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Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.
After PepsiCo has declared its Q2 earnings, PEP stock price has started to move higher.
As most companies roll out their financial figures for the previous quarter, an exposition has been seen as to which company showed the most resilience in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Food and beverage companies are undoubtedly among the top gainers but the degree of growth is largely relative. The shares of PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) showed a positive rally after the company declared its Q2 2020 earnings showing a slight dip in revenue.
PepsiCo stock rose by 1.85% (+$2.49) in the pre-market trading on Monday to sit at $136.95 per share. Typically, investors are reacting positively to the announcement despite the recorded plunge in revenues as compared to the same time last year. Glaring that the coronavirus pandemic had a subtle impact on the company’s outlook, investors have confidence in the positive aspects of the revealed earnings.
PepsiCo: Background and Global Outlook
PepsiCo, Inc. is American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo has interests in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. The soft drink Pepsi was developed by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist, and businessman from Duplin County, North Carolina.
As of January 26, 2012, 22 of PepsiCo’s brands generated retail sales of more than $1 billion, and the company’s products were distributed across more than 200 countries, resulting in annual net revenues of $43.3 billion. Based on net revenue, PepsiCo is the second-largest food and beverage business in the world, behind Nestlé SA (SWX: NESN). Within North America, PepsiCo is the largest food and beverage business by net revenue. Ramon Laguarta has been the chief executive of PepsiCo since 2018. The company’s beverage distribution and bottling are conducted by PepsiCo as well as by licensed bottlers in certain regions around the world.
PepsiCo Q2 Earnings amid COVID-19 Pandemic
The company’s snack and food business showed a great performance during the pandemic. Net income fell to $1.65 billion, or $1.18 a share, from $2.04 billion, or $1.44 a share, in the year-ago period. Core earnings rose by $1.32 per share surpassing the $1.25 expectations. The expected revenue of $15.38 billion came to $15.95 billion.
Frito-Lay North America saw organic sales growth of 6.6% with revenue pegged at $4.27 billion. While Quaker Foods North America reported organic revenue growth of 23% ($664 million), PepsiCo’s North American beverage unit saw its organic revenue fall 7%, despite growth at supermarkets and dollar stores. In the second quarter ended June 13, Pepsi reported net income of $1.65 billion, or $1.18 per share, down from $2.04 billion, or $1.44 per share, a year earlier. PepsiCo CEO, Ramon Laguarta noted in a press release:
“I’m very pleased with the way our organization has protected our associates and served the needs of our customers, consumers, and communities throughout these incredibly difficult times. Despite being faced with significant challenges and complexities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our businesses performed relatively well during the quarter, with a notable level of resiliency in our global snacks and foods business.”
Based on the unstable business nature of the world, Laguarta has confirmed the company will not be making any projections for the 2020 fiscal year and will not relent in driving “liquidity and flexibility to meet the needs of our business and return cash to shareholders” Laguarta affirmed.
More business news can be found here.


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HealthTech firm One Bupa introduces Hong Kong to the future of technology and healthcare through an immersive and interactive “Healthcare 3.0 Concept Hub.”
Healthcare has come to the forefront of global attention, heavily impacted by the ongoing pandemic. In this new normal many startups and concepts are arising to fill this gap, with many businesses in Hong Kong innovating in smart healthcare technology (HealthTech) and the dawn of the “Healthcare 3.0 Evolution,” placing an emphasis on patient-centric, highly transparent, interactive, personalised, and equipped approaches to heathcare.
Spotlighting the transformative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and mobile apps enabling the future of healthy living, Hong Kong’s first HealthTech hub will be spotlighting “The Future of Health & Technology” from September 27th to October 9th, 2022.
Spanning two floors of healthcare innovation, the exhibition will showcase the latest HealthTech, services, and applications from Hong Kong and around Asia. Three dedicated health zones- the “Everyday Health Fun Zone,” “Future of Medicine Zone,” and “Preventative Care Zone,” will enlighten guests on the significance of smart healthcare.
One Bupa’s AI retinal screening “Eyelnspect” technology will be showcased, which can detect up to 139 underlying eye, health, and even cardiovascular problems, as well as offer timely medical advice.
Visitors will also be able to take part in a digital art therapy game developed in partnership with Hong Kong-based mental health NGO Coolminds where they can express their emotions with colours and words.
Hong Kong’s virtual bank, Livi Bank, will also on site to offer information on account openings to introduce the community to accessible payment alternatives for medical care.
An all-in-one smart digital clinic will enable visitors to complete a body check delivering real time results and electronic records they can share with their own healthcare providers or at their next virtual consultation. Enlightening guests on the future of medical robotics, surgery room simulation game “Dr. Roboto” will educate guests on the logistics of an operation theatre.
One Bupa’s “Healthcare 3.0 Concept Hub” will also feature digital and interactive games, introducing visitors to the “Healthy Metaverse,” where they will be able to redeem their own Health Hero NFT, which will be automatically stored on the world’s first NFT mobile wallet released by Hong Kong-based Web 3.0 startup DTTD– which is powered by blockchain game company Animoca Brands.
Rounding up the event, a Health Market x Professional Panel will be bringing together industry-leading speakers and health conscious brands to host talks and educational workshops.

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Each year, the business events industry across Canada joins in the Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) celebrations to recognize the sector's positive social and economic benefits. Spearheaded by Meetings Mean Business Canada—an industry-wide coalition dedicated to the development, growth, and international competitiveness of Canada’s meetings and business events industry—this year's celebrations are set to take place on Thursday, March 30. In addition to celebrating, this year's GMID will raise awareness about the industry’s long road to recovery.
Why Business Events Matter
As highlighted on the Meetings Mean Business Canada Fact Sheet, business events matter because they are:
- A catalyst for collaboration, investment, and trade.
- A critical source of business income, high-value jobs, and tax revenue.
- An opportunity to leverage Canada's key economic sectors to a global audience.
Meetings and conferences act as the "first date" for new business investment, which can lead to high-value jobs and attract talent to the region. The collaborative OKGo campaign was launched, in part, to take advantage of this synergistic relationship while leveraging Kelowna's key economic sectors. In 2022, Tourism Kelowna's business development team secured 15 leads through the award-winning campaign, generating more than $2.5 million in potential economic impact.
Celebrating GMID 2023
On March 30, meeting venues, hotels, and attractions are invited to mark #GMID2023 by Lighting Up Blue . When sharing images to social media, be sure to include #LightingUpBlue, #GMID23, and tag Meetings Mean Business Canada.
Industry members can also access a GMID Toolkit through the Meetings Mean Business Canada website, which includes social media graphics and infographics.
To learn more about GMID, visit the Meetings Mean Business Canada website. For information about business events in Kelowna, contact Tourism Kelowna's Business Development team.


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Hey, remember back in April when everyone was getting all worked up over the possibility of a worldwide vanilla shortage that could cause ice cream prices to rise and herald the Worst Summer Ever? Then vanilla industry insiders were all, “calm down, Madagascar vanilla production is doing fine and everything is going to be okay” and we breathed a sigh of relief that the summer could still be saved? Well, just kidding: apparently vanilla is doing just fine after all but ice cream itself is experiencing a shortage! Talk about your red herrings.
The Wall Street Journal dropped the story on a shortage of Good Humor ice cream treats being delivered to ice cream truck vendors. It’s a shortage that the company itself blames on both the closing of its Hagerstown manufacturing plant and an early sales spike from a warmer-than-usual spring. For both of these reasons, Good Humor is apparently having some issues getting its Toasted Almond, Candy Center Crunch, and Chocolate Éclair bars out to those who really need them, and ice cream trucks on the East Coast are already reportedly feeling the sting of a drop in sales:
[Brian Collis, owner of Mr. Ding-a-Ling Ice Cream Inc. in Latham, N.Y.] said customers of his 68 trucks in the area around Albany suffered through a shortage of Good Humor Oreo bars for most of the spring and now can only get Toasted Almond Bars from a grocery store.
"The Toasted Almond's such an old-time thing from the 1950s," he said. "It's just such a basic thing we've always had. Now everybody's missing it."
He said Good Humor supply problems have taken a 5 percent bite out of his sales.
The WSJ reports that things aren’t so bad out on the West Coast, where Toasted Almond bars aren’t so popular and are rarely carried (we can vouch for that through the purely anecdotal evidence that we’ve never had them ourselves – they sound pretty tasty though!), but folks back east are demanding their ice cream of choice. Good Humor representatives swear that everything should be cool again by the middle of summer. But until then, the children of the Eastern seaboard will have to soothe their broken hearts with King Cones and Giant Neapolitan Sandwiches until this crisis passes.


