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TXT Group eyes Africa
VALUE ADDED SERVICES| Nov. 21, 2011, 11:11 a.m.
By Lukas Ajanaku, Lagos, Nigeria
Africa continues to be the attraction of European telecoms investors, with the latest arrival TXT Europe, the European operation of TXT Group, a leading mobile and internet services provider.
TXT is set to enter the African market with the launch the group’s flagship product, Casual Work Market, in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.
The product will also be launched in parts of before an eventual global roll out.
Casual Work Market is a social commerce platform designed to facilitate the seamless listing, discovery and engagement of people looking to give or offering to do small jobs and services.
It acts as a digital notice-board for the listing of job offers and facilitates discovery of jobs within varying work types - from putting up shelving, fixing a leak in the shower, to doing domestic work such as baby sitting, pet-walking, cleaning or cooking.
The platform allows people to effortlessly search for job seekers based on their unique criteria.
Speaking on the development, Nii Laryea, CEO of TXT Group Africa, expressed excitement at the introduction of the service.
“The mobile internet has empowered our generation to do things differently, creating waves of change and positive disruptions across all industries and it’s that same thinking that has been applied to the problem of unemployment or under-employment and matching causal or professional abilities to one time small job offers and identifiable opportunities.”
“The socio-economic benefits of the platform cannot be overlooked, allowing individuals to establish a secondary source of income by offering to work within their casual or professional abilities and convenience,” he said.
In ensuring that the platform becomes the preferred destination for micro-entrepreneurs, opportunity seekers and givers alike, Laryea confirmed that TXT Group has taken steps to establish strategic partnerships and relationships with the security, social welfare and social security agencies of all countries as well as key cultural organisations, such as community groups, its leadership and religious groups and bodies.
This is to ensure the safety of all parties and to further and more importantly ensure that Casual Work Market plays a key role within these communities.
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MFS Africa to power cross-border xP2P services between MTN Mobile Money and M-Pesa in AfricaMFS Africa has announced that its mobile money hub (MFS Africa Hub) has been selected by telecom giants Vodafone and MTN to interconnect their respective M-PESA and MTN Mobile Money platforms in the East African region. Read More
Airtel Kenya partners Medanta Africare for mobile healthcareAirtel Kenya has joined hands with Medanta Africare to launch a new mHealth service that will allow customers access quality health advice from doctors through their mobile phones. Read More
MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone M-Pesa to interconnect Mobile Money ServicesCustomers of MTN Mobile Money and M-Pesa in East Africa will be able to transfer money to each other following an agreement between MTN Group and Vodafone Group to interconnect their mobile money services. Read More
Mobile money a game changerThere has been massive drop in the number of unbanked, thanks to the boom of mobile money services, a new World Bank report shows. Read More
Afrinvest unveils mobile app for online trading, investment managementAfrinvest Securities Limited at the weekend launched an online equity trading mobile application, offering clients mobile access to their brokerage accounts and portfolio data. Read More
Stanbic launches real time payments for electricity and DStvStanbic Bank Botswana has announced the introduction of state of the art, real-time electronic payments for Prepaid Electricity and DStv Subscription through its cellphone Banking and Internet Banking Channels. Read More
Safaricom readies to bring M-PESA homeSafaricom has started final preparations for the launch of the second generation of its M-PESA platform as it prepares to perform a full scale system upgrade aimed at improving efficiencies and speed over the next week. Read More
Airtel Money hits over 1 million transactions in a monthAirtel Ghana has attained another milestone with its instant mobile money service. Read More
Online payment of BGCSE examination fees using Orange MoneyThe Botswana Examinations Council has announced its partnership with Orange Money for the payment of examination fees. Read More
FEATURED STORYe-commerce space untapped, says phonekings head
E-commerce is the future, says the head of a new online electronics mall launched in Nigeria. Tayo Olusanya spoke to Kokumo Goodie in Lagos.
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TOKYO, Japan — The vast differences between Japanese and American fashion consumers can be boiled down to a matter of inches. Consider this: when Japanese e-commerce behemoth Start Today first launched its social-commerce app Wear in the US in the autumn of 2016, it asked beta users to disclose their height, a strong indicator of clothing size in Japan. But Americans were confused by the query. Why would an app meant for uploading and sharing outfits require this measurement? After all, in a country where people are as physically diverse as the US, height indicates very little when it comes to fit.
“People are very homogeneous in Japan. We tend to wear the same things, the seasonal changes are similar,” says Masahiro Ito, chief executive of Start Today Engineering. “When a look trends in Japan, it trends everywhere. In the US, things are very different.”
Ito runs the development wing of the Japanese company, best known for its popular online fashion concessioner Zozotown, which claims to be the country’s largest fashion e-commerce site. The market capitalisation of Start Today, which also operates Zozoused — a second-hand clothing business — and the Zozo Flea Market, a peer-to-peer selling platform, is $7.6 billion. In its 2016 fiscal year, the company generated net sales of about $544 million, with $1.59 billion of transactions taking place on Zozotown.
Ito, who joined Start Today in 2014 after it acquired his then-14-year-old tech company, has also been tasked with making Wear viable Stateside. While Wear posts link directly to Zozotown product in Japan, thus driving sales, it is simply a social-sharing app in the US, similar to the string of now-defunct fashion apps launched in the early 2010s.
A company of our size needs to look at international growth. Wear is a great way to learn about the US market and the US consumer.
Despite attracting an active and engaged fan base, apps like Fashism, Go Try It On and Pose — which now directs users to Wear within the app — had difficulty getting many users to actually shop and generated little revenue from those who did. Start Today, however, says it’s using its American incarnation of Wear not to drive sales, but instead as a serious research tool, one that will offer insights when it does eventually expand its business beyond Japan.
“The reason we launched in the US — and we’re still in the very early stages — is because Start Today, as of right now, doesn’t have any presence there,” Ito says. “A company of our size needs to look at international growth. Wear is a great way to learn about the US market and the US consumer.”
If the height hiccup is any indication, Start Today has a lot to learn about Western consumers before it begins selling product there. However, the unique culture of the Start Today business indicates a willingness — and ability — to innovate and iterate towards success.
Start Today was founded in 1998 by former rock musician Yusaku Maezawa as a mail-order compact disc and record business; Zozotown was launched in 2004 as what Maezawa calls an “online fashion mall.” Like a department store that operates on a concession model, Zozotown does not invest in inventory, but instead takes a commission on sales from its 3,900 brands, most of which are Japanese. Its wares sit in the low-to-middle segment of the market, with prices in line with those of specialty retailers like J.Crew.
In 2013, Maezawa launched Wear as a new way to drive interest around Japanese brands, which had been supplanted by the growth of international fast-fashion players like H&M and Zara. The idea was to celebrate the idea of kikonashi — the Japanese term for how well you wear something — not necessarily to drive a tremendous volume of sales.
Given the Japanese obsession with street style, creating an online community around the concept seemed like a natural next step. “Kikonashi is something that is very difficult to portray, especially in e-commerce. It’s kind of like a mix tape, if you will,” Ito says. “Wear is a platform for the fashion hobbyist — the fashion enthusiast — to discover brands, new looks, new styles and interesting people. Unlike other social media, it’s really just focused on fashion. It’s a niche, but we think there’s great potential. It’s a service we provide. We don’t see monetisation as a main objective.” While the company declined to disclose number of active users, it said that the app has been downloaded more than 8 million times.
Start Today’s success rests, at least in part, on an unusual company culture. The company employs just over 800 people — half of which are women, uncommon in Japan — and all of which earn the same basic salary and bonus, dependent on profits, a year. The billionaire executive says that it’s about sharing the wealth. “We don’t like a competitive environment between employees, and thought this would keep it peaceful in a way,” Maezawa says.

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Autoliv’s (ALV) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada
Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated their hold rating on shares of Autoliv Inc. (NYSE:ALV) in a research note published on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a $100.00 target price on the auto parts company’s stock.
ALV has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Investment Research lowered Autoliv from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an outperform rating and issued a $110.50 target price on shares of Autoliv in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. BidaskClub lowered Autoliv from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. Jefferies Group LLC upgraded Autoliv from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $108.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Autoliv in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. They issued a neutral rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $105.44.
Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) opened at 109.27 on Tuesday. Autoliv has a 12-month low of $93.31 and a 12-month high of $117.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $108.93 and a 200-day moving average of $106.34.
Autoliv (NYSE:ALV) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 21st. The auto parts company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.57 billion. Autoliv had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The company’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.75 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Autoliv will post $6.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: “Autoliv’s (ALV) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada” was reported by The Cerbat Gem and is the sole property of of The Cerbat Gem. If you are reading this report on another domain, it was illegally copied and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright & trademark legislation. The correct version of this report can be read at https://www.thecerbatgem.com/2017/09/02/autolivs-alv-hold-rating-reiterated-at-royal-bank-of-canada.html.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 21st. Autoliv’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.97%.
In other news, VP Thomas Jonsson sold 1,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.55, for a total transaction of $134,602.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,859.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in Autoliv by 26.9% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 971 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in Autoliv by 0.3% in the first quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,220 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Autoliv by 43.9% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,356 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Autoliv by 288.3% in the second quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Autoliv by 3.2% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. 34.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Autoliv, Inc is a supplier of automotive safety systems with a range of product offerings, including passive safety systems and active safety systems. The Company operates through two segments: Passive Safety and Electronics. The Passive safety products include modules and components for passenger and driver-side airbags, side-impact airbag protection systems, seatbelts, steering wheels, inflator technologies, whiplash protection systems and child seats, and components for such systems, as well as passive safety electronic products, such as restraint electronics and crash sensors.
Receive News & Stock Ratings for Autoliv Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Autoliv Inc. and related stocks with our FREE daily email newsletter.


