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American consumers prioritize risk-taking, adventure and living an exciting life when it comes to making purchases, according to global research by HSBC. This structural shift among U.S. consumers' purchasing habits is prompting companies to rethink existing marketing and business strategies.
If retail advisor Doug Stephens is to be believed, the term "store" someday will be remembered as a relic of the Industrial Revolution as our culture and technology enable transactions virtually anywhere, thanks to socially integrated buy buttons, mobile commerce and more. We've already seen a shift in the language of retail away from "stores" to "physical retail spaces," which Stephens told attendees at September's SAP Retail Forum is a better way to describe how retailers should think about their businesses as commerce channels proliferate.
Picture yourself entering a department store and, instead of wandering around searching for the correct department or product, you are guided by an expert personal concierge. The concierge is not a person, but rather a humanlike smartphone assistant. Whether you want to know "where are women's shoes located?" or "is this dress available in size six?" this concierge is always at hand to assist you. This is what retail shopping may be fast becoming, thanks to the mass proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies.
A new generation of footwear manufacturing, spearheaded by Bill McInnis, head of future at Reebok and a former NASA engineer, is allowing the fitness brand to design and create a high performance athletic shoe faster and more efficiently than ever before, the company says.
Sustainability is a huge macro trend and it's no surprise that the language and goals of the larger sustainability movement have made their way to apparel. Unfortunately, with it comes the same polarizing ambiguity that has plagued the broader sustainability movement in other industries. Cynics roll their eyes while dismissing sustainability as a latest marketing façade designed to push products on uninformed customers while true believers insist it's a more responsible way forward for apparel manufacturing that is genuinely improving lives and saving the earth.
JLL's Destination Retail report, which looks at the top cities worldwide for retailing, shows 50 major global cities have risen to the top of the list for mainstream, premium and luxury retailers' expansions.
The intellectual property litigation trend in the fashion and apparel industry does not appear to be going out of style anytime soon. Fashion and apparel companies routinely face allegations of copyright, trademark and trade dress infringement.
Challenged by fast fashion, prompted by speed to market and buoyed by thoughts of small runs/low inventory levels, reshoring or the return of manufacturing for a company and its brands to its country of origin (COO) has sparked continuing interest in the best strategies for market entry and what it takes to succeed once you are there.


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PSNI recover stolen beer kegs 'worth an estimated £900,000'
Police have recovered thousands of stolen empty beer kegs with an estimated retail value of £900,000.
The large haul belonged to a drinks distributor.
The PSNI say they were discovered as a result of a proactive investigation into organised crime, with searches carried out in Mallusk, County Antrim, and Omagh, County Tyrone.
Two men, both aged 55, were arrested in Holywood, County Down, and Omagh, on suspicion of theft.
They have been released on bail pending further enquiries.
Det Ch Insp Dunny McCubbin said these types of thefts "have a significant financial impact on businesses that distribute their product to licensed premises".
"Drinks distributors use these kegs to deliver their product to licensed premises across Northern Ireland and then recover them when they are empty," he said.
He also appealed for information and urged owners of licensed premises to ensure that their premises and stock are secure.

domain: news


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Microsoft Studios Renamed As Xbox Game Studios
In recent months it has become clear that Microsoft is preparing for a new era of the Xbox brand. To represent it correctly, the company made the decision to change the name of Microsoft Studios to Xbox Game Studios.
In the latest episode of Inside Xbox, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Studios will now be known as Xbox Game Studios. This branch of development and distribution of games is made up of 13 development teams such as 343 Industries; The Coalition; Compulsion Games; The Initiative; inXilie Entertainment; Minecraft; Ninja Theory; Obsidian Entertainment; Playground Games; Rare; Turn 10 Studios; Undead Labs and the global distribution group of Microsoft.
“At Xbox, we believe when everyone plays, we all win. It’s why we’re passionate about building a portfolio of games for players across console, PC and mobile,” said Matt Botty, corporate vice president of Xbox Game Studios. “As we’ve expanded our focus beyond the console, the Xbox brand has also evolved from its original roots. Today, Xbox is our gaming brand across all devices, no matter how or where you want to play, or who you want to play with.”
Finally, Microsoft said that 2019 will be a great year for fans of the Xbox brand. This is because the company has prepared exclusive releases like Crackdown 3, Gears 5 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. All these games will be available on Xbox Game Pass from its launch day.
And you, what do you think about this change? Do you think an important time is coming for Xbox Game Studios? Tell us in the comments below.


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International opprobrium at President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum import tariffs, announced Thursday, was swift and fierce.
Industry leaders and allied countries threatened retaliation over what they called blatantly protectionist measures.
But Asia, which produces more than two-thirds of the world’s steel, will be minimally affected when compared to the rest of America’s trading partners, according to ratings agency Moody’s.
“In Asia, the direct economic effects at the macro level would be very small as exports of aluminum and steel to the U.S. typically amount to less than 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or exports,” Moody’s said in a research note Friday.
It added that “the direct impact on steel companies would be manageable for the steel sector and rated steel-makers in Asia,” because steel is predominantly traded within the region. “The direct impact is moderate on Korean steelmakers, to low on all the rest of Asia.”
The CEO of Japanese giant Nippon Steel, the world’s second-largest steel producer by volume, called Trump’s decision “regrettable.” Asian shares saw a selloff on Friday, led by metals producers, with South Korea’s Posco down 3 percent and Nippon Steel down 4 percent.
“Even for Korea — with high levels of steel exports to the U.S. — the effects will only prove moderate for Posco and Hyundai Steel,” Moody’s said in a tweet Friday.
But the Moody’s note maintained that the impact of broad U.S. tariffs on these imports will depend on their scope, as well as “the capacity of steel and aluminum producers to offset part of the tariff increases through cuts in costs or margins.”
Canada and Bahrain to be hardest hit, China far down the list As it stands currently, the agency predicted that Canada and Bahrain will be most affected by the tariffs.
This would appear contradictory to Trump’s long-held aim of pressuring China economically for what his administration has called unfair trade practices. While China produces about half of the world’s steel, it is not among the top five exporters to the U.S. It ranks number 11, according to the International Trade Administration.
The levies will instead hit American allies including Canada, South Korea and Mexico, who comprise 16, 10 and 9 percent of U.S. steel imports, respectively. More details on the tariffs, including potential exemptions, may emerge in the coming week.
Still, the measures would be “indirectly credit negative for the Asian steel industry,” Moody’s wrote, since a reduction in export volumes to the U.S. would make steelmakers divert their output elsewhere, “in turn intensifying competition in Asia.”
Analysts predict that China is likely to hit back by raising tariffs on U.S. products that would hurt American exporters, particularly in the agricultural sector. The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The proposed measures, which come under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, would impose a 25 percent levy on all steel imports and a 10 percent levy on aluminum imports. The U.S. currently imports 30 percent of its steel, and a longtime global supply glut has led the country’s steel industry heads to call for a clampdown on foreign imports.
As part of his campaign promise to salvage long-struggling U.S. industries, Trump has defended the move as a boon to American jobs. Critics, meanwhile, say it will raise costs on downstream producers of goods that use the materials, while simultaneously risking a trade war.
In the long-term, however, tariffs on steel and aluminum “could signal a marked deterioration in global trade relations,” the ratings agency warned, depending on how other countries respond and to what extent they choose to retaliate.
“While not our baseline scenario, Asia as a trade-reliant region would be vulnerable to a marked slowdown in global trade.”


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Every worker at an auto supplier factory in Michigan was told to “go on – touch the robot”, when the first of their newest, mechanical colleagues, known colloquially as co-bots arrived last year.
“I think people were scared to get close to it,” says 67-year-old Phyllis Aslinger, an inspector on the line assembling door panels at the International Automotive Components’ plant about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland on Lake Erie for nearly 28 years. A robot replaced her coworker, she says, “but I’m not afraid” of being rapped or rousted by the co-bot.
The Robotic Industries Association estimates that 250,000 robots are now in use in the U.S., the third highest in the world behind Japan and China.
Read more of the original article at Detroit Free Press.


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Credit card fraud is on the rise. As noted by an October 2016 issue of The Nilson Report, global losses topped $21 billion in 2015 and show no signs of slowing, even with the adoption of supposedly secure Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip-and-PIN cards.
Part of the problem comes from increased fraud activity across e-commerce channels, which often allow card-not-present (CNP) purchases that circumvent chip-and-PIN technology. However, authorities recently uncovered a low-tech scam to compromise credit card chip security that primarily targets large enterprises.
Fraudsters Intercept Chip-and-PIN Cards
According to Krebs on Security, the U.S. Secret Service recently reported that enterprising cybercriminals are intercepting corporate chip-and-PIN cards sent directly by issuing financial institutions. These cards often access business accounts for travel or work-related purchases, meaning there’s no shortage of funds available. Attackers, recognizing the futility of beating credit card chip security, instead opt to bypass it altogether.
First, they intercept the bulk cards and use a heat gun to pry off new chips. Old chips are then attached to the cards before they’re sent off to their destination. After companies activate their new cards, they discover that the cards don’t work because the chips aren’t valid. The newly chipped criminal cards, however, work just fine, giving attackers full access to corporate bank accounts.
Instead of trying to beat chip-and-PIN security at its own game, attackers leverage secure chips themselves as an effective means to compromise. According to PC Magazine, the best course of action for concerned companies may be to pay banks for tracked, secure shipping methods to ensure that cards aren’t compromised en route.
Emerging Trends in Credit Card Chip Security
While chip-and-PIN cards have dramatically reduced the incidence of in-store fraud, according to Visa, new tactics such as mail interception show that criminals aren’t giving up — they’re just developing new methods. As noted by Retail TouchPoints, this means an uptick in both new attack vectors and old-school methods to circumvent defenses.
On the sophisticated side of the equation, cybercriminals are now choosing collaboration over lone action, allowing them to infiltrate systems and hide out for months before making their move, Forbes reported. By targeting vulnerable devices and internet-facing services, actors can sidestep the need for chip-and-PIN cards and go straight to the source of payment data. There’s also a significant uptick in mail order and telephone order (MOTO) fraud in which attackers phone in orders to call centers that don’t have protections against card-not-present fraud, according to Retail TouchPoints .
Credit card chip security has pushed fraud out of stores and into e-commerce. As retail websites improve protection, attackers are leveraging physical interception and digital subterfuge in an effort to both bypass chip-and-PIN defenses and leverage this technology for their own gain.


