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Uber food delivery business makes up tenth of ride-hailing group’s bookings
Uber’s fast-growing food delivery service accounted for nearly a tenth of the company’s global gross bookings in the second quarter, according to people who have seen the figures, a level that implies the unit is on track to exceed $3bn in gross sales this year.
The previously unreported numbers underscore how rapidly UberEats has grown since its launch two years ago as a standalone app.
UberEats has been a rare bright spot this year for the San Francisco-based company, which has been battered by a series of crises, including the firing of co-founder Travis Kalanick in June.
During the second quarter, UberEats accounted for 8 per cent to 10 per cent of global gross bookings, which implies $700m-$870m of gross turnover for the unit. Uber’s total gross bookings were $8.7bn for the period.
By comparison, GrubHub, the US food delivery company valued at $4.1bn, reported $880m of gross food sales during the second quarter.
While Uber still derives the majority of its revenues from its transportation services app, UberEats has been growing faster than the core business.
The average bill size for an UberEats order is bigger than for an Uber passenger ride because the consumer also pays for the food through the app. UberEats has a presence in 29 countries and has been on a rapid expansion push that will see it operate in nearly 200 cities by the end of this year.
However, the service is still unprofitable in most places and, like other delivery services, faces the prospect of low margins and high competition. Just last week, Facebook launched a food delivery service in the US.
Amazon’s restaurant delivery service, launched two years ago, has been expanding, while smaller rivals such as Postmates, Deliveroo and DoorDash are also fighting for market share.
One of Uber’s advantages in food delivery is tapping into its fleet of more than 2m Uber drivers around the world, who can carry either passengers or food in cities that have UberEats.
Rohit Kulkarni, head of research at SharesPost, pointed to Uber’s advantage “in terms of convenience and speed of delivery” due to its number of drivers and “network effect”. He said: “At a certain density, you are able to offer services that are very hard for anyone else to replicate.”
Uber declined to comment on the turnover figures for UberEats.


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The Apple Watch is expected to snag nearly two-thirds of the smartwatch market for all of 2015, according to a new forecast from market research firm IDC.
IDC had said two weeks ago that Apple will ship to retailers about 21 million Apple Watches in 2015. That's in the mid-range of other analyst forecasts of 15 million to 30 million for the new device.
Then on Thursday IDC said that all smartwatches and a small number of other smart wearables will total 33.1 million shipments in 2015, putting Apple Watch at 63% of that total. Smart wearables are defined by IDC as devices capable of running third party apps, such as Apple Watch and Android Wear watches like the Moto 360.
The IDC prediction comes amidst some other striking analyst forecasts for the Apple Watch, but also amid questions about the overall value of smartwatches.
Financial analyst Brian White of Cantor Fitzgerald recently declared the Apple Watch will "prove to be the best selling product in Apple's history (within the first 12 months.)" Various estimates say it took one day of pre-orders to sell 1 million Apple Watches, while it took Apple 74 days to sell 1 million iPhones and 28 days to sell 1 million iPads.
Research firm Slice Intelligence told Reuters this week that about 2.8 million Apple Watches were sold through mid-June, nearly two months after the device first went on sale. Apple hasn't reported how many Apple Watches it has sold and is not expected to separately report that number in the future. Slice gets its insights by mining e-mail receipts. The entry-level Apple Watch costs $349 and is the most popular in sales, Slice said.
About 20% of Apple Watch customers are also buying a spare watch band, with the entry-level sports band selling for $49, Slice noted. IHS, which performs teardowns of popular devices, estimated that the sports band costs $2.05 to make, not including packaging, shipping and any exclusive Apple materials.
Apple looks to have a big impact on the smartwatch market for years to come. IDC said smart wearables (mostly smartwatches) of all brands will total nearly 90 million shipments in 2019, which is an 84% annual rate of growth. Apple's share is expected to stay about the same in coming years as in 2015, at more than 60%, IDC said.
Basic wearable devices and fitness bands that don't run third party apps, like those from Fitbit and Xiaomi, have dominated the market for wearables so far, but will fall behind smart wearables for the first time in 2016, IDC said.
"Smart wearables like the Apple Watch and Microsoft's Hololens are indicative of an upcoming change in computing, and the transition from basic to smart wearables opens up a slew of opportunities for vendors, app developers and accessory makers," IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement.
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After a string of price reductions recently that lowered its profit margin to the lowest point since 2020 and created an intense price conflict, Tesla has increased pricing in its key markets for electric vehicles, including China and the United States. Last week, Tesla’s website showed that the American automaker has raised the costs of its Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV by $289 (2,000 yuan) in China, which is Tesla’s biggest international market.
The starting price for the Model 3 Y is currently 263,900 yuan ($38,175) in China, while that of the Model 3 is 231,900 yuan ($33,546). But thanks to multiple rounds of sizable price cuts, they’re still less expensive now than they were at the start of 2023.
These two models, which make up the bulk of Tesla’s vehicle sales, have also increased in price in the U.S. The Model Y will start at $47,240 while the Model 3 will be $40,240. Additionally, in Canada, Tesla increased the cost of the models 3 and Y by around $222, while in Japan, the models increased by about $269.
In a short period of time, Tesla has increased prices twice. In the past few weeks, Tesla increased prices in the United States for its premium vehicles, the Model X and Model S, by $2,500 each. However, in quarter 1, only a more than 2.5% of Tesla’s sales were covered by these vehicles.
The latest phase of price changes undid a number of significant price reductions made by Tesla in an effort to increase demand. During the previous month’s earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reaffirmed Tesla’s pricing strategy and hinted at further price reductions to increase sales.
Analysts, however, claimed that the latest price hikes served the same function of boosting demand from consumers. According to the Citi analysts, Tesla could be attempting to change customers’ expectations for further reductions in prices in order to discourage them from continuing to watch and wait. Additionally, given that frequent price reductions may have a diminished impact on increasing volumes of sales, Tesla could be interested in testing the elasticity of demand.
Up until lately, Tesla had been cutting prices in an effort to keep up demand in the face of rising competition from the rest of the electric vehicle manufacturers. Prior to these latest price rises, the company had already slashed its prices in the U.S. at least six times in a year’s span.
These seemingly “erratic” price changes made by Tesla are likely to push other startups such as ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLO) to squeeze maximum efficiency from every production process so that the pricing of their products is as competitive as possible in order to retain market share regardless of how other manufacturers alter their pricing.
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The ill-fated demonstration, by Flash "platform evangelist" Ryan Stewart in front of a crowd of developers, will come as an embarrassment to Adobe, which is embroiled in a bitter war of words with Apple about the quality and stability of its Flash technology.
Jeff Croft, a Seattle developer who attended the Flash Camp event last week, recounted the incident on his blog. He said that Stewart attempted to show off the mobile version of Flash Player 10.1 on his Google Nexus One by loading up the Eco Zoo website, which uses large amounts of Flash animation.
"The site's progress bar filled in and the 3D world appeared for a few seconds before the browser crashed," wrote Croft.
"Stewart tried it again and got the same result. So he said to the audience: 'Well, this one isn't going to work, bur does anyone have a Flash site they'd like to see running? Someone shouted 'Hulu, but Stewart said that Hulu doesn't work, and wrapped up his demo."
Technology experts have been quick to point out that the Android version of Flash is still in beta, so is likely to contain the sort of bugs that caused the demo to crash. But Croft observed that Adobe needs to build developer confidence in the mobile version of the technology.
Apple refuses to support Flash on its range of multimedia devices, such as the iPhone and iPad, with Steve Jobs branding the software "buggy". Instead, Apple prefers the rival technology HTML5.


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This photo provided by Coca-Cola via Fast Horse marketing agency shows all four Dasani Drops flavors. Coca-Cola, the world's largest beverage company, is introducing its Dasani Drops in coming weeks, which can be squeezed into water for some on-the-spot fruity flavor. And Coca-Cola is betting that there's big potential for growth.
Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press .
published Friday, September 7th, 2012


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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Monday outlined a plan to merge with France's Renault.
The proposal calls for a combined company that's half owned by Fiat and half owned by Renault.
"The proposed combination would create a global automaker, preeminent in terms of revenue, volumes, profitability and technology, benefiting the companies' respective shareholders and stakeholders," Fiat officials said in a statement. "The combined business would sell approximately 8.7 million vehicles annually, would be a world leader in (electric vehicle) technologies, premium brands, SUVs, pickups and light commercial vehicles and would have a broader and more balanced global presence than either company on a standalone basis."
Read more from the Detroit Free Press.
Fishing retail shop Modern Outdoor Tackle moved; Healthy Spot LLC opened; and Springfield law firm Strong, Garner & Bauer PC changed names and moved its office.


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Fiat Chrysler planned to open 380 new stores in U.S, the company is already running 2500 stores nationwide. The decision to open new stores has been taken on the proposal of Urban Science, the location consultant of the automobiles company. The company wanted to increase as the market share of the company has been fallen in last two years.
Existing dealers are not happy with expansion decision:
The decision of new outlets has not been down at yet because the company wanted to increase the profit and sales. As the company has faced almost 15% decrease in last two years. The company has decided to earn the profit of 6.4% – 7.4% in last two years.
Dealers have low sale issues with few models due the low and delayed production of cars, such as the Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200 and the Jeep Patriot. The company has fixed it focus to pickups, SUVs and crossovers. There is under production of Toluca, Mexico, but these expected to display on stores once again.
On the other hand in many states dealer have asked about financial assistance. They are aquiring rights on the opening od additional stores. The dealers from Louisiana and Texas has also offered financial assistance. The Bergeron Motors in Metairie has filed a complain against the opening of new stores in Kenner.
The dealership has also raised an issue about public distress that the people will find it difficult if they want to purchase the Bergeron motors. Similarly many protest has been made at Taxas from the Texas department of automobiles. But the situation in calm in many states.
Location of new Fiat Chrysler stores:
Despite all the protest and opposition from the existing dealership. There are no official words has been spoken by the officials of Chrysler. There is no confirm information whether the all 380 stores would be establish at once or not. The only clear agenda is that the company want to increase the sales.


