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BLK Auto intends to support the Australian bus and coach industry. In her latest partnership with AngelTrax, she is helping a First Nations company gain a foothold in the market.
BLK partnered with AngelTrax before and after the recent Expo
Global truck and bus manufacturer BLK Auto first approached Australian First Nations company AngelTrax earlier this year seeking a partnership. Originally, BLK wanted a reliable, Australian Design Rule (ADR) approved electronic rearview mirror for their zero-emission buses. He left with a lot more.
“We first approached AngelTrax about six months ago,” Jason Pecotic, general manager of BLK Auto, told ABC.
“It was based on the fact that we are building new energy vehicles in our electric and hydrogen bus models and we saw the need for approved electronic mirrors.”
BLK moved quickly to use AngelTrax products on its buses. Pecotic says it was the right move for BLK Auto, which is looking to become one of the leading zero-emission bus suppliers in the Australian market.
“It helps position us at the forefront of the industry,” says Pecotic.
“It’s an exciting partnership moving forward and we’re excited for what it will bring.”
For AngelTrax Australia, this was the perfect opportunity for the First Nations company to showcase its diverse range of bus and coach products. AngelTrax sales specialist Bob Barwick says BLK came to them looking for ADR-compliant electronic mirrors, but came away impressed with more.
“We first introduced them to the product and then showed them our development of our new destination signs and electronic mirrors,” Barwick told ABC.
“We then showed them our CCTV range and received a very positive reception from them.
“AngelTrax has thousands of CCTVs in Australia at the moment – it’s a very good and reliable product. It was nice to see that BLK Auto also considered them bulletproof.”
The partnership between BLK and local AngelTrax may be in its infancy, but it is already starting to pay off. The BLK Auto buses it showcased at October’s Australasian Bus & Coach Expo in Sydney will sport AngelTrax destination signs to give the First Nations company wide-scale exposure.
Some of these panels have recently been developed and introduced to the local market as Australian made options. Barwick says he hopes customers who attended the Expo will want to buy AngelTrax’s products because they’re made by a local company.
“We never want to ship from overseas because the cost of buying and shipping is extraordinary,” says Barwick.
“The company employs Australians to make our latest products, so creating local jobs for us is a big deal, and so is BLK.
“We believe that being able to have our products purchased and repaired locally without having to source spare parts overseas is a great advantage for customers looking to purchase signs, mirrors or CCTV models.”
The Australian-owned system manufacturer and supplier has been around for over 70 years. Over time, AngelTrax has specialized in the production of signs, whether it is highway signs or LED signs for buses across the country.
RELATED: BLK Auto Expo Preview
Barwick says being a First Nations company is important to AngelTrax. It continues to supply its mirrors, signs and other systems in Australia to ensure industry customers have a local option for sourcing parts.
“The technology we have is of a higher quality than most other systems overseas because we are developing it in Australia to meet operator and local market expectations,” says Barwick.
“Buying European-designed systems overseas is totally different from buying in Australia-
manufactured and designed products.
“We’re just a small market here in Australia, so it’s important for us to be able to build something specifically for Australian operators.”
BLK Auto will become the first company outside of trials to install AngelTrax electronic mirrors on its buses. Previous trials with Australian companies like Interline Bus Services give Barwick confidence that AngelTrax’s electronic mirrors are ready to adorn BLK’s vehicles.
The partnership between the pair will extend beyond just electronic mirrors. Barwick says BLK is also interested in destination signs and CCTV products from AngelTrax. This includes AngelTrax’s latest CCTV system, which has been expanded to record more information. This means that customers can use different types of cameras at the highest resolution to achieve 30 days of recording while meeting NSW CCTV specifications.
AngelTrax then intends to use its opportunity with BLK Auto as a springboard to increase its presence in the Australian bus market.
“We will try to provide these products not only to BLK Auto, but to everyone,” Barwick said.
“Having our mirrors on BLK buses at Expo was a great start.
“It’s even better having it on a bus than showing it on a static stand. BLK having our e-mirror on its bus is a great reference point for AngelTrax.”
Barwick is certain that the partnership also benefits BLK Auto. The AngelTrax sales specialist says BLK’s investment in Australian-made parts is proof that locally sourced systems distributed by BLK can benefit the local market.
“There’s no reason AngelTrax won’t be around for another 20 years,” Barwick says.
“So we covered the lifetime of the buses with our local supply.”
Pecotic echoes that sentiment. BLK Auto’s general manager said he wants to continue working with AngelTrax in the future after helping them gain exposure at the recent Expo.
“We seek to grow through technology,” says Pecotic.
“Technology is changing at such a rapid pace that we want to keep keeping up with it, and AngelTrax’s products will help us do that.
“It is so important that we have this agreement with Australian suppliers like AngelTrax where we will use reliable products made and supplied in Australia in the future.”
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Travel in Spain is nearing pre-pandemic volumes heading into summer. Hotel occupancy has steadily increased from a low of 33% occupancy in January 2022, finishing nearly on par with 2019 performance for May 2022 at 73% occupancy. And with 36% of hotel reservations still being made within the 0-7 day booking window, there is a strong possibility that this summer could outperform the prior three years.
Also notable is the high transient average daily rate (ADR) achieved by hoteliers, reaching a high of $254 per room in August, versus $186 for the same month in 2019.
Along with the price and demand for hotels, car rentals are also proving popular. Booking volumes are up 113% for the months of June, July, and August 2022 versus 2021, with a $30 bump in average daily rate. Car rental length is also up slightly this year, as Spaniards look to extend their holidays longer than previous years.
View the full press release as well as our infographic sourced with Amadeus’ forward-looking business intelligence data for more details on hotel, air, and car rental trends.

domain: news


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In brief: Gannett wants to buy Tribune PublishingApril 25, 2016
Gannett pursues Tribune
Gannett wants to buy Tribune Publishing for more than $388 million in a deal that would give the owner of USA Today control of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
Gannett said Tribune has refused to start "constructive discussions." However, Tribune said it had hired advisers to review the proposal. Gannett wants Tribune so it can expand its USA Today Network.
Gannett said it offered $12.25 in cash for each Tribune share. That's a 63 percent premium to Tribune's Friday closing price of $7.52. Gannett valued the total deal at about $815 million, which includes $390 million of debt.
Membership costs could rise at Costco
Costco shoppers may be in for a membership fee hike next year.
"The conditions are in place" for the warehouse club to increase the annual fee members pay to shop its stores in early 2017, UBS analysts said after a meeting with Costco executives.
Analysts said they expected Costco Wholesale Corp. to set the basic Gold Star Membership fee at $60, up from $55, and the Executive Membership fee at $120, up from $110.
Costco could not be reached for comment.
Testimony on 'Stairway to Heaven' limited
The trial over whether Led Zeppelin stole the opening riff of "Stairway to Heaven" from a 1967 instrumental will be quick and focused and won't include testimony about the band's drug use, a federal judge said.
To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.
Each side will get 10 hours to argue its case before a Los Angeles jury next month, U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner said in court Monday.
The suit was brought by the trust of the late Randy Wolfe. Wolfe, who went by Randy California, wrote a track called "Taurus" that was recorded by his band Spirit in 1967. The suit claims Led Zeppelin copied "Taurus" for "Stairway to Heaven."
in other news
The Treasury Department auctioned $28 billion in three-month bills at 0.250 percent, up from 0.220 percent last week. Another $24 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at 0.400 percent, up from 0.350.
The Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills was flat at 0.54 percent.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals has chosen Perrigo Co. Chairman and CEO Joseph Papa to become its new CEO, replacing J. Michael Pearson.
From wire reports


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A survey conducted by Roy Morgan Research, involving 12,000 New Zealanders, showed that 74% of respondents over 18 consumed alcohol over an average four-week between January 2011-12. This was a lower consumption rate when compared with 79% for January 2007-08.
Apart from cider, consumed by 9% of New Zealanders in 2012 compared with 3% four years ago, the consumption of most types of alcoholic drinks declined.
Beer, spirits et al down the drain
“Alcohol consumption continues to decrease in New Zealand,” said Pip Elliott, client services director at Roy Morgan Research. He pointed out that wine remains the most popular alcoholic beverage for New Zealanders aged over 18.
“However, wine consumption has been steadily decreasing over the past four years, and is now only marginally ahead of beer,” said Elliott.
Elliott said that “it is important for marketers of alcoholic drinks to understand the differences in each category as they are not one uniform segment.”
The study showed that wine consumption for example dropped from 58% to 51%, while the consumption of beer dropped from 52% to 49%. Spirits also dropped from 39% to 35%.
Katherine Rich, chief executive of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council (NZFGC), told FoodNavigator-Asia that the findings were unsurprising. She did however stress on caution on overestimating the survey.
“It’s important to note that this was a self-reported poll in that people had to remember their consumption, be accurate and speak truthfully. Researching alcohol issues can be difficult because some respondents will under-report because they think that is the right thing to do,” Rich said.
However, citing the damp economy, Rich said that a corresponding decline in sales would not be surprising. “A lot of categories are currently flat as many New Zealanders super-glue their hands in their pockets refusing to get their wallets out so it would not surprise me in the least if some sales of liquor had reduced.”
Campaigns and laws dampening consumption
Rich added that there have been some highly successful social marketing campaigns recently run by the country’s Alcohol Advisory Council namely the “Ease up on the drink” campaign and also a New Zealand Transport Authority “Ghost Chips/Legend” campaign.
“Both campaigns have really resonated with our communities and I believe have had a positive effect on getting people to drink moderately, not binge drink or address alcoholism within families,” she said.
An Alcohol Reform Bill is currently going through New Zealand Parliament and Rich said that while the food and beverage industry has a few lasting concerns about restrictions on promotions and competitions, it is on the whole supportive of the changes in the bill.
"Our Minister of Justice, Judith Collins, has struck the right balance between focusing on reducing alcohol-related harm and not punishing New Zealanders who enjoy drinking in moderation,” she said.


