Austinite who "loves his dog to death."
This 28-year-old entrepreneur with a hankering for self-startups broke into the pet industry last year while designing outdoor gear for dogs. His latest startup, Great OutDogs, is a website and mobile store that sells eco-friendly, outdoor gear for dogs. The mobile store, which opened in April, sets up shop at different "activity-driven areas around the city" every week.
In the first weekend in June, the mobile trailer was parked at Auditorium Shores. Visitors, both two- and four-legged, skid off of the jogging path around Lady Bird Lake to follow the yellow-paw-path to the mobile retail store. Customers pick through the merchandise: 1,300 eco-friendly, outdoor dog products, including many new for the local market, Edwards says. The trailer sells customer favorites from Edwards' online store, which launched in February and features more than 10,000 outdoor dog items.
"It was a situation where I found the perfect truck and I had to run with it," he says.
Great OutDogs is the first mobile retail truck to be issued a temporary concession permit by the City of Austin to operate on parkland. "Since Auditorium Shores is one of Austin's off-leash dog zones, staff determined Great OutDogs would provide products to the public that complement the area," said Enjole Armstrong, a contract compliance specialist from the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
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The mobile store used to be a tool truck that traveled around Edwards' hometown of Byhalia, Miss. Now, it's the product of his year-long, one-man effort to finance and design the trailer.
Items that line the inside of the trailer include best-sellers such as tug-and-fetch toys that are made from recycled materials and organic treats that are locally prepared by Healthy Hound.
"Convenient" is the word that customer Kate Stephens repeats when describing the trailer, a feature that is not lost on Edwards. "I wanted to give people a chance to buy the product, rip the tag off and use it in 30 seconds," he says. And that's exactly what Stephens does. She comes over on a lunch break to buy a tug-and-fetch toy for her dog, Rory. Soon, the Australian shepherd is racing across the park, in pursuit of an orange flying disk.
When rescued boxer, Ella, bounds up the ramp into the mobile truck, owner Lee Ann Byrum follows, breathless and laughing. "Ella decided to go shopping!"
Edwards befriends the boxer with a chicken-flavored Lickety Stik, which he describes as a "new age treat and training tool." Within seconds, Ella sits at Edwards' heels, obeying a command to sit. Ella enjoys the Lickety Stik; her owner, the affordable prices. "I think it's awesome," Byrum says about the store. "I like that it's so compact and not overpriced. [Ella] just knew it was her store."
Edwards' customer service aptitude hints at his previous life, in which he worked as a sales manager at Dell, the job that brought him to Austin four years ago from Nashville, Tenn. He soon shucked the corporate world in favor of his own business. His new work attire: a vintage red T-shirt, blue shorts and Ray-Ban sunglasses. His new office is mobile, complete with a smartphone, folding chairs, umbrella and cooler.
Edwards' business is a small segment of a growing pet product industry. According to the American Pet Products Association, U.S. pet spending in 2011 totalled more than $50 billion, up from $48 billion the year before. Projections for 2012 hit the $52 billion ballpark.
Edwards became interested in selling outdoor dog products after he noticed this niche market wasn't being served locally. He also saw it as an opportunity to tackle rising obesity among dogs — about 50 percent are overweight or obese, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.
He says his store is doing "extremely well," racking up around $500 in his first two hours of opening on a recent Friday morning, with his business cards flying out the trailer to customers interested in looking at his website.
"I wish I would have come up with this idea first," Stephens jokes. "Austin is a dog-friendly town, and people will pay anything for their dogs."
In the future, Edwards plans on turning Great OutDogs into a franchise, bringing it to Portland, Ore., San Diego, and possibly Canada. Currently, he juggles running the mobile store with amping up his social media presence and marketing his website, which he wants to transform into a one-stop shop for outdoor dog products as well as a resource for all things canine.
"Dogs have really mainstreamed into the lives of Americans," says Edwards, whose brown boxer, Nugget, takes weekend rides in Edwards' car, is called the "grand-dog" by Edwards' parents and falls asleep on the foot of Edwards' bed, but somehow ends up on the pillow next to Edwards.
Edwards sums up his affection for his dog and perhaps explains the continuing spending trend in the pet industry in two, simple words: "He's family."
Contact Reshma Kirpalani at 445-1789.


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Last week, I spent some time in the US with one of our strategic software partners, Citrix. As an organisation, they have been on an impressive spree of acquisitions and product development that has resulted in a diversified portfolio that spans: online services; desktop and application virtualisation; cloud networking; cloud platforms and more recently file sharing. Not bad for a company that a decade years ago was known for mainly one product with revenues less than $1B!
One of the straplines that Mark Templeton (CEO, Citrix) used for his keynote was “the exceptions of the PC era are becoming the new assumptions of the Cloud era”. Clearly with a business focused on Mobile and Cloud you can understand why he feels that such a prediction should come true!
But it was noticeable to me during the week that the 4,000 or so attendees (less than 10% from EMEA) were embracing this message with the level of appreciation and hoopla that our rather less inhibited cousins from across the pond can sometimes exhibit! 🙂
We are undoubtedly going through a period of change in the way we consume and use technology (you only have to read through the variety of topics we have covered in the blogs more recently) despite this, most European businesses and public bodies have endured tough times in recent years. But, regardless of how painful the recession and however far-reaching its effects, technology has retained its power to cut costs and support business transformation – when implemented properly. Shiny devices and cloud computing may grab the headlines, but nowhere has the transformation of IT been more tangible and important to end users than in the workplace arena.
That’s fundamentally why we believe our clients are on the journey to a ‘contemporary’ workplace – it’s about getting modern and staying modern. However, we do appreciate that it’s also about the appropriate use of technology and what’s right for one type of company may not meet the needs of another. However, as with most industry inflection points, it becomes less of a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ will such a transition takes place? If the amount of investment, energy and innovation being driven by corporations such as Microsoft, VMware, Apple and Citrix continue at the pace we are currently experiencing, it could be here sooner than we may think!


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Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are changing the way people shop, according to Venky Harinarayan, the new head of @Walmart Labs, and Walmart is trying to take advantage of it.
Walmart bought Harinarayan’s latest company, Kosmix, which filtered and organized social media from Silicon Valley, in April, and the store has been considering how social media and mobile phones affect how people look for products, how Walmart prices products, how products are marketed online and the overall experience of Walmart shoppers in Walmart stores, Harinarayan told the VentureWire FASTech conference in Redwood City, Calif.
Shoppers use search and social media differently, Harinarayan said. Searchers generally know which products they’re looking for, while social media users are browsing. “In search, people are extra-precise,” he said, “but in social media you follow things, like the San Francisco 49ers. It’s about topics as opposed to key words.”


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February 7th, 2022
Facebook parent Meta announced Monday that PayPal co-founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel will no longer serve on its board of directors.
Thiel has served on the board since 2005 but decided to not run for re-election to the board during its 2022 annual stockholders meeting, according to a Meta press release.
“It has been a privilege to work with one of the great entrepreneurs of our time,” Thiel said. “Mark Zuckerberg’s intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness are tremendous. His talents will serve Meta well as he leads the company into a new era.”
“Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company — from believing in us when few others would, to teaching me so many lessons about business, economics, and the world,” Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO, said.
Earlier this month, Thiel made news after hosting a fundraiser for Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).


