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Now Is The Time To Invest In China MobileThe Chinese stock market lost over $3 trillion in wealth in a three-week period before the government intervened and stopped short selling, preventing management of companies from selling shares. These actions have led to the Chinese stock market stabilizing. The decline in the Chinese equity market has created opportunities for investors to invest in the best Chinese companies that are now selling for lower than estimated business value. China Mobile Ltd. is one of these franchise consumer monopolies that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger want to invest in. The company is the largest mobile cell phone network in the world with over 60% of the domestic Chinese stock market.
China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) is the largest mobile phone provider in the world.
I do not know what the Chinese market is going to do over the next few years, however I do know that the Chinese economy will continue to grow, and China Mobile will keep its advantage over its competitors and produce above average returns over the next 10 years. In 2013, the company signed a deal with Apple (AAPL) to sell iPhones in the country. Since 2013, Apple has gained a 12% market share thanks to its multi-billion dollar deal with China Mobile.
The company at its current price of $61/share is selling for a 3% discount to the estimated business value. A 3% discount isn't that big, however, over the next few years investors will have the chance to add to that entry price of $61/share by averaging down. China Mobile produces more than enough earnings to pay off its debts within five years and has more than 2x its pretax earnings to pay its interest on its debts. The company's earnings have grown by 13% over the last ten years and has an earning yield of 9.1%. Currently China Mobile is selling for 13x its pretax earnings and 14x its operating earnings. Over the last ten years the company has produced returns on equity of 13%, return on capital of 23%, and return on assets of 8%. These returns are above average and show that the company's management is excellent at allocating capital.
Over the next ten years, China Mobile will keep up its monopoly over the Chinese cell phone network market and grow its earnings by at least 10%. Its dominance over the market gives the company a moat that protects it from competitors who could erode its economic earnings base. The company will be earning more in ten years than it is earning today. Investing in China Mobile at its current price of $61/share, you are getting a profitable company that will be growing its estimated business value by 10%.
Published on Jul 27, 2015By Cody Eustice


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The enactment of the Consumer Protection Act in 2019 brought hope of an end to the era of flagrant disregard of consumer rights and unfair business practices. Earlier this year, Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza appointed seven members of the Consumer Protection Commission led by customer relations expert Dr Mthokozisi Nkosi (MN) to implement the Act. The Sunday Mail’s Debra Matabvu (DM) spoke to CPC chairperson who gave insight into the Commission’s work.
DM: What is the Consumer Protection Commission?
MN: The Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) is a consumer protection organisation formed in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (Chapter 14:44 of 2019).
The Commission operates as an implementation mechanism of the Act in line with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce’s mandate.
DM: What is the CPC’s mandate?
MN: The Commission’s mandate is to protect the consumers, regulate the accreditation of consumer protection advocacy groups, conduct alternative dispute resolution, and promote consumer awareness in collaboration with the requisite line Ministries, Government departments, institutions and advocacy groups.
The CPC is charged with the responsibility to enforce and carry out the functions assigned to it in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
The CPA seeks to promote a fair, accessible and sustainable marketplace for consumer products and services and for that purpose, to establish national norms and standards relating to consumer protection.
It further seeks to provide for improved standards of consumer information, to prohibit certain unfair marketing and business practices, provide for the regulation of consumer advocacy organisations and to promote a consistent legislative and enforcement framework relating to consumer transactions and agreements.
DM: Why does Zimbabwe need a Consumer Protection Commission?
MN: Prior to the enactment of the CPA in 2019, Zimbabwe lagged behind other international jurisdictions in protecting its consumers.
The global and domestic trading environment has changed significantly over time.
Markets have opened up and there has been a significant increase in the movement of people, goods and services across borders.
Scams and unfair practices, on the other hand, have become more sophisticated.
In implementing the consumer protection framework, Zimbabwe is creating an environment where a culture of consumer rights and responsibilities prevail.
Such an environment is not only beneficial to consumers, but to business as well.
The enforcement of the CPA assists in regulating the conduct of suppliers of goods and or services to consumers. If left unchecked, unethical traders will merely serve to hinder the creation of a fair, competitive and equitable environment for all.
Consumer protection is an integral part of a modern, efficient, effective and just market place.
Confident consumers are an important driver of industry competitiveness.
By demanding competitive prices, improved product quality and better service, consumers provide an impetus for innovation and enhanced performance by business.
This is important for the attainment of the 2030 upper middle-income economy vision pronounced by President Mnangagwa.
DM: Which critical sectors of the economy does the law specifically target?
MN: The Commission’s mandate covers all goods, services and unfair trade practices across sectors whether private or public unless specifically exempted by the Government.
As regards the retail sector, the Commission is working with stakeholders to ensure that the law addresses the following key areas:
Sale of goods — regulating the sale of goods. Goods must be of satisfactory quality with no defects; must be safe, durable and fit for purpose; match their description and match the size and weight on the package.
Trade description — goods must be advertised accurately and not misleading or false. This includes contents, packaging, price and promotion.
Weights and measures — It is illegal to sell goods that are not the weight or measure stated on the packaging.
Food and drugs — Food must be accurately labelled with a list of ingredients, best by dates among other things. Some colourings and preservatives are banned and must not be used.
Food safety — This ensures that businesses do not sell food unfit for people to eat; sell food that is not what people expect in terms of content and quality; and describe or present food in a way that is false or misleading.
DM: How is the CPC different from other consumer watchdogs such as the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe?
MN: CPC plays an over-arching and cross-cutting role over a number of consumer protection organisations which include regulatory bodies, consumer lobby and interest organisations.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) is a registered Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO).
It is a consumer watchdog which has over the years been spearheading awareness campaigns on consumer rights among other things.
The organisation enjoyed funding through a Government grant awarded to it annually through the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
However, the new Consumer Protection Act gave birth to the Consumer Protection Commission which has now taken over the oversight role of consumer protection in the country. The CCZ will now be assuming a new role.
It will soon be designated as one of the consumer protection organisations for purposes of conducting conciliation and arbitration of disputes between parties.
DM: How does the ordinary man benefit from the Commission?
MN: The necessity of adopting measures to protect the interests of consumers arises mainly due to the helpless position of the consumers.
On a daily basis consumers are subjected to unfair trading practices, misleading and deceptive advertisements, spiralling prices, adulteration, poor quality products, deceptive packing, underweight supplies and deficiency in service across sectors.
The Commission will not allow a situation where the consumer is misled, cheated, duped and exploited on a routine basis.
We want every consumer to feel welcome, respected, special and valued each time they interact with a service provider.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe like many other developing countries have unorganised and ignorant consumers who are widely exploited by service providers.
In other instances, as service providers seek to maximise returns on their investments, the temptation to be involved in deceptive acts and practices (an act by a producer, manufacturer, supplier or seller, which occurred before, during or after the transaction, through concealment, false representation of fraudulent manipulation, which induces a consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction of any consumer product or service), unfair or unconscionable sales acts or practices (an act by the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller, which occurred before, during or after the transaction, by taking advantage of the consumer’s physical or mental infirmity, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of time or the general conditions of the environment or surroundings, induces the consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction grossly inimical to the interests of the consumer or grossly one-sided in favour of the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller) is high.
It is in these instances that the Commission comes in handy to protect the consumers.
The Commission ensures that consumers are protected from abuse, they have an avenue for grievance redress and assured improved quality of products and services.
This is achieved through encouragement of the formation and empowering of powerful sectorial consumer organisations and advocacy groups, consumer protection agencies and massive consumer rights and redress mechanisms awareness campaigns.
The law will take its course in punishing service providers who go astray.
The Act is clear on how offenders will be punished.
DM: Since inception, how far have you gone in putting in place the redress mechanism?
MN: The Commission is currently working with the Attorney General’s office on regulations covering different sectors of the economy.
In addition, we are also in discussion with the Judicial Services Commission for specialised consumer courts. Very soon the exercise will be complete.
The days of moral suasion in solving consumer disputes are over.
We expect service providers to do the right things.
Consumers have suffered enough abuse.

domain: news


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DIAMONDS FOR MICHELLE Obama: $30,000 FIRST LADY RING
Barack Obama to buy rare £20,000 gold ring for his wife to say ‘thanks for your support’
Michelle Obama is to receive this £20,000 thank you from her husband for her support during the election.
The Harmony ring is made of rhodium – the world’s most expensive metal –and encrusted with diamonds. It is being hastily made by Italian designer Giovanni Bosco in time for January’s inauguration ceremony.
Only about 25 tons of rhodium are mined each year, mostly in South Africa, and as a result its price is typically around £5,000 an ounce.
Diamond encrusted thanks: Barack Obama will buy his wife this £20,000 ring made of black gold or rhodium
The stunning thank you ring is made by top Italian designer Giovanni Bosco, who are based at Valenza Po near Alessandria and who counts a select list of VIPS’s and celebrities as his clients.
Rhodium is one of the world’s most precious metals and as a result only about 25 tons are mined each year and as a result it’s price is higher than gold – typically being around £5000 an ounce.
Love: Barack Obama kisses Michelle on election night
Several luxury items such as the world’s ‘Most Expensive Pen’ or ‘Most Expensive Board Game’ also contain rhodium while the Crown Jewels worn by the Queen are also rhodium plated.
A spokesman at Giovanni Bosco said: ‘Our American distributor has contacted us and has asked us to provide details on the Harmony ring.
‘It is our top of the range piece and made from rhodium and encrusted with diamonds.
‘Our agent in the United States was asked by Mr Barack Obama about the ring because he wants it as a thank you gift for his wife Michelle for her support the last two years.
‘We have a select number of clients both in the United States, Europe, Russia and the Middle East and our prices as a result reflect the wealth of our customers.
‘For obvious privacy reasons I cannot reveal the cost of the ring but bearing in mind it is made from rhodium or black gold and encrusted with diamonds you can be sure it will cost thousands of pounds.’