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Verizon workers formed picket lines at local Verizon stores on Sunday as their contract expired at midnight Saturday.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2325 members began their work stoppage and started picketing at the Verizon Wireless Store located at Orchard Hill Park.
IBEW Vice President Christopher Doyle said the strike, "is about jobs. Verizon ships jobs overseas. We have been bargaining since June 22. There are 46,000 union workers from Virginia to Massachusetts currently on strike. This affects all facets of Verizon work. We are willing to go back to the bargaining table as soon as they are serious about talking to us. There will be service disruptions, as well as installs and repairs disruptions," Doyle explained.
He said the workers are not asking, "for more than what they have right now, they want to keep what they have is all."
Union workers said that the top five executives of Verizon made a combined total of $258 million in salary and bonuses last year. Verizon showed $19.5 billion in profits last year with the CEO making approximately $55,000 per day.
Strikers were attempting to let customers who were walking into the Verizon Wireless Store know that they are on strike, and suggesting to the people that they bring their business to the nearby Best Buy Store.
Strikers wore bright red shirts and carried signs to make their solidarity very visible.
Phil Santoro, spokesperson for Verizon, said contract negotiations between Verizon and two unions, Communications Workers of America, (CWA) and IBEW began in late June, and both sides have put proposals on the table, but neither side had much movement.
"The unions have not really articulated what they are looking for. They however are opposed to paying part of their health-care. We have asked them to contribute something to their health-care plans, and they are rejecting it all," Santoro said.
Santoro said the workers currently pay nothing for their health-care plans.
"They do not have a co-pay on their health-care plans. We are asking for something on that," he noted.
He also noted the strike has nothing to do with Verizon Wireless, even though picket lines will be visible at wireless stores.
"The workers will picket in front of any building that is affiliated with Verizon," he explained.
Santoro said the main areas that will be affected are the repair and wiring jobs.
"In anticipation of a strike, we trained our management staff to handle the 411 directory assistance and other parts of the operation. We are fully prepared and have every confidence to provide the services the public expects," he said.


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Apple launched a new iPad on Tuesday at the event in Chicago. The new iPad comes with a support of Apple Pencil. The main reason behind the launch of iPad with a Pencil support is to take on Google Chrome book and Microsoft Windows Laptops which are dominating education market in the US.
iPad (2018) comes with a 9.7 inches IPS display with 2048×1536 of resolution and 264 PPI pixel density. It runs on Apple A9 Soc, the RAM and battery specifications have not been detailed by Apple yet. The iPad comes with an 8MP rear camera with f/2.4 aperture and a 1.2MP front camera with a f/2.2 aperture.
Talking about connectivity, iPad comes with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 and A-GPS. It also includes a Fingerprint sensor on the home button and includes sensors like accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, digital compass and 3-axis gyroscope.
iPad comes with update apps like a new version of iWork app, users can now draw directly on the Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, with the support of Apple Pencil.
The iPad (2018) is priced at $299 (Rs. 19,400) for schools and $329 (Rs. 21,300) for other customers. The 32GB iPad (2018) version is priced at Rs 28,000 while the Wi-Fi + Cellular model is priced at Rs 38,600.


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Photo by Michal Fludra/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Lime is rolling out a new monthly subscription service for its electric scooters that’s called — no joke — Lime Prime.
Lime typically charges a fixed rate to unlock a vehicle and then a per-minute fee to ride. For $5.99 a month, the company will waive that initial fee for Lime Prime subscribers. And in markets with no unlock fees, riders will receive 25 percent off the price of their ride. Subscribers will still pay the per-minute charge, but Lime says that someone who uses one of its scooters every day would save approximately $25 a month under the subscription plan.
There are other perks that come with a subscription. Lime Prime members can reserve any scooter or bike for…


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BioShock Infinite Has Shipped Over 3.7m Copies, Max Payne 3 Ships 4m
Written Tuesday, May 14, 2013 By Richard WalkerView author's profile
Take-Two's financial reports are in, and display fairly strong results for the fiscal year. Not only has BioShock Infinite managed to ship impressive numbers since its release on March 26th, but Max Payne 3 has also enjoyed some success during the year it's been on sale, helping Take-Two to reduce its losses.
"BioShock Infinite was the top-selling console title in March, enjoyed significantly higher first month sell-through than any other BioShock release, and has sold-in more than 3.7 million units to date," reads the report. Shipments of Max Payne 3 meanwhile, topped 4 million units, with 3 million of those achieved within the first week of the game's launch.
This has contributed to Take-Two's total net losses going from a staggering $107.7 million last year, to a relatively less terrible $31.2 million incurred in losses this year. Revenues for Q4 almost doubled from $148.1 million to $300 million too, and with anticipation for BioShock Infinite's three Season Pass add-ons and the looming September launch of Grand Theft Auto V, things look pretty good for Take-Two.


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Toly, manufacturing industry giant and world leading supplier of packaging solutions for the beauty industry, has announced a partnership with Dutch specialty packaging firm Paperfoam®, which sees Toly take the exclusive rights to distribute jointly developed products for the beauty industry.
This agreement matches Toly’s Global Commercial reach and future sustainability strategy, the company has said, with Paperfoam’s® injection-molded technology that shapes foamed paper into solid scratch free packaging.
Reacting to the news, Toly’s CEO, Andy Gatesy said, “this partnership is a very exciting step for Toly to continue its path in leading the beauty industry with innovative and sustainable solutions.”
The collaboration, which allows for a joint development approach, will see the launch of a range of groundbreaking and innovative beauty industry products which will be available in many forms, including make-up palettes, jars and refill systems.
Paperfoam’s CEO, Willem Derkman, affirmed that “the last years have been focused on segments like consumer electronics and medical applications. With this partnership we are proud to develop further into the beauty industry.”
MaltaCEOs.mt speaks to recruitment specialists about increasingly popular CV gaps among candidates, and the different factors that employers are now ...
Maria Galea addressed the Cabinet during a discussion on education, sustainability, and infrastructure within the arts and cultural sector.
She was previously Head of Marketing and Public Relations at the Malta-headquartered law firm.
Sales and Leadership Trainer and Coach Alex Falzon discusses the difficulties of finding time for self-care in the hectic life ...


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Mouton Rothschild Unveils 2019 Vintage with Olafur Eliasson Artwork
Each year an artist illustrates the Mouton Rothschild label, like this one from 2000.
Every year since 1945 a leading artist has illustrated the Château Mouton Rothschild label, forming a collection that features the most famous names in contemporary art. The 2019 label features the Solar Iris of Mouton by Olafur Eliasson, celebrating the alliance of sun and wine.
“Solar Iris of Mouton is a map of all the sunsets and sunrises that take place over a year at Château Mouton Rothschild," the artist said. The work is divided into two horizontal strips, the upper part reperesenting daytime with its golden hues, the lower part the night in midnight blue.
The list of artists who have illustrated Château Mouton Rothschild labels includes some of the most celebrated figures of their day, such as Dalí, César, Miró, Chagall, Picasso and Warhol. Many of them spent time at the Château, where their original artworks are displayed.
For the first time, this year's label reveal saw Mouton Rothschild team up with Sotheby’s for an online auction of a single lot of the 2019 vintage.
The lot includes an exclusive double magnum, the label of which is signed by Olafur Eliasson and the family, six bottles, three magnums, an Imperial and the only Nebuchadnezzar released on the market to date.
FIND OUT MORE
New Auction Record Set for a Château Mouton Rothschild “Nebuchadnezzar”Château Mouton Rothschild “Nebuchadnezzar” from the legendary vintage of 2000 was sold for $140,299.
Concha y Toro Releases 2019 Vintage of Don MelchorThe Chilean wine powerhouse releases the 33rd vintage of its flagship wine, Don Melchor 2019, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Puente Alto in Maipo...
First Female CEO to Take Over Château LafiteSaskia de Rothschild will replace Jean-Guillaume Prats, taking over the executive management of the famed wine estates from December.
Maison Perrier-Jouët Unveils an Exceptional Collection of VintagesThe iconic Champagne house is releasing a distinctive collection of vintage cuvées from the house’s Oenothèque, which will be sold at...
Dry Extract Interview: Ludivine Griveau of Domaine des Hospices de Beaune, Burgundy, FranceDry Extract is Falstaff’s mini-interview feature. We ask top professionals in the world of wine, food and travel to answer thirteen...
The Global Drug Survey has crowned Australians as the heaviest drinkers in the world in 2020.
A new wave of Pinotage has swept across from South Africa, making a whole new case for the country's flagship red grape. And it is a real...
Falstaff's wine editors have compiled the ultimate list of the world’s 100 most iconic red wine estates. Here are the New World wineries that made the...
Shares in the low-carb, clean winemaker, founded by actresses Nina Dobrev and Julianne Hough, plunged 30% on their market debut.
Disruptions in supply chains, crop damage and a shift in consumer drinking attitudes are all trends to watch in the future, according to GlobalData.
The 2020 vintage of Burgundy is out and being sold en primeur, or while the wine is still in the barrel. Merchants from Hong Kong to London are...
Falstaff's wine editors have compiled the ultimate list of the world’s 100 most iconic red wine estates. Here are the wineries from Italy that made...
Falstaff's wine editors have compiled the ultimate list of the world’s 100 most iconic red wine estates. Here are the wineries from France that made...
Wines costing over €1,000 have long since ceased to be a rarity, usually they are strictly limited and highly coveted by a steadily growing number of...
Tributes are flowing for legendary Bordeaux winery owner Anthony Barton who died at the age of 91.