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19 March 2013 15:29 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS)--The national average retail price for a gallon regular unleaded gasoline is at $3.68/gal, which is 9 cents/gal cheaper than the 2013 high reached on 27 February, automobile organisation AAA said on Tuesday.
As the national average retail price declines, motorists have had some price relief.
Drivers in 38 states and Washington DC pay less today than they did last week, and those in 28 states pay less than one month ago, according to the AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report.
“While the recent price movement has varied by state, the year-over-year savings have been nearly universal,” AAA’s Michael Green said. “Motorists in every state, with the exception of North Dakota, pay less than the same day last year.”
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Since Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system release has passed a lot of time. Although the company promises to update their devices, few smartphones could get a new version «green robot»About what they say Google monthly reports. Now we have an opportunity to learn, when Samsung plans to upgrade to at least a few of its devices.
According to a new leak, it appears that some of the devices will receive the update next month. Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be released for the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Galaxy Note5 in February. Behind them on the waiting list are Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which will be able to “zephyr“ in February and March.
Then, the update will be able to try out the owners of Galaxy S5, which can expect Android 6.0 in March and April, as this applies to owners of smartphones Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge. These dates have not been officially confirmed by the Samsung, but they seem to come from the South Korean company schedules Device Updates.
As soon as we get some more details on the exact dates for the renovation of the above smartphones, we’ll let you know.


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blinkx Brings Viewers the Best in Technology Tutorial Videos With Woopid
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – March 10, 2009 – blinkx, the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine, today announced a partnership with Woopid (www.woopid.com), the Web’s best resource for technology tutorial videos. More than 2,000 of Woopid’s premium instructional video clips are now more easily accessible than ever before, courtesy of blinkx. Leveraging its unique AdHoc platform, blinkx will also place contextually relevant advertising against the footage, and share resulting advertising revenue with Woopid.
From discovering the secrets of Windows Vista to getting a first look at the latest Safari beta, users of all technical skills and abilities can find the answers they’re looking for with Woopid, a company devoted to providing simple solutions to technology-related problems. Woopid’s ever-growing library of high quality step-by-step video tutorials includes instruction across a wide variety of technical subjects, from hardware to software, and more.
“Instructional video is extremely popular right now, as words alone often paint an incomplete picture of a given task or technique,” said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO, blinkx. “We’re happy to include so many of the world’s leading how-to video sites in our index, and think the most recent addition of Woopid’s technology tutorials will be extremely useful for our users.”
“We’re delighted to partner with blinkx to make Woopid’s content easily accessible to audiences across the world,” said Brandon Kane, president, Woopid. “blinkx’s powerful search technology will allow viewers to benefit from our expert tech tips immediately and effortlessly.”
As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest way to search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 450 partners and 35 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TV moments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more, blinkx uses advanced speech-recognition technology to deliver results that are more accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches.
blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world’s most comprehensive video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx’s founders set out to solve a significant challenge – as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx’s patented search technologies listen to – and even see – the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world’s most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.
Woopid is the easiest and most complete resource for computer questions, PC or Mac, no matter how big or small. Free to watch and share, videos are simple to follow and inspire users to further their technical abilities. Using a proprietary “Take a Step Back”, “Moving Forward"TM system, people of any technical level can absorb and understand the same instructional video. Registration for Woopid is also free, and enables users to request custom video tutorials to answer their unique problems and questions for a nominal fee. Woopid also offers marketers targeted banner and in-video advertising solutions, as well as customized Woopid portals for educational institutions.
Press Contacts for blinkx:
+1 (415) 321 1894
+44 207 869 8328
Nomad for blinkx
Press Contact for Woopid:
+1 (617) 281 3023


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Mountains are being made over the molehill of moderating consumer interest in electric vehicles.
Yes, consumer interest in EVs has recently cooled from red hot to reasonably warm, according to a pair of surveys.
Online vehicle marketplace AutoTrader found that “56 per cent of car shoppers [in Canada] who do not own an EV are open to purchasing one for their next vehicle, down from 68 per cent the year prior.” Similarly, J.D. Power’s 2023 survey found, “overall EV consideration in Canada has declined 13 percentage points to 34 per cent from 47 per cent in 2022.”
AutoTrader’s year-end trend report was released around the same time as the federal government unveiled its Electric Vehicle Availability Standard outlining increasingly stringent sales targets for zero-emission vehicles, which prompted headlines like this one from the National Post – “Interest in EVs is down as Canada aims to convert all new sales to electric” – and “Canada faces declining EV interest, report shows, despite push to boost sales” from Global News.
Yet, dig down a little, and this momentary dip in excitement seems to be driven more by economic headwinds and a product mix that skews toward high-end models, rather than some larger, permanent falling-out between Canadian drivers and battery-powered cars.
The same AutoTrader year-end report that noted the dip also noted online searches for EVs on its marketplace increased in 2023 by 15 per cent year-over-year. (Although their share remains low at less than 3 per cent of total searches.)
More illuminating were the top reasons Canadians gave in that survey for not considering an EV. They were: vehicle prices (40 per cent), interest rates (24 per cent), and inflation (13 per cent). In other words, people still want EVs – they just can’t afford them right now.
Let’s consider why: EVs are pricier up front than conventional cars and 8-per-cent finance rates only exacerbate the problem.
Inflation has also been high and is still tracking around 3.5 per cent, which is straining households and forcing drivers to think about where they can cut back on expenses. With the average asking price for a rental unit in Canada topping $2,100 in December, according to Rentals.ca, and the average mortgage payment about the same in the third quarter of 2023, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, many people are feeling stretched. If they are thinking about cancelling Crave or Netflix subscriptions, you can bet they’re also rethinking a pricey EV purchase.
Another reason to postpone an EV purchase, perhaps: Gas prices have descended from record highs, which makes the switch to electric less financially attractive than it was in 2022.
The fact that so many new EVs are high-priced luxury models isn’t helping either.
“I believe there’s a mismatch between the demand and the types of vehicles that are being produced,” Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, said in an interview. “There are a lot of very expensive, feature-rich vehicles that are luxurious and high performance, but I think the majority of consumers who are just looking for safe, reliable, economical transportation do not have EV options available to them.”
In other words, if you want a luxury EV, you might be able to drive it off the lot that day. If you want a base-level EV by a mainstream brand, well, you’d better hope your current car will last a while.
“For all the headlines written in the last six months about how EV demand is faltering, the data definitely doesn’t support that, or at least not yet,” wrote Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport at BloombergNEF and co-author of its latest annual Zero Emissions Vehicles Factbook. Published in December, it showed global sales of passenger EVs (fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles) were on pace to hit a record 14 million units in 2023. “In the U.S.,” McKerracher continued, “where most of the concerns on demand have been raised, sales are growing even faster and will be up 50 per cent this year.”
Statistics Canada hasn’t released its EV sales results for 2023 yet, but with strong growth in the vehicle market last year over all, there’s little doubt it will be yet another banner year for battery-powered transportation.
Chevrolet, for example, posted its best-ever year for the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, selling 14,075 units in 2023 in Canada, an increase of 121 per cent over 2022. Increased availability and pent-up demand owing to supply shortages are playing a role, certainly, but that’s still an impressive year-end result. (It also shows how hungry consumers are for lower-priced EVs; the company’s pricier Ultium-based EVs fared much worse, as InsideEVs noted.)
Volvo also sold a record-breaking number of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last year. They made up 35 per cent of Canadian sales (or roughly 4,500 cars) up from 30 per cent in 2022. ”It’s important to acknowledge the dynamic nature of the automotive market,” Matt Girgis, managing director of Volvo Car Canada, wrote in an e-mail. “While there may have been a slight dip in consumer interest in ZEVs, we need to consider the contributing factors.” Those include, he added, government policies, technology, interest rates, pricing transparency and overall affordability.
BMW’s chief financial officer Walter Mertl recently told reporters the company now generates most sales growth from electric cars and that the “tipping-point” for gas-powered combustion engines has already passed.
The good news for EV demand is that interest rates are likely to fall and Canada’s new EV sales mandate should help gradually drive down vehicle prices and push automakers to build more mainstream models.
That’s not to say the road to 2035 will be pothole free. Hitting the federal sales targets for new zero-emissions passenger vehicles – 60 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035 – will involve winning over millions of EV skeptics and heel-draggers. The most eager buyers have already bought into the market, and from here on out, each new EV sale will be harder than the last.