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When Vince Wilfork retired from the NFL in 2017, “Big Vince” retired along with him.
The former New England Patriots defensive tackle, who weighed (at least) 325 pounds during his playing days, has lost a remarkable amount of weight in NFL retirement and showed off his slimmed-down figure Thursday at Gillette Stadium while donning his new Patriots Hall of Fame jackets.
If this svelte version of Wilfork surprises you, you’re not alone. The two-time Super Bowl champion told a great story Thursday of the first time he saw Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after shedding so many pounds.
According to Wilfork, the encounter happened “last year” in Miami when he visited the Patriots at their team hotel ahead of their game against the Dolphins.
Patriots Talk: Did the Patriots blow it when passing on Lamar Jackson?
The District is hosting its first Wellness Weekend, which promotes physical and mental wellness through the options available at businesses downtown.
In the past, there have been numerous events held downtown that focused on bars and restaurants, but Wellness Weekend will place extra emphasis on self-care businesses.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to include some of our service industries like massage therapists, salons, yoga studios, all of that kind of stuff,” said Christina Kelley, the president and retail manager of Makes Scents. The custom fragrance shop will be one of the participants in Wellness Weekend, which starts Saturday morning and ends Sunday evening.
The event will encourage participants to visit multiple local shops and businesses, such as alleyCat Yoga, Makes Scents and Orr Street Farmers & Artisans Market.
Participants will meet at 9 am Saturday at Flat Branch Park. Events include energy medicine yoga techniques with alleyCat Yoga from 10
A new weight-loss shot is being hailed as a “game changer” — with the potential to cut diabetes risk by 50% and “fight obesity as a disease” for the first time, according to a new study.
The research, conducted by the University of Alabama, found that weekly jabs of the drug semaglutide in overweight and obese research participants caused an average weight loss of 37 pounds.
“We have not seen this degree of weight loss with any previous medication,” said lead study author Dr. Timothy Garvey in a statement. “More than 50% of trial participants are losing 15% of their body weight, and anywhere between a third and 40% of participants are losing 20% of their body weight.”
The research results are “beginning to close the gap with bariatric surgery”
When it comes to losing excess fat, it’s a given that dieting can help you burn off those extra pounds. However, while eating less can help you get a fitter body, many people find the process of counting calories and depriving themselves of their favorite foods taxing and, as such, find it hard to stick to a strict diet. Luckily, there are various proven ways to lose weight without dieting.
You will have to make certain changes. However, instead of cutting down on eating and dealing with the mental woes of dieting, you can lose weight by increasing your activity, changing the times you eat, or even using certain tricks to boost your metabolism. Using these tricks together can result in significant weight loss. Here are 8 proven ways to lose weight without going on a diet.


text: The Rose of Versailles is a legendary anime/manga in Japan, but it has never crossed into the US legally. Finally, after many years of waiting, Right Stuf has picked up the US license according to Anime News Network. The 40 episode anime will be released in a special edition 2-disc DVD set and it a will also be streamed on the web. The anime is about a girl named Oscar who was raised as a boy and serves as a guard during the reign of Marie Antoinette. The DVDs will be released sometime in 2013.


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CD Projekt Red hacked; source codes of Cyberpunk 2077 and an unreleased version of The Witcher 3 supposedly stolen
CD Project Red (CDPR) has announced that a hacker has compromised its servers. While the hacker remains unidentified, CDPR has published what it claims is their ransom note, which you can read below.
In a statement, CDPR acknowledges that some of its devices in its network have been encrypted, as the ransom note claims. However, the company asserts that the hacker did not compromise its backups and that it has already secured its IT infrastructure.
CDPR adds that no customer data has been affected, to the best of its knowledge, anyway. Apparently, the compromised systems 'did not contain any personal data', which is encouraging.
However, the hacker claims to have stolen the source codes of Cyberpunk 2077, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and an unreleased version of the latter. According to the ransom note, the hacker, or hackers, will sell or leak the source code if CPDR does not 'come to an agreement'. CDPR states that it has no plans to do so.


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Nvidia has announced Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE), a set of Artificial Intelligence services and models (AI) based on the cloud, which allow the creation and customization of virtual assistants and digital humans with the potential to pass the test of Turing.
The company presented a system for creating avatars using AI, Omniverse Avatar, within the framework of its virtual GTC event held in November 2021. This initiative is part of its platform omniversewhich brings together all the brand’s technologies for 3D design and simulation.
Nvidia has now introduced ACEa set of AI services and models, which will allow businesses “any size” being able to create and deploy assistants and avatars capable of understanding “multiple” languages, as explained in a statement.
Nvidia has also highlighted that these assistants and avatars will be able to respond to voice prompts, as well as interact with the environment and carry out recommendations “smart“.
To do this, ACE includes two functionalities known as Project Maxine Y Project Tokyo. The first of these provides audio and video features for virtual collaboration and content creation.
For its part, Project Tokkio improves customer service in establishments such as restaurants and offers avatars provided with vision, perception and conversation. These, in addition, can make recommendations of the services available to customers.
Vice President of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at Nvidia, Rev Lebaredian, has stated that ACE allows the creation of digital assistants that “are on their way to passing the Turing test”. This test, proposed in 1950, has since measured a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent human-like behavior.
ACE WANTS TO TRANSFORM INTERACTIONS
ACE is also built on top of the Unified Compute Framework (UCF) from Nvidia, a framework that provides access to ‘software’ tools and application programming interfaces (APIs) “necessary” for creating interactive avatars.
Within this set of tools, the following stand out: Rivafor the development of AI applications based on dialogue, metropolis for intelligent video analytics and computer vision and megatron, to create large customizable language models that facilitate understanding. All of them owned by the company.
Nvidia has noted in this statement that it expects assistants and avatars created using the Avatar Cloud Engine “transform interactions” in different sectors and industries, such as ‘gaming’, banking, transport, hospitality and entertainment.


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We have already seen mules testing a more hardcore M2 likely getting the CS moniker and according to various sources, it will make it’s public debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show.
Earlier this year it was seen testing at the ‘Ring with the M3/M4 engine under the hood and now CAR Magazine have a few more pieces of information for us.
It will obviously be lighter, sharper and more powerful than the standard model but it will also use an aluminium roof, composite panels and thinner glass amounting a around 25 kg in weight savings. Combine the diet with an increase in power (believed to be around 405 hp) and you have yourself one mighty little machine.
Personally I think it will be far too twitchy but let’s hope the BMW M Engineers are world class at their job and deliver one of the best M packages ever made.


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According to research from Packaged Facts, the idea that a healthy breakfast offers a strong start to the day is still “a cultural force” that offers manufacturers significant marketing ammunition – especially when paired with messages about self-care, responsibility and seizing the day’s full potential.
But as Packaged Facts Research Director David Sprinkle explains the healthy eating trend is a double edge sword for the packaged goods industry that has historically shaped what people eat for their first meal of the day.
“The good news for breakfast or breakfast marketers, whether they are food service or packaged foods, is that breakfast still has that most important meal of the day halo, relatively speaking. About a third of US adults do strongly agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and no other meal – lunch or dinner – gets anywhere near that kind of confidence,” he said.
“The not so great news is for the other side of that is even with that only about a quarter of millennials and the rising generation of Gen Z actually consider breakfast to be the most important meal of the day,” he added.
As Sprinkle explains, this is bad news for CPG in the breakfast space in that packaged products are losing their hold on defining breakfast.
“While still very popular, a lot of your standard packaged breakfast product categories have been flat for many years often because of nutritional concerns or else because of more portable options,” he explained. “Cold cereal has been flat for a long time. Things like Pop-Tarts, your breakfasts of old, even orange juice for that matter, a lot of your sort of American classic breakfast items have been flat at best, if not declining in popularity.”
They also are losing their grasp on breakfast because people are reaching for more whole foods, such as an orange instead of orange juice, he said.
Sprinkle explains that part of this shift is based the more general consumer gravitation toward the perimeter of the store and fresh options. But, he adds, this also is creating opportunities for new kinds of packaged breakfast products – especially since most Americans still don’t have time or interest in cooking elaborate meals first thing in the morning.
For example, he says, Greek yogurt is thriving as a go-to packaged food for breakfasts in part because it is fresh, has a cultural tradition, offers functional ingredient benefits through its high protein content and also is fast and easy to eat.
Other winners are breakfast biscuits, snack and granola bars, nuts, seeds and whole fruit, he said.
Sprinkle says another big CPG winner from these changing priorities and patterns are fresh beverages with functional ingredients and smoothies.
The rising popularity of ‘brinner’
While traditional packaged breakfast foods may be losing some of their hold on what Americans eat in the morning, they are gaining traction during other times of day.
For the past decade, breakfast has been “infiltrating what food service call other day parts. That is part of the larger erosion between meals and mealtimes and even between meals and snacks,” Sprinkle said.
He attributes this in part to office workers and students simply not needing as many calories at the start of their day as laborers and, therefore, they have pushed back when they eat breakfast.
As a result, the idea of brinner – or breakfast for dinner – is gaining popularity. According to a national poll conducted by ORC International for pancake and baking mix brand Krusteaz, more Americans are making breakfast for dinner.
The Krusteaz third annual breakfast survey released in February found nine out of 10 Americans say they eat breakfast for dinner – of these 41% do so regularly at least two three times a month, which is up 10% from 2015.
According to this survey, breakfast night is most popular with millennials, who also are eating traditional breakfast foods for lunch and as late night snacks. In fact, they are 84% more likely than Gen Xers and Boomers to eat breakfast for lunch and 83% more likely than Gen Xers and Boomers to enjoy breakfast as a late night snack.
Andy Heily, the president of Continental Mills, which makes Krusteaz brand breakfast products, attributes the popularity of brinner to it being economical.
“A lot of millennials that are first starting careers or they have very young families, so pancakes are actually extremely economical,” and fast to time-saving compared to some other options, he said.
To find out what is behind this trend, I chatted with Andy Heily, the president of Continental Mills which makes Krusteaz brand breakfast mixes and foods.
According to Heily, another selling point for breakfast for dinner is the convenience and the ability to easily customize breakfast foods – particularly pancakes and waffles.
Finally, he says, brinner is gaining traction because it offers more than just food – it also is an experience.
“We are really selling an experience as much as we are selling an end-product, and you know the preparation, the throw-in some chocolate chips or bananas or blueberries in it, the aroma of your pancakes coming off the griddle in your household – it is really an entire experience. And then sitting down and sharing that experience with someone else is something that our consumers value as much as anything, and particularly millennials,” he said.
So, the big take away here is that even though consumers’ shifting priorities and eating patterns may mean that traditional breakfast foods at a traditional breakfast time are losing market potential, there are still many ways that CPG manufacturers can succeed in the breakfast category – whether through innovative new products that offer freshness, convenience and portability, or by re-positioning existing products for different times of day.


