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20 Years Asclepion
20 years of success story – Asclepion Laser Technologies celebrates new milestone with event character
Asclepion celebrates 20th company anniversary – 20 years of innovation, progress and success – Employees celebrate a week in-house with various challenges – Family & Friends Day on 16 June 2023 – Asclepion opens its doors and offers many event highlights – Asclepion museum, company rally and live music are well received – Asclepion’s company history dates back to 1977
20 years of innovation, progress and success – Asclepion Laser Technologies GmbH celebrated its 20 years of affiliation with the world-renowned laser group El.En Group last month. Although Asclepion’s company history dates back to 1977, the foundation for the company’s breakthrough was laid in 2003: The name “Asclepion Laser Technologies” was born and with it many innovative ideas in production, design and technology.
Today, customers in over 70 countries trust the Made-in-Germany technology and confirm Asclepion’s distinction as TOP 100 of the most innovative medium-sized companies in Germany. For the company’s anniversary, the company planned a week full of teambuilding and fun for all employees and crowned the anniversary week on 16 June 2023 with the “Family & Friends Day”, where close members of the team were allowed to get a very special insight into Asclepion’s headquarters in Jena.
A day full of highlights: The “Family & Friends Day
The company sees itself as a close-knit union between team members, leaders, the parent company El.En. Group and its two sister companies Quanta and Deka – like one big family. For this family, Luise Zimmermann, Marketing Specialist at Asclepion and head of the anniversary week, thought of one or two highlights during the week of 12 – 16 June. “There should be something for everyone,” says Zimmermann. Therefore, in addition to puzzle days and sports challenges, there were also creative tasks that the staff could solve together over the week. This was an ideal way to get in the mood for the final day of the anniversary week, the Family & Friends Day. For this, Asclepion invited all family members as well as friends of the team to get to know Asclepion from a new perspective: from live music to an Asclepion museum, company rally, insights into laser production to children’s programme and regional treats and fundraising activities, a day with an all-round carefree package was provided. “Just the way we approach our product range. Something for everyone, all inclusive in a 360-degree carefree package,” says a delighted Thomas Unger, COO & CMO of the successful laser manufacturing company.
20 years of cohesion
What impressed the company, its employees and friends and family who visited on Family & Friends Day the most was the sense of cohesion throughout the company. “It is impressive to walk through the Asclepion Museum and not only discover the company history, but also feel the drive for innovation and progress,” says Philipp Kaufmann, Marketing Specialist and with Asclepion for more than 3 years now. “This calls for cohesion. A cohesion that you certainly felt back then, but can definitely still grasp in the company today.” The “Asclepion Rally” also received great praise. It led through the company with various audio-visual stations and gave insights into development and production, manufacturing, training rooms as well as fitness and recreation areas, which Asclepion recently had renovated for its employees.
A new era: How Asclepion became Asclepion
Although the foundation for Asclepion as it exists today was laid 20 years ago with the merger of the El.En. Group, the company’s enthusiasm for lasers, its experience and its history go back much further. In 1977, today’s company was founded under a different name in Heroldsberg and shortly afterwards was already operating with its own product range as a renowned laser company with direct sales in Germany. In the 1990s, the company positioned itself in Optical Valley Jena and collaborated for some time with the world-renowned optics company Jenoptik. “Our history makes us proud,” explains Unger. “From the beginning, the will for true laser innovation, good mergers with equally successful like-minded people and a success story that we still want to continue writing piece by piece today.”
DASIL Bangkok 2023 will take place October 25-27, 2023, and there are three full days of learning and educational opportunities planned that are not to be missed. Bangkok, Thailand, is a magical place with all its beauty, history and culture …
Asclepion serves its customers in German-speaking countries through a continuous presence and permanent availability. With a large team of product consultants, we guarantee optimal advice on our …
The World Congress of Dermatology (WCD) is one of the largest international dermatological conferences. It is organised under the auspices of the International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) …


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51% of UK card payments are now contactless
Call me a sceptic because I have always been on edge about having a contactless card but new data from Barclaycard’s Contactless Spending Index shows contactless card payments rose by more than a third in the last year.
In a record-breaking year for “touch and go” payments, which have a limit of £30, 51% of in-store transactions were made using contactless cards in 2016.
Unsurprisingly, there has been a significant rise in debit and credit card payments – doubling over the last decade. Our fondness for paying by contactless card might have something to do with a recent rise.
According to the UK Cards Association, this year has also seen a 90% boost in the usage of mobile payments, as smartphone apps close the gap on contactless cards.
Adam Herson, Barclaycard mobile payments director, said, “Our data shows that growth in contactless spending has been surging for several years, but this latest insight is particularly significant as it shows shoppers now prefer to pay with ‘touch and go’, with more than half of eligible transactions made this way.”
He continued, “During this time we’ve seen the technology evolve at a rapid pace – from mobile and wearable devices – to invisible payments such as our newly launched ‘Grab+Go’ concept, which allows consumers to scan and pay for their shopping with a smartphone.”
September 2017 marks the tenth anniversary of Barclaycard introducing contactless payments to the UK, but personally I am still a little unsure. Since pulling up at the McDonalds drive through (I know it was to keep the kids happy, NOT my own enjoyment.) I approached the window and went to take my card out, to which the cashier replied, “don’t worry we’ve already taken the payment contactless.” But it wasn’t even out of my pocket!

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Blockchain Technologygrant fundingNSFResearch
For this latest grant round, the NSF is looking for university-based teams, as well as nonprofits and research outfits, to submit proposals. The propos... Read More
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A senior executive from the provider of China's top photo-retouching app, Meitu, will now lead HBUS – the new U.S. arm of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.
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Bitcoin Miner BTCC to Sell Stake in Pool for $17 Million
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Bitcoin Lose $230 Billion in 6 Months, No Panic! $406 Billion Wiped off Chinese Stocks in ONE day
Bitcoin price hit a yearly low around $5,781 at 16:00 (GMT+8) June 24. The recent drop has seen bitcoin lose more than 70% from $20,000 since its all-time high price last December.
As the original


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We’ve all lived under our parents’ roofs, but many of us in adulthood wouldn’t choose to live by their rules. We believe ourselves capable of making our own choices and keeping ourselves safe. If we’re worried about security, we shop around and buy a security system. If we want privacy, we pick out some curtains, plant arborvitae, or choose not to buy a home within stone’s throw of a neighbor. We don’t need or want overbearing parents making these decisions for us. So why are some browsers acting like helicopter parents?
Browsers are, metaphorically speaking, our homes on the web, the confines within which we live out our digital lives. Apple’s Safari browser and Mozilla’s Firefox browser recently announced changes to their default privacy protections. Safari already blocks most tracking tags by default and has now tightened its “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” feature, which disrupts many of the services that are used to deliver display ads and measure conversions on the web by rendering them cookie-less. Firefox is on its way to block all cross-site trackers. Mozilla has said its effort is largely about increasing the speed of the internet, building trust with users is second on its asserted list of motivators—of course we all think the internet is too damn slow. (The average speed of the internet has grown around 400% over the last 10 years.)
At face value, these moves seem to be good for privacy and good for consumers, right? Not so fast. The deeper one digs into the implications of these sorts of decisions, made putatively on behalf of web users, the more one has to question if anyone besides these two companies—one of which owns an App Store that is plenty supportive of app tracking and personalized ads—really benefits.
None of these browser’s actions lead to fewer ads, by the way, only ones less relevant to your interests. Apple knows this, which is why it doesn’t hold its own app environment to the same standards, where it has expanded its wager on search ads. As Ad Age has pointed out, “Part of the reason for [Apple’s] ROI is the extreme targeting that Apple deploys. The company only shows very targeted ads based on intent, which means that irrelevant results seldom appear even if an advertiser tries to buy them.” So, while it might use Safari to cut back on open-web tracking, it has ramped up tracking in apps. In its own words, here’s how Apple says it does personalized advertising, in addition to what it does in location-based and other forms of targeted app ads: “Additionally to ensure ads are relevant, Apple’s advertising platform creates groups of people, called segments, who share similar characteristics and uses these groups for delivering targeted ads. Information about you is used to determine which segments you are assigned to, and thus, which ads you receive.”
What's Really Going On?
The result is, despite grand and virtuous privacy claims each time browsers make these kinds of announcements and garner headlines about their theoretical interests in protecting users’ interests, others in the ecosystem like advertisers and those who service them by not jamming up the traditional cookie-based structure of the web get implicitly labeled as the enemy of the people. Sounds so nice and moral and simple!
The problem is, in addition to the intensifying tracking in apps, when you take away the value from cookies in the open web, you have collateral damage that diminishes the other players and threatens especially many smaller-scale sites, which might need to put up paywalls to survive and get into a spiral of fewer readers-fewer ads-less income…. The diversity of voices and choices gets constrained by these big browsers deciding they know what’s best for us and risking reduction in the digital advertising economy, a true bright spot in innovation in the American economy. Without tracking mechanisms, publishers can’t earn a premium by selling advertising space to specific audiences. These revenues power much of the billions of dollars of growth over the last number of years. The latest figures available show that for the full-year 2017 digital advertising revenues were at $88 billion, which makes it now the largest advertising medium. While a lot of that goes to the market leaders, it also feeds local news publishers, mom-and-pop website owners, and online content entrepreneurs.
On top of all these issues, it also takes away freedoms from users to choose how they control their privacy online. There are already tools individual consumers are opting to use to manage their privacy settings on their own. Chrome (the leading browser, at least for the moment) has them. Third-party apps like Ghostery have them, too. Apple and Mozilla aren’t rescuing people from anything they can’t rescue themselves from if they wanted to.
Responsible People, Responsible Choices=Vibrant Web
People also vote with their browser choice. In August 2018, Safari had 13% and Firefox had 7.1% of the market. Neither has ever been the most popular browser. Firefox has been on a long, slow decline for about 8 years. Historically, Safari has reason to celebrate if its share tops just 15%. It would seem in the free economy that winners win consumers when they deliver what consumers actually want.
Both the Firefox and Apple brands have regularly championed the choices they make (and take away from) consumers in service of protecting their privacy, and it hasn’t changed their fates. Safari has long blocked some uses of third-party cookies. (Cookies are the anonymous tags that advertisers, publishers, and their service providers use to track consumer behaviors online in order to increase the value and effectiveness of advertising.) Firefox attempted to block cookies once before in 2013, but after industry pressure and consumer yawns, the browser continued its percentage decline and gave up.
While all browsers have settings turned on by default, they become like those helicoptering parents when they take away choices responsible people can make for themselves—and blithely decide to impose rules that take income away from the smaller players that make the open web so vibrant. The battle for browser dominance shouldn’t result in a loss of publishers. The job of browsers is to give us all the freedom to choose how we explore a vast and endless internet, not to take it away.