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Maginus, the provider of multi-channel solutions for retail & B2B distribution companies, has launched a white paper Wholesale in an Online World in association with IMRG and Redsock consulting, to highlight the lucrative market B2B ecommerce presents but also the dangers for companies that do not embrace it.
The latest figures from IMRG reveal that ecommerce now accounts for 21% of UK retail sales, with more than a fifth of non-food B2C retail currently transacted online. Despite all this change, there is often a perception of the wholesale sector being relatively unaffected, but the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth.
While the number of mid-sized wholesalers has dropped by 6.4% in the last six years compared to roughly equal growth in the number of comparable sized retailers, B2B ecommerce is actually growing at three times the rate of B2C ecommerce, now making it a far larger market to be operating in. In fact, the potential for businesses in this market has never been higher, with the latest research from Forrester revealing that B2B customers typically spend far more per transaction.
The Maginus white paper calls for wholesalers to heed changes in B2C retail and bring their offering into the multichannel world through B2B ecommerce. With the right set-up for their target market, selling online could offer B2B wholesalers and distributors the opportunity not only to increase their trade sales figures, but potentially also begin selling direct to consumers as well.
"It's increasingly impossible to sustain the argument that when you then enter your work environment you simply leave the online world behind," said Chris Jones, of Redsock Consulting and author of the report.
"Far from being exempt from the influence of ecommerce, B2B wholesale and distribution companies risk being left behind by not embracing online channels," said Mark Thornton, Ecommerce Director, Maginus. "There's a lot to be learnt from B2C ecommerce practices, however it's also important to bear in mind that B2B buyers have different priorities. The most successful solutions combine usability with back-end integration, to ensure customers continue to receive the same smooth service currently offered offline."


text: Marshall Lester has spent his career working on what he calls “the latest and greatest” lighting products. His newest invention is the relay dimmer, a switch that dims light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in an office setting. It is a market with a revenue potential of millions of dollars for his company, Powerline Control Systems Inc., in Northridge. The dimmer allows the user to lessen the electricity, and hence the light emitted, from a panel of LED lights; currently most office panels work only in on or off mode. Dimming allows companies to save electricity. And in California, regulations from the California Energy Commission require dimmers for new nonresidential lighting fixtures. Lester and his staff of a half-dozen engineers at Powerline Control had come up with the idea for the dimmer even before researching the huge market in the replacement of fluorescent lights with LEDs. “I like to make new things instead of making money,” Lester explained. Still, the money counts. There are two parts to the relay dimmer – a module that plugs into the LED light itself that sell for about $19 and a wall switch that carries a price between $60 and $80. Lester estimates that the fluorescent lightbulb replacement market could reach as high as $10 billion a year. If his dimmer can grab a fraction of that amount, it has huge potential for his company. Craig DiLouie, education director of the Lighting Controls Association, a council of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, in Rosslyn, Va., said the U.S. Department of Energy forecasts that LEDs’ share of the installed base of linear lighting – that is, where tubular fluorescent lamps are commonly found – will grow from 16 percent to 47 percent by 2025. “As with LEDs overall as a category, LED linear lighting is accelerating in adoption due to improving technology, market acceptance and declining costs,” DiLouie wrote in an email to the Business Journal. Powerline Control started selling the dimmer relay just a month ago. But with much of the money the company makes from its other lighting products – primarily residential lighting systems – going to engineering and product development, there is not a large budget for sales and marketing. “They create awesome things and there is nothing left to market it,” said Megan Vanderspool, Powerline’s head of sales and marketing for the company. In addition to the engineering, the company’s money also goes toward maintaining its seven patents and for filing of three additional patents, two in the U.S. and one internationally, for the relay dimmer. It is the technology of the dimmer that is being patented rather than the hardware, Lester said. Flashback Lester founded Powerline Control in the mid-1990s in the garage of his home in Northridge. He had been living in that area of Los Angeles since attending California State University – Northridge 20 years before. He received two engineering degrees and a psychology degree from CSUN; the engineers working at Powerline Control are all CSUN graduates as well. Lester owns about 52 percent of the company, with his team of engineers splitting the remainder. Powerline Control produces three brands of lighting equipment – PulseWorx and SimpleWorx for the residential market, and GreenWorx for use in high-bay buildings and parking garages. Lester calls these products the “bread and butter” of the company. He would not disclose revenue generated by sales. The new relay dimmer evolved out of the engineers developing a smart timer that could communicate over power lines. These timers have relays in them that when closed turn lights on and when open turn lights off. Lester thought of a way of having a code sent by the relays that are read by a decoder chip on a component attached to the light fixture in order to dim the lights. “It is the idea of using a simple power relay to send a message through a power line to change the lighting levels,” Lester said. “Nobody has done that before.” Coming up with the receiving module was the easy part of the task. The question for Lester and his staff was if the relay could be controlled so as not to affect the lights when they were dimming. When the switch is hit, the signal is interrupted for 8 milliseconds, Lester said, adding, “It is so fast you cannot even see any flicker or anything.” DiLouie, of the Lighting Controls Association, said that dimming is a natural fit for LED lighting for several reasons. One is that LED lights are highly controllable and bring substantial energy savings and good flexibility. Most LED products come with dimming as a standard feature or an option and are less expensive than dimming linear fluorescent lights, DiLouie said in his email. “Whether the need is energy savings, visual comfort, mood setting, or color tuning, dimming can be an ideal lighting strategy,” he added. While there are other ways to control dimmer switches, such as with wireless technology, Lester said that relay dimming has advantages over those methods. It already uses existing infrastructure such as relays and circuits so the installation is easy and virtually costless, he said. “You just put it in like a lightbulb and it works,” Lester added. Marketing challengeNorthridge company intends to reconfigure fluorescent lighting with dimmers. The challenge for Lester has not been in making the relay dimmer but in marketing it. Powerline Control is constrained, he said, on spending money for marketing. A full-page ad in a lighting or electric industry publication can cost upward of several thousand dollars, Lester added. Powerline Control sells its other products to residential contractors, but the market for dimmers is commercial contractors. In the early going as word spread about the relay dimmer, building contractors were calling the company about its latest product. “Everyone that has heard of it is shocked that he has come up with something like this because no one has figured out how to do this,” Vanderspool said. “He always comes up with one idea and then his brain keeps churning.” The engineering staff does what it can do to market the products, but it is not the same as what a marketing professional could do. So far, the main effort has gone into a video on YouTube to promote the benefits of the relay dimmer. “It is amazing that someone could make a video for us for practically nothing,” Lester said. Commercial contractors in particular like this low-cost product because it reduces the amount of work they have to do by not pulling wires or putting in conduits to convert from regular fluorescent lights to dimmable LEDs, Vanderspool said. “They can get it done within an hour and be out and make quite a bit of money,” she added.


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COUTURE connoisseurs can look forward to a feast of style and trendiness at the Penang Fashion Week 2018 in Gurney Paragon Mall.
Some 17 designers, 18 brands and three fashion schools will be featuring their creations across 26 runway shows from April 14 to 22.
Returning for the opening night are Taiwan’s Illiza Ho – a protege of Malaysian icon Datuk Jimmy Choo – and renowned local menswear designer Bon Zainal.
“I’m known for elegant suits, but this time, expect something that’s a bit wild and fun,” Bon Zainal teased at the recent press conference.
The gala on the evening of April 14 also features Hong Kong’s Kev Yiu, who counts celebrities like Sammi Cheng and Myolie Wu among his clientele.
Completing the lineup are two more Malaysians – Carven Ong, who is seen as one of Asia’s top couturiers, and Penang-born Paris-based Jonathan Liang.
There will also be the Malaysian debut of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob Gold campaign, which has thus far been introduced in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Indonesia, Singapore and Spain.
Each of the 17 designers will interpret the beloved animated character’s humour optimism and heart of gold as part of a unique runway collection.
Other designers featuring across the nine-day event are returnees Keith Kee, Richard Rivalee, Ranndy Goh, Micheal Ooi and Samantha Chua.
“As a Penangite, it’s great to be part of the event again. This time, my collection is inspired by the Oscar-winning movie, The Shape of Water,” Kee said.
New names debuting this year are Joo Lee, Dennis Lee, Raydian Chew, Chris Yee, Cynthia Ong, Steven Chuah and Jasmine Phoon.
Joo Lee, the head of fashion at Equator College, is delighted to unveil her own collections having seen many of her students featuring theirs in previous editions.
“The event is a good platform to promote local talents and give them international exposure. It can also inspire the young to pursue their dreams in fashion and contribute to the local economy,” she opined.
Also set to grace the catwalk are the latest seasonal collections of international brands such as Michael Kors, Kate Spade New York, La Martina, Tory Burch, Tumi and Pedro.
The list continues with Charles & Keith, Chow Tai Fook, Debenhams, Ecco, Lancaster, Focus Point, Cosas United, Hush Puppies, Akemi Uchi, National Geographic, Travis Hegel and Save My Bag.
Spectators will also be wowed by the creativity of students from ESMOD Kuala Lumpur – The One Academy, Equator and UCSI University.
Hunza Group executive director Khor Tze Ming said this year’s Fashion Week – the 4th edition – is also a platform for charity and social work.
“Fashion can go beyond the label and luxury. Being a responsible corporate citizen, we want to do more to serve our community.
“In partnership with UCSI, we will provide a degree scholarship for an eligible student who wins a fashion design competition.
“Some of our participating designers will also design custom- made attire for 14 children from the House of Hope which has made commendable efforts to change the lives of underprivileged children over the past 12 years.
“Hush Puppies has also sponsored 600 pairs of school shoes for needy kids,” Khor highlighted.
Following the press conference, the designers visited the House of Hope in Ayer Itam to get the children’s measurements and desired clothing styles.
One of the youngsters, Jolene Goh, aged 10, revealed ambitions of going into modelling someday, explaining: “All of them look so pretty on TV.”
Nur Dania Insyirah, six, quipped: “I love dressing up in nice clothes.”
House of Hope founder Khoo Cheng See was touched by the gesture, and said: “Like others, these kids also harbour desires to go into fashion or modelling when they grow up, but often lack the opportunities. We’re very grateful.”
In conjunction with the event, shoppers who spend RM300 in a maximum of two combined receipts in April, will be eligible to redeem vouchers worth RM50.
Such spending also entitles one to an entry for the lucky draw contest offering prizes worth over RM20,000. The grand prize is a return ticket to Europe by Qatar Airways, a 3D/2N stay at DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Penang and shopping vouchers worth RM12,000.
For more details and updates on the Penang Fashion Week, follow the mall’s Facebook page.
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Tyson Beckford: Why fashion is the most racist industry in the world
Tyson Beckford claims fashion is the most racist industry in the world.
The 43-year-old star is one of the biggest male models in the world. Race is something close to his heart as his mother is of Chinese and Afro-Jamaican descent and his father is of Afro-Panamanian descent. Over the last season there has been a lot of talk about the lack of black models used by major fashion houses, which Tyson insists is a very real problem.
"Out of all the industries I find - me personally and I think that a lot of people will agree with me - that fashion is very racist," he told HuffPost Live.
"My manager Bethann Hardison has been on top of diversity and she's just now getting an award from the CFDA in a couple of weeks about trying to make a difference in the industry because there was a time where you would only see guys like me... on there. You wouldn't see Asian, you wouldn't see Latino. Fashion is a business that everyone buys clothes, from every race, so they should be represented by different models and different faces. Not just always the same blonde hair, blue eyes or the black guy with the shaved head. It needs to expand a bit."
Bethann launched the Balanced Diversity campaign last year to end racism on the runway. With the help of fashion stars such as Naomi Campbell and Iman, Bethann wrote an open later to the governing bodies of the major fashion capitals - New York, London, Milan and Paris - to call out their lack of black models.
Tyson believes the issue is a particularly important one for female models, where diversity still has a long way to go.
"This past season during fashion week, you might go to a show and it's all white girls. Not one Asian or Black or Latino girl was in it. It kind of makes that ethnic race of people feel like they're not important or being catered to," he said. "There's more diversity needed in it. But fashion is the most racist business out right now."
The model was quizzed on how the industry could make some positive changes. While in the past designers have been slammed for failing to use black models on the runway, Tyson believes others in the industry also need to make some alterations to how they work.
"I think a lot would change from the designers, the stylists, the agencies, the bookers, it all falls in their hands. If you ring up an agency and say, 'Hey, I want a hot girl, what's good?' The agency has a choice to say, 'Look, we've got this great Latino girl, take her, see her, she's the next hot thing.' Stylists can do the same thing. ... who wants to go to a flower garden and see the same flowers?" he said.