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Flight booking app wants to introduce you to other passengers but netizens are outraged
Umetrip’s “virtual cabin” lets you see information about other passengers and talk to them in the app
Airline cabins may not be a place where people want to socialize, but one Chinese app wants to change that -- and is being accused of violating privacy in the process.
It argues that users can edit information presented on their personal pages to present only the things they want to share, or even turn off profiles completely. But critics point out that it’s enabled by default, and users may not be aware that it’s being shared.
In response, the company just announced another update: The function is now off by default.


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Hey, remember in 2013 when practically every news source on Earth was sharing a story about Samsung paying a billion dollar fine to Apple in nickels? Then remember when it was actually revealed to be a hoax and almost nobody covered it because they’d already got their page views and felt no need to correct their mistake? Well to make up for that we’re going to share with you today 10 verifiable stories of companies who make smartphones trolling each other and generally acting like massive children, because why the heck not?
10. Samsung and the ice bucket challenge
In the first half of 2014 thousands of people across the world dumped buckets full of ice water over their head to raise money and perhaps more importantly, awareness for Lou Gehrig’s disease. The so-called “Ice Bucket Challenge” raised millions for charity and managed to attract the attention of some of the biggest names in Hollywood and caused at least one unfortunate individual to poop himself. (Google it!) The stunt quickly went viral as more and more people were challenged to take a metaphorical plunge themselves.
In an effort to clamber onto an already crowded bandwagon powered by the beating of dead horses, Samsung released a video of a Galaxy S5 being covered in ice water then issued a challenge for their closest rivals, Apple, HTC and Nokia to do the same with their flagship phones. For anyone who owns a Galaxy S5 you’re probably already aware that the phone is like, so waterproof. The iPhone 5S, HTC One M8 and Nokia Lumia 930 on the other hand, aren’t. Something we’re sure Samsung were well aware of when they issued the challenge.
However, when it comes to making phones you could accidentally drop in a toilet, our hats go off to Sony, who for no reason other than “they could” released a video of something unboxing their new Xperia Z3, underwater. Let’s see you top that one, Samsung.
9. Everyone (except Apple) loved Bendgate
It must be kind of annoying for Apple that their (at the time of writing this piece) top-selling smartphone, the iPhone
Almost immediately after the news hit, Apple’s competitors jumped at the chance to revel in the mockery using the derogatory hashtag #Bendgate. Samsung were amongst the first to take a potshot, tweeting out an image of their phone with the caption “Curved. Not Bent.” LG, HTC and Nokia were all quick to follow suit in a similar fashion, with our personal favourite being Nokia, who simply tweeted out an image of the nigh-indestructible Nokia 3210 with a caption reading “Will it bend?” The answer of course, heck no!
As if having your 4 biggest rivals all collectively laugh at you on social media wasn’t bad enough, several brands also tweeted out mocking images, you know, just to rub it in. We don’t care what anyone says about their being “no such thing as bad publicity” there’s no way to spin having your product that costs more than most people’s TV being made fun of by Whataburger.
8. Calling Apple users “Wallhuggers”
If you’re currently thinking “are all of the entries on this list about other companies making fun of Apple?” the answer is, no, only half of them are. We’d probably feel sorry for including so many stories at Apple’s expense if their entire advertising strategy didn’t revolve around assuming you’re an idiot.
But we digress, in July of 2014, Samsung, Apple’s eternal rivals released an ad poking fun at the comparatively paltry battery life of the iPhone compared to their phone which is apparently powered by ground up Duracell bunnies. The ad, which was set in an airport, showed dozens of Apple users “tethered” to the walls by their iPhone charger while the narrator chides them for missing out on the little things that make life fun like talking to your co-workers (while looking at your phone) and taking a dump (while looking at your phone). Ah, memories.
To ensure that the ad’s message is clearer than an Angel’s contact lens, there’s even a scene where a Samsung user changes his battery in front of a bored-looking iPhone user who seems bewildered at the idea of a phone trusting its user with such a dangerous and alien task. Because for some reason, iPhone’s don’t let you do that because, well, because they don’t like you.
7. Nokia trumped a billboard, with trucks
In recent years the focus of advertisers has shifted from the real world to the digital one and the holy grail of advertisers is to have something “go viral”. That said, physical advertisements still have their use and will likely be with us for a very long time, which we’re absolutely fine with as long as companies like Nokia are still willing to have a sense of humor.
Back in 2013, Samsung released a series of billboard ads in the UK for their (then) new Galaxy S4 Zoom with a caption boasting about the smartphone’s “10x optical zoom”. In response to the campaign, Nokia who at the time were marketing a similar camera-based smartphone, had arranged to have a bunch of trucks sporting an ad for the Nokia Lumia 1020 park directly in front of these billboards soon after they went up. What’s more, Nokia even put a caption on their ad saying “It didn’t see this coming.” Which you’ll notice only makes sense if the ad was put right next to Samsung’s, indicating that Nokia made this ad specifically to annoy Samsung.
6. Nokia trolls the iPhone 5c, repeatedly
As we already noted in the previous entry, a lot of today’s advertising takes place online and companies these days are all about making things go viral. While there’s no guaranteed way to make things go viral, Nokia seem to have a pretty good idea of how to use the internet and more specifically Twitter to score tons of free advertising.
A good example of this was the announcement and subsequent release of the iPhone 5c. Literally minutes after Apple announced the phone, the main selling point of which was the fact you could choose which color it was (wow!), Nokia sent out a Tweet of their own line of colorful Lumia phones which they’d been selling for a year with a caption saying “Imitation is the best form of flattery”. They then doubled down when Apple announced you could even pick a gold cover (double wow!) by sending out a Tweet reading “real gangsters don’t use gold phones” with a picture of Heisenburg from Breaking Bad. Over the course of the evening, Nokia racked up tens of thousands of re-tweets and their shenanigans ended up being covered by a number of tech sites, but they weren’t done yet.
After sales of the iPhone 5c fell short of Apple’s expectations, Nokia sent out a tweet reminding the public that the “cheap, colorful smartphone” Apple were trying to market as a new idea in 2014, was something they’d already done 12 months earlier with their Lumia 520. But hey, you guys, you can have a gold iPhone, how cool is that?
5. Nokia astronauts
You’ve probably guessed by now that the only thing Nokia seems to love more than their Lumia line of phones is annoying their competitors. In May of 2014, Samsung held an event in a London airport to showcase the Galaxy S5. Curious about this new phone’s capabilities, Nokia decided to send some representatives from their company to the event, dressed as astronauts.
Dubbed “Lumianauts” these representative spent a few hours wandering around the event looking increasingly disappointed that they weren’t actually exploring a new galaxy, stopping every now and again to take photos with their Lumia phones in full view of Samsung representatives.
4. Nokia shows Samsung how customer service should be handled
As much as we enjoyed making fun of Apple during the Bendgate entry, we have to admit that Apple, at the very least, didn’t screw up as bad as Samsung did when a user reported that his brand new Galaxy S4 caught on fire!
The user, identified as Richard Wygand, uploaded a video illustrating the problem so that other users would be aware that their phone might you know, burn their freaking house down and then sent his phone (which was under warranty) to Samsung asking for a replacement. Samsung agreed on the condition that Wygand took down his video, in response, Wygand uploaded a new video showing people the letter Samsung sent him, because he’s a legend and possibly a hero.
As you can imagine, people weren’t exactly impressed that Samsung were trying to suppress information about their phones doing a Jennifer Laurence and catching fire and the company received a deluge of complains and Wygands video rightly went viral. Nokia, sensing an opportunity for some free publicity, sent Wygand a tweet offering him a new phone so that he could experience how “customer service should really work”.
3. Nokia has nicer hair than you
Hey, remember when we told you about how Nokia used twitter to deliver an all-mighty series of never-ending mouth slaps to Apple as they announced the iPhone 5c like 3 entries ago? Well they did it again when Apple announced their new iOS 8 operating system and things got a little, weird.
Along with making fun of all of the supposedly “new” features iOS 8 boasted that you could find on any bog-standard Nokia, the company sent out a tweet making fun of an Apple spokesperson’s hair. We’d say that this was a childish jab if it wasn’t for the fact that Joe Belfiore really does have way better hair than any of Apple’s representatives.
We’d say there’s a time and a place to draw attention to the fact one of the lead guys at your company has awesome hair, but we all know that, that time is always.
2. Samsung released a video making fun of the iPhone 6, before it released
One of the key selling points of the iPhone 6, other than that it can bend to accommodate the contours of your ass is that it has a bigger screen than the iPhone 5. Prior to the phone’s release, in an effort to shoot cannon holes in Apple’s sails, Samsung released a video of an Apple user bragging to a man who we assume is his on-off lover that the iPhone is about to get a bigger screen. To which his velvety voiced man-friend responds “that hasn’t happened yet?” while simultaneously demonstrating how much bigger his own phone his is while clutching it in his superior, man-sized hands.
The smooth talking Samsung owner then says “you must be happy” as the iPhone owner stares at his friend’s phone with what can only be described as “the phone version of penis envy”.
Immediately after this conversation ends, text reading “the next big thing is here” appears in the centre of the screen as the iPhone owner face’s contorts into a delicious mix of confusion and anger at the world.
1. Why fight when you can just raise the price?
You’ve probably noticed that a lot of the entries in today’s article focus on interactions between Samsung and Apple and there’s a good reason for that. You see, both companies have spent years in court battling over a number of patents costing both of them millions, if not billions in court fees, legal expenses and settlements.
In 2012, Samsung decided they’d had enough of Apple’s crap and sent them a letter politely explaining that they were raising the price of the mobile processor they needed for all of their iPhones, because oh yeah, Samsung just so happens to make a lot of the parts Apple uses in their products. Apple was still trying to sue them.
When Apple received the letter it suddenly dawned on them that they had no choice but to pay the increased price because Samsung was the only company in the world selling them. Samsung later reversed this decision, presumably just to show Apple that they could screw them over at any point. Apple in turn filed yet another bunch of lawsuits.
Boy, it’s no wonder Samsung keep making fun of them in their ads?