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk outlines radical energy idea: ‘extremely profound’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a radical plan to transform the power grid. Here's how.
Elon Musk has a radical plan to reshape the energy grid — and it could protect against power cuts.
During Tesla’s first-quarter 2021 earnings call Monday, the CEO described how the firm’s solar panels and batteries can work together to “operate as a giant distributed utility.” The way it plans to approach this is to pool solar resources in an innovative way.
Unlike a traditional grid with big power stations feeding power to hundreds of homes, the panels would harvest energy and recharge batteries at an individual home. That energy could then be fed back into the grid and distributed to other homes, creating what are effectively miniature power stations.
“I'm not sure how many people will actually understand this, but this is extremely profound,” Musk said. “And necessary, because we are headed towards a world where [...] people are moving towards electric vehicles.”
Why is the Tesla virtual power plant a good idea?
Musk cited several reasons as to why homes would need to act now:
- An increase in electric vehicles. Musk claimed that the grid would need around twice as much electricity if all transport goes electric.
- A widespread shift to renewables. Musk claimed that, if heating also switches to renewables, the world would need around three times as much electricity total to fully power the clean energy future.
- “We're seeing more extreme weather events,” Musk said. “This is a recipe for disaster.”
- The alternative would be more and longer power lines everywhere, plus an increase in power plants.
Musk has touted the benefits of solar energy plus batteries before. In October 2016, when he demonstrated a “house of the future,” he showed how a Tesla Powerwall battery (a slightly modified version of the battery in Tesla cars) could pair with Tesla Solar Roof tiles to collect energy while the sun is shining and store it in the battery. This setup means the house has 24-hour access to clean energy.
A virtual power plant takes this to a new level. Instead of supplying energy to a single home when needed, a Powerwall battery is instead employed to feed energy back to the grid at specified times.
Tesla has already made some moves toward this future. It’s rolled out “virtual power plants” in South Australia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and other areas. In July 2018, a Tesla virtual power plant in Vermont was able to use 500 Powerwall batteries to plug the energy gap during a heatwave.
What is the Tesla Energy Plan?
In the United Kingdom, Tesla rolled out the Tesla Energy Plan in partnership with energy provider Octopus Energy in November 2019. Architect Richard Hawkes, one of the scheme’s early adopters, told Inverse that he gave up control of his Powerwall battery as part of the deal. Hawkes could no longer control settings like how much electricity to store to protect against a power cut, but in exchange, he receives a cheaper price on his electricity bills.
Musk’s comments come in the same month as Tesla announces big changes to its clean energy products. The firm has tweaked its Tesla Solar Roof pricing so it now factors in roof complexity. The change saw prices rise by about 30 percent for buyers, even though they’d already signed a contract.
“We did find that we basically made some significant mistakes in assessing the difficulty of certain roofs,” Musk said.
Tesla also announced it would no longer sell solar panels and Powerwall batteries separately. Musk justified the move by claiming it would simplify installations.
The Inverse analysis — This ties in well to Musk’s overall goal to massively expand the size of Tesla’s energy business.
In July 2020, Musk declared that he’d like to see the energy business one day reach around the same size as Tesla’s automotive business. At the time, the energy business accounted for just six percent of the firm’s overall revenue.
Little has changed nearly a year later, with energy generation and storage accounting for around five percent of overall revenue in the first quarter 2021 report. Last year, competitor Sunrun deployed more than double the solar capacity of Tesla in 2020, deploying 455 megawatt-hours.
Tesla touted strong growth in its latest quarterly report, as energy storage deployments grew 71 percent year-over-year, but it’s still a ways off Musk’s ambitious goal. Tesla aims to reach volume production of its advanced battery cells, ultimately expanding to three terawatt-hours of annual production by 2030.
As the infrastructure emerges for Tesla’s new approach to energy, it’s perhaps the battery cells that could help it reach those lofty revenue goals.
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Britain's second-largest bookmaker Ladbrokes beefs up online offering
Ladbrokes hopes its online woes are behind it after beefing up a partnership with mobile and internet software specialist Playtech.
Just days after William Hill dissolved its joint venture with Playtech to go it alone, Britain’s second-largest bookmaker signed the firm up to help boost its poker, bingo and other games.
Just last summer Ladbrokes was forced to issue a profits warning and parted company with Richard Ames, its information technology boss, after internet profits halved following a botched attempt to expand online.
Another jump cleared? Ladbrokes is investing in more online gaming
Profits had slumped from £29.7m to
£15m from the unit that operates online and mobile phone betting, after
it lost out to rivals because of delays rolling out new technology.
It also failed to reach an agreement to acquire rival Sportingbet, which subsequently hatched a deal with arch rival William Hill.
Ever since the pressure has been on
chief executive Richard Glynn to transform the bookie’s online fortunes
and this latest attempt to catch up will be seen as make or break.
Playtech’s fee is linked purely to
revenues and based on increases of 27.5pc in Ladbrokes core earnings,
including a one-off bonus if Playtech generates digital operating profit
of more than £100m in 2017.
Investors welcomed the deal sending the shares up 14.6p to 239.8p.


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With longtime virtual and augmented reality boss Clay Bavor leaving next month, Google’s work on AR will now be overseen by Hiroshi Lockheimer and Rick Osterloh.
A source tells 9to5Google today that AR efforts previously under Bavor’s purview are being moved into Lockheimer’s Platforms & Ecosystems division and Osterloh’s Devices & Services. As such, there won’t be a direct replacement for Bavor’s role.
Devices & Services already encompasses Pixel phones, the upcoming Pixel Tablet, Pixel Watch, Fitbit, Chromecast, and Nest speakers, displays, and cameras. This move is not overly surprising as the 2020 acquisition of a smart glasses company was announced by Osterloh. At the time, he said that “North’s technical expertise will help as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts and ambient computing future.” Google is already testing AR prototypes in public.
Meanwhile, AR being placed within Platforms & Ecosystems makes a great deal of sense following this month’s announcement of a partnership with Samsung on XR devices. Android is Google’s contribution there, with a version of the OS for wearable displays expected. This will further Android’s OEM model into a new form factor following phones, tablets, wrist-worn wearables, TVs, and cars.
Google’s hardware and OS teams have a proven track record of shipping at scale. This new arrangement, which is still being finalized internally, mimics today’s Android OS and Pixel hardware relationship.
The company already has Google Lens visual search and Google Maps Live View AR navigation, with CEO Sundar Pichai noting last May that “AR capabilities are already useful on phones and the magic will really come alive when you can use them in the real world without the technology getting in the way.”
At the start of this month, Lockheimer cited Lens and Live View as being “prelude” to its long-term vision.
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Glance Technologies Inc. (CNSX:GET) announced that it is researching the creation of a rewards based cryptocurrency for use within its mobile payment platform.
We believe that there is an opportunity in the payment space for a cryptocurrency that can facilitate rewards and promotions,” said Glance, CEO, Desmond Griffin, “The new cryptocurrency frameworks are highly flexible and we believe they can be used to fundamentally change how rewards and promotions are used.
A cryptocurrency may be redeemable through the Glance Pay app and its affiliates and eventually potentially outside of the Glance Pay platform. Rewards may accrue through usage of the app or via other events that trigger rewards or promotions.
Glance currently uses two forms of credits through its Glance Pay application which users can use instead of fiat currency throughout the Glance Pay mobile payment network. Users can now receive Glance Dollars which may be used at any merchant on the Glance Pay network, and they may also accumulate Merchant Dollars whereby a customer accumulates merchant dollars which are redeemable at a particular merchant by spending money at that merchant using the Glance Pay application. Glance is now considering how this can be built on and approved by a cryptocurrency.
Glance is also in discussions with other companies whereby Glance may accept other new cryptocurrencies as an acceptance currency within the Glance Pay mobile payment platform. Glance is currently looking to expand its engineering team to include capabilities in blockchain development so that it may build out its own blockchain technologies.
On October 3, 2017, Glance announced an alliance with Netcoins Inc., to give people better access to both buying and spending bitcoin. Bitcoin currently can take many minutes or sometimes hours to complete a transaction. Glance may solve this problem by allowing bitcoins to be converted to Glance Dollars which can then be used to make lightning fast transactions using the Glance Pay app.