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What Do Weak Holiday Retail Sales Mean?
The U.S. Commerce Department recently announced an unexpected 1% fall in December retail sales, despite the year’s busiest holiday shopping season. Retail activity plunged a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in December, excluding the more volatile construction, automotive and restaurant sectors. Not just that, the Department also announced lower revised numbers for October and November.
The heading numbers are also significant as it came amid rising consumer sentiment, improving jobs data and declining gas prices, all along the much talked period of sustained growth and wage gains. Analysts pointed that saving at fuel stations isn’t really converting into increased spending, and consumers are exercising cautious buying behavior or focusing on reducing high debt levels with extra savings.
Consumer spending in the U.S. accounts for almost two-thirds of economic growth and hence the latest retail numbers are viewed with caution. The lower numbers also cut analysts’ expectation of far more positive numbers in December, supported by 0.6% gain reported for November. Retails sales increase of 4% through the year also suggests the weakest increase since 2009.
Among the retailers which faced the heat include retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) as both of them reported 0.9% sales decline in December, the biggest decline since 2011. The stocks of Wal-Mart and Macy’s fell nearly 3% and 1.75%, respectively, during Wednesday’s session.
The Commerce Department’s announcement made the broader indices tumbled along with losses reported in many of the heavy-weight retail stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI), which closed 186 points or 1.06% down, was 350 points down at one point during the session. Alongside the U.S. retail numbers, World Bank’s forecast of lower growth projections also hampered the traders’ sentiment.
NASDAQ Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) fell 22 points or 0.5% and S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) fell 11.76 points or 0.6% on Wednesday.
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Abbas is breaking down his Cards of the Week, including some new Monarch tech and disappointments and a potential hero to look out for!
MetaZoo is a cool, new trading card game that uses the environment around you, but how exactly is it played? James has an easy breakdown!
Flesh and Blood is poised to become the next big TCG, so which formats of Flesh and Blood are right for you? LSV breaks it down.
Knowing how to play your hands in Flesh and Blood can help find your role (and your opponent’s) between aggro, midrange, control or combo.
This week on Arsenal Pass, Brendan and Hayden do a deep dive on the Wizard class, from deck building tips to play lines to winning.
Karol’s cooked up another crazy brew, looking to swing for 18 and intimidate three times in a single turn with Rhinar Tear Blitz Combo!
Red Zone Rogue’s going over a new deck tech for one of Monarch’s latest heroes with a new Blitz Chane deck that’s going berserk!
With the recent announcement of Flesh and Blood events in the US, Hayden has some big hopes for the future of competitive Flesh and Blood.
Join the Arsenal Pass, Brendan Patrick and Hayden Dale, as they pit Boltyn vs Prism in this duel between Light against Light!
James looks at why you should play MetaZoo, a new card game that’s attracting a lot of attention since its successful launch.
Join DMArmada as he breaks down a new Dorinthea Blitz build after the release of Monarch and an infusion of new options.
Fabled cards are some of the rarest and most unique in Flesh and Blood, and Abbas is looking at their popularity in his Cards of the Week!


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Panasonic and Sony announced a partnership during the summer of 2012 that would see them jointly develop OLED panels for use in televisions and large-sized displays. Now just 18 months after joining forces, the duo have decided to part ways according to anonymous sources as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Many believed OLED technology would be the next big thing in televisions. Both companies showcased 56-inch OLED sets at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January but ultimately, neither company released an OLED television this year; Samsung and LG were the only two companies to do so in 2013.
It wasn’t all for not, however, as the partnership did help both companies speed up OLED production. The much-hyped OLED sets never really caught on with consumers similar to the lackluster success of 3D televisions over the past few years.
All signs at this point suggest the next major television innovation will be 4K resolution and as such, it appears that both Panasonic and Sony may instead focus their efforts in that area of research. Research firm NPD DisplaySearch forecasts shipments of 4K Ultra HD televisions will reach 1.9 million this year and swell to 12.7 million by the end of next year. At present, however, high prices and lack of content have kept most prospective buyers at bay thus far.
The publication notes that the two may still explore working together on OLED panels at some point in the future but for now, the partnership is a done deal.