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Our latest research for the National Consumer Agency points to growing concerns about online coupon and discount sites.
Three in five adults using the Internet in Ireland have signed up to discount sites.
Among its main findings, the market research about online discount sites also found that:
- Of those consumers who have signed up, 61% have bought a product or service from discount sites
- One in three (33%) of those who have bought from these sites said they had reason to be dissatisfied with a purchase, up 5 percentage points since November 2011
The main reasons stated for the dissatisfaction were:
- Poor service delivery or poor product quality (34%)
- The retailer could not provide the service when required, or delivery was delayed (18%)
One in two (52%) of those who were dissatisfied made a complaint. Of these:
- 70% complained to the online discount site company
- 43% complained to the actual provider of the product or service
Three in five (61%) of those who complained had their complaint resolved.


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The personalized services for the TV operators and distributors would be developed on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform to create the customer experience for the next generation video services.
It was announced by the provider of next generation video solutions, Ooyala on April 1, 2014, that the company is going to partner with the Microsoft Azure to use its public cloud computing platform for offering a wide range of video solutions, such as – personalized TV services for the distributors and operators and integrated on demand video services – to the customer across the globe.
It was further elaborated about the partnership that video offering of both the companies would be integrated into a comprehensive solution in more than 130 countries across the globe. The existing video services of Microsoft based on cloud computing technology would be integrated with the Ooyala’s analytics and data driven video delivery to form a comprehensive service portfolio for different publishers, distributors and broadcasters, which include Univision, ESPN in the United States, Telestra in Australia, Medio and Tiempo in Mexico, Caracol in Columbia, and CNN expansion in Mexico and many others.
In his statement, the vice president and the chief product officer at Ooyala, Mr. Sean Knapp said, “Through this alliance, Microsoft and Ooyala are in a position to seize a major opportunity together, to drive standardisation of the next generation of personalised, IP-delivered video offerings, based on our combined solutions,” he further added that “With the robust global footprint of our respective platforms, and Microsoft’s massive global workforce for sales, marketing and support, we’re now in a prime position to meet the booming demand for world-class, highly scalable multiscreen TV.”
In another statement, The corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform, Mr. Bob Kelly said, “Through our partnership with Ooyala, we can offer fully integrated comprehensive managed TV and video services to our customers, and we’ll work together to aggressively drive adoption among broadcasters and operators everywhere – And Ooyala’s reputation for superior workflows, world-class consumer experiences, viewer analytics and monetisation services enhances our platform’s offerings and strengthens our ability to offer live and on-demand streaming services.”
It was further maintained that both the partners have also agreed to establish a global sales and marketing alliance. Thus, Microsoft public cloud computing services have become the preferred cloud computing service provider, and the Ooyala has become the preferred video partner of Microsoft.
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Cheap international calls, mobile gaming with simultaneous voice chat, distributed call centers. Developers can create these and more with Twilio’s voice client iOS SDK that launches publicly today. The software development kit allows any iOS app to send and receive voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi for a fraction of the price of traditional calling.
I was actually briefed by Twilio over an iOS conference call app powered by the SDK (very cool), but the real fun begins when developers start surprising us with VoIP apps too crazy or disruptive to predict.
Twilio’s iOS SDK is such a doorway to innovation because it makes voice calling affordable for a much wider range of users. Traditional voice calls in the US cost 2 cents per minute, and in Europe can cost as much as 14 cents per minute. VoIP calls made through Twilio iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch SDK apps cost just 1/4 cent per line per minute, which developers can shoulder or pass on to their users.
Apps can call any standard or Twilio number and be instantly connected. If users want friends to be able to recognize them through caller ID when they reach out through an app, they can verify their number.
The Twilio client for web browsers was released in late June, but the iOS SDK’s product manager Thomas Schiavone tells me “that got a lot of mobile devs saying ‘what about me?'” The iOS SDK has been in beta testing for the last few months. In the meantime, Twilio raised a $17 million Series C round, and began expanding its web voice API across Europe.
Here are the first types of apps you can expect to see built on the Twilio iOS SDK:
- Call centers – Anyone with a headset and iOS device could become their own call center, referencing CRM data on screen while having incoming customer service or other types of calls routed to their device
- Mobile Skype alternatives
- Conference calls – Instead of messing with unique dial-ins and passcodes, anyone can call a special Twilio number and have an app conference them in
- Voice-enhanced mobile games – Imagine trash talking with friends as you compete
- Travel apps – A hotel’s app could let you call to make reservations, check in, or speak to the concierge without needing a phone with a local SIM card
- Dating apps – You could voice chat on your phone with potential matches without having to reveal your actual phone number
- Social dialer – See the location and availability status of people before you call thanks to presence functionality, and choose who to call after sorting contacts by current relevance or social characteristics
Twilio-powered apps could undercut today’s call center solutions — an industry where enterprises spend billions a year on expensive hardware and voice calling. Existing clients like Salesforce and eBay could use Twilio-powered apps to slash call center overhead
A new wave of Android telecom apps won’t be far behind. Twilio is launching the beta of its Android voice client SDK today as well, and next will beef up its native mobile app APIs with SMS and video functionality.


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Turners Growers is spreading an independently-developed new kiwifruit varieties into northern hemisphere markets.
The first shipment of its ENZA red-fleshed kiwifruit has arrived in Taiwan.
And it's introducing a new large variety of green kiwifruit, grown in Greece, into Europe this year.
Turners Growers is challenging kiwifruit industry regulations that prevent it from growing its new varieties in this country for export.
The company is supplying export markets with fruit grown off-shore.


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Car makers are continuing to blur the boundaries with new machines that answer the questions nobody ever thought of asking.
As customer demands swing away from conventional sedans and hatchbacks, sales of crossover cars, whether they be city-biased four-wheel-drives and four-door utilities or coupe-style sedans and sports utility vehicles, have grown in popularity in the last decade, to the point where car makers are now exploring niches within niches to diversify their product ranges.
It is not that crossover concepts are new to the automotive landscape. The notion of a dual-purpose vehicle can be traced back to a number of pioneering cars, such as the original Range Rover, which blended the luxury of a limousine with the utilitarian abilities of a four-wheel-drive, the Jensen Interceptor, which was the first sports car with all-wheel-drive transmission, or as far back as the Coupe Utility, the original ute that was created in Australia by Ford designer Lew Bandt.
More recently, though, Mercedes-Benz launched the cross-breeding trend with its low-slung CLS, a four-door sedan with a coupe-style roof and opulent interior, a concept since copied by Audi with its A7, BMW with its 6-Series Gran Coupe and Porsche with its Panamera limousine.
In the latest model, Mercedes has added another element into the mix with a station-wagon variant that it dubs a Shooting Brake.
Probably the most controversial crossover in recent years has been the BMW X6, which attempts to blend an SUV with attributes of a luxury car and a sports car.
The X6 was heavily criticised when it was launched in 2008, with journalists questioning why it even existed, as because it was neither a serious four-wheel-drive nor a genuine coupe or sports car, and its low roof design and four-seat layout compromised its ability to be a family car.
But customers have proven critics wrong, as the German car maker has sold more than 140,000 examples in the last five years, has a new third-generation under development and recently added a second model along the same line in the smaller X4.
More importantly, it has forced its direct rivals to copy the swoopy-roofed SUV, with both Mercedes-Benz and Audi showcasing similar vehicles at this month’s Beijing Auto Show.
Mercedes-Benz has taken a familiar route with its Coupe Concept, previewing an upcoming production version that will be dubbed MLC and based on the popular ML-Class, while Audi is aiming to trade more on the heritage and heroism of its TT sports coupe and expand the range with a high-riding, five-door version.
With an increasing global appetite for SUVs of all shapes and sizes, it seems there are very few boundaries that cannot be crossed, now and into the future.
‘‘Everyone is just looking for that product to differentiate themselves. We’re all doing it,’’ Ford’s global head of design, Moray Callum, told Drive recently at the New York International Auto Show.
‘‘That’s what the customers are asking for too. I think it’s gone far enough, and then someone will come out with something else.
‘‘Everyone is looking to differentiate themselves from the competition and fill an unknown need for people.’’
The proliferation of niche models is a direct result of car makers developing a smaller, more flexible set of platforms that can underpin a wider variety of models.
That essentially means the basic structure can be stretched in a number of ways to create smaller or larger vehicles using common components and with similar levels of integral safety, even though they might use different engines, have either front, all or rear-wheel-drive transmissions and sit either low to the ground or on jacked-up suspension.
And it seems as though the cross-pollination of vehicle types will not abate any time soon.
What the next niche-busting segment will be is not obvious at the moment, but BMW’s senior vice-president of product management, Hildegard Wortmann, says the company will continue to explore more genre-bending opportunities.
‘‘None of us have the golden clue as to what is the next big segment in terms of volume. I think everything is existing [at the moment],’’ she told Drive.
‘‘But within the segments, you see interesting developments. For example, look at the 3-Series GT, compared with a 3-Series Touring. It’s quite a different concept, but within the same family.
‘‘It allows people who’ve gone for a Touring for several car purchases to go for something that also has a lot of space [and] offers a lot of functionality, but [has] a different concept and something new.
‘‘People are seeking new stuff. They’re looking for new innovations.’’
Audi’s board member in charge of technical development, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, says the motivation for once conservative car makers such as Audi and its rivals in BMW and Mercedes, to create a series of unconventional spin-off models and make them financially viable, is more than just about increasing their sales volumes and overall profit.
‘‘It is very important,’’ Hackenberg says.
‘‘We have to form the emotion of our customers. We have to give some inputs and see the reaction.
‘‘We have to create the brand, and design has a very important effect on the brand.
‘‘It’s important to bring the design language forward to show our customers that Audi is moving.’’
The niche-busting trend is not just taking its hold on mainstream brands, but is leaching into high-end luxury and focused sports car brands too, with Bentley confirming its first SUV will be released in 2016 and the likes of Lamborghini and even Rolls-Royce about to cross a demarcation line with their own versions of an uber off-roader.
Jaguar, too, has shown that it intends to develop a compact SUV as part of a new range of small cars, even though the British brand is joined at the hip with off-roading specialist Land Rover.
If ever there was a case study highlighting how important it is to offer a diverse range of vehicles in the 21st century, look no further than Porsche. The iconic German sports car brand was on the brink of folding in the mid-1990s with just two models, the front-engined 968 and its iconic 911. Now, as part of the gigantic Volkswagen Group, it is riding a wave of success with more than 40 variants available within six distinct model lines.
With its new compact SUV, the Macan, hitting showrooms this year, the company expects to exceed its target of selling more than 200,000 cars a year for the first time before it had originally planned in 2018.
Porsche sold a record 162,145 cars in 2013 and, with reports claiming it makes an average of $28,000 profit on every car it produces, its success accounted for one-fifth of the VW Group’s operating profit last year.
With big growth opportunities, particularly in China, Porsche promises there is more to come.
‘‘We now have the most diverse line-up in our 65-year-old history,’’ says the company’s head of sales and marketing, Bernhard Maier.
‘‘We’ve shown in the past that we are very successful with our derivative strategy for the 911.
‘‘We have a number of different types and models in the range, so why wouldn’t that be applicable toother models as well?’’
‘‘There is more to come, and more is possible,’’ he says.
Time will tell just how far car makers are willing to stretch the boundaries. Who knows? We might end up in a world dominated by mutated SUVs, where normal will be the new niche.