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AWS to Provide Free Security USBs to Select Clients
Published · Aug 28, 2021
Following a summit on cybersecurity at the White House, Amazon Web Services has announced it’ll provide some customers with free USB keys. Clients will use the keys as a second authentication method to secure logins to sensitive networks.
AWS and other cloud providers, such as Google and Microsoft, are responsible for hosting and providing infrastructure to businesses worldwide. With a steep escalation in cyber attacks over the past few years, they’re increasingly relying on hardware solutions for security.
Although the USB security keys aren’t a new offering, they were only available at an extra cost—roughly $25 per key. It’s not clear who the manufacturer of these keys will be, but the name YubiKey comes up often.
YubiKey is a big multi-factor authentication hardware company. Many security-focused solutions, such as password managers, support and promote the use of its devices.
AWS will begin rolling the keys out in October 2021. Only clients who spend $100 or more a month will be eligible to receive them free of charge. The key will go to the main account holder. Sub-users will not be eligible to receive them.
This move is evidence that the parties that gathered for the White House summit are serious about bolstering the United States’ cyber defenses. Using hardware for security strengthens networks, as foreign threat actors will have a harder time cracking physical machines over long distances.
Garan is a writer interested in how tech reshapes the environment, and how the environment reshapes tech. You'll usually find him inoculating against future shock and arguing with bots.


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Tesla leads 2014 business and technology news
For many Northern Nevadans 2014 seemed like a turning point in so many ways. Let’s take a look back and see how the events and developments of 2014 have changed the landscape and outlook for our region.
The biggest news in business and technology was Tesla’s announcement that Northern Nevada was chosen as the site of its gigafactory, a massive manufacturing facility that will produce batteries for Tesla’s electric cars and more.
The real reason the Tesla announcement was such big news is not the 6,500 jobs that they forecast, or the fact it is currently the largest manufacturing construction project in the U.S.; rather it is the secondary impacts it will have on the region. Those impacts are already being seen in terms of new company announcements, estimates of tens of thousands of follow-on jobs and the need for new educational solutions.
Entrepreneurship, technology startups and co-working were all big news in Northern Nevada in 2014. It seemed like a new energy and focus occurred that was spurred by the growth and success of organizations like the Reno Collective and C4Cube as well as technology events like the Reno Hackathon, Hack4Reno and NCET’s Startup Week.
The effort to expand the concept of Reno districts gained momentum as the Regional Alliance for Downtown continued its work to change the image of the region. With downtown districts like MidTown, RiverWalk and Old Brewery, as well as distinct locations like Startup Row, the vision to diversify Reno and move it from a gaming town to a vibrant community of restaurants, entrepreneurs and artists is having a positive effect, and has gained national exposure.
One of the interesting and most promising developments in the downtown rebirth has been the focus on connecting the University of Nevada to the city core and these revitalized districts. The benefits would be enormous as students, faculty and staff engage with businesses, technology startups and the arts to build a better and stronger university town.
Another local development that is technology related was the FAA designation of Nevada as a test site for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. This designation has been a validation of the work the University of Nevada and the state of Nevada have been doing to drive the development and commercialization of drones. Following this designation there were announcements of new companies and related industry relocations that are bringing more jobs and manufacturing to the region.
While startups are great for the entrepreneurial spirit of the community, the biggest impact on jobs, growth and diversification comes from established companies relocating significant operations to the area. In 2014 Northern Nevada continued to attract a range of new companies and industries to the area. From high-tech firms to Internet fulfillment centers, the economic growth engine has been running full steam powered by the success of regional development authorities like EDAWN and NNDA. For a list of new companies that have committed to Northern Nevada check out EDAWN’s website at www.edawn.org.
What 2015 will bring is yet to be seen, but it feels like we are building a significant base to continue economic diversification and recovery. With more jobs coming in technology, high-tech manufacturing and research fields, it is clear that our educational system must keep up, and, of course, population growth will bring more challenges and more need for technological solutions.
Steve Cerocke, founder/president of IQ Systems Inc., can be reached at 775-352-2301, ext. 1001, or email@example.com.