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We are here at beautiful Fort Mason in San Francisco on a spectacular day. The Bay is sparkling, Alcatraz beckons (for some of us), and somewhere inside the theater HP is making all the final preparations. The line to get in is already pretty long, and growing. We are about to see the launch of a new lineup of HP mobile products based on the company's WebOS platform.
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Steven McArthur, Senior VP, Applications and Services talks about some of the applications that partners are working on for WebOS devices, especially the tablet.
Building A Mobile Business MindsetAmong 688 respondents, 46% have deployed mobile apps, with an additional 24% planning to in the next year. Soon all apps will look like mobile apps – and it's past time for those with no plans to get cracking.
InformationWeek Tech Digest August 03, 2015The networking industry agrees that software-defined networking is the way of the future. So where are all the deployments? We take a look at where SDN is being deployed and what's getting in the way of deployments.


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Customer acquisition startup JumpCrew has closed a $7.2 million Series B funding round, co-led by Nashville Capital Network and Hinsdale Capital, to accelerate product innovation, hiring, and additional acquisitions in 2019.
“We are excited to acquire more strong niche brands and we are building some game-changing tools to make it easier for our clients to manage and convert marketing and ad spending to revenue,” co-founder and executive chairman David Pachter tells Hypepotamus.
“To manage the growth, we’ll continue investing in our human capital plan so that people joining the organization add the skills they need to grow with us.”
That means adding 100 employees to the current 350+ team.
The digital marketing platform offers client acquisition tools to clients across industries like healthcare, publishing, and technology. It helps them accelerate sales by creating brand awareness through paid social and SEO, and then integrating lead generation and sales under one hub.
During a period of hypergrowth, the company completed an initiative to hire 100 salespeople in 100 days. Last year, Pachter talked about how they were able to finish the challenge by keeping the hiring process open-minded, often on-boarding employees with no sales background, in favor of other favorable skills.
“We have strong data on the candidates who have excelled in our program. We put a lot of work into recruiting, interviewing and screening. Being a part of an organization with a growth mindset is not for everyone. It’s demanding and requires a balance of initiative, grit and patience,” says Pachter.
“The transition to being a larger company has required that we over-communicate expectations — and work harder at maintaining the culture that made us successful.”
JumpCrew’s strength is in its portfolio of digital publications, directories, and aggregators that advertisers can use to boost their exposure. In 2018 they acquired three new niche marketing brands — AHRN.com, MyBaseGuide.com and Target Marketing — to add to their portfolio of more than 200 titles.
“The products we are building will allow our customers to access a variety of niche audiences by location and leverage their marketing/ad dollars much more effectively,” says Pachter.
Co-founded by CEO Robert Henderson, JumpCrew has now raised, in total, $15.9 million. It has added to its Nashville headquarters with offices in New York City, San Diego, and Kentucky.
They are launching an inaugural conference, Jumpcon, this October to highlight “the power of integrating sales and marketing to improve conversions, acquire customers, and increase revenue,” says Pachter.
“JumpCrew has demonstrated a great ability to use technology to maximize growth. Sound strategy and flawless execution have enabled JumpCrew to build high quality revenue for its clients and expand their offerings through acquisitions,” said Sid Chambless, Managing Partner at NCN Partners Fund.


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The new workforce is mobile, and managers are increasingly handling critical business tasks at home or on the road. A new Point of Sale app for the iOS platform, for example, has just made it simple to run payment processing and accounting reconciliation tasks using an iPhone or iPad.
The IntuitivePay iPhone app by Pensmore Software provides real-time integration to the latest QuickBooks Online Edition. Pensmore will also be offering merchants who use QuickBooks POS the power to process payments on the fly and have them fully integrated back to QuickBooks Online.
Since 2011, Pensmore Software has built best of breed integrated payment solutions that have been tailored specifically to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that use QuickBooks accounting software and QuickBooks Point of Sale. CPA Practice Advisor has just nominated Pensmore for the 2014 Innovation Awards due to their robust suite of payment processing tools and unparalleled security encryption. Pensmore has staked out the industry leadership position for payment applications that fully integrate with Intuit applications via their recently released IntuitivePay platform.
Pensmore’s founder and CEO Jeff White credited insights from their extensive dealer network and SMB partners for the rapid adoption of their new iPhone app. “We here at Pensmore built our new IntuitivePay iPhone application based on the feedback we received from our incredible dealer partners and our merchants. Their voices have been heard, and thanks to them, we now offer the best integrated mobile payment application to the QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Point of Sale market,” White said.
As SMBs shift more of their back office automation to mobile platforms, integrating new software with their accounting system has become a major challenge. White launched Pensmore when he discovered how much SMBs have had to rely on Intuit’s Merchant Services and GoPayment to handle seamless payment processing that accurately reconciles with the company’s back office accounting on QuickBooks.
White felt that merchants and dealers deserved more responsive and customized solutions that put SMBs first. He has led Pensmore to redefine the online payment processing market. The new IntuitivePay app for iPhone and iPad is about to change the way the mobile sector handles payment processing.
Pensmore Software is headquartered in Charlotte, NC and has offices in Denver, CO, and Durango, CO. The company builds software for processing credit card and other forms of payment, especially for businesses using QuickBooks Point of Sale and accounting software. AutoReconcile with OmniSync, IntuitivePay for QuickBooks, POS and their new iOS app have redefined the market for integrated payment solutions at small- to medium-sized businesses.


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DAVENPORT -- A new Target store will be among anchors in the long-awaited Posner Park mixed-use development at the interchange of Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 27.
J.C. Penney, Staples, Michael's, PetSmart, Belk, Ross, Books-A-Million, Best Buy and a Dick's Sporting Goods store also are all part of nearly $100 million in retail-space development that officials announced was coming to the location Tuesday.
Officials would not discuss any plans or attempts to lure a hotel or movie theater and speculated it might be two years before residential construction started at the $500 million mixed-use development.
"When the market turns around," said Richard De Lotto, senior vice president with Kitson & Partners, a West Palm Beach-based project manager for Posner Park of when residential building might start. "My guess is a couple of years down the road."
The 80 acres housing the first 10 announced tenants and smaller retailers are being developed by Trammel Crow Company in a joint venture that includes Boardwalk Land Development, a subsidiary of Victor Posner Enterprises.
The 630,000 square feet of retail space is expected to start opening with the largest retailers by next spring.
Among those is a 127,000-square-foot Target store, being built by Williams Co. of Orlando.
Williams Co. already has built about a dozen Target stores.
Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. is based in Pittsburgh, and the Polk County location would be the first in Central Florida.
The company already has stores in the Tampa and Jacksonville areas and operates about 294 stores in 34 states.
Posner Park is approved for nearly 1.5 million square feet of specialty and general retail, more than 1 million in office space, 2,600 hotel rooms and 2,000 multifamily residences for about 4,500 people.
The space occupies the former Baseball City complex. Development is expected to take 8 to 10 years.
De Lotto said water remains one of the developments biggest concerns.
"It's still affecting everyone [in Florida]," he said.


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Tech Data Closes Massive Avnet Technology Solutions Deal
Avnet Technology Solutions partners hope that the close of Tech Data's $2.6 billion acquisition will unlock a broader line card while maintaining access to key pre-sales and marketing contacts.
The closing of Clearwater, Fla.-based Tech Data's acquisition of Phoenix-based Avnet's $9.65 billion TS business was announced Monday morning. The deal will boost Tech Data's share of overall revenue coming from the data center from just 29 percent to 45 percent while more than doubling non-GAAP operating income after cost savings.
According to Tech Data CEO Robert Dutkowsky, it was a ’momentous day’ in the company’s history, and it is excited to welcome colleagues at Technology Solutions to the Tech Data family.
Tech Data also unveiled a new, six-person global operations team reporting to Chief Operating Officer Rich Hume comprised of three Tech Data and three Avnet TS leaders. Hume and Tech Data's existing top financial, human resources, legal and information leaders will remain with the company and continue reporting to Dutkowsky.


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The Zenfone 4 – A Snapdragon 820 Monster
The Asus Zenfone was really a phone that did blow my mind, after releasing 2 phones this year, the Zenfone AR and the Zenfone 3 Zoom, they come up with another Smartphone, the ZenFone 4. The specs of the smartphone look really interesting
The device showed up on the GFXbench listing, reveiling the impressive specifications of the latest flagship model from Asus. It won’t come with the latest snapdragon, instead we have the last years snapdragon 820 SoC combined with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal memory and a huge 5.7-inch display with a Quad HD resolution ( 2560×1440 pixels).
For sure it comes with the latest Android 7 Nougat, which is standard right now for such flagship devices and also includes a massive 21-megapixel rear camera with 4K UHD video recording mode and a 7-megapixel front facing camera.
Based on the previous experience with their lineup, Asus will probably release multiple ZenFone 4 variants with different amounts of memory and maybe also different chipsets.