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Side by side, the Sony phone display is not as visually exciting as a Samsung OLED, but for displaying photos I greatly prefer it.
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The Twitter chatter of Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley is good vibes only: factory photos, race tracks, corporate boosterism and a lot of retweets of Ford customers gushing about their vehicles. It’s all cars, and it’s all anodyne.
Elon Musk, among Farley’s chief rivals, has taken a decidedly different tack. Since the Tesla CEO also became CEO of Twitter at the end of October, he has dismissed or scared away almost 5,000 Twitter employees (and asked some to return), declared that the social media site may slide into bankruptcy, alienated many of its advertisers, botched a product rollout that allowed brand impostors to proliferate on the site, mocked a US senator, told his followers to vote Republican and invited former US President Donald Trump back onto the platform. All the while, he’s tweeted a play-by-play of the saga alongside a steady stream of lewd memes and score-settling burns — many aimed at his new employees.
This belligerent and erratic performance in his new role as “chief Twit” has raised Musk’s already stratospheric public profile to new heights. If Twitter is a global town square, Musk has transitioned overnight from one of its loudest orators to equal parts mayor and sheriff, with the potential to irritate far beyond the echo chamber of his 118 million followers. For owners and potential buyers of Tesla cars, it has become all but impossible to find neutral ground on the controversies that surround Musk.
Tesla’s lead in the EV market is unquestionably strong — particularly in the US, where the carmaker has steadily sold more vehicles over the course of this year. But there are some signs that the lead is starting to slip. Tesla’s share of new US EV sales dipped to 64% in the third quarter from 75% in year earlier period, according to estimates from Cox Automotive.
Part of that can be attributed to more EV options than ever before. US consumers now have about 30 fully electric vehicles to choose from, roughly half of which weren’t on the market 12 months ago. “The competition is getting stiffer,” said Rob Pace, founder and CEO of HundredX, a research shop that uses consumer surveys as a fundraising tool.
But the Tesla brand has also taken a hit from Musk’s antics and his protracted Twitter adventure. HundredX has been tracking Tesla since 2019, and in recent months, its research shows a drop in loyalty among Tesla owners. Until May of this year, the company outperformed other automakers, with around 70% of owners saying they were likely to buy from the brand again. That rate has slid below 60%, while the rest of the industry hovers around 65%. The trend is basically the same, HundredX finds, on the question of whether owners would recommend the brand to a friend. Sentiment about Tesla’s quality, reliability, service and brand values have all turned more negative over the past few months.
“The future loyalty data is really, really worrisome if you’re Tesla because it tends to translate into market share six to nine months out,” Pace said. “This would suggest there are storm clouds.”
Market share is already on the wane as thousands of Tesla owners ditch their cars for EVs from startups with both quiet cars and quiet leaders. In the third quarter, almost one-third of Lucid buyers, for example, had owned a Tesla, according to S&P Global Mobility. The story is the same at Polestar and Rivian, which lured far more former fans from Tesla than any other brand.
Jason Weixelbaum, a Baltimore-based historian and science writer, swore off Tesla years before he bought his latest car, a Subaru Crosstrek, in 2021. But in recent months he’s noticed more of his friends drifting away from the brand, too. “It used to be that if you wanted to make a certain statement about yourself, you could do it with a Tesla,” Weixelbaum said. “Musk has trashed all that.”
While Weixelbaum was originally put off by Musk’s juvenile humor, more recently he’s troubled by what appears to be an increase in hate speech on Twitter. Weixelbaum wrote his PhD dissertation on American companies’ financial ties to Nazi Germany and fields the occasional death threat on Twitter. “I don’t see how this doesn’t become a huge debacle,” he said. “And that should trigger some conversations on the board at Tesla.”
Ironically, the #NeverTesla sentiment is most evident on Musk’s new publicity platform, where a steady stream of tweeters are swearing off the brand. Many call out Musk’s erratic management style, often with resolutions to buy a rival EV — say, a Chevrolet Bolt or a Rivian.
“Musk has overestimated the American public’s appetite for erratic behavior,” said Gaurav Sabnis, an associate professor of marketing at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Sabnis, who lives in Manhattan, had considered upgrading from the family Subaru to a Tesla, but nixed the idea after seeing the Twitter drama of late. In particular, his wife was put off by Musk publicly scrapping with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Sabnis points out that more than 80% of car-buying decisions involve women, and Tesla’s customer base is typically affluent, coastal and liberal. “It’s just locker-room behavior,” he said. “And from that perspective, it seems like a horrible marketing decision."
Still, it’s hard to overstate how dominant Tesla is in the EV race. This year through September, the carmaker sold an estimated 391,000 electric vehicles in the US, compared with 41,000 for Ford, the next closest competitor. Every time a Ford Mustang Mach-E rolled out of a dealership in 2022, some seven Tesla Model Ys took to the road.
What’s more, while Musk’s mercurial and public management style is putting off crowds of potential customers, it’s also attracting some. Musk has long cast his company as a contrarian underdog, a foil to Detroit and all things business-as-usual. The occasional lewd meme bolsters that narrative, if for no other reason than it’s something Ford’s Farley wouldn’t dare.
Tech chronicler Kara Swisher calls it “snarketing.”
“You can’t buy this kind of advertising,” she wrote recently on Twitter, “and the crazier the tweeting, the better.”
That said, Musk’s Twitter feed of late doesn’t seem very focused on selling cars. And his time spent steering companies other than Tesla was at the crux of a recent lawsuit challenging his Tesla compensation. In a Delaware court on Nov. 16, Musk said his attention to Twitter would wane after “an initial burst of activity” to reorganize the company; eventually, he would find a new chief executive. Testifying in the same courtroom, Tesla director James Murdoch said Musk had also identified a potential successor for his CEO seat at the car company.
Tesla investors certainly don’t seem thrilled. The carmaker’s shares have skidded by 48% this year and are wallowing far below analysts’ targets.
“I have too much work on my plate, that’s for sure,” Musk conceded earlier this month during a video appearance at a conference in Indonesia. “I’m really working at the absolute most amount that I can work from morning until night, seven days a week. So this is not something I’d recommend, frankly.”


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A Phoenix used car dealership will pay $125,000 in restitution and attorney’s fees after selling unsuspecting customers previously wrecked cars that had been declared a total loss, according to a settlement agreement.
Discount Auto Sales and its owner, Eivan Shahara, admitted to violating Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act and agreed to pay the state at least $125,000. Consumers who purchased a previously wrecked car from Discount may be eligible for restitution if they file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office by April 2018.
The Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into Discount Auto Sales after receiving complaints from consumers about the condition of the vehicles sold. The investigation revealed that Discount failed to tell consumers about the accident, ownership and repair histories of vehicles sold to consumers.
Discount from 2012 to 2014 purchased numerous vehicles from insurance companies at out-of-state wholesale auctions that specialize in the disposal of damaged and inoperable vehicles.
Discount would bring the vehicles to Arizona, perform substantial repairs and then offer the vehicles for sale without telling the public about the vehicles’ adverse histories, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The court-approved consent judgment prohibits Discount from advertising or selling vehicles that were previously owned by an insurance company, without disclosing how the company purchased the vehicle and what repairs were performed.
Discount is also prohibited from making any type of false statement or material omission regarding the condition, repair or accident history of vehicles offered for sale.
Anyone who purchased a non-repairable used vehicle from Discount should contact the Attorney General’s Office at (602) 542-5763 or (800) 352-8431.