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Electronic Arts' Play4Free line of online titles, which includes microtransaction-based games like Battlefield Heroes and Need for Speed World, has reached 25 million active players worldwide.
The Play4Free brand complements EA's social games on Facebook, offering free-to-play experiences on PCs for the company's core-targeted franchises -- the company says the growing freemium gaming category is a key component in its strategy to "reinvent itself as a leader in digital gaming."
Its biggest successes in that plan so far are Battlefield Heroes and Need for Speed World, which both reached some 10 million registered users each this month. EA's Battlefield Play4Free, Dragon Age Legends, Battleforge, and Lord of Ultima have 5 million players total.
The publisher says it's been able to grow Play4Free's userbase by deploying "regular content updates, rewards, and giveaways" for its titles. It also intends to add two more title to the family soon: Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances and Warhammer Online: Wrath Of Heroes.
EA is facing increased competition from other Western companies joining the core-targeted freemium space, like Valve with Team Fortress 2, Ubisoft with its forthcoming Ghost Recon Online, and a number of publishers producing free-to-play MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) titles.
"Developing a community of 25 million players is a remarkable achievement," says EA's Play4Free VP Sean Decker. "It is a testament to the explosive growth of the free-to-play market and a reflection of EA's commitment to spearheading the digital transformation."


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GenomeWeb reports that Qiagen has acquired CLC Bio, the company best known as the provider of the CLC Genomics Workbench. The purchase of the bioinformatics company follows up on Qiagen's previous purchase of Ingenuity Systems in April 2013 for $105 million.
The pattern of Qiagen's recent moves over the past few years indicates that it's rapidly assembling pieces of an end-to-end genomics portfolio: It acquired ESE GmbH, a testing equipment provider that provides it with clinical exposure, in 2010; acquired Intelligent Bio-Systems, maker of a benchtop sequencer, in 2012; and has been partnering with SAP to speed up their analysis pipelines since 2012.
What makes the CLC Bio acquisition especially prudent is that Qiagen also acquires all of the expertise stemming from CLC's previous partnership with Isilon. Isilon is EMC's brand of Big Data storage and this kind of experience is critical for managing the data that Qiagen seems like it will soon be able to generate for future clients.
For all it's worth, Qiagen is quickly shedding the perception of being a research oriented provider of kits and reagents to becoming a much bigger company ready to come head to head with other genomics companies like Illumina in the medical space. They're in a great position, as Qiagen is already a $5.1 billion company compared to Illumina ($11.5 billion) but still has the added benefits of having their whole line of basic research products to diversify revenues while they positions themselves as a serious competitors to other genomics companies.


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The coronavirus will be with us for the foreseeable future. The shutdown we have been struggling with has been painful, inconvenient and sad. We have seen loved ones and pillars of our communities die suddenly of a virus no one knew about a year ago.
Classes are being held online, and graduations have been canceled. Businesses deemed non-essential were ordered closed overnight. Thirty-six million Americans — two million of them in New York — have applied for unemployment benefits. There is no precedent for the devastation of our local economy.
The silver lining is that the shutdown lowered the curve, as intended. A few weeks ago, my daily updates from the Nassau County Department of Health included the danger of hospitals being overwhelmed because of a shortage of ventilators, the county morgue being filled beyond capacity and the county running out of body bags. Today those dangers have been alleviated.
There was a daily effort to ensure that the brave men and women who were on the front lines, battling the effects of this virus — doctors, nurses, police officers, ambulance drivers and other first responders — had the necessary equipment to protect themselves and their families. This effort extended to getting PPE to those who were working in essential businesses, like supermarkets and funeral homes.
The question now is, when will we be able to reopen other businesses? I agree that opening too early may pose a danger to our health, but opening too late poses a danger as well, and I’m afraid that is what we are starting to experience now. I have already heard from business owners who will be closing their doors for good. I shudder as I drive past so many that have been unable to open in any capacity since March. I understand the need to limit the number of people exposed to this horrible virus, but when do we get to be personally responsible again?
We have learned the importance of social distancing, hand washing and wearing masks to limit the spread of Covid-19. We have learned about mitigating the risks as much as possible, and for the most part, we have been respectful of one another. Signs in essential businesses remind us of how customers and employees can protect themselves and others.
So why aren’t we allowing other businesses to do that as well? If someone can make an appointment to buy a car, why can’t they make an appointment to get their hair cut, using the same precautions? It seems to me that barbershops and hair salons are a great example of businesses that can open safely under specific, stringent guidelines: wear masks and gloves, and limit the number of customers allowed inside. That’s it. If the guidelines aren’t followed, a business owner runs the risk of being shut down.
Restaurants should similarly be able to reopen with limited capacity, if
that’s even profitable for them, and for many it won’t be. But without the option of reopening before we reach seemingly random benchmarks, these businesses face losing thousands of dollars a day. Every “shut-down” day brings them one day closer to closing forever.
Many municipalities are developing a “circuit breaker” approach to reopening, in which a shutdown would be reinstituted if there were a sudden surge in Covid cases. That protocol could easily be put in place. Perhaps it will be, but when?
Small business owners are our neighbors, and many are active in our communities, sponsoring our Little Leagues and community events. And many of them have told me they may never reopen if we don’t provide them with a way to do so in a smart, effective and safe manner now — not a month from now. They understand that if they don’t take safety precautions, there are customers who won’t enter their stores or utilize their services, which will only result in more lost revenue.
Some people will not go out to any
store until they feel completely safe. That’s their prerogative as well. It’s a personal choice, and I believe we’re all ready to make those kinds of choices.
I don’t disagree that if we start to see a resurgence of coronavirus cases, we will have to make adjustments. But give us the opportunity to get back to living some semblance of the lives we used to live. Let’s get back to feeling in control and safe again, because we will be vigilant about safety, and expect — and even demand — that of others.
Wear a mask, wear gloves, cover yourself from head to toe if that makes you feel safest. When the vaccine is finally available, it will be a game-changer. But let people make up their own minds, so we can get back to business before our economy reaches the point of no return.
Laura Schaefer is a Nassau County legislator representing the 14th District.


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico United’s forward and local Devon Sandoval is now trying to give back. So he, along with Starr Brothers Brewing, Stixon Labels & NM Plastics, and local artist Noe’ Barnett, have teamed up to give back to two local charities.
They came up with labels that can go on beer and water bottles, and soda cans, that say, “Day of The Dread.” 2,000 of these labels will be sold at Starr Brothers Brewery, with proceeds going to New Mexico Dream Center, which helps with child trafficking prevention, and Breaking The Silence New Mexico which helps with suicide prevention in teens and young adults.
“You know, for me, both of these charities hit home with what they are working with because I have a daughter and you know something this serious and then as far as Breaking The Silence like, depression and things like that are pretty normal. So, hopefully, we can raise some money and raise some awareness,” said Sandoval.
These labels are now available at Starr Brothers Brewery in Albuquerque.


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Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
New York State is getting ready to hold its last legislative sessions before the seasonal recess (because representatives need summer vacation, too) and on the agenda are emergency reform bills for the nail salon industry, the illicit details of which were exposed in a New York Times series last month. And while some measures like a workers' bill of rights and consumer education cards are already being implemented, with volunteers out in the streets hoping to empower nail technicians, lawmakers want to take it one step further.
In an effort to not inadvertently punish unlicensed salon employees, combined bills A. 7630A / S. 05966 would help to create formalized training and licensing procedures for those already working in nail salons. "Nail salon owners use licensing to control workers, wielding them as weapon to steal wages and force long working hours without proper pay," Luna Ranjit, co-founder of the New York Healthy Nail Salons Coalition, said in a press release. "The trainee program will enable unlicensed nail salon workers to come out of the shadows by empowering them to carry their own licenses, and protect them from exploitation by abusive owners."
With this law passed, unlicensed salon workers will be designated as "trainees" and can complete an apprenticeship to work their way up to licensing while still being paid a fair wage (certain salons have previously—and illegally—required employees to pay for their own training before paying them sub-minimum wage salaries). This training will include learning safety measures on how to prevent infections, and gives the state the power to shut down salons who aren't in compliance.
"Nail salons will ultimately be safer, healthier places for consumers and workers as a result of this legislation; and will increase consumer confidence in the industry," said Charlene Obernauer, another co-founder of the HNSC. "The Governor and the general public understand the urgency of improving nail salons in New York State; it is time for the legislature to act boldly and work to improve this industry."
Meanwhile, consumers unsure of where to go can head to these salons for an ethical summer pedicure.