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May 20, 2013
AP photo by Jeff Barnard
Retired logger Jim Ford stands in his shop in Grants Pass, Ore. While Ford thinks logging can still be a major part of the economy in the rural West, jobs are half what they were 20 years ago, and mills continue to close.
©2015 Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Desktop site|Tablet version


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The Nike Dunk Low 'Un-Argon' Looks Like It's Straight Out of Blue's Clues
Since reintroducing the to market at the beginning of 2020 with , have found a way to keep producing new iterations of the again-ubiquitous silhouette at a massive volume. Each and every month, the brand cranks out several fresh takes on the onetime basketball sneaker, and the latest of these to pop up is a two-tone blue style that's been unofficially dubbed 'Un-Argon' and 'Reverse Argon'.
With a sport blue and ice blue palette accented by white details and reminiscent of Blue from Blue's Clues (sadly, it's not a colab with the beloved show – wouldn't that be something?), this new is essentially a colour-flipped take on the throwback a style from the 2000s that featured similar blue shades but inversed colourblocking and an overall lighter-toned look.
Revealed by Twitter sneaker leaker Brandon1an, this blue Dunk has yet to receive a release date. However, it's likely to make its way to shelves either later this year or in the early days of 2022.
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Two sisters who plan to run an ethical supermarket chain have so far raised more than half of the £170,000 they need, in part with the help of crowd funding.
Ruth and Amy Anslow, who want to provide an alternative to the big supermarkets, intend to open the first store of what they call a ‘Body Shop for the food industry’ in Brighton by September.
Called hiSbe – How It Should Be – it will offer ethically sourced products at affordable prices while paying staff the local ‘living wage’ of at least £7.45 an hour. It aims to rival the big supermarkets, which the sisters argue are ‘out of touch’.
Amy said: ‘We think there is a demand for a new type of affordable food retailer that treats staff well and sources food in a responsible way.’
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- Coinbase argued in court that buying crypto on exchanges is more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in stocks or bonds, seeking dismissal of an SEC lawsuit accusing it of selling unregistered securities.
- The SEC lawsuit filed in July 2022 alleges Coinbase sold unregistered securities between 2018-2020, including XRP, Kin tokens, and Lend tokens.
- The case centers on whether crypto token sales should be regulated like securities, with implications for the future of crypto regulation.
The biggest U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase argued in a New York federal court hearing that buying cryptocurrency on an exchange is more like collecting Beanie Babies than investing in stocks or bonds. The company was seeking dismissal of a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing it of selling unregistered securities. The case centers on a key question – whether crypto token sales should be regulated like securities.
Coinbase Makes Beanie Baby Comparison in Court Hearing
Coinbase made the Beanie Baby comparison on Wednesday while arguing for dismissal of the SEC lawsuit over alleged unregistered securities sales. The SEC sued Coinbase in July 2022 for allowing trades of digital tokens that the agency contends were securities and should have been registered. Courts have been divided on whether crypto token sales constitute securities.
SEC Lawsuit Accuses Coinbase of Selling Unregistered Securities
The SEC lawsuit accuses Coinbase of selling unregistered securities on its exchange between 2018 and 2020. The tokens listed by Coinbase include Ripple Labs Inc.’s XRP, Kin tokens issued by the Kik messaging app and tokens in lending program Lend sold by LendDAO. The SEC contends these tokens are securities that should be registered with the agency.
The Coinbase hearing is the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle over whether and how cryptocurrencies should be regulated. The SEC argues tighter regulation is needed to protect investors, while crypto advocates say excessive rules could stifle innovation. The case is being closely watched for implications on the future of crypto regulation.


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- 5 min read
Tesla killers are arriving from Jaguar, Porsche, Audi and more
To date, Tesla has ruled the roads for electric car buyers, with little direct competition.
When the call came, Robert Wickel wasted little time.
The subject? Reservations for Porsche’s all-electric Taycan were coming, even though the vehicle wouldn’t enter production until next year. Buying Tesla Inc.’s Model S, available for the past six years, had always been an option but lacked the allure of the first battery-power ed car from the iconic German sportscar-maker.
“Tesla’s Model S triggered curiosity to give it a try, but there were several unknowns starting from unclear delivery times to a patchy service network,” said the 46-year-old Munich resident, who has been driving Range Rovers, Audis and Porsches and joined the list to place an order when they are available. The Taycan “is a serious car with the quality promise of a leading car manufacturer—I know whom I’m buying from and what can expect in case I need support.”
Count it as another headache for Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose tweets about taking the company private are reportedly under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
To date, Tesla has ruled the roads for electric car buyers, with little direct competition in the market from $60,000 and up. Those days are over: Jaguar is already delivering its I-Pace all-electric sport-utility vehicle, with comparable entry-level prices to the Model S sedan and Model X SUV. The new Jag comes with a pedigree of luxury, racing and engineering prowess. In some markets the wait list is now a year long.
Autocar U.K. took a direct comparison of the Tesla Model S sedan and the new Jaguar. The result was about what many had expected.
“The I-Pace provides a more appealing space in which to pass the time, and a far more engaging driving experience on the way,” the reviewer wrote. The Tesla is “still impressively capable given its age, but quality is variable and chassis not close to the standard now set by Jaguar.”
The new rivals are likely behind some of the softness that Tesla has experienced in Europe. Sales in all major markets there that don’t offer significant rebates slid during the first half of the year, data from forecaster IHS Markit show. The drop was as much as 30 percent in Germany and the U.K., the IHS data show. Tesla doesn’t report pan-European sales numbers, although the IHS estimates are consistent with delivery data kept with national governments. Tesla does report revenue for Norway, where sales peaked in the fourth quarter of 2017. Customers there are also in quiet revolt after waiting for months to get spare parts and repairs.
“Growth in sales for Tesla in markets like Norway and the Netherlands remains incentive led,” said Tim Urquhart, an analyst at forecaster IHS Markit. “In the U.K. and Germany, well-heeled early adopters have adopted and are already looking at the next shiny thing.”
Tesla disputes the IHS and government data and says total sales are rising in Europe, while declining to provide any market-by-market details. “The data from both IHS and regional transportation departments is not reflective of actual sales data,” Tesla said. New-car registrations can’t be relied on to track actual vehicle sales, Tesla said.
Increasing competition complicates Musk’s quest to transform his unprofitable juggernaut into a viable market leader. The company’s Model 3 is still partially made in a makeshift tent, raising questions about the sustainability of ambitious output targets and criticisms over poor quality. A Tesla spokeswoman couldn’t immediately comment for this story.
The “debate about newly introduced models from competitors and Tesla’s recent problems on production and delivery is going to be even louder in the future,” said Karsten Gross, a spokesman at PA Consulting.
Europe isn’t alone with slowing markets. The company forecasts 100,000 sales of Model S and X this year, compared with about 101,000 in 2017, when sales jumped 33 percent. Tesla’s response to increased competition and an aging Model S is the Model Y, an electric crossover due to be introduced later this year or early in 2019.
Of course Musk’s problem now isn’t demand but supply. The carmaker has taken hundreds thousands of deposits for its Model 3 sedan—more than a year of production at current rates—and an order book that grows as more Model 3s reach driveways across America. The Model 3 isn’t available outside the U.S. yet.
“The sales and demand trends, it’s looking really positive,” Musk told analysts after reporting second-quarter results and predicting that its string of losses would soon end.
Tesla’s own future is now unknown after Musk surreptitiously tweeted Aug. 7 that he was considering taking the company private in a $82 billion deal, a disclosure that seemed to catch the company off guard and created a new distraction for the board. The SEC is investigating Musk’s claim that he had funding secured, according to the Wall Street Journal. Should a deal happen, it might actually ease cash concerns and help Tesla grow.
A deep-pocketed partner “should enable the company to execute and move faster,” Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers said in a report. “This only increases the need for transition at traditional carmakers who must carry out exhaustive powertrain restructuring if they choose to compete with a potentially faster and more nimble Tesla.”


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Two popular social media influencers from Amsterdam were exploring Northern Ireland recently. Their visit is part of Tourism Ireland’s ‘blogger relay’ initiative to attract more Dutch visitors to Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland.
The ‘blogger relay’, which kicked off earlier this summer, involves a programme of visits by popular Dutch bloggers and social influencers, designed to ensure an ongoing ‘buzz’ and conversation on social media in the Netherlands about the island of Ireland. The idea is that each visiting blogger ‘passes the baton’ to the next blogger, tagging them and sharing the same hashtags.
Last week, two food bloggers, called Roger Bloem (aka CityGuys) and Seger Abeis (aka Foodini), enjoyed a road trip around the Causeway Coastal Route and Belfast – showcasing their experiences to their combined online audience of over 140,000 followers, or potential holidaymakers for Northern Ireland, via their different social channels. Their action-packed itinerary was designed by Tourism NI and took them to places like Glenarm Castle, Ballintoy, Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, Titanic Belfast, the Ulster Museum and St George’s Market.