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Amid concerns that China’s slowing economic growth could sap demand for iPhones, Apple Inc. is increasingly turning its attention to one of the last big countries it has yet to conquer: India Read More »
Jan 21, 2016
Two India-born engineers are part of a team that won a big case against Apple Inc. in the U.S. this week.
A federal jury ruled Tuesday that the smartphone and computer giant had used technology patented by Gurindar Sohi, Terani Vijaykumar and two others when developing processors for some recent iPhones and iPads. Read More »
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraced the value of social media in Silicon Valley Sunday, positioning India as an open, evolving alternative to China for U.S. tech giants.
Mr. Modi engaged in an hour-long question-and-answer session with Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg before more than 1,100 people at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. He also met with Google Inc. executive Sundar Pichai, who reiterated a plan to bring fast Web access to as many as 400 Indian railway stations by the end of next year. Read More »
Apple has started selling its latest iPhones in India just ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that has become a key time to purchase goods from cars to cellphones. But customers at one Delhi store had to wait a little longer than expected to get their hands on the phones. Read More »
As Apple Inc. tries to convince rich consumers to dish out more dollars for the iPhone 6, Indian companies hope to sell more handsets by slashing their smartphone prices. India Real Time looks at how the world’s cheapest smartphone performs. Read More »
Apple will have a whole bag of goodies to show off Tuesday. Not only is a redesigned iPhone (or two) expected, there will likely be smartwatch sightings as well—and possibly a golden iPad to boot. Read More »
India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.
Check out the main contributors to the blog and their bios here.
Content engaging our readers now, with additional prominence accorded if the story is rapidly gaining attention. Our WSJ algorithm comprises 30% page views, 20% Facebook, 20% Twitter, 20% email shares and 10% comments.
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Salon stylists may not be known as early adopters of new technology, but L’Oréal is targeting them with its virtual reality hair education program in a partnership with 8i and hair care brand Matrix.
The move is a recognition that consumers aren’t the only target for VR, which is expected to be a $30 billion market by 2020, according to Digi-Capital. To get there, business-to-business and educational applications will have to take off. In this case, L’Oréal hopes hair stylists will be able to avoid expensive training trips by using the VR app.
L’Oréal said it is always experimenting with new technologies that can solve for specific business challenges. It said it recognized early that VR could have a profound impact on the highly visual and community-driven beauty industry.
Through a partnership with 8i, the company will be offering VR education as part of Matrix Academy — a L’Oréal-affiliated training program for hairstylists. There are currently 30 Matrix Academies in the U.S., and the program is set to grow in 2017. This VR program will offer a way for hairstylists to advance their education and learn the latest hair techniques without having to travel across the nation or globe to various trainings, which is currently the case.
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Early beta tests with hairdressers have been overwhelmingly positive. L’Oréal previously experimented with augmented reality for the beauty market. In 2014, L’Oréal Paris launched Makeup Genius, a real-time virtual “mirror” makeup app.
The rise of beauty vloggers and educators on YouTube and Instagram have shown just how powerful engaging videos can be to educate people on how to do hair and makeup, and it’s also brought the global beauty community closer together. The beauty industry sparked a whole category of video how-tos, and this partnership takes it a big step further by allowing salon professional to enter an immersive virtual experience — a true first — tailored for a true business case.
8i partnered with L’Oréal and its professional brand, Matrix, to create an immersive room-scale volumetric VR experience that features photorealistic holograms. Room-scale volumetric VR experiences are different from 360 video because they allow the viewer complete freedom of movement, which enables presence, or the feeling you are there in the room. 8i’s holographic video technology strives to create 3D photorealistic recordings of people who appear so real to the viewer in VR or AR that it’s if they were actually there in the same room.
Hair is one of the most challenging aspects to get right in 3D reconstruction of humans. 8i’s technology is optimized to reconstruct fine human details (like hair, face, fingers, eyes, and movement). 8i uses regular off-the-shelf cameras and proprietary fully automated, video-based software to record people and create the holograms.
This volumetric VR experience will let you view the Matrix trainings from any angle. You can step into the stylist’s body (or hologram) and see how they style the model’s hair from a first-person view. At the end of the training, the “before” hologram of the model will appear next to the “after” hologram.
Matrix will begin piloting these classes in 2017 at 25 Matrix Academies in the U.S. with the ambition for this to become a global program. The aim is to make professional hair training accessible and affordable to the millions of stylists Matrix trains every year. In 2015, Matrix trained more than 2 million hairdressers globally.
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- Elon Musk stated Tesla’s German Gigafactory must begin production in November or December.
- The factory was at first due to open July 1, however was postponed, partially over ecological issues.
- Tesla strategies to make up to 10,000 Model Y cars weekly there by the end of 2022, Musk stated, per Bloomberg.
The factory is set up to begin production of Tesla’s Model Y automobiles in November or December, Musk stated throughout the “ Giga-Fest” county fair at the website near Berlin, per reports by Bloomberg and Reuters Volume production was “the tough part” and would take longer, Musk stated, per Bloomberg.
The factory was initially slated to open on July 1, however license concerns and ecological issues that emerged in 2015, consisting of fret about threatening the regional lizard population, postponed the opening. Local ecological groups likewise argued that the Gigafactory might damage the location’s supply of water
Tesla is still awaiting the last approval to begin production at the website. Germany’s Environment Ministry is set to decide after an assessment on public issues about Tesla’s Gigafactory closes on October 14, per Reuters.
Musk stated that Tesla prepared to make in between 5,000 and 10,000 cars each week at the Gigafactory by the end of 2022, per Bloomberg.
” It will take longer to reach volume production than it required to construct the factory,” Musk stated, as reported by Reuters.
The factory will likely utilize batteries made by Tesla in China till it constructs a different plant in Germany, Musk stated, per Bloomberg.
In May, Musk provided his German group 6 more months to begin production at the factory, Automobilwoche initially reported, mentioning business sources. A month previously, Tesla stated that production would begin towards completion of 2021.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk likewise stated at the celebration that he was “concerned” about staffing at the factory, Reuters reported.” We truly require terrific skill to come here from all over Europe,” he included, per the report.


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Apple has bought SolarWorld, the solar panel manufacturer behind solar roofing systems, in a $1.9bn deal that also includes an investment in battery technology.
Apple has invested $1 billion in SolarWorld and a $500m share in SolarCity, the San Francisco-based electric car manufacturer that is owned by Tesla.
The deal is expected to close by the end of this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
The announcement follows Apple’s acquisition of SolarWorld earlier this year, a move that has been credited with boosting SolarWorld’s stock price to new heights.
Apple, the world’s biggest consumer electronics maker, has a long history of investments in renewable energy and has a strong commitment to clean energy, but it has struggled to turn the tide on climate change.
Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook has made a series of controversial statements about climate change, including claiming that the climate is warming and that humans are responsible.
Apple is also investing in solar roof designs by SolarCity.
Apple was the first major electronics manufacturer to announce it was investing in a solar panel company in 2009, when it bought SolarCity for $3.5bn.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said solar roofs would be “the best solution for our customers”.
Apple’s solar roof systems are made from glass, and its SolarPower technology uses photovoltaic cells that produce electricity by capturing sunlight.
Apple also plans to create a “multi-year investment in batteries”, and invest in batteries “to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide the most sustainable, cost-effective batteries on the market”.
Apple and SolarCity are owned by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who is a major shareholder in Tesla.


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Former Obama-advisor turned Uber exec David Plouffe said the ride-hailing firm needs to better explain the benefits to Democratic politicians.
Seattle's EMP Museum celebrates the iconic Japanese character in its latest exhibition.
From anchor tenants like Microsoft and Amazon, to a growing legal marijuana market, Seattle’s startup community is seeing green.
An investigation was underway Saturday in an E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants in Washington state and Oregon.
Just when you thought we'd hit peak geek, comic conventions are getting bigger and better than ever.
Here is the huge issue affecting the middle class that the Democratic candidates must address during the Las Vegas debate, says JoEllen Chernow.
The Seattle-based retailer says the site sprang from customer feedback and site searches for crafty items.
Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have agreed to bury all patent infringement litigation against each other, the companies announced on Wednesday.
Alaska Airlines starts its new service from Seattle to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport in time for the busy holiday season.
The median price of a Seattle home sold in August was $536,000, a stunning 23 percent jump from the same month a year earlier.
Amazon.com said on Tuesday it will begin offering its own restaurant delivery service to Prime members in Seattle.
Finally, a really good reason to use Amazon's one-hour delivery service, Re/code reports.
Multifamily construction activity is above historical averages in more than one-quarter of the U.S.'s largest housing markets, according to Trulia.
Isaiah Kacyvenski has transformed from gridiron competitor to entrepreneur at the forefront of science and technology.
Most NFL teams offer steep discounts for season ticket holders, but the investment isn't always worth it.
Las Vegas and Québec City have filed for new NHL franchises, but based on past expansion teams, they would face a daunting task.
"Sleepless in Seattle" is a goldmine for tours and shop owners, contributing to the nearly $5 billion the city generates in travel spending yearly.
Technology workers are leaving Silicon Valley and moving to new cities—and it's affecting housing prices, a study found.
Valet services like Luxe and Zirx are offering everything from basic parking services to oil changes to win the right to park your car.
Ex-Microsoft executive and marijuana entrepreneur Martin Tobias had his business and personal accounts with JPMorgan Chase terminated.


