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US performance rights body BMI has announced its latest financials, revealing revenues of just over $1bn for its last fiscal year, which ended on 30 June. The company says it paid out $877m to its songwriters, composers and music publishers that year – up 4.5% year-on-year and its record total. BMI’s revenues included $100m of digital income,
which was up 65% year-on-year thanks to payments from Spotify, Apple, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon and Netflix among other services. That still pales next to the $484m from media licensing, with another $137m coming from general licensing. But digital accounted for the lion’s share of actual performances processed by BMI in its last year: more than 500bn of the 600bn total performances. BMI says it identified more than 1.2m unique musical works on digital services – an interesting figure in the light of the 30m-35m tracks that most services now boast in their catalogues.

domain: news


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Future of Holden Commodore Makes Geneva Motor Show Debut
The next-generation Opel Insignia Grand Sport and Grand Tourer made their public debut on March 7, 2017 at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, giving a first look at the future of the Holden Commodore.
The next generation Holdem Commodore, based on the Opel Insignia, is set to go on sale in Australia early in 2018.
Inspired by the 2013 Opel Monza concept, the next-generation Insignia utilizes a clean sheet design created at Opel’s Russelsheim headquarters. GM Australia Design Director, Richard Ferlazzo, said the European team worked closely with the GM Australia team.Available in sedan and sportwagon bodystyles, the next-generation Commodore also promises a host of state-of-the-art technology features including heads-up display, auto emergency braking with adaptive cruise control and a next-generation LED matrix lighting system offering double the amount of light cells as the all-new Astra hatch.
Next-Generation Commodore key highlights:
Cutting-edge driver assistance systems and technology:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Adaptive cruise control
- Speed limit cruise control
- Lane departure warning
- Lane keep assist
- Forward collision alert
- Side blind-zone alert
- Rear cross-traffic alert
Next-generation comfort and convenience technologies:
- Rear one-touch folding seats
- Heated front and rear seats
- Ventilated front seats
- Express up/down all windows
- Wagon power lift-gate
- Active noise cancellation


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Hospitality organization Sonder has verified a data breach that has likely compromised guest information.
In accordance to a security update published on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Sonder discovered of unauthorized obtain to a person of its methods on November 14.
“Sonder thinks that visitor data produced prior to Oct 1, 2021, had been included in this incident,” the organization wrote. It included that they have no proof to suggest that accounts designed right after November 14, 2022, have been concerned.
“This indicates the organization has enhanced their security considering that past Oct, that, or the attacker managed to entry an old backup or duplicate of the information,” explained Mark Warren, products specialist at Osirium.
“‘Unauthorized access could implement to current team, somebody who remaining a while back, a seller, or an attacker,” Warren advised Infosecurity.
The data possibly compromised in the breach reportedly incorporate usernames and encrypted passwords, names, phone numbers, dates of beginning, addresses and email addresses.
Specified guest transaction receipts, together with the very last 4 digits of credit rating card figures and transaction amounts, could have also been compromised, together with dates booked for stays at Sonder homes.
“Additionally, Sonder believes that copies of governing administration-issued identification these kinds of as driver’s licenses or passports may have been accessed for a restricted range of visitor information,” the company included.
Sonder defined that upon discovering the breach, it took steps to include it, which include making sure that the unauthorized individual no lengthier experienced accessibility to programs and that functions were not influenced and investigating the scope of the incident.
The business is also reportedly notifying affected consumers and ideal regulatory bodies and has contacted regulation enforcement.
Warren mentioned organizations should find out from facts breaches like this and strengthen their security posture by shielding client databases (and backups) from attackers, disgruntled personnel, and accidental problems. The government also warned towards letting personnel have direct access to the qualifications utilised to accessibility those people systems.
“Not only does that lessen the risk of accessibility remaining compromised, but it makes life a whole lot less difficult when the enterprise wants to rotate credentials,” Warren additional.
“Without that regulate, altering qualifications routinely or creating them highly complex gets to be much too highly-priced, so a lot of conclude up having shortcuts or not updating credentials normally sufficient.”
All in all, Warren thinks security constantly will come back to the fundamentals.
“Know where the sensitive knowledge and devices are, fully grasp who has accessibility and who actually requirements it, and make sure that accessibility is only probable through protected channels this sort of as privileged obtain management.”
The Sonder data breach arrives weeks right after Shein’s keeping firm Zoetop was fined $1.9m immediately after failing to appropriately advise shoppers of a hack that reportedly afflicted millions of people.
Some parts of this article are sourced from:


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Study scolds Houston medical center for fast food inside hospitals
Mountains of research has linked fast food to all sorts of health problems in recent decades, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes and a vast array of cancers—diseases which commonly land patients in the hospital.
But ironically, fast food is available and promoted inside many hospitals, a new report finds.
And, Texas leads the pack with the most fast food restaurants inside hospitals (tied with Florida).
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine surveyed more than 200 public hospitals, many of which receive government funding, and found that 20 percent sold fast food inside. In the study, committee president Dr. Neal Barnard equated emerging research on fast food to past revelations about the health impacts of smoking.
"The previous generation dealt with cigarettes. Now it's time to tackle meat, cheese, and all the fat and cholesterol they are packing into patients' arteries," he said on the PCRM website. "Hospitals need to end contracts with fast-food chains selling Big Macs, chicken nuggets, and double bacon cheeseburgers."
The report singled out Houston's Ben Taub General Hospital for not only hosting a McDonalds, but allowing it to advertise inside the hospital's lobby, elevators, emergency entrance, pharmacy, clinic and parking garage.
Links between fast food and poor health abound. The American cuisine is often made cheaply of the lowest quality ingredients and highly treated with chemical preservatives to facilitate the long trip from factory to storefront. The food is also characteristically high in fat.
A 2014 study by the American Cancer Society found that eating at fast food restaurants "is associated with significant increases in the intake of calories, saturated fat, and sodium." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says fast food increases risk of diabetes. Men's Health magazine reported many fried fast foods increased risk of cancer, and the PCRM identified the known carcinogen PhIP in every sample of chicken from McDonald's and Chick-fil-A in 2008.
Beyond physical health, the low-quality food also impacts mental health. A 2012 study in the Public Health Nutrition Journal identified links between fast food and depression, and a 2014 study linked it to lower test score gains in 8th graders.
The PCRM report said some hospitals around the country are beginning to remove fast food options from their campuses. Others are even initiating plans for on-campus organic gardens to nourish hospital patients.
Study authors write with hopes that fast food in hospitals will someday be a memory as strange as physicians smoking cigarettes in infirmary hallways.


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PetSmart has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Chewy, Inc., an online pet food and products retailer. The acquisition, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of PetSmart’s second fiscal quarter of 2017.
Upon closing, Chewy will continue to be led by CEO Ryan Cohen and operate largely as an independent subsidiary of PetSmart, focusing on its current business strategy, while PetSmart will continue to execute its strategic initiatives across the combined company.
“We are focused on improving our customers’ experience in-store and online as we continue to execute against our long-term strategic initiatives,” said Michael Massey, president and chief executive officer of PetSmart. “Chewy’s high-touch customer e-commerce service model and culture centered around a love of pets is the ideal complement to PetSmart’s store footprint and diverse offerings. Together, PetSmart and Chewy will provide the most convenient customer experience to a wider base of pet parents across every channel.”
Chewy online pet food retail history
Chewy is one of the leading online pet food retailers and has seen significant growth since it was founded by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day in 2011. Chewy’s position in the growing, underpenetrated online pet retail segment complements PetSmart’s strong footprint in brick and mortar, with over 1,500 stores and 55,000 dedicated associates across North America. Chewy’s product selection and subscription model have attracted and retained a significant customer base that has contributed to the growth of customer purchasing pet food online.
“Combining our strong e-commerce expertise with PetSmart’s best-in-class infrastructure, footprint and breadth of offerings including services will help us ‘wow’ our customers even more,” said Ryan Cohen, co-founder and CEO of Chewy, in a press release.
Economic details of the acquisition
Financial advisors to PetSmart on this transaction were Citi and Barclays, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acting as its legal advisor. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays also provided committed financing for the acquisition. Equity financing is being provided by PetSmart’s existing shareholders. Financial advisor to online pet food retailer Chewy on this transaction was Allen & Company, with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acting as its legal advisor.