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Limited Beer Returns in Honor of One of New York’s Craziest Pastimes
Brooklyn, NY (October 2017) – Every January, thousands gather on the shore of Coney Island, bathing suit clad with nothing but courage between them and the icy cold Atlantic. Then they jump in. No, this is not some obscure form of punishment, it’s the ever-popular New Year’s Day Plunge hosted by the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, and the inspiration behind Coney Island Brewery’s annual limited release beer – aptly named The Plunge – now available.
This limited release Belgian-style ale is back in its fourth year to pay tribute to those brave New Yorkers who kick off their year with an icy-cold splash. The Plunge has a medium bodied, spiced character and glows with a golden haze. Brewed with ginger, orange zest and fennel, the aroma is complex array of citrus, spice and fruity esters and coming in at 6.9% ABV, this wintery brew’s slightly warming finish is a perfect tribute to the season. The Plunge is available November and December at the Brewery and throughout the greater metro area on draft and in 6-packs of bottles.
“There are a few telltale signs that it’s winter in Coney Island: bigger, darker beers coming out of our tanks and the Polar Bear Club coming out of hibernation are certainly my favorites.” says Devin O’Brien, Assistant General Manager of Coney Island Brewery.
The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest winter bathing organization in the United States. The members-only club swims off the shore of Coney Island weekly between November and April. On New Year’s Day, the Club hosts a New Year’s Day swim, open to the public. This year’s event will benefit the Alliance for Coney Island, a local nonprofit bringing together Coney Island businesses, community organizations and residents to work towards a better future for the residents and visitors of Coney Island. And the best way to warm up from post-plunge chills? A pint from one of the 8 rotating taps at Coney Island Brewery, including The Plunge, to really bring things full circle.
New this year, Coney Island Brewery will be supporting the New Year’s Day Plunge and the Alliance for Coney Island with a donation program throughout November and December. Leading up to the big dip Coney Island Brewery will donate $0.25 from every pint sold and $0.50 from every 6-pack sold to The Alliance for Coney Island.*
In addition to The Plunge, Coney Island has a variety of year-round offerings, including Mermaid Pilsner and Coney Island Lager. To find The Plunge and other Coney Island beers near you, visit ConeyIslandBeer.com/Find.
*Donations are from the Coney Island Brewing Company to Alliance for Coney Island. For more information on Alliance for Coney Island, visit http://www.allianceforconeyisland.org. Maximum total donation is $2500. Offer valid only at participating locations displaying this offer between November 1-December 31, 2017.
About Coney Island Brewing Company:
The mission of Coney Island Brewing is to brew craft beer that captures the spirit, flavor and romance that is Coney Island. The company’s home brewery, located on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, is open seven days a week. For more information, visit us online at: www.coneyislandbeer.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @coneyislandbeer. Coney Island Brewing Company is an A&S Brewing Collaborative brand, a subsidiary of the Boston Beer Company.
Coney Island, Mermaid Pilsner, Coney Island The Plunge and Overpass are registered trademarks of Coney Island Brewing Company.
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Katie Price: Money spent on weddings is getting out of hand
Katie Price has walked down the aisle three times
Katie Price married Kieran Hayler in January
Katie Price is being very secretive about her pregnancy
Katie Price has been covering up her 'huge' baby bump
Katie Price is already mum to three children
But that hasn't stopped her from warning that the obsession with expensive weddings in this country that many cannot afford has gone too far.
'I do like a good wedding,' she says. 'Or three! But - and I know I'm not one to talk - did you know the average cost is now £21,000?
'The fabulous dress, the perfect location, the reception... I know every couple want their big day to be perfect, but isn't it getting out of hand?'
Katie, 35, points out that while it's traditional for the bride's parents to pay for the wedding, nowadays it is becoming impossible for many of them to afford it.
'And there are so many more important things you can spend money on - the home you start your married life in, a car when you start a family.
'As I say, this may seem a bit rich coming from me, but on this occasion, small really is beautiful.'
Well said, Katie.


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Earned media offers marketers better value for money than paid because traditional media has lost the trust of its audience who are leaving “in droves”, Melbourne Spring Fashion Week attendees heard.
This is just one of the arguments trotted out in favour of earned media at Melbourne Spring Fashion Week's (MSFW) Industry day earlier this week.
MSFW challenged two industry teams to debate the contentious statement: ‘don’t waste your dollars on paid media, earned media is more valuable’. See the arguments for and against the statement and find out which team won below.
The Earned media team:
- Phoebe Montague, Lady Melbourne blogger and the team’s captain
- Janice Breen Burns, voxfrock.com.au
- Anton Staindl, Haystac
The paid media crew:
- Sarah Stringer, Carat and the team’s captain
- Lisa Messenger, Renegade Collective
- Rene L’Estrange-Nickson, Broadsheet
The argument for earned media:
Earned media was defined as “publicity gained through editorial influence” by journalist and blogger Phoebe Montague, who argued it delivers value for money, advocacy and embraces subtlety.
As an example of earned media Montague referenced a tweet from a Grazia editor who was displeased to find she had to watch a Christian Dior show through the hat teen fashion-blogger, Tavi Gevinson.
The picture (below) was re-tweeted more than 10.3 million times and was picked up by traditional media. “The cost of this to Stephen Jones and Dior was nothing,” Montague said.
“Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20% to 50% of all purchasing decisions. Its influence is greatest when consumers buy your product for the first time or when products are relatively expensive.”
Voxfrock’s editor Janice Breen Burns argued that earned media is more valuable then paid because audiences are “abandoning traditional paid media streams because they don’t trust them anymore”.
Just ten years ago Breen Burns said there was a “thick red line drawn between advertisers and journalists”.
“Advertisers didn’t mind because they were buying access to a trusting audience and they didn’t need the input.
“Then the line started to blur. Buy our ad space and you can design the news around it.”
With the integrity, fairness, dispassionate and even handed reports that were the bedrock of traditional paid media “now iffy at best”, Breen Burns said readers are leaving paid media in droves.
“We are heading instead to the earned media landscape for content we trust, content that is personal, independent, informs us honestly, speaks to us directly and with integrity.”
Haystac’s managing director Anton Staindl used the Spanx brand’s “hate” for paid advertising to support his team’s argument. “They seed their product with the people they want to be wearing it, they actually take the approach of not even paying for ambassadors,” he said.
“That is the power of word of mouth, this is now a multi-million dollar brand without one cent being paid on advertising.”
For Paid Media:
Paid media offers better ROI than earned media as it provides more longevity in market than WOM, and can do the job of both forms, the pro-paid media group stated.
“Now what our friends in earned media are not going to discuss are the number of PR campaigns that are actually leveraged off bought media spend,” Carat’s Melbourne strategy director, Sarah Stringer, said.
“You can get two in one for bought media or you can try and force someone to go on a free lunch to get a bit of editorial space.”
If someone has been paid to recommend something “really, how genuine can that actually be” she said adding: “Forgive me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure PR agencies do get paid.”
Advertising can create a cultural moment that people refer to long after the ad has stopped running.
Stringer pointed to the famous ‘Hello Boys’ Wonderbra billboard ad as an example.
“A recommendation from your mate is going to give you that longevity in market. Where as something like this ‘do you remember that campaign where people crashed because Eva had boobs out?’ That is a moment in time.
“In fact, it was such a moment in time that Bonds has actually used the exact same strategy in the UK to launch.”
Broadsheet’s Rene L’Estrange-Nickson argued that if it wasn’t for paid media earned would not be possible.
“If earned media was ultimately successful and every fashion brand put all of their budget into earned media than every publication would be out of business.
“If these go out of business you are going to have no where left to find audiences to convert to become your customers and you have no where left to earn media.”
Despite the room being divided in the start the paid team appeared to have the most convincing argument, winning over a larger share of the room.
Do you agree with the MSFW audience? Or do you believe earned media presents better ROI than paid? Let us know by leaving a comment in the form below.
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Jacqueline Gonzales [featured image] is the Head of Global Marketing at Squarespace. In this piece, she shares her best pieces of advice for launching a campaign globally. It’s estimated that we see between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. In today’s digital landscape we’re constantly bombarded by so many different brand messages from every […]
From the audio producer of The Teacher’s Pet comes The Elements, a new Acast Creator Network podcast hosted by Thredbo survivor Stuart Diver. The Elements is a podcast that journeys into the heart of surviving a natural disaster and will be hosted and distributed by the creator-first podcast company Acast as part of the Acast Creator […]


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Drought, high prices and the predicted fiscal cliff. They all combined to create a “perfect storm” for farmers and equipment manufacturers at the beginning of 2013. Although some thought the fiscal cliff might prove to be the undoing of the U.S. economy, the Jan. 1 version actually turned out well for the equipment business. Agco’s Steve Koep, vice president for sales, explains in this February video interview at World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA.
Video by Forrest Laws, Director of Content, Penton Media