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March 8, 2020
In addition to software outsourcing, the IT industry in Vietnam has flourished with 7 new directions.
Solidiance experts predict that, by 2020, the Fintech Vietnam market will reach 7.8 billion USD. Since 2015, Fintech startups thrive in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Fintech has been on the world map like Momo in the Global Top 100 Fintech and Money Lover is the leading spending management application.
However, compared to other countries in the region, the amount of fintech in Vietnam is still modest. According to incomplete statistics, in the period 2017-2018, Singapore had more than 490 Fintech companies, Malaysia had 196 companies, Indonesia had 262 companies.
Learn more about our services: https://inapps.net/services/digital-transformation-solution/
This is the ‘solution’ technology for transparency, which is difficult to achieve in the old Internet world, where data and authority are concentrated in some organizations. With a strong force of engineers, hard to learn and ready to take new opportunities, Vietnam is considered one of the emerging Blockchain Hubs in the region.
The majority of Vietnamese Blockchain products are aimed at the global market. Some prominent names such as OmniLabs, IBL, Lina, Nexttech, Umbala Network … According to Infinity Blockchain Labs, there are currently more than 430,000 opensource projects and 800 large and small startups in the world operating on the Blockchain platform.
With the development of platforms like OpenAI, OpenCV, TensorFlow, Caffe … the problem of algorithms is not too difficult. The rest is whether the data is large enough and high enough for AI to work.
Enterprises with products that come to life, receive large capital or have high revenue can be mentioned as FPT.AI, ELSA, QRM, Hana.ai, CyRadar, GotIt … Most recently, VinGroup also entered this market with the establishment of the AI-VinAI Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (under VinTech Company).
More than 73% of technology companies are intending to apply AI to their products. This also makes the demand for AI engineers at an alarming rate.
SaaS (Software as a Service) is predicted by many experts to create a new trend in businesses in Vietnam. According to BetterCloud’s survey, by 2020, there will be about 73% of businesses turn to SaaS full time. SAAS is leading the B2B Tech field in many countries but in Vietnam, it has not been exploited in the best way, opening many “martial arts land” for startups in this field.
Currently using SAAS is a lot easier than traditional software. The market has both businesses with decades of experience like Misa, and fledgling startups such as Base, Cloudjet, Vexere … with the mindset of making modern products and applying new technologies.
According to the latest figures from the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy released at the end of September 2018, Vietnam’s e-commerce revenue in 2017 reached US $ 6.2 billion, up 24% compared to the previous year. same period last year. Therefore, Vietnam e-commerce is considered by many experts to be attractive with a predicted scale of US $ 10 billion by 2020.
In addition to familiar businesses such as Lazada, Shopee, Sendo, Tiki … it is possible to mention well-known names in recent times Ecomobi, iFind, Zody, Jamja, Accesstrade, Massoffer, Wisepass, Websosanh …
Learn more about E-commerce app development services: https://inapps.net/services/e-commerce-application-development-service/
The platform can be roughly divided into two branches, the transaction platform used to optimize transactions between users and service providers (Uber, Grab, Go-Jek, Amazon, eBay …) and innovation platform (foundation platform) is the development platform, supporting business models, creating ecosystems (App Store, Google Play …).
These are the five largest platforms in the world today: Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, SAP, and Salesforce valued at up to US $ 911 billion. In comparison, innovative and transactional platforms like Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba and Xiaomi are worth up to US $ 2,000 billion.
In Vietnam, commercial platforms are thriving. Fierce competition is the foundation of e-logistics, i.e. ride-hailing, delivery, with ‘talented’ people like Grab, Go-Viet, FastGo, Be, Now, AhaMove … Other segments such as life, health, the business also have units such as Jupviec, eDoctor, Luxstay, Homedy, Chili …
Learn more about our Marketplace development services: https://inapps.net/services/marketplace-app-development/
To date, EdTech market in Vietnam has received an investment of about 55 million USD. Currently, there are about 50 prominent EdTech companies. The market has several long-term names like Topica while EdTech is still in its infancy. With just under 5% of the office population using one of the online education services, Edtech shows that there is still a large market waiting to be explored.
Established in 2016, InApps Technology has continually evolved over the past years to reach to the forefront of being a leading software development and IT outsourcing company in Vietnam.
We have great involvement with creating innovative applications that are intended to meet customer’s particular necessities to give them exceptionally strong, utilitarian and savvy applications to pick up with the most extreme rate of return.
Greatest execution with minimal effort support giving you forefront application development at affordable prices. Contact us for more information.
View our case studies: https://inapps.net/case-study-category/mobile-application-development/
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E-commerce Statistics – E-commerce Reaches Record Sales
E-Commerce Statistics – E-commerce Reaches Record Sales
The Census Bureau released a recent study on e-commerce statistics where e-commerce now has a moved well over the 4% mark of retail market share. This is still a relatively small share and it needs to be seen how e-commerce will grow vis-a-vis the brick-and-mortar economy.
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Welcome to another edition of In the Loop, the Los Angeles Times' theme park newsletter. I'm Funland theme park blogger Brady MacDonald, and this week we bid farewell to the “Aladdin” musical, prepare to break ground on a "Star Wars" land and check out the best new rides of 2016.
SeaWorld San Diego
The crowd reacts to an orca during a performance at SeaWorld in San Diego in 2014. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Are SeaWorld's whales better off staying in their glass-and-concrete enclosures? Marine biologists -- including SeaWorld critics -- agree that the whales probably will never be released to the open seas.
Also: SeaWorld sues the California Coastal Commission over a “no-breeding” clause added to the orca project. And a federal judge throws out three lawsuits that contend the theme park company falsely advertises that its killer whales are treated well.
Top 32 of 2016
Let's take a closer look at the 32 most-anticipated additions planned for 2016 at theme parks around the world. (Dollywood)
Best of 2016
We count down the 32 most-anticipated amusement park equipment for sale and attractions planned for 2016 at theme parks close to home, across the United States and around the world.
Mad Tea Party
Arrow Development built many of the human gyroscope for sale in Fantasyland before Disneyland's debut in 1955, including the Mad Tea Party. (Disneyland)
Meet the legendary ride maker that invented the modern theme park landscape of roller coasters, dark rides and water rides.
The "Aladdin" musical at Disney California Adventure comes to an end Jan. 10 after a 13-year run. (Disney)
"Aladdin" runs out of wishes as the curtain drops on the 13-year run of the musical at Disney California Adventure.
Disneyland is making room for "Star Wars" attractions
A celebration of “Star Wars” called Season of the Force has transformed Tomorrowland in Disneyland. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Star Wars Land
Disneyland prepares to shut down a significant chunk of the park to launch its largest expansion ever: a Star Wars Land.
Monday, January 11, 2016
Yas Island might still be in its first stages of development but completely new interesting attractions are now being continually provided t...
If, you will be starting a fresh business and want to put in place an amusement part, usually do not waste your cash on designing and creati...
When you're wanting to get into buying and taking advantage of mechanical rides, you have to know how to locate the right goods and serv...
Are you curious to understand more about the very best outdoor amusement park rides for the kids? If so, you wille come off to the right pla...


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SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ESET®, a global pioneer in proactive protection for more than two decades, today announced the release of ESET Secure Authentication (ESA) 2.4®, a mobile-based two-factor authentication system which provides additional security for accessing company networks and sensitive data, safe and hassle-free.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) safeguards your company against data breaches and supports privacy compliance by adding an extra layer of security to verification processes. Unlike standard password authentication, ESET Secure Authentication requires two elements: a user’s password, plus a one-time password (OTP) generated on the user’s smartphone. It’s the easiest way for small to medium businesses to reduce the risk of stolen, weak or cracked passwords.
“In today’s security environment, two-factor authentication is extremely important given all the poor password practices,” said Jeff Chen, Director of Solutions Marketing at ESET. “ESA 2.4 helps prevent the risk of breaches by using unique passwords for each access, and also adds two-factor authentication to a wider range of applications and data such as Office 365 or Google apps. In response to customer feedback, ESA 2.4 makes significant improvements in both user experience and support.”
ESA 2.4 includes local login protection for Windows in a domain environment, as well custom delivery options and support for web/cloud services via Microsoft ADFS 3.0® integration. ESA 2.4 can be easily deployed to supplement nearly all existing VPN devices, adding strong authentication without any significant change to the VPN configuration. Any business running Active Directory can protect their data in 10 minutes with ESA’s simple double-click installer.
ESET recently joined technology industry leaders to support increased cybersecurity awareness and encourage consumer use of multi-factor authentication to improve online security. Together with Google®, Apple®, Facebook®, Amazon® and other leading technology companies, ESET signed a letter to the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) supporting President Obama’s effort to increase awareness of key security steps that all Americans can take.
For more information about ESA 2.4 please visit http://www.eset.com/us/products/secure-authentication/.
Since 1987, ESET® has been developing award-winning security software that now helps over 100 million users to Enjoy Safer Technology. Its broad security product portfolio covers all popular platforms and provides businesses and consumers around the world with the perfect balance of performance and proactive protection. The company has a global sales network covering 180 countries, and regional offices in Bratislava, San Diego, Singapore and Buenos Aires. For more information visit www.eset.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.


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Walmart fights back against San Diego City Councilmember’s
Walmart is going to the voters to get its supercenter stores in San Diego. A signature drive began this morning at Walmart's four stores in the city.
KUSI's Steve Bosh has been following this story and lays out the details.
If this signature drive is successful the city may have to call a special election next year at a cost of 2.5-million dollars.
The San Diego City Council overrode the Mayor's veto and kept in place an ordinance that adds so many new regulations to an already large stack of current regulations, that Walmart superstores are in effect, prohibited from being built in the city. So Walmart will ask city residents to repeal this new law.
“We think its unfortunate that the current city council has put us in this position but we're here to advocate on behalf of consumers, and if that means we have to give them a voice at the ballot we're prepared to do that,” said Walmart Vice President Aaron Rios.
The signature gathering started at the Walmart store in Murphy Canyon this morning. Walmart has 30-days to collect 31-thousand signatures.
The council passed the ordinance a few weeks ago on the premise that big box stores have an adverse impact on small businesses, and neighborhoods. But Walmart supporters say this is about choice, cheaper prices, and jobs.
The city is behind the 8-ball if Walmart's signature drive is successful. In March, the new council will have two options: repeal the ordinance, or send this to the voters in a special election costing about 2.5-million dollars.
“It would be disappointing for the new council that will be seated on Monday to make the decision to spend tax dollars to put this on the ballot,” said the Walmart V.P.
Two council members who helped to fast track passage of this ordinance, Donna Frye and Ben Hueso, are gone. With two new council members being seated on Monday the dynamic could change.
Council Members Carl DeMaio, Kevin Faulconer and Sherri Lightner voted to sustain the Mayor's veto.
New member Lori Zapf will join them leaving everyone to wonder whether the other new member, David Alvarez, will join them and kill the ordinance, or send this to the voters.