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The Independent Games Festival has announced the nominees for the 2011 Nuovo Award, a special category within the IGF for "abstract, short-form, and unconventional game development." In other words, weird art games! "I think what we've decided now is that even more light needs to be shed on this ...
Posted on Jan 27th 2015 8:15AM
Posted on Jan 26th 2015 11:00AM
Posted on Jan 26th 2015 10:00AM


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IBM, a multinational tech company, has recently announced a series of layoffs impacting its marketing and communications teams. This development follows IBM's January statement of a planned reduction of 3,900 positions. The news was delivered by Jonathan Adashek, IBM's chief communications officer, in a brief seven-minute meeting with staff, highlighting the company's ongoing adjustments in its operational strategy.
Further deepening the context, IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, shared insights with CNBC regarding a comprehensive upskilling initiative within the company, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI). This initiative aims to supplement approximately 8,000 roles with AI technologies, signifying a pivotal shift in IBM's approach to workforce development and technological integration.
As IBM navigates through these changes, it is expected to maintain its employment levels by the end of 2024, similar to its starting figures, despite the anticipated layoffs. This balancing act is part of a broader "workforce rebalancing" strategy, reflecting a thoughtful adjustment to the evolving demands of the tech industry and the global market.
The narrative of IBM's layoffs is set against the backdrop of a broader trend of workforce reductions within the tech sector. Early 2024 has witnessed a series of layoffs from leading companies, including Google, which announced cuts within its ad sales team. This trend underscores the volatile nature of the tech industry, particularly in times of strategic realignment and economic uncertainty.
In response to these developments, IBM and other tech giants are recalibrating their focus towards areas of growth and potential, a sentiment echoed by Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann. Following a period of restructuring, Amazon Games is concentrating its efforts on projects with the highest growth potential, mirroring a common theme across the tech industry: adaptation and focused innovation.
In an industry as dynamic as marketing, staying competitive requires constant learning and flexibility.
Here are some tips to stay ahead:
1. Mastering digital marketing tools and analytics
In today’s data-driven market, proficiency in digital marketing tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, and HubSpot is essential. These tools help marketers track and analyze website traffic, optimize search engine performance, and manage content and social media marketing efforts effectively.
Leveraging free online courses on tools like Google Analytics assists marketing professionals aiming to enhance their skill set. There are also numerous tutorials available on Youtube to learn specific tools. This commitment to self-improvement not only boosts individual competencies but also increases the value they bring to their roles, making them more adaptable and competitive in the fast-evolving digital landscape.
2. Keeping up with social media and content marketing trends
Social media platforms are continually evolving, offering new features and ways to engage with audiences. Staying informed about the latest trends, such as the rise of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, is vital.
3. Networking and continuous professional development
Building a strong professional network and investing in continuous learning are key to staying competitive. Attending industry conferences, participating in webinars, and joining professional organizations can provide opportunities to connect with peers and stay abreast of emerging trends and technologies.
4. Adopting emerging technologies
Marketers should be open to exploring and adopting emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and augmented reality (AR). These technologies can offer innovative ways to enhance customer experiences, personalize marketing efforts, and streamline operations.
Staying afloat post-layoff
For those affected by layoffs or seeking more flexible work arrangements, freelancing offers a viable path. Platforms such as ContentGrow link marketing and communications professionals, particularly writers, with projects suited to their expertise, allowing for a diverse portfolio and the opportunity to work with global brands. Embracing freelancing can provide stability and variety, encouraging growth and resilience in a changing job market.


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'Corporate carelessness' driving fear of ID fraud
Many people now see corporate carelessness as a bigger threat to their personal information loss than hackers and cyber-criminals, a survey by insurer RSA claims.
According to its research, 90 per cent of people polled think important personal information held by companies such as banks, retailers, and online auction sites, is ‘not completely secure’; and 46 per cent of the sample believe their banks and retailers ‘do not do enough to protect their personal details’.
The survey also revealed that respondents believe that actions by company employees pose the greatest threat to their personal information. The chief concern was carelessness by company employees when disposing of confidential information, followed by a fear of fraud being committed by members of staff. Third, in order of concern, was weak management leading to insufficient checks on the actions of staff.
The findings also revealed that people are becoming increasingly worried about the security of their personal information and the threat of identity fraud; 56 per cent say they are more concerned about this than they were six months ago.
“ Even seemingly ‘small’ breaches in customer confidentiality can lead to widespread concern – and can have a massive impact on the company’s reputation, and on the reputation of their industry as a whole,” says RSA director of retail Desmond Cross. “Particularly concerning is employees exposing customer sensitive data in public.”
With an increase in flexible, remote and mobile working and extended working hours, the line traditionally drawn between the office, home and public spaces is becoming increasingly blurred, Cross adds: “Technological advances in the last decade mean that the sheer amount of information people can carry around has increased exponentially.”


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Mobile games are popular all over the world but in China, enthusiasm is particularly high.
They made the industry over 270 million euros in the first quarter of 2013, a 30 percent increase over the same period last year.
And experts do not see things slowing down, smartphones have grabbed only 50 percent of the mobile phone market so far.
Yodo1 is a games company based in Beijing. It works with Western developers to bring titles to the Chinese market.
The company’s chief executive officer, Henry Fong, told us staff are working at full throttle.
“I think there’s been so much coverage and the growth of the market, both in terms of unit shipments as well as the revenue growth, has been so significant that mobile games developers really can’t ignore the Chinese market,” Fong said.
Companies like Yodo1 are crucial for Western developers in China. The complexities of the market mean local advice is needed to comply with the intricate mechanisms of distribution and sales of mobile games.
French company Gameloft arrived in Beijing in 2003, and after some difficulties in the beginning it is now settled and chasing opportunities.
Eric Tan, the company’s manager in China, said: “Compared to the other entertainment industries, the mobile gaming industry is growing at an exponential rate. Right now, both in online gaming and mobile gaming, we have seen cases where the revenues is greater than other media such as movies, TVs and music”.
China has not only have a growing number of users but also game engineers and they are producing global hits, with App fever gripping many of China’s cities.
At the Checku café in Beijing, young app entrepreneurs gather to try to meet investors. Mobile games change hands rapidly here.
Mobile games user and developer, Li Zongsheng, explained the popularity of games: “Chinese people are under a lot of stress these days. Android games, while commuting to and from work, and for killing time, are very good to reduce your pressure”.
A main reason for the boom is the rapid growth of cheaper mobile handsets.
The Chinese mobile game market certainly is a gold mine with growing potential.