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Post Offices Likely to Cut Hours
More Upper Valley Towns to See Reduction in Counter Service
In Post Mills, Vt., on Jan. 3, 2014, at the Post Mills Post Office in Baker's General Store, Officer-in-Charge Jan Jurgelewicz helps customer Roberta Knight, of Fairlee, Vt. Knight works in Post Mills. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Purchase photo reprints »
Click the image for a larger version. Purchase photo reprints »
Melinda Sargent, of Post Mills, Vt., checks for mail on Jan. 3, 2014, at the Post Mills Post Office in Baker's General Store. (Valley News- Jennifer Hauck) Purchase photo reprints »
Thetford — In a continuing effort to cut costs, the U.S. Postal Service has proposed scaling back weekday counter service hours at 15 Upper Valley post offices, mostly in Vermont.
That’s on top of 17 other post office locations in the region that saw their retail hours reduced in recent months. (See chart above; click the image for a larger version.)
Access to post office boxes and Saturday retail hours would not be affected under the proposal.
All five of Thetford’s post offices already have cut back on hours or will in the future, according to the Postal Service. The most drastic change under consideration in the Upper Valley is to cut the North Thetford post office’s retail hours from six hours per weekday to just two.
“(When) they’ve cut back on the one I go to personally, it’s a pain in the butt, because you can never get to the one that’s open,” said Thetford Selectman Mike Pomeroy, who owns Baker’s General Store.
Pomeroy leases space in the building to the Post Mills post office, which is under consideration to have its weekday window service cut almost in half, down to four hours a day.
Other post offices which could have their weekday retail hours nearly halved to four hours a day are North Hartland, South Pomfret, South Woodstock, Vershire and West Newbury.
Although the schedule changes are considered proposals, a Postal Service spokeswoman suggested they are likely to be instituted.
“We’re two-thirds of the way through the (review) process and I am not aware of any participating offices in the Northeast that have not adjusted their retail services hours as prescribed,” spokeswoman Melissa Lohnes said in an email.
If the hours are reduced, the time of day that the post office remains open will be determined on a case-by-case basis, she said.
Postal Service officials have said they’re responding to the reality that mail volume has decreased rapidly in the Internet age. The Postal Service has faced budget shortfalls in billions of dollars, and is under pressure to reduce its spending.
Lohnes said Post Plan, the review process under which the Postal Service decided to roll back window service at the 32 Upper Valley post offices, has already saved the agency significantly.
“We already see an impact from Post Plan and other postal actions designed to reduce our operating costs,” Lohnes said in an email. “Work hours in 2013 decreased by 12 million or 1.1 percent, despite an increase of approximately 774,000 delivery (destinations) during 2013.”
More than 13,000 post offices nationwide were identified for review when Post Plan was initiated last year as part of a greater plan to achieve “a smart balance between regular delivery access, local retail opportunity and expanded access in alternate venues, including online and with retail partners, for the most common postal services like stamps, postal information or shipping,” Lohnes said in the email.
“As communications and technology of all types are in a period of great change, so too is the Postal Service,” she said. “As a result, we are looking at effective strategies that help us to match our resources to our true workload while preserving the levels of service that our customers need today in the digital age. ... Given our dire financial condition, we need this boost now.”
The Post Plan cycle will wrap up this year, she said.
Postal Service officials will host meetings at post offices targeted for review to answer questions and provide additional information about Post Plan. A meeting for the Tunbridge Post Office is scheduled for Jan. 28 at the post office at 4:30 p.m.
Notices are being delivered to residents in the affected post offices’ zip codes. Lohnes said other meeting dates will be posted as they are scheduled at http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/our-future-network/post-plan/.
Still, Pomeroy said people around town are displeased by the post offices’ reduction in hours. He personally felt that the Postal Service should redirect its aim at Saturday mail delivery.
“It’s going after the efficiencies in the wrong place,” he said. “We’re a transient society now, it used to be that people stayed at home ... so rural mail needed to be delivered to them. Now they’re always mobile. You’re in your car all day, why can’t you stop somewhere to get mail?”
Taftsville Country Store owner Vickie Brooks also rents space in her building to the post office, which was previously open eight hours on weekdays. But over the fall, its hours were reduced from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“People are not happy about it because it limits by half a day the amount of time they can use the facilities of the post office, the window,” she said.
There are still kinks to be worked out “that one might not think of,” Brooks added.
“They don’t open until 12:30, so there’s nobody in the post office to clear the walkway, sprinkle salt,” she said.
While she and other customers are not happy with the reduced hours, she said she fears there could be more cuts to come.
“They’ve been really very clear, that they’re going to close the small post office locations,” she said. “They have not said when ... it could be a year, it could be three or four years.”
Maggie Cassidy can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 603-727-3220.


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The Bitcoin Law is a law passed by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador that gives Bitcoin the status of legal tender in El Salvador. President Nayib Bukele proposed the Bitcoin Law and it came into effect on 7 September 2021.
What does the Bitcoin Law state?
The Bitcoin law states that Bitcoin is an official payment method in El Salvador. Citizens can even pay their taxes with Bitcoin. Retailers are required to accept bitcoin, but can also use the Chivo wallet to exchange their received Bitcoin for dollars. Stores can display the prices of their products in satoshis. There will be a massive rollout of the Chivo wallet and everyone who will use it will receive a gift of 30 dollars.
The detailed content of the bill is as follows:
- The aim of the bill is to make Bitcoin legal tender.
- The price between Bitcoin and the dollar is completely left to the free market.
- Shops may display their prices in Bitcoin.
- The exchange of Bitcoin for other currencies is tax-free.
- The US dollar is the reference currency in accounting.
- Everyone should accept Bitcoin.
- Shops can create a bitcoin wallet through the government.
- The state guarantees to facilitate the exchange between the US dollar and Bitcoin through the Banco de Desarollo de El Salvador (BENDESAL).
- There will be a $150 million trust to ease exchanges and cover costs.
History of the Bitcoin Law
Bitcoin’s role in El Salvador started in El Zonte, a small coastal village known as ‘surf town’. It has about 3,000 inhabitants and it is very underdeveloped.
47-year-old American Michael Peterson wanted to set up a local Bitcoin community there. When the tourism industry collapsed in the village, Peterson began handing out $35 to 500 families through Bitcoin. An entire local Bitcoin economy emerged as a result. Workers received their salary in Bitcoin and could use Bitcoin to buy food and other goods from local shops.
President Bukele was intrigued by this and wanted the entire country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. During a Bitcoin conference held in Miami in 2021, President Bukele announced that he would introduce a law that would classify Bitcoin as legal tender. According to him this would generate jobs and stabilize the economy.
With a decent majority of 62 out of 84 votes, the politicians voted in favor of the proposal. They gave themselves 90 days to get everything ready in the country. The approval in Congress was at the same time the beginning of a dichotomy.
How was the Bitcoin Law received?
The Bitcoin law was received well by most people but it was also criticized due to the volatility of Bitcoin. There were different reactions to the news, both within El Salvador, but also from outside.
- Gerry Rice, the spokesman for the IMF, said they are already in talks with regulators in the country about a new loan. It involved $1 billion in aid for the country’s economy. The adoption of Bitcoin would complicate this step.
- The World Bank has rejected El Salvador’s request to help them introduce Bitcoin as legal tender. The World Bank has problems with Bitcoin: the network consumes too much energy and the market is not transparent enough.
- Victoria Nuland, a US government representative, calls on El Salvador to be “responsible” with the adoption of bitcoin. According to Nuland, the country must apply the new legal framework that is being prepared to make Bitcoin legal tender in the country.
The reactions from their own country were not all positive. The opposition went to court. Jaime Guevara, an opposition party deputy in El Salvador, believed the path his country was taking was not constitutional. A lawyer from the country agreed with this ruling.
There were also demonstrations against the law called the Anti-Bitcoin Law Protests. Over 1,000 protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court of El Salvador to protest the law. They had concerns about Bitcoin’s volatility.
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eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.


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First off, thank you for still reading words. Now let’s talk about the ever-growing presence of video in our lives.
As Katie Benner and Sapna Maheshwari write over two stories, short videos primarily made for viewing on mobile devices are reshaping both internet companies and much of the advertising industry.
First is a story on how Snapchat, which gained millions of users as a place to ship disappearing images and text messages, is turning itself into a place for mobile video.
One major insight: The company seems aware of the ways that looking at things on phones change what and how people watch stuff. The platform calls for short, fast videos, and a lot of novelty in the mix.
That is one reason Snapchat, which is renaming itself Snap Inc., is starting to make cool-looking glasses capable of shooting videos 10 seconds long. That short duration, along with Snap’s branding itself as a place of fun ephemera, may help these glasses get past the objections Google faced with Glass, its camera for your face.
If Snap can put millions of these glasses on our noses, it will have a lot of interesting content, like the way dashboard cameras and security cameras have inadvertently created millions of minutes of watchable content. More ominously, more mobile video will expose more social woes, like the number of police shootings of black people.
Snap is a business, and it wants to sell ads to run with pretty much anything people are looking at. So do Facebook and its photo-sharing subsidiary, Instagram. Ultimately all of them, along with companies like Google’s YouTube, want to draw away some of the billions of dollars now spent on television ads.
But there’s already trouble in that paradise.
As Ms. Benner and Ms. Maheshwari write in another story, many of these companies are struggling to convince advertisers that ads on short videos, viewed on tiny screens with little speakers, can still result in the kind of hummable, memorable, earworm-able marketing outcomes created by TV ads.
That situation worsened last week, they wrote, when Facebook said that for several years it has misstated, in a way favorable to Facebook, how much time people actually spend watching these videos.
A setback, for sure, but the past is not returning, and mobile video is an increasing reality in much of our lives. We just need to see who is going to get rich on our attention, and how.