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Cathie Wood's Ark Invest dumped Zillow for a 2nd day after buying the dip in the real estate firm earlier in the week
Cathie Wood's ARKK ETF sold another 1.8 million Zillow shares on Thursday, following Wednesday's sale of 3.9 million shares.
Zillow extends 3-day plunge to 39% as the company abandons its home-flipping business amid housing-market pressure
Zillow CEO Rich Barton made the announcement after market hours Tuesday, adding the company would lay off about a quarter of its workforce.
The housing market is so red-hot it broke Zillow's algorithm that predicted how fast prices would surge
Volatility in the housing market "far exceeds what we anticipated" and makes algorithmic home flipping too risky, Zillow CEO Rich Barton said.
All Zillow Group employees receive a 12-page book that breaks down how to be a great leader, and it all comes down to 4 principles
Zillow Group employees all have access a playbook breaking down what it takes to be a great leader. Zillow's chief people officer Dan Spaulding spoke to Business Insider about the insights the book contains.
Goldman Sachs is joining major companies like Twitter in giving employees a valuable perk: the ability to ship breast milk
Goldman Sachs is the latest company to offer working moms a new perk: the ability to ship breast milk while traveling for business. Twitter, IBM, EY, and Zillow are four other companies that previously introduced the benefit to their employees.
Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff works from a treadmill with a view of Seattle's Space Needle — take a closer look at his desk
Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff's work desk features a treadmill and a leadership playbook.
Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff, Trivago CEO Rolf Schromgens, and Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington share a glimpse of their workspaces.
Spencer Rascoff led two companies from crisis to success. Here's how he did it.
Housing inventory is tight across America.
Buying a home is difficult the first time around. RealEstate.com helps buyers calculate their real monthly costs.
The median US home is now valued at $192,500, just 2% below the peak it reached in 2007.
The rise of mortage rates after Donald Trump's victory has not had any adverse impact on home purchases


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EA Sports is wrapping up production on this year’s edition of the wildly popular “Madden” football franchise. The company produced a video trailer to build up the hype, and it’s something Browns fans will want to watch.
Baker Mayfield is one of the featured performers in the 90-second trailer. Several clips of gameplay pitting Mayfield and the Browns against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers are included, notably the No. 1 overall pick shaking and baking out of a sack and uncorking a deep throw before taking a big hit.
“Madden NFL 19” will be released this summer.


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Well-connected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told investors to expect Apple to make big changes in order to make the new OLED displays work in the company’s next iPhone. Kuo expects to see a redesigned 3D Touch system since the existing pressure sensors would be incompatible with a flexible display panel, with the company switching to a “film sensor” that is more sensitive to the amount of pressure being applied to the screen. He also claims the company is developing a new optical fingerprint scanner to replace the current Touch ID sensor.
While other sources are claiming that Apple will include the new fingerprint scanner in this year’s iPhone in its push to eliminate the device’s bezels, Kuo thinks the technology is still in the early development stage and won’t debut in 2017. Apple is also rumored to be working on facial recognition technology that Kuo believes will one day replace the Touch ID scanner all together, relying on “full-face recognition rather than biometric iris recognition” to authenticate a user and unlock the device. While Kuo seems bullish on both a new fingerprint sensor and facial recognition, he didn’t provide any firm timelines for when customers can expect to see either debut. [via 9to5Mac]


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Mark Zuckerburg thinks Facebook gaming could be doing a lot better. TechCrunch reports the founder and CEO of the world’s largest social media platform touched on Facebook games and the company’s former reliance on Zynga in its earnings call yesterday.
Total payments revenue, largely derived from in-game purchases, declined by 9 percent from $192 million in the second quarter to $176 in the third. While payment revenue is up 13 percent from the same period last year, the growing strength of mobile is likely cutting down Facebook gaming’s profitability.
Facebook’s gaming revenue from Zynga has declined by 20 percent since last year, and Zynga laid off 5 percent of its full time workforce and closed its Boston studio yesterday as part of cost-cutting measures. While Zynga is suffering, competitors like Kixeye and King.com are gaining marketshare–and it’s all the same money to Facebook, as long as the games are properly monetized.
“But the interesting thing is that the rest of the games ecosystem has actually been growing,” Zuckerberg said. “Our monthly payments revenue from the rest of the ecosystem increased 40% over the past year, since payments has been adopted. This evolution is pretty encouraging.”
235 million people on Facebook play games, a decent increase from the 205 million reported last summer. But proportionally less of Facebook’s users are playing games, as the service has grown from 750 million to 1 million users in the same time frame. Many of those users access Facebook through phones which cannot be used for the service’s selection of browser-based games.
For more ideas on why the cash bonanza of Facebook games may have peaked, check out our 8 reasons why social gaming’s gold rush is drying up.


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New year, same traffic situation.
Gothenburg is growing fast, but there is a risk that when everything is done we are going to have an empty city center.
Last fall I wrote a debate article about how the current traffic situation is driving entrepreneurs towards bankruptcy. It was published in Swedish magazine GöteborgsPosten (GP), where we, just before Christmas, could also read about Albert Andersson’s Chark. They were forced to shut down their business in Saluhallen, where they had existed for 120 years.
But now that 2019 is here, they have been forced to shut down their business. One of the owners, Magnus Knudsen, to GP:
– There are fewer customers now that everything is closed off. Soon the customers won’t be allowed here with their cars, and we cannot see any improvement for the next ten years, with Västlänken and all.
Well, I told you so.
I told you that I would not be surprised if there will be an increase in numbers of empty store premises within a few months, due to business owners who have been forced to close or go bankrupt because of the ongoing traffic situation in Gothenburg.
I am well aware that e-commerce claims large shares of customers from the stores. However, as far as I know, they are not buying their charcuteries online. As for other industries, there is no wonder why people choose to shop online before going to town. On the internet, the traffic flow is much better than in the city center. Regardless of your connection...
The traffic flow is also better in Partille (Allum), in Mölndal (Mölndal Galleria) and in Kungälv, where Kongahälla Shopping will be ready during 2019.
I understand the concerns of small business owners within the moat.
I did not want to be right in this scenario, but it really wasn’t very hard to predict. The question is – how could the politicians and decision makers not predict the same thing?


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🪐 You can prepare your holidays on the red planet with Heinz “Marz edition” ketchup. The company grew tomatoes in Martian soil conditions.
- Juicy Marbles, a Slovenian startup, raised $4.5M to develop its plant-based whole meat cuts further. Developing alternative protein products that are not burgers, minced meat, or nuggets is still really complicated. There is a strong competition to find the “right” technology to create the perfect texture for “whole cuts”.
- Ethnic grocery startup is now a thing, with Germany-based Yababa raising $15.5M to grow its e-commerce delivery operations in Europe, targeting Turkish and Arabic communities. Recently UK-based Oja raised £2.5M to expand its reach by targeting more communities.
- Impossible Foods, known for its bleeding burgers, raised a new huge round of $500M. It has now raised more than $2B. In comparison, Beyond Meat had only raised $122M before its IPO. With these funds, the company will keep expanding in new markets (it has been waiting for approval in Europe since 2019) and expand its product range.


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Independent Trade Competition Commission established in October 2017
The Commission will be responsible for administering and enforcing the Trade Competition Act, which is now in full force.
Antitrust regulations issued in end of 2018
Key competition rules, including on cartels, merger control and abuse of dominance, are now in effect.
Agency guidance documents issued
The competition authority has issued its guidance documents for certain business sectors and on unfair trade practices for wholesale and retail operators.
These guidelines address certain practices such as:
- imposing unfair trade terms; and
- requesting unfair/unreasonable economic benefits.
The guidelines on unfair trade practices in franchising have just passed a public hearing and are expected to be issued in due course.
Authority imposes first fines
The Commission has imposed fines in all of its first three antitrust cases.
The competition authority imposed a total of around 12 million baht (USD 394,800) in fines in the three competition cases passed to it by the former enforcement agency, which operated under the Department of Internal Trade and the Ministry of Commerce.
Two of these three cases were against significant consumer goods and retail players in respect of abuses of a dominant position and unfair trade practices.