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Despite what Microsoft's official blogs might be saying, some are reporting that December was another bad month for Internet Explorer. IE is growing and falling, and Chrome isn't far behind.
The YotaPhone 2 is probably the most interesting phone since the iPhone 3G - Review
Hands On with Microsoft's new Comfort Headset
microsoft comfort headset
Is Denim available to you yet?
Windows 10 for phones news
Windows 10 for phones
Hands On with Microsoft's wireless charging pad, the DT-903
All the latest on Windows 10
Windows 10 promo
Google's Chrome Frame lets IE users turn their browser into Chrome, while still being able to access legacy apps. But is it really moving browsers forward, or is it helping to create a new stagnation?
Internet Explorer's total market share has now dropped below 50 percent for the first time, with further decline a possibility.
April was an interesting month in the browser wars. Computerworld reports that Net Applications' analysis shows Google's Chrome browser increasing it's share of the browser market by .6 of a percentage point. It did significantly...


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Mark Benton was buying an old farm to demolish. He was primarily interested in the land. Already before the start of work, something prompted the man to the idea to study the contents of the barn built on the outskirts.
The gates opened with a creak and behind them, Mark was surprised to see one of the most expensive cars in the world, produced in 1959. It was in this year that Jaguar launched the Mark 2 sedan, which is uncharacteristic for the brand. The company sought to win a new audience.
The designers combined an elegant representative body with a powerful engine: the engine of the Jaguar XK sports car was installed on the Jaguar Mark 2, which instantly made it one of the fastest cars on the market of that time.
Sedans were released a little, almost all of them remained in their native England. Therefore, Mark was surprised when he found one of the rare Jaguars on a long-abandoned farm in Iowa, a state that Americans themselves consider, to put it mildly, remote from cultural centers. The car is superbly preserved, especially considering the decades it spent in a wooden shed.
Documents were also found in the glove compartment: the last time a sedan was registered back in 1983. The car will be put up for auction. The new owner expects to receive at least several hundred thousand dollars for it.


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The son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada currently works as director of marketing and head of CSR at the company. According to his father, Lorenzo Bertelli "has the right attitude" to succeed him.
Estée Lauder had some big executive announcements this week spanning its domestic US market and Asia/Pacific. But perhaps the most interesting part of the news was the fact that it’s “elevating” its Chinese market.
The sports and footwear retailer has promoted Franklin Bracken to the new role of COO and has begun searching for an executive to fill another new position, that of chief strategy, innovation, and development officer.
The BCBG Group has named Albino Riganello to be its new creative director, in a shakeup at the French-born house. Albino will make his debut with the brand‘s Fall 2022 collection, to be presented in February 2022.
The Italian label has announced that its new interim CEO will be Cedric Wilmotte, who will hold the role from January 2022 until the end of the year, leaving time to find a permanent successor for Jonathan Akeroyd.


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OK, so beating earnings estimates by a penny or two -- depending on what you subtract to get adjusted earnings -- isn't anything to get overly excited about, but it doesn't deserve a nearly 3% drop either.
Medtronic finished its fiscal year strongly with a 10% increase in revenue thanks in part to currency changes; revenue was up 6% if you ignore them. And it reported more than $4 billion in revenue in one quarter for the first time.
Sales of the company's implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) benefited from a slip-up by competitor Boston Scientific
Now that Boston Scientific has relaunched its products, we'll have to see how much of the gained market share Medtronic and competitor St. Jude Medical
Looking forward, Medtronic is guiding for a 5% to 8% increase in revenue at constant currency. Being a pure medical device maker, investors get middle-of-the-road growth; not as quick as Abbott Labs
More importantly, Medtronic thinks it can grow earnings even quicker. Excluding charges from acquiring ATS Medical, the company expects adjusted earnings per share to come in between $3.50 and $3.60 next year, more than 10% higher than last fiscal year's adjusted earnings at the midpoint.
If Medtronic can hit that kind of growth, investors will surely notice. Eventually.


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Almost half of the existing users of iPhone devices are planning to upgrade to the iPhone 5S or switch to the iPhone 5C, a survey by Ask.com suggests. According to the survey, out of over 4,000 users, 46 per cent of those surveyed said they were planning to change their phones and get the iPhone 5S or 5C immediately after it has been announced. The 54 per cent of the remaining entrants said that they will upgrade after some time.
The survey also asked the users what features they would like to see the most. In this, 40 per cent of the users went for improved battery life, while 34 per cent of the users said that they are looking forward to the fingerprint scanning technology, which is expected to be a part of the iPhone 5S. Interestingly, 10 per cent of the entrants also asked for improvements in Siri. 12 per cent went for new colours in iPhone devices.
The Apple iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C are to be unveiled at 10 pm India time, which is less than five hours away now. There have been many rumours about the device with the new Golden, champagne and graphite colours and the fingerprint scanning technology being the biggest ones. The company has invited the media to its Cupertino, California headquarters for the unveiling.


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Marketers’ dilemma: ESG matters, but does it sell?
Companies are pushing hard to burnish their ESG credentials, but research suggests these issues have only minor sway over consumer choices.
If you need a clue about the narrative a company is trying to sell to its investors, the first five or six slides of the presentations accompanying half and full-year financial results are a good place to start.
The key financial numbers will always be there, of course – carefully selected to paint the firm in the best possible light. Often there will be a vision or mission statement, to show investors how focused management remains. And for miners, it’s commonplace to stick a slide about safety right near the top of the presentation.
But right across the market this year, a new slide – or even a few slides – has made the grade, detailing the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.
The shift reflects both the growing urgency of climate change, and growing demands from both investors and the broader community for companies to take ESG issues seriously. Most businesses are doing just that.
Of course, it’s typically not just enough to do the right thing – most companies also want to tell and show as many stakeholders as possible, be they investors, employees or customers.
A slide in a PowerPoint presentation is one thing. But what about spending shareholder dollars on marketing campaigns designed to demonstrate how green and good you are?
It’s a question that Ken Roberts, executive chairman of Melbourne-based marketing consultancy Forethought, has been carefully considering, after watching the growing number of businesses keen to burnish their ESG credentials in mass marketing campaigns.
Supermarket advertising campaigns
His latest research sought to answer a key question for chief marketing officers: will stating that you have environmentally sustainable policies in your mass market advertising lead more consumers to choose your brand?
To investigate, Forethought examined recent advertising campaigns from Coles and Woolworths. The Coles campaign, called Together to Zero, debuted in July and was focused on announcing the group’s net zero sustainability push. The Woolworths campaign, launched the same month, was a new take on its long-running Fresh Food People theme, which included a more subtle sustainability message.
In August and September, Forethought surveyed 800 grocery shoppers to examine what drove their shopping choices.
This research found that environmental concerns rank highly. Asked to pick the most pressing issues facing society today and in 10 years, environmental stability ranked second (behind only COVID-19) in the first category and was clearly the most worrying issue in the second category, three times higher than the next biggest concern, reducing extreme poverty.
But having consistently found over the past two decades that concerns about the environment have been most strongly held by younger consumers, Forethought drilled down with a separate survey of 400 Gen Z shoppers aged between 18 and 25.
Asked what swayed their grocery purchasing decisions, just 0.7 per cent said their top driver was whether the business they were buying from had environmentally sustainable practices. By comparison, a combined 13.7 per cent of younger shoppers named either freshness of products, or fruit and vegetables, as their top drivers of choice.
The results are not surprising to Roberts, who says past research has shown customers’ stated intentions do not match their behaviour. Research by Qantas, for example, found the number of passengers who pay for a carbon flight offset is approximately one-fifth of those who state they will purchase carbon credits when asked in a survey. As far back as 2005, a United Nations study found that although 40 per cent of consumers said they were willing to buy green products, only 4 per cent actually did.
Forethought’s research did show that consumers who were exposed to Coles’ ad campaign saw having environmentally sustainable business practices as more important after watching the TV spot. But Roberts says that it’s vital to remember that this is only a minor driver of customer choice in supermarkets; on major drivers such as freshness and fruit and vegetables, Coles lagged Woolworths after its campaign. Indeed, Coles’ scores on both drivers actually fell slightly among those who saw its ad.
Roberts emphasises that his point is not that environmental issues and sustainability are not important, or even that companies shouldn’t work hard to promote their efforts in these areas.
But his question is whether this should be done by corporate affairs or public relations, rather than in expensive mainstream marketing designed to shift customer preferences.
It’s a delicate balance. Clearly, companies are facing heightened expectations to nail their ESG colours to the mast, and they need to show they are hearing this message.
‘A weak driver of choice’
But Roberts argues shareholders’ marketing dollars clearly need to be carefully spent in ways that drive results.
“The cold hard science informs us that even for Gen Z shoppers, sustainability is a weak driver of choice of supermarket and remains a lofty goal, well beyond the primary concerns relating to competitively priced, quality groceries,” Roberts writes.
He says his firm’s research shows that “a virtuous brand purpose relating to healthy, affordable eating would strongly resonate with shoppers and drive market penetration”.
Which, incidentally, is exactly the path Woolworths went down.
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The company, RBR Meat Company Inc., recalled the Marketside supreme frozen pizza, which may have been “adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes.” The pizzas were sold at select Walmart stores 50.6-oz. boxes containing one shrink-wrapped, 16-inch pizza labeled: “Marketside Extra Large Supreme Pizza,” with the lot code of 20547.
Thankfully, there have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions from consumption of the pizzas.
According to the USDA, the recall, a Class I, means it is “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” That means if you have frozen pizzas in your freezer right now, you should make sure they aren’t this type. If they are, take them back to the store for a refund or throw them away. Now.
The pizzas were shipped to Walmart distribution centers in California, Nevada, Utah and Washington.