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The latest internet activity figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show comparatively few subscribers enjoy download speeds in 24 megabit/s and faster.
While almost six million subscribers have download speeds from eight megabit/s to less than 24 and just under four million get 1.5Mbps to less than 8Mbps, just 1.7 million get over 24Mbps, the ABS notes in its survey of advertised download speeds among Internet providers with more than a thousand customers.
The number of subscribers with 24Mbps or faster downloads has gone up from just under 1.5 million in June last year, reaching over 1.6 million in December 2012. As of June this year, 14 per cent of ISP customers access the internet at such speeds, compared to just seven per cent in 2010.
Meanwhile, the volume of data downloaded has shot up. Fixed line and wireless customers pulled down 414,537 terabytes in the three months to June 2012; the equivalent figure for June this year is 657,262 terabytes.
Wireless customers accounted for an eight per cent annual increase in data downloads to 27,232 terabytes.
Reported as a separate category, the 19.6 million mobile handset subscribers each downloaded 0.3 gigabyte per month. For the the three months to June 30 this year, the volume of mobile downloads was 19,636 terabytes, a jump of 43 per cent in six months. ASB did not break down the figures into the type of mobile network used, such as 3G and 4G.
The ABS warned that the data download numbers reported by ISPs should be used with caution and considered indicative only.
In total, Australia had just under 12.4 million internet subscribers as of June 30, 2012, with most or 9.7 million being households. Business and government subscribers accounted for 2.6 million of the total.
Copper-delivered Digital Subscriber Line or DSL broadband is the most common access method, with 4.8 million subscribers. Cable is the second most common, with 934,000 customers.
Fibre-optic acccess has more than doubled since June 2012, with 115,000 subscribers currently. Just two per cent of all ISP subscribers, or 227,000, are still on dial-up modem connections. That figure has almost halved since June 2012.


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Charter firm expandsAug 13, 2013 by Guest Writer
South Florida-based LuxuryDayCharters.com has expanded to Newport for the summer to offer yachts for day charters in the Northeastern U.S.
“Charter guests, especially previous boat owners, consistently mention they love the fact they can step on a gorgeous yacht, enjoy the day, and step off later that evening without the hassle of worrying about anything else other than having a good time,” said Dhardra Blake, a former yacht crew member and owner of LuxuryDayCharters.com.
The company also seeks to add yachts to its offerings in the Northeast and Southeast.
By Dorie Cox New restrictions on airplane travel to the United States and United Kingdom from several countries in the Middle East may impact yacht crew working on vessels
Nautical Ventures Marine Superstore (NVMS) in Dania Beach, Fla., has hired Katherine Ames as a tender sales specialist. A graduate of Missouri Western University, Ames is a licensed Florida …
Yachts sold M/Y Passion, a 173-foot (53m) Swedeship delivered in 1986 and rebuilt in 2003, sold by Northrop & Johnson brokers Kevin Merrigan and Wes Sanford, acting on behalf
STP Shipyard in Palma dismantled the 82m mast of the 191-foot (58m) S/Y Kokomo, using a 500-ton crane. About 15 people including the yacht’s crew, rope and rigging men,
Marina Port Vell (MPV) in Barcelona has hired Capt. Anders Pehrson as dockmaster. Pehrson has spent the past 15 years as a chief officer and captain of yachts, including
Marine electronics manufacturer Furuno has updated its systems apps and now offers free apps for the NavNet TZtouch system for Android devices. Furuno developed a NavNet Controller app that …


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December 7, 2009 - TAPSCOTT'S SHIPS SPRING/SUMMER 2010 CATALOG
OWENSBORO, Kentucky, December 7, 2009 – Tapscott’s, leaders in the floral community since 1933, announces the commercial availability of its Spring/Summer 2010 wholesale catalog. With over 224 pages of unique designs, seasonal favorites and everyday values, the catalog is the largest ever printed by the company.
“We know 2009 was a challenging year for our customers and our industry. That being said, we do feel things will continue to improve and our new Spring/Summer 2010 catalog reaffirms our commitment to providing the best possible solutions to our customers,” says David M. Rosenberg, President and CEO. “There will continue to be demand for a cost-effective alternative to fresh flowers as well as the overall design and maintenance benefits of artificial and permanent floral products and accessories.”
Tapscott’s Spring/Summer 2010 wholesale catalog is available online at www.tapfloral.com or by calling the company toll-free at 1.800.626.1922.
Tapscott’s, located in Owensboro, Kentucky since 1933, is a leading wholesale importer and distributor of permanent floral products and related accessories. Tapscott’s promotes and distributes its products to thousands of customers through seasonal catalogs, a team of independent sales representatives and its website, www.tapfloral.com. The company’s New England showroom is located in Suite 446 (Green) at the Northeast Market Center, Billerica, MA.


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Stardock has released the latest weekly top ten sellers list for Impulse. SoaSE doesn’t have it’s usual death-grip on the chart this time around, with a variety of recently released and discounted titles making their presence felt.
Here’s the list for the week of April 10-16.
- Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition
- Sins of a Solar Empire – Trinity
- Star Ruler
- Mount and Blade Warband
- Elemental: War of Magic
- Starpoint Gemini
- Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion Bundle
- The Sims Medieval
- Dead Space
- Armada 2526 – Supernova


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China, we have a problem.
Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Chinese users found themselves abruptly unable to access the services of popular mobile messaging app Line. Now, after weeks of being unable to use the service—including paid ‘stickers’ that are widely shared among users—frustration is growing.
Line’s services have been on the blink in mainland China since July 2, the day after a massive pro-democracy demonstration in neighboring Hong Kong. It was unclear whether interruptions of Line’s services were connected to the event. While other services suffered similar outages during that politically sensitive time, they’ve since been mostly restored. The Tokyo-based Line said that day via its verified Weibo account that it was trying to fix the problem. No updates have been issued since.
Since the start of the month, Weibo users have posted more than 20,000 comments demanding that the company explain interruptions in the service. Some, such as Wang Tuling, a 29-year-old travel agency staffer based in Shanghai, say that the service is only intermittently accessible. “Sometimes you would be able to use it with a VPN on. Sometimes it’s just totally not working. No one knows what happened,” said Ms. Wang.
Others have wondered whether they’ve been locked out for good.
On Friday, a Line spokeswoman confirmed that the service is still inaccessible, but declined to comment on whether the interruptions will be temporary or permanent, only adding that the company is “still looking into the issue.”
Line, launched in 2011 by a Japanese subsidiary of Korean company Naver, now has over 480 million registered users – people who have downloaded and activated the app – world-wide. Line is already ubiquitous in Japan and Taiwan, and has been expanding quickly in Southeast Asia, attracting younger users with its animated emoticons, also known as stickers. While some stickers are free – such as those depicting Line mascots Cony the rabbit and Brown the bear – many are sold for $1 or $2, creating a major source of revenue.
Earlier this year, Line ramped up its efforts to expand in China, a huge potential market with more than 500 million smartphone users, for example by placing ads featuring its animal mascots at subway stations and other public areas. But China’s instant-messaging market remains dominated by WeChat, an app developed by local Internet giant Tencent Holdings. WeChat has about 400 million monthly active users, mostly in China.
Even though Line’s user base is still relatively small in China, those fans devoted to the service say they feel frustrated after buying numerous stickers that they are no longer able to use.
Ms. Wang, for example, said he has spent over 100 yuan ($16) on stickers that she can’t use.
In China, one draw for consumers like Ms. Wang is the fact that a number of Line’s stickers play on various pop culture references, including to South Korean soap operas, which have a substantial following in the Middle Kingdom and have previously sparked crazes for everything from high-end shoes to fried chicken.
“I was not quite impressed at my first attempt to use Line a year ago. I ended up deleting it from my phone since WeChat is way more convenient and user-friendly than Line,” said Joyce Yao, a 30-year-old marketing staffer in Shanghai.
But more recently, Ms. Yao decided to begin using Line once more, thanks to the fact that the romance between two leading characters on Korean soap opera “My Love From the Star” blossomed with the help of the Line app. Launched in Korea last December and shortly thereafter in China, the story features a love story starring a never-aging handsome alien and a female human pop star.
“Lots of people started to use Line after watching it because Line launched new sticker featuring scenes from the show. Who could resist a handsome and considerate alien professor?” laughed Ms. Yao, who says she’s frustrated to be unable to use such stickers.
Other users have been complaining as well. Zina Chu from Taiwan, who works for an advertising company in Shanghai, said Line’s outages have made it harder for her to communicate with her family and friends back in Taiwan, where Line has some 17 million users.
“Line is extremely popular in Taiwan and most of the young people are using it, unlike in mainland where everybody using Wechat,” said Ms. Chu.
“It really inconvenient for me,” she said.
The country’s State Council News Office didn’t not immediately respond the request for comments on whether the application has been blocked by the government.
– Yang Jie with contributions from Juro Osawa and Jonathan Cheng


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Samsung’s Unpacked event is all set to happen on 13 Feb in Barcelona during MWC 2011. FoneArena got an invite to the event couple of days back similar to the Sony Ericsson and LG invites. It never talked about the devices which Samsung will launch.Now there is confirmation via a leaked MWC show plan that Samsung is indeed launching the Galaxy S 2 and Galaxy Tab 2 at the event !
We are excited about these devices and will bring you all the photos and videos from Barcelona next month. Stay tuned !