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Banks become more generous with card credit limits
By Juan Rodriguez and Laura Mohammad
Banks have became more generous in granting credit lines, a report from the American Bankers Association shows.
The banking trade group's quarterly Credit Card Market Monitor found that the card market picked up in the third quarter of 2014, reflecting a stronger economy. Monthly purchase volumes rose, new account volume was up 13 percent over a year ago and card issuers became more generous with the amount their willing to lend. The report was released March 26, 2015.
The size of credit lines on subprime accounts overall slipped slightly, but that was the exception. When it came to new accounts, all three account types improved, particularly prime, with a 2.3 percent increase. It was the first time in four years average credit lines for both prime and superprime were up.
Credit card offers reflect the larger economy, said Molly Wilkinson, executive director of the ABA's Card Policy Council. "The market trends we're seeing go hand in hand with a healthy economy as consumers continue to do a good job of managing their credit even as access to credit increases ... Both banks and consumers are feeling better about the state of the economy, and many lenders are gaining confidence in consumers' ability to meet their financial obligations," Wilkinson said.
Subprime accounts include accountholders with credit scores below 680 points; for prime, it's a score of 680-759; and for superprime, it's a score of 760 or better. The credit card data were taken from a nationally representative sample from Argus.
To use the graphic on your site, use the following code:
Published: March 30, 2015
- Card resolutions abound for 2017 – Paying credit card debt weighs on many Americans' minds ...
- Online fraud surges after EMV chip cards hit the US – Crooks switch to where cards are still vulnerable ...
- Millennials strongly prefer cards – Except for when they’re directly paying another person, millennials are overwhelmingly choosing a debit or credit card ...


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Printers & Scanner
Students from Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) in Puebla, Mexico have used a 3D printer to create scaffolds for synthetic bone material.
Virtual reality, Augmented reality,Hologram
Holograms have always been a game changer when it comes to displays. They literately stand out.
Xiaomi is the largest smartphone manufacturer in China, and one of the fastest growing smartphone OEMs in the world. This company is not only manufacturing smartphones though, they’re in the business of manufacturing all sorts of smart gadgets, from smart scales and smart light bulbs
Medical & Industry
The Québec Industrial Research Center (CRIQ) and the CHU Québec-Université Laval network of hospitals has launched a project to open a $2.874 million (USD) medical 3D printing center in Québec City.
Software & Smartphone
Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria have developed a software system to design functional, mechanical objects for 3D printing
MAKE IT MODERN
source projects are often hotbeds for innovation, and Havenlabs’ work is a shining example. Havenlabs has been working on designing a prosthetic gauntlet that can easily be 3D printed, and is compatible with a variety of attachments. The organization began as just an idea amongst friends in a college dorm room, and has quickly grown to include a worldwide community.


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Chris Igwe, Managing Director, Mainland Oil and Gas, on Tuesday said the company planned to invest about N2 billion in mega filling stations across the country.
Igwe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the expansion, which would be in phases, would commence in the third quarter of this year.
“In the first phase, we are looking at additional 50 mega filling stations to bring our presence in the market to 65 filling stations.
“The plan to build the mega stations is strategic to our growth agenda and these stations will combine mega stations and regular ones depending on the location of the market.
“We are touched by what Nigerians go through, especially in the rural areas before they get petroleum products.
“We started with our first fuel service station at Umuoji Road in Onitsha, Anambra State.
“Today, we have over 14 stations carefully and consciously located in the rural areas because of our belief and passion for the welfare of rural dwellers.
“So, we are driven by our passion to make fuel available to the ordinary Nigerians.
“That is the vision behind Mainland Oil, a vision that drives our business strategies,” he said.
Igwe said that the group had a strong logistics arm, adding that the company’s logistics business was one of the most effective in bulk trans-shipment of products.
“We also have our tank farm, which happens to be one of the biggest storage facilities in Calabar, Cross River State.
“With our wheeling and storage capacity, we are licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources to get products allocation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for direct distribution in the market.
“We also import directly to meet demand of our facilities in addition to holding strategic reserves,” he said.
Igwe said that this would ensure that the company’s storage facilities had enough products to continuously and promptly respond to fuel demand.
He said that the company intended to grow the business so rapidly as to create new opportunities for employment.
“We are concerned as a group to take out more Nigerians from the labour market.
“So in the next two years, we want to employ 10,000 Nigerians and when we do that we will know that the unemployed youths have felt our impact.
“So that is our starting point,” Igwe said.


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While merchants have been putting forth most of their efforts into creating a customer-centric approach in the contact center and the warehouse, the top initiative by executives moving forward is to also create a customer-centric supply chain.
The UPS’ annual supply chain survey, the 2013 UPS Change in the Supply Chain Survey, which was conducted by IDC Manufacturing, gathered insights from over 350 executives worldwide and asked them to reveal current and upcoming plans that would be the driving change within their supply chain.
“Providing a best-in-class customer experience is growing in importance in the high-tech industry as demand comes from new places and competition heads up around the globe,” according to the results. In fact, within the next two years, 44% of those executives surveyed said they plan to become more customer-centric compared to the 39% who already consider themselves customer-centric currently.
According to those executives, there will be a learning curve to creating a customer-centric operation. To counter that, according to the survey, 71% have already improved or are planning to improve lead times and improve learning capabilities. Sixty-eight percent said they plan to improve their fulfillment capabilities, 66% will improve post-sales and returns capabilities, 53% said they plan to become much more knowledgeable about risk level and resiliency in supply chain operations, and 47% are planning to build some “slack” into their supply chain.
The reason behind the new focus, according to the results, is that 72% of executives are finding “more intense global competition” and the need to differentiate themselves through customer service. Sixty-nine percent of executives also said they believed that better customer service would also mean increased sales and increased profits.


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Olushola Bello (Leadership)
The on-going Dangote Cement ‘Bag of Goodies Season 3’ national Consumer Promo has stated putting smiles on consumers’ faces.
The promo has produced the first set of millionaires in Ibadan, Oyo State. No fewer than three lucky Dangote Cement consumers were presented with one-million-naira cheques each even as many others won various prizes including television sets, refrigerators, rechargeable fans, 2KVA generators, and millions of airtime gifts.
The leading Cement manufacturer had weeks ago unveiled a Bag of Goodies National Consumer promo, Season 3 in Lagos during which the Company announced that 500 consumers would win a million naira each while another 100 would win N5million Naira within three months.
Amidst praises on the management of the Cement Company, the winners who are block moulders in Ibadan described their winnings a very surprising as they never believed the promo was real pointing out that crediting of their accounts was timely given the prevailing economic downturn that has impacted negatively on their business.
National Sales director, Dangote Cement, Mrs. Funmi Sanni explained that the promo was deliberately planned for this period to help the Dangote Cement customers and consumers because of the hard times brought upon businesses by the Covid-19 disruptions.
According to her, about N1 billion would be given as prizes by Dangote Cement in form of cash as well as home appliances, saying the promo was indeed a bag of goodies for the Cement customers across the federation.
While congratulating the winners in Ibadan, Sanni said the promo was aimed at giving back to consumers who have been the company’s pillar of support and to encourage them for more patronage, saying “we create value through quality products, exceptional service, competitive pricing and unparalleled consumer value proposition”
This, she noted, was in demonstration of the Company’s vision which is to provide for the welfare of its stakeholders among which she stated the consumers of the Dangote Cement product were a very strategic and important members.
While handling over cheques to Messrs. Shittu Ibitayo, Biliaminu Kehinde, and Adepegba Adekunle who won N1 million each in the promo, Sanni explained that 500 customers would win N1 million each, 100 customers would win N5 million each, coupled with N32 million worth of other gifts including television sets, Standing Fans, Generators and Fridges.
According to her, the promo started 5th of July, we say thank you and we will continue to appreciate Nigerians for their patronage and loyalty, we want to urge them to continue to do business with us whenever the need for cement arises.”
The National Sales director said, “we produce quality products for any types of cement application, we are the leaders in cement industry, we lead the way and others to follow. The Dangote Bag of Goodies spell and win promo will give an equal chance to everyone, even those at the grassroots level, to become millionaires.”
In his own remark, Dangote Cement Regional Sales director, Mr. Tunde Mabogunje said the Season 3 promo is to further take Dangote Cement customers to another level of prosperity as the promo will produce 125 millionaires monthly as over a N1 billion is up for grabs.
He assured the customers of the Company in the South West that they are in for good deal with Dangote Cement as we are determined to empower our customers financially in appreciation of their patronage and loyalty to the Dangote Cement brand.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the West Zonal director, National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), Mr. Fasunwomi Omotayo said the commission has gone through every details of the promotion and certified it good for the cement consumers and that his presence was to lend credent to the fact that the promotion is genuine.
He commended the management of the Dangote Cement for the transparent manner it was conducting the promotion, saying that Dangote cement was one of the leading indigenous companies in Nigeria that reached out to its consumers, noting that this is not the first time of doing such.
“As a regulatory body, we are into it together for the sake of accountability, professionalism and equity. Dangote has raised many millionaires and they are still raising it, the lottery is pure and transparent,” he submitted.
The beneficiaries, who won N1 million each expressed their gratitude to Dangote Group for the cash prize.
It would be recalled that Dangote Cement had unveiled in Lagos its National Consumer Promotion tagged “The Bag of Goodies spell and win Season 3” with fanfare.
The management said it was designed by to empower Nigerians. The promo, it explained has run for two years consecutively and that this year’s edition of ‘Bag of Goodies’, is set to produce 125 millionaires monthly.
The company’s in its half year ended June 30, 2020 revealed that it is ramping up production in its Okpella plant, Nigeria and progressing well to deploy grinding plants in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, in ensuring Cement becomes available in all African countries.
Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will join the lists of the following African countries when the grinding plants finally becomes operation. Cameroon (1.5Mta clinker grinding), Congo (1.5Mta), Ghana (1.5Mta import), Ethiopia (2.5Mta), Senegal (1.5Mta), Sierra Leone (0.5Mta import), South Africa (2.8Mta), Tanzania (3.0Mta), Zambia (1.5Mta).
The chief executive officer of Dangote Cement, Michel Puchercos, said “despite the elevated inflation due to a very volatile global environment, the first half of 2022 has been positive. We recorded increases in revenue and EBITDA that drove strong cash generation across the Group. We recorded revenue of N808.0 billion up 17 percent compared to last year and Group EBITDA of N373.2 billion, up 6.3 percent with an EBITDA margin of 46.2 percent.”
Puchercos explained that significant increase in energy and AGO costs are impacting negatively on production and supply of cement products. He added, “to drive consumer engagement and support demand ahead of the rainy season; we have commenced the third season of our national consumer promotion; ‘Bag of Goodies 3’. On the operational side, we are ramping up production at our Okpella plant and are progressing well to deploy grinding plants in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.”
He stated that the volatile international context is strengthening efforts to ramp up the usage of alternative fuels and execution of export-to-import strategy. The company according to him is reducing dependence on imported inputs and making the local markets self-sufficient.
“Our continuous focus on efficiency, meeting market demand and maintaining our costs leadership drives our ability to consistently deliver superior profitability and value to all shareholders,” he added.
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with nearly 51.6Mta capacity across Africa. A fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer, it has a production capacity of 35.25Mta in its home market, Nigeria. Obajana plant in Kogi state, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa with 16.25Mta of capacity across five lines while Ibese plant in Ogun State has four cement lines with a combined installed capacity of 12Mta. The Gboko plant in Benue state has 4Mta while Okpella plant in Edo state has 3Mta. Through recent investments, Dangote Cement has eliminated Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement and has transformed the nation into an exporter of cement serving neighbouring countries.