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17 February, 2016, USA: LG is all set to allure the global tech market with its new gadget called ‘LG Stylus 2’. This 5.7 inch screen gadget is the sequel of G4 stylus, which was launched in May last year. The new version of phablet has the screen size similar to that of previous one. However, company has managed to reduce the thickness of Stylus 2 to 7.4 mm from 9.44 mm in the previous model. The reduced thickness has also made the new model bit lighter as its weight has dropped down to 145g from 163g. The additional feature of the phablet includes SD card slot for external expandable memory and 3, 000mAh removable battery.
Another change is a tweak to the bundled stylus, which LG is now calling a ‘pen’. It says the new stylus has a ‘nano-coated tip’ for, it claims, enhanced accuracy vs the rubber-tipped stylus of 2015’s phablet. It also comes with a new Calligraphy Pen font; this technology helps the user to write smoothly on the device and gives the feeling as if they are writing with fountain pen, company claims.
There is another security feature which makes this phone stands-out against all odds in the market is its alarming message facility. The phone pops out a warning message when the handset is deducted to be in motion with an empty stylus bay. This phone works on Android 6.0 and has 1.2 GHZ Quad-Core Chip inside with 1.5 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal storage memory.
Pic- NDTV Gadgets


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The UK fashion retail sector is facing a greater range of threats than ever before, with traditional retailers like BHS and Austin Reed unable to survive in increasingly competitive times. Challenges such as increasing costs, reduced margins, the threat of online retailers and even the unpredictable British weather are slowly squeezing the life out of some high street names.
While the picture on the high street is quite bleak, the story couldn’t be more different online. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that online retails sales in September 2016 grew by 22 percent on figures for the same month last year, with online stores now accounting for 15 percent of all retail sales.
Understanding the customer
In these changing times, the high street brands that have been left behind are those that have failed to understand the modern consumer. By focusing too much on short-term revenue targets and reactive, rather than proactive shop-keeping, the traditionally close retailer-customer relationship many brands used to enjoy has become a thing of the past.
This is particularly the case in fashion retail, where customers are no longer loyal to one or two stores. Instead, they typically buy one or two items from a large number of different brands each year. This means that high street brands no longer have the same level of browsing data they once had, which makes predicting future trends and gaining insight into customers’ buying behaviour more difficult than ever before. Simply put, changing consumer habits mean high street brands now know much less about their customers than they used to.
Is a more personalised service the answer?
High street brands currently lack the data they need to give customers what they want, so how can they overcome this obstacle? Fortunately there is a solution, and this comes in the form of a data-driven, personalised solution that is taking the world of retail by storm.
A number of personalisation solution providers, like Dressipi in the UK, are working with major retailers to pool and share data about consumers. With the permission of the customer, secure and connected profiles are being created to store information. This includes personal likes and dislikes, key physical characteristics, and behaviour data from the retailers they have interacted with.
This information can be accessed by retailers and used to make improved recommendations to each customer based on their personal likes and dislikes. With this improved understanding, retailers can sell to their customers proactively, improving their merchandising and essentially acting as a customer’s own virtual shopper. When done well, retailers can successfully market and sell products to their customers that they didn’t even know they wanted.
Traditional customer service enhanced by modern technology
This unique combination of the new and the old is just one potential solution to the challenges fashion retailers are experiencing, and it’s expected to take the industry by storm. The UK is currently at the very front of the personalisation movement, with major international retailers looking to our shores to see how the collaborative use of data can be used to personalise the fashion retail experience.
As we head into 2017, it will be interesting to see what other solutions retailers come up with to further personalise the service they offer. But for now, a collaborative, data-driven solution is king.
Collaborate to compete
At commomKIN, we are firm believers in the power of collaboration to help fashion brands gain that all-important competitive advantage. By linking independent fashion brands together, we create a collective that can benefit from the economies of scale experienced by large fashion houses, and can collectively overcome the challenges small fashion brands so often face.
To learn more about the benefits of becoming part of our KIN, please get in touch with our team.


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Tess Vigeland: Forgive me for this line, but there’s a new wrinkle in the Botox business.
The Department of Justice is investigating how Allergan, the drug’s parent company, promotes it. The Feds want to know if Allergan it touting Botox as a treatment for headaches — a use which has not been approved by the FDA.
Marketplace’s Jeff Tyler has more.
Jeff Tyler: Botox isn’t just used for cosmetic touch-ups. Half of its annual sales come from therapeutic uses, treating things like uncontrollable blinking and muscle spasms. Allergan is currently testing Botox as a treatment for headaches.
Doctors can prescribe it for such “off-label” uses, but the company can’t market the drug as a headache cure without FDA approval. The Justice Department wants to know if Allergan jumped the gun.
Spokeswoman Caroline Van Hove says it didn’t:
Caroline Van Hove: It is our policy that our products are only promoted in a manner that is consistent with the FDA-approved labeling of our products.
Even if the Feds find otherwise, the fallout isn’t expected to be major.
Jeff Viksjo is a stock analyst with Morningstar.
Jeff Viksjo: Any fine levied is likely to be manageable, given Allergan’s size. It’s an $18 billion company and taking away those off-label sales are going to be very small to Botox’s overall sales total.
While off-label sales of Botox to treat headaches may be small, some observers say the drug depends on other off-label sales.
So says Peter Lurie with Public Citizen.
Peter Lurie: This is a drug that is surviving primarily by off-label uses.
For cosmetic use, the FDA has approved Botox only to fight wrinkles in that space between the eyes. Injecting Botox in some other part of the face is considered off-label.
Whether or not it’s used according the instructions on the label, demand is strong. Last year, worldwide sales of Botox exceeded a billion dollars.
I’m Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.
We’re here to help you navigate this changed world and economy.
Our mission at Marketplace is to raise the economic intelligence of the country. It’s a tough task, but it’s never been more important.
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Generous support from listeners and readers is what powers our nonprofit news—and your donation today will help provide this essential service. For just $5/month, you can sustain independent journalism that keeps you and thousands of others informed.


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Geena Tok, managing director of Pandora Jewelry China, at the company's head office in Shanghai in April. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Geena Tok, 46, believes two qualities can hold any senior corporate executive in good stead: resilience and the courage to be more innovative in pushing new products into the market.
A veteran leader in the retail space, she allows the two qualities to inform her eight-month-old job as the managing director of Pandora Jewelry China.
Tok visits shops of all shapes and sizes in many locations to gain firsthand experience of the local factors. This courage to pay attention to the ground reality has helped her to draw useful insights, which are now shaping the Danish jewelry brand's plans to expand its store number in China from over 200 now to around 260 by 2022.
We don't see a trend of people buying traditional gold jewelry for occasions like weddings ... The new generation doesn't do that anymore. They have their own point of view how they want to express themselves.
Geena Tok, Managing director of Pandora Jewelry China
"Top-tier cities remain our priority markets," she said, noting second-tier cities like Chengdu are also key to long-term success as the brand sees opportunities in many tourist spots and shopping malls.
"Other major cities such as Nanjing are also ideal to develop our business because they are supported by well-developed high-speed railway networks. There are several cities connected to Nanjing by 20-minute high-speed train rides. Our stores in Nanjing can serve consumers living in surrounding cities," Tok said.
ALSO READ: Young in smaller cities fuel spending
"A lot of people buy to celebrate something. So we see the opportunities in some of those next level cities, which have grown much faster."
In her opinion, there are new cities emerging where conditions may not be ready for branded jewelry shops yet. Pandora will be there when infrastructure is really well-developed. In the meantime, the brand will focus on using digital tools to reach out to lower-tier markets across the country.
"We will continue to create a balance between physical stores and digital stores, as a large number of consumers use smartphones to explore things," she said.
Though born and raised in Singapore, the mother of two has been living out of the country for years, having spent a long time in countries such as Thailand, India and the United States. She has been working and living in Shanghai for the last eight years.
"We don't see a trend of people buying traditional gold jewelry for occasions like weddings. In the past, people would visit certain places to buy it as they didn't have many options," she said. "The new generation doesn't do that anymore. They have their own point of view how they want to express themselves."
Supported by its factories in Thailand and the in-house designer team in Denmark, as well as the growing purchasing power of China's millennials (those born in the 1980s and 1990s), Pandora saw its sales revenue rise 26 percent year-on-year to 2 billion yuan (US$297 million) in China last year. As a market, the country ranked third by sales volume after the United States and the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).
When compared with other markets, the China market has consumers who are willing to try different colors, Tok said. In some countries, where consumers are a little bit more mature, they stick to silver and gold.
Many Chinese customers prefer jewelry containing both gold and silver, which is an interesting distinction, she said.
ALSO READ: New generation's tastes driving change
Based on Chinese culture and the new consumption trend, Tok and her team introduced the peach blossom series with many Pandora Rose and Silver products, including necklaces and earrings, exclusively for the China market in early April. They plan to bring more products that are specifically designed for the country.
The Danish jewelry manufacturer entered the Chinese market in 2010 with its local head office located in Shanghai. Founded in 1982, the Nasdaq－and Copenhagen-listed group has 27,300 staff worldwide. Around 13,200 of them are located in Thailand.
The Pandora products are sold in more than 100 countries and regions via 7,800 points of sale, including more than 2,400 concept stores.
Even though a lot of brands are aping its popular products like charms and bracelets, the company's focus remains not on fighting battles for intellection property protection but on further diversifying its product designs so as to introduce new elements into other jewelry.
"Copycat designs are a compliment. They only can push us to be more creative," she said, adding she has seen more copycats in the sportswear and footwear segments where she had worked.
"Chinese consumers, especially millennials, want to enjoy life... they care about their individuality and love to travel, and when it comes to shopping in both online and offline channels, they have unique tastes," said Guo Xin, a marketing professor at Beijing Technology and Business University.
To woo them, many global brands from jewelry, fashion and cosmetics sectors have already allocated more financial resources to new product design, marketing and are forming new cross-industry partnerships with other businesses, said Guo.
On a personal note, Tok said she enjoys reading English literature, outdoor recreational activities and spending time with her children during her spare time.
HONG KONG NEWS