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Longhorn in 2006: Can Microsoft Really Pull This Off?
Let the (reopened) Longhorn date pools begin!
Will Microsoft really ship a major new versionsomething thats more than just a service pack upgradeof the Windows desktop next year?
Microsoft watchers have been guesstimating since well before the first Longhorn Professional Developer Conference (October 2003) when Microsofts XP successor would ship.
Starting in earnest last August, when Microsoft gutted Longhorn by
This week, Microsofts biggest Windows pooh-bah, group vice president Jim Allchin, stated for the record that Microsoft can and will deliver the final version of Longhorn to PC and software makers in time for them to package it up for "holiday 2006." (As usual, all of Microsofts usual quality disclaimers apply: If the product is not solid, all ship promises are off.)
We told Allchin we were skeptical. Since when has Microsoft been able to deliver in little more than a year a new release of Windows (or even a Windows service pack, for that matter)? Was Longhorn in danger of becoming another Cairo, the object-oriented-file-system-rich version of Windows that disappeared with nary a trace?
Read the full story on Microsoft Watch:


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Savonor, a family-owned business founded in 1970, has transformed itself from a small soap factory into a dynamic, rapidly growing enterprise with a diverse portfolio of products, three production facilities and several oil-palm plantations.
Savonor produces soaps it exports to neighbouring markets, palm and sunflower cooking oil, margarine, Aquavie mineral water, Boom fruit juices and more. Matthias Kuntze, Chairman, adds, “We handle our own packaging and we have a fleet of trucks for distribution. We will continue to expand our product lines.”
Palmoleine, a healthier palm oil
Savonor lives up to its motto, ‘German quality made in Burundi’. The company focusses on high-quality products that are beneficial to consumers and the local environment. One of its products is Palmoleine, a tasty, cholesterol-free refined palm oil. Savonor is also known for its Argi-2020 community-service initiative to benefit local farmers.
Matthias Kuntze says that Savonor will expand its production facilities, invest in new state-of-the-art equipment and continue to increase its exports. He adds, “We are market leader in Burundi, but to stay number one we have to be innovative. We recently invested in new machinery to increase our efficiency, quality, capacity and energy-savings. In three to five years, we want to be one of the region’s leading soap, oil and consumer-products manufacturer and exporter, and we aim to form joint-venture partnerships in 2015.”


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09:16 | 08/12/2016 Events
Vietnam welcomes investors from Russia and Kursk province in particular and will provide them with all possible support, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh told Kursk Governor Alexander Mikhailov during a reception in Hanoi on December 7.
|Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh (R) and Kursk Governor Alexander Mikhailov (Source: VNA)|
The host expressed her belief that the signing of the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union will offer new opportunities to localities, adding that trade between Vietnam and Kursk is still modest at only 2-3 million USD compared to Vietnam-Russia trade, which currently hits 3 billion USD per year. She wished that Kursk and the central province of Ninh Thuan would enhance partnership in agriculture and industry, and suggested the Kursk authorities offer further assistance to apparel joint ventures between Vietnamese companies and local partners operating in the province. Governor Mikhailov informed the host that he will attend business forums in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Ninh Thuan, which he said, will offer opportunities to develop economic ties between Kursk and Vietnamese localities. Kursk is strong in agriculture and willing to export sugar and cereals to Vietnam, he said, adding that local firms are willing to invest in Vietnam.


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A petition in the UK to stop fast food restaurants from giving away plastic toys as part of meals targeted at children has attracted 325,000 signatories, prompting the government’s environment minister to sit up and take notice.
The petition was started by a British mother and her two school-age daughters who criticised fast food companies for giving away toys that they said were only used briefly. Aged 9 and 7, the sisters explained they had learned about plastic pollution in school. They proposed that rather than making plastic toys that can be recycled, companies should invest in toys manufactured from materials other than plastic.
Calls to stop toys in kid’s meal deals
Restaurant chain operator McDonald’s said in a statement the company was planning to reduce the number of ‘hard plastic’ toys given away, but it added this was not indicative of a new commitment to reduce plastics in Happy Meal toys. A six-month promotional period in the UK is expected to provide different options for customers, including a mixture of board games, books and soft toys. Last year, McDonald’s began exploring ways to make its toys from a single type of plastic to allow it to more easily be recycled.
Burger King, which offers plastic toys in its King Junior meals, is facing a similar situation. The company said it is trialling the removal of toys from its King Junior meals in some of its restaurants in the UK Midlands.
“We are also working on the development of more sustainable packaging and alternative toy solutions as we still very much want our younger customers to enjoy their King Juniors,” a company spokesman said. Burger King will test the new toys and packaging in October 2019 and aims to launch them next year.
The UK is clamping down on single-use plastic and a ban will come into force next year. Companies such as McDonald’s and Burger King are being forced to accelerate the removal of single-use plastics by legislation.
Many cafes, bars and restaurants have already switched to alternatives made from paper. The move is expected to finally end the estimated annual use of 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
The UK government has confirmed that the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds with plastic sticks will be banned in England from April 2020. The only exceptions to the new regulations will be for people with a medical need or disability, for whom the plastic products will be available upon request.
A decision on the so-called “latte levy” charge for single use coffee cups has yet to be made. A deposit-return scheme for drinks containers or a tax on single-use plastic with less than 30% recycled content is also being contemplated.
Should the UK remain a member of the European Union, more single-use items, including cutlery and plates, will be banned by 2021, under measures agreed by the European Parliament.


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Muhammad Ali, THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME (GOAT) has come up with a statement of support for the University of Louisville. Fans can use the hashtag #UniteLouisville and share the image that Muhammad released from his personal twitter account on Thursday evening. Not bad having one of the world’s leading humanitarians in the Cards’ corner.
— Muhammad Ali (@MuhammadAli) October 23, 2015
— RealALI_me (@RealALI_me) October 22, 2015


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Samsung joined in the attacks on the iPhone 4’s Retina Display
with a retort in the Korean media. A spokesperson for Samsung
argued that quadrupling the resolution actually had little
impact on clarity, at most three to five percent, and that that
it would allegedly hike the battery drain by as much as 30
percent. AMOLED is purportedly better as it doesn’t need a
backlight and makes up for any resolution loss in other ways,
such as higher contrast with true black, more accurate colors
and no limits on viewing angles.
They can say this now, but they won’t be able to say such things and be taken seriously after the iPhone 4 is released and people have seen it in person. Until they figure out a way to make AMOLED visible in daylight, they’re not even in the game.


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The social media chatbots have been making waves in the business world, and Nigerians are not left behind. Two of the many banks in Nigeria have joined the social media trend; United Bank of Africa introduced Leo; a social media Chabot that will be bridging/enhancing customer services.
Leo came to live in January 2018 on the messenger app, when the company launched the first ever social media Chabot in Nigeria.
However, financial technology companies such as CowryWise and Kudi.ai offered their services using their locally constructed chatbots. In addition, the e-commerce giant Jumia launched a Chabot in 2017.
Diamond bank later began their own social media Chabot, named Ada.
Functions of Ada and Leo
Having a social media chatbots such as Ada and Leo will not only change company services in Nigeria but also to the world.
Below are five vital areas where social media chatbots will be influencing the services of companies around the globe
Automated Customer Service
A fast-growing number of customers expect nothing less than real-time responses from their service providers. This is where Ada and Leo come in; they attend to unsatisfied consumers as soon as possible irrespective of the time.
One of the good things about chatbots is they do not get tired, unlike human agents. Customers can now chat with Ada and Leo and have their problems solved. Because of the fast response from these chatbots, there will be a drastic decrease in bad reviews from angry customers.
Companies using social media chatbots can efficiently target clients using them and be making recommendations as well as adverts based on some services they would love them to try out.
Ada and Leo just made it easy for the banks to improve their overall marketing strategies.
New Product/Service Development
Ada and Leo are not meant solely for chatting. Banks can use them for new services, for instance, United Bank of African and Ada by Diamond bank can now check customer’s account number, purchase airtime, and make transfers? just to name a few.
Easy access to data
Artificial intelligence chatbots can give tailored-services based on monitoring client’s posts on social media and data collected on consumers by these platforms themselves. In addition, the chatbots receive queries from users and help its database through machine learning.
This is just a tip of the iceberg because chatbots with time will become more adaptive, providing users with accurate information and relevant content based on their preferences.
Furthermore, every data collected such as client’s preferences, purchases behavior, etc. can go directly back to the organization. You or the company can create personalized offers and content for your clients when you have such data in your hands.
Improvement of customer’s experience
Any company especially companies in the shopping industry can use these chatbots to make the user experience more fun as the customers can shop and Pay using social media chatbots.
Cons of social media chatbots
Although the pros of having a social media Chabot in your company are exciting, however, there are a few challenges with the artificial intelligence.
The artificial intelligence used in social media chatbots is still in the development stage as AI is considered not quite intelligent enough for humans
The cost of building a flexible Chabot and intelligent chatbox is very high; for now, the social media chatbots are meant for the wealthy/ large companies.
It will be difficult for developing countries such as Nigerians to be acquainted or fully trust the services of Artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to financing.
Social media chatbots are breaking the odds; Facebook estimated over two billion messages had been sent between humans and chatbots on its platform.
It is safe to say; more companies will be dancing to the tune of social media chatbots to improve their customers’ relations and services.