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Photo of the Week: Indigenous Women Grow Flowers and Incomes
August 09, 2013
A group of Lenca women in Honduras is creating a vibrant future for their families through improved agronomic and business skills.
Today, on International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, TechnoServe joins in recognizing and honoring the rights and contributions of indigenous people around the globe. In Intibucá, Honduras, TechnoServe has worked with a group of indigenous women of Lenca ethnicity to cultivate and sell ornamental flowers. The 12 members of the Floricultura El Clavel cooperative have built two greenhouses and learned crucial business and agronomic practices through the program. With higher productivity and better access to markets, the group has increased its average monthly revenue ninefold.
Presentación Nolasco (pictured at center) and the other women of Floricultura El Clavel are using the income from the flower business to provide nutritious food and health care for their children. “We are better off because we can help our families,” says Presentación.
Related Blog Posts
In Bihar, India, TechnoServe is working with women smallholder farmers to build more transparent and prosperous agricultural value chains, and to access more decision-making roles, on their farms and across the sector.
As more young people in rural East Africa turn to agriculture for their livelihood, visionaries like Samson Makenda are modernizing their farming operations for a more prosperous future.
TechnoServe is working with chocolate manufacturer CÉMOI to train cocoa cooperatives in the business and management skills they need to produce high-quality cocoa and generate profits for their farmer members.


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According to a post at Walt Disney World News Today, the entire Downtown Disney area in Walt Disney World may soon be getting some much needed attention.
The post includes several photos from a leaked source that detail plans for an area called Disney Springs. The new plan appears to unify the three distinct areas of present day Downtown Disney, while also providing the area formerly known as Pleasure Island with a much needed overhaul.
While we first brought you news of the Disney Springs rumor last month, the concept art and details in the latest report seem to give credence to the early stories. The new plans provide not only new and interesting venues, but they also address current parking concerns with the construction of a parking garage to ease parking woes. In addition, the Disney Springs backstory would give some much-needed cohesion to an area which has grown with no clear plan or master design.
Be sure to click over to Walt Disney World News Today for all of the details and photos.
How do you feel about a renovation to the Downtown Disney area and rethemeing of the popular shopping, dining, and entertainment district?


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Gaming furniture company X Rocker has announced the acquisition of Custom Controllers UK for an unspecified sum.
“With ambitious plans for expansion”, X Rocker states via press release that the acquisition of Custom Controllers UK offers the company “a strategic opportunity to grow their presence in gaming”.
Custom Controllers UK was established in November 2007, initially as a repair and modification service, but has since grown to offer a selection of customised controllers.
“X Rocker continues to enjoy impressive year-on-year growth worldwide, clearly establishing our company as market leaders in gaming furniture,” said X Rocker managing director, Gary Shaw. “The acquisition of Custom Controllers UK is enormously exciting. Not only do we plan to scale the unique approach of hand-crafted, controller customization to a global audience, but the skill and expertise of the Custom Controllers UK team will enable us to design and develop new gaming controllers of a premium quality. It’s clear that the team at Custom Controllers UKshares our dedication to customer service, quality and innovation and is therefore a perfect fit for our company.”
“Today marks an exciting milestone in the history of our company and we are delighted to join the X Rocker family,” added Benjamin Lawton, managing director for Custom Controllers UK. “Through our fresh approach to controller customization, we have been able to build our business swiftly, enjoying a growth of 150% over the last year alone. The team at X Rocker will prove instrumental in taking the business to the next level and have demonstrated their ability to disrupt the gaming market and reach an international audience.
“Being part of X Rocker will allow us to offer greater choice to gamers, reach new territories and invest in the development of new product lines. We plan to maintain our distinct voice in the industry and continue offering the unrivalled service for which we are known. We look forward to sharing further news in the months ahead.”


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Burger King has unveiled a new energy-efficient restaurant located in Germany that uses state-of-the-art technologies and renewable energy to power one-third of the restaurant’s energy requirements, reducing energy costs by 45 percent and CO2 emissions by more than 1201 metric tons annually.
The free-standing restaurant features more than 720 photovoltaic modules that generate over 53,500 kWh of electricity per year, and a wind turbine that produces up to up to 2,500 kWh. The turbine was added to the traditional exterior BK logo sign.
The new eco-friendly design was developed in cooperation with Wirsol Solar AG.
The Burger King 20/20 design features a heat recovery ventilation system that cools and heats the restaurant, saving 73 percent of energy consumption per year, as well as interior and exterior LED bulbs that save more than 55 percent of the restaurant’s energy consumption annually. In addition, excess heat loss is captured to generate hot water, conserving 50 percent of energy use annually.
The restaurant also installed a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station for hybrid cars and a rainwater reclamation system for outside irrigation.
The restaurant kitchen also features the Duke Flexible Batch Broiler, which cuts electricity consumption by 52 percent and costs by 90 percent. All Burger King restaurants in North America have installed this new broiler and the international rollout is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Competitor McDonald’s rolled out a pilot “green” restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, last year that is estimated to use 25 percent less energy than a traditional McDonald’s restaurant, and has locations in Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands that are sourcing renewable energy.
Fast-food restaurant chains including Burger King, McDonald’s, and KFC may be considering new solar thermal powered dehumidifier HVAC systems.


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SCRIPT: Newsbreak, I'm Kendra Johanssen. In 2013, Lay's – America's most-loved potato chip - will celebrate its 75th anniversary. Burke Raine explains how the brand is celebrating and asking its fans to come up with the next great potato chip flavor for a chance to win one-million dollars or more in grand prize money!
CUT: (Raine) Now through October 6, fans can submit their ideas for the next Lay's potato chip flavor. Three finalist flavors will be selected and introduced into the marketplace early next year. Then, it will be up to all of America to vote and determine who will win the contest grand prize - one-million-dollars or one percent of the winning flavor's net sales, whichever is higher.
SCRIPT: Raine says the best part about this contest is that you don't have to be a foodie, chef or flavor expert to enter.
CUT: (Raine) If you're passionate about a flavor, likely there are others who agree. You just have to trust your taste buds and give it a shot.
SCRIPT: To enter your flavor and view the official rules, visit Lay's Facebook page at Facebook-dot-com-backslash-lays. That's Newsbreak from Lay's. I'm Kendra Johanssen.


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For data breach prevention efforts to be most successful, it is necessary for companies to keep a number of factors in mind, and one of the most important of these is addressing current trends in the security sphere. If organizations aren't keeping up with the threats that are most common, it's possible that they might not be able to properly protect their sensitive information from being compromised. For this reason, getting remote database support can bolster a company's ability to meet any challenges.
Spending and risk don't match up
Dark Reading recently reported that according to a new study sponsored by Oracle, it was discovered that many companies around the world are not taking information about how data breaches occur into account when allocating their IT budgets. Among the 110 businesses surveyed, 52 percent said that risk of damage to databases was the most severe, compared to only 34 percent who believed the worst attacks are leveraged against the network. However, 67 percent of respondents admitted that they actually spend the most of protecting network assets, with only 15 percent prioritizing database security. This manner of distributing resources may leave many enterprises at risk of experiencing costly data breaches due to inadequate distribution of solutions.
In a separate article, Dark Reading emphasized that so far in 2013, there have already been a number of very serious database compromises. For example, popular discount website Living Social experienced a massive compromise that affected 50 million of its customers when cybercriminals gained access to its databases, likely due to a SQL injection attack or a scheme that exploited framework vulnerabilities. Additionally, hackers who gained access to an unnamed credit card processor's databases and swiped prepaid debit card information enabled several criminals to steal $45 million.
It's possible that cases such as the ones Dark Reading highlighted could have been preventable if those organizations had robust remote database support. Certainly, they may be able to protect themselves in the future by boosting their database security efforts. This way, they won't have to suffer to extreme costs, downtime and loss of customer trust that often comes from data breaches in the future. Ideally, many other businesses will take these steps before an unfortunate incident occurs.