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When you type a password into a mobile payment app, you'd probably expect it to protect that password somehow. But it seems that the Starbucks app for iOS doesn't actually lock its usernames and passwords down. According to a Computerworld report, company executives admitted today that the mobile app stores passwords in clear text, with no encryption of any sort. By connecting your phone to a computer, the report claims, someone could easily retrieve your password from a crash log.
What's more, it appears that Starbucks may not intend to actually fix the problem. While the company told both Computerworld and The Seattle Times that the company had "taken steps to safeguard customers' information," it's unclear what steps it could have taken.Read more


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IAPH invites you to a live webinar on 21st of January
COVID19-related small-scale shocks aggregated over time now impacting shippers and freights in several regional markets
Survey from the world’s ports also indicates a possible restructuring of liner container services, a drop in liquid bulk trading and the continued mothballing of cruise services
Post-lockdown traffic added to seasonal tourism and essential roadworks causes delays to cargo and traffic at some ports. Vessel crew changes reported for the first time.
Reports of more high-frequency feeder services to regional ports, whilst many passenger vessel calls remain scrapped
IAPH-WPSP Port Economic Impact Barometer for Week 19 reports persisting cross-border congestion for some ports, resulting in modal switch away from trucks


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An increasing number of Britons have found themselves coming under financial strain, a new report has revealed.
In research released by Moneyfacts, there have been 125 rate and fee increases on credit cards over the last two months, a figure which Esther James, credit card analyst, claims is “quite staggering”. According to the price comparison website, 69 cards have increased their cash withdrawal fees, while some 25 products have seen rates on cash withdrawals surge, a move which could well impact upon consumers’ ability to service other areas of their finances, such as utility bills, mortgages and personal loans. The study also showed that three cards have seen purchase rates increase, while 18 products have been hit by higher foreign usage charges.
Commenting on the figures, Ms James said: “With the majority of increases staying away from the headline purchase rates, these fee and rate increases are less in the public view and often tucked away in lengthy terms and conditions. However they can still make a substantial increase to the cost of using your card.” In addition, she pointed out that with Christmas approaching, more people could be set to see their incomes being “stretched to the max”. And although she claimed that consumers may well consider turning towards their credit cards to help them access additional cash, making use of such a product could see borrowers “get stung by still higher rates and fees”. The analyst also warned that selecting the wrong type of credit cards could be a “costly mistake” for borrowers.
The Moneyfacts representative also pointed out that credit card customers should look to avoid withdrawing cash using the facility if at all possible, as the average interest rate attached to such a move stands at 23 per cent which is charged from the date the cash was taken out. In addition, Ms James stated that borrowers can expect to pay a fee of up to three per cent. As a result, the analyst reported that by making the minimum repayments on a withdrawal of 500 pounds, consumers would end up paying back the sum of 1,382 pounds and 70 pence – a figure which may well have an effect on their propensity to make payments on utility bills, personal loans and other financial demands.
Consequently, she advised: “Don’t just keep to the minimum repayments, take control of your debt and repay as much as you can afford each month. Doing so will knock years off your debt and save you a fortune in interest.”
However, for those looking for a competitive way in which to meet demands for payment on a number of credit cards, applying for a debt consolidation loan. By applying for a loan, borrowers may well find that they pay a lower rate of interest on their borrowing and are so able to pay off credit card debt with ease, leaving them with a higher rate of disposable income at the end of each month. However, earlier this year Tim Moss, head of loans and debt at moneysupermarket, warned those borrowers considering taking out a consolidation loan to avoid going back into the red as otherwise they could well find themselves under a “debt sentence”.


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Let’s lead off with Borders — again. If you didn’t see my post yesterday (over on my personal blog) about what Borders has been up to, the short version is it is offering educators a “special” offer to pay for the privilege of self-publishing their own e-books and hard copy books. If you do the math, it even looks like this is a very special deal in that it will cost educators more than it does the average Joe off the street. Oh, and remember, you can do exactly what Borders and Bookbrewer are offering at a fee for free from Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For more, check out my post from yesterday.
There’s an interesting article from NRP about the future of libraries and e-books. Just as the publishing industry is struggling to adapt to e-books and figure out where they fall in the grand scheme of things, so are libraries. More and more patrons are demanding the ability to check out e-books in formats that work on their particular e-reader. That costs the libraries money, money they often don’t have. Throw in the decision by Harper-Collins to limit the number of times an e-book can be checked out (26 times) before a new license must be purchased and, well, that’s more money and more patron frustration — think about how you’d feel to be on the waiting list for the latest best seller only to be told you can’t read it because you were unlucky number 27.
The last paragraph of the article is the telling one — and one that publishers as a whole must also answer. What do you think?
Finally, the internet has been guardedly optimistic and excited by news that J. K. Rowling was considering finally bringing the Harry Potter books out in digital format. My advice? Don’t hold your breath. I don’t see it happening any time soon. Despite an earlier report, Rowling’s representative — as well as her publisher in the UK — say there is no forthcoming announcement about digital versions of the best selling books. Whether this is a stroke of marketing genius by Rowling and her people or not will wait to be seen. It does, however, once more raise the hopes of her fans only to dash them.
More to come later…have a great day!


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By Charlie Gillig, Founder RemitRight
Last week I was thrilled to lead a webinar on international money transfers for GDW 2015. The reduction of remittance costs is an often over-looked, but potentially massive way of improving the economies of developing countries through the diaspora. In 2014, over $560 billion dollars were sent through formal channels across borders. That is four times the amount of global Overseas Development Assistance!
The problem is that remittance senders also paid over $40 billion in fees to money transfer operators, amounting to a little less than 8% per transaction. For at least the immediate future, there will be costs associated with fraud protection, payout locations and company overhead costs among others. But there is one very important way that remittance costs can be reduced drastically and immediately: through greater market transparency.
For decades the costs of remittances have been notoriously high and opaque. Money transfer operators often hide fees from consumers through significant exchange rate mark-ups, generating higher costs for consumers and large profits for the companies. Currently in order for individuals to compare costs and preferences between money transfer operators, they must go to each money transfer company website separately to compare choices or rely on word on mouth.
We founded RemitRight to stop money transfer companies taking advantage of hard-working migrants through hidden fees and a lack of transparency.
We founded RemitRight to stop money transfer companies taking advantage of hard-working migrants through hidden fees and a lack of transparency. To solve the problem RemitRight lets users search and compare money transfer options based on reliability, exchange rates, user reviews, payment methods, delivery options, transfer times and overall best value, similar to other comparison services like Expedia and KAYAK. We also provide informative articles and content that help users navigate the often confusing and complicated choices and calculations associated with international money transfers.
We believe that bringing transparency to the remittance market will increase competition between money transfer operators, leading to better service levels, lower costs for customers and, most importantly, more money being sent into the real economies of developing nations. With so many people in the U.S. now using low-cost smart phones, we have a real opportunity to make the remittance market more transparent and competitive, thereby saving remittance senders $1 billion annually in the United States alone. That is $1 billion that would go to the diaspora in the United States and to their loved ones abroad, and not to money transfer companies.
Since our founding, RemitRight has become the only private sector company certified by the World Bank for improving transparency in the remittance market. This makes RemitRight the most unbiased, transparent and accurate comparison service on the remittance market today. We now offer information on remittances to five countries – Mexico, India, The Philippines, El Salvador and Vietnam – and have plans to add dozens more this fall.
If you missed our webinar please click below:


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Deal makes Turner, Yahoo teammates
Partnership includes NBA, golf and NASCAR contentNEW YORK -- Turner Sports will provide video and text content to Yahoo's NBA, golf and NASCAR channels in a partnership announced Thursday whereby Turner will manage ad sales and the two companies will share revenue.
For Turner, it provides the opportunity to put its digital sports rights -- all but live NBA games -- in front of a larger audience. It also will be able to sell ads on the Yahoo Sports channels in addition to its other platforms, from the NBA on TNT to NBA.com and its other Turner-managed league-owned sites PGATour.com, PGA.com and NASCAR.com.
"Now we have the opportunity to take those brands and extend them even further into the marketplace," Turner Sports president David Levy said. He estimated that 80% of the Yahoo Sports audience are unduplicated users and impressions beyond the league sites Turner manages.
The deal is part of Yahoo's strategy to partner with content providers, similar to the deals it has struck with WebMD and CNET in which ad sales inventory has been outsourced. But that's also not the case with most of Yahoo's channels and won't be, said Todd Teresi, senior vp of Yahoo Publisher Channel. Teresi said the Turner deal gives Yahoo access to revenue that it wouldn't have normally received on its own.
Yahoo Sports and Games GM Jimmy Pitaro said that from the content side, the Turner deal is a template for the future as the company would like to partner with other content providers.
In choosing Yahoo, Turner passed over corporate sibling AOL. But Levy said that didn't mean a deal with AOL or another company couldn't become a reality.
"This is a nonexclusive deal," he said. "Certainly we'll be talking to AOL, and we have been."


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However, they’re not so good for the health of the planet.
The problem is what they’re made of – stuff like nylon, acrylic, rayon and polyester, which are all synthetic materials. Forget the fact that you may risk incineration if you venture near a naked flame while dressed in some of these man-made fabrics, the real trouble begins when you throw them in the wash.
A single garment can shed as many as 250,000 miniscule strands of plastic into the water each time it is laundered.
Known as microfibres, these tiny pieces are not captured by your washing machine and so are sloshed down drains and sewers.
They are mainly too small to be picked up by water treatment plants and so can end up in the sea, where they pose a serious threat to marine life. A recent report found humans have produced 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s, with the majority ending up in landfill or oceans. And estimates suggest up to 12 million tonnes is entering oceans around the world each year.
Once in the sea, our plastic detritus – including fishing gear, bottles, nurdles, straws and carrier bags – does not decompose for hundreds of years. Big stuff does break down, but into smaller pieces that can be eaten by fish and seabirds mistaking them for food.
It seems like we are at last beginning to wake up to the horrifying impact our increasing addiction to plastic is having on the environment. Most of us can see it’s an attraction that could prove fatal if we carry on business as usual.
And if not, perhaps they should check out a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which warns there could be more waste plastic than fish in the sea by 2050 if serious action is not taken to address the crisis.
Thankfully there have been a raft of positive steps unfolding over the past few months. The 5p charge for carrier bags appears to have led to a reduction in the number littering beaches. There is now a ban on microbeads in cosmetic products such as toothpaste and body scrubs. The Scottish Government has outlawed both the manufacture and sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds and has pledged to introduce a deposit-return system for drinks containers. Councils across the country and many major retailers have agreed to do away with plastic straws. Some places have also introduced what they call a latte levy on disposable coffee cups.
It’s great that governments and big businesses are responding to pressure but it’s also important for each and every one of us to do as much as we can to reduce the amount of plastic litter we generate. We can all do better at recycling and cut any unnecessary packaging.
As for the washing-day blues, I‘m not suggesting we ditch our favourite disco shirts or the sheets on our beds. There are other ways to reduce wardrobe malfunctions. You could stick your offending undies inside the Guppy Friend, a fine-mesh bag that promises to sift out at least a proportion of microfibres from your wash. Or try the new Cora Ball, made of recycled plastic, which you put into the drum alongside your clothes and it will apparently pluck any dastardly fibres out of the water. Other tricks are to fill the drum to reduce friction, wash synthetics less often, on shorter and cooler cycles and spin more slowly.


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So, you’ve finally started using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as marketing tools for your business. You’ve started interacting with customers online, are getting Facebook “likes” and are even getting new “Twitter followers” on a daily basis.
But, are you truly seeing any results from all of your online efforts? Is all of the work really worth it?
According to new research and data from the University of Buffalo, Texas A&M University and Aalto University in Finland, social media can in fact make a difference. The new study, published in the journal Information Systems Research, shows that customers who are also Facebook fans of the business are more valuable than customers without any online interaction with the company.
And this means much more than simply getting customers in the door. These customers that also interact with a business through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets also improve the company’s sales. In fact, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of marketing at Aalto University said these customers who interact with the business through social media contribute 5.6 percent more revenue than customers not active on social media. Additionally, these social medial-savvy customers visit the business five percent more than their non-social media counterparts.
The numbers don’t stop there. According to the social media marketing firm Syncapse, a Facebook fan is worth $174 to a brand. This amount is 28 percent higher than it was three years ago.
Syncapse reached this number thanks to a survey by research firm Hotspex, who collected data from more than 2,000 U.S. panelists earlier this year. The study compared Facebook fans and non-fans’ brand loyalty, media value, potential to recommend the brand to others and a number of other factors. The results were released earlier this week.
So now that we know social media has some influence as far as attracting customers, improving sales and getting them to return, there are a number of trends small business owners should know about and implement in order to have success with social media.
It seems like a new social network is introduced everyday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your business needs to be on every single one. A number of small business and social medial experts believe 2013 is the year small businesses focus on one or two social media sources that work best for their specific product or service.
By investing time in the platform you believe is best for your customers — whether it be Facebook, Twitter or Instagram — small businesses can maximize their social media marketing efforts and hopefully have the greatest chances of increasing clientele and profit.
According to Ben Bentzin, an expert in brand development, product marketing and social media at the University of Texas at Austin, business owners have to think about what their customers are using as far as social media.
“If you are selling insurance to senior citizens, social media [like Twitter] may not be that important,” Bentzin said. “But if you are selling to college students, you have to have that social media presence.”
Additional Social Media Strategies
Apart from focusing your social medial efforts toward one or two platforms tailored to your customers, small businesses can also improve their social media campaign by:
Encouraging interaction from customers
Investing in building online communities over time as opposed to a quick-fix solution
Contributing regularly to your chosen social media platforms
Keeping customers up-to-date on events or sales
Like any marketing technique, it is important to have a specific strategy and plan from the beginning. Experiment with different social media platforms to learn which is best for your business and start taking advantage of these online communities.


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Farm groups are very focused on trade policy, but their time would be better spent pushing for farmers to get a fairer price for their food, says Cornish lamb and beef farmer Rona Amiss.
Brexit, what Brexit?
The one thing that obsessed people for months has all but disappeared from the daily news, with R ratings and death figures taking top billing.
Our priority on the farm has gone from coping with wet weather to being desperate for rain as we seem to have missed even the tiny showers, while the relentless strong wind and sunshine has caused drought conditions.
My optimism on being part of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme trials and tests has now faded, being replaced by ad hoc zoom meetings that don’t even have the benefit of a free pasty to keep me awake.
There seems to be a real danger that the aim of having some farmer input will be lost to the consultant environmentalists who are able to push through their agendas.
In Cornwall, we have lots of very large veg and bulb growers who have been worried about the Brexit impact on labour.
Many have been advertising for staff, and I know some locals who have applied for positions but haven’t even had a reply.
Obviously my experience won’t be statistically significant, but I can’t help wondering that the ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign was not also tied up with putting political pressure on to bring in more European workers.
I sometimes feel there is a lot going on behind the scenes that we never really get to hear or understand as a peasant farmer.
It’s the same with the great demand to protect our standards in trade talks. I quite agree that we should have high standards.
I would love everyone to buy British and I also want our food grown in a well-regulated and safe way.
But I feel very cautious of all this shouting about our standards being the best in the world.
Cauliflowers being sold in the supermarket for £1 require people to work extremely long hours for a rate of pay that, although legal, for the level of skill and unsociable hours is not great.
But it’s not just the veg industry.
Large livestock units being pushed on price have to trim costs across the board, and something has to be sacrificed.
This sacrifice may simply be a farmer having to work exceptionally long hours or pay himself below the minimum wage, or it could be stretching the welfare codes.
Is this acceptable? Is the demand for trade protection the wrong campaign?
Would the NFU be better demanding a fair price from the customer, and farmers showing a bit of solidarity by refusing contracts with supermarkets which are driving down standards?
These are not just Brexit issues. It’s been a long drive to the bottom over the last 20 years, allowed by farmers seduced by supermarket contracts.
Maybe Covid-19 will focus people’s minds on where and how they want their food produced.
Being absolutely sure that British food is produced to the best standards, then making sure these standards are communicated, would surely let the retail customer vote with their purse?
Rona can be found tweeting at @grassfedsheep


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There's excitement in the air as news breaks from Sweden that 'fast-fashion' giant H&M will be staging its first runway show in eight years this spring.
The details are sparse, but buzz is already building. On the evening of February 27, H&M will be hosting a full runway show at the Musée Rodin in Paris, France.
PHOTOS: STARS FLOCK TO PARIS FASHION WEEK
This is the first show for the famous high-street brand since its last catwalk outing in New York in 2005. "We will be showing key items from our ladies collection for fall 2013 with around 25 looks," a spokesperson for the brand told Relaxnews.
Famed for its collaborations with some of fashion's biggest names including Lanvin, Karl Lagerfeld, and most recently Maison Martin Margiela, this time around it's the talents of H&M's own studio which are being shown off. The collection has been designed by the company's in-house designers under the head of design Ann-Sofie Johansson.
The neo-classical location of the Musée Rodin in the 7th arrondisement of Paris, has previously hosted major runway shows for Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. Expect more information closer to the fashion show.
Topshop and Topman also show their higher-priced Topshop Unique and Topman Design lines off at London Fashion Week.