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As an avid observer of media trends, I can’t help but reflect on what the declines of BuzzFeed and Vice tell us about the ever-evolving landscape of media businesses. From my perspective, it serves as a stark reminder of the challenges and risks that come with operating in this dynamic industry. Join me as I delve into the intriguing implications behind BuzzFeed and Vice’s setbacks, unraveling the valuable lessons they offer to media entrepreneurs like myself. So, strap in, and let’s explore the fascinating realm of media business transformation together.
In recent years, the media industry has undergone significant transformations that have challenged traditional print publications and forced media companies to adapt to the digital age. With the rise of social media platforms and the increasing consumption of free online content, media businesses are facing unprecedented challenges in connecting with and retaining younger audiences. Two media giants, BuzzFeed and Vice, have experienced noteworthy declines, shedding light on the struggles faced by media businesses in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. This article will examine the declines of BuzzFeed and Vice and explore what they indicate about the current state of media businesses.
The Decline of BuzzFeed and Vice
BuzzFeed and Vice were once considered pioneers in the digital media landscape, known for their distinctive content and ability to capture the attention of younger audiences. However, both companies have faced significant obstacles in recent years, revealing the harsh realities of the media industry.
BuzzFeed, renowned for its listicles, quizzes, and viral content, saw a decline in its overall performance as advertisers began to question the efficacy of its native advertising model. Native advertising, a form of paid content that blends seamlessly with editorial content, was BuzzFeed’s main revenue stream. However, as the market became saturated with similar advertising strategies across various platforms, advertisers started seeking alternative ways to reach their target audiences.
Additionally, BuzzFeed faced controversies surrounding its journalistic practices and the dissemination of fake news. These issues raised concerns about the credibility of the company’s content, leading to a loss of trust among its audience. The decline of BuzzFeed serves as a cautionary tale for media companies that rely heavily on native advertising and the importance of maintaining journalistic integrity.
Vice, originally hailed as a countercultural voice that produced edgy and alternative content, also faced its share of challenges. The company expanded rapidly, raising significant amounts of capital and partnering with major media conglomerates. However, Vice struggled to convert its popularity into sustainable revenue.
One of the primary reasons behind Vice’s decline was its failure to adapt quickly enough to changing consumer behavior and revenue models. The company heavily relied on digital advertising, but as ad-blocking software became more prevalent, the effectiveness of digital ads diminished. Furthermore, the increasing dominance of social media platforms as content distributors meant that traditional media companies had to compete for audience attention in a vastly overcrowded space.
What BuzzFeed and Vice’s Declines Reveal
The declines of BuzzFeed and Vice provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by media businesses today. Here are five key takeaways:
An Oversaturated Advertising Market: The rise of free online content and the abundance of digital advertising options have led to a saturated market. Companies like BuzzFeed and Vice, which relied heavily on advertising revenue, struggled to stand out amidst the noise. Media businesses need to explore alternative revenue streams and diversify their offerings to stay afloat.
Shifting Consumer Behavior: With the proliferation of social media platforms, consumers have become accustomed to accessing news and entertainment instantaneously. Media companies must adapt their content distribution strategies and find innovative ways to engage audiences across multiple platforms.
Digital Transformation is Essential: Successful media companies have embraced digital transformation and data-driven strategies. By leveraging technology and analyzing user data, companies can better understand their target audiences and deliver personalized experiences.
Collaboration and Partnerships: Collaboration and partnerships with industry players are vital for media businesses to stay competitive in the digital age. By forming alliances, companies can pool resources, expand their reach, and tap into new markets.
Audience Building and Monetization: Media companies should focus on building a loyal audience and selling their own products or services. While an extensive audience size is beneficial, the market size and the potential for monetization are more crucial for media businesses’ long-term sustainability.
Why did BuzzFeed and Vice experience declines? BuzzFeed and Vice faced declines due to challenges in their revenue models, controversies surrounding journalistic practices, failure to adapt to changing consumer behavior, and an oversaturated advertising market.
How can media companies adapt to the digital age? Media companies can adapt to the digital age by embracing digital transformation, incorporating data-driven strategies, collaborating with industry players, and focusing on audience building and monetization.
What are the challenges faced by media businesses in connecting with younger audiences? Media businesses struggle to connect with younger audiences due to shifting consumer behavior, the dominance of social media platforms, and the need for innovative content distribution strategies.
Why is it important for media companies to focus on monetization potential rather than just audience size? While a large audience is beneficial, media businesses need to prioritize the market size and the potential for monetization to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability.
What can media companies do to regain trust from their audiences? To regain trust, media companies should prioritize ethical journalism practices, fact-checking, and transparency. Building credibility and maintaining journalistic integrity are essential in rebuilding trust with audiences.
The declines of BuzzFeed and Vice highlight the challenges faced by media businesses in the digital age. With an oversaturated advertising market, shifting consumer behavior, and the need for digital transformation, media companies must adapt and innovate to remain relevant. Collaboration, audience building, and monetization potential are critical factors that contribute to the long-term success of media businesses. By learning from the obstacles faced by BuzzFeed and Vice, media companies can navigate the evolving media landscape and thrive in the digital era.


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The Swedish fintech valuation grew to $46 billion after it secured another investment worth $639million.
Klarna already managed to raise $1bn earlier this year from a number of undisclosed investors at a $31bn value.
Read also: A$AP Rocky invests in Klarna and launches an ad campaign for the company
This round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, participated by existing investors Adit Ventures, Honeycomb Asset Management and WestCap Group, to support Klarna’s international expansion and further capture global retail growth.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna Founder and CEO said: “Consumers continue to reject interest-and fee-laden revolving credit and are moving toward debit while simultaneously seeking retail experiences that better meet their needs. Klarna’s more transparent and convenient alternatives align with evolving global consumer preferences and drive worldwide growth.”
“I’m very proud of the investors who are supporting Klarna’s ambition to challenge these outdated models to empower consumers with fair, transparent, and convenient products to help them bank, shop and pay each day.”
Yanni Pipilis, managing partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers said, “Klarna’s growth is founded on a deep understanding of how the purchasing behaviours of consumers are changing, an evolution which we believe is accelerating.”
“Klarna has already successfully expanded into the US and we are excited to continue supporting the team in bringing the next generation of financial services to new markets worldwide.”
The volume of transactions also testifies to how the most valuable startup in Europe is doing. In the past quarter, Klarna reached $ 18.1 billion, almost once as much as in the same months last year.
In 2020, Klarna processed $ 53 billion in payments, significantly more than the Affirm or Afterpay competitors plan for this year.


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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 users have been delivered some surprise news with pictures of what Samsung has planned next emerging.
The Galaxy Note 9 was one of the biggest smartphone releases of last year and time is almost upon us for its successor to be revealed.
It’s been claimed that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 successor will be revealed at an upcoming Unpacked event in New York City on August 7 2019.
The Note 10 will allegedly be revealed during a “flashy” event at the same Brooklyn location that Samsung used to lift the lid on the Galaxy Note 9.
Ahead of the Galaxy Note 10 unveiling Samsung fans could have got their best look at what the device will end up looking like.
Mobile Fun has revealed the official Olixar range of accessories for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, which you can check out by clicking here.
And, tallying up with previous rumours, they have cases for two different devices – the Note 10 and Note 10 Pro.
As per the rumours, the Note 10 devices showcased by Olixar have a single front facing camera in the centre that’s housed in a punch-hole cutout.
The Note 10 models feature triple-rear cameras while the case designs show the upcoming Samsung phones as dropping the dedicated Bixby button.
The Olixar cases also show the Note 10 and Note 10 Pro as featuring a power key and volume adjuster on the left handside.
It’s unclear by looking at the latest case designs whether Samsung as rumoured will be dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack with the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Pro.
But Olixar have said that the Galaxy Note 10 series will be coming with Sound on Display technology.
This ditches the need for an earpiece to make calls, instead using vibration to carry sound to a user’s ear.
The tech also helps reduce the size of the bezels to virtually nothing, which can be seen in the latest Olixar pictures.
It’s believed the Galaxy Note 10 will boast a 6.3inch display while the Note 10 Pro is rumoured to have a giant 6.75inch screen.
It has also been claimed that both Note 10 models will come in two varieties – one that supports 5G and another that is limited to 4G.
Samsung are rumoured to be unveiling the Note 10 at the Barclays Centre in New York in August, which is the same venue they used to launch the Note 9 in 2018.
After the Note 9 launched during summer last year Express.co.uk gave our verdict on the device, which at the time we awarded a five out of five rating.
In our Note 9 review we said: “The Note 9 is blisteringly fast, has that giant storage option and a battery that seems to go on forever.
“The cameras are also brilliant and the update to S Pen adds some nice extra touches including that remote control functionality.
“If you want a big phone there’s very little that comes close to the new Note.”
• Stay tuned to Express.co.uk for more Samsung news