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CONSUMER CONFIDENCE STILL UP IN SPITE OF DECLINE IN FEBRUARY
WASHINGTON — Although consumer confidence declined in February for the second consecutive month, it still remains at a high level, according to the Conference Board. The board’s index of confidence in February dipped to 99 from January’s 101.1. Nevertheless, the latest measurement is well above the February 1994 index of 79.9.
“Historically, whenever the confidence index has been around the 100 level, where it is now, the pace of economic activity has been lively. The latest readings signal promising economic developments ahead,” said Fabian Linden, executive director of the board’s Consumer Research Center.
According to the survey, there was a slight decrease in February in the number of consumers who view business conditions as good, but likewise there was a dip among those who view conditions as bad. Slightly more respondents view jobs as “hard to get,” as opposed to being “plentiful.”
Regarding income, the index, based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, showed a slight strengthening in the number of people who anticipate their incomes will increase. Plans to buy big-ticket items, however, were mixed, with fewer people anticipating they will buy a home or car and more respondents planning to purchase appliances.


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We don't need the Nokia 9 yet, and HMD is smart to delay a high-end release
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Is there such a thing as too many cameras on one phone?
You know, not everyone wants to own an ultra-high-end smartphone. Or at least not everyone insists on owning a so-called flagship mobile product if that means spending north of $800, 900, even $1,000.
I realize that must come as a shock to many of you, but in fact, the vast majority of global smartphone buyers today prefer something that doesn’t equate to the annual minimum wage in Indonesia. Let that sink in for a moment - there are people out there that would need to work a whole year just to purchase a 64GB iPhone XS.
Of course, you can understand why most companies choose to focus their R&D efforts and advertising campaigns primarily on “premium”, costly handsets. There’s also OnePlus, which owes its rapid rise to fame entirely to “flagship killers.” No, the mid-range OnePlus X doesn’t count.
The Nokia 6.1 is HMD's best phone available in the US, which says a lot
Meanwhile, one brand continues to swim against the tide, releasing over a dozen affordable Android devices since early last year, but no true iPhone rival yet. Is Nokia, or rather HMD Global, afraid of something? Should the company revise this unconventional release strategy? Can it actually make money without a Nokia 9 or 10 completing its otherwise robust portfolio? Well, let’s see:
Overcrowding, saturation, stagnation. Every single time there’s a new smartphone shipment report out, at least one of those three words comes up to describe the current state of the mobile industry.
Samsung’s numbers are dropping, Apple is pretty much standing still, Sony, HTC, and LG are bombing, whereas Huawei and Xiaomi continue their seemingly unstoppable race to the top. Now, I know what you’re going to say. The high-end P20 and Mate 10 definitely helped Huawei surpass Apple in global sales volume. Xiaomi is also getting more aggressive in the “premium” segment with pricey new Mi Mix-series releases.
But at their core, these are still companies catering first and foremost to bargain hunters. The only Huawei phone ranked among the ten best-selling models of May, for instance, was the P20 Lite. Not the Pro, and not the “regular” variant. The same Counterpoint Research report listed the entry-level Xiaomi Redmi 5A as the world’s fourth most popular smartphone, ahead of the iPhone 8 Plus and Galaxy S9.
Even Samsung is starting to realize low to mid-end devices are central to the company’s hopes of reversing a worrying trend. HMD was smart to understand that earlier, reviving Nokia as an accessible brand to the masses.
Why risk alienating a solid audience by shifting some of the focus away from reasonably priced, reasonably powerful phones like the 7 Plus to a Nokia 9 that may not have enough going on to stand out from the pack?
Just think about the horde of fancy new flagships already scheduled for October announcements. Even if that bonkers penta-lens Nokia 9 prototype proves legit, it wouldn’t be easy to go up against a Pixel 3 and 3 XL with presumably stellar photography software, not to mention triple camera heavyweight contenders from Huawei and LG.
Competing with this beautiful Huawei Mate 20 Pro could prove tricky
Five rear-facing cameras could be overkill, and perhaps most importantly, such a crazy new shooter setup would mean HMD doesn’t plan to slot the Nokia 9 in the inexpensive flagship category, alongside the likes of the OnePlus 6T.
HMD Global should think long and hard what consumers expect from the Nokia brand these days. This is the name of a company that once ruled the world, but the company itself willingly pulled out of the mobile device manufacturing business.
How did Nokia fall so hard, so quick?
The brand was licensed out to a startup established by a handful of industry veterans after a disastrous Microsoft partnership and acquisition. Granted, the business was already struggling when the Redmond-based tech giant took control of it, but by the end of the two’s alliance, the Nokia name and Microsoft’s smartphone ambitions appeared similarly devastated.
HMD pulled off the impossible in less than two years, making millions of people feel comfortable buying gadgets carrying the iconic Nokia logo again. Check that, tens of millions of people. We’re talking 4.4 million smartphone shipments during the final three months of 2017, around 4 million units in Q1 2018, 4.5 million in Q2... and a great deal more if we also take feature phones into consideration.
That growth though
While Nokia has barely managed to crack the top ten smartphone vendor list during the April - June 2018 timeframe, the brand is already in the global top three when it comes to “dumb” phones. That’s obviously a low-margin business, but it’s not completely irrelevant.
You don’t have to be a professional analyst to understand it takes time to rebuild confidence in such a tarnished brand. Remember how violently we all mocked 2014’s Nokia X family? Plenty of people probably still remember 2015’s Lumia 950 and 950 XL too, which were technically sold under Microsoft’s own name, but forever associated with Nokia.
It’s hard to follow a flagship duo no one cared about, even after three whole years, and despite HMD playing all its cards right so far. The company chose a living, breathing OS, shining in the software support department straight off the bat, and tugging at the heartstrings of nostalgics in a truly expert way.
Can you really blame Nokia if the Lumia 950 XL is still haunting the brand?
But it’s practically impossible to try to convince Nokia 3310 or 8110 owners to upgrade to a phone ten times as expensive. Selling an $800 or $900 Nokia 9 would be a whole different ballgame even compared to selling the 7 Plus, 6.1 Plus, or impending 7.1 and 7.1 Plus.
Besides, HMD already tested the waters with the stunning but Snapdragon 835-powered Nokia 8 Sirocco. While there are no specific sales numbers for specific models available from the company or third-party market researchers, it definitely felt like MWC 2018 audiences paid significantly more attention to the Nokia 7 Plus, and yes, even the rebooted 8110 “banana phone.”
Bottom line, it might indeed be wise to not take a chance on the Nokia 9... yet. The profit margins on that would no doubt beat those of the 7 Plus, but mass-manufacturing a high-end phone with five, four, three, or even two Zeiss cameras requires not just tons of money. A lot of time would need to be dedicated to the project, not to mention many other resources in the distribution and marketing departments.
The high-end (ish) Nokia 8 Sirocco didn't exactly set the world on fire
HMD Global is still a fairly small outfit with a modest retail presence in key Western markets like the US, so perhaps it would be smart to invest time and money in that before joining the insanely competitive flagship phone arena.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong in establishing and consolidating a reputation as a maker of reliable, robust, and affordable phones first. Just ask Huawei and Xiaomi.