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Vladimir Putin: China and India funnel $24 billion to Putin in vitality spree
China spent $18.9 billion on Russian oil, gasoline and coal within the three months to the top of Could, virtually double the quantity a 12 months earlier, newest customs information present. In the meantime, India shelled out $5.1 billion in the identical interval, greater than 5 instances the worth of a 12 months in the past. That’s an additional $13 billion in income from each international locations in comparison with the identical months in 2021.
The upper spending helps make up for decreased purchases from the US and another nations which have halted or slowed shopping for to punish Russia for the battle. The bans have despatched costs for different provides hovering and spurred crippling inflation that threatens to ship main economies into recession.
“China is already shopping for primarily all the things that Russia can export through pipelines and Pacific ports,” mentioned Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst on the Centre for Analysis on Vitality and Clear Air, who has been monitoring Russian vitality flows for the reason that battle broke out. “India has been the principle purchaser of the cargoes out of the Atlantic that Europe doesn’t need anymore.”
That spree is unlikely to finish anytime quickly, with vitality costs a lot increased than they have been at the moment final 12 months, even accounting for the steep reductions to international benchmarks Russia is providing to entice purchasers. On a quantity foundation, China’s imports continued a sluggish uptick in June, whereas India could have incentive to spice up purchases even additional within the coming months as a European Union ban on Russian oil takes impact, Myllyvirta mentioned.
China and India nonetheless path Europe as a bloc by way of total gross sales this 12 months, in line with Myllyvirta’s analysis. Europe’s purchases will proceed to shrink, although, as import bans on coal and oil come into impact and as Russia cuts off gasoline provides to some European consumers.
Russia has long-standing commerce and strategic relationships with China and India, and together with providing steep worth reductions can also be accepting funds in native foreign money to assist hold commerce flows to the international locations robust this 12 months.
China is the world’s greatest vitality importer and has devoted pipelines for Siberian oil and gasoline. At the same time as its vitality consumption was curbed over the primary half of 2022 — partly as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns — it spent way more on Russian vitality as a result of increased costs and small will increase in volumes.
India’s enhance in spending after the battle has been way more dramatic, because it doesn’t share a land border with Russia and its ports are usually too far-off for cost-efficient delivery. The nation spent $8.8 billion on petroleum and coal imports from Feb. 24 to June 30, greater than it doled out for all Russian items for your complete 12 months in 2021, in line with a commerce ministry official, who requested anonymity as the information is just not public. India’s commerce ministry spokesperson didn’t remark.
Along with huge jumps in oil and coal, India additionally imported three cargoes of Russian liquefied pure gasoline for the reason that battle started, in comparison with one in the identical interval final 12 months, in line with Bloomberg ship-tracking information.
“Traditionally, India has taken little or no Russian oil, however the battle in Ukraine and Russian-origin oil embargoes by the Europe Union have led to a rebalancing in oil commerce flows,” Wei Cheong Ho, a Rystad Vitality analyst, mentioned in a analysis observe final month.
-With help from Stephen Stapczynski and Ruchi Bhatia.


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French and German client confidence plunged in November as new coronavirus restrictions crushed any prospect of a fast return to regular within the euro zone’s two greatest economies, information printed on Thursday confirmed.
Eating places, bars, accommodations and leisure venues have needed to shutter up this month in each international locations underneath new restrictions to comprise a brand new wave of Covid-19 infections.
Whereas retail retailers have remained open in Germany, non-essential shops needed to shut in France. They may have the ability to reopen on Saturday underneath strict sanitary protocols.
The newest restrictions go away family demand pent-up heading into the vacation season, pushing again prospects for a consumer-led financial restoration into subsequent yr.
In France, which was put again underneath one the strictest lockdowns in Europe on Oct. 30, client confidence fell this month to its lowest stage since December 2018, surpassing ranges reached in March and April throughout a primary and even harsher lockdown.
France’s official stats company, INSEE, mentioned its client confidence index fell 4 factors to 90, worse than the common expectation in a Reuters ballot of economists for 92.
Confidence was the bottom for the reason that outbreak of violent road protests in opposition to the federal government through the “yellow vest” motion, which pressured many retailers to board up in central Paris.
Households felt extra unsure about their monetary prospects, as concern about future unemployment reached its highest stage since mid-2013.
Intentions to make main purchases fell whereas the quantity of people that mentioned it was a very good time to avoid wasting stored climbing and sits properly above its long-term common, the information confirmed.
In Germany, client morale fell additional heading into December as a partial lockdown hit households’ earnings expectations and their willingness to purchase, a survey confirmed.
The GfK institute mentioned its client sentiment index, based mostly on a survey of round 2,000 Germans, dropped to -6.7 in November from a revised -3.2 within the earlier month. The studying missed a Reuters forecast for a narrower drop to -5.0.
GfK client skilled Rolf Buerkl mentioned though retail retailers remained open up to now, the shutdown of eating places, bars, accommodations and leisure venues since Nov. 2 clouded customers’ temper. Rising circumstances of Covid-19 are rising uncertainty, so Germans are holding onto their cash, Buerkl added.
“The hopes for a speedy restoration that arose in early summer time have positively been dashed,” Buerkl mentioned.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states late on Wednesday to increase and tighten the coronavirus lockdown till Dec. 20, however ease guidelines over the Christmas holidays to let households and mates rejoice collectively.
On Tuesday, President Emmanuel Macron mentioned France would begin regularly easing its lockdown this weekend, although many restrictions will stay.
However some epidemiologists say France might not return to a traditional lifestyle till subsequent autumn, offered that vaccine programmes work.


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The mobile alliance formed by Orange,Telefonica Maviles, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) and T-Mobile will henceforth be known as FreeMove.
FreeMove’s operators have 170 million customers between them in Europe, and have combined to offer their customers the same services on partner networks as they do on the “home” network.
There is also a secondary aim, which is to combine purchasing power for handsets and services from equipment providers. This will drive down prices, but also drive service adoption by ensuring a harmonised approach, the alliance’s founders hope.
Mobile Europe spoke to Nikesh Aurora, chief marketing officer of T-Mobile, about the aims of the alliance. Aurora said the alliance can work on three different levels.
“The way we look at it, it allows us to leverage our scale, so if we are all together on a certain key topic we can drive standardisation. We can also drive the acceptance of new products and services and bring our scale to that. It will also allow us to provide a ‘home away from home’ service to our customers.”
Aurora said that certain services would only be possible “if we are all together.” On the last of these points, the virtual home environment, Aurora said, “Customers will know wherever they are in a Freemove country they will be able to get their service as they experience it at home but supplied by their local partner.”
Freemove hopes to increase voice roaming traffic between the partner networks by10% year on year. It also wants to double GPRS roaming traffic. A key to this will be the appeal of FreeMove to multinational corporates. Corporations with multiple locations will be offered one point of contact for their mobile roaming services across the partnership.
Pricing would also be “transparent” and “harmonised” across the partnership, Aurora said.
Aurora said the partnership had already combined to buy six million handsets, at a 10% cost saving. At the moment Siemens and Motorola have preferred supplier status on providing the features and services the alliance is looking for, but Aurora said Freemove is talking to others, particularly in the area of 3G handsets.
Aurora was keen to say that the alliance is different from previous operator alliances such as Concert. The chief difference is that the operators have not moved their responsibility for the alliance outwith their existing operations.


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Last February, the International Federation of the Phonographic Society (IFPI) formally announced that Friday would become the global release day for new music, beginning in July, 2015. The official title of this new global release day is New Music Fridays and on Friday June 12, a consumer website will be launched with the “New Music Fridays” announcement.
The New Music Fridays brand will help to increase consumer awareness and anticipation around the new worldwide release day for new music. Official logo, branding and other fun graphics will be released shortly. BUT, in the package of marketing materials that was sent around, a rather curious graphic was used.
Don’t read anything into using Adele for an example. Or…should we? Naw….right?


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Detailed features and specs for the Nokia Surge 6790 for AT&T. Plus reviews ...
This messaging smartphone sports a slide-out text keyboard, 3G data, and GPS.
Jul 29, 2009 ... The Nokia 6790 Surge is aiming to be a middle of the road device that focuses on
messaging with features of a smart phone. It's not just that ...
Oct 21, 2010 ... TracFone's Straight Talk service has expanded into the smartphone game. The
company recently added two GSM Nokia devices--the ...
The Nokia Surge
is available from AT&T Wireless for $29.99 when you sign a new two-year service contract. The Surge
offers access to some of AT&T's music and video services, too. But the phone packs in plenty of features for work and home use -- so many features that ... More »
FoneArena.com : Nokia 6790 Surge phone specs information price. ... Yes Java
Java yes Yes SmartPhone SmartPhone yes Yes Touchscreen Touchscreen yes ...
www.ask.com/youtube?q=Is the Nokia Surge a Smartphone&v=nZe4NBzTQTI
Jun 14, 2012 ... http://www.cheapohippo.com/?p=27911 Nokia 6790 Reconditioned Smart Phone
-- 3G -- 2MP Cam -- MicroSD for $49.99 + Free Shipping.
Nokia Lumia 920 The Windows Phone 8 flagship smartphone for the launch of
Microsoft's .... Nokia Surge Here's a Nokia phone that doesn't look like a Nokia.
www.ask.com/youtube?q=Is the Nokia Surge a Smartphone&v=L-0C5Clql9g
Aug 11, 2009 ... Part 1 of our look at the Nokia 6790 Surge for AT&T. The Surge is a sideways-
sliding QWERTY messaging phone running the S60 smartphone ...
Especificaciones y caracteristicas del Nokia 6790 Surge, mas comentarios ... is a
sideways-sliding QWERTY messaging phone running the S60 smartphone OS.