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Visa Earnings: Revenue Strengthens for Fifth Straight Quarter by Double Digits
S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) reported its results for the fourth quarter. Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, banks and governments around the world.
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Visa Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet
Results: Net income for the financial transaction services rose to $1.66 billion ($2.47 per share) vs. $880 million ($1.27 per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 88.9% from the year-earlier quarter.
Revenue: Rose 14.6% to $2.73 billion from the year-earlier quarter.
Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Visa Inc. reported adjusted net income of $1.54 per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of $1.50 per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $2.52 billion.
Quoting Management: “Visa delivered strong financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year, a result of our focus on growing our core business, accelerating expansion of our business outside the U.S and investing in next-generation technologies that will define the future of payments,” said Joseph Saunders, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. “With our solid record of growth and sound strategy, Visa has a strong foundation for continued long-term growth as technology-enabled change continues to shape our global market. We will continue to invest in new technologies that will help our financial institution clients expand their businesses, add incremental value to the merchant community, and forge new revenue opportunities for both Visa and our partners. We see extraordinary opportunity for growth in the payments industry.”
The company has seen double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past five quarters. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 13.3%, with the biggest boost coming in the second quarter when revenue rose 14.8% from the year earlier quarter.
The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by 11 cents in the third quarter, by 10 cents in the second quarter, and by 3 cents in the first quarter.
The company reported a profit last quarter after being in the red the prior quarter. In the second quarter, the company booked a net loss of $1.29 billion, or a loss of $1.34 per share.
Looking Forward: Expectations for the first quarter of the next fiscal year have not changed from $1.79. The average estimate for the fiscal year has seen a bump from $6.15 per share sixty days ago to $6.16.
Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute — click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.
(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received a $118 million grant from the Obama administration has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Ener1 said it has been affected by competition from China and other countries.
Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel received a $118 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department in 2009, and Vice President Biden visited the company’s new battery plant in Indiana last year.
An Energy Department spokeswoman said EnerDel had received $55 million so far. Ener1 said the restructuring would not affect EnerDel’s operations.
Ener1 is the third company to seek bankruptcy protection after receiving assistance from the Energy Department under the economic stimulus law. California solar panel maker Solyndra Inc. and Beacon Power, a Massachusetts energy-storage firm, declared bankruptcy last year.


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Reifen China prepares for sixth show
When Reifen China opens the doors to the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center for the show between 14 and 16 November 2012, it will mark the sixth time that international tyre trade event has been held. And it comes at a good time for European buyers looking to connect with Chinese manufacturers as it is set against a backdrop of continuously increasing capacity and the relaxation of import tariffs against Chinese passenger car tyres bound for America.
The show is once again being organised by German exhibition firm Messe Essen, best known in our industry for putting on the world renowned Reifen show in Essen ever two years, in cooperation with the leading local industry association China United Rubber Corporation. According to the two companies, the Chinese event has been expanding over the time of its existence and is continuing this trend by registering further growth this year.
Over 10,000 exhibitors and numerous leading manufacturers expected
The 2012 show will cover an area of some 12,000 square metres, according to the organisers, with around 130 exhibitors from 14 countries presenting their ranges associated with everything to do with tyres, wheels and even general garage equipment. This time round more than 10,000 trade visitors are expected to attend. Tyres & Accessories will be present once again and will continue is media sponsorship of the 2012 show, an arrangement that our magazine and website has been associated with since the show’s infancy. The German Federal Association of the Tyre Trade and the Vulcanisers’ Skilled Trade, also known as Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk or the BRV, continues in its role as the “ideal sponsor” of Reifen China.
As far as the leading Asian tyre manufacturers are concerned, many will continue long-established support for the show by exhibiting their newest developments. For example the exhibitor list already includes Double Coin Holdings, Shandong Linglong Tyre, Cooper Chengshan, Triangle Tyre, South China Tire & Rubber, GuiZhou Tyre, Aeolus Tyre, Shengtai and Guangzhou Pearl River Rubber Tyre. However exhibitors are not only comprised of Chinese manufacturers, from the outset the show’s organisers have sought to maximise the benefit of the international nature of the even and of China’s position as an influential and growing manufacturing base. That’s why there are also a number of companies from Belgium, Germany, England, India, Italy, Malaysia, Japan, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, the USA, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates that will be exhibiting.
The show’s international nature is emphasised by the fact that exhibitors from all over the world are said to be using Reifen China as a communication platform. This is said to allow them to forge links and pave the way into new sales markets. At the same time, according to the show organisers, this simultaneously contributes to the consolidation of the globally leading position of Reifen Essen. However, this effect is likely to work in the opposite direction too. There are, of course, exceptions. One conspicuous feature in particular is that companies from Eastern Europe are said have become more interested in visiting and exhibiting at Reifen China. For example, Poland will also be represented at the exhibition for the first time this year.
In addition to the show proper, Reifen China is – as it has consistently been since its inception, held in parallel with Rubber Tech China. Rubber Tech China fills the position of a kind of sister event to Reifen China owing to the fact that it specialises on the rubber processing and manufacturing industries, many of which are suppliers to the tyre manufacturers “next door.” As a result some tyre manufacturers with a finger in both pies have been known to exhibit at Rubber Tech with the hope that they will attract pass-by traffic – a symbiotic effect that is likely to be mutually beneficial to both shows. Around 430 exhibitors will show their ranges at this neighbouring event.
Symbolising the synergy between the to events, the “China Forum” is designed to provide an outlook on the latest developments of the market that will be staged within the framework of Rubber Tech China and Reifen China. According to the organisers this part of the week features lectures with speakers from companies such as Siemens, Michelin, Lanxess, VMI, Cabot, Bekaert, Sinorgchem or Lord focusing on legal foundations, new material developments and achievements relating to energy efficiency.


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Inflation in China registered an broaden of 0.1% one year-over-one year in April, in retaining with numbers from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics of the country, falling under expectations. Some analysts are already warning about the hazards of deflation, even calling on the Chinese government to bring money handouts in portray to push person query.
Low Inflation Numbers in China Alarm Analysts
China, one of many largest economies in the enviornment, has registered its lowest inflation numbers in bigger than two years, in retaining with files coming from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The User Tag Index (CPI) registered an broaden of 0.1% one year-over-one year, losing from 0.7% registered in March.
The tumble in prices used to be prompted in section by a decline in meals and beverages prices, which went from 2.4% in March to lower than 1% in April. Core inflation, which would now not consist of costs of meals and beverages, rose 0.7% one year-over-one year. The numbers are under the expectations of the country for this one year, established around a 3% ceiling that is now now not inclined to be touched.
The numbers had been tense analysts, who elevate them as a testomony to the slack and rocky financial recovery of China after the coronavirus pandemic. On the opposite hand, Zou Lan, an official with the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), brushed off these worries, citing that “there might per chance be now not this kind of thing as a basis for prolonged-term deflation or inflation,” and that person query is anticipated to warm up right by the 2d half of of this one year.
Proposals to Steer clear of Deflation
Current Chartered has defined they search files from inflation phases to hit 0% in the next months, “as a crude-oil impress spike in the first half of of 2022 created a high comparability atrocious.” On the opposite hand, even with a slack inflation level, the monetary institution has predicted a growth rate of larger than 5% with out adjusting passion rates, which would be in actuality at 1%.
Experts who are insecure about the unreal of deflation possess made various proposals to lead clear of it. Li Daokui, a professor of economics at Tsinghua College and old member of the PBOC advisory board, has called for the federal government to bring money handouts to electorate to spur query. Preferrred month, Li stated:
Even with a conservative estimate, 500 billion yuan in consumption vouchers will pressure a thousand billion yuan in overall consumption.
The converse would also receive over 300 billion yuan in taxes derived from the spending directly enabled by the money handouts, in retaining with the professor.
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What assemble you mediate about the low inflation numbers in China and the worries a pair of that you might per chance per chance presumably well per chance moreover keep in mind deflation in the Chinese economy? Picture us in the comment section under.
Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist primarily based entirely entirely in Venezuela. He describes himself as unhurried to the game, coming into the cryptosphere when the worth upward push took place right by December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, residing in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boost at a social level, he offers a favorable point of behold about crypto success and the diagram it helps the unbanked and underserved.
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30 october 2018
wagamama appoint goldman sachs to review strategic growth options
we have announced today that we have appointed goldman sachs to review the strategic growth options for our business.
our owners duke street and hutton collins bought the company in 2011 and they are both long-standing and supportive shareholders.
we have performed strongly in the uk for many years and we are expanding globally. currently we run 130 restaurants in the uk, 5 in the us in new york and boston and have 57 franchise restaurants around the world. in recent months we have also strengthened our us management team and we are opening 2 new sites in new york in the next 12 months.
our successful growth strategy is reflected in our results. we recently recorded an unprecedented 208 consecutive weeks of uk market outperformance, outperforming the market* by 8.2% (*data from the coffer peach tracker).
jane holbrook, our ceo, said “our vision is for wagamama to become an iconic global brand and we are excited to explore the strategic options which will help us do this.”


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The latest offering for users looking to add mesh networking to their homes has been revealed by Samsung today, called the SmartThings Wi-Fi (via The Verge). The router includes mesh networking technology from Plume, which itself recently revealed its "SuperPod" mesh router along with a $60/year subscription.
Samsung's SmartThings Wi-Fi isn't subscription-based, and in addition to the usual mesh networking features, the device also acts as a smart home hub for any SmartThings accessories. Similar to Apple TV and HomePod acting as a hub for HomeKit, SmartThings Wi-Fi will allow customers to set up and manage SmartThings-compatible plugs, switches, lights, cameras, and doorbells from Philips, Ring, Arlo, Kwikset, and much more.
With Plume's technology, SmartThings Wi-Fi learns the environment to optimize performance for consistent coverage throughout the home. The system is sold on Samsung's website in a 1-pack for $119.99 (covering 1,500 square feet) or a 3-pack for $279.99 (up to 4,500 square feet).
The company today also revealed a new standalone SmartThings Hub priced at $69.99, for those users who already have a router but still want to implement SmartThings products into their home. As an upgrade to the previous hub, the new device does not need to be plugged directly into your router and can instead work wirelessly anywhere in your home.
There are a few other SmartThings announcements that happened today, including upgrades to the platform's Motion Sensor, Multipurpose Sensor, and Water Leak Sensor. There's also a new SmartThings Outlet for $34.99 and a SmartThings Button for $14.99, all available to purchase on Samsung.com beginning today.
The SmartThings product launches today follow last week's Galaxy Note 9 reveal event, during which Samsung showcased its latest flagship smartphone. The company also detailed a new Galaxy Watch, Wireless Charger Duo, and Galaxy Home Smart Speaker.