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A camera on a mid-range phone from 2018 can outperform a lot of top-end phone cameras from 2016, and even 2017. That’s thanks to major improvements in image processing, as well as the inclusion of better – and now, cheaper – dual-camera systems. But as the race to develop better imaging quality continues, we’re also seeing several other trends emerging in the smartphone imaging space. Here’s what you can look forward to from phone cameras in the coming year.
A look back at the year that was
There were three major trends in smartphone cameras the current year: multiple lenses, a focus on new computational photography technologies, and the use of AI for scene detection and shooting assistance.
Huawei’s P20 Pro was a great example of a device effectively using three rear cameras, earning the top spot on DxOMark’s image benchmarking leaderboard for 2018. The company later upped its game with the top-of-the-line Mate 20 Pro, which impressed with its imaging capabilities later in the year. We also saw three cameras on the LG V40 and the Samsung A7. Heck, Samsung actually went a step ahead and later slapped four cameras on the back of the Galaxy A9.
Of course, more lenses don’t immediately equate to better performance. Plenty of reviews on the internet suggest that apart from Huawei, other companies failed to take great advantage of these new camera systems. I’m looking at you, Samsung.
Google’s Pixel 3 continued to outperform the majority of smartphones, thanks to its fine-tuned software and image processing. It also introduced brilliant new features like Super Res Zoom (which lets you shoot great pictures while zoomed in, through a single lens), and Night Sight (for taking bright photos in low-light conditions). Apple also boosted the performance of its latest iPhone with features like SmartHDR, which combines multiple frames to create crisp shots.
2019: more lenses and megapixel madness
If you thought that four camera lenses on a smartphone were too much, too bad: you’re almost certainly going to see more of them next year. We’ve already seen plenty of pictures of Nokia’s rumored phone with five rear cameras. According to reports, these five lenses will handle telephoto, monochrome, color, and multi-lens pixel synthesis – giving you more flexibility for shooting.
That’s not all: LG has two crazy patents that might bring more than five cameras to its upcoming phones. The first one hints at a seven-camera setup on a curved phone; then there’s this crazy 16-lens setup which can capture moving images in tandem.
While phone makers seem keen on the idea of slapping on more lenses for additional flexibility, Navkendar Singh, an analyst at IDC, said that this won’t be enough to attract customers:
Companies are putting more and more lenses on a phone, and this trend will continue in 2019. However, users won’t just be wooed by that. The phone makers will need to find a way to make these cameras work in tandem to get innovative results.
Also, it looks like we’re entering the megapixel race, again (What’s this? 2011?). Honor and Xiaomi both have announced that they’ll release phones with a 48-megapixel camera on the back next year.
Also, it looks like we’re entering the megapixel race, again (What’s this, 2011?). Honor and Xiaomi are both releasing phones with 48-megapixel cameras next year, for some reason. You don’t need your camera to be capable of capturing more than a few megapixels unless you’re going to print your photos billboard-size; what’s more important is the size of the camera sensor, the quality of the lens, and the capability of the image signal processing tech. So don’t fall for the hype when these devices arrive, check out reviews and camera samples to know what’s what.
Refinements: AI, computational photography, and portraits
For most of the last couple of years, in-camera AI has been mostly limited to detecting what you’re shooting and accordingly adjusting some parameters like exposure, color, and white balance to get the best shot. From there, premium phone makers began using AI to process multiple images and deliver better results than before. It’s been interesting to watch this progress – especially because it’s awfully hard to increase the size of sensors and lenses to improve imaging.
But in many cases, AI processing is too aggressive, leading to less-than-stellar shots. For example, many iPhone XS customers were unhappy with Apple for the skin smoothing effect seen in the selfies the device shot.
The next logical step, it would seem, is to give users a way to tone down or adjust this post-processing – similar to how you can now tweak the depth of field in your shots with dual-camera phones.
Hopefully, 2019 will see many computational photography techniques refined. Apple’s first-gen smartHDR was a bit too flat for many as compared to the punchy HDR+ effect seen in Google Pixel shots. The Cupertino company will likely fine-tune its algorithm for better low-light capabilities and more vibrant results. As for Google, its Super Res Zoom feature – which allows for sharp results using a single lens’ digital zoom capability – could be improved so it adds less noise to your photographs than it currently does. Meanwhile, its Night Sight feature could be enhanced for even cleaner shots in low-light conditions.
In addition to adjustable depth of field, we also saw the introduction of portrait lighting effects in recent times, from the likes of Apple and Huawei. While this can sometimes make for dramatic results, there’s certainly room for improvement, in that they could soon look more realistic and work better in more varied lighting conditions.
3D sensors and AR
We’ve seen the last two iterations of the iPhone use 3D sensors on the front for Face unlock and Animoji. That technology might soon feature on rear cameras too: according to a recent report, one of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10 variants will feature a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor on the back to measure depth. It’s already on the dual-display Vivo Nex 2, which promises better imaging for 3D face recognition and AR experiences.
A Bloomberg report from May also noted that Chinese tech giant Huawei may launch a smartphone that can take 3D photos next year.
“We will commercialize high-quality 3D sensing solutions for Android-based smartphones and mobile devices. Active Stereo Vision, Structured Light (SL), Time-of-Flight, we will prepare all of them,” Alexander Everke, CEO of AMS, a sensor company, said at a conference recently.
Improved 3D imaging also means we can expect to see AR apps that go beyond animated emoji and stickers. For example, ecommerce sites can let customers visualize products in different spaces; there have been a bunch of experimental apps like this already, but with enhanced fidelity, they might finally go mainstream. Additionally, users might be able to capture real-life objects and turn them into virtual 3D objects.
Improvements in video
While phone camera photography has improved tremendously, we haven’t seen similar advances in video capture. It’s not all bad though: Google introduced fused stabilization in the Pixel 2 to make handheld videos look smoother and keep the subject in focus more consistently. And this year, Apple offered stereo audio capture in videos on the new iPhones.
While phone makers haven’t talked much about what’s coming up in the next year in this department, newly announced processors offer us some insights into what we can expect. Samsung’s new Exynos chip supports shooting videos in 8K resolution at 30 fps, and 4K videos at 150 fps. While we haven’t heard anything about this coming to the company’s next flagship, Samsung could introduce this feature in its phones later in the year.
Similarly, Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 855 enables phones to capture 4K HDR video, along with portrait mode for moving images. That could certainly come in handy for folks who shoot vertical video on IGTV and TikTok a lot.
If you’re buying a top-end phone in 2019, you can expect it to fulfill all your point-and-shoot needs. It’ll click amazing daylight photos, better portrait shots, and much better low-light photos. Additionally, it’ll click 3D pictures, let you experience the AR world, and shoot shake-free videos. We can’t wait to test the devices in the next year.
What camera features are you most looking forward to in 2019? Let us know in the comments.
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Like LinkedIn itself, the size of the company’s planned Sunnyvale campus has grown in recent months.
In December, the company exercised an option to expand its space for a yet-to-be-built campus at 555 N. Mathilda Ave. by about 32,000 square feet. That brings the total to about 587,000 square feet, according to an SEC filing.
“It was all timing,” DiNapoli said. “There were a lot of great tenants out there, but we were lucky enough to find someone who needed this amount of space.”
The additional space vaults the deal to the No. 1 slot on The Business Journal’s list of biggest leases for 2012, squeaking ahead of Lab126, where Amazon.com Inc. is running its Kindle unit.
According to an SEC filing, LinkedIn will pay an initial base rent of $3.25 per square foot to occupy the Sunnyvale campus.
Average asking rents for Class A office space in Sunnyvale stood at $4.01 per square foot as of the third quarter of this year, according to research from Cassidy Turley.
Phil Mahoney, a partner with Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank, called the LinkedIn deal probably the most significant transaction of the year.
“It’s not just the size, but also a major expansion from Mountain View to Sunnyvale for the company,” said Mahoney, who was on the landlord’s leasing team for both the LinkedIn and Lab126 deals.
With the amended lease, developers are adding a fifth floor to a building that was slated for four floors.
The campus at 555 N. Mathilda Ave. will now consist of two six-story buildings, each totaling 212,322 square feet; one five-story building at 156,785 square feet; and a 6,000-square-foot amenities building. The square footage figure does not include a parking garage.
The decision to increase the size of the project isn’t surprising, as LinkedIn is adding workers at a brisk pace. The company’s work force has grown more than 50 percent to 3,177 staffers globally since the beginning of 2012.
That pace is breathtaking when you consider the company had 1,000 workers at the beginning of 2011, and 500 at the start of 2010.
LinkedIn already is in roughly 76,000 square feet on the site at 599 Mathilda Ave. The company has its headquarters in Mountain View, and a spokeswoman said the firm anticipates its base will remain there.