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We’re getting even closer to the launch of the Pixel 7 phone and Pixel Watch, with Google’s fall launch event set to take place on Thursday, October 6th, at 10AM ET.
While we have an idea of what to expect, Google may still have a few surprises in store. Here’s everything we’re looking forward to at the upcoming Google Pixel event.
The Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro to arrive with incremental upgrades
There wouldn’t be a Pixel launch event without a new generation of Pixel smartphones. We’re going to see what Google has in store for the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, which Google offered a brief glimpse of during I/O back in May.
At the event, Google showed off renders of the devices, which each come with an aluminum camera bar and the upgraded Tensor G2 chip (we’ll get to that below). The Pixel 7 Pro houses two cutouts for its three-camera array, while the base Pixel 7 comes with one cutout for its two cameras.
We’re not expecting too many changes when it comes to camera specs, as the Pixel 7’s rumored to sport the same 50MP main sensor as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Both the base Pixel 7 and 7 Pro could come with an upgraded 11MP front-facing camera, though, which the Pixel 6 Pro already has.
According to 9to5Google, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro may also feature the same displays as their predecessors, coming with 90Hz 1080 x 2400 and 120Hz 1440 x 3120 displays, respectively. The display on the Pixel 7 may actually be slightly smaller than the one on the Pixel 6, while the Pixel 7 Pro may come with a native 1080p mode to potentially help users conserve battery.
Alleged prototypes of the device have made their way around the web, with one user claiming to sell one on eBay and another saying they purchased the device from Facebook Marketplace. More recently, what appears to be a more finalized version of the Pixel 7 Pro popped up in an unboxing video at a tech shop in Bangladesh. These images and videos don’t really tell us anything new about the device but corroborate much of what Google showed us at I/O.
In terms of price, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are expected to stay the same as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro at launch. Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii tweeted out the potential prices for both devices, which could cost $599 for the Pixel 7 and $899 for the Pixel 7 Pro.
The launch of Google’s first Pixel smartwatch
Arguably one of the most exciting things coming out of Google’s upcoming event is the release of its new Pixel Watch. Although Google officially announced the watch at I/O, rumors about the device have been floating around for several months leading up to the event.
So far, we know that the Pixel Watch will feature a circular dome-style watchface with a tactile crown, side button, and a proprietary band that you can swap out for other styles. It will also come with an “improved” version of Wear OS 3 that includes native Google apps like Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Wallet, and Google Home. A new Fitbit integration means you can view and track health information with the watch, such as heart rate, sleep tracking, and Active Zone Minutes.
We’re still not sure which chip the Pixel Watch will use, but a source told 9to5Google that it could come packed with a powerful Samsung Exynos 9110, over 1.5GB of RAM, and up to 32GB of storage. And thanks to potential images and information about the watch leaked to Reddit and Android Central, we know that the device could have a 40mm watchface that’s 14mm thick, while the display itself spans about 30mm.
A report from 9to5Google claims the watch will have a $349 Wi-Fi / Bluetooth-only variation and a more expensive $399 option with LTE connectivity. It could also come in three colorways: black, silver, and gold.
A (slightly) more powerful Tensor G2 chip
Google revealed its first in-house Tensor chip last year before debuting it on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. The company’s poised to reveal the second generation of the chip with the release of the Pixel 7, and some rumors have already given us an idea of what to expect performance-wise.
Developer Kuba Wojciechowski uncovered data on Geekbench that indicates the processor could have the same CPU cores as the first Tensor chip, resulting in a minor 10 percent performance boost. The GPU might get more of a bump, though, with Wojciechowski saying it should get a 20 percent performance improvement and a 20 percent power reduction.
Another look at the Google Pixel tablet
Google teased the Pixel tablet at I/O earlier this year, and it was kind of underwhelming. With its chunky matte white bezel, my colleague Dan Seifert said it resembles “a Samsung tablet from circa 2013 or 2014.” We know for sure it’s going to run Android, but Google didn’t offer any other specifics about the device at I/O.
Leaks have given us some possible hints at what’s to come, however. Specs leaked to 91Mobiles indicate it could have an 11-inch display, Wi-Fi 6 support, as well 128GB and 256GB storage options. Code sleuth Wojciechowski also found evidence of “Pro” tablet variation buried in the first Android 13 quarterly platform release beta. It’s unclear what the differences between the standard tablet and Pro version will be, but findings from 9to5Google suggest the two devices could have different rear cameras.
If Google does give us a better look at the Pixel tablet and reveals a Pro variation, we might not even see the device by the end of this year. At I/O, Google said it’s aiming to launch the tablet in 2023.
Some new Nest devices
The event won’t be all about Pixel devices — we’ll see some new smart home tech, too. For one, we’re expecting a “Pro” version of Google’s Nest Wi-Fi router.
A listing for the upcoming device surfaced recently on B&H Photos for $199.99. The name “Nest Wifi Pro” also cropped up on a listing with the FCC, which indicates it could support Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth LE, and come with Thread mesh networking radios to support the Matter smart home standard.
We may see a new wired Nest doorbell as well. Besides these renders uncovered in the Google Home app by 9to5Google, we don’t know much about the device.
Is a Pixel foldable in the cards?
Rumors about a mysterious Pixel foldable (or two) have been around since last year, and we’ve seen no sign of the device so far. But recent leaks indicate Google’s working on just one device, and it could fold vertically like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold.
In mid-September, Wojciechowski once again spotted code that refers to the folded and unfolded states of a device Google codenamed “Felix.” The code also mentions that the device could have a 64MP primary sensor with a 10.8MP telephoto lens on the back, an 8MP sensor on the inside, and another 10.8MP telephoto lens on the front.
We may not see the foldable Pixel at this event, as Google’s rumored to release the device in the spring of next year.


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Motorola announced the Webtop and laptop dock with the popular Atrix smartphone in early 2011. These docks were a huge hit with the customers and managed to grab some attention (initially). But gradually, Motorola started losing traction in the market as newer and better droids hit the market. Motorola didn’t give up on its docks though which were seen even with the next lot of smartphones that the company launched. Some of these were bundled with the smartphone for a premium price while at the same time they were available separately as well. And now, Motorola has decided to end the sales of all laptop accessories beginning with its new range of droids. The Webtop app which came preloaded in most Moto devices will no longer be seen either. In a statement given by the company, it is clear that the company isn’t willing to continue selling these accessories as they weren’t doing that well of late.
Well, while this is bad news for some, we totally saw it coming. Motorola’s idea initially was to make their device owners realize what they can do with their smartphone. All this in a time when no other manufacturer had such accessories, so one would have expected Motorola to go a long way. But sadly, Motorola got it wrong with the prices. The laptop docks were always on the steeper side which meant that the customers rarely went for it. Perhaps, better marketing would have helped. But it has moved on now which is a good sign, and we can see some time spent on accessories that are worthwhile and which would appeal to the masses.
This is what the company said in its official release – “Motorola’s Webtop app helps users extend their smartphone experience to larger screens. While consumers around the world have adopted Webtop and the concept spurred a lot of innovation in the industry, the adoption has not been strong enough to justify continued resources being allocated to developing Webtop on future devices. We have also seen development of the Android operating system focus on the inclusion of more desktop like features. Beginning with Photon Q and Droid Razr M/Droid Razr HD/Droid Razr Maxx HD, we will no longer be including Webtop on our products moving forward.”
Users who were expecting to see these fancy accessories with the Droid Razr HD, Photon Q or the Razr M are bound for disappointment. The concept, no doubt was very intriguing, but in a time when people are trying to cut costs and make things as simpler as possible, it didn’t make any logical sense. Motorola has a bright future ahead with a bunch of its Android smartphones heading towards us. It will be interesting to see how the fans respond to this.
Via: Android Central


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PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona farmers will quickly start growing hemp as its byproduct – CBD oil – is exploding in popularity, with a few supporters saying it may overtake a normal crop within the state because there’s more cash within the cannabis plant than cotton.
The growing market for hemp, which contains ultra-low degrees of the THC that produces a top in cannabis, should be concentrated in Arizona on producing plants and seeds which you can use to create CBD oils, said Randy Pullen, a previous state Republican Party chairman and hemp processing business investor who assisted put up a situation chapter of the Hemp Industries Association.
CBD oils are increasingly getting used in meals so that as discomfort relievers, and for other conditions that are medical. In April, but, the meals and Drug management issued warning letters to organizations in making unapproved health claims about CBD services and products.
Farmers can easily see a big revenue boost over standard Arizona plants like cotton or alfalfa, Pullen stated, netting $600 per acre compared to about $100 for standard crops like cotton.
“Economically it’s a whole lot more profitable to plant and harvest hemp than it really is to grow and harvest cotton or alfalfa,” Pullen stated in an meeting Tuesday.
That estimate can differ commonly though, centered on federal studies for the crop done prior to the present CDB oil trend.
And farmers, a lot that is notoriously careful is likely to be wary of switching up to a crop without a well established market and purchasers improving to contract for plants, stated Kevin Rogers, executive vice president utilizing the Arizona Cotton Growers Association.
“These guys have actually assets in land, in equipment, in precisely what it will take to help keep their farms year that goes year,? Rogers said of cotton farmers. “A man may try five acres from it, nonetheless it’s method pre-mature. It’s great that there’s a brand new crop that we can have a look at, however it’s when you look at the infancy phase for all of us.”
The 2018 state legislation permitting industrial hemp agriculture and processing would be to simply take impact in August after state agriculture officials arranged a certification and official official certification system. But state lawmakers relocated up the effective date associated with state legislation to might 31 after the federal Farm Bill passed in December and legalized hemp that is industrial.
Brian McGrew operates this system for the department and stated it really is applications that are now reviewing expects to start issuing licenses this week. Seeds could possibly be when you look at the ground by mid-month.
About 200 applications, mainly for growers and processors, was indeed filed following the window that is official on Friday. He stated Wednesday that 35 of these are complete, like the fingerprint approval card, additionally the quantity is increasing daily.
The nationwide Conference of State Legislatures states a lot more than 40 states have established hemp that is industrial programs.
The cannabis targeted for Arizona is not the same variety as utilized to create hemp rope, but rather is really a strain optimized to create probably the most plants and seeds to process into CBD natural natural oils and powders. Following the plants and their seeds are eliminated and processed, the staying dietary fiber can be useful for animal feed, as a concrete strengthener or as insulation, among other uses, Pullen said.
Farmers among others involved in hemp, including people who harvest, transport and procedure it, must hold state licenses given by Arizona Department of Agriculture and obtain fingerprint approval cards. Licenses begin at $150 for harvesters and transporters and visit $1,500 for a grower and $3,000 for a processor. Fees per acre or per ton of processed product plus evaluation fees are added on and licenses can annually be renewed.
The division will not understand how many acres might be planted in hemp this current year just because a farmer may show his whole holdings as a prospective area that is growing. As soon as planted, the plots would be marked with indications showing it really is hemp that is industrial.
Pullen stated he won’t be surprised to see hemp displace a number of the cotton grown in Arizona in the event that market will be taking off as some research reports have recommended. Their state saw about 175,000 acres planted in 2017, federal numbers reveal.
“Probably 50 % of which is hemp in a years that are few” he said.
Rogers, the cotton relationship official, said that’s not very likely unless and before the market matures.
“Obviously the cost of (cannabis) oil is outrageously priced, so everyone’s taking a look at that and thinking they’re going to produce tens and thousands of dollars,” rogers said. “And you realize, i really hope somebody does. But our dudes are likely to wish to have contracts that are good be sure it is planning to work.”
One concern for growers is pushback from medicinal cannabis manufacturers who stress that hemp shall cross-pollinate due to their cannabis strains. Arizona marijuana that is medicinal grown in greenhouses, but any hemp plant within 10 kilometers could jeopardize the industry.
“They have become focused on that,” Pullen stated. “We’ve seen that throughout the nation.”
There are no state guidelines on what hemp that is close be grown to greenhouses where medical marijuana is farmed, McGrew said.