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Trade Secrets Lawyers in the USA
Trade Secrets Lawyers in the USA Other Countries
Trade Secrets Lawyers USA - Recent Legal Articles
- Do IP Protections Extend to Meat?
Intellectual property law generally does not protect recipes. But what about a cut of steak?
- Update: Twitter Finally Lands Coveted “Tweet” Trademark
James Eliason, CEO of Twittad, indicated that Twitter’s battle for ownership of the “tweet” trademark may finally have come to an end. According to Eliason, Twitter would drop a trademark lawsuit it filed against his company that sought to nullify Twittad’s registered trademark of the word “tweet.” In return, Twittad would transfer its registered trademark of “tweet” to Twitter, he said.
- USPTO Announces New Rules for Derivation Proceedings
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published final rules governing derivation proceedings. The new patent proceedings are designed to ensure that a person will not be able to obtain a patent for an invention that he or she did not actually invent once the new first-inventor-to-file system launches.
- Former Employee Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Motorola Trade Secret Theft
A former Motorola employee has been sentenced to four years in prison for trade secret theft. Hanjuan Jin’s sentence is one of the harshest in the history of criminal trade secret theft prosecutions.
- Is Social Media Putting Your Company’s Valuable Trade Secrets at Risk?
With the explosion of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, it is likely that many of your employees use social media for both personal and business interactions. While these tools can be a great way to spread the word about your company’s products or services, they can also compromise proprietary information, including trade secrets.
- Broadcasters’ Copyright Infringement Case Against Aereo Heats Up
The copyright infringement litigation pitting startup Aereo against several major broadcasters is now underway. Because the decision could shake up how consumers get their television, the media and technology industries are closely watching the case.
- Obama to Use Trademark Law to Protect Veterans
To help crack down on for-profit colleges and universities using fraudulent tactics to enroll military veterans, President Barak Obama is turning to trademark law. The White House recently announced that the President will sign an executive order that, among other things, orders the Department of Veterans Affairs to register “GI Bill” as a trademark.
- IP FAQ: When Does Trade Secret Theft Become a Federal Crime?
Trade secret theft is generally addressed through civil lawsuits. However, in some cases, the misappropriation of trade secrets can rise to the level of a federal crime. The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 criminalizes trade secret theft committed for personal benefit within the country or for the benefit of a foreign government.
- Supreme Court Rejects Medical Testing Patent
During its 2011-2012, the United States Supreme Court recently issued a key intellectual property decision. In Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Supreme Court ruled that a medical process of making correlations between blood test results and patient health could not be patented because it incorporated laws of nature.
- New FBI Campaign Targets Trade Secret Theft
The Federal Bureau of Investigation rarely likes to call attention to its ongoing spy tactics. However, the agency recently launched a national campaign designed to draw attention to a growing problem in the United States—economic espionage.


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Mobile Me adds Google Wave and Voice access to usurp Apple MobileMe.
Digital media software developer Babya today issued a bold challenge to rival Apple, by upgrading its Apple MobileMe rival, Babya Mobile Me to include quick access to Google Wave and Google Voice.
The move to introduce the second version of Mobile Me with Google Wave and Voice access is for added value and to usurp Apple’s own $99 MobileMe and they don’t give you access to third party services like Google Wave and Voice.
CEO of Babya, A.A. Fussy said “Apple and Google just don’t agree over Voice (but we like the sound of it)-not even on their $99 MobileMe, so we’ve added access to that and Google Wave to ours”
The new version of Mobile Me is now available to access at:


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Got a Google Nexus One? Then today’s the day you’ve been waiting for. Android 2.2, known by those in-the-loop as FroYo, is officially rolling out to the Big G-backed handset, with new enhanced features to make the ultimate vanilla Android blower sing anew.
The timing of the release cannot be coincidental. With the iPhone 4 having sold 1.7 million units by Saturday past, Apple has done an astounding job in pushing Android off the news agenda completely. And that’s not even including the ludicrous antenna oversight which has caused so much consternation among first adopters. So, Google evidently wants and needs to hit back with something cool and clever.
FroYo is both those things. It offers enhanced tethering skills to turn Android phones into MiFis, beefed-up Microsoft Exchange support, a homescreen tips widget, LED flash support for camcorders (a feature that’s never hit the heights with Google’s phones) and a much better camera interface.
These are all extras that push Android right up against iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 in particular. There’s no doubting that it makes the Nexus One a more than viable alternative to Apple’s effort.
But there’s one real snag with Android 2.2 that a release timed this well cannot hide: the roll-out is being staggered, with no word on when the next set of Android 2.2 updates are coming. HTC Hero owners will know from bitter personal experience that skinned Android phones can’t be tweaked that easily.
That means HTC’s current line up, the Desire, Legend and Wildfire, will likely have to sit tight with Android 2.1 for a while. That’s poor form considering the iPhone 4 is pulling away from the crowd.
The opportunity to keep up is there, but it’s going to take a miracle to get these phones ready in a matter of weeks. So what other smarties should get Android 2.2 soon? Well, the Motorola Milestone XT720 isn’t skinned, therefore suggesting an update to 2.2 should be coming within its first few weeks on sale. Similarly, the original Milestone should be primed for some FroYo love in the not-too-distant future.
Perhaps in future, though, updates to Google’s phones need to be better coordinated. The blessing, and curse, of Android, is that multiple manufacturers are able to tickle the software and create new and interesting takes on its basic brilliance. But that means frustration for the end user when one person can get an update almost instantly and the other is forced to wait for the skin on his phone to be compatible.
Google’s attempts to fire back at the iPhone 4 this week should be lauded. FroYo is, after all, a cracking effort. But maybe when it comes to Android 3.0’s release, it can make a more concerted effort among Open Handset Alliance members to pull together and push it out at the same time. Wishful thinking, maybe, but the only way we’re going to see them land a big old punch on Apple.
Compare the very best Android phone deals here: Android Mobile Phone Deals


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“The National Retail Federation maintains that employers should be given ample time and opportunity to make their case on unionization and intends to file its formal objections to the ambush election rule. NRF urges the NLRB to live up to its obligation to be an objective arbiter for both employees and employers.”
NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries. Retail is the nation’s largest private sector employer, supporting one in four U.S. jobs – 42 million working Americans. Contributing $2.5 trillion to annual GDP, retail is a daily barometer for the nation’s economy. NRF’s This is Retail campaign highlights the industry’s opportunities for life-long careers, how retailers strengthen communities, and the critical role that retail plays in driving innovation. www.nrf.com.


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Royal Dutch Shell is partnering with worldwide carmakers to offer ultra-fast chargers on highways in Europe, beating rivals to the punch in a race to remove one off the largest obstacles the electric car sector still faces.
The agreement between Shell and IONITY – a joint venture involving BMW, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen – will bring at first, high-powered docks at 80 sites along highways during 2019, said a prepared statement on Monday.
Power behemoths that include Engie from France and E.ON from Germany, along with smaller participants like ChargePoint a U.S. startup, are all putting up vehicle charging networks across Europe, but Shell said that IONITY technology is the key to addressing problems with trip distances between charges.
While only a tiny fraction of the worldwide car market is electric vehicles, growth is rapidly increasing and an extended period of low prices of crude has prompted oil giants to reassess their business models as the world moves toward transportation that is cleaner.
Under the projections of Shell the company is expecting the global fleet of electric vehicles to expand from its current 1% of the overall auto fleet it is today to over 10% before the end of 2025, which will displace demand for oil equal to approximately 800,000 barrels daily.
Shell rival BP said during August that it was discussing with makers of electric cars deals to offer recharging docks for batteries at its gasoline-service stations.
The number of charging points for electric vehicles in Europe close to tripled between 2014 and 2017 to almost 120,000 according to data released by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory.
Nevertheless, manufacturers have been struggling with offering solutions to help drivers go beyond just short journeys, mostly staying in cities, because of the limitations of batteries, few charging stations and the length of time to charge.
With IONITY technology, vehicles with capacity for advanced charging of as much as 350 kilowatts, will take only between five and eight minutes to be fully charged, said Shell. It currently can take up to several hours for a charge to complete on a regular electric battery.
Istvan Kapitany the head of retail for Shell said that customers want to travel on longer journeys using their electric vehicles, but need to feel confident there exist comfortable, reliable and convenient locations to charge their vehicles quickly.
The 80 stations for charging will be spread across Belgium, Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia.