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Ketchum, the big PR firm, is currently trumpeting the results of a new study that finds, as the headline for the press release puts it, that when it comes to cause marketing most consumers are “All Talk, Little Action.”
Called the ‘BlogHer 2011 Social Media Matters Study,’ it purports that, “while Americans claim they are more likely to purchase a product if the brand supports a cause, and more than 40 percent have ‘liked’ a brand or posted on Facebook for supporting a cause, barely one in five actually put their money where their good intentions are by switching brands, paying more or purchasing more.”
Let’s unpack that sentence a little. The suggestion is that if you have liked a cause on Facebook... the online equivalent of drinking a Diet Coke so as to mitigate the effect of the slice of cheesecake you had with dinner...you are still nonetheless unlikely to have actually made some kind of a real commitment to a cause. Go figure.
Quick raise of hands here from all the nonprofits. All of you who have made $500 or more from Facebook Causes, please email me at aldenkeene at gmail dot com. While we’re at it, all you for-profits, I want to hear from you if you’ve made $5,000 or more through Facebook.
In my conversations with nonprofits I’ve never found any that were actually making money through Facebook Causes. The numbers bear this out.
Facebook Causes claims just less than 9 million active monthly users and an installed base of 100 million users, 350,000 causes supported, and $30 million raised since its foundation in 2007, according to Wikipedia.
Divide $30 million by 4 years and you get $7.5 million a year. Not bad. However, divide $30 million by an installed base of 100 million and you get $0.30 per user. Divide it by 350,000 causes and you get $85.71 per cause, on average.
Like I said, email me if your cause has taken in more than $500 through Facebook Causes
Now I’m not suggesting that causes should eschew Facebook or Facebook Causes. On the contrary. But right now Facebook isn’t really how people donate to causes any more than liking a cause is how people truly engage with a cause.
Indeed, the only people that have ever made money from Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg, his venture capital equity partners, and Goldman Sachs.
So for Ketchum to somehow draw a line of connection between liking a cause on Facebook and one’s propensity to actively participate in cause marketing strains credulity.
Ketchum’s release goes on to say, “this research is significant because it contrasts what consumers actually do versus what they say they would do in reaction to a hypothetical cause marketing situation, said Kelley Skoloda, partner and director of Ketchum’s Global Brand Marketing Practice. In many instances, it appears cause programs have a far greater effect on brand affinity, reputation and share of voice than on sales. But the research also revealed the keys to turn talk into action.”
That’s a rather ironic statement given the fact that the way Ketchum gauged that people were saying one thing and doing another when it comes to cause marketing was by asking them. Ketchum would have us believe that people lie when they answer questions about cause marketing, except when they answer Ketchum's questions about cause marketing.
Given that incongruous fact I wonder why Ketchum’s numbers are more to be believed than the many studies that have come to largely the opposite conclusions.
(BTW, the photo at the left is of beautiful Ketchum, Idaho).
Labels: BlogHer 2011 Social Media Matters Study, Diet Coke, Facebook, Facebook Causes, Goldman Sachs, Idaho, Ketchum, Mark Zuckerberg


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While other tech giants, namely Google, provide their employees with plenty of notable perks, Apple has been known to skimp on simple things such as free lunches… seemingly believing that employees are simply grateful for being able to work on the company’s iconic products. Tim Cook is looking to change Apple’s philosophy on corporate benefits and other employee perks.
One new initiative that has come to light is the “Blue Sky” program wherein Apple employees are given paid time to work on projects of their choosing; certain employes (it isn’t clear exactly who qualifies) can spend up to one fifth of their work time working on their own personal projects. This is being compared to Google’s 20 percent initiative (for obvious reasons) and appears to be aimed at improving employee mood and foster an environment of innovation that will ultimately benefit the company. It isn’t clear, however, who owns the rights to the work product of employees who participate in the project. If I were to take a stab at it, my guess is Apple owns the rights to anything and everything developed by its employees via Blue Sky; however, I don’t know this for sure.
While not having special perks for employees might have worked for Apple in the past, there’s no arguing that better treatment of your employees can only be good for your company, and this is clearly the approach that Tim Cook is taking with Apple moving forward.
[via Ars Technica]


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Wal-Mart on Blu-ray bandwagon
Retailer will only sell Sony's hi-def movie discs, phasing out Toshiba's HD-DVD discs in its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores this year.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- National discount retailer Wal-Mart announced Friday that it had decided to only sell Sony's Blu-ray hi-definition movie discs, and will phase out Toshiba's competing HD-DVD formatted discs over the next several months.
Wal-Mart said that by June, its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores would sell only Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray hardware players. Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD-DVD format are not compatible.
"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," said Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's Senior Vice President of Home Entertainment in a statement.
Wal-Mart said it would continue selling HD-DVD products, but over the next 30 days, customers will see a significant shift in emphasis to Blu-ray in both brick-and-mortar stores and online. The retailer said it will continue to sell DVDs and standard-definition hardware.
Wal-Mart is the latest movie vendor to choose Blu-ray over HD-DVD. Earlier this week, online movie rental company Netflix (NFLX) announced its support for Blu-ray, and said it would phase out HD-DVD as well. Video publishers Walt Disney (DIS, Fortune 500), Sony's Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s (NWS, Fortune 500) Twentieth Century Fox, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have all endorsed Blu-ray.
In a rivalry that mirrors the Betamax-VHS dispute of the 1970s, Sony (SNE) and Toshiba have been battling each other to define the industry's hi-definition video standard. The winner will see a boost in the sale of hardware needed to play the hi-definition discs.


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GM's Final Bet: All-In on Hybrid Simulating Software
In other words, General Motors hopes to simulate the control system of a new model without using any hardware device which basically means reduced costs and faster development. GM currently uses a software solution called Simulink based on technology provided by MathWorks Inc.
This is not the first time when General Motors uses simulating software as both GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs are based on similar technology. However, GM sees the new platform as a potential method to revamp sales but also as a solution to comply with government requirements who demand Detroit companies to focus on fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly engines.
"We can now do those iterations virtually, and then commit ourselves to hardware later in the design center. It saved us a lot of money in terms of eliminated prototypes and rework,” Helfrich described General Motors' new market strategy.


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Legislation Introduced to Support Farmers Affected by PFAS
In a bipartisan, bicameral effort to provide vital assistance to farmers affected by PFAS, lawmakers recently introduced the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act. Led by Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, the legislation would authorize grants for states to provide financial assistance to affected farmers.
PFAS are man-made "forever" chemicals used in industry and consumer products and can lead to serious health effects. PFAS contamination has prevented some farms from selling their products, creating financial hardship for many family farmers.
Collins said, "USDA needs to step up and provide support to farmers, who at no fault of their own, are at risk of losing their livelihoods." Specifically, the funds would increase PFAS testing for soil and water sources, provide relocation of a commercial farm if the land is no longer viable, and create research on soil and water remediation systems, and the viability of those systems for farms.
If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-9791, or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org


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Photos: iOS 6 banners point to WWDC revealBy
With WWDC just around the corner, it looks like Apple is ready to introduce the next generation of its mobile operating system to the market.
Samsung has pretty much overshadowed anything the smartphone world could be interested in with the Samsung Galaxy SIII, but iOS 6 is still getting a fair bit of buzz. It looks like we won’t have to wait much longer to find out what the new features are, as official logo banners have started going up outside the venue. Will it be worth the hype ?


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Expanding upon the trade policies enacted against other countries, the US administration recently announced the end of preferential trade treatment for India on account of its ‘developing country’ status. As part of this development, Indian solar module exports shall now attract a 25% safeguard duty.
Acting on its announced intentions, the Trump administration imposed safeguard duties on India products imported into the United States. While the cumulative impact would be much higher on other commodities that India exports to the United States, solar modules, too, shall be impacted, albeit to a very small extent given their meager share in total Indian exports to the United States.
This in not the first time that the United States has imposed safeguard duties on solar imports. Mercom India notes that in January 2018 30% safeguard duties were imposed by the Trump administration on all crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells imported in the country. However, countries like India, Brazil, and South Africa were exempt from this duty.
The safeguard duty was effective February 7, 2018 at a rate of 30% with 500 basis points reduction every year till 2022 reaching 15%. Indian exports shall thus attract a 25% duty on an immediate basis following withdrawal of this exemption.
In terms of solar trade there is a clear trade imbalance. According to India’s Ministry of Commerce, India exported solar modules worth $53 million to the United States in 2018-19, up 33% year-on-year. This represents around 44% of the total solar module exports from India. On the other hand, India imported solar modules worth $8.2 million from the United States in 2018-19, up from just $1.77 million in 2017-18. The United States had a share of just 0.03% in India’s total solar module imports, which remained dominated by China with a share of over 78% in 2018-19.
The overall trade between India and the United States, too, is imbalanced. India exported goods worth $52.4 billion to the United States and imported goods worth $35.5 billion. Of the goods exported by India, solar modules accounted for 0.01% for the total value.
While the share of solar module exports is virtually negligible on the overall scheme of things, it may be a lifeline to the Indian solar module manufacturers that have struggled for years to resist the ever-growing Chinese dominance at home.
India was forced to cancel solar power programs directed towards use of Indian-made modules and equipment after it suffered a setback at the hands of the United States at the World Trade Organization in September 2016. That program of Domestic Content Requirement was the only major hope that Indian manufacturers had against dominance of Chinese solar module companies.
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I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...


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Kindrer Group, which is the mother company to the Swedish colossal Unibet, has made an extra strong beginning in 2017 and that by itself indicates that 2017 is going to be a great year for the company. Stockholm-listed operator, Kindred Group Plc declared a strong start to 2017 as the company benefits from an enlarged European sports betting and igaming portfolio of brands and assets. Kindred announced a consecutive ‘all-time’ high in group revenues of £153 million up 25% on corresponding 2015’s £122 million, while it has also received a significant boost in sports betting wagering which hit a record £1.1 billion mark. Informing the investors, Kindred governance posted period operating profits of £18.2 million, instead of Q1 2016’s £22.5 million.
Henrik Tjärnström, who is the CEO of Kindred Group commented on company Q1 performance, being obviously happy at the results: «In line with the fundamentals of our growth strategy, we have continued to invest heavily in marketing for both new customer acquisition and reactivation of existing customers. While this may reduce profits in the short term, we are confident that, as we have previously proven, this will drive sustained growth in Gross winnings revenue and profits. For the quarter, marketing was 29 per cent of Gross winnings revenue; however, for the full year we still expect it to average a few percentage points below 30 per cent.».
Why choose Unibet
- 250.000+ pre-match events/year
- 10.000+ live events monthly
- 96%+ on Asian Handicaps
- Action betting & Cashout
- Kambi sportsbook platform
- Mobile apps
- 24/7 customer support
- Fast and free withdrawals
No need for introduction for a brand like Unibet, a global power that has managed to take over the market with millions of active players. For 20+ years the bookmaker has been on a constant rising and it has reached many strategic regulated markets, like France, Italy and Australia among others. The Kambi sportsbook platform has always been a guaranteed solution, but that doesn’t mean that there are no negative points at the Scandi giant. I noticed that the last couple of years the odds took a slight downfall, especially in minor football leagues and N.American sports. There still are many complaints about the customer support, features like partial/auto Cashout and Quickbet should be added, while the winning limits seem ridiculous to my eyes. On the other hand, the odds on the top leagues are better than Bwin’s and equal to Bet365’s, while the wide range of sports, markets and payment methods are intriguing. I can’t ignore that Unibet is a safe and sound choice for a recreational player and it is fair to the brand, which has built a solid name throughout all these years.