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T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson have just announced the Equinox, a handset with basic features, plus personalized and customizable light notifications. The latter feature will allow the device to light up in amber, beryl, diamond or sapphire whenever a friend calls.
Equinox packs a 2.2 inch QVGA display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution and the phone also supports 3G data connectivity, GPS and video recording. There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera on board, support for YouTube uploads, MMS messaging, FM radio and Stereo Bluetooth compatibility.
Expect the handset to start selling on T-Mobile from October 28.


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The rate of UK inflation rose slightly in October, but remains substantially below the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that consumer price inflation in October was 1.3 per cent, a rise from 1.2 per cent in the previous month.
The figure reversed the downward trend seen in the rate of inflation in recent months, which had led to fears of deflation.
The ONS said inflation ticked upwards because the comparative fall in the prices of fuel and food from a year ago were not as strong as in September.
But it pointed out the two sectors were still proving to be a headwind for inflation as prices declined by 0.3 per cent year on year.
Samuel Tombs, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said the rise in inflation was “likely to be a blip”.
He said the “slight easing of the rate of fuel price deflation” would only be temporary because the recent sharp fall in the price of oil could knock 2 percentage points off inflation by December.


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Corporations spend millions on commercials during the Super Bowl — one of the sports world’s biggest nights of the year — but that doesn’t mean the ads are necessarily winners.
A lot of times, actually, they’re perfect examples of how advertisers think money plus celebrity automatically equals profits.
Here’s a look at three of the worst ads that ran during Super Bowl LIII on Sunday night.
MORE NEWS: Harris Munches On Word Salad
1.) Abraham Lincoln/Pizza Hut. If you’re going to use Lincoln in a Super Bowl ad, please do more with the late, great president than Pizza Hut decided to do (shown above left).
The catch here was that the food company’s deals cost only $5 — the bill that features Lincoln’s image.
So Lincoln gets no respect from his kids and his party guests as he provides them with endless amounts of pizza.
Just thinking about the potential millions that went into this ad is enough to drive anyone crazy.
2.) The Washington Post. Tom Hanks narrated this ad — and though President Donald Trump’s name was never mentioned, this one was clearly for the Left.
The commercial flew through historical wartime events and noted the importance of the media’s coverage of them.
The ad also tried to equate the service of the military to journalists — which felt all wrong.
While celebrating journalism, reporting, and freedom of the press is worthwhile — not to mention those who sometimes risk their lives to cover important events — the bias of such mainstream publications as The Washington Post these days is not exactly something to be applauding.
See the ad below:
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 4, 2019
3.) Doritos. To advertise its new Flamin’ Hot Doritos, the snack company decided to take a popular older band, the Backstreet Boys, and mix it with a newer act, Chance the Rapper (above right).
It’s the perfect example of how Super Bowl spots are sometimes just wastes.
They rely on the simple appearance of celebrities to do their work, rather than on real ingenuity.
Nothing really happens in this commercial.
Chance is shown eating a Dorito. He sings, the Backstreet Boys sings, there are expensive cars, jets … and it’s all just a complete bore.
Check it out here.


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Published on : Saturday, April 4, 2020
On Friday, the Singapore government announced a new set of measures as a ‘circuit breaker’ against the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision has been undertaken with the aim of mitigating the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The move comes following the rise in positive cases of local transmission and unlinked coronavirus infections.
Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister, Singapore said in an official statement that the Singapore government has decided to take an immediate decisive move instead of tightening incrementally over the forthcoming weeks. He mentioned that the action is being taken to prevent the disease from escalating further. He also informed that the virus would not be able to spread if people refrain from going out and avoid contact with others. He added that the new measures have been introduced to minimise physical contact.
According to the new rules, all schools, universities and educational institutions will remain closed until May 4. All preschool and student care centers will also undergo closure. However, some might provide limited services for children of parents who have to continue working and have no alternative care arrangements. Schools will even begin home-based learning from Wednesday, April 8.
Most workplaces and businesses have also been asked to close down starting Tuesday, April 7. Essential services, key economic sectors and necessary businesses like grocery stores, medical facilities, pharmacies, food establishments, markets, supermarkets, transport, and banks have been exempted from the restriction and will continue to operate normally. In addition, economic sectors that are strategic and are part of the global supply chain have not been closed down.
All casinos, theme parks, and other tourist destinations will be completely shut and the closure will commence next week. Starting Tuesday, all restaurants, hawker centers, coffee shops, food courts as well as food and beverage outlets will remain open only for takeaway or delivery.
Previously, Singapore also established strict border control measures, contact tracing, quarantine, home isolation, and social distancing. The Singapore government will also announce plans about more support towards businesses and households majorly hit by the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown measures next week.


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Curious Quick Preview :
“Payment through apps is seemingly the future, something Paytm in India is talking about for a while, and now it looks like WhatsApp too wants to be a part of this future.
The company is reportedly working on a payment system that will integrate with WhatsApp using UPI and allow Indian users to make payments through the chat app.”
Full Story : Whatsapp Payment Services
After demonetization in India late last year, mobile wallet apps such as Paytm and MobiKwik emerged as the big winners, reporting Exponential growth. But the biggest challenger yet is about to join the race.
WhatsApp is India’s most popular and most used instant messaging app with over 200 million users in India, and they’re introducing person-to-person payment solutions in the country, according to a report on The Ken.
Payment through apps is seemingly the future, something Paytm in India is talking about for a while, And now it looks like WhatsApp too wants to be a part of this future. The Facebook-owned company is working on a UPI integration and may launch the service in the next six months.
With such massive popularity and enormous userbase, WhatsApp stands a fair chance to become a popular payment service in India.
Reason : Why Whatsapp can become a popular payment service
A large number of users, however, still prefer to deal in cash given there’s a lack of awareness related to online transactions. WhatsApp-Messenger , on the other hand, has a much greater reach which might make it a popular online payment option.
Other Things To Know
The company is in talks with the government to add support for UPI, a new payment system by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI is open to third-party services, making payments is as fast and easy as sending a text message.
In a statement to Mashable, WhatsApp spokesperson didn’t deny the claims and said, “India is an important country for WhatsApp, and we’re understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India.”
“We’re exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users.”
The news comes weeks after Brian Acton, a founder of WhatsApp, visited India and met Indian government officials to explore ways to contribute to “India’s vision for digital commerce.” Acton also said that over 200 million users in India now use WhatsApp.
A consortium of major banks in India, the NPCI has been working aggressively to chalk out its own payment solutions to “crush” the mobile wallet systems such as Paytm, according to industry sources.
Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister launched BHIM app, which works on top of UPI, in December last year. He claimed that BHIM app is destined to change the way Indians pay for things. However despite occasional free advertising from him, BHIM app is far from growing mainstream.
Brian Acton also said India is an important country for the company. “India is critically important, it is our leading market. India guides us with respect to what we build and how we build it,” Acton said. Additionally, WhatsApp is exploring business plans that will help it monetise its 1.2 billion user base “in a way that is clean, straightforward, simple and spam-free communication”.


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The Sprint T-Mobile deal abruptly halted late Tuesday. After several months of due diligence, Sprint canceled the deal just days after French telecom company Iliad made a bid for roughly $15 billion, less than what Sprint offered, Reuters reports. Sprint’s acquisition offer was as much as $40 billion, while Iliad bid for 56 percent of the company.
Sprint’s effort to purchase T-Mobile was fraught with problems before it started. Last year, AT&T made a bid to purchase T-Mobile for $39 billion but was thwarted by the FTC, which refused to allow the merger in order to ensure competition in the wireless telecommunications arena.
What Does it Mean?
A merger between T-Mobile and Sprint would have enabled T-Mobile to be even more aggressive while simultaneously offering coverage on both GSM and CDMA cellular signal types. Sprint is a CDMA carrier, while T-Mobile uses GSM, the standard worldwide. That would have empowered Sprint to expand its international customer base and grant T-Mobile access to additional US customers. T-Mobile gained 1.5 million subscribers in the last quarter, PCWorld reports, while Sprint has lost 220,000 customers.
Iliad’s founder and CEO Xavier Niel said he sees a huge opportunity for T-Mobile’s expansion with even more aggressive pricing and growth, according to the Wall Street Journal. Niel stated that he expects his proposal to go through much more easily than any US acquisition because it would keep four major carriers in the United States instead of dropping down to three, which the FTC has avoided thus far.
What do you think? Would the Sprint T-Mobile deal have hurt US customers or helped them?
Image courtesy of Flickr