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The app we use most on our phones is the keyboard, where we spend on average up to an hour a day typing on our phones to decode our thoughts and interact with our contacts.
But the keyboards we usually use aren’t designed for today’s mobile world and are based on the typewriters used in the 19th century. Arguably, the most used keyboards from Google and Microsoft are not secure either.
Swiss startup Typewise is trying to rival the tech giants by offering a keyboard app that claims to be 100% secure and allows you to type with four times fewer typos.
“Our algorithms run on your phone device, so none of your data or what you type is transmitted to the cloud or the internet and this is much different than any standard keyboard you find on the market,” Typewise CEO and co-founder David Eberl told Euronews Next. .
“People are afraid of WhatsApp and say ‘I need to switch to a secure messenger’ but then the keyboard they use in this secure messenger may still pull all the data and send it somewhere else.”
How it works?
With its larger hex keyboard and layout, it also claims to be easier to use and has 33 percent faster typing speeds.
But switching from the consoles we’re used to on a daily basis and getting used to new features admittedly takes time.
The keyboard works with AI technology that corrects your mistakes and can predict your next words while also learning the user’s slang or slang vocabulary.
“The algorithms are even better than the existing Google keyboard,” Eberl said.
Another major feature that the keyboard offers is that it recognizes more than 40 different languages based on Latin, so you can type in English and French in the same sentence without auto-correction or having to switch languages manually.
Since the company is based in Switzerland, a country that speaks four languages, it is in a prime position to understand the need for multilingual technology, unlike its competitors in the United States.
Typewise is also collaborating on its AI system with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and is developing its text prediction capability.
“Traditional machine learning models are more based on probabilities and you can also see them on your phone. Typical words that are suggested are ‘or he’ or he or me, because those are very probable words,” Eberl said.
“But you don’t write those words all the time. So I think the real challenge with this technique is to make it more personal to you, how you write, and also understand the context.”
He said technology can get really powerful when it not only predicts the next word, it can one day predict the next sentence and even an entire paragraph.
But the company wants to expand the keyboards of earlier smartphones.
Its goal is to license its AI technology as an application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) so that it can then run its technology across mobile, desktop, and even brain-computer interfaces.
How to face the tech giants
Google and Microsoft are also developing their own predictive text technology, but the Swiss startup says it’s also a contender for a place in the market.
“We think there is space for an independent provider that also has a different approach with privacy built in,” Eberl said.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity because not all big companies want to work with Microsoft or Google, which is their proprietary technology. And we believe in a more open approach we have a right to win in the market.”
Eberle started the company with his school friend Janice Bernecker, and he officially launched Typewise in 2019. Since then the company has grown to have over a million users.
It hopes to grow tenfold within two years. The app is free to download but has a professional setup that allows the use of additional features for just over €2 per month.
The company started with a Kickstarter campaign and had a successful initial round in 2020, raising $1 million (€1.2 million). It achieved 400 percent revenue growth year-over-year.
On August 23, the company also launched a stock crowdfunding campaign, which Eberl said has already received a lot of attention.
In its huge challenge to compete with Google and Microsoft, Eberle believes that being in a small European country has its advantages.
He admits that Switzerland is more risk averse than the United States, but says that as a small country you are forced to expand into other markets quickly, which requires new approaches.
“We know the local market will never be big enough,” Eberle said.
“I think with any startup you have, you have to be kind of over the hills and you just have to run fast enough to have that kind of success.”


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The number of initial weekly unemployment claims rose to 885,000, reflecting rising economic charges in cities and states struggling to increase the number of Covid-19s – and prompted strong calls from Congress to provide another fiscal stimulus to millions of Americans. in order to preserve its financial solvency.
The latest figure, an increase of 23,000 from the previous week’s revised level, does little to address economists ’concerns about the combination of renewed business closures and closures, weakening retail spending, and federal financial support programs for borrowers and unemployed workers.
It was higher than expected. The average estimate of the economists interviewed by FactSet is that initial claims will fall to 790,000 and see 5.7 million ongoing claims. The monthly employment report, published in early December, showed that employers added just 245,000 jobs last month – a sharp slowdown that surprised economists as well.
Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor, said the current track is bright and alarming. “The recovery will weaken as we set off into a harsh winter. With the epidemic booming, employers will re-let or lay off workers as states impose new restrictions and consumer demand dries up.”
As in recent weeks, economists say weekly unemployment data do not reflect the full range of labor market problems as many workers have exhausted their state unemployment benefits and turned to expanded federal unemployment benefits. expires at the end of the year. Economists also warn that spending cuts will be inevitable, as debt and eviction moratoriums will end in a few weeks. According to a recent survey, more than four in ten who lost income due to Covid-19 have not regained their previous earning power.
“The economy needs to move forward to stay healthy and let it stop, it hurts everyone,” said Josh Wright, founder and chief economist at economic consulting firm Wrightside Advisors.
This decline in consumer activity already seems to be happening. Retail data released on Wednesday highlighted people’s willingness to spend, with a 1.1 percent drop in November, according to the Department of Commerce.
“Nervous Americans are also more cautious in their travels and spending, fearing they will get sick,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
According to Zandi, this was the latest signal to lawmakers that delaying further fiscal support will have systemic economic consequences. “Without further tax exemptions for lawmakers, employment is likely to decline and unemployment to rise in the coming months,” he predicted.
Although the stock market has been boosted by positive vaccine news, the reality on the ground is much harsher for workers and small businesses, said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.
“The pain will be lasting if Congress does not raise the value of unemployment benefits again, for both families and the economy, which is suffering from declining consumer spending,” he warned.
In addition to the legal stalemate over the promise of additional support for laid-off Americans and small businesses in difficulty, Wright blamed the Wall Street syngeneic response on Main Street for a growing economic disaster.
“Of course, politics plays a role, but markets are also willing to look beyond short-term turbulence,” he said. “Without market turmoil or downturns, it will be harder for policymakers to justify bold action.”


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Recently I attended a 30th anniversary celebration honoring 3 colleagues from my former company, PDI Ninth House. Like me, they had spent most of their careers working with Global 1000 firms all over the world. We shared memories of jet setting around the globe, working with top executives at major companies throughout the US, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
People were naturally curious about why, with all of my Global 1000 Company experience, I preferred to work with CEOs of small privately held companies. The short answer to that question is that I admire their courage and their total commitment to the success of their business and their people.
Jay Goltz expands upon this point in a New York Times article entitled “There are Two Kinds of CEOs” that appeared February 2, 2011. The article features a conversation between the writer and Rafael Pastor, the chairman and chief executive of Vistage, a leading organization of chief executives. They agreed that one of the biggest differences between CEOs of big public companies and CEOs who run small privately held companies is how connected the CEO is to the success of the business. While CEOs of both types of companies have significant upside consequences, the consequences of a business downturn are far more severe for the small private company CEO.
As Jay Goltz explains:
“When things get tough, instead of getting multimillion-dollar payouts to quit, many small-company C.E.O.’s are compelled to put even more money into the business. Mr. Pastor of Vistage recently polled the organization’s members on this question: “During this economic downturn, did you at any time pledge personal assets or invest personal money into your company to help weather the storm?” Forty-six percent said yes.
To many, betting the house may seem an insane risk to take. And maybe it is. But if small-business owners weren’t willing to take that risk, there would be far fewer small businesses in America. You see, many entrepreneurs are what I would call “all in”: all of their money, most of their time, and most of their ego and self worth and pride are involved. Sometimes they put too much in, at the expense of their families and general well-being.
But the fact is that when small company chief executives fail, they often face dire consequences. And that’s an aspect of business ownership that is rarely noted in the glamorized view of entrepreneurship that we frequently see portrayed. Nor is it fully understood by public officials who always seem eager to have small businesses borrow more aggressively and hire more aggressively.”


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The San Rafael Chamber of Commerce held their Forecasting the Future Economic Conference a few weeks ago, and from where I was sitting, the future looks bright. The annual conference features expert speakers discussing local, regional and global issues impacting businesses in Marin County. This year, the conference had an explicit focus on the region’s push to attract Life Science businesses to Marin.
The morning began with a sunrise breakfast at Embassy Suites San Rafael. Marin County corporate stalwarts such as Bank of Marin, Kaiser Permanente and Toyota Marin (a Diamond Certified company) rubbed elbows with government officials and hardworking Marin-based nonprofits. Continue reading “The Future’s So Bright: Marin Gets Real About The County’s Economy” »
Posted in Consumer Events, Consumer News, Consumers, Diamond Certified News | Tags: Chamber of Commerce, Forecasting the Future, Marin, Marin consumers, Marin county, Marin Economic Forum, Marin economy, Mary Jane Burke, North Bay Life Science Alliance, Novato, Robert Eyler, San Rafael


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I am inviting you to come and taste the very yummy and nutritious Frizberry Yogurt that will open soon in SM City Cebu on March 8, 2010. According to Doyzkie, the owner Mitchel Colina said that the yogurt is Fresh, tasty and quality food and beverages that meets nutritional standards.
You may now mark your calendars on that date for its opening!
Have yourself some healthy frozen yogurt treats!
“Healthy Liftestyle In A Yogurt”-Frizberry.