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Peterborough, NH (Vocus/PRWEB) January 16, 2011
Google has published a Remarketing Case Study featuring Yankee Candle Company, according to Susan O’Neil, president of @Website Publicity, the search engine marketing agency of record for Yankee Candle. O’Neil said: “While Google’s Remarketing program was in Beta, we proposed to YCI that we test what appeared to be an innovative and promising program using Google's extensive Content Network. The results were so impressive that Google asked if they could create and publish a case study.” The Yankee Candle remarketing case study can be found within Google’s Google for Advertisers section of its website.
The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. (YCI) is a leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles. A successful online advertiser for many years, Yankee Candle is always looking to grow its customer base through innovative means. Accordingly, Todd Soucy, YCI’s e-Commerce Marketing Manager, was receptive to conducting a test with @Website Publicity of the Remarketing program. The Remarketing program allows advertisers to tag users who visit their websites, then later display ads to those same visitors on other, unrelated domains.
In the case of Yankee Candle, the test was designed to tag visitors who start but don’t complete a shopping cart transaction and then to offer customized ads to those same people when they later visit other websites in the Google Content Network.
Yankee Candle’s Remarketing campaign has generated positive results, with nearly 10 percent of its abandoned shopping cart visitors returning to the site. The Remarketing campaign’s conversion rate was also 600 percent higher than the account average, and the cost per conversion was nearly half the account average.
“Yankee Candle is an early adopter,” said Holly Sanderson, Senior Paid Search Manager at @Website Publicity. “They aren’t afraid to test because they understand how important it is to use that data to grow their market.”
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$0.32 Earnings Per Share Expected for Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc (NYSE:RH) This Quarter
Wall Street brokerages expect that Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc (NYSE:RH) will announce $0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Six analysts have issued estimates for Restoration Hardware’s earnings. The highest EPS estimate is $0.75 and the lowest is ($0.59). Restoration Hardware posted earnings per share of $1.85 during the same quarter last year, which would suggest a negative year over year growth rate of 82.7%. The company is expected to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 10th.
On average, analysts expect that Restoration Hardware will report full-year earnings of $7.59 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.55 to $12.60. For the next financial year, analysts anticipate that the company will report earnings of $9.37 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $7.93 to $11.70. Zacks Investment Research’s EPS averages are an average based on a survey of sell-side research firms that follow Restoration Hardware.
Restoration Hardware (NYSE:RH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported $3.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $3.59 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $664.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.69 million. Restoration Hardware had a net margin of 8.32% and a negative return on equity of 232.62%. The business’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.00 EPS.
Restoration Hardware stock opened at $154.63 on Thursday. Restoration Hardware has a 12-month low of $73.14 and a 12-month high of $256.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 2.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $126.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 75.90, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.16.
A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Restoration Hardware stock. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc (NYSE:RH) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.
Restoration Hardware Company Profile
RH, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer in the home furnishings. It offers products in various categories, including furniture, lighting, textiles, bathware, décor, outdoor and garden, tableware, and child and teen furnishings. The company provides its products through its retail galleries; and Source Books, a series of catalogs, as well as online through rh.com, restorationhardware.com, rhbabyandchild.com, rhteen.com, and rhmodern.com, as well as waterworks.com.
Further Reading: What does a bar chart mean for investors?
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com
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Light field pioneer Lytro is reportedly in talks to be acquired by Google for pennies on the dollar. Google will get a lot of talent and a bevy of patents to add to its VR content creation and computational imaging efforts.
Despite billions in investment, VR has been slow to take off in the consumer marketplace once you get past hardcore gaming. Google, Lenovo, and others are trying another approach by encouraging the creation of 180-degree content as a simpler alternative.
In a quest to stand out from the crowded field of VR and AR vendors, many companies are hyping what they call Mixed Reality, a mashup of the best of both. We take a look at how they are doing and where they need to go from here.
More than any other large chip maker, AMD has bet heavily on VR for its future success. Now it is going beyond planning to use VR to increase its share of GPU sales, expanding its technology into chipsets that will enable cordless VR and AR headsets.
If the numerous leaks and rumors are to be believed, this is going to be a big day for Google. New smartphones, VR equipment, and a 4K streaming stick are expected to be seen at today’s Made By Google event. Check back here at 12pm ET watch the live stream, and follow along with our live blog.
Google’s new Daydream platform is designed to create a vibrant Virtual Reality ecosystem on Android, and has support from most of the major hardware vendors.
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The Focus mode is only available for select Android smartphones.
The Focus camera feature will appear as a user opens the app's camera.
This might be hard to believe, but you're about to take even more selfies than you already do.
With this new Focus Mode selected, all you have to do is point the camera at someone's face and the background will blur automatically.More news: Guardiola hit with UEFA charge after Man City Champions League exit
Since the feature is designed from the advanced technology on the camera side, it is now available for limited smartphones and not for all the smartphone users. Moving away from the new camera mode, Stories' users will now also have access to a new user mention sticker. You can either use the selfie camera or the rear camera if you are taking a portrait photo of a friend or a thing.
As TechCrunch reports, there is no word yet on when the new tool will be available.
That's because Instagram is gearing up to launch a feature called Nametags, which works like Snapchat Snapcodes, according to TechCrunch. The app took to its own Press website to make the official announcement for the launch of this feature which was hidden in previous builds too on Android devices. The company says Focus will be found under the record button next to the superzoom setting. There you can see the "Focus" option just after Boomerang.


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Verizon becomes the first corporate drone program awarded IS-BAO registration – sUAS News – The Business of Drones
NEW YORK – Verizon received the International Standards for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) registration for best practices for its commercial drone program. Verizon is the first corporate drone program to achieve the IS-BAO registration for its drone operations and only the second drone operator in the U.S. to receive the registration. The independent audit validates the high safety and governance standards of Verizon’s drone program and provides the opportunity to expand future drone operations into more complex areas, such as flights beyond visual line of sight.
Verizon utilizes drones across several critical business functions, including extensive support of its network. Since the program’s inception in 2017, there have been more than 17,000 flights that total over 4,000 flight hours. Verizon’s drones fly in every season to perform network testing and performance monitoring. The drones collect imaging in conjunction with software that creates 3D models of the…


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NEW DELHI: Tata Motors, the biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer in India, on Thursday announced flat sales in both passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle segment. Tata Motors sold a total of 45,215 units including both passenger and commercial vehicles, in September 2015 which is 2 percent lower than in September last year.
Tata Motors passenger vehicles sales were flat at 11,774 units in the last month. This is marginally lower than 11,931 PVs sold in the same month last year. While the car segment showed an increase of 5 percent with sales of 10,226, as against 9,766 units a year ago.
The UV sales continued to be a drag on Tata's PV segment as it saw a sharp decline of 28 percent, settling at 1,548 units in September.
In commercial vehicles, M&HCV sales continued to grow at 15,915 units, higher by 52 percent, over September 2014. The light & small commercial vehicle sales however continued to reflect industry decline and stood at 13,124, which is a decline of 29 percent.
Like for Hyundai and Marut Suzuki, even Tata Motors' exports too fell in September. The company exported 4,402 units in September 2015 which is 16 percent less compared to 5,246 vehicles in September 2014.
An advanced 125cc urban scooter tailor-made for those riders who prefer to make an impact reflecting their youthful and fun persona, Grazia will be available at Honda's two-wheeler dealerships across India.
The new Magnite SUV stands out on many counts. In a short span after its launch, it has garnered over 30,000 customer bookings. It is also the torchbearer of the beleaguered Nissan’s future in India. The average of 1000 units booked daily since the debut on December 2 manifests the brand’s strength and new vigour. It will, Nissan hopes, empower it to discard legacy issues and open a new chapter in India’s mobility landscape.


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LAS VEGAS — The tech industry says it wants more diversity in its workforce, but the actual hiring doesn't reflect that. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich challenged his own company and the entire industry to do more.
Meanwhile, the future of driverless cars was the background for a Ford Motor Co. keynote address at the International CES. The carmaker hopes to cure the world's transportation ills by delivering everything from a quicker trip down the Las Vegas Strip and helping drivers more easily finding a parking spot, to improving access to medical services in remote areas of West Africa.
The gadget show opened to the public Tuesday.
A MORE INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE
Krzanich on Tuesday challenged the tech industry to increase the hiring of women and minorities, and he set a goal of full representation in his company's workforce by 2020.
He said the company will hold its managers accountable by tying their pay to progress. The company also is investing $300 million to improve diversity, including initiatives to create a pipeline of women and minorities entering the technology field.
"This isn't just good business," he said. "It's the right thing to do. When we all come together and commit, we can make the impossible possible."
He said it was no longer enough to talk about valuing diversity and still "have our workplaces and our industry not reflect the full availability and talent pool of women and underrepresented minorities."
According to a report on Intel's website, women made up 24 percent of Intel's workforce in 2013. Non-Asian minorities made up 14 percent.
The challenge comes as tech companies have begun releasing employment-diversity reports and women have faced harassment and threats in the video-gaming community. Krzanich cited both developments and said his company will regularly release progress reports on hiring.
Krzanich also used a keynote Tuesday to show off the company's RealSense technology for seeing and understanding depth. With that, Intel showed the ability to use hand gestures to scroll a recipe on a tablet while cooking. Drones thought for themselves and maneuvered an obstacle course without human intervention. One man with visual problems showed how RealSense sensors on his clothing let him know what's around him through vibrations.
It's all part of Intel's efforts to free machines from acting in just two dimensions, defined by the interaction between the screen and input device.
Ford CEO Mark Fields said the company isn't racing to have the first driverless car on roads but is taking a thoughtful approach to creating an autonomous car for the masses. And with an eye on congested city hubs and a connected generation more keen on car-sharing, mass transit and cycling, the carmaker is getting involved in those avenues, too.
Fields said Ford is conducting 25 worldwide experiments to study driver habits, test ride-sharing and research whether a person's entire driving history could follow them from car to car regardless of brand in order to get personalized insurance quotes.
Want to try a Mustang for the weekend or need a truck for a move? The company's employees in Michigan are testing an app-based program where they can trade cars among themselves.
"We'll learn something from each of these experiments," Fields said.
While consumer electronics companies are celebrating a coming bonanza of health trackers, connected cars and "smart" home appliances, the head of the Federal Trade Commission is pressing the tech industry to protect consumer privacy.
Powerful networks of data sensors and connected devices, dubbed the "Internet of Things," will collect a vast trove of user information that represents "a deeply personal and startlingly complete picture of each of us" - including our finances, health and even religious leanings, said Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission.
Ramirez urged the global electronics companies, Internet giants and tech startups at CES to make data security a priority as they build new products. She also called on companies to give consumers more control over how their data is used, and to collect only the data that's necessary for a product to perform its function.
Ramirez didn't propose specific regulations, but her remarks underscore the Obama administration's concerns over consumer privacy.
SPECIAL CASES LINK TABLETS TO DATA NETWORKS
It's often tempting to buy a Wi-Fi-only model of a tablet computer because it's cheaper - by $130 in the case of the iPad. But what if you decide later you want connectivity on the go?
AT&T will soon sell cases to connect your Wi-Fi tablet to its network. You'll need to buy data service, of course, and it's not immediately clear whether the cases will work with service from rival carriers.
The Modio cases will initially work with recent iPad models. AT&T didn't announce prices or release dates. The cases also will allow users to expand battery and storage capacity.
Many Android tablets have already slots for microSD storage cards, but iPads do not.
CONSUMERS SEEK MORE AFFORDABLE SMARTPHONES
The smartphone is no longer a premium product, as consumers buy them more frequently and increasingly look for more affordable prices, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Speaking at AquaKnox, a restaurant at the Venetian hotel and casino that his company converted into a glitzy temporary showroom, the Lenovo boss said the smartphone has become such a mainstream item in the U.S. that consumers are looking for ways to replace them more frequently, so they can keep up with the latest features and fashions.
Meanwhile, companies are also selling more smartphones in developing regions, where people can't afford the higher-end models. That's consistent with figures released this week by organizers of the International CES that show the average selling price of smartphones worldwide is expected to fall from around $440 in 2010 to about $275 this year.
Yang said Lenovo is looking to compete both on price and features in the United States market. He also said the Motorola smartphone business, which Lenovo bought from Google last year, is on track to become profitable in the next year or so.