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'Exciting products' will boost NS
NATIONAL Savings chief executive Peter Bareau has promised 'an exciting new product pipeline' at the £62bn institution. But he needs to live up to his promise after catching heavy flak for spending £2m on a new name - National Savings and Investments, and a new 'conker' logo. Click here for more details.
NS has been criticised for unattractive rates. The Treasury wants it to save the taxpayer money, so that it cannot be over-generous to its customers. Seeking more freedom, it will soon have an independent chairman and board.
Bareau claims rates in new products, such as individuals savings accounts and 90-day notice accounts, compare favourably with rivals. And he has one big success - premium bonds, which took £400m in January.
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ePlus Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2013 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call
HERNDON, VA - November 1, 2012 - ePlus inc. (NASDAQ NGS: PLUS - news) today announced that it will release its second quarter of fiscal year 2013 financial results for the period ended September 30, 2012 after the market closes on Monday, November 5, 2012. Management will hold a conference call and webcast at 2:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to discuss the Company's results.
|What:||ePlus Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results Conference Call|
|When:||Tuesday, November 6, 2012|
|Time:||2:00 p.m. ET|
(877) 870-9226, domestic
(973) 890-8320, international
(855) 859-2056, domestic
(404) 537-3406, international
(800) 585-8367, toll-free
|Webcast:||http://www.eplus.com/investors (live and replay)|
The replay of this webcast will be available approximately two hours after the call and be available until November 13, 2012.
About ePlus inc.
ePlus is a leading integrator of technology solutions. ePlus enables organizations to optimize their IT infrastructure and supply chain processes by delivering world-class IT products from top manufacturers, managed and professional services, flexible lease financing, proprietary software, and patented business methods and systems. Founded in 1990, ePlus has more than 850 associates serving federal, state, municipal, and commercial customers nationally. The Company is headquartered in Herndon, VA. For more information, visit http://www.eplus.com/, call 888-482-1122, or email firstname.lastname@example.org.
ePlus is a registered trademark of ePlus inc. in the United States and/or other countries.


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MONROE, LA (10/13/19) It’s been a busy year for Granny’s Soup Kitchen, finally recovering from an 18 wheeler that did significant damage to the building back in October of 2018.
Fast forward to September 2019… and the soup kitchen is struck by a truck again. This hit causing less damage than last time. But they’re continuing to push on. Granny’s has recently added a new roof and a central air conditioning, something they didn’t have prior to the wreck, in addition to quite a few other amenities.
The soup kitchen has been seeing an increase in the amount of people they can serve. Usually they see anywhere from 600-800 a month, but last month, they severed nearly a thousand. They can also focus their efforts on donating more than just food, fixing up the room that holds clothing that can be donated.
They want to continue to help patrons of the kitchen outside of its walls; working with local businesses to help create jobs. Larry Willis, Vice President of Granny’s Soup Kitchen says “we have had people use the kitchen and they get jobs and they come through every now and then with a donation letting us know they’re still working and they be doing good for themselves and we’re happy for them. they aren’t making a whole lot of money but they don’t have to be worrying about being outside, where their next meal is going to come from.”
If you would like to donate your time, money, food or clothing to the kitchen, you can reach them at (318)325-7218.


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Mediaweek editor James Manning looks at last night’s TV ratings.
A local version of the popular near-impossible elimination obstacle course game show Ninja Warrior has been commissioned by Nine.
Network 10 in partnership with customer engagement platform Braze
Bauer Media sells Money brand to financial services group Rainmaker
Pacific announces promotions as part of commercial team restructure
Podcast Week: The Alternative Truth, News Corp’s NewsCast, AFL
Nielsen announces partnership with geospatial experts RDA Research
ARN promotes Nick Flood to national role as sales team restructured


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For months now Ford executives have been signaling a cautious note on truck sales. Now, they are taking action by temporarily idling production of its F-150 at the Kansas City assembly plant for a week. Also, it is halting production of the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky for two of the next three weeks.
These preventive actions are aimed at reducing inventory which has grown to a 95 days’ supply of pickups on dealer lots. Ideally, automakers try to have a 60 day supply (or less).
By taking these actions now, Ford is hoping to avoid dropping big incentives in order to move product to make sales quotas.
“During our second quarter financial call, we said we expected the overall retail industry to decline in the second half of the year from the same period last year. We also said to expect to see some production adjustments in the second half – this is one of them. We continue matching production to meet demand,” said Kelli Felker, Ford spokeswoman in a Fortune.com article.
Last year, car sales reached a record of 17.47 million units sold. This year, analysts expect sales to come in .3 percent less at 17.1 million with consumer demand dropping. In the coming years, sales could continue to drop with many analysts pointing to post-recession pent-up demand fueling a lot of the growth in the past few years.
This news is sure to have a sour effect on financial markets as well as other automaker’s plans. Currently, Ford has really been the most vocal about future sluggish sales with other automakers taking a more positive viewpoint.
It remains to be seen what will happen, however, August sales were down 4.3 percent and this followed a flat July. This could definitely be cooling and Ford’s preventative approach maybe perfect timing.


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Company serving up improved version of the lowly paper plate
- Kathy Showalter
- Business First
A Lewis Center company is taking a product to market that Procter & Gamble Co. said it was too big to handle.
DuraCorp LLC was founded last year to manufacture hardy paper plates using technology developed for P&G by Gralex Inc., an engineering and product development business also based in Lewis Center. P&G hired Gralex in 1997 as the huge Cincinnati-based consumer products giant looked for the "world's best paper plate," said Gary Alexander, Gralex owner and DuraCorp president.
But P&G's interest in marketing the disposable tableware waned by 2001. P&G spokesman Jeff Leroy said executives felt the plates could be better launched by a smaller company.
"Quite often we'll come across technology that we think would be more beneficial for someone else to manage," Leroy said. "We like to be No. 1 or No. 2 in a market, and we didn't think we could take this to a leadership share."
The news was devastating for Gralex, Alexander said, because the company had expanded in anticipation of building and selling to P&G about 80 machines to make the plates.
"It almost put Gralex under," Alexander said. "We were crushed."
But instead of discarding the idea, Alexander decided he'd take the plates to market. He and investor Bill Shepard of Neenha, Wis., formed DuraCorp and then bought a P&G license to manufacture and distribute the tableware under the SuperServe name to food service companies and caterers. SuperServe plates are distributed regionally through Gordon Food Service of Milton, Ontario, and Inno-Pak Inc. of Delaware.
SuperServe tableware is made by thermoforming corrugated paper, a process using heat to press corrugated paper over a form. The plates can be used in microwave ovens, are strong enough to withstand the repeated sawing of a steak knife.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Adolph Coors Co. rky said after the bell Friday that fourth-quarter U.S. sales volume to wholesalers rose 4.2 percent. It said wholesaler sales to retail increased 0.8 percent. The company said for 2004, U.S. sales volume to retail fell 0.8 percent, with sales to retail decreasing 0.2 percent compared with 2003. Coors said it issued the fourth-quarter sales figures in response to reports that U.S. beer sales industrywide have declined in the fourth quarter.
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Asia CEO: Wal-Mart makes $16 billion sales annually in Japan, China, India
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Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores’ Scott Price, CEO for Asia, said Wednesday that the retailer makes $16 billion in annual sales in Japan, China and India. In a report broadcast on Wal-Mart’s website and covered by Bloomberg, Price said that operations in Japan have $8 billion annual sales from 414 stores with 36,000 workers. Annual revenue is $7.5 billion in China, generated by 329 stores, and sales in India are less than $1 billion a year, according to Price.