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The Nungua Divisional Police on Wednesday arrested three persons who are said to be part of a fake alcohol production cartel in Accra.
The products produced under the guise of GIHOC distilleries products were illegally produced with tax stamps and subsequently sold onto the local market.
ASP Tsidi Francis, Divisional Commander for Kpeshie at Nungua, disclosed to Joy News that the Regional Crime Office is currently in talks with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to ascertain the level of harm the products could have on consumers.
“We were able to locate their place of operation, found them in the process of production and made four arrests. We were able to retrieve 120 cartons of products labelled as Castle Bridge drinks.
“There was also 90 cartons of empty bottles supposed to be of Herb Afrique and Mandingo,” he said.
The Divisional Commander is worried lead has been how they afforded original tax stamps from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
He stated that “It’s quite difficult to tell how this tax stamp was acquired. We will be engaging the GRA to ascertain how these stamps got to these criminals”.
As the holidays beckon, the police are continuously advising the general public especially consumers of alcoholic beverages to be vigilant on the kinds of products they patronise.
ASP Tsidi Francis said an assessment of how new a product looks; the expiry date and quality of the product are very key.
Meanwhile, Joy Business has learned the Police Service will in the coming days be embarking on similar swoop exercises across the country with officials of GSA and GRA to clamp down on cartels of fake products.


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Nokia just unveiled the Nokia 7.1 and Nokia 3.1 Plus smartphones, but it seems more devices are in the pipeline.
The Nokia TA-1117 was spotted in China’s ministry database not so long ago, and now a gallery of images showcasing the smartphone has popped up too.
Related articles: Best Nokia phones to buy in 2018
By the looks of it, the phone will probably be an entry-level handset with relatively large bezels all around, at least compared to the current standard.
The phone is shown carrying a dual-camera setup on the back. There’s also a circular fingerprint scanner living underneath. On top of that, it looks like the Nokia TA-1117 will feature a dual-camera setup on the front too.
The handset appears to be made out of plastic, so we expect it to be quite affordable when it hits the market. So far, we have no indication on what its retail name is going to be, but we’re going to keep you posted.
In related news, Nokia is gearing up to launch the Nokia 2.1V in partnership with US carrier Verizon. It’s speculated that this will be a special version of the Nokia 2.1 which launched this summer, which will carry almost identical specs.
So it appears we should expect to see a new crop of super-affordable Nokia devices soon enough.


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If an EV doesn’t need a conventional engine and transmission, then why does every electric car on the market pretty much look like a gas-powered vehicle? That’s the question being asked by Canoo, the EV company actively re-thinking vehicle design for a new age of shared and connected mobility. We spoke with Canoo’s powertrain chief, who told us that the Canoo doesn’t use a battery enclosure.
Canoo Stories December 17, 2019
Canoo Stories November 29, 2019
The Canoo electric urban van doesn’t get much attention, but it is moving apace along an accelerated production schedule. The company, led by former BMW EV leaders, put the beta version of its EV into road testing this month. Could it be a sleeper hit in the EV market?
Canoo Stories March 25, 2019
Electric vehicle startup EVelozcity, which was founded by former Faraday Future employees, has relaunched as Canoo. The company says it will introduce four EV models in the next three years, and its vehicles will be sold through a subscription model.


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Rover raises $65M round led by Spark Capital as pet-sitting startup aims for international expansion – GeekWire
Typically in today’s technology world, startup founders sit on one side of the room, pitch ideas to investors, and hope to land funding for their company.
But when you’re growing as quickly as Rover, a six-year-old pet-sitting startup that continues to expand, it works the other way around.
The Seattle-based pet-sitting startup wasn’t looking to raise more cash, CEO Aaron Easterly told GeekWire, but venture firm Spark Capital kept knocking on the door.
Rover today announced its largest investment yet: a $65 million cash infusion led by Spark Capital, an investor in companies like Slack, Twitter, Oculus, Warby Parker, and Trello. Other new investors in the round were Bespoke Strategies and StepStone Group; previous investors like Madrona Venture Group, Menlo Ventures, Foundry Group, OMERS Ventures, and Technology Crossover Ventures also participated again.
“Frankly, we were very persistent,” said Spark Capital General Partner Megan Quinn, who will join Rover’s board. “We’ve had a chance to get to know Aaron and the company over several years and have been consistently impressed by their ability to out-execute the competition through hustle and drive.”
Founded in 2011, Rover runs the largest pet services marketplace that helps match more than 140,000 vetted sitters across 10,000 cities in North America with pet-owners looking for someone to take care of their dogs and other animals. A service is booked on Rover every four seconds.
Easterly said Rover is still on track to reach initial profitability by the end of this year, and that an IPO is still the “most likely eventual outcome.” That was the case when the company raised a $40 million round last year.
But after Spark expressed interest, Easterly said it made sense to raise more money from a “great group of investors” to help fuel international expansion, drive more marketing, and launch new services for pet owners and sitters.
“Our core business is doing really phenomenal,” Easterly noted. “But we wanted to be open to additional avenues to accelerate growth. We could have continued to play it out, but this gives us a lot more flexibility to throw some fuel on the fire.”
Even though Rover acquired its main competitor DogVacay in March and will triple its net revenue this year — just like it did in 2016 — Easterly said it’s early days for a company born out of a Startup Weekend event that has now raised $156 million and employs 236 people.
“We’re a long ways away from making pet care so simple and affordable that everyone in the world can have a dog in their crazy, modern lives,” he said.
According to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), pet sitting/boarding/walking is a $5.7 billion industry that is projected to grow another 6 percent in 2017. The pet industry as a whole will reach nearly $70 billion this year, APPA estimates, while more than 60 million U.S. households own a dog.
Rover has capitalized on increasing pet ownership with a peer-to-peer online marketplace that offers an alternative to asking a family member or friend for help, or having to use a traditional kennel.
Stats and surveys show how in many cities, there are more households with dogs and cats than households with children, and that people often consider pets as loved family members (have you walked around Amazon’s campus lately?). Tierra Bonaldi, a spokesperson for APPA and pet lifestyle expert, said that pet owners want peace of mind that their pet is being taken care of properly. She said services like Rover are especially popular among millennials, which have become the new majority demographic of pet owners.
“Because there are service options out there like Rover.com providing a pool of dog sitters to choose from, with reviews, references, background checks, and profiles that are available at any given time, it makes for an incredibly convenient and popular option for pet owners,” Bonaldi noted.
Part of Rover’s big growth is due to rich data the company has collected and how it can effectively vet the marketplace. As more sitters use the platform and are reviewed after each service, Rover can better match pet owners with an appropriate caretaker.
Emphasizing reputation also helps maintain quality control and creates trust between pet owners and sitters. Rover only accepts 20 percent of potential sitters, and more than 95 percent of reviewed bookings have received a perfect 5-star rating. Each service is backed by insurance and a 24/7 support team.
“Over time, Rover has built up this enormous supply of not just vetted caretakers, but reviews about those caretakers,” said Quinn, who was previously a director at Square before joining Spark Capital. “The secret sauce has really been turning those reviews and the reputation system into an algorithm that appropriately matches the right caretaker with the absolute right sitting opportunity. We think that’s really special, incredibly unique, and impossible to replicate.”
Easterly, who won the CEO of the Year honor at the 2016 GeekWire Awards, said Rover has focused on being data-oriented since the company launched six years ago. As the Rover collects more data, it becomes easier to acquire customers over time, and those customers tend to be more loyal, he said.
“That dynamic in our business — how data improves the value of our customer and reduces our customer acquisition cost — is pretty unique,” Easterly added. “Most businesses don’t have that dynamic six years in.”
But the business is about more than just numbers. Easterly, a dog lover himself, wants everyone to have the opportunity to own a pet.
“I challenge people to name a more important development in the history of humankind for improving human happiness than the domestication of pets and dogs,” he said.
Yet many people who would be great pet owners often shy away from doing so because of affordability and logistics, Easterly explained. That’s partly why Rover aims to make owning a pet more convenient and affordable.
“We are trying to make pet ownership, particularly for those living in an urban area, not just a luxury good, but part of a well being for everyone,” Easterly said.
Greg Gottesman, co-founder at Pioneer Square Labs and venture partner at Madrona Venture Group, helped first conceive the idea for Rover at the Startup Weekend event in 2011. He noted that “from the beginning, Rover has offered a vastly better service to dog lovers that is less expensive than traditional commercial offerings.”
“Better and cheaper is a great place to start,” he added.
Rover has been testing its service in Canada and plans to expand to more countries with the new funding — Easterly called international expansion a “huge opportunity.” He also said Rover will look at acquiring more companies and offering more services or features. For example, Rover last year updated its app to allow dog owners to see exactly what their pooch is up to when they are away, like a GPS map of the dog’s walk, photos of the dog while in their care, notes of any bathroom breaks, and more.
There is also opportunity to go beyond dogs. In fact, the fastest-growing dog “breed” on Rover is “cat.” The company has also seen everything from pigs to shrimp on its platform.
As far as the IPO, which has been rumored for awhile now, Easterly said Rover isn’t in a rush to test the public markets.
“We are still at a level of growth that is not easy to predict — it’s a lot easier to predict a business growing in the 3-to-6 percent range than it is for businesses that are tripling,” he said.
Rover could be part of a trend of more companies raising late-stage deals. PitchBook, in its most recent venture capital report, described this as “the next exit,” as the number of late-stage transactions increased for the third-straight quarter.
Rover’s $65 million round is the largest for any pet services company in the past decade, with the exception of Chewy.com, according to data from PitchBook. Here’s a look at venture capital investments in pet services companies:
Rover, which also has investment from Petco, has often drawn laughs from critics who believe it isn’t a legitimate tech businesses, harkening back to the dot-com boom days of Pets.com. But just as companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Postmates, and others have created new peer-to-peer marketplaces, Rover is doing the same within the pet industry.
Gottesman said the sky is the limit for Rover, even six years after the hackathon that started this entire idea.
“I know the Rover team still thinks this is inning number one,” he said. “We have hundreds of millions of dollars going through the platform and over one hundred thousand sitters and walkers, and still the vast majority of people have never heard of Rover. We are still just scratching the surface of the opportunity.”