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Amazon has patented an airborne fulfillment center that uses drones to deliver items to consumers on the ground.
We recently added patent data to the CB Insights platform, and have uncovered some pretty wild ideas put forward by tech giants.
Yesterday, Zoe on our team spotted this patent from Amazon using our patent search engine. Yes — it looks like Amazon is trying to create a flying warehouse. It was granted a patent for an “Airborne Fulfillment Center” (AFC), “an airship that remains at high altitude,” with UAVs delivering items from the AFC to delivery locations.
Then Nikhil and Zoe went further into the Amazon patent rabbit hole on CB Insights and spotted this patent about a drone mesh network that alerts all other drones about their surroundings.
Amazon’s not just considering flying airships for drone bases. They’re also looking at multi-use stations that could be set into buildings, cell towers, or lamp posts.
And then they uncovered this patent detailing a defensive measure if the drone is attacked. Of course, the drone is being attacked by someone with a bow & arrow. According to the patent, the drone would cover itself in a protective foam that absorbs kinetic energy if it is compromised. Got that?
Want more data on the next generation of delivery technologies? Login to CB Insights or sign up for free below.
This report was created with data from CB Insights’ emerging technology insights platform, which offers clarity into emerging tech and new business strategies through tools like:
- Earnings Transcripts Search Engine & Analytics to get an information edge on competitors’ and incumbents’ strategies
- Patent Analytics to see where innovation is happening next
- Company Mosaic Scores to evaluate startup health, based on our National Science Foundation-backed algorithm
- Business Relationships to quickly see a company’s competitors, partners, and more
- Market Sizing Tools to visualize market growth and spot the next big opportunity


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SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- Santa Clara County health officials are investigating clusters of COVID-19 cases at four Costco stores in the South Bay.
At least 31 workers have been infected; 13 at the store in Sunnyvale, 8 at the one on Senter Road in San Jose, 6 cases in Gilroy, and 4 in Mountain View. Health officials define a cluster as three or more cases within two weeks.
The Sunnyvale Costco on Lawrence Station Road reported the infections occurred between July 23 and July 26. Regular shopper Craig Lee said he was hesitant to return at first, but was assured by a friend who works there it was safe to shop there.
"Originally it was like, 'Ooh, we're not going to go shopping,'" said Lee. "They completely cleaned the place up. So I didn't have any problem at all."
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department said it inspected all of the stores involved except for the Mountain View store and said Costco did the right thing by reporting the numbers.
"The initial investigation appears to tell us that the cases have been infected most likely in the community and outside the workplace although we're not done with those investigations, they're ongoing," said county Public Health Officer Marty Fenstersheib.
Health officials did not move to shut the stores down because inspections showed Costco is following safety protocols inside the stores. The Mountain View store had not been inspected as of Thursday afternoon.
"They've done a really good job as far as the cleanliness, their social distancing, their mask-wearing, all of that has been very good
so we feel at this point, it is quite safe to shop at Costco," said Fenstersheib.
Costco did not return a request for comment.
for more features.


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Community briefs - Northeast Herald
Police department launches Blue Santa program
The Live Oak Police Department is accepting monetary donations for its Blue Santa Program.
The department will sponsor a limited number of Live Oak families by purchasing age and gender appropriate holiday gifts.
Tax-deductible cash donations and checks payable to the Live Oak Citizens Assisting Police Alumni Association are being accepted at the Live Oak Justice Center, 8022 Shin Oak Drive, Live Oak, 78233.
The Blue Santa Program applications will be available through Dec. 6 for Live Oak families requesting assistance.
For more information, call 210-945-1700.
TOPS wellness group meets weekly
The local TOPS chapter holds its weekly meetings every Thursday at 7 p.m. at Windcrest United Methodist Church, 8101 Midcrown Drive.
Those attending should drive around to church’s back parking lot; entrance to the meeting room is through the back entrance double doors. Visitors to a TOPS chapter are welcome to attend their first meeting free of charge.
TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) is a volunteer-run, nonprofit organization.
TOPS Club, Inc. counts on local chapters to continue the tradition of helping and supporting its members as they make healthy lifestyle changes. Founded more than 70 years ago, TOPS offers an individual approach to weight loss and overall wellness with thousands of chapters in the U.S. and Canada.
For more information, visit the TOPS Club, Inc. website: tops.org
Author fair and book signing event set for next month
The Universal City Public Library will host a book signing and author fair on Tuesday, Dec. 3, from 2 to 7 p.m.
Local authors from across the community have been invited to participate, and books will be available for purchase throughout the day.
The Universal City Public Library is at 100 Northview Drive.
Local stores announce holiday shopping hours
With the big holiday shopping blitz this week, here’s a list of retailers’ hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday as you prepare.
Some store hours vary by location, so call ahead of time when deciding where you want to shop.
Best Buy: Stores open at 5 p.m. Thursday, close at 1 a.m. Friday and reopen from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., a spokesperson said.
Walmart: Stores open during regular hours on Thursday and Friday, according to a spokesperson.
H-E-B: Stores are open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and regular hours Friday.
Target: Stores open at 5 p.m. Thursday and remain open until 1 a.m. Friday before reopening at 7 a.m.
Ingram Park Mall: Opens at 5 p.m. Thursday, closes at 1 a.m. Friday and reopens from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to the mall’s Facebook account.
South Park Mall: Open from 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight and reopens from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, according to its website.
The Shops at La Cantera: Open from 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, according to its website.
North Star Mall: Open from 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight and 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, according to its website.
Rolling Oaks Mall: Opens at 6 p.m. Thursday, closes at 1 a.m. Friday and reopens from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to a spokesperson.
Shops at Rivercenter: Open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday but some stores will be closed, a spokesperson said, and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.
Wonderland of the Americas: Open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday but retailers’ hours vary, a spokesperson said.
30th annual Peace Market taking place this week
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center will hold its 30th annual Mercado de Paz/Peace Market on Thursday, Nov. 29, through Sunday, Dec. 1, at the center, 922 San Pedro Ave.
The Mercado provides an alternative to Black Friday by hosting local and visiting artisans and merchants selling handcrafted gifts centered around themes of peace, social justice, cultural diversity and ecological concerns.
Admission to the three-day market is free. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
In addition to the shopping, there will be refreshments, an hourly raffle for goods donated by the artists, and performances by local artists.
Over 7,000 shoppers attended last year’s Peace Market.
Gotcha Covered collection drive taking donations Dec. 1
Donations for the annual Gotcha Covered citywide collection drive will be accepted Dec. 1 at Park North Plaza Shopping Center, 842 NW Loop 410 at Blanco Road.
Volunteers will be stationed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. behind Aloft Hotel and near Alamo Drafthouse. They will be collecting new and gently used clothing, coats, shoes, blankets and new packages of socks and underwear for men, women and children.
Also being collected are canned foods, sugar, coffee, baby formula, diapers, personal hygiene products, towels, sheets, paper goods and car seats.
All donations go to Haven For Hope, Battered Women & Children’s Shelter and the San Antonio Food Bank.
Volunteers are needed to help unload donations from vehicles on the day of the event.
The Gotcha Covered collection drive started 22 years ago.
For more information, go to gotchacovered.org.
Compiled from staff reports


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A recent study by Vinpro looked at the impact of COVID-19 on winemakers and businesses. 46% of black-owned brands said they may not survive the next year. Monique Mortlock tells us more. Courtesy #DStv403
CAPE TOWN - First, it was the on-again, off-again alcohol bans and now, the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The wine industry says it’s buckling under all these blows and it’s the small, black-owned businesses that are in real trouble.
A recent study by agricultural association Vinpro has found many of these brands may not survive the year.
“About 400 of the 529 wineries are very small," said Rico Basson, Vinpro Managing Director.
"They, as small companies, do not have access to huge financial resources and therefore without being able to sell, are strained from cash.”
* eNCA's Monique Mortlock reports.


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From Home Furnishing Business
Partnership to Revive Van Vorst Mattress Brand
The historic Van Vorst mattress brand is making a comeback, thanks to a new partnership between bedding producer Eclipse International and Jim and Mike Malkiewicz, the owners of Blue Ocean Sleep.
Under the partnership, the brand will be marketed as Van Vorst Mattress Co. of America since 1888, and will have national and international distribution through Eclipse’s 61 licensees. Production of the upper-end line is expected to begin in about two months.
“This exquisite line of mattresses is exactly what brick-and-mortar retailers need to remain competitive in today’s marketplace,” said Eclipse International CEO Stuart Carlitz. “Retailers are eager for unique product and compelling stories to share with consumers to draw them into their stores. We have a great story with Van Vorst.”
The original CB Van Vorst Mattress Co. was founded in Los Angeles in 1888, and in its heyday, was a key supplier of private label mattresses for major department stores. The brand has been dormant for about two decades, but the trademarks recently were obtained by the Malkiewicz brothers.
Designed with advanced foam technology and proprietary innersprings, the Van Vorst Collection will be marketed as a high-end, luxury brand, priced to retail from $999 to $5,000 in queen. It will only be offered to a select group of retailers with limited distribution to allow for exclusivity and strong margins, Carlitz explained.
The Malkiewicz brothers founded Blue Ocean Sleep in 2010 after spending more than 30 years in the bedding industry with Wickline Bedding.
“This partnership represents another step in our process of continuing to build our network not only by geography and senior talent, but by offering more well-known brands that our licensees can offer to their retailers and their customers,” Carlitz added.