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Don Bradman Cicket to the rescue.
Ashes Cricket 2013, the most looked forward to cricket game possibly ever–although granted there haven’t been many looked-forwards-to cricket games–was cancelled after it’s disastrous launch in which gamers deemed the game to be more or less unplayable.
Until today, all has been quiet on the cricket gaming front. Developers Big Ant Studios have just released a trailer for their upcoming game, Don Bradman Cricket 14, in hopes that they will corner the cricket gaming market. Apparently the game has been in development for four years, but the studio chose this opportune time–just following Ashes Cricket 2013 being taken down from the Steam Store–to release the trailer.
The pressure is on for Don Bradman Cricket 14 to deliver an at least playable cricket experience. With no other competitors on the market at this time, this opportunity is completely Big Ant Studios’ to capitalize on or squander. Let’s hope it makes for a great game that die-hard cricket fans the world over can enjoy.


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One third of 2013 is over in less than two weeks. Apple keeps its fans waiting for unveiling any of the anticipated 2013 products. The rumor mill has no information about an upcoming Apple media event.
Apple is taking its time this year with unveiling any new products. The Apple rumor mil has nothing concrete about an upcoming Apple event. Apple is rumored to release two iPhonemodels, iPad mini 2 (Retina), iPad 5, iWatch and Apple Television.
It is though totally unclear when any of the rumored products will be introduced. It could be that Apple is concentrating the release of the 2013 product line-up to happen with the release of iOS 7. iOS 7 is said to be behind schedule. Maybe there will be no big Apple Spring announcement, but an extremely intense fall with several new products all working on iOS 7.
Luigi Lugmayr Luigi Lugmayr (Google) is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years
experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting
world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into
vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been reappointed as Paytm Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer as 99.67 percent of shareholders voted for him.
One97 Communications Limited (OCL), owner of the Paytm brand, India’s leading digital payments and financial services company and the pioneer of QR and mobile payments, recently held its 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), the first as a Listed Company.
The company’s shareholders voted by a 99.67 percent majority to re-appoint Vijay Shekhar Sharma as Managing Director for another five years, designated as “Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer” of the company.
“The resounding votes of nearly 100 percent in favor of his reappointment reflect investors’ confidence in the company’s leadership and also demonstrate their confidence in the company’s growth and profitability target,” an official statement said.
Earlier in May 2022, OCL’s Board of Directors approved the reappointment of Mr. Sharma as CEO.
In addition, in February 2022, SEBI had made it voluntary for India Inc to have a separate Chairman and General Manager/Chief Executive Officer.
In most Nifty 50 companies, the CEO is appointed on a non-rotating basis.
The decision on Mr Sharma’s remuneration received 94.48 percent of the vote.
His remuneration is fixed for the next three years without any annual increase, contrary to the policy/practice applicable to all other employees of the company.
In addition, in his letter to shareholders dated April 6, 2022, Sharma informed the public that his share ownership plan (ESOPs) only vest when the market capitalization exceeds the initial public offering (IPO) level on a sustainable basis.
The ESOPs had already been approved by shareholders in accordance with applicable law and with all necessary approvals before the IPO was reviewed, the company said in a statement.
At the AGM, the shareholders also duly passed the resolutions for the re-appointment of Ravi Chandra Adusumalli as a member of the Board of Directors, the appointment of Madhur Deora as a full-time director appointed as Executive Director, President and Group Chief Financial Officer of the company, together with its remuneration, and approval of its contribution to charitable and other funds and the receipt, treatment and approval of the company’s audited stand-alone and consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022.
Mr Deora’s appointment received 99.82 percent votes, while the decision on his remuneration received 94.53 percent votes.
Mr. Deora joined the company in 2016 and has played a pivotal role in onboarding major investors and shaping the company’s growth plans.
“We are grateful to our shareholders for their continued support and confidence in our leadership. We remain committed to building a great, profitable company and creating long-term shareholder value, while driving financial inclusion in the country” a Paytm spokesperson said.
Under the leadership of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm has established itself as the pioneer of QR payments, the leader in digital payments and continuously innovating in payments and digital financial services.
In a letter to shareholders dated April 6, 2022, Mr. Sharma, encouraged by the company’s business momentum, scale of revenue generation and operating leverage, said Paytm should break EBITDA over the next 6 months. quarters (ie EBITDA before ESOP charges, and by the quarter ended September 2023).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)


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South Korean tech giant Samsung is supposedly wanting to produce a breathtaking answer to Apple’s new feature the Live Photos. This new feature was presented with the iPhones 6 and 6S. The answer to Live Photos may be seen in the upcoming Samsung Glalaxy S7. Reports refer to an anonymous Samsung build, this feature may be seen as an update to all previous Samsung phones as well in addition the S7.
One drawback that has been revealed about this new feature does not capture audio along with the photograph. This will make the crux of GIF users as such feature will be appearing in the lastest mobile phones by both Samsung and Apple.is the The Galaxy S7 is expected to be launched in three different variations namely the Galaxy S7, along with Galaxy S7 Edge and the Galaxy S7 Edge+. The Galaxy S7 will include a 5.1huge Super Amoled screen with a QHD (1440×2560 pixels)


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The next iteration of the software maker's operating system is slated to arrive in two months.
CNET's Marguerite Reardon explains how three key phenomena could reshape the wireless industry in the next few years and pave the way for more-affordable mobile services.
This Chinese virtual reality headset will fit any phone with screen sizes ranging from 4.7 to 6 inches and it costs under $50.
The e-commerce company announces free, same-day shipping on over 1 million items in 14 metro areas across the US.
For $50 per year, the limited test will offer delivery of more than 1 million items sold on Walmart's website within three days .
A lesser-powered riff on the G4 recently appeared on a German retailer's website.
Intel, GlobalFoundries and other chipmakers have built massive facilities to manufacture more powerful computer chips. It's all part of a race to prove they can keep pace with Moore's Law.
The 2015 Vizio M series offers 4K resolution and local dimming starting at $600.
Nvidia announced a new flagship graphics card delivering smoother 4K graphics for PC gamers, plus new G-Sync screen technology for smoother gaming on laptops.
When Google unveiled its smart and controversial eyewear three years ago, some early tech adopters tried to do their part by eagerly pushing for Glass acceptance. The world pushed back.