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Amazon’s new Appstore looks to be getting off to a lively start with news that the developers Rovio have dumped GetJar and will be exclusively releasing their new Angry Birds Rio for Android game on Amazon’s new download service.
“The Android platform has seen phenomenal growth, and it’s great that new avenues for app distribution are opening up,” purred Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio.
“The openness of the Android platform works for the benefit of consumers and developers alike. It has been delightful to team up with Amazon to bring the Angry Birds franchise to this great new application marketplace.”
Rovio will also be the only place to bag ad-free versions of both Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons for Android.
The new Angry Birds Rio for Android game will be available at amazon.com/angrybirds, and will pack 60 levels, with more levels released via in-app purchases.
Here’s the full Press Release:
Angry Birds Rio for Android to Debut Exclusively in the Amazon Appstore
AUSTIN, Texas/ ESPOO, Finland – March 14, 2011 – Rovio today announced that the highly anticipated game Angry Birds Rio will be introduced for the Android platform exclusively in the Amazon Appstore. Developed in conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox, Angry Birds Rio features the animated stars of the studio’s upcoming motion picture, RIO. Additionally, for the first time ever on the Android platform, fans of Angry Birds games will have the opportunity to purchase and download ad-free versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons. Both will debut only in the Amazon Appstore.
“The Android platform has seen phenomenal growth, and it’s great that new avenues for app distribution are opening up,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. “The openness of the Android platform works for the benefit of consumers and developers alike. It has been delightful to team up with Amazon to bring the Angry Birds franchise to this great new application marketplace.”
“Amazon is thrilled to work with a leading developer like Rovio in offering our customers Angry Birds Rio for Android exclusively in the Amazon Appstore,” said Aaron Rubenson, category leader for Amazon Appstore. “We think Angry Birds Rio is sure to be an instant customer favorite.”
“Angry Birds Rio is a fun and interactive way to introduce millions of fans to the exciting world of ‘RIO,’ and we are proud to work with both Rovio and Amazon to make this experience available to users on the Android platform,” said Peter Levinsohn, president of new media and digital distribution for Twentieth Century Fox. “The Amazon Appstore will be a great new way for consumers to download all their favorite Android apps, and we’re excited to offer Angry Birds Rio as one of the first pieces of content to be made available to consumers through this new store.”
In Angry Birds Rio, the original Angry Birds are kidnapped and taken to the magical city of Rio, where they eventually escape their captors and set out to save their friends, Blu and Jewel – two rare macaws and the stars of the upcoming Fox motion picture, RIO. From the creators of Fox’s blockbuster ICE AGE motion picture franchise, RIO debuts in theaters worldwide on April 15, 2011. Angry Birds Rio will launch with 60 dedicated levels, with more content to follow via app updates.
Angry Birds Rio will be available for download on Android phones and tablets at amazon.com/angrybirds.


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Oracle has acquired big data firm Crosswise, which specialises in cross device advertising, to help bolster it's own Data Cloud.
Although the exact sum that Oracle paid to acquire the company has not been disclosed, the price is rumoured to be around $50 million. Crosswise's technology is able to determine what devices users have in order to provide ads that align with the platform they are using.
Oracle plans on integrating that technology into Oracle Data Cloud which uses information extracted from third-party data to give advertisers better insight into their target audiences. The service helps more than 80 per cent of the top US advertising companies maximise their marketing budgets.
Each month, Crosswise goes through more than a petabyte - or a million gigabytes - of data. The company analyses dozens of different data points including Wi-Fi networks used, GPS coordinates, operating systems used, mobile device IDs, and device IP addresses to gain a better understanding of users and how they interact with their devices.
Crosswise makes it a point to not identify users personally and instead opts to identify them via their patterns of use, sites visited, locations, etc. Crosswise provides its technology to advertisers without working alongside them. Through the company's services, customers receive an improved online experience while advertisers gain a dramatically higher return on investment from their marketing.
Using the data collected from users across multiple devices, Crosswise is able to create a probable Device Map that can accurately match multiple devices to one individual user. This technology is scalable and Oracle wants to expand it in order to have a complete view of the ways in which consumers interact with multiple devices.
Crosswise was founded by Steve Galanz, Johnathan Zeidner and Ron Reiter in 2013. Last year the company received $2 million in funding from Giza Ventures, Horizons Ventures, OurCrowd and several others.
By acquiring Crosswise, Oracle is further strengthening its cloud and gaining valuable insight to the browsing habits of users across devices.


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|Bid||0.00 x 800|
|Ask||0.00 x 900|
|Day's Range||167.96 - 174.07|
|52 Week Range||94.81 - 177.59|
|Beta (3Y Monthly)||N/A|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||N/A|
|Earnings Date||Nov 4, 2019 - Nov 8, 2019|
|Forward Dividend & Yield||N/A (N/A)|
|1y Target Est||151.18|
Crosslink Capital is a San Francisco-based hedge fund founded by Michael Stark and Seymour Franklin Kaufman thirty years ago. Michael Stark is the fund’s portfolio manager and a supervisor of all investment-related activities of the fund. He holds a M.B.A. with honors and Distinction from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Engineering from […]
CRM stock has lagged software group peers as investors digest big acquisitions, such as Tableau. Could digital transformation growth drive a Salesforce stock rally.
The closing comes a day after Tableau reported its quarterly earnings under the radar, without a typical investor call or statement.
In her two years on the job, Heidi Speight has advised the real estate team’s bike storage room build-outs and forged partnerships with bikeshare and carpooling companies.
The Puget Sound Business Journal is proud to unveil the 2019 40 Under 40 honorees, putting a spotlight on individuals who are among the brightest and most innovative leaders under the age of 40.
Business Journal Managing Editor Rob Johnson recaps the week in Seattle business news, including an overview of why Washington banks have been targeted in proxy battles, how Boeing is dealing with a rough second quarter and much more. Catch up on all the Seattle-area business news you may have missed.
(Bloomberg) -- Salesforce.com Inc. unveiled a partnership with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to enter the Chinese software market, chasing new business in Asia despite the U.S.-China trade war.Alibaba will sell Salesforce cloud-based software for clients’ sales, customer service and commerce needs in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the companies said Wednesday in a statement.San Francisco-based Salesforce, the top seller of software for managing customer relationships, wants to more than double its annual revenue to as much as $28 billion by fiscal 2023, but has recently seen slowing growth. Under co-Chief Executive Officers Marc Benioff and Keith Block, the company has expanded internationally, announcing investments and hiring throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Salesforce is entering China at a time when the U.S. government has made it harder for some American technology companies to sell products to Chinese customers, amid a flurry of tariffs on China-made goods.Salesforce previously had a limited presence in China. Multinational customers were asking for support wherever they do business, according to the statement. Rival Oracle Corp. has reportedly been shedding workers in China, and the company’s co-founder, Larry Ellison, said in October it’s important for the U.S. tech industry and military to beat China.Some investors have been concerned that Salesforce’s revenue growth rates are slipping, though the company continues to report quarterly sales increases of at least 20%. Salesforce has made splashy acquisitions in the past two years that will significantly contribute to revenue, including a $15.3 billion plan to buy data-analytics company Tableau Software Inc., which the company announced last month.Alibaba’s $3 billion cloud services arm is fast becoming an important driver of its global expansion. The e-commerce giant widened its lead over Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in Asia’s cloud-computing market in 2018, according to Gartner, which in turn helped it narrow its global gap with those two rivals.In China, Alibaba’s cloud business commands more than half the market, which is estimated to grow 55% to $331.2 billion in three years, according to Gartner. Alibaba’s cloud business has been generating triple-digit revenue growth over the past three years, outpacing the industry.Gartner estimates that Alibaba last year accounted for almost 20% of the market in Asia for two forms of infrastructure cloud services. Globally, Amazon leads with more than 30% to Alibaba’s 4.9%.To contact the reporters on this story: Nico Grant in San Francisco at firstname.lastname@example.org;Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at email@example.comTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at firstname.lastname@example.org, Andrew Pollack, Alistair BarrFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Business Journal Managing Editor Rob Johnson recaps the week in Seattle business news, including exclusive interviews with three prominent education leaders and headwinds facing the Salesforce-Tableau deal.
The class action lawsuit seeks to block the $15.7 billion deal, which is expected to close in October.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 15, 2019 / Halper Sadeh LLP, a global investor rights law firm, reminds investors that it is investigating the following companies: Tableau Software, Inc. (NYSE: DATA) ...
WILMINGTON, Del., July 15, 2019 -- Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announces that it is investigating: Tower International, Inc. (NYSE: TOWR) regarding possible breaches of.
NEW YORK, July 12, 2019 -- Halper Sadeh LLP, a global investor rights law firm, announces it is investigating the following companies: Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN)The.
NEW YORK, July 10, 2019 -- If you own shares in any of the companies listed above and would like to discuss our investigations or have any questions concerning this notice.
Industry officials are largely on board with the Federal Data Strategy, but offered additional insights Monday on how to better tie together disparate collections of data.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff floated the idea of a “strategic transaction” in his first meeting with Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky Dec. 18.
Salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM ) has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Tableau Software Inc (NYSE: DATA ). Tableau's revenue could triple to exceed $3 billion by 2023 given the massive data modernization ...
NEW YORK, June 27, 2019 -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. reminds investors that it is investigating potential claims on behalf of stockholders of Medidata Solutions, Inc.,.
Fields leads more than 120 of the company’s 4,286 employees in further developing Tableau Public. The data visualization software and online platform has thousands of users who publish millions of visualizations.
NEW YORK , June 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (ASNA) Lifshitz & Miller announces investigation into possible securities laws violations in connection with ASNA's acquisition of ANN, ...