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Now that a whole month of festivities has gone by, it’s time for you to deal with the many post-celebration woes that follow. Another round of merry-making awaits you in December. Talk spoke to experts from various fields to help you get your life back in control in time for the next festive overload.
Easily the most worrisome of all such troubles is health, thanks to the many forms of festive food, pollution and noise that can have an adverse effect on it, especially for higher risk individuals like heart patients. Dr Sudarshan, associate consultant and cardiac surgeon at Fortis, tells us that heart attacks are more common around festivals like Diwali. “The heavy noise is a risk factor. It is important to go into a de-stress zone immediately after a festival has passed. Cutting down on calories and getting back to an exercise regime is of utmost importance,” he says. Besides a complete relaxation period, he advises health check-ups right after the festival. “We advice meditation and yoga for patients, too,” he adds.
During the festive season, for most people there’s hardly a day that goes by without the unintentional binge or the midnight sweet or oily snack. While the temporary results may quite border around euphoria, getting your body back in good shape is no easy thing.
Dietician Shweta Uchil-Purohit says while there is no magic potion to reverse the ill-effects of festive binging, eating a healthy balanced diet along with regular exercise will definitely help. “The idea is to initially give a well-deserved rest to the body’s digestive system by eating foods that are easy to digest,” she says.
In her view, there’s greater mental effort required than physical, when it comes to making up for the festival binges. “Festive food tends to be high not just in terms of fat and sugar but also in terms of cholesterol and salt. But the first step towards improved health is to make an active effort to try and ‘detox your mind’ from visions of all the sweets and goodies that you’ve had during the festive season,” she says
Next in line after diet control is the task of getting back to your fitness regimen. Days of fun and gorging on rich food can let the lethargy creep in even on those who otherwise stick to their exercise regimen.
Fitness expert Wanitha Ashok complains, “People haven’t turned up for some of my classes even today. They lose track of days and dates. Festivals bring a lot of mismanagement of calories with them, so detoxing is essential.”
She believes the easiest way to leave the festival after-effects behind is to hit the gym earnestly. “Working out will take care of the calories. When you sweat it out, toxins are removed. Cardio is a great way to get back in shape. For those who are more lethargic, walking is good too as long as you don’t skip it,” she told Talk.
For her, the other big fitness concern besides diet is disruption of the body rhythm that results from late night gambling sessions. “Alarms need to be set back and you should head to bed early. Plenty of fruits and vegetables will help flush toxins out. Green tea and lots of water, warm and flavoured with mint, ginger or jeera, helps too,” she says.
Once the health worries are addressed, there is the spectre of money management to deal with, thanks to gifting sprees and no-holds-barred shopping binges. Many people often find themselves forced to push purchase or non-festive shopping plans pushed by a few months, if not more, because their usual reserves have been depleted.
We approached Shyam Sunder, Managing Director, Peak Alpha Investment Services and independent financial advisor, to simplify it for us. “Post-festival, people fall in to three different categories—those who don’t get affected, those who have exhausted all cushion money and those who have loans and credit card debts. For the second category, renewing cushion money should be the priority. For those in the third and the most difficult category, debts should be systematically paid back, starting with the ones that have the highest interest rate,” he says. Credit card debts, he adds, are the worst and should be avoided by everyone, regardless of financial capacity.


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Given Huawei’s history in the US (or lack thereof), it’s always hard to keep up with everything they’ve got going on overseas. Lately, the Chinese OEM has been giving the US market a go, offering up a few of their flagship devices unlocked on Amazon with US friendly radio bands. Now, with talks of a Huawei Nexus device recently floating about, our ears tend to perk up whenever we come across new leaks from the manufacturer.
Take photos of a new Huawei device that recently hit the net. Nobody is quite sure what to call it (it could launch as the Huawei Mate 7 Mini, or even 7x/7s/7 Plus) but it appears to be a newer, smaller variant of last year’s Huawei Ascend Mate 7. According to some of its reported specs, this new device could be the answer to all those oversized handsets we’ve been seeing in recently. Here’s what we’re looking at: model number CRR-UL00, 4.7-inch 1080p display, Huawei Kirin 935 processor (8-core), 3GB RAM, fingerprint sensor, and Android 5.1.1. It’s entirely possible the benchmarking app used wasn’t reporting the display information accurately, so we’ll have to take it with a grain of salt until we get further confirmation.
Huawei Honor 7i
Huawei is also teasing an event for August 20th, where they’ll be unveiling another new handset called the Huawei Honor 7i. The phone is a quirky little device, featuring a slide out camera module for taking selfies complete with dual-ton LED flash on both sides. Which of these devices — if any — will make its way stateside remains to be seen, but given Huawei’s recent push, we wouldn’t be surprised to see one of these popup on Amazon in the near future.