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The internet is full of ways to support black-owned businesses, but when visiting your favorite major retailer, it can get a lot tougher to find their products. A new campaign is calling on stores to make space for more of these businesses in something called the 15 Percent Pledge.
The campaign was created by Aurora James, a fashion designer and founder of the label Brother Vellies, and she is calling on major retailers like Target, Whole Foods, and Sephora to take the pledge. The campaign gets its name, as The Takeout pointed out, because 15 percent of Americans are black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Retailers who take the pledge would be promising 15 percent of their shelf space to black-owned businesses, which would make their stores' space at least proportional to the U.S. population. This would not only help to create more equity in the products consumers purchase, but it would also help put $14.5 billion back into black communities, according to the site.
This campaign is obviously always important, but as the site notes, is particularly prescient because black-owned businesses are suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a graphic on the site, created by @monachalabi, 21 percent of black-owned businesses say they don't think they'll survive the pandemic and 40 percent of black-owned businesses have been forced to close during the outbreak. In addition, black-owned businesses have seemingly been shut out of coronavirus relief efforts.
BUY BLACK. Your protests and donations are crucial right now but so is long-term economic change. This is a resource that you can bookmark and return to, so tag your favorite black-owned businesses below (can only tag a max of 20 in the image). Sources: Annual Business Survey 2017 (released May 2020), Robert Fairlie, an economics professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz May 2020, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, April 2020, Center for Responsible Lending, April 2020 Thank you @aurorajames for prompting this research. Go to @15percentpledge to sign the petition and find out more. #buyblack
A post shared by Mona Chalabi (@monachalabi) on Jun 1, 2020 at 7:15am PDT
In an Instagram post, Aurora explained her mission and why this is a chance for companies to make a real and positive change toward diversifying the brands they have in stores and combatting systemic racism that keeps them from landing these placements.
@wholefoods @target @shopmedmen @walmart @saks @sephora @netaporter @barnesandnoble @homedepot I am asking you to commit to buying 15% of your products from Black owned businesses. . So many of your businesses are built on Black spending power. So many of your stores are set up in Black communities. So many of your sponsored posts are seen on Black feeds. This is the least you can do for us. We represent 15% of the population and we need to represent 15% of your shelf space. . Whole Foods if you were to sign on to this pledge, it could immediately drive much needed support to Black farmers. Banks will be forced to take them seriously because they will be walking in with major purchase orders from Whole Foods. Investors for the very first time will start actively seeking them out. Small businesses can turn into bigger ones. Real investment will start happening in Black businesses which will subsequently be paid forward into our Black communities. . Dont get me wrong, I understand the complexities of this request. I am a business Woman. I have sold millions of dollars of product over the years at a business I started with $3500 at a flea market. So I am telling you we can get this figured out. This is an opportunity. It is your opportunity to get in the right side of this. . So for all of the ‘what can we do to help?’ questions out there, this is my personal answer. #15PercentPledge . I will get texts that this is crazy. I will get phone calls that this is too direct, too big of an ask, too this, too that. But I don’t think it’s too anything, in fact I think it’s just a start. You want to be an ally? This is what I’m asking for.
A post shared by Aurora James 🦢 (@aurorajames) on May 29, 2020 at 5:46pm PDT
"Don't get me wrong, I understand the complexities of this request. I am a business Woman," she wrote: "I have sold millions of dollars of product over the years at a business I started with $3500 at a flea market. So I am telling you we can get this figured out. This is an opportunity. It is your opportunity to get in the right side of this."
You can sign the petition here.
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Google Voice pushed the "number carrying" service
January 20 news on February 8, 2017, according to foreign media reports, Google Voice (VoIP) recently launched the "number carrying" service. Users will be able to dial the original number to separate the two fixtures and stretch the samples at a certain speed. Users can also use Google's cloud voice service
previously, users can dial fixed or via google voice, but they must apply for a new and conservative number. It is estimated that China will grow into the world's second largest market number of biomedical materials within 10 years
Google said that at present, the service is only available for testing by some users
Google said in a statement, "in order to improve the user experience, we are constantly testing new functions. We are providing Google Voice's number carrying service. At present, there are no more details to disclose, but the company plans to open this service to all users in the near future."
it is reported that 3M company actually does not touch the production of 3 yuan materials. Users need to pay $20 for this service, and may also pay a fee for early termination to mobile operators. Therefore, users who have just signed a contract with an operator to buy iPhones and so on are not suitable to open this service. Easy technology
Copyright © 2011 JIN SHI


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The CEO of Meta (recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and banned; formerly Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple’s policy regarding application control. Mr. Zuckerberg believes that Apple intends to unilaterally control what programs users install.
“If you look at the major computing platforms that exist — Windows, Android, iOS … — then Apple stands apart as the only one where one company controls which applications end up on the device,” he said during the DealBook Summit conference (quoted by RIA News”).
According to Mr. Zuckerberg, the vast majority of profits in the mobile ecosystem go to Apple, as the company’s policy is to control the applications that users install.
Earlier, Apple was criticized by the head of Twitter Elon Musk. Mr. Musk said that Apple “hates free speech” and threatened to remove the social network from its store, without explaining the reasons. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook assured entrepreneur that the removal of the Twitter app from the App Store was not planned.
Read more about the conflict with Apple in the material “Kommersant FM” “Elon Musk took up the” apple “”.


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BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL TRADE SURVEY 2016
Monday 30 January 09:47
UK companies remain committed to strong trading relationships with
European customers and suppliers.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) surveyed 1,474 business people online in December 2016 to understand how, if at all, their approach to exporting has changed since the EU referendum result.
Over one third (36%) of respondents plan on putting more resources into exporting to the European market over the next five years.
A further 34% said they have no plans to change their approach to selling into Europe, and 4% said they are looking to put fewer resources into selling to the region. Outside of Europe, the next two destinations which respondents are looking to put more resources into are North America and Asia.
The majority of exporters are looking to maintain or increase resources in overseas markets since the EU referendum result
"These results are an important reminder of the fact that it is businesses that trade, not governments. Although the likely outcome of the Brexit negotiations remains unclear, businesses still see Europe as a primary market for both selling and sourcing inputs – even after the UK leaves the EU.
Looking ahead, businesses want the best possible terms of trade following the Brexit negotiations, whatever the ultimate model adopted. UK firms want tariffs, costly non-tariff barriers, and product standards to be at the top of the government’s agenda for a future EU trade deal.
The best news from this survey is that the EU referendum outcome has sparked a greater interest in foreign markets for a significant number of firms. For that very reason, UK companies need sustained, tangible and practical export support that helps them get their goods and services out to the world.”
Dr Adam Marshall - Director General, British Chambers of Commerce