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U.S. inventory futures rose in in a single day buying and selling on Tuesday, after a powerful market rally because the Reddit buying and selling mania continued to unwind.
Dow futures rose 50 factors. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%.
Robust earnings from Amazon and Alphabet helped futures. Amazon reported earnings almost double Wall Avenue estimates; nonetheless, the inventory transfer was tempered by information that Jeff Bezos would step down as CEO.
Shares of Alphabet gained 6% in after hours buying and selling after the know-how large reported 23% income progress and topped estimates for earnings.
Shares rallied for the second day on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Common gaining greater than 475 factors for its greatest day since November. Traders returned to purchasing equities after the Reddit-fueled motion that shook markets final week. The Dow is up 2.35% this week.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped greater than 1.5%.
After a meteoric, albeit seemingly artificial rise in GameStop final week attributable to a brief squeeze, shares have cratered greater than 70% this week. Different Reddit trades have additionally come again right down to Earth amid buying and selling restrictions from main brokers.
“The easiest way to explain as we speak’s inventory market motion is ‘reversing the Reddit revolution,” Jim Paulsen, chief funding strategist on the Leuthold Group, advised CNBC. “What went up with GameStop, got here down with GameStop.”
“From mid-day Jan. 28 to the tip of Jan. 29, cyclicals together with know-how bought pounded whereas defensive sectors outpaced. During the last two days, and significantly as we speak, this was reversed,” added Paulsen.
Traders are additionally monitoring negotiations in Washington surrounding one other stimulus package deal. President Joe Biden met with the ten Republican senators on Monday to debate another, smaller help proposal to his $1.9 trillion package deal.
Earnings season continues on Wednesday with AbbVie, Biogen, Boston Scientific, GlaxoSmithKline and Humana reporting earlier than the opening bell.
Chipmaker Qualcomm, eBay, PayPal and Yum China report earnings after the market closes on Wednesday.
Non-public payroll information from January is launched at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday from ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones predict non-public sector jobs grew by 50,000 in January, in comparison with the lack of 123,000 in December.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for unique insights and evaluation, and stay enterprise day programming from world wide.


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News Archive 2011
New Stamp Issue and Special Post Office
Land of the Forest
This new stamp features the same design as the coin issued by the Austrian Mint.
When? 15 June 2011
from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Where? Philately Shop at the 1010 Vienna postal branch, Fleischmarkt 19


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Moving to the software department, HMD Global has added AR stickers to the front camera along with face unlock feature.
In the Chinese market, the price of Nokia X6 starts at 1,299 Yuan for the 4GB RAM and 32 GB storage variant.
Nokia X6 smartphone was launched in May 2018. Seeing another mid-range handset with a dual-camera arrangement on the back speaks to the popularity of what has become a relatively recent design strategy-having two cameras allows for fancier photography effects. There is no in-display fingerprint sensor at the front, only a standard rear fingerprint scanner.
The Nokia X6 will be available in China in Blue, Black and Silver color options starting from May 21. Meanwhile, the Finnish tech giant is now preparing to unveil Nokia X or X6 in China on May 16 as per the reports. It also packs 3060 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. The display is only FHD+ (1080 x 2280 pixels), but it's protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The front facing/selfie camera is a 16MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.0. The onboard storage is 32GB and 64GB depending on the RAM. There is also a MicroSD card slot for further expanding the storage up to 128GB. 4, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS+Glonass, USB Type-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The 4GB RAM, 64GB storage variant is priced at Rs 18,999 and will be available via Amazon India. If translated in Dollars, the price starts at $204!
In addition, Peterson has been named in a wrongful death suit by Andrew Pollack , whose daughter Meadow died in the shooting. The newspaper has reported that Peterson's personnel file was filled with commendations.
But both made a point of displaying affection during last week's Rose Garden event where she announced the "Be Best" initiative. President Donald Trump headed to Walter Reed, in Bethesda, Maryland , on Monday afternoon to visit his wife.
Lawsuits already have been filed by 16 other USA states, Puerto Rico and New York City against the privately held company. Texas, North Carolina , Nevada , Florida and North Dakota are joining the state's lawsuit.
But, as it started to rain, Kristen headed toward the stairs removing her heels in order to get there a little quicker. Stewart was protesting against Cannes Film Festival's infamous and widely criticized heels-only rule for women.
Uber and Lyft have ended forced arbitration for sexual assault cases brought by passengers, drivers and employees. Since then, calls for the end of forced arbitration for sexual assault survivors have intensified.
Nevertheless, Chen hopes the new phone from HTC will open up the world of decentralized systems to a mainstream market. The Exodus will have a universal wallet, and users will be able to store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin inside.
Smartphones with innovative technology , such as the Galaxy S9 , enable consumers to get the most out of their wireless service. Lo and behold, the Galaxy Tab S3, Samsung's not so latest premium tablet, is finally getting Android Oreo and a bit more .
The state House and Senate are narrowly controlled by Democrats; Republicans are hoping to reverse that or at least pick up seats. Keith Rothfus. "Lou Barletta was one of the very first people to get behind me in Pennsylvania", Trump says in the recording.
Sebastian Schinzel , one of the researchers, promised in a Tweet to provide more details of the vulnerabilities on May 15. The attacker changes an encrypted email in a particular way and sends this changed encrypted email to the victim.
Metro Exodus Delayed Until Q1 2019
The new setting makes for a much larger, open-world experience than 2010's " Metro 2033 " or 2013's " Metro: Last Light ". The developer will reveal its lineup at Gamescom in Cologne (August 21-25) and PAX West in Seattle (September 1-4).
Facebook disabled 1.3B fake accounts in 6 months
Facebook stated that artificial intelligence has played an essential role in helping the social media company flag down content. Zuckerberg noted that there is still room for improvement with Facebook's AI tools - noticeably flagging hate-speech content.
Chelsea finishes 5th in EPL after losing 3-0 at Newcastle
The Spaniard, who has a year left on his contract, has been critical of Newcastle's poor transfer dealings throughout the season. I am the coach of this team and after a game like this, I am the first to answer for this bad game.
Killed As Taliban Militants Storm Farah City
The residents have said that the Taliban took control of a part of the NDS building, a claim which was rejected by Danish. Dozens of Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents have been killed and injured.
Marco Silva To Replace Sam Allardyce At Everton
Although it may have been a risk to stay out of work at the time, it seems that Silva has made the right decision. He added: "Whenever one of the board tells me what they want to do then I'll know".
Mercedes-AMG GT S Roadster on the way
The Mercedes-AMG GT S Roadster joins the cars of the three-pointed star brand that allow open-air driving. Top speed for the GT is 188 miles per hour while the GT S is rated at 192 mph and the GT C at 196 mph.


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The nutrition lesson 100 years in the making:
Learn it now and stay diabetes-free for good
Well it’s about time. It is hard to believe that it took 100 years for the diet dictators, those of food pyramid fame, to face the obvious, which is: Diabetes is caused by an excessive intake of sugar-period.
According to the report I read, “corn syrup and other refined foods may be much to blame for the huge increase in type-2 diabetes in the United States over the past few decades…” You look at the simple nutritional facts and it seems unbelievable that the university experts could be so blind for so long. But it’s not so surprising if you understand the simple economics of the thing: The people who pay the bills at the various university research institutions set up the base of the food pyramid. But the grains and starches that make up the base turn to sugar in your blood, and that turns into gold for the junk food industry.
But maybe the “experts” are finally starting to catch on: “A study of nearly 100 years of data on what Americans eat show a huge increase in processed carbohydrates, especially corn syrup” reports Reuters.
Lee Gross, author of the study, said he was not “picking on the corn syrup industry,” but added, “it is hard to ignore the fact that 20 percent of our carbohydrates are coming from corn syrup-10 percent of our total calories.”
Gross, with colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health and the CDC, found that starting in 1980 people began consuming steadily more calories, with an average increase in total calories of 500 a day. It’s hardly a coincidence that the number of packaged, corn-syrup-laden foods on the supermarket shelves has also gone up in the same time frame.
Gross’ solution to this ballooning problem pays homage to fruits and vegetables, while completely ignoring the major components in food that make you healthy and diabetes-free: animal fat and animal protein. By ignoring these keys to good health, he’s just contributing to the great food pyramid hoax that has led to the diabetic epidemic we are in.
Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, called the report “misleading.” (They always say that when some researcher has the audacity to point the finger at sugar.)
“Diabetes rates are rising in many countries around the world that use little or no high fructose corn syrup in foods and beverages the primary causes of diabetes are obesity, advancing age and heredity,” she said. This statement is just a sampling of the misleading and irrelevant claptrap we get from the sugar industry.
Obesity does not cause diabetes, and diabetes does not cause obesity. They are both caused by the excessive intake of SUGAR and starch-related substandard foods.
“Advancing age” is not a disease but a reward for leading a life with good nutrition. And it does not lead to diabetes unless you brought it on yourself through a high-sugar diet.
Heredity is not the issue here either. That is only a problem in childhood (type 1) diabetes, where the child is genetically deficient in factors that control blood sugar. Less than 5 percent of diabetics come under this hereditary classification. “Heredity” is a red herring in this argument, and Erickson knows that.
So you see how the sugar lobby tries to manipulate you? Sure, Al Quaeda is an enemy worth close attention, but don’t let it distract you from the government, the university nutrition obfuscators, Big Sugar, and the press-they’re all your enemies.
“Increased consumption of refined carbohydrates and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the United States: an ecologic assessment,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2004; 79(5): 774-779
“Study Blames Corn Syrup for Rise of Diabetes in US,” Reuters Health News, 4/22/04