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In the afterglow of an unreal few months of sport, kicking off with a sublime Euros and rolling into daily jaw-dropping joy of the Olympics, and before the Paralympic Games closes out the summer with yet more mind-blowing feats, it feels like a good juncture to reflect on what’s been achieved beyond the medals at the most inclusive Tokyo 2020 ever and the opportunities that lie ahead for brands looking to embrace an activist mindset. The Olympics were the queerest they’ve eve
Ok so, what is this Activist Mindset we speak of? Well, in the first instance it’s about embracing the core values that feed activism: a desire to make changes that push for a better world and taking action to do so.
And you won't need us to tell you the world has never needed more of this than now.
For brands, it’s about making sure those 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫 and ensuring the ‘doing’ is being done. Not just when the camera's on, but behind the scenes
Introducing our new report Active Listening: Culture's New Rules- essential insight from some of culture's most urgent voices on what a year like no other means for their communities and where brands need to step up and step in to help them survive. We spoke to some of Music, Sport & LGBTQ+ culture's brightest voices to find out what a year like 2020 has meant for cultural communities and what brands need to do in order to have an impact in 2021 and beyond. Want to know what


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LG G8 ThinQ is all set to be the latest flagship smartphone from LG. This LG G-series smartphone will compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S10 in the markets. However, the company has been dropping a few hints about the phone ahead of its release – which has led to a rise in the excitement around the launch!
However, let us take a closer look at the LG G8 ThinQ: the release date, price and specifications – everything we know about this phone so far!
LG G8 ThinQ Release Date
LG is all set to launch its latest smartphone in a matter of hours! The LG G8 is scheduled to come out on the 24th of February (later today). However, the company has a habit of releasing its flagship smartphone around the same time that Samsung reveals its Galaxy S-series devices.
This phone would be revealed during an LG event at Mobile World Congress 2019, which is currently underway!
LG G8 ThinQ Specs
The latest LG flagship smartphone is confirmed to come out with a ‘time-of-flight’ front-facing camera, as confirmed by LG. However, another major detail about the LG G8 has now been revealed: the phone will feature sound on display! This technology has been named ‘Crystal Sound OLED’ by LG. In this technology, the screen doubles up as a speaker!
Speculative renders of the LG G8 ThinQ have already appeared online, as shared by @OnLeaks and @EVLeaks. However, based on these leaked images, many LG fans are unhappy. The phone comes with a notch – which has disheartened a number of users.
The phone is also expected to feature the Snapdragon 855 processor. However, it is unlikely that the device comes with a 5G variant. The LG G8 is likely to feature 6GB RAM and will run on the Android 9.0 Pie OS.
LG G8 ThinQ pic.twitter.com/ytPzOP3Rlo
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 12, 2019
LG G8 Price Details
The LG G8 is expected to be priced in at almost the same price point as the Samsung Galaxy S10. Based on early assumptions, the phone is expected to be priced in close to $850. However, this information is based on a Canadian retailer where the phone is priced in at $1,100 CAD. However, this figure may change based on the specs that a user opts for.


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South Africa to consider EU poultry-import safeguard steps
South Africa is considering safeguard measures on imports of frozen bone-in portions of chicken from European Union member states. Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel has instructed the nation's International Trade Administration Commission to investigate an application by the South African Poultry Association to impose measures in terms of article 16 of an agreement on trade, development and cooperation with the EU, ITAC said in the Government Gazette on Friday.
The section states that if imports of products cause or threaten to cause disturbance in the markets of the other party, the Cooperation Council, which oversees the implementation of the trade deal, will consider the matter to find a solution. The imports of bone-in chicken portions "from the EU are threatening to cause a serious disturbance in the South African market," SAPA said, according to the Government Gazette.


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Complex onboarding and user experience is the price people pay to use decentralized applications – and it’s also one of the reasons why most don’t use these services. A top Indian crypto exchange wants to fix this for users worldwide.
CoinDCX launched on Friday Okto, a mobile platform that will host other decentralized applications and not require users to remember a long string of words as their password. The platform will store parts of the key and connect the rest to the customer’s device, where it will be authenticated using their biometric ID.
“To make decentralized investment opportunities further accessible, Okto has integrated multi-faceted computing technology to solve private key issues, helping users seamlessly recover their access key and funds,” said the B Capital Group-backed startup and Coinbase Ventures among its backers.
Okto aims to help introduce web3 to the masses, Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder of CoinDCX, said in an interview. “The majority of the population is not comfortable with setting up their wallet accounts and storing and remembering the key,” he said.
The new platform will support over 20 chains and more than 100 protocols and will waive all transaction fees between chains, he said. Users around the world will have access to Okto, which launched on the waitlist today. The startup has started engaging developers to get their apps on Okto, he said.
CoinDCX started working on Okto eight months ago and has a dedicated team of over 50 people. The startup is sticking to its focus on crypto despite the market downturn and its main rival (CoinSwitch) expanding into standard fintech functions such as wealth management.
“As the technology matures, builders are creating use cases to unlock value and make the Internet a fairer space. Our new DeFi offering is the first step in this direction. In the next three to five years, we envision all CeFi platforms having a DeFi arm that will be efficient, cost-effective and provide broader opportunities for everyone in the ecosystem,” he said.


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Looking Homeward Coffee owner Jake Deome has popped up in Madrona, where he’s balancing his time in front of an espresso machine with building out his first café there.
“This location fell into my lap, and I was like, it’s too good to be true,” Deome said.
Deome is taking over a long-vacant space next to Madrona Arms on 34th Avenue, which he expects to have open sometime this spring. Until then, he’ll have his pop-up out front 8 a.m. to noon weekdays, building a rapport with the community.
“I love this neighborhood; this neighborhood is brilliant,” said Deome, who first visited Madrona last summer. “Everyone’s just so nice over here. Everyone’s polite, kind and friendly, and it’s what my fiancée and I were looking for in a neighborhood.”
Deome grew up in California, where he developed his passion for coffee.
“I sort of fell in love with coffee when I was 14, just from drinking it,” he said.
His dad would take him to 7-11, where he would pick up a cup, and after high school he became a Starbucks barista, he said, where his interest in flavors and learning how to roast coffee developed.
Deome spent six years as quality control manager at Temple Coffee Roasters in Sacramento.
“I’ve always wanted to live in Seattle,” he said, adding he made his first trip to the Emerald City in 2012 for his birthday. “After that weekend, I was like, ‘I’m going to move here someday.”
He finally made the move in summer 2018 and, to his surprise, secured a job working at Canlis, a fine-dining institution in Seattle. Deome bought a suit on credit, which he said he quickly returned following his interview.
“They took a chance on me, because I was weird and had that character they were looking for for their team at that time,” he said.
He spent six months as a food runner and barista, learning from Canlis various aspects of operating a business and providing quality service.
“The way they treat their training style is all or nothing,” Deome said. “They throw you into it, but they also guide your training.”
Deome left Canlis in December 2018, and four months later he launched Looking Homeward Coffee, selling a variety of coffee beans sourced from around the world, working with old industry friends and acquaintances to find the right producers.
The beans come from Ethiopia, Peru, Brazil, Rwanda and Colombia, and Deome does his own roasting in Seattle, using a friend’s facility in Greenwood.
He describes his designs for his first coffee shop as warm, comfortable and inviting, with a service-focused approach. He’s bringing a former Canlis worker on as his general manager.
“I’m doing some things that haven’t been done, that I’ve seen,” Deome said, “and things that I’ve always wanted to see in a coffee shop.”
Plans are to start with coffee, tea and pastries, he said, and likely add some lunch items in the future.
Deome said he’s still looking for staff, and his desire is to have people with little experience with coffee apply, so he can provide the kind of training he hopes they’ll one day apply when they move on.
“We’re focused on building sustainable careers,” he said. “Each barista position will have a secondary aspect to it, focused on another part of the industry.”
Deome said he also wants to someday open his own roastery, where baristas can come and learn the process.
“It’s a big commitment,” he said of opening a coffee shop, “and then it’s also a culmination of all my past experiences.”
Before getting serious about coffee, Deome changed his focus in college from history to creative writing to theater.
He designed his own website and creates the art for the varieties of bagged coffee people can buy online or at his pop-up while the physical location is coming together.
As for the name, Deome said Looking Homeward was something he’d come up with while working with a fellow barista in California.
“One of the things we always talked about was what home was,” he said.
His parents had left San Jose for Chico, California, and Deome had just moved to Sacramento; he said he didn’t feel like he had a home at the time.
“That’s when Looking Homeward came up,” he said. “‘Oh, that would be a nice philosophical mentality to have.’”
Deome said he wants his Madrona coffee shop to be a home for employees and a place where he can work on building community.
Keep up with the shop's progress at lookinghomewardcoffee.com or on Instagram @lookinghomewardcoffee.