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There are times you simply need to destroy what exists in order to replace it with something better. Such is the case for social media. The past seven years have been so full of mistaken beliefs, poor assumptions and outright misinformation that the time has come to reassess completely what social media is, how it works, how consumers use it and what it means for brands.
The fact is that much of the social media dogma we take as gospel has been wrong from the start. As a result, brands are wasting good money to chase irrelevant or even damaging social media outcomes, and the required improvements are not minor adjustments. In many cases, the wrong departments have hired the wrong people to do the wrong things evaluated with the wrong measures.
Together we will burn social media to the ground and rebuild it from scratch. We will do this with data. Data will provide the spark and accelerant that destroys today’s social media strategies, and data will also be the bricks and mortar to build a credible and accurate understanding of consumers’ social behaviors and the legitimate opportunities available to business.
Every social media marketer and pundit knows case studies that tease the promise of organic content success. They share and reference the same ones time and again, building false hope that marketers’ next social campaign will be Oreo Dunk, #LikeAGirl or Real Beauty. But tear yourself away from the rare and apocryphal stories of success and focus instead on broad, unbiased data, and a different picture emerges.
«Organic social media stopped working.» Those words are from the latest Forrester report, «It’s Time to Separate the ‘Social’ From the ‘Media.‘» This is the same Forrester that in the 1990s counseled IT leaders to pay attention to «Social Computing» and whose 2008 book, Groundswell, introduced many business executives to the ways social media was changing consumers and the marketplace. Today, Forrester is again ahead of the curve, making the case that brand organic opportunities have disappeared and social media marketing has become entirely a paid game. As a result, the research firm recommends that marketing leaders assign their social budgets not to the social team but the media team because, as Forrester notes, «Social ads aren’t social; they’re just ads.»
The report states a simple fact that too many content marketers ignore in 2015: «If you can’t get a message to your audience, you can’t very well market to them» Facebook reach for top brands’ posts was just 2% of their fans in 2014, and that number will only decrease further this year.
Evidence of social media’s remarkably poor reach is all around, and many social media marketers are simply ignoring it (or hoping their bosses do). For all of its brand strength, Coca-Cola’s Facebook page this past weekend had a People Talking About This figure–which includes every page like, post like, comment, check-in, share and mention the brand earned in seven days–of just 37,700 people. The world’s largest consumer brand (which sells 1.8 billion drinks a day) on the world’s largest social network (with 1.5 billion monthly active users) engages fewer people in a week than can fit in one MLB stadium–and not even Dodger Stadium but Kansas City’s modest Kauffman Stadium.
Not only is reach falling but social has never succeeded in delivering reliable marketing scale, no matter how many case studies suggest otherwise. Social does not deliver purchasers (accounting for 1% of e-commerce sales, compared to 16% for email and 17% for CPC). Social delivers poor conversions (with a conversion rate of 1.17% compared to 2.04% for search and 2.18% for email). Social fails to deliver trust (with B2B buyers rating social media posts among the least important for establishing credibility and just 15% of consumers trusting social posts by companies or brands.) Nor is Social media a major factor in search engine rankings (placing dead last among the nine major factors affecting SEO according to MoZ’s 2015 Search Engine Ranking Factors report.)
Rather than hit the brakes, social media marketers are trying to keep their shaky strategies together with wishes and duct tape. For example, marketers are desperately trying to overcome declining organic reach by posting more frequently, but that is not a long-term solution (nor much of a short-term one, either). Another tactic is to chase consumers from one social network to the next for brief windows of organic opportunity. Instagram is the latest social network hyped for delivering higher engagement, but the social platform is busy adding and growing its advertising programs, which means organic reach will rapidly decline on Instagram as it has elsewhere.
Social media marketing has become a house of cards, teetering with lies stacked high since the dawn of the social media era. Entire corporate social media strategies are crafted on baseless assumptions that presume brands can reach prospects and customers in social networks, consumers want and trust brand content, all engagement matters, likes are marketing KPIs and fans and followers are advocates. The best thing social media professionals can do now is to burn down that tower of cards and start from scratch by studying the data, creating new and realistic proof points and producing more effective social media strategies.
BUILDING SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES WITH DATA
Starting from square one, please allow me to introduce you to social media and the opportunities available to your company, one fact at a time:
FACT: People take social media seriously, and so should business.
The numbers are impressive–1.5 billion people use Facebook, 316 million use Twitter, 300 million Instagram and 200 million are on Snapchat. And social media behavior is still growing, with the average usage time rising from 1.66 hours per day in 2013 to 1.72 hours last year. Despite some spurious headlines suggesting Facebook’s demise, that social network continues to dominate, with 59% of users accessing the social network two or more times a day (which is two-thirds more than Snapchat or Twitter and 1000% more than Pinterest). What these data points tell us is that social media is important to consumers, and brands should find ways to meet consumers’ needs and expectations in the channel. While numbers like these typically tempt marketers into believing social media is a fertile content marketing opportunity, this is not the case because…
FACT: Consumers work hard to block and ignore brand messaging.
Use of adblocking software is on the rise in 2015, having gone up by 41% since last year. Of people who view time-shifted TV, 37% do so because it permits them to skip ads, and 56% skip every commercial when viewing from a DVR. Of those who have seen online pre-roll ads, 94% have skipped them. And 57% of consumers are actively taking steps to avoid brands that bombard them with irrelevant communications, with 69% having unfollowed brands on social channels, closed accounts and cancelled subscriptions. The reason people do this is that…
FACT: Consumers do not trust brand content.
In the latest Edelman Trust Barometer Study, the majority of countries now sit below 50% with regard to trust in business, and this past year trust in business dropped in 16 out of 27 countries. In the US, consumers do not trust text messages, social media posts or ads from brands. Millennials are an especially tough crowd, with only 1 in 100 saying that a compelling advertisement would make them trust a brand more and they place sales and advertising at the bottom of their trust rankings. So, if organic reach is continually declining toward zero and consumers do not welcome or trust brand messaging, should brands abandon their social profiles? Of course not, because…
FACT: Consumers count on brands to be present in social media, particularly on Facebook.
Consumers indicate they expect brands to be available in an average of 3.5 social media channels, and around 80% of consumers expect brands to be present on Facebook. But if we have established consumers do not want or trust brand messaging in social media (or pretty much any other channel), why do consumers want brands on social networks? It isn’t for brands to fill their news feeds with a stream of promotional messaging but…
FACT: Consumers expect brands to engage on consumers’ terms.
62% of Millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. It is not as if brands have no opportunity to listen and engage with consumers one-to-one, considering nearly 50% of people have used social media to praise or complain about a brand in the past month. On the B2B side, 75% of B2B buyers want brands to furnish content of «substance,» that helps them to research business ideas, but 93% of brands focus their content on «marketing» their own products and services. Of course, while too many marketers believe broadcasting messages is a way to engage consumers, people do not consider marketing content to be «engagement.» Instead, they want brands to treat them individually, listen and respond. For example…
FACT: Consumers want fast, responsive customer care in social media.
63% expect companies to offer customer service on social media, and one in three social media users prefer to reach out to a brand on social media for customer service. 75% of consumers using social media for customer service expect to hear back in an hour or less; half want a response in real time. But despite the demand for customer care in social media, brands fail to meet expectations; one study found that 33% of consumers who reach out to brands for customer service get no response, while another recent study found four out of five inquiries go unanswered on social media. The stakes are high for brands to get this right. Econsultancy asked consumers how brands performed to resolve recent issues, and of those who said the brand was very ineffective, 46% are still customers (compared to 71% for very effective brands) and 13% shop at the same level (compared to 46% for very effective brands).
FACT: Consumers want to collaborate with brands to develop better products.
42% of Millennials say they are interested in helping companies develop future products and services, and studies have shown, not surprisingly, that customers are more likely to buy products they helped to create. The secret isn’t merely to offer a database into which people can dump their product ideas; once again, people want true bilateral engagement with brands. A recent study of ten co-creation projects found that the largest percentage of participants (28 percent) was driven by curiosity and a desire to learn, and another 26% had an interest in building skills.
FACT: Consumers want brands to stand for something, not simply push products and generate profit.
People want more from brands. Consumers do not see a conflict between businesses being profitable and being good for the world–81% agree that a company can take actions that both increase profits and improve the economic and social conditions in the community where it operates. Edelman’s 2015 Trust Barometer study also found that half of respondents attribute increased trust in business to the fact that a business enabled them to be a more productive member of society. Edelman found the biggest gap between business importance and business performance on 16 trust attributes was not products and services or even purpose–it was integrity and engagement. The Nielsen Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility found much the same, with 55% of global online consumers across 60 countries saying they are willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. Millennials have even higher expectations–three-quarters say that it is either fairly or very important that a company gives back to society instead of just making a profit.
FACT: Brands win when they get people talking to each other, not about the brand’s content but about the actual Customer Experience.
In the US, 70% of consumers trust brand and product recommendations from friends and family, which is almost 400% greater than the trust they have in brand posts in social media. Millennials do not trust traditional media and advertising, so they look for the opinions of their friends (37%) and parents (36%) before making purchases. However, marketers continue to struggle with Word of Mouth (WOM)–64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe WOM is the most effective form of marketing but only 6% claim to have mastered it.
Most companies are doing social wrong and have done it wrong from the beginning. The key to success is to stop most of what today passes for social media strategy and rebuild social plans from the ground up:
Here is a place to start as you rebuild your company’s social media strategies: If your brand never posted another piece of marketing content to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, how would you demonstrate your firm’s values in social channels? If the ability to post promotional messages were taken away, what social media strategies would your company execute to create awareness, attention, consideration, trial and loyalty? If you could no longer rely on your brand journalists, paid influencers, social designers and marketing agencies to create content for social channels, what one-to-one, peer-to-peer, responsive, collaborative, integrated, authentic and meaningful strategies would your brand execute? (Why isn’t it doing those things effectively today?)
The question is no longer if the tired, failed strategies of the past seven years will miraculously yield success; it is if your social media leaders are willing to admit the mistakes of the past, throw out what is not working and chart a new course. The data to build practical and potent social media strategies is not hard to find, but it easy to ignore.
The true secret sauce of social media has never been and will never be to get people to share your brand’s latest viral video or inspirational quote on Instagram. The future belongs to brands that follow the lead of companies like Uber, Nest, Square, Apple, JetBlue, Costco, Trader Joe’s and USAA–brands that get people talking to each other about their differentiated products, customer experience, values, innovation or community commitment rather than about their clever social media posts.
Grab the fire extinguisher, build a social media bonfire and start from scratch. Do this now, and 2016 can finally be the year your brand meaningfully succeeds in social media.
Source : Augie Ray – experiencetheblog.com


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New York City's Board of Health has banned trans-fats in roughly 24,000 Big Apple restaurants.
After the city's Board of Health proposed it back in September, most political analysts and industry experts thought the ban was inevitable.
According to the National Restaurant Association, the city is not giving operators enough time to adjust to the mandate.
"The Board of Health shows an ignorance of the challenges New York's 24,000 restaurants will face in trying to eliminate trans-fat and may well take a step backward for public health," the NRA said in a statement.
The city says it has tweaked the original proposal to take into account restaurant industry concerns. For instance, restaurants have 18 months instead of six to get trans-fat out of their foods. Additionally, health inspectors won't operators for violations cited in the three months following the mandate's enactment. Violations also won't prevent them from passing basic sanitation inspections.
"The Board of Health and the National Restaurant Association have the same goal — to move away from trans-fat in oils and products consumed in restaurants," the NRA said. "The National Restaurant Association has attempted to work with the New York City Board of Health, but the Board seems determined to work against the industry. Both proposals are examples of well-intentioned, misguided social engineering."
A Dow AgroSciences study found that 87 percent of restaurant owners would change frying oils if they knew it could decrease trans-fats and saturated fats without compromising taste or cost.
Many restaurant chains have already made the switch no trans-fat cooking oils. Arby's, Culver's, Wendy's, KFC and Taco Bell have announced in the past year that they will no longer be using partially hydrogenated oils. Arby's went as far as to work with its fry supplier to eliminate the use of hydrogenated oil during the par-frying process at the supplier level.
These voluntarily efforts, the NRA says, should be reason enough for New York's politicians to back off.
"There are serious legal concerns about a municipal health agency banning a product or ingredient the Food and Drug Administration has already approved," the NRA said. "This is a farm-to-table issue. It takes time to develop, plant, grow, harvest and process new alternative crops and to test new oils. Because of this supply problem, with such a limited timetable, many of the city's restaurateurs will have no choice but to switch to oils high in unhealthful saturated fats, a move opposed by health advocacy groups."
The irony of this ban, some say, is that a few years ago trans-fats were supposed to be healthy.
Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association, said trans-fats were offered as a better option five years ago when health officials encouraged restaurants to cut out saturated fat. Now, these officials are coming after trans-fat.
"What's next? Don't sell ice cream?" Dowdell told the New Jersey Herald. "Is this really the way to cure the ills of society?"