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26 April 2016, USA :
Microsoft is getting serious with the Mac today with its new Skype for Business preview for OS X. The new business-focused version of Skype for Mac runs on OS X El Capitan and focuses on creating an enterprise-friendly experience. IT professionals can request access to the new Skype for Business Mac Preview starting today.
The company says the Preview build will be released in three stages, starting with today’s launch, before the public version is made available.
Interested testers can visit SkypePreview.com to sign up for an invite. Once an I.T. admin receives their invite, they can then choose to share it internally in their organization with other testers.
In the next Preview release arriving this summer, Microsoft will add instant messaging, presence, and the contacts list. The third release will introduce telephony features. Without these features, Skype for Business for Mac is not something I.T. will likely want to roll out company-wide at this point. Instead, the idea is to simply start testing the software for issues and help offer feedback on what’s working and what’s not.
Image : techcrunch.com


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It’s no secret that truckload rates aren’t where they were a year ago. We don’t expect prices to reach the same levels we saw in 2018, but we’ve been predicting a second quarter rebound for quite some time now — really since last December, when we also said that we expected a softer than usual first quarter. A number of factors delayed that rebound, but there are signs emerging that it’s finally here.
The first delay was the scope of flooding and bad weather in the Midwest and other areas. That affected cross-country traffic and many produce harvests. When the increased tariffs on Chinese imports were announced in mid-May, there was an instant damper put on movements from the West Coast until businesses could reassess plans.
Even with those disruptions, volumes haven’t been bad this year, and now it looks like the volumes we’ve been anticipating have materialized. This includes both seasonal shipments associated with warmer weather, and stored goods from the West Coast moving into the eastern supply chain. No doubt, bonded warehouses are being emptied to avoid the increased levies. Short term, I expect we will continue to see elevated activity through June into early July.
When West Coast goods move in higher quantities by truck, it tightens the truck supply because the cycle time for a truck to complete a round trip is higher. In effect, it removes capacity that would otherwise compete on movements in the eastern half of the country.
The flipside is that there’s a risk that the summer doldrums (July, August) could be worse than usual with the damper on international trade. Lower oil prices could be another factor. While flatbed activity picked up in late May, current oil prices are bearish, meaning a slow down in energy projects could occur, which makes for softer flatbed demand.
Sustained growth or summertime blues?
And while we are starting to see higher quantities of summer produce, USDA and DAT’s own internal data suggest it continues to be a sub-par year for produce shipments. It could still turn around with a few weeks of favorable growing conditions, so this remains a wild card. This will also have a ripple effect across other segments of the supply chain, especially van freight since reefers compete for van loads when reefer demand slows. That’s just one way in which the supply chain is an ecosystem where everything is connected: van, flatbed, refrigerated, and intermodal.
In the short term, Los Angeles, northern California, and Atlanta are much more robust in the last thirty days, both in load-to-truck ratios and, more recently, pricing. This could cause shippers that were planning to push for rate cuts to slow those demands. Plus, we could see a tighter market in the fall should some of the new entrants to the spot market start to exit.
Then there’s the other X-factor: The AOBRD exception to the ELD mandate ends in December.


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Viewers of This Morning on Friday (23 October) will notice there's been a major shake up, and it's one we're very excited about.
ITV has revealed that Alison Hammond will be guest editing the programme for the day, as well as hosting the show alongside Dermot O’Leary.
"In this new role Alison will meet with This Morning Editor Martin Frizell to discuss the running of the show. Martin will share top tips from his five years at the helm of one of Britain’s best loved programmes, but Alison will ultimately decide what topics she would like to cover, which celebrity guests she will invite on and what features she wants commissioned," ITV said.
As you can imagine, Alison's show is set to be full of fun.
"The team are already aware that Alison wants a tap dancing troupe opening the show, and the crew to wear ‘Team Alison’ t-shirts, and has also made requests for a fashion item with hunky male models and to send her friend Josie Gibson on a scary Halloween challenge," the broadcaster said.
Alison will also have to give orders to the producers in the gallery and help with directing the show.
Alison said of her new role: “It will just be a joy! There will be nothing about lockdown or coronavirus. There'll be a lot of recipes and food… and maybe a little bit of fashion and fun. It's going to be great and I'm excited to be the boss!”
Martin Frizell, Editor of This Morning added: “I still can't quite believe that I have agreed to this, but yes, on Friday 23 October 2020 our Alison Hammond will be stepping into my shoes and taking charge of This Morning. She will brief Dermot, decide on the topics and items of the day, and be in the gallery calling the shots and giving her unique style of guidance to the team.
"But you know what, I think she'll be great, she knows the show inside out and I think viewers will be in for a real treat."
To see how Alison’s runs the show, watch ITV’s This Morning from 10am tomorrow.
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THE average price of petrol has hit a 10 month high.
The national unleaded fuel price rose by an average 3.4 cents a litre to 152.0 cents last week, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum.
This is the highest level since April 2012.
“The national average price has risen by a staggering 13.4 cents a litre in just the past seven weeks,” CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said in a client note yesterday.
As a result, households are now paying $16 a month more on petrol since the start of 2013.
But Mr Sebastian said prices in the short term were likely to stay around current levels.
Last week, the average metropolitan price rose by 4.5 cents a litre to 151.4 cents, while the regional price rose 1.2 cents to 153.2 cents. Although unleaded petrol at some Sydney locations was as low as 142.4.
Tamworth’s unleaded petrol price was above the regional average last week. At 155.9 it placed Tamworth in the top 10locations for the dearest petrol in NSW. Unleaded petrol at Gunnedah was five cents per litre cheaper.
Diesel in Tamworth cost 156.1 per litre, more than six cents per litre dearer than retailers in Sydney. At Gunnedah diesel was selling at 153.9.
Adelaide had the cheapest average unleaded petrol after the price fell 5.3 cents to 142.5 cents a litre.
Darwin remained the dearest, up one cent to 164.5 cents a litre.
The Singapore tapis price fell slightly over the weekend.


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- Caper introduced a self-checkout solution that uses a small counter enabled with AI and computer vision as part of its effort to create plug-and-play autonomous checkout tools.
- And Caper Counter may move beyond convenience stores, considering Caper is in talks with firms in the beauty and cafeteria industries.
- Insider Intelligence publishes hundreds of insights, charts, and forecasts on the Payments & Commerce industry with the Payments & Commerce Briefing. You can learn more about subscribing here.
Caper, an autonomous checkout technology firm that previously launched an AI-powered shopping cart, introduced a countertop that uses AI to try to create a seamless self-checkout experience, per a press release sent to Insider Intelligence.
To use the "Caper Counter" (see image below) shoppers place their selected items on the designated area so the technology can identify the products using computer vision and automatically determine the cost of the purchase. Consumers then complete their payments with credit and debit cards or NFC payment options.
Caper Counter is currently deployed at multiple stores belonging to an undisclosed national convenience store chain, with plans to add more locations. The solution is meant for stores smaller than 10,000 square feet and fewer than 10,000 unique products. And Caper Counter may move beyond convenience stores, considering Caper is in talks with firms in the beauty and cafeteria industries about implementing the solution, CEO Lindon Gao told Insider Intelligence.
Caper is carving out a niche as a provider of plug-and-play autonomous checkout solutions.
- Most autonomous checkout technology providers are trying to retrofit existing stores with networks of cameras and other technology, which can be complicated. Companies like Amazon, Grabango, and Standard are outfitting existing stores with their technologies so consumers can grab the products they want and not stop to check out. This creates a nearly frictionless shopping experience but also requires a unique plan for each store, which could make implementation a difficult and lengthy process in some cases.
- Caper could find success because its autonomous checkout solutions can be more easily added to stores. The Caper Counter and Caper's shopping cart do need to learn a store's inventory to get up and running, as do other autonomous checkout technologies. But beyond that, they can just be added to a store since their operations don't need to adjust to a store's unique layout. Caper's potentially simple and fast implementation process could give it an edge on competitors that have made progress and started debuting their technologies at preexisting stores.
The autonomous checkout technology provider could be positioned to quickly gain popularity with merchants thanks to consumers' rising interest in contactless checkout experiences during the pandemic. Consumers have turned to contactless payment options to limit their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus, which may make them interested in autonomous checkout since it can remove the need to interact with cashiers and shared surfaces.
But autonomous checkout technology is still in its early days, and merchants can't quickly roll out the technologies to their stores yet to meet interest in the novel shopping experience. Caper's plug-and-play nature may make its solutions the easiest to introduce, allowing the company to rack up partnerships as the pandemic continues.
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