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It started out as most good practical jokes do, with something that caught my eye, then became annoying, and then became a photo op.
Read more ▶
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Local electric customers and advocates testified at a hearing held by House members of the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee today, calling for a reformed and improved competitive retail electric market in Massachusetts, not a return to a utility monopoly that reduces consumer choice.
“I have been a proud consumer in the choice market for electricity in the town of Brookline for over 10 years. Recently, I bought an EV and found a supplier willing to give me a flat monthly bill no matter how much energy I consumed. It was an amazing value,” said Young Kim of Brookline. “I wanted to give the voice of the customer from a positive experience. I don’t think we should close the residential market. With the rise of EVs, heat pumps, and solar panels, I want every option on the table.”
Right now, nearly half a million Massachusetts consumers choose a competitive electric supplier rather than their default utility provider. Some shop for 100% renewable energy, some choose products that provide long-term predictability to their utility bills to protect from spikes like we saw this winter, and some seek out the lowest price available. New data released this week shows that Massachusetts residents could save as much as $42.6 million this month by enrolling with a competitive supplier.
“Customers choose competitive electric suppliers for many reasons: lower rates, predictable bills, or help meeting their household’s environmental goals. The stakes are high: hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer savings, and our ability to achieve our climate goals while maintaining reliability and affordability,” said Christopher Ercoli, President and CEO of the Retail Energy Advancement League. “Massachusetts cannot just throw up its hands and say customers aren’t able or smart enough to play an active role in their energy use, purchasing and management. If the retail energy market were to close, ratepayers would be beholden to utility-determined market rates. Options and freedom to choose is the best consumer protection possible.”
Under one proposal being heard by the Committee on Thursday, consumers would lose that freedom of choice at the end of this year. H.3196 would shut down the residential competitive retail electric market in Massachusetts, denying customers the ability to shop for an electric supplier that aligns with their economic and environmental goals.
Another proposal being heard by the Committee contains numerous reforms to establish greater regulatory oversight and consumer protections in the market, while preserving its benefits for local electric customers. H.3155 includes the ability to switch suppliers mid-billing cycle within three business days, parameters around customers on energy assistance programs, and requiring auto-renewal notices. It also includes requirements to help address bad actors in the market, such as requiring training and certification from suppliers, particularly around marketing practices, publishing complaints, and increasing fees for misrepresentation of the utility or town. The legislation would increase industry licensing fees to help fund these oversight and enforcement initiatives.
“Changes are needed to better protect customers, and failure to do so risks losing the opportunity to capture the benefits of retail choice for all consumers,” said Paul Hibbard, a former chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities who recently authored a report that looks comprehensively at how different states address competitive electric markets. “Some states and advocates appear to lean towards doing away with retail choice due to a perception of low benefits and negative experiences with marketing and supply to residential customers — experiences that by and large can be cured through corrective program design, regulatory action, and education. But doing away with retail choice – rather than improving it – would be a mistake.”
At the hearing, experts and advocates spoke about the need to ensure that competitive electric markets can operate as a stronger tool for consumers to meet their individual goals while supporting the energy transition and our achievement of decarbonization goals.
“I care about electricity competition because I care greatly about decarbonization. Decarbonization is rightly a major goal of Massachusetts and retail electricity competition can be a big way to decarbonize affordably,” said John Hanger of Shrewsbury, a former Public Advocate for utility consumers in Philadelphia, former Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “When discussing green power products, let’s also remember that utility default supply comes overwhelmingly from burning gas, which is the top cause of CO2 pollution in Massachusetts and on the US electricity grid. Unfortunately, recent problems with offshore wind procurement underline the challenge of cleaning up default supply. To accelerate affordable decarbonization, it is time to unleash and enable the retail customer to cut CO2 pollution.”


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Toyota reported its best quarterly profit in four years but vowed not to repeat the mistakes of the past by pursuing reckless growth.
The world’s largest carmaker reported an operating profit of 353 billion yen (£2.9 billion) in the quarter to June 30, as it rebounded from a loss in the same period last year. The Japanese manufacturer raised its sales target on the strength of demand for its Camry and Prius models.
Takahiko Ijichi, its senior managing director, said: “Unless we operate based on a solid recognition that growing our business means new risks, we are at risk of going down the same path as before.”
Toyota, which regained its crown as the world’s best-selling car manufacturer in the first half of this year,…


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It's hard to feel sympathy for Abercrombie & Fitch's falling sales
The costly clothing emporium is branching out into larger sizes, which is rich considering its CEO's controversial opinions on body size
It’s hard not to feel smug about the news that, following a dip in sales, Abercrombie & Fitch is starting to sell clothes in plus sizes to attract new customers. Because, of course, up until now, they’ve always seemed dismissive of anyone who didn’t quite conform to their strict idea of a target market.
CEO Mike Jeffries announced in a 2006 interview with Salon, “a lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.”
How ironic that the company which is now losing customers and deciding to change its marketing stance is Abercrombie & Fitch itself. Jeffries may believe that the “cool and popular kids” are his target audience, but maybe popular kids have changed from when he was young. At the moment, young people seem to be looking towards vintage clothes stores, markets and charity shops, which provide clothes for all shapes and sizes, to create their own unique outfits unlike the dull uniform that Abercrombie has to offer. It seems that the public are no longer excited about the overpriced hoodies and tracksuit bottoms in A&F stores, with their logo plastered over the legs.
The fact that Abercrombie actively searches for attractive shop assistants, whom they call “models”, shows how discriminatory the company can be. Despite the shop assistants being fairly well paid, I think it should be seen as an embarrassment to work in the store as the CEO has made his superficial views so public. At the same time Abercrombie announced that it would start selling larger clothes sizes, Debenhams became the first mainstream retailer to launch size 16 mannequins. Perhaps one of the reasons Abercrombie has had a dip in sales is because they now look so far behind the times.
Two years ago, American Apparel released a competition to find “The Next Big Thing”, a “booty-ful model who needs a little extra wiggle room”. The rightful winner of this contest, Nancy Upton, was not accepted as American Apparel’s first plus-sized model because the company argued that she did not “exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out” with images of her modeling while stuffing her face with cake. Upton was ranked first out of 991 votes, which just goes to show that perhaps the popular option can be someone taking a stand against fattism.
Similarly, a Change.org petition demanded that Jeffries of A&F “stop telling teens they aren’t beautiful; make clothes for teens of all sizes!” After losing a good deal of value this year and closing UK stores of the Australian underwear label Gilly Hicks , which A&F owns, it is goodif Jeffries has concluded that it might be time to start creating clothes that the rest of the public can wear.
Ukip supporters are 55 or older, white and socially conservative, finds British Social Attitudes Report
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The West has it totally wrong on Lee Kuan Yew
David Cameron calls Labour 'hopeless, sneering socialists' while announcing 7-day NHS plans
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North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC) announced the arrival of a new state-of-the-art drum pulper that will help the company expand its production of lightweight recycled packaging papers and safeguard more than 400 mill jobs and support other indirect jobs in Cowlitz County, Washington.
The pulper and other mill infrastructure upgrades represent more than a $50 million capital investment that will expand Longview mill operations to transform wastepaper into lightweight recycled papers for corrugated boxes, displays, bags and various other packaging products.
"We're excited to reach a big milestone in our work to achieve our vision of opening new markets, providing low-carbon, recycled packaging papers and retaining our talented, innovative workforce," said NORPAC CEO Craig Anneberg. "This new machine is up to the tough job of keeping wastepaper out of landfills and turning it into new, recycled products – that's good for jobs and our environment. I'm also pleased NORPAC can support our local economic recovery in real-time with construction jobs that will make our new facility operational."
NORPAC is an independent paper company based in Washington State. From its world-class manufacturing facility, NORPAC delivers a broad range of high-quality papers to customers across the United States and around the world.