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- Six months after stepping down from his virtual reality company Oculus, Palmer Luckey’s revealed he’s still working in the industry.
- Luckey left his position at Oculus in March of this year in the wake of news that he’d been helping fund the alt-right “shitposting” group Nimble America, a move that brought him intense scrutiny from the press and game industry.
- Luckey also announced he has a new VR company, though he didn’t announce any real specifics, only saying that he is working on “some very exciting things.”
- Aside from this brief bit of news, Luckey’s appearance was more formal with general interview with HTC and talk about the company’s position in VR industry.HTC recently renewed its interest in supporting its Vive headset thanks to a $1.1 billion deal with Google.
- It stands to reason this push back into VR might have led the company to partner up with one of the industry’s most recognizable figures.Luckey first gained public attention back in 2012 when he ran a successful Kickstarter to begin prototyping his Oculus Rift headset.
@RickKing16: “Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey Has a New #VR Company” open tweet »


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Failing to practice what they preach, British investment trusts have axed a long-running cooperative multi-million pound consumer advertising campaign.
The Association of Investment Trust Companies has bowed to pressure from a number of its members and ended the “Its” campaign which has run on TV and in newspapers since October 1999. In its first two years, around two-thirds of members supported the initiative, raising £24m ($33.5m) to fund generic advertising and marketing. activity.
AITC director general Daniel Godfrey, who staked his reputation [and job?] on the campaign’s success, conceded that members’ support had become increasingly lukewarm. “I'm only too painfully aware that it has been controversial in the industry," he said, "but I won't make any apologies for it. It has got people's attention and has been effective in raising the profile of trusts.”
At least one onlooker agreed. Opined Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment trust analyst Robbie Robertson: “Since the campaign began, discount narrowing has created over £5bn in shareholder value.”
But trusts are harder to convince than entrail-rakers. According to a poll, only 40% of trusts supported continuation of the consumer campaign, although almost 90% have agreed to a smaller levy to fund a marketing drive aimed at institutional and professional investors.
News source: Financial Times


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A couple of years ago, we alerted you in this space to the impending arrival of the Graphene Age. Graphene is a molecular miracle, gleaned from inexpensive graphite, with the potential to revolutionize just about every product we make and use in our everyday lives.
A hexagonal honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms arranged in a microscopic, two-dimensional layer, graphene is thin enough to stretch over 28 football fields, according to a study by the American Chemical Society. But supreme flexibility is not the most astounding attribute of graphene: the ultra-thin material is said to be 200 times stronger than steel; it’s 20 times stronger—and six times lighter–than the strongest natural material on Earth, diamond.
Graphene also is water-resistant and virtually transparent, but its remarkable powers don’t stop there. The material is said to be an excellent conductor of heat and electricity—a graphene/silicon battery created by researchers at Northwestern University reportedly took only 15 minutes to charge and held a single charge for more than a week. And scientists say the molecular wonder can safely interact with biological systems, like plants and humans.
Now comes news of a bevy of products made with graphene that are about to enter the global marketplace or be deployed in advanced scientific and medical applications. Here are three examples:
- Smartphones you can wrap around your wrist. Moxi, a small startup based in China, says it’s ready to introduce a smartphone with a flexible touchscreen (made from graphene) that still functions when looped and worn like a watch or a bracelet. It also functions when it’s stretched flat, like a normal smartphone. Moxi says it’s produced a prototype and plans to put 100.000 units on sale in China by the end of the year, according to a report in CNNMoney.com. However, there’s one significant glitch with the new unit: thus far, the company can only produce a black-and-white display; the color touchscreen may not be ready until 2018. The initial versions are expected to sell for about 5,000 yuan ($760) each in China. The company’s name—pronounced “mou-she”—is short for graphene in Chinese. Global tech players, including Samsung and LG, also have flexible touchscreens made from graphene in development, according to reports. Apple received a patent last year for a “flexible electronic device;” the company’s patent application included two dozen drawings illustrating how such a device could be warped into different shapes. Analysts say the major challenge of applying graphene to electronic devices is building the computing power and functionality of existing devices into the ultra-thin membranes.
- Antibiotics. Graphene oxide, a form of graphene with molecular oxygen incorporated into it, wraps around bacteria, puncturing its membrane. Bacteria cannot survive or reproduce when their membranes are burst. Scientists are experimenting with graphene-coated surgical tools that could kill bacteria, reducing the need for standard antibiotics and decreasing the rates of post-operative infections. The latest breakthroughs in medical applications of graphene recently were presented at the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society in Los Angeles.
- Camera lenses. Researchers at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology are developing a billionth-of-a-meter-thick flat optical lens made from graphene. The ultra-light-weight lenses could dramatically decrease the cost of launching surveillance satellites into orbit. According to a paper published in Nature Communications, graphene lenses provide a breaktrhough in the diffraction limit, allowing the focus to narrow down to half a wavelength of light. Researchers reportedly have developed a 3-D printer that can spray graphene oxide solution onto a surface to create a lens 300 times thinner than a sheet of paper, with the ability to focus on objects as small as 200 nanometers long at wavelengths ranging from visible to near infrared.
In 1962, Dr. Hanns-Peter Boehm, a German chemist, coined the term graphene—applying the common chemical suffix -ene to graphite—in a research paper describing single-layer carbon foils. The first graphene materials emerged in 1987 when graphene sheets were integrated into crystalline compounds and the material was studied in early research on carbon nanotubes. The big breakthrough occurred in 2004, when researchers in the U.K. working on carbon nanotubes discovered that high-quality graphene could be isolated using a relatively easy chemical process. In 2010, Andre Gelm and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their experiments with two-dimensional graphene.
The race is on to mass-produce graphene (with a process known as chemical vapor disposition, which isolates the atoms from graphite) and use it in commercial applications. While the commercial free-for-all to bring graphene products to market unfolds, a predictable geopolitical scrum over the raw materials for graphene also may be developing. Half of the world’s graphite deposits are in China. The Chinese government in recent years has reserved “for domestic use” increasing quantities of rare earth metals like tungsten and molybdenum (critical for a variety of aerospace components). The PRC is indicating it may take the same approach with graphite.
We’ll reiterate the suggestion we made in our original post on this subject: save any old pencils lying around in desk drawers. There’s black gold in those chewed-up stubs.


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One of the more persistent rumors coming out of the tech world these days is that Google will be announcing its own foray into the tablet market during Google I/O. The all things Google conference will be taking place from June 27-29 and would be a prime location for such an announcement.
The recent rumors coming out of sources speaking to DigiTimes, Asustek and Google will make a joint announcement at I/O regarding the device. The Nexus tablet will be 7 inches with support for only Wi-Fi. It will not feature a back-side webcam, but will feature a front-facing webcam for video conferencing. The best part is that the tablet will only cost $200.
All this information matches up with sources that spoke to TechnoBuffalo back in May. The May leak had some additional information in the form of the tablet being powered by a Tegra 3 processor. It seems unlikely that such a device could only cost $200, but Google may be heavily subsidizing the cost with its own money to drive sales through affordability.
The DigiTimes report also says that the tablet is ready to go and already shipping to retailers for a July release. The Nexus tablet is expected to reach three million units in total shipments in the second half of the year. It’s a modest start that will hopefully expand as Google captures the market looking for an inexpensive entry-level tablet.
It’s looking pretty much like Google is going to unveil their tablet at Google I/O, but they’re now playing in an entirely different ballpark. Until yesterday, the Nexus tablet was releasing to the market with only the iPad and other Android tablets to contend with. The announcement of Surface and it’s admittedly amazing keyboard cover can only steal away from any Nexus tablet announcement. It’s unfortunate because a cheap tablet that’s better than the Kindle Fire is really needed, but after Surface a cheap tablet is just that, a cheap tablet.
I like to give company’s like Google the benefit of the doubt though. They could have some big surprises in store for us during Google I/O. We’ll have to wait and see.[Lead image is of Asus’ current 7-inch tablet and is not representative of whatever form the Nexus may take]


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Google’s “mobile friendly” algorithm update, to be released on April 21, has understandably created a major shift in the way ecommerce sites think about their mobile search optimization strategies.
Announced over a month ago, the “mobile friendly” algorithm update will have what Google calls a “significant impact” on mobile search results worldwide. On April 21 and rolling out over the following week, Google will begin to give a ranking performance boost to sites that provide searchers with a positive mobile experience.
In contrast, sites that do not meet Google’s definition of mobile friendliness will very likely see a reduction in visits and conversions from their Google mobile organic search channel. To learn more about the update itself, read my article “SEO: Google to Make ‘Mobile-friendly’ a Ranking Signal.”