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Entropia Group, the new age consulting-meets-agency offering, has announced the launch of its latest whitepaper: Bot-o-logy, a study on 30 chatbots selected from global and local brands across various industries. The bots have been assessed across 28 parameters in three criteria groups: Reliability, Experience and Personality.
In today’s connected world, it is virtually impossible to navigate the internet without encountering a chatbot – these computer programmes that mimic human conversations, and interact with users through a messaging interface, have changed the face of modern communication and customer care.
The chatbot is often the first point of contact between a brand and its consumers and its purpose varies from answering simple FAQs, providing information, collecting data, tending to customer service, to sales closures.
This research by Entropia aims to provide an analysis of some of the best and worst chatbots in the market today, including those of local brands like Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, Digi, as well as select international brands like Ford, Shell, Wall Street Journal, Star Wars, Western Union, TGI Fridays, Endurance, and Mitsuko.
Prashant Kumar, Entropia Founder & Senior Partner, said: “A vast majority of bot interactions in Malaysia tend to be deeply frustrating. This brings the fear of the very technology getting discredited. At Entropia we believe doing it right is more important than doing it. This whitepaper is an effort towards that.”
The highest rated chatbot, according to the report, is Mitsuku, a virtual character with a unique personality developed by AIML Technology in Leeds, England.
This chatbot is the most notable high scorer across criteria like Reliability, Experience and Personality as its responses are always speedy and factually correct, it generally operates as if there is a real person behind the chat interface, so there is seldom a need for human intervention.
The lowest scorer, according to the report, is Endurance chatbot, developed primarily to be a virtual companion to the elderly, that performed poorly across most parameters.
Leading the local pack with high scores on many criteria, is AirAsia’s Virtual Allstar (AVA), a good example of how, through integration, a chatbot can provide a seamless experience to its customers in a quick and efficient way.
Sourabh Agrawal, Partner at Entropia commented, “On the home front, although chatbot technology is still relatively new to Malaysia, progressive companies, always eager to innovate and automate, have adopted these online conversation agents as an efficient alternative to improve their customer communications.
“And due to the ever-increasing capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, there is no limit to what chatbots can do today. In fact, there is huge potential for future-focused brands to carefully design and develop their online conversation agents to match different market segments.”
The Bot-o-logy whitepaper is available for download on www.entropia.com/media
MARKETING Magazine is not responsible for the content of external sites.


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By Swann Collins, investor and consultant in global affairs. Eurasia Business News – October 10, 2021
The rate of annual inflation of the euro zone is estimated at 3,4 % in September 2021, against 3,0% in August according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
This is the highest rate recorded in 13 years. Energy prices increased 17.4% year-on-year. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, accelerated to 1.9% year-on-year.
The euro zone gathers 19 European countries, which use the single currency Euro.
According to the OECD, the annual rate of consumer price inflation in the G20 economies is projected at around 4.5% in 2021.
Exchange rate as of October 10, 19:20 UTC : 1 EUR = 1.16 US Dollar
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© Copyright 2021 – Swann Collins, investor and consultant in global affairs.


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Highly recommended to Apple watchers, CEO Tim Cook’s lengthy interview with Bloomberg Businessweek covers a large range of topics, including some interesting insights into how Cook sees his job, relative to the famously bold and confident former CEO Steve Jobs. “…I love being CEO of Apple, I love it. It’s just something I have to, and continue to, adjust to. If you have some ideas there of how I can do it better, I would love to hear it,” he laughingly said, while noting that he receives hundreds or thousands of e-mails each day with comments from users.
Cook curiously mentions Apple’s “few” products. “I mean, if you really look at it, we have four iPods. We have two main iPhones. We have two iPads, and we have a few Macs. That’s it,” he said. Oddly, the CEO seems to be leaving out various products — likely the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2, perhaps shedding light on which products Apple truly cares about, while the Apple TV isn’t mentioned at all. New products seem to be the emphasis, and he proudly makes a point about Apple’s willingness to refresh its product lines later in the interview: “Eighty percent of our revenues are from products that didn’t exist 60 days ago. Is there any other company that would do that?”
The interview provides further insight into the company’s internal strategic planning, with Cook noting that an executive team meeting is held at 9 a.m. every Monday, and four hours are spent talking about “everything in the company that’s important — everything.” Every Wednesday, a subset of the executive team meets with each product division — Mac one week, and iPhone the next, for instance. Discussions illuminate the debates that go on within Apple as to current and future products, their roadmaps, and overall strategy.
Also discussed is Cook’s transition into the full-time CEO of Apple. Cook notes that Steve Jobs formalized plans for the transition in the summer of 2011 — Jobs resigned in August, and died in October. “Of course, we had talked about me being a successor before, so it wasn’t the first time I had heard that, but the conversation occurred at a period of time when I felt Steve was getting better, and I think he felt this way as well,” Cook said. “So from that point of view, I was a little surprised.” The timeline suggests that despite Jobs’ departing statement that the company had clearly been planning for the succession, the most critical detail was left ambiguous to even Cook until very late in the process.


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How Google knows where you shop
GOOGLE is tracking you right into a store, even if you aren't using its Maps app.
The $1 trillion tech behemoth gloats of its cyberstalking capability in a blog post promoting its "Store Visits" marketing measurement service in which it claims "99 per cent accuracy" in telling if a person went into any of 200 million physical shops after seeing an online ad.
"Only Google can deliver this level of precision and scale," Google says in the Inside Adwords blog.
It does so by cross-checking anonymised location and clicking data from "hundreds of millions" of Google users.
While a user must opt-in to sharing their location history, Google encourages this in the set-up of many applications, for example by saying that doing so will create a useful "private map".
However, the information is then used to feed the Store Visits machine for marketers.
University of Sydney media and communications department chair Tim Dwyer said the typical consumer wouldn't realise the extent to which their personal information was being traded away.
"The risks of 'surveillance capitalism' are not only the front-page scandals that we are seeing in mass data breaches like Cambridge Analytica, but they also result from the constant flow of information that is the product of the datafication of all our daily activities by simply using our devices," Associate Professor Dwyer said.
Questions about Google's Store Visits service are also raised in a presentation that data experts from Oracle have shown to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is investigating the "impact of information asymmetry" between Google and advertisers on one hand and consumers on the other.
The Oracle experts say Google collects masses of additional location data from phones that don't even have web services or apps open. The data is transmitted even if there's no SIM card, sent via little-known "activity logs".
Google calls these logs "location services", which is different to location history and opt-out, not opt-in. It says location services data is not shared outside Google.
Oracle says activity logs chew up on average one gigabyte of a user's mobile plan data each month.
A Telstra spokesman said it had asked Google to advise whether Oracle's claims are accurate.
Google dismisses Oracle's figures without providing any of its own.
It says Oracle has an axe to grind because the two are locked in a heated, multibillion-dollar legal battle in the US.
"Google should report on all data collected from consumers and ask for permission before any data is forwarded to third parties," said Australian Communications Consumer Action Network CEO Teresa Corbin.