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Image Source: Zendesk.
Shares of software-as-a-service provider Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) slumped on Wednesday following the company's third-quarter report, despite revenue and earnings coming in ahead of analyst expectations. Guidance could be the culprit, with Zendesk predicting that revenue will rise by just 38% year over year during the fourth quarter. At 11:30 a.m. EDT, the stock was down about 10.5%.
Zendesk reported third-quarter revenue of $80.7 million, up 45% year over year and $1.25 million higher than the average analyst estimate. This represents a slowdown compared to the 54% growth Zendesk reported during the second quarter. The company blamed a sales and marketing realignment for disrupting its ability to close deals during the third quarter, which contributed to its decelerating revenue growth.
Non-GAAP EPS came in at a loss of $0.04, an improvement compared to a loss of $0.05 during the prior-year period, and $0.02 better than analysts were expecting. GAAP earnings tumbled, with Zendesk posting a $25.8 million loss, worse than the $18.9 million loss the company reported during the third quarter of 2015.
Zendesk expects to generate between $86 million and $88 million of revenue during the fourth quarter, representing year-over-year growth of just 38% at the midpoint. Growth rates are bound to slow as Zendesk grows larger, but investors clearly expected more.
Zendesk has a goal of reaching $1 billion of annual revenue by 2020. Assuming the company hits its full-year guidance of $309 million to $311 million, it will need to grow revenue at an annualized rate of 34% through 2020 in order to hit the $1 billion mark. With guidance for the fourth quarter perilously close to this required rate, Zendesk's long-term revenue goal is beginning to look optimistic.
While Zendesk performed better than analysts expected during the third quarter, investors seemed to focus more on the company's guidance. With GAAP losses rising, any slowdown in revenue growth is a big problem for the company and for the stock.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Timothy Green has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Zendesk. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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(FINANCE) Poindexter is a startup that helps you manage financial questions so that you can build you business, not spreadsheets.
(BUSINESS FINANCE) Impressing investors is nerve-wracking, but these tips can help you to nail your first impression.
(FINANCE) Paying taxes on your cryptocurrency investments doesn’t have to be a headache with this simple tool.
(FINANCE) Crypto is on exciting, not just with values skyrocketing and falling from day to day, but with new ways to earn and invest.
Working as a freelancer isn’t easy. Despite the hard work, many professionals choose this route in order to escape the daily grind of working for an...
(FINANCE NEWS) Research indicates that PTSD isn't exclusive to those who have witnessed violence, and many people are triggered by something as common as financial woes.
(FINANCE) This goofy parody showcases why traditional currencies are mocked while cryptocurrency solves some inherent problems with finance.
(BUSINESS FINANCE) When running a smaller shop online, how can you compete with free shipping from giants like Amazon that can afford it?
(BUSINESS FINANCE) Expense reports suck. There's no other way to describe them. Here’s a way to make the process suck less. Thanks, robots!
(BUSINESS FINANCE) Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are booming, and it can be overwhelming, especially with all of the scams floating around. Here are some scam-free courses...
(BUSINESS FINANCE) With this new platform, startups can now seek funding in different ways than the traditional paths, using blockchain to set themselves up for financial...
(BUSINESS NEWS) A brand new online marketplace posts side projects available for purchase by the public - it's a good time to take a peek.
(FINANCE) Cryptocurrency is a concept that dates back a decade, but as it becomes newly mainstream, many are struggling to catch up - knowing the basic...
(FINANCE NEWS) Credit card companies are now trying to make customers slow their roll when purchasing crypto - and it's kind of shady.
(FINANCE NEWS) The State of Texas is cracking down on crypto companies, and this won't be the last cease and desist issued.
(FINANCE) Buying unheard of ICOs just got much riskier as scammers find new ways to scam people out of their crypto investments while stealing their identities....
(FINANCE) Everything you wanted to know about recent cryptocurrency stories in a nice little list so you don’t have to lift a finger. You’re welcome.
(FINANCE) Goldman Sachs finally cries uncle, admits Bitcoin is money in a paper to clients. Crypto is gaining traction, whether tradition admits its value or not.
(BUSINESS FINANCE) If you pay contractors, this wonky IRS filing contradiction may leave you scratching your head...
(FINANCE NEWS) Kodak's foray into cyrptocurrency is more than a financial play, it could be their very salvation in some peoples' eyes.
Famed investor Warren Buffett has stated he believes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will end badly because they are a “mirage.”
(FINANCE) Spotify directly filed to join the stock market late December, forgoing the traditional IPO process. Will other tech companies follow suit?
(FINANCE) Every cryptocurrency relies on a free and open internet, so if net neutrality in America dies, what happens to crypto?
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Tips for becoming a good boxer - November 6, 2020
7 expert tips for making your hens night a memorable one - November 6, 2020
5 reasons to host your Christmas party on a cruise boat - November 6, 2020
What to do when you’re charged with a crime - November 6, 2020
Should you get one or multiple dogs? Here’s all you need to know - November 3, 2020
A Guide: How to Build Your Very Own Magic Mirror - February 14, 2019
Our Top Inspirational Baseball Stars - November 24, 2018
Five Tech Tools That Will Help You Turn Your Blog into a Business - November 24, 2018
How to Indulge on Vacation without Expanding Your Waist - November 9, 2018
5 Strategies for Businesses to Appeal to Today’s Increasingly Mobile-Crazed Customers - November 9, 2018
Trans-Pacific trade deal cautiously welcomed by China
Member for Flynn Mr O’Dowd and Member for Hinkler Mr Pitt congratulated Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb for ensuring Australia gets a fair say in negotiations. News 1 in Seoul reported U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his South Korea counterpart Washington would welcome future discussions with Seoul regarding the TPP.
Russell Boening, the president of the Waco-based Texas Farm Bureau, called the agreement “potentially a huge step forward for our country and trade partners”.
Last night, finalisation of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam was announced following more than five years of negotiations.
That debate will unfurl against the backdrop of a presidential campaign in which populist anti-trade talk against the deal is already prominent.
Deputy director of the Australian China Relations Institute, James Laurenceson said gains from the new deal are modest at best.
If the TPP is ratified by Congress, and by other countries, it would be the largest free trade agreement entered into by the USA “Failing to grasp this opportunity would be a mistake”, stated Tom Vilsack, U.S.ag secretary.
Without a high standard TPP, the US will face a Pacific region that could have no trading rules or possibly China’s rules.
Key supporters of the fast-track TPA included U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.
At the same time, trade unions and environmental, consumer and heath care organizations across the USA are also organizing protests against the measure.
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the TPP would eliminate more than 18,000 tariffs on products made in America – including agricultural, automotive and manufactured products – enabling an expansion of the export of American goods.
Horticulture Export Authority CEO Simon Hegarty said Japan’s inclusion in the TPP was particularly welcome.
They have a combined population of more than 800 million and the 11 other countries account for over 40 per cent of New Zealand’s overall exports.
By law, Congress will have months to deliberate, perhaps until next April.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday that the countries will continue to separately work together “strengthen macroeconomic cooperation, including on exchange rate issues”.


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COMPANY NEWS; WITH PROFITS DOWN, HASBRO TO CUT 5% OF ITS WORK FORCE
Published: October 13, 2000
Hasbro Inc. cut its third-quarter earnings forecast yesterday and said it would reduce its work force by about 5 percent in the face of softening demand for Pokemon and Star Wars toys. Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., plans to cut 500 to 550 jobs and close offices in Cincinnati, San Francisco and Napa, Calif. The company said it would take a pretax charge of $70 million, primarily in the fourth quarter. Hasbro said it now expected third-quarter earnings of 6 to 10 cents a share before one-time charges. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had expected the company to earn 32 cents a share. Hasbro earned 43 cents a share in the third quarter of 1999. Shares of Hasbro fell $1.56, or 13 percent, to $10.06.


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Is there a Audi A9?
Audi’s new Artemis skunkworks team is working to develop a highly advanced, highly efficient electric car due in 2024. Autocar reported Monday that the mystery model will be a flagship sedan that may just adopt the A9 E-Tron name.
How much is a Audi A9?
Pricing for the different versions of the Audi A9 will start at 80,000 euros, or about $110,000 at the current exchange rates, for the Coupe and Cabrio versions compared to the $140,000 price tag on the Sedan.
What is Audi A9?
The new electric flagship is set to be a direct rival to the upcoming Mercedes-Benz EQS and Jaguar XJ and have the latest in electric drivetrain, battery cell and autonomous driving technology. …
Is Audi A8 2011 a good car?
The automotive press loves the 2011 Audi A8’s good fuel economy, excellent suspension, standard Quattro all-wheel drive and opulent, tech-heavy interior.
Why Audi cars are so expensive?
Audi’s are some of the most expensive luxury vehicles out there mainly because of their high level of technology and quality of parts. Additionally, Audi’s compete directly against other luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Therefore, their pricing is adjusted to outsell these competing brands.
Which is the cheapest Audi?
Audi car price starts at Rs 35 Lakh for the cheapest model which is Q2 and the price of most expensive model, which is RS Q8 starts at Rs 2.07 Crore.
What is the biggest Audi car?
Audi’s largest and most luxurious sedan—the 2021 A8—hides its high-dollar cabin behind a handsome-yet-understated façade.
How fast is a 2011 Audi A8?
It gives the long-wheelbase Audi A8 the kind of performance normally expected of a sports car: it sprints from 0 to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in only 4.9 seconds and effortlessly reaches its governed top speed of 250 km/h (155.34 mph).
Does the 2011 Audi A8 have a turbo?
The A8 will be available here with just one engine when it launches: the long-lived direct-injection, 4.2-liter DOHC V-8. It’s rumored that a new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 will get the job. Another possible engine in the A8’s future is the 3.0-liter V-6 turbo-diesel that’s available at launch in Europe.
What kind of car is the 2011 Audi A4?
When it was new, critics said the 2011 A4 was one of the better-handling sports sedans available, especially when equipped with Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive. They noted that while the A4 isn’t the nimblest sedan in the segment, for many buyers, it strikes the right balance between handling and ride comfort.
Where was the 2011 Audi A4 last serviced?
Purchased on 10/14/10 and owned in NC until 05/08/21. Driven an estimated 13,238 miles/year. Last serviced at 139,989 miles in Virginia Beach, VA on 05/24/21 • Vehicle serviced • Emissions or safety inspection performed. No accident or damage reported to CARFAX.
What kind of mileage does the Audi A4 get?
While a number of 2011 midsize cars are more powerful, most critics said the A4 has sufficient power. The A4 is available with either front- or all-wheel drive, and a manual transmission is available with the latter. Front-wheel drive models net 22/30 mpg city/highway. Aside from its hybrid competitors, the A4 gets great fuel economy for the class.
Is the Audi A4 an entry level car?
The R8 supercar might grab more publicity, but the A4 is the car that average customers are most likely to encounter. After driving the sporty A4 with its refined interior, it’s clear that it’s not entry-level: it’s near the top of its class.