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The move from the original brewery in West Kingston gives the craft brewer six times more capacity and opportunity for still more growth, plus a 3,000-square-foot tasting room.
WARWICK, R.I. — Minutes after celebrating the ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the new Proclamation Ale brewery in Warwick, co-founder Joshua Karten asked, "How did I get here?"
He wasn't describing the 20-minute ride from the original brewery that opened in West Kingston in 2013, but the journey to a new space that gives the craft brewer six times more capacity and opportunity for still more growth, plus a 3,000-square-foot tasting room.
From producing 900 barrels of beer in West Kingston to 6,000 barrels in Warwick will be a big change, he said. But the fact they can grow even more — to 18,000 barrels — is the best part of the Warwick location in the Dean Warehouse complex on Kilvert Avenue. The goal was to find space, and the Warwick location was just right, Karten said.
The state-of-the-art facility includes six 30-barrel horizontal foeders, said David Witham, Proclamation president. Though common to the wine industry, they are new for beer crafters and will be used to make sours, wild ales and other specialty beers, he said. They allow a slow intake of oxygen into the beer and have a wood ratio that allows the beer to mature.
Witham said a $1.5-million Small Business Administration loan fueled the move. With the increased capacity, they won't just produce more of their signature cans or bottles of specialty beers; they also can send out more draft to bars and restaurants. Proclamation Ale has built quite a following with its sours and other beers with creative flavors. The additional capacity will perhaps help them to fulfill demand.
Not only will guests at the tasting room be able to drink freshly brewed beer from taps and their signature cans, they can take home cans. They have discounted the use of growlers because there is less beer loss with cans, as well as longer beer life.
One wall is decorated with the tops of cans as an art installation. There's a long tasting bar and other seating in the space. And there will be arcade games.
Brewer Cheyne Tessier said the largest tank provides four times the capacity of what they had. When it comes to brewing, what used to take two tanks and the work of two people can now be done in one day.
Proclamation will officially open its doors to the public on Friday, Dec. 1, from 3-9 p.m. Use the address 298 Kilvert St. for entering at the Dean Warehouse complex. Hours will be noon to 8 on Saturday, noon to 6 on Sunday and 3 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.


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John Romero, a co-creator of Doom and Quake, has teased an upcoming announcement for his next project. The game will be a first-person PC shooter developed by his new studio, Night Work Games in Galway, Ireland. In the teaser for the upcoming reveal of the FPS, Id Software co-founder Adrian Carmack climbs a hill to find a hooded Romero. In a spoof of the final scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the video ends with Carmack passing Romero a keyboard and mouse. The announcement will take place this Monday, April 25th.
You can watch the video above.


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Streaming service Spotify is once again flirting with lossless music streaming
A new type of subscription has appeared in the application code
If the information is true, it could cost around 550 crowns per month
Spotify is among the most popular music streaming services in the world. Nevertheless, when it comes to quality and not quantity, a number of audiophiles are able to present a number of reservations about this Swedish platform, and it must be noted that they are often justified. In short, users have to decide whether they prefer a sophisticated news recommendation algorithm and a wide range of performers, or the highest possible quality. But that could soon change, at least according to Reddit user Hypixely.
Premium quality at a premium price
He discovered information about a new type of subscription, the so-called Superpremium, in the application code. The latter should offer music in a lossless format, which could at least partially satisfy some music enthusiasts and help the service fight competition in the form of Tidal. There has been speculation about a Hi-Fi version of the Spotify subscription for a long time, at least since 2021, but the Swedes have not yet decided on anything like that.
Spotify is raising prices! The new price will affect everyone, but newcomers have an advantage
However, quality does not come for free. In addition to the name of the new subscription, the price of $19.99 per month (approx. CZK 550 with VAT) appeared in the code, which is certainly not a small amount in the context of various subscriptions. The question remains how well this new type of subscription would resonate with existing and potential customers and whether there will be interest in it. Tidal, which specializes in premium quality, has around 5 million subscribers, which would not help Spotify’s growth with 220 million active users.
Author of the article
#lossless #era #finally #coming #Spotify #wont #free


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Lord Mayor of Sheffield Magid Magid opens new menswear department in Atkinsons
Magid Magid has unveiled a new menswear department at Atkinsons – one of his final duties as Lord Mayor of the city, as his tenure ends next month.
The flamboyant mayor, known for his straight talking and eye-catching outfits, opened the new department at the store on The Moor.
Atkinsons is looking to broaden its appeal and attract younger shoppers through a 'Magid makeover'.
Manager David Cartwright said: “Atkinsons boasts an enviable and loyal customer base, but we're well aware we need to attract new audiences.
“High street retail is facing massive challenges in 2019 but our independence and long history means we’re far more adept to dealing with change than many.”
The new department features clothing brands such as SuperDry, Joules, Only & Sons and Jack Jones.
Mr Cartwright added: “We couldn’t think of a better person to unveil our new-look menswear department than Councillor Magid Magid.
“He has introduced the office of Lord Mayor to younger audiences and we’re honoured that such an influential figure will play such a big part in a historic day for Atkinsons.”


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Security camera video catches the entire heist, as two suspects plow a car through the front window and all the way into the back of a Lower Dimond’s ice cream shop Flavor Brigade, just to make off with an ATM machine.
A lot of parents are going to have to disappoint their kids in Oakland’s Lower Dimond neighborhood, over the sudden destruction of an ice cream, frozen bananas, and Italian ice shop. KTVU reports that the Fruitvale Avenue ice cream shop Flavor Brigade had its storefront completely destroyed in an ATM theft, and Flavor Brigade’s security camera catches the entire incident as seen below.
The incident took place last Monday around 2 a.m. An automobile just straight up rams into the storefront windows and doors, and two suspects hop out and clear benches and coolers to create a path for the car to ram further into the shop. With more space created, the car then rams further, several times, until the ATM is dislodged. The ATM is then dragged out of the store and the suspects make off.
Clearly the suspects did more damage to the car than the value of whatever cash can be procured from the ATM. Though as we've seen in the past, if you use a stolen vehicle, perhaps the damage to the vehicle is not such a relevant factor.
The shop said in an Instagram statement that “Someone drove their car right through the front window to steal the ATM smashing and destroying everything in its path. We lost almost everything. Multiple freezers, the countertop, the product, the wall and floss, windows and register have all been destroyed.”
A Flavor Brigade fan has established a GoFundMe for repairs to the shop, which has hot nearly 40% of its goal in the first two days. We see that Bay Area comic W. Kamau Bell is the top donor. Be like W. Kamau Bell!
KPIX spoke within Flavor Brigade’s owners, and the robberies are “progressively getting worse," according to co-owner Braedon Galloway. "The first one was a rock thrown through the window and a little bit of change stolen from the register. The second time they shot a gun through the window and stole a little bit of change out of the register. Obviously, this time, it progressively got worse and they drove a car through."
This is clearly an enormous amount of effort and damage just to procure a small amount of cash.
"Our employees are out of work, everybody's gotta pay bills,” Galloway told KPIX. “We have vendors who we supply that support their whole families and livelihoods. You're affecting a lot of people for nothing.”
According to Flavor Brigade’s Instagram statement, “Because of the cost, we will be closed for the next few days, possibly leading into weeks or even a month.”
If you want to support Flavor Brigade throughout this ordeal, there is the GoFundMe, plus you can visit their other location in Pleasanton.
Image: flavorbrigade via Instagram


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- The first Android phone featuring the new Snapdragon 888 processor was just unveiled in China — the Xiaomi Mi 11.
- The Snapdragon 888 platform will power several Android handsets in 2021, and it’ll compete directly with the iPhone 12’s A14 Bionic. Both chips are built on the same 5nm process.
- The Mi 11 starts at around $610 in China, offering quite a few features that likely won’t be available on other devices in that price range.
Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 888 processor a few weeks ago, revealing that a slew of Android handset makers will use the next-gen mobile platform. Most of them will unveil their 888-based creations next year, as is the case with the Galaxy S21 series that launches in a few weeks. But one smartphone maker decided to announce a new flagship this year. That’s Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, whose Mi 11 series has been rumored to feature the new processor. Leaks revealed more details about this first true iPhone 12 competitor, indicating that Xiaomi planned to launch a Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro before the end of the year.
As expected, Xiaomi held its December 28th press event in China, introducing just the Mi 11 version. The phone is now available for preorder in China starting at 3,999 yuan ($612).
Like the A14 Bionic chip in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, the Snapdragon 888 is built on the 5nm process that packs even more transistors into the tiny chipset. Qualcomm’s new chip features several upgrades over the Snapdragon 865 that powers the Galaxy S20, including brand new high-performance cores that ARM introduced earlier this year, the ARM Cortex-X1.
The Mi 11 features a 6.81-inch OLED screen curved at all four edges and a Corning Glass Victus glass or vegan leather rear panel. The screen supports a 120Hz refresh rate and 480Hz touch sampling rate, 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and up to 1,500 nits of brightness.
It’s not just the Snapdragon 888 that should give the Mi 11 a boost in performance over other Android handsets. The device also features fast LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. Memory configurations include 8GB or 12GB of RAM, with storage sitting at either 128GB or 256GB. The most expensive Mi 11 version features 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, selling for 4,699 yuan ($765).
The main rear-facing camera is a 108-megapixel 8K camera with a large 1/1.33” image sensor, OIS support, and pixel binning technology. The handset also features a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera lens (123°) and a 5-megapixel telephoto macro lens. The expected camera software improvements that come with each new handset design are included in the package — that’s MIUI 12.5 software on top of Android 11. Computational photography features will improve brightness and image quality in photos and videos, according to Xiaomi. They’ll also “greatly” reduce noise in images. Video effects, including “a mind-boggling zoom effect popularized by Alfred Hitchcock,” are also available on the Mi 11.
The handset packs a large 4,600 mAh battery that supports wired and wireless fast charging. Mi TurboCharge tech runs at 55W and can recharge the phone in 45 minutes. The 50W wireless charger almost matches that speed, recharging the phone in 53 minutes.
Xiaomi has always copied Apple’s lead shamelessly, and it’s now doing the same thing Apple did with the iPhone 12’s charger. After mocking the new iPhone, Xiaomi now says it’s doing the same thing for the environment that Apple does — but with an unusual twist: It’s up to you to save the environment:
With environmental protection efforts in mind, Mi 11 Mainland China standard version will no longer be equipped with an in-box charger, while the bundle version will come with a separate 55W GaN charger. Both versions are offered at the same price, allowing users to purchase based on their needs.
It’s unclear when the Mi 11 will ship to buyers or if it will be available in international markets. After the Mi 11 press event, a leak said the Mi 11 Pro is still in the works and will launch on February 12th, 2021, after the Chinese New Year.