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Rumour has it that Quorn may be experimenting with making their whole range - VEGAN!!!
We have emailed Quorn and this was their response
Thank you for your recent email.
We are delighted Quorn customers are so enthusiastic about our new Vegan range. We are aware that a statement has been circulating regarding our Vegan plans for the future. Whilst as a business we remain wholly committed and passionate about developing our Vegan range further and launching more delicious products, due to the technicalities involved as well as a shortage of potato protein – a vital ingredient – we cannot at this stage commit to making the entire Quorn range completely Vegan. But watch this space as more products are coming.
NOW WE HAVE VEGAN QUORN CHICKEN STYLE FILLETS, MAINLY FROM ASDA BUT OTHER GOOD SUPERMARKETS AND SHOPS TOO!
Chinese Millionaire intentionally goes broke buying a Slaughterhouse to save 2,000 Dogs!
Wang Yan was looking for his missing dog in 2012 when his friend suggested he search a dog slaughterhouse. He arrived at the slaughterhouse to the sight of dogs being horrifically treated. While Yan didn’t find his dog there, for a week, he hung around the butcher shop to witness the mistreatment and bloody killings. Yan, who was a successful steel manufacturer, in a move that would leave him broke, bought out the slaughterhouse and ended its killings. Yan spent 3 million Yuan (USD 470,186) to turn the slaughterhouse into a rescue shelter and save all the dogs. Now, three years in, Yan has saved 2,000 dogs’ lives there, reports China News Service. At one point, the shelter housed over a thousand dogs at the same time.
Once a millionaire, Yan is now in debt from running the shelter. Yan is not accepting money, but for help, he will oblige anyone wanting to donate supplies or adopt any of the 200 dogs currently under his care.
For more information please view the full article:
Plant based Gelatin - Research in USA December 2015
Like so many other common products, the traditional versions of jellied sweets and marshmallows contain gelatin, a macabre ingredient derived from skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones of cows and pigs.
Thankfully for animals and consumers alike, a new start-up, Gelzen, is working on creating vegan gelatin.
The San Francisco-based company was founded by partners Alex Lorestani and Nick Ouzounov. Lorestani was in a physician-scientist training program, and quickly learned about the growing risk of infectious disease thanks to antibiotic resistant bacteria (fueled by antiobiotic use in farm animals). Ouzounov earned his PhD in Molecular Biology at Princeton University, and as a vegetarian was frustrated by the lack of an animal-free gelatin alternative.
Gelzen’s version of gelatin will be cruelty-free, sustainable, and safer for human consumption.
“We have taken the machinery that builds collagen in animals, and moved it into microbes. These microbes can produce animal-free gelatin at massive scales. Building gelatin from scratch also eliminates the risk of pathogens that can be transmitted from animal material to humans, greatly improves the efficiency of protein production by using fewer land and water inputs, and allows us to precisely engineer its key properties like stiffness.”
Considering that gelatin is in a countless number of products, from gel-caps to Jello, the market for a better version has the potential to be huge. As The New Omnivore put it: “With its special versatility, stability, and more predictable quality, as well as the fact that conventional gelatin is a by-product of the hugely wasteful factory farming system, Gelzen’s new gelatin represents another bright step forward to animal-free food production.” .
So where does production currently stand? “We built the collagen-producing microbial factories,” explains Lorestani. “Now, we’re focusing on scaling production up and making prototypes for customers to test. We are thrilled by how supportive the vegan community has been. There’s a real and urgent need for animal-free gelatin, and we’re working hard to get it out there!” I will keep you posted on any new updates!
Thanks to Hannah Sentenac and Latest Vegan News for the information, you can read more at: For more information please view the full article:
Scientists reveal they have recreated a vegetarian version of every carnivore’s favourite meat… from LENTILS.
Scientists in the Netherlands invent 'meat substitute' made from legumes.
Its texture 'resembles steak more closely than other meat substitutes'
Researchers at Wageningen University an create 1.2in thick 'steaks'
Dutch scientists claim to have invented a meat substitute so good it has enabled them to create vegan steaks.
The new 'fake meat' uses legumes - beans, lentils and peas and according to the Wageningen University researchers the substance has a fibrous texture that resembles steak more closely than other meat substitutes.
The researchers can create 'steaks' with a thickness of 3cm unlike with other substitutes that are often limited to small mince-sized pieces.
World Vegan Month
Though this is a Vegan Society event we are going to do our best to promote it by running a few
items through the month, one of which will be "The New Vegan Survival Pack".
The World Vegan Month event runs from :- Sunday 1st November 2015 to Monday 30th November


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The Meatless Farm Co.
We’re a global company with roots in the United Kingdom, committed to bringing best-in-class plant-based foods to our customers. We develop a range of meat alternative products loaded with taste and texture with the goal of making the switch to meatless easy.
GroundRequest Access to Edit
While plant-based meat alternatives continue to rise in popularity, many brands are facing the challenge of reconciling a premium price point with a desire to reach more consumers. Brands seeking to move beyond the natural channel and deepen their presence in conventional retail are looking for ways to create accessibility through lower prices, but they face hurdles in the form of manufacturing and ingredient costs, and in some cases, regulation, they say.
Plant-based meat brand Meatless Farm announced this week the close of a $31 million funding round, which the UK-based company will use to accelerate its growth into other markets, including the U.S. The brand, which launched in 2018 and sells pea and soy protein-based burgers, grounds and sausage patties and links, also plans to continue to invest in “bold” approaches to marketing as it builds brand awareness internationally.
No retailers or e-commerce options have been specified for this brand


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A observe has exposed the rampant adulteration of packaged honey bought in Indian markets. The look at claims that thirteen of the biggest brands along with Dabur and Patanjali have failed a key test which is taken into consideration the gold wellknown for checking out the quality of honey. Only Dabur has come out with a announcement rejecting the finding of the look at.
Environment watchdog Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) claimed on Wednesday that honey offered with the aid of 13 primary manufacturers in India along with Dabur has been found adulterated with sugar syrup. Dabur, however, has rejected the allegation in a statement issued these days.
Food researchers at CSE decided on thirteen top brands and a few smaller brands that sell processed and raw honey in India to check their purity. The researchers determined that seventy seven according to cent of the samples were adulterated with sugar syrup. Out of the 22 samples that were checked, simplest 5 surpassed all the exams.
The CSE examine stated honey samples from leading manufacturers which includes Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya failed NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) take a look at.
The samples of these manufacturers were first examined on the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) on the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. The CSE stated nearly all of the top brands passed the tests of purity even as a few smaller manufacturers failed the checks to stumble on C4 sugar or simple adulteration using cane sugar.
However, while the identical manufacturers had been examined using NMR — laboratory tests presently getting used globally to test for such changed sugar syrups — nearly all of the massive and small manufacturers failed. Out of the 13 manufacturers, simplest three exceeded the NMR check conducted with the aid of a specialised laboratory in Germany.
The three manufacturers are Saffola, MarkfedSohna and Nature’s Nectar (one out of two samples).
“What we located changed into shocking. It indicates how the enterprise of adulteration has developed so that it could bypass the stipulated exams in India. Our difficulty isn’t just that the honey we devour is adulterated, however that this adulteration is hard to trap. In truth, we have observed that the sugar syrups are designed with a view to cross undetected,” said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team, said.
Dabur rejects examine
A Business Today file stated Dabur has refuted the findings of the take a look at. As in step with the Dabur’s assertion, it’s miles the handiest company in India to have an NMR checking out device in its personal laboratory.
It is really worth citing that Dabur’s announcement also included an attachment of an NMR check file from Germany-based Bruker BioSpin GmbH, dated July sixteen, 2020. It said that Dabur Honey had surpassed the NMR check.
This suggests that the authorities had an idea about the adulteration by means of a few agencies and sought advanced tests to determine the purity of honey.
An Emami spokesperson said that the Zandu Pure Honey “conforms and adheres” to all protocols and best norms and requirements laid down with the aid of the Government of India and its permitted entities inclusive of FSSAI. However, unlike Dabur, it did now not touch upon the NMR check that is considered the global standard.
Meanwhile, an Apis Himalaya spokesperson replied announcing that the organisation will no longer remark right away but will preserve a press convention.
CSE Director-General Sunita Narain stated an additional undercover operation turned into carried out to find out greater details. A pattern of the syrup that can bypass exams become then sent through the Chinese enterprise as paint pigment to get through customs,” she stated.
Impact of adulterated food at some point of Covid-19 pandemic
Sunita Narain additionally noted in the have a look at that eating adulterated food “compromises” public health throughout the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Indians nowadays are consuming extra honey because they believe in its intrinsic goodness antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties and to construct immunity towards the virus. But if it’s miles adulterated honey, what we are truely ingesting is sugar, so that you can add to the challenge of overweight and weight problems, which in flip makes us greater vulnerable to excessive COVID-19 infection,” she said.
“Honey adulterated with sugar will no longer make us well. It will, in reality, make us even greater vulnerable,” she delivered.
Narain concluded pronouncing that it is time to outwit the business of adulteration and added that there is a want to bolster enforcement in India thru public testing so corporations can be held accountable.
“The government should get samples tested the usage of advanced technologies and make this statistics public in order that customers are aware and our fitness is not compromised. It can even maintain businesses accountable,” she stated.
“Ensure that each honey organization is required to trace again the origins of the honey from the beekeeper to the hive,” she delivered.


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The Innovation Excellence website noted that we hear a lot these days about applying open innovation concepts to improving innovation concepts and product development processes. Companies that sell directly to end consumers–business to consumer (B2C)–see clear uses examples and value for open innovation. But the challenges and circumstances of companies that sell primarily sell to other companies–also known as business to business (B2B)–are different, and these open innovation concepts are not so easily applied. Despite the challenges, the open innovation payoff for B2B companies is significant, especially in today’s resource-constrained R&D environments.
Click here to read the full article.product development processes, Open innovation