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Rockbridge County, Virginia
Story By Jennie T. Williams
Just two years and four months after opening the doors of Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Steve Crandall and DBCC are on yet another beer-making adventure. Rumors have been swirling for weeks, but the final approval came just last week.
Steve, the owner of one of Nelson County’s booming craft breweries, announced this week that he will be opening a production company that will allow DBBC (winner of the Small Brewpub of the Year and the Small Brewer of the Year awards at the 2010 World Beer Cup) to bottle and sell beer throughout the commonwealth. Steve said he plans to have at least three beers – the Eight Point IPA, the Gold Leaf, and the Vienna Lager – bottled and available year round while featuring seasonal beers through the year. Brewing operations at the DBBC pub and restaurant will continue as usual. The Rockbridge operation is an additional facility for bottles.
While Nelson County was Steve’s first choice of location, a technicality surrounding the sewage treatment plant available caused him to move out of county with his production brewery, which will be located in Rockbridge County, just north of Lexington.
“Everybody in [Nelson] County – from the board of supervisors, to the sewer and water people, to the economic development people, to the electric co-op – were supportive of what we were trying to do,” Steve was quick to say, explaining that the sewage discharge from a brewery is much more difficult to breakdown than typical human waste.
Spearheaded by head brewer Jason Oliver, the Rockbridge facility will be able to have a 30-barrel brew system, compared to the 8-barrel system they currently have at their Roseland brewpub. What Steve is most excited about, though, is the definite possibility of job creation with this new facility – starting with an additional brewer.
“We hope to be able to generate about 10 jobs in 5 years … and we’ve got tremendous room for growth,” said Steve, as he chronicled the booming craft brewery industry that has experienced tremendous growth as people become more interested in buying locally. Steve, like many local brewers, encourages local farmers to grow hops to sell to these craft breweries and in addition to supporting farmers, DBBC has created roughly 45 jobs during these tough economic times.
“A lot of stuff happens, I think, for the right reasons. You know, you put a team of people together, you get people to support what you’re doing and you have a little bit of luck mixed into the equation and you’re going to see some success,” said Steve. “Based upon the support the community has given this restaurant … and the brewpub here in every way. In all of our thoughts and processes, we are thinking about how we can support the community.”
“We’re just generally trying to be good neighbors.”


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eBook Sales Up at HarperCollins But Down at S&S, Hachette
Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins have each released their latest financial report this week, and the news was generally good. Both publishers reported rising revenues, and HarperCollins revealed that ebook revenues were continuing to increase.
HarperCollins’s info was released as part of parent company NewsCorp’s annual earnings report, which showed that the publisher’s revenues increased 6% to $1.43 billion in 2014, while profits increased 38% to $198 million. The company’s profit margin also grew accordingly to 13.8%, up from 10.6%.
eBook revenues for FY 2014 were up 35% versus 2013, and now account for 22% of overall sales (compared to 17% in FY 2013).
Over at Simon & Schuster, parent company CBS reported that S&S had sales of $211 million for the second quarter, up 11.6% from the same period last year.
S&S also reported that digital revenues had declined to 25% for the quarter, down from 29% in the same quarter last year. eBooks now account for 22.3% of revenues, down from 26.5% a year ago.
It’s worth noting that the HC revenues reflect 3 quarters of participation in subscription ebooks, while S&S only added their titles to Oyster and Scribd about 6 weeks before the end of the quarter. S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy was reportedly surprised at the response "We put our entire backlist in, and it’s pretty heartening to see to see consumers buy from our entire list, exploring and discovering of a whole series of books, not just the most famous author names."
And as I reported last week, Hachette Livre’s US ebook sales dropped to 29% of US trade revenues in the first half of 2014, down from 34% in the first half of last year. In comparison, UK ebook sales reached 36% of net sales in adult trade vs. 31% last year. As a whole ebooks accounted for 11.3% of Hachette Livre’s total net sales, the same as in the first half of 2013.
Revenues for the US publisher were not disclosed, but Hachette Livre’s total revenues (including the US-based Hachette Book Group) were down 14 million euros, to 903 million euros.
So HarperCollins' ebook revenues are up, while S&S and Hachette Book Group are down. I wonder why?


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Police: Woman charged with retail fraud had kids in car
A Pontiac woman accused of stealing from a Five Below store in Bloomfield Township had her children in the car when she allegedly went shopping without paying, police say.
On June 21, about 8:15 p.m., a store employee called 911 and told Bloomfield Township police that two women were walking the store on the 2100 block of South Telegraph, and one was allegedly hiding goods.
Officers arrived in time to see the two women leave the store and get into a red Chevy. Three children, ages 15, 11, and 2, were in the back seat, police say.
After being interviewed by the officers, police say Lanita Mitchell, 38, “handed over a bag of merchandise that she said she stole from Five Below. The merchandise included books, toys and speakers, valued at over $50.”
Mitchell, police say, took the blame for the entire incident, which she said was done without the other woman’s knowledge, and was arrested for retail fraud. She was arraigned on a charge of retail fraud, second degree, at the 48th District Court, and given a bond of $10,000 or 10 percent. According to the Oakland County Jail website, Mitchell has been in county custody since June 22. She is due back in court on July 5 at 8:45 a.m.
In 2007, Mitchell had two convictions for felony retail fraud, police say.


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Barbco reports strong sales through pandemic
CANTON TWP. The coronavirus pandemic hasn't hurt operations at Barbco, a company that makes equipment to drill horizontal pipe, sewer and waterlines.
Barbco said it has seen strong demand for its augers and in its parts business. The company's brand and technology have helped it build a solid reputation as in the horizontal auger and boring machine segment, company executives said in a press release.
Sales have benefited from the introduction last year of the FlexBor product line, in addition to the TriBor product line. The equipment protects the environment by using air or a combination of air and water, when drilling.
Because there are more stringent regulations on using chemicals and liquids horizontal drilling, customers are "quickly recognizing our patented technology as the only way" to drill safely, Tony Barbera, CEO and co-owner, said in the press release.
Dave Barbera, president and co-owner, said the manufacturing team has stepped up during challenging times to produce machines that exceed customer demand.


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Latest News on 4g
Showing of 0 - 10 from 506 results
4g - Total results - 506
Apr 11, 2019
Tata Tele merger: DoT seeks Rs 7,200-cr bank guarantee from Airtel; takeover to bolster telco's spectrum poolThe merger will be taken on record after Airtel submits bank guarantee of about Rs 6,000 crore for one-time spectrum charges and another Rs 1,200 crore for the spectrum that would be acquired from TTSL.
Apr 04, 2019
PMO intervenes to bail out BSNL, MTNL; asks DoT to expedite revival proposalsThe Prime Minister's Office is learnt to have agreed in principle to bail out loss-making public sector telecom firms MTNL and BSNL by addressing their three key pain points
Mar 15, 2019
Tech Mahindra to acquire Japan's mobile network solution firm K-Vision for $1.5 mn to expand 5G businessK-Vision provides network services for mobile communications to telecom operators in Japan
Mar 08, 2019
Nokia 8110 4G receives a price cut of Rs 1,000, will now be available for Rs 4,999The Nokia 8110 feature phone is said to be available via the company’s official store.
Jan 31, 2019
Samsung Galaxy S10 series with 4G hits production, 5G model to start laterAll the three 4G-enabled Galaxy S10 models might feature an in-display fingerprint reader.
Jan 17, 2019
Reliance Jio net profit jumps 65% to Rs 831 cr in December quarter, operating revenue up 51%Telecom operator Reliance Jio on Thursday reported a jump of 65 percent in its net profit to Rs 831 crore during the December 2018 quarter, mainly on account of a rise in customer base
Jan 07, 2019
Reliance launches 'Kumbh JioPhone' specially designed for visitors of Kumbh MelaUsers can get details on Kumbh such as checking real-time travel options, emergency helpline numbers.
Dec 19, 2018
Jio continues to lead in 4G download speeds while Idea leads in upload speedsThe average speed is computed by TRAI based on data it collects with help of its MySpeed application.
Dec 10, 2018
Chipmaker Qualcomm hopeful that the 5G rollout in India will be speedyQualcomm is hopeful that 5G would be deployed in India at the same pace 4G networks were.
Dec 06, 2018
UK's BT group to remove Huawei equipment from its existing 3G/4G operationsHuawei has been in Britain for more than 17 years, with its equipment checked and monitored.