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Bottled water, the world's fastest growing beverage, carries a heavy environmental cost, adding plastic to landfills and putting pressure on natural springs, the author of a new US report said today.
Ling Li, Worldwatch Institute says that bottled water may be pure but is expensive in terms of environmental and economic costs. You can see from this article
how much 1 liter bottled water costs and impacts the environment. In the developed countries, people demand clean, safe, tasty and healthy attributes in water, while in under developed countries even getting normal water is a luxury for them especially to one billion people in the world.
In bottling the water from pure sources there is significant environmental damage, the water is depleted from rare underground aquifers by withdrawing it in large amounts. There is too much energy consumed to make one bottle of water, packaging, storing and shipping the bottled water. There is an additional environmental cost in using millions of tons of oil derived plastic to make the bottles.
Ms. Ling says, the bottled industry benefits the most by charging the consumers a high price, but does little to stop this environmental damage. And they don’t help much the poorer countries in giving them safe water.
Worldwatch estimated 35 to 50 per cent of urban dwellers in Africa and Asia lack adequate access to safe potable water.
The bottle used in bottling water uses polyethylene terephthalate or PET which requires less energy to recycle and less chlorine into the atmosphere, but sadly the recycling rates have diminished so only 23.1 percent of these bottles are recycled in 2005 compared to 39.7 in 1995. As a result many of the PET bottles are not recycled and remain in trash collection areas.
Bottled water costs from 240 to 10,000 times as much as water straight from the tap. In dollars, that means such water sold in most industrialized countries costs $US500 to $US1000 ($605 to $1210) a cubic meter compared with US50 cents (60 cents) a cubic meter in California, where the quality of tap water is high.
Worldwide the consumption of bottled water is on the rise, it has doubled almost twice between 1997 and 2005, and with United States the largest consumer drank nearly 28.6 billion liters in 2005. India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Indonesia and Spain round out the top 10.
Bottled water maybe a convenient one to drink pure water but it costs a lot in terms of environmental damage. One should try to use other means to drink water, can install water filters at home like Brita or Pur Water filters.


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Resulticks announced that it has joined the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to collaborate on transforming the landscape of real-time customer engagement and communications. Together with the best of Qualcomm Technologies’ IoT solutions and services, Resulticks’ customer engagement solution will add new dimensions to end-consumer experiences, while also accelerating top-line growth for brands.
As one of the fastest growing AI-powered customer engagement solutions, Resulticks has always been ahead of the curve in enabling seamless journeys across the offline and online worlds through the handling of streams of data, events, and digital signals at scale. With the ever-increasing demand for context-based targeting and hyper-personalization, there are infinite ways in which these signals, communications, and analytics can come together at every juncture of the customer lifecycle from lead acquisition to conversion resulting in loyalty.
As part of the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program, Resulticks can now facilitate brands to go beyond the usual touchpoints in this journey to leverage the signals from a gamut of sensors, wearables, smart devices, and digital screens that has remained largely untouched today.
“We are pleased to have Resulticks join the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program ecosystem where we can together accelerate digital transformation and make it easier for businesses and entities looking to deliver smart AI-powered solutions for enhanced customer engagement,” said Ashok Tipirneni, director and head of platform product management, Smart Cities, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
“Our aspiration has always been to be at the forefront of digital evolution, transformation and customer engagement,” said Mani Gopalaratnam, CEO, Resulticks. “For example, we are one of the first solutions of our kind to leverage edge and serverless technology and WebAssembly technologies to deliver what is really real-time engagement. But, it is also not about technology for technology’s sake. With Qualcomm Technologies, we believe we have all the right ingredients in the right place and at the right time to deliver smart solutions across verticals like retail, telecom, and banking that will deliver tangible outcomes to businesses, consumers, and the entire ecosystem. We are delighted and looking forward to making a difference with Qualcomm Technologies.”
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.
Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.
Resulticks is a real-time, big-data-driven customer engagement solution built from the ground up by experts in marketing, technology, and business strategy to deliver topline growth. Outcomes-focused and enabled by the world’s first customer data blockchain, Resulticks equips brands to make a transformational leap to true omnichannel engagement. With its AI-powered,


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High-tech group VeriSilicon to build R&D center in Lin-gang Special Area
Electronics group VeriSilicon Holdings Co Ltd signed an investment agreement on Dec 17 to build a research and development center in the Lin-gang Special Area in East China's Shanghai city.
Founded in 2001, VeriSilicon is a Shanghai-headquartered computer chip designer and manufacturer. It designs and manufactures silicon processors for consumer electronics devices and smart phones, tablets and set top boxes among other things.
The firm has existing R&D centers in China and in the United States and works as a contractor to other computer chip companies, helping them complete additional parts of semiconductor designs.
With a total investment of 1.3 billion yuan ($204 million), the project will be committed to building internet protocol platforms and providing customers with more complete customized solutions.
Taking advantage of its appealing industry and talent policies, as well as the collaborative atmosphere of the integrated circuits industry in the Lin-gang Special Area, VeriSilicon is expected to optimize its R&D funds, technologies and workforce and to boost its research capabilities.
In the wake of the VeriSilicon venture, Lin-gang is also expected to attract more leading chip-designing companies from around the world to settle there. This is seen as helping to coordinate the upstream and downstream areas of the IC industries in the Lin-gang Special Area.
In addition, the cooperation will speed up the industrialization and innovation of the domestic fifth generation of Reduced Instruction Set, or RISC-V chips – the open-source processor technology that competes with ARM, the most widely used family of microprocessors worldwide.
Moreover, the move is expected to play an important role in building a world-class industrial cluster for IC in the area.
Address No 200 Shengang Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China
Zip Code 201306


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Electronics Scotland's newly-launched Action Plan for the country's beleaguered technology sector is threatening to turn into a damp squib following the revelation that it will receive no new public funding and its aggressive dismissal by leading politicians.
The Electronics Industry Action Plan, a five-year initiative launched last week, is intended to address skills shortages, develop supply chain initiatives and promote R&D.
But a spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise, which is backing the programme, admitted that the government would not be offering any new money to carry out the programme. Instead, other schemes are to be cut or postponed.
"The money's from existing budgets but redirected to electronics," she said.
Kenny MacAskill MSP, the Scottish National Party's shadow minister for enterprise, dismissed the plan almost as soon as it was published.
"Anyone could have written it, it's a wish list," he told Electronics Times. "There's plenty of spin but where's the substance? Is it going to be followed up by action?"
MacAskill called on Wendy Alexander, the Scottish Executive's minister for enterprise, to make a more robust commitment to the country's beleaguered high tech sector.
He also wants a debate on the Action Plan in the Scottish Parliament so that MSPs can get a clearer idea of how it is being funded.
According to Alexander's spokeswoman, there is no plan for such a debate.
Even the launch of the action plan was described by the Scottish Enterprise spokeswoman as a low-key "talking heads thing".
The initiative was unveiled by Alexander, Hugh Aitken, chairman of Electronics Scotland, and Robert Crawford, CEO of Scottish Enterprise.
"Electronics Scotland's role will now be to track the outputs from the action plan and be ready to change the focus of the plan as the industry transforms," Aitken said.
"We have to adapt to the changing global landscape, look at alternative ways of working and think creatively if we are to have a sustainable electronics sector in Scotland."
Under the plan, Scottish Enterprise has earmarked £2.5m for retraining through the Modern Apprenticeships scheme. However, the money is 'matched' funding and will only materialise if the industry puts forward the same amount.


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New York City will soon be getting the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere.
Called Edge, the new attraction is located in Hudson Yards and stands above 100 stories, which roughly translates to 1,100 feet in the air. Its unique design suspends the viewing deck out on the exterior of the skyscraper, allowing you to reach up to 80 feet beyond the actual building itself. Aside from offering a 360-degree panoramic view of one of the most beautiful cityscapes in the world, part of its flooring will be constructed from glass, allowing visitors to look right down 100 floors. A staircase to the side leads up to a higher level where you can enjoy the views of the Big Apple from an even higher vantage point, while a champagne bar offering light refreshments tops off the wondrous experience.
For those in NYC or hoping to visit, the new Edge sky deck will open its doors to visitors March 2020, with tickets now already on sale online, starting at $36 USD for general admissions, a $2 USD discount over purchasing them on-site. Head over to the official website to learn more now.
Elsewhere in travel, check out our Editors’ Picks for the best holiday getaways.