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Jae Talks Girl Power Uncensored Book Collaboration in Sheen Magazine. Girl Power Uncensored drops June 14th. Pre-sales begin June 7th. “Girl Power: Uncensored,” is a collection of women’s stories which shares the struggles of real women, who have faced very real obstacles. READ ARTICLE HERE
On Saturday, May 4, 2019, the CheMinistry Live: What Men Want celebrity panel event took place at SPACES in Midtown Atlanta. The green carpet experience welcomed singles and couples from all over Atlanta and surrounding areas, to come and enjoy light bites, signature drinks, a vendor fair and thought-provoking conversation! CheMinistry also featured musical performances […]
Breaking Boundaries- Muslim supermodel Halima Aden has made history once again by becoming the first model to wear a hijab and burkini in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. In 2016, Aden became the first contestant in Miss Minnesota USA to wear a hijab and burkini, ultimately reaching the pageant’s semi-finals. “There are so many Muslim […]
Work Hard, Play Hard! Calling all Business Professionals & Entrepreneurs, meet me at So ATL➖ An upscale Social Gathering and Day Party for Young Business Professionals at Topgolf -Midtown, May 19th! Finally, a Day Party that foster relationships. Join us for a good time, inside the Signature Room w/ a live DJ, secured bays to […]
According to the official Black News, website 8-year old, Nicholas Buamah, had a sold-out book signing event at Barnes & Nobles, then BuzzFeed listed him at #5 on their list of “9 Moments In Black Excellence” along with #3 President Obama and #4 Beyonce (The Carters). What could be better than all this? Maybe receiving […]
Mattel launches #MoreRoleModels Mattel launched a new line of inspiring women Barbie dolls that honor #MoreRoleModels. The hashtag was created by Mattel to celebrate both Barbie’s 60th anniversary and Women’s History Month. The Barbie role models, created by Mattel, are women from around the world who have inspired the young girls of today to close […]
Our Girl Power Uncensored Collaboration Book is coming this Spring. Here are just a few stories women are sharing inside. We are living unapologetically uncensored. Bold & Free. Pre-orders coming soon!
“Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Jahana Hayes share their advice for young women, what they would say to Trump and their go-to theme song,” the magazine said in a tweet revealing behind-the-scenes footage of its cover shoot on Wednesday. Read full story here: TheHill.com


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Located on South Market Street in the historic YMI Cultural Center building, Noir Collective AVL is a boutique and art gallery of Black entrepreneurs.
“We are a network of wellness warriors, creative activists, justice visionaries, cultural keepers, and peace makers,” explain co-founders Ajax Ravenel and alexandria monque ravenel. The shop was launched last summer in the midst of the pandemic, which might seem counterintuitive.
Younger Ravenel explains that they opened because they recognized the need to create income opportunities for entrepreneurs and creatives who were deeply impacted by losing, or fear of losing, their day jobs as well as other income sources. They felt confident that local community members would support the new enterprise, and that tourists would be drawn to the unique artwork and crafts. The shop’s steadily increasing traffic has proved them right.
Choosing to open the shop in the YMI Cultural Center building was also a deliberate and important choice, part of the founders’ passionate desire to revive Asheville’s historic Black business district known as “the Block.” Over 126 years, YMI has housed many Black-led organizations and businesses, from Miller & Sons Construction, established by James Vester Miller, to hair salons and barber shops, a drug store, and a mortuary. The Block was the economic center for Black Asheville, and Noir is part of a revival of sustainable Black enterprise in the area.
Ravenel explains, “We believe that in order to achieve collective liberation, our community needs to focus on opening greater opportunities for access that have been historically denied to African Americans.”
A sign in the Noir window proudly proclaims that it’s time to “Bring Black Back to the Block,” and judging by the success the shop has enjoyed, that dream seems close at hand.
For more information, contact alexandria monque ravenel (intentionally lower-cased) at email@example.com or call (828) 675-6477.


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UK ad sector 'resilient' as spend hits record high
Spending on UK advertising reached a record £22.2bn last year in an indication of the "strength and resilience" of the sector, figures show.
Spending grew by 4.6% in 2017, the eighth consecutive year of market growth, according to the Advertising Association Expenditure Report.
The final three months of last year saw spending grow by 6.2% to top £6bn over a quarter for the first time.
Growth continued to be driven by the internet, where spending was up by 14.3% over the year.
Stephen Woodford, chief executive at the Advertising Association, said: "These very impressive adspend figures demonstrate the strength and resilience of the UK advertising industry over the course of 2017.
"The results also reflect wider trends within the UK economy over recent months, with inflation at its lowest for a year, reducing pressure on real wages."
Please log in or register with belfasttelegraph.co.uk for free access to this article.


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A new report claims Amazon will take on FedEx and UPS with its own delivery business.
The news: The Wall Street Journal says Amazon will roll out a delivery service in Los Angeles in the coming weeks. Called Shipping With Amazon, it will initially handle transportation of packages from third-party sellers to their customers. It will reportedly roll out more widely later on, eventually handling deliveries for other businesses, too.
A long time coming: Frankly, it was only a matter of time before the tech giant took over delivery of its goods. Last year Amazon tested what was essentially a trial of this service, with the goal of getting more goods to customers inside two days.
Why it matters: This will put Amazon in direct competition with FedEx and UPS, which have handled deliveries for the company in the past. Plus, the Journal says Amazon plans to undercut its competitors on price. The incumbents may be in for a rough ride.
Here’s how a Twitter engineer says it will break in the coming weeks
One insider says the company’s current staffing isn’t able to sustain the platform.
Twitter’s potential collapse could wipe out vast records of recent human history
What happens when the world’s knowledge is held in a quasi-public square owned by a private company that could soon go out of business?
Twitter may have lost more than a million users since Elon Musk took over
Estimates from Bot Sentinel suggest that more than 875,000 users deactivated their accounts between October 27 and November 1, while half a million more were suspended.
Former Twitter employees fear the platform might only last weeks
An ultimatum by Elon Musk demanding "extremely hardcore" working culture appears to have backfired. Insiders fear this could spell the end without drastic changes.
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Huawei, ZTE, Nokia cleared in patent dispute with InterDigital
InterDigital is also facing an anti-monopoly investigation from Chinese authorities
IDG News Service - The International Trade Commission has ruled against InterDigital in a complaint that alleged Huawei, Nokia, ZTE had infringed the company's patents.
On Thursday, the ITC upheld a previous ruling in June that found Huawei, Nokia and ZTE had not infringed on the seven InterDigital patents named in the complaint.
Filed in 2011, the InterDigital case had sought an import ban by the U.S. on older 3G phones from the three handset makers.
InterDigital said it was disappointed with the ITC decision, and would appeal it. It has another petition pending with the ITC that is targeting 3G and 4G products from Huawei, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung.
The complaint, filed in January, accuses the four companies of infringing up to seven of its cellular-related patents. InterDigital asked for an import ban into the U.S. on Samsung's Galaxy S III, the Nokia Lumia 920, and other smartphones from the handset makers, which the ITC is authorized to impose in some cases of patent infringement.
InterDigital is a U.S.-based research company that develops wireless standards and holds 20,000 patents. The company, however, has drawn criticism for being a "patent troll," a claim InterDigital rejects, pointing to its 200 engineers that work on new technologies.
Not all are convinced. The Chinese government in September launched an anti-monopoly investigation against InterDigital, which the company said was the result of its patent lawsuits targeting Huawei.
InterDigital now alleges that China is threatening to arrest its employees. This week, the company was scheduled to dispatch staff to the country for talks with China's National Development and Reform Commission. But on Friday, the government body said it could not guarantee the safety of employees sent to the country, according to InterDigital spokesman Patrick Van de Wille.
"There are not a lot of ways to perceive this positively," he said on Tuesday. "Even if the NDRC does back track and guarantees their safety, we don't even know if we would believe them."
The NDRC could not be reached for comment. U.S. chip maker Qualcomm is also facing an anti-monopoly probe from the Chinese regulator.
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IBM Corp. Research on Tuesday announced what it believes is a breakthrough in data storage using nanotechnology that allows a trillion bits of information to be packed into a square inch, the equivalent of about 25 million printed textbook pages on a postage-stamp size surface.
The research project, code-named Millipede, uses thousands of nanosharp tips to punch indentations that represent individual bits into a thin plastic film. IBM officials described this as the nanotech equivalent of the data processing punch card. The major advantage of this new approach, according to IBM researchers, is that the technology can be operated with much less power and is re-writable.
“Since a nanometer-scale tip can address individual atoms, we anticipate further improvements far beyond even this fantastic terabit milestone,” said Gerd Binnig, a Nobel laureate and one of the guiding forces behind the Millipede project. “While current storage technologies may be approaching their fundamental limits, this nanomechanical approach is potentially valid for a thousand-fold increase in data storage density,” Binnig contended.
The Zurich Switzerland-based research team is now working on a prototype that it expects to complete by early next year. That prototype will use 4,000 tips that will all work simultaneously over a square film measuring 7mm. These dimensions would allow an entire high-capacity data storage system to be crammed into flash memory, which is the smallest storage format currently in use.
“This fully functioning prototype is still on a printed circuit board, but all the key micromechanical elements are as small as they will be in the final packaged version. It will be able to demonstrate the capability of storing, reading and erasing data,” said Peter Vettiger, Millipede’s project leader with IBM Research in Zurich.
The new technology could significantly change the face of mobile computing, Vettiger believes, making a wide variety of wireless consumer and corporate devices such as cell phones and digital and video cameras much more powerful. It could also raise the viability and commercial popularity of Web-based services available to such devices.
“This project could bring tremendous data capacity to mobile devices such as personal digital assistant, cellular phones and multifunctional watches. We are also exploring the use of this concept in a variety of other applications, such as large-area microscopic imaging, nanoscale lithography or atomic and molecular manipulation,” he said.
While flash memory is not expected to surpass 1GB to 2GB capacities any time soon, the technology used in Millipede could fit 10GB to 15GB of data into the same format, without and additional power needed to operate the device.
“This technology could carry your whole CD library in a flash memory type form factor,” Vettiger said.
If IBM were to produce devices that used the technology — and IBM has yet to make that commitment according to Vettiger — such devices would likely not appear until 2005. Big Blue has between 20 and 30 patents on the technology, with about half pending and half approved, Vettiger said.