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Club Coffee is launching what it says will be the world's first completely compostable single-serve pod this fall.
But analysts are still brewing over the breakthrough potential of the new product. Can it be a solution to the ongoing pollution problem plaguing North America's fast-growing, multibillion-dollar single-serve coffee market?
“The amount of used single-serve pods sent to landfills last year could have circled the earth 11 times," noted Club Coffee chief executive officer, John Pigott, announcing the launch of the company's PürPod 100.
"As a large manufacturer and distributor of packaged coffee, we have a responsibility to our customers, and to society, to reduce the environmental impact of our activities,” Pigott said.
Pigott called the completely compostable PürPod 100 "the most viable solution" to the environmental pod problem.
Developed by researchers at the University of Guelph, the PürPod 100 is made of bio-based materials All parts of the pods are designed to be digestible to bacteria. That includes the ring of the pod, which is made using coffee chaff, the skin that comes off coffee beans during the roasting process.
Compatible with most Keurig brewing systems, including the new Keurig 2.0 brewers, the PürPod100 will roll out this fall in America under the Kauai Coffee, Chock full o’Nuts and Hills Bros. brands of coffee maker Massimo Zanetti Beverage.
Club Coffee, which is based in Toronto, does not have a date yet for a Canadian launch. The pod continues to undergo testing to meet U.S. and international composting standards.
For management and strategy expert Dirk Matten, developing new products like the PürPod 100 is a smart move for a coffee company in a mature market like Canada where innovations that help with the environmental impact of pods and single-serve cups is key to driving volumes higher.
"They have clearly smelled the coffee on this issue," quipped Matten, who is Hewlett-Packard chair in corporate social responsibility at York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto. "I think a fully compostable pod is a very interesting idea."
Matten believes market success for the PürPod 100 will hinge on whether consumers will actually compost them, and on whether municipalities will accept them in their compostable recycling boxes.
"This new product raises questions that will need to be answered," said Matten.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Club Coffee is based in Seattle. The company is located in Toronto. The article also stated that the PürPod 100 will launch in Canada this fall. In fact, no date has been set.


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HP is recalling 78,500 more lithium-ion laptop batteries that could overheat, possibly sparking fires or burning consumers, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday.
The expansion comes more than a year after the tech company recalled 50,000 laptop batteries for the same reason in January 2018.
The recalled items were shipped with these devices:
- HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series, 4xx G4 series)
- HPx360 (310 G2)
- HP Pavilion x360 11-inch Notebook PC
- HP 11 Notebook PC
- HP ZBook (17 G3, and Studio G3)
They also were sold as accessories or replacement batteries for the following:
- HP ZBook Studio G4 mobile workstation
- HP ProBook 4xx G5 series
- HP ENVY 15
- HP Mobile Thin Clients (mt21, mt22, and mt31)
The batteries were shipped in laptops sold from December 2015 through April 2018 and sold separately from December 2015 to December 2018, the recall notice said.
The company said it "has received eight new reports of battery packs in the U.S. overheating, melting or charring," according to the CPSC. One person reported a minor injury.
HP said it will replace the batteries for free. Click here to see if your battery is part of the recall and learn how to put your device in "Battery Safe Mode."
For more information, call 1-866-671-7362 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. CDT Monday through Friday.
About the Author


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Truck makers and the automotive parts aftermarket need to stop the infighting and embrace the idea that coexistence and collaboration can result in a stronger industry for everyone, according to Imex.
The truck parts distributor said the relationship between vehicle manufacturers and the parts aftermarket had often been fraught with tension and competition, but it was time to recognise that both sides play a role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the UK economy.
Imex consultant Arthur Pinkney said customers choose aftermarket parts for a range of “compelling” reasons, including price, convenience, a more personalised service, as well as the additional services being offered on accessories, tools, diagnostics and trailer parts.
“It is essential to recognise that both vehicle manufacturers and the parts aftermarket contribute significantly to the success of the road haulage industry,” he said.
“Instead of viewing each other as competitors, a spirit of cooperation can bring forth numerous benefits.”
Pinkney listed these as a strengthened supply chain, improved affordability for operators and end consumers, increased vehicle demand and market growth.
“The industry’s growth and resilience rely on cooperation and mutual respect between all stakeholders,” he added.
“By working together, vehicle manufacturers and parts aftermarket suppliers can contribute to a more efficient and competitive road haulage sector, benefitting everyone, from businesses to consumers, and ultimately driving the growth of the UK economy.”


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US-based cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase has announced it will add a new feature, dubbed Coinbase Bundles, that will allow users to purchase a weighted basket of the five cryptos it lists — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Ethereum Classic.
This will essentially serve as a starter pack for new or casual investors; instead of having to decide what digital assets to purchase, they can buy a "basket" of them, with the cryptos weighted by market capitalization at time of purchase. Bundles begin at $25 (and €25 or £25 for customers in Europe and the UK, respectively).
Coinbase Bundles is the latest effort by the firm to expand its reach. Although the company currently lists only a handful of the biggest cryptos, last week, it announced a major listing policy shift that will see it increase its digital asset offerings substantially.
Together with this new policy, the bundles product makes a lot of sense, as additional cryptos will likely be added as they join the platform, enabling investors to get wider exposure to the market without actively trading. The $8 billion firm has already introduced similar index funds feature for its institutional investors looking to for exposure to a broad range of crypto assets. These changes will likely open up the platform’s ecosystem to a much wider institutional and non-institutional investor base.
As a result, Coinbase should become more competitive globally. Despite the company's continued efforts to attract institutional investors, Coinbase Pro, Coinbase’s professional trading arm, is only number 14 on the list of top 100 exchanges by volume, which is led by Binance, the Malta-based exchanged initially founded in China, per Coinmarketcap.
As it continues to try to attract high-value traders into a crypto space plagued by a plethora of legitimacy issues, this latest move should allow Coinbase to better compete with the biggest exchanges globally. By attracting more users into its ecosystem, the firm can grow its addressable market for future products it launches, while simultaneously making itself more attractive to large investors.


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Taste, texture, and stability in confectionery fillings can all be
achieved with a new range of filling fats from Loders Croklaan, the
Dutch-based company recently spun off by Anglo-Dutch giant
The US arm of confectioner Perfetti Van Melle has launched new
packaging for its Mentos mints product. The company believes that
its new Mentos Box will offer the consumer better value and will be
easier to use.


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Myanmar govt is promoting several trade zones, in land and border areas. Myawaddy Trade Zone of Border Trade Department is undertaking promotion of bilateral trade and realization of regular routing of trade by implementing five aims.
The trade promotion meeting was held at the hall of Myawaddy Trade Zone on 30 April. Deputy Commissioner U Myint Tin of Myawaddy District GAD delivered an address.
Director of Myawaddy Trade Zone U San Lwin explained matters related to promoting trade and replied to queries raised by merchants.
Source@New Light Myanmar


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The owners of Rollin' Oats Market in St. Petersburg have acquired Nature's Harvest Natural Foods Market in South Tampa out of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding for about $1.8-million.
The new owners will rebrand the business as Rollin' Oats and make a major interior overhaul to the 15,000-square-foot store at 1021 N MacDill Ave.
From a peak of $6-million in annual business, Nature's Harvest took a big hit with the arrival of Fresh Market and what's now a Whole Foods Natural Market within 2 miles. Sales slumped to $3-million in 2007.
"We think we can bring the business back with aggressive pricing," said Bert Swain, the third generation of a St. Petersburg family of food brokers who owns Rollin' Oats in a partnership with Larry Schwartz.


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The garment industry will make all efforts to achieve the export target of USD 20 billion in this fiscal, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said on Thursday. AEPC Chairman Narendra Goenka requested the government to calibrate cotton yarn exports and reduce the export benefit on cotton and cotton yarn exports from India, on an immediate basis.
The apparel industry would like to reiterate its request for immediate measures to control the cotton yarn prices which has increased to an extent of 125 per cent in the past 18 months, he said.
“We request the government to intermittently impose a ban on cotton exports for a few months to ensure availability to the industry as an immediate measure,” he added.
He also said that the formation of a Textile Advisory Group by the government will act as an active interface between different stakeholders in the textiles value chain, besides alarming and mitigating the crisis like raw material storage, increasing productivity and containing inflation.
“This is another stepping stone towards helping the industry, we are sure this step will be instrumental in bridging the gap between production and consumption of cotton and ensure raw material security in the long run,” Goenka said.
Appreciating the government’s move to mitigate the crisis through Textiles Advisory Group, AEPC Chairman said the body will look at the issues linked to productivity be it good quality seeds, introducing the new varieties, crop insurance to farmers and use of technology in farm optimisation and produce management, water availability, arability for the crop.
(The one-stop destination for MSME, ET RISE provides news, views and analysis around GST, Exports, Funding, Policy and small business management.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.


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The virtual Germany Travel Mart GTM 2021, organised by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), had come to a very positive conclusion following a meeting between trade professionals from around the globe.
ITB Asia is back and on track for a physical event from October 27-29 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, in Singapore. The annual three-day B2B trade show and convention is designed to connect the key travel industry leaders in the region from the MICE, leisure, corporate travel and travel technology segments.
A total of 62 countries will be represented on the exhibition floor this year at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2021, which takes place in-person at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) on May 16-19.
The Madrid Region will be the FITUR 2021 Tourist Destination Partner at this special edition, the 41st.