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LOGAN SQUARE — A new bar with craft cocktails, tamales from The Tamale Guy and weekend DJ sets has officially joined the neighborhood.
Quality Time, a bar from the hospitality group behind Bangers & Lace, Spilt Milk and other popular spots, opened at 2934 W. Diversey Ave. last weekend.
The bar is now open 5 p.m. – 2 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 2 p.m. – 3 a.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. – 2 a.m. Sundays. It’s closed Tuesdays.
Quality Time took over a corner storefront formerly occupied by the bar/restaurant Son of a Butcher, which closed in 2019.
“We chose to open our newest concept on Diversey Avenue because we feel that this particular area in Logan Square/Avondale is underserved,” Footman Hospitality’s managing partner Jason Freiman said in a news release. “Quality Time hopes to breathe new life into a great neighborhood and a building that has been empty for years.”
The bar’s menu includes a rotating list of craft cocktails, local craft beer and a small wine list. Cocktails include the Frozen Vegas Bomb, a blend of Italian Apertifs, fresh grapefruit and lime, and the Rachel Goes To Saturn, a take on the Saturn cocktail from the 1960s containing Jamaican rum, passionfruit and velvet Falernum.
“I wanted to make a menu that screams summer backyard party in the sun,” Footman Hospitality partner Mike Van Meter said in the release.
Claudio Velez, the famed Tamale Guy, has a permanent residency at the new Logan Square bar, which means patrons will be able to get Velez’s signature tamales during the bar’s regular hours.
Velez opened his own restaurant in Ukrainian Village in 2020 after years of selling homemade tamales out of a cooler at Northwest Side bars. But just weeks after opening, Velez was hospitalized with COVID-19, derailing his plans. Velez then moved his operation to Lone Wolf in the West Loop before landing at Footman Hospitality’s Bangers & Lace, according to Eater.
Velez’s new home — Quality Time — has wood paneling, plants, tufted booths and vintage wallpaper.
Footman Hospitality’s partner Joe Dolan said they’re “setting the tone for an experience that feels familiar yet special and unique to the corner it sits on,” according to the release.
The owners will debut two outdoor patios in the coming weeks.
Quality Time is Footman’s second bar in Logan Square behind Spilt Milk at 2758 W. Fullerton Ave. The group also runs Little Victories, which replaced Division Street sports bar The Anthem, and Sparrow on the Gold Coast.
Listen to “It’s All Good: A Block Club Chicago Podcast”:


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Stire tematica: e Turbo News
Recognizing the value to their businesses in exhibiting at AIBTM, many regional and international exhibitors who have attended other shows from Reed Travel Exhibitions' portfolio of events in Barcelona (EIBTM), Abu Dhabi (GIBTM), and Beijing (CIBTM), are already signing up for AIBTM (Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition) 2011, scheduled to open in June of next year.
New signings include the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Austrian National Tourist Office, Condor Travel, Essence of Bali DMC, Government of Dubai, Mexico Tourism Board, Monaco Tourist Office, NYC & Company, Silversea Cruises, Skyteam Global Meetings, Eugene/Travel Lane County, and Wedgewood Travel Limited.
Commenting on their attendance, Sean Mahoney, global vice president of corporate and incentive sales, Silverseas Cruises commented: "We are eager to join Reed Exhibitions at AIBTM next year. In this current business and economic environment, business strategies must consist of activities with a measurable and favorable return on investment.
“Although this is the very first AIBTM, Silversea has realized successful results from other Reed exhibits, including GIBTM, CIBTM, and EIBTM. Silversea's decision to exhibit at AIBTM was based on our past experiences and Reed's reputation for delivering a first rate event encompassing scheduled appointments with highly qualified buyers from around the globe."
Eugene, the second largest city in Oregon on the West Coast of America, has signed up according to Janis Ross of Eugene/Travel Lane County CVB, “Confident that AIBTM will offer quality business opportunities from cities across the US from East to West, North to South.” She added: “The opportunity to present our destination in a visual way, face-to-face with planners and buyers is invaluable. The prestige, professionalism, and reputation behind the AIBTM team has been a major influence in our decision to exhibit at the inaugural show.”
Fred Dixon, senior vice president of tourism and convention development from NYC & Company said: “NYC & Company is looking forward to expanding its relationship with Reed to increase our promotion to this important market and joining with our colleagues from across the industry at the first ever AIBTM in Baltimore in 2011.”
Eduardo Chaillo, executive director, meeting industry, Mexico Tourism Board, commented: "We are very excited about this new event that will change the way business in the meetings industry is driven in the US. Mexico definitely wants to play an important role in AIBTM – an exhibition that will prove to be extremely fruitful for us."
Steve Knight, AIBTM project manager said: “We have been delighted by the meetings industry's response to the launch of AIBTM throughout the United States and internationally. Our worldwide reputation, through our meetings and events portfolio, is key in attracting exhibitors who want something new and fresh whilst giving them return on investment. They recognize that there is no better meetings show in the US to attend. With buyers individually qualified, and with pre-scheduled appointments set up online before they even walk into the exhibit hall, exhibitors can be certain that the event will deliver business.
“With America's highest concentration of industry planners located in the northeast within easy reach of Baltimore, and with excellent transport links from the rest of the United States, we guarantee a platform to interact, network, and educate on a scale that no other American industry show is able to match. It is an event that should not be missed by any exhibitor, buyer, or planner wishing to develop and grow their businesses.”
AIBTM will feature over 300 North American and international exhibitors and is set to attract around 3,000 buyer attendees of which 500 will be hosted, made up largely of North American based meeting planners with domestic, interstate, and international business.
AIBTM will take place in Baltimore from June 21-23, 2011 and will form part of a dedicated Americas Meetings Week commencing on June 19.


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WASHINGTON— Harsh winter weather left U.S. consumers feeling a bit less confident this month, the University of Michigan says. The University of Michigan says its index of consumer sentiment slid to 95.4 in February from an 11- year high of 98.1 in January. "Consumers remain sensitive to any hint of decreased spending power," Terry Sheehan, senior analyst at Stone...» Read More
The current low rate of GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the United States indicates that the world's largest economy is headed for another recession, according to Anthony Doyle, Director of Investment Specialists M&G Investments.
German retail group Metro saw sales grow only marginally in the second quarter, led by its emerging markets business, as weak consumer spending in Western Europe weighed on its results.
Don't look to the Federal Reserve to offset the damage if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Aug. 2, two regional Fed presidents told CNBC Friday. However, they say the Fed may have options down the road to offset any damage to the U.S. economy.
French retail and luxury group PPR page90PPR-FRfalsefalse43pricetruefalsefalsefalse0QuotefalsetrueChartfalsetrueNewsfalsetrueProfilefalsetrueAdd to Watchlistfalsetruetruehttp://api-cdn.cnbc.com/api/chart/chart.aspGE4true3 on Friday posted forecast-beating first-half sales and profits, pulled by the strong growth of its luxury brands in major markets such as China.
CNBC's Melissa Francis looks at the week's top business news and investing advice, including sovereign debt plays and tech stocks.
Gold is likely to hit $1,650 an ounce by the end of the year and could even hit $1,700, according to one analyst.
Wealthy Americans, who are expected to increase their spending on luxury items by 8 percent to $359 billion this year, are no longer embarassed at flaunting their wealth despite an economic slowdown which has caused hardship on many who have lost their jobs, David Arnold, publisher of luxury magazine the Robb Report told CNBC.
France's Casino warned archrival Carrefour on Monday that a merger of its Brazil unit and the country's biggest retailer, Grupo Pao de Acucar, could not go ahead without its consent.
The week's top business news and investment advice, including end of QE2 plays, European equities, financial favorites and more.
Despite high unemployment, debt ceiling fears, riots in Greece, earthquakes in Japan and a host of other negative headlines, most of the American consumer related stocks are doing pretty darn well lately.
Why aren’t businesses hiring? There is a lot of analysis about this, but, to get a better understanding, it may be best to work in reverse by looking at the past and figuring out what the relative strength or weakness of conditions are today and then examine which policies, if any, might work.
Gasoline prices should drop more quickly now that governments are stepping in to pump up world oil supplies, but drivers are still unlikely to see last summer's levels below $3 a gallon.
U.S. consumers, hobbled by debt and high unemployment, have been deleveraging, a process that will take another 3 to 5 years, Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley’s non-executive chairman and the author of The Next Asia told CNBC on Tuesday.
Worries about the economy pose a serious threat to President Obama’s re-election chances, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The United States lacks a "fundamental strategy" for being the "most innovative, the most productive, the most competitive country on Earth," former General Electric chairman Jack Welch told CNBC Monday.
Diamonds are, apparently, forever, and they are fetching record prices in the rough.
The market had been expecting Friday’s US jobs data to be weak but the scale of the drop in employment growth in May still took many by surprise.
The auto industry has continued to hire even though the manufacturing sector lost 5,000 jobs in May. Analysis of the future of the auto industry, with William Ford, Ford executive chairman, and CNBC's Phil LeBeau.
The economic data in the US is heading south and investors are beginning to question whether the Federal Reserve will extend its asset-buying program beyond the end of the month.


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It’s still a great phone, but Google has a few issues to work out.
We’ve known for a long time that Google’s strong suit in smartphones is the camera. Since the very first Google Pixel launched in 2016, the cameras have been (mostly) excellent compared to other smartphones, and while the other smartphone makers have attempted to catch up since, Pixels remain in a strong position. The Pixel 8 is no different, with notable camera improvements, but some issues related to camera processing are not sitting well with buyers.
The Pixel 8 Pro, Google’s most premium smartphone in the Pixel 8 range, seems to be struggling with a few issues related to software and camera processing. It struggles in high-contrast scenes due to misaligned tiles in dark areas, resulting in pixel blotches and processing artifacts. Furthermore, the camera also has issues with its full 50-megapixel mode: performance seems to slow down significantly when shooting at its full 50-megapixel resolution in raw format, making it less responsive compared to competitors like the iPhone 14 Pro. The phone’s raw files also appear bland and hazy in editing software like Adobe Lightroom, although this issue is expected to improve as software updates roll out.
Other issues include the fact that that same 50-megapixel mode suffers from high noise levels, obscuring details that are visible in 12-megapixel shots. Another problem occurs when shooting scenes with fine structures against a bright sky, where the phone adds colored patches resembling stained glass.
The Pixel 8 Pro has a bunch of hardware upgrades that are promising for photography enthusiasts — under ideal conditions, according to reviews, the phone boasts better light-gathering abilities than its predecessor and often captures more detail than Apple’s iPhones in good lighting conditions. But Google’s cameras have been known to rely a lot on software processing, so the fact that there are problems with that software processing is particularly problematic. The good part, however, is that Google is actually aware of a lot of these issues, and has fixed some of them — there used to be an issue where DNG raw images couldn’t be edited, and that was fixed by Google since. We should be getting software updates fixing other issues soon.


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Popular Ghanaian Musician King Promise has replied to his fans who are worried about his music career.
The Musician throughout the year has not released any new song.
This got many of his followers and fans worried about the state of his music career.
King Promise has ended all their worries as he is set to release a brand new album.
He said the reason he was silent the whole year was that he was working on a brand new album with some good music.
Furthermore, Promise said songs in his new album are the best songs he has ever done.
The Musician said its only fair that he gives his fans a taste of what is yet to come.


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Qualcomm has used its latest developers conference to show off its new Snapdragon 8565 chipset, which is expected to be at the heart of many of next year's high-end Android smartphones.
The Snapdragon 855 is the successor to the highly-popular 845, and will be the world's first commercial platform to support 5G capabilities, a well as offer advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR) support.
Alex Katouzian, senior vice-president and general manager for mobile at Qualcomm, said: "As operators launch 5G networks in early 2019, consumers will for the first time be able to take advantage of transformative 5G consumer experiences on mobile devices with Snapdragon 855."
One of the key features of the new chip is the X50 5G modem, which has been designed to achieve multi-gigabit speeds that have previously been unattainable for mobile devices. Qualcomm estimates that users can expect average performance that is up to 20 times faster than some of the current commercial solutions.
This will help consumers "master the extreme data demands of today and pave the way for next-generation immersive experiences, including multiplayer virtual reality gaming, shopping with augmented reality, and real-time video collaboration", the company continued.
It also features the fourth-generation multi-core Qualcomm AI Engine, which offers up to three times the AI performance compared to the previous generation mobile platform.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm promises the Snapdragon 855 will also help users capture better photos, while the range of XR features will allow for virtual reality immersive video experience at 8K resolutions.
"This gives users the ultimate freedom to watch, learn, play and share dynamic experiences in real time, even further blurring the visual lines between physical and virtual worlds," Qualcomm stated.
The Snapdragon 855 is expected to make its first appearances in many of 2019S flagship phones. So far, only OnePlus has confirmed that its next smartphone – rumoured to be the OnePlus 7 – will feature Qualcomm's next development, but the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10, Sony Xperia XZ4 and LG G8 could all be among the early devices to ship with the chip.
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There’s an occasion for almost everything, and coffee is one of them. National Coffee Day is celebrated on September 29 in several countries, notably the United States and Canada. International Coffee Day, which is practically the same as National Coffee Day, is celebrated just a few days later on October 1 for many other countries.
Other countries also celebrate their own National Coffee Day earlier, with Portugal celebrating as early as April 14th. Costa Rica also has their own Coffee Day (of course!), which is the second Friday of September (this year it was September 9). Coffee Day is more than just enjoying coffee. It’s about promoting fair-trade practices, supporting coffee farmers, sustainability, and even discounts for coffee almost anywhere.
Source: The Tico TimesTags: Coffee Day, International Coffee Day, National Coffee Day


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Apple became the first American company to reach $ 2 trillion in market cap . This leaves the period from when Apple had a market cap of $ 1 trillion in just two years (in 2018).
However, Apple is not the first in the world to have a market cap of $ 2 trillion because of Saudi Aramco , Saudi Arabia’s largest oil and gas company. Has a market cap of $ 2 trillion Was the first in December 2019 ago
But due to the fluctuation of stock prices This has brought Saudi Aramco ‘s current value down to $ 1.76 trillion. And as a result, Apple has become the most valuable company in the world with a value of $ 2 trillion on August 4, 2020 .
The Financial Times reported that Apple ‘s stock now (August 19, 2020) is worth more than $ 467.77 , bringing Apple to a high of $ 2 trillion. But there is a possibility that Apple ‘s value may drop in the future.
In addition, The Wall Street Journal also reported that shares of Apple are worth more than 50% in 2020, despite the crisis COVID-19 followed by shares of Apple are higher by about 3.5% every week since the beginning. June 2020 onwards
In addition, according to the earnings report in July 2020 , Apple has recorded a record high sales volume. And total revenues of $ 59.7 billion , an 11% increase compared to the same period last year.
Not only that, Apple plans to release the Apple One later this year. This is a subscription that combines Apple Music and Apple TV + . Users can pay a small additional fee to get more Apple Arcade or Apple News for a lower price separately for each service. This shows how much Apple is concerned with in service to maintain consumer numbers.


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Gradual upward movement in beef prices at the factories continues this week, although the pace of increase is minimal.
Supplies of cattle remain tight, but processors are holding a tight rein on prices, and conceding nothing more than is absolutely necessary to secure sufficient beef to fill their orders.
However, a hard sell policy by farmers with finished animals is delivering the extra 1-2 cent/kg by which the prices have improved.
Base prices being quoted for steers range from 415 from 425 cent/kg (148p-152p/lb). Most prices paid for steers are from 420 to 425 cent/kg this week, with some quality lots and large supplies in regions of scarcity making a few cent/kg more.
Quoted heifer prices are staying 10 cent/kg ahead of steer prices at 425-435 cent/kg (152p-155p/lb).
Most of the heifers are ending up costing 430-435 cent/kg, some sellers are negotiating a few cent/kg more.
The intake situation remains steady at around 24,350 head last week, which is 5,300 head back on the corresponding week last year.
Prices are currently 60-65 cent/kg ahead of 2011.
National average base prices paid for the first week in July 2011 were 357 cent/kg for steers and 10 cent/kg extra for the heifers.
But thus year’s higher prices are only compensating for the higher cost of bought-in stores, and a critical price test will come later in the year, when supplies increase, and the price margin over 2011 must be maintained.
For that to happen, the late autumn base price for steers will need to have increased to at least 455 cent/kg, and 10 cent/kg more for heifers.
The cow trade remains very strong at the factories. Base prices being paid for O/P grade cows are 350 to 375 cent/kg (125p-134p/lb), and the prices being negotiated for the quality heavy cows have strengthened a little, with up to 400 cent/kg going for the tops.
The trade in the UK is reported to be somewhat subdued over the past week, with market demand described as flat. However, cattle prices are reported to have firmed, with R4L-grade steers averaging equivalent to 453 cent/kg (162p/lb) including VAT.
On the Continent, retail demand on the German market has increased by almost 1% to the end of May, despite higher consumer prices for beef.
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Kraft has stepped up and launched what appears to be the CPG industry’s first consumer iPhone application called iFood Assistant. This nifty little app provides iPhone users with a way to engage with Kraft and its portfolio of brands in a new and exciting way. Through the iFood Assistant, consumers can search and retrieve recipe ideas, build a shopping list and even view instructional videos right from their iPhone. Of course, all product shopping lists draw from the Kraft portfolio of brands and exclude competitors.
Hats off to Kraft for taking a stand and making this investment of time and energy. According to recent research from NPD, the iPhone now ranks #2 in unit sales for smart phone devices (simply amazing after just 18 months since launch), so this investment makes sense. At first pass, I see three ways that Kraft could leverage the iFood Assistant app to deliver an even richer consumer experience:
1. Contests and games- Expose all Kraft-branded interactive promotions, contests and games through the iFood Assistant application. Promotions don’t need to be tied to those using the application, but this could present a great awareness channel for Kraft to reach digitally-inclined consumers.
2. Digital coupons- This has a logical fit and could be one of the killer-apps for the iFood Assistant. Since consumers are already accessing recipes and tips through the application, offering brand-specific digital/printable coupons could be a great tie-in for the next shopping trip. Extending this idea even further, Kraft could allow consumers to electronically deposit coupon value onto their Kroger-banner loyalty card accounts.
3. Trade promotions- Kraft is already directing iFood Assistant users to local grocers to fulfill their recipe shopping needs. Taking this one step further, the local grocery store search results could also display retailers that are featuring Kraft brands, or offering a price promotion such as a buy-one/get-one or even a temporary price reduction.
I’ve become a big iPhone fan, and am happy to see Kraft take this pioneering step to better serve consumers. I look forward to seeing how this application evolves over time.


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Market prices ain’t enough: DA wants price caps set on agri products
MANILA — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is mulling putting price caps and suggested retail prices (SRPs) on more agricultural commodities, such as sugar, soon.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Tuesday this might come soon to prevent uncontrolled spiraling of prices ahead of the Yuletide season.
“There’s no way to maintain market prices. The only way to go is control these to levels that consumers aren’t complaining,” Piñol said at the press conference for the 32nd National Coconut Week celebration in Metro Manila.
He said the DA will continue consulting with stakeholders regarding the possibility of setting SRPs for additional agricultural
commodities before deciding on the matter.
Last June, the DA set Metro Manila SRPs for regular milled rice (PHP39/kilo), medium to big milkfish of two to five pieces per kilo (PHP150/kilo), medium-sized tilapia of six pieces per kilo (PHP100/kilo), medium galunggong of 11 to 20 pieces per kilo (PHP140/kilo), red onion (PHP95/kilo), white onion (PHP75/kilo), imported variety garlic (PHP70/kilo), and local variety garlic (PHP120/kilo).
Selling prices of such commodities must not exceed 10 percent of the SRPs, or violators would be charged with profiteering, Pinol said.
He said a profiteer faces imprisonment and fine of up to around PHP1 million.
Sugar is among the next batch of agricultural commodities the DA is considering for possible SRP coverage, Piñol said.
“We’re looking into commodities with price movements consumers complain about,” he noted.
In its situationer covering the fourth week of July 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported price for a kilogram of brown sugar increased by PHP1 in Kidapawan City and by PHP3 in Region I’s San Fernando City, but fell by PHP2 in Cebu City and by PHP5 in Baguio and Davao.
Shortage of government-subsidized National Food Authority rice in the market had already prompted surge in prices of commercial rice.
Market players also cited the implementation of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, as fueling commodity price hikes in the country.
But Piñol said enforcing SRPs could help address possible further surge in commodity prices, as it guards against traders taking undue advantage of the situation.
Earlier, Piñol said the DA might change its set SRPs from time to time, depending on the situation.
If prices of farm inputs for commodities increase, for example, he said government would take that into account when evaluating validity of prevailing SRPs for these.
Doing so helps ensure the availability of affordable food without jeopardizing farmers’ earning potential, he said.
The DA will continue coordinating with Department of Trade and Industry regarding the enforcement of SRPs, he added. (PNA)


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2020 was a disruptive year for every sector, not least for influencer marketing, which brands used to reach consumers at the expense of print, OOH, and broadcast advertising. Mary Keane-Dawson, Group CEO of global influencer marketing agency TAKUMI, offers insight on the key influencer marketing trends of 2020 and her predictions for the sector in 2021.
2020 is a year that will make history. From March, the world was placed into lockdown, with life as we knew it drawing to a dramatic halt. The casual deed of ‘popping out’ became a treasured luxury and the ‘2-meter rule’ became a phrase ingrained in our vocabulary. People were stuck inside and the desire to stay connected through social media flourished.
With 2020 behind us, it will be interesting to see what new social media trends emerge from such a turbulent year.
The emergence of content creators as miniature media outlets
As many of us were stuck at home, we started to increasingly rely on digital and social network channels to access updates and different opinions on current affairs. Due to the social restrictions, more traditional marketing channels such as events, print and out-of-home (OOH) ceased to offer brands the same return on investment as they did pre-pandemic.
As a result, brands started to approach influencer marketing spend differently. In August 2020 our whitepaper surveyed over 4,000 consumers, influencers and marketers across the UK, US and Germany, and found that 73% of all marketers had allocated a greater amount of budget to influencer marketing during the previous 12 months. Interestingly, we also found it was marketers from traditional media channels that were increasing their influencer marketing spend the most.
But as well as an increased reliance on influencers for brand marketing, perceptions of influencers have also changed since the start of the pandemic. In an age of misinformation, content creators have emerged as new miniature media outlets with 24% of all consumers admitting they are more likely to source news updates from influencers than journalists. Consequently, many brands had to re-establish how they communicate and connect with their customers and reassess perceptions of influencers and social media.
Social media as a platform for political content
It is hard to ignore the significance of social media in politics. The last two Presidents of the United States have both used Twitter as another way to communicate with the public, alongside the press.
President Trump was renowned for it. He used the platform to gain a huge following ahead of the 2016 election which, according to Trump himself, helped him win the election.
Social media and politics became further entwined after the recent Capitol attack in Washington earlier this month. Facebook and Twitter have since banned Trump from both its platforms as he was accused of instigating violence and spreading misinformation. In response, Matt Hancock, the UK’s health sectary, commented that social media giants are starting to make editorial decisions and judgments and therefore a regulatory framework needs to be put in place. This could have far-reaching consequences for the platforms which claim to champion free speech. If new regulations were imposed it could help to reduce misinformation and the mental health of users, but the responsibilities to police it opens up a potential can of worms for 2021.
Ever since the world was thrust into lockdown back in March, the popularity of TikTok has excelled. TikTok provided viewers with short, light-hearted relief from the anxieties of the world (think of all those famous pop songs that went viral in 2020 because of TikTok)!
With TikTok’s popularity growing, a wider variety of brands started to see its value. In partnership with TAKUMI, the retailer Wickes launched the first influencer marketing campaign on TikTok by a UK home improvement brand. Wickes used TikTok to reach a new audience with authentic and creative content and to drive awareness of its range of products.
The app also launched its new ‘TikTok Creator Portal’ earlier this month. The portal contains educational resources and advice for its creators. It will certainly be exciting to see what else is to come from TikTok this year.
Commerce through apps
Last year, Instagram added the shopping tab feature and allowed brands to attach a virtual shopping tag to their ads on the platform. People can now click on a tagged item and then be re-directed to the brands’ product webpage.
In the US, Instagram has gone one step further and incorporated an in-app checkout function. People can now purchase a product directly through the brand’s Instagram. By offering seamless, one-click shopping experiences, it could be argued that social media platforms might start to rival e-commerce giants such as Amazon in 2021.
The year 2020 was disruptive for everyone. Social media evolved to provide its users with entertainment, information, and new ways to shop. It will be exciting to see what 2021 has in store for social media and how brands will utilise social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, to make themselves stand out from their competitors.
By Mary Keane-Dawson


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Dana Innovations, parent company of Sonance, iPort, and TRUFIG, has entered into an agreement with AmbiSonic Systems, manufacturer of high-end outdoor audio systems, to become the exclusive partner to handle worldwide sales, marketing, and order fulfillment, under its Sonance brand.
AmbiSonic Systems’ outdoor audio systems will soon become part of the Sonance brand.
Sonance says the new partnership expands its efforts to align with the top customers in every market by providing invisible, high-performance solutions to the outdoor arena.
“The AmbiSonic Systems product line is a natural fit within our Sonance product portfolio, in aesthetics, quality and performance,” said Ari Supran, CEO of Dana Innovations. “AmbiSonic Systems is highly regarded within the industry, offering innovative, cutting-edge design, scalability, and the highest quality sound and construction.”
The agreement will take effect October 1, 2010 and Sonance indicates that it will show a next-generation product line at the upcoming CEDIA EXPO.
Based in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, AmbiSonic Systems was founded by Jeff Coombs, the inventor of the high-end outdoor audio system and specializes in upscale residential and commercial outdoor loudspeaker systems.


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AgEagle Announces Acquisition of Measure in the Next Step to Become the Company of Choice for End-to-End Drone Solutions
Strategic Acquisition of Award-Winning Aerial Intelligence Solutions Company, Valued at Approximately $45 Million, to Significantly Expand Autonomous Control Capabilities
AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc., an industry leading drone solutions provider, announced its acquisition of Measure Global Inc., an award-winning aerial intelligence solutions company, in a combination cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $45 million.
This is the third acquisition by AgEagle, and the second this year, as part of the Company’s core strategy to acquire and integrate only the best-in-class drone technologies required to deliver American-made, tailored drone solutions to the world. As commercial and industrial businesses continue to recover from the impact of the global pandemic, and the use of drones across a wide variety of industries and applications gain greater acceptance, AgEagle believes companies will seek trusted and robust partners capable of providing a one-stop shop for high quality drone solutions that effectively address business challenges. By adding Measure’s advanced software to the AgEagle platform, agriculture, commercial and industrial customers seeking to capitalize on the significant economic, safety and efficiency benefits made possible by drones used at scale now have a clear choice.
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Founded in 2014 with operations in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas, Measure enables enterprises to realize the transformative benefits of drone technology through its game-changing Ground Control SaaS solution. Ground Control is a cloud-based, plug-and-play operating system that empowers pilots and large enterprises with everything they need to operate drone fleets, fly autonomously, collaborate globally, visualize data and integrate with existing business systems and processes. Measure has a world class customer base, including Marathon Pipeline, CNN, CoStar Group, LAPD, Nationwide Insurance, SECO Energy, Skanska and Syngenta, as well as many other Fortune 500 companies.
In August 2019, Measure was recognized by Frost & Sullivan with its Frost Radar Best Practices Award for Growth Excellence in the Drone Services Provider market. Measure received the highest score on Frost & Sullivan’s Growth Index, which reflects a company’s growth performance and track record, along with its ability to develop and execute a fully aligned growth strategy and effective sales and marketing tactics. Focused initially on commercial applications for drones, including agriculture, infrastructure, construction and insurance, Measure has also expanded into the government and military domain, and recently announced a project with the U.S. Air Force.
Michael Drozd, CEO of AgEagle, stated, “Measure represents the next step on our Company’s continued path as we evolve in becoming a global leader in end-to-end drone solutions; and it greatly complements our recent acquisition of advanced drone sensor leader MicaSense. In addition to established industry partnerships with Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services and other leading technology companies, coupled with a growing global customer base for its Ground Control software platform, Measure brings to AgEagle a world class team of drone technology experts with deep operational experience, tens of thousands of successful missions and industry recognition and respect as one of the world’s leading aerial intelligence solutions companies.”
Brandon Torres Declet, Co-Founder and CEO of Measure and recently appointed member of the FAA’s Drone Advisory Committee, added, “AgEagle and Measure are completely aligned on our vision for the future of The Drone Age™. As such, this merger represents a powerful marriage of strengths, experience and highly complementary capabilities and know-how that should earn us distinction as the leading provider of true end-to-end drone solutions on a global basis.”