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VANCOUVER – Retail space on Robson is a relative bargain compared to lease rates at high-end fashion hubs in the U.S. and around the world, according to a Colliers International report.
The average lease rate on Robson is $194 a square foot (all prices U.S.), less than a tenth the prices on Fifth Avenue in New York and significantly less than lease rates on comparable streets in London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Robson is the third most expensive street in Canada behind Bloor Street in Toronto ($292) and Ste-Catherine Street in Montreal ($204). Victoria and Calgary clock in at $53 a square foot.
But Drew Keddy, vice-president, Canada, and national retail leader for the real estate company, expects Canadian lease rates to climb as vacancy rates move down and more U.S. retailers move north. Canada has bounced back faster than other world economies and the loonie remains strong, making Canadian cities an attractive value proposition, he said.
“With all these announcements of U.S. retailers making their forays into Canada, you’re going to see a lot more competition for quality retail space,” said Keddy, who is based in Vancouver.
Target has garnered much of the publicity for its plans to move north, but other high-profile retailers have talked about setting up shop in Canada, including Nordstrom. While those stores are in a different category than the type of luxury stores found on Robson, the trend will push up lease rates on higher-end streets, he said.
“It’s going to have an impact on our rental rates, for sure.”
Canada is a less competitive retail environment than the U.S., which is one factor that suppresses high-end lease rates here, he said.
Toronto remains the top ”internationally exposed city” in Canada, despite the spotlight that shone on Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics, Keddy said.
“Toronto is probably a more established international city,” Keddy said. “Vancouver’s really been coming on the scene in the last decade or two.”
Canadians spend about the same amount as Americans on retail, but there is much less retail space in Canada compared to the U.S., on a per-capita basis.
Source: The Vancouver Sun


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Final Fantasy VIII Remastered for all major platforms has been announced during Square Enix’s 2019 E3 press conference.
Arriving later this year on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam, the FFVIII remaster aims to bring the RPG’s classic story to modern platforms with newly rendered visuals. The remaster will feature updated character models alongside boosters.
We’ve included the official announcement trailer alongside some screenshots below:
Coming in 2019, FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered marks the 20th Anniversary of its original release with a new visual refresh and brings the game’s beloved story to modern platforms: Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. With overhauled visuals, see your favorite characters come to life like never before!
Last year, Square Enix already announced the arrival of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX and other classic Final Fantasy games for the Switch and Xbox One, but Final Fantasy VIII was missing from that list.
Originally released for the first PlayStation in 1999, the RPG was ported to PC in 2000. The title was re-released globally as a PSOne Classic on the PlayStation Store in 2009, for PlayStation 3 and PSP. A Steam re-release was released in 2013, and as of December 2013, the game has sold more than 8.5 million copies globally.


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The longtime leader in the enterprise cloud space—and the top scorer in last year’s Future 50—took another significant leap forward this May with its $6.5 billion acquisition of MuleSoft, an application integration platform. Tech strategists surmise that Salesforce will use MuleSoft tools, which tout many global brands as customers, to more easily integrate other services provided by cofounder Marc Benioff’s company. All four of Salesforce’s core cloud product offerings continue to see growth, and analysts estimate that the company will increase revenue as much as 23% annually in the near term. Profits remain slender, amounting to about 6% of Salesforce’s $12 billion in sales over the last 12 months. But the company is successfully increasing its cash flow, which jumped 38% in the second quarter of 2018.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post erroneously attributed analysts’ estimates of Salesforce’s future revenue growth to BCG.
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Targa Telematics drives European corporate growth plans with new sales director
Roberto Moneda has joined Italian firm Targa Telematics as corporate fleet Europe sales director, in line with plans to expand further in Europe.
The business, which provides solutions in telematics, smart mobility and digital IoT, is targeting new markets, including France, the UK and Spain.
It opened a new London-based office in November 2019, responsible for commercial and aftersales activities in the automotive telematics’ field, and is also working on the opening of a new office in Madrid, Spain.
To help drive the expansion plans, Roberto Moneda has joined, bringing a 20-year experience in the field of sales and marketing, with former significant experiences in big names of the hi-tech field such as Pioneer and Sony. Between 2011 and 2020, Moneda held several executive roles in an international company with a presence in fleet services market.
“I am keen to join a firm leader in providing digital solutions such as Targa Telematics and I look forward to embracing this new challenge and taking charge of the sales in Europe,” he commented.
Alberto Falcione, vice president sales at Targa Telematics, said: “Given his insight and experience in the sector, we are proud to have this new asset in our team. Thanks to his appointment, we are sure Targa Telematics will be thriving and further developing its business not only in Italy but also in core relevant markets abroad such as the United Kingdom and France.”


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US-based electric carmaker Tesla’s factory in China’s financial hub of Shanghai will resume production on February 10 with assistance from the city’s government to help it cope with a spreading epidemic of coronavirus, a local official said on Saturday.
Many factories across China shut in late January for the Lunar New Year holiday, which was originally due to end on January 30 but was extended in a bid to contain the spread of the new flu-like virus that has killed hundreds of people.
Tesla warned on January 30 that it would see a 1-1.5 week delay in the ramp-up of production on its Shanghai-built Model 3 cars as a result of the epidemic, which has severely disrupted communications and supply chains across China.
Tesla Vice President Tao Lin said this week that production would restart on February 10.
“In view of the practical difficulties key manufacturing firms, including Tesla, have faced in resuming production, we will coordinate to make all efforts to help companies resume production as soon as possible,” Shanghai municipal government spokesman Xu Wei said.
The $2bn Shanghai factory is Tesla’s first outside the US and was built with support from local authorities. It started production in October and began deliveries last month.
The Shanghai government also said on Saturday it would ask banks to extend loans with preferential rates to small companies and exempt firms in hard-hit sectors like hospitality from value-added tax, among other measures to prop up businesses during the epidemic.
Such assistance would also apply to foreign companies, it added.


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Sony’s New Smart B-Trainer: Headphone with GPS, Heart Rate sensor and more
Fitness gadgets are everywhere. While majority of these awesome wearable tech gadgets are worn on the wrist, Sony has announced the launch of an interesting wearable that is a headphone. Sony’s Smart B-Trainer is a headphone equipped with six sensors – heart rate, accelerometer, GPS, compass, gyroscope, barometer. The all-in-one Smart B-Trainer will be available this fall in USA for $249.00. The device will have 16GB of internal memory and weighs 43g.
A Fitness Headphone
Sony has been in the fitness devices market for a while now and this new device is targeted at “power-users”, since the device has a maximum battery life of 6 hours. There are not many fitness headphones with GPS and other sensors and this might just help Sony. One of the interesting features of the Smart B-Trainer app is the automatic song selection based on your heart rate. Pretty neat. Although its not a novel feature, it would still be interesting to see how well it works. (Smart B-Trainer Specs sheet).
Fitness Apps and Gadgets
Fitness apps and data are quite valuable, Adidas recently bought runtastic for EUR 220 million. The Fitbit IPO was a great success and the company is now valued at a few billion ($5 billion approximately) and interestingly was one of the few companies that was profitable when it went for the public offering. Apple Watch was primarily marketed as your fitness guru and going by the all the insight articles (Apple Watch sales figures) on the sales figure, it would be safe to assume, more than a million devices were sold. From making the world-famous Walkman series to making Fitness headphones with GPS, Sony has come a long way. Headphone with GPS is a cool idea. Lets see how well it’s received in the market.
Fitness Gadgets and Geospatial
Wearable Tech and Fitness gadgets are here to stay. This means the spatial community gets to make cool analysis and visualizations like this Runkeeper map by Mapbox.
Location data and analysis is already being used by everyone and I guess this quote by the CTO of Ubisense, Peter Batty fits my sentiment perfectly
Traditional GIS is a tiny portion of the geospatial ecosystem these days, I really dislike the whole attitude that GIS is this specialized sacred thing, and that you need to be a trained “GIS Professional” to do anything with geospatial data. – Peter Batty to Geohipster
At the end of day, the GIS industry isn’t the only one that is using maps and location data anymore, everyone is and that’s geoawesome!
Adidas buys popular fitness app Runtastic for €220 million
Runtastic, the company behind a variety of fitness apps, has been acquired by Adidas in a deal worth €220 million ($239 million).
Runtastic is one of the leading run-tracking apps with over 70 million users. The company has been founded in Austria in 2009 and it grew to a company hiring 140 employees, who will now join the much larger Adidas Group of 53,000 staff across the globe.
Runtastic is not only a running app. The startup has launched a ton of hardware, too, including GPS watches and smartphone mounts for bikes, as well as a number of niche apps for building six-packs, working out at home, and even improving your sleep.
Adidas already offers several of its own mobile apps that cross over into Runtastic’s territory, such as the miCoach train & run app and the Adidas Go app that integrates with Spotify to offer music matched to a user’s running pace but the these attempts were never very successful. CEO of Adidas Group, Herbert Hainer commented:
This investment will add considerable value on our journey to deliver new world-class sports experiences. In addition, it offers the opportunity to grow a highly engaged athlete user base and leverage the power of our broad product portfolio.
It’s unclear what Adidas has planned for the company and its apps, but Runtastic will be joining the Adidas teams and building new experiences as part of the brand going forward. What exactly that means for the Runtastic brand and integration with Adidas products remains to be seen. Nonetheless with Runtastic under its wing, Adidas now has a much bigger presence in the market currently overtaken by Nike with